Building a paragraph
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| supporting sentences/səˈpɔːtɪŋ ˈsentənsɪz/ | supporting sentences |
| concluding sentence/kənˈkluːdɪŋ ˈsentəns/ | The final sentence of a paragraph or section, bringing its main point to a close. |
| cohesion/kəʊˈhiːʒn/ | The links between parts of a text that help its ideas connect, such as reference words, conjunctions and repeated vocabulary. |
| unity/ˈjuːnɪti/ | The sentences serve the paragraph’s focus rather than wander to unrelated material. |
Meeting and departure are different actions
- The fictional visit brief asks students to meet at 08:10 before the coach’s scheduled 08:20 departure. Keep both times and their roles when writing to a classmate.
- If heavy rain closes the boardwalk, an indoor workshop replaces that activity. The condition does not state that the whole visit is cancelled.
Adapt to the reader’s purpose
- A practical message highlights actions, timing and things to bring. An academic comparison explains relevant differences and identifies missing evidence.
- A change of audience can change style and order. It cannot turn scheduled times into guarantees or remove the teacher’s permission requirement for separate travel.
For this fictional travel-message exercise, put these action reminders in the supplied chronological order.
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The advance access request comes before the Saturday meeting, departure and scheduled return. These times are local fictional instructions, not guaranteed travel outcomes.
Give a paragraph a clear focus
- Supporting sentences 支撑句 develop a main point with relevant explanation or examples. A concluding sentence 结尾句 may connect the evidence to that point or lead to the next paragraph.
- These functions need not always occur in a fixed three-part order. One paragraph can compare related ideas while maintaining a clear overall focus.
Write a topic sentence for a paragraph about how your school timetable affects study.
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Example: “The afternoon gap gives me a regular time to review lesson notes.” This is a focused personal claim that could be supported by relevant examples, rather than a universal learning result.
Keep cohesion and unity
- Cohesion 衔接 makes connections clear through references, key words and links. Unity 统一性 means the sentences serve the paragraph’s focus rather than wander to unrelated material.
- Supporting sentences often reveal the focus even if the topic sentence is removed. That alone does not show the topic sentence is useless or the paragraph is poorly built.
A paragraph about metro improvements contains a sentence about the city's food markets. What should you do?
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The sentence should serve the paragraph’s actual focus. An unrelated food-market detail needs a different paragraph or removal; a connector alone cannot establish relevance.
Being able to infer a paragraph’s focus after deleting its topic sentence proves that the paragraph is poorly built.
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Supporting details often reveal the focus too. This observation alone does not establish whether the topic sentence is useful or the paragraph is well built.
Check the strength of the claim
- No fare or emissions data are supplied, so “the coach is always cheapest and greenest” goes beyond the brief. A supported comparison can discuss travelling together and permitted individual arrangements.
- An academic paragraph can appropriately begin with a source or statistic when that serves its purpose. Explain relevance and credit real evidence; do not invent a source to make an example look authoritative.
Adapt the style to the purpose while retaining timing, permission and uncertainty.
Which opening states a clear comparison point supported by the fictional trip brief?
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The brief supports group coordination and a permission-based alternative. It supplies no price ranking or automatic cancellation.