Revise a whole passage for purpose and cohesion
Judge additions, deletions and paragraph order against the whole passage's stated goal.
What you will tackle
- Evaluate topic development, purpose and focus
- Choose relevant additions and deletions
- Improve introductions, conclusions, paragraph division and order
- Preserve unity and cohesion across a whole passage
A useful fact can still be irrelevant
If a passage explains how a community garden conserves water, a gardener's unrelated sporting award may distract even if true. An addition should supply needed evidence, explanation or connection. A deletion should be justified by its effect on the passage's purpose rather than by a general preference for shorter writing.
Follow the reader's information needs
Introduce a problem before giving its solution; introduce a person before using a pronoun that refers to them. A new paragraph can mark a change in stage or focus. A conclusion should develop or bring together the passage's established point, not introduce a large unsupported claim. Whole-passage questions require reading beyond the sentence being changed.
Build your notes, then practise
Work on paper before opening an explanation. Guided tasks provide a starting point; independent tasks remove the scaffolding; application tasks ask you to justify a method or interpretation in context.
Guided practice
Guided 1
A report has four sentences: (1) ‘Water bills threatened the garden's budget.’ (2) ‘The volunteers installed a rain tank.’ (3) ‘Stored rainwater replaced some tap water.’ (4) ‘Their average bill fell during the following season.’ Where would ‘Before choosing the tank, they compared its capacity with the roof's collection area’ fit? Should a sentence about the team's football result be added?
Show a starting hint
Track the actual sequence, not just repeated vocabulary.
Compare with the explained answer
- The comparison occurs before installation but after the problem is introduced.
- Place the new sentence between 1 and 2.
- The football result does not develop the water-saving explanation.
Answer / response criteria: Between sentences 1 and 2; omit the unrelated football result.
Guided 2
Choose a paragraph break in this sequence: (1) the garden's water costs rose; (2) volunteers investigated storage; (3) they installed a tank; (4) a new problem emerged—some beds received water unevenly; (5) they redesigned the distribution pipes. Explain the change of focus.
Compare with the explained answer
- Sentences 1–3 develop the storage response to cost.
- Sentence 4 introduces a different problem, distribution.
- A break before sentence 4 marks that focus change while keeping its solution with it.
Answer / response criteria: A justified break is before sentence 4.
Independent practice
Independent 1
An essay aims to explain how a local archive became accessible. Paragraphs describe (A) current public workshops, (B) a 1990 campaign to save the collection, and (C) the later cataloguing that made searching possible. Choose a clear order and a suitable conclusion focus.
Compare with the explained answer
- The rescue campaign precedes the later cataloguing.
- Cataloguing provides a bridge to current public use.
- B–C–A makes the development clear; conclude by connecting preservation, organisation and access.
Answer / response criteria: B–C–A; conclude by showing how the stages together enabled access.
Independent 2
A passage first describes an archive's rescue campaign and then turns to the technical work of cataloguing. Where should a new paragraph begin, and what opening sentence would signal the connection?
Compare with the explained answer
- The topic changes from saving the material to organising access.
- Begin a new paragraph where cataloguing becomes the focus.
- A bridge can acknowledge the completed rescue and introduce the next challenge.
Answer / response criteria: For example: ‘Saving the collection was only the first step; the next challenge was making it searchable.’
Application practice
Application 1
Write an introduction and conclusion for a report evaluating two school travel plans. The report compares cost, safety and journey time and recommends a limited trial. Explain why ‘This plan will solve all transport problems forever’ is unsuitable.
Compare with the explained answer
- The introduction should name the decision and comparison criteria.
- The conclusion should state the recommendation and its limited trial conditions.
- The absolute guarantee exceeds the report's evidence and purpose.
Answer / response criteria: One introduction: ‘This report compares the cost, safety and journey times of two school travel plans.’ One conclusion: ‘A limited trial of the safer plan would test whether its extra cost is justified under normal travel conditions.’
Application 2
Plan paragraph divisions for a report that explains a transport problem, compares two proposed solutions, and recommends a trial with evaluation criteria. Justify why the criteria should be linked to the recommendation.
Compare with the explained answer
- Separate the problem, comparison and recommendation into coherent stages.
- The recommendation and criteria belong together because the criteria define how the trial will be judged.
- Avoid a new paragraph for every individual fact if it breaks the argument's unity.
Answer / response criteria: One coherent plan is problem / compared options / recommended trial and its evaluation criteria.
What can you explain now?
Plan paragraph divisions for a report that explains a transport problem, compares two proposed solutions, and recommends a trial with evaluation criteria. Justify why the criteria should be linked to the recommendation.
Compare with the explanation
One coherent plan is problem / compared options / recommended trial and its evaluation criteria.
Explain the reasoning before comparing. This review records your self-assessment rather than an official score or mastery decision.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
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Source and review status
Coverage follows the named requirements and examples in the 2026–2027 ACT test guide and subject descriptions. That guide explicitly does not list every possible topic. The broader coded College and Career Readiness Standards are also mapped to conceptual teaching and practice; this does not calibrate a learner to a score band. The separate scientific-background context list and reading-complexity rubric have their own stated limits.
Original teaching and explained self-check practice are available. Specialist review and difficulty calibration remain pending. Essays require self-check or teacher review and are not automatically marked or awarded official scores.
Official source specification / guide