Unit 1 A Summary Paragraph

• TOPIC: PRODIGY
• WRITING GENRE:A SUMMARY PARAGRAPH
UNIT 1

Objectives
 In the lesson today, you will…
Review the parts of a paragraph
Learn how to write a summary paragraph
Learn how to identify and correct sentence
fragments
Practice writing a summary paragraph about a
prodigy/genius of your choice

Are these statements True or False?
 A paragraph is a group of sentences.
 A paragraph can have more than one focus.
 There are three types of sentences in a paragraph: a topic
sentence, supporting sentences, a concluding sentence.
 It is optional to include a topic sentence in a paragraph.
 A topic sentence includes a topic and a controlling idea.
 The topic sentence of a paragraph should always be at the
beginning.
 Supporting sentences give more information to develop the
topic sentence.

What is a paragraph?
 A paragraph is a group of related sentences that
discuss one main idea.
 The paragraph should be long enough to
develop the main idea clearly.
 We mark a paragraph by indenting the first
word about 1cm from the left margin.

Sample paragraph
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important
characteristics. First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to
corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins and ornamental
purposes. Gold never needs to be polished and will remain beautiful
forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains as untarnished today as
the day it was made 25 centuries ago. Another important characteristic of
gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For many years, it has been
used in hundreds of industrial applications such as photography and
dentistry. The most recent use of gold is in astronauts’ suits. Astronauts
wear gold-plated heat shields for protection when they go outside
spaceships in space. In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its
beauty but also for its utility.

What are there in a paragraph?
•Tell the readers the topic and main
idea of the paragraph
Topic
sentence
•Develop, explain and give details
about the idea of the topic
Supporting
sentences
•Restate the topic sentence,
summarize the paragraph, make
prediction, give advice or suggestions
Concluding
sentence

Writing topic sentence
 Remember three points:
A topic sentence must be complete
A topic sentence should be neither too general nor
too specific.
A topic sentence should have a controlling idea.
(Course book, pages 27-30)

Writing supporting sentences
 Good supporting sentences:
Explain or prove the topic sentence
Are specific and factual
Can be examples, statistics, or quotations

Writing concluding sentence
 A good concluding sentence
includes a suitable transition signal
summarizes the important points briefly or
restates the topic sentence in different words

WRITING TASK 1
Write a summary paragraph about a
prodigy/genius of your choice

A SUMMARY PARAGRAPH
A summary paragraph identifies and extracts the
main idea from a text, leaving out less important
details.
When you write a summary paragraph about a
prodigy/genius, you select and summarize some
main information about that person based on
what you have found.

BRAINSTORMING
What kinds of information do you want to know about a genius?
A genius
…..
…..
……
……
….
….

BRAINSTORMING
Name of
the genius
His/her job
His/her
hometown
His/her
achievement
His/her
special
abilities
….
….

Choose a person from the list below and
do a search
Leslie Lemke
Henriette Seth-F
StephenWiltshire
Kim Peek
Alonzo Clemons
Gregory Blackstock
Jedediah Buxton
Ellen Bourdeaux
[or you can choose a person you want]

Make an outline
 Topic sentence:Topic [name of the genius] + a controlling idea [what
you want to write about that person]
 Supporting ideas:
+ some background information
- Hometown
- Job
+ his/her special abilities
- Ability 1:….
- Ability 2: …
+ his/her achievement
- Achievement 1:….
- Achievement 2:….
 Conclusion: restate the topic sentence / state what you think about the
genius

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
- A fragment is a group of words that does not express a
complete idea, and cannot make sense on its own.
- A fragment sentence begins with a conjunction (e.g.
after, although, as, because, before, since, unless,
until, when, which, while, etc.)
Ex: - Because my exam is coming.
- Although he has a lot of money.
- A sentence fragment does not contain a subject
and/or a verb.
Ex: - The book you gave me yesterday.
- Living in the big cities.

Three Ways to Correct Sentence Fragments
 Method One: Connect the fragment to a
nearby sentence.
 Example:
INCORRECT: Mike was watching the birds.
While walking in the park.
CORRECTED: Mike was watching the birds
while walking in the park.

Three Ways to Correct Sentence Fragments
 Method Two: Remove the subordinating
conjunction/relative pronoun
 Example:
INCORRECT: Because he wants to travel around
the world.
CORRECTED: He wants to travel around the
world.
INCORRECT: Where they met each other.
CORRECTED: They met each other.

Unit 1 A Summary Paragraph

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Unit 1 A Summary Paragraph