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Hello, this is Dan
You've probably heard many times how important a topic sentence is
But do you know what it actually does?
Listen to a couple of my students, Tom and Mary, discuss a homework task I've set them
about topic sentences to find out more
Hi Tom ... Hey Mary
Have you finished the classwork Daniel asked us to work on?
Oh, you mean the one asking us to select the right topic sentence for a paragraph? ... Yes
Have you got got any ideas?
Yes
The topic of the passage is China's ageing population
Take a look at the paragraph
Don't you think 'A' is the best choice? It has the key words such as "China" and "elderly people"
But, I remember Daniel told us that a topic sentence expresses the main idea
of the paragraph
it seems that sentence 'A' cannot fully explain what the paragraph is discussing
I see your point
But suppose 'A' is wrong, what about 'B'
It is focusing on the population policies, and the paragraph criticises the
policies
Yes, it is
but don't you think this topic sentence is a bit too general for the paragraph?
Oh, I remember that Daniel told us that a good topic sentence shows how the key
idea of the paragraph is connected to the thesis
Then, what is the thesis of the topic?
Let me check
The thesis statement can be easily found in the introduction
OK I found it
The thesis of the topic is
This problem is particularly serious in China because of the government's
inconsistent population policies and the changing attitudes of young
couples towards having children
Great, it seems that 'C' should be the right one
The idea echoes the first point mentioned in the thesis ... What is that?
Do you see the key phrases here?
major cause
governments' inconsistency and the population policies
I'm still not very sure about this one
Shall we go to Daniel and check with him? ... Good idea! ... Let's go.
Oh, there he is
Hello Daniel
Can we talk to you for a while? ... Hello Tom, hello Mary, sure, how can I help you?
We've studied the three choices of topic sentence given here
We'd like to check with you the correct answer
Mmmm
Which one have you chosen?
We are quite certain that option 'A' is not the topic sentence of the paragraph
Mmm
No 'A' is not the right one
and Tom said
option 'C' is the correct one
Tom is right
remember
the correct answer is 'C'
because it
supports the essay's thesis statement
advises the readers of the subject to be discussed
and, how the paragraph will discuss it
Remember, a well organised paragraph supports or develops a single controlling idea
which is expressed in a sentence called the topic sentence
Ok, that's all for me and don't forget you can get more help with your essay
writing and topic sentences from the CILL website
as well as the teacher at the CILL Helpdesk