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\tf\Guide for Studer~)

of English as
a Second Languan

(~

Library of Congress Cataloging III PtJblJcalfon Data

ARNAUDlIT, MARTIN L

Paragraph development

Includes index.
1. English language-Textbooks for foreigners.
2. English language-Paragraphs. t Barrett, Mary
Ellen, joint author. It Title.
ISBN 013-6486185

CONTENTS

1981 by Prentice-HalL Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.}. 07632

Foreword

PEll2828.A67

808'.042

SO-24575

Preface
All rights reserved. No part of this OOok
may be reproduced in any fonn or
by any means without pennission in writing
from the publisher.

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

Paragraph Unity
The Paragraph 1
Indentation 1
Length 2
Topic vs. Topic Sentence 3
Paragraph Unity 8

Editorial production/supervision by Diane Lange

Cover design by Jayne Conte
Manufacturing buyer: Harry P. Baisley
PRENTICE HALL INTERNATIONAL, INC, London
PRENTICEHALL OF AUSTRALIA PrY. LIMITED, Sydney
PRENTICEHALL OF CANADA, LTD., Toronto
PRENTICE HALL OF INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED. New Delhi
PREl'<TICE-HALL OF JAPAN. INC. Tokyo
PRENTICE HALL OF SoUTHEAST AsIA PrE. LTD., Singapore
WHITEHALL BooKS LIMITED. Wellington, New Zealand

ix

Printed in the United States of America

10

vii

SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES

Examples, Details, Anecdotes,
Facts, and Statistics
EXAMPLES 22
DETAILS 25

iii

) iv

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

ANECDOTES 33
FACTS AND STATISTICS

CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT: FOCUS ON CAUSE 113

CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT: CHAIN REACTION 120

35

)3
JSUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES
!numeration .
ENUMERATION

6
SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES
Comparison and Contrast

39

COMPARISON 125
STRUCTURES OF COMPARISON 128
CONTRAST 137
STRUCTURES OF CONTRAST 140
METHODS OF CONTRAST 144

Enumerators 41
Listing Signals 42
Group 1 VS. Group 2: Sentence Structure 44

ASCENDING VS. DESCENDING ORDER

46

Additional Comments on the Topic Sentence 147

Ascending Order 47
Descending Order 48

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

The "Split" Topic Sentence

156

160

JPECIAL TYPES OF ENUMERATION

Jocess and Chronology
)

PROCESS

DEFINITION
THE FORMAL DEFINITION

62

Enumerators 65
Listing Signals 66

PROBLEMS IN DEFINITION

TIME CLUES. REPETITION. AND PRONOUN REFERENCE

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
)

168

The Circular Definition 168

The Overextended Definition 168
The Overrestricted Definition 168

69

Time Clues 69
Repetition and Pronoun Reference 76

164

. Short Paragraphs of Extended Definition 167

TH E STIPULATED DEFINITION

86

172

.. ,

The Formal Definition vs. the Stipulated DefmltIon

Listing Signals 88
Time Clues 88

FROM PARAGRAPH
TO COMPOSITION
PPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES
)se and Effect
CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT: FOCUS ON EFFECT 102
CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT: STRUCTURAL SIGNALS 104

Expanding a Paragraph 179

Controlling Idea vs. Topic Sentence 182
Mixing Methods of Paragraph Development 186

Index

191

_:;
1 ,-

FOREWORD

Each year teachers of English as a Second Language generate mountaill~ of

teaching materials to meet immediate and specific needs of their studellts.
Many of these materials are very good; others are not. However, whether
they are good or not so good, they are all relegated to the "archh'es" of
teacher-generated materials, to be seen again only when offices are moved
and desks cleaned out.
With the regularity of total eclipses, however, the Muses smile fa\orably,
and the need for specific materials which the teacher feels is also felt by the
program in which he works and by the profession in general. The materials
presented here are the result of one of those total eclipses: Dr. Amaudet and
Mrs. Barrett, the English Lanugage Institute, and the profession in general
have felt the need for materials to bridge the gap between sentence and
composition. These materials have been developed, tested, revised, and
retested over a period of three years, not only at The American Universitv but
also at several other universities, and they do fill the gap. A student can now
systematically be brought from the perfect sentence through the paragraph
to the composition in a series of logical and practical steps that take the
mystery out of developing and writing a paragraph.

vii

viii

FOREWORD

. It is indeed a very pleasant thing to see two dedicated teachers recogmz?d for y:ars of hard work which have culminated in the publication of
theIr matenals. I am Sure your students will benefit from this text as much as
our students have.

~~~. PREFACE
Robert P. Fox, Ph.D.
Director, English Language Institute
The American University
)
)

Paragraph Development is an integrated guide for high intermediate to

)
)
)

advanced learners of English. It focuses on the physical paragaph as a basic

ullit of composition common to most forms of academic, business, professional, and general-purpose writing. It is designed to be flexible enough to
be used as a writing component in an intensive or semi-intensive program or
as an independent writing course. The book is based on the theory that if a
student is able to write a unified, coherent paragraph, transferring this skill to
full composition writing will not be difficult. The approach in each chapter is
direct and functional: a model is proVided and graphically explained; then
the student is asked to imitate the model.

ORGANIZATION OFTHE MATERIAL

Units One and Two deal with limiting and supporting topic sentences. In
Unit One, students are directed from identifying elements which limit a topiC
to writing their own topic sentences. In Unit Two, they are asked to analyze,
through diagrams, how supporting material (examples, details, anecdotes,
and statistics) relates directly to the topic sentence and thus creates unity
within the paragraph.
Onits Three through Six deal with the rhetorical patterns most commonly
found in expository writing (Enumeration, Process, Chronology, Cause and
ix

PREFACE

Effect, and Comparison and Contrast). Fictional narration has purposely

been omitted as primarily a literary device. Each paragraph type is introduced with a model followed by graphic analysis and controlled exercises
which ultimately lead to a free writing assignment Although this book is not
intended as a grammar text, some structures are reviewed in these units as
they apply to the specific type of paragraph being discussed
Unit Seven treats Definition not as a rhetorical device in' and of itself, but
rather as a kind of writing which often employs a variety of rhetorical devices.
Unit Eight is concerned with transferring the patterns of paragraph
development to full composition writing.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
During the preparation of this book, we have become indebted to lIlany
people-students and colleagues, present and former, who have used this
text experimentally, as well as reviewers and friends-for their many helpful
comments and for their encouragement We are particularly grateful to
Robert P. Fox, Director, and Mary Ann G. Hood, Associate Director, ror
allowing us the time and the full resources of the English Languaw' rIlstitulc
in our efforts to produce this book.
Special thanks go to Carol Power of the University of South Florida for her
encouragement and support.

) SPECIAL FEATURES
MLA

)
)
)

1. Neither the model paragraphs nor the exercises have been Simplified
or edited for non-native speakers. Because the text is intended for use at a
number of levels and in a variety of programs, items within exercises which
are more diffic:!ult because of vocabulary, content, or length have been
starred (0) to indicate to both teacher and student that they are more
challenging.
2. In each unit, a Now Ask Yourself' review exercise follows the
presentation of any new material. These exercises force the student to
integrate what he has previously learned, to reinterpret it, and to apply it to
the task at hand This spiraling of concepts ensures greater student involvement and conceptual mastery of the material.
3. The paraphrasing exercises in Units Three through Seven provide the
students with the opportunity to practice sentences typical of each pattern of
development before incorporating these patterns into free writing assignments.
4. Charts and diagrams are used to illustrate relationships within paragraphs-and finally within longer pieces of discourse-and to provide a
visual, structural focus. We have chosen to call them paragraph analysis
exercises. They are, in pOint of fact, reading exercises of the "infonnation
transfer" type, proceeding from the verbal to the visual. These charts and
diagrams can easily be adapted to an academic outline lonnat at the discretion of the teacher.
5. "Information transfer" exercises proceeding in the other directioni.e. from the visual to the verbal-take the student from an analyticaVreading
stage into controlled writing, In each case, the student is asked to take facts
which have been presented in a skeletal way (diagrams, time lines, pictures,
etc.) and to express them in written form using the pattern being studied We
feel that this is a particularly important and useful skill for a student to
acquire before attempting unstructured composition.

MEB
Washingtoll, D.C.

xi

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

}

Paragraph Unity

THE PARAGRAPH

)n written form, English is divided into paragraphs to distinguish one

main idea from other main ideas. The paragraph is the basic unit uf
composition.

)
)

REMEMBER THIS

1.

2.
3.

A paragraph is a group of sentences which develop one

central idea.
The central idea is usually stated in a topic sentence.
Every sentence in the paragraph must help the development of the topic sentence.

INDENTATION
The first sentence of a paragraph is always indented so that the reader will
know that a new subject-or a different aspect of the same subject-is being

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

dealt with. The writer does this by leaving a blank space at the beginning of
the paragraph. The student should think of indentation as simply atwther
kind of punctuation. Just as a sentence ends with a period (.), so each new
paragraph begins with an indentation.
If you are not already familiar with the idea of indentation, be sure to study
the follOwing diagram very carefully:

NOW ASK YOURSELf

1. What is a paragraph? _ _ _ _ _ _~_~~.~~~._.~~__~....~~._

2. What is the proper "punctuation" for a paragraph? __ ~ ..____ ~. _. __

PARAGRAPH INDENTATION

J
)

3. How long should a paragraph be? _ . ._~~_....~_. _

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Xxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXXXXxxxx.

f~-o

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TOPIC VS. TOPIC SENTENCE

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

--

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

f---

-_..
)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

C-------c.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxx. XXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxx
..

.-

.-

-~

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
)

(standard 3hole
filler paper I

1--0

.-..

(the
margin
line)

..

Topic Sentence = TOPIC

__ __ .

The first sentence of a paragraph is usually called the topic sentence. You
have no doubt noticed in your reading. of certain English texts that it is
possible to place the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph (as a kind of
conclusion), or even in the middle (as a kind oflink between the two parts). It
is even possible not to have a topic sentence at all; in this case. we say that the
topic sentence is implied or suggested. You should be aware of these possibilities when you read; otherwise, you might miss the point which the
author is trying to make. When you write, however, remember that a topic
sentence placed at the beginning of a paragraph is the clearest kind of
paragraph organization-simple, effective, easy for yOll to manage, and easy
for your reader to understand.
What makes a good topic sentence?
The most important thing to remember at this paint is the following: in a
topic sentence, always try to make a statement about your topic which limits it
to a certain extent:

+ LIMITING STATEME\';T

..

iENGTH
)

A paragraph may vary in length. Some paragraphs are quite short; others
are extremely long. Most paragraphs have more than three sentences in them
and usually have between one hundred and two hundred words.

Take, for example, the general topic of soccer. There are too many things to
say about soccer to put into a single paragraph. Therefore, YOUT problem as a
writer consists in deciding how you want to write about soccer. In other
words, you need to limit your discussion.
One good way to limit your topic is to place key words or phrases in the
topic sentence. These words or phrases will let the reader know how you are
going to discuss the topic. These words or phrases are sometimes called
"controlling words or phrases," since they control the organization of the
paragraph. In a paragraph on soccer, for example, they will immediately
indicate to the reader that you plan to do one of several things:

3
j
)

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

Discuss the history of soccer

Compare it with another sport
Describe its di fficu Ity
Explain the roles of the game
)

How do you limit a topic in 'a topic sentence? There are many ways, but
below you wi11 find a list of the most common. Once you understand th~se
examples, you will find it much easier to write a carefully controlled topic
sentence:

3. What should a writer always try to do to his topic in a topic sentence?

4. What are eight kinds of statements which a writer can use to limit his
topic?

g.

---'-'-'~'--'-'-----.

Topic

Statement Which Limits the Topic

1. Soccer

is now played in the United States.

(geographical location)

2. Soccer
)

3. Soccer \.

4. Soccer and football

)

5. Soccer

6. A soccer player

7. The World Cup

Soccer Championship Games

)
)

has become more popular

within the last five years.
(time or period of time)
is a physically demanding sport.
(a certain aspect)
have a great deal in common.
(showing similarities)
is more dangerous than tennis.
(showing differences)
can receive various kinds of penalties
(a number of things; a list)
during a game.

create interest from soccer fans all over

(effect)
the world.
is dangerous for several reasons.
(cause; reason)

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. Where does a topic sentence usually come in a paragraph? _ _ _ __
2. Where else can it come? ~~_~_~~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

d. _ _ _ _ _ _ _._. _

----.~-~

h. _ _~~_~_._.

EXERCISE 1-1
Identifying Categories Which
Limit
Topic Sentences
L-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

~.

__

.~._._._~

Directions: Notice the controlling words and phrases which hav" h{,(~ll
underlined in the example sentence. They have also been id{'lltifi",: as to
type. Notice also that it is possible to have more than one cat('gof\' ill a sillgk
topic sentence. After you have studied the example, do the same {ilT the
remaining sentences. Choose from the eight categories on p, 4:
1. Place

2. Time
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Aspect
Similarities
Differences
Number
Effect
Cause

1. Soccer has become increasingly popular in the United States in the last
ten years.
(aspect)
(place)
(time)
2. Team sports develop an athlete's sense of fair play.
..
('
)

3. Libraries have three basic kinds of materials.

(
)
4. Women are paid less for equal work than men in certain companies.
(
)
(
)

(,

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

5. Pollution has caused three major problems in our town in the last 5
(
) (
)
6. Air travel is more convenient than train travel for at least three reasons.
(
)
() (
)

Guided Practice in
Limiting General Topics

a There are many reasons for soccer's increased popularitYil!.!~e Unite~

States. (number) (reason)
(aspect)
(place)

b. Latin Americans generally prefer soccer to football.

(differences)

a _ _ __

Directions: Write a topic sentence for each of the topics listed below. The
topic is given. Your job is to limit it in the way(s) which have been suggested.
Follow the example.

1. Topic: soccer

(place)
2. Topic: the role of women

EXERCISE 1-2

1. Topic: John F. Kennedy (aspect) (place)

Johl1 F. KeIl:nedy was the first Catholic president electe~il1_~~~Uni~e~~

States.
(aspect)
(place)
2. Topic: registration at a large university (aspect) (differences)

b. _.______~ . _.

_._~. _~. ~ __ ._~._~. __ .~ __ ~. ~

3. Topic: religion in modem society

a ________________._

- - - ..

-~

..

-~.---~

b.
4. Topic: war
a

. ________

~_.

_________ ___ _
~

\.

b. _______~______________~ _________~_
3. Topic; shopping for food (place) (aspect) (differences)

5. Topic; problems between generations

a _ _ _ _ __

4. Topic: smoking (effect)

b. _ _ _ ___

6. Topic: crime

5. Topic: American food (differences)

)
.~--.-~

..- - - .

6. Topic: study habits (number) (effect)

b. ________________.______ _____ ___

~

EXERCISE 1-4

Limiting the Same General Topic

I EXERCISE 1-3

Limiting General Topics

)
}

Directions: Below you will find several different topics, all of which are too
broad (i.e., too general) to be used as they are. You should limit them. For
each topic, write two completely different topic sentences which might serve
as topic sentences of two different paragraphs. In parentheses below the
sentences, indicate what categories you have used. Follow the example.

Directions: Take the follo\ving topic and write five (5) completely different
topic sentences based on it Refer back to the list of categories if necessary.
Topic: foreign students in the United States
1. _ _ _ _ _ ___
2. _________~ _ _. _~. _~. __________ ~_ _ __

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

3, _______________________________________________ _

NOW ASK YOURSELF

L What must all supporting sentences do? __

5, ______________________________________________________

------------------------- ..--------.-..----- -

)
)

2, What is illustrated by the arrows in the two previolls diagrams?

PARAGRAPH UN lTV

Remember that besides the topic sentence, a paragraph includes several

other sentences which in some way contribute to or support the idea in the
topic sentence, In other words, all these sentences must be related to the
topic and must therefore refer back to the topiC sentence. Notice the arrows
in the following diagram:

(the first diagram) __________.__. .__.._

(the second diagram) ___. .____

PARAGRAPH

Topic Sentence

Supporting Sentence

- - Supporting Sentence
-

Supporting Sentence

'--- Supporting Sentence

--Etc.

If a paragraph does all this-that is, 1) if it annollnces its main idea in the
topic sentence, and 2) if all the supporting sentences contrihute to the
reader's understanding of the main idea-we say that a paragraph is unified,
or that it has unity, If the paragraph fails to do this, we say that it lacks Hllity.
Study the following paragraph. It lacks unity. Before reading the explanation which follows, can you figure out why it is not unified? (The sentences
have been numbered only to make the discussion easier. Do liot !lumber
sentences like this when you write a paragraph!)

It is possible, of course, that some sentences may be directly related to the

preceding supporting sentences (i.e" they provide examples, details, or

further explanation):
)

PARAGRAPH

)
Topic Sentence

L
)

Lsupporting Sentence
Supporting Sentence

)
-

)
)

)
)

Supporting Sentence

'There are two main reasons why I have decided to attend

Bingston University next year. lApplying to a college is a terribly
complicated process. 3Some of my friends chose colleges for very
bad reasons. 4 John has never been to college. 5 I've met his grandfather, and he still has an incredibly sharp mind for a man of h is age.
6S usan chose a university because the food in the region was said
to be quite good. 'Susan is really not too clever, i Sll,:ly'se. so I
shouldn't criticize her. 8Actually, I think it was her father who made
the choice for her.

-Etc.

Supporting Sentence

Did you notice that none of the above sentences actually discusses the topic
which was announced in the topic sentence? The paragraph was supposed to
be about the writer's two main reasons for choosing Bingston University.
However, he never actually tells us. He writes about many unrelated thingshis friend John, John's grandfather, his friend Susan, Susan's stupidity, etc.but not his two reasons for clwosing Bingston University! If we wanted to
9

10

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

show this by means of a diagram of the paragraph, we might do it this way:

A UNIFIED PARAGRAPH

A PARAGRAPH WHICH LACKS UNITY

TOPIC SENTENCE

Topic Sentence

1 .

main reasons. .

(financial considerations)

',diffIculty in applying)

t ~
L

3(my friends' reasons)

3 (rea,onable tuition I

(deferred payment)

41John hasn't been to college)

5 (John's grandfather)

LL

(quality of education)

6 Uine teachers)

7 (practical expenence)

Notice that in the rewritten paragraph, the writer gives us both his reasolls
and comments on both of them. Nothing is extra. Nothing is inch'I'ant to (he
topic announced in the topic sentence. The paragraph is unified. T!lis lIIt'am
that the reader will have no trouble quickly understanding what the writer is
hying to say.

If we wanted to keep the same topic sentence and rewrite the paragraph
in a more unified fashion, we might end up with something like this:
,
)
)

lThere are two main reasons why I have decided to attend

Bingston University next year. lFirst of all, there is the question of
money; Bingston's tuition is reasonable, and I don't even have to
pay it all at once. 3This is very important, since my father is not a
rich man. 4With Bingston's "deferred payment plan," my father will
be able to pay my tuition without too much difficulty. sThe second
reason is the fine education which I feel I will receive there in
agriculture, my chosen field. 61t is a well-known fact that Bingston
hires only the finest professors in its Agriculture Department.
7 Moreover, the university requires all agricultural students to gain
practical experience by working on farms in the area while they are
still going to school.

This is what a diagram of the above paragraph would look like:

NOW ASK YOURSELF

L How are sentences 2 and 5 related to the topic sentence? __ _

2. How are sentences 3 and 4 related to sentence 2?__.-__~._

3. How are sentences 6 and 7 related to sentence 5? _~._-_

- - - - - - - - - - - _ ..- - - - - -

-~-

4. How are all these relationships indicated in the diagram? ~. ---~-.------

11

.....,
12

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

5. Why is the rewritten paragraph better than the original one?

TH E TOPIC SENTENCE

4.

IZOOS are popular with all children. lThey are able to see examples of wildlife from all continents. lin wildlife preserves in Africa,
the animals wander about freely without fear of being captured.
4Perhaps the favorite spot in a zoo is the elephant cage. lThere the
elephants entertain the children by spraying themselves with their
trunks and doing various tricks. 'The children are especially delighted when an elephant takes peanuts from them with his trunk.

5.

I Editorials differfrom other kinds of news stories. 21n most regular

news stories, it is assumed that no personal opinions are being
represented. >Newspaper writers are supposed to present the facts
of each story in a straightforward, unbiased fashion. 'Statistics reveal
that over sixty-one million newspapers are sold every day in this
country. lThe purpose of the editorial page, of course, is to allow the
editors to give their personal opinions. 'Here is where they tell
readers what they think about an issue-who is at fault, who has
done a good job, or how a situation could be improved. 11t is no
wonder, then, that Thomas Jefferson was once led to remark that he
could more easily accept newspapers without government than government without newspapers.

6.

lin order to find a suitable apartment, you must follow a very

systematic approach. 2First, you must decide which neighborhood
would be most convenient for you. 3Then you must determine how
much rent your budget will allow. 'Utility bills for houses average
between $100 and $150 per month. lYour next step is to check the
classified ads in the newspapers. 'If you do not plan to buy furniture,
you should check under "Apartments for rent-furnished." 'Otherwise, check under "Apartments for rent-unfurnished." lin either
case, however, be sure to check these ads regularly, since new
listings appear each day. 9 After you have telephoned the apartments
which seem likely choices, you must begin your long journey to
inspect each one of them.

EXERCISE 1-5

Identifying Irrelevant Sentences

)

Directions: The following paragraphs contain sentences which are not directly related to the main ideas of those paragraphs. Draw a line through the
irrelevant sentence(s} of each paragraph. Then circle the key words or
phrases in the topic sentence. Be prepared to explain why you think the
sentences are irrelevant.

1.

)
)

lEver since the time of the Greeks, drama has played an important role in men's lives. lThe Greek tragedies and comedies were
a :entral part o~ the life of the citizens of ancient Greece. lDuring the
Middle Ages, Bible stories were acted out in churches and wandering companies of players performed in the streets. William Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan period. lThe English language
has changed somewhat since Shakespeare's time. 'In modern times,
drama is brought directly into people's homes through the magic of
tel~vision. 'Television also offers people such things as quiz and
variety shows.

3.

'Innovations, whether practical or aesthetic, are often resisted by

the general population. lWhen the early experimenters in the field
of aviation began their work, there were many who said, "If God had
wanted man to fly, He would have given him wings." lThe Wright
brothers made the first powered flights in a heavier-than-air craft in
1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina 4Even today there are many who
strongly object to modern art and music as being nothing more than
"splashes of paint and honking horns." 'The painter Picasso's wellknown masterpiece liThe Three Musicians" is done primarily in
blues and browns.

)
)

)
)

.'Qiffer.ent peoplWspend their weekends in@ifferent wa~ 2S ome

enJoy gorng to the mountains to hike, ski, or Just relax. l~
,skiing is R'lYCh more difficult thaR gReW skiirtg. Others prefer going
to the beat:h to enjoy the seashore activities and to get a suntan.
lSeffie oft~ese 1geeple nOI k very "aid dtlriRg the 'Neei<; others ha~
i'ilthel lelaxing jees-. 'Still others like to relax by staying home and
read ing a good book.

2.

13

EXERCISE 1-6

Identifying Suitable Topic Sentences

Directions: After reading each of the follOWing paragraphs, select the most
suitable topic sentence from the three choices following it, and write the
sentence which you have selected in the blank. Then try to explain why each
of the other two items is not appropriate. Follow the example. Possible
reasons for not choosing an item might be that

)
14

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

It is too general;
It is too specific;

It is not a complete grammatical scntence;

It does not relate to the supporting sentences.

}

I.

There are some minor differences between American and British

spelling. Where Britons end certain words with -se, Americans
usually end the same words with -ce (British practise vs. American
practice); the reverse is sometimes true, too (British defence vs.
American defense). Notice also the British preference for final ore
over the American -er (metre vs. meter). Finally, most Americans
consider neighbor a correct spelling, but a Briton characteristically
adds a u and spells the word neighbour.

J
}
)
}

Choose a Topic Sentence

15

Choose a Topic Sentence

A. Both the computer and the telephone are helpful inventions.

B. Computer tenninology, such as input and output, is frequently used in
other contexts.
C. Despite apparent differences, the operation of the computer and the
telephone have much in common.
Defend Your Choice
1. I did not choose letter _ because _____. . ____. .____ .

- - - - ... - _..._-_.-

2. I did not choose letter _ because _________.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - ._--_._--_.. ---

A. British and American English are not the same.

There are sdme minor differences between American and British spelling.
C. The ending,:; of Britis hand Ameriean words are not the same.

III.

)
)

Defend Your Choice

1. I did not choose letter A because it is_too general (some aspects are not the
the
others

2. I did not choose letter C because it is too general (some endings are not

the

)
)

II.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . The operation of
both can be thought of as being divided into three phases: input,
processing. and output. I n the case of the computer, the information
which is fed into the machine-the data-is the input; the internal
operations of the machine constitute the processing; and the resuit-usually a printout-is called the output. The telephone, too,
acts on information presented to it and produces a result. The input
is the actual dialing of the number. The switching system which
locates the number can be considered the processing phase. Finally,
the telephone rings on the other end of the line, indicating that the
call has been completed; this constitutes the output.!

)
)

)
)

)
}

Adapted from John C. Keegel, The Language of Computer Programming In English (New
York: Regents Publishing Co., Inc., 1976), p. 4.

_______________ . _ _ . The jack is a portable

device for raising the car. It operates by means of force being applied
. to a level on which the car is balanced. The lug wrench is a tool
with a fixed "jaw" for gripping the lug (the type of screw used to
hold a tire in place). It has a long handle so that it is effective in
turning the lug, either to tighten or to loosen it. These are the only
two tools necessary to change a tire. They are usually found in the
trunk of the car and are kept there at all times so that the motorist
can use them, should he have a flat tire.
Choose a Topic Sentence

A. Flat tires constitute a serious problem for the motorist.

B. How to change a flat tire.
C. Only two tools are considered standard equipment Oil !lew U.S. automobiles.
Defend Your Choice

L I did not choose letter _ because _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

- - - _... _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

.,
16

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

2. I did not choose letter _ because _ _ _ _~

live below the poverty level. Aged people also have more health
problems than younger people. A third area for concern stems from
the fact that public transportation has not been designed with old
people in mind; their activities are often limited to whatever is
within walking distance. And finally, there is the separation from
family, which causes loneliness. Many older people live by themselves (th is is particularly true of widows and divorced women). And
then there are the "forgotten five percent," the older people who
have been institutionalized-that is, sent to "old age homes" (sometimes called "nursing homes") by families who either cannot or will
not take care of them.

IV.
_ _ _ _ _ . The first one is the small
pocket dictionary. Dictionaries of this type are usually only abridgments of earlier, more comprehensive dictionaries. The definitions
found in a pocket dictionary are usually rather sketchy, and few or
no example sentences are given to help the foreign student understand how the word is actually used in a sentence. Equally inadequate is the bilingual dictionary (Thai-English, Spanish-English, Russian-English, etc.). This type of dictionary is often based on the idea
of making word-for-word translations, a notion which shows no
understanding of the idiomatic nature of all languages. Moreover,
bilingual di(tionaries are often hastily and sloppily compiled, as well
as hopelessly out of date even before they are published.

'"
)
)

17

Choose a Topic Sentence:

A. Some of the older people in the United States face a number of seri, )\lS
problems.
B. Old age problems.
C. Retirement homes in the United States are a disgrace.
Defend Your Choice

Choose a Topic Sentence

A. A number of dictionaries are inappropriate for foreign students.

B. Some dictionaries aren't comprehensive enough.
C. The worst kind of dictionaries.

1. I did not choose letter

because ~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

2. I did not choose letter

because _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Defend Your Choice

--~----~----

1. I did not choose letter

because ~.__________________ .____________~

VI.
2. I did not choose letter

because. ____________________

V.

- - - - -_____________. For one thing, more

than ten percent of all "senior citizens" in the United States are
extremely poor. As a matter of fact, recent statistics suggest that
approximately one-seventh of all people over the age of sixty-five

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Infants usually satisfy

this very basic need in the course of an ordinary day spent with
their parents (feeding, kissing, bathing, etc.). However, if a baby is
neglected or even mistreated by being deprived of touch, his development will suffer on all levels-physical, intellectual, and emotional. Some children have even been known to die from this lack of
tactile stimulation; it is thought by many doctors that many unexplained u crib deaths" are directly related to lack of touch and its
various consequences. Children given out for adoption at a tender
age and placed in poorly run orphanages, children brought up by
unaffectionate parents, and children whose parents touch them
~

18

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

with is the "desk dictionary," sometimes referred to as a genera/purpose dictionary. Another kind is the pronouncing dictionary,
which is concerned with a word's pronunciation more than with its
meaning. A third type is the bilingual dictionary, which lists the
words in one language and attempts to give equivalent meanings in
another language. Other types include technical dictionaries, specialpurpose dictionaries, and scholarly dictionaries.

only to beat them-all these types of children run the risk of never
reaching their potential as fully developed adults.

Choose a Topic Sentence

A. Babies interacting daily with their parents.
B. PhYSical contact is an important factor in an infant's overall development
C. Many children are not properly taken care of by their parents.

19

~.:

3.
)

Defend Your Choice

L I did not choose letter

2. I did not choose

_______________ . Under this new system, the

customer's monthly telephone bill includes specific information for
each long-distance call: the date and time of each call, the rate
charged per minute (based on the company's discount system), the
length of time the call took, the number and place called, whether
the call was direct-dialed or operator-assisted, and the amount
charged for the call. As each call is placed, all of this information is
fed into a computer and programmed onto each customer's billing
card, thus simplifying and clarifying the entire billing process. The
Bell Telephone Company hopes that its new billing procedure will
reduce the number of inquiries and free its employees to do work
which computers are not yet able to perform.

because _ _ _ _ __

letter because ___________. ______~_

EXERCISE 1-7

Supplying Appropriate Topic Sentences

)

Directions: The topic sentences of each of the following paragraphs have

been omitted. After a careful reading, write an appropriate sen tence for each.
Notice that the general topics of these paragraphs are the same as those in the
previous exercise.
1.

_ _~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ " When you have removed the

hubcap from the wheel which has the flat, the jack should be correctly placed so as to be able to lift the car off the ground. Now you
are ready to jack up the car high enough for the tire to clear the
grou nd. After you have done that, carefully loosen the nuts that hold
the tire and rim in place; the tool which you use to do that is called a
lug wrench. Remove the tire and put the spare tire in place. Nowyou
are ready to put the nuts back on the wheel and tighten them well
with the lug wrench. All that remains is to replace the hubcap.

2.
- - - -_________ . The one most people are familiar

)
)

4:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . To be eligible for these
benefits, a person must be sixty-five years old and must have been
participating in the Social Security system for a certain number of
years. First, retirement benefits provide a worker with a monthly
income ranging from $230 to almost $490, depending on his salary
when he was working and the number of years he paid into the
system. The second benefit is survivors' benefits, a kind of life insurance which provides a deceased worker's widow and children
under eighteen with monthly cash payments based on what the
worker would have received as retirement benefits. A third category
is disability benefits. Workers, their widows, and their children under
eighteen may be eligible for monthly payments if they are unable to
work because of severe physical or mental illness. Finally, most
people over sixty-five who are receiving disability payments are also
entitled to Medicare. This insurance protection helps to pay hospital
costs and covers partial payment for other medical expenses, such
as doctor bills and medication.

.,
20

THE TOPIC SENTENCE

_______________ . We often use this sense, for

example, to describe how we have dealt with a person or a situation.
If we have been successful, we feel that we have "the right touch" or
"the magic touch" or that we have "come to grips" with the person
or the situation; if unsuccessful, we may feel that we have "Iost
touch" or "lost our grip" or are "out of touch" with reality. We also
use this sense to describe a variety of emotional responses and
states. We "feel" happy, sad, or depressed. In fact, we use the same
kind of language to judge a person's very capacity for these kinds of
emotions: we speak of a "sensitive" person or of an "unfeeling"
person; even the adjectives "warm" and "cold" are related to the
sense of touch. When we love a person, we have that person "under
our skin"; when we hate him, he "makes our skin crawl."

SUPPORTING TOPIC
SENTENCES
Examples, Details, Anecdotes,
Facts and Statistics

Opce you have limited your subject by writing a good topic sentence, you
must next develop that subject so that the reader thoroughly undprstands
what you mean to say. When you are speaking. you do this unconsciously,
often by repeating yourself in different words and by using {!estures and
facial expressions. In writing !Iou canMt make use ofthese auditory and visual
aids, so you must think and plan carefully what you are going to write to
ensure that your reader knows exactly what you mean.
There are many ways in which you can develop and darify a topic
sentence. In this chapter we will deal with four of these:

)
)

1.
2.
3.
4.

EXAMPLES
DETAILS
ANECDOTES
FACTS AND STATISTICS

'From this point on in the text, some items in some exercises will be marked with an asterisk
to indicate that, because of vocabulary, length, or subject matter, they are more challenging.

21

...,
EXERCISE 2-1
,

l!.XAMPLES

Guided Analysis of the Use of Examples

Directions: Complete the analysis of the model paragraph by filling all blank
spaces. Note that key phrases in the topic sentence have been circled.

An example is a specific instance that explains an idea.

Model Paragraph
Some of the most interesting words in English are the actual names of
the people first involved in the activities conveyed by the meanings of
the words. The word boycott, for instance, derives from the case of Sir
Charles Boycott (1832-97), a land agent in Ireland who was ostracized
by his tenants because he refused to lower the rents. Vidkun Quisling's
name quickly became an infamous addition to the English language
during World War II. He was a Norwegian politician who betrayed his
country to the Nazis, and his name, quisling, is now synonymous with
"traitor," Perhaps a more common example, at least among young
people around the world, is Levi's. These popular blue jeans are named
after levi Str"auss, the man who first manufactured them in San Francisco in 1850. Perhaps most omnipresent of all is the sandwich, named
for the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), who created this quick
portable meal so that he would not have to leave the gambling table to
eat. Other words in this unique category include lynch, watt, davenport,
and zeppelin.

)
)
)

!:><~Ie: boyc:~

Example: quisling
Example:
Example:
Example:
Example:

NOW ASK YOURSELF

Example:

1. What words have been used in the model paragraph to introduce

Example:

examples? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
)

ANALYSIS

2. Are these kinds of words always necessary to introduce examples? (Com-

pare the model paragraph which you have just read with paragraph 5,
)

p. 20, in which many examples "PJ"~'O".!--~~------- ........

3. Do you know the origins of these words?

_ _ _ _ _ __

Iynch~~__~~__~~~~______~~~______~~_

watt . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
davenport __________________________
zeppenn ______________________________

22

EXERCISE 2-2

Guided Analysis of the Use of Examples

Directions: Read and analyze the following paragraph.

. In order to be consider.ed a hero by his own and subsequent generations, a person must display extraordinary physical or intellectual
powers. The physical hero-one who exhibits great strength to over~o~e monumental obstacles and emerge a victor-is found frequently
In literature. Samson, although chained and bound, used his superhuman strength to destroy his enemies, the Philistines, likewise, Dwight

23

24

SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES

:,?~.:,,~NG TOPIC SENTENCES

Eisenhower, a more contemporary physical hero, surmounted overwhelming odds to organize the successful Allied invasion of "Fortress
Europe" during World War II. A second heroic type is the intellectual,
"dmired for his mental prowess and the way he uses it to the benefit of
m_lnkind. leonardo DaVinci, with his studies of architecture, human
.ll1i\tomy, and engineering. in addition to his great artistic achievements,
belongs to this second type. More recently, Albert Einstein, who not
,lilly made far-reaching contributions in the physical sciences, but also
w'Jrked diligently towards achieving world peace, illustrates the intelh'l'tual hero.

--------------- -------

~.---

25

..

----------_._._-

.-----.~

. - - -..

~.

ANALYSIS

Topic Sentence:

Example (Physical Hero):

)
)
)

- - '..- " - - " ' - " -

Example (Physical Hero):

Example (

):

Example (

):

_ _. _ . _ - - - - - - -

._.

- - - - - - - . - -..-

.. --.

----.-.----~

..

I XERCISE 2-3

t..uagraph Writing: Examples

l'IIl'ctions: Write a paragraph on one ofthe following topics. Use examples to
,npport your topic sentence. You may use the lines below as a work space for
\\ '\1 r first draft
The Behavior of Someone in Love
Watching Television

DETAILS

Rearing Children
Owning a Car
Springtime

A detail is a particular part or characteristic of a whole thing or a whole idea.

Details are frequently used in a description.

, EXERCISE 2-5
Analyzing the Use of Details

Model Paragraph
landlords usually require a renter to sign a very complicated contract called a lease. It stipulates the length of time the person must stay
in the apartment and the amount of rent he must pay. It can Ii~it the
number of people allowed to live in the apartment and restnct the
renter from having pets. A lease may prohibit the renter from subletting
and include a provision by which he is charged a certain amount of
money if he breaks the contract. The agreement also includes the responsibilities of the landlord, such as providing adequate heat, garbage
removal, and exterior maintenance of the apartment building.

Directions: Read and analyze the following paragraph. In your choice of

major categories of details for the diagram, you might want to consider
number of rows, method of replacement, maximum number of teeth, and
shape of the bite.

Perhaps it is because of its terrifying and effective teeth that the shark
has always been one of man's most hated and feared enemies. Located
beneath its snout, the shark's mouth contains between four and six rows
of teeth, but these may number up to twenty-four rows in some species.
The teeth are embedded in the gums and gradually move forward as
they are used. Eventually these large teeth drop out and are replaced by
new teeth moving up from behind them. It is possible for one species of
shark to produce up to 24,000 teeth over a ten-year period. This awesome dental equipment produces a jagged crescent-shaped bite:

EXERCISE 2-4
Guided Analysis of the Use of Details

Directions: Analyze the preceding paragraph by filling in the blanks below;

Topic Sentence: Landlords usually require a renter to sign a

very@mplicated contract)caliedCa lease.)
Detail: length of time

Ii

ANALYSIS

1
~

Detail:

example:

heat

example:
example:

26

27

SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES

29

EXERCISE 2-6
Information Transfer (Details)

Directions: Write a paragraph based on the following diagram. Use the topic
sentence which has been given. Be careful: the details are given in note fcmn,
so you will have to convert them into grammatical sentences.

Topic Sentence: A newborn baby is really not very beautiful.

- - - _ . _.._. __..

_---

skin-discolored or wrinkled
eyes-frequently puffy and inflamed
\

~e of head-often distorted because of the difficult

birth process
hair-either thick and unruly or nonexistent

. _..

. -

.. - _ . - - - - - - - -

._--------

movements-jerky and uncontrolled (muscles not yet

developed)

---_._--- ------_ ..

_.-_.-._-------

EXERCISE 2-7
Paragraph Writing: Details

Directions: Write a paragraph on one of the following topics. First, write a

topic sentence in which you clearbj limit the topic. Then support your topic
sentence.
The physical appearance of your favorite actor or actress
The characteristics of a good nurse
The features which you would like your next car to have
Making a good sandwich

28

30

SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES

EXERCISE 2-8
Paragraph Writing: Details

In this assignment you will be asked to write a description of one of your

classmates. Your teacher will give you time in class to study the physical
appearance of the person and take notes. Then you should take the notes
home and write the paragraph.
Do not concentrate on the person's clothing. Aim rather at describing the
physical characteristics of the person in question (height, weight, complexion, hair color, facial and bodily features).
DON'T FORGET: Even in this kind of paragraph, the details you choose
must support the topic sentence you have written.

- - - _......

- - - ..

--~~~~~~-~~~~------

- - _..... _ - -

- - - -.....

- - -...-

.... -

----~

...~ ......

i
1

I
l

._-_......_ - -----~

----_ _
.....

...-

....

-~.-

.....

....~..... --~.~ ..

--~-----

- - - - - - ...

------_

.....

--~-

......-

_ - _ . _....

...

.. -

_-_ _.__ - - - ....

..

. _ - - - - _...... _--_.....

.... --~--

__

..

.....- ..

_ ....- . _ -

_---

_ _-----.....

)
)

31

32

SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES

ANECDOTES
An anecdote is a short, entertaining account ofSOfTIe happening It is usually

persc:maJ. It may be thought of as a lengthy example.

-_._..._ - - - - - -

- - _ ..

--"-"'--'-'---

- - _..__.._ - -

Model Paragraph
A fjlm director's style is usually personal and recognizable, but every
rule has its exception. Not long ago I was in a theatre watching Roman
Polanski's MacBeth. Suddenly the action slowed considerably. A frightening red circle began moving outward from the center of the screen,
engulfing first the actors and finally the entire scene. I was sitting on the
edge of my seat, waiting for the next horror, which never carne. It was
not Polanski's terrifying style after all/ but a fire in the liirn projector.

ANALYSIS
_ ..__.. _-_._..

__ _
..

..

_-_._--_..__..

_----Topic Sentence: A film director's style is usually personal and

recognizable, but every rule has its exception.

------_.. __.. __.. _-_.. _ - -

ANECDOTE: Roman Polanski's MacBeth

(the entire paragraph)

EXERCISE 29
Writing: Anecdotes

Paragr~ph

- - - - - - - - - _ . _ . _.. _-_..

Directwns: Use an anecdote to support one of the following topic ,,-;ntences:

A person's life can sometimes change overnight
Computers create more problems than they solve.
Not knowing a language weD can sometimes be embarrasSing.
You know who your real friends are when you have a problem.
Love is not always happy.

- ..

- - ..

-----.--.~.-

.. ----~-----:----~

33

34

SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES

I FACTS AND STATISTICS

A fact is something which is objectively verifiable.
A statistic is a numerical fact which presents significant information about
a given subject.

Model Paragraph

- - - _..

The term population explosion is usually applied to the rapid growth

of the last three centuries. In the two hundred years from 1650 to 1850,
world population doubled and reached its first billion. In the next eighty
years, it doubled again, and by 1975, it had doubled once more to a total
of 4 billion. By the year 2000, it is estimated that it will exceed 6 billion
and possibly approach 7 billion unless there is a major reduction in birth
rates or a major increase in death rates.

__ - - - ..

EXERCISE 2-10

Guided Analysis of the Use of Statistics

Directions: Analyze the model paragraph by Hlling in all blank spaces below.
---_.__..._ - - - - - - - - - - - - - ANALYSIS
- - -...- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . _ - - - - Topic Sentence:

----

-.--.-----

--_.------------------_._-----

STATISTIC: 1650-1850; doubled, reached 1 billion

STATISTIC:

-----------------

35

EXERCISE 2-11

EXERCISE 2-12

Analyzing the Use of Statistics

Paragraph Writing:
Statistical Information Transfer

Directions: Read and analyze the following paragraph.

Exams apparently have a marked effect on the blood pressure of the
students taking them. In a recent study, it was shown that the average
student's blood pressure rose from 115/55 before the exam to 155/115
at the end of the exam. Ten minutes after the examination period had
ended, the students' blood pressures were still quite high, averaging
150/110.
..

~.~- ~.~.------

------------~

Directions: After studying the graph, write a paragraph using statistics from
the graph to support the topic sentence which ha~ been giwn.
URBANIZATION. 1810.1970. 1 Urbanization is diff,cult to measure
becau$e each country has its own definition. But the trend is clear. The pro'
portion of people liVIng in large towns~over 20,000~ is close to 70 percent in
England and Japan, and around 50 percent in the United States. The trend is
aiso taking place in less developed countries. such as Chile; and ('ven India, a
highlV agriculturalized country, is showing increased urbanization.
UN demographers foresee faster urbanization in less ucveioped regIOns
for the balance of this century.

ANALYSIS

&

a"

>

:c
..,
u
.!:
c'"

'>

;,:j

g
:;
'"
0.
0

0-

1;
III

10

O~

________

1810

1850

________

1890

________L -____
1930

1970

IPopulation Reference Bureau, The World l'opuwtion Dilemma (Washington,

lumbia Books, Inc., 1972). p. 19.
36

nc.:

Co-

37

.,
)
38

SUPPORTING TOPIC SENTENCES

,)

Urbanization has been increasing steadily in the United States since

the early part of the nineteenth century. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-.:..._ _

SUPPORTING TOPIC
SENTENCES

)
)

)
)
)

)
)
)

)
)

J
)
)
)

Thus far you have learned how to limit your subject in a clear, concise
topic sentence and then to support it with examples, details, anecdotes, facts,
and statistics. The next step is to arrange your supporting sentences in a
logical and cohesive manner.
There are several ways in which this can be done, In this chapter we will
deal with what is probably the most common method of paragraph development in English: enumeration.

)
)

)
)

I ENUMERATION

)
)

)
)

What is enumeration?
In this type of paragraph development, a writer starts with a general c"la3s,
then proceeds to break it down by listing some or alJ ofits members or parts,
If we wanted to show a diagram of the enumerative process, our diagram
might look something like this:

)
)

39

)
)

KINDS OR TYPES I

GENERAL CLASS

DESCRIPTION / EXAMPLES/ ETC.

2. Reference
works

)
)

1--.

..... -

..

~-

...

---...--

)
)

Model Paragraph

There are three basic kinds of materials that can be found in any good
library. First, there are books on all subjects, both in English and in many
other languages. These books are organized according to subject, title,
and author in a central file called the card catalog. Books can generally
be checked out of the library and taken home for a period of two to
four weeks. 5,econd, there are reference works, which include encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, atlases, etc., and which generally
must be used in the library itself. Third, there are periodicals-magazines, newspapers, pamphlets-which are filed alphabetically in racks,
or which have been microfilmed to conserve space. like reference
works, periodicals cannot usually be removed from the library.

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Exercise 31
Guided Analysis of Enumeration

'NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. What are the key words in the topic sentence of the model paragraph?

2. What types of supportive information does the author use (examples.

:l. How many kinds or types of library materials are talked about? ~._._~

4. What is meant by enumeration? _ _ _ _ _~

Dir.ections: Analyze the model paragraph by filling in the empty parts of the
chart below.

)
)

Topic Sentence: There are three basic kinds of materials that can be
found in any good library.

KINDS OR TYPES

DESCRIPTION/EXAMPLES/ETC.

1. Books

On all subjects. in many languages; organized in the

card catalog; can usually be checked out

ENUMERATORS
Notice the use of the word kinds in the preceding model paragraph. We
will call this word an enumerator since it helps us show the reader exactly
what we are listing or enumerating. In the model paragraph, it is kinds of
materials. Remember that enumerators are valuable key words. You should
try to put them in topic sentences of enumerative paragraphs. This will help
you to organize your paragraphs more clearly; it will also help the reader to
follow your train of thought more easily.
Writers frequently wish to make a list of other things besides kinds or
types. They may, for example, want to talk about
Classes

Parts

Elements

~.----------~----------------------------------~

)
)
)

40

41

)
)

42

ENUMERATION

)
)

Factors
Characteristics

Aspects
Divisions

Subdivisions

GROUP2
The first
(or One)
The second
(or Another)
(or The next)
The third
(or Still another)
(or The next)
The last
(or The final)

Categories

LISTING SIGNALS

When making a list, people often use numerals (e.g.. 1. 2, 3, etc.) to

indicate the various items in the list. A simple list of this kind could be made
for the model paragraph on library materials;

)
)

Kinds a/library materlai.s found in most

good librarie.t:

)
)

LISTING
SIGNAL

[~:::J

is_

etc.

ENUMERATOR

1. Books
2. Reference works

)
~

3. Periodicals

In most formal writing, however, a list is usually not made with numerals.'
The items are indicated by what we call listing signals. The author of the
model paragraph has used three of these listing signals: First, ... ; Second, ... ;
Third,. '" There are two main groups of listing signals in English. You should
become very familiar with the words in these two groups:

)
)
)

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. What is the difference between an enumerator and a listing signal?

----------------------~ ..

--

GROUP1

2. What is another way to say each of the follOwing?

)
)

)
)
)
)

)
)

First,
Second,
(or Next,)
Third,
(or Next,)
(or Then,)
Last,
(or Finally,)

(Last,) _ __

there are
we have
[ we should consider
etc.

LISTING
SIGNALS

(The final kind) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

(Another kind) _ _ _ _ __
(Next,) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
3. What element does a Group 2 sentence have that a Group 1 sentence
doesno~

______________________________

)
)

A major exception to this is &elentiftc and technical English. where it is common to fmd lists
with a numeral before each item on the list

j
)

43

...,
)
)

)GROUP 1 VS. GROUP 2:

)

EXERCISE 3-3

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Supplying listing Signals

There is one thing that you must remember. The words in Group 1 take a

different sentence structure from the words in Group 2. Let's take a sentence

from the model paragraph on library materials and illustrate this difference,
which is really a very simple one:

L~OOkSJ

Croup 1:
)

Croup 2:

First,

there are

~-~

I
I

The first kind

I
I

I
I
I

'---~-l
I

is
Lonsists Of]
~

:
:

~_~~J~_~

books.
~

Note that a full sentence follows the listing signals from Group 1. Notice also
that in Group 2, the listing signal and enumerator are the subject of the
sentence. These differences, although simple, are very important!

)
)

EXERCISE 3-2

Paraphrasing listing Signals

Directions: Rewrite each of the follOwing sentences in three (3) ways,

choosing words from both groups of listing signals. Circle the enumerator if
you have used one.

)
)

1.

b.

The nex~ periodicals.

c.
)

2.

EXERCISE 3-4

Analyzing an Enumerative Paragraph

Directions: Fill in the following chart, which is based on the paragraph you
read in Exercise 3-3.

Last, there are reference works.

a

Most middle-class Americans use four main distances, or zones, in

their business and social relations; each of these distances has a near
and a far phase and is accompanied by a change in the volume of the
voice.
intimate distance, which varies from
direct physical contact to a distance of six to eighteen inches, and which
is used for our most private activities-caressing another person or
comforting a crying child. ~
personal distance,
which has a close phase of one and a half to two and a half feet; it is at
this distance that wives usually stand from their husbands in public. If
another woman moves into this zone, the wife will most likely be disturbed. The far phase-two and a half to four feet-is the distance used
to "keep someone at arm's length" and is the most common spacing
used by people in conversation.
social distance,
which is employed during business transactions or exchanges with a
clerk or repairman. People who work together tend to use close social
distance, four to seven feet. The far phase of the third zone-seven to
twelve feet-is where people stand when someone says, "Stand back so
I can look at you." This distance lends a formal tone to business or social
discourse.
public distance, which is used by
teachers in classrooms or speakers at public gatherings. At its farthest
phase-twenty-five feet and beyond-it is used for important public
figures. l

Still another kind is periodicals.

Directions: Write listing signals for the following paragraph. Circle the
enumerator in the topic sentence.

Topic Sentence:

b.

c.

'Adapted from Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, "The Sounds of Silence," Playboy.
June 1971. pp.138-140. 148,204,206.

)
}

)
)

44

45

)
ENUMERATION

)
)

ZONE

1.

PHASES, DISTANCES

Intimat~

distance

two main reasons for attending Bingston University (page 10). If you remember, there was nothing in the paragraph to suggest that one reason was
considered any more important than the other. This paragraph, too, represents a simple list:

USES

The near phase

(physical contact to
six inches)

MY TWO MAIN REASONS FOR ATl'ENDlNG BINGSTON UNIVERSITY

)
The far phase
(six to eighteen
inches)

)
)

l. Reasonable tuition; the deferred payment plan

(financial reasons)

2. Fine teachers; practical work experience

(academic reasons)

2.

)
)
l

3.

47

Sometimes, however, a writer wishes to indicate that one of the items in a list
should receive special attention. In other words, the writer feels that one
item is more important, more intereating. more influential, stronger, bigger, or
more baaic than the other items on the list. There are two ways in which an
item can be singled out in a written paragraph: a8cending and descending
order.

ASCENDING ORDER

.~

4.

-- ----- -- --- ---------

In ascending order, we list the minor pOints first, saving the most important for la8t This keeps the reader interested, since the paragraph has a
kind of "dramatic structure" to it; it builds up to or ascends to a climax. In a
list using numerals, this can easily be indicated by draWing a circle or an
arrow, by underlining, or by all three at the same time-anything to catch the
reader'a eye. In a written paragraph, however, we cannot do this. We indicate ascending order by means of a special group of listing signals:
GROUP 3 (ASCENDING ORDER)

) ~--------~----------------~------------------------~
)

But by far the

) I ASCENDING VS, DESCENDING ORDER

)

)
)

Up to this point, the paragraphs in this unit have been structured so that all
their parts are of equal importance. Thus, in the sample paragraph on library
materials (p. 40), no kind of library material is presented as being more
important than any other kind; the paragraph represents, as we have already .
said, a simple, straightforward list
The same thing can be said of the paragraph which talks about the writer's

)
46

)
)

~g~~
~~S:O~~~~TJ
PRIMARY

LARGEST
(ETC.)

[kind ]
reason
(etc.)

is~

_ _ _.

Finally-AN D MOST IMPORTANTlY-there is _ _ _ _ _ __

Let us illustrate the difference between a fiat in ascending order and a

paragraph in ascending order. We will take the subject of Bingston University, since we are already familiar with the information. Let us say this

"")
48

ENUMERATION

ENUMERATION

time that there are four reasons why the writer wants to attend Bingston
University: its reasonable tuition, its deferred payment plan, its work/study
program, and its fine teachers. We will also assume that the work/study
program is what really attracts the writer to Bingston. A list which says all this
might look something like the following:

.)
)

)
)

The list of the writer's reasons for attending Bingston University, rewritten in

descending order, would look like this:

MY REASONS FOR CHOOSING BINGSTON

<D Its work/study program

2. Its fine teachers
3. Its deferred payment plan
4. Its reasonable tuition

MY REASONS FOR CHOOSING BINGSTON

1. Its reasonable tuition

2. Its deferred payment plan

3. Its fine teachers

In paragraph form, the information might look like this:

There were several reasons why I decided to attend Bingston Uni
versity. My chief reason for choosing that university was its wonderful
work/study program in agriculture, my chosen field. The university
requires all its agriculture students to gain practical experience by
working on farms in the area while they are still going to school; I knew
that this would provide invaluable experience and prepare me to better
use the skills r had learned in the classroom. Second, Bingston hires only
the finest teachers to teach in its graduate program. Then, too, there was
Bingston's deferred payment plan; this represented a great convenience
to my parents. A final reason was the reasonable tuition.

@ Its work/study program

In paragraph form, the same information might look like this:

There were several reasons why I decided to attend Bingston University. First of all, the tuition was reasonable. Second, the university had
a deferred payment plan; this represented a great convenience to my
parents. Anothl!r reason was the fact that Bingston hires only the finest
of teachers to teach in its graduate program. My chief reason, however,
was Bingston's \mandatory work/study program in agriculture, my chosen
field: the university requires all agriculture students to gain practical
experience by working on farms in the area while they are still going to
school; I knew that this would provide invaluable experience and
prepare me to better use the skills I had learned in the classroom.

)
)
)

)
)
)

49

NOW ASK YOURSELF

L What is "enumeration by equal order"?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)DESCENDING ORDER
)
)
)

In descending order, the writer lists the most important point first, then
goes on to speak of the other pOints. The writer usually thinks that the other
points are important, too; he simply wishes to mention the most important
one first Thus, descending order is essentially the inverse of ascending
order. Descending order, too, has its special listing signals:

GROUP 4 (DESCENDING ORDER)

paragraphs? ~ __ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
)
)
)
}

)
)

-----------------_._._3. How are simple enumerative lists different from formal enumerative

2. How do ascending and descending order differ? .

MOST ESSENTIAL ]
MOST IMPORTANT
The PRIMARY
[ LARGEST

(ETC.)

kind ]
reason
[ (etc.)

is _ _ __

...,
)

ENUMERATION

51

.)
)

EOUALOROER

ASCENDING ORDER

DESCENDING ORDER

Topic Sentence

Topic Sentence

Topic Sentence

MAIL-ORDER COMPANIES WHICH FIGURE IN THE TOP-TEN LIST:

'MOST IMPORTAND

)
)

Paragraph Structure (simple list form)

--~.""CD Sears, Roebuck and Co.

2.

i
i

'--------

J. C. Penney

3. Montgomery War_d_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

iMOST IMPORTANn
'../

)
)

)
)

EXERCISE 3-~
Analyzing Enumerative Paragraphs
(Simple List Iiorm)

)
)
)

Directions: After reading each of the following paragraphs carefully, determine which order it illustrates (equal, ascending, or descending). Then
indicate all enumerators and listing signal8 which the author has used to
structure the paragraph. Finally, construct a simple list which represents the
structure of the paragraph. The first has been done as an example.

1.

----------------------

__._._-

Of the ten largest retailing companies in the United States, three

are involved in mail-order sales. The top mail-order company is
Sears, Roebuck and Co., with yearly sales of over $17 million and
assets of almost $15 million. Next comes J.e. Penney, whose yearly
sales total more than $9 million and whose assets are approximately
$4 million. the smallest mail-order company in the top-ten grouping
is Montgomery Ward, which has over $4 million in yearly sales and
assets of nearly $3 million.

Astronomers use three basic types of telescopes to explore the

vastness of space. The refractor telescope uses two lenses-one to
collect light from a distant object and bring it into focus, and another
in the eyepiece to magnify the image. Second, there is the reflector
telescope, which makes use of a concave mirror instead of a lens to
reflect light rays to the upper end of the telescope. last, and perhaps most important in terms of studying phenomena outside the
earth's atmosphere, is the radio telescope, which gathers waves
with a wire antenna serving as a parabolic reflectin g surface. The
discovery of mysterious quasars and pulsars was ma.cle possible by
this kind of telescope.

Typeoforderused;_.=:~~=:~g_o:~rd=e~r~_ _. ________ . ____ _

Type or order used; _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~._._.~ _ __

Enumerator(s): __c.c>lTlpa~_

Enumerator{s}; _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Listing signals; __
t~~~p; next; the smallest .____________

Listing signals: ___________________

)
)
)
)

2.

- - - _..

)
)

)
)

50

..,
)
) 52

ENUMERATION

Paragraph Structure (Simple List Fonn)

.)

ENUMERATION

53

Paragraph Structure (Simple List Fonn)

)
)

)
)

)
)

---

.. ~--- ..--~ .. ~--

)
)

)
)
)
)

)
)

4.
)

3.
)
)
)
)
)

)
)

Congested airways, as determined by the number of passengers

served each year, are becoming as serious a problem in major U.S.
cities as congested highway traffic. During 1977, 13.2 million passengers boarded, deplaned, or transferred through Washington,
D.C.'s National Airport. San Francisco's International served 20.2
million people during the same period. The nation's busiest airport,
however, was Chicago's O'Hare Field, where over 44 million passengers were served.

Type of order used: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Enumerator(s): _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Listing signals: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
)

)
)

Because the earth turns on its axis at the same time as it is moving
around the sun, there are two ways to determine the period of time
which constitutes a day. It is possible to define a day as the interval
of time between the highest point of the sun in the. sky on two
successive days. This determination, "mean solar time," produces
the twenty-four-hour day when it is averaged out over the year. It is
equally possible, however, to define a day as that period of time
between the points when the vernal equinox is directly overhead.
This method of measuring is called II sidereal time" and is almost four
minutes shorter per day than solar mean time.

Type of order used: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~___

Enumerator{s):__ _ _ _
Listing signals: _ _ ~. _ _ __

)
J4

.)

ENUMERATION

ENUMERATION

55

Paragraph Strudure (Simple List Form)

Paragraph Structure (Simple List Form)

)
)
)
)

)
j

.1

- - - -......

- - - . - - .....

~-.

)
)

)
)

)
)

)
)

)
)
)
)

5.

Bioethicists, a new breed of scientist-philosophers, concern

themselves with pressing problems which have arisen as a result of
technological advances in modern medicine. One consideration is
the recent development of techniques which enable doctors to
perform test-tube cross-fertilization, producing the famous "testtube babies." Recombinant DNA, or genetic engineering, is another
medical achievement which is accompanied by dubious moral
implications. Artificial organ implantation (heart, kidneys, eyes)
generates questions of who should be chosen as recipient of these
life-sustaining" gifts and how these choices should be made. On the
opposite end of the spectrum, machines which are capable of
prolonging life indefinitely, even though the patient may never
regain consciousness, bring up the problem of establishing a precise
definition of what" death" is.

)
T~oforoerwed.~

____________________________________

j
)
)
)
)

Enumerator{s):_______________________________________
~tings~rus~'

_____________________________________

*6.

Various answers have been proposed to the gnawing question

which reflects one of man's deepest needs: How is it possible to
overcome the awareness of human separation, the overpowering
feeling of aloneness? One way of achieving this aim lies in the 50called orgiastic states, such as the hypnosis-producing ritual~ of
"primitive" tribes, or alcoholism and drug addiction in our own
society. Another, and far more frequent, solution is a union with
others based on conformity-in dress, customs, ideas, and even
daily routine. A third way of attaining union lies in creative activity:
the artist unites himself with his material, which represents the
world outside himself. But the problem with this union, as with the
first two mentioned, is that none of them is personal, and 211 are
transitory. By far the only permanent answer to this great problem of
human existence lies in the achievement of interpersonal union, of
fusion with another person. In other words, it lies only in love.
Mature love is the ultimate force which breaks the walls separating
man from his fellow men, the force which unites him with others,
thus allowing him to overcome his sense of isolation. In love, the
paradox occurs that two human beings remain two, yet become
one.!

'Adapted from Erich Fromm,

1956). pp. 7-17.

The Art ofLooing (New York: Harper & Row. Publishers.

[11(, .

)
51\) ENUMERATION

ENUMERATION

Type of order used: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

.)
)

Enumerator(s): _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Listing signals: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

57

Equal Order

Paragraph Structure (Simple List Form)

)
)
---------------------~ .. ~--

Ascending Order

)
)

)
)

------

--

.....

Descending Order

)
)

EXERCISE 3-6
Practicing Ascending, Descending,
and Equal Order

)
)

Directions: Using the infonnation given, write three five-sentence paragraphs: the first in equal order, the second in ascending order, and the third
in descending order. Be sure to write complete sentences.

PROBLEMS FACING OLD PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES

L Poverty

2. Sickness

3. Transportation
4. Loneliness

,
/

----------

...

- - - -..

-.~

...,
)
ENUMERATION

.)

EXERCISE 3-7

Paragraph Writing:
Enumerative Information Transfer

---

-------------~---..

Directions: Write an enumerative paragraph based on the following chart.

Use descending order. Decide what your basis of enumeration will be (numberofmembers or age).

)
)

FIVE MAJOR RELIGIONS

Number of
Members

Dates of Origin

Descent from Israel;

The Torah;
tradition

The exodus of Moses

from Egypt (1220 s.c.)

Worldwide

954,766,700

The teachings of Jesus

(:;hrist: The
New Testament

c. A.D. 33 Oesus
Christ)

Worldwide

538,213,900

The teachings of
Mohammed in
The Koran

A.D. 570--632

Morocco to
Indonesia; a
branch in the
United States

524,273,050

The Vedas (four

books); no
common creed

1000 B.C. (l)

India and
eastern
countries

249,877,300

The teachings of
Buddha in The
Eightfold Way

563-483 B.C.
(Buddha)

The east;
spreading to
Europe and
the United
States

14,353,790
Judaism

)
) Christianity

) Islam

(Mohammed)

)
)

Hinduism

)
) Buddhism

)
)
)

)
)
)
)
)

58

)
)
)

Geographic
Distribution

Basis of Belief

59

..

--------~-------~--~-~----~----

.,
)
ENUMERATION

EXERCISE 3-8
Paragraph Writing: Enumeration .

.J
)
)
)

61

Directions: Write an enumerative paragraph in which you tell of the qua'Utie8

which a good wife or husband should have. Use good examples, details, etc., in
developing the paragraph. Use ascending order.

-------~--~---.---~-~~------

)
)

Optional Writing Assignments (Enumeration)

The things (at least three) that I have learned about Americans since r
came to the United States.
My favorite kinds of movies.
The types of undergraduate degrees offered at a particular school. (You
may have to use a university catalog to research this topic.)

)
)

)
)

)
)

)
)
)

)
)
)
)

)
)

)
)
)

60

...,
)
Model Paragraph

In his will, Alfred Nobel left specific instructions as to how the

winners of the science awards he endowed are to be selected. First,
each year the Swedish Academy of Sciences (physics and chemistry)
and the Caroline Medical Institute (physiology and medicine) solicit
nearly two thousand recommendations from past laureates, university
professors, and other experts from all over the world. The second step is
the review of recommendations received and the selections of preliminary candidates by special committees within the two Swedish institutions. The committee members are specifically instructed that those
chosen "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind," and that
no consideration be given to the candidates' nationalities. Next, after
lengthy investigation and discussion, the final choices are made for each
discipline. Finally, telegrams informing them of their awards are sent to
the new Nobel laureates about one month prior to the award ceremony.

SPECIAL TYPES
OF ENUMERATION

)
)
)

)
)

logy

)
)

'NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. What are the key words in the topic sentence? (Is there anything in the
topic sentence which suggests that the paragraph will be explaining a

)
)

process?) ________. _____________.

In this chapter we will deal with two specialized types of en~erative

paragraphs: the process paragraph and the chronological (or narrative) paragraph. Since a process paragraph uses many of the listing signals you learned
in the previous chapter, will will start with this type.

)
)

2. Can you find any enumerative listing signals? _ __

~ I PROCESS

3. Have any enumerators been used (i.e., words like steps or stages)?

When supporting sentences are arranged in a step-by-step sequence which

teUs how something is made or done, this development is called process.

Process development is in fact, a kind of enumeration, but here we are

usually dealing only with steps or stages (and not, for example, with kinds or
types). If we wanted to give a more visual representation of process development, our diagram might look something like this:

)
)
)

4. Between the first step (soliticing requests for recommendations) and

the last step (infonning the new laureates), how many steps can you find?

11

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3

)
)

1t: !~:~

)
)
)

62

4
63

.)

EXERCISE 4-1
Analyzing a Process Paragraph (List Form)

STEP

1. Requests for
recom mendations

Din'ctWns: Show the organization of the model paragraph by filling in the

following list You do not have to write complete sentences.
)

SUPPORTIVE MATERIAL (Examples, Details, Etc.)

Swedish Academy of Sciences (physics, chemistry)

Caroline Medical Institute (physiology, medicine)
Two thousand requests from past laureates, university professors, and experts

2.

How

1.

3.

2.
3.

4.

4.

5,

6.

5.

)
)

EXERCISE 4-2
.\n.1lyzing a Process Paragraph (Chart Form)

.
6.

Now you are ready to expand the above list by filling in a chart.
!:hlkate, in note form, any kinds of supportive infonnation which you have
:.'\l1ld in the paragraph:

;y"",,'(ions:

)
)

Examples
)

Details

Anecdotes

Facts and statistics

)
)

ENUMERATORS

Topic Sentence: _..:..In~h:.;;is:.;;w-=-il-"I,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Process paragraphs, like other kinds of enumerative paragraphs, .often use

enumerators. The difference is that, whereas enumerative paragnphs use
many different enumerators (types, kinds, groups, etc.), process pauagraphs
most commonly use only three:

Step

Stage
Phase

)
65

)
)
,

It

)
'NOW ASK YOURSELF

NOW ASK YOURSELF

Which of the above structures do the following sentences represent-command form, modal auxiliaries, simple present, or passive?

I. In the paragraph on Anding a suitable apartment (p. 13), do you notice

any of these enumerators? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
2.

(From "Changing a Flat Tire," p. 18)

In the paragraph on changing a flat tire (p. 18), do you notice any of

these enmnerators?
3.. What about the model paragraph which you have just read (Nobel
)

Prize)? ~. . . ~ _ _. . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

1. The jack should be correctly placed.

2,

". carefully loosen the nuts, ...

3.

Remove the tire and put the spare tire

in place.

) LISTING SIGNALS
(From "Finding a Suitable Apartment," p, 13)
Process paragraphs often use listing signals. Group 1 listing signals from
the previous chapter (p. 42) can be used, but the structures which follow
them are usually different:

4.

. .. you must follow a very systematic

approach.

5.

First, you must decide which neighborhood... ,

Group 1 (PROCESS)

r-First,

1.

SEND OUT the recommendations.

(command form of the verb)

Second,
(Next,)
(Then,)

)
)

Third,
(Next,)
(Then,)

Last,
jFinally,l

)
)

Listing
Signals

6. . .. you should check under....

7. Otherwise, check under....

2.
YOU MUST SEND OUT the
recommendations.
(should, must, can + verb)

(From "Nobel Prize Winners," p. 63)

3.

8.

. .. the Swedish Academy of Sciences .. .

and the Caroline Medical Institute .. .
solicit nearly two thousand requests for
recommendations....

9.

The committee members are specifically

instructed that. ...

The committee SENDS OUT the

recommendations.
(simple present form)

4.
The recommendations ARE SENT OUT BY
THE COMMITIEE.
(passive form)

Common Sentence Structures

for Process Paragraphs

10. . .. the final choices are made....

Group 2 listing signals from the previOUS chapter (p. 43) can also be used
to develop process paragraphs:

o.

)
J
)

66

67

,
I

.)

Group 2 (PROCESS)

The first

The second
(The next)

The third
(The next)

The last
(The final)

Listing
Signals

)
)

[~~~EJ

pr

is _______________.

CHANGING A FLATTIRE

Process

NOW ASK YOURSELF

)
)

1. "Finding a Suitable Apartment" (p.

L",I~_.~~~_~~ ___.~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.~

TIME CLUES, REPETITION,

AND PR0NOUN REFERENCE

2.

"Changing a Flat Tire" (p.

In addition to sequence signals, there are other indicators which a writer can
use to develop a process paragraph. They are

)
)

FINDING A SUITABLE
APARTMENT

Enumerators

Examine the three paragraphs ("Finding a Suitable Apartment," "Changing a

Flat Tire," and "Nobel Prize Winners") once again, this time looking for
Group 2 listing ~gnals + enumerators. Do you find any?

,
i

3. "Nobel Prize Winners" (p.

Q.1.I_~~~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

1.

Time clU8$, which include choice of verb and tense

2.

Repetition, which provides links between your sentences, thus

helping the reader following your train of thought

3. Pronoun refenmce, which provides still another kind of link
between your sentences

EXERCISE 43
.
Analyzing Process Paragraphs (List Form)

TIME CLUES

)
)

Directiol1$: Construct simple lists for "Finding a Suitable Apartment" (p. 13)
and "Changing a Flat Tire" (p. 18). Be sure to number each item to show its
order in the process.

Now study the follOwing model paragraph. It is given here to illustrate

time clues. It will be given again, several pages later. to illustrate repetition
and pronoun reference.

68
)

69

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

explain the time relationship between events just as clearly as sequence

signals do:

MODEL PARAGRAPH

/Time Clues)

r----_
r--__

Even if '1'01.1 don't k now how to cook, you'll never

starve to death if you know how to prepare scrambled eggs.
You begin by melting one tablespoon of butter in a frving
pan over low heat. While the butter is melting, break three
eggs into a bowl. Add % teaspoon of salt. % teaspoon of
paprika, and three tablespoons of milk to the eggs in the
bowl and mix them for about a minute. Pour the mixture
into the frying pan. As the eggs begin to thicken in the pan, ~---1
break them into shreds with a fork, or stir them with a
spoon until they become solid. When they are cooke!!, ~-_ _ _-I
serve them with lightly buttered toast.

Ti me Clauses
Indicate either
simultaneous or
sequential actions

Verb Choice
Indicates
firr,J step

VERBS

II

Intermediate_

Final

When they are cooked

The most common time words used to introduce time clauses are before,
after, when, while, as, and until Study the follOwing box;

,-----------------CLAUSESOFTIM~~--------------_,

r---

Verb Choice. In the model paragraph, the choice of the verb begin
indicates the first step or stage. Another appropriate verb choice would be
start. There are other verbs which can be used to indicate the various parts of
a process. Some of them are shown below:

STEP (STAGE)

'While the butter is melting

As the eggs begin to thicken in the pan

SIMULTANEOUS ACTIONS
(while, as)

Time Phrase

First

71

BEGIN
START
CONTINUE
BECOME
REMAIN
DEVELOP

[~~ILE]

the butter is melting, break three eggs into a bowl.

SEQUENTIAL ACTIONS
(when, before, after, until)

thicken}
.h
WHEN]
[ AFTER the eggs { h ave t h'IC k ene d ' serve them Wit toast. :
(first action)
(second action)
The eggs must thicken
(first action)
Do not serve the eggs
(second action)

[BEFORE]

[UNTIL]

you serve them.

(second action)
they {thicken.
}
have thickened.
(first action)

END
FINISH
CULMINATE

Time Clauses. Time clauses and phrases also help in shOwing the con'nuity of development in a process. In the model paragraph, the time clauses

Participial Phrases Sometimes time clauses may be reduced to parti-

cipial phrases. Study the follOwing box; note that the structure of the clauses
is not the same as the structure of the (participial) time phrases:

...,
)
)

r - - - - - - - - PARTICIPIAL PHRASES-------.,

SIMULTANEOUS ACTIONS
(while)
Clause: While you are melting the butter, break three eggs
into a bowl.

)
)
)

t
;

NOW ASK YOURSELF

Can the above two sentences be rewritten USing a period in place of the
semicolon? H so, rewrite them:
.
.

-Phrase: While melting the butter, ..

)

)
)

-Phrase: /Havin g beaten the eggs, ....

After having beaten the eggs, ....

)
)

Directions: Below you will find two process paragraphs from Unit One. Try to
find the following items in each of the paragraphs, labeling each item clearly:

Clause: You must beat the eggs before you pour them into
,
the pan.

-Phrase:

I\

.. before pouring them into the pan.'

)
)
)

)
)
)

r---~--

SENTENCE CONNECTORS OF TlME----.-.,

A. Melt the butter in the pan;

during this periOd]

at the same time
, beat the eggs.
meanwhile

afterwards
after that
B. Beat the eggs well; then
[ following that
at that point

, pour them into the pan.

1.

Verb choice which indicates process

2.

Time clause

3.

Participial phrase of time

4.

Sentence connector of time

In order to find a suitable apartment, you must follow a very systematic approach. First, you must decide which neighborhood would be
mos~ convenient for you. Then you must determine how much rent your
budget will allow. Utility bills for apartments average between fifty and
seventy dollars per month. Your next step is to check the classified ads
in the newspapers. Be sure to check these ads regularly, since new
listings appear each day. After you have telephoned the apartments
which seem likely choices, you must begin your long journey t() inspect
each one of them.

Sentence Connectors of Time Sometimes, instead of making one of the

sentences into a time clause, we can join the two sentences by a sentence
connector of time. This can be either a word or a phrase. Study the following
box. Notice the use of the semicolon. A semicolon is used to punctuate the
two sentences which are being joined by the sentence connectors in each of
the examples. That is, the semicolon combines two grammaticaDy distinct
sentences into one. This is done because of the strong m60mtlg link between
them. expressed by the sentence connectors. The semicolon is commonly
used to punctuate sentences when sentence connectors are used:

EXERCISE 4-4
.
Identifying Time Oues

Changing a flat tire is really not a very complicated process. When

you have removed the hubcap from the wheel which has the flat, the
jack should be correctly placed so as to be able to lift the car off the
ground. Jack up the car high enough for the tire to clear the ground; at
that pOint, carefully loosen the nuts that hold the tire and rim in place by
using your lug wrench. Proceed by removing the flat tire and plLl!.ting the
spare tire in its place. Now you are ready to put the nuts bad on the
wheel and tighten them well with the lug wrench. All that remtains is to
replace the hubcap.
.

f
\

)
72

73

)
)

)
)

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

.)

EXERCISE 4-5

)
)

)
)
)

(PARTICIPIAL PHRASE)

Paraphrasing Sentences Using lime Ques

)
)
)

--==.:.::12-__________

4. The committee members review the recommendations; they are instructed that no consideration be given to the candidates' nationalities.

Dire~tions: The following sentenc.es are based on the model paragraph

dealmg WIth the Nobel Prize. Rewnte each of the sentences in two different
ways, using the words or phrases indicated. Refer to the charts as often as
necessary. Pay attention to punctuation. In the case of participial phrases,
make sure that the subject of the sentence is the same as the implied subject
of the participial phrase.
1.

75

(as) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____

(at the same time)

The Swedish Academy of Science solicits recommendations in the fields

of physics and chemistry; the Caroline Medical Institute solicits recommendations in the fields of physiology and medicine.
(while) While the Swedish Academy of Science solicits recommendations in the fields of physics and chemistry, the Caroline Medical
Insti~te solicits recommendations in the fields of physiolo~
and medicine.

5. The committee members review the recommendations; preliminary

choices are made.
(PARTICIPIAL PHRASE) _H_a_Vl_n-"<g_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

(at the same time) The Swedish Academy of Science

(before) ______________________

)
)

6, The committees conduct lengthy investigations and have long discussions; the final choices are made.

2.

Requests are sent out; recommendations are received from past laureates, university professors, and experts allover the world.
(after) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
)
)

---

--

(when} _______________________________

)
74

..

7. The final choices are made; telegrams are sent to the new Nobel
laureates.
(PARTICIPIAL PHRASE) _Af=-t:..;;.e::....rm=ak=in::::<g"--_ _ _ _ _ _ __

(until) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .____._

3. The committees receive aU recommendations they begin reviewing

them.
'

--=':==-==~2--_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(after that) ______. _ _ _. . . ____

(PARTICIPIAL PHRASE)

(then) _________________________

76

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

(until)

.)

77

In order to find a suitable apartment, you must follow a very systematic approach. First, you must decide which neighborhood would be
most convenient for you. Then you must determine how much rent your
budget will allow. Utility bills for apartments average between fifty and
seventy dollars per month. Your next step is to check the classified ads
in the newspapers. Be sure to check these ads regularly, since new
listings appear each day. After you have telephoned the apartments
which seem likely choices, you must begin your long journey to inspect
each one of them.

(VERB CHOICE-final step) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

) REPETITION AND PRONOUN REFERENCE

)

Changing a flat tire is really not a very complicated process. When

you have removed the hubcap from the wheel which has the flat, the
jack should be correctly placed so as to be able to lift the car off the
ground. Jack up the car high enough for the tire to clear the ground; at
that point, carefully loosen the nuts that hold the tire and rim in place by
using your lug wrench. Proceed by removing the flat tire and putting the
spare tire in its place. Now you are ready to put the nuts back on the
wheel and tighten them well with the lug wrench. All that remains is to
replace the hubcap.

MODEL PARAGRAPH
}

)
)

~;";;';';!!:J~;Jii~~~~~~~~~~

The telephone, like the computer, acts on information presented to it

and produces a result. The input is the actual dialing of the number. The
switching system which locates the number can be considered the processing phase. Finally, the telephone rings on the other end of the line,
iradicating that the call has been completed; this constitutes the output.

in to thicken in the pan,

)
)
)
)

Notice that words are often repeated to add continuity to a paragraph. They
are repeated either in their original form or in pronoun fonn. In the model
paragraph above, take note of the following:

EXERCISE 4-7
Unscrambling a Process Paragraph

The words eggs, bow~ and mix (as well as its word form mmure)
The different pronouns which mean "eggs"

Directions: The sentences below constitute a paragraph on the scientific

method. However, the sentences have heen given a disordered sequencethat is, they have heen scrambled. You should place thern in their correct
order and, if your teacher wishes, copy the reconstructed paragraph. When
you have finished, answer the questions which follow.

All of the~e things, in addition to sequence signals, add a sense of continuity

and coheSiveness to a paragraph's development, and they are particularly
important in a process paragraph. Pay particular attention to this sort of clue
when you write.

Following this. method, the researcher first observes some

aspects of nature and then poses a specific question about what
he has observed.
b. Experiments based on this hypothesis are designed and oonducted to test each contingency.
c. In order to answer this question, pertinent data are cl'OlIecred
d. After thorough experimentation, the researcher walidaes,
modifies, or rejects his original hypothesis.
a.

}
)

EXERCISE 4-6
Identifying Pronoun and Repetition ~ue5

Directions: What repeated words and pronoun forms do you find in the
follOwing paragraphs? Circle them, draw lines to connect them, and label
them clearly in the margins.

)
)

1
t 78

e.

t
t
,t
;, t

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

Originating from the branch of philosophy called epistemology.

what we now know as the scientific method provides guidelines for the systematic acquisition ofknowledge.
On the basis of these data, a hypothesis is proposed to explain

them.
Questions
1. Which words are repeated in the paragraph? _. __._

2. Are process enwnerators used (steps, stages, etc.)? ----....-.- -. _-.

t:
J;'

3. Are any listing signaTa used (First, Second, Next, Then, {'(c.F

it
t
t

79

4.

Are there any time clauses (when, while, after, before, until)'-

'!

i~

-----_

. ., _ . _ . - - _ '

t.

5. Are there any participial time phrases (-ing fonn)?

,.

6. Are there any sentence connectors of time (after thal

it

7. What does each of the five pronouns in the passage refer tv:

Itt
t

meanwhile)? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

~t
;t

f,

I.

{
;

this method:

--_ _-_.. _ - - - - - ..

:,
~

this question: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
these data; _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
them: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

"

.~

aften\'ards,

this hypothesis: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
~.--.--.---------------~-

Go back to the rewritten paragraph and draw arrows from .(2ch of these
pronouns to the word or phrase it represents.

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

81

tEXERCISE 4-8
Unscrambling a Process Paragraph

)
)

Directions: Unscramble the following sentences and, if your teacher wishes,

copy them in their correct order in the spaces given. Theil answer the
questions which follow.

He has usually learned the language and is thus able to laugh at

himself.

b.

Having passed through these stages of culture shock, he may

even eventually return home with regret at having lost his
"adopted home."

c.

The process of reacting and adjusting to a new society, sometimes termed culture shock, has four distinct stages.
A hostile attitude is typical of the second stage, which develops at that point when the individual has to seriously cope
with the day-to-day problems of housing, shopping, transportation, etc.

)
}

)
)

e.
)

f.

J
)

-----

)
)

)
)

--

~-

..

--

~-

- - - - - - ---

-._.

__ __ _--..

..

Final adjustment to a new culture occurs when the visitor is

able to.function without anldety and to accept what he finds for
what it is-another way of doing things.
During this initial encounter, every aspect of the new society
seems fascinating and new.

g. The first period, or "honeymoon stage," may last as long as

several months.
h. The visitor develops a sense of humor about his problems as he
enters the third stage.
L The visitor usually begins his stay in a hotel and meets sympathetic and gracious nationals.
j. He soon finds that most people in the new society are indifferent to these problems, so he seeks out his fellow countrymen to support him in his criticism of the host country.

~~

------.----

----------

..

..

_----

)
)

)
)

- -._ - _..

__

.. ----~-------.-~-------

)
)

-.

80

J
)
'mr:ft&3%A;S~fM'lQa.&L

)
PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

R;2

.)
)

)
+ - - Ba,ket
Coflee

indicator

lines

Questions
)

1.

Are words repeated in the passage?

~~. . _~...

indicator
lines

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

2. Are process enumerators used (step, stage, etc.)?

3. Are any listing signals used (first, second, third, etc.)? _ _ _ _ __

4. Are there any time clatl8es (when, while, before, after, as, until)?
J
)

5. Are there any participial phrases aftime (-ing fonn)? _ _ _ _ __

)
)

6. Are there any sentence connectors of time (after that, afterwards, meanwhile)? ______~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
)

7. Circle all pronouns which refer back to something previously mentioned

in the passage. Draw an arrow back to the thing mentioned. (This is a
good way to check the accuracy of your unscrambling.)

}
)
)

EXERCISE 4-9
)

Paragraph Writing:
Process Information Transfer

}
)

Directions: After studying the following series of drawings, write a process

paragraph based on them. Use the topic sentence which has been provided
Then construct a simple list which shows the steps in the process.

)
)

83
)

)
:.l

84

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

PROCESS AND CHRONOlOGY

85

Making a pot of coffee is quite a simple matter if you have an electric

percolator. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
)

)
)

)
)
)
)

-----------

-~--~~-~-~-~-~-~~-~---~------

~--~-~-~---

)
-----~~--------

EXERCISE 4-10

Paragraph Writing: Process

DireG,tiona: Explain, in a step-by-step fashion, the procedures that one must

go through in applying to a school in the United States or in your O\\'TI
country.

)
)

------~--------

)
)

!aragraph Structure (Simple List Fonn)

)
)

)
)

?
,

PROCESS AND CHRONOlOGY

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

87

1907, as a part of the Aeronautical Division of the U,S. Signal Corps, and
it was more than one year later that this small division carried out its first
mission in its own airplane. When the United States entered World
War I in 1917, the Aviation Service, as it was then called, had only thirtyfive pilots. On December 7, 1941, the renamed Army Air Forces had
only three thousand of their ten thousand planes ready for combat.
Finally, in 1947, the U. S. Air Force was established as a separate branch
of the military.

)
)

ANALYSIS ("TIME LINE")

)
)

Topic Sentence: Although the U.S. Air Force was not officially created until after the Second World War, il had existed under other names since the beginning of the century.

-----------------------

----1907: Aeronatical Division

....--1917: Aviation Service

)
)

....--1941: Army Air Forces

Air Force

)
)

LJH RONOLOGICAL ORDER

)

NOW ASK YOURSELf

1.

When the order in which things happen, or a time sequence, is used to develop a paragraph, this is called chronological order. Like process, this is a
special form of enumeration, since it is really a list of events,

Why do we classify chronological order as enumeratiol1~

2. What are the key words in the topic sentence of the model paragraph?

) Model Paragraph

Although the U. S. Air Force was not officially created until after the
Second World War, it had existed under other names since the beginning of the century. The Army Air Forces were started on August 1,

3. What four main examples are given?

~_______ ._~ _____ ~ ___ .____ _

----------------------------------- ----

...
)
PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

~8

4. What statistics have been used?

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES OF TIME

IN 1956
I N January, february, etc.
IN the afternoon, the morning, the evening
AT 9:00
AT noon, midnight, night
ON Monday, Tuesday, etc.
ON July6
ON July 6,1955

5. Do you notice any enumerators and listing signals? _ _ _ _ _ __

)

6.

Any time clauses? (Underline them in the paragraph.)

Make a simple list which demonstrates the structure of the model paragraph. Be sure to give your list a title.

~ISTING SIGNALS
)

NOW ASK YOURSELf

Enumerators are rarely used in chronological order. We might occasionally write "the next thing" or "the next event," but the reader does not usually
need this kind of signal to understand what is being talked about.
However, we do often use Group 1 Process Listing Signals. Refer back to
page 66 at this point to refresh your memory.

)
)

,
)

NOW ASK

Which prepositions of time are used with the follOWing:

1.

2. Months of the year? _ _ _ _ _ _ __

YOURS~Lf

3. An exact date?

Comparing the forms of the verbs in the box on page 66 with the forms of
the verbs in the model paragraph which you have just read, what is one way
in which process differs from narrative chronological order?

Days of the week? _ _ _ _ _ _ __

4.

Parts of the day? (two prepositions) _____________ _

5., A specific year? ____________

6. A particular hour of the day? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ._._.__

)
)

I EXERCI\sE 4-11

Controlled Writing: Tense Shift

)
)

Directions: Rewrite the model process paragraph on page 63 ("Nobel Prize

Winners"). This time, assume that the entire process occurred several
months ago. In other words, describe it as though you were describing a real
past event. The topic sentence has been given to you.

Earlier this year, preparations were made once again to pick the new

'. AiE CLUES

)

Nobel laureates. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Time clues of all kinds are, of course, very often used in chronology. Once
again, however, as with listing signals, the forms of the verbs are not generally
present forms, as they were in process, but rather past forms. In addition,
prepositional phrases of time often appear:

89

;aeeta

22;

....,
PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

EXERCISE 4-12
Unscra~bling a

Chronological Paragraph

Directi0n8: Place the scrambled sentences below in their correct order; use
the time line as your work space. Then, if your teacher wishes, copy the
reconstructed paragraph on the lines which have been provided.

a. First, I had to go to the post office.

b. Half of the letters were addressed to American business

concerns.
j

c.

I got up at 6:30 A.M.

d.

When I left the train station, I took my boss's car to the garage
for repairs.

e.

When I arrived at the office, my boss had several things for me

to do.
I left the house at 7:45.

---------------------

)
)

)
\.

g. The other half were addressed to foreign companies.

h. After typing the letters, I had to run several errands.
i. Yesterday morning was quite hectic for me.
j. Then I had to pick up a train ticket for my boss's wife.

k. He asked me to type twenty letters for him.

1

By 1:00 P.M., I was exhausted, so I decided to have a long,

leisurely lunch.

)
)

ANALYSIS (Time tine)

}
)

Topic Sentence:

)
)

(6;00A.M.) ...

--------

------------------

(7:00 A.M.) ... .

(8:00 AM.) ... .

(9:00 AM) ...

(10:00 AM,) .. ,.
(11 :00 AM.) ...

(12:00 P.M.)
(1:00 P.M.) ,

)
)

;0

91

'2

tROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

93

----~.~.~-.~.-~---------------~

*EXERCISE 4-13
Unscrambling a Chronological Paragraph

Directions: The sentences below constitute a paragraph about Abraham

Lincoln (February 12, 1809-Apri114, 1865), the sixteenth president of the

United States. Unscramble them by placing them in their correct order; use
the time line as your work space. Then, if your teacher wishes, copy the
reconstructed paragraph on th~ lines which have been provided.

)
)
)

a.

After having served only this one term in the U.S. Congress, he
was defeated for reelection and returned to practice law in
Springfield.
b. It was there that, having first tried his hand at a variety of
occupations (storekeeper, postmaster, surveyor), he first became interested in politics.

c.

)
)

He won the eleetion. thus becoming the sixteenth president of

the United States.
d. However, he was successful in his subsequent attempts, and
served four two-year terms in the state legislature, from 1834 to
1842.
e. Shortly after passing the bar exam, he moved to Springfield,
Illinois, to set up his own legal practice.

I
)

f.
g.

Lincoln's early political career did not foreshadow the success

he was to have as president
Indeed, he had almost entirely lost any hope of holding political office when, in 1854, the slavery question once again
forced him into the political arena.

h.

He was not successful the first time he ran for office in 183l.

i.

During this same period he added the study oflaw to hi.s legis.
latlve duties, finally being admitted to the Illinois bar in 1836.

In 1846, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives for two years.
k. Although be was defeated twice for election to the U. S. Congress, be finally managed, in 1860, to be nominated by the
Republican Party as its candidate for president

j.

In his early twenties he moved to Illinois.

...,
PROCESS AND CHRONOLOGY

95

__--1809: Lincoln's birth

)
)

----------------------~------

)
)

------~------------------

)
------------------------~---

)
)

1---1865: Lincoln's death

--------------------------------

)
)
--------------------------~------

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------

--------------------f

94

----

PROCESS AND CH RONOlOGY

EXERCISE 4-14
Paragraph Writing:

97

Chronological Information Transfer

Directi0n8: Below is a time line indicating some of the events in the life of
John F. Kennedy. Using the topic sentence provided and the information on
the time line, write a paragraph in which you use chronological development.
(1940)- - .......1940: Graduated cum laude from Harvard; published Why Eng/and Slept

)
)

- - - - - - - - - - - - _....)

_1944: Awarded Navy and U.S. Marine Corps

medal for heroism in combat

-1946: Elected to Congress from Massachusetts by

an overwhelming majority

)
)

- _...._ - - -

- - _ ....

_ - _...._ - - -

'-

(1950)- -

1947-52: Served three terms as a mem ber of

Congress; won second and third elections by an even greater majority than
the first

-1952: Defeated incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge

for a seat in the U.s. Senate
)
)

-1956: Reelected to the Senate by the largest

majority in Massachusetts history

l.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ . _ - _ __ ....

---

(1960))
)

.......1960: Narrowly defeated Richard Nixon to become the first Roman Catholic president of
the United States

---_ _------------

)
)
)

)
)

)
)

!~nnedy' s e_aJ'ly career foreshadowed the success he was toh.?.!~~

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --_. - - - - - - -

PROCESSANDCHRONOLOGY

EXERCISE 4-15
Paragraph Writing: Chronology

Directions: In a rather lengthy paragraph. give the chronology of the most

interesting person in your family. You will not be able to include all of the
details of this person's life, but you should try to list the events which make
him (her) interesting.
An empty time line has been provided so that you can organize and note
down the events you want to include. Spend some time doing this before you
begin to write.

Topic Sentence: _ _ _ _ _'_~~~_____________

-----------------~--

)
.. ..-

--------------~ ~

)
)
)

)
)

,I

98

99

100

PROCSSAND CHRONOLOGY

)
)

SUPPORTING TOPIC
SENTENCES

I
)

)
)
)

)
)

)
----~~--------~----

... ~- ..-

---

-..- -...

)
)
)

OPTIONAL WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

(Chronology and Process)

Chronology
)

1. Describe your first trip to the United States.

2. Write a chronology of your first few years at school.
3. Describe significant changes in your country's economy or culture within
the last few years.

In Unit Three, you learned how to divide a topic into its various types,
characteristics, elements, parts, etc. Now we will concentrate on a type of
paragraph development which is frequently very similar to enumeration:
cause and effect. In other words, when you use a cause-effect method of
development, this will often mean that you are supporting your topic
sentence by listing or enumerating.
What you should remember, however, is that in a cause-effect development, there is always a causal relationship between the topic sentence and
the supporting sentences, or even between major supporting sentences and
minor ones. This means that your supporting sentences become a list of
either effects (what a certain situation has lead to or has resulted in), or causes
(reasons or explanations why something is the way it is, or why it happened
the way it did):
FOCUS ON CAUSE

Process
Cause #1

1. Tell how to make your favorite dish.

2. Explain how to obtain a driver's license in the state where you are now
living.
3. Describe the stages in forming a friendship.
4. Describe the steps involved in getting married in your country.

-----,t

Cause #2 -SITUATION

--oJt

Cause #3 _ _ _

FOCUS ON EFFECT

iEffeCl;tl

SITUATION -

Effea#2

LEffea#3

101

...,
102

...

CAUSE AND EFFECT

We will look at each of these methods in the model paragraphs which follow.
As you study each of them, look for: 1) supportive material such as examples,
details, anecdotes. facts and statistics; 2) listing signals (enumeration); 3) ascending vs. descending order.

"~I

NOW ASK YOURSELF

_~ __ ~ ___._ _~__

1.

Have any enumerative listing signals been used?

2.

Is the paragraph in ascending, descending, or equal order? How can

,.
you tell? _ _~ ___~ _ _ _~

3.

What kinds of supportive material can you nnd (examples. details. etc.)?

CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT:
FOCUS ON EFFECT

)~~---------------------------------------

EXERCISE 5-1
Analyzing a Cause-Effect Paragraph
(Focus on Effect)

Model Paragraph
)

)
)

)
}

Many people are worried about what television has done to the
generation of American children who have grown up watching it. For
one thing, recf!nt studies tend to show that TV stifles creative imagination. Some teachers feel that television has taken away the child's
ability to form mental pictures in his own mind, resulting in_ c/1i1dren who
cannot understand a simple story without visual illustrations. Secondly,
too much TV too early tends to cause children to withdraw from real-life
experiences. Thus, they grow up to be passive spectators who can only
respond to action, but not initiate it. The third area for concern is the
serious complaint frequently made by elementary school teachers that
children exhibit a low tolerance for the frustrations of learning. Because
they have been conditioned to see all problems resolved in 30 or 60
minutes on TV, they are quickly discouraged by any activity that
promises less than instant gratification. But perhaps the most serious
result is the impact of television violence on children, who have come to
regard it as an everyday thing. Not only does this increase their tolerance of violent behavior in others, but most authorities now concede
that under certain conditions, some children will imitate anti-social acts
that they witness on television. l

Directions: Fill in the chart below, which is based on the preceding model
paragraph.

Topic Sentence: Many people are worried about what television

has done to the generation of American children who have grown
up watching it.
EFFECTS

Children cannot understand

to form mental pictures

a simple story without visual

I illustrations.

PASSIVITY:

;;-w

Children withdraw from

real life at an early age.

TELEVISION

/----,

-.-~.

They grow up to be
spectators W h 0 ro""spDnd

t
rat! 1r t 'an

IMPATIENCE:

Notice that the topiC sentence introduces the idea of cause (i.e., television)
and effect (i.e., what lV has done to children). The supporting sentences list
or enumerate, and explain, the various bad effects oflV.
VIOLENCE:

ICondensed from New3Week, February 21. 1977. Copyright 1977 by Newsweek, Inc. All
rights reserved. Reprinted by pennission.

103

III

CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT:
STRUCTURAL SIGNALS

GROUP2

"

In addition to listing signals (First ... , Second ... , FinaUy, ... ; the first
cause-effect ... , the second cause-effect ... , the final cause-effect ...), certain other basic structures are commonly u,sed in writing cause-effect paragraphs. There are two principle types;

Children

are SO interested in televisionTHAT

watch SO much television
THAT
watch SO many TV programs THAT
watch SUCH a lot of televisionTHAT
are SUCH avid TV watchers THAT

they lose
creativity.

1 SENTENCE CONNECfORS (i.e., words and phrases used to

join two complete grammatical sentences, each with a subject and
verb)

GROUPl

Children wa\ch too

much television;
(cause;

ASA RESULT,
CONSEQUENTlY,
THEREFORE,
BECAUSE OFTHIS,
HENCE,

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. Which sentence expresses the cause? The effect? (Fill in the parentheses.)
2. How is the punctuation of Group 2 sentence connectors different from

they lose creativity.

(effect)

that of Group I connectors?

'-

,....

____ .. ~__.______ _

When is so ... that used? When is such ... that? Can you formulate a
rule?

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. Which sentence is this kind of connector attached to-the one expressing cause or the one expressing effect?

----------------------.-------2. Would it be possible to place the effect sentence first? _ _ _ _ __

GROUP3

(If so, do it:) _ _ _ _~_~_~____._

3. What are the names for the punctuation marks which have been used?

(;)

--------

Children lose
creative ability
(
)

they watch so much TV.

(
)

(,)

4. Can the above sentence be rewritten without using a

Using one of the connectors, try it: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1.

2.
104

SINCE
]
BECAUSE
BECAUSE OFTHE FACT THAT

Which sentence expresses the cause? The effect? (Fill in the parentheses.)
Would it be possible to change the order of the sentences? If so, do it
105

) 106

CAUSE AN D EFFECT

GROUPS

(pay attention to punctuation): __ ~_ _ __

loss of creativity
(
)

General Review of Sentence Connectors

RESULTS FROM
FOLLOWS FROM
IS DUE TO
IS A RESULT OF
ISA CONSEQUENCE OF

watching too much television.

too much television.
(
)

A. Which group of connectors place cause only before effect? _ __

B. Which groups place cause only after effect? .~

C. Which groups place cause before or after effect? ~_,__..~_ _ _ ._~

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1.
II.

Which part of the sentence expresses the cause? _ _ _ _ _ _ __

2. Which part expresses the effect?

PREDICATE STRUCTURES (te., words and phrases which

constitute the predicate of a mgle grammatical sentence; the
choice of the verb indicates the cause-effect relationship)

3. Can this order be reversed? If so, do it:

---------~

GROUP4
J

. Watching too much

television
I' Too much television
)

IS THE REASON FOR

IS RESPONSI BLE FOR
LEADS TO
CONTRIBUTES TO
RESULTS IN
CAUSES

_~ _ _ _ _ _ __

..

- -..

..

- - - - - - - -...- - . -..-

..

General Review of Verbal Structures

A. What seems to be the basic difference between Groups 4 and 5 and the
loss of creative ability.
(

previous three groups? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

B. What seems to be the basic difference between Group 4 and Group 5
{i.e., in the placement of cause and effect)? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

---------

.-~-~-.

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. Is the cause expressed in the subject of the sentence? _ _ _ _ _.

EXERCISE S-2
Paraphrasin Sentences of Cause-Effect

What about the object? ._ _. _ _. _ _ (Fill in the parentheses.)

Directions: The following sentences are based on the model paragraph

2. Can this order be reversed? If so, do it:
3. Remembering that the verb to cause commonly takes another sentence
structure in English, rewrite the sentence in the Group 4 chart in the
follOwing way: "Too much television causes children _ _ _ _ _ _ _

- - - - - - ------------

("Harmful Effects of Television").

1. Rewrite each of the sentences in two different ways, using the
~ords and phrases which have been indicated. (Refe!' baclc to
the five charts as often as necessary if you need help.)
2. Pay particular attention to punctuation.
3. Indicate the cause and the effect in parentheses () beneath
each sentence, as in the example.

107

108

CAUSE AND EFFECT

CAUSE AND EffECT

1. Loss of creative ability results from watching too much television.

5. Because of watching too much tele~ion\ children expect every problem

to be resolved in 30 or 60 minutes.

(therefore) Children watch too much television; therefore, they lose

(cause)
(effect)
creative ability.

(result from) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

(so/such ... that) Children watch so much televisio~ that !hey Jose
(cause)
(effect)
~~ive ability.
2.
)

109

(because)

Too much TV causes children to withdraw from real-life experiences.

(is a consequence of) _~________________________

6.

~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Children cannot understand stories without visual illustrations because

they cannot fonn pictures in their minds.
(consequently)

(because of the fact that) ______________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

-----------------

-~

----

(is due to) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

3.

)
)

Children develop a low tolerance for the frustrations of learning; hence,

they are discouraged by any activity that does not give them instant
gratification.

(Hint: Children's inability ... their inability....)

(so/such ... that) _____________._~____________ _

EXERCISE 5-3
, Paragraph Writing:
Cause-Effect Infonnation Transfer

)
)

Directions: After studying the chart, deveIop a paragrap h . Use the topic

(cause [someone] to) __________________.___________ _

sentence which has been provided.

)
)

VITAMIN

4.
)

Another result of television violence is that children have come to regard

it as an everyday thing.

FUNCT/ON(S)

RESUL T(S) OF
DEFICIENCY

Normal vision; helps skin and mucous

membranes resist infection

Night blindness;
skin disease; degeneration
of mucous membranes

B,

Normal appetite and digestion; contributes to healthy nervous system

Beriberi; nervous
disorders

82

Good skin and vision; helps cells use

oxygen

Impaired growth

(because of this) ___________________________

)
)

)
)

(so/such. " that) ______________________

CAUSE AND EffECT

111

VITAMIN

RESULT(S) Of
DEFICIENCY

fUNCTfON(S)

B6 and B12

Normal hemoglobin; carries oxygen to

tissues

Pernicious anemia;
poor metabolism

Holds body cells together; aids in

resisting infection

Scurvy

Healthy bones and teeth; aids calcium

absorption

Rickets

Blood clotting

Hemorrhaging

~----~

--

~-------------.----.--.--

-----------------.~.~--.--- ,

---------------------~-.----~-.--

.Lack of essential vitamins, which are nec~~<il'Y f()J' heal~and nonnal

!>odY fun~on,~n result in serious illness.

EXERCISE 5-4

Paragraph Writing:
Cause-Effect (Focus on Effect)
-------~-------

Directions: Using cause-effect development, write a paragraph in which you

describe the effects-negative or positive-that a teacher has had on your
personality, your feelings about school or your approach to life in general.
Be specific:

)
)

1. Mention at least three real effects;

2. Explain each one, using examples, details, or anecdotes.

-----.---~~-----

110

112

CAUSE AND EFFECT

CAUSE AND EFFECT

-"--'--"

113

Construct a simple list which shows the organization of your paragraph. Be

sure to include a title and at least three items on the list. Do not include such
supportive infonnation as examples, details, etc.:

--------------------

that

has had on

life:

2.
3.

..

__ __ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .

-_._--_.

- - - - - -.....
)

CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT:
FOCUS ON CAUSE

..

__ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..

-.~.---

Mo Paragraph

Why is it that American working women complain about job discrimination? Statistics suggest that there is a basis for their grievances.
According to recent figures compiled by the Women's Bureau of the
U.S. Department of Labor, nearly 40 percent of all women of working
age are in the labor force. Although the median education ,0( all women
is higher than that of their male counterparts, women are highly concentrated in underpaid and menial jobs: 7S percent of all clelical workers
are women; SS percent of all service workers are women; 21 percent of
all factory workers are women. Of the women with college degrees, 70
percent are working. Of this number, only 2 percent are executives,

-----------------

- . - - - . - - . - . -..-----~-----------

114

CAUSE AND EFFECT

while 40 percent are employed in clerical, sales, or factory positions.

Their median income is only 51 percent of that of men. Only twenty-five
states have laws requiring equal pay for equal work, and these laws are
often circumvented by giving a woman a lesser title. I n contrast, fortythree states have laws which limit the number of hours a woman can
work (usually eight) and thereby prevent women from earni~g overtime
pay and promotions. Finally, while the percentage of women 10 the labor
force increases, the income gap between male and female workers has
been widening at the rate of 1/2 percent per year for the past twenty
years.

)
)

)
)
)

)
)

EXERCISE 5-5
Analyzing a Cause-Effect Paragraph
(Focus on Cause)

Topic Sentence(s): Why is it that American working women complain about job discrimination? Statistics suggest that there is a
basis for their grievances.

NOW ASK YOURSELF

CAUSES

EFFECT

L Which sentence is the topic sentence-the first, the second, or both

taken together? _ _ __

Which intrp<iuces the idea of cause?

2.
3.

)
)

_ _ _ Of effect?

_____

Have any enumerative listing signals been used? _ _ __

Is the paragraph in equal, ascending, or descending order? How can you

Women in general have a higher median education

than men. bUI are employed in menial jobs
1--------,
(clerical. service, faclorv)

r Women with Oegrees:

tell? ______________________________

)
)

4.

What kinds of supportive material have been used (examples, details,

Sta~:

anecdotes, facts and statistics)? __________________

Lr-~ompia,:-

r---

of Job
Discrimination
by Wo,!,!,"

)
)

EXERCISE 5-6
Paragraph Writing:
Cause-Effect Information Transfer

)
)

Directions: After studying the diagram, develop a paragraph, using the topic
sentences which have been provided

115

)
)

CAUSE AND EFFECT

117

)
)

Topic Sentence(s): When there is a widespread and persistent rise

in price and each dollar buys fewer goods and services, inflation
exists. In one way or another, everyone is to blame for this difficult
problem.

CAUSES

)
PRODUCER:

)
Has shortage of raw
materials and increased
production costs

---~--

.. --.~~~~-

EFFECT
I

Sets higher prices to

maintain profit margin

.~----

..

__ __ __ __._---_ _--_
.

..

..

..

...- _ . -

)
CONSUMER:

Find, that hi' dollar

continues to ttuy less

)
)

Adopts a "buy now, pay:

later" philosophy, since
his dollars will be worth i-----l>1
less

INFLATION

-------------

GOVERNMENT:

)
Allows increased number
of dollars to circulate

Erodes the value of

the dollar

- - - - -..

~.--.--.--.--.-~.--

..

-------------

)
---.~------.----------

)
)
~------------------

116

)
)

---~.~---

_._.

__ _ ..

)
CAUSE AN 0 EFFECT

,)

119

EXERCISE 5-7
Paragraph Writing:
cause-Effect (Focus on cause)

Directions: Using a cause-effect development, explain why you decided to

study at this school Focus on the various factors which caused you to finally
make your decision. You may wish to reread the sample paragraph in Unit
One (page 10) before beginning this assignment.
)

)
)

J
)

J
---,.~-~~--

---

..

-.~--.-~-.---.

)
)

)
)

---.--)

)
)

118

)
)

120

.)

CAUSE AND EFFECT

Construct a simple list which will show the organization of your paragraph:

NOW ASK YOURSELF

What is the first cause in the chain?

2. What are the two final effects? (Notice that there are two chain reactions. both caused by tobacco as it reaches the bloodstream.)
1.

)
)

...

..

~~.----

3. What time words. sentence connectors, or listing signals are

US([J?

)
)

4.

What kinds of supportive material are used? _._.~~___~~~.. ' ..

EXERCISE 5-8
Analyzing a Chain-Reaction Paragraph
/

CAUSE-EFFECT DEVELOPMENT:

CHAIN REACTION
Frequently, in developing a causal relationship you will find that the effect of
one situation becomes the cause of the next You have already seen two
examples of this-the paragraphs dealing with the effects of television
(p.102) and with the causes of inflation (p. 116). When this relationship
exists. we have what is called a chain reaction. In other words. the first event
leads to or influences the second, the second leads to or influences the third,
and so on.

)
)

Topic Sentence: For some time now, medical scientists have noted
an alarming increase in diseases of the heart and circulation among
those people who smoke cigarettes.

PRIMARY
CAUSE

EFFECT "'1
(CAUSE #2)

EFFECT #2
(CAUSE #3)

EFFECT #3
(CAUSE #4)
I

EFFECT =4
(CAUSE =51

"

The blood

vessels
contract

Model Paragraph

)
)

For some time now, medical scientists have noted an alarming increase in diseases of the heart and circulation among people who
smoke cigarettes. It has been found that the presence of tobacco in the
bloodstream causes blood vessels to contract, thus slowing circulation,
which eventually leads to hardening of the arteries. As the arteries
stiffen, less blood reaches the brain, and the end result of this slowdown
is a cerebral hemorrhage, commonly referred to as a "stroke:' In addition, tobacco in the bloodstream reduces the ability of the hemoglobin
to release oxygen, resulting in shortness of breath. The lack of oxygen
forces the heart to beat faster-that is, the pulse rate increases-and in
turn accelerates the risk of heart attack.

FINAL
EFcECT

_ _ reacches _ _

6
'STROKE"

rT~:acco
Smoking _ _ reaches
Tobacco
the
blood stream

121

)
)

,~

CAUSE AND EFFECT

EXERCISE 5-9
UnsO'ambling a OIain-Readion Paragraph

)
)

123

For sol1l.e time now, medical scientists have noted an alanning increase
in diseases of the lungs and respiratory tract in people who smoke.

Directions: The following is a random list of causes and effects. Arrange them
in a chart of your own (space has" heen provided following the list). Then
write a paragraph based on the infonnation. Your topic sentence will be the

following: For some time

now, medical scientists have noted an alanntng

increase in diseases ofthe lungs and respiratory tract in people who smoke.
a Impurities can now collect in the windpipe, larynx, and lungs.
b. In addition to cancer, the lungs may lose their elasticity and
cease to function efficiently.
c. The smoke slows the action of the tiny hairlike projections
(cilia) which cleanse the air in the windpipe.
d. Precancerous and cancerous cells form in the various parts of
the respiratory tract.
e. Smoke is inhaled.
( With this loss of elasticity, emphysema may develop.
g. Moreover, since gas, tar, and smoke are no longer removed,
they are now allowed to pass through the respiratory tract.

,
./

---"---~~---.---.-------

(Hint: The organization of this particular paragraph will resemble that of the
previous model paragraph. There are two different chain reactions, each of
which finally leads to a difJerent disease.)

Topic Sentence: From some time now, medical scientists have

noted an alarming increase in diseases of the lungs and respiratory
tract in people who smoke.

---------------.--Smoke

IS

.-~-----.---

inhaled

--------------

--~------------

-------------.-)
.I

)
)

122

.-'~.

124

CAUSE AND EFFECT

.)
)
)

SUPPORTING TOPIC
SENTENCES
OPTIONAL WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
(Ciu se-Effect)

Directions: Develop appropriate paragraphs for any of the five topics below.
Reasons Why People Learn a Foreign Language
)

Effects of a New Culture Element on Your Society

Effects of Education on an Individual

;'

Whieh Do You Feel is Most Harmful-Alcohol, Tobacco, or Mari

juana? (Choose one and discuss why you feel that it is harmful)
What Effect Has Living and Studying in the United States Had
on You as a Person?

You may also support your topic sentences by arranging the supporting
sentences according to either the similorities or the differences between two
. things, or between two aspects of one thing.
COMPARISON: pointing out likenesses
)

CONTRAST: pointing out differences

In this chapter, we will examine several of the ways in which comparative
and contrastive paragraphs can be organized We will first take a look at
Comparison.

I COMPARISON

)
)

In the model paragraph which follows, notice that only similarities, or

parallels. between the life and death of Kennedy and Lincoln are mentioned.
There are obviously many differences between these two men, but the
purpose of the paragraph, as it is stated in the topic sentence, is to show the
likenesses or similarities between them. In a paragraph of comparison, the
differences are often mentioned only briefly or are even omitil entirely.
125

EXERCISE 6-1
Analyzing a Comparative Paragraph

Model Paragraph

IAre you aware of the striking similarities between two of the most
popular U. S. presidents, Abraham Uncoln and John F. Kennedy? 2A
minor point is that the names lincoln and Kennedy both have seven
letters. 3Both men had their elections legally challenged. 4lincoln and
Kennedy are both remembered for their sense of humor, as well as for
their interest in civil rights. 5lj ncoln became president in 1860; Kennedy,
in 1960. 'Uncoln's secretary was Mrs. Kennedy; Kennedy's secretary
was Mrs. lincoln. 'Neither man took the advice of his secretary not to
make a public appearance on the day on which he was assassinated.
Uncoln and Kennedy were both killed on a Friday in the presence of
their wives. 'Both assassins, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald,
have fifteen letters in their names, and both were murdered before they
could be brought to trial. IOJust as Lincoln was succeeded by a Southern
Democrat named Johnson, so was Kennedy. "Andrew Johnson (Lincoln's successor) was born in 1808; Lyndon Johnson (Kennedy's successor) was born in 1908. l2And finally, the same caisson carried the
bodies of both'men in their funeral processions.

)
)
)

)
)

)
)
)

Directions: Reread the model paragraph carefully. Then, in the chart below,
indicate the basis ofcomparison in each sentence (i.e., tell which Similarity is
being discussed), as well as the comparative fl)()f"(/s which have been used.

-----,

SENTENCE
2

i
3

BASIS Of COMPARISON

COMPARATIVE STRUCTURES

Number of letters in
their names

The names Kennedy and

Lincoln both have

Elections challenged

80th men

NOW ASK YOURSELf

1. Why are no differences mentioned in the paragraph? .~"._. _.~_ __

'.

2. What is the one key word in the topic sentence which controls the
7

development of the paragraph? ' ______.___ ~___.____.__.__ ,_~.~.__ _

3. What two words are repeated continually? __~____ _

4. Do you find any examples of pronoun reference? Underline all pronouns
and draw arrows to the words they represent
5. What kinds of supportive materials are used (examples, details, anec-

dotes, facts and statistics)?

_._~._..~. ~_. ____ ~.______ .~_.~~ _______

10

11
I

12
)
)

)
)

126

127

)
,

STRUCTURES OF COMPARISON

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1.

In addition to listing signals and the enumerator similo:rities, certain other

basic structures are commonly used in writing paragraphs of comparison.
There are six basic types.

jective? _ _ __

2. What is the difference between same and similar?

I. ADJECTIVE/PREPOSITION

Kennedy was killed on

----]
[

3.

exactly
almost

(degteeof

Which group-A, B, C, or D-a1lows for the possibility of an introductory

prepositional phrase? __ ,,~,~,,~.___,~,_",..

pra~ically
I

Which of the above structures-A, B, or C-does not contain an ad-

II. ATTACHED STATEMENTS

Iand I :inc:~n~:--sIt~oo.-~I-l
[ ~ was Lincoln.
I

similarity)
)

Kennedywas succeeded by a Southern Democrat,

----'------------------------------------------~

Kennedy's death was '

[~~eWh;]
rather
very
quite

,;m;l,

If";WI"";"

that they both

9ied in office.

PREP_

I
I

(basis1of

Mrs. Kennedy witnessed her husband's assassination,

comparison)

L-._ _ _

(deireeof
similarity)

)
)

Kennedy's death was

s~~;~~~~J

rather
very much
exactly

LincOln~id

like Lincoln's in that they both died in

--:
office.
I

I
I

(basis 'of
comparison)

'
r

Kennedy's secretary couldn't

Itoo.O

pr~vent her president's assassination,

like lincoln, Kennedy refused to heed his secretary's warning.

I I]

ran:a::J lincoln's couldn't either.

[ land neither! could Lincoln.

[ ~l

lincoln didn't le;therJl----1.

tand neIther I did Lincoln.

L.._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-=--__________ ,
Kennedy didn't finish his term of office,

Mrs.

L~
did Mrs. Lincoln.
_________________________
_______

Kennedy's assassin was not brought to trial.

similarity)

rrAWD

(deg~ee of

~ could lincoln.

Kennedy could arouse the sympathy of the public,

L-.---------------------[=-I-a-nd-l-Linc~=:_: Itoo.l]
A

(basis of comparison)

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1.

What kinds of statements are joined by and . .. too and 600 so? _ __
What happens t9 the second subject and verb when and so is used?

)
)

128

129
)

/
)

)
130

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

2. , What kinds of statements are joined by and . .. either and and neither?
IV. PREDICATE STRUCTURES

What happens to the second subject and verb when and neither is used?

)
)

3. What part of the verb is repeated in the second part of the sentence

Kennedy's popularity
A

if there is an auxiliary was? _____.~._____________

)

if the auxiliary is could?

~.

agUelJ

closely
greatly
etc.

TO RESEMBLE
TO HAVE (NOUN) IN COMMON
{ THERE ARE SIMILARITIES

resembled lincoln's.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Kennedy resembled lincoln in that they were both popular presidents.

if there is no auxiliary? _ _ _ _ _ __

III. CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

)
)

f!Bothl Kennedy ~lincoln J

L
Kennedy ~ lin~oln '[QQlliIJ

::eral

had their elections legally challenged.

etc.

[Neither! Kennedy's wife Inorl his chil,dren were expecting anything unusual to
L - __ J
happen that day.

!Neithed Kennedy's children Inorl his wife was expecting anything unusual to
~ _ _t
happen that day.

ertai]
many
several
[ two

!Just asl lincoln died in office, [iQI Kennedy was still president when he was
assass inated.

)
)

NOW ASK YOURSELf

2. In C, what does the structure so Kennedy was stiU president remind you

)
)

of from "Attached Statements"? _ _ _ _~. What joining element is

missing? _ _ _ Compare subject-verb word order. _ _ _ _ __

in common.

etc.

similarities between Kennedy and lincoln.

etc.

NOW ASK YOURSELf

1.

Which of the above structures-A, B, or C-seems most appropriate for

2.

shOWing a single similarity? __.__~

Which might make a better topic sentence for a paragraph which in-

1. In the example sentences for neither . .. nor, why are the verbs different

(was,were)? ____________________________________

ertaiJ

many

Kennedy and Uncoln have

things
features
aspects
characteristics
qualities
attitudes

eluded many areas of comparison? _____ . _. ~_._

3. In A., where is the basis of comparison indicated in each of the two
sentences? _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~
Which of the two seems to be more appropriate for giving detailed
information?
131

)
)

132

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

Why? (Can you think of a grammatical reason?)

EXERCISE 6-2
Paraphrasing Sentences of Comparison

v.

Andrew Johnson was born in 1808;

}
)

Directions: The following sentences are based on the model paragraph (the

SENTENCE CONNECTORS

imiiarIY'
correspondingly,
likewise,
in the same way,
by the same token,

similarities between Lincoln and Kennedy), Rewrite each of the sentences in

two different ways, using the words or phrases which have been indicated.
Refer to the charts as often as necessary if you need help. Pay attention to
Lyndon Johnson was
born in 1908.

punctuation.
1. A minor point is that the names Kennedy and Lincoln both have seven
letters.

NOW ASK YOURSELF

1. Can you rewrite this sentence, using one of the suggested connectors,
as two separate sentences?

2.

From the point of view of punctuation, do these connectors remind you

of any others that we have studied so far? Be precise: give examples and
page numbers.

2. John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald were murdered before they
could be brought to trial.
,

(Neither ... nor) ~ ____.__.__~.__._ _~._._.._._. ___._. __

-.-------_._---------

{like ... in that) _____________________~_.. ___._

VI. PUNCTUATION ONLY

A

Andrew Johnson was born in 1808... Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908.

3.

Neither man took the advice of his secretary on the day when he was

killed
8\
)

Andrew Johnson was born in 1808.1. Lyndon Johnson, in 1908.

(and neither/and ... either) _________. .~___.__._ _

NOW ASK YOURSELF

What missing element does the comma replace in Sentence B?

(similarly) .

)
)

133

134

COMPARISON AN D CONTRAST

.-

4. The same caisson carried the bodies of both men in their funeral
processions.

BASES OF COMPARISON

(similar to ... in that) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

COMPARATIVE STRUCTURES
"both _ _ and _ _"

Bone structure (skeleton)

)
)

(Hint: make funeral the subject)

Brain arrangement and shape

(resembled ... in that)

':,"'''IY th. :,m."

_ _ ,an so _ _
or: " ____ , and _ _ too"

light-colored skin

5. Lincoln became president in 1860, Kennedy in 1960.

(similar to ... in that)

a5 _ _ ,50 _ _ . "

Hair which grays with aging

~_~_.

(similarly) ._ _ _ _ _ _ __

Susceptibility to such illnesses as

tuberculosis and cancer

. likewise, ___ ."

I

6. Lincoln's secretary was Mrs. Kennedy, and Kennedy's secretary was Mrs.
Lincoln.

(just as ... so)

_~_._~_.

________________

( ; ) - - - -.. --.. ------~--~-~-------

)
)
)

EXERCISE 6-3
Comparative Information Transfer

Directions: After studying the chart, develop a paragraph, using the topic
sentence which has been provided. Use the structure indicated for each
point of comparison.
Topic Sentence: Although men and apes do not look alike at first
glance, they share a number of remarkably similar anatomical
features.

J
135

136

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

137

----- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

)
)

EXERCISE 6-4

Paragraph Writing: Comparison

Directions: Compare two people you know who are very similar.

)
)

I CONTRAST
Notice that in the following model paragraph, the author concentrates on
the differences between extreme extroversion and extreme introversion. He
has not denied, however, that most people are a combination of both of these;
on the contrary, the expression a scale suggests precisely such a combination.

Model Paragraph
IAccording to the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, every person's
personality can be placed somewhere on a scale running from extreme
extroversion (i.e., an outgoing personality) to extreme introversion (i.e.,
a withdrawn personality). lThe typical extrovert is particularly fond of
people and people-oriented activities: he is sociable, likes parties, has
many friends, needs to have people to talk to, and does not like reading

)
) 138
,

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

or studying by himself. 'The typical introvert, on the other hand, is a

quiet, retiring sort of person, introspective, fond of books rather than
people. Unlike the extrovert, who craves excitement, takes chances,
and is generally impulsive, the introvert shuns excitement, takes matters
of everyday life with proper seriousness, and likes a well-ordered mode
of life. sWhereas the extrovert tends to be aggressive and loses his
temper easily, the introvert tends to keep his feelings under close
control, seldom behaves in an aggressive manner, and does not lose his
temper easily. 'The introvert is more reliable and less optimistic than the
extrovert. 7The extrovert may often be subject to criminal or psychopathic behavior, in contrast to the introvert, who may exhibit neurotic
tendencies. SA further difference between the two involves the ability to
remember: studies have tended to show that the extrovert learns faster
than the introvert but, in the end, remembers less,l

)
)

EXERCISE 6-5

Analyzing a Paragraph of Contrast

Directions: Reread the sample paragraph carefully. Then, in the chart below
indicate which contrast words have been used for each area of contrast. Als~
note briefly the differences themselves.

BASES OF CONTRAST
Extrovert

Introvert

2,3

NOW ASK YOURSELF

I
I

Fond of people:
sociable, likes
parties, etc.

Prefers books
: people, is shy
I and retiring

! On the other hand

1. Why are no-similarities mentioned in the model paragraph? .__ .~___. ~_

STRUCTURES

(Sociability)

CONTRASTIVE

SENTENCE

(Risk taking)
--~I------~-

I
I

2. What part of the topic sentence prepares the reader to expect a para-

,
I

graph of contrast development? ______________~

(Expression of feelings, aggression)

3. What two words are repeated continually? _ _ _ __

4. Do you find any examples of pronoun reference? Underline all pronouns
and draw arrows to the words they represent

)
)

,
I

'5

I
I
I

5. Are any listing signals used? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

._._.

(Reliability, optimism)
~--,~~-~.--~.--

I
I

6.

I
I

What kinds of supportive materials are used (examples, details, anec-

dotes, facts and statistics)? .

)
I

I
I
I

(
)

8
'Nicholas Wright, ed., Understanding Human Behaviour (London: Phoebus Publishing
Company/BPC Publishing, Limited, 1974), pp. 54-56.

I
I

,
I
.-~

139

III. ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

STRUCTURES OF CONTRAST

.)

AlthOUgj

Whereas
While

I. -ER THAN; MORE THAN; LESS THAN;

AS ... AS

is more reliable than

is Jess optimistic than
learns more slowly than

The introvert

2.

The extrovert

B.

1.

The intfovert

'S quieter than

1.

.1

1.
the introvert.

2.
the extrovert.

1.

Although the introvert ___~ _____ ~~~ _ _ _ ~_. __._.

2.

Unlike the _~

r---------------------~~~~----------ontrasts with
in regard to }
The introvert

nlike

the extrovert who craves excitement, the introvert likes a well"',

ordered mode of life.
"-''-

--.----

Basrs~f

differs from
is different from

the extrovert

{ in respect to

his ability to
remember.
I
I

basis of

contrast
-~----------------.-~~-

---.~.,--~ .

II. PREPOSITIONS

Contrary to
As opposed to

,who _______.___ _

IV. VERBAL STRUCTURES

With more . .. than and less ... than? --.~---------When can as . .. as be used to indicate contrast? (Remember that it can

"The extrovert

Can you rewrite the sentence in the following ways?

also indicate similarity!)

3. Can you rewrite the second sentence in Group B, keeping the meaning
the same but changing the order of extrovert and introvert?

/'"
/

NOW ASK YOURSELf

NOW ASK YOURSELf

2.

"

2.

1. What kinds of words are used with -er ... than? - - - - - - - - -

"

basis of'
contrast

Gsn't as optimistic as

"

the extrovert

Isn't as quiet as
isn't as reliable as
doesn't learn as slowly as

the extrovert loses his temper quickly,

the introvert seldom
does.
.
/

NOW ASK YOURSELf

1.

Can the "basis of contrast" be explained more fully by using a structure

from this group or by using an adverbial clause, as was done in Group III?

2.

Could the basis of contrast be explained more fully by using in that

instead of in regard to? ___~

.---.---

contrast
)

140
)

141

142

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

3. Can you expand the sentence from the above box by following these
indications?
"The introvert differs from the extrovert in that the extrovert

VI. PUNCTUATION ONLY

A

The introvert likes books; the extrovert is fond of people.

The introvert likes books; the extrovert, people

~--------------------------------------

whereas the introvert

----.-~~----

EXERCISE 6-6

Paraphrasing Sentences of Contrast

new sentence combine?

What two groups of contrast structures

Directions: The follOwing sentences are based on the model paragraph (the
differences between the typical extrovert and the typical introvert). Rewrite
each of the sentences in two different ways, using words or phrases from the
sentence, as well as the structure of contrast which has been indicated. Refer
back to the boxes a.~ often as necessary. Pay attention to ptmctuation.

___ and---V. SENTENCE CONNECTORS

)

The extrovert loves

'[however,
~
. on the other hand,
'-'-'-'-' in contrast,

c!ow~ds;

the introvert is fond of solitude.

1.

Studies have tended to show that the extrovert learns faster than the
introvert but, in the end, remembers less.
(however,-forrn B) Studies have tended to show that the extrovert
learns faster than the introvert; in the end. however. he remembers less.

contrast

however,

?n the other hand,

10 contrast,

(although) ___._____.
is fond of
solitude.

NOW ASK YOURSELF

2. Unlike the extrovert, who takes chances and is generally impulsive, the
introvert shuns excitement.
(differs from ... in that ... whereas) ..~_.~_.________ .___.________._____ _

L How does the punctuation of the above two sentences differ?

2. Can you rewrite each of them as two separate sentences?

)

a.
)

b.

(more/-er ... than) ______

3. The typicaJ extrovert is particularly fond of parties and people-oriented

activities; in contrast, the typical introvert is a quiet, introspective sort of
person.
143

144
,

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

(unlike, .. who) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

In this method, the contrasts are made one at a time, or point by point. Thus,
the two personality types are first contrasted for sociability, then for risk
taking, and so on. Note, in the preceding model paragraph, that the words
extrovert and introvert are repeated each time a new area of contrast is
brought up:

(while) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

145

METHOD 1

)
SOCIABILITY

4. The extrovert may be subject to criminal or psychopathic behavior, in

contrast to the introvert, who may exhibit neurotic tendencies.

RISKTAKING

(differ from ... in that ... whereas) - - - - - - - _..)

...- . _ .

, ---

-.-~.--

The Extrovert

The I ntroven
The Extrovert
The Introyert

(ETC}

..

(on the otJ'ler hand-fonn B) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
)

5. Whereas the extrovert tends to be aggressive and loses his temper

quickly, the introvert seldom behaves in an aggressive manner and keeps
his feelings under close control

}
)

(unlike ... who) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

j
1

I
j

The writer could, of course, have completely described the extrovert, then,
in the second part of the paragraph, have gone on to completely describe the
introvert. This would have given a very different-looking, but equally aceeptable paragraph:
METHOD 2

Sociability

RiskTaking

Feelings., AggreSSIon

(coritrast with, , . in regard to)

THE EXTROVERT

~::--_ _

Reliability, Optimism

AbnQrmal Tendencies

Ability to Remember

Sociability

RiskTaking

) IMETHODS OF CONTRAST

Feelings, Agression

THE INTROVERT

Reliability, Optimism

)
)
)

J
)

>

There are two main ways in which to organize your material when you wish
to develop a contrast paragraph. The first method has been used in the
preceding model paragraph (the typical extrovert vs. the typical introvert),

Abnormal Tendencies
Ability to Remember

146

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

The following is an example of Method II (completely describing one thing,

then completely describing the other);
In studying the phenomenon usually referred to as sleep, we are
actually dealing with more than one phenomenon. In point of fact, we
spend the night alternating between two different types of sleep, each
with different brain mechanisms and different purposes. As a person
falls asleep, his brain waves develop a slower and less regular pattern
than in a waking state. This is called orthodox sleep. In this state the
brain is apparently resting. Its blood supply is reduced, and its temperature falls slightly. Breathing and heart rate are regular. The muscles
remain slightly tensed. After about an hour in this state, however, the
brain waves begin to show a more active pattern again, even though the
person is apparently asleep very deeply. This is called paradoxical sleep
because it has much in common with being awake. Paradoxical (active)
sleep is marked by irregular breathing and heart rate, increased blood
supply to the brain, and increased brain temperature. Most of the
muscles are reLaxed. There are various jerky movements of the body and
face, including short bursts of rapid eye movement (REM's), which indicate that we ~re dreaming. Thus, we spend the night alternating between these two vital "restoration jobs": working on the brain (paradoxical sleep) and working on the body (orthodox sleep.)2
,

NOW ASK YOURSELf

1. Is the first or the second sentence the topic sentence? Or is it both of

them? (Explain your answer.)

2.

)
)

3. Are all of the following bases of contrast referred to in both orthodox and
paradoxical sleep? Check each box as you And the information. Two
boxes should be empty.
ORTIIODOX
Brain waves (speed and regularity)
I
Amount of blood (blood supply)
Temperature
Breathing, heart rate
Muscle tension
i
Body and face movements
Rapid eye movements

PARADOXICAL
---

_I

If you were writing a contrastive paragraph but did not have compl(,te
information on one of the things you were contrasting, which method
would you choose? Why? _ _ _ _ __

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON THE TOPIC SENTENCE

You were told in Unit One that most paragraphs begin with a topic
sentence (see p. 3). However, since then you have seen two examples of
something you will encounter in English-two beginning sentences which
carry the main idea of the paragraph. The first paragraph was WI p. 113:
Why is it that American working women complain about job discrimination? Statistics suggest that there is a basis for their grievances.

What contrast structures do you find in the paragraph? _ _ _ _ __

Which type of contrast-Method I or Method II-seems to require more

structures of contrast? _.~..~~__ Why?

IIbld., pp. 23-24.

_~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

147

You will notice that the first sentence introduces the idea in at ~neral way,
wondering why women complain. The second sentence goes further and
notes that there are reasons, and that these reasons are verinaLle through
statistics. The paragraph then goes on to present these statistics tothe reader.
At this point there is no reason why you should try to wrilte paragraphs
which begin with these "double topic sentences." Neverthelelll, you must

....,
)
)

148

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

learn to be aware of them while you are reading; otherwise, you may miss the
point which the author is trying to make.

.)

Brain waves

-----------_....---.._-..
---------Temperature
----------------------------------Breathing, heart rate
.._------_....--_.._--_.._----_..._---_.._.._-........._..-......-----..Muscle tension
--------------------------Body and face movements
------------------------------------------_._Blood supply

NOW ASK YOURSELF

In the paragraph on p. 146, which deals with the differences between

orthodox and paradoxical sleep, what.is the relationship between the first two
sentences? Try to explain in your own words.

PARADOXICAL
SLEEP

)
)

Rapid eye movements

CONCLUSION

)
~

EXERCISE 6-7

Analyzing Paragraphs of Contrast

EXERCISE 6-8

Directions: Read the paragraph on the two types of sleep again carefully,

Reordering Paragraphs of Contrast

then fill in the chart below in fairly detailed fashion.

),------------------,--------------------------------~'

to Method I (point-by-point). Use as many contrast expressions as necessary.

TOPIC
SENTENCES

Directions: Take the paragraph on sleep (Method II) and rewrite it according

-~--~.-----------------

)~---------------------+-------------------------------------~

Brain waves-slower, less regular

Blood supply

---------------------.~-~.-~

Temperature

ORTHODOX
SLEEP

-------------------------------------Breathing, heart rate

,-----_._-------------------------------Muscle tension
-------,-----------------------'
Body and face movements
--------_._-----------------

1.) - - - - - - - - - - - -______- L__Rapid__eye movements

________________________
~

)
)

..

~-.~.--.-~.--------.-------

~---

149

150

COMPARISON AN D CONTRAST

COMPARISON AN D CONTRAST

151

standing. 'In parts of Europe and Asia, a government official has a kind of
automatic right to deference and prestige, and he is deemed worthy of
respect until proved otherwise. 'The opposite is true in America. 'One
does not command respect or honor merely on the basis of his title; it is
well to remember that the title of the President of the United States is
"Mr. President," and that all Harvard professors are called "Mister." lOA
judge may be "Your Honor" and a clergyman" Reverend," but the judge
will not receive honor nor the clergyman reverence unless he merits it.
IIMoney can, of course, buy special favors-the best seats in a restaurant, the best seryice in a hotel-but it cannot buy deference. Uln
other lands, too, class commonly has outward symbols: dress, manner,
speech, accent, school, church affiliation, unlike the U.S., where these
indices are of little or no importance, and anyone who tried to apply
them would go badly astray.)

SENTENCE

L-

..

~-.~.~.~~~.~.--.-~~-~ ~~.--.---------.---

BASES OF CONTRAST
The old world

GRAMMATICAL
STRUCTURE(S)

The United States

(nature 0.1 class)

I

I
I
I
I

Legal, hereditary

Neither legal
nor hereditary

whereas

(Personal vs. impersonal; stability)

EXERCISE 6-9
Analyzing and Reordering Paragraphs of Contrast
Directions: Read the following paragraph, which is organized according to
Method I (point-by-point). Fill in the chart on the next page. '!ben rewrite
the paragraph according to Method II (completely describe the first; then
completely describe the second).

IAlthough the classless society is still a myth, the distinctions and

barriers between classes are fewer in the United States than in many
more traditional parts of the world. 2Whereas in the old world, class is
legal and hereditary, in the United States it is neither. 'In the old world,
too, it is quite impersonal: you are what you are, and that is the end of it.
On the contrary, in America it is wholly personal; each person carves
out his own economic position, just as he carves out his own social
position. 'Nor is the job ever finished once and for all; as the individual
can move upward on the social scale, so he can move downward. 'In the
United States neither wealth, family, nor formal pOSition provides any
guarantee, though collectively they do provide indications of social
)
)

I
I
I

3,4,5,6

I
I

(Title vs. respect)

7,8,9
10,11

I
I
I
I

I
I
I

(Visible symbols of class)

12

I
I
I

I
I
I
I

'Adapted from Henry Steel Commager, Meet the

Education, 1970). p.87.

u.s.A. (New York: Institute oflntemational

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

153

Method II

-.~----

BASES OF CONTRAST
Nature of class

1-------------------------------------------------------------------

------------

THE

Personal vs. impersonal; stability

OLD
WORLD

- - - - - - -\.- ..-

f-----------------------------------------------------

Title vs. respect

f-----.----.----------------------------------------------Visible symbols of class:

Nature of class

Personal vs. impersonal; stability

f-----------------------------------------------------------THE

Title vs. respect

UNITED

STATES

t-----------------------------------------------Visible symbols of class:

152

..

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

.)

155

EXERCISE 6-10

Paragraph Writing:
Contrastive Infonnation Transfer

DirectionS: Referring back to the population graph and exercise (p. 37),
contrast urbanization in India with that in England and Wales. Notice that
your topic sentence must reflect the fact that this paragraph contrasts the
two. State the method you have used

EXERCISE 6-11

Paragraph Writing:
Contrast

Directions: Write a paragraph in which you contrast two people you know
who are very different. Indicate at the end which method you have usedMethod I (point-by-point contrast) or Method II (separate sections).

I,
154

,
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

156

COMPARISON AN D CONTRAST

157

at the end of a word, the American does. 3This might lead to a rather
humorous misunderstanding if, when asked by the American what his
job was, the Englishman answered that he was a clerk (pronounced
dock to the American ear). Failure to use the r sound at the end of a
word' might also lead to confusion between words like paw and pour.
'Moreover, a noticeable difference exists between the basic words used
to express the same thing. 'The American might want to know the price
of gas in london, but the Englishman will answer him by using the word
petrol. 'Unlike the American, who wears an undershirt when the
weather is cold, the Englishman wears a vest. 'The American wants to
know where the elevator is, while the Englishman asks the location of
the lift.
9The similarities found in this hypothetical conversation, however,
will far outweigh the differences. IOThe meanings of most words are, of
course, exactly the same. liThe pronunciation of the consonant sounds,
the rhythm, stress, and intonation systems in both American and British
English closely resemble each other. I2ln grammar, the similarities are
numerous. UBritish English makes a distinction between count and mass
nouns, and so does American English. IThey both have thE' same verb
and tense systems. ISThe grammar of both languages is similar in that
they both form and compare adjectives and adverbs in the same way.
I'ln fact, the similarities between the two languages-or, more precisely, between these two forms of the same language-are such that
there is rarely any serious breakdown in communication between an
American speaker and a British speaker.
EXERCISE 6-12

Analyzing Paragraphs of

ICOMPARISON AND CONTRAST

Comparison and Contrast

Directions: After carefully rereading the model paragraphs on the differ-

You have no doubt realized that when you are showing similarities between
two things, you will almost always find differences as well The converse is
equally true: most things being contrasted will also have similarities. This is
the case with the follOwing model paragraphs.

Model Paragraphs
'When listening to a conversation between an American and an Englishman, a person will become aware of the most significant differences between the two varieties of the English language. lWhile the
Englishman does not pronounce r sounds before a consonant sound or
)
)

ences and similarities between American and British English, fili in the two
charts which follow.
PARAGRAPH 1 (differences)

I
'."
;,

Topic Sentence: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

PARAGRAPH 2 (similarities)

BASES OF CONTRAST

SENTENCE

,1-...---------------1
American

British

Pronunciation
,. pronounced be- : not pronounced
fore consonants and,
at ends of words
:

CONTRASTIVE
STRUCTURES

TopicSentence: __________________________________

while

(example)

,
I

I
I

SENTENCE

BASES OF COMPARISON

COMPARATIVE
STRUCTURES

(exa~ple)

,I

10

,
I

._-

Certain vo~bulary items

,
,I

11

I,

12

(exarT) pie)
I
I
I
I

13
(exa~ple)

7
J

,,
,I

14

(example)
,

--~

15

,
I

159

1I
THE "SPUT" TOPIC SENTENCE

, )

In the preceding exercise you were asked to find a topic sentence for each
of the two paragraphs. However, these two paragraphs go together, since
their combined purpose is to show similarities and differences. Therefore, in
a very real sense the meanings of their two topic sentences go together, even
though they are physically separated from each other.

REMEMBER THIS
)

The main idea may be carried by one or more sentences.

They may be together (in the case of a single paragraph)

or "split" (in the case of more than one paragraph).

'I1lUS, the complete main idea for the preceding model paragraphs is as
follows:

When listel'\!ng to a conversation between an American and an

Englishman, a person will become aware of the most significant differences between the two varieties of the English language. _______________ _

EXERCISE 6-13
Paragraph Writing:
Comparison and Contrast

Directions: Below are brief descriptions of the typical person born under
each astrological sign. Using the day of the month on which you were born,
find and carefully read the description of your sign, After studying the description, write two paragraphs in which you both compare and contrast your
personality as you see it with the description of the sign. (You will no doubt
agree with part of the description; you may also find that parts of the description do not correspond to your image of yourself.)
Be specific when illustrating the similarities and differences that you
mention. Give good examples.
Use the "split" topic sentence technique which has been explained to you.
Decide whether the similarities or the differences are more significant; put
them last (ascending order),

ARI ES (March 22 to April 20)

The characteristic Aries type has an impulsive, adventurous spirit He
possesses unlimited energy and hates restrictions almost as much as he loves
freedom. Because of this, he is frequently impatient and lacking in subtlety.
He is sometimes selfish and is easily angered. He is qUick to put his personal
g<:llsfirst.

TAURUS (April 21 to May 21)

The similarities found in this hypothetical conversation, however, will
far outweigh the differences. ______________________________________________________ _

)
)

This is important for you to know, particularly when you are reading.
OtherWise, you might miss the fact that there are both similarities and
differences, and that the similarities are far more numerous and important.

1&0

The Taurean is characterized by stability, reliability, and patience. H~ is

tolerant and at the same time strong-willed. He is persistent in all his
endeavors, especially business. He loves all of the finer things of life: good
food, pleasant surroundings, and luxuries in general. At times he can be very
stubborn and fixed in his ways and opinions. He is generally lacking in
flexibility and in originality.

GEMINI (May 22 to June 22)

Resourcefulness, creativity, and versatility are attributed to the Gemini.
He is also spontaneous, talkative, inquisitive, and amusing. At times, however, he has difficulty controlling his nervous energy and becomes restless,
inconsistent, and two-faced.

1&1

I,
)

CANCER (June 23 to July 23)

The Cancer, who is extremely sensitive, sympathetic, and creative, is

devoted to humanitarian principles. He is extremely devoted to family and
home. Because he is emotionally resourceful, he gives the outward impression of being impenetrable and self~assured, while in reality he may be
hypersensitive and moody. He is somewhat unstable and can tend toward
self-pity.

)
)

LEO (July 24 to August 23)

Generosity of mind and spirit characterize the Leo. He is a born leader

who enjoys the dramatic and "doing things in a big way." He is proud,
creative, and faithful to friends and family. He is fully aware of his positive
traits, which may lead him to becoming dogmatic, intolerant, pompous, and
even bullying.

j
)

)
)

VIRGO (August 24 to..september 23)

The Virgo ppssesses remarkable powers of discrimination and analysis. He

is meticulous, discrete, and extremely honest He enjoys hard work and
always does it in a thorough, methodical way. He is able to render con-

J
)

structive criticism, but, because he is so preCise and fastidious, he may

become hypercritical. He pays so much attention to detail that he tends to be
a worrier.

LIBRA (September 24 to October 23)

SAGITIARIUS (November 23 to December 22)

The popular Sagittarius has an optimistic, philosophical attitude toward

life. A freedom-lover, he is dependable,jovial, and sincere. His frankness may
lead him to be tactless. He has a tendency toward exaggeration, boisterousness, and extremism.
CAPRICORN (December 23 to January 19)

The reliable, ambitious, prudent Capricorn is capable. of achieving his

goals patiently through determined effort. He is careful to take advantage of
every opportunity offered to him. He is somewhat peSSimistic and conventional in his outlook and can sometimes be rigid and miserly.
AQUARIUS (january 20 to February 19)

Friendly, idealistic, and original, the Aquarius ha~ an independent, reforming spirit and a progressive outlook. He is intellectllally inclined and
always ready to use his talents for the improvement of society as a whole. His
idealism may cause him to become rebellious and eventuallv distort his vision
of reality. At those times, he is unpredictable and eccentri~.
PISCES (February 20 to March 21)

The Pisces is sympathetic, sensitive, and generous. Intuitive and emoional, he is capable of great warmth and compassion toward others. Because
he is so impreSSionable, he may sometimes be weak-willed, indecisive, and
completely impractical in coping with day-to-day routine.

The Ubra, who prizes harmony above all else, is charming, easygoing. and
cooperative. He is refined and diplomatic by nature. He cannot be happy in
an environment where there is discord, and this frequently results in his
being indeCisive, changeable, and dependent on others to take responsibility
for decisions. He is a great procrastinator.

)
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)
)
)

)
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)

SCORPIO (October 24 to November 22)

Possessing powerful feelings and emotions, the Scorpio is discerning,

subtle, and extremely imaginative. He has a strong sense of purpose and will
persist until that purpose is accomplished. The Scorpio is so self-controlled
that he may even seem secretive or suspicious to others. He is loyal to friends,
but resentful and vindictive if he feels that they have "crossed" him.

163

DEFINITION

165

Thus, it is distinguished from nonmechanical time-telling devices (e.g.,

sundials) and other kinds of mechanical ones (e.g., alann clocks).
A diagram of the infonnation might look like this:
)

DEFINITION

(Genertd _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _+

.....---r---.,..--~

class)

)
)

(Distinguishing_

"~~

)
j

______

Cleaning

L-~_~~~~:-:~------------_ca_r~~~ts------~

Etc_

In fonnal writit'g, it is sometimes necessary to write a paragraph to explain

what a tenn means or how you are using it in a particular situation. This is
called a paragraph of deAnition. A paragraph of definition may be either a
formal definition, which explains the meaning as you might find it in the
dictionary, or a stipulated deAnition, which explains how you are using a
particular tenn within a specific context In both cases, you will notice that
deAnition often involves a combination of the kinds of development we have
been studying in the previous four chapters.

)
)

lsnudl enough

(rangeslrom

to be worn on
a band about
the wristl

rather small to
rather large;
hangs on a wall)

fhas an alarm which

you can set to
buzz or ring at
a s~cified time)

(-----)

(-----)

(-~---)

(-----)

EXERCISE 7-1

Categorization (Formal Definition)

) I THE FORMAL DEFINITION

)

Directions: Below is a chart with ten tenns. Fill in the chart for each of the
tennS. Then write one-sentence fonnal defmitions for five of them.

Model Definition

A wristwatch is a mechanical time-telling device

which is worn on a band about the wrisl

)
)
)

As you can see, a fonnal definition includes three kinds of things; the tenn
to be defined, the class to which a thing belongs, and the features which
distinguish it from other things in that class. In the case of a wristwatch:
Cl&s ... device
DisfingtJiahingf04tr.1rea = l)mechanical
2) for telling time
3)worn on a band about the wrist

164

)
)

TERM
A cafeteria

A pencil

Tenn ... wristwatch

)

~---------~---------------.-----------------~

A rose

GENERAL CLASS
Restaurant

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES
Self-service

)
TERM

GENERAL CLASS

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

SHORT PARAGRAPHS OF EXTENDED DEFINITION

When the general class and distinguishing features have been given, the
writer may then go on to expand or extend his formal definition by giving
additional information about the term being defined This might include such
things as a physical description or a list of the advantages of the item. In the
case of a wristwatch, for instance, the writer might want to comment on
variety in appearance and popularity. Notice the fo)]owing paragraph on the
wristwatch, where all of this information has been included.

Tile metric
system

)
)

Ajoke

)
A canoe

A wristwatch is a mechanical device which is used for telling time. Its

main advantage over other types of time-telling devices (such things as
clocks, sundials, or hourglasses) is that it is small enough to be worn on
the wrist, so that one can easily know the time by looking down. Wristwatches come in various shapes and sizes, but all have one thing in
common: a band or strap with which they may be attached to the wrist.
In the United States, where "time is money," practically everyone wears
a wristwatch.

Zinc
)

Aloveseat

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)

I
J

A carrot

A laundromat

NOW ASK YOURSELF

In which sentence of the preceding paragraph do you find evidence of the
follOwing;

Definitions

1.

Enumeration? __._ _~_ __

3.

Comparison-contrast?

4.

Examples-details? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ . _. ___ _

I. _. __~.~. ~.~.
)

~~. _..~. ___~_._.__._~.~ ___._ _

2 . ._~. ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
)

EXERCISE 7-2

Paragraph Writing:
Definitional Infonnation Transfer

3. _ _ _ _._._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
-~.---.--.-- ..

4. __. _..~____.

5.

---------------

Directiona: Referring back to Exercise 7-1, choose two of the formal definitions which you wrote and develop each of them into a short paragraph of
extended definition. Be prepared to explain how you have extended or
expanded your original definition:
Purpose or use
Physical description
Various kinds or types
Advantages or disadvantages

106

Historically interesting information

167

~
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I'

f!

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TABLE

.>PROBLEMS IN DEFINITION
)

There are three common problems which may arise in writing definitions.

We frrst problem is that of the circular definition, in which the term being

defined is repeated in the definition (either the word itself or a word from
the same family). For example, if you define" economics" as "the study of the
economy," you have written a circular definition:

A place where one

plays games (e.g a
roulette or dice
tablel

A plaC<! where one

eats (e.g. a dining
room tablel

JHE CIRCULAR DEFINITION

~
the study of the ECONOMY

ECONOMICS

)
)

A pi ace where one

puts objects (e.g . a
lamp table, a TV
tablel

A place where one

d i,cusses problems
(e.g., a conference
tablel

Etc.

)---

"

/'
......
I You have restricted \
\ a table to only one
\. of many possible /
........ purposes! / /

----

EXERCISE 7-3
Identifying Problems in Definition

}HE OVER-EXTENDED DEFINITION

\

)
)

A second frequent problem is the overextended definition, in which the

definition can be applied to more things than just the term being defined. If
you define "lemonade" as "a refreshing drink," for example, you have overextended your definition because there are many other things which fall into
this category:

Directions: Below are some definitions which do not meet the requin'mL'll(S
for a good definition. Explain which problem arises in each. Then rewrite the
definition in an acceptable way. Your definitions may be only one or two
sentences.
L A ranch is a place where cowboys live.

Problem: overrestricted
- - - _.... _ - - - - - - - - - - - - Your Definition:

)
Water

REFRESHING ,

2.

{HE OVERRESTRICTED DEFINITION

ranch is a large farm, particularly in the American

West, on whi~~ large herds of cattle, horses, or she~p are rai~~.d

Milk

-~.-

..

--------------~----

Oil is a liqUid

Problem: ____~~_ _ ~

)
)

The third problem area in definition writing is that of overrestriction. An

overrestricted definition is one in which the term being defined is more
comprehensive than the definition (i.e., you restrict the item to only a part of
its total definition). For example, defining a "table" as "a place where one
eats" is overly restrictive because a table may be used for many other
purposes:

168

Your Definition: _
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _ _-_._...

169

I
170

DEFINITION

DEFINITION

3. Inflation is a process whereby money becomes inflated.

7.

171

Art is something found in a musewn.

Problem: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Problem: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Your Definition: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Your Definition: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
)
)
)

4. A boot is a rubber covering for the human foot.

8.

Pollution is the process whereby chemicals are dwnped into rivers.

Problem: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~.

Problem: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~

Your Definition: _ _ _ _ _ _~

Your Definition: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

)
)

- -..- - . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..

-.--~

----

..

5. A university is a place where people study.

Problem: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Your Definition:

9.

Language is a means of communication.

Problem:
Your Definition: _ _ _ _ _ ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

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}

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6.

A grocery store is a place where people buy food.

Problem: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _._. ___. _______. _ _ _ __
Your Definition; _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _._ __

10.

Democracy is a democratic system of government.

Problem: _ _~_. _____._ _ _ _ __
Your Definition; .

-...,.
DEFINITION

I THE STIPULATED DEFINITION

)

THE FORMAL DEFINITION VS.

THE STIPULATED DEFINITION

The second-and more difficult-type of definition which you may be

required to write is one in which you explain how you are using a term for a
particular purpose, or in which you explain your particular interpretation of
the tenn. The word, in the sense in which you understand it, may differ from
its usual definition. Like the extended fonnal definition, the stipulated
definition is usually longer than, a single sentence.
The kinds of words which require this type of definition are generally
abstract ideas or qualities such as friendship, poverty, justice, and so on. For
instance, you may have to begin a longer composition by defining exactly
how you will be using a tenn in that particular paper:

)
)
)

have consistently been "successful" within this meaning of the term,

they have not altered this view substantially. [

Questions
1. Why is this interpretation of success a stipulated definition rather than
a fonnal definition? ,

1. Of all the possible dictionary meanings of the term, you will

be using only one, and definitely not the others; or

2,

)
)

You will be using the term in a very special sense, not to be

found in the dictionary (in a personal essay, this may mean
making clear your own interpretation of a word; in a philosophy
course, it may mean giving a clear explanation of how a particular philosopher uses the term),

---~

2. What is the topic sentence? _ _

3.

173

<--_.--

< _ _ _ __

What type of development is used to support the topic sell!"IH'" ("lHlllleration, process, chronological order, cause-efh:ct, comparison, (,olltra~t)?
----,'-,---<-<

4. What kinds of supporting material have been used

anecdotes, facts and statistics)? __

(e1,alllpl{s,

ddails,

<,

)
)

EXERCISE 7-4

Analyzing Stipulated Definitions

)
)

Directions: Read the follOwing three paragraphs of stipulated definition.

Answer the questions which follow each paragraph.

)
)

I.

)
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}

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)

Do you notice any repetition of words? ____~,___

6,

What do the following pronouns refer back to in the

does not specifically refer back to anything.)

The American concept of success has not changed much over the
two centuries of its existence. The average American thinks about
personal success in terms quite different from the rest of the world.
First, it has always meant providing your family with a decent
standard of living with some margin of comfort. Second, it means
ending your life in a higher and more prosperous position than you
began it. To an American, it is clear that success is the result of hard
work, self-reliance, and is "Cod's reward" for American virtue. The
lesson that success lay in your own hands became ingrained because it was within the reach of any free man. Because Americans

< ___ <

text::> \1 )ne of them

it (line (4) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
it (line 5)

it (line 7)

it (line 7) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
J

172
)

5,

Adapted from J. W, Anderson, "The Idea of Success," The Washington Pos~ JJg 4, 1976, p. 62,

~..,.

)
\174

DEFINITION

DEFINITION

it (line 10) _ _ _ _ _ _. _ _ _ __

175

4. What kinds of supporting material have been used (examples, details,

this (line 11) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

anecdotes, facts and statistics)? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

they (line 12) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

this (line 12) _

II.
)
)

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)

When European theorists speak of equality, they commonly

mean equal status or equal wealth. When Americans use the sa,me
term, they usually mean a competition in which everyone gets an
equal start. Most of the great social reforms of the 1960's were designed to bring the poor and the Blacks "into the running" on something approaching the same footing as the more prosperous and
better educated majority. Giving everyone the vote, teaching children to read, and getting them all though high school with a real
chance of colle~ beyond all represent the kind or equality that has
enormous support in the United States. The basic arrangement of
economic life hilS always provided a balance: enough equality to
permit new initiative to flourish wherever it might arise and enough
inequality to reward it. Nowhere else have the rewards been so rich
and the distribution so wide. 2

)
)

Questions
1.

Why is this interpretation of equality a stipulated definition rather than a

fonnal one? ._ _ _._ __

2.

What is the topic sentence? (Look at the paragraph carefully.) _ __

3.

What type of development is used to support the topic sentence?

)
)
)
)

5.

What do the follOwing pronouns refer to:

they (line 1); _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
they (line 3): ....._ _ _ _ _ _....._ _
them (line 8): _ _ _ _. .____.__
it (line 12): _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
It has been said that by understanding what makes a nation
laugh, you can define its people. To Americans, laughter is the great
leveler, the crystallizer of our iconoclasm. Jack Kennedy's crack
about seeing nothing wrong with appointing his brother Robert to
the Cabinet "to give him some legal experience as Attorney General
before he goes out to practice law" is an example of the acid touch
that is common to American humor. The sense of the comic in the
United States centers around our own ridiculousness and around
the menace suddenly perceived as no longer threatening. As the
popular cartoon character Pogo said: "We have met the enemy and
he is us." We tend toward a humor that is fast, frank, and irreverent.
A Black comedian tells his predominantly white audience, "We
finally made it. The first Black man was indicted for income tax
evasion. We finally made it ... into non-violent crime." A more
boisterous form of humor is represented by slapstick:a kick in the
pants, a pie in the boss's face, the great chase scene where hundreds
of people run wildly about, but no one gets caught. Certainly American humor, with its nothing-sacred air and its capacity to hurt and
heal, reveals yet another side of the elusive" American characte,r:'3

*111.

'Ibid., p. 73.
/

'Adapted from Shelby Coffey III. "Our Savage Wit," The Washington Pos~ July 4. 1976,
p.166-179.

- ..,.
)
DEfINITION

177

1.

Questions

1.

Why is this interpretation of humor a stipulated definition?

2.
3.

2.

Is the first sentence really the topic sentence? Why or why not?

4.
5.

3.

What type of development is used to support the topic sentence? _ __

Will be using the tenn in several different ways (enumeration

and/or contrast)
Will be using the tenn in a way which differs Significantly from
the dictionary definition (contrast)
Will be showing that the explanation of the tenn has several
different parts (enumeration)
Will be showing how the meaning of the tenn has changed
(chronological order and/or contrast)
Will be writing of causes or of effects in the course of his
explanation

EXERCISE 7-5
Review Exercise:
Identifying Paragraph Types

)
)

4.

What kinds of supporting material do you find? __.~_~..~___.__.~ ___.~ __ .__

Directions: Identify the types of paragraph development used in Unit One,

Exercise 1-5 (pp. 12-13) and Exercise 1~7 (pp. 18-20).

Unit One, Exercise 1-7

Unit One, Exercise 1-5

5.

What other words in the paragraph are closely related in meaning to the
wordhu~?

6.

___~ ______________ ~___~_.______~ __.___ _

What do the follOwing pronouns refer to?

Paragraph 1: _ _ _ _ __

Paragraph I: _. ________ ._.__

Paragraph 2:

Paragraph 2: ___. ______

Paragraph 3: _______

Paragraph 3: ___ ~_______

it (line 1):

Paragraph 4: __--....:.__
)

Paragraph 5: ._____~

Paragraph 5: _______

him, he (line 5) _. _ _ _ _ _ _

)
)

its (line 18)

)
)
)

A final note about stipulated definitions is in order. You have no doubt

noticed that the stipulated or personal definition lends itself very easily to
various kinds of paragraph development (e.g., the previous three paragraphs). This is understandable when you consider the nature of this kind of
definition. The writer, as we have said, is defining how he is going to be using
the particular term. In terms of types of paragraph development, this may
mean, for example, that he

)
176

EXERCISE 7-6
Paragraph Writing:
Stipulated Definitions

Directions: Choose two of the words below and write a paragraph of definition for each one. Remember that you will be stipulating your personal
interpretation of the meanings of the words. At the end of each of the
paragraphs, indicate the type of development you have used.
1. Success

2.

Humor

- -r
)

178

DEFINITION

)
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

,)
)
)

Friendship
Beauty
Responsibility
Masculinity
Femininity
Intelligence

OM PARAGRAPH
o COMPOSITION

)
)
)
)

)
)
\

EXPANDING A PARAGRAPH

)
)
)

J
)
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)
)

Thus far in this book you have been asked to practice certain skills which
lead to the production of well-organized paragraphs, the basic units of composition in English. However, it is rare that you will be asked to write just one
paragraph in isolation. Ordinarily, any writing task will involve a series of
related paragraphs on a given topic-that is, a composition. If you are able to
compose a logical, coherent paragraph, it will not be difficult for you to
expand that paragraph into a longer composition in which you can more fully
develop your topic.
How is this done? One possible method has been illustrated for you on the
two pages which follow. Study these two pages carefully, then look over the
explanatory chart on page 182.

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179

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..

'\
)

u..

I MODEL COMPOSITION 1

.',tv10UEL PARAGRAPH 1
. 1 Although

)
)

African survivals in American culture have diminished over

the past one hundred years, some are woven into the cultural pattern
of America. 2The words tote (to carry) and juke box have been taken
directly from African languages. 'One of the Negro's greatest' contri.

butions to American music, the spiritual, is a blend of primitive African

)

music and the religious fervor of Christianity. 4 Foods such as okra,

watermelon, and even coffee have their roots in Africa. lThese everyday
elements are astoni9hing evidence of the African contribution to Ameri.
can life.'

African survivals in American culture have diminished markedly over

the past one hundred years, but some are still existent and are interwoven into the cultural pattern' of America and the Western Hemisphere itself. These are reflected in the words we speak, the songs we
sing, and the foods we consume.
A recent work on Negro speech in the United States reveals more
than four thousar:ld African words, names, and numbers, still spoken
among Negroes on the Georgia-South Carolina offshore islands, known
as the Gullah region. These words reveal the identity, civilization, and
relative influence of the people from whom most of America's twenty
thousand Negroes descend. For example, the word tote, meaning "to
carry," has been found in print within seventy years after the first
settlement at Jamestown, Virginia; it has no known English origin. Our
latest, juke box, comes from the word juke, a Senegalese term implying a
wild time.
Negro spirituals, too, are traceable to Africa, and their identical
prototypes can be found in African music. Once in America, these
original patterns were fused with the spirit of Christianity, a religion
which promised that in the next world the adverse conditions of the
slave would be reversed. The result was a body of song VOicing all the
c<trdinal virtues of Christianity-patience, forebearance, faith, and
hope-though a necessarily modified form of primitive African music.
The Negro took complete refuge in Christianity, and his spirituals were
literally forged out of sorrow in the heat of religious fervor; they brought
hope and comfort to a burdened people.

)
)

Anthropologists attest that many of our most popular plants have

their roots in Africa. Black-eyed peas traveled from Africa to North
America in the holds of slave ships as food for the pitiful cargo. Africa's
greatest contribution to the joy of eating is the watermelon, which is still
found wild in the interior of Africa, where it originated. Our word coffee
is derived from Kaffa, Ethiopia, its place of origin. Okura (okra) and kola
nuts (the basis for cola drinks) were both brought to the new world by
Africans.

)
)

. 'Adapted from Romeo B. Garrett, "African Survivals in American Culture," Journal olNe
History (October 1966), VoL 51, No. 4, pp. 239-245.
180

These astonishing survivals of African culture prompted the late

Professor Carter G. Woodson, one of the world's most eminent authorities on Negro culture and history, to state, "All around me I can see
Africa...."

gro

Note the various relationships which exist between the paragraph and the
composition:
181

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j

)
FROM PARAGRAPH TO COMPOSITION

PARAGRAPH

COMPOSITION

)
INTRODUCTION

Paragraph of introduction. In this paragraph the

reader is given certain background information.
The controlling idea of the composition is given in
the last part of the paragraph, where the reader is
introduced to the various topics of the paragraphs
which are to follow: words, songs, food.

Sentence 1

)
)

Sentence 2
(words)

BODY

Sentence 3
(songs)

Paragraph 2 (words). This paragraph deals with African words which are still used in American English.
It goes into far greater detail than the single sentence of the model paragraph.

Sentence 4
(foods)

)
)

sentence which applies to only that paragraph. Rather, its first sentence
introduces the general idea of African survivals in the United States today.
The second sentence is more specific: it narrows the choices down to three of
these kinds of survivals-I} words, 2} songs, and 3) foods. We will call this
sentence the controlling idea of the composition, since it announces in very
precise fashion what is to follow. Th~ next three paragraphs then talk about
each of these kinds of survivals. They all have topic sentences; each topic
sentence reminds the reader that one speciSc kind of African survival is
being discussed.
We might say, then, that a controlling idea is more powerful and more
general than a topic sentence. This is not surprising, since a controlling idea
controls not a single paragraph, but rather an entire composition. It announces to the reader the main idea of that composition; any topic sentences
which follow in subsequent paragraphs help to develop that main idea in
much the same way that, in a single paragraph, each sentence helps to
develop the idea announced in the topic sentence:
COMPOSITION

Paragraph 3 (songs). The third sentence has also

been expanded into a full paragraph, this time one
which deals with the Negro spiritual.

Sentence 5

CONTROLLING IDEA

LTOPiC Sentence

Paragraph 4 (foods). This paragraph represents an

expansion of the fourth sentence of the model
paragraph. like the others, it presents quite a bit
more detail than is possible in a single sentence.

)
)

tI +

L - Supporting sen lence

L - Supporting sentence
-

CONCLUSION

)
)
)

J
I

Concluding Paragraph. This final-or concludingparagraph, like the final sentence of the model
paragraph, ties together aJl of the ideas expressed
in the composition. The composition ends with a
quotation. This is a useful technique to learn, particularly for paragraphs of introduction and conelusion.

n'jTROLLING IDEA VS. TOPIC SENTENCE

You will notice, from reading the preceding model composition, that
the first paragraph is unlike any of the paragraphs which you have seen so far in
this book. It is called a paragraph ofintroduction The first thing you will notice
about it is that it does not begin with a topic sentence; in fact, there is no topic

182

Topic Sentence

t....- TopiC Sentence

EXERCISE 8-1
Analyzing Paragraph Structure
in Relation to Composition Structure

Directions:
Carefully read Model Paragraph 2 and Model CompositiOli 2,
which follow.
2. Number each sentence of Model Paragraph 2 and each paragraph of Model Composition 2 in the same way as was done for
the Arstmodel paragraph and model composition (pp. 180-181).
1.

183

l J PARAGRAPH TO COMPOSITION

FROM PARAGRAPH TO COMPOSITION

,I

3. Draw arrows to indicate the sentence-paragraph relationships

which exist

4. Circle the controlling Idea in the model composition.

5. Underline the topic sentences of the remaining paragraphs.

j
)
)

Then;
6.

Construct a chart for Model Paragraph 2 and Model Composition 2. Use the chart on p. 182 as your model. You have no
doubt figured out by this time that there is no paragraph of
conclusion. Is there a conclusion at all? If so, try to locate it.

- jL PARAGRAPH 2
Because American.s are a blend of people from many countries, there
) are only a few chara'tteristics which can be applied to 'all Americans.
) Perhaps the most basic of these is American individuality, which is
evident in our histor-l from the days of Our founding fathers. The second
) characteristic shared by all Americans is our paradoxical combination of
) idealism and practicality. Another typically American feature is the
, emphasis we place on money and the things it can buy-i.e., our ma) terialism. Finally, in practically all American families, our parents exert
less influence on us than do parents in other parts of the world. These
elements are deeply embedded in the American character, but like
) many other things American, are subject to change in a relatively short
) period of time. 2

)t:{
~

COMPOSITION 2

J~--------------------------

_______________

WE AMERICANS
}
Since we Americans are a blend of people from many countries we
,have a very short history which can properly be called "Americ~n."
I Therefore, it is hard to find characteristics which apply to all Americans.
;We combine many extremes from many different cultures. Neverthe,less, we can make some generalizations. Our main characteristics in/ cI~de individuality, a combination of idealism and practicality, materiiahsm, and a lack of parental influence, all of which permeate our lives.
'Gilbert D. Couts., "We ArneriCWls" (unpublished essay, American University, 1977).

185

We Americans value individuality. Our country was founded by

strong individuals, and we do not like to be forced into conformity.
Therefore, we insist on having a great deal of freedom. Interestingly
enough, however, most Americans use this freedom to behave very
much like most other Americans, and we are suspicious of those who do
not conform. Hippies are individualists, for example, but most Americans do not like them. By the same token, we consider ourselves very
faithful to the laws of our country, but there are few among us who
would not break one if it was felt that no harm would be done by doing
so-such as by exceeding the speed limit or failing to report informallyreceived cash income on tax forms.
Secondly, we Americans are both practical and idealistic. We place
great value on doing things for ou rselves, for this is what our pioneer
forefathers were forced to do. Many foreign visitors are surprised to find
that many couples of comfortable means do their own yardwork, their
own housework, their own repairs. On the other hand, we are very
idealistic: we think we have the best political, social, and economic
system yet devised, and we therefore expect everything to go smoothly.
As a result of our idealism, we are easily disillusioned. This is why so
many marriages end in divorce-young couples' expectations from marriage are often unrealistically high. Similarly, it helps explain the dissatisfactions and protests of many young people, and even older
people, who enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world.
A third characteristic of us Americans is that money is more important
than prestige to us. People work extremely hard, so many, unfortunately, either have little leisure time, or do not know how to enjoy it. Why do
we work so hard? It is not to achieve greater status or prestige, but
simply to have more of the material objects and comfort that money can
buy.
Finally, our parents have less influence on us than parents do in other
countries. Many children are left in day-care centers by their working
mothers, or with babysitters when their parents go out at night. Furthermore, peer pressure is very great because children's feelings: and desires
are taken very seriously, and they are given a lot of freedom to form
strong personalities. We leave home at a relatively early age, usually
after high school, to take jobs and have our own apartments, or to go to
college, where we are allowed a great deal of freedom. We choose our
own spouses, even if our parents object. And, later in life, when our
parents are old and helpless, we often live far away from them; many
prefer to put them in nursing homes rather than to have t.he responsibility of caring for them daily. Many foreigners find this pr;actice heartless. I suppose it is, but like many other qualities we Amerions share, it
is subject to change over a relatively short period of time.

-.J . )METHODS OF PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT

I.

You will have to expand your original topic sentence into a paragraph of introduction. Your controlling idea should be the last
sentence of the paragraph. Study the paragraphs of introduction of
the two model compositions in this unit to get ideas for your first
paragraph.

You have studied the various methods of arranging supporting sentences

) (enumeration, process, chronology, cause-effect, and comparison and con) trast). You have also seen that examples, details, anecdotes, and facts and
statistics can be used with any of these methods.
)
In like manner, the methods themselves are often combined in a longer
. composition. A good writer will frequently make use of all or a number of
) these methods to develop his topic. For example, in one paragraph he may
) enumerate his supporting sentences in descending order; in the next, he may
) make use of comparison or contrast, quoting statistics to prove his point;
another paragraph may use a cause-effect development

II.

EXERCISE 8-2
) Identifying Types of
Paragraph Development
) in a Composition
..
\

}Directions: Reread the composition "We Americans," For each of the paragraphs, identify the type of paragraph development used If you think that
) more than one method has been used in the same paragraph, indicate this.

III, CONCLUSION
You will have to add a paragraph of conclusion. In it you should
summarize, restate, or reemphasize ilie main ideas in your composition. Notice how the auiliors of boili model compositions in this
unit have used a single pronoun-these-to remind the reader of all
the paragraphs in the body of the composition. You might want to try
iliis technique. You might also want to use a quotation.

/aragraph 1: cause-effect, enumeration

)Paragraph 2:
)Paragraph 3: _ __
)

Note: Don't forget to indent!

Paragraph 4:

~aragraph5:~

BODY
You will want to devote one entire paragraph to each of the qualities
you mention. Three or four paragraphs, each devoted to one ~ar
ticular quality, will be sufficient. You will, of course, have to go mto
greater detail for each of the qualities than you did in your original
paragraph.
Arrange the paragraphs of the body in either ascending or descending order.
Be sure to begin each paragraph wiili a topic sentence that tells the
reader which quality you will be discussing in iliat particular paragraph.

INTRODUCTION

________________________________~._____

1r

),

EXERCISE 8-3
,
( Composition Writing: Enumeration

1)irec~: Expand the paragraph you wrote in Unit Three, Exercise 3-8ibe qualItIes of a good husband or wife--into a full composition. Look over
;he guidelines below before you begin to write.

..

,J

EXERCISE 8-4
Composition Writing: Information Transfer
Directions: Study the graph on page 189 very carefully. Then write a fiveparagraph composition based on it. Your general topic will b,e :',:,orl~ population growtlI as it relates to the continuing development of CIVilIzation. Use
the follOwing plan to develop your composition, which will have a title.
I.

Title: Population Growth through ilie Ages

186
)

187

....,
)
}

.)

II.

Think of an interesting way to introduce the composition. Conclude

the paragraph of introduction with a controlling idea in which you
announce the general topics you will discuss in the three paragraphs
of the body. (Suggestion: You might want to come back to your controlling idea after you have written the body to see if your controlling
idea is well thought out.)

)
)
)

POPULATION GROWTH THROUGH THE AGES)

INTRODUCTION
Old

Stone
Age

New Stone
Age Begins

New Stone Age

~ r---~I--~ ____~I----~

Bronze
Age

Middle

Modern

Iron Age

Ages

Times

I
,..----L
-.....,

~
6

III. BODY

:J

Paragraph 2: General population trends from 8000 B.c. to A.D. 2000.

)
)

Use chronological development in this paragraph. Support your

topic sentence with statistics.

Paragraph 3: The rapiu population rise between

A.D. lOOO and A.D.

2000. Use cause-effect development. From your knowledge of history. explain why there has been such a rapid rise in population
during moden, times. Be specific.
.

t:

3 co

'~

'3

a.
o

Paragraph 4: ~orld population between 8000 B.C. and A.D. 1000

contrasted with world population between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 2000.

)
)

N.

Cl.

CONCLUSION
Summarize the ideas you have rliscussed in your composition.

)
)

Approx.
2 Million

Years

)
EXERCISE 8-5

Composition Writing (Mixed Methods)

13000
B.C.

7000

e.c.

6000
B.C.

5000
B.C.

4000
B.C.

3000
B.C.

2000
B.C.

1000
B.C.

B.C. A.D . 000

A.D

2000
AD.

) Directions: Write a full composition on one of the following topics. Refer

back to the model compositions in this unit for ideas.

1.

A survival from another culture in your society

2.

Characteristics shared bv the people in your society.

)
)

)
)

)
)
A88
)

'Population Reference Bureau, The World Population Dilemma (Washington, D.C.: Columbia Books, Inc., 1972), po 10.
189

INDEX

)
)

Anecdotes, 33-34
Cause (see also Effect, Chain reaction),
101-19
defin ed, 101
diagrams, 101, 115-16
model paragraph, 113--14
structural signals, 104-7
Chain reaction (see also Cause, Effect):
defined, 120
diagrams, 121-22
model paragraph, 120
Charts (see Diagrams and charts)
Chronological order, 86-100
absence of enumerators, 88
defined, 86
diagram ("time line"), 87
listing signals, 88
model paragraph, 86-87
relationship to enumeration and process, 86
time clues, 88-89
Circular definitions (see Definition, problems in)
Classification (see Enumeration)

)
)

Comparison (see also Comparison and

contrast), 125-37
chart, 127
defined, 126
model paragraph, 126
structures of, 128-34
Comparison and contra~t, 156-63
chart, 157-59
defined, 156
model paragraphs, 156-57
Composition writing:
conclusions, 182
controlling ideas, 182-83
diagram, 182
expansion from a paragraph, 180-85
introductions, 182
mixing methods of development, 186
Contrast (see also Comparison and contrast), 137-56
chart, 139
defined, 127
model paragraph, 137-38
methods of, 145-53
diagram, 145
structures of. 140-44

191

......,
I

}
1 ')INDEX

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)
)

)
)
;

)
)

J
)

)
)

)
J

)
J
)
/

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J

)
)
)

INDEX

Models (cont)
process, 63
pronoun reference and word repetition, 76
time clues, 70
unity in a paragraph, 11

Definition:
. Enumeration:
diagram, 165
defined, 39-40
extended fonnal definitions, 167
diagram and chart, 4(}..41
fonnal definitions, 164-66
enumerators, 41-42
mixed methods of development, 17e;;.
listing Signals, 42-44, 47-48
77
model paragraph, 40
order of importance, 46-61
model definitions:
ascending order, 47-48, 50
extended fonnal, 16'7
fonnal, 164
descending order, 48-50
stipulated, 172-75
equal order, 46-47, 50
probll'lms in, 168-71
Enumerators (see Enumeration)
circular definitions, 168
Equal order (see Enumeration)
overextended definitions, 168
Examples, 22-25
overrestricted definitions, 168
Extended defmitions (see Definition)
stipulated definitions, 172-77
Descending order (see Enumeration)
Facts and statistics, 35-38
Details, 25-32
Formal definitions (see Definition)
Diagrams and charts (by technique or
type of development):
Indentation, 1-2
anecdotes, 33
,',
Irrelevant sentences (see Unity)
cause, focus on, 101,ill5-16
chain reaction, 121-22
Length, 2-3
chronological order, "87
Limiting a topic (see Topic sentence)
comparison, 127
Listingsignals (see Enumeration, Process)
comparison and contrast, 157-59
Logical division (see Enumeration,
composition, expansion from a paradefined)
graph, 182
contrast, 139
Models (by technique or type of
Method 1 vs. Method 2, 145
development) ;
definition (fonnal), 165
anecdotes, 33
details, 26, 28
cause, focus on, 113-14
effect, focus on, 10 1, 103
chain reaction, 120
enumeration, 40-41
chronolOgical order, 86-87
equal, ascending, and descending
comparison, 126
orders, 50
comparison and contrast, 156-57
examples, 23-24
composition, expansion from a parafacts and statistics, 35
graph, 180-81,184-85
indentation, 2
contrast, 137-38
Method 1 vs, Method 2, 137-38,
limiting a topic sentence (categories),
4
146, 150-51
process, 62
definition:
pronoun reference and word repetiextended formal, 167
tion, 76
formal, 164
time clues, 70
stipulated, 172-75
unity in a paragraph, 8,10-11
details, 26
effect, focus on, 102
Effect (see also Cause, Chain reaction),
facts and statistics, 35
102-13
enumeration:
defined, 101. 120
ascending order. 48
diagrams, 101, 103
descending order. 49
model paragraph, 102
equal order. 40
structural signals, 104-7
examples, 22

Order of importance (see Enumeration)

Overextended definitions (see Definition)
Overrestricted definitions (see Definition)
Paragraph length (see Length)
Paragraph unity (see Unity)
Process, 62-86, 88
defined,62
diagram, 62
enumerators, 65-66
listing signals, 69
model paragraph, 63
relationship to enumeration, 62
time clues, 69-76
Pronoun reference and word repetition,
76-77
Statistics (see Facts and statistics)
Stipulated definitions (see Definition)
Structures (structural signals);
cause-effect. 104-7
comparison, 128-34
contrast, 140-44
examples, 22

193

Structures (cont)
listing signals;
enumeration, ascending order, 47
enumeration, descending order, 48
enumeration, equal order, 42-44
proCess, 66-68
time, 69-76
Time clues;
use in chronology, 88-90
use in process, 69-75
Topic sentence;
categories of limitation in, 4
compared to controlling idea of a composition, 182-83
defined, 3
"double" topic sentences, 147-48
key (controlling) words and phrases
in, 3-4
placement of, 3
"split" topic sentence. 160
Unity:
criteria, 8-9
diagrams, 8,10-11
irrelevant sentences, 9-10, 12-13
model paragraph, 10
Word repetition (see Pronoun reference
and word repetition)