Concluding Sentence: Mastering the Art of Paragraph Closure

The concluding sentence is the final flourish of a paragraph, marking the end and leaving the reader with a clear understanding of the main points. While often considered optional, concluding sentences play a crucial role in enhancing the overall clarity and impact of your writing.

The Importance of a Concluding Sentence

A concluding sentence serves two key functions:

Signaling the End: It acts as a clear indicator that the paragraph has come to a close. This helps the reader transition smoothly to the next section of your writing.
Reinforcing Key Ideas: It reiterates the most important points discussed within the paragraph, leaving a lasting impression on the reader. This reinforces the overall message and ensures the reader walks away with a clear understanding.

Crafting Effective Concluding Sentences

There are two common approaches to writing concluding sentences:

Summarizing Main Points: This involves drawing together the central themes of the paragraph and restating them in a concise and impactful manner. This method works particularly well when the paragraph presents multiple arguments or supporting details.
Paraphrasing the Topic Sentence: This approach rephrases the topic sentence in a different way, adding emphasis or further nuance. It provides a satisfying closure while ensuring the reader retains the core message.

When Concluding Sentences Are Necessary

While not always required, concluding sentences are particularly helpful for:

Stand-alone paragraphs: This helps the reader grasp the main point of the paragraph without needing to refer back to previous content.
Long paragraphs: A concluding sentence acts as a helpful reminder of the key takeaways from a lengthy paragraph.

End-of-Paragraph Signals

Concluding sentences often begin with transition phrases that signal the end of the paragraph. Popular options include:

Finally,
In conclusion,
To sum up,
Therefore,
In short,
Indeed,
Thus,

Examples of Effective Concluding Sentences

Here are examples demonstrating both methods of writing concluding sentences:

Greeting Cards

Have you noticed how many different kinds of greeting cards you can buy these days? In the old days, the local drugstore had one rack displaying maybe five or six basic kinds of cards. You could walk into the store and choose an appropriate card in five minutes or less. Nowadays, however, the display space for greeting cards is as big as a soccer field, and it may take an hour or two to hunt down exactly the right card with exactly the right message. There are at least 30 categories of birthday cards alone: birthday cards for different ages, from different ages, for different relatives, from different relatives, for different genders, from different genders, from a couple, from the office, for dog owners, for cat owners, and so on. There are cards for getting a job, for retiring from a job, for acquiring a pet, for losing a pet, for becoming engaged, for breaking up. There are also greeting cards to send for no reason-'Thinking of you' or 'Just because' cards. The newest type of card is the 'encouragement card.' An encouragement card offers comforting thoughts and helpful advice to someone who is sad or distressed in these troubled times. In short, there is now a greeting card for every possible life event and for a few nonevents as well.

A Hawaiian Legend

Native people create legends to explain unusual phenomena in their environment. A legend from the Hawaiian island of Kauai explains how the naupaka flower, a flower that grows on beaches there, got its unusual shape. The flower looks like half a small daisy-there are petals on one side only. The legend says that the marriage of two young lovers on the island was opposed by both sets of parents. The parents found the couple together on a beach one day, and to prevent them from being together, one of the families moved to the mountains, separating the young couple forever. As a result, the naupaka flower separated into two halves; one half moved to the mountains, and the other half stayed near the beach. This story is a good example of a legend invented by native people to interpret the world around them.

Note: Remember to adapt the style and tone of your concluding sentence to match the overall tone and purpose of your writing.