Even though the first sentence has a solid main idea that could be the topic of a paragraph, namely that humans cause global warming, the rest of the paragraph is not about that topic. Following the steps outlined above helps identify the topic sentence. Step 1. Find the topic of the paragraph. The topics are Americans, global warming, and change. relationship words: words that get at the relationship between two topics examples: compare, contrast, correlation, causation, relationship judgment words: words that judge something to be better or worse than something else examples: best, worst, pro, con, advantages, disadvantages There are many ways these ideas can be expressed or even implied. A clearly stated topic sentence helps the reader to understand what you have to say in the paragraph. It’s a lot easier for reader to understand the main idea and look for the supporting details in the paragraph. EXAMPLES OF TOPIC SENTENCES. Read the following topic sentences. They all contain a topic (in red) and a controlling idea (in green Anecdotes and examples help explain the main idea by presenting stories and situations that back up the topic. An anecdote is a funny or interesting story about a real event or person. Controlling people want to have control or assert power over another person. They can be intimidating, overbearing, and domineering in their efforts to get their way by manipulating others. Controlling behavior in someone else can make you feel angry or embarrassed or even create feelings of inferiority and despair. WqT7.

topic controlling idea examples