Kinds of Paragraphs

Four types of paragraphs:

Narrative Persuasive
Descriptive Expository
Kinds of Paragraphs
Narrative Paragraphs
* tell a story
• Descriptive Paragraphs
* offer specific details and sensory images to
give a picture
• Persuasive Paragraphs
* express an opinion or try to convince reader
• Expository Paragraphs
* presents facts, opinions, definition of terms, and
examples to inform the reader about a specific topic.
Organization of Paragraphs

Each sentence in a paragraph fits together

around a single, central idea.
The sentences with details can be organized
differently.
Knowing some of the ways the details in
paragraphs are organized can help you in
several ways:
Organization of Paragraphs

See what is important and what’s not.

Understand the author’s purpose.
Remember what you read.
Ways of Organizing Paragraphs

Time Order
- Chronological order
Location Order
- Geographic or spatial order
• Cause Effect Order
- Problem – solution
• Comparison – Contrast Order
- similarities and differences
Ways of Organizing Paragraphs

Cause – Effect Order

- Problem – solution
• Comparison – Contrast Order
- Similarities and differences
Time Order: Series of Events
From Call of the Wild by Jack London
But [Dave] held out till camp was reached when his driver
mad a place for him by the fire. Morning found him too weak to
travel. At harness-up time, he tried to crawl to his driver. By
convulsive efforts, he got on his feet, staggered, and fell. Then
he wormed his way forward slowly toward where the harnesses
were being put on his mates. He would advance his forelegs and
drag up his body with a sort of hitching movement when he would
advance his forelegs and hitch ahead again a few more inches.
His strength left him, and the last his mates saw of him he lay
gasping in the snow and yearning toward them. But they could
hear him mournfully howling till they passed out of sight behind a
belt of river timber.
Series of Events

1. Camp was reached.

2. Morning found Dave weak.
3. At harness-up time, Dave was too weak to
run.
4. Then he wormed his way forward.
5. The last his mates saw of him, he lay
gasping in the snow.
6. They heard him howling as they passed out of sight.
Location Order: Some paragraphs
move in an organized way from one
location to another.
From The Cay by Theodore Taylor
I was asleep on the second floor of our narrow, gabled green
house in Willemstad, on the island of Curacao, the largest of the
Dutch islands just off the coast of Venezuela. I remember that on
that moonless night in February1942, they attacked the big Lago
oil refinery on Aruba, the sister island west of us. Then they blew
up six of our small lake tankers, the tubby ones that still bring
crude oil from Lake Maracaibo to the refinery, Curacaosche
Petroleum Maatschappij, to be made into gasoline, kerosene,
and diesel oil. One German sub was even sighted off Willemstad
at dawn.
Cause – Effect Order
from Slavery in the United States by Charles Ball
Cause
“When [the slave traders] put us in irons, to be sent to our place of
confinement in the ship, the men who fastened the irons on these mothers,
took the children out of their hands and threw them over the side of the ship
into the water. When this was done, two of the women leaped overboard after
the children– the third was already confined by a chain to another woman and
could not get into the water, but in struggling to disengage herself, she broke
her arm, and died a few days after, of a fever. One of the two women who
were in the river, was carried down by the weight of her irons before she could
be rescued; but the other was taken up by some men in a boat and brought on
board. This woman threw herself overboard one night when we were at sea.

Three effects
Cause – Effect Organizer

1. Two women leaped overboard after their children.

Men threw
Children
overboard 2. Another woman broke her arm and later died.

3. One rescued woman threw herself overboard again.

Order of Importance

When a paragraph is organized by order of

importance, the writer may begin with the most
important idea and mover to the least important
idea.
Or, the writer can begin with examples and
details, and build up to the larger, more
important idea.
Most Important to Least Important
Main Ideas

From Creating America

As the Native Americans of the Plains battled to be
free, the buffalo herds that they depended upon for
survival dwindled. At one time, 30 million buffalo
roamed the Plains. However, hired hunters killed the
animals to feed crews building railroads. Others shot
buffalo as a sport or to supply factories with leather
for robes, shoes, and belts. From 1872 to 1882,
hunters killed more than one million buffalo each
year. Four Details
Most Important Idea First

Main Idea: Buffalo herds dwindled.

________________________________________

Detail # 4:
Detail #1: Detail # 2: Detail #3: Between 1872
30 million buffalo Killed to feed Killed for sport And 1882, more
Roaming the Crews Or to be used Than one
Plains. Building the For shoes, robes, Million killed each
Railroad. Or belts Year.
Least Important to Most Important
From Creating America
During the height of the fur trade, mountain men Three Details
worked some streams so heavily that they killed
off the animals. This forced the trappers to search
for new streams where beaver lived. The mountain
men’s explorations provided Americans with some
of the earliest firsthand knowledge of the Far West.
This knowledge, and the trails the mountain men blazed,
made it possible for later pioneers to move west.
Main Idea
Least Important to Most Important

Most important Idea last

Detail # 1

Mountain men killed off all animals in some places.

Detail #2
Trappers searched for new streams where beaver lived.

Detail #3
Explorations led to earliest firsthand knowledge of Far West.
Main Idea
Mountain men blazed the first trails that allowed pioneers to move west.
Comparison – Contrast Order

When a paragraph follows comparison contrast

order, the writer shows how one thing is like or
unlike another.
In the following paragraph, the writer compares
something unfamiliar (wolves) with something
that is familiar (dogs).
 Comparison-Contrast Order

From Gray Wolf, Red Wolf by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Subject of
comparison Wolves look similar to German shepherd and husky
dogs, but their legs are longer, their chests are
narrower, and their feet are bigger. Wolf tails generally
hang down, while dog tails often curl up over their
backs. Wolves have a scent gland located on the top of
their tails that dogs lack.
 Comparison Contrast Order

Wolves vs. Dogs

Part Wolves Dogs
Legs Longer Shorter
Chests Narrower Smaller
Feet Bigger Smaller
Tail Hangs down Curls upward
Scent Special scent No scent
Gland gland in tail
Classification Order

When one or more paragraphs follow

classification order, the writer tries to show
broad similarities.
Writers often need to name categories to make it
clear how one group is alike or different from
another.
Classification Order

From Big Blue Ocean by Bill Nye

Up high and shallow, or down low and deep,
everywhere you go in the ocean you find living things.
And fish aren’t the only things out there. Birds (like
penguins), reptiles (like sea turtles), mammals (like
whales), not to mention tons of animals without
backbones, called “invertebrates” [in-VERT-uh-brits]
(like squid), and tons and tons of plants (like seaweed)
all depend on the ocean to survive.
Main Categories
 Classification Paragraphs

Classification paragraphs
are like a chart put into
words.
Living things in the
ocean:

Birds Reptiles Mammals Invertebrate Plants

Penquins Sea turtles Whales Squid seaweed