Sentence and Paragraph Order

• Use the clues that fix order: words like 'this', 'these', 'that', and 'such' that point back, pronouns that need a noun before them, time words and dates, and general statements before specific ones
• Answer 'Which sequence of sentences makes this paragraph most logical?' by finding the sentence that must come first and the pair that must stay together, then checking only the choices that keep them
• Place an added sentence at the right point (Point A, B, C, or D, or after a numbered sentence) by matching what it points back to and what it sets up
• Move an underlined word or phrase to the place where it describes the right thing ('The best placement for the underlined portion would be')
• Finish on one ACT-hard question and say what made it hard

Logical order questions appear in almost every ACT English passage. Their stems: 'Which sequence of sentences makes this paragraph most logical?' (choices: NO CHANGE, then other orders of the numbered sentences); 'The writer wants to add the following sentence to the essay. The sentence would most logically be placed at: Point A in Paragraph 1...'; 'For the sake of logic and cohesion, Sentence 3 should be placed:' and 'The best placement for the underlined portion would be: where it is now / after the word...'. Order clues, in order of strength: (1) Pointers: 'this change', 'these strips', 'that year', 'such a plan', 'the device' and pronouns (he, it, they) must come after the noun they point to, so find what each pointer refers to; (2) Time: dates, 'later', 'then', 'by the time', 'finally', and a cause that must come before its effect; (3) General to specific: a claim comes before its example, and a sentence starting 'For example' cannot open a paragraph; (4) Question and answer: a sentence that answers or resolves something must follow the sentence that raises it; (5) Contrast words: 'however' or 'still' needs an idea to turn against. Sequence questions: do not test all four orders one by one. Find the sentence that must be first (a sentence with no pointer back, often the one that names the topic) and the pair that must stay together (a pointer and the sentence it points to), then cross out every choice that breaks either. Usually one choice survives; read it through once to confirm. Placing an added sentence: read the new sentence and mark its pointer ('That silence did not last' needs a place where something has just gone quiet) and what it sets up. Go to each point and check the sentence before it (does it give the pointer something to point to?) and the sentence after it (does the flow continue?). Placing an underlined portion: a modifying phrase must sit next to the word it describes, so ask what the phrase describes and move it beside that word; a phrase like 'in bright red ink' describes how something was written, so it belongs right after 'wrote', not after the name of the person who received the letter. The ACT-hard version: two positions both give the pointer a noun to refer to, and only one also fits what comes next, or the obvious first sentence is a general statement that is actually the paragraph's conclusion ('This is why...').

• Circle every pointer word (this, these, that, such, it, they) and find what it points to.
• A sentence that begins 'For example' or 'However' can never open a paragraph.
• On sequence questions, find the first sentence and the pair that must stay together, then cross out choices.
• When placing a sentence, check both neighbors: the sentence before it and the sentence after it.
• A movable phrase belongs right next to the word it describes.