Glencoe English/

Composition/

Recognizing and Writing Paragraphs p. 26/

/

/

/

E8N2/

*****

Good writers organize their ideas into paragraphs in orderto make those ideas easier to understand.

A paragraph is a group of sentences that tells about onegeneral or main idea.

The first sentence of a paragraph is usually indented. Itstarts farther from the left edge of the paper then othersentences.

Usually, the first sentence states the main idea of theparagraph. Each sentence that follows tells more about the mainidea.

WORKING WITH THE MODEL

Read the paragraph below. It is from a book on nutrition.

Among the six essential nutrients, protein is in firstplace. It is the stuff of life. Half of the weight of yourbody, not counting water, is protein. Your blood, brain, bones,heart, liver, hair, and muscles are mostly protein. Enzymes,which help to digest your food and control most of the chemicalchanges in your body, are also proteins. Most hormones, thechemicxal messenger inside your body, are proteins. Antibodiesare proteins in your blood that help fight off invading bacteriaor viruses. The genes, the chemicals that control heredity, arelargely protein. In fact, there is not a cell in your body thatdoes not contain ptotein.

A. Think about the example paragraph.

1. What is the general idea of the paragraph?

2. Which sentence tells the general idea?

3. What does each sentence in the paragraph tell about the general idea?

4. Where does the first sentence in the paragraph begin?

Why is that sentence indented?

B. Each sentence in dark type below could be the first sentenceof a paragraph.