Paragraph Structure Essay Sample

In many linguistic communications. the cardinal unit of composing is the paragraph. A paragraph consists of several sentences that are grouped together. This group of sentences together discuss one chief topic. In U. S. formal academic English. paragraphs have three chief parts. These three parts are the subject sentence. organic structure sentences. and the concluding sentence. We will besides speak briefly about inside informations in paragraphs.

The Topic Sentence

A topic sentence normally comes at the beginning of a paragraph ; that is. it is normally the first sentence in a formal academic paragraph. ( Sometimes this is non true. but as you pattern composing with this online lesson site. delight maintain to this regulation unless you are instructed otherwise. ) Not merely is a subject sentence the first sentence of a paragraph. but. more significantly. it is the most general sentence in a paragraph. What does “most general” mean? It means that there are non many inside informations in the sentence. but that the sentence introduces an overall thought that you want to discourse subsequently in the paragraph.

For illustration. say that you want to compose a paragraph about the natural landmarks of your hometown. The first portion of your paragraph might look like this:

My hometown is celebrated for several astonishing natural characteristics. First. it is noted for the Wheaton River. which is really broad and beautiful. Besides. on the other side of the town is Wheaton Hill. which is unusual because it is really steep.

( Notice how the first sentence begins with “My hometown…” a few infinites to the right of the paragraph border. This is an indenture. All paragraphs in English MUST get down with an indentation. )

Note how the first sentence. My hometown. Wheaton. is celebrated for several astonishing geographical characteristics. is the most general statement. This sentence is different from the two sentences that follow it. since the 2nd and 3rd sentences reference particular inside informations about the town’s geographics. and are non general statements.

Here are some illustrations of sentences that can non be used as subject sentences. Can you calculate out why they are inappropriate?

My hometown is celebrated because it is located by Wheaton River. which is really broad. and because it is built near an remarkably steep hill called Wheaton Hill.

There are two grounds why some people like to purchase autos with automatic transmittal and two grounds why others like autos with manual transmittal.

Clouds are white.

The job with sentence # 1 is that it contains excessively many inside informations. Topic sentences are general. and inside informations should look subsequently in the paragraph. A better subject sentence would be like the one mentioned above. My hometown is celebrated for several astonishing geographical characteristics.

Sentence # 2 is non appropriate as a subject sentence because it mentions two subjects. non merely one. Paragraphs are normally about one chief thing and so their subject sentences should besides be about merely one chief thing.

The job with sentence # 3 is that it is toogeneral. It is besides really deadening! Would you like to read a paragraph with this subject sentence? Most people would non.

We can rewrite sentences # 2 and # 3 in the undermentioned ways to do it better:

There are two grounds why some people like to purchase autos with automatic transmittal.

OR ( in a different paragraph ) :

There are two grounds why some people like autos with manual transmittal.

The forms of clouds are determined by assorted factors.

Supporting Sentences

See once more the above-named. short paragraph:

My hometown. Wheaton. is celebrated for several astonishing natural characteristics. First. it is noted for the Wheaton River. which is really broad and beautiful. Besides. on the other side of the town is Wheaton Hill. which is unusual because it is really steep.

( Again. observe how this paragraph is indented on the first line. about five or seven infinites in from the left-hand border of the paragraph. Always retrieve to indent your paragraphs! )

When a reader reads a subject sentence. such as My hometown. Wheaton. is celebrated for several astonishing natural characteristics. a inquiry should normally look in the reader’s head. In this instance. the inquiry should be like. “What are the natural characteristics that make Wheaton celebrated? ” The reader should so anticipate that the remainder of the paragraph will give an reply to this inquiry.

Now look at the sentences after the subject sentence. We can see that the 2nd sentence in the paragraph. First. it is noted for the Wheaton River. which is really broad and beautiful. so gives an reply to this inquiry. That is. the 2nd sentence gives some account for the fact that Wheaton is a celebrated town. Similarly. we can see that the 3rd sentence besides gives some account for the fact that Wheaton is celebrated by giving another illustration of an “amazing natural characteristic. ” in this instance. Wheaton Hill.

The 2nd and 3rd sentences are called encouraging sentences. They are called “supporting” because they “support. ” or explain. the thought expressed in the subject sentence. Of class. paragraphs in English frequently have more than two back uping thoughts. The paragraph above is really a really short paragraph. At lower limit. you should hold at least five to seven sentences in your paragraph. Here we can see our paragraph about Wheaton with a few more encouraging sentences in bold fount:

My hometown is celebrated for several astonishing natural characteristics. First. it is noted for the Wheaton River. which is really broad and beautiful. Besides. on the other side of the town is Wheaton Hill. which is unusual because it is really steep. The 3rd astonishing characteristic is the Big Old Tree. This tree stands two 100 pess tall and is likely about six hundred old ages old.

In this lesson. we will speak about back uping sentences once more in the subdivision. “Details in Paragraphs. ” below.

The Concluding Sentence

In formal paragraphs you will sometimes see a sentence at the terminal of the paragraph which summarizes the information that has been presented. This is the reasoning sentence. You can believe of a reasoning sentence as a kind of subject sentence in contrary.

You can understand reasoning sentences with this illustration. See a beefburger that you can purchase at a fast-food eating house. * A beefburger has a top roll ( a sort of staff of life ) . meat. cheese. boodle. and other elements in the center of the beefburger. and a bottom roll. Note how the top roll and the bottom roll are really similar. The top roll. in a manner. is like a subject sentence. and the bottom roll is like the reasoning sentence. Both buttockss “hold” the meat. onions. and so on. Similarly. the subject sentence and reasoning sentence “hold” the back uping sentences in the paragraph. Let’s see how a concluding sentence ( in bold fount ) might look in our sample paragraph about Wheaton:

My hometown is celebrated for several astonishing natural characteristics. First. it is noted for the Wheaton River. which is really broad and beautiful. Besides. on the other side of the town is Wheaton Hill. which is unusual because it is really steep. The 3rd astonishing characteristic is the Big Old Tree. This tree stands two 100 pess tall and is likely about six hundred old ages old. These three landmarks are genuinely astonishing and do my hometown a celebrated topographic point.

Notice how the concluding sentence. These three landmarks are genuinely astonishing and do my hometown a celebrated topographic point. summarizes the information in the paragraph. Notice besides how the concluding sentence is similar to. but non precisely the same as. the subject sentence.

Not all academic paragraphs contain reasoning sentences. particularly if the paragraph is really short. However. if your paragraph is really long. it is a good thought to utilize a concluding sentence.

Detailss in Paragraphs

The short paragraph in this lesson is a reasonably complete paragraph. but it lacks inside informations. Whenever possible. you should include adequate inside informations in your paragraphs to assist your reader understand precisely what you are composing about. In the paragraph about Wheaton. three natural landmarks are mentioned. but we do non cognize really much about them. For illustration. we could add a sentence or two about Wheaton river refering HOW broad it is or WHY it is beautiful. See this alteration ( and note the extra inside informations in bold ) :

My hometown is celebrated for several astonishing natural characteristics. First. it is noted for the Wheaton River. which is really broad and beautiful. On either side of this river. which is 175 pess broad. are many willow trees which have long subdivisions that can travel gracefully in the air current. In fall the foliages of these trees fall and cover the riversides like aureate snow. Besides. on the other side of the town is Wheaton Hill. which is unusual because it is really steep. Even though it is steep. mounting this hill is non unsafe. because there are some steadfast stones along the sides that can be used as stepss. There are no trees around this hill. so it stands clearly against the sky and can be seen from many stat mis off. The 3rd astonishing characteristic is the Big Old Tree. This tree stands two 100 pess tall and is likely about six hundred old ages old. These three landmarks are genuinely astonishing and do my hometown a celebrated topographic point.

If we wished. we could besides add more inside informations to the paragraph to depict the 3rd natural characteristic of the country. the Big Old Tree.

Why are inside informations of import? See the illustration of the beefburger. mentioned above. * If the beefburger buttockss are the subject and reasoning sentences. so the meat. the cheese. the boodle. and so on are the back uping inside informations. Without the nutrient between the beefburger buttocks. your beefburger would non be really delightful! Similarly. without back uping inside informations. your paragraph would non be really interesting.

A Note on Formality. In add-on to holding a peculiar sort of construction. academic paragraphs ( and multi-paragraph essays. which will be subject of another lesson ) are different from “ordinary writing” ( such as missive composing ) in that certain sorts of looks are non allowed. For illustration. in formal essays. you should non utilize contractions such as don’t or aren’t. Alternatively. you should compose out the words in full. for illustration. make non and are non.

Besides. in formal essays you should avoid the first and 2nd individual. That is. make non utilize the pronouns I or you. The pronouns we and us are sometimes used in formal essays in some major Fieldss. but in general you should non utilize these unless you are certain that they are customary in your field and/or your professor allows them. It is safer merely to utilize the 3rd individual.