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Sprint 5.6: One Stance Across A Paragraph

Learner holds one level of certainty across a paragraph, and changes it only where the argument changes.

6 micro-lessons

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Where Does the Confidence Change?

Six paragraphs. Two shift for good reasons.

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Charges will cut congestion. They should reduce journeys by a fifth. They might help air quality too. Some effect may be visible. Where does it shift?

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Your Certainty Should Not Wander

The reader tracks it, two legitimate changes, and the backwards case.

The reader tracks it

A paragraph that opens with will and closes with might reads badly.

The writer appears to be talking themselves out of their own claim.

Nothing in it is ungrammatical.

The reader simply cannot tell, at the end, what you believed.

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Consistent, or Drifting

Ten paragraphs. Four are correct, and two of those change stance.

Sort each item into the correct category

Consistent, or changed for a reason

Drifting — the reader cannot see why

Unassigned

will → should → might → may, across four sentences on one claim.

may → four cities measured it → the effect is well established.

Unhedged throughout, evidence given for every claim.

may possibly in the topic sentence, then confident measured evidence under it.

Confident → confident → however, in rural areas the evidence is thinner.

cut → may help → reduce → might lower, with no reason given for the variation.

Hedged at is likely to throughout, no evidence claimed anywhere.

will → will → will → but perhaps this is only one factor, with no concession marked.

should → should → the trial confirmed it → the effect is real.

may → will → might → will, alternating across four claims of the same kind.

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Level the Paragraph

Four paragraphs with drifting stance. Adjust two sentences in each.

Each paragraph drifts. Adjust the two marked sentences so the stance holds, and name the level you settled on.

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A. Charges will cut congestion. (1) They should reduce journeys by about a fifth. (2) They might help air quality too. Level chosen: 1 → They reduce journeys by about a fifth. 2 → They help air quality too.

B. Charges may possibly cut congestion. (1) Four cities measured a fifth fewer journeys within two years. (2) The effect might therefore be real. The topic sentence is the problem. Restate it: 2 → The effect therefore real.

C. Remote work harms junior training. (1) It may reduce the informal learning juniors rely on. (2) It cuts the time seniors spend nearby. Level chosen: 1 → It the informal learning juniors rely on.

D. Free transport is likely to raise usage. (1) It will certainly cut car journeys. (2) It may perhaps reduce emissions slightly. Level chosen: 1 → It cut car journeys. 2 → It reduce emissions.

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Four Sentences, One Stance

One level throughout, with one deliberate change at a concession.

Write a four-sentence paragraph at one stated certainty level, with one deliberate change at a concession.

Topic: whether free public transport reduces car use.

Box 1: name the certainty level you are writing at — certain, expected, probable, or possible. Box 2: four sentences at that level, with one deliberate shift where you concede something.

The shift should be visible as a concession, not as a loss of nerve.

Your certainty level*

One word or phrase.

Your four sentences*

One concession among them.

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Did You Lose Your Nerve

Does your last sentence sound as sure as your first?

Learners can ask follow-up questions and keep the thread going.

Read your first sentence, then your last.

Does the last one sound as sure as the first?

If not — was that a concession, or nerves?

just now

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