Paragraph Patterns

1
Paragraph Patterns

• By
• Kathy Hambly
• Amy Kelly

2
The Direct Paragraph

• Opens with a direct statement of its controlling
  idea
• Topic Sentence
• Defines, Qualifies, Analyzes, and illustrates the
  paragraph
• Example
• In Arab countries, where women do not have equal
  rights, men commonly cut in front of women in
  ticket lines.
• Revised
• Anthropologists who study line-forming behavior
  have concluded that the way people wait in line
  reflects cultural values about fairness. In Arab
  countriesmen commonly cut in front of women

3
The Climatic Paragraph

• Begins with illustrations and closes with the
  topic sentence.
• More persuasive than the direct paragraph.
• Example
• Cats, domestic or wild, are born with the
  instinct to hunt. Because their brains are wired
  to make stalking and attacking reflex actions,
  cats take what is known as a stalk-and-pounce
  approach to hunt. If you designed a dream
  machine for hunting, youd come up with
  something very close to a cat.
• By withholding the statement of the controlling
  idea until the end, you build an element of
  surprise and drama into this climatic version.

4
The Turnabout Paragraph

• Unlike direct or climatic paragraphs, turnabout
  paragraphs first move in one direction and then
  turn about in another
• Begins with an idea that is often the opposite of
  its controlling idea.
• Example
• Most people wouldnt equate the National
  Football League players who slam, and bash each
  other on Sunday afternoons with American Ballet
  Theatre,ballet dancing demands as much strength,
  stamina, and athletic skill as professional
  football.

5
The Interrogative Paragraph

• Starts with a question
• Used in either an introduction to the controlling
  idea or as a transition from one idea to the next
• Example
• Have you ever wondered how ancient peoples
  accomplished such marvelous feats of engineering
  as the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of
  China, and the fabled Tower of Babylon? If you
  have, then you should read The Ancient Engineer,
  by L. Sprague de Camp.