UNDERSTANDING

& INTEPRETING
PARAGRAPHS

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WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH?

A paragraph is a group of sentences

about one specific topic. A paragraph
has three main parts: the topic sentence,
the body, and the concluding sentence.

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 3 essential elements
is the one thing the paragraph is about. It is the of a paragraph
A topic unifying factor, which every sentence and idea
contained in the paragraph relate to.

is what the author wants to communicate about

the topic. It is the central or most important
A main thought in the paragraph. Every other sentence
idea and idea in the paragraph is related to the main
idea. The sentence that expresses this idea is
called the topic sentence.

are the proof, support, explanation, reasons, or

Details examples that explain the main idea.

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 Which of the
(1) Cats frequently become aggressive when provoked. followings is a
Some plants require more light than others due to coloration paragraph?
of their foliage. Some buildings, due to poor construction,
waste a tremendous amount of energy.

(2) Some plants require more light than others due to

coloration of their foliage. Some plants will live a long time
without watering. Plants are being used as decorator items
in stores and office buildings.

(3) Some plants require more light than others due to

coloration of their foliage. Plants with shades of white,
yellow, or pink in their leaves need more light than plants
with completely green foliage. For example, a Swedish ivy
plant with completely green leaves requires less light per
day than variegated Swedish ivy that contains shades of
white, yellow, and green in its leaves.
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The topic of a paragraph is the subject of the whole
paragraph. It is the one thing the whole paragraph is
about. Usually, the topic of a paragraph can be
expressed in two or three words.

What is the one thing the author is

discussing throughout the paragraph?

Identifying
the topic of a
paragraph

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One of the strangest environments in the world is
the Dead Sea between Israel and Jordan. There are
no living plants or creatures in or around the Dead
Sea. This is because the Dead Sea is the saltiest
body of water in the world. It is six times as salty as
the world’s oceans. It is so salty in fact that if you
drove a car into the sea, it wouldn’t sink. It would
float! In such salty waters, it is impossible for fish or What is the
topic of this
water plants to live. paragraph?

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Finding the main idea

The main idea is usually directly stated by the writer

in one or more sentences within the paragraph. The
sentence that states this main idea is called the
topic sentence. The topic sentence tells what the
rest of the paragraph is about. In some paragraphs,
the main idea is not directly stated in any one
sentence, instead, it is left to the reader to infer, or
reason out

What is the main idea—what is the author

trying to say about the topic? Which
sentence states the main idea?

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Is there a topic sentence in this paragraph?
Find it.

The Dead Sea is so salty because while all the

rivers in the area lead into the Dead Sea, no
rivers lead out. Every year, the rivers bring
more salt into the Dead Sea. But unlike other
seas, there is no way for the salt to leave the
Dead Sea.

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In the first sentence
The most common placement of the topic sentence is first in the
paragraph. In this type of paragraph, the author states the main idea
at the beginning of the paragraph and then elaborates on it. Usually,
in this type of paragraph, the author is employing a deductive thought
pattern in which a statement is made at the beginning and then
supported throughout the paragraph.

DNA is an important means of fighting crime.

Detectives use it to catch criminals. They use DNA
found at a crime scene to determine the real
murderer. This method is one of the most reliable Positions of the
ways to identify criminals. topic sentence

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The second most common position of the topic sentence is last in the
In the last
paragraph. In this type of paragraph, the author leads or builds up the main
idea and then states it in a sentence at the very end. The thought pattern sentence
frequently used in this type of paragraph is inductive. That is, the author
provides supporting evidence for the main idea first, and then states it.

Anxiety disorders stop people from doing what they want

to do. Anxious people actually have physical symptoms of
their feelings. Their heart might beat fast. They may start to
sweat. They may even have a severe panic attack. People
with this disorder cannot control their worries. They worry
over simple things like appointments or cleaning their house.
They may even worry if their desk is not in order. Doctors say
people have this disorder if they spend more days than not
worrying. They say such people always feel tired or annoyed
because of their worries. They cannot sleep or eat
sometimes. Basically, worries are at the center of their entire
lives.
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Continental drift is an old theory of geology. It is older In the first &
than the theory of plate tectonics. Early scientists saw last sentence
that the different land masses had shapes that fit
together. They also noticed that their geologies were
similar. Africa and South America had many
similarities. The same types of fossils were found in
both places. Even today there is a type of earthworm
that is found in both places. Scientists learned that at
one time all the land was stuck together. The great
land mass was named "Pangaea." The land moved
apart over time. The problem was to explain how the
land masses moved apart. Scientists could not
understand how whole continents could move through
the rock on the sea floor. Eventually, they learned that
even the sea floor spreads in certain places. This
gave rise to the idea of floating plates and plate
tectonics.
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 In the middle of
Fertilizers are chemicals that give plants the paragraph

strength. If a farmer grows the same plant over

and over in the same place, the soil will lose its
ability to feed the plant. The farmer must add
fertilizer to help the soil. Organic farmers do not
add fertilizer. They will rotate crops or use
animal manure and plant compost to make the
soil rich again. Compost is made from plant
material that has broken down into soil. It has
all the food a plant needs to grow.
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What are the main facts the author uses to back Recognizing
up or prove what he said about the topic? details

Main idea

Major Major
supporting supporting
sentences sentences

Minor Minor
supporting supporting
sentences sentences
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 Find the major supporting sentences.

While the high level in the Dead Sea means that

no fish or plants can live in it, it also has some
benefits. The extremely salty waters are very good
for skin. As a result, the Dead Sea has always
been a popular place for spas. In addition, the mud
from the Dead Sea is highly valued as a cosmetic.
Even 3,000 years ago, The Egyptian queens used
to send their servants to Dead Sea to bring them
mud packs!

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This type of paragraph contains only details or
specifics which relate to a given topic and which
substantiate an unstated main idea. To read this
type of paragraph, start as you would for paragraphs
with stated main idea.

Identify the topic

Study the details

Think of a general statement that all the details

in the paragraph would support of prove
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Write a sentence about the topic of this paragraph.

Cancer results from the mutation of one cell. The DNA of

this cell changes. Only 10% of this DNA change is
hereditary. This means that only 10% of cancers come
from your family. Most of the changes are due to the
environment. They may be caused by smoking or living in
a polluted area. As we age, we grow more mutated cells.
For this reason, cancer occurs most often as we get older.
When the cell replicates, it copies the mutant DNA to the
new cell. In the end, the cells change so much that they
no longer follow the body's normal signals. They start
growing, without control, into a tumor.
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Read the passage & answer the question.

1. How can diseases keep the Earth in balance?

2. According to the passage, how can the term

PANDEMIC be best explained?

3. According to the passage, what causes pandemics?

4. List the three facts about the 1918 flu pandemic.

5. What is the main topic of the first paragraph?

6. What is the topic sentence of the second paragraph?

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Diseases are a natural part of life on Earth. If there
were no diseases, the population would grow too
quickly, and there would not be enough food or
other resources. Therefore, in a way, diseases are
nature's way of keeping the Earth in balance. But
sometimes, they spread very quickly and kill large
numbers of people. For example, in 1918, an
outbreak of the flu spread across the world, killing
over 25 million people in only six months. Such
terrible outbreaks of a disease are called
pandemics.
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Pandemics happen when a disease changes in a
way that our bodies are not prepared to fight. In
1918, a new type of flu virus appeared. Our bodies
had no way to fight this new flu virus, and so it
spread very quickly and killed large numbers of
people. While there have been many different
pandemic diseases throughout history, all of them
have a few things in common.

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Read the passage & answer the question.

7. Why hasn’t the Marburg virus become a pandemic?

8. What is the meaning of the word MONITOR in the

passage?

9. What is SARS mentioned for?

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Firstly, all pandemic diseases spread from one person to
another very easily. Secondly, while they may kill many
people, they generally do not kill people very quickly. A good
example of this would be the Marburg virus. The Marburg
virus is an extremely infectious disease. About 70-80% of all
the people who get the Marburg virus die from the disease.
However, the Marburg virus has not become a pandemic
because most people die within three days of getting the
disease. This means that the virus does not have enough
time to spread to a large number of people. The flu virus of
1918, on the other hand, generally took about a week to ten
days to kill its victims, so it had more time to spread.
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While we may never be able to completely stop
pandemics, we can make them less common. Doctors
carefully monitor new diseases that they fear could
become pandemics. For example, in 2002 and 2003,
doctors carefully watched SARS. Their health warnings
may have prevented SARS from becoming a
pandemic.

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 Microsoft Word
Document
Read the passage & answer the following questions.

1. What has prevented the Dust Bowl from happening

again?

2. What were mentioned as the causes of

desertification?

3. How do cows contribute to desertification?

4. What is the main topic of the fourth paragraph?

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PRACTICE LISTENING

Watch the clip, listen carefully &

answer the questions.

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