Glossary
structural clue
A structural clue is a word in the text that shows how the passage is built — a transition word, a pronoun and its antecedent, or a repeated key phrase.
Structural clue is a word in the text that tells you how the passage is arranged, and it is what a structure item is really asking about. Two kinds do most of the work on this topic, and a third adds to them. A transition word names the relationship between one sentence and the next: because and so build a cause, unlike and rather than build a contrast, first and then build a sequence, and may well be … but concedes a point and turns it. A pronoun — it, they, this, which — points back at its antecedent, and following it is how you know which noun a later sentence is still about. A repeated key phrase is a third signal: it marks a sentence that is still on the same subject rather than starting a new one. The test for a structure answer is always to point: name the shape, then name the words that signal it. A shape you can describe but cannot point at is a shape the passage does not have.
Taught in
Related terms
- text structure — Text structure is how a passage is arranged — chronological, cause then effect, problem then solution, general then specific, concession then counterpoint, or claim, evidence, recommendation — and what in the wording signals that arrangement.
- transition word — A transition word is the hinge between sentences — because, but, unlike, then, however — naming the relationship between what you just read and what comes next.
- pronoun — A pronoun stands in for a noun the passage has already named — it, they, this, which — and what it points at is often the whole question.
- antecedent — An antecedent is the noun a pronoun stands for — the thing it, which or this points back at in the sentence or the one before it.
Source: The reading skills ATI names in its own Content Outline (R.2.1-R.2.4, under the Craft and structure sub-content area), plus the tone and passage-structure skills that sub-content area's published description names; each definition below is written for the Craft and Structure guide in this exam, in our own words, and explains the skill the way the guide teaches it. (ATI Content Outline read 2026-10-09; definitions written 2026-10-09)