Identifying paragraphs. Paragraphs explained. Planning paragraphs. Punctuating a paragraph. Sorting information into paragraphs. Summarising paragraphs. Using paragraphs. Writing your ideas with paragraphs. Expanding: Stating at great length or more comprehensively an idea or assertion already expressed. Analyzing: Breaking an assertion down into its constituent parts in order to clarify or evaluate it. Defining: Stating the meaning of a word or words previously or subsequently used.
Describing: Naming one or more features of an object or concept, to help the reader imagine it precisely or understand it fully. Exemplifying: Giving an illustration of what is meant by a previous statement or giving a concrete instance that will help make the point credible. If it begins with one focus or major point of discussion, it should not end with another or wander within different ideas.
Coherence is the trait that makes the paragraph easily understandable to a reader. You can help create coherence in your paragraphs by creating logical bridges and verbal bridges.
A topic sentence is a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea or thesis the paragraph is going to deal with. Although not all paragraphs have clear-cut topic sentences, and despite the fact that topic sentences can occur anywhere in the paragraph as the first sentence, the last sentence, or somewhere in the middle , an easy way to make sure your reader understands the topic of the paragraph is to put your topic sentence near the beginning of the paragraph.
This is a good general rule for less experienced writers, although it is not the only way to do it. Regardless of whether you include an explicit topic sentence or not, you should be able to easily summarize what the paragraph is about. The topic which is introduced by the topic sentence should be discussed fully and adequately. A number of other techniques that you can use to establish coherence in paragraphs are described below.
Repeat key words or phrases. Particularly in paragraphs in which you define or identify an important idea or theory, be consistent in how you refer to it. This consistency and repetition will bind the paragraph together and help your reader understand your definition or description. Create parallel structures. Parallel structures are created by constructing two or more phrases or sentences that have the same grammatical structure and use the same parts of speech.
By creating parallel structures you make your sentences clearer and easier to read. In addition, repeating a pattern in a series of consecutive sentences helps your reader see the connections between ideas. In the paragraph above about scientists and the sense of sight, several sentences in the body of the paragraph have been constructed in a parallel way.
The parallel structures which have been emphasized help the reader see that the paragraph is organized as a set of examples of a general statement. Be consistent in point of view, verb tense, and number. Consistency in point of view, verb tense, and number is a subtle but important aspect of coherence.
0コメント