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    Topic Sentences: Topic + Focus Topic Sentence

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    Gigi Gigi
    The document discusses topic sentences and how to identify effective ones. It explains that a topic sentence should have two parts: a topic and a focus. The topic is what the paragraph is about, and the focus is the main point being made about that topic. Some examples of good and bad topic sentences are provided to illustrate these concepts. The document also provides an exercise for identifying the topic and focus in several statements.

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    Topic Sentences: Topic + Focus Topic Sentence

    Uploaded by

    Gigi Gigi
    36 views2 pages
    The document discusses topic sentences and how to identify effective ones. It explains that a topic sentence should have two parts: a topic and a focus. The topic is what the paragraph is about, and the focus is the main point being made about that topic. Some examples of good and bad topic sentences are provided to illustrate these concepts. The document also provides an exercise for identifying the topic and focus in several statements.

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    The document discusses topic sentences and how to identify effective ones. It explains that a topic sentence should have two parts: a topic and a focus. The topic is what the paragraph is about, and the focus is the main point being made about that topic. Some examples of good and bad topic sentences are provided to illustrate these concepts. The document also provides an exercise for identifying the topic and focus in several statements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    36 views2 pages

    Topic Sentences: Topic + Focus Topic Sentence

    Uploaded by

    Gigi Gigi
    The document discusses topic sentences and how to identify effective ones. It explains that a topic sentence should have two parts: a topic and a focus. The topic is what the paragraph is about, and the focus is the main point being made about that topic. Some examples of good and bad topic sentences are provided to illustrate these concepts. The document also provides an exercise for identifying the topic and focus in several statements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Topic Sentences

    The topic sentence is the most important sentence of a paragraph. It states the
    main idea and introduces the reader to the topic in one clear sentence. The topic
    sentence is usually the first sentence of a paragraph. The rest of the paragraph
    must develop and support the point you made in the topic sentence.

    TOPIC + FOCUS = TOPIC SENTENCE

    A topic sentence states the main idea of your paragraph. It must always contain
    two parts: the topic and the focus. The topic is who or what the paragraph is
    about. The focus is your main point about that topic. Without both a topic and a
    topic focus, your topic sentence is incomplete.

    Let’s look at some good topic sentences. Try to identify the topic and focus of each.
    1. Writing English paragraphs is difficult for beginners.
    (This paragraph will be about why it is difficult to write English paragraphs.)

    2. New York is a fun place to be on New Year’s Eve.


    (This paragraph will be about why New York is fun on New Year’s Eve.)

    3. KG is a great university for several reasons.


    (This paragraph will be about the reasons why KG is great.)

    But not all topic sentences are good. What’s WRONG with these topic sentences?
    4. Robots are good for people.
    This sentence is too general. It is too big a subject for one paragraph.

    5. A robot dog from Sony costs 30,000 yen.


    This sentence is too specific. This is a better supporting sentence.

    6. This paragraph is about robots.


    This sentence has no focus. There is no purpose to this paragraph.
    Identifying Topic and Focus
    For each statement below, underline the topic and put a box around the focus.

    Example 1
    Nuclear power is our greatest hope for solving the energy crisis.

    Example 2
    Nuclear power is a huge threat to life on the planet.
    (Notice that both sentences have the same topic, but the focus is different.)

    1. Alcohol is bad for your health.

    2. E-mail is a great way to stay in touch with your family and friends.

    3. Making friends at university is very important for many first-year students.

    4. Golf is a difficult sport to play well.

    5. Sanda is a great place for families.

    6. Students need to know how to use computers well to succeed in university.

    Evaluating Topic Sentences 1


    Read the following statements and type good next to the three that you think are effective topic
    sentences. For the sentences that are not good topic sentences, type the reason why you think they
    are bad: too general, too specific, or no focus.

    1. My round-trip plane ticket to Ankara, Turkey, cost over $950.


    2. The topic of this paragraph is learning new things.
    3. American music today has many influences from Africa.
    4. Everyone needs a hobby.
    5. American music is the subject of this paragraph.
    The first published collection of African-American music, Slave
    6.
    Songs of the United States, appeared in 1867.
    7. Russian is a difficult language to learn.
    8. Learning how to write in English can be a frustrating experience

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