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In this example, the statement the tiger’s best sense is hearing but they have excellence sight and color vision.
was the unclear topic sentence because it did not have good control over the content.
The researcher elaborated a revision for this paragraph as follows:
The tigers are strong large animals with some special strengths. The tigers’ best senses are hearing but they have excellence sight and
color vision. The tigers can roar loudly and it can be heard up to two miles away. They have deadly bite. The tiger’s tooth grows up to three
inches which is about the length of human’s middle finger. Their jaws are so large that is enough to crunch and swallow their huge preys.
According to Langan 2011, a paragraph consists of an opening point that summarizes all information in the paragraph, called topic sentence. As revised,
this paragraph presented the plausible topic sentence The tigers are strong large animals with some special strengths
. This statement of topic sentence was clear enough to summarize all the information in the paragraph.
b. Errors in Supporting Sentences of Paragraphs
Errors in supporting sentences of paragraphs were subdivided into two parts. The first part was the presence of irrelevant sentences. The second one was the
lack of supporting details less facts, examples, or descriptions.
1 The Presence of Irrelevant Sentences
The researcher identified that many students’ report texts contained some irrelevant or unnecessary sentences in a paragraph. It dealt with supporting
sentences which did not clarify the topic sentences. Here was an example of irrelevant sentences in a paragraph:
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The baby kangaroo grows and stays in the mother’s pouch. The baby kangaroo is so tiny. Therefore, the mother cannot touch it. The baby
kangaroo climbs up its mother’s belly and crawl into her pouch. Inside the pouch, it grabs its mother’s teats to feed on milk. It stays there for nine
months to grow well. The kangaroo never sweats in the hot weather because it licks its chest to cool down its body. The kangaroo can amuse
people who see it because it moves by hopping see Appendix E, text 26.
As the example given, the underlined text was irrelevant supporting sentences that must be omitted from the paragraph in order to develop the topic sentence.
Below was a revision for this paragraph provided by the researcher:
The baby kangaroo grows and stays in the mother’s pouch. The baby kangaroo is so tiny. Therefore, the mother cannot touch it. The baby
kangaroo climbs up its mother’s belly and crawl into her pouch. Inside the pouch, it grabs its mother’s teats to feed on milk. It stays there for nine
months to grow well.
As stated by Langan 2011, the topic sentence would have to be backed up and
supported with specific reasons or details. The supporting sentence added some relevant and useful information about the topic sentence. As the example revised
above, all the redundant or unnecessary supporting sentences of the paragraph was omitted in order to have a series of sentences which was well-supported.
2 Lack of Supporting Details
The researcher discovered that several students’ report texts suffered from lack of supporting details, facts, or descriptions. Consisting of a single sentence, it
developed no paragraph. Rabbit are small furry mammals see Appendix E, text 4 was an example of a single sentence that stood alone as a topic sentence without
backing up with any supporting sentence.
