Studies of written English (III)

The central idea of a paragraph is built up with the help of larger units than key-words, that is with the help of socalled topic sentences.

Topic sentence is a summarizing sentence of a paragraph. Topic sentences can also be used to tie up a group of paragraphs together holding the unity of a passage.

Generally the topic sentence comes first in a paragraph. It helps to understand the text and begin writing, е.g. "Numerous artificial languages have been carefully constructed and some of them are still in limited use. In 1887, an artificial language, Esperanto, was created. Esperanto has little grammar and drew its vocabulary from all the European languages..." (From "One Language for the World" by M. Pei). The writer proceeds from a general statement to particulars.

Occasionally the topic sentence comes last, when the writer wishes first to prepare his reader for the general idea or a conclusion, е.g. "You're like two friends who want to take their holiday together, but one of them wants to climb Greenland's snowy mountains while the other wants to fish off India's coral strand. Obviously it's not going to work" (From "The Razor's Edge" by W. S. Maugham).

Assignments:

1. Read the passage "Introducing London" and mark paragraphs with topic sentences. What central idea do they summarize? Where are they placed within the paragraph?

Find the topic sentence that holds the unity of the whole passage.

Mark the key-words that emphasize the main points of the information about London.

4. Paragraph 8 includes the key-word "parks", develop it into a topic sentence summarizing the central idea of the paragraph.

Write a paragraph describing the picture on pp. 114-115. Try your hand at various topic sentences that help to hold the unity of the paragraph.

LABORATORY EXERCISES (II)

1. Listen to the text "Some More Glimpses of London."

2. Listen to the dialogue "Sightseeing". Repeat the text in the intervals and record your versions.

Compare your version with the original and correct your pronunciation mistakes if any.

Translate the sentences into English, check them with the key.

4. Listen to the test "Behind the Scenes" or some other text on the topic "London". Discuss the text in class.

5. Listen to the "Sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge". Mark the stresses and tunes. Learn it by heart.