Identifying Effective Topic Sentences: Practice Exercise

Decide what is wrong with the other sentences. They may be too general, or they may be too specific, or they may be incomplete sentences. Write 'best TS' (for 'best topic sentence'), 'too general', 'too specific', or 'incomplete' on the lines next to them. You may find the example in the bottom of the second page of that pdf.

________ a. It is hard to know which foods are safe to eat nowadays.

________ b. In some large ocean fish, there are high levels of mercury.

________ c. Undercooked chicken and hamburger may carry E. coli bacteria.

________ d. Not to mention mad cow disease.

________ e. Food safety is an important issue

Analysis:

a. Too general (TG) b. Too specific (TS) c. Best topic sentence (BTS) d. Incomplete (INC) e. Best topic sentence (BTS)