Reading Chronological Order Practice (page 3)

Review for these concepts can be found at Reading Chronological Order Help.

Transitional Words and Phrases Practice and Answers

Practice Passage 1

Here's a more extreme example of a paragraph with the transitional words and phrases omitted:

I went to work early to get some extra filing done. I got there; the phone started ringing. My boss walked in. He asked me to type a letter for him. He asked me to make arrangements for a client to stay in town overnight. I looked at my watch; it was already 11:00.

Now, take the paragraph and add the following transitional words and phrases:

immediately	yesterday
as soon as	a moment later
when	then

_____ I went to work early to get some extra filing done. _____ I got there, the phone started ringing. _____ my boss walked in. _____ he asked me to type a letter for him._____ he asked me to make arrangements for a client to stay in town overnight. _____ I looked at my watch, it was already 11:00.

Answers

You might have come up with a slightly different version, but here's one good way to fill in the blanks:

Yesterday, I went to work early to get some extra filing done. As soon as I got there, the phone started ringing. A moment later, my boss walked in. Immediately, he asked me to type up a letter for him. Then he asked me to make arrangements for a client to stay in town overnight. When I looked at my watch, it was already 11:00.

See how much better the paragraph sounds with transitional words and phrases to guide you?

Practice Passage 2

Here is a series of events listed in random order. Use the transitional words and phrases in each sentence to help you put them in proper chronological order. Number the sentences from 1–6 in the blanks provided.

If the penalty structure is to your liking, make sure that the money market account is FDIC insured.

After you've found the best terms, be sure to find out what the minimum account balance is and ask what the penalties are if your account drops below the limit.

In order to open a money market account, you should follow several steps.

Then you should shop around for the best terms and yields available.

Finally, once the account is opened and you are earning interest, you should consider using that interest to pay off outstanding credit card debt.

First, you should decide what features are important to you.

Answers

You should have numbered the blanks in this order: 5, 4, 1, 3, 6, 2. Here's how the sentences look together in a paragraph.

In order to open a money market account, you should follow several steps. First, you should decide what features are important to you. Then you should shop around for the best terms and yields available. After you've found the best terms, be sure to find out what the minimum account balance is and ask what the penalties are if your account drops below the limit. If the penalty structure is to your liking, make sure that the money market account is FDIC insured. Finally, once the account is opened and you are earning interest, you should consider using that interest to pay off outstanding credit card debt.

Practice Passage 3

Read the following paragraph, which describes a local community event.

The International Dinner raised $15,000 to renovate the Berkshire Park Community Center. Three hundred and fifty people attended the dinner, which was held in the ballroom of a local hotel. Tickets were sold in advance for $50 each. The attendees left the event feeling very good about their community. The Berkshire Park Community Center was damaged in a fire six months ago. An energetic committee of eight community members came up with the idea of the International Dinner to raise funds to repair the damages. The plan was to celebrate the diversity of the Berkshire Park Neighborhood Association by serving ethnic food that represents the various cultures in the neighborhood. The committee also organized a silent auction with prizes donated by local businesses to take place during the dinner. The committee chairperson talked to a local newspaper reporter at the dinner and stated that the goal was to raise $10,000. A follow-up letter to community members thanked everyone for the huge success of the fundraiser and outlined a schedule for the renovation.

Notice that this paragraph is not arranged in chronological order. Take the ten different events that make up the story and rearrange them so that they are in chronological order.

Here's the order of events as they are presented in the story.

• The International Dinner raised $15,000 to renovate the Berkshire Park Community Center.
• Three hundred and fifty people attended the dinner.
• Tickets were sold for $50 each.
• The attendees left the event feeling very good about their community.
• The Community Center was damaged in a fire six months ago.
• A committee of eight community members came up with the idea of the International Dinner to raise funds for repairs.
• The plan was to serve foods that represent the various cultures in the neighborhood.
• The committee organized a silent auction to take place during the dinner.
• The chairperson talked to a local newspaper reporter, stating that the goal was to raise $10,000.
• A letter to community members thanked everyone and outlined the schedule for renovation.

Next, put the events in chronological order.

Now, take these chronologically ordered events and make them into a cohesive paragraph. To do this, you need to add transitional words and phrases. Here is a list of transitional words and phrases often used in chronologically organized passages:

first	soon
second	after
third	before
next	during
now	while
then	meanwhile
when	in the meantime
as soon as	at last
immediately	eventually
suddenly	finally

Write your paragraph, putting the events in chronological order with transitional phrases, below or on a separate piece of paper.