Television

Topic Sentence Review

Nuclear power is our greatest hope for solving the energy crisis.

Nuclear power is a serious threat to life on the planet.

A good topic sentence 1) states the topic of theparagraph
2) identifies the controlling idea
3) expresses the author’s attitude about the topic
4) must be a grammatically complete sentence!!

Analyzing Topic Sentences
For each statementbelow, identify the topic and then find the controlling idea.
1. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an influential leader.
2. The editorials in our school newspaper are not very objective.
3. The clothes wewear often reflect a lot about our personality.
4. The Japanese subway system is very efficient.
5. Television commercials are often insulting to women.
6. Being a twin has a number ofdisadvantages.
7. The new shopping mall has brought many economic benefits to our community.
8. Another way to reduce the rate of inflation is to balance the federal budget.
9. A final advantage Martina Navratilovahad on the court was her constant aggressiveness.
10. One of the biggest problems with athletic scholarships is that more attention is paid to sports than to education.
11. Some seemingEnglish-Spanish equivalents are deceptive.
12. Another problem for students is finding a part-time job.

Common mistakes writers make when writing topic sentences include:
1) writing topic sentences that are toogeneral.
Many people like to exercise.
2) writing topic sentences that are too narrow.
I swim laps for thirty minutes every morning.
3) writing topic sentences that lack a controlling idea.The subject of this paragraph is my exercise routine.

Evaluating Topic Sentences
Decide which three of the following topic sentences are effective. Discuss what makes the remaining seven topicsentences ineffective.

1. Vacations are expensive.
2. My round-trip plane ticket to Orlando, Florida, cost over $550.
3. There are several ways to save money on a vacation to Florida without sacrificing...