Unit III English Composition
12. A topic sentence briefly informs the reader what is to be covered in a given paragraph. Essentially, a topic sentence is stated at the beginning of the sentence. However, this is not always the case. A topic sentence could take the following five positions in a sentence;
• Stated first
This is a topic sentence that appears at the beginning of a paragraph. The sentence gives the reader a basic idea of what to expect in the paragraph.
• Stated last
It is a topic sentence that is stated at the end of the sentence. This allows the author to develop a paragraph and summarize with a convincing conclusion at the end.
• Stated in the middle
This is a topic sentence that appears in the middle of a paragraph. The idea is to allow the author to develop an argument and support it with ideas.
• Stated first and last
The topic sentence appears both at the beginning and at the end. It is a technique that is used by authors in cases where the content of the paragraph is complex. The topic sentence that appears at the end aims to remind the readers about the content in the paragraph so that they do not loose focus.
• Stated implied
This is a situation where an author states an obvious topic sentence to avoid being direct. In this case, the topic sentence is not conspicuous. The readers have to read in between the lines to identify the hidden topic sentence.
13. Paragraphs are the building blocks of coherent, authoritative and well-developed essays. An adequately developed paragraph should contain the following four details;
Topic sentence
This is a sentence that traditionally appears as the first sentence. However, the topic sentence could also appear at the end, in the middle, at the beginning and at the end or implied. It informs the reader the subject matter of the paragraph. The reader is in a position to internalize what to expect