Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF PASAY CITY
PASAY CITY NATIONAL SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL

Alfonso, Willard James H.

8 - Mendel

Q4-W1-D1- POSITIONS OF A TOPIC SENTENCEPRACTICE EXERCISE 1:Read the paragraphs and choose the
best topic sentence for each paragraph. (5 points)

1. B
2. A
3. C
4. A
5. A

Practice Exercise 2: Underline the topic sentence in each of the following paragraphs. (Copy and underline) (4 points)
1. The United States has a severe fire problem that if not addressed, will continue to worsen drastically. Fire statistics
show that our nation, one of the richest and most technologically sophisticated countries in the world, lags behind its
peer nations in fire security. Nationally, there are millions of fires, thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of injuries,
and billions of dollars lost each year—figures which far exceed comparable statistics for other industrialized
countries. In 2001, for example, the direct value of property destroyed in fires was $11 billion ($44 billion if the
World Trade Center loss is included). More recently in 2004, direct property losses from fires were estimated at over
$9.8 billion.

2. The star system has been the backbone of the American film industry since the mid 1910s. Stars are the creation of
the public, its reigning favorites. Their influence in the fields of fashion, values, and public behavior has been
enormous. “The social history of a nation can be written in terms of its film stars,” Raymond Durgnat has observed.
Stars confer instant consequence to any film they appear in. Their fees have staggered the public. In the 1920s, Mary
Pickford and Charles Chaplin were the two highest paid employees in the world. Contemporary stars such as Julia
Roberts and Tom Cruise command salaries of many millions per film, so popular are these box-office giants. Some
stars had careers that spanned five decades: Bette Davis and John Wayne, to name just two.

3. For decades, we have looked at our steadily increasing life expectancy rates and proudly proclaimed that Americans’
health has never been better. Recently, however, health organizations and international groups have attempted to
quantify the number of years a person lives with a disability or illness, compared with the number of healthy years.
The World Health Organization summarizes this concept as healthy life expectancy. Simply stated, healthy life
expectancy refers to the number of years a newborn can expect to live in full health, based on current rates of illness
and mortality and also on the quality of their lives. For example, if we could delay the onset of diabetes so that a
person didn’t develop the disease until he or she was 60 years old, rather than developing it at 30, there would be a
dramatic increase in this individual’s healthy life expectancy.

Evaluation: Read the paragraphs. Copy the paragraph and underline the topic sentence and identify where it is
located. (Beginning, Middle, End).After underlining and identifying the topic sentence explain why do you think

Address: 2888 P. Vergel St., Pasay City

Telephone Number: 8372-4501
E-mail Address: pcsciencehs@yahoo.com
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF PASAY CITY
PASAY CITY NATIONAL SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL

that is the topic sentence. 1 point for identifying the topic and 1 point for the explanation) (6 points)
1. My brothers all have jobs. My oldest brother, Edward, is a doctor at the hospital in the centre of the city, and the
second oldest, Daniel, is an accountant in an office near our home. My youngest brother is a policeman. I am the
only brother who is still at school.

Answer: The topic sentence is at the beginning. The underlined sentence states the main idea clearly. Evidenced by
how the supporting sentences contain all of subject's siblings having jobs and thus its topic revolving around the
underlined sentence. The underlined sentence therefore contains the main idea. Regarding the last sentence's topic
that is about the subject itself, it is not the topic sentence as it does not contain any idea that would correlate to the
other sentences as it only states "I am the only brother who is still at school." Its idea would be incomplete as it does
not address the rest of the brothers as implied if it were to stand alone.

2. Miniature golf is both fun and relaxing. Because of the wide variety of course themes, playing each individual course
is like taking a mini-vacation. You can play in exotic locales like jungles or pirate islands. You can travel in time and
play in different places in history. Or you can take a leap of the imagination and play under the sea, in space, or in
alien worlds. For a very low price, you can take a different vacation every time you play!

Answer: The topic sentence is at the beginning. Again, the underlined sentence states the main idea with complete
clarity as it covers every sentence in the paragraph. If you were to analyze it and dissect the paragraph all into
orphaned sentences. Only the underline sentence would have a complete idea when connected to other sentences

3. People lie for different reasons. One common reason is to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. For example, a friend
might ask, “Do you like my new haircut? “ If you think it’s ugly, you might still answer, “Yes.” Another common
reason for lying is to avoid a fight. Say a friend angers you and then asks, “Are you upset with me?” You might
answer, “No,” to avoid an argument. People also lie so that they’ll fit in, as when you listen to a boring person and
politely say, “That’s interesting.” In addition, people lie to avoid spending more time with someone. For instance,
you might lie, “I have to go now."

Answer: The topic sentence is at the beginning. Again, the underlined sentence acts like an umbrella for all of the
sentence within the paragraph. When you dissect the paragraph and attempt to reassemble it, you would find that the
underlined sentence would be where all the sentences revolve around it. No matter the configuration of sentences, it
would remain as the topic sentence.

Address: 2888 P. Vergel St., Pasay City

Telephone Number: 8372-4501
E-mail Address: pcsciencehs@yahoo.com