Techniques of Paragraph Development

"Techniques of Paragraph Development" refers to the various methods of developing a topic sentence into a well organized paragraph. In other words, it refers to the organization of the developers in a paragraph. You should remember that this organization of the developers depends on their function and is determined by the controlling idea of the paragraph.

For example, "Qualities of a Good Teacher" is a topic suggestion and if you are asked to write a paragraph on it, your topic sentence will probably be "A good teacher should have at least five qualities" or something like this. Obviously, 'five qualities' is your controlling idea which suggests that in the developers you are required to make a list of five different qualities a good teacher should possess. And this listing of things maintaining the sequence in a logical order is one of the techniques of paragraph development. You should arrange or organizes your developers in such a way as to make them look like a list. In the same way, if the function of your developers is to make a comparison between two things, you should use the technique of comparison to organize your developers.

As the functions of the developers in different kinds of paragraphs are different, the techniques to be used in them will also be different.

Here are two paragraphs showing two different techniques:

Foreign Words in English

(a) There are numerous English words which have non-English origins. For example, while relaxing at home, Americans sometimes wear kimonos which is a Japanese word. People living in a temperate climate may often take an afternoon siesta without even realizing that this is a Spanish word. They often enjoy the fragrance of Jasmine in their garden without knowing that this word came into English from Persian. There are many such English words that have come from other languages.

European and American University Systems

(b) There are two main differences between the European and American University systems. In European Universities, students are not required to attend classes but in the United States class attendance is compulsory. Secondly, in the European system, students have to take just one comprehensive examination at the end of their entire course. While in America students are given numerous tests and homework assignments during their course and also there is always a final examination at the end of the semester. So the European University system is different from the American University system both with respect to their students' class attendance and examination systems.

In the first paragraph, the word 'numerous' in the topic sentence suggests that you are not expected to give a full list of the English words of foreign origin. What you should do in this case is to give a few examples of such words. In fact, the three developers in the paragraph have strongly supported the topic statement. We can, therefore, say that this paragraph has been developed by following the method of giving examples and hence this may be called an example paragraph.

On the other hand, the second paragraph has made a contrast between two categories of universities. It has been mentioned in the topic sentence that the developers below will make only two points of dissimilarity between the, European and American University systems. Obviously, this paragraph has been developed by using the method of contrast.

So this is called a contrast paragraph. In fact, there are many techniques of paragraph development and hence many kinds of paragraph. You must  have noticed that the appellation of a paragraph depends on the technique used in its development. In the following chapters, you will be introduced to these ten major kinds of paragraph.

     i) The list paragraph

     ii) The example paragraph

     iii) The comparison paragraph

     iv) The contrast paragraph

     v) The comparison and contrast paragraph

     vi) The definition paragraph

     vii) The classification paragraph

     viii) The cause-and-effect paragraph

     ix) The description paragraph

     x) The narration paragraph

MAINPOINTS

     i) The technique to be used in a paragraph depends on the function of the developers.

     ii) It is determined by the controlling idea of the paragraph.

     iii) A paragraph is named after its - technique of development.

VOCABULARY ENRICHMENT

                     appellation — name or title; system of names

                     comprehensive — that includes many things together

                     contrast — act of comparison to show the differences,

                     fragrance — sweet or pleasing smell

                     jasmine — a kind of flower

                     Kimonos - lounging robe; long, loose outer garment worn for comfort

                     Numerous — great in number

                     Organization — systematic arrangement

                     Relax — become free from nervous anxiety and tension

                     Siesta — short afternoon sleep

                     Temperate — free from extremes of heat and cold