Learner checks whether a paragraph's last sentence has advanced beyond its first, and repairs one that has circled back.
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Five sentences. Only one order arrives anywhere.
Order these five sentences so the paragraph ends somewhere its opening was not.
Six paragraphs, first and last sentence only. Three went nowhere.
Opens: Free transport would cut car use. Closes: Therefore, free transport would reduce the number of cars on the road. Did it move?
The cover test, two ways to move, and what concluding is not.
Cover everything except the first and last sentences.
If they say the same thing, the paragraph went nowhere — whatever happened in between.
It takes five seconds and it is the only progression check you need at paragraph level.
Ten paragraphs. Four move, and two of those look like they do not.
Sort each item into the correct category
Six paragraphs. Rewrite the last sentence only. Two are fine.
Opens: Free transport would cut car use in dense cities. Closes: Therefore, free transport would reduce the number of cars on the road. →
Opens: City centres are losing their residents to short-term letting. Closes: This is why city centres are losing residents. →
Opens: Remote work harms junior training. Closes: Unless firms rebuild mentoring deliberately, the loss compounds each year. →
Opens: Fares block the lowest-paid from reaching work. Closes: Fares are therefore a barrier to employment for people on low incomes. →
Opens: Homework harms younger children. Closes: Clearly, homework is damaging for the young. →
Opens: The subsidy costs £400m a year. Closes: That figure comes from the transport budget, not from general taxation. →
A paragraph that arrives, and name what moved.
Topic: whether employers should allow a four-day week.
Box 1: a paragraph of four or five sentences. Box 2: one line naming what moved — did you narrow, or widen?
Run the cover test yourself before you send it.
One paragraph.
One line.
Read the two ends aloud. What did the reader gain?