How can a topic sentence be effective?

Answer 1

An effective sentence should tell or ask the reader something. Good sentences have a subject and a predicate; this means that there should always be a noun or pronoun and a verb in your sentence.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when writingKeep it Concise - Say what you mean without adding any extra words or phrases that will bog the reader down.

• Cut the redundancy: avoid saying things like "six o'clock a.m. in the morning" or "mix together."
• Cut unnecessary words: instead of saying long phrases like "in the event that" or "it is often the case that," use simple terms like "if" and "often."
• Cut the passive speech: instead of using phrases like "there is," or "it is," begin with an action noun/verb combination. Avoid past tense, passive phrases in favor of present tense, action phrases.
• Cut vague words: avoid vague terms such as "thing," "stuff," "factor," or "element" (unless you are speaking about a chemical element).
• Cut the qualifiers: phrases like "in my opinion," "I feel," and "I believe" just add unneeded wordage to your sentences.
  
• Stay positive: phrase your sentences in positive language instead of negative. For example, instead of saying "I did not learn anything from that question," write "I learned nothing from that question" - you say the same thing, but the second sentence is more effective and forceful.

Make it Fluent - fluent sentences make clear connections between points, vary in length so that they flow more easily when spoken, and make the ideas clear and emphatic.

Make it Clear - your sentence should be easily understood without making the reader rush off for a dictionary.

• Cut the dangling or misplaced modifiers: make sure that the reader can clearly see which noun each phrase supports. Otherwise, you end up with unclear (and sometimes unintentionally humorous) sentences such as "Hanging from a tree, George saw a monkey" or "Trying to solve the problem, the directions seemed unclear." In the first sentence, it is unclear whether it is George or the monkey who is hanging from the tree! In the second, no noun is given, so the phrase doesn't make sense (in this case, you would add a bit to make it "As I tried to solve the problem, the directions seemed unclear.")
• Make your pronouns clear: we have this problem a lot on WikiAnswers. You might think that the reader knows what you mean, but read the sentence out loud to be sure. "When did he write the book?" is unclear because we do not know who "he" is!
  

If you are having trouble knowing what a sentence is, you need to read more! Read a comic book, a newspaper, a magazine, or any book you want to. The more you read, the better you will understand how to use the language.

Answer 2

The topic sentence makes a statement about some topic and the rest of the paragraph explains the topic sentence or gives examples of the topic sentence.

For example if this was the topic sentence

There are three living species of Kiwi all of which inhabit New Zealand.

Then this paragraph would probably tell us what the three species are and where they live in NZ.