以下的範例是我很喜歡的文章。這是在講解一種讀書的方法的段落。

本身除了是「時序式」寫作的範例，也是各位在讀書時可以好好學習的方法：

 

The title for this new higher-level study skill is abbreviated in the current fashion to make it easier to member and to make reference to it more simple. The symbols [Q3R] stand for the steps which the student follows in using the method; a description of each of these steps is given below:

 

1. Survey: Glance over the headings in the chapter to see the few big points which will be developed. This survey should not take more than a minute and will show the three to six core ideas around which the rest of the discussion will cluster. If the chapter has a final summary paragraph, this will also list the ideas developed in the chapter. This orientation will help you organize the ideas as you read them later.

2. Question: Now begin to work. Turn the first heading into a question. This will arouse your curiosity and so in crease comprehension. It will bring to mind information already known, thus helping you to understand that section more quickly. And the question will make important points stand out while explanatory detail is recognized as such. This turning the heading into a question can be done on the instant of reading the heading, but it demands a conscious effort on th he part of the reader to make this query for which he must read to find the answer.
3. Read: Read to answer that question, i.e., to the end of the first headed section. This is not a passive plowing along each line but an active search for the answer.
4. Recite: Having read the first section, look away from the book and try briefly to recite the answer to your question. Use your own words and name an example. If you can do this, you know what is in the book; if you can't, glance over the section again. An excellent way to do this reciting from memory is to jot down cue phrases in outline form on a sheet of paper. Make these notes very brief!
Now repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 on each succeeding headed section. That is, turn the next heading into a question, read to answer that question, and recite the answer by jotting down cue phrases in your outline. Read in this way until the entire lesson is complete.
5. Review: When the lesson has thus been read through, look over your notes and get a birds-eye view of the points and of their relationship and check your memory as to the content by reciting on the major subpoints under each heading. This checking of memory can be done by covering up the notes and trying to recall the main points. Then expose each major point and try to recall the subpoints listed under it.

These five steps of the Survey Q3R Method-Survey Question, Read, Recite, and Review-when polished into a smooth and efficient method should result in the student reading faster, picking out the important points, and fixing them in memory. The student will find one other worthwhile outcome: quiz questions will seem happily familiar because the headings turned into questions are usually the points emphasized in quizzes. In predicting actual quiz questions and looking up the answers beforehand, the student feels that he is effectively studying what is important in a course.
摘自 "The Survey Q3R Study Method," Francis P. Robinson, Effective Study

 

我覺得這一段真的超級重要的，每個學生都應該讀一下！

但是這裡還是要來解析一下它的時序式寫作：

1. 作者使用 now, then 這些連接詞來強調時序

2. 使用完成進行式 Having read 也是一種幫助時序的 transition 寫法

3. 使用助動詞 when, during, before, after, while, until, since 等等，也是幫助時序的 transition

 

如果你要開始你的時序寫作，請參考上述的一些範例，特別要去學習：

1. 怎麼開始第一句

2. 句子之間怎麼連結

3. 如果要描述一個很複雜的流程，記得句子不要太長。保持簡單，這樣讀者才不會迷失。