English

• Link questions are asking you to show how a particular sentence connects two paragraphs together
• Link questions are a type of understanding question where you are being asked to show that you understand how the author's points are developed through the passage
• Link questions are fairly common and quite simple, so they're really good ones to be able to do
• Link questions are generally worth 2 marks, and the number in brackets shows how many points you need to make
• Answering a link question

  1. Pick a word or phrase from the sentence that links back to the previous paragraph

  2. Pick a word or phrase from the sentence that links forward to the next paragraph
• The formula for answering a link question is to explain how the word/phrase links back, and how the word/phrase links forward
• Example sentence


  • However, though they were somewhat similar in some sense, it was their upbringing and subsequently the plots of their novels which made them vastly different
• Word/phrase linking back


  though they were somewhat similar
• Word/phrase linking forward


  the plots of their novels which made them vastly different
• Words like 'however', 'but', 'although', 'nevertheless' can mark a change in direction and make it easier to identify the two main points
• You should quote the relevant words/phrases in your answer, not paraphrase
• You need to have both the part that links back and the part that links forward to get full marks