Writing the Opening Sentence

Eye-catching. Appealing. These are words that you should be able to use describe the opening
sentence of your essay. Whether you write it as you begin the essay or wait until you have
completed the body paragraphs, try to make it attractive to your readers. Make them feel that
they will not be satisfied until they find out what you are writing about. Because there are
several ways to begin an essay, try some of the ways suggested in the list that follows. Then
choose the one that fits your paper best.

1. Begin with a climatic moment.

Instead of telling readers about events in order in which they happened, begin with the
climax. Story writer, television and movie writers, and journalists use this technique to
capture their readers. Be careful, however, that you do not mislead your readers by
exaggerating the opening and then falling to build to the climax you have talked about.
After using the following opening sentence, the author of an essay about the
Anabaptist revolution gives background leading to it.

In the long record of man’s savagery to man, there can be no more brutal episode than the
drama of the Anabaptist revolution played out in the small city of Munster in northwest
Germany in 1534-35.
Edmund Stillman,”The Holy Terrors of
Munster,” Horizon.

2. Begin with a suitable quotation.

If you are writing about a person, you can begin with words he or she has spoken. Or you
may choose a quotation from a literary work, history, or yesterday’s newspaper to begin your
introduction.

In writing about the austronauts, this author begins with a quotation:

“Courage leads stard, fear toward death,” wrote Seneca. Man needs courage simply to live in
spite of knowing that he must die.

“On Courage in the Lunar Age,” Time,

July 25, 1969.

3. Begin with a startling detail.

Choose something that will catch your readers’ attention because it is unusual, but once again
be careful not to mislead your readers. If they want to read sensational exposes or scandal
sheets, they can find those easily available, and they are probably familiar with the kinds of
reports these papers contain. Try to be as straight foward as possible in your presentation, just
as this author has:

When Robert Kennedy was shot, the reporters were already there – the cameras, the lights,
the heralds of the people standing upon chairs and tabletops, trailing wire and tape recorders,
the black tubelike microphones stretched out arclike into the room (that kitchen). He was
shot, and it was real-a life, a death....

Michael J. Arten, Living-Room War

4. Begin with a question.

Use a question as an opener for variety. Some topics lend themselves well to this kind of
development, but others do not. Here is an example of an opening question:

What has happened to the American male? For a long time, he seemed utterly confident in his
manhood, sure of his masculine role in society, easy and definite in his sense of sexual
identity.
Arthur Schlesinger,Jr.,”The Crisis of American
Masculinity,” Esquire, November, 1958

5. Begin with a statement of opinion.

When you open with an opinion, do not begin with “I believe” or “I think” or “In my
opinion.” The fact that you are the writer of the essay means that what you write is your
opinion. Simply begin with a statement like this:

Women showed their independence when they refused to give up miniskirts for the fashion
world’s mid-calf hemlines.

6. Begin with a definition.

When the preceding suggestion, this one has words of caution built into it. Although you may
choose to define a term, do not begin with “The dictionary says....” Simply state what the
definition is:

Fear is a feeling of alarm or apprehension, an expectation of danger, pain, or disaster.

7. Begin with a prediction.

Point to the consequences of a present situation by first telling your readers what will happen
and then giving them the reasons why your prediction will come true. You have to offer
concrete evidence to support a statement like this:

Food will again be plentiful ten years from now.

In other words, make a prediction only when you know that you can prove what you say.

8. Begin with a description.

You might describe the setting for an incident you will discuss, or you might attract your
readers by describing a painting without revealng immediately what yu are talking about.
However, be skillful in choosing details that will allow you to narrow your main idea. The
following description begins an essay about a soldier-explorer:

In the deepening snows of a high mountain valley, about where Salida, Colorado, now stands,
a band of sixteen men were gathered on the day before Chistmas, 1806. Earlier they had been
separated into straggling parties to forage and explore....

Donald Jackson,”The Question is: How Lost

Was Zebulon Pike?” American Heritage,
February, 1965

9. Begin with an anecdote.

Choose an appealing or amusing incident to invite your readers to read your essay. However,
once again, do not mislead them. Select something that illustrate one aspect of it. Here is an
example:

Dan Connell was eighteen when he bought a brand new 1927 Packard with money his
grandfather had left him. Very thrilled with his new possession, he attached a metal plate
with his initials to the left front door. Like most car owners he traded his car for a new one a
few years later and bought several other new cars as years passed. Never forgetting that first
Packard, he began restoring antique cars about 15 years ago. With his restorations his fame
has grown, and many people have sought his advice on ways to restore cars that they buy.
Just last month a man affered to sell Mr. Connell a 1927 Packard he had owned for two years.
He thought Mr. Connell might like to have it because a metal plate with the initials “D.C.”
are on the left front door.

The remainder of this essay could be about the techniques Mr. Connell uses to restore antique
cars.

10. Begin with irony or humor.

Irony shows a contrast by conveying a meaning different from the literal meaning of the

Words used. Or it shows contrast in situatiobs like the following:

Men have worked hard to develop fast-moving automobiles an airplanes to get people places
quickly; yet the congestion the automobiles and planes cause and the pollutants they emit are
extremely high prices to pay for the convinience they offer.

In writing satire, in which an author exposes foolishness or evil, he uses a derisive or ironic
opening, as Art Hoppe did in writing about Secretary of State Henry Kissinger:

Once upon a time there was a wondrous weaver named Henry. Everyone agreed that Henry
was the most wondrous weaver in the whole wide world.

Art Hoppe,”The Emperor’s Clothes,” San

Francisco Chronical Sunday Punch, April 6,
1975

Irony is sometimes difficult to write unless one shows the contrast effectively. Humor also
may be difficult to express in just a sentence or two. Use these openings carefully.