DEVELOPING THE TOPIC

SENTENCE IN A PARAGRAPH

The topic sentence is given. Which of the
sentences given after the topic sentence
support it, and which do not?
Topic sentence: Getting on the honor
roll is not easy.
It requires hard work.
Nanding is on the honor roll.
One must study very hard.
One must develop good study habits.
I envy Nanding when I see his name on
the honor roll.
Nanding is my friend.
I am proud of him.
One must be attentive during the
recitation.
I wish I could be as smart as he is.

Topic sentence: It was a hard-fought game.
The two teams were well-matched.
I saw the game with my father.
My sister wanted to go with us.
My father would not let her.
The game seesawed dangerously several
times.
There was a big crowd.
I cheered my team enthusiastically.
With three minutes to go, the score was tied.
I grew hoarse with shouting.
When the buzzer ending the game went off,
our team had won.

Topic sentence: Everything in my bedroom was
in order.
I worked hard all morning.
The bed cover lay smoothly over the bed.
The floor was spic and span.
The pillows were arranged neatly.
Some friends were coming to see me.
The wastebasket contained a few soiled pieces of
paper.
The dressing table had received special care.
All the articles on it were arranged in neat rows.
A vase on the dresser had a few fresh roses.
A red rose had fallen to the floor.

Topic sentence: Celia didnt want to play
with us.
She said that she had a lot of things to do.
Celia generally joins us in our play every
day.
She is a very lively person.
She would have test the next day.
She always wants to study well for a test.
We spent some time coaxing her to play
with us.
When Celia says no, she means it.

Development by giving details

We have many delicious dishes from different
parts of Luzon. From the Ilocos region comes
goat kilawin. This is goats meat served with
radish and condimented heavily with vinegar,
garlic, onions, and pepper. From that region also
comes pinakbet, a vegetable dish made from
eggplant, sitao, ampalaya, okra, and fish
bagoong. From Central Luzon comes paksiw
milkfish cooked in vinegar and garlic with a dash
of pepper. Central Luzon is also famous for its
tamales, one persons lunch wrapped up in
banana leaves. from Southern Luzon we have
delicious coconut milk dishes, for the Bicolanos
love to cook their vegetables in coconut milk.
Development by giving examples

There is a well-known proverb which
states: An empty sack will not stand upright.
This is indeed true, for what will support a
sack when it is empty? Nothing. So the sack
collapses. In the same way a student who does
not prepare his/her lesson cannot recite the
next day. He/She may bluff, but the teacher
soon calls his/her bluff. A man who does not
earn enough cannot allow his family to indulge
in luxuries. He will get into debt, he will be
shamed and embarrassed, and he may even
have to face a lawsuit.
Development by giving
cause and effect
When someone catches a heavy cold, he/she
asks himself/herself, How did I ever catch this
cold? Someone he/she knows but quite often
he/she cannot remember. The cold may be the
result of exposure to a cold wind when the body
temperature is heated and the person is perspiring
profusely. It may be caused by sudden drop in
temperature, such as when a person gets wet in a
summer rain. Whatever it is, there is surely a
definite cause for a person catching cold.
Development by comparison
and contrast
A vacation spent by the sea is different from a
vacation spent in the mountain. It is true that in
both places, one will live close to nature. In both
places the air will be healthful and invigorating.
But there are some elements in which the places
will be different. By the sea, one is lulled to sleep
by the sound of the waves. In the mountain, one
sleeps to the rustling of the leaves and the
creaking of the branches as the wind blows. On
the beach, one can swim to his/her content, pick
up shells on the shore, and even go sunbathing.
In the mountains, one can go hiking, camp under
the trees, and fish in some clear river or brook.
Study the following paragraphs and
state which method of development
has been used in each.
Germany has a highly distinctive
cookery. One of the most striking features
of German cookery is the abundance of
sour or sweet flavoring for vegetables and
meats. One of Germanys most valuable
contributions to cookery is sauerkraut, a
sort of pickle made from cabbage. And
from Germany, too, comes all the sweetish
and sourish sausages which are among
the most notable good things to eat in this
world.
All the students in the classroom were
excited. The principal had announced that
classes would be dismissed at the end of
the period. The boys openly smiled in
anticipation of the unexpected holiday.
The girls put their heads together
whispering, wondering why the classes
were being dismissed. Some were
gathering their books and notebooks
together preparatory to leaving.
The church was well-lighted. Lights
flooded the altar. The chandeliers above
glowed and sparkled as the light was
scattered by the cut glass. The clothes
of the images glimmered and glowed.
The vestments of the priest also caught
the light as he moved slowly and
solemnly said mass.
The boyhood experiences of Rizal were not
so different from those of any other Filipino boy.
Like any normal child he loved to listen to his
nurse as she told him stories of the duwende, the
kapre, and the multo. He enjoyed watching his
mother cook his favorite dishes. When the moon
was full he played with his brother and sisters and
friends until rather late at night. He enjoyed all
the activities boys enjoy today.
Almost everyone knows that Egypts pride
lies in the pyramids, which were built by the
ancient pharaohs as their tombs fifteen hundred
or more years before Christ. On the walls of
these tombs were pictured records of the
glorious lives of those buried there. Here, too,
were found miniature objects belonging to
Egyptian society. Some of these objects were
fragile and exquisitely beautiful. They were
replicas of objects that the dead person loved
and would have liked to carry with him to the
other life.
In ancient Persia, physical education
was practiced at an early age. At six the
children were trained for physical and
military training. They were made to run,
use a slingshot, shoot the bow and
arrow, and throw a javelin. They also
practiced jumping on and off a horse.
they were taught to hunt, to endure
extreme heat and cold, to eat very little
food, and to sleep on the ground.
REARRANGING SENTENCES IN
A PARAGRAPH
Rearrange the sentences in the following
paragraphs in the proper order. First
look for the topic sentence. Then study
the rest of the sentences and arrange
them in clear and logical order.
But the second floor is different. It is odd
how your feelings about the house
change from the ground floor to the
second. It stretches for what seems a
great distance. It is so cut up by
partitions that you get no idea of the
expanse of the place. When you first
enter the house, you are surprised at
the size of the hall. You feel that you
will need at least a car to get from one
side to the other.
After you have two pieces, you look for a
third. The difference is that you are
working with sentences. Fitting
together the parts of a scrambled
paragraph is like working on a jigsaw
puzzle. You make them fit together to
build a good paragraph. Thats what
you do with a scrambled paragraph.
When you work on a jigsaw puzzle, you
look for two pieces that fit into each
other.