This lesson begins Unit 12X by introducing paragraphing as a structural method rather than a presentational habit. In Unit 11X, students learned how to read for meaning through explicit and implicit meaning, purpose, audience, evidence, synthesis and analysis. Unit 12X now shifts attention to how information is organised across the material. The key principle in this lesson is that paragraphs usually contain a type of information, and one useful way to classify that information is through interrogatives: who, what, where, when, why and how. A paragraph that mainly answers one interrogative is often clearer because it offers a controlled focus. A paragraph that answers too many interrogatives at once can become muddy because it compresses competing information into the same space. Students should understand that this is not a rigid rule but a structural tool: writers may deliberately combine interrogatives for summary, speed, suspense or emphasis. Newspaper reports often use an opening paragraph that compresses several interrogatives to summarise a story, before later paragraphs separate and develop those questions in order of importance rather than simple chronology. Narrative writing also uses interrogative-driven paragraphing, separating setting, character, action, cause and consequence to control what the reader attends to at each moment.

By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

• identify which interrogative a paragraph mainly answers;
• explain how interrogatives can organise paragraph focus;
• and analyse how paragraphing changes the reader’s understanding of information in a text.

Paragraphs help organise information for a reader. One way to understand paragraphing is to ask which question the paragraph is mainly answering: who, what, where, when, why or how. If a paragraph answers too many questions at once, the information can feel crowded or unclear. If each paragraph has a clear question focus, the reader can follow the material more easily. Writers can also break this pattern deliberately. A news report may answer several questions at the beginning so the reader quickly understands the whole story. Later paragraphs may then return to one question at a time and add detail. In stories, writers may use different paragraphs to focus separately on setting, character, action or cause.

• Structure: the way information is organised across a text.
• Paragraph: a section of writing that usually groups related information together.
• Interrogative: a question word used to gather information, such as who, what, where, when, why or how.
• Paragraph focus: the main type of information a paragraph develops.
• Delineation: the act of separating information clearly so that each part has its own focus.

• This paragraph mainly answers the interrogative…
• The paragraph focuses on who/what/where/when/why/how by…
• The writer separates this information into a new paragraph because…
• The opening paragraph combines several interrogatives in order to…
• This paragraph becomes muddy because it tries to answer…
• The structure is not chronological; instead, it is organised by…
• By returning to the interrogative…, the writer develops…

It is not correct to say that every paragraph must answer only one interrogative. A paragraph can answer more than one question if the writer controls the information clearly. However, it is useful to notice the dominant interrogative. For example, a paragraph might mention a person and a place, but mainly develop why something happened. The analytical question is not simply “which interrogative appears?” but “which interrogative is driving the paragraph’s focus?”

Imagine someone explaining a school trip. If they say, “Year 5 are going to the museum next Tuesday because the history department wants students to see Roman artefacts in preparation for an assessment at the end of the term, and the coach leaves at 8.30, and students need packed lunches,” the reader’s working memory is being challenged. It answers who, where, when, why and how in one space. A clearer structure might use one short summary first, then separate paragraphs: one for who is going, one for where and when, one for why the trip matters, and one for how students should prepare. The information has not changed, but the paragraphing delineates the information into chunks the reader can more easily understand.

The sports hall will reopen on Monday after emergency roof repairs. Year 7 and Year 8 lessons will return to their normal timetable. The repairs were needed after heavy rain damaged part of the ceiling last week.

The material uses different interrogatives to organise information clearly. The opening sentence mainly answers when and why: the sports hall “will reopen on Monday” and damage. The next sentence shifts to who is affected by naming “Year 7 and Year 8.” The final sentence explains what happened, as “heavy rain damaged part of the ceiling.” This shows how interrogatives can drive structure because each part of the material gives the reader a different type of information.

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A community garden will open beside Mill Lane station next month after volunteers transformed a disused car park into growing space.

The project has been led by local residents with Susan March at the lead. Residents received support from the town council and three nearby primary schools.

Work began in February, when the council agreed to remove the damaged fencing and clear the broken concrete from the site.

Organisers say the garden is needed because many families in the area do not have outdoor space of their own.

The first planting day will take place on Saturday morning, and visitors will be shown how to grow herbs, vegetables and wildflowers in small containers. Although the garden is opening next month, volunteers hope it will become a permanent meeting place for residents, pupils and commuters.

The structure of the material is driven by interrogatives rather than simple chronology. The opening gives the reader the most important information first by answering what is happening and where it will happen: “A community garden will open beside Mill Lane station.” The writer then moves to who is involved, naming “local residents,” the council and nearby schools. Later, the paragraph explains why the garden matters, because “many families in the area do not have outdoor space of their own.” This organisation helps the reader understand significance before receiving every detail in time order. The final sentence returns to why by suggesting that the garden may become “a permanent meeting place,” so the structure moves from announcement, to participants, to cause, to future importance. This shows that interrogatives can be revisited when the writer wants to deepen a particular type of information.