Few of us could swim in the ocean comfortably after

seeing filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s terrifying movie

Jaws. In his hit movie E.T. the Extraterrestrial,
Spielberg created a sweet, funny film about a being
from outer space. In 1985, he gave us The Color
Purple, a moving picture about a black family in the
South that earned him a Best Director nomination.
Steven Spielberg has created some of the most
successful and popular films of the 1970s and 1980s.
PARAGRAPH

F. K . D U M A L AY
PARAGRAPH
 is group of related ideas.
 consists of sentences that are related to one
another and are all about the same person, place,
thing, or an idea.

TOPIC
 is the focus of the entire paragraph.
TOPIC SENTENCE
 is being supported, developed, and explained by the
paragraph.
 is often, but not always, being expressed by one
sentence.
 Few of us could swim in the ocean comfortably after
seeing filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s terrifying movie
Jaws. In his hit movie E.T. the Extraterrestrial,
Spielberg created a sweet, funny film about a being
from outer space. In 1985, he gave us The Color
Purple, a moving picture about a black family in the
South that earned him a Best Director nomination.
Steven Spielberg has created some of the most
successful and popular films of the 1970s and 1980s.
 Few of us could swim in the ocean comfortably after
seeing filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s terrifying movie
Jaws. In his hit movie E.T. the Extraterrestrial,
Spielberg created a sweet, funny film about a being
from outer space. In 1985, he gave us The Color
Purple, a moving picture about a black family in the
South that earned him a Best Director nomination.
Steven Spielberg has created some of the most
successful and popular films of the 1970s and 1980s.
The topic sentence may be found at the
beginning, in the middle, or at the end
of a paragraph.

However, although most paragraphs do have a topic

sentence, some do not. Such paragraphs contain only
details or specifics that, taken together, point to the
main idea.
SUPPORTING DETAILS
 are those facts and ideas that prove or explain
the main idea of the paragraph.
 vary in degree of importance.
 Sample Text

There are 1,500 species of bacteria and approximately

8,500 species of birds. The carrot family alone has about
3,500 species, and there are 15,000 known species of wild
orchids. Within the insect family, the problem becomes
more complex. For example, there about 300,000 species of
beetles. In fact, certain species are disappearing from the
earth before we can even identify and classify them.
 Sample Text

When subjects are exposed to red light, respiratory

movements increase; exposure to blue decreases respiratory
movements. Similarly, eye blinks increase in frequency when
eyes are exposed to red light and decrease when exposed to
blue. This seems consistent to intuitive feelings about being blue
more soothing and red being more arousing. After changing a
school’s walls from orange to white to blue, the blood pressure
of the students decreased while their academic performance
improved.
STUDY THESE.
• My hometown is famous because it is located by Wheaton River, which
is very wide, and because it is built near an unusually steep hill called
Wheaton Hill.

• There are two reasons why some people like to buy cars with automatic
transmission and two reasons why others like cars with manual
transmission.

• Clouds are white.