Common Errors to Avoid When Writing a Topic Sentence

Common Errors to Avoid When Writing a Topic Sentence

• Announcements
  • These kind of topic sentences tend to not raise a question. You can often identify this error by looking for words that refer to writing within the topic sentence – words such as: "essay," "paper," "about," and "writing" can be clues that you are making an announcement instead of writing a proper topic sentence.
    
    For example:
    I am going to write about my college experience.
    or
    This essay will be on the topic of starting college.
    
    
• Statements that are too broad
  • These kind of topic sentences are previewing something that is too big and broad to fit into a paragraph. It is always important to keep the length of an assignment in mind when choosing a topic and message.
    
    For example:
    Education has been important in my life.
    or
    Many people enjoy college.
    
    
• Statements that are too narrow
  • These kind of topic sentences are generally just a statement of fact – they do not raise a question and leave the paragraph author nowhere to go.
    
    For example:
    I just completed my first week of college.
    or
    I am taking five courses this semester.
    
    
•  Statements that contain more than one message or opinion
  • These kind of topic sentences are trying to say more than what can adequately be supported in a paragraph.
    
    For example:
    Starting college has been both exciting and stressful.
    or
    I had really awesome experiences in my senior year math class, but there were some things I didn't like.

Source: Erin Severs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.

Avoiding Common Topic Sentence Errors Activity

Evaluate the following pairs of topic sentences. In each pair, one is correct while the other contains one of the above errors. Put a C next to the topic sentence that is written correctly. Then write out the question that is raised by the correct answer.

Examples:

1. Math has always been my weakest academic subject.
   I did poorly in my senior year math class for many reasons.
   
   
2. I am nervous about my new job in a legal office.
   I am nervous and excited about my new job in a legal office.
   
   
3. My vacation to the American Southwest was awesome.
   I will tell you about my awesome vacation to the American Southwest.
   
   
4. Several of my fears about returning to school have proved to be groundless.
   After getting laid off from a twenty year career, I am 47, and starting back to college.
   
   
5. I do push-ups and sit-ups every day.
   Working out has benefited me in many ways.
   
   
6. I am going to write about my job in an iron foundry.
   I have met some really interesting people at my iron foundry job.
   
   
7. I had a really bad day yesterday for several reasons.
   Yesterday had a lot of ups and downs for me.                                                                                                                                                                                                        
8. I have had some really terrible jobs.
   My newspaper delivery job was really terrible for many reasons.  
   
   
9. Though I get frustrated with the lack of participation, I really like my ethics class.  
   I really like my ethics class.
   
   
10. I have a long commute to get to work.
    There are many drawbacks to the long commute I take to get to work.

Answer Key

1. Math has always been my weakest academic subject.
   I did poorly in my senior year math class for many reasons.   C
   Why did you do poorly in your senior year math class?
   
   
2. I am nervous about my new job in a legal office.   C
   I am nervous and excited about my new job in a legal office.
   Why are you nervous about your new job in a legal office?
   
   
3. My vacation to the American Southwest was awesome.   C
   I will tell you about my awesome vacation to the American Southwest.
   How was your vacation to the American Southwest awesome?
   
   
4.  Several of my fears about returning to school have proved to be groundless.   C
   After getting laid off from a twenty year career, I am 47, and starting back to college.
   What were your fears and how have them been proven to be groundless?
   
   
5. I do push-ups and sit-ups every day.
   Working out has benefited me in many ways.   C
   How has working out benefited you?
   
   
6. I am going to write about my job in an iron foundry.
   I have met some really interesting people at my iron foundry job.   C
   Who are some of the people you have met and how are they interesting?
   
   
7. I had a really bad day yesterday for several reasons.   C
   Yesterday had a lot of ups and downs for me.
   How was yesterday a bad day?
   
   
8. I have had some really terrible jobs.
   My newspaper delivery job was really terrible for many reasons.   C 
   How was your newspaper delivery job terrible?
   
   
9. Though I get frustrated with the lack of participation, I really like my ethics class.  
   I really like my ethics class.   C
   Why do your like your math class? – or – What about your math class do you like?
   
   
10. I have a long commute to get to work.
    There are many drawbacks to the long commute I take to get to work.  C
    What are some of the drawbacks to your long commute?