 Assalamu alaikum viewers, welcome to virtual university. If you remember in the last lesson, we started to look at paragraph writing and we considered the different parts of a paragraph. We even examined a paragraph which was my neighbors and we noted that a good paragraph has three major structural parts, a topic sentence, supporting sentences and a concluding sentence. In addition to these three structural parts, a good paragraph also has elements of unity and coherence. Now initially, we will look at the first element unity. Now by unity, we mean that only one main idea is stated in the topic sentence and the coherence that follows each and every supporting sentence develops that idea. If you are writing on dreams and you say in your topic sentence that you are going to discuss two important characteristics of dreams, then you should discuss only those two characteristics. Only those two characteristics do not discuss anything else such as what you dreamt last night, the night before or for instance, if you were asked to write on television and in your topic sentence, you say that you are going to discuss the effects of TV on society, then discuss only that. Do not discuss anything else such as the invention of television. Now the second element when you are writing, let us say a paragraph, you have to keep in mind the second element is coherence which is very important in a paragraph. In fact in all writing, now by coherence we mean that the paragraph is easy to read and to understand why because of two things. First that the supporting sentences are in some kind of logical order and number two your ideas are connected by the use of appropriate transitional words. Now we shall look at the topic sentence from the following points. We are going to examine the topic sentence from the point of view of its characteristics, from the point of view of its position, where in a paragraph does the topic sentence occur, where does it come. Then we will have some practice so that you recognize topic sentences, then we will look at parts of a topic sentence because a topic sentence also has two parts and we will have some more practice in writing topic sentences. And at the end of today's lesson, you will have practice in writing concluding sentences of a paragraph and we will wind up the lesson with a brief review of what you have done in today's class, in today's lesson. Well, a well written paragraph has five elements, a well written paragraph has number one a topic sentence, number two supporting sentences, number three a concluding sentence. Now these are the structural parts, the other two parts the other two elements are unity and coherence. Now if you remember your earlier lessons with me, we talked a lot about topic sentence in the reading lessons and there we discussed the topic sentence in detail. Now you looked at the topic sentence from the reader's point of view, at that time we examined the topic sentence from the reader's point of view. Now in today's lesson you will work at the topic sentence from the writer's point of view. The topic sentence is the most important sentence in a paragraph as it indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss and for this reason it is a helpful guide, it is a helpful guide both for the reader and for the writer. A topic sentence is a complete sentence, it contains a verb, a subject, a verb and a compliment. Now what is a compliment? A compliment is a word or a group of words that are used to complete the meaning of a verb, that was number one the important thing that it is a complete sentence with a verb, a subject and a compliment. And the second part is that a topic sentence contains a topic as well as a controlling idea. Let me repeat it for you, there are two things about the topic sentence, number one that it must be a complete sentence, number two that it contains a topic as well as a controlling idea. That is that the topic sentence first names the topic and then it limits the topic to a specific area that is to be discussed in the paragraph. Example if you have this sentence driving on the motorway requires skill and agility. Driving on the motorway requires skill and agility. Now that is the topic sentence of a paragraph, it tells you it names the topic, the topic is driving on the motorway and then it limits the topic to a specific area which is driving which is skill and agility. In the same way there is another sentence take this one platinum a precious metal is used for two purposes, platinum a precious metal is used for two purposes. Now in that sentence which happens to be the topic sentence of a paragraph the topic is named and that is the topic is about platinum and then it goes on to limit that the paragraph is going to be about the two purposes for which it is used. Notice that these two sentences are general statements they do not contain any specific details, right. Now the other thing is that your topic sentence may appear anywhere in the paragraph. It is usually the first or the last sentence of the paragraph. The topic sentence may also be the first, may also be the first and the last sentence of the paragraph. Now we will look at three sentences, three paragraphs sorry and you examine how these paragraphs have been written. Paragraph number one, my study table is well organized. I keep ballpoint pens and colored pencils in the top right drawer. Writing paper is in the middle right drawer. The bottom right side has all the other material I might need from paper clips to stables and tapes. The top of the desk is clear except for a study lamp and a monthly planner. The left side of the desk has two drawers. The bottom one is a file drawer where I keep my lecture notes from each class and in the top drawer that is where I keep peanuts, raisins, chocolates and chewing gum that I snack on while I study. Now have you noticed that in this paragraph, the paragraph began with a topic sentence which was my study table is well organized. The first sentence is a general statement. The main idea that the writer's desk is well organized is in the first sentence. The rest of the sentences show us how well organized the desk is. Now have you got the point? When you are writing you make a general statement in which you say what you are going to talk about and you also limit. You tell your reader that this is what I am going to confine myself to and the rest of the sentences that follow in your writing support or elaborate what you have said in the first sentence, the topic sentence. Sorry I should not be saying the first sentence, but the topic sentence. Now let us look at another paragraph, I will read it out for you. Do you have problems with sleeping? By following a few single guidelines, many sleep problems can be avoided. First do not drink tea or coffee close to bedtime, next do not exercise at least three hours before bedtime. Lastly work out a sleep routine, try to go to bed at the same time and try to get up at the same time. Here the first sentence introduces the topic of sleep problems by asking a question. Now a question can never be a topic sentence. It is not making a statement, it is the second sentence by following a few simple guidelines many sleep problems can be avoided. This states the author's main idea about that topic. So topic sentences may even come later than the second sentence. Now I will read out the third paragraph for you and see if you can find the topic sentence in this paragraph. Today world wide communications are taken for granted through telephone, TV and the internet we learn instantly what happens all over the world. In nation times however military leaders relied on a much slower less technical method of sending important messages that is they relied on pigeons. Human pigeons are trained to return home from long distances. The birds were kept in cages in the military camps, when a messenger had to be sent sorry when a message had to be sent it was tied to the bird's leg. The bird was then released and it flew back to its base camp after delivering the message. Now at first glance sentence number one appears to state the main idea as sentence two gives examples of world wide communication but it is not. sentence one is not. Sentence three which also states a general idea but points the reader towards another direction as is signaled by the word however. Sentences four five six and seven they provide details to support sentence number three and it becomes clear that sentence number one and two they lead up to the true main idea of the paragraph which is stated in sentence three. This is clear because sentence says four five and six they all give information that explains in detail the general statement in sentence three. Sometimes a topic sentence may end a paragraph when this is so the previous sentences build up to the main idea. Now here we have an example of a paragraph in which the topic sentence comes last. I will read out the paragraph for you and you notice where the topic sentence occurs. Probably in the coming decade there will be more use of home computers. People will use them to shop, to cast boats, file taxes and to take college and university exams also they will be used for playing games. Experts say the work week will be reduced to less than thirty two hours moreover robots will not only take over many routine tasks, many routine service jobs but many dangerous jobs as well. As these forecasts suggest the coming decade is likely to be a decade of home computers. Notice the first sentence and the sentences that follow they are all building up look at the last sentence and you find that the last sentence is the topic sentence. As these forecasts suggest the coming decade is likely to be a decade of home computers. Now in this paragraph it came right at the end. So there is no fixed position but it is possible for the topic sentence to occur at the beginning somewhere in the middle or at the end. It can also come at the beginning and again at the end. Now a quick review to see how much you have grasped of what we have done so far. Now to find out that you have learned so far answer the following questions. You will see these questions on your screen. Just look at them and decide which one is the correct answer. Number one the topic sentence of a paragraph states three things A. Supporting details B. Introducing material and C. Main idea. Now which one do you think is the correct answer? Does the topic sentence introduce supporting details? Does it introduce material or does it state the main idea? The correct answer is number C. Number two to find the topic sentence of a paragraph look for a general statement. Now is this statement true or false? Look at the sentence again to find the topic sentence of a paragraph look for a general statement. It is true you have to look for a general statement. Number three the supporting details of a paragraph are more general than the main idea. The supporting details of a paragraph are more general than the main idea. Is this a true statement or a false statement? It is obvious it is a false statement because supporting details cannot be general it is the topic sentence that is general. So that was number three was a false statement. Number four the topic sentence may appear in a paragraph A only once B more than once. Now which one is the correct answer? Is it A or is it B? The correct answer is B because a topic sentence may it may appear more than once right. Number five question number five when the main idea is stated in the last sentence of a paragraph it is likely to be a summary a conclusion well or number C which could be either A or B a concluding sentence the main idea when if the main idea is stated in the last sentence of a paragraph it is likely to be a conclusion or a summary. So it is either if the correct answer is C it is either A or B. Now we shall look at the parts of a topic sentence. A topic sentence has two parts the topic and the controlling idea the topic names the subject or the main idea of the paragraph and the controlling idea makes a specific comment about the topic this specific comment about the topic indicates what the rest of the paragraph will be about the controlling idea just specifies the topic it is the comment that limits the topic to a specific aspect right that is going to be discussed. For example you have this sentence driving in Lahore requires skill and nerves of steel driving in Lahore requires skill and nerves of steel the topic is driving in Lahore the controlling idea is driving in Lahore the controlling idea makes a specific comment about the topic and the comment is it requires skill and nerves of steel in the same way look at another sentence living in an English speaking country improves the English of a foreign student living in an English speaking country improves the English of a foreign student what is the topic the topic is living in an English speaking country the comment is that it improves the English of a foreign student in the same way take another sentence Sri Lanka is famous for its tea gardens Sri Lanka is famous for its tea gardens the topic is Sri Lanka the controlling idea is that it is famous for its tea gardens it does not say for its tourist spots for its ancient culture no the sentence says Sri Lanka is famous for its tea gardens the comment has limited the paragraph to tea gardens and another sentence television commercials are misleading television commercials are misleading the topic is television commercials and there is a comment over there which says that they are misleading right now we will move on to writing topic sentences we will have some practice in writing a topic sentence now you remember that a topic a topic sentence should be neither too general nor too specific it ought to be just general and number two it should not have too many unrelated ideas Sri Lanka is famous for its temperate climate its many tea gardens and its ancient temples now in this sentence you have got too many controlling ideas which would require three separate paragraphs now could you write a topic sentence for each of the following topics you will see the topic on your screen and for practice sake could you just write a sentence a topic sentence for the following sentence the topic is the effect of TV on children just write one sentence alright I hope you have written one write a sentence which has a topic and a controlling idea you could have written television is seriously affecting children their attention span has shortened notably they are now so used to a TV being on that they have trouble working in quiet classrooms alright take another topic the topic is books on travel or travel books if you were asked to write on travel books could you write a topic sentence which gives the theme the topic the main idea as well as a comment on it make an effort you could have a sentence like say books of travel have always been popular right and continue on to say that even in ancient times travelers tales were eagerly read you could name a few travelers well known travelers are Marco Polo Ibn Battuta and there was this Chinese gentleman who visited the subcontinent I forgotten his name at the moment so just learn to write have some practice in writing a topic sentence books on travel have always been popular that would be a good topic sentence now if you were given the topic gardens what would you write as a topic sentence I would say that a beautiful garden is a constant source of pleasure and then you could go on to talk about some pleasure that you get from sitting in a garden for instance you could say that you sit in a garden for for the peace and quiet that is there you could say that it is a place of retreat it is a place of rest so that write a sentence which states the main idea as well as the comment on it take another topic if you were given the topic popular entertainment it is a very general subject try to write a sentence for this topic you could say look at the music seen in Pakistan and you could have a good topic sentence like popular entertainment such as pop music has undergone great changes that would be a good topic sentence which tells you what this your topic is about and you are also showing the reader what you are limiting yourself to you are limiting yourself to pop music and you say that pop music has undergone a lot of change so the reader expects that you will be talking about the changes that have occurred take another topic the benefits of foreign travel if you had that as a topic to write on what would you have for a topic sentence you could write for instance I would write something like whether travel in foreign lands will benefit the traveler and I could I would say that you could write the travel in foreign lands will benefit the traveler that depends entirely on the traveler himself and you could that that could be your opening sentence and you could try to carry on from there now we have looked at the topic sentence its position where it occurs in a paragraph now let us look at the third part which is the concluding sentence you have learnt to write a good topic sentence for a paragraph you should also learn how to write a sentence which could be the concluding sentence now a concluding sentence is not essential remember that but it is often helpful to the reader because it reminds the reader reminds him or her of the important points that have been made in the paragraph so what I said was that it is not essential to have a concluding sentence in a paragraph but if there is one it is usually the purpose of a concluding sentence in a paragraph is that it signals the end of the paragraph right and for this you will have to use words like in conclusion in summary or finally or at the end that would signal to your reader that the paragraph is coming to an end right now the other purpose is that it gives a final comment on your topic I will show you two more examples which will illustrate the different types of concluding sentence the concluding sentence may repeat the main idea of the topic sentence in different words or it may summarize the main points of the paragraph which are not stated in the topic sentence now look at the next paragraph you will see this paragraph on your screen and look at the final sentence and look at the first sentence most people think of synonyms as meaning having the same meaning but it is easy to show that synonyms is synonyms are always partial never complete tall and high are usually considered synonyms but while we can have both a tall building and a high building we cannot have a tall boy and a high boy you cannot have these two they do not go together therefore we should be careful in using words because many words that we consider synonyms turn out not to be really synonyms now look at the first sentence of the paragraph the sentence was most people think of synonyms as meaning having the same meaning but it is easy to show that synonyms are always partial never complete and look at the last sentence therefore we should be careful in choosing words because many words that we consider synonymous turn out not to be really synonyms now I hope you noticed that the last sentence it repeats the main idea of the topic sentence so the concluding sentence usually repeats what is said in the topic sentence let us look at another sentence another paragraph notice the first sentence and the last sentence some people delight in inflicting pain on harmless little creatures such as flies worms and frogs they also take pleasure in killing them this is very cruel of them they are not to do so because it is wrong to cause unnecessary pain to any creature besides from being cruel to little animals men are often led to become cruel to their fellow men fellow creatures and they learn to do very cruel deeds whenever a man is tempted to hurt or kill any such creature he should pause to think how he would feel if any creature more powerful than him were to do the same to him let us go back to the first sentence the first sentence was some people delight in inflicting pain on harmless little creatures such as flies worms and frogs and let us look at the last sentence the last sentence is whenever a man is tempted to hurt or kill any such creature he should pause to think how he would feel if any creature more powerful than him were to do the same to him it is repeating the concluding sentence summarizes the main two points not specifically stated in the topic sentence now we will have a short practice of writing concluding sentences you will see a number of paragraphs on your screen and just decide which would be the topic sentence first you decide which would be the topic sentence then you add a good concluding sentence and remember to add a word that signals that this is the last concluding sentence and the words are finally to sum up at last in conclusion these are the usual words that signal the end of writing take the first paragraph read it quickly I shall read it for you look at look for the topic sentence once you have located it then move to the to the end and see if you can write a concluding sentence write it on a piece of paper over there make an attempt and then I shall tell you what I have in mind let us see if your concluding sentence and my concluding sentence are similar paragraph number one the scientist is more interested in doing scientific work than in defining it he sometimes says that a piece of work or a book is unscientific and what he actually means by that phrase is that it is inexact that is one word it is not in an exact it is one word that it is inexact that it is badly arranged that it jumps to conclusions without sufficient evidence or that the author has allowed his personal prejudices to influence his report. Now can you write a concluding sentence a sentence that sums up what has been said over there you can write by scientific work then we mean a work which is as exact as is possible orderly in arrangement and it is based on sound and sufficient evidence you would be repeating what is said in that paragraph you would be summarizing in your own words what has been said in that paragraph let us look at the next paragraph again read it look at the topic sentence go down to the end notice that there is no concluding sentence you have to give or write the concluding sentence I will read out the paragraph for you in the meantime just think of a of an appropriate concluding sentence paragraph two the habit of economy can easily be formed if we have a will to save the first important thing in the in the formation of this habit as in the case of many others is to make a beginning it does not matter with what sum we begin we should make use of the first opportunity to make a beginning secondly we should keep this habit alive by consistent effort all this is possible only by a strong will power if once we decide to save we should start immediately look at the topics the first sentence it says the habit of economy can easily be formed if we have the will to save go down to the bottom of the paragraph and notice what it says at the end at the end it says if once we decide to save we should start immediately so you can have a concluding statement which sums up what is said earlier and you can write thus comma it is quite easy to form the habit of economy one sentence which sums up which repeats what has been said earlier another paragraph by now you should understand what the format is the format is read the paragraph look for the topic sentence go down to the last sentence and write or suggest a concluding sentence a sentence that sums up what has been said earlier you may repeat in your own words but do sum up what you have read paragraph 3 I will read it for you there are numerous everyday words in English that have come from other languages English speakers relaxing at home for example may put on pajamas which is a Persian word a sleep in the afternoon is called a siesta a Spanish word when we wash our hair we shampoo it this word is from the south Indian word champi full stop go back look at the paragraph what does it say in the first sentence there are numerous everyday words in the English language that have come from other languages and then specific examples are given to support what has been said in the first sentence and you are required to add a concluding sentence a sentence that either repeats or sums up what has been said earlier so what have you got down I would suggest you can write to conclude we can say that English has enriched its vocabulary by words from many languages of the world simple as that all you were required to do was sum up but you must remember that you must give the signal the transitional word that signals that you are ending the paragraph so that was practice in writing concluding sentences. Now a little bit of writing practice for homework you have a number of topics given you on your screen choose a topic from the list and write a paragraph not more than four to five sentences in length but you have to follow certain steps the first step is that you begin the paragraph with a good topic sentence step number two is that you write general supporting sentences that either explain or support or illustrate the topic sentence and number three you write a good concluding sentence and the topics are there are three topics given you the topics are number one arranged marriages number two population explosion in Pakistan and number three computers anyone from those three write a good topic sentence that would be the first sentence write two or three sentences or four sentences in support of what you say in your topic sentence and then wind up the paragraph by writing one concluding sentence now there is a time limit you do not have the whole day to write this you should not take more than fifteen minutes in all time yourself use thirteen minutes to write and you must spend two minutes rereading what you have written checking going over what you have written so in all you will have fifteen minutes and with that we come to the end of our lesson in today's lesson we looked at the topic sentence how a topic sentence has two parts the main idea and the comment and then we looked at writing a concluding sentence we had some practice in writing concluding sentences and for further practice you can write a paragraph and show it to your instructor so happy writing see you next time Allah Hafiz.