PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH Supporting and Clincher Sentences

Supporting Sentences Supporting sentences are the details that expand on, explain, or prove a paragraph’s main idea. Details include: ▫Sensory Details ▫Facts ▫Examples

Sensory Details Imagery! What we experience through our five senses ▫Sight ▫Hearing ▫Touch ▫Taste ▫Smell

Facts Give information that can be true by direct observation or by checking a reliable reference source FACT: Great herds of buffalo once roamed the western plains. ▫How can this be proved?

Examples Give typical instances of an idea. Example: A creature with protective coloration ▫A chameleon, a lizard whose coloring changes with its surroundings

PARTNER ACTIVITY Turn to the person sitting behind you List the supporting details for a FOOTBALL GAME ▫Sensory Details: ▫Fact(s): ▫Example(s):

Collecting Supporting Details- p.480 When you write paragraphs, you have to collect details that support your main idea. List two details for each of the following:  #1- The time I spend with my friends on Saturday nights is my favorite time of the week.  #4- When I feel hungry, I can just imagine my favorite meal. Details should include at least 2 sensory details!

Collecting Supporting Detail Exercise #1- The time I spend with my friends on Saturday nights is my favorite time of the week. We get together at the bowling alley, which smells of floor way and popcorn. We yell at each other over the sound of the balls crashing into pins an we have a great time. #4- When I feel hungry, I can just imagine my favorite meal. Tamales are my favorite meal. Our house smells of the meat and masa steaming in papery corn husks. We serve the tamales with rice and tangy salsa.

The Clincher Sentence Once you have written a topic sentence and developed well-organized details that support your main idea, the only thing left to do is wrap it all up.

The Clincher Sentence Helping the homeless helps the community. When homeless people are given housing assistance and job training, they can become our neighbors, coworkers, and friends. Not only do they find work and learn to support themselves, but they also pay taxes and share their skills with others. Every person we help out of homelessness is one more person who can enrich our neighborhood and community. Last sentence pulls together the preceding information by echoing the topic sentence. Every person we help out of homelessness is one more person who can enrich our neighborhood and community.

Developing a clincher sentence Although many paragraphs have no clincher sentences, you may want to cement your main idea in reader’s mind. ▫Summarize main ideas and end with a clear conclusion

Write a clincher! Eating food in the library is a bad idea. Crumbs get on the floor and between pages when you eat, even if you are careful. These tiny bits of food may be impossible for you to see, but insects know they are there and will raid the books to find them. These insects will eventually harm the pages. Clearly, by not snacking in the library, we actually help preserve the books.

Write a clincher! Computers have made getting information faster and easier. Almost all schools use them now, and they are very helpful in doing homework or typing papers. Before computers were available, most students had to do research by going to libraries, which might not be open. Now students can use computers any time of day in their own homes or at a friend’s house. Today computers are as much a part of learning as books or pens.