Sentence-by-Sentence Coach: The ‘Stop and Explain’ Prompt

When to Use Sentence-by-Sentence Analysis

Some passages resist all your normal strategies. You’ve read them twice. You’ve tried to summarize. You’ve asked AI to simplify. And yet — the meaning still slides away like water through your fingers.

This is when you need the sentence by sentence explanation prompt. It’s the highest-resolution tool in your comprehension arsenal: slower than other approaches, but it catches everything. Where broader prompts skim the surface, the Paragraph Autopsy (PR010) dives deep.

Use it when you’ve exhausted other options. When a passage is so dense, so convoluted, or so critical to your understanding that you need to understand exactly what each sentence contributes. Academic papers, legal documents, philosophical arguments, complex technical writing — these are the ideal targets.

The key insight: most paragraphs are not puzzles to be solved — they’re structures to be understood. Each sentence serves a function: introducing, supporting, qualifying, transitioning, concluding. Once you see the function, the meaning often reveals itself.

The Paragraph Autopsy Prompt

The Paragraph Autopsy (PR010) does exactly what its name suggests: it dissects a paragraph completely, examining each component to understand how the whole works.

The prompt asks four key questions. First, what’s the topic sentence — stated or implied? This grounds everything else. Sometimes the topic sentence is explicit (first or last sentence). Sometimes it’s distributed across multiple sentences. Sometimes it’s implied and never stated directly.

Second, what function does each sentence serve? Is it providing evidence? Offering a counterargument? Qualifying a claim? Transitioning to a new idea? Sentences don’t just contain content — they perform rhetorical moves. Understanding the move helps you understand the content.

Third, how does the paragraph connect to what came before and what comes after? Paragraphs don’t exist in isolation. They’re part of a larger argument, narrative, or explanation. Understanding the connection often illuminates why the author chose specific words and structures.

Fourth, what makes this paragraph effective or ineffective? This critical lens helps you engage actively rather than passively. You’re not just receiving information — you’re evaluating how well the author communicated it.

Speed Mode vs. Deep Mode

Speed mode is for when you need to unstick yourself quickly. You get the topic sentence identification and a brief functional summary — enough to continue reading with comprehension. Ask for “a quick structural overview” or “just the topic sentence and main moves.”

Deep mode is for when you need complete understanding. You get sentence-by-sentence analysis: what each one does, how it connects to others, why the author structured it this way. This takes longer but leaves no ambiguity.

The workflow: Start with speed mode. If that’s enough to unlock the passage, move on. If specific sentences remain confusing after speed mode analysis, escalate those sentences to deep mode. Don’t spend deep-mode attention on sentences that speed mode already clarified.

For related techniques, the Simplify Complex Text workflow handles multiple paragraphs at a broader level, while Active Reading Prompts keep you engaged without requiring full dissection.

Example: Breaking Down a Dense Passage

Consider a paragraph from an economics paper: “While monetary policy has traditionally focused on interest rate manipulation, the post-2008 era introduced unconventional tools like quantitative easing. However, the transmission mechanisms of these policies remain contested. Some argue liquidity effects dominate; others emphasize portfolio rebalancing. The empirical evidence is mixed, suggesting context-dependent effectiveness.”

Speed mode output might identify: “Topic sentence: First sentence establishes the shift from traditional to unconventional monetary policy. Main moves: Introduce change → Flag controversy → Present competing views → Acknowledge empirical ambiguity.”

Deep mode would add: “Sentence 2 functions as a pivot — ‘However’ signals the paragraph isn’t about describing tools but about their contested nature. Sentence 3 names the competing camps without endorsing either. Sentence 4 provides the author’s own tentative conclusion: ‘context-dependent’ suggests they believe both camps are partially right.”

Notice how the deep analysis reveals authorial stance that a surface reading might miss. The author isn’t just neutrally presenting views — they’re positioning themselves through careful word choice like “mixed” and “context-dependent.”

When Sentence-Level Isn’t Enough

If you’re spending more than 3-5 minutes on a single paragraph with PR010, the issue is probably missing background knowledge rather than reading skill. The Understand Difficult Text pillar has prompts for exactly this — use C011’s Prerequisites Prompt to identify knowledge gaps, then return to sentence-level analysis with that foundation.

Similarly, if you understand each sentence individually but can’t see how they form a coherent argument, you need the AI for Reading hub’s argument mapping tools rather than more sentence dissection. Different problems require different solutions.

The goal is never to use the most powerful tool available — it’s to use the right tool for each situation. Sentence-by-sentence analysis is the scalpel. Make sure you actually need surgery before you start cutting.