📘 Three words in the margin

What you’ll learn

1. The guest listTell a paragraph from a jumble by naming one controlling idea and dropping sentences that do not serve it.A paragraph is one idea walked across several sentences, not a length. Membership comes before joins. If a sentence cannot help the first line, it belongs in another block.
2. Point backUse pronouns, determiners, and deliberate repetition so a reader can follow the same thing without fog or a hammered name.They, it, this, and the point back. Repeat the noun when two things are in the room. Year 6 names that repetition as a cohesive device, not a fault.
3. The honest joinPick and, but, so, because, although, or when only when the word names the real relationship between two ideas.A conjunction is a coupling, not decoration. And adds, but turns, so follows, because gives a reason, although holds a surprise. The wrong join is a friendly lie.
4. Clock, map, stairsLink sentences with adverbials of time, place, and number, and front a time or place chunk when the glue belongs at the start.Then is a clock. Nearby is a place you already know. Secondly is a stair in a list. Year 4’s fronted adverbial moves that glue to the front and follows it with a comma.
5. Signs that keep promisesTreat also, however, and therefore as promises — more of the same, a turn, or an earned result — and take down any sign that lies.Transitions tell the reader what to do next. They cannot invent organisation. A quiet paragraph with two honest joins beats a noisy one stuffed with however.
6. Old news, then newCheck a real draft for one idea, clear pointing words, honest joins, and given-then-new order, then read it aloud for trips.Start with what the reader already holds and end with the new fact. Circle every joining word and test its claim. Your voice finds the missing step.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• Department for Education, English Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation — Year 3 paragraphs as related material and conjunctions of time, place and cause; Year 4 fronted adverbials, paragraphs around a theme, noun or pronoun for cohesion; Year 5 devices to build cohesion (then, after that, this, firstly) and adverbials of time, place and number across paragraphs; Year 6 wider cohesive devices including repetition, on the other hand, in contrast, as a consequence, and ellipsis. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335190/English_Appendix_2_-_Vocabulary_grammar_and_punctuation.pdf
• Department for Education, Glossary for the programmes of study for English (non-statutory) — cohesion as parts fitting together; cohesive devices as determiners and pronouns that refer back, conjunctions and adverbs that make relations clear, and ellipsis; conjunction as coordinating or subordinating; adverbial; fronting with a comma; Julia’s dad / the football example. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244216/English_Glossary.pdf
• Common Core State Standards Initiative, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2.c Link ideas within categories of information using words and phrases (e.g., another, for example, also, because); W.4.3.c Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events; W.5.2.c Link ideas within and across categories using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially). https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/4/ and https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/5/2/c/
• The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Paragraphs — a paragraph is a unit supporting one controlling idea, not a length; unity, coherence, topic sentence; start a new paragraph for a new idea. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/paragraphs/
• The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Transitions — transitions tell the reader what to do with the next information; they cannot substitute for organisation; families include similarity, exception/contrast, sequence, time, place, cause and effect, additional support. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/transitions/
• Purdue Online Writing Lab, On Paragraphs — one idea to one paragraph; unity, coherence, topic sentence, adequate development; verbal bridges include repeated key words, pronouns, and transition words; signposts and transitions. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/paragraphs_and_paragraphing/index.html
• Purdue Online Writing Lab, Independent and Dependent Clauses — coordinating conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so; dependent markers including although, because, when; independent markers including however and therefore. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/independent_and_dependent_clauses/index.html
• Lumen Learning, 16.2 Cohesion: What do People Mean When They Say My Writing Doesn’t “Flow”, Humanities LibreTexts — cohesion as holding together at sentence and paragraph level; the given-new contract; end emphasis; stock transition words as signposts; pronouns and repetition as cohesive devices; overused signposts become annoying. https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Advanced_Composition/Book%3A_English_Composition_II_-_Rhetorical_MethodsBased_(Lumen)/16%3A_Final_Drafts/16.02%3A_Cohesion-_What_do_People_Mean_When_They_Say_My_Writing_Doesnt_Flow

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