Sentence and Paragraph Structure
Sentence and Paragraph Structure
Sentence and Paragraph Structure tests how well you combine sentences, order ideas, and build coherent paragraphs. Expect sentence-combining items, error identification (fragments, run-ons, comma splices), transition choice, and paragraph-order tasks.
Core rules
- A paragraph needs one controlling idea: a topic sentence plus supporting details that all relate to it.
- Order ideas logically-chronological, cause–effect, general-to-specific, or problem–solution-and let transitions signal the relationship.
- Fix fragments by adding a subject, a finite verb, or both; fix run-ons by separating clauses or using a subordinator.
- Avoid comma splices: two independent clauses need a period, semicolon, or conjunction, not a comma alone.
- Place modifiers next to the word they describe; a misplaced only or almost changes meaning.
Worked example
Combine: “The library was quiet. I could concentrate.” Reasoning: The quietness causes the concentration. A subordinator makes the relationship explicit: “Because the library was quiet, I could concentrate.” “The library was quiet, I could concentrate” is a comma splice, and “The library was quiet and I could concentrate” weakens the cause–effect link.
Traps that cost marks
Using however as if it were a conjunction; joining clauses with only a comma; placing a modifier before the wrong noun; inserting a transition that does not match the logic; and writing a paragraph that shifts from one topic to another without a controlling idea.