Supporting Sentences

Supporting sentences add information about the topic and the controlling idea. Supporting sentences can include definitions, explanations, and examples. Read the topic sentence below. Then study the types of supporting sentences that might follow it.

      topic                                    controlling idea

Young people are too dependent on computer.

Supporting definition

Dependency on computers means that young people cannot perform the normal tasks and functions of daily life without them.

Supporting explanation

In the old days, people memorized important information, but today’s youth rely on their computer, cell phones, and PDA’s to do assignments, record numbers, and save important information. As a result, they can get themselves unprepared in an emergency such as an electrical blackout. Once their batteries die, these people will not be able communicate.

Supporting example

For example, I do all schoolwork on my computer. When my computer crashed last week, I lost my only draft of an essay that was due the next day. As the result, I got a bad grade.

                Supporting sentences explain or prove the topic sentence. Once of the biggest problem in student writing is that student writers often fail to support their ideas adequately. They need to use specific details to be thorough and convincing.

                There are several kinds of specific supporting details: examples, statistics, and quotations.

Bibliography

Oshima, Alice and Hogue, Ann. 2006. Writing Academic English. N.Y: Pearson Education.