Activity - Identifying an effective topic sentence

In this activity we will look at how the topic sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph. First, let’s look at an example question.

Over the past fifty years, international sports events such as the Olympic Games and world cup competitions have played an increasingly important role in our society. However, many people think such events are an enormous waste of money, time and effort.

Do you agree?

The following paragraph is part of an essay that answers this question but the topic sentence is missing. By reading the paragraph carefully and finding the main idea in the supporting sentences, we should be able to identify an effective topic sentence.

Sample paragraph (without topic sentence)

................................................. . As a result, many professional competitors have become millionaires from playing sport. Professionals in other fields such as science and research earn much less, even though their work may lead to the improvement of people’s health and daily lives. Watching sport is merely a form of entertainment and the money used to pay sport professionals should be spent in other more worthwhile areas.

The supporting sentences in this paragraph focus on the large amount of money wasted on the salaries of sport professionals.

The following four students wrote topic sentences for this paragraph. Click Effective or Ineffective for each of their answers. The first one has been done for you as an example.

			Effective	Ineffective
A	Esperanza	Researchers and scientists provide an important service to society and deserve a higher salary.

Esperanza’s topic sentence is ineffective because:

the paragraph mentions scientists and researchers, but it does not say that their salary should be increased
the topic of scientists and researchers does not relate to the question.

Now you try!

B	Jin Tao	University degrees provide people with the skills needed to become professionals in their field and earn a high income.
C	Peter	International sport wastes too much money by paying players increasingly higher salaries.
D	Judy	International sporting events use too much money to pay team coaches.

IELTS Online: Course

Activity - Identifying an effective topic sentence

Sample paragraph (without topic sentence)

Now you try!