LANGUAGES INSTITUTE 2020-03

OPINION PARAGRAPH WRITING WORKSHOP

Professor’s name: ________________________________________Date:

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Student’s name: _________________________________________Group: _______________
What is an Opinion Paragraph?

A paragraph in which you have to present your personal opinion on a particular topic. In such a paragraph, you
must state your opinion clearly and support it with appropriate reasons and examples. Your arguments must be really
convincing. Your opinion paragraph must have an ​introduction: hook and topic sentence; a body; and a ​conclusion
(closing sentence).

a) Topic sentence: it introduces the main idea of the paragraph. It tells the reader what the paragraph will be
about and also gives your opinion on the question.
To express your opinion you can use some of the following expressions;
● I believe/feel/think…
● From my point of view/As far as I am concerned…
● I completely/strongly agree/disagree…
I) Write a ​topic sentence​/ ​hook ​and then you need to write your point of view, for example: Cali is the best
city to live. I totally agree Cali is a wonderful place for having a lovely life.

Now, you have to try the same with the following topic: ​Important skill for competing in society​.

Hook:
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b) Body: ​The body of the paragraph contains ​THREE REASONS and ​SUPPORT for each reason. You also need to
start each reason with ​transition signals​. Here are some examples of transition signals;
● The first (second, third) reason is…
● Another reason is…
● Firstly (First), Secondly (Second), Thirdly (Third)…
● Moreover, Furthermore, in addition, finally (final reason)…

SUPPORT is vital you need to support your reasons with ​detail and examples to be able to write a good number of
words.

EXAMPLE:

An important skill for surviving in society is critical thinking. ​Imagine there is an emergency situation in a company.
Critical thinking can help to solve the emergency by thinking about all the important factors and coming
up with a solution. This will make you a valuable team member.

Take into consideration the first reason mentioned above to write the ​reasons 2 and 3 (include transition
signals)​ and support each reason​.

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c) Conclusion​: This is the last part of the paragraph and it is where you restate your opinion using different
words. (Remember the conclusion needs to be short; maximum 2 sentences!).

We use the following expressions to introduce the conclusion;

● In conclusion/To conclude
● In summary/To sum up
● In brief

EXAMPLE:
To sum up, in today’s competitive society it is important to have skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and charisma.
Prepare yourself as soon as you can with these important life skills.

II) Write a different conclusion Keep in mind ​your ​three reasons.

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PRACTICE #1:

Opinion paragraph example: ​With a different colour, you need to identify the structure of the opinion paragraph (hook,
personal opinion, reason 1, reason 2, reason 3 and conclusion) and identify the connectors.
Lotteries should be banned. I strongly agree that lotteries should be banned. To begin with,
lotteries are a waste of money. Every time we buy the lottery we have less money to buy things we
need such as medicines or food. Another reason is that playing the lottery is addictive. When we buy a lottery ticket and
we don’t win, we may buy more and more tickets. Finally, I consider that playing the lottery is not a really good chance
to make money because we can’t use our abilities or skills to win the lottery. Winning the lottery depends only on luck.
To conclude, I believe that it is not a good idea to buy the lottery because it is a waste of money, it is addictive, and it is
not really a good chance to make money because almost no one ever wins.

According to the opinion paragraph complete the lines with

First connector: _________________

Second connector: ___________________

Third connector: _____________________

Conclusion connector: ______________________

PRACTICE #2:

d) Proof Reading marks​: When you receive your opinion paragraph from your teacher you need to correct your
own mistakes. The mistakes will be indicated using the proof reading marks.

III) Using proof reading marks indicate the errors in the paragraph below.

i believe smoking should be banned in places public. Firstly, these spaces should be free-of smoke for people to enjoy.

I’m not against people smoking. I’m just against Smokers not respecting the the rights of others to breathe

clean air. People is right to want clean air. Secondly, whit many people smoking in bars and clubs, this makes

my clothes smell. I hate the smell of my clothes after being in these places. Finally, breathing second hand

smoke is dangeros and can cause problems in the future. People has a greater chance of developing cancer

if they are in smoky places for long periods. To conclude, the government have prohibited this activity.

Correction

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