This might be done by writing a sentence that contains both subordinate and independent clauses, as in the example below.Īlthough Young Woman with a Water Pitcher depicts an unknown, middle-class woman at an ordinary task, the image is more than 'realistic' the painter has imposed his own order upon it to strengthen it.

Topic sentences at the beginning of a paragraph frequently combine with a transition from the previous paragraph. Here are a few approaches.Ĭomplex sentences. Repeated too often, any method grows wearisome.

Rather, you should work to vary the form your topic sentences take. There's no set formula for writing a topic sentence. Think of these sentences as asking and answering two critical questions: How does the phenomenon you're discussing operate? Why does it operate as it does? If the first makes a claim, the second might reflect on that claim, explaining it further. Sometimes topic sentences are actually two or even three sentences long. Topic sentences and signposts deliver an essay's structure and meaning to a reader, so they are useful diagnostic tools to the writer-they let you know if your thesis is arguable-and essential guides to the reader They are neither the first thing a writer needs to address (thesis and the broad strokes of an essay's structure are) nor are they the last (that's when you attend to sentence-level editing and polishing). Topic sentences and signposts occupy a middle ground in the writing process. They show how far the essay's argument has progressed vis-ˆ-vis the claims of the thesis. Signposts, as their name suggests, prepare the reader for a change in the argument's direction. Topic sentences also establish their relevance right away, making clear why the points they're making are important to the essay's main ideas. They show the relationship of each paragraph to the essay's thesis, telegraph the point of a paragraph, and tell your reader what to expect in the paragraph that follows. Topic sentences reveal the main point of a paragraph. Topic sentences and signposts make an essay's claims clear to a reader.

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