Paragraph Development

 The word paragraph is associated with two Greek words: para which
means “beyond” or “beside” and graphein which means “to write”.
Generating Ideas
A good way of starting the process of
generating ideas is to write a mission
statement describing your subject,
audience, purpose, and format. You should
be able to answer the following questions:
 Who is my target audience?
What do I want to say?
Why am I writing it?
CENTRAL COMPONENTS OF A
PARAGRAPH
A topic sentence is a sentence that
expresses the main idea of a
paragraph
This sentence is also known as
key sentence or theme sentence.
TOPIC SENTENCE
 Examples of Topic Sentences
 Many FB Posts and videos online contain an unhealthy
amount of violence.
 Notice that this sentence clearly identifies that the key
topic of the paragraph is violence in FB Posts and Videos
online. It also indicates that the remainder of the
paragraph will discuss how much violence online typically
contain, and how/why this violence is unhealthy for
viewers.
Topic Sentence

Beginning a paragraph with a topic

sentence is one of the best ways to
achieve clarity and unity in one’s
writing.
It is not only the most common
paragraph arrangement but also fits most
units of technical information.
The topic sentence states the theme and the
controlling idea specifies the limits of the statement

1. Internet has three advantages.

Topic: Internet
Controlling Idea: three advantages
Starting with this topic the author proceeds to list three
advantages

2. Smoking is harmful for various reasons .

Topic: Smoking
Controlling Idea : many reasons
Starting with this topic the author gives some reasons
why smoking is harmful
Supporting Details

give the paragraph life as it elaborates

on the scope given by the topic
sentence.
 it provides the reader a reason to
trust your authority and deepen the
reader’s understanding of the facts
presented in the topic sentence.
 The Middle : Support Sentences
 Support sentences do just that: support.
 The topic sentences are often enlarged by giving examples, supporting
details , facts or statistics. They can also be enlarged by stating a cause and
noting down its effects.
 These sentences provide the reader with more specific or concrete
details about your topic sentence or main idea of the paragraph.
 Support sentences help to explain the topic and provide interesting
facts.
 Usually there are about three to five support sentences in a paragraph,
depending on the topic.
Adapted from: (Lacie, 2008:p.213)

8
Look at a poor example……
There are two main reasons why I joined the
army. (1) The recruitment office for joining the
Army in Karachi is on Shahra-e-Faisal. (2)
However the officers have to go for their initial
training to the PMA Academy in Kakul. (3)
Karachi is on the top of Arabian Sea.(4) But
Kakul is near the hill station Abbotabad.(5) It is
very green and beautiful in Kakul and on a clear
day snow peaked mountains can be seen.(6) My
friend Asim had never seen mountains before,
so he was happy to be recruited along with me.
(7) It is a very exciting experience for us.
9
Now look at it again:

There are two main reasons why I have chosen

to join the Army.(1) First of all it is a noble
profession.(2) In this profession we are
responsible for defending our country. (3) Also,
our countrymen respect us for our devotion and
patriotism.(4) The second reason is that in this
profession there is a lot of scope for personal
development . (5) Officers are groomed to
develop self-confidence and leadership qualities.
(6) These qualities are useful not only
professionally but also in other real-life
situations.(7) So, joining the Army was a good
10

decision I took.
Clinching sentence/ The End:
Concluding and Transitional Sentences
 These are used to complete a thought
about the topic of the paragraph.
A concluding or clincher sentences ends a
stand-alone paragraph with a more
thought-provoking statement.
 These are grand finales so to speak; the
paragraph is concluded, finished.
(Lacie, 2008:p.215)
 Techniques to Develop Good Paragraphs
 Several methods exist for developing paragraphs. Some writers may find that
simply using an outline helps them to better enhance their skills, while
others may discover that they need to combine different techniques to put
together stronger writing.

Here are some suggestions that may help in developing a good paragraph:
 Creating an outline
 Topic sentence development
 Supporting details
 Using quotations and evidence
 Analyzing quotations and evidence
 Providing strong, relevant information
 Using concise language
 Using clear words
 Crafting a strong conclusion statement
 Utilizing appropriate transition words
 Following proper grammar rules
12
(http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examples-of-paragraph-development.html)
 Devices to achieve good paragraph

 A true paragraph is not just a set of sentences put together but

sentences which are interlinked with each other. This interlinking
provides coherence to the paragraph. There are four significant
devices to achieve this quality. These are:

 Pronouns,
 Repetition of key words and phrases,
 Synonyms and
 Connectives.
(Mohan & Raman, 2007:p. p.112)

13
What is Love?
What is Definition?
 Defining is analyzing,
delineating, exploring,
and discovering the
different aspects of a
particular concept.
 The main purpose of
defining is to give
information to the reader
as to what the author
intends to explain.
DENOTATION VS. CONNOTATION
WHAT IS DENOTATION?
DENOTATION IS THE
PRIMARY, EXPLICIT OR
LITERAL DEFINITION OF A
WORD.
CONNOTATION

 CONNOTATION IS THE SECONDARY MEANING OF A WORD.

IT IS NOT NECESSARILY INCLUDED IN THE DICTIONARY.
ANALYSIS

 IS
THE PROCESS OF BREAKING
DOWN A CONCEPT INTO ITS
CONSTITUENT PARTS. IT ALSO
ENTAILS DETAILING IN WHICH
ONE, RATHER THAN ZOOMING
OUT AND DESCRIBING THE
CONCEPT AS A WHOLE.
COLLOCATION

 MEANS THAT THERE ARE

WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS
THAT ARE USUALLY ALMOST
IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATED
WITH THE CONCEPT YOU
ARE TRYING TO DEFINE.
COMPARISON

 ISASSOCIATING THE
WORD OR EXPRESSION
YOU ARE TRYING TO
DEFINE WITH SOMETHING
ELSE NOT NECESSARILY
SYNONYMOUS WITH IT.
CONTRAST
 IS UNDERSTANDING HOW AT LEAST TWO SIMILAR
CONCEPTS ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.
ETYMOLOGY
 IS THE HISTORY OF A WORD. IT EXPLAINS THE
EVOLUTION OF A WORD OR HOW IT HAS COME TO BE.
EXEMPLIFICATION AND
ILLUSTRATION
 Is defining something by giving examples.
Extended Definition

Is a personal
interpretation to an
abstract and
multifaceted concept. It
goes beyond denotation
and connotation.
 FUNCTION-ANOTHER WAY OF UNDERSTANDING WHAT A
WORD MEANS IS TO KNOW ITS PURPOSE
 NEGATION-IS A TECHNIQUE THAT YOU CAN USE TO
DEFINE A WORD BY EXPLAINING WHAT IT IS NOT.
 SYNONYMS-ARE A SINGLE WORD OR PHRASE THAT SHARE
ALMOST THE SAME MEANING WITH THE CONCEPT YOU
ARE TRYING TO DEFINE.