Answer flow questions by identifying what connecting words and references point back to in the text

What this dot point is asking

Flow questions test whether you can follow how a text holds together. They ask what a reference word (such as "this", "it", "they", "such") points back to, or what a connecting word (such as "however", "therefore", "for example") tells the reader about the link between ideas. The skill is tracing the thread of a text: matching a small linking word to the idea it stands for or signals. This dot point is about reading a passage as a connected whole, not a string of separate sentences.

The answer

Reference words point backwards

Writers avoid repetition by using short words to stand in for ideas already mentioned. "This", "it", "that", "they", "such" and "these" almost always refer back to something earlier:

• "The council planted hundreds of trees. This transformed the street." ("This" = the planting of the trees.)
• "Students raised concerns about the timetable. The principal addressed them at assembly." ("them" = the concerns.)

To answer, find the word, then look back to the nearest idea it sensibly replaces. Test your answer by substituting it: "the planting of the trees transformed the street" should make sense. If it does not, you have traced the reference to the wrong place.

Connecting words signal relationships

Connectives tell the reader how the next idea relates to the last. The common ones fall into a few groups:

• Contrast: "however", "but", "on the other hand", "yet", "although". The next idea opposes or qualifies the previous one.
• Result: "therefore", "so", "as a result", "consequently". The next idea is caused by the previous one.
• Addition: "in addition", "furthermore", "moreover", "also". The next idea is more of the same.
• Example: "for example", "for instance", "such as". The next idea illustrates the previous one.

A flow question asking what "however" tells the reader wants you to name the relationship (here, a contrast) and explain it in context.

Explaining the link in context

It is not enough to label a connective; explain what it links in this passage. "'However' shows a contrast" is a start, but a full answer says between what: "'However' signals a contrast between the positive transformation just described and the qualifying point that follows, that not everyone welcomed the change." Naming the two ideas the connective joins shows you have actually followed the flow, not just recognised the word.

How flow holds a text together

Reference words and connectives are the glue of a text; together they create cohesion, the sense that sentences belong together. Reading a passage well means tracking this glue as you go: noticing what each "this" refers to and what each "however" turns against. When a flow question comes up, you are simply being asked to make explicit the tracking a careful reader does automatically.

Examples in context

Example 1. A chain of references. Consider: "The library introduced a quiet study zone. It quickly became popular. This success led the school to add a second one." Here "It" refers to the quiet study zone, and "This success" refers to the zone becoming popular. A reader has to hold the thread across three sentences, each referring back to the last. Flow questions test exactly this tracking, and the safest method is always to substitute the referent back into the sentence to confirm it reads correctly.

Example 2. The connective changing the meaning. Compare "The plan was expensive. Therefore, the council approved it" with "The plan was expensive. However, the council approved it." "Therefore" would suggest, oddly, that the cost caused the approval; "However" correctly signals that the approval went against the expectation set by the cost. The single connective decides how the two sentences relate, which is why a flow question about a connective is really asking you to understand the logic linking the ideas, not just to recognise the word.

Try this

Q1. In "She missed the bus. As a result, she was late", what does "As a result" tell the reader? [2 marks]

• Cue. It signals a result or consequence: being late was caused by missing the bus, so the second sentence is the effect of the first.

Q2. In "The students planned a concert. It took months to organise", what does "It" refer to? [1 mark]

• Cue. "It" refers to the concert (or the planning of the concert) mentioned in the first sentence; substituting "the concert took months to organise" confirms the reference.

Q3. Explain the difference in meaning that "however" and "therefore" would create between two sentences. [3 marks]

• Cue. "However" signals a contrast, so the second idea opposes or qualifies the first; "therefore" signals a result, so the second idea is caused by the first. The same two sentences relate very differently depending on which connective joins them.