Connecting Ideas
Connect the ideas using the verb clue.
Pollution → health problems
verb clue: cause
Pollution often causes various health problems.
Identify tone
“It is clear that social media negatively affects students’ ability to focus during lectures.”
Is this strong or tentative?
Strong
Rewrite the sentence to start from the opposite side.
Deforestation contributes to climate change.
Climate change partly results from deforestation.
Rewrite with a more formal connector
The results were bad, so the manager changed the plan.
The results were poor; therefore, the manager revised the plan.
Change this to sound less certain:
Regular physical activity improves students’ concentration and academic performance.
Regular physical activity may improve students’ concentration and academic performance.
Regular physical activity appears to improve students’ concentration and academic performance.
Connect the ideas using the verb clue.
Lack of sleep → poor focus
Verb clue: result
Lack of sleep results in poor focus.
Which sentence shows a more confident causal relationship?
A) Online classes obviously show a relationship with improved language learning outcomes among many students.
B) Online classes consistently improve language learning outcomes across most student groups.
B
Rewrite the sentence to start from the opposite side, but use the same verb clue (--> result).
Obesity results from eating excessive fast food.
Eating excessive fast food results in obesity.
What’s wrong? Fix it.
The policy failed, and because of this, the economy improved.
The policy succeeded, and as a result, the economy improved.
The policy failed, and because of this, the economy suffered.
Connect the ideas using the verb clue
Poverty + malnutrition ← lack of education
Verb clue: stem
Poverty and malnutrition stem from a lack of education.
Connect the ideas in a single sentence.
Social media use → reduced attention span → poor academic performance ↔ increased anxiety
Verb clues: no clue!
Social media use leads to reduced attention span, which results in poor academic performance that is closely associated with increased anxiety.
Write one sentence showing a strong interpretation for one part and a tentative interpretation for another part.
Use of electric vehicles → lower carbon emissions + increase e-waste problems
The use of electric vehicles clearly lowers carbon emissions, but it may also cause an increase in electronic waste.
Rewrite the sentence to start from the opposite side. You have to use the phrase clue.
The new policy brought about positive changes in workplace culture.
Phrase clue: owing to
Positive changes in workplace culture occurred owing to the new policy.
Fill in the missing connector
The factory was closed; ___, hundreds of workers lost their jobs.
therefore
Reverse the focus of the sentence. You have to use the verb clue and make it tentative.
Traffic congestion in big cities is a consequence of rapid urbanization.
Verb clue: lead
Rapid urbanization may lead to traffic congestion in big cities.