Writing (Week 6)

WritingTheParagraph(2)Week6•Whatwehavelearnedlasttime…PartFourTheParagraph•Effectiveparagraph•WaysofDevelopingParagraphsInthisclass,we’lldealwith…PartFourTheParagraph•Effectiveparagraph•WaysofDevelopingParagraphs•Aparagraphisunifiedwhenallthesentencesintheparagrapharefocusedononecentralthoughtoronasingletopic;whenthewriterwishestointroduceanewthoughtortopic,heshouldbeginanewparagraph.•Aparagraphiscoherentwhenitdevelopsnaturallyandsmoothly,andonesentenceleadslogicallytoanother.•Therearemanywaystodevelopaparagraph,forexample,byprocess,bycauseandeffect,bycomparisonandcontrast,etc.•Paragraphsvaryinlength.Inashortexpositoryessayofabout600words,theaverageparagraphmaybeabout100words,orbetweenfourandeightsentences.•Ultimately,thelengthoftheparagraphdependsonitstopic,itspositionintheessayanditsroleinthedevelopmentofthethesisstatement.•Alongparagraphexpressesacomplexidea,andashortonemakesamajortransition,anemphaticstatement,orasummary.Effectiveparagraph•1.Unity•2.Coherence•3.Transition1.Unity•Unityofaparagraphisconcernedwithitscontent.Ifallthesentencesintheparagraphleadtoonecentraltheme,theparagraphisunified.•Thecentralthemeisusuallysummarizedinwhatiscalledthetopicsentence.Itoftenappearsatthebeginningoftheparagraph;however,itmayalsobefoundinthemiddleorattheendofaparagraph.2.Coherence•Coherenceofaparagraphisconcernedwithitsform,oritsorganization.•Thesentencesinaparagraphshouldbearrangedinaclear,logicalorder,andthetransitionsshouldbesmoothandnatural.•Asaresult,thereaderfindsiteasytofollowthewriter’strainofthoughtandunderstandwhatheistalkingabout.3.Transition•Coherencemaynotbeperfectevenifthewriterarrangeshissentencesinaclear,logicalorder.Hehastousegoodtransitionssothatonesentencerunssmoothlytoanother.•Thefollowingwaysmayhelpthewritertoproduceafluentparagraph:•A.Usingparallelstructures•B.Repeatingwordsorwordgroups•C.Usingpronounstorefertonounsinprecedingsentences•D.Beingconsistentinthepersonandnumberofnounsandpronouns,andthetenseofverbs.WaysofDevelopingParagraphs•1.PlanningaParagraph•2.DevelopmentbyTime•3.DevelopmentbyProcess•4.DevelopmentbySpace1.PlanningaParagraph•First,thinkofthetopicorthemeormainidea,andexpressitinacompletesentence(topicsentence).•Thenthinkofthedetailsorexamplesorfactsthatmaybeusedtosupportorexplainthemainidea.•Arrangetheminlogicalorder,andyouhavearoughplanoftheparagraph.•Anoutlinemaybehelpfultobeginners.2.DevelopmentbyTime•Intellingastoryorrecountinganevent,theeasiestandclearestwayistodescribethingsinorderoftime:earlierthingsarementionedbeforelaterthings,thefirstthingfirstandthelastthinglast.3.DevelopmentbyProcess•Whenyouhavetoexplainhowsomethingisdone,youusuallyfollowachronologicalsequenceandgiveastep-by-stepdescription.•Asthestepsmustoccuroneafteranother,theexactorderinwhichtheyarecarriedoutismostimportant.•Ingivinginstructions,imperativesentencesandsentenceswiththeindefinitepronounyouasthesubjectareoftenused.4.DevelopmentbySpace•Beforeyoubegintodescribeaplace,whetheritislargecountryorasmallroom,wehavetodecideontheorderinwhichtonamethedifferentpartsordetails.•Forthis,weshouldfindoutthespacerelationshipsbetweenthemandarrangeourdescriptionaccordingly.•Effectiveparagraph•1.Unity•2.Coherence•3.Transition•WaysofDevelopingParagraphs•1.PlanningaParagraph•2.DevelopmentbyTime•3.DevelopmentbyProcess•4.DevelopmentbySpaceInthisclass,we’lldealwith…Waysofdevelopingaparagraph•DevelopmentbyExamplesorGeneralization•DevelopmentbyComparisonandContrast•DevelopmentbyCauseandEffect•DevelopmentbyClassification•DevelopmentbyDefinition•DevelopmentbyaCombinationofMethodsDevelopmentbyExamplesorGeneralization•Supportingatopicsentencewithexamplesorillustrationsmakesageneralstatementspecificandeasytounderstand.•Anillustrationisacase,aspecimen,aninstance.Vividillustrationslightupabstractideasandmakethemclear,interesting,memorable,orconvincing.Illustrationmaybeasingleexampleoraseriesofexamples.Thistermseveralusefulandinterestingcourseshavebeenoffered.AnIntroductiontoEuropeanCulture,forinstance,givesusalotofbackgroundknowledgeofthehistoryofEuropeanphilosophy,literature,andarts.Fromtimetotimeweseeslideshowsoffamouspaintingandheartapesoffamouspiecesofmusic,andtheymakethelecturesallthemoreinteresting.AmericanSocietyandCultureisanothercoursethatattractsalargeaudience.Theteacher,whovisitedtheUnitedStatesnotlongago,discussesnewtrendsandchangesinAmericanlifeaswellasAmericanhistoryandtraditions.Weliketheseandothercoursesverymuch,becausetheyhelpusnotonlytoimproveourEnglishbutalsotobroadenourvision.•Youmaynoticethatitisnotalwaysnecessarytosay“forexample”or“forinstance”whenanexampleisgiven.•Onepossiblearrangementofdetails(orexamples)inaparagraphisfromthespecifictothegeneral.•Thedetailsarementionedfirst,andthegeneralstatement,whichmaybethetopicsentence,comesattheendoftheparagraph,summarizingthemainideaoftheparagraph.•Detailsorexamplesareusuallyarrangedinclimaticorder:theleastimportantcomesfirst,followedbyothersinorderofincreasingimportance.DevelopmentbyComparisonandContrast•Strictlyspeaking,acomparisonpointsoutthesimilaritiesbetweentwoormor