Transcript The topic sentence is

University of Dammam
Course: General English
Book: North Star
Basic / Low Intermediate
By
Natasha Haugnes & Beth Maher
Lecture 6
II. FOCUS ON WRITING
The main focus here is on how to write a
paragraph.
What is a paragraph?
A paragraph is two or more sentences about
ONE main idea.
Parts of a paragraph
Parts of a
paragraph
Topic
sentence
Supporting
sentences
Concluding
sentence
How do you know a paragraph has stopped or started?
It starts by leaving a space at the beginning and the first word starts
with a capital letter.(This is called indentation). After finishing the
paragraph we must put a full stop.
Topic sentence
What is the topic sentence?
The topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph.
What does it do?
It introduces the main idea of the paragraph.
How do we write it?
Summarize the main idea of the paragraph in one
sentence. It shows what the whole paragraph is about.
Example
The Farm School
The Farm School in Athol, Massachusetts, is a working farm that
takes in schoolchildren. They stay for three days to learn about life on a
farm, to taste a little bit of nature, and to understand the value of hard
work. With the help from the Farm School teachers , the children do the
work of the farmers: they milk the cows; plant the vegetables; collect the
eggs; make cheese; brush Mac, the horse; or fix buildings and fences.
Working on the farm makes kids feel great about themselves and their
hard work.
What is this paragraph about?
It’s about the working Farm School in Athol.
The topic sentence is:
The Farm School(Subject) in Athol, Massachusetts, is(Verb) a working farm
that takes in schoolchildren.
Notice that the sentence must have a subject and a verb.
Supporting sentences
What are the supporting sentences?
They are one or more sentences that come after the topic
sentence, making up the body of the paragraph.
What do they do?
They explain or discuss the main idea. They might give
examples or explain why the main idea is true.
How do we write them?
We should give supporting facts, details, and examples.
Example
The Farm School
The Farm School in Athol, Massachusetts, is a working farm that
takes in schoolchildren. They stay for three days to learn about life on a
farm, to taste a little bit of nature, and to understand the value of hard
work. With the help from the Farm School teachers , the children do the
work of the farmers: they milk the cows; plant the vegetables; collect the
eggs; make cheese; brush Mac, the horse; or fix buildings and fences.
Working on the farm makes kids feel great about themselves and their
hard work.
The supporting sentences are:
They stay for three days to learn about life on a farm, to taste a little bit of
nature, and to understand the value of hard work. With the help from the
Farm School teachers , the children do the work of the farmers: they milk the
cows; plant the vegetables; collect the eggs; make cheese; brush Mac, the
horse; or fix buildings and fences.
They give details about what the children do in this school.
Concluding sentence
What is the concluding sentence?
It is the concluding or closing sentence. Sometimes
at the end of the paragraph there is a sentence that
repeats the main idea of the paragraph.
What does it do?
It restates the main idea of the paragraph.
How do we write it?
We rewrite the main idea using different words.
Example
The Farm School
The Farm School in Athol, Massachusetts, is a working farm
that takes in schoolchildren. They stay for three days to learn about
life on a farm, to taste a little bit of nature, and to understand the
value of hard work. With the help from the Farm School teachers ,
the children do the work of the farmers: they milk the cows; plant
the vegetables; collect the eggs; make cheese; brush Mac, the
horse; or fix buildings and fences. Working on the farm makes kids
feel great about themselves and their hard work.
The concluding sentence is:
Working on the farm makes kids feel great about themselves and their
hard work.
It shows the importance of this school.
Writing a Paragraph
What do we do to write a paragraph?
Prewriting Paragraphs
Writing Paragraphs
Thinking and organizing
ideas.
Turning ideas into
sentences
6 Prewriting Steps.
4 writing Steps.
6 Prewriting steps
1. Think Carefully about what you are going to write.
Ask yourself: - what question am I going to
answer in this paragraph?
- how can I best answer this question?
- what is the most important part of my
answer?
- how can I make the introductory sentence?
- what facts or ideas can I use to support my
introductory sentence?
- how can I make this paragraph interesting?
6 Prewriting steps
2. Write out your answers to the above questions.
3. Collect facts related to your paragrah and write down your ideas.
4. Find the main idea of your paragraph. Choose the most
important point you are going to present.
5. Organize your facts and ideas in a way that develops your main
ideas.
6. Write the concluding sentence by repeating your main idea using
different words.
4 writing steps
1. Write the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and closing
sentences.
2. Write clear and simple sentences to express your meaning .
3. Focus on the main idea of your paragraph.
4. Use the dictionary to help you find additional words to express
your ideas.
Answer the exercises on pages 32,33.
Grammar
(A) Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense refers to:
1- Action which occurred at a specific time in the past
Ex: I ate lunch at noon today.
He drove to work yesterday.
2- Completed action:
Ex: She finally mailed the letter.
Sara finished her report.
3- Past Status:
Ex: John was still singing.
Jane was a movie star.
Forming the Simple Past Tense
Regular verbs:
With most verbs , the simple past is crested simply by adding –ED. However,
with some verbs, you need to add –D or change the ending a little.
Here are the rules:
Verbs ending in
how to maket he
simple tense
Examples
E
Add –D
live-> lived
Consonant +y
change y to I, then add
–ED
try->tried
cry-> cried
One vowel + One
consonant (but NOT w
or y)
double the consonant
then add –ED
tap->tapped
commit->committed
Anything else including add –ED
W
Boil-> boiled
Fill->filled
Hand->handed
Show->showed
Forming the Simple Past Tense
irregular verbs:
Many verbs have irregular past tense forms.
Here are some of these irregular forms:
Be -> was/were
do -> did
have -> had
eat -> ate
get -> got
go -> went
make -> made
say -> said
Forming the Simple Past Tense
The negative statements:
Use didn’t (Did not) + base form of the verb, except with the verb be.
Examples:
need -> didn’t need
want -> didn’t want
be -> wasn’t/weren’t
Exercises
A. Change the verbs in the following sentence into past tense:
1.
2.
Yesterday, I (go) to the restaurant with a client.
We (drive) around the parking lot for 20 minutes in order to find
a parking space.
3. When we (arrive) at the restaurant, the place (is) full.
4. The waitress (ask) us if we (have) reservations.
5. I (say) “No, my secretary (forget) to make them”.
6. The waitress (tell) us to come back in two hours.
7. My client and I slowly (walk) back to the car.
8. Then we (see) a small grocery store.
9. We (stop) in the grocery store and (buy) some sandwiches.
10. That (is) better than waiting for two hours.
Common problems with the Past Tense
1- Using the present tense when the past tense is required:
Ex: Last week, Tonya fix her neighbor's car
Incorrect
Last week, Tonya fixed her neighbor's car
Correct
2- Using “was” with verbs in the past tense:
Ex: It was happened one night in September
It happened one night in September
Incorrect
Correct
Exercises
B. Correct the mistakes in the following sentences:
1. Last night, Samantha have pizza for supper.
2. My pet lizard was dies last month.
3. Yesterday I spend two hours cleaning my living
room.
4. This morning before coming to class, jack eats two
bowls of cereal.
5. What was happened to your leg?.