Now, we will go over the rules of the different types of paragraphs we have looked at so far. First, the process paragraph:
 

Process Paragraphs.

Subject Form

Normally when writing a sentence we must follow the structure:

SUBJECT – VERB – OBJECT.

However, in a process paragraph we are instructing or giving directions to the reader on how to complete a task. For this purpose we use the imperative form, which removes the subject of the sentence, beginning with the verb.

VERB – OBJECT

So, we write:

Slice [verb] the vegetables [object].

We do not write:

You [subject] slice [v] the vegetables [o].

Or:

I [s] sliced [v] the vegetables [o].

You can, and should, add details to your instructions:

Slice [v] the vegetables [o] thinly [adverb].

Using adverbs and adjectives to give more detail to your instructions ensures that the reader will perform the process you are describing well. Good process writers give as much detail as possible.

If you feel that you must refer to the subject in your sentence, make sure you refer to them in the Second Person (“You”).

First Person:
“I”
Second Person:
“You”
Third Person:
“He/She/ David/My Mom/The Policeman”

For example:

Be careful you do not fry the vegetables too long.

We use the second person (“You”) in a process paragraph because we are telling another person (someone who is not us) how to do something.
Simple Present Tense
In a process paragraph we use the simple present tense because we are telling the reader how to perform the process now (today), as they are reading our paragraph. We are NOT telling them how we did it in the past (yesterday). We are telling them how to do it in the future (after we have written the paragraph).
For example:

Slice the vegetables thinly [today/tomorrow]. (Process Paragraph.)

Not:

I sliced the vegetables thinly [yesterday]. (Narrative Paragraph.)

Narrative ParagraphsSubject Form
With a narrative paragraph it is conventional to write in either the First or Third Person. In the First Person the narrator (“I”) is the subject of the sentence. We therefore write “I” when referring to the subject of the narrative:
E.g.

I fell and brokemy leg. My leg was bleeding.

If, however, we are telling the story of another person (Not us), we write the narrative in the third person:

He fell and broke his leg.
Ian’s leg was bleeding.

She fell and broke her leg.
Dana’s leg was bleeding.

Past Tense

A narrative is usually telling the story of some event or events that happened in the past. We therefore write the narrative in the Past Tense:

I fell and broke my leg. (Past Tense.)

Not:

I fall and break my leg. (Simple Present Tense.

We write:

He went to hospital.

Not:

He goes to hospital.

We write:

Ellie climbed the ladder.

Not:

Ellie climbs the ladder.

Definition Paragraphs

Subject Form

A definition paragraph defines what something is. The subject of each sentence is generally the thing being described. In the first paragraph of your textbook Braille is the subject of almost every sentence because the purpose of the paragraph is to explain to us what Braille is.

Simple Present Tense

A definition sentence is written in the present tense because it is describing something that is true today. Braille is still everything it is defined as in the “Braille” paragraph, and it will continue to be so in the foreseeable future. Such facts are stated in the present tense.

The immune system uses a complex and remarkable communications network to defend the body against infection. Inside the body, millions and millions of cells are organized into sets and subsets. These cells pass information back and forth like clouds of bees swarming around a hive. The result is a sensitive system of checks and balances that produce a prompt, appropriate, and effective immune response.

The topic of this paragraph is “the immune system.” But “the immune system” is not the main idea. The main idea is what the writer is saying about the immune system. Here, the main idea is expressed in the first sentence: The immune system uses a complex and remarkable communications network to defend the body against infection.

Topic/Subject: What the passage is about.
Main idea: The overall fact, feeling, or thought a writer wants to convey about his or her subject.

Much of the writing you will see in textbooks will follow a very basic pattern of general idea + specific support. That is, the writer will state the main idea he or she wants to convey about the topic and then provide support for that idea, usually in the form of specific facts and details.

In the immune system paragraph, for example, the first sentence states the main idea—a general claim about the subject. The rest of the sentences offer specific facts and details to “prove” that the immune system is a complex and effective communication network.

DISTINGUISHING MAIN IDEAS FROM SUPPORTING IDEAS

If you’re not sure whether something is a main idea or a supporting idea, ask yourself the following question: Is the sentence making a general statement, or is it providing specific information? In the paragraph below, for example, most of the sentences (except one) are too specific to be the main idea of the paragraph. Only one sentence—the first—is general enough to serve as an umbrella or net for the whole paragraph.

Snakes

Many people are afraid of snakes, but most snakes aren’t as dangerous as people think they are. There are more than 2,500 different species of snakes around the world. Only a small percentage of those species are poisonous, and only a few species have venom strong enough to kill a human being. Furthermore, snakes bite only 1,000–2,000 people in the United States each year, and only ten of those bites (that’s less than 1%) result in death. Statistically, many other animals are far more dangerous than snakes. In fact, in this country, more people die from dog bites each year than from snakes.

The first thing you need to do when preparing to write an essay is to read and understand the topic question. If you don’t understand the question properly you cannot possibly answer it properly. Generally, these questions are asking you to argue for or against a specific idea. For example, the question on page 46 of your textbook asks if you agree or disagree with the following statement:

Attending a live performance is more enjoyable (is better) than watching the same event on television.

This sentence is a Thesis Statement. It says one thing is better than another. Now the question is asking us if we think this thesis is true or if we think the opposite is true.

If you say that you think the question’s thesis is true, then the thesis of your essay will be the same – however, remember to write your thesis a little differently (paraphrase the thesis statement in the prompt question). If you say that this thesis is wrong, then your thesis statement will be the opposite. Still, you need to write it differently from the prompt. Use synonyms or restructure the sentence if possible.

Another kind of question can be found on page 49 of your textbook.

Some people choose friends who are different from themselves, while others choose friends who are similar to themselves. Do you usually choose friends similar to yourself or different from yourself? Which type have you made the closest friendships with?

This topic question does not make a thesis statement. It does not state that one is better than the other. Rather, it asks which, in your opinion, is better based on your experience. Therefore, in your essay, you must restate the topic question as a thesis statement. Two possible examples are:

I believe that it is better to have friends who are similar to myself rather than friends who are different.

And the argument opposing that is:

I believe that it is better to have friends who are different from myself rather than friends who are similar.

Now we have two thesis statements, both of which answer the topic question. If we can answer the topic question, by writing a thesis statement, we clearly understand the question.

Brainstorming

Now, once we choose our thesis, we need to determine what are the pros and cons of this statement. This is where we brainstorm – try to think of any and all possible reasons for or against our thesis. We do this to find good arguments to support our thesis statement.

So, if our thesis statement is, “Attending a live performance is more enjoyable than watching the same event on television,” we must think of some general reasons to support this idea. These general ideas will become Topic Sentences in the Body of our essay. But after we think of our topic sentence we need Specific Examples to support those ideas. Again, we brainstorm – think of any concrete facts or experiences that can support the topic sentence’s claim to be true.

Structuring the Essay

Next we need to structure our essay. There is a specific formula to structuring an essay. The structure of an essay looks like this:

Paragraph 1: Introduction
· Restate the Topic Question.
· Suggests or summarize the Main Ideas in the body of your essay supporting your Thesis Statement.
· State your Thesis Statement.Paragraph 2: Body
· Write the Topic Sentence (Supporting Idea) for this Paragraph
· Write Specific Examples to Support this Idea.

Paragraph 3/4/5/etc.: Body
· Same as Paragraph 2 (but with Different Supporting Idea and Examples)

Conclusion
· Restate the Thesis
· Summarize the Supporting Ideas that support this Thesis.

So we restate (paraphrase) the Topic Sentence. We state our thesis statement. Now we need to decide which ideas we are going to use to support our thesis. Now, naturally we want to use the strongest, most convincing ideas first. It is always best to hit the reader with the best, strongest argument first, so that they will be more willing to agree with us later in the essay if our arguments get weaker. Also, if we use up our word count and have to throw out some supporting ideas we will have included the best ones in our essay. So we choose the best ideas and put them in the body of our essay with their supporting examples.

How many supporting ideas we include in our essay will depend on the required word count. For an essay of 250-300 words we only have space for one or two supporting arguments. For a 1,000 word essay, we will need maybe four supporting ideas.

Remember, each supporting idea is written in a separate paragraph with its examples. Each argument is a new topic, and each paragraph should have only one topic.

Conclusion

Now to write the conclusion: our concluding paragraph should restate our thesis (in different language to our original thesis statement – we paraphrase it), and summarize our supporting ideas as briefly as possible (in as few words as we can possibly make it). Make sure that when you summarize your arguments you paraphrase them: do not write the same sentences or passages you wrote in the body of your essay.

One method of altering an essay’s language is to use synonyms. A synonym is a word that has the same meaning as, or very similar meaning to, another word. For example, “barren” and “desolate” are two words that both mean “devoid of life”. Thus “desolate” is a synonym for “barren” (and vice versa). Another two words that are synonymous are “area” and “region” Therefore, when summarizing the sentence, “Deserts are barren areas of land”, we can write, “the reading explains that deserts are desolate regions of land.” Our summary has the same meaning as the original sentence, but it is not a direct copy. It is our own sentence. By using synonyms in this way we show that we understand the meaning of the original sentence and that we are capable of writing out own sentence.

A thesaurus is a very useful tool for finding synonyms. However, we must be careful when using synonyms from a thesaurus, because many words are polysemic – they have more than one meaning. As a result, depending on context, a word may be synonymous in one instance, but not in another. For example, if a source sentence reads, “I heard a sound,” we can change the sentence to, “I heard a noise,” and the original meaning is retained. However, if the source sentence is, “The word ‘bear’ and ‘bare’ have the same sound,” the word “noise” is not synonymous. We cannot say, “The word bear and bare have the same noise. For this reason, we must be sure that we understand the precise meaning of a word in the specific sentence we are paraphrasing before we choose a synonym for it.

Another, more complex way to demonstrate our understanding of a text is to paraphrase. Paraphrasing involves changing the grammatical structure of the source sentence while retaining its original meaning. For example, when summarizing the sentence “Deserts are barren areas of land”, instead of writing, “the reading explains that deserts are barren areas of land”, we could summarize, “the reading explains that barren land characterizes desert areas.” Of course, even better would be to paraphrase and use synonyms, thus producing “the reading explains that desolate land characterizes desert regions.” Now we have not only shown that we understand the meaning of the original sentence, but also that we have a vocabulary sufficient enough to use synonyms appropriately and that we are capable of reproducing meaning in our own language (by changing the sentence structure).

Ideally, when paraphrasing, you will do so in fewer words than the source material. One way to do this is to combine separate information from the reading into the one, complex sentence. For example, the reading states:

Deserts are barren areas of land. Little vegetation grows in deserts. This is a consequence of harsh weather conditions and the absence of minerals in the soil of these places.

We can combine the meaning of these three sentences and paraphrase them as:

The reading explains that desolate land characterizes desert regions, resulting from their extreme climates and the absence of soil nutrients in these places, which inhibits plant growth.

With this new, complex sentence, we have expressed the meaning of three sentences from the reading, and shown our understanding of that meaning by reproducing it in our own words.

Using synonyms is relatively easy, but still necessary. Restructuring sentences while retaining their original meaning is much more difficult, and much more important. It is one of the defining characteristics of a good writer to be able to impart information in an original way. It is a skill you must practice constantly if you wish to do it well.

The key to effective highlighting or underlining is to be selective. Don’t highlight or underline anything or everything. If you highlight every second or third sentence, nothing on the page will stand out. Highlight only key words and ideas.

And how do you know what the key words and ideas are? While studying, you should highlight or underline:

words that are defined in the text
main ideas
key details that support or explain main ideas
words, grammar rules, and other items that you need to remember
ideas or concepts that are new to you
vocabulary words and idiomatic expressions that you are unsure about

For example, when reading something in English, ask yourself the following questions (and write down your answers):

1. What is this passage about (general topic)?

2. What is the main idea (what is being said about the topic)?

3. What is the author’s purpose?

4. What is the meaning of this word as it is used in the sentence?

5. What does “it” refer to in this passage?

6. Is this sentence a main idea or supporting evidence?