Do you use topic sentences? What are topic sentences? Does my mum still love me?
Using topic sentences is a great way to make your writing really fantastic. Let's go!
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Let me show you an essay. Read it and then I will ask you some questions about the organization and
the structure. Then we will talk about how we can use topic sentences to make
your writing really fantastic. Toby, that sounds great! I know, of course it does!
Yeah. Here is the introduction to an essay. Read it now and answer three questions.
One: what is the topic of the essay? Two: what is the writer trying to do with the essay?
Three: how will the writer do this? Pause the video here and read the introduction.
One: the topic is the broadest most general subject matter of the essay.
The topic of this essay is investing in public transportation. Two: in this essay the writer is
trying to persuade us that investment in public transportation infrastructure is a good thing.
Three: the writer will do this by talking about three things: air pollution, social and economic
inequality, and promoting economic growth. I haven't shown you this to show you a really
fantastic introduction. No. Instead I've shown you this to provide you with some context for the
body paragraphs that we are about to look at. The introduction has already given us a template which
the essay will follow. The essay will possess three body paragraphs. One will discuss pollution,
the other will discuss social and economic inequality and the third will discuss economic
growth. This sounds like a fantastic essay, right!? I wonder who wrote it?! Each of these
paragraphs will be discussing these ideas in relation to what the essay is trying to do
that is to persuade the reader that the government should invest more money in public transportation.
Yes? Yes! So then let's have a look at these paragraphs! Here are the body paragraphs.
Each of these body paragraphs supports the introduction in that they argue in support
of increasing investment in public transport. Each body paragraph is about the central topic:
investing in public transportation, and each paragraph makes a claim in relation to the topic.
Try and identify the claim of each paragraph. Pause the video here.
So the first paragraph. The claim is that it can help to reduce traffic congestion and lower
emissions. The second paragraph. The claim is that it may reduce inequality in society.
And the third paragraph and the claim is that it promotes economic growth by connecting individuals
to job opportunities. Notice that this information is the very first sentence of each paragraph.
These are called topic sentences. Topic sentences! Finally we have met our friend the topic sentence!
I love topic sentences in fact I wish I were one! So then a topic sentence usually comes at the
beginning of a paragraph. A topic sentence must contain a topic and this is generally the subject
matter of the essay. And a topic sentence must contain a claim and this is an argument related
to the point of the essay. Basically, the argument that you are going to support in your paragraph.
Topic sentences are super important in English writing because they let the reader know what
they are going to read before they read it. Okay so imagine that you are walking through a cave and
a cave is really dark and scary and there could be all sorts of animals and dangers lying ahead
of you so what do you bring to a cave? You bring a torch! And this lets you see what is in front
of you before you get there. And that's kind of like what a topic sentence is. The essay
is a dark scary cave and the topic sentence is your torch. It lets the reader know what
is going to happen to them in the future. Does that work? Okay then just remember then that a
topic sentence must contain a topic and this is the general subject matter of the essay and it
must contain a claim and this is an argument that you are making in support of what the essay is
trying to do related to the topic. And that sounds really confusing so let's look at some examples.
Let's look at some topic sentences and while we do I want you to be asking yourselves two
questions. Number one: what is the topic. And number two: what is the claim. Okay right let's
go! Almost no one except perhaps the richest of people can provide exotic animals with the
conditions necessary for their well-being. So what is the topic? Here the topic is exotic animals or
maybe keeping exotic animals as pets. The claim is that, well, basically no one can provide them
with the conditions necessary for their well-being and I'm guessing that this supports the central
argument of the essay which is don't keep exotic animals as pets. But isn't that amazing!? Just
from one topic sentence we have been able to understand: number one: the topic of the entire
essay. Number two: the claim that is going to be supported in this paragraph and number three
the central argument of the entire essay. I mean, that's incredible! A topic sentence is
like a really high-powered torch in a cave because imagine right that your essay is....okay okay yeah
forget it forget it. Let's do another one. Although some people argue that they enjoy the
feel of paper books, ebooks are often considerably more portable and convenient. The topic here is
ebook readers. How fascinating! I would love to read an essay about ebook readers, wouldn't
you? And the claim is that they are considerably more portable and convenient than paper books. So
I'm guessing then that this essay in general is going to be about ebook readers. This paragraph
in particular is going to be supporting the claim that ebook readers are more convenient
and portable than paper books and I'm going to assume that the entire essay is going to be
arguing that ebook readers are superior to paper books. Again, pretty bright torch right guys!?
So now that we've established the topic sentences really are awesome little things, why don't we try
to make one ourselves? Oh yes please Toby! Let's do it! Here is a paragraph but oh my goodness it
does not have a topic sentence! How terrible! Pause the video here and try to write one.
The topic here is learning English so that must be mentioned in the topic sentence. The claim is
that it is important for educational purposes so here are some possible topic sentences.
Learning English is crucial for those seeking higher education.
Having a good knowledge of English can be a significant advantage in the world of Education.
Learning English is not only useful for traveling but also for education.
There are many possibilities here. The important thing is that you mentioned
the topic learning English and the claim that learning English is important for education.
So that's the basic idea of a topic sentence but we can improve it by adding two things:
number one: a sequencer and number two: a hedge. And now you're thinking "Toby what are they?!".
Don't worry! Toby (who is me) is going to tell you (who is you) right now! A sequencer is a linking
device that signals to the reader where the paragraph is in relation to the rest of the essay.
This may sound confusing but don't worry because it's not. A sequencer is a word like firstly,
secondly, lastly, in conclusion. You get the idea.... A hedge on the other hand is something
that reduces the certainty of a claim. An example of a hedge could be a modal verb like COULD
or MAY or MIGHT. Anything that takes something from 100 certainty to 99 or 98 or 97 or 96 or
95... yeah... is a hedge. So then let's have a look at some topic sentences and
see if you can identify the Hedge and the sequencer. Lastly abandoning the five-day
work week in favor of the four day work week would likely improve employee productivity.
So what is the topic? The topic is the four day work week. What is the claim? The claim is that it
would likely increase employee productivity. What is the sequencer? Lastly. And what is the Hedge?
likely. Yeah, so how did you do?! Let's do one more before you try and make your
own! Furthermore, although some may argue that mandatory voting is against Freedom of Choice,
making voting obligatory may improve political representation. So what is the topic? The topic
is making voting obligatory or mandatory voting. And what is the claim? The claim is that it may
improve political representation. What is the sequencer? The sequencer is FURTHERMORE.
And what is the Hedge? The Hedge is MAY. Crikey, mate! That was fun! Should we make our own?! Yes!
So to help you here is the introduction to the essay. Pause the video here and try to
understand what the topic of the essay is and what the essay is trying to do.
The topic is running. The essay is going to try and convince us that
this is a fantastic Sport and that we should all be doing it because
it has physical benefits mental benefits and it is accessible.
Here are the body paragraphs. None of them have a topic sentence. Oh no! So
of course it is your job to try and write one for each. Remember we need a topic and a claim.
Do your best to include an appropriate sequencer and a hedge when you think it is appropriate.
Good luck. Pause the video here and have a go.
So let's see how we did. The topic of all the paragraphs is running, of course. The
claim of the first paragraph is that running has physical benefits. One possible example could be:
the most obvious reason to take up running is the innumerable physical benefits it may have.
Here the sequencer is "the most obvious reason" and the Hedge is "may".
What did you say? Let me know in the comments because I'm genuinely interested because I'm
an interested guy and you're an interesting human being. The claim of paragraph 2 is that
running has psychological benefits. One possible topic sentence could be
"moreover many report that running has improved their mental health".
Here the sequencer is "moreover". The Hedge is "many". Not everyone says this and thus "many"
reduces the certainty of the claim. Again let me know what you said below because
yeah.... And in the final body paragraph the claim is that running is accessible to everyone.
Not only does running have mental and physical benefits but it is also accessible for all.
Here the sequencer is an inversion that links this paragraph to the prior two.
There is no hedge in this topic sentence. And well there we have it! Three marvellous topic sentences
and wow that makes me so happy! Are you happy? Because I know I'm happy! I've already told you
I'm happy! And I've told you that I'm happy! It's the truth and I never lie and with that
we're finished! Now you know everything you need to know about topic sentences to make
your writing really clear and fantastic, a bit like walking through a cave with a torch... If
you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button subscribe, if you haven't already,
leave a comment down below. My name is Toby and this was SMASH English.... [Music]