Now we're going to practice paragraphs.
Part 2, Topic Sentence.
You can watch the video and use the worksheet
to take notes and practice why you listen.
This video is part two of a series of four videos
about paragraphs.
This video is Part 2, Topic Sentence.
If you didn't watch Part 1, What is a Paragraph?
I would recommend that you do that
before watching this video.
And after this video, you can watch Part 3, Detail Sentences
and Part 4, Conclusion Sentence.
Part 2 of our video is about the topic sentence.
Topic sentence and main idea.
The topic sentence tells the main idea.
So, what is the main idea?
The main idea is what the paragraph is about.
It is the most important idea in the paragraph.
The topic sentence has two parts.
The topic, and the main point.
Let's look at an example.
The topic is who or what you are writing about.
Let's look back to our topic sentence.
Anna is an excellent student.
In this sentence, what's the topic?
Who or what are we writing about?
Anna, Anna is the topic of our topic sentence.
The main point is what you are saying about the topic.
So, what are we saying in our topic sentence about Anna?
What is our main point?
Our main point is that she is an excellent student.
So the topic and main point give us the topic sentence
and the main idea.
Now let's practice, topic sentence practice, instructions.
Read the paragraph, choose the best topic sentence.
The topic sentence will go in the blank.
Fruits are delicious.
Examples of fruits are apples, oranges, and bananas.
Fruits have many vitamins and minerals,
including Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Potassium.
For these reasons, it is a good idea to eat lots of fruit.
Question one, what is the best topic sentence?
A, everyone loves fruit.
B, fruit is a delicious food to eat.
Or C, fruit is a healthy and tasty food.
Pause the video while you work.
Question two, the topic sentence
that you choose goes in the blank.
First, many schools require two or more years
of foreign language study for graduation.
Secondly, learning other languages helps us communicate
with people from other countries.
Also, knowing a foreign language
can lead to job opportunities.
Finally, for many people, studying foreign languages is fun.
There are many reasons to learn a foreign language.
Question two, what is the best topic sentence?
A, in the USA, many students study Spanish language.
B, it is important to learn foreign languages.
Or C, in college, people need to know foreign languages.
Pause the video while you work.
And three, the topic sentence you choose
will go in the blank.
Children who have a cell phone
can call for help in an emergency.
Also, they can always communicate with their parents.
Finally, cell phones help children
stay in contact with friends.
For these reasons, when possible,
children should have a cell phone.
Question three, what is the best topic sentence?
A, there are many types of cell phones.
B, cell phones help children call friends and parents.
And C, having a cell phone can help children
in several ways.
Pause the video while you work
and then we'll check your answers.
Now let's check our answers.
Question one, what is the best topic sentence?
The answer is C, fruit is a healthy and tasty food.
How do we know that C is the correct answers?
To know, we look back at the detail sentences.
Detail sentence one tells us fruits are delicious.
Detail sentence two gives examples of fruits.
And detail sentence three tells us
that fruits have many vitamins and minerals.
So, which topic sentence do all three details support?
Only one, that's topic sentence C.
What about topic sentence A?
Everyone loves fruit, why isn't that correct?
Well, because none of the details tell us
about a person who loves fruit.
The details tell us about fruit
but not about how people feel about fruit.
So, A can't be correct.
And what about B, why isn't B correct?
Fruit is a delicious food to eat.
Topic sentence one does tell us that fruits are delicious,
but look at topic sentence three.
Topic sentence three tells us about vitamins and minerals.
That doesn't support topic sentence B below.
The only sentence that all three details support
is sentence C.
Number two, what is the best topic sentence?
The answer is B, how do we know this answer is correct?
Well, we can look back to the detail sentences.
Detail sentence one tells us that many schools require
two or more years of foreign language study for graduation.
Detail sentence two tells us that learning foreign languages
can help us communicate with people from other countries.
And detail sentence three tells us
that knowing a foreign language
can lead to job opportunities.
All three of these details explain topic sentence B.
They give reasons why it is important
to learn foreign languages.
Now, why can't the answer be A?
In the USA, many students study Spanish language.
That sentence is true.
Well, A can't be our topic sentence for this paragraph
because this paragraph never mentions Spanish language.
This paragraph is about foreign languages,
not only Spanish language.
So A can't be the topic sentence.
What about C, in college people need
to know foreign languages.
Well, sometimes, sentence C is true,
but, again, C can't be our topic sentence for the paragraph
because this paragraph doesn't talk only about
foreign languages and to college.
It talks about other topics,
so C can't be the topic sentence for this paragraph.
Question three, what is the best topic sentence?
The answer is C, having a cell phone
can help children in several ways.
How do we know that's the correct answer?
Again, we look back at the details
to see which topic sentence they explain and support.
Detail sentence one tells us that cell phones
can help children call for help in an emergency.
Detail sentence two tell us cell phones help children
communicate with their parents.
And detail sentence three tells us cell phones
help children stay in contact with friends.
All of these details explain and support
one of the topic sentences.
And we know it's C because all of these detail sentences
give us reasons that having a cell phone can help children.
Now, why can't the answer be A,
there are many types of cell phones?
Well, does the paragraph discuss types of cell phones?
No, it doesn't discuss types of cell phones,
so A cannot be the topic sentence of this paragraph.
And what about B, cell phones help children
call friends and parents.
Well, two of the detail sentences
do support this topic sentence,
but there's one more, which is detail sentence one,
about calling for help in an emergency.
That detail sentence does not support topic sentence B.
It does support topic sentence C.
Remember, all detail sentences need to explain
and support the topic sentence.
So the correct answer is C.
Topic sentence, the end.
Our topic sentence practice for today is complete.
I hope this video helped you understand
what a topic sentence is and what is does for a paragraph.
Thank you for watching.