Alligators and crocodiles have much in common; the differences, if any, are minor. First of all, both alligators and crocodiles have the same reptile appearance. Looking like huge lizards, they bask in the sun dl day long and hunt in the rivers, swamps and marshes of tropical areas at night. Both have long thin bodies with squat legs, webbed feet and strong tails. They also have thick hides that have

commercial value. Both are dangerous to human beings. The alligator differs from the crocodile in that its snout is much broader and a little shorter. Also the fourth tooth of an alligator fits into a different place in the upper jaw. In general crocodiles are more active and more dangerous.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: What is the purpose of this comparison?

Gadgets such as electric fans, mixers, toasters, drills, and flashlights have been common for a long time. Nowadays gadgets are becoming even more imaginative. There are gadgets to rock a baby to sleep, shine shoes, start a charcoal fire, and prepare fresh coffee in the morning before an alarm clock radio rouses a household. Gadgets can open and close garage doors, make ice cubes in a home refrigerator, and turn lights on at nightfall without help of a human hand. Housekeepers now have electric brooms, electric can openers, electric knives, doughnut makers, juicers, popcorn makers, and food processors -- machines that will knead dough, chop onions, grind meat, and slice vegetables for salad. An up-to-date refrigerator has a gadget that dispenses a selection of drinks and ice--available to anyone without opening the refrigerator door! Electric gadgets brush teeth, wash mouths, dial telephones, and warm seats. These are but a few examples of the many uses of new gadgets.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: Complete this summary of the passage given above : Topic Sentence

Desert regions, even if they had an abundance of rain, could never be truly green. The most important contributing factor is that desert soil is either too porous or too impermeable to hold water. Any rainfall that does occur quickly runs off and is lost, adding the danger of flash floods in barren areas. In fact, the environment is so hostile that only the hardiest of plants can survive. Because of the soil, the temperatures are extreme-hot under the sun and cold at night, for the soil reflects heat rather than absorbs it. Furthermore, the plant life that sustains humidity in lusher regions is missing in the desert. Therefore, the air and soil remain dry and unlikely to change.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: What is the topic sentence in the above paragraph?

Desert regions, even if they had an abundance of rain, could never be truly green. The most important contributing factor is that desert soil is either too porous or too impermeable to hold water. Any rainfall that does occur quickly runs off and is lost, adding the danger of flash floods in barren areas. In fact, the environment is so hostile that only the hardiest of plants can survive. Because of the soil, the temperatures are extreme-hot under the sun and cold at night, for the soil reflects heat rather than absorbs it. Furthermore, the plant life that sustains humidity in lusher regions is missing in the desert. Therefore, the air and soil remain dry and unlikely to change.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: List the causes and effects that seem to have a logical relationship.

A flat tire can upset and frighten a driver, but if a few simple steps are learned, the tire can be quickly and easily changed. First, park the vehicle on flat ground, and firmly set the hand brakes. Second, be sure to block the wheel diagonally opposite the flat tire with two rocks or a piece of heavy wood to prevent the car from slipping. Third, remove the wheel cap, and slightly loosen the wheel nuts with a wrench. Next position the jack under the frame of the car, and raise the vehicle until the tire clears the ground. Now, completely remove the wheel nuts and the wheel, install the spare, retighten the nuts, lower the vehicle, and replace the wheel cap. With these easy instructions almost anyone with the strength to lift a wheel can independently change a tire.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: What is the topic sentence in this paragraph?

A flat tire can upset and frighten a driver, but if a few simple steps are learned, the tire can be quickly and easily changed. First, park the vehicle on flat ground, and firmly set the hand brakes. Second, be sure to block the wheel diagonally opposite the flat tire with two rocks or a piece of heavy wood to prevent the car from slipping. Third, remove the wheel cap, and slightly loosen the wheel nuts with a wrench. Next position the jack under the frame of the car, and raise the vehicle until the tire clears the ground. Now, completely remove the wheel nuts and the wheel, install the spare, retighten the nuts, lower the vehicle, and replace the wheel cap. With these easy instructions almost anyone with the strength to lift a wheel can independently change a tire.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Compositon)

Question: What is the conclusion in this paragraph?

A flat tire can upset and frighten a driver, but if a few simple steps are learned, the tire can be quickly and easily changed. First, park the vehicle on flat ground, and firmly set the hand brakes. Second, be sure to block the wheel diagonally opposite the flat tire with two rocks or a piece of heavy wood to prevent the car from slipping. Third, remove the wheel cap, and slightly loosen the wheel nuts with a wrench. Next position the jack under the frame of the car, and raise the vehicle until the tire clears the ground. Now, completely remove the wheel nuts and the wheel, install the spare, retighten the nuts, lower the vehicle, and replace the wheel cap. With these easy instructions almost anyone with the strength to lift a wheel can independently change a tire.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: Make a list of the transition words indicating the sequence of the steps.

A flat tire can upset and frighten a driver, but if a few simple steps are learned, the tire can be quickly and easily changed. First, park the vehicle on flat ground, and firmly set the hand brakes. Second, be sure to block the wheel diagonally opposite the flat tire with two rocks or a piece of heavy wood to prevent the car from slipping. Third, remove the wheel cap, and slightly loosen the wheel nuts with a wrench. Next position the jack under the frame of the car, and raise the vehicle until the tire clears the ground. Now, completely remove the wheel nuts and the wheel, install the spare, retighten the nuts, lower the vehicle, and replace the wheel cap. With these easy instructions almost anyone with the strength to lift a wheel can independently change a tire.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: What is the purpose of explaining this process?

A flat tire can upset and frighten a driver, but if a few simple steps are learned, the tire can be quickly and easily changed. First, park the vehicle on flat ground, and firmly set the hand brakes. Second, be sure to block the wheel diagonally opposite the flat tire with two rocks or a piece of heavy wood to prevent the car from slipping. Third, remove the wheel cap, and slightly loosen the wheel nuts with a wrench. Next position the jack under the frame of the car, and raise the vehicle until the tire clears the ground. Now, completely remove the wheel nuts and the wheel, install the spare, retighten the nuts, lower the vehicle, and replace the wheel cap. With these easy instructions almost anyone with the strength to lift a wheel can independently change a tire.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: When we explain a process, our aim is often to teach the reader how to do something. Rewrite the following titles using the words how to: 

i) Making bread

ii) Preparing the soil for the garden

iii) Making a long distance telephone call

iv) Finding a place to live in near the University

American men don't cry. Only Sissies cry. Crying is a "weakness" characteristic of the female, and no American male wants to be identified with anything in the least weak or feminine. No one likes a crybaby, and crying is disapproved even in children. In a land so devoted to the pursuit of happiness, crying is rather un-American.

(from Ashley Montague : The Oxford Guide to Writing : A Rhetoric Handbook for College Students)

Question: Which is the topic sentence in this paragraph?

Desert regions, even if they had an abundance of rain, could never be truly green. The most important contributing factor is that desert soil is either too porous or too impermeable to hold water. Any rainfall that does occur quickly runs off and is lost, adding the danger of flash floods in barren areas. In fact, the environment is so hostile that only the hardiest of plants can survive. Because of the soil, the temperatures are extreme-hot under the sun and cold at night, for the soil reflects heat rather than absorbs it. Furthermore, the plant life that sustains humidity in lusher regions is missing in the desert. Therefore, the air and soil remain dry and unlikely to change.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: Give three reasons why we should have cars that consume less petrol.

Alligators and crocodiles have much in common; the differences, if any, are minor. First of all, both alligators and crocodiles have the same reptile appearance. Looking like huge lizards, they bask in the sun dl day long and hunt in the rivers, swamps and marshes of tropical areas at night. Both have long thin bodies with squat legs, webbed feet and strong tails. They also have thick hides that have

commercial value. Both are dangerous to human beings. The alligator differs from the crocodile in that its snout is much broader and a little shorter. Also the fourth tooth of an alligator fits into a different place in the upper jaw. In general crocodiles are more active and more dangerous.

(from Susan S. Johnston et a1 : Keys to Composition)

Question: Are any other techniques of development used here?

State the techniques of paragraph development used in the above passage(Model Composition on ‘Speech Communities’).

American men don't cry. Only Sissies cry. Crying is a "weakness" characteristic of the female, and no American male wants to be identified with anything in the least weak or feminine. No one likes a crybaby, and crying is disapproved even in children. In a land so devoted to the pursuit of happiness, crying is rather un-American.

(from Ashley Montague : The Oxford Guide to Writing : A Rhetoric Handbook for College Students)

Question: Which other words and sentences in the paragraph restate the topic?

No other animal is so deliberately cruel as man. No other creature intentionally imprisons its own kind, or invents special instruments of torture for the sole purpose of punishment. No other animal keeps its own brethren in slavery; so far as we know, the lower animals do not commit anything like the acts of pure sadism that figure rather largely in our newspapers. There is no torment, spite, or cruelty for its own sake among beasts, as there is among men. A cat plays with its prey,

but does not conquer and torture smaller cats. But man, who knows good and evil, is cruel for cruelty's sake; he who has a moral law is more brutal than the brutes, who have none; he alone inflicts suffering on his fellows with malice aforethought.

(from Susanne K. Langer : The Oxford Guide to Writing, Oxford University Press,1983.)

Question: In the paragraph above, which words in the opening sentence establish the topic?

No other animal is so deliberately cruel as man. No other creature intentionally imprisons its own kind, or invents special instruments of torture for the sole purpose of punishment. No other animal keeps its own brethren in slavery; so far as we know, the lower animals do not commit anything like the acts of pure sadism that figure rather largely in our newspapers. There is no torment, spite, or cruelty for its own sake among beasts, as there is among men. A cat plays with its prey,

but does not conquer and torture smaller cats. But man, who knows good and evil, is cruel for cruelty's sake; he who has a moral law is more brutal than the brutes, who have none; he alone inflicts suffering on his fellows with malice aforethought.

(from Susanne K. Langer : The Oxford Guide to Writing, Oxford University Press,1983.)

Question: Which expressions elsewhere in the paragraph restate the topic?