Finding the Concluding Sentence

Just as the opener anchors the start of a paragraph, the concluding sentence anchors the end, and fixing both ends squeezes the middle into place. The conclusion is the sentence that wraps the idea up — a result, a summary, a consequence or a final comment — and crucially, nothing needs to follow it. Because SBI Clerk questions often ask directly which sentence comes last, learning to spot the closer is worth easy marks on its own. Identify the opener and the conclusion together and you have bracketed the paragraph, leaving only a short middle to arrange between two fixed points.

What a Conclusion Does

A concluding sentence does not introduce any new subject or raise a fresh question; instead it settles the discussion the earlier sentences built up. It commonly states an outcome, a decision that was reached, a lesson drawn, or a final effect of everything described before. Because its whole job is to close, the conclusion leans on all the previous sentences and cannot stand near the start. Ask of any candidate sentence, 'does the paragraph feel finished after this?' If the answer is yes and nothing is left dangling, you have very likely found the closing line of the passage.

Conclusion Markers to Watch

Certain words strongly signal a closing sentence, and spotting them shortcuts the search. 'Thus', 'therefore', 'finally', 'in conclusion', 'as a result', 'eventually' and 'so' often begin or sit inside the last sentence, because each announces a result or a wrap-up. A sentence carrying one of these, and adding no new topic of its own, is a prime closing candidate. Be careful, though: 'therefore' and 'thus' can also appear mid-paragraph to introduce a result that the passage then discusses further, so confirm that nothing after it is needed before you lock it as the final line.

Shortcut: Work From Both Ends

The fastest para jumble method fixes the two ends first and fills the middle afterward. Once you have the opener, immediately look for the closer using the markers above and the 'nothing follows this' test. With the first and last sentences pinned, a five-sentence jumble collapses to arranging only three middle sentences, and often the answer options already agree on the ends, letting you decide the whole question on the middle alone. Bracketing from both directions is far quicker than building the chain one link at a time from the start, especially when the middle sentences link cleanly by pronouns.

Solved Example

Example: Sentences: (W) The company cut prices sharply. (X) Sales then doubled within a quarter. (Y) Thus, the risky strategy paid off handsomely. Y begins with 'Thus' and delivers the final verdict, with nothing left to add, so Y closes. W states the action and X the effect that Y sums up. The order is W-X-Y, closing cleanly on the result.

✗ Ending on a sentence that raises a new question  |  ✓ Ending on the sentence that states the final outcome

Distinguishing Conclusion From Mid-Result

The trickiest part is that a result sentence is not automatically the conclusion, because a paragraph can state a result partway through and then go on to explain or qualify it. The deciding test is whether any remaining sentence still depends on being placed after it. If a sentence with 'therefore' is followed logically by a sentence beginning 'however' that qualifies the result, then the 'therefore' sentence sits in the middle and the 'however' sentence, or whatever settles the point, becomes the true closer. Always verify that no unplaced sentence demands a spot after your chosen ending; only then is it genuinely the last line of the paragraph.