Linking ideas across paragraphs
English · Key Stage 2 · The School
Paragraphs that connect
A well-built paragraph can make sense alone. But a whole piece of writing needs its paragraphs to connect to each other too, or it reads like separate chunks stapled together rather than one flowing piece of writing.
Linking words and phrases
Start a paragraph with a word or phrase that links back: "MEANWHILE, back at the house..." "AS A RESULT, the whole town flooded." "LATER THAT WEEK, everything changed." These signal exactly how the new paragraph relates to what came before — time passing, a cause, a consequence — without the reader having to work it out.
Linking by referring back
You can also link paragraphs by referring back to an idea, without a specific linking word: mentioning a character, an object, or an idea from the previous paragraph, right at the start of the new one. That reminds the reader they are still in the same story or argument, rather than starting fresh with every new paragraph.
Three separate paragraphs: one about a fire starting in a kitchen, one about firefighters arriving, one about the family being safe outside. Read them with no links at all — each feels like its own separate scene. Now add links. Paragraph two starts: "WITHIN MINUTES, firefighters arrived." Paragraph three starts: "BY THE TIME the fire was out, the family stood safely outside, watching." The facts did not change. But the links turned three separate scenes into one flowing story, each paragraph clearly following on from the last, exactly as a reader expects a story to move from one moment to the next.