IELTS Paragraph And Progression: Keep The Reader With You

Sprint 1

Say What This Paragraph Is About

Say what a paragraph is about in one sentence without using and, and spot paragraphs where you can't.

Sprint 2

The Sentence That Announces It

Write a sentence that tells the reader what the paragraph is about, and put it where the paragraph needs it, not always first.

Sprint 3

The Sentence That Belongs Somewhere Else

Find the sentence that doesn't belong to its paragraph and move or delete it, instead of smoothing it over with a linking word.

Sprint 4

Where A Paragraph Ends

Start a new paragraph when the topic changes, not after a set number of lines, and spot both the wall and the scatter.

Sprint 5

The Paragraph Serving The Essay

Name each paragraph's job in the essay, not just its topic, and find the paragraph doing another's job.

Sprint 6

How Many Paragraphs

Choose how many paragraphs to write from the question and your ideas, instead of a fixed four-paragraph template.

Sprint 7

Fix The Paragraphs, No Hints

Fix paragraph problems with nothing telling you which one is there, including when the right answer is to leave the text alone.

Sprint 8

What Does "This" Point At

Check whether a this points at one thing the reader can find, and name the thing when it doesn't.

Sprint 9

It, They, And The Missing Antecedent

Use it and they only where one noun in the sentence before could replace them, and fix the rest.

Sprint 10

Naming What You Point At

Choose a noun that sums up what came before, a decline, a decision, a failure, without quietly changing your claim.

Sprint 11

The Former, The Latter, The Above

Use the former and the latter correctly, or avoid them, since they cost the reader more than they save you.

Sprint 12

Repeating The Noun Is Allowed

Repeat a key noun where a different word would confuse the reader, instead of varying words at the cost of clarity.

Sprint 13

Reference Across A Paragraph Break

Start a paragraph with a reference that clearly reaches back across the break; a bare it or this rarely survives one.

Sprint 14

Fix This, It And They, No Hints

Fix pointing-word problems with nothing telling you which one is there, including when naming the thing would only make the text heavier.

Sprint 15

What A Linking Word Claims

Choose a linking word by how two sentences really relate, and spot one that claims a link the sentences don't have.

Sprint 16

However, Moreover, Therefore

Tell apart linking words that do the same job, moreover or in addition, however or nevertheless, and punctuate them correctly.

Sprint 17

The Mechanical Skeleton

Replace a Firstly, Secondly, Finally skeleton with links that say how your paragraphs really connect.

Sprint 18

One Per Paragraph Is Usually Enough

Remove linking words where the link is already clear, and stop starting every sentence with one.

Sprint 19

Cohesion Without A Connective

Link two sentences without a linking word: repeat a term, refer back, or put them in an order that shows the link.

Sprint 20

The Range The Descriptor Asks For

Vary the ways you link ideas across an essay, instead of relying on one device.

Sprint 21

Fix The Linking, No Hints

Fix one text with too many linking words and one with too few, without being told which is which.

Sprint 22

Does This Paragraph Move

Check whether a paragraph's last sentence has moved beyond its first, and fix one that has circled back.

Sprint 23

The Order Of Your Paragraphs

Order your paragraphs by what depends on what, not by the order you thought of them, and find the pair that should swap.

Sprint 24

The Essay That Circles

Spot an essay whose conclusion arrives nowhere, and find the paragraph that failed to move it forward.

Sprint 25

The Order Inside A Paragraph

Order the sentences in a paragraph so each follows from the one before, and find the sentence that came too early.

Sprint 26

Signposting Without Numbering

Show the reader the shape of your essay through its content, not a numbered list, and see how little signposting you need.

Sprint 27

Progression Across Two Parts

Connect the two halves of a two-part answer so the second follows from the first instead of starting again.

Sprint 28

Fix The Order, No Hints

Fix order problems in sentences and paragraphs with nothing telling you which is there, by moving things rather than adding words.

Sprint 29

The Paragraph Map

Reduce a finished essay to one line per paragraph and read the lines alone. It shows most order and topic problems at once.

Sprint 30

Reading For Shape, Not For Meaning

Run checks on your own text that don't depend on understanding it, because understanding is what hides your own gaps.

Sprint 31

Your Over-use And Under-use Profile

Find out whether you personally link too much or too little, and which one linking habit you rely on.

Sprint 32

The Two Faults You Repeat

Name the two problems you personally repeat, and the check that catches each one.

Sprint 33

Coherence Under Time

Spend two minutes planning each paragraph's topic and job before writing. It prevents more problems than checking afterwards.

Sprint 34

Clear Beats Clever

Choose the plain link, the repeated noun and the ordinary paragraph break over more impressive options.

Sprint 35

Course Review — One Response, Read As A Stranger

Write a full essay and get a report on what a reader could and couldn't follow, across the whole course.