English Language Writing Skills

By Danso Kwasi Nti Samuel (DAS). Study the complete course source, examine every model and practise alongside Professor Jarvis.

Course printed page 125 PDF page 131 of 505

For tables, matching columns, IPA and original formatting, open the course PDF above.

Collaborative study

Teacher: Now that we have understood clearly the features of a good paragraph, let us focus

on the parts of a paragraph. A paragraph, as we defined earlier, is a mini-essay. Therefore,

the parts of a paragraph may be grouped into the introduction, main body, and conclusion.

Student 1: I remember that the introduction of a paragraph is called the topic sentence. It’s

the first sentence of the paragraph and states the main point, right?

Teacher: Exactly. The topic sentence is the controlling idea of the entire paragraph. It

summarizes the whole paragraph. Let's look at some examples.

Student 2: One example could be: The first cause of teenage pregnancy in the country is

inadequate parental care.

Student 3: Or: Moreover, poverty causes teenage pregnancy in the country.

Teacher: Great examples. Now, let's move to the body of the paragraph. What parts make

up the body of a paragraph?

Student 4: The body of a paragraph includes major supporting sentences and minor

supporting sentences. These parts provide the details and evidence for the topic sentence.

Teacher: Correct. The major supporting sentence is the second sentence in the paragraph.

It explains or highlights the topic sentence. Can someone give an example using one of the

topic sentences we discussed?

Student 5: Sure. If the topic sentence is The first cause of teenage pregnancy is inadequate

parental care, the major supporting sentence could be Some parents do not take good care

of their children.

Student 6: So, the major supporting sentence just restates the topic sentence in another

way, right?