Transitions & Flow: Transition Words, Linking Words, However vs But & Paragraph Flow

For beginners · ages 5–8

Words that carry the reader

A linking word sits in the gap between two ideas. It tells the reader how the second idea is joined to the first.

Each section of this band looks closely at one of these bridges. In section 7 they come together as the Bridge Test: read the two ideas, name how they are linked, then choose the word.

Here is one pair of ideas with a different bridge each time. The two ideas stay almost the same. Only the bridge changes, and the story changes with it.

Notice two things. First, the bridge is small, but it carries a lot. A two-letter word like so tells the reader why. Second, a bridge has to match what really happened. "Aarav was tired, but Aarav went to bed" sounds odd, because nothing turns. Tired people go to bed. The word but promised a surprise and then gave none.

So a linking word is not there to decorate the sentence. It is there to tell the truth about how the two ideas are joined.

Picture two small islands with a river between them. On the first island sits one idea, "It rained." On the second sits another, "We stayed in." You stand on the first island. A bridge appears with a sign on it: so. Now you know, before you cross, that the next island is what happened because of the rain. Change the sign to but, and you expect a surprise on the far side.

You now know that a linking word tells the reader how two ideas are joined. In the next sections you will look at each bridge on its own: and, but and so; then because; then first, then and finally; then also and too; then for example. In section 7 you will put them together into one test you can use at any gap. In Practice you will meet bigger bridges, such as however and as a result.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. The same two facts can be joined in more than one true way. "It rained, so we stayed in." The bridge so looks forward: first the rain, then what happened. "We stayed in because it rained." The bridge because looks back: first what happened, then the reason. Both are true. Both are good. They just walk across the river in opposite directions. Now look at this one: "We stayed in because it rained." "It rained because we stayed in." The words are nearly the same, but the second one says something silly. Staying in cannot make it rain. The bridge because always points to the reason, so the reason has to come after it. So a bridge is not only a word. It is a direction. When you choose it, check which idea is the cause and which is what happened.

Did you know that the word transition hides a journey inside it? It comes from an old Latin word, transire, which means to go across. The trans part means across, the same trans you see in transport, which carries things across from one place to another. So a transition in writing is a word that takes the reader across, from one idea to the next. Every time you write so, but or because between two ideas, you are building a tiny bridge and carrying your reader over it. Next time you see a word beginning with trans, look for the idea of going across.

Not every pair of ideas needs a linking word. When the order already tells the story, as in "I woke up. I brushed my teeth.", the ideas can stand side by side. Section 8 is all about this. A linking word is never wrong just because it is small or simple. And, but and so are good, strong bridges that careful writers use every day. In this band we call these words linking words. Your teacher may call some of them joining words or connectives. The job is the same.

1. Read the first idea on its own.
2. Read the second idea on its own.
3. Look at the gap between them. Is there a linking word?
4. If there is, ask what it tells the reader: one more thing, a turn, the reason, what happened, the next step or an example.
5. Check that it tells the truth. Does a turn really come after but?
6. If there is no linking word, ask whether the reader has to guess.
7. If the reader would guess wrong, add the bridge that fits.
8. If the order already tells the story, leave the gap as it is.
9. Read both ideas aloud with the bridge in place. Does the sentence now say what really happened?

• It rained, so Aarav stayed in.
• Diya was tired, but the story was too good to stop.
• Kabir fed the goat because it was hungry.
• Grace likes painting, and Tom likes clay.
• Oliver packed a bag. Then we set off for the beach.
• Kenji's garden is full of insects. For example, ants live under the steps.

• The shop was shut, so Ananya went home.
• Rahul ran fast, but the bus left anyway.
• Zara wore a coat because it was cold.
• Lily washed the plates. Then Jack dried them.
• Harry's school has a pool. It also has a big field.
• Sofia's town gets very cold. For example, the lake freezes in winter.

And, but, so: three little bridges

Each of the three little bridges has one job. Before you choose one, ask what the second idea does.

This is the Bridge Test in small: read the two ideas, name the link (add, turn or follow), then choose the word.

Watch one first idea take all three bridges. Each bridge needs a different second idea.

Now look at what happens when the bridge does not match.

The wrong bridge does not break the grammar. It breaks the meaning. The reader walks across expecting one thing and finds another.

Picture three bridges over the same river. The and bridge is straight and flat: you walk across and find more of the same on the far side. The but bridge has a sharp bend in it: you turn and find something unexpected. The so bridge slopes gently downhill: you roll across to what happened next. Before you step on, check which bridge you need.

And, but and so each belong to a bigger family. And is in the adding family with also and too, which you meet in section 5. But is in the turning family, which in Practice grows to include however. So is in the result family, which later includes therefore and as a result. Next, in section 3, you meet because, which gives the reason from the other direction.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. Sometimes the same two ideas can take and or but, and both are true. The choice depends on what the writer expects. "Priya is small, and Priya is fast." Two facts about Priya, side by side. "Priya is small, but Priya is fast." Now the writer is telling you a surprise: you might think a small runner is slow, and Priya is not. Both sentences are good English. The but sentence says one extra thing: that the second idea goes against what you might expect. So when you choose but, you are saying, "Expect one thing, get another." Use it when you mean that surprise. When there is no surprise, and is the plain, honest bridge. This is why the gap items in this section always make the link clear. When the second idea obviously adds, turns or follows, only one of the three bridges tells the truth.

Did you know that the sign &, called the ampersand, is really a word in disguise? Long ago, people writing in Latin used the word et, which means and. Writing quickly, they joined the e and the t together, and over time the joined letters turned into the curly shape you see today. So every time you see & on a shop sign, like "Sharma & Sons", you are looking at an old way of writing and. And is one of the most used words in the whole English language. A bridge that busy deserves its own sign.

And, but and so can start a sentence. "We waited an hour. But the bus never came." This is good English, and careful writers do it. Some teachers ask you not to do it in a formal essay; that is a class rule, and you can follow it there. And is not always a weak choice. When two ideas really are more of the same, and is exactly right. People sometimes use and loosely in speech, where it hides a result or a turn. In writing, choosing but or so makes the link clear.

1. Read the first idea and stop.
2. Read the second idea and ask what it does.
3. More of the same kind? Use and.
4. A surprise, going against the first idea? Use but.
5. Happens because of the first idea? Use so.
6. Check the direction: with so, the first idea must come first in time.
7. If you wrote but, ask: where is the turn? If you cannot point to it, use and.
8. Break a long chain of ands into bridges that show the real links.
9. Read the finished sentence aloud to hear if the bridge fits.
10. When two bridges seem to fit, ask which one tells the reader what you really mean.

• Priya plays the flute, and Sameer plays the drums.
• Arjun wanted to swim, but the pool was closed.
• The mangoes were ripe, so Dadi made a milkshake.
• Emily likes cats, but Noah is scared of them.
• Charlie forgot the umbrella, so we all got wet.
• Amara grows beans, and Kofi grows maize.

• Rhea likes mangoes, but Rhea likes grapes.
• Vikram was hungry, so Amma made dosa.
• Farhan's kite was new, but the string broke at once.
• Ruby read a book, and Sam drew a map.
• The pond froze, so Jack could not feed the ducks.
• Mateo's team lost, but the players smiled.

Because: giving the reason

Because and so join the same two facts from opposite ends.

In the Bridge Test you will name this link as the reason (because) or the result (so) before you choose the word.

Here are two facts: Rohan was late. The bus broke down. Watch every way they can be joined, and which ones tell the truth.

Three good sentences, two silly ones, and the same two facts in all of them. The words did not change much. The direction did. Before you choose because or so, find the reason. Then point the bridge at it.

Picture because as an arrow that points backwards, from what happened to its reason: "We stayed in because it rained" - the arrow points back at the rain. Picture so as an arrow that points forwards, from the reason to what happened: "It rained, so we stayed in" - the arrow points on to staying in. Both arrows must point to the right fact.

Because and so are the first members of two families. In Practice the reason family grows to include since and as, and the result family grows to include therefore, as a result and that is why. The question stays the same: is this the reason or the result? Chapter 10, Clauses and Conjunctions, shows how because joins a reason to a sentence in grammar terms.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. Sometimes both facts could be a reason, and you must think about the world to know which one is. "The grass is wet because it rained." Rain makes grass wet. Good. "It rained because the grass is wet." Wet grass does not make rain. Silly. But look at this pair: "Tara is tired because Tara ran a race." Running makes you tired. Good. "Tara ran slowly because Tara was tired." Being tired makes you slow. Also good. Here tired is the result in the first sentence and the reason in the second. The same idea can be a reason in one sentence and a result in another. What decides it is not the word, but what made what happen. So every time you write because, stop and ask: did this really cause that? If you can say "this made that happen", the order is right.

Did you know that because is really two small words squeezed into one? Long ago, people said "by cause", meaning "by reason of". "We stayed in by cause of the rain." Over hundreds of years the two words ran together and the spelling changed, until by cause became because. That is why the word cause still sits inside it. Look: be-cause. Every time you write it, you are saying "here comes the cause". Some people shorten it when they chat or text, to cos or cuz. In careful writing, the full word is best.

Because can come in the middle or at the start: "We stayed in because it rained" and "Because it rained, we stayed in" are both good English. Some teachers like young writers to keep because in the middle; that is a class habit, not a grammar rule. Use one bridge for one link. "Because it rained, so we stayed in" has two; keep one of them. Chapter 10 looks at this pattern closely. In chat and texts, people write cos or cuz. In a story, a letter or a test answer, write because.

1. Find the two facts.
2. Ask: which one made the other happen? That is the reason.
3. To answer why, put the reason after because.
4. To say what happened, put the reason first, then so, then the result.
5. Use one bridge, because or so, not both.
6. Read the sentence and ask: did this really make that happen?
7. If the sentence sounds silly, swap the two facts round the bridge.
8. Check that something real comes after because: a reason, not a gap.
9. Try the sentence both ways, once with because and once with so, and keep the one that reads best.

• Aditi stayed in because it rained.
• It rained, so Aditi stayed in.
• Neha is smiling because the lost kitten came home.
• Oscar wore wellies because the field was muddy.
• The field was muddy, so Ella wore wellies.
• Yuki's plant died because nobody watered it.

• Rohan was late because the bus broke down.
• The bus broke down because Rohan was late.
• The bus broke down, so Rohan was late.
• Mia laughed because the puppy sneezed.
• Harry's hands were cold, so Harry put on gloves.
• Carlos ran inside because the thunder was loud.

First, then, next, finally

Time words tell the reader when each step happens. Each one has a place in the list.

In the Bridge Test, this link is called time: what came next. Name it first, then choose the time word that fits the step's place.

Then, next and after that are good friends. In the middle of the steps, any of them can do the job. Finally is different: it can only go on the last step.

A reader who sees finally stops expecting more. Then another step arrives, and the reader is confused. Here is the fixed list:

"First, fill a bucket with soapy water. Then scrub the bike with a sponge. Next, rinse off the soap. Finally, dry the bike with a cloth."

Notice that the words in the middle changed, but the steps did not. The time words must match the real order of the steps.

Picture a row of stepping stones across a stream. The first stone has a sign: first. The middle stones have signs that say then, next and after that. The last stone, the one touching the far bank, has a sign that says finally. If you put the finally sign on a middle stone, a walker would think they had arrived and step into the water.

First, then, next and finally are the first members of the time family. In Practice you will meet more: meanwhile for things happening at the same time, afterwards and later for things after, and at last for something that comes after a long wait. In section 9 you will use time words to tell a little story, with one but for the problem.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. Finally and at last can both come at the end, but they do not mean quite the same thing. "First, mix the flour. Then add the eggs. Finally, bake the cake." Finally simply means the last step in the list. "We waited and waited for the bus. At last it came." At last tells the reader there was a long, tiring wait before it. So you would not usually write, "First, wash your hands. At last, dry them." Nobody waits a long time for drying. Finally fits better there. There is one more trick. Then and next can swap in the middle of a list, and both are right. "First, fold the paper. Then cut it." and "First, fold the paper. Next, cut it." say the same thing. When two words both fit, neither is wrong. What matters is that each step sits in its real place.

Did you know that many recipes and instruction leaflets do not use the words first, then and finally at all? Instead, they number the steps: 1, 2, 3, 4. Look at the back of a noodle packet or the leaflet in a box of building bricks. The numbers do the job of the time words. Step 1 is first. The last number is finally. Pictures can do it too. Some instructions show a row of drawings with arrows between them, and no words at all. So time words are one way to show order among several. When you write in sentences, though, the time words carry the reader from step to step, just as the numbers do on a list.

Then, next and after that do the same job in the middle of a list. When two of them fit, both are right, and you can choose the one that sounds best. You do not need a time word on every step. In a short list, the order can speak for itself. Section 8 shows when no linking word is needed. Finally can also mean after a long wait in speech: "Finally, you are here!" In a list of steps, keep it for the last one. Some writers say firstly instead of first. Both are good English.

1. Picture doing the task, step by step.
2. Put the steps in the order they really happen.
3. Start the list with first.
4. Use then, next or after that for the middle steps.
5. Mix the middle words so every step does not start the same way.
6. Keep finally for the very last step.
7. Use first only once, and finally only once.
8. Read the steps aloud and check that each one can really happen in that order.
9. If the list is short and clear, try it with fewer time words.
10. Ask a friend to follow your steps exactly, and watch for any step that comes too early.

• First, Anjali buttered the bread.
• Then Rahul laid cucumber slices on top.
• Next, Zoya added a pinch of salt.
• After that, Ollie put the second slice on.
• Finally, Grace cut the sandwich into triangles.
• Lucia dug a hole first. Then the seed went in.

• First, Kavya filled the bucket.
• Finally, Kavya soaped the car, and the rinsing was still to come.
• After that, Kavya rinsed the car.
• Next, Poppy pressed the seeds into the pot.
• Then Poppy watered the seeds gently.
• Finally, after a week, Hana saw a green shoot.

Also and too: one more thing

Also and too add one more point. They tell the reader the second idea is more of the same kind.

In the Bridge Test this link is called adding: one more point. Name it, and also or too will fit.

Here is one child's news, first with no adding words, then with them.

"Rohit has a new puppy. Rohit has a new kitten. Rohit has a new fish tank."

The reader hears three separate facts. They might think each one is a surprise. Now:

"Rohit has a new puppy. Rohit also has a new kitten, and a fish tank too."

The adding words turn three flat facts into one piece of news that grows. The reader feels the list building up.

Now try to add a fact that turns: "Rohit has a new puppy. Rohit also has no garden." It sounds strange. No garden is a problem for a puppy, not one more nice thing. That fact needs but: "Rohit has a new puppy, but there is no garden."

Picture a basket being filled. Each time you say also or too, you drop one more thing of the same kind into it: one more fruit, one more game, one more friend. The basket only takes things that belong together. If you try to drop in something that goes the other way, like a thing you dislike, the basket will not take it. That idea needs the but bridge instead.

Also and too are the smallest members of the adding family. In Practice the family grows: as well, in addition, besides and what is more, and the formal moreover. They all say the same thing: one more point of the same kind. Next, in section 6, you meet for example, which does a different job. It does not add a new point. It shows one case of the point you already made.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. Too can add in two different ways, depending on what it follows. "Zoya likes mangoes. Zoya likes grapes too." Too adds one more fruit that Zoya likes. "Zoya likes mangoes. Kabir likes them too." Too adds one more person who likes mangoes. In both, too says "one more of the same kind". What is the same is different each time: the same person with a new fruit, or the same fruit with a new person. Now look at negatives. "I don't like coffee. I don't like tea either." When both ideas say no, many writers use either instead of too. "I don't like tea too" is heard in speech, but in careful writing, either is the usual word after a no. So too and also add, but they need both ideas to point the same way. Two likes, or two dislikes, can join. A like and a dislike need but.

Did you know that too has two sound-alike twins? To, too and two all sound exactly the same when you say them aloud. Words like this are called homophones. To shows direction ("go to school"), two is the number 2, and too means also ("I want some too") or more than enough ("too hot"). Here is a trick to remember the adding one: too has one more o than to. It has an extra letter added on, just as it adds one more thing to your sentence. Also has a story too. Long ago it was two old English words meaning all so, which squeezed together into the one word we use today.

Also can start a sentence: "Also, I want to thank my teacher." This is common and correct, especially in speech and in Indian English. Some writers prefer it in the middle; both are fine. Too can sit just after the person as well as at the end: "I too can swim" and "I can swim too" are both good English. After a no, careful writers usually use either, not too: "I can't swim either." And, also and too all add. When two ideas simply sit together, and may be enough on its own.

1. Read the first idea and the second idea.
2. Ask: is the second idea one more of the same kind?
3. If yes, add also before the doing word, or too at the end.
4. Use one adding word, not also and too together.
5. If the second idea turns the other way, use but instead.
6. If the second idea happened because of the first, use so instead.
7. After a no, try either instead of too.
8. Mix also, too and and so the same word does not repeat on every line.
9. Read the pair aloud and ask: do both ideas point the same way? If not, change the bridge.

• Meera can swim. Meera can also ride a bike.
• Irfan likes kulfi. Nandini likes kulfi too.
• Our school has a garden. It also has a small pond.
• Jack plays the piano. Jack sings too.
• Amelia brought sandwiches. Amelia also brought apples.
• Sipho has a red kite. Thandi has one too.

• I like tea. I also don't like coffee.
• Pooja drew a tiger. Pooja also drew a peacock.
• Aman's dog can sit. It can shake hands too.
• Leo was cold. Leo was also hungry.
• Ella packed a torch, and a map too.
• Diego speaks Spanish. Diego speaks English too.

For example: showing what you mean

An example is one case of a bigger idea. Two linkers bring one in.

Soon you will meet the Bridge Test: name the link first, then choose the word. When the link is "one case of the idea", the word is "for example" or "such as".

Watch one writer, Ishita, check three examples before using them.

The big idea: "Our school has lots of clubs."

The finished lines: "Our school has lots of clubs, such as music, art and chess. For example, the chess club meets every Friday."

Notice two things. First, the samosas were true and even interesting, but they did not belong to the idea, so they stayed out. Second, "such as" sat inside the sentence, right before the names of the clubs, while "for example" began a whole new sentence. Both show one case. They just stand in different places.

Picture the big idea as a basket with a label tied to it: "Things that are red". Each example is a thing you drop in. A tomato drops in and sits happily. A cucumber bounces straight back out, because it does not match the label. "For example" is your hand lifting the next thing towards the basket. Only drop in what fits the label.

In Practice you will meet a friend of "for example": "for instance", which does the same job. You will also learn exactly where "such as" can go and where it cannot, and meet "e.g." in notes. In Craft, examples will help you explain an idea in a paragraph, so the reader sees what you mean instead of just hearing it.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. An example can be true and still not fit. "Many animals live in water. For example, frogs lay eggs." Frogs do lay eggs. That is true. But the idea was about living in water, and the example talks about eggs. The reader wanted a case of living in water and got something else. Now look at this one: "Many animals live in water. For example, frogs spend a lot of time in ponds." Now the example matches the idea. Same frog, different sentence. And here is another puzzle. "Some fruits are sweet. For example, lemons." A lemon is a fruit, but it is sour. It is a case of fruit, but not a case of sweet fruit. Look at every word in the idea, not just one of them. So the check is not "is this sentence true?" It is "is this a case of the whole idea, every part of it?" Hold the example up to every word on the label.

Did you know that the short form "e.g." comes from Latin? It stands for "exempli gratia", which means "for the sake of an example". People who write notes quickly use it instead of "for example": "Bring fruit, e.g. apples." Most people read it aloud as "for example", though some say the letters. It is mainly a shortcut for writing. Latin gave English a lot of these tiny short forms. Another one, "etc.", means "and the rest". So a note that says "fruit, e.g. apples, bananas, etc." is using two Latin shortcuts in one line. In stories and letters, most writers spell out "for example".

"For example" and "such as" both show one case. Neither is more correct than the other; they just stand in different places. "For example" can start a new sentence, and "such as" sits inside a sentence before names of things. "For instance" means the same as "for example". You will meet it in Practice. "Like" is often used the same way in everyday writing: "fruits like mangoes". Many writers use it, and it is fine in a chat or a story. An example does not have to be long. "For example, bats do." is a complete example.

1. Say the big idea first, then show the example.
2. Ask: is the next thing one case of the idea?
3. Check every word of the idea, not just one: sweet fruit, not just fruit.
4. Use "for example" to start a new sentence.
5. Use "such as" inside a sentence, before the names of things.
6. Leave out an example that is true but about something else.
7. For a new point, use "also", not "for example".
8. One good example is better than three that do not fit.

• Aarav's garden gets many birds. For example, a mynah comes every morning.
• Nani makes sweets for every festival. For example, she makes laddoos at Diwali.
• Ishaan's school bag holds things such as books, pencils and a water bottle.
• Oliver learnt that some animals sleep in the day. For example, bats do.
• Grace can play instruments such as the piano and the drums.
• Kenji likes many kinds of noodles. For example, udon is a favourite.

• Rhea's box holds shells such as cowries and conches.
• Kabir says many festivals have lights. For example, Diwali has rows of lamps.
• Zoya likes green things. For example, Zoya has a red ball.
• Harry's street has lots of shops. For example, there is a bakery on the corner.
• Lily likes animals that swim, such as seals and ducks.
• Amara's school has clubs for everything. For example, there is a chess club.

The Bridge Test

One test chooses the linking word at any gap. Run it in four steps.

This is the chapter's test. Every section from here on uses it.

Here is the Bridge Test run at every gap in one short message from Sara to a friend.

"I went to the market. I wanted mangoes. The mango stall was shut. I bought bananas. I came home."

The finished message: "I went to the market because I wanted mangoes. But the mango stall was shut, so I bought bananas. I came home."

Notice two things. First, each gap got a different word, because each gap had a different link. Second, the last gap got no word at all. Buying and then coming home is already in order, so the reader needs no bridge there. The test does not ask how many linking words you can use. It asks what each gap needs.

Picture a row of little islands, one idea on each. Between every two islands is a river. You carry a bag of bridges, and each bridge has a name painted on it: and, but, so, because, then, for example. At each river you look across, name the road you need, and lay down the bridge with that name. Where two islands already touch, you walk straight across.

The Bridge Test grows with you. In Practice you will add new bridges for each link: "however" for a turn, "therefore" for a result, "in addition" for one more thing, and "in short" for the end, when you sum up. The test stays the same: name the link, then choose the word. In Craft you will use it on whole paragraphs, and find links made by words like "this" and "such".

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. The same two facts can have different links, depending on what you mean. "Priya studied hard. Priya passed the test." Studying led to passing. The link is a result: "Priya studied hard, so Priya passed the test." "Priya studied hard. Priya failed the test." Now the second idea goes against what you expected. The link is a turn: "Priya studied hard, but Priya failed the test." And look at this pair, where one gap can take two words, depending on which way round you say it: "We stayed in because it rained." (reason after) "It rained, so we stayed in." (result after) Both are right. The facts are the same, but the order has changed, so the word changes too. So the test is not about the sentences on their own. It is about what the writer means by putting them side by side. Read both ideas, ask how they are linked, and let the link choose the word.

Did you know that the word "transition" is itself a little bridge? It comes from a Latin word that means "to go across". A transition is a word or phrase that carries the reader across from one idea to the next, just as a bridge carries you across a river. People who study writing call "and", "but", "so", "because" and "then" transitions, or linking words. They all do the same job: they tell the reader what kind of step is coming. That is why this test is called the Bridge Test. Before you build a bridge, you look at where the road goes on the other side.

The Bridge Test is a meaning test. It checks that a linking word names the real link between two ideas. More than one word can name the same link. "So" and "that is why" both show a result. You will meet many more in Practice, and each one can be right. Some gaps need no word at all, because the order already shows the link. That is not a mistake; it is a choice. If you are not sure what the link is, say both ideas aloud and ask: why? what next? what else? what went the other way?

1. Read both ideas before you choose any word.
2. Name the link first: one more thing, a turn, a reason, a result, next in time or an example.
3. Choose the word that names exactly that link.
4. Use "but" only when something goes the other way.
5. Check which idea is the reason and which is the result.
6. Use "for example" only for one case of the idea, not a new point.
7. Leave the word out when the order already shows the link.
8. Give a reason for every linking word you keep.

• Riya was sleepy, so the story stopped at page ten.
• Arjun likes cricket, but Meena likes football.
• Dadi smiled because the parcel had come.
• Jack washed the bowl. Then the dog got its dinner.
• Emily can skip. Emily can also swim.
• Luca's town has old bridges. For example, one is five hundred years old.

• Kavya lost the pencil, but Kavya found it under the bed.
• The rain stopped. Farhan ran out to play.
• Neel was thirsty, but Neel drank some water.
• Ruby's cake burnt because the oven was too hot.
• Sam packed a bag. Next, Sam put on some shoes.
• Nia finished the puzzle, so Nia's sister clapped.

When no link is needed

Some gaps need a linking word. Some do not. The order decides.

This is step 4 of the Bridge Test: name the link, and if the order already shows it, leave the word out.

Here is a short diary entry by Kiran, first with a linking word at every gap, then after the Bridge Test.

"I got up, and then I had a bath, and then I ate idli, and then I wanted to play cricket, and then it started to rain, and then I read a comic."

The finished entry: "I got up. I had a bath. I ate idli. I wanted to play cricket, but it started to rain, so I read a comic."

Notice two things. First, five "and then"s went, and the reader lost nothing, because the order still shows the time. Second, "but" and "so" stayed. They carry the only turn in the story and what came of it. With no other words around them, the reader feels the rain spoil the day.

Picture a line of children walking in single file. Nobody needs a sign saying "next": you can see who comes after whom. Now picture one child suddenly turning left while everyone else goes right. That child needs a sign that says "but". Time order walks in single file. A turn or a reason needs a sign.

In Craft you will meet this idea again as a problem with a name: overuse. A paragraph where every sentence starts with a linking word feels stitched rather than smooth. In Master you will see that readers fill in many links for themselves, like a result, "The monsoon failed. Prices rose.", and you will learn when such an unwritten link is safe and when it could be misread.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. The same two sentences can need a word in one story and not in another. "Rohan opened the box. It was empty." If Rohan expected a present, the empty box is a turn, and "but" helps: "Rohan opened the box, but it was empty." The reader feels the surprise. "Rohan opened the box. It was full of toys." Here the second sentence just tells what Rohan found next. No word is needed. And look at "then". One "then" in a story is fine. It can mark a small jump in time: "We ate lunch. Then we went to the river." Five "then"s in a row are not wrong, but they wear the reader out. So the question is not "is there a linking word?" It is "does this gap need one?" Read the two sentences and ask: would the reader follow without a word, or would they miss a turn or a reason? Only then decide.

Did you know that comic strips tell whole stories with almost no linking words? In a comic, each picture sits in its own box, called a panel. The white space between two panels has a name: the gutter. Nothing is drawn there, and no word says "then" or "next". Yet readers of every age follow the story, because the order of the panels shows what happened next. Your sentences work the same way. When they come in the order things happened, the reader walks across the gutter without help. A comic still uses words when the story turns: a thought bubble that says "Oh no!" or a caption that says "But the next day...".

Using a linking word where the order already shows the link is not wrong. "I woke up. Then I brushed my teeth." is perfectly good English. Leaving it out is a style choice, to keep writing smooth. One or two time words in a story help the reader, especially "then" or "after that" when time jumps. Turns and reasons usually need their word, because the reader cannot always guess them. When you are not sure, read the gap aloud without the word. If a friend would still follow, the word can go.

1. Read the two sentences aloud with no linking word.
2. Ask: does the order already show what came next?
3. If it does, you can leave the word out.
4. If the second idea goes the other way, keep "but".
5. If the second idea gives the reason, keep "because".
6. Use one "then" where time jumps, not before every step.
7. Change a chain of "and then" into short sentences in order.
8. Remember that leaving out a word the order already shows is a choice, not a mistake.

• Diya opened the box. Inside was a tiny puppy.
• Kunal got up and then washed and then ate and then left.
• Nani lit the lamp. The room glowed.
• Ben planted a seed. Ben watered it every day. A green shoot came up.
• Chloe ran fast, but Chloe missed the bus.
• Omar sat down. The film began.

• Aditi packed a bag. Aditi walked to the station.
• Sameer liked the film because it was funny.
• Tara knocked. The door opened.
• George was tired, but George kept walking.
• Holly washed the cup. Holly dried it. Holly put it away.
• Yuki heard a scratch. A cat was at the window.

A little story in order

A little story has a beginning, a middle with a problem, and an end. Small words carry the reader through.

This is the Bridge Test at work: at each gap, name the link. In a story, most links are time, and one is a turn.

Here is a story by Priyanka that jumps, and the same story put in order.

"The cat was on the cupboard. I made a paper boat. I looked everywhere. The boat was gone. I put it on the table."

The finished story: "One afternoon I made a paper boat. Then I put it on the table. But the boat was gone. I looked everywhere. At last I saw the cat on the cupboard, with my boat."

Notice two things. First, the biggest change was the order. The same five facts, put in the order they happened, already read better. Second, only four small words were added. "I looked everywhere" needed no word at all, because the order showed it came next.

Picture a story as a string of beads. Each bead is one thing that happened. Time words are the knots that keep the beads in order: one morning, first, then, at last. The "but" is one bright red bead in the middle, the problem, which makes everyone look. If the beads are threaded in the wrong order, the necklace tells a different story.

In Practice you will meet more time words, like "meanwhile" for two things at the same time and "afterwards" for later. In Craft you will learn how longer stories move between places and times: "Three years later", "Back in the village", "Meanwhile, in Delhi". The idea stays the same: time words walk, and a turn brings the problem.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. "At last" and "finally" can both end a story, but they do not feel quite the same. "At last I found it on the roof." "At last" tells the reader there was a long wait or a long search. You can feel the relief. "Finally, I put the lid on the box." "Finally" can simply mean the last step, with no waiting at all, like the last step in making a sandwich. Both are fine at the end of Arjun's story, because Arjun searched for a long time. And here is another puzzle. "Then" and "but" can both come in the middle of a story. "Then" says the next thing happened. "But" says the next thing went against what we hoped. "Then I asked Nani. Nani had not seen it." is flat. "Then I asked Nani. But Nani had not seen it." makes the reader feel the problem. So ask two questions at each gap. What came next? And did it go the way we hoped?

Did you know that many languages have their own way to start a fairy tale? In English it is "Once upon a time". In Hindi, many stories begin "Ek baar ki baat hai", which means something like "This is about one time". In German, fairy tales often start "Es war einmal", "Once there was". Every one of them is a time word. It tells the listener: a story is starting, and it happened at some time, not here and now. Many stories also have a set ending. In English it is "And they all lived happily ever after." Time words open the gate, and time words close it.

There is no one right number of time words. A story with just "one morning", one "but" and "at last" can be very clear. "At last", "in the end" and "finally" can all end a story. "At last" hints at a long wait. "Once upon a time" suits a fairy tale. For a true story about your day, "one morning" or "yesterday" sounds more natural. A story can have more than one problem. But for a little story, one "but" is enough.

1. Put the steps in the order they happened.
2. Start with a time word that says when: one morning, one day, once upon a time.
3. Use first, then or next where the reader needs help to follow the steps.
4. Bring in the problem with one "but".
5. End with at last, in the end or finally.
6. Keep "at last" for the end, never the middle.
7. Leave the word out where the order already shows the next step.
8. Read the story aloud: can a friend follow every step?

• One morning Arjun's kite went missing.
• First Priya looked under the bed.
• Then Nani checked the cupboard.
• But Harry's torch showed nothing.
• At last Sophie found the key in a shoe.
• The next day Mateo told the whole class.

• Once upon a time, a tiny ant lived in Meena's garden.
• After lunch, Kiran and Dev built a sandcastle.
• But a big wave knocked over Rohan's tower.
• Soon Emma's boat was ready to sail.
• In the end, Jack and Ellie shared the prize.
• That night, Amara looked up at the stars.

First mixed review

Everything from Discover, in one test. Run it at every gap.

One test, every gap. That is the whole of Discover.

Here is a short note from Harsh to a cousin, with the Bridge Test run at every gap.

"Last Sunday we went to the zoo. We wanted to see the tigers. They were asleep. We watched the monkeys. The monkeys were very funny. One stole a boy's cap. We laughed a lot. We went home."

The finished note: "Last Sunday we went to the zoo because we wanted to see the tigers. But they were asleep, so we watched the monkeys. The monkeys were very funny. For example, one stole a boy's cap. We laughed a lot. At last we went home."

Notice two things. First, six gaps had six different links, and each got its own word, or none. Second, the note did not get longer in a bad way: every word added tells the reader something they need.

Picture a toolbox with seven small drawers, each with a label: one more thing, a turn, a reason, a result, time, an example, and an empty drawer labelled "no word needed". At each gap you name the link, open the drawer with that label, and take out the word. You never grab a word from the wrong drawer just because it is shiny.

Practice opens the toolbox wider. For one more thing you will meet "in addition" and "moreover". For a turn, "however" and "on the other hand". For a result, "therefore" and "as a result". And there is a new drawer: summing up, with "in short" and "overall". The test does not change: name the link, then choose the word.

Here is a hard one, and it is fine to find it hard. Some gaps can take more than one right word, and some pairs of words look alike but name different links. "So" and "because" both deal with reasons and results, but they face opposite ways. "It rained, so we stayed in." The result comes after "so". "We stayed in because it rained." The reason comes after "because". Change the order of the ideas and the word must change too. "And" and "also" both add one more thing. "Asha can swim, and Asha can dive." "Asha can swim. Asha can also dive." Both are right. Neither is better. "Then" and no word at all can both be right in a story. "We ate. Then we played." "We ate. We played." Both are clear; the second is lighter. So when two words both seem to fit, name the link first. If they name the same link, either is fine. If they name different links, only one of them tells the truth about the two ideas.

Did you know that "and" is one of the most common words in English? Look at almost any page of a story and you will find it again and again. It is so useful that young writers often join every idea with it: "and then... and then... and then...". That is not a mistake. It is how many children tell stories out loud, and how many old stories were told too. Many verses in the King James Bible, printed in 1611, begin with "And". The skill you have been building is knowing when "and" is the right bridge, when a different word names the link better, and when no word is needed at all.

More than one word can name the same link. "And" and "also" both add. "Then" and "next" both move on in time. Either is right. Leaving a linking word out where the order shows the link is a choice, not a rule. Putting one in is not wrong. Starting a sentence with "But" or "And" is standard English. You will look at it more closely in Practice. If you cannot name the link, read the two ideas aloud and ask: what else? why? what happened? what went the other way? what came next?

1. Stop at every gap and read both ideas.
2. Name the link before you choose a word.
3. Use and, also or too for one more thing.
4. Use but only for a real turn.
5. Check which idea is the reason and which is the result.
6. Use first, then and at last to move through time, and keep at last for the end.
7. Use for example only for one case of the idea.
8. Leave the word out when the order already shows the link.
9. Read the finished text aloud and give a reason for every linking word.

• Ravi flew a kite, and Asha played marbles.
• Sneha was late because the bus broke down.
• Karan was hungry, so Dadi made parathas.
• Mia wanted to swim, but the pool was shut.
• Noah learnt that some birds cannot fly. For example, the kiwi cannot.
• Ayo washed the rice. Then Ayo put it on the stove.

• Isha brushed. Isha went to bed.
• Pranav can draw. Pranav can also paint.
• Lakshmi's team lost, but the team still cheered.
• Oscar was cold, so Oscar put on a coat.
• At last Ruby turned off the oven.
• Leila's shop sells fruit, such as figs and dates.

Building accuracy · ages 8–12

Adding more: also, in addition, moreover

An adding linker brings in one more point of the same kind. Every member of the family names the same relation; they differ in how formal they sound and where they sit.

This is step two of the Bridge Test: name the relation first. If it is adding, any word from this family names it, and your reader and your sentence pick the member.

The family members sit in different places in a sentence. Getting the place right makes the added point read smoothly.

Register is the other choice. In a text to a friend, also and too feel natural and moreover feels stiff. In a letter to a principal or a report for a council, in addition and moreover feel at home. None of them is wrong; the reader decides which fits.

Indian English formal writing often opens a sentence with Also or Moreover. Both are standard; a British or American reader may find a sentence-opening Also a little informal, and that is a matter of audience, not error.

Picture a stack of bricks. Each adding linker lays one more brick on top of the last, the same size and the same colour, so the wall grows straight up. Also and too are small bricks you lay by hand; in addition and moreover are bigger, more formal blocks. But if the next brick is a different shape, one that leans the other way, no adding linker can make it sit flat. That brick needs a different joint.

What happens when the second point does turn against the first? Then no adding linker will do, and you need the contrast family: but, however, although and on the other hand. That is the next section. Later in Practice, the wrong-relation section puts adding and contrast side by side, because However where also is meant is the chapter's commonest linking error.

Here is the hard case: deciding whether a second point is really of the same kind. Compare these two pairs. The new school bus is cheap. It is also quick. The new school bus is cheap. It is also always late. In the first, cheap and quick are both good points. They pull the same way, so also fits without any doubt. The second is harder. Cheap is a good point, and always late is a bad one. Many readers would expect a turn here: "It is cheap, but it is always late." Yet a careful writer listing plain facts about the bus, good and bad, might still write also, because both are facts about the same bus. So the choice depends on what the writer wants the reader to feel. The test is to ask what the paragraph is doing. If it argues that the bus is a good choice, a late bus turns the argument, and but names that turn. If it simply describes the bus, also can carry a second fact of any kind. That is why items in this section always make the direction clear. A pair where one point praises and the next complains is keyed as a turn only when the stem shows the writer is arguing one way.

Besides has two jobs. As an adding linker at the start of a sentence, it brings in an extra reason, often one that settles the matter: "We can't go to the fair tonight. Besides, it's raining." As a word inside a sentence, besides can mean 'apart from': "Nobody besides Arjun knew the answer." Only the first job is a link between ideas. What is more is a quiet surprise too. It looks like a question, but in writing it works like moreover, and it sounds a shade warmer. And too, the smallest of the family, likes the end of a sentence so much that people sometimes forget it can sit elsewhere. "I, too, was tired" is formal and standard; "I was tired too" is the everyday form.

This section treats adding linkers as words that link ideas. How and joins words and clauses inside a sentence belongs to Clauses and Conjunctions (ch10). The comma after In addition or Moreover at the start of a sentence belongs to Commas and Semicolons (ch16). Also at the start of a sentence ("Also, I wish to request...") is standard in Indian English and in speech, and nothing here keys it wrong. Choosing between also and moreover is a register choice; an item keys one over the other only when it names the reader.

1. Name the relation before you choose the word: is the second point of the same kind?
2. Use an adding linker only when the second point pulls the same way as the first.
3. Choose also, as well or too for everyday writing and messages.
4. Choose in addition or moreover for formal letters, reports and essays.
5. Put also before the main verb, and as well or too at the end of the sentence.
6. Use one adding word per point, never two on the same idea.
7. If the second point turns, gives a reason or shows a result, switch families.
8. Treat a sentence-opening Also as standard; choose it or avoid it by reader.

• Rohan's team won the quiz. The team also won the debate.
• The new bus route is cheaper. In addition, it stops outside the hospital.
• The stall sells hot dosas. It sells fresh lime soda as well.
• The footpath in Leeds is narrow. Moreover, it floods after heavy rain.
• The old stadium in Bristol was too small. Besides, its roof leaked.
• Kofi's bakery in Accra opens at dawn. What is more, it delivers to the whole street.

• The ward needs more streetlights. Moreover, the drains overflow each monsoon.
• Priya speaks Tamil and Hindi. Priya speaks some Bengali too.
• Also, I wish to request a copy of the timetable.
• The café by the harbour is quiet. It also serves the best tea in Cornwall.
• The test was easy. Moreover, half the class failed.
• The museum in Lima is free on Sundays. In addition, it lends out audio guides.

Contrast: but, however, although, on the other hand

A contrast linker marks a turn: the second idea goes against what the first led you to expect. The family members name the same relation but sit in different places.

This is step three of the Bridge Test: once you have named the relation as a contrast, choose the member of the family that fits the place in your sentence.

However is the most movable member. It can open the second sentence or sit inside it, and careful writers use both.

All three are standard. Choose by what you want the reader to meet first.

Although works differently. It does not link two sentences; it opens one half of a single sentence, and the other half carries the surprise: Although the test was hard, most of us passed. Because although already marks the turn, the other half needs no but. Clauses and Conjunctions (ch10) covers that pattern.

On the other hand is for two sides of a choice or a comparison: a hostel is cheap; on the other hand, a flat gives more space. It pairs well with on the one hand, but it does not need it.

Picture a road with a signpost. An adding linker is a sign that says: straight on. A contrast linker is a sign with a bent arrow: the road turns here. But and yet are small signs at the side of the road; however is a big sign at a junction; although is a sign you see before the bend. A bent-arrow sign on a straight road is worse than no sign, because the driver slows and turns the wheel for nothing.

What about a turn that is really a reason and its result? When one idea causes another, you need neither the adding family nor the contrast family, but the cause and result family: because, since, so, therefore and as a result. That is the next section. Craft returns to contrast later, with shades such as instead, whereas and nevertheless, which are not all the same turn.

Here is the hard case: telling a real turn from two facts that simply differ. Compare these two pairs. The hill was steep. However, Meera ran all the way up. The hill was steep. However, it was covered in flowers. In the first, steep makes you expect a slow climb or a walk. Running all the way up goes against that expectation, so the turn is real. The second is harder. Steep and covered in flowers are two different facts about the hill, but does the second go against the first? A steep hill does not make you expect no flowers. Some readers will feel a small turn from hard to pleasant; others will see only one more fact. When the turn is that faint, many careful writers prefer also, or no linker at all. The test is the question: what did the first idea make me expect? If the second idea breaks that expectation, the turn is real and a contrast word helps. If it only adds a different detail, the contrast word promises more than it delivers. This is why items in this section always make the expectation clear. A pair is keyed as a turn only when the first idea sets up an expectation and the second plainly breaks it.

Yet is one of the oldest words in the family, and it still does two jobs. As a contrast linker it means but, often with a note of surprise: "The desert is dry, yet many plants survive there." As a time word it means so far: "The bus hasn't come yet." Only the first job is a turn. However has a second life as well. In "However hard I try, I can't whistle," it means no matter how, and it is not a linker at all. That is why readers look at the words after however before deciding what it is doing. And on the other hand borrows from the body: one hand holds one side, the other hand holds the other. Writers use it most when weighing up a choice, which is exactly the picture it paints.

This section treats contrast words as links between ideas. How but and although work as conjunctions, and why Although ... but doubles the turn, belong to Clauses and Conjunctions (ch10). The full stop or semicolon before however between two full ideas belongs to Commas and Semicolons (ch16, S17 and S22); no item here asks about it. However at the start, inside or at the end of a sentence is standard in every position. Starting a sentence with But is also standard; a later section in Practice looks at it.

1. Ask what the first idea made you expect before you choose a contrast word.
2. Use a contrast linker only when the second idea goes against that expectation.
3. Use but or yet to join the two halves of one sentence.
4. Use however to link two sentences; put it at the start or inside, as you prefer.
5. Use although to open one half of a single sentence, and leave but out of the other half.
6. Use on the other hand for the other side of a choice or comparison.
7. If the second idea is a result, an example or more of the same, switch families.
8. Leave the commas and semicolons round however to ch16.

• The maths test in Pune was hard. However, most of us passed.
• Although the monsoon was late, the farmers in Nashik had a good harvest.
• The Rajdhani was crowded, but we found two seats together.
• Living in London is exciting. On the other hand, it is expensive.
• Rain fell all afternoon in Glasgow. Most of the crowd, however, stayed for the prizes.
• The desert in Namibia is very dry, yet many plants survive there.

• Kavya wanted to join the trek. On the other hand, the exams were a week away.
• The shop in Chandni Chowk was tiny, but it had every spice we needed.
• Dev loves cricket. However, Dev plays it every evening.
• The ferry to Dublin left late. We made the concert, however.
• Although Hannah had never cooked a curry before, the dish was a success.
• Tokyo is enormous. However, its trains run to the minute.

Cause and result: because, so, therefore, as a result

Cause and result linkers connect an event with the reason for it. The two groups point in opposite directions.

Same facts, two directions. After a cause word comes the reason; after a result word comes the result.

This is step two of the Bridge Test: name the relation. Ask which idea is the reason and which is the result, then choose a word that points from one to the other the right way.

Within each group the words name the same relation. They differ in how formal they sound and where they sit.

So, therefore and as a result are all standard. In a science answer or a report, therefore and as a result feel at home; in a message or a story, so reads naturally. Indian English formal writing also uses hence and thus here, and both are standard.

Since and as have second meanings: since can mean from a time (since Monday), and as can mean while or like. When the reason is the point, because is the clearest choice. Clauses and Conjunctions (ch10, S21) shows how these words join clauses.

Picture two dominoes. The first one falls and knocks the second. The cause is the first domino, and the result is the second. Because is a label you stick on the first domino, saying 'this one started it'. So and therefore are labels on the second, saying 'this one fell next'. Stick the labels on the wrong dominoes and the picture shows the second one knocking over the first, which never happens.

What about when the second idea is not a reason or a result, but one case of the first? A sentence such as "Many festivals have lights" invites a single case to show what you mean. For that you need the example family: for example, for instance and such as. That is the next section. Later in Practice, the wrong-relation section returns to Therefore with no cause, one of the commonest linking errors.

Here is the hard case: two events that come one after the other but where one does not cause the other. Compare these two pairs. The power went off. As a result, the fans stopped. The power went off. As a result, my cousin phoned. In the first, the power cut makes the fans stop. One event causes the other, so as a result is exactly right. The second is harder. The phone call came after the power cut, and it may even have been about it. But did the power cut cause it? Unless the sentence tells us the cousin was ringing about the cut, the reader cannot see a cause. The events are simply in time order, and the natural link is then or later. This is a trap for careful thinkers as well as writers. Coming after is not the same as being caused by. A result linker makes a claim: this happened because of that. Use one only when the cause is real and the reader can see it. That is why items in this section always make the cause plain. A result linker is keyed right only when the first event clearly brings about the second.

Therefore has a curious history. It is built from there and for, and it once meant for that reason, which is still exactly what it says. Mathematicians even have a symbol for it: three dots in a triangle, used in proofs to mean 'so it follows that'. Because began as two words too: by cause, meaning for the reason that. And that is why is the spoken cousin of therefore. Many people use it without noticing it has three words doing the job of one. In a speech or a story it lands with a satisfying click: "The shop had no sugar. That is why the kheer never got made."

This section treats because, since, so and therefore as links between ideas. How because and since join a clause to a sentence, and why Because ... so doubles the link, belong to Clauses and Conjunctions (ch10, S21 and S29). The comma or semicolon round therefore belongs to Commas and Semicolons (ch16); no item here asks about it. So, therefore, thus and hence are all standard; an item keys one over another only when it names the reader or the register.

1. Name which idea is the reason and which is the result before you choose a linker.
2. Put because, since or as in front of the reason.
3. Put so, therefore, as a result or that is why in front of the result.
4. Check that the arrow runs the way the events really went.
5. Use a result linker only when the first event really causes the second.
6. Use one arrow per link, not a because and a so on the same pair.
7. Choose so for everyday writing and therefore or as a result for formal writing.
8. Prefer because when since could be read as a time word.

• The trains to Jaipur were cancelled, so the Mehtas drove there instead.
• We stayed indoors because the air in Delhi was thick with smoke.
• The river rose after three days of rain. As a result, the village school closed.
• Since the library in Oxford was shut, we revised in the park.
• The council cut the evening bus. Therefore, many pupils now cycle home.
• No rain fell on the Mwangi family's farm in March. That is why the maize crop was small.

• The water tank was cleaned on Sunday. Hence, the supply was off for a day.
• As the exam starts at nine, Vikram left home at seven.
• I was late for the match. Therefore, the bus broke down.
• The kettle in the staff room broke, so we drank cold water all week.
• The match in Cardiff was called off because the pitch was flooded.
• The road to the market in Hanoi was closed. As a result, Linh walked the long way.

Examples: for example, for instance, such as

An example linker brings in one case of a bigger idea. The family members name the same relation but take different things after them.

This is step three of the Bridge Test: once you know the relation is an example, pick the word that fits what comes next, a sentence or a noun.

For example is the most flexible member. It can open the sentence, sit inside it, or come before a noun.

Such as sits inside the sentence, right before the noun it introduces: hill towns such as Shimla and Darjeeling. It never opens a sentence of its own, and it never has a full sentence after it.

Like before examples (street foods like pani puri and vada pav) is standard in everyday writing and speech. Some formal writers prefer such as, but that is a choice of register, not a rule.

E.g. is short for a Latin phrase meaning for example. It belongs in notes, lists and brackets. In a flowing essay sentence, for example reads better. Do not confuse it with i.e., which means that is and introduces a restatement, not an example.

Picture a big umbrella with a label on it: sweet fruits, say, or festivals of light. An example linker is a hand that reaches under the umbrella and pulls out one thing to show you: a mango, or Diwali. The thing must really come from under that umbrella. If the hand pulls out something from somewhere else, such as a bicycle, the reader stares at it and wonders why it is there.

What happens at the end of a piece, when you want to gather everything you have said rather than show one case of it? Then you need the summing-up family: in short, overall, to sum up and in conclusion. That is the next section. You will see that summing up is almost the opposite of giving an example: an example zooms in, and a summary zooms out.

Here is the hard case: an example that is true but does not belong to the idea before it. Compare these two pairs. Some birds cannot fly. For example, ostriches cannot. Some birds cannot fly. For example, penguins swim very fast. In the first, ostriches are one case of birds that cannot fly. The example sits neatly under the bigger idea. The second is harder, because every word of it is true. Penguins cannot fly, and they do swim fast. But the sentence after For example talks about swimming, not about being unable to fly. The reader has to work out the connection alone. The example is a fact about the right bird, pointed at the wrong idea. The test is to put the example back under the umbrella. Say the bigger idea, then say the example as a case of it: 'Some birds cannot fly - penguins cannot fly.' If the example sentence does not repeat or echo the idea, it is not doing an example's job. The fix is often small: "For example, penguins cannot fly, though they swim very fast." Now the example belongs, and the extra fact rides along.

E.g. and i.e. are both short for Latin. E.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means for the sake of example. I.e. stands for id est, which means that is. Many adults mix them up, so knowing the difference puts you ahead. For instance has a history too. Instance once meant an urgent request, and only later came to mean a single case. And such as is a small pair with strict manners. It likes a noun straight after it, and it stays inside the sentence it belongs to. That is why careful writers can tell at a glance when it has been asked to carry a whole sentence: the grammar wobbles.

This section treats example linkers as links between ideas. The commas round for example inside a sentence belong to Commas and Semicolons (ch16); no item here asks about them. Like before examples is standard in everyday writing, and nothing here keys it wrong against such as. For example and for instance name the same relation and are never keyed against each other. Such as before a full sentence is keyed wrong because it breaks the sentence, not because of style.

1. Name the bigger idea before you give an example of it.
2. Check that the example is really one case of that idea.
3. Use for example or for instance before a full sentence.
4. Use such as only before a noun or a short list.
5. Keep such as inside the sentence; never open a sentence with it.
6. Use e.g. in notes and lists; write for example in flowing prose.
7. Keep i.e. for that is, never for an example.
8. Treat like before examples as standard in everyday writing.
9. Put the example straight after the idea it belongs to, so the reader can match them.
10. Choose one clear example over three weak ones.

• Many festivals have lights. For example, Diwali fills the streets with lamps.
• Festivals such as Onam and Pongal celebrate the harvest.
• Some birds fly very high. For instance, the bar-headed goose crosses the Himalayas.
• Some sports began in schools. Rugby, for example, is named after one.
• Pack a few warm things, such as a scarf and gloves, for the trip to York.
• Many Australian animals carry their young in a pouch. For example, kangaroos do.

• Trek kit for Manali: warm layers, dry snacks (e.g. nuts), a torch.
• Street foods like pani puri and vada pav cost very little in Mumbai.
• Our school has a big library. For example, it also has a pool.
• Some playground games need only chalk, for instance hopscotch.
• Hilly cities such as Bath and Sheffield are hard work on a bicycle.
• Many Brazilian dishes use beans. For example, feijoada is a black bean stew.

Summing up: in short, overall, to conclude

A summing-up linker gathers what came before into one short statement. The family members name the same relation and differ in weight and register.

This is step two of the Bridge Test: name the relation. When the relation is the sum of everything before, and nothing new is coming, this is the family to reach for.

Where a summing-up linker sits depends on how long the piece is.

A summing-up linker in the middle of a piece confuses the reader, who thinks the end has come and then finds more points after it.

The sentence that follows the linker has one job: gather. It can repeat the main points in a few words (clean, quiet and cheap), give a verdict (it was a success), or say what the points add up to (the plan is worth trying). It cannot bring in a point the piece never made.

All six are standard. In conclusion is the most formal and the most common in exam essays; overall and in short work anywhere. Using the same one every time is not wrong, but a reader may notice.

Picture a teacher at the end of a school trip, gathering everyone at the bus. In short, overall and in conclusion are the whistle: time to come together. The children who arrive at the bus are the points you already made. If a stranger climbs aboard, someone the class never met, everybody stares. A new idea after a summing-up linker is that stranger on the bus.

What about links that show when things happened, rather than how ideas relate? A story or a report of events needs time linkers: meanwhile for the same time, afterwards and later for after, and at last for the end of a wait. That is the next section. Summing up closes a piece; time linkers carry the reader through it, one step after another.

Here is the hard case: a closing sentence that looks like a summary but slips in something new. Imagine an essay about why a village needs a clinic. It argues three points: people walk ten kilometres to a doctor, babies are born without help, and fevers go untreated. In conclusion, a clinic would save lives and time. In conclusion, a clinic would save lives, and the village also needs a school. The first gathers the three points into what they add up to: lives and time. Nothing new, nothing lost. The second starts well. Then it adds a school, which the essay never argued for. The reader has no reasons for the school, because none were given. The summary has turned into a new argument in its last breath. The test is a simple check: for every idea in your closing sentence, point to the paragraph where you argued it. If you cannot point to one, the idea is new, and it does not belong after In conclusion. There is one allowed move that can look new: saying what the points add up to, such as a verdict or a call to act. "The council should fund the clinic this year" is not a new point; it is where the three points lead.

In short is a promise, and readers hold you to it. Writers who follow In short with three long sentences break that promise, which is why editors sometimes circle it. Overall has a second life as a describing word: overall costs, the overall winner. As a linker, it weighs everything up at once, which is why reviewers love it. And speakers often use to conclude more than writers do. On a stage, a listener cannot flick back to see how much is left, so a speaker who says 'to conclude' gives the audience a gift: they know the end is near and can listen closely to the last words.

This section treats summing-up linkers as links between ideas. How to build a whole conclusion paragraph belongs to Paragraph Architecture (ch27), and building an argument to Argument and Persuasion (ch29). In short, overall, to sum up, all in all, in conclusion and to conclude name the same relation, and no item keys one against another. The comma after them belongs to Commas and Semicolons (ch16). A verdict or call to act that follows from the earlier points counts as summing up, not as a new idea.

1. Name the relation first: are you gathering, or adding something new?
2. Put a summing-up linker at the end of a paragraph, essay or speech, never in the middle.
3. Make the sentence after it gather the main points or say what they add up to.
4. Check every idea in the closing sentence against a paragraph where you argued it.
5. Use in short or overall for a short piece, and in conclusion or to sum up for a long essay.
6. Use to conclude in a speech so listeners know the end is near.
7. Use one summing-up linker, never a stack of them.
8. If you have a new idea at the end, add a paragraph for it or save it for another piece.

• Our trip to Rishikesh had long bus rides and cold nights. Overall, it was the best week of the year.
• The library in Kanpur is small, the lights flicker and the chairs are hard. In short, it needs repairs.
• In conclusion, a clinic, a road and clean water would change life in the village.
• To sum up, the new timetable saves money and gives pupils an extra hour of sleep.
• The rain in Kent held off until four. All in all, the village fete was a great success.
• To conclude, the traders at the Lagos market we spoke to share three worries: rent, rain and roads.

• In conclusion, our school should also start a music club.
• The queues at the Jaipur book fair were long. Overall, it was well run.
• In short, Tara's plan is cheap, quick and fair.
• To sum up, every clue points to the river as the source of the flooding.
• To conclude, I want to thank everyone who helped build the stage.
• The streets of Marrakesh were noisy and crowded. All in all, the visit was unforgettable.

Time linkers: meanwhile, afterwards, later, at last

A time linker tells the reader when the second event happened compared with the first. Name the moment, then choose from that row.

This is step two of the Bridge Test: name the relation. For time, name the moment too, because meanwhile and afterwards are both time words yet point to different moments.

Some time linkers carry more than a clock reading. Each adds its own shade.

Afterwards is the usual British and Indian spelling; afterward is common in American writing. Both are standard. Then is the everyday time word, at home in stories and speech; subsequently does the same job in formal reports.

Remember the Discover lesson too: when events are told in the order they happened, the reader already knows the time. "I woke up. I brushed my teeth. I ate breakfast." needs no time linker at all.

Picture a railway timetable board. Each event is a train on the board. Meanwhile puts two trains on the board side by side, leaving at the same minute from different platforms. Afterwards and later move the next train further down the board. Earlier scrolls back up to a train that has already gone. At last is the late train that everyone on the platform has been waiting for, finally pulling in. Pick the wrong word and the board shows a train leaving before it has arrived.

Time linkers name one relation: when. The next section takes all the families you have met in Practice, adding, contrast, cause, result, example, summing up and time, and puts them side by side. It looks at the commonest linking error of all: a linker from the wrong family, such as However where nothing turns, or Meanwhile where the second event came later.

Here is the hard case: deciding between at last, eventually and finally. Compare these three. We waited all winter for the new library. At last, it opened. The river cut into its bank for centuries. Eventually, it changed its course. Peel the mangoes, chop them and add the yoghurt. Finally, blend everything. At last carries a feeling: people were waiting, and now the wait is over. Eventually carries a length of time, often a very long one, but no feeling of relief; a river does not wait for anything. Finally can do either job. It can mean the end of a wait, like at last, or it can simply mark the last step in a list, like the recipe. So the test is to ask two questions. Was there a wait? If not, at last is wrong. Did anyone feel the wait? If not, eventually suits better than at last. Finally is the safe word for the last step of any list. That is why items in this section never set at last and finally against each other unless the stem names the deciding thing: a wait that someone felt, or a list of steps.

Then is the most common time linker in English, and one of the most overused. Young writers often start every sentence of a story with it: then... then... then. Each one is correct, but together they sound like a list of chores. Careful writers use then when the step really matters, and let the order carry the rest. Meanwhile has a surprise of its own. It can jump the reader to a different place as well as a different scene: "Meanwhile, in Chennai, the storm was gathering." Film-makers do the same with a cut from one scene to another. And later, earlier and afterwards can all sit at the end of a sentence as well as the start: "We ate afterwards." "I saw her earlier." The position changes the weight, not the time.

This section treats time linkers as words that link ideas between sentences. When and while as conjunctions inside one sentence ("When the bell rang, we left.") belong to Clauses and Conjunctions (ch10). The comma after a time linker at the start of a sentence belongs to Commas and Semicolons (ch16). Afterwards and afterward are both standard; so are then and next for the next step, and finally or lastly for the last step in a list. At last and finally are keyed against each other only when the stem names a felt wait or a list of steps. A sequence told in plain order with no time linker is standard, and no item keys it wrong.

1. Name the moment before you choose the word: at the same time, after, before, or after a wait?
2. Use meanwhile or at the same time only when the two events overlap.
3. Use afterwards, later, then or after that for what came next.
4. Use earlier or before that to step back, often with had.
5. Use at last when someone waited and felt the wait; use eventually for a long stretch of time.
6. Use finally for the last step of a list or a process.
7. Let plain order carry a simple sequence; add a time linker only where the reader needs it.
8. If the second event was caused by the first, reach for a result linker, not a time linker.

• Anil's grandmother lit the diyas. Meanwhile, the children set out the sweets.
• We boarded the train at Howrah. Later, we shared a tiffin of luchi and aloo.
• Meera waited three hours at the bus stand. At last, the bus came round the bend.
• The rugby match finished at four. Afterwards, both teams had tea in the clubhouse.
• Oliver found the old map in the attic. Earlier, the family had searched the whole garden.
• In Nairobi, Amani planted forty trees on the bare slope. Eventually, the whole hillside turned green.

• Sana woke at six, ate a paratha and caught the school bus.
• Mrs Rao read the story aloud. Meanwhile, Priti drew the pictures on the board.
• The courtyard glowed with lamps at dusk. Before that, Nandini had swept every corner.
• The concert in Glasgow ended at ten. Meanwhile, Jack caught the last train at eleven.
• Emily trained through the winter. Finally, Emily ran the whole marathon in April.
• In Seoul, Min-jun bought the tickets online. After that, the whole family packed for the trip.

The wrong link: however where and is meant

Each linker makes a promise about the next idea. The error is a promise that the next idea does not keep.

This is steps two and three of the Bridge Test: name the relation first, then choose a word from that family. The wrong link comes from choosing the word first.

Four checks catch almost every wrong link. Ask them in order.

The wrong link is often a formal word chosen to sound grown-up. However, therefore and in conclusion look impressive, so learners use them for any link at all. The fix is never a fancier word; it is the plain word that names the real relation, and sometimes that word is also, so or then.

Some pairs have no relation strong enough to need a linker. Two unrelated facts can simply sit side by side, or one of them can go.

Picture a road sign that says 'Sharp bend ahead', on a road that runs dead straight. The driver slows down, grips the wheel and waits for the bend. Nothing happens. The next time that driver sees the sign, they ignore it. A linker from the wrong family is that sign. However says 'bend ahead' and the road runs straight; therefore says 'this road leads from that one' and it does not. Put up only the sign that matches the road.

You can now check that every linker names the real relation. The next section looks at a question many learners ask at this point: may a sentence start with And or But at all? The answer surprises people, and it depends on the reader, not on grammar. After that, you put all the families together in a paragraph that flows.

Here is the hard case: a pair where the relation looks obvious but depends on what the writer is arguing. The hotel is cheap. However, it is far from the beach. The hotel is cheap. Also, it is far from the beach. Which is right? It depends on the writer's point. If the writer is recommending the hotel, cheap is a good point and far from the beach is a bad one. The second idea pulls against the first, so However names a turn. If the writer is simply listing facts for a friend to weigh, both are plain facts about the hotel, and also can carry the second one. So the relation is not inside the words alone. It sits between the words and the writer's aim. When the aim is clear, one link is right; when it is not, two links can be defended. That is why items in this section always make the relation unmistakable: the stem names both ideas, or tells you what the writer is arguing. An item never asks you to guess whether a fact is good news or bad news.

The wrong link is not only a learner's error. Speeches, advertisements and even news reports sometimes use therefore where there is no cause, because therefore sounds like proof. "Our toothpaste has a new blue colour. Therefore, your teeth will be whiter." The linker claims a cause the facts do not give. Spotting it is a reading skill as well as a writing one. There is a quieter surprise too. However can also mean 'in whatever way' or 'to whatever degree': "However hard we tried, the door would not open." That however is not a linker at all, and it does not promise a turn. And sometimes the best fix for a wrong link is no link. Two facts that simply sit side by side need nothing between them.

This section keys a linker wrong only when it names a relation the two ideas clearly do not have. It never keys a correct linker from the right family wrong because another member would sound better: so, therefore and as a result are one relation, and but, however and yet are another. Where the relation depends on the writer's aim, the stem states the aim. The punctuation of however and therefore belongs to Commas and Semicolons (ch16), and Although ... but and Because ... so belong to Clauses and Conjunctions (ch10 S29). A pair of facts with no linker is standard.

1. Cover the linker and name the relation the two ideas really have.
2. Uncover the linker and check that it names the same relation.
3. Keep however and but for a real turn.
4. Keep therefore and so for a real cause and result.
5. Keep for example for one case of what came before, never a new point.
6. Keep in conclusion and in short for a summary, with nothing new after them.
7. Choose the plain word that fits over the formal word that does not.
8. If two facts have no relation, let them sit side by side, or cut one.

• Priya plays the sitar. However, Priya plays the tabla.
• Priya plays the sitar. Priya also plays the tabla.
• Lakshmi's shop sells silk saris. Therefore, it opens at nine.
• Hannah loves painting. For example, Hannah plays hockey on Saturdays.
• The storm in York brought down the power lines. As a result, the town sat in the dark all night.
• In Cairo, Youssef studied for weeks. In conclusion, Youssef bought a new bike.

• The trip to Ooty was fun. However, the ghat road made Kavya carsick.
• Our class raised money for the library. In addition, we collected two hundred books.
• Rain soaked the pitch in Mohali at noon. Meanwhile, the match was called off at three.
• Lucy trained every day for a month. However, Lucy did not make the team.
• The fish and chip shop is by the harbour. For example, it opens on Sundays.
• In Lima, Mateo loves football. Therefore, Mateo's sister is a doctor.

Starting a sentence with And or But

And or But at the start of a sentence names the same relation it names in the middle. The full stop changes the effect, not the correctness.

All four are standard. This is step three of the Bridge Test: choose a linker that names the relation. And or But names it well, at the start or in the middle.

When a teacher or an exam task says 'no And or But at the start', you have three easy rewrites. Each keeps the relation.

A house rule belongs to one teacher, one school or one task. It is worth following there, just as you follow a school's rules on margins or headings. Outside that task, the standard form is free to use.

Overuse is a separate matter. A page where every sentence starts with And sounds breathless, as children's stories often do. One sentence-opening But in a paragraph lands hard; five in a row lose their force. That is a style judgement, and Craft returns to it.

Picture two ways to cross a stream. In one, a flat plank joins the banks, and you walk across without breaking step: that is the joined sentence, "We waited, but the bus never came." In the other, stepping stones cross the stream, and you stop on each one before the next stride: that is the full stop and a capital But. Both get you across; the stones make each step felt. Some parks have a sign saying 'Use the plank', and there you use the plank. The stones are still a way across.

You can now use And or But at the start of a sentence with confidence, and follow a house rule when one is set. The next section puts every Practice move together in a short paragraph: adding, contrast, cause, result, time and example linkers, each used once and only where it is needed, alongside pointing words and plain order.

Here is the hard case: a task that sets a house rule, and a sentence that follows the rule but breaks the relation. The task says: no sentence may begin with And or But. The team trained hard. And they lost the final. The team trained hard. However, they lost the final. The team trained hard. Also, they lost the final. The first breaks the house rule, and it also names the wrong relation: losing turns against training hard, so And misleads the reader. The second follows the house rule and names the turn. It is the answer the task wants. The third follows the house rule, because it does not start with And or But. It still fails, because Also names adding, and nothing is added. Obeying the house rule does not excuse the wrong relation. So there are always two checks, in order. First, does the linker name the real relation? Second, does the sentence follow any rule the task has set? A good answer passes both.

Many of the most famous sentences in English begin with And or But. The King James Bible opens verse after verse of its first chapter with And, and readers have heard them read aloud for four hundred years. Novelists, poets, speech writers and journalists do the same. The rule against it is younger and smaller than it looks. It began as classroom advice for children whose stories ran And then... And then... And then, and it did its job there. The advice stuck, and many adults now think it is grammar. There is one more surprise. A sentence-opening But is often the strongest way to mark a turn, stronger than However. Compare "We had a plan. But the plan failed." with "We had a plan. However, the plan failed." The short word lands faster.

And or But at the start of a sentence is standard English, and no item keys it wrong in itself. An item keys it wrong only when the stem names a house rule ('your teacher's rule', 'the task says') or when the relation is wrong (a But with no turn, an And before a turn). Joining with a comma, a sentence-opening However and However inside the sentence are all standard. The comma before but in a joined sentence and the punctuation of however belong to Commas and Semicolons (ch16). Overuse of sentence-opening And is a style judgement, never keyed as an error here.

1. Treat And or But at the start of a sentence as standard English.
2. Check the relation first: But must turn, And must add.
3. Use a sentence-opening But when you want a turn to land on its own.
4. Use a joined sentence when you want the ideas to run smoothly together.
5. Follow a stated house rule for that task: join, use However, or move to also.
6. Never mark someone else's sentence-opening And or But wrong unless a rule was set.
7. Save the capital And or But for the moments that matter, not every sentence.
8. Never stack two words for one turn, such as But however.

• We waited an hour at Dadar. But the bus never came.
• We waited an hour at Dadar, but the bus never came.
• The monsoon reached Kerala early. And it stayed for five months.
• Jake had one penalty left to take. And Jake scored it.
• The ferry to Skye was full. But a fisherman offered us a lift.
• In Manila, the typhoon passed at dawn. But the streets stayed flooded for days.

• Ayaan applied for the permit in June. However, the permit never arrived.
• Ayaan applied for the permit in June. The permit, however, never arrived.
• Deepa trained hard all year. But Deepa won the gold medal.
• The roof of the cottage leaked. And the rain kept falling.
• Grace found the key under the mat. But the door was already open.
• In Accra, the market opens at six. And by seven, every stall is busy.

A paragraph that flows

The same facts can be joined in three ways. Only one of them flows.

This is step four of the Bridge Test: if order, a pointing word or a repeated word already shows the link, leave the linker out. A paragraph flows when every bridge is needed and none is missing.

Linkers are one of four tools that carry a reader between sentences. A flowing paragraph mixes them.

Two habits break the flow even when every linker is right. One is the same linker again and again: Also... Also... Also. Swap to a list or vary the tool. The other is two linkers for one link: But however, So therefore. Keep one.

Craft goes deeper into pointing words, repeated words and overuse. Here, the aim is simpler: a short paragraph where each linker earns its place.

Picture a path across a garden. A choppy paragraph is a path of scattered stones with gaps between them: you have to jump. A stitched paragraph has a signpost at every single stone, telling you to step left, step right, step forward, until you stop reading the signs. A flowing paragraph is a smooth path with a signpost only where it turns or forks. You walk it without thinking, and you notice the one sign that matters.

You can now judge and fix the flow of a short paragraph. The last Practice section asks you to explain your evidence: for each link in a paragraph, name its relation with the Bridge Test, and say why a linker is there or why none is needed. After that, Craft takes you further into overuse, pointing words, repeated words and linking whole paragraphs.

Here is the hard case: a choppy paragraph where every link seems obvious. We woke early. We packed the car. We drove to the beach. We swam all morning. Is this choppy? Every sentence is in order, and each event follows the last in time. A reader never guesses wrongly. By the Bridge Test, no linker is needed, because order already shows the relation. Yet many readers find it a little flat, because every sentence has the same shape. The fix is not a linker on every line. It is a small change of shape: "We woke early, packed the car and drove to the beach, where we swam all morning." So a paragraph can be choppy in rhythm without being unclear in links. Linkers fix unclear links; changing sentence shape fixes rhythm, and ch24 covers it. That is why items in this section always name the aim. 'Which version reads most smoothly?' and 'Which uses each linker once and only where needed?' are fair questions. 'Which version is wrong?' is not, when every version is correct.

Some of the smoothest paragraphs in English have almost no linkers at all. Good storytellers let time carry the reader: "The door creaked. A cold wind swept in. The candle went out." Each sentence follows the last, and nothing more is needed. The opposite surprise is the model essay learned by heart, with a linker at the start of every sentence: Firstly, Moreover, Furthermore, Hence, In conclusion. It looks well linked, yet examiners often mark it down for sounding mechanical. And the humblest pointing word, this, can do more than a linker. "The school added a bus route. This cut the walk for forty children." This carries the whole last sentence forward in one word.

Smoothness is a style judgement, never a grammar error. Choppy and stitched paragraphs are made of correct sentences, and no item keys them as incorrect; items name the aim instead ('reads most smoothly', 'each linker once and only where needed', 'the fewest linkers that keep every link clear'). A linker is keyed as removable only where order, a pointing word or a repeated word already shows the link, or where two linkers stack on one link. Firstly and first are both standard. Sentence rhythm belongs to ch24, and building a paragraph's topic and structure belongs to ch27.

1. Name every relation in the paragraph before you choose any linker.
2. Put a linker where the reader could guess the link wrongly: a turn, a result, an example.
3. Let plain order carry a simple sequence in time.
4. Use this or these to carry the last idea forward.
5. Use each linker once; if the same one appears three times, rewrite as a list or vary the tool.
6. Never use two linkers for one link, such as But however.
7. Read the paragraph aloud and listen for jumps and for clunks.
8. Check that smooth sound has not hidden a linker from the wrong family.

• The mangoes were cheap, but the tomatoes were dear, so we bought mangoes.
• Our class planted a herb garden. This garden now gives the canteen fresh mint.
• Firstly, we reached the fort. Moreover, we climbed the walls. Hence, we were tired.
• Sophie woke at dawn, packed a flask and caught the first ferry.
• The storm in Cornwall knocked out the power. The power cut lasted two days.
• In Kyoto, Yuki missed the last bus. But a neighbour drove Yuki home, and the evening ended well.

• The trek to Triund was long. But the view was worth it, so we stayed an hour.
• The school added a second bus route. This change cut the walk for forty children.
• Rina sings. Also, Rina dances. Also, Rina paints.
• It was raining in Bath. But however, we went out.
• Ellie read the letter twice, then folded it away.
• In Toronto, the snow fell all night. By morning, the snow reached the windows.

Explain your evidence

Every Practice move answers step two of the Bridge Test: name the relation. Name it, and you have your evidence.

A good explanation has three parts: the linker, the relation and the reason. Keep it to one sentence.

Notice the last row. Some evidence is that two answers are both right. So, therefore and as a result all name a result; also, in addition and moreover all name adding. When a choice is between members of one family, the reason is the reader or the position, never correctness.

Every row starts from the relation. That is the Bridge Test at work: the relation first, the word second.

Picture yourself as a bridge inspector walking a river. At each crossing you ask three questions: what are the two banks, what kind of bridge does this crossing need, and is that the bridge that was built? A wooden footbridge where a road should run is a fault; a bridge where the river is already dry is waste. Your notebook does not say 'looks fine'. It says which bridge, and why. That note is your evidence.

Craft begins with too many linkers. What happens when a paragraph has a linker on every sentence, or two on one: But however, So therefore, And also moreover? In Craft, the question is no longer only whether a linker is right. It is whether the reader needs it at all, and how pointing words, repeated words and word order can carry the link instead.

Here is the hard case: one short passage with several links, each needing a different reason. "The fair opened at noon. Meanwhile, the rain began. The stalls stayed open, but few people came. In short, it was a quiet day." Take it one link at a time. Meanwhile fits, because the rain began while the fair was opening: time, at the same moment. Between the rain and the stalls staying open there is no linker. Is one needed? Staying open despite the rain is a small turn, and a reader might want However there. But the next sentence names a turn with but, and two turns named in a row can clunk. The writer's choice to leave this one unnamed is defensible. But fits, because few people coming turns against the stalls staying open. In short fits, because a quiet day gathers everything before it and adds nothing new. Three linkers, three relations, and one place where the evidence is a judgement. Strong evidence says which is which.

Sometimes the best evidence is that there should be no linker at all. Many learners, once they learn linkers, start adding them everywhere: Firstly, Moreover, Therefore, In conclusion, on every line of a five-line answer. Each is a sign of a learner who is trying hard, and several of them have a clear reason to go. A careful writer's paragraph often has fewer linkers than a beginner's. The skill is not knowing where to add them, but knowing which links the reader cannot see alone. And sometimes the evidence is that both answers are right. Asked to choose between so and therefore for a result, the strongest answer is that both name the result, and the reader decides which fits.

This review keys only what the Practice sections key: a linker from the wrong family, meanwhile for a later event, such as before a whole sentence, in conclusion before a new idea, and stacked linkers where the stem names the aim. And or But at the start of a sentence, however at the start or inside the sentence, so or therefore or as a result, also or in addition or moreover, first or firstly, afterwards or afterward, and a sequence told in plain order with no linker are all standard. Where two linkers from one family appear, the evidence is that both fit. Punctuation of linkers belongs to ch16.

1. Look at every link, and every place a link might be missing.
2. Name the relation before you look at the linker: adding, contrast, cause, result, time, example or summing up.
3. Check that the linker names that relation.
4. If it names another, say which relation it promises and which one the ideas have.
5. If order, this or a repeated word carries the link, say that no linker is needed.
6. If two linkers come from one family, say both are standard and name what decides: reader or position.
7. Never offer sound or formality alone as evidence.
8. Keep each reason to one sentence.

• Arjun missed the bus. As a result, Arjun was late for assembly.
• Many festivals have lights. For example, Diwali fills the streets with diyas.
• We stayed indoors in Chennai because the cyclone was on its way.
• The cafe in Brighton is small. However, it serves the best scones in town.
• Oliver packed the tent, the stove and the map. In short, Oliver was ready.
• In Nairobi, Wanjiru trained all year. Meanwhile, the club raised money for the trip.

• The school canteen is clean. It also serves fresh fruit.
• Rekha likes tea. However, Rekha likes coffee.
• The school added a bus route from Baner. This change cut the walk for forty children.
• We waited an hour at the stop in Leeds. But the bus never came.
• It rained all day in Dublin. So therefore, the match was off.
• In Lima, Sofia woke, ate and left for school.

Writing with intent · ages 12–16

Too many linkers: overuse and stacking

A linker names the relation between two ideas. One linker names it once. Two linkers that name the same relation say it twice, and the second adds nothing but noise.

The second fault is overuse: a linker at the start of nearly every sentence, even where the order already shows the step. Each linker may be correct, and the paragraph still reads stitched.

This is step four of the Bridge Test: if the order, a pronoun or a repeated word already shows the relation, leave the linker out. A bridge where the road already runs is in the way.

Four checks tell you which linkers to keep.

The cover check and the keep check work as a pair. Readers rebuild adding and time links easily from order, so those linkers are often the first to go. A turn or a reason is harder to rebuild, so a contrast or cause linker is usually the last to go.

Cutting is not the only repair. Sometimes a stitched paragraph needs a pointing word (This change...) or a repeated key word instead of a linker, and the next two sections show how.

Picture a road with signposts. One sign before a sharp bend saves lives. A sign every ten metres, each saying 'road continues', makes drivers stop reading signs at all, and then they miss the bend. A stacked linker is two signs on one post saying the same thing. Keep the sign that warns of a bend or a turning, and take down the rest.

Not every pair of linkers is a stack. A stack is two linkers that name the same relation. Two linkers that name two different relations can both earn their place: But then the rain stopped (a turn and a time), And yet nobody complained (adding and a turn), And so the club closed (adding and a result). These pairs are standard in careful writing and speech. Ask what each word names: if the two names differ, keep both; if they match, keep one.

Here is the judgement that takes practice: when you cut a stack, which linker do you keep? But however, the bus was late. But the bus was late. However, the bus was late. Both repairs are correct. But is short and suits a story or a message; However sounds more formal and suits a report. Neither is wrong, so choose by reader and by rhythm. Now the harder case: a paragraph with no stacks at all, but a linker on every line. The canteen is small. Also, it is noisy. Moreover, the food is cold. Furthermore, the queue is long. Hence, students eat outside. Cutting every linker leaves a list of facts. Cutting none leaves stitches. The craft move is to group and keep the one link that matters: The canteen is small, noisy and slow, and the food is often cold. As a result, most students eat outside. The three complaints now sit in one sentence, so they need no adding linkers between them. The result is the one step the reader must not miss, so it keeps its linker. That is the pattern to remember. Adding and time links can often be carried by lists and order. A turn, a reason or a result is the link most worth naming.

Many of the linkers we stack were built from smaller words that already did the whole job. However was made from how and ever. Moreover grew from more and over. Nevertheless is never, the and less fused into one word. Therefore joins there and fore, an old word meaning for, so it once meant 'for that'. So when someone writes So therefore, they are in effect saying 'so, for that reason'. When they write But however, they put a plain turn in front of a word that is already a turn. English keeps these fused words because each one is a complete signpost. Knowing that they are already complete is a good reason to let each one stand alone.

Overuse is a style judgement, never a grammar error: no item here calls a correct paragraph wrong because it has many linkers; items name the aim instead (keep one linker per link, the fewest linkers that keep every link clear). Stacks are keyed only where two linkers name the same relation. But then, And yet and And so name two different relations and are standard. Although ... but stays with ch10 S29 and is not keyed here. Cutting words in general belongs to Conciseness (ch20). Commas and semicolons with linkers belong to ch16. And or But at the start of a sentence is standard (S18).

1. Name the relation first, then write one linker that names it.
2. Never put two linkers that name the same relation on one sentence.
3. When you cut a stack, keep the linker that suits your reader: But for a story, However for a report.
4. Count the sentences that open with a linker; if most do, look again.
5. Cover each linker and ask whether order, a pronoun or a repeated word already shows the link.
6. Keep a linker that names a turn, a reason or a result nothing else shows.
7. Group short points of the same kind into one sentence instead of adding a linker to each.
8. Leave But then, And yet and And so alone: they name two different relations.

• Kavya's train was late. But however, the exam had not started.
• The road to Ishaan's village flooded. So therefore the school closed for a week.
• Arjun's club meets on Fridays. It also runs a summer camp.
• Emily's alarm rang at six. The kettle went on. Breakfast was ready by half past.
• The forecast promised rain all day. Even so, Oliver's team played the final.
• Lucía saved for a year, and yet the ticket price rose again.

• The canteen at Meenakshi's college is crowded, and the food is often cold.
• Dev practised every evening. So as a result, the marks rose.
• Although Harpreet's hall was small, but every guest fitted in.
• Tom's match was cancelled. Rain had fallen for two days without a break.
• The new bridge near Hannah's farm saves an hour. However, it cost twice the estimate.
• Kenji's team lost the first game. But then it won the next five.

Pointing back: this idea, such a change

A pointing word picks up the last idea and carries it into the next sentence. Nothing else is needed to make the link.

A summary noun (change, decision, delay, problem, plan) names what the pointing word points at, so the reader never has to guess.

This is step four of the Bridge Test at work: a pointing word can carry the link, so no linker is needed, as long as it points to one idea.

Four checks keep a pointing word clear.

The fit check matters because a summary noun also judges. The same fact can be this change, this improvement or this problem. Choose the noun that is true to the idea and to your view of it, and do not slip in a judgement the reader has not been given reason to share.

The distance check matters because readers look for the nearest idea first. A This that points three sentences back will be read as pointing to the sentence just before it.

Think of a pointing word as a finger pointing back along a line of people. If one person stands there, everyone knows who is meant. If three people stand close together, a pointing finger is not enough: you have to say a name. A summary noun is that name. 'This change' is a finger plus a name, so nobody looks at the wrong person.

Such points back to a kind, not to the exact thing. The hostel had no water for two days. Such problems are common in summer. Such problems means problems of this kind, not these two days only. These problems would point to the exact ones just named. Use such a before a singular noun (such a change, such a storm) and such before a plural or uncountable noun (such delays, such weather). Such as before examples is a different use, taught in S14.

Here is the case that takes judgement: when is a bare This clear enough? The train was cancelled. This meant a four-hour wait. Only one idea stands behind This, and the sentence is short. A reader cannot miss it. Adding a noun (This cancellation meant a four-hour wait) is correct but not needed. In a short text with one idea per sentence, a bare This is fine. Now compare: The train was cancelled, the next one was full and the buses were on strike. This meant a four-hour wait. Three ideas stand behind This. The reader might link the wait to the strike alone. Here a noun earns its place: These problems meant a four-hour wait. So the test is not 'never use a bare This' but 'can the reader point to exactly one idea?' If yes, a bare This works. If not, add a noun. The second judgement is which noun. A summary noun carries a view. Change is neutral. Improvement praises. Problem complains. Step is modest. When you choose one, you are telling the reader how to see the idea. In a report, choose the neutral noun unless your evidence supports a stronger one; in an argument, the stronger noun must be earned by what came before.

This does not always point back. It can point forward too. Listen to this: the match has been cancelled. Here this points to what comes next, not to anything before it. Speakers use it to build a little suspense. Many formal letters in India open the same way: This is to inform you that the office will stay closed on Monday. The This points ahead to the news. That, on the other hand, almost always points back: That is what I said. That was a close call. So the same small word can look in two directions. In linking sentences, you use its backward look; in openings and speech, its forward look can hold a listener's attention for a moment.

A bare This is not a grammar error. Items key it only when the stem asks what it points to and more than one idea could fit, or when the stem names the aim of pointing back most clearly. Summary nouns are keyed wrong only when they name the opposite kind of idea (improvement for a fare rise). Pronoun forms and agreement belong to Pronouns (ch04). Such as before examples belongs to S14. The forward-pointing This is to inform you is standard in formal letters and is not keyed.

1. Use a pointing word or a summary noun to link sentences without a linker.
2. Check that each this, these, that or it points to one clear idea.
3. When several ideas stand before a This, add a noun: these changes, this delay.
4. Choose a summary noun that fits the idea: a rise is not an improvement.
5. Prefer a neutral noun (change, step, rule) unless you have earned a stronger one.
6. Point to the nearest idea; repeat the noun if the idea is further back.
7. Use these for several things and this for one.
8. Use such a or such + noun to point back to a kind of thing.

• Many villages near Nashik now have solar pumps. This change has cut farmers' diesel bills.
• Anjali's school moved its exams to March. The decision gave everyone an extra month to revise.
• The canteen at Farhan's college ran out of rice twice last week. Such shortages anger hungry students.
• The council in Harry's town closed the park, raised parking fees and cut the bus service. This angered residents.
• Charlotte's team lost the semi-final by one goal. That result still hurts.
• Matteo's village in the hills had snow in April. Such a thing had not happened for years.

• The phone slipped off Priya's laptop and it cracked.
• The metro in Ravi's city added longer trains. These trains carry more people at rush hour.
• Sana's team failed the first test, rewrote the code and passed. This effort earned the team a prize.
• Oliver's bakery started opening at six. This small step doubled its morning sales.
• Emma's class planted a hundred trees. Such projects need months of watering afterwards.
• Amara's town banned plastic bags. This ban cut the litter on its beach.

Repeating a key word to link

Repeating a key word carries the reader from one sentence to the next. The repeated word says: same thing, new detail.

A synonym is not wrong in itself. It becomes a problem when the reader cannot tell whether the new word names the old thing or a new one.

This is step four of the Bridge Test again: a repeated word can carry the link, so no linker is needed.

Four checks tell you whether to repeat or to vary.

The key-term check matters most in science, law and instructions. A reader following steps treats every new word as a possible new object. Heat the solution, then cool the mixture: is the mixture the same liquid?

The too-close check keeps repetition from turning heavy. Repeat the key word to start a new sentence; inside one sentence, it or a pointing phrase can carry the nearest mention.

Think of a key word as a coloured thread running through a piece of cloth. Each time it comes back, the reader sees the same colour and knows it is the same thread. Swapping to a new word is like changing the thread's colour halfway: the reader thinks a second thread has begun. Change the colour only when you want to show something new about the thread.

A key word can echo in a changed form and still keep the thread: decide, decision, decisive; flood, floods, flooded, flooding. A writer can also keep a topic thread with a chain of related words that belong together: exam, marks, results, re-evaluation. None of these is the same word, but each belongs to the same field, and the reader feels the topic continuing. The chain is safe when the words are clearly related; it fails when a new word could name a new thing.

Here is the judgement that takes practice: when is a synonym right? Sophie adopted a spaniel. The old dog sleeps all day. The old dog is a new name for the spaniel, and the reader has no doubt it is the same animal. The synonym also adds something: the spaniel is old. That is a synonym earning its place. Now compare: Pay the fee by Friday. The charge doubles after that. Charge adds nothing, and it opens a doubt. The reader may think a second, separate charge doubles. Here the synonym does harm. So the test has two questions. Is the thing already so clear that the new word cannot be misread? Does the new word add meaning the reader needs? If both answers are yes, vary. If either is no, repeat. The type of writing matters too. A story can vary more, because readers expect description and the thing is usually in plain view: the kitten, the tiny stray, the little thief. A report, an instruction or a science answer should vary less, because readers act on the words, and a doubt costs time or money. Some exam essays reward a range of vocabulary; spend that range on description and argument, and keep the key terms exact.

Contracts and laws repeat words on purpose, again and again. A rental agreement may say at the start that the person renting will be called 'the Tenant' in the rest of the document. After that, the Tenant appears in every clause, dozens of times, and never the renter, the occupier or the resident. That looks clumsy to a reader used to school essays. But lawyers know that if a contract uses a second word, someone may later argue that it means a second person. One word, repeated exactly, closes that door. The same idea works in everyday writing. When a reader might act on your words, the safest link is the same word, used every time.

Repetition and synonyms are style choices, never grammar errors. No item keys a sensible synonym wrong; items ask which word keeps the thread most clearly, which new word could be read as a new thing, or which version suits a named kind of text (a lab report, a rental agreement). Synonyms that add meaning (the spaniel ... the old dog) are taught as good practice. Pronoun forms belong to ch04, and cutting repeated words for length belongs to ch20.

1. Repeat the key word to start a new sentence about the same thing.
2. Use a form of the word (decide, decision) when the grammar needs it.
3. Keep technical, legal and defined terms exact every time.
4. Use a synonym only when the thing is already clear and the new word adds meaning.
5. Ask whether a reader who does not know the topic could take the new word for a new thing.
6. Vary more in stories and less in reports, instructions and science answers.
7. Inside one sentence, let it or a pointing phrase carry the nearest mention.
8. Spend vocabulary range on description, not on the key terms.

• The Brahmaputra floods most summers. The floods leave rich silt on the fields.
• Meera's class is testing a new timetable. The timetable starts at eight.
• Rohan's recipe needs jaggery. Add the jaggery after the milk boils.
• The plan Jack's council approved needs a new car park. The car park will sit behind the station.
• Sophie adopted a spaniel. The old dog sleeps all day by the heater.
• Kwame's town depends on cocoa. Cocoa prices fell sharply this year.

• Ishita's school holds its science fair in May. The fair fills the main hall.
• Vivek paid a deposit for the hall. The deposit is refunded after the event.
• The well in Lakshmi's village dried up in April. The dry well forced families to walk two kilometres.
• Emma planted tomatoes in March. The tomatoes were ripe by July.
• Daniel's team decided to rebuild the website. The decision took a week of meetings.
• Yuki bought a bonsai. The tiny tree needs water every day.

Old before new: given information first

A sentence has two ends. The start links back; the end brings the news.

The chain works like this: A leads to B, then B leads to C. Each sentence picks up the last one's ending and adds something new.

This links to step four of the Bridge Test: when the order already carries the reader from old to new, a linker is often not needed at all.

Four checks put old before new.

There are two common patterns. In a chain, each sentence picks up the end of the last: a well, the well's water, the water's taste. In a steady topic, each sentence returns to the same subject: The bridge ... It ... The bridge. Both put old before new, and many paragraphs mix the two.

The passive check does not mean the passive is always better. It helps when the thing done to is already known and the doer is new. Forming the passive belongs to ch08 S23; here it is a tool for order.

Think of a relay race. Each runner starts by taking the baton from the runner before, then runs a new stretch of track and hands it on. The baton is the given information: already known, passed from sentence to sentence. The new stretch of track is the news. A sentence that starts with a brand-new topic is a runner who sets off without the baton.

Two small patterns help put new information late. There is or there are introduces something new at the end: There is a well in Pooja's village. The next sentence can then start from it: The well has not run dry in fifty years. The empty it can also move a long new idea to the end: It surprised everyone that the shop closed. Both patterns keep the start of the sentence light and the news at the end, where readers expect it.

Here is the choice that takes judgement: active or passive? The Taj Mahal stands on the bank of the Yamuna in Agra. It was built as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal stands on the bank of the Yamuna in Agra. Shah Jahan built it as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal. Both are correct. The first keeps the Taj as the starting point of both sentences, so a paragraph about the building flows. The second brings in Shah Jahan at the start, a new name, and makes him the topic. Now imagine the paragraph before was about Shah Jahan: his reign, his family, his grief. Then the second version flows better, because Shah Jahan is the given and the Taj is the news. So the choice depends on what the reader already has in mind. Neither voice is better in itself. The passive is a tool for putting the known thing first; the active is a tool for putting the doer first. Ask which one the reader already holds. The same judgement applies to fronted phrases. Behind the temple is a banyan tree starts from the temple, which is known. On a page that has not mentioned the temple, the fronted phrase would have nothing to link back to, and A banyan tree stands behind the temple would read better.

English puts its news at the end, and you can hear it. Say this sentence aloud in a natural way: I left my bag on the bus. Most speakers give the strongest stress to bus, the last important word. That is where the news is: not that I left something, but where. Now try: It was on the bus that I left my bag. The stress stays on bus, even though bus is no longer at the end, because the sentence has been built to put bus in a special place. Writers use the same habit without thinking. The end of a sentence is its loudest point. Putting the new idea there means the reader's inner voice stresses the right word. Putting old information there wastes the loudest spot on something the reader already knew.

Given before new is a strong tendency, not a grammar rule. Poems, headlines, speeches and sentences built for emphasis may put new information first on purpose. No item here calls a grammatical sentence wrong for its order; items ask which second sentence starts from the first, which reads most smoothly, or which keeps a named topic first. Forming the passive belongs to ch08 S23; building a paragraph belongs to ch27; sentence length and rhythm belong to ch24.

1. Start each sentence from something the reader already knows.
2. Put the new, important part near the end.
3. Pick up the end of one sentence at the start of the next.
4. Use a pointing word or a repeated word to make the start of the sentence the given part.
5. Use the passive when it keeps the known thing first and the doer is new.
6. Use there is or there are to bring in something new at the end.
7. Move a long, heavy new phrase towards the end of the sentence.
8. Keep the order flexible: a poem, a headline or a moment of emphasis may break it on purpose.

• Ravi bought a bicycle last week. The bicycle has a basket and a bell.
• Gauri's colony has a small temple. Behind the temple is a banyan tree three hundred years old.
• The Taj Mahal stands on the bank of the Yamuna in Agra. It was built as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal.
• Oliver's school has a new head teacher. The new head used to teach maths.
• Grace found an old map in the attic. On the map was a cross beside the well.
• Tomás grew up near a volcano. The volcano last erupted before Tomás was born.

• Aditya's grandmother keeps bees. Their honey sells at the Sunday market.
• There is a well in Pooja's village. The well has not run dry in fifty years.
• Kabir sent an email to the principal. The reply came the next morning.
• Harry's team met its new coach on Monday. The coach had once played for the county.
• Laura's town has one bridge. It was built in 1890 by local stonemasons.
• Amina's family runs a spice stall. On the stall sit sacks of pepper, cloves and cardamom.

Linking paragraphs: sentences that look back

A paragraph's first sentence can do two jobs: look back, then move on.

The look-back is short: a phrase, or a sentence of a few words. Then the new point takes over.

This is the Bridge Test between paragraphs: name the relation between the last paragraph and this one, then choose words that name exactly that relation.

Four checks make a paragraph opening link well.

The relation check matters because a look-back can name the wrong relation just as a linker can. After a paragraph on water shortage, However, the village needs a road announces a turn that never comes. The road is one more need, so the relation is adding: Besides water.

The hand-over check links this section to the last one. The look-back is the given information; the new point is the news, so it goes at the end of the opening sentence.

Think of paragraphs as rooms in a house and the first sentence as a doorway. A bare new room with no door makes the visitor climb in through a window. A doorway lets them see where they came from and where they are going in one step. The doorway is short; nobody wants a corridor as long as the room behind it.

The link between paragraphs can be tied at both ends. The last sentence of one paragraph can look forward: But water was only the start of the village's troubles. The first sentence of the next paragraph picks it up: The road was worse. The forward hint makes the reader expect a new point, and the look-back delivers it. Use a forward hint sparingly; one strong look-back at the start of the new paragraph is usually enough.

Here is the judgement that takes practice: how much should a paragraph look back? In a short answer of three paragraphs, a phrase is enough: Besides water, the village needs a road. The reader has just read the water paragraph and needs only a nod. In a long essay, where the reader may have read five paragraphs since the idea was introduced, a short sentence may be needed: The shortage of water, then, is the village's most urgent need. It is not the only one. In a speech, listeners cannot look back up the page, so speakers look back more often and more fully: So far I have talked about water. Now I want to talk about roads. That would be heavy in an essay, and it is exactly right in a speech. The next section shows signposts for speeches in full. In a report with headings, the heading does part of the job. A paragraph under Transport after one under Water needs less of a look-back, because the reader can see the move. So the length of the look-back depends on the distance the reader has come and whether they can look back themselves. The rule of thumb: as short as possible, as long as needed.

Television serials have a name for this: the recap. Many series open an episode with a short scene from the last one, or a line such as 'Previously on...', before the new story begins. A long-running daily serial may replay the last moment of the previous episode before a single new line is spoken. The makers know that viewers arrive after a gap, and a few seconds of looking back make the new scene land. They also know to keep it short: a recap longer than the new scene would drive viewers away. A paragraph's first sentence is a recap in miniature: one phrase from last time, then straight into the new story.

A paragraph that opens without looking back is not a grammar error. Items ask which opening links to the paragraph before, which names the right relation, or which looks back without repeating the whole paragraph; a look-back is keyed wrong only when its linker names a relation that is not there (However with no turn, For example before a new point). How to build a paragraph, its unity and development, belongs to Paragraph Architecture (ch27). Signposts for whole essays and speeches belong to S26. Headings in reports can carry part of the link.

1. Open a new paragraph with a phrase or short sentence that nods to the last one.
2. Name the real relation: adding (Besides water), contrast (Even with a road), time or result (Once the well was repaired).
3. Keep the look-back short, then move to the new point in the same sentence or the next.
4. End the opening sentence on the new point, where the news belongs.
5. Give a paragraph-opening This a noun: these shortages, this plan.
6. Look back more fully in speeches and long essays, less in short answers and reports with headings.
7. Avoid empty signposts such as Moving on that name no relation.
8. Read only your paragraph openings in order; they should tell the story of the essay.

• Water is only half the problem in Chandpur; the village also needs a road.
• Besides water, Meghna's village needs a road to the market town.
• These shortages hit Kavitha's family hardest.
• After the flood came a harder job for Tom's town: rebuilding.
• Cost was one reason Ella's plan failed; time was the other.
• Even with a new road, the market in Diego's town stayed quiet.

• Once the roof was fixed, the hostel at Neha's college faced a new problem: the water tank.
• That was the good news for Rahul's team; the bad news came a week later.
• However, Sunita's village also needs a road.
• Money alone did not save the old cinema on Jack's high street.
• Such problems are not unique to Kate's town.
• Beyond the price, the design of Ahmed's new phone drew complaints.

Signposting in essays and speeches

A signpost tells the reader where they are in the whole piece. Most pieces need four kinds.

First, second and third are standard, and so are firstly, secondly and thirdly. Pick one pair and keep it.

This is the Bridge Test at the size of a whole essay: name where the reader is going next, then give one clear sign for it. If a heading or a numbered list already shows it, the sign can be shorter.

An essay and a speech need signposts in different amounts, because a reader can look back and a listener cannot.

A speaker who says 'I have three points' and then numbers each one gives the audience a count to follow. A reader who sees paragraphs on a page gets part of that map from the layout, so an essay can use fewer and quieter signposts.

One check works for both: count what the map promises and what the piece gives. Three announced means three delivered, in the order announced.

Think of a long train journey. The map on the platform shows every station before you board. The announcement at each stop tells you which station you have reached. A voice says 'Change here for the airport line' when the route turns. And the last announcement says 'This train terminates here.' Take away the announcements and you still reach the end, but you spend the whole ride wondering where you are.

A good map can do more than count. 'This essay looks at three causes, from the smallest to the most serious' tells the reader the order as well as the number, so each step marker lands with meaning: when 'The most serious cause' arrives, the reader knows it is the last. A map can also name the parts: 'first the cost, then the safety, then the noise.' Each step marker can then repeat the name: 'Turning to safety...'

Here is the case that takes judgement: how many signposts are too many? 'In this essay I will discuss three causes. Before I begin, I will explain what a cause is. The first cause that I will now discuss is...' This writer signposts the signposts. Every sentence talks about the essay instead of the topic, and the reader waits a long time for the first real idea. Now compare a speech: 'I have three points for you today. My first point is safety. [...] So that is safety. My second point is cost.' On paper this looks repetitive. In a hall it is exactly right, because 'So that is safety' tells listeners one point has closed, and 'My second point' tells them where they are now. So the test is not a number of signposts. It is the reader. A reader holds the page and can look back, so an essay needs a map, a marker per part and a close. A listener has only memory, so a speech needs the same, said more plainly, plus recaps. Signposts that talk about the essay for their own sake help neither.

There is an old piece of advice for speakers, repeated so often that nobody can say for certain who first gave it: 'Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them.' It sounds like a joke about repeating yourself. It is really a description of signposting for listeners: a map at the start, the points in the middle, and a summing-up at the end. It works because listening is harder than reading. A reader who misses a point can glance back up the page. A listener who misses it has lost it for good, unless the speaker says it again. That is why a good speech can sound more repetitive than a good essay, and why a speech written like an essay and read aloud word for word often loses its audience halfway through.

Items here key only a signpost that breaks its own promise (three points announced, two given), In conclusion or To sum up before a new idea, and a signpost that fits a listener or a reader named in the stem. First and firstly, second and secondly are both standard and never keyed against each other; a mixed pair is described as untidy, not wrong. How many signposts to use is a style judgement and appears only in items that name the aim (a speech, a listener, the clearest version). Building the argument itself belongs to ch29; this section treats only the signs that guide the reader through it.

1. Write the map sentence last, once you know how many parts the piece really has.
2. Count the points the map promises and the points the piece gives. They must match.
3. Give the points in the order the map names them.
4. Start each part with a step marker that names the part, not just 'another point'.
5. Mark a change of kind (from causes to solutions) with a turn such as 'Turning to'.
6. Close with a sign that sums up, and put no new point after it.
7. In a speech, say the count, number each point and add a recap halfway.
8. Choose first or firstly and keep the same style through the piece.

• This essay looks at three causes of the water shortage in Chennai.
• The second cause is the loss of old lakes to new buildings.
• Turning to solutions, the city could clean and refill its temple tanks.
• So far I have talked about the cost of the new pool. Now let me turn to who will use it.
• Firstly, the library in Hull needs longer hours; secondly, it needs more seats.
• To sum up, the market in Nairobi needs shade, water and a proper roof.

• In this speech I want to make one request and give two reasons for it.
• My first reason is safety: the crossing outside Gate 2 has no lights.
• That brings me to my second reason, which is cost.
• Let me say that again, Mr Hughes: we need the crossing before the winter.
• On the other side of the argument, some parents in Bath worry about noise.
• In closing, Mateo asked the council to vote before June.

Flow in stories: time shifts and scene changes

A story links its parts with words that say when and where the reader is.

Essay linkers such as moreover, furthermore and in conclusion rarely appear in stories. They make a narrator sound as if they are building an argument.

This is the Bridge Test inside a story: name the relation, which is usually time or place, then choose a word that names exactly that shift. When the order of events already shows it, no linker is needed at all.

Four checks keep a story's links clear.

The flashback check matters most. Inside a past-tense story, had plus a verb (had planted, had lost) tells the reader this happened before the main events. A time word such as years earlier or that morning sets the jump. Once the reader is settled in the past, the writer can often drop back to the simple past, and a clear word such as now or at last brings them home.

A scene change often needs two markers, one for time and one for place: That same night, in a London hospital, a phone began to ring.

Think of a story as a film. A time shift is the caption on the screen that says 'Three years later'. A scene change is the camera cutting from a village street to a city office. Meanwhile is the split screen: two places, one moment. A flashback is the picture going soft at the edges as we slip into memory, and the return is the picture sharpening again. None of these cuts needs a narrator to say 'moreover'.

A story can also link by viewpoint. When the camera moves from one character to another at the same moment, meanwhile, at that moment or at the same time names the link: 'At that moment, across the city, Ana's phone began to ring.' Many novels also use white space, a blank line or a small mark between sections, to show a jump; the first words after the gap still tell the reader when and where they have landed.

Here is the case that takes judgement: when does a story need a marker at all? 'Meena woke at six. Meena washed, dressed and caught the bus. At nine the exam began.' The first two sentences need no linker. The order of events already shows the time, so then would add nothing. At nine is needed, because it tells the reader how much time has passed and where the story has jumped to. Now compare: 'Meena caught the bus. Meena was standing at the gate of the new college.' Has an hour passed, or three years? The same order that carried the first example now misleads. A marker such as Three years later, or That afternoon, tells the reader which. So the test is not 'does every sentence have a link?' It is 'could the reader misjudge the time or the place?' If the next event follows straight on, order is enough. If the clock jumps, the place changes, or two scenes run side by side, name the shift in the first words of the sentence.

Old Western films and serials often moved from one part of the story to another with a caption or a narrator saying 'Meanwhile, back at the ranch...'. The phrase became so familiar that people now use it as a joke. When a speaker wanders off topic and returns, someone might say 'Meanwhile, back at the ranch' to mean 'back to the main story'. The joke works because the phrase does exactly what a story link should do: it names the time (the same moment) and the place (the ranch) in five words. Modern films rarely need the words, because the camera shows the place, but novels still depend on them. A writer has no camera, so words such as meanwhile and back at the ranch have to do the work of the cut.

Items here key meanwhile for a later event and a missing return from a flashback, because both change the meaning. An essay linker in a story (moreover, furthermore, in conclusion) is a style judgement and appears only in items that ask which link suits a story or sounds like an essay. Then used once is always standard; a string of thens is described by its effect. The tense of a flashback is described, not drilled; forming the past perfect belongs to the tense chapters. The Western catchphrase is described as a stock phrase, with no film named.

1. At every jump, ask: when are we now, and where are we?
2. Put the time or place marker in the first words of the new sentence or section.
3. Use meanwhile only for events happening at the same time.
4. For a big jump forward, say how much time has passed: Three years later.
5. Mark a flashback with a time word and had, then bring the reader back with now or a return to the scene.
6. When the camera cuts to a new place on the same night, give both the time and the place.
7. Leave out a marker when the next event simply follows on.
8. Keep moreover, furthermore and in conclusion for essays, not stories.

• Three years later, Farhan opened a tailoring shop in Lucknow.
• Back in the village, the old well had run dry.
• Meanwhile, in Delhi, Kavya was packing the last box.
• Years earlier, Tom had planted the oak by the gate.
• By morning the snow had buried the lane and Ellie's car with it.
• At that moment, across the city, Ana's phone began to ring.

• Two weeks after the flood, the school in Silchar opened its gates again.
• When the bus finally reached Shimla, it was already dark.
• Upstairs, Nani was still telling stories to the twins.
• Earlier that day, Oliver had lost the only key to the shed.
• Now, twenty years on, Hannah stood at the same school gate.
• Far away in Lagos, Tunde heard the news on the radio.

Shades of contrast: however, instead, whereas, nevertheless

Contrast linkers all turn, but they do not all turn the same way.

Whereas and while join two sides inside one sentence. The others usually open the second sentence.

This is step three of the Bridge Test, sharpened: once you know the relation is contrast, name the shade, then choose the word that names exactly that shade.

Four questions sort any contrast into its shade.

When none of the four fits exactly, however or but, the plain turn, is almost always safe.

The denial test is the strictest. On the contrary needs a first idea that the writer rejects, usually a negative one: not dull, not my worst. If the first sentence is simply true and the second is about something else, the shade is a comparison, and whereas or however is the word.

Think of a road that turns. However is an ordinary bend. Whereas is a fork where two roads run side by side and you look down both. Instead is a closed road with a diversion sign: you take the other route. Nevertheless is a road through a flood that you drive on anyway. On the contrary is a U-turn: you were going the wrong way, and now you face the opposite direction.

While does two jobs. It can mean during the time that (While we waited, it rained.) or it can compare two sides (Rohit likes cricket, while Sam prefers football.). Both are standard. Context usually makes it clear, and when a while could be read either way, whereas removes the doubt, because whereas only compares. Master looks at this and other double-duty linkers in its section on usage debates.

Here is the case that takes judgement: when do two shades both fit? 'The ground was waterlogged. However, the final went ahead.' 'The ground was waterlogged. Nevertheless, the final went ahead.' Both are correct. However names the turn; nevertheless names it more exactly, because the final went ahead despite the water. Neither is wrong, and a careful item never keys one against the other without naming what decides. Now compare: 'The ground was waterlogged. Instead, the final went ahead.' This one fails. Instead needs something that replaces something else: 'The ground was waterlogged, so the final moved indoors' would allow 'Instead, the final was played in the sports hall.' So the test has two steps. First, does the word's shade match the meaning at all? Instead, on the contrary and whereas are strict, and fail when their shade is missing. Second, if more than one word matches, choose the sharpest one the sentence can carry. However is the broad word that fits most turns; nevertheless, instead and on the contrary say more, but only when their shade is really there.

Nevertheless looks like one long word. It is really three short ones glued together: never, the and less. Read it slowly and it still makes sense. 'The road was flooded. Nevertheless, the doctor came' means the doctor came none the less, not a bit less, because of the flood. The problem took nothing away from the result. Its cousin nonetheless is built the same way from none, the and less, and many writers still spell it as three words: none the less. The same trick hides in other linkers. Notwithstanding is not plus withstanding: the thing does not stand in the way. However is how plus ever. Each long linker was once a short phrase that people said so often it became one word.

Items here key a shade only where the meaning rules the others out: on the contrary for a simple comparison or for an idea that is not denied, instead with no replacement, nevertheless with no problem overcome, and whereas used as a sentence on its own. However is never keyed wrong where a plain turn fits, and however and nevertheless never appear as key and distractor when both fit. While for time and while for contrast are both standard. Concession as a strategy in an argument belongs to ch29; this section treats contrast linkers only as word choice.

1. Once you know the relation is contrast, stop and name the shade before you choose a word.
2. Use whereas or while to set two sides side by side inside one sentence.
3. Use instead only when one thing takes the place of another.
4. Use nevertheless, even so or still when something happens despite a problem.
5. Use on the contrary only to deny the idea before and state its opposite.
6. Keep however or but for a plain turn, and for any turn where no sharper shade fits.
7. Test a strict word by swapping in however: if however says more clearly what you mean, use it.
8. Change a linker for variety only when the new word names the same shade.

• Chennai is humid in May, whereas Ooty is cool and dry.
• The last bus had left. Instead, Neha's uncle drove us home.
• The exam hall had no fans. Nevertheless, most of the class finished early.
• Ms Clarke's test was not easy. On the contrary, it was the hardest of the year.
• The ferry to Mull was two hours late. Even so, Jack made the wedding.
• Lucía's team trains at dawn, while Pedro's trains after school.

• The new timetable is not confusing. On the contrary, it is simpler than the old one.
• The power went out at eight. Still, Ishaan finished the model by candlelight.
• Rice needs flooded fields, while the bajra of Rajasthan grows on dry land.
• The council in Leeds did not close the library. Instead, it cut the opening hours.
• The choir's lead singer, Grace, had a sore throat. Nevertheless, the concert went ahead.
• Kenji's school starts at eight, whereas Mariko's starts at nine.

Formal and everyday linkers: so or thus?

The same relation often has an everyday linker and a formal one.

All of these are standard English. Choose by the person reading: a friend, a teacher, an office, a client.

This is the Bridge Test with one more question: name the relation, choose a word that names it, and then check the word's weight against your reader.

Three readers, one link. The relation is result in each case; only the weight changes.

Readers also differ by place. In Indian English formal writing, Also at the start of a sentence (Also, I wish to request...) and hence and thus are common and correct. Many British and American readers find hence and thus very formal and sentence-opening Also rather informal. None of these is an error; a writer for a London client and a writer for a district office might simply choose differently.

Think of linkers as clothes for the same person. The relation is the person: result, contrast, adding. So is a clean T-shirt that works almost anywhere. Therefore is a shirt and tie. Plus and anyway are shorts and slippers. Nobody's shorts are wrong, but you would not wear them to an interview, and you would look odd in a tie at the beach. Dress the link for the reader.

Hence has an older meaning that still appears in formal writing: from now. 'The results will be announced three weeks hence' means three weeks from today. In most modern writing, hence as a linker means therefore, and it often introduces a short noun phrase rather than a whole sentence: 'The road was flooded; hence the delay.' Thus is similar, and can also mean in this way: 'Fold the paper thus.'

Here is the case that takes judgement: what if you do not know the reader? 'The canteen is too small. ___, the queue at lunch is very long.' If this is a text to a friend, so fits. If it is a formal complaint, therefore or as a result fits. If you are writing for a school website that parents, students and teachers all read, which do you choose? The safest choice is the word that suits almost everyone: so. It is standard in every register, from a text to a newspaper. Therefore is also fine for a mixed audience, a little more formal. What the safe choice avoids is the extreme at either end. Hence may sound old-fashioned to a young reader and unusual to many British and American readers; plus may sound careless to a teacher or a parent. So when the reader is unclear, choose from the middle column: so, but, also, for example. When the reader is named, match them. And whatever the reader, never swap to a heavier word that names a different relation just to sound formal.

Hence once pointed at a place, not a reason. In older English, hence meant from here, thence meant from there and whence meant from where. 'Get thee hence' in old writing means go away from here. Over time, from here in space became from now in time, which is why a formal notice can still say 'a week hence', meaning a week from now. Later still, from this came to mean because of this, and hence became a linker for results. A similar journey towards reason shows up in thus and therefore. Thus first meant in this way, and therefore is built from there and fore, for that. Many of the most formal linkers in English began as ordinary words for where and how, and only slowly took on the weight they carry today.

Items here key a register choice only when the stem names the reader (a friend, a principal, a report, a district office, a London client). So, but and also suit almost every reader and are never keyed wrong for any of them. Sentence-opening Also, hence and thus are standard in Indian English and are described by audience, never corrected. Plus and anyway are keyed only against a formal reader named in the stem. Register in full belongs to ch22 Tone & Register; this section treats linkers only as a word choice. The history of hence is given in its general outline.

1. Name the relation first; the weight of the word comes second.
2. Name the reader before you choose: a friend, a teacher, an office, a client.
3. Use so, but and also freely: they suit almost every reader.
4. In formal letters and reports, prefer therefore, however, in addition and in any case.
5. In messages to friends, prefer so, but, also, plus and anyway.
6. Use one formal linker per link, never a pile of them.
7. Accept sentence-opening Also, hence and thus as standard Indian English; adjust only for a reader who expects otherwise.
8. When the reader is mixed or unknown, choose from the words that suit everyone.

• The office will be closed on Friday; hence the meeting is moved to Thursday.
• Hey Riya, the shop was shut, so I got samosas from the cafe.
• Respected Sir, the school bus was late today. Therefore, several students missed the first period.
• The trial in Derby was small. Nevertheless, the results are encouraging.
• Anyway, see you at the match on Saturday, Josh!
• Dr Okoro wrote: 'The survey had few replies. In any case, the council must decide by June.'

• Also, I wish to request two days' leave for my cousin's wedding in Indore.
• The river at Rampur rose two metres overnight; thus the old bridge was closed.
• Amma, the auto didn't come, so we're walking. Back by six!
• Please find the minutes attached. Furthermore, the next meeting will be held on 4 May.
• It rained all day, Callum. Still, the barbecue was fun!
• The shipment is delayed. Consequently, delivery to the Lima office will take two more weeks.

Edit for a real reader

The Bridge Test is the editor's routine at every link: name the relation, check that the word names it, and leave out any linker the order already shows. Then keep what already passes.

Every decision falls into one of three kinds. Knowing which kind you are making is what lets you give a reason.

The last row needs the most care. A classmate may tell you that a sentence cannot start with And or So, or that First is better than Firstly. Neither is true. Starting with And or So is standard English, and First and Firstly are both standard. Some teachers set a house rule against And at the start of an essay; if the magazine had one, the note would say so, and then the change would name that rule as its reason.

The first row needs the other kind of care: fix the relation, not just the word. However became also or then because planting was one more thing the club did, or the next thing, not a turn.

Think of a building inspector walking along a row of bridges. Some bridges point the wrong way: they must be rebuilt. Some have two bridges side by side over one stream: one comes down. One has a sign so blurred that nobody knows where it leads: it needs a clear sign. The rest carry traffic safely, even if the inspector would have painted them a different colour. Those are left alone.

Professional editors usually return a piece with two things: the changes, and a short note or query for anything that is a choice rather than an error. A query is a polite question to the writer, such as: 'The first sentence says three things. Did you mean to add the compost pit as a third, or shall I change it to two?' Queries let a writer decide what they meant, while the editor still fixes what is clearly wrong.

Here is the decision that takes judgement: the map says three things and the body gives two. Which should change? One fix is to change the map: 'This report looks at two things our Eco Club did this term.' Quick, and true to what happened. Another is to add a third thing. But the only candidate is the compost pit, and the club has not done it; it is a plan for next year. Writing 'Thirdly, we would like to start a compost pit next year' breaks the map in a new way, because the map promised things the club did this term. So the honest fix is two edits. Change the map to two things. Then give the ending a real sum-up and move the plan after it: 'To sum up, the lake is cleaner and the paper bank is paying its way. Next year, we hope to start a compost pit.' The lesson reaches past this report. When a map and a body disagree, do not force the body to fit a wrong map, and do not invent content. Ask what the piece really contains, make the map say that, and let every signpost after it keep the same promise. If you are not sure which the writer meant, send a query.

Editors have a one-word instruction for undoing their own changes: stet. Stet is Latin for 'let it stand'. When an editor or proofreader crosses out a word and then decides the original was right after all, they write stet in the margin, and the printer keeps the original. It is one of the most useful words an editor knows, because the commonest editing mistake is changing something that was fine. A writer who sees stet beside their So at the start of a sentence, or their Firstly, knows the editor looked hard at it and decided it was right. Many writers and editors still use the word today, even when the editing happens on a screen instead of on paper.

Items here key a change only when a linker names a relation that is not there (However with no turn, Meanwhile for a later event, In conclusion before a new idea), when two linkers stack on one relation, when a this could point to several things and the stem asks what it points to, or when the map and the body disagree. So and And at the start, Firstly and Secondly, hence and so, and a list with no linker are standard and never keyed as errors. When a stacked pair is cut, either word may stay; items name which one the writer keeps. All people and events are invented.

1. Read the note on the reader first, and write it at the top of the draft.
2. Count the points the opening promises and the points the piece gives.
3. At every linker, name the relation the two ideas really have.
4. Fix a linker that names the wrong relation by choosing one that names the right one, or none.
5. Cut one half of any stacked pair, such as But however or So therefore.
6. Give a vague this a summary noun: this change, this teamwork, these problems.
7. Keep standard choices: And or So at the start, Firstly or First, so or therefore.
8. Give a short reason for every change, and send a query for anything that is a choice.

• This report looks at two things our Eco Club did this term.
• Then we planted forty saplings along the lake path.
• So Anaya's team replanted them before Diwali.
• But the September rains washed away half of the saplings Tom had planted.
• By the end of the term, Ms Price's scales showed 300 kilos of paper.
• This teamwork, from Mr Fernandes's recycler to Lukas's posters, kept the bank running.

• Firstly, we cleaned the lake behind the school.
• Secondly, we started a paper bank in the library.
• And we thank every volunteer who gave up a Saturday.
• To sum up, Tom's saplings are growing again and the paper bank is paying its way.
• However, the September rains washed away half of the saplings Tom had planted.
• Next year, the club hopes to start a compost pit, using a design by Lukas.

Thinking like a writer · ages 16–19

What makes a text hang together

The Bridge Test asks you to name the relation and then choose a word for it. This section steps back and asks what else, besides the linker, holds a text together.

These five are cohesion: ties you can point to on the page. Coherence is different. It is the reader's sense that the ideas belong together, and it rests on one topic, a sensible order and relations the reader can work out from what they know.

The two layers can come apart in both directions.

The last row shows why linkers matter at all. A linker is the one tie that names the relation, so a wrong linker damages coherence directly, while a wrong pronoun only blurs it.

This is why the earlier bands asked you to leave a linker out where order or a pointing word already carries the link. The link is still there; it is carried by a different kind of tie.

Picture a string of beads. The string is coherence: one line of thought that runs through the whole text. The knots between beads are cohesion: pronouns, repeated words, linkers. Knots on a broken string hold nothing together, however many you tie. A strong string needs only a few knots, placed where a bead might slip.

This section names the kinds of tie you already used one at a time: linkers in Practice S11 to S17, pointing back with this and such in Craft S22, repeating a key word in Craft S23 and given before new in Craft S24. It adds the second layer, coherence. S32 builds on it by looking at links the reader supplies with no tie on the page at all.

Here is the hard case: a paragraph whose every sentence is tied to the next, and which still fails. Mr Das writes a report on the school canteen. The canteen serves lunch to four hundred students. Students also use the library at lunchtime. The library has a new set of encyclopaedias. Encyclopaedias were once sold door to door. Door-to-door selling is now rare in cities. Each sentence picks up a word from the one before: canteen, students, library, encyclopaedias, door to door. The lexical ties are perfect. A reader who checks only for ties will pass the paragraph. A reader who asks what it is about will not, because the topic slides away one step at a time until the canteen is forgotten. Call this a chain without a centre. Each link holds, but the chain goes nowhere. The fix is not a linker. The writer must decide what the paragraph is about, keep the sentences that serve that topic and move or cut the rest. Now reverse the case. The canteen serves lunch to four hundred students. The queue starts at twelve. By half past, the dal has run out. Three sentences, no linkers and only one repeated word, yet the paragraph hangs together, because every sentence serves one topic and the reader supplies the relations.

Some of the most coherent texts you know have almost no linkers. A recipe runs in time order: Heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the curry leaves. A reader never needs then, next or after that, because order carries time and they points back. A legal contract, by contrast, often uses hereinafter, whereas and provided that on every line, and ordinary readers still find it hard to follow. Ties and sense are separate things.

Halliday and Hasan's Cohesion in English (1976) is named here only for its five kinds of tie; later linguists have refined the categories and debated where cohesion ends and coherence begins, and this section does not follow those debates. Coherence partly depends on the reader: a text that is clear to a chemist may not be clear to a newcomer. The names, schools and paragraphs in the examples are invented.

1. Before you add a linker, check that the two ideas belong together at all.
2. Say what each paragraph is about in one line; cut or move any sentence that does not serve that line.
3. Use all five kinds of tie: pointing words, stand-ins, left-out words, linkers and repeated or related words.
4. Check every pronoun: it must point to one thing only.
5. Keep a repeated word on the same thread; a repetition that changes topic is a trap.
6. Run the Bridge Test only after the ideas are in a sensible order.

• Priya planted a mango tree in 2019, and last summer it gave its first fruit.
• The Brahmaputra floods parts of Assam most years. The floods bring fresh silt as well as damage.
• Arjun wanted a window seat, but Rohan had already taken one.
• Emma revised all night. However, the exam was postponed.
• Tom bought a bicycle. Bicycles have two wheels. Therefore, Paris is in France.
• In Lagos, the power went off at eight. By nine Chidi's family was playing cards by candlelight.

• Ananya's team lost the semi-final in Chennai. The defeat stung for weeks.
• The monsoon reached Kerala a week early. Within days the rain had filled every well in the district.
• Mr Iyer asked whether the library was open on Sunday. Nobody knew, so he rang the office.
• Olivia moved to Leeds in March. The city felt cold and grey at first.
• Mr Jackson missed the last train home. He walked the four miles in the rain.
• In Seoul, Ji-woo cooked the rice. Min-jun did the washing-up.

Links you do not write

The Bridge Test's last step says: if the order, a pronoun or a repeated word already shows the relation, leave the linker out. This section asks what else can carry a relation with no word on the page, and when the reader cannot be trusted to supply it.

The first four are safe: nearly every reader supplies the same relation. The last is a risk, and a risk must be written: He felt better, so he stopped taking the tablets, or After he stopped taking the tablets, he felt better.

Some pairs look safe and are not. The risk usually comes from one of three places.

In each case the writer knows which reading is true and the reader does not. The fix is one linker, chosen with the Bridge Test.

A reader's knowledge also varies. A farmer in Vidarbha supplies the result in The monsoon failed. Prices rose. A reader who has never lived through a failed monsoon may not. The further your reader is from your world, the more links you should write.

Picture stepping stones across a stream. Where the stones are close together, a walker steps from one to the next without thinking: those are links a reader supplies. Where two stones are far apart, or a second stone sits off to one side so that the walker could jump either way, the writer must lay a plank. A good path has planks only where a walker might slip.

This section extends Discover S8 (when order is enough) and Craft S21 (cutting a linker that adds nothing) from time to every relation, and adds the reader's knowledge as a carrier of links. It builds on S31: an unwritten link is part of coherence, not cohesion, because there is no tie on the page. S33 turns to linkers that are written, and to how different readers hear them.

Here is the hard case: a pair that is safe for one reader and risky for another. Mrs Kulkarni writes to her son's school. Rohan missed the test on Monday. He had a fever over the weekend. To the class teacher, who knows that a doctor's note is expected, the link is plain: the fever is the reason for the absence. Now picture the same two sentences on a form that a clerk in another city reads, without knowing that Rohan was absent. The clerk might take the second sentence as a new, separate fact: he missed the test, and, by the way, he had a fever. The letter still makes sense, but the request, excuse the absence, depends on a link the clerk might not make. Nothing is wrong with the sentences. The risk lies in the distance between writer and reader. One word removes it: Rohan missed the test on Monday because he had a fever over the weekend. The lesson reaches past this letter. Whether a link can stay unwritten is not a fact about the sentences alone. It depends on who will read them. The same pair can be elegant for a colleague and unclear for a stranger. The Master move is to ask, before leaving any gap, whether this particular reader will step across it the way you intend.

Some of the most famous lines in English leave their links unwritten. Julius Caesar's Latin boast is usually translated I came, I saw, I conquered, three short statements and no linker, and every reader supplies both time and a quiet sense of result. Adding then or and so would ruin it. The same silence in an insurance claim, I braked. The car hit the wall., leaves an assessor asking whether the brakes failed or the braking came too late. The difference is not the number of words but the cost of a wrong guess: nobody is harmed if a reader supplies the wrong link in Caesar's boast, while an insurer who guesses wrongly pays the wrong claim.

The pairs in this section are judged by what most readers would supply; a particular reader with special knowledge may read a safe pair differently. Parallel structure is described only as a carrier of links; its grammar belongs to Chapter 15. Caesar's line is quoted in its common English translation. The names, letters and places in the examples are invented.

1. Before you add a linker, ask whether the reader would supply the relation without it.
2. Leave the link unwritten only when one reading is far more likely than any other.
3. Write the link wherever cause could run either way, or where a pair could be mere sequence or real cause.
4. Write more links for a reader far from your world: another city, another country, another field.
5. Use a parallel pattern to invite a comparison; add but only when the turn matters.
6. In health, law, money and instructions, write every link a misreading could harm.

• The monsoon failed in Vidarbha. The price of pulses rose across Maharashtra.
• The shops in Jaipur were shut. It was Diwali.
• Mr Rao felt better, so he stopped taking the tablets.
• Grace boarded the train at York. Two hours later, the train pulled into London.
• Harry's team trained every morning. Harry's team won the county cup.
• In Cairo, the summer was fierce. In Alexandria, a sea breeze cooled the evenings.

• The bridge at Haridwar was closed. We took the long road through Roorkee.
• Rohan missed the test on Monday because of a fever over the weekend.
• After Leela resigned, the company collapsed.
• The kettle clicked off. Sophie poured the tea.
• The team played badly, so the coach shouted.
• In Toronto, Mei's winters are long. In Sydney, Mei's cousin has mild ones.

Linkers in Indian English

The Bridge Test chooses the relation first. This section adds a second question for the choice of word: who is the reader?

Every word in the left-hand column is standard English. The right-hand columns describe how a reader may hear it, not whether it is correct.

The reader changes the best linker; the relation never changes.

Two points stand out. Also inside the sentence (We also need...) reads as neutral to every reader, while Also, at the start is where readers differ. And thus is natural in academic writing everywhere, so a physics report in Manchester and one in Bengaluru may both use it.

Writers who move between readers often keep two habits, much as bilingual speakers keep two languages. That is a skill, not a fault.

Picture a tailor with one bolt of cloth and three customers. The cloth is the relation: result, adding, contrast. The cut is the linker. For the district office, the tailor cuts a formal jacket, hence and further. For the London client, a plain shirt, so and also. For a friend, a kurta for the weekend, so and and all. The cloth never changes; the cut fits the person who will wear it.

This section builds on Craft S29, where the same relation came in formal and everyday linkers chosen by reader, and on Practice S11 and S13, which introduced moreover, therefore and so. It adds the variety question: how Indian English formal writing uses these linkers and how readers elsewhere hear them. S34 turns to linkers that carry older usage arguments, such as firstly, while and since.

Here is the hard case: one letter with two readers. Arjun Mehta, a student in Pune, writes a letter applying for a summer course at a university in Edinburgh. Arjun's school counsellor in Pune reads the draft first. The letter says: I have studied chemistry for four years. Moreover, I have taken part in two science olympiads. Hence, I wish to apply for your course in materials science. Also, I would be grateful for information on scholarships. The counsellor reads a polished formal letter. Every linker names the right relation: moreover adds, hence gives the result, also adds a further request. Nothing needs correcting. The admissions tutor in Edinburgh reads the same letter differently. Three formal linkers in four sentences feel heavy, and Also, at the start of the last sentence feels suddenly casual after the formality before it. The tutor does not think the letter is wrong. The tutor simply hears a voice that is working hard. A revision for this reader keeps every relation and changes the cut: I have studied chemistry for four years and have taken part in two science olympiads. That is why I am applying for your course in materials science. I would also be grateful for information on scholarships. The adding link moves inside one sentence, hence becomes that is why, and also moves inside the sentence. Neither version is more correct. The second is fitted to its reader, and a writer who can produce both on demand has mastered the choice.

Thus and hence are not Indian inventions. They were once common in formal British prose, and thus is still everywhere in academic writing in Britain and America. What changed is fashion: much British and American business and journalistic writing moved towards plain words during the twentieth century, while Indian official and academic writing kept many of the older formal linkers. A linker that sounds old-fashioned in a London office may simply be one that Indian English has kept.

The tendencies described here, which linkers Indian English formal writing favours and how many British and American readers hear them, are broad patterns, not rules: many Indian writers prefer plain linkers, and many British academics use thus and hence freely. No count or survey is claimed. Readers differ within every country. The names, letters and companies in the examples are invented.

1. Name the relation first; the reader decides the word, never the relation.
2. For an Indian office, school or court, hence, thus, further and moreover are natural and standard.
3. For a reader abroad in business, prefer so, that is why, also and in addition, and place also inside the sentence.
4. In academic writing anywhere, thus and therefore are at home.
5. Never stack formal linkers to sound serious; one clear linker is enough.
6. Never call a standard linker wrong because another variety uses it less.

• Respected Sir, the road near our school in Kochi is badly damaged. Hence, we request you to repair it before the monsoon.
• Also, I wish to request two days' leave for my cousin's wedding in Lucknow.
• Deepa's grandmother bought sweets, crackers, diyas and all for Diwali.
• Dear Mr Clarke, the shipment left Chennai a day late, so the goods will reach you on Tuesday.
• Emily's physics report ends: Thus the data support the first model.
• In Singapore, Wei Ling's email to a supplier in Delhi says: We also need the invoice by Friday.

• Moreover, the new bus route will save students in Nagpur forty minutes a day.
• Thus, the committee recommends a second water tank for the hostel in Bhopal.
• Exams over at last! Also, is Kavya's party still on for Saturday?
• Mrs Hughes replied from Leeds: I would also like to ask about parking.
• In the margin of Harry's essay, a Bristol teacher wrote: so reads more naturally than hence here.
• In Manila, Paolo's reports use therefore where a Delhi colleague writes hence.

Usage debates: firstly, while, since

The Bridge Test names the relation first. This section looks at linkers that can name two relations, and at the arguments that have grown up around a few of them.

When since or while can be read two ways, one unambiguous linker fixes it. Choose the one that names the relation you mean.

Most since and while sentences are not ambiguous at all. Since 2015 can only be time; Since you are free can only be cause; While I agree can only be contrast. The test is always the sentence in front of you, not the word in general.

Usage debates often outlive the evidence. Many that began as one writer's preference were repeated in textbooks for a century after most careful writers had stopped following them.

Picture two signposts at a crossroads. One has been painted and repainted by people who argue over its colour: firstly or first, while for contrast. Its colour does not change where the road goes. The other signpost has an arrow that points up two roads at once: Since Mr Iyer joined. That is the one that sends travellers the wrong way, and the only one worth fixing.

This section extends Practice S18, where starting with And or But was shown to be standard, and Craft S26, where first and firstly were both accepted as signposts. It adds while and since, two linkers that can name two relations, and connects to S32: an ambiguous since is a written link that still leaves the reader to guess. S35 turns to exam essays and letters, where signposts such as first and firstly do their most visible work.

Here is the hard case: a sentence where the ambiguity is the whole point of the quarrel. A school newsletter reports: Since Ms Banerjee became the sports coach, the school has won four district trophies. Ms Banerjee's supporters read a clear claim of cause: she made the difference. A rival coach reads a plain statement of time: the trophies happened to come after she arrived, perhaps thanks to a new playing field built the same year. Both readers are reading the sentence correctly. Since means both, and nothing in the sentence rules either out. The writer may even have chosen since because it allows credit without claiming it. A careful editor asks what the newsletter means to say. If the claim is cause, write it and stand behind it: Under Ms Banerjee's coaching, the school has won four district trophies. If the claim is only time, make it plain: In the four years since Ms Banerjee became coach, the school has won four district trophies, alongside a new playing field and two new teams. Notice that neither fix calls since wrong. Since is standard in both meanings. The fault lies in this sentence, where two standard meanings compete and the reader has no way to choose. This is the Master's view of usage: a word is never ambiguous in general, only in a particular sentence for a particular reader. Debates about words can be reported; ambiguity in sentences must be fixed.

Hopefully may be the most argued-over adverb in English. In the second half of the twentieth century, some usage commentators objected strongly to Hopefully, the train will be on time, insisting that hopefully could only mean in a hopeful way. Yet nobody objects to Fortunately, the train was on time or Sadly, the train was late, which work in exactly the same way. Today most dictionaries record the use without complaint, and most readers never notice it.

The debates are described in broad terms: some older usage writers, some commentators, some teachers. No ruling is attributed to a named guide, dictionary or exam board. Standard here means accepted in careful published writing today; a particular teacher, publisher or exam may still set a house rule, and a writer following that house should keep it. The names and sentences in the examples are invented.

1. Treat first and firstly, while for contrast, since for cause and hopefully at the start as standard.
2. Keep one pattern within one list: First, Second, Third or Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly.
3. Before keeping since or while, ask whether this sentence could be read two ways.
4. If it can, and the difference matters, replace it with a linker that has one meaning: because, although, during, after.
5. Follow a teacher's or publisher's house rule where one is stated, and call it a house rule, not grammar.
6. Report a usage debate as a debate; never pass off a preference as a rule.

• Since the trains were cancelled, we took a bus from Nashik to Pune.
• Tanvi has lived in Bengaluru since 2015.
• While Dev cooked the rice, Aisha laid the table.
• While I agree with your aim, Mr Grant, I doubt the cost.
• Firstly, the hall is too small. Secondly, it has no parking.
• In Accra, Kofi's report begins: First, the samples were collected in March.

• In the three years after Mr Iyer joined the school, results have improved.
• Because Mr Iyer joined the school, results have improved.
• Whereas Delhi's winters are cold, Chennai's are mild.
• Although Oliver liked the plan, the board rejected it.
• First, preheat the oven. Second, grease the tin.
• In Lima, Lucia wrote: While the museum was closed, the cafe stayed open.

Exam essays and letters: linking under a word count

The Bridge Test works the same under exam conditions: name the relation, then choose the word. What changes is the budget. Under a word count, each linker must name a relation the examiner needs.

The commonest exam fault is the memorised string: linkers learnt as decoration and pasted into every answer.

Every one of these faults is a wrong or doubled relation, not a matter of style. That is why the fix is always the Bridge Test: name the relation, keep one word for it.

A formal letter has one extra habit: the request usually carries therefore or so, because it follows from the details. I would therefore request... tells the reader that everything above was the reason for asking.

Picture a railway journey with a fixed number of tickets. Each linker costs a ticket. A good traveller spends one ticket at each station that matters: the departure (announce), each stop (a signpost per point) and the terminus (sum up). A traveller who buys three tickets for every station runs out before the journey ends, and has seen no more of the country.

This section applies Craft S26 (signposting in essays and speeches) and Craft S29 (linkers by register) to exam answers, and uses Craft S21 (overuse and stacking) to cut memorised strings. It relies on S33: the formal letter linkers an Indian examiner expects, hence and further among them, are standard. S36 steps outside English to compare how other languages link ideas.

Here is the hard case: an answer where every linker is correct and the answer still loses marks. Rhea Joshi writes a formal letter to a newspaper editor about a closed public library. The letter is 180 words, inside the range. Every paragraph opens with a linker: Firstly, the library... Secondly, the reading room... Moreover, the staff... Furthermore, the children... In addition, the elderly... Hence, I request... Each linker names a real relation. Firstly and Secondly are standard; moreover, furthermore and in addition all add; hence gives the result. No examiner could circle any of them as an error. Yet the letter reads as a list, not an argument. Five adding linkers in a row tell the editor that five equal points are coming, and none stands out. Seven words have gone on linkers, most of them repeating one relation, and there is no room left for the detail that would persuade: how many readers used the library, and since when it has been closed. The revision keeps two linkers and spends the saved words on detail. I am writing about the closure of the Shivaji Nagar library, which served three hundred readers a week. Its reading room was the only quiet place for many students to study. The children's section and the Tuesday group for elderly readers have also closed. I would therefore urge the council to reopen it. Nothing in the first letter was wrong. The second is better because each linker earns its place, and the words it saved now carry the argument.

The shortest good exam openings often contain no linker at all. Schools should limit phones, not ban them, for two reasons. is a plain sentence, yet it links the whole essay, because the number two becomes a promise the examiner holds the writer to. The signposts that follow, The first reason and The second reason, are simply the promise being kept. The same is true of a formal letter. I am writing to request a new streetlight on MG Road contains no linker either, yet it tells the officer what every later line is for: each detail becomes a reason, and the final request needs only therefore to close the loop. The strongest link in an exam answer is often a plain sentence that makes a promise.

Exam formats, word ranges and marking schemes differ between boards and tests, and change over time; they are described here in general terms, and no board's scheme is quoted. Where a board or teacher gives a letter format, follow it exactly. First and firstly, and Also at the start of a sentence, remain standard. The names, letters and essays in the examples are invented.

1. Open an essay with one sentence that announces your position and the number of points.
2. Give each point one signpost that matches the announcement: The first reason, A second problem.
3. Sum up with one summing-up linker followed by a sentence that sums up, never a new point.
4. In a formal letter, move from purpose to details to request; let therefore or so introduce the request.
5. In an informal letter, use fewer and lighter linkers: So, Also, Anyway.
6. Under a word count, cut any linker that names no relation or doubles another.

• I am writing to request a new streetlight on MG Road, Indore.
• In addition, the footpath near the Palasia bus stop has been broken since March.
• I would therefore request you to repair both before the monsoon.
• This essay looks at two reasons why Leeds should keep its branch libraries open.
• In short, Jack's town needs its library more than a new car park.
• In Nairobi, Amani's letter to a cousin reads: We won the debate! Anyway, how are your exams going?

• Firstly and foremost, moreover, mobile phones are a boon and a bane.
• The first reason is cost: a new tablet costs Neeraj's family a month's savings.
• However, some parents in Pune argue that phones keep children safe.
• Dear Sam, thanks for the photos from Brighton. Also, when are you coming to visit?
• Charlotte's essay ends: Overall, the evidence points towards limiting phones, not banning them.
• In Tokyo, Haruto's report starts: This report describes the results of the class survey.

Linking across languages

The Bridge Test works in any language, because it starts with the relation, not the word. Name the relation first, and then find the word each language uses for it.

The overlap is wide: every row has a match. The Bridge Test's second step, naming the relation, is the same in both languages. Only the third step, choosing the word, changes.

Other languages show the same overlap. The words below are common everyday linkers, given in simple romanisation.

Three differences explain almost every transfer between languages.

None of these is a fault in the other language. Each is simply how that language builds a bridge.

Picture two towns on either side of a river, each with its own bridge-builders. Both towns need bridges for the same seven crossings: adding, contrast, cause, result, time, example and summing up. One town builds a pillar on each bank; the other builds from one bank only. Both bridges carry the traveller across. When you cross from one town to the other, you use the local bridge and leave your own pillars at home.

This section builds on Discover S3 (because gives the reason), Practice S12 and S13 (contrast, cause and result linkers), Craft S28 (shades of contrast, including even so and nevertheless) and Master S33 (Indian English linkers by audience). It points back to Chapter 10, Section 29, for the doubled clause link and Section 37 for clauses across languages. S37 now turns to revising a whole paragraph for flow.

Here is the hard case: a translation where the relation itself shifts. Arnav translates his grandmother's sentence for an English school magazine: Barish ho rahi thi, phir bhi Dadi mandir gayi. A word-by-word version would be: Rain was falling, then also Grandmother went to the temple. That English is not wrong in every word, but it is wrong as a bridge. Then also names time and adding; the Hindi names a contrast despite a point. The Bridge Test solves it. Step one: read the two ideas. It was raining; Grandmother went to the temple. Step two: name the relation. The rain should have kept her at home, and it did not. That is a contrast despite a point. Step three: choose an English linker from that family. It was raining. Even so, Grandmother went to the temple. Or: It was raining, but Grandmother still went to the temple. Or: Although it was raining, Grandmother went to the temple. All three are standard. The first keeps the weight of phir bhi as its own word. The second splits it into but and still. The third moves the turn to the front with although, and drops the second link, as exam-standard English expects. The lesson is exact: translate the relation, not the word. Two languages may split a linker into different pieces, but the relation is the same on both banks.

Kintu, the Bengali word for but, is also found in Hindi, where it sounds formal or literary. Both languages inherited it from Sanskrit. So a Bengali speaker and a Hindi speaker may use the same word for the same turn, one in everyday speech and the other in a formal speech. A second surprise: Mandarin textbooks often teach yinwei ... suoyi, because ... so, as a pair. A learner of English from Beijing and a learner from Lucknow may write the same doubled link, Because ... so, for the same reason, from two languages that are not related at all.

Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Japanese and Mandarin are given in simple, informal romanisation, and spellings vary; kyunki is also written kyonki. Glosses show the relation, not every shade of meaning, and many linkers have more than one use. Spoken and written registers differ in every language. The link between a home-language pattern and an English pattern is described as a likely transfer, not a proven cause. No language, variety or speaker is ranked, and no statistics are claimed. The names and sentences in the examples are invented.

1. Name the relation before you translate; the relation stays the same across languages even when the words do not.
2. Read a whole linking phrase, such as phir bhi, before choosing an English word.
3. In exam-standard English, keep one link per gap: Because it rained, we stayed in.
4. Watch words that carry two relations in either language: phir, to, while, since.
5. Check a linker in a language you do not speak with a speaker or a dictionary.
6. Describe differences between languages; never call a home language careless.

• The shop was shut, so Meenal bought milk from the dairy next door.
• Farid missed the bus because the road near Howrah was flooded.
• It was pouring in Madurai. Even so, Lakshmi walked to the temple.
• Ella learnt Hindi in Jaipur and then taught English in Leeds.
• Liam found Spanish grammar hard. However, the vocabulary came quickly.
• Sakura wanted to join the choir, but the list was already full.

• Since the rain had stopped, Nikhil and Tara played cricket.
• Although the hall in Shimla was cold, the audience stayed until the last song.
• Riya revised the chapter and then solved the questions.
• Sophie finished the Tamil course. After that, Sophie spent a month in Madurai.
• Harry's Marathi class learnt many linkers. For example, pan means but.
• Ana had no ticket for the final. As a result, Ana watched it at home in Recife.

Revising for flow: choppy, stitched or smooth

Three faults, three tests and three first moves. The Bridge Test works on each gap; this table works on the whole paragraph.

The order of repair matters. Reorder first, because every link depends on what comes before it. Point back second, with this change, such a cost or a repeated key word. Cut or add a linker last, one gap at a time.

Here is the canteen paragraph in four states. The facts never change; only the order and the links do.

The smooth version uses three kinds of link, and each is used once.

All five linkers from the stitched draft are gone, and one, so, is new. Moreover and furthermore were the wrong family, since a higher cost is a problem, not one more benefit. Firstly announced a list that never came.

Picture a string of beads. A choppy paragraph is the beads lying loose on the table: all there, but not joined. A stitched paragraph is beads tied with a large knot between every pair, so the knots hide the beads. A jumbled paragraph is beads strung in the wrong pattern. Smooth writing threads the beads in order on a string you barely see, with a knot only where the pattern turns.

This section gathers tools from the whole chapter: Discover S8 (when order is enough), Practice S17 and S19 (the wrong link and a paragraph that flows), Craft S21 to S24 (overuse and stacking, pointing back, repeated key words and given before new) and Master S31 and S32 (cohesion, coherence and links you do not write). S38 turns these judgements into exam items.

Here is the hard case: a paragraph that is jumbled and stitched at once. Rehan's report reads: Moreover, the pond now has fish again. Firstly, the village cleared the weeds in April. Hence, the water became clearer. Furthermore, the ducks returned. In conclusion, volunteers spent every Sunday there. A quick editor sees five linkers and cuts three. The paragraph is still wrong, because the order is wrong. The fish and ducks are results; the weed clearing and the Sundays are causes. The In conclusion sentence is not a conclusion at all but a new detail about the work. Repair it in order. First, reorder: the work comes first, then what it changed. The village cleared the weeds in April, and volunteers spent every Sunday there. The water became clearer. The ducks returned, and the pond has fish again. Second, point back. The water became clearer becomes That work made the water clearer: That work gathers the clearing and the Sundays into one phrase. Third, add or cut one linker at a time. Now the ducks have returned, and the pond has fish again. Now marks the change in time; and joins the two results. The finished paragraph uses two small linkers and one pointing phrase where the draft had five openers. Nothing was lost, and the order does most of the work.

A paragraph can be too smooth for its reader. A set of instructions for a first-aid kit, such as Open the box. Take out the bandage. Wrap the wound, looks choppy on the page but is exactly right: the reader follows step by step and needs no linker. Adding Then to every step, as a helpful editor might, makes the steps slower to scan. The opposite surprise: a stitched paragraph can win a debate. A speaker who says First, Second, And finally helps listeners who cannot scroll back. The fault is in the fit, not the linkers.

Choppy, stitched and jumbled are useful teaching labels, not terms from a single named authority. The rule of thumb of two or three linkers in a five- or six-sentence paragraph is a guide for learners, not a measured standard. Some genres, such as instructions and speeches, use more or fewer links for good reasons. Every sentence in the drafts is grammatical; the faults are faults of flow. The names and paragraphs in the examples are invented.

1. Diagnose before you fix: choppy, stitched, jumbled, or already smooth.
2. Reorder first; no linker can mend an idea in the wrong place.
3. Point back second, with this change, such a cost or a repeated key word.
4. Cut or add linkers last, one gap at a time, keeping every linker that marks a real turn.
5. Read the whole paragraph aloud after each pass.
6. Describe a style fault by what the reader loses, never as a grammar error.

• Kochi's ferry fares rose in May, so fewer students take the ferry now.
• The canteen now uses steel plates. This change has cut the waste bins from six to two.
• Neha planted tomatoes in March. The tomatoes ripened in June.
• Oliver bought an old bicycle. The bicycle needed new brakes.
• The bridge was closed. But however, Emma found a way across.
• Kofi's team lost the first match. Even so, the team reached the final.

• In conclusion, the fair raised money for the library. Next year the fair will run for three days.
• The well at Dhanpur had dried up. As a result, families walked four kilometres for water.
• Irfan's team first mapped the lanes; then the team counted the potholes.
• Grace's first draft opened every sentence with a linker. The revised draft keeps only two.
• The library opened late on Monday. Its new hours start next week.
• In Lima, Lucia's class planted trees along the river. Those trees now shade the path.

Transitions under exam conditions

Every linking item fits one of a few shapes, and each shape has its own first check. The Bridge Test's first two steps, reading both sides and naming the relation, come first in all of them.

Sort what you find into three trays before you answer.

Sentence ordering is where pointing words earn the most marks. Here is a typical set of four.

Q opens, because it points back to nothing. P follows, because This decision needs the closing before it. S needs the traders of P. R can then close the set as the result, giving Q P S R. A reader who starts with the linkers alone might put R second; the pointing words settle it.

Gap-fills fail in a different way. Here is one gap with four possible choice sets.

Picture an examiner's desk with three trays. The first tray is labelled wrong in meaning: linkers that promise a relation the ideas do not have. The second is labelled only if the stem says so: choices a rule, a reader or a word limit decides. The third is labelled leave alone: both-standard choices. Every linking choice you meet under time goes into one tray before you pick an answer.

This section brings the whole chapter to the exam desk: Practice S13, S17 and S18 (cause and result, the wrong relation, starting with And or But), Craft S22, S26 and S29 (pointing back, signposting, linkers by register) and Master S34, S35 and S37 (usage debates, exam letters and revising for flow). Chapter 23 treats error-spotting as a whole test genre; S39 now turns to close reading.

Here is the hard case: a gap where the key depends on one small word. The item reads: Anjali had practised the speech for a week. ____, Anjali forgot the second line. The choices are As a result, Even so, For example and In addition. A quick reader sees a week of practice and a forgotten line and reaches for As a result, because practice and forgetting feel linked. Run the Bridge Test instead. Step one: read both sides. Step two: name the relation. A week of practice should have prevented forgetting; forgetting happened anyway. That is a contrast despite a point, the relation of even so, still and nevertheless. Step three: find the one choice from that family. Even so is the only one. Now change one word. Anjali had not practised the speech at all. ____, Anjali forgot the second line. The relation flips: no practice leads to forgetting, so the result linker As a result is the key, and Even so would be wrong. A careful item writer checks this before setting the item, and a careful candidate checks it before answering. The ideas on both sides of the gap, not the topic, decide the relation. One word such as not, never or instead can move the key from one family to another. The lesson is exact: under time, read every word on both sides of the gap, name the relation in your head, and only then look at the choices.

In a sentence-ordering item, the opening sentence is often the plainest one. It usually has no pointing word, no linker and no pronoun, because nothing has come before it for those words to point to. Candidates who look for a dramatic first line often choose a sentence that begins with This or However, which almost never opens a set. A second surprise: a sentence can start with And or But in an answer to a formal exam question and still be standard English. What decides whether it loses marks is a stated house rule, not grammar.

Exam formats are described generically; no board, test or paper is named, and no marking rule is attributed to any examiner. Sentence-ordering items vary: some give four sentences, some five, and some fix the first and last. The three trays are a teaching device for sorting choices, not an official scheme. Where an item is flawed, a candidate still has to answer it; the advice here is to choose the most exact linker, not to leave it blank. The names and sentences in the examples are invented.

1. Cover the choices, read both sides of the gap and name the relation before you look.
2. Read every word on both sides: not, never and instead can change the relation.
3. Sort each choice into a tray: wrong in meaning, decided by a named condition, or both standard.
4. In ordering items, find the sentence that points back to nothing; then chain by this, such, the and repeated key words.
5. Never correct a both-standard choice in an editing task unless the stem names a rule.
6. In timed essays and letters, use one signpost per paragraph and one linker per gap.

• The rain stopped. As a result, the match at Eden Gardens resumed.
• Meera missed the lecture. However, Meera read the notes that night.
• This decision angered the traders in Pune.
• But the ferry never came.
• Firstly, read every question twice.
• Diego's essay, however, ran over the word limit.

• Priya plays the sitar. However, Priya also plays the tabla.
• The canal in Alappuzha was cleaned in March. The work took three weeks.
• In addition, the hostel needs a second water cooler.
• I was late. Therefore, the bus broke down.
• In short, the plan saves time and money.
• Amara reached the station at six. Meanwhile, the train was already leaving.

Close reading flow

The Bridge Test asks what relation a link names. Close reading asks one more question: what job does the link do for the reader at this point in the text?

Austen's opening two sentences, read link by link.

The Gettysburg Address, quoted from the Bliss copy, links its first sentences by pointing back and repeating.

Then comes the turn. The next sentence in the Bliss copy begins: But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate. After five sentences that build towards dedicating the field, But reverses the direction: the living cannot make the ground sacred, because the soldiers already have.

Tagore's poem 35 in the English Gitanjali of 1912 builds a different way. Line after line begins with the same word, Where: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free. The repeated word is the link. The last line gathers the whole list: Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. That heaven of freedom points back to every Where line at once.

Picture a rope bridge across a gorge. Each plank is a sentence. The ropes on either side are the pointing words and repeated key words: they run the whole length and hold every plank to the one before. Here and there a signpost says turn left. Great writers build rope bridges: strong ropes, few signposts, and the traveller barely notices how safely they are carried.

This section applies Craft S22 to S24 (pointing back, repeated key words, given before new) and S26 (signposting) to real texts, and builds on Master S31 and S32 (cohesion and coherence, links you do not write) and S34 (words such as while and since that carry two meanings). S40, the chapter's last section, asks you to analyse, link and defend a draft of your own.

Here is the hard case: Austen's However. Many readers, meeting However at the start of her second sentence, expect a contrast with the first. The first sentence says every rich single man must want a wife. A contrast would say something like: However, the man himself may not agree. That reading feels natural, and it is wrong. Read the words around it. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be. However here is joined to little known, and the pair means no matter how little known. It is a degree word, like however hard you try or however late it is. It does not link the two sentences at all. So what does link them? Two pointing phrases. Such a man carries forward the single man in possession of a good fortune. This truth gathers the whole first sentence, the truth universally acknowledged, into two words. The second sentence then tells us how firmly the neighbours hold that truth, even when they know nothing about the man. There is a joke in the link, too. The truth universally acknowledged turns out to be what the neighbouring families want to believe. The pointing phrase this truth lets Austen repeat the grand claim with a straight face while the rest of the sentence undercuts it. The lesson is exact: name a word's job from the words around it, not from its shape. The same word, however, can be a linker in one sentence and a degree word in the next.

The most quoted sentence in English fiction to do its linking entirely without linkers may be the opening of Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859): It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. There is no but and no yet. The repeated frame, it was the, carries the reader, and each pair of opposites makes its own contrast. A second surprise: the King James Bible of 1611 opens verse after verse with And, as in And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. The chain of Ands is one reason many careful writers since have been comfortable starting a sentence with And.

Quotations are from widely reprinted public-domain texts: Pride and Prejudice (1813), the Bliss copy of the Gettysburg Address (1863), Tagore's English Gitanjali (1912), A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and the King James Bible (1611). Austen's second sentence is quoted only as far as surrounding families and the rest is described. Lincoln's dashes are not reproduced; the passage after we can not dedicate is described. Wording, spelling and punctuation differ slightly between copies and editions, so check your own copy. Interpretations are offered as readings, not as the only reading. The student names in the examples are invented.

1. Read link by link, and name each link's job: point back, turn or build.
2. Look for pointing words and repeated key words first; they usually carry more of the flow than linkers do.
3. Name a word's job from the words around it, not from its shape.
4. Quote exactly from one named copy, or describe the passage.
5. Always pair a device with its effect on the reader.
6. Treat older spelling and punctuation as normal for their time.

• However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families
• Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
• Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
• Aditi's essay on the poem ends: Such a country is still worth working for.
• Sneha's school speech echoed Lincoln: Now we are ready to open the library.
• In Nairobi, Achieng's speech turned with one line: But the river did not wait for us.

• It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness
• And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
• Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
• Farhan's essay turned once, near the end: But the village did not give up.
• Meenakshi argues that Austen's second sentence tests this truth against real families.
• In Accra, Kwame's debate speech moved on with a signpost: The second reason is cost.

Independent performance

Here are six lines from Ishita's draft, each put through the Bridge Test and the editor's brief.

Every decision is the Bridge Test and one question more: does the link name the relation the two ideas really have, and is the choice already standard?

The kinds of decision, with the smallest move for each.

Then read the whole report aloud, as its readers will meet it. The first paragraph, once the drains sentence says also, runs smoothly. The second paragraph, once reordered, has one so and one pointing phrase instead of four openers. The last paragraph now ends with a real conclusion, because the new hostel tank has moved up to sit with the other plans.

Picture an editor with three trays and a pair of scissors. Into the first tray go the linkers that say the wrong thing: fix them. Into the second go the choices only a named reader can decide: wait for the brief. Into the third go the standard choices: leave them alone. The scissors are for overuse, and they cut only what the order already shows.

This is the chapter's capstone. It draws on Discover S7 and S8 (the Bridge Test, when order is enough), Practice S13, S17 and S18 (cause and result, the wrong relation, And or But at the start), Craft S21, S22, S24 and S29 (overuse and stacking, pointing back, given before new, register), and Master S33, S34, S37 and S38 (Indian English, usage debates, revising for flow, exam trays). Chapter 22, Tone & Register, takes the linked draft further.

Here is the hard case, and it sits in the second paragraph of the draft. Ishita writes four sentences about the first month. Firstly, the gutters were cleaned in May. Then the tanks were fitted. Moreover, the tanks filled in a week. Therefore, the monsoon arrived early. Every linker is a real English word, and two are correct. Firstly signposts the first step, and Then names time. The other two are wrong in meaning. Moreover promises one more point of the same kind, but the full tanks are the result the report has been waiting for. Therefore makes the early monsoon a result of the full tanks, which gets the weather backwards. The tempting fix is to swap words: Moreover to So, Therefore to Because. That still leaves the monsoon after the tanks it filled. The Master fix starts with order. The monsoon belongs before the full tanks, because it caused them. So the edit reorders first: Firstly, the gutters were cleaned in May. Then the tanks were fitted. The monsoon arrived early, so the tanks filled in a week. Next, the edit asks whether every linker is needed. Firstly can stay, since the paragraph really does list steps, and Then can stay or go; the dates would carry the order either way. One so now names the one result. The finished paragraph has three linkers where the draft had four, and every one names the relation the ideas really have. The lesson is exact: reorder before you relink, and let each linker earn its place.

The best single edit in the whole report removes a word and adds none. However, it also collects water from the playground drains becomes It also collects water from the playground drains. The draft already had the right linker, also, sitting inside the sentence; the However in front of it was promising a turn that never came. A second surprise: the report's most formal linker, hence, is one Ishita should keep. Hence the tanks are locked at night names a real result of the safety rule before it. Some readers find hence formal, and Chapter 22 will ask whether it suits each reader. For now, it names the right relation and is standard.

Ishita Menon, the classmates named in the report, the magazine Current and its editor's brief are invented for this section, as are the tanks, the figures and the school. Kochi is a real city; no real school or event is described. Overuse is described as an effect for the stated readers, never as a grammar error. Register choices, such as whether hence suits a particular reader, are left to Chapter 22 unless the brief names a reader. Other careful editors might defend a slightly different set of keeps.

1. Read the whole draft once before changing anything.
2. Sort each link into a tray: wrong in meaning, decided by a named reader, or standard.
3. Repair flow in order: reorder, point back, then cut or add one linker.
4. Make the smallest change that fixes one nameable fault.
5. Keep every standard choice, and every linker that carries the only turn.
6. Defend each change and each keep in one line that names the relation or the rule.

• Our school collects rainwater from the roof. It also collects water from the playground drains.
• The monsoon arrived early, so the tanks filled in a week.
• Also, the Class 9 students read the meter every Friday.
• Ms Taylor, a visiting engineer from Bristol, checked the filters. The filters were clean.
• And Mr Evans, the bursar, says the water bill has halved.
• Dr Okafor's letter praised the project. This praise now hangs on the notice board.

• Next, the school plans a second tank for the hostel.
• But the gardeners still used the tap.
• Firstly, the roof gutters were cleaned in May.
• Hence the tanks are locked at night.
• Jack's team measured the rainfall. Their figures went into the report.
• Meanwhile, in Mombasa, a partner school built its own tank.