Материал: How to Write a Paragraph

2

Печатается по решению редакционно-издательского совета Иркутского государственного лингвистического университета

ББК 81. 432.1 - 923

How to write a paragraph [Текст]: методические указания для студентов 3-4 курсов языковых вузов / сост.: Панченко Н.Н., Помешкина Н.А. − Иркутск:

ИГЛУ, 2011. − 27 с.

Настоящие методические указания направлены на формирование и совершенствование коммуникативных умений в письменной речи, а именно, умение реализовывать логико-смысловую структуру письменного текста. «Указания» содержат теоретический материал по написанию абзаца, а также задания, целью которых является совершенствование коммуникативных умений логично и последовательно передавать на письме определённое содержание.

Данные методические указания предназначены для студентов 3-4 курсов языковых вузов и могут использоваться как на уроках практического курса английского языка, так и в рамках самостоятельной работы студентов.

Составители: Панченко Н.Н., кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры английской филологии Иркутского государственного лингвистического университета; Помешкина Н.А., старший преподаватель

кафедры английской филологии Иркутского государственного лингвистического университета

Рецензенты: Щурик Н.В., кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры перевода и переводоведения Иркутского государственного лингвистического университета;

Боброва Е.А., кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков Байкальского государственного университета экономики и права

© Иркутский государственный лингвистический университет, 2011

3

Defining and Looking at the Paragraph

A paragraph is a group of related sentences that develops one main idea. It is often from five to twelve sentences long. A paragraph usually occurs with other paragraphs in a longer piece of writing – an essay, an article, or a letter, for example.

Topic Sentence and Body

Most paragraphs contain one main idea to which all the sentences relate.

The topic sentence states this main idea.

The body of the paragraph develops and supports this main idea with particular facts, details, and examples:

I allow the spiders the run of the house. I figure that any predator that hopes to make a living on whatever smaller creatures might blunder into a four-inch-square bit of space in the corner of the bathroom where the tub meets the floor needs every bit of my support. They catch flies and even field crickets in those webs. Large spiders in barns have been known to trap, wrap, and suck hummingbirds, but there's no danger of that here. I tolerate the webs, only occasionally sweeping away the very dirtiest of them after the spider itself has scrambled to safety. I’m always leaving a bath towel draped over the tub so that the big, haired spiders, who are constantly getting trapped by the tub's smooth sides, can use its rough surface as an exit ramp. Inside the house the spiders have only given me one mild surprise. I washed some dishes and set them to dry over a plastic drainer. Then I wanted a cup of coffee, so I picked from the drainer my mug, which was still warm from the hot rinse water, and across the rim of the mug, strand after strand, was a spider web.

– Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

The first sentence of the paragraph above is the topic sentence. It states the main idea of the paragraph: that the spiders are allowed the run of the house.

The rest of the paragraph, the body, fully explains and supports this statement. The writer first gives a reason for her attitude toward spiders and then gives particular examples of her tolerance of spiders.

The topic sentence is more general than the other sentences in the paragraph. The other sentences in the paragraph provide specific information relating to the topic sentence. Because the topic sentence tells what the entire paragraph is about, it is usually the first sentence, as above. Sometimes the topic sentence occurs elsewhere

4

in the paragraph, for example, as the second sentence after an introduction or as the last sentence. Some paragraphs contain only an implied topic sentence but no stated topic sentence at all.

PRACTICE 1

Find and underline the topic sentence in each paragraph below. Look for the sentence that states the main idea of the entire paragraph.

Paragraph a: The summer picnic gave ladies a chance to show off their baking hands. On the barbecue pit, chickens and spareribs sputtered in their own fat and in a sauce whose recipe was guarded in the family like a scandalous affair. However, every true baking artist could reveal her prize to the delight and criticism of the town. Orange sponge cakes and dark brown mounds dripping Hershey’s chocolate stood layer to layer with ice-white coconuts and light brown caramels. Pound cakes sagged with their buttery weight and small children could no more resist licking the icings than their mothers could avoid slapping the sticky fingers.

– Maya Angelou, Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Paragraph b: Mental health counselors work with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental health. They help individuals deal with such concerns as addictions and substance abuse, parenting, marital problems, suicide, stress management, problems with self-esteem, issues associated with aging, job and career concerns, educational decisions, and other issues of mental and emotional health. Mental health counselors work closely with other mental health specialists, including psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, and school counselors.

– Adapted from Occupational Outlook Handbook, 1992-93

Paragraph c: Eating sugar can be worse than eating nothing. Refined sugar provides only empty calories. It contributes none of the protein, fat, vitamins or minerals needed for its own metabolism in the body, so these nutrients must be obtained elsewhere. Sugar tends to replace nourishing food in the diet. It is a thief that robs us of nutrients. A dietary emphasis on sugar can deplete the body of nutrients. If adequate nutrients are not supplied by the diet – and they tend not to be in a sugar-rich diet – they must be leached from other body tissues before sugar can be metabolized. For this reason, a U.S. Senate committee labeled sugar as an

“antinutrient.”

5

– Janice Fillip, “The Sweet Thief,” Medical Self-Care

Paragraph d: In just half a century, television has covered the planet. More than 2.5 billion people watch TV – on more than 750 million TV sets, in more than 150 countries. For every child born in the world, a television set is manufactured – a quarter of a million every day. Surprisingly, more people have access to television than to telephones. And there are more than sixty thousand transmitters either on the earth's surface or in orbit over our heads. Because of all this activity, the earth actually gives off more energy at certain low frequencies than the sun does.

– Adapted from Michael Winship, Television

PRACTICE 2

Each group of sentences below could be unscrambled and written as a paragraph. Circle the letter of the topic sentence in each group of sentences. Remember:

the topic sentence should state the main idea of the entire paragraph and should be general enough to include all the ideas in the body.

Example

a.Rubies were supposed to stimulate circulation and restore lost vitality.

b.Clear quartz was believed to promote sweet sleep and good dreams.

c.For centuries, minerals and precious stones were thought to possess healing powers.

d.Amethysts were thought to prevent drunkenness.

Sentence c includes the ideas in all the other sentences.

1.

a.Albert Einstein, whose scientific genius awed the world, could not speak until he was four and could not read until he was nine.

b.Inventor Thomas Edison had such severe problems reading, writing, and spelling that he was called "defective from birth," taken out of school, and taught at home.