THE PARAGRAPH The Elements of a Paragraph A paragraph is a group of related sentences which develops one main idea or one

main topic. A good paragraph has five basic elements: a topic, a topic sentence, supporting sentences, unity and coherence, A topic is what the paragraph is about or what the paragraph discusses. This topic is usually expressed in a topic sentence. Thus, a topic sentence announces what you are going to write. A good topic sentence has a focused controlling idea which limits or controls and announces the aspect of the topic you are going to write, Supporting sentences develop what you state about your topic in the controlling idea. A focused controlling idea in the topic sentence helps you produce supporting sentences which are relevant with the controlling idea. Supporting sentences that are all relevant with the controlling idea in the topic sentence produce a unified paragraph. A unified paragraph discusses only one main idea stated in the topic sentence, or more specifically in the controlling idea. Besides being unified, a good paragraph should also be coherent. A paragraph is coherent if the movement from one sentence to the next is logical and smooth. The following paragraph checklist help you check your paragraph to see if your paragraph is already good. Paragraph checklist Topic sentence 1. Does your topic sentence have a controlling idea? ____ 2. Is the controlling idea already focused? ____ Supporting sentences Unity Do all of the supporting sentences directly support ____ the controlling idea in the topic sentence? Coherence 1. Do you apply key noun repetition and pronouns appropriately?____ 2. Do you use transition signals appropriately? ____ 3. Are all of your sentences arranged logically? ____ The Narrative Paragraph : Narrative paragraph is a paragraph about a story or series of events organized by time order. In other words, when you write a narrative paragraph, it means that you write a story. And a good narrative paragraph has three important qualities. First, it tells a series of events or actions. Second, the events are organized chronologically or by time sequence. And the last, it shows the writers point or purpose. Narration is more often about past story, but sometimes it is also about repeated present story. In this module, the first is referred to as past narration and the second as present narration. Past and present narration have several similarities and differ mainly in when the story takes place. Therefore, in writing both present and past narration, you need to keep yourself aware with your choice of verb tenses. To achieve coherence in your narration, you should make use of appropriate time expressions to show clearly to your readers the relationship among the events in your story.

Besides, your skill in choosing appropriate tenses is also very important for this purpose. Last but not least, make yourself sure that you keep in your mind your point or purpose of writing. It will help you achieve unity in your paragraph by telling you which ideas to include and to exclude. The Legend of Toba Lake Once upon time, there was a handsome man. His name was Batara Guru Sahala. He liked fishing. One day, he caught a fish. He was surprised to find out that the fish could talk. The fish begged him to set it free. Batara Guru could not bear it. He made the fish free. As soon as it was free, the fish changed into a very beautiful woman. She attracted Batara Guru so much. He felt in love with that fish-woman. The woman wanted to marry with him and said that Batara Guru had to keep the secret which she had been a fish. Batara Guru aggreed and promised that he would never tell anybody about it. They were married happily. They had two daughters. One day Batara Guru got very angry with his daughter. He could not control his mad. He shouted angrily and got the word of fish to his daugters. The daughters were crying. They found their mother and talked her about it. The mother was very annoyed. Batara Guru broke his promise. The mother was shouting angrily. Then the earth began to shake. Volcanoes started to erupt. The earth formed a very big hole. People believed that the big hole became a lake. Then this lake is known as Toba lake. Note on Narrative Generic Structure ORIENTATION: The first paragraph presents information about the participant of the story. In literary term, the participant is called as character. Orientation commonly introduces information about WHO, WHERE and WHEN. COMPLICATION: Paragraph two explores the niche of the story. That is conflict among the characters of the story. This conflict will involve physical and psychological conflict. The conflict is actually the heart of any narrative text. It will drive the participant to make effort in solving the crisis. RESOLUTION: The last paragraph closes the story with solving the crisis. However it can be better or worse.