Supporting Sentences
Supporting sentences in a paragraph give information in order to explain, describe, and develop the main idea in the topic sentence.
The examples below are meant to support the following topic sentence:
- I spent the best years of my life helping people build houses in Costa Rica.
Supporting sentences...
Define
- True happiness is finding meaning in life, and that is what I found.
Explain
- I felt so good about myself because all I did was help others all day. I helped families get a new place to live and built schools or community centres where people can learn and work together to make a better life. I felt really good helping others.
Give an example
- For example, the Rodriguez family of 6 people, had their house destroyed by a hurricane. They had lived in a tent for four years. I helped them finally have a proper home again. It was the most amazing gift I have ever given someone.
Unity
It is important that all your supporting sentences are connected to the main idea and that you do not get off topic. For example, here are some supporting sentences that should not be used to support the topic sentence above:
- After Costa Rica, I went to Ecuador for a vacation.
- Costa Rica is beautiful, but it can be dangerous to travel in some areas alone.
These sentences do not support the main idea in the topic sentence. Therefore, they should not be included in the paragraph.
Conclusion
The final sentence of the paragraph often reminds the reader about the topic and main idea of the paragraph. It describes the main idea one more time, but with different words.
| Topic Sentence | Concluding Sentence |
|---|---|
| My father taught me the importance of saving money. | As you can see, money is very important for my dreams so I am thankful my father showed me how to save. |
The concluding sentence sometimes begins with:
- As you can see,
- In short,
- On the whole,
- That's why...
- In conclusion,
- In brief,
- In summary,
Exercise
Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.