Re-order Paragraphs: the linking clues to look for

In Re-order Paragraphs, many wrong answers come from one habit: joining boxes of text because they share a topic. Two boxes both mention rivers, so they are placed side by side, and the order falls apart. The real joins are made by small words such as this, however, the and they, so those are the words to read first.

Find the opening first

The first box usually introduces the topic in a general way and does not lean on anything before it. Glance at the first few words of every box and rule out the ones that begin like these:

• A connector that responds to something: However, Therefore, In addition, As a result, For example.
• A pronoun or label that points back: This, These, Such, They, The former.
• A specific noun nobody has introduced yet: "The second group" or "The report", when no group or report has been mentioned.

Be careful with "It". A sentence such as "It is often said that cities are noisy" can open a text perfectly well, so ask what the "it" stands for.

If one box survives and reads like a general statement, you have your opener. If two survive, keep both in mind. If none does, do not force it: start from pairs instead.

Clues that join one box to the next

• Pronouns and "this + noun". "This change", "such rules" and "they" must point at something just before. Ask what "this" refers to, then find the box that supplies it.
• Connectors. "However" follows an idea it contrasts with. "Therefore" and "as a result" follow a cause. "In addition" follows a point of the same kind. "For example" follows a general claim.
• Time markers. "First", "then", "later", "by the end of that year", and dates that run forwards.
• A, then the. A first mention says "a new bridge". Later it is "the bridge". A box that says "the bridge" cannot come before the box that says "a new bridge".
• A noun that labels what came before. "Rivers were polluted for decades. This pollution..." The label points back at the whole earlier idea.

A worked example

This is an illustrative example I wrote, and the letters are only labels. Real tasks use longer paragraphs, but the checks are the same. Start with pairs of boxes: find two joins you are sure of, then ask how those pairs connect.

The order is C, D, A, B. The reasoning:

1. Opener. A starts with "However", B contains "therefore" and D starts with "This change". Only C stands on its own: a general statement that points back to nothing.
2. First pair: C then D. "This change" needs something that changed. C supplies it: rivers are cleaner.
3. Second pair: A then B. "Therefore" in B needs a problem. A supplies one, fertiliser washing into streams, and "the runoff" in B is a label for it.
4. Joining the pairs. "However" in A contrasts with good news, and D is the box that reports a success, so D comes before A.

Marks in this task are given for boxes that sit correctly next to each other (check Pearson's current score guide for the exact rule). That is why two sure pairs are a better foundation than a guess about the whole order.

Mistakes that cost marks

• Opening with a box that sounds like an introduction but begins with "However".
• Joining boxes because they share a topic word.
• Ignoring what a pronoun points to. "They" needs a plural noun in the box before it.
• Building left to right from a doubtful opener. If the first choice is wrong, every later choice inherits the error.
• Spending three minutes on the last pair. Choose your best order and move on.

A ten-minute routine

1. Choose a newspaper or textbook passage of five or six short paragraphs.
2. Paste it into a document, split it at the paragraph breaks and shuffle the pieces.
3. Rebuild it using clues only, and underline every clue you use. Give yourself three minutes.
4. Compare with the original. For each difference, find the clue you missed.

If you have a study partner, swap shuffled passages and ask each other to name the clue behind every join. Explaining a clue out loud shows you quickly which ones you only half recognise. A line in your error log for each clue you missed will show, after a few weeks, which one you overlook most.

For a next step, do the routine once today, then try a Re-order Paragraphs task in the practice tests on this site. To read the boxes faster, see skimming and scanning for PTE Reading.