Reference no: EM13654585

Match each paragraph number to the appropriate topic sentence type used in the paragraph.

a. Topic Sentence Stated First
b. Topic Sentence Stated First and Last
c. Topic Sentence Implied
d. Topic Sentence Stated in the Middle


1. Last winter, while leafing through the Guinness Book of World Records , I came across an item stating that the tallest sunflower ever had been grown by G.E. Hocking, an Englishman. Fired by a competitive urge, I planted a half acre of sunflower seeds. That half acre is now a magnificent 22,000 square feet of green and gold flowers. From the elevated rear deck of my apartment, I can look out over the swaying mass of thick, hairy green stalks and see each stalk thrusting up through the darker heart-shaped leaves below and supporting an ever-bobbing imitation of the sun. In this dwarf forest, some of the flower heads measure almost a foot in diameter. Though almost all my plants are now blooming, none will tip the sixteen feet, two inches reached by Hocking's plant. My tallest is just thirteen feet even, but I don't think that's too bad for the first attempt. Next year, however, will be another matter. I plan to have an automatic watering system to feed my babies.
Joseph Wheeler

2. What my mother never told me was how fast time passes in adult life. I remember, when I was little, thinking I would live to be at least as old as my grandmother, who was dynamic even at ninety-two years hurtling by me. And my mother never told how much fun sex could be, or what a discovery it is. Of course, I'm of an age when mothers really didn't tell you much about anything. My mother never told me the facts of life.
Joyce Susskind, "Surprises in a Woman's Life"

3. The UN's International Labor Organization estimates that as many as 200 million children go to work rather than to school. They are developing nations throughout the world, making everything from clothing and shoes to handbags and carpets. These children are the darkside of the new global economy, an international underclass working 12 or more hours a day, six or seven days a week. In the carpet factories of india, they are often separated from their families for years at a time. In the leather -hand bag plants of Thialand, children are report being forced to ingest amphetamines just to keep u their strength. In the charcoal industry of Brazil, tens of thousands of children work in a soot-drenched hell producing ingredients for steel alloys used in the manufacture of American cars. Child laborers everywhere develop arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome from the repetitive work; their respiratory systems are damaged by inhaling toxic chemicals in poorly ventilated workshops; their posture is permanently altered by the long hours in cramped conditions. And the products they make are in homes across America, serving a bitterly ironic commentary on what we consider a child's right to a carefree youth
Mark Schapiro, "Children of a Lesser God"

4. The first hostage to be brought off the plane was a dark little man with a bald head and a moustache so thick and black that it obliterated his mouth. Four of the masked terrorists were quarding him closely, each with a heavy rifle held read for fire. When the group was about fifty feet from the plane, a second hostage, a young woman in flowered slacks and a red blouse, was brought out in a clear view by a single terrorist, who held a pistol against the side of her head. Then the first four pushed the dark little man from them and instructed him to kneel on the pavement. They look at him as they might an insect. But he sat there on his knees, seemingly as indifferent as if he had already taken leave of his body. The shots from the four riffles sounded faintly at the far end of the field where a group of horrified spectators watched the grisly proceedings.
Bradley Willis