A small set of linking words to join your ideas, and how to punctuate each one correctly.
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Six sentences, one order. The linkers tell you what comes next.
Put these six sentences into the order that makes a paragraph. Do not read for meaning first — read the linker at the start of each sentence and let it tell you where the sentence belongs.
Ten linkers. Be honest — the ones you write, not the ones you have seen.
Eight linkers used accurately beat twenty used approximately — and the comma is half the mark.
There are lists of one hundred linking words on the internet. Ignore them.
Band 6 does not ask for range here. It asks for accuracy. A candidate who uses eight linkers correctly scores above one who uses twenty and gets the punctuation or the relationship wrong — and the second candidate has done far more work.
So this sprint gives you eight, and spends its time on getting them right.
Each bridge carries a different kind of connection — and its own comma.
Pick the bridge that matches the gap between your two ideas.
Twelve linkers, four jobs. Name the job and the choice makes itself.
Sort each item into the correct category
Name the relationship between the two ideas first. The linker follows from it.
Chain 1
Idea 1: Rents in the capital have doubled since 2015. Idea 2: Transport costs have risen just as sharply.
The second idea does what to the first:
So the linker is:
Chain 2
Idea 1: Rents in the capital have doubled since 2015. Idea 2: Rents in small towns have not changed at all.
The second idea does what to the first:
So the linker is:
Chain 3
Idea 1: Rents rose faster than wages for six years. Idea 2: Many young families left the city entirely.
The second idea does what to the first:
So the linker is:
And the comma goes: