Practice with Topic Sentences

Instructions: Figure out what a possible topic sentence would be for the following paragraphs, and write it in the box provided. Then check your answer.

1. There are three large banana trees and two coconut trees that give shade. Besides trees, there are numerous well-manicured shrubs that outline the backyard and give it some aesthetic shape. In addition to the shrubs, countless flowers are positioned along each dirt well, magnifying the whole scene with resplendent color. This greenery adds a priceless peace and tranquility to an otherwise crowded and noisy city.

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2. The gathering stage consists of researching, brainstorming, and analyzing in order to come up with a thesis. The next stage, organization, requires you to think about a logical and persuasive arrangement for your various ideas. The writing stage requires you to sit down and, following and outline, construct your essay. The fourth and final stage involves endless revision: going over and over what you've written to make it better.

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3. First, get a couple of eggs from the fridgerator, and after cracking them open, stir them together with a fork until evenly blended. Second, add a little milk and vanilla, and then begin dipping your toast in the mixture until the egg soaks into the bread. Third, cook the pieces on a low temperature in the skillet for five minutes, standing close by to ensure that it doesn't burn. When finished, serve with syrup, whip cream, and your favorite jam.

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4. The Queen directs and orchestrates the actions, instincts, and characters of all other ants in the colony. She controls how much each ant develops, and into what kind of worker--drone, protector, warrior, etc. In addition to the clearly defined social system, ants also have an advanced chemical communication system in which they trade scents and smells with each other through chemicals to communicate. This is why any olfactory interruption in an ant-line disorients the ants. Those persons who nonchalantly step on ants miss out on this fascinating microuniverse.

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5. Not only do you have to know and understand how to work many complex programs to be a marketable, employable worker in the job market, you also--as a consumer--need to know how to navigate online shopping carts, auctions, and other e-commerce strategies. It is no longer just a technical enhancement to what you're doing--knowing the technical side is a requirement to staying afloat. The e-learning requires knowing how to navigate the net to find necessary information online, to communicate with people from afar using proper netiquette to interact and exchange data, and organizing oneself in an online web space in an efficient and trustworthy way.

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