Text placement (paragraph) questions use the same ideas as [text placement (sentence)] questions. If you haven’t read that chapter yet, review it first for a fuller explanation of the strategy.
The main difference is simple: you’re placing an entire paragraph instead of a single sentence. The good news is that the same approach still works.
Most of the time, you’ll find a clear clue in the paragraph you’re placing:
Let’s look at an example.
Read the following passage to familiarize yourself with it.
[1] What is it about these preschool TV shows that makes them so captivating for young viewers, but so strange to adult eyes? As a mother, I’ve worried whether watching television at a young age is a healthy childhood experience or a mind-rotting activity. The fact that I don’t understand these shows hasn’t helped. But weirdness, it turns out, can be a good thing. Young children’s minds process information differently from adults’; what’s weird for us is often highly engaging for them. A better understanding of these differences could help create healthier, more engaging television programs.
[2] As it turns out, Sesame Street has done almost exactly that. By the late 1960s, most US households owned a television set, but whether they could watch Sesame Street depended on where they lived, because in some areas it was broadcast on Very High Frequency (VHF) channels, in others on Ultra High Frequency (UHF) channels. UHF signals were weaker, and some TV sets couldn’t receive them. This meant only around two-thirds of Americans had access to Sesame Street. Just the act of being exposed to the show and watching it routinely increased school performance among the children who were able to view it.
[3] An excellent example of this is Sesame Street, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019. The show employed developmental psychologists and education experts as part of the production team from the outset. By January 1970, just a few months after it first aired, roughly a third of two-to-five-year-olds in the USA regularly watched the show. And although it was entertaining, every episode was planned with specific learning objectives in mind. The show’s mission was to “help children grow smarter, stronger and kinder.”
[4] The children who watched Sesame Street were more likely to be academically on track, and less likely to be held back, than those who didn’t. Also, children growing up in “economically disadvantaged” communities benefited the most from watching the show.
Now look at the following question:
Paragraph [3] should best be placed:
A. Before paragraph [1]
B. Before paragraph [2]
C. After paragraph [2] (No Change)
D. After paragraph [4]
The topic sentence (the first sentence of a body paragraph) is one of your best clues in these questions. Where a paragraph belongs is often signaled by its first sentence (and occasionally by its last sentence).
That’s why one of your key steps is to focus on the paragraph’s opening and closing lines. Use these steps each time:
Now we’ll apply these steps to the answer choices.
Option A: If Paragraph [3] were placed before Paragraph [1], it would become the first paragraph. But Paragraph [3] begins, “An excellent example of this is Sesame Street…” The demonstrative pronoun “this” must refer to an idea that was just mentioned. That means Paragraph [3] can’t be the first paragraph, so Option A is eliminated. Now you need to look for a sentence earlier in the passage that could supply the idea “this” refers to.
Option B: The last sentence of Paragraph [1] says, “A better understanding of these differences could help create healthier, more engaging television programs.” This sets up the idea that understanding children’s minds can lead to better TV programs. Paragraph [3] then follows naturally by giving an example of that idea: Sesame Street.
Option C: The end of Paragraph [2] says, “Just the act of being exposed to the show and watching it routinely increased school performance among the children who were able to view it.” This sentence focuses on the effects of watching the show. It doesn’t introduce the broader idea of designing “healthier, more engaging television programs,” so it doesn’t clearly set up “An excellent example of this…” In other words, the referent for “this” doesn’t match well.
Option D: If Paragraph [3] came after Paragraph [4], it would appear near the end of the passage. But Paragraph [3] reads like an introduction to Sesame Street (who made it, when it aired, what its mission was), not a conclusion. Also, the last sentence of Paragraph [4] is “Also, children growing up in “economically disadvantaged” communities benefited the most from watching the show.” It would be unclear what “this” refers to if the next sentence were “An excellent example of this is Sesame Street…”
Now, use the four steps above to choose the best placement.
So which choice is best?
Answer: B. Before Paragraph [2].
If you didn’t pick that, reread the explanations above and focus on what “this” must refer to.
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