|
The Topic Sentence:
A good topic sentence
has three main characteristics:
- A clear subject
- A controlling idea
- A strong action verb
Look for these characteristics
in the sentences on the chart below. Note how
the controlling idea limits the scope of
the topic and controls its development.
| Subject |
Predicate |
Controlling
Idea |
| 1. Many parents |
face challenges |
adopting
an older child. |
| 2. Misunderstandings |
often
occur |
between
parents and teenagers. |
| 3.
A school-aged child |
may have problems |
moving to a new
neighborhood. |
| Practice
expanding the three simple sentences above
into complex and compound sentences. Which
reads better? Evaluate the relative importance
of each clause within the sentence to answer
this question. If the information in one of
the clauses has less importance, the complex
sentence will be preferred. |
| 1 a. (Complex
sentence) |
|
| 1 b. (Compound
sentence) |
|
| 2a. (Complex
sentence) |
|
| 2b. (Compound
sentence) |
|
| 3a. (Complex
sentence) |
|
| 3b. (Compound
sentence) |
| |
|
