At the end of this lesson students should be able to:
- Generate a topic sentence for a good narrative or descriptive essay;
- Develop sentences from topic sentences
Duration: 45 minutes
Activity: Teacher follows the process as in Day 2, but this time engaging students in development of topic sentence. Teacher asks students to follow the link in development of topic sentence found online. Teacher leads students to develop sentences in support of topic sentences.
Sample topic: Cat
There is some truth in the common saying that while dogs become attached to persons, cats are generally attached to places. A dog will follow his master anywhere, but a cat keeps to the house it is used to; and even when the house changes hand, the cat will remain there, so long as it is kindly treated by the new owners. A cat does not seem to be capable of the personal devotion often shown by a dog. It thinks most of its own comfort and its love is only cupboard love.
Notice the construction of this paragraph. It begins with the topical sentence, which clearly states the subject. The following sentence explains the statement by expanding it; and the last sentence, by giving a reason for the attachment of a cat to a particular house forms a fitting conclusion. The paragraph is therefore a Unity, treating of one characteristic of cat character: and it follows an orderly plan. The paragraph on the cat is descriptive.
Now take an example of a narrative paragraph, in which you are required to tell a story.
Motor-Car Accident
It is the mad craze for speed that is responsible for many motor accidents. Only last year I witnessed what might have been a fatal accident on the Enugu-Onitsha Road. I was motoring down from Awka; and as I was nearing the Ninth Mile corner, I came upon the wreckage of two cars on the road. The smash had been caused by a car coming down, which swept round a sharp corner at forty miles an hour and crashed into a car coming up. Happily no one was killed; but several were badly injured, and the two cars were wrecked. To drive at such a speed down a twisting mountain road is simply to court disaster.
In this paragraph, the topical sentence is again first; the narrative that follows is simply an illustration of the statement in the topical sentence that many accidents are caused by a mad craze for speed; and the concluding sentence sums the paragraph up by a restatement of the topical sentence in other words.
The following is an example of a reflective paragraph with topic sentence placed as the last sentence.
Mercy
To forgive an injury is often considered to be a sign of weakness; it is really a sign of strength. It is easy to allow oneself to be carried away by resentment and hate into an act of vengeance; but it takes a strong character to restrain those natural passions. The man who forgives an injury proves himself to be the superior of the man who wronged him, and puts the wrong-doer to shame. Forgiveness may even turn a foe into a friend. So mercy is the noblest form of revenge.
The topical sentence of a paragraph is usually the first, or at latest the second; and this is the best place for it. But for the sake of variety it may be placed in a different position. In this paragraph, it comes last – “So mercy is the noblest form of revenge”. But the opening sentence is also a good introduction to the subject, and is calculated to arouse interest by stating an apparent paradox.
