Close reading requires students to unpack the implicit relationships within and across sentences. The authors discuss three potential barriers to comprehension embedded within text that they have seen with their own students and with the teachers they have worked with: anaphoric relationships, connectives, and appositives. The authors begin each section with a vignette that provides an example of the problem area and a definition of each, with supporting research. The authors then conclude each section with strategies for teaching anaphora, connectives, and appositives.