PARAGRAPH
·
The
Elements of a Paragraph
A paragraph is a group of related sentences
which develops one main idea or one main topic. A good paragraph has five basic
elements: a topic, a topic sentence, supporting sentences, unity and coherence.
A topic is what the paragraph is about or what the paragraph discusses. This
topic is usually expressed in a topic sentence.
Thus, a topic sentence announces what you are
going to write. A good topic sentence has a focused controlling idea which
limits or controls and announces the aspect of the topic you are going to
write, Supporting sentences develop what you state about your topic in the
controlling idea. A focused controlling idea in the topic sentence helps you
produce supporting sentences which are relevant with the controlling idea.
Supporting sentences that are all relevant
with the controlling idea in the topic sentence produce a unified paragraph. A
unified paragraph discusses only one main idea stated in the topic sentence, or
more specifically in the controlling idea. Besides being unified, a good
paragraph should also be coherent. A paragraph is coherent if the movement from
one sentence to the next is logical and smooth. The following paragraph
checklist help you check your paragraph to see if your paragraph is already
good.
·
Paragraph
checklist
a. Topic sentence
1.
Does
your topic sentence have a controlling idea? ____
2.
Is the
controlling idea already focused? ____
b. Supporting sentences
Unity
Do all of the supporting sentences directly supports the controlling idea in
the topic sentence? ____
Coherence
1.
Do you
apply key noun repetition and pronouns appropriately?____
2.
Do you
use transition signals appropriately? ____
3.
Are all
of your sentences arranged logically? ____
A.
The Narrative Paragraph
Narrative paragraph is a paragraph about a story or series of events
organized by time order. In other words, when you write a narrative paragraph,
it means that you write a story. And a good narrative paragraph has three
important qualities. First, it tells a series of events or actions. Second, the
events are organized chronologically or by time sequence. And the last, it
shows the writer’s point or purpose.
Narration is more often about past story, but sometimes it is also about
repeated present story. In this module, the first is referred to as past
narration and the second as present narration. Past and present narration has
several similarities and differs mainly in when the story takes place.
Therefore, in writing both present and past narration, you need to keep
yourself aware with your choice of verb tenses.
To achieve coherence in your narration, you should make use of
appropriate time expressions to show clearly to your readers the relationship
among the events in your story. Besides, your skill in choosing appropriate
tenses is also very important for this purpose.
Last but not least, make yourself sure that you keep in your mind your
point or purpose of writing. It will help you achieve unity in your paragraph
by telling you which ideas to include and to exclude.
·
Description
of A Place
In descriptive writing, actually you are painting a picture with words.
The topic sentence for a descriptive paragraph should give the topic (the place
you are describing) and the controlling idea (the dominant impression, idea, or
attitude). In descriptive writing, therefore, you need to support the dominant
impression with descriptive details. Descriptive details are concrete and
specific. They are word that appeals to one of our five senses – sight, smell,
touch, taste, or hearing. Always strive to make details specific as vague
descriptions suggest that your thought is vague and imprecise. Moreover,
specific details makes writing more interesting.
In descriptive writing it is often important for reader to be able to
“see” in their mind the place being described. To help readers see the place,
you must organize the supporting details in your description according to
space. In spatial organization, you first describe ion part of the place, then
move on to describe another part of the place, and so on. Thus, you show the
relationship of things to each other in space and guide the reader through
space.
·
Description
of a Person
In describing a person, you could describe the physical appearance, the
behavior, or both. At this point, the discussion is restricted to physical
appearance, since for the most part the principle of organization is spatial.
You can describe a person’s appearance in many ways. You can describe the
person’s clothes, manner of walking, color and style of hair, facial
appearance, body shape, and expression. You can also describe the person’s way
of talking. Just what you select depends on the topic and the purpose.
Remember, you are the painter with words so you want your description to
be clear, coherent – logically arranged. A strong controlling idea and more
descriptive details make the description more interesting. When describing a
person, you are not obliged to describe every single details about the person’s
appearance. Sometimes it is better to focus on one or two outstanding features
that convey something about the person’s character. Such a description gives
the reader the general impression about the person.
C.
THE EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH
·
Specific
Details as Support
In expository writing, the writer is trying to prove the point he is
making by providing the reader with supports. Good proof is factual detail.
Factual details are facts and information that explain the main idea and
make it specific. They provide answers to the questions who, what, why, when,
where, and how. Factual details make the main idea believable to the reader and
thus provide effective support. Therefore, a writer must test each detail to
see whether or not it will prove the controlling idea. Not only should support
be specific; it should be relevant as well. Remember, all of the details in a
paragraph must support the controlling idea of the topic sentence and all the
sentences in the paragraph should relate to the controlling idea in order to
make the paragraph unified.
·
Examples
and Illustrations as Support
When you use examples and illustrations to support your point
(controlling idea):
1. Make sure that your examples or illustrations
really support your point.
2. Introduce them with appropriate transition
signals. Three common transitions are for example, for instance, and e.g. (from
Latin exempli gratia which means "for example" in English).
·
Organization
of Examples and Details
These are the important points you should
have learned from this unit:
1. When a paragraph contains several details and
examples, it is necessary to consider the order of their presentation. In the
expository paragraph, there is no prescribed or set pattern of organization to
follow; the ordering depends upon the subject and often upon the author’s
logic. However, there are some common patterns that might be considered
guidelines: order of importance, order of familiarity, and chronological order.
2.
Each
method of organization has special words and expressions.
