Question

How to Fix a Clogged Sink

First, sprinkle one cup of baking soda down the sink. Next, pour one cup of white vinegar down the sink. Cover the sink hole with a drain cover.

Before removing the drain cover, wait 15–20 minutes. Then run hot tap water down the sink to clear the pipe.

Which revision makes the instructions easier to follow?

Wait 15–20 minutes, then remove the drain cover.
You can purchase a drain cover at any hardware store.
You can wait longer than 20 minutes, but the extra time will not improve the outcome.
The hot tap water will clear the pipe of the clog, the baking soda, and the vinegar.

Answer 1

Option 1: "Wait 15–20 minutes, then remove the drain cover."

Why: It puts the steps in a simple, chronological imperative (do this, then do that), which is the clearest way to give procedural instructions. The other choices are either extraneous (2), unnecessary/possibly misleading (3), or explanatory rather than instructional and potentially inaccurate in some cases (4).