How can you tell they’ve got it: Linking paragraphs with adverbials?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Begin a new paragraph with an adverbial of time to signal a shift in time or sequence, e.g. 'Meanwhile, back at the castle...' or 'Several hours later, the storm finally passed'; Use adverbials of place to move the reader to a new location between paragraphs, e.g. 'Beyond the forest, the land was flat and dry'; Use numbering or addition adverbials to structure non-fiction across paragraphs, e.g. 'The first reason... The second reason... In addition...'. Or just try it together: When your child writes a multi-paragraph story or report, do they use linking phrases — like "Meanwhile, far away…" or "By the following morning…" — to guide the reader smoothly from one section to the next?

English Grammar & Punctuation Ages 9–11

Linking paragraphs with adverbials

Your child can link one paragraph to the next so the reader can follow. They use phrases like meanwhile, several hours later, or nearby.

In curriculum terms

Link ideas across paragraphs using adverbials of time (later, meanwhile, after a while), place (nearby, far away, beyond the wall), and number (secondly, finally, in addition) to guide the reader through a multi-paragraph text

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Begin a new paragraph with an adverbial of time to signal a shift in time or sequence, e.g. 'Meanwhile, back at the castle...' or 'Several hours later, the storm finally passed'
Use adverbials of place to move the reader to a new location between paragraphs, e.g. 'Beyond the forest, the land was flat and dry'
Use numbering or addition adverbials to structure non-fiction across paragraphs, e.g. 'The first reason... The second reason... In addition...'

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Try this together

When your child writes a multi-paragraph story or report, do they use linking phrases — like "Meanwhile, far away…" or "By the following morning…" — to guide the reader smoothly from one section to the next?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Cohesion within paragraphsages 9–11Linking across paragraphs builds on within-paragraph cohesion; learners must achieve cohesion within paragraphs before linking between them

Fronted Adverbials and Commasages 8–9Fronted adverbials are one of the key mechanisms for linking paragraphs (e.g. Meanwhile, Later that day)

Linking paragraphs with adverbialsthis skill · ages 9–11

Unlocks

Paragraph Cohesionages 10–11Extended cohesive devices builds on basic paragraph linking

Cohesion and Transitions Across Writingages 11–14Cross-paragraph linking extends KS2 linking ideas across paragraphs with adverbials

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E3LA04low confidenceYear 3 · Language

understand that paragraphs are a key organisational feature of the stages of written texts, grouping related information together

AC9E5LA04low confidenceYear 5 · Language

understand how texts can be made cohesive by using the starting point of a sentence or paragraph to give prominence to the message and to guide the reader through the text

AC9E4LA08low confidenceYear 4 · Language

understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E3LA04low confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Language strand

VC2E5LA04low confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Language strand

VC2E5LY07low confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Literacy strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Adjective Order in Sentencesages 9–10 Brackets and dashes for parenthesisages 9–10 Cohesion within paragraphsages 9–11 Commas Before Joining Wordsages 9–11

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