Test Yourself

Paragraph: Introductions

[Harbrace 28f(1)]

Review

See Introduction to Paragraph Introductions below 

Practice Exercises

• Writing Introductory Paragraphs, Part I
• Writing Introductory Paragraphs, Part II

Introduction

Paragraph patterns exist for the introduction and conclusion to an essay, each with its own special function.

An

Introduction

Below are some samples of first sentences from introductory paragraphs. Note the different approaches in each of the examples: 

• QUOTATION 

"It's far easier to explain why a wolverillo shouldn't have survived here in West Texas," says Dr. Elmo T. Splat of the University of Texas Zoology Unit. 

• QUESTION 

What kind of man rises at four in the morning to comb local refuse dumps for old sinks and bathtubs? A wolverillo rancher, that's who. 

• DEFINITION 

"Wobumps" are the crinkles that rise on the backs of young wolverillos when they spy a large piece of scrap metal. 

• UNUSUAL COMPARISON 

Once, in ages long before the discovery of iron and other metals, men and wolverillos dug around in the ground following a shared primeval urge to build or eat something. 

• CONTROVERSIAL POSITION 

Let wolverillos be freed from their corrals and pens across the breadth of Texas and let them flush out every metropolis and metroplex of all this unsightly junk and extraneous scrap metal.