In “Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction”, Mr.
Alex provides us with a formula in order to write a well-structured paragraph
in English. The main ideas are:
1º TOPIC SENTENCE (What are
we writing about? What is our subject?)
- Conceive an interesting topic
- Say something relevant about the topic
- Do
not make it overly detailed.
2º BODY (Heart of the paragraph)
- Supporting arguments for the topic sentence
- Arguments
ordered according to their importance or chronology.
3º TOPIC SENTENCE
- Restate the topic sentence
- Keep the audience thinking
Examples of topic
sentences.
1- Many politicians deplore the passing of the old family-sized farm,
but I'm not so sure. I saw around Velva a release from what was like
slavery to the tyrannical soil, release from the ignorance that darkens the
soul and from the loneliness that corrodes it. In this generation my Velva
friends have re-joined the general American society that their pioneering
fathers left behind when they first made the barren trek in the days of the
wheat rush. As I sit here in Washington writing this, I can feel their
nearness. (From Eric Sevareid, "Velva, North Dakota")
2- There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's
inevitable decline to death. The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that
suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The
second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically
programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that
the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces
toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that
individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for
example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes. (From Debra
Blank, "The Eternal Quest" [edited]).
3- We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid
than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error. The
strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing
in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise
the highest conceivable functions of freedom -- that is, he or she is permitted
to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her
anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a
free adult; in peace he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In
war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In peace,
speaking generally, success is inconceivable except as a function of
discipline. (From H.L. Mencken, "Reflections on War" [edited]).
4- Although the interpretation of traffic signals may seem highly
standardized, close observation reveals regional variations across this
country, distinguishing the East Coast from Central Canada and the West as
surely as dominant dialects or political inclinations. In Montreal, a
flashing red traffic light instructs drivers to careen even more wildly through
intersections heavily populated with pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. In
startling contrast, an amber light in Calgary warns drivers to scream to a halt
on the off chance that there might be a pedestrian within 500 meters who might
consider crossing at some unspecified time within the current day. In my home
town in New Brunswick, finally, traffic lights (along with painted lines and
posted speed limits) do not apply to tractors, all-terrain vehicles, or pickup
trucks, which together account for most vehicles on the road. In fact, were any
observant Canadian dropped from an alien space vessel at an unspecified
intersection anywhere in this vast land, he or she could almost certainly
orient him-or-herself according to the surrounding traffic patterns
Retrieved from: http://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/hypergrammar/writing-paragraphs/review-topic-sentences
