Using one of the topic sentences you revised in exercise 01, develop a complete paragraph

The expository Paragraph developed by examples The model paragraph:

A man to remember

Perhaps the most vital person I have ever met is an Italian professor of philosophy who teaches at the university of Pisa.

Although I last met this man eight years ago, I have not forgotten his special qualities.

First of all, I was impressed by his devotion to teaching. Because his lectures were always well prepared and clearly delivered, students swarmed into his classroom.

His followers appreciated the fact that he believed in what he taught and that he was intellectually stimulating. Furthermore, he could be counted on to explain his ideas in an imaginative way, introducing such aids to understanding as paintings, recordings, pieces of sculpture, and guest lecturers. Once he even sang a song in class to illustrate a point. Second, I admired the fact that he would confer with students outside the classroom or talk with them on the telephone. Drinking coffee in the snack bar, he would challenge a student to a game of chess. At other times, he would join groups to discuss subjects.

Many young people visited him in his office for academic advice; others came to his home for social evenings. Finally, I was attracted by his lively wit. He believed that no class hour is a success unless the students and the professor share several shuckles and at least one loud laugh. Through his sense of humour, he made learning more enjoyable and more lasting.

If it is true that life makes a wise man smile and a foolish man cry, than my friend is truly a wise man. Probably, the best example of his wit is this bit of wisdom with which he once ended a lecture: “ It is as dangerous for man to model himself upon his invention, the machine, as it would be for god to model himself upon his invention”.

In the text there are three main divisions:

Devotion to teaching Friendliness

Wit

Transitions

First of all- second- Finally- furthermore- once- sometimes- at other times Parallel structure:

Eg1: He would confer He would challenge He would join

Eg2: He believed that ……….

Though his sense of humour….., he made learning more.

Note that a combination of transitions & parallel structure is advisable.

Too many transitions can make the paragraph appear overloaded.

Too many parallel structure makes a paragraph monotonous.

Practice: develop an exposition paragraph by examples on one of the following topics. Use the necessary transitions.

1/ social problems in your country

2/ discuss how learning a foreign language can change a person’

The Narrative Paragraph

The narrative paragraph tells a story, just like a narrator in a play. The purpose of a narrative paragraph is to tell a story about something that happened. A narrative paragraph must have a topic sentence, details about the event, and time order.

Example:

Cathay Williams was a former slave from independent Missouri, who searched for a job after the civil war was over. She tried out for a cooking job in the Union Army. But she found out she did not like cooking food for the soldiers.

She decided to become a seamstress for the army instead. But she soon found out she did not like sewing uniforms for the soldiers, either. Cathay decided to join the Buffalo Soldiers. But no women were allowed at that time to fight in the U.S.

Army. So Cathay changed her name to William Cathay and enlisted in the U.S.

Army. She loved her job as a soldier and was the only woman ever to be a buffalo soldier.

The narrative paragraph describes an event or tells a story, usually in a chronological order. For example, you can write a narrative paragraph detailing what you did on your first day of school.

The narrative paragraph is often used to describe our routines.

Frequency adverbs (often, sometimes, usually…) are used to say how often something happens.

Example:

Every Saturday morning I get up at eight o’clock. I immediately cook breakfast and my daughter and my wife and I usually have breakfast together. I usually go shopping. My daughter and wife usually go to the park to have some fun with the other children in our neighborhood. After I do the shopping, I come home and my wife and I clean the house. My wife then cooks lunch while my daughter plays in her room and then we eat together. After lunch, we sometimes go shopping. If we don’t go shopping, we often go to the countryside for a nice walk. We often get home quite late and have a small dinner. We usually watch a film on TV and then go to bed at about eleven o’clock.

Narrative paragraphs are often used to describe what a person does over a period of time. Words like “later” are used to connect what happens.

Example:

Yesterday evening I got from work at 6 o’clock. My wife had prepared dinner which we ate immediately. After I had cleaned up the kitchen, we watched TV for about an hour. Then we got ready to go out with some friends.

Our friends arrived at about 9 o’clock and we chatted for a while. Later we decided to visit a jazz club and listen to some music. We really enjoyed ourselves and stayed late. We finally left at one o’clock in the morning.

Exercise:

Choose a subject and develop a unified, coherent narrative paragraph. State a clear topic sentence and use the necessary connectors.