§ 3. Order your material in a logical sequence. Use chronology when presenting facts. Keep related material together.

Exercises

Basic

Improve the sequence of ideas in the following sentence. Start like this: "In March 2000, Gilbert Spaulding applied to the Workforce Commission for extended unemployment benefits." Then use one or two extra sentences.

Improve the sequence and phrasing of ideas in these sentences, perhaps by breaking them into separate sentences:

Intermediate

Rewrite the following passages to reassemble the elements in chronological order. Again, you might need to break one or more sentences into separate sentences.

Advanced

Find a published case in which the presentation of the facts is marred by disruptions in chronology. Write a short explanation specifying why the unchronological narrative was difficult for you to read. Rewrite the factual statement as best you can, omitting irrelevant facts and putting in brackets any facts you might want to add (but weren't given in the case itself). If you belong to a writing group or class, bring a copy of your before-and-after versions for each colleague.


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