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BasicParagraphStructure

MainMenu|Lesson#1|Lesson#2|Lesson#3|Lesson#4

BasicParagraphStructure
Inthislesson:
TopicSentence|SupportingSentences|ConcludingSentences|Details|Formality|
Exercise#1

Inmanylanguages,thefundamentalunitofcompositionistheparagraph.Aparagraph
consistsofseveralsentencesthataregroupedtogether.Thisgroupofsentencestogether
discussonemainsubject.InU.S.formalacademicEnglish,paragraphshavethree
principalparts.Thesethreepartsarethetopicsentence,bodysentences,andthe
concludingsentence.Wewillalsotalkbrieflyaboutdetailsinparagraphs.

TheTopicSentence
Atopicsentenceusuallycomesatthebeginningofaparagraphthatis,itisusuallythe
firstsentenceinaformalacademicparagraph.(Sometimesthisisnottrue,butasyou
practicewritingwiththisonlinelessonsite,pleasekeeptothisruleunlessyouare
instructedotherwise.)Notonlyisatopicsentencethefirstsentenceofaparagraph,but,
moreimportantly,itisthemostgeneralsentenceinaparagraph.Whatdoes"most
general"mean?Itmeansthattherearenotmanydetailsinthesentence,butthatthe
sentenceintroducesanoverallideathatyouwanttodiscusslaterintheparagraph.
Forexample,supposethatyouwanttowriteaparagraphaboutthenaturallandmarksof
yourhometown.Thefirstpartofyourparagraphmightlooklikethis:

Myhometownisfamousforseveralamazing
naturalfeatures.First,itisnotedfortheWheaton
River,whichisverywideandbeautiful.Also,onthe
othersideofthetownisWheatonHill,whichis
unusualbecauseitisverysteep.
(Noticehowthefirstsentencebeginswith"Myhometown..."afewspacestotherightof
theparagraphedge.Thisisanindentation.AllparagraphsinEnglishMUSTbegin
withanindentation.)
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Notehowthefirstsentence,Myhometown,Wheaton,isfamousforseveralamazing
geographicalfeatures,isthemostgeneralstatement.Thissentenceisdifferentfromthe
twosentencesthatfollowit,sincethesecondandthirdsentencesmentionspecificdetails
aboutthetown'sgeography,andarenotgeneralstatements.
Herearesomeexamplesofsentencesthatcannotbeusedastopicsentences.Canyou
figureoutwhytheyareinappropriate?

1. Myhometownisfamousbecauseitislocated

byWheatonRiver,whichisverywide,and
becauseitisbuiltnearanunusuallysteephill
calledWheatonHill.

2. Therearetworeasonswhysomepeopleliketo

buycarswithautomatictransmissionandtwo
reasonswhyotherslikecarswithmanual
transmission.

3. Cloudsarewhite.

Theproblemwithsentence#1isthatitcontainstoomanydetails.Topicsentencesare
general,anddetailsshouldappearlaterintheparagraph.Abettertopicsentencewould
beliketheonementionedabove,Myhometownisfamousforseveralamazing
geographicalfeatures.
Sentence#2isnotappropriateasatopicsentencebecauseitmentionstwotopics,not
justone.Paragraphsareusuallyaboutonemainthingandsotheirtopicsentencesshould
alsobeaboutonlyonemainthing.
Theproblemwithsentence#3isthatitistoogeneral.Itisalsoveryboring!Wouldyou
liketoreadaparagraphwiththistopicsentence?Mostpeoplewouldnot.
Wecanrewritesentences#2and#3inthefollowingwaystomakeitbetter:

Therearetworeasonswhysomepeopleliketo
buycarswithautomatictransmission.

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OR(inadifferentparagraph):

Therearetworeasonswhysomepeoplelike
carswithmanualtransmission.

Theshapesofcloudsaredeterminedbyvarious
factors.

SupportingSentences
Consideragaintheabovementioned,shortparagraph:

Myhometown,Wheaton,isfamousforseveral
amazingnaturalfeatures.First,itisnotedforthe
WheatonRiver,whichisverywideandbeautiful.
Also,ontheothersideofthetownisWheatonHill,
whichisunusualbecauseitisverysteep.
(Again,notehowthisparagraphisindentedonthefirstline,aboutfiveorsevenspaces
infromthelefthandedgeoftheparagraph.Alwaysremembertoindentyour
paragraphs!)
Whenareaderreadsatopicsentence,suchasMyhometown,Wheaton,isfamousfor
severalamazingnaturalfeatures,aquestionshouldusuallyappearinthereader'smind.
Inthiscase,thequestionshouldbelike,"Whatarethenaturalfeaturesthatmake
Wheatonfamous?"Thereadershouldthenexpectthattherestoftheparagraphwill
giveananswertothisquestion.
Nowlookatthesentencesafterthetopicsentence.Wecanseethatthesecondsentence
intheparagraph,First,itisnotedfortheWheatonRiver,whichisverywideand
beautiful,indeedgivesananswertothisquestion.Thatis,thesecondsentencegives
someexplanationforthefactthatWheatonisafamoustown.Similarly,wecanseethat
thethirdsentencealsogivessomeexplanationforthefactthatWheatonisfamousby
givinganotherexampleofan"amazingnaturalfeature,"inthiscase,WheatonHill.
Thesecondandthirdsentencesarecalledsupportingsentences.Theyarecalled
"supporting"becausethey"support,"orexplain,theideaexpressedinthetopic
sentence.Ofcourse,paragraphsinEnglishoftenhavemorethantwosupportingideas.
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Theparagraphaboveisactuallyaveryshortparagraph.Atminimum,youshouldhave
atleastfivetosevensentencesinyourparagraph.Herewecanseeourparagraph
aboutWheatonwithafewmoresupportingsentencesinboldfont:

Myhometownisfamousforseveralamazing
naturalfeatures.First,itisnotedfortheWheaton
River,whichisverywideandbeautiful.Also,onthe
othersideofthetownisWheatonHill,whichis
unusualbecauseitisverysteep.Thethirdamazing
featureistheBigOldTree.Thistreestandstwo
hundredfeettallandisprobablyaboutsix
hundredyearsold.
Inthislesson,wewilltalkaboutsupportingsentencesagaininthesection,"Detailsin
Paragraphs,"below.

TheConcludingSentence
Informalparagraphsyouwillsometimesseeasentenceattheendoftheparagraph
whichsummarizestheinformationthathasbeenpresented.Thisistheconcluding
sentence.Youcanthinkofaconcludingsentenceasasortoftopicsentenceinreverse.
Youcanunderstandconcludingsentenceswiththisexample.Considerahamburgerthat
youcanbuyatafastfoodrestaurant.*Ahamburgerhasatopbun(akindofbread),
meat,cheese,lettuce,andotherelementsinthemiddleofthehamburger,andabottom
bun.Notehowthetopbunandthebottombunareverysimilar.Thetopbun,inaway,
islikeatopicsentence,andthebottombunisliketheconcludingsentence.Bothbuns
"hold"themeat,onions,andsoon.Similarly,thetopicsentenceandconcluding
sentence"hold"thesupportingsentencesintheparagraph.Let'sseehowaconcluding
sentence(inboldfont)mightlookinoursampleparagraphaboutWheaton:

Myhometownisfamousforseveralamazing
naturalfeatures.First,itisnotedfortheWheaton
River,whichisverywideandbeautiful.Also,onthe
othersideofthetownisWheatonHill,whichis
unusualbecauseitisverysteep.Thethirdamazing
featureistheBigOldTree.Thistreestandstwo
hundredfeettallandisprobablyaboutsixhundred
yearsold.Thesethreelandmarksaretruly
amazingandmakemyhometownafamousplace.
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Noticehowtheconcludingsentence,Thesethreelandmarksaretrulyamazingandmake
myhometownafamousplace,summarizestheinformationintheparagraph.Noticealso
howtheconcludingsentenceissimilarto,butnotexactlythesameas,thetopic
sentence.
Notallacademicparagraphscontainconcludingsentences,especiallyiftheparagraphis
veryshort.However,ifyourparagraphisverylong,itisagoodideatouseaconcluding
sentence.

DetailsinParagraphs
Theshortparagraphinthislessonisafairlycompleteparagraph,butitlacksdetails.
Wheneverpossible,youshouldincludeenoughdetailsinyourparagraphstohelpyour
readerunderstandexactlywhatyouarewritingabout.IntheparagraphaboutWheaton,
threenaturallandmarksarementioned,butwedonotknowverymuchaboutthem.For
example,wecouldaddasentenceortwoaboutWheatonriverconcerningHOWwideit
isorWHYitisbeautiful.Considerthisrevision(andnotetheadditionaldetailsin
bold):

Myhometownisfamousforseveralamazing
naturalfeatures.First,itisnotedfortheWheaton
River,whichisverywideandbeautiful.Oneither
sideofthisriver,whichis175feetwide,aremany
willowtreeswhichhavelongbranchesthatcan
movegracefullyinthewind.Inautumnthe
leavesofthesetreesfallandcovertheriverbanks
likegoldensnow.Also,ontheothersideofthe
townisWheatonHill,whichisunusualbecauseitis
verysteep.Eventhoughitissteep,climbingthis
hillisnotdangerous,becausetherearesomefirm
rocksalongthesidesthatcanbeusedasstairs.
Therearenotreesaroundthishill,soitstands
clearlyagainsttheskyandcanbeseenfrom
manymilesaway.Thethirdamazingfeatureisthe
BigOldTree.Thistreestandstwohundredfeettall
andisprobablyaboutsixhundredyearsold.These
threelandmarksaretrulyamazingandmakemy
hometownafamousplace.
Ifwewished,wecouldalsoaddmoredetailstotheparagraphtodescribethethird
naturalfeatureofthearea,theBigOldTree.
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Whyaredetailsimportant?Considertheexampleofthehamburger,mentioned
above.*Ifthehamburgerbunsarethetopicandconcludingsentences,thenthemeat,
thecheese,thelettuce,andsoonarethesupportingdetails.Withoutthefoodbetween
thehamburgerbuns,yourhamburgerwouldnotbeverydelicious!Similarly,without
supportingdetails,yourparagraphwouldnotbeveryinteresting.

ANoteonFormality.Inadditiontohavingaparticularkindofstructure,academic
paragraphs(andmultiparagraphessays,whichwillbetopicofanotherlesson)are
differentfrom"ordinarywriting"(suchasletterwriting)inthatcertainkindsof
expressionsarenotallowed.Forexample,informalessays,youshouldnotuse
contractionssuchasdon'toraren't.Instead,youshouldwriteoutthewordsinfull,for
example,donotandarenot.
Also,informalessaysyoushouldavoidthefirstandsecondperson.Thatis,donotuse
thepronounsIoryou.Thepronounsweandusaresometimesusedinformalessaysin
somemajorfields,butingeneralyoushouldnotusetheseunlessyouarecertainthat
theyarecustomaryinyourfieldand/oryourprofessorallowsthem.Itissafersimplyto
usethethirdperson.

TOOINFORMAL
ACCEPTABLE
(Donotuse)

don't
doesn't

donot
doesnot

aren't
weren't

arenot
werenot

can't
couldn't

cannot
couldnot

won't

willnot

Now,ifyouhaveunderstoodthislecture,clickheretogotoExercise#1.
ClickheretoreturntotheIEITOEFLprepWritingMainMenu

*ThemetaphorofthehamburgerisadaptedfromReid,J.M.(1994).TheProcessofParagraphWriting(2ndEd.)
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Copyright(c)2000byF.ScottWalters

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