The topic sentence is like an introduction to your paragraph telling the reader what it will be about. In some ways, it gives an overview of what will be explained later in the paragraph.
Why is a topic sentence important?
A topic sentence will tell the reader what to expect and if used correctly it will tell the reader what to expect from the rest of the paragraph. It can help the essay to flow better, and make it coherent and easy to read.
Example topic sentences:
Dogs are extremely common pets in this day and age.
Cats seem to be the pet of choice in many parts of the world, especially for people living in apartments in major cities.
These are the beginning of the body paragraphs for the 2 topic sentences above. Can you see which ones should go together?
Whenever you visit someone’s house, there is a good chance that they will one a cat as they are incredibly well-loved.
Dogs make great companions and are known as ‘man’s best friend’ after all…
They should go as follows:
Dogs are extremely common pets in this day and age.
Dogs make great companions and are known as ‘man’s best friend’ after all…
Cats seem to be the pet of choice in many parts of the world, especially for people living in apartments in major cities.
Whenever you visit someone’s house, there is a good chance that they will one a cat as they are incredibly well-loved.
The topic sentence and the body paragraph work together and should be telling the same story to the reader. For this reason, having a topic sentence taking about dogs and a body paragraph talking about cats does not work.
A more academic example of a topic sentence and body paragraph is given below. Make sure to answer the question at the end to practice making topic sentences.
The system of email has revolutionized the way in which businesses communicate with each other and customers.
This has made correspondence simple, easy and almost instantaneously. Meaning that workers can get in touch with co-workers in other countries by email at the touch of a button. Which in turn has made for a more efficient and streamlined workplace.
As you can see the topic sentence and body paragraph work together.
What is a possible reason for traffic congestion in a city?
Write a topic sentence explaining the possible reason for this.
Topic Sentence
Banning cars from city centres will encourage more people to walk by opening up pedestrian zones where cars are not allowed.
Body paragraph
Pollution will be reduced, which may lead to a reduction in respiratory illnesses such as asthma and chest infections. Leading to a happier and healthier population. On top of that, noise levels will be minimized making the city centre a more peaceful and harmonious place to be. This in turn could lessen the likelihood of stress and anxiety in its residents.
This topic sentence and body paragraph do not work together. One talks about banning cars to make people walk but the other is talking about reducing pollution. They are not telling the same story.
So what do we do? Change the topic sentence or change the body paragraph.
New topic sentence
Banning cars from city centers could lead to many benefits for its population including health, happiness and phycological well-being advantages.
New body paragraph
Banning cars from city centers will encourage more people to walk by opening up pedestrian zones where cars are not allowed.
If cars are prohibited from the inner city, this will result in a lot more people getting around on foot. Walking is fantastic exercise so many people will be achieving more exercise without even realizing it. On top of that, this increased foot traffic may well bring more potential customers for businesses such as retail outlets and cafe’s.
Choosing a new body paragraph or writing a new topic sentence will fix the problem. So make sure your entire paragraph is telling the same story and talking about the same thing and your essay will be clear and coherent.
Your turn
What is an advantage of wearing a uniform to school or work?
Write the topic sentences and the first line of the rest of your body paragraph.
Write your topic sentence in the comments, I’d love to see what you did.
One reply on “What is a topic Sentence?”
[…] should be first included. It is typically just 1 or 2 sentences and is going to act a little like a topic sentence for the whole […]