Writing Skills: The Paragraph

TRANSCRIPT

In terms of like the actual way a paragraph looks: you have to indent or skip a line. So let me just make sure you understand what an indent is. This is an indent, the first line a little bit pushed in or you can make sure you skip a line between paragraphs. But don't do both. If you skip a line, don't indent. Okay? That's the main thing.

Now, that's in terms of the way it looks. In terms of content -- and this, I can't stress this enough -- very, very, very important: one central idea in one paragraph. Okay? I've seen many people, I've seen many essays where you start a paragraph talking about one thing, and then you go off on a tangent and talk about something completely unrelated. So for example: if you start a paragraph and you're talking about apples, continue to talk about apples. If you go to oranges, that's maybe okay because you're still talking about fruit. But if you start with apples, go to oranges, go to bananas, and then end up with monkeys in space there's a bit of a problem; the reader has no idea what you're talking about. One paragraph, one central idea.

Now, make sure that you tell the reader what this central idea is. This is your thesis statement. Okay? It's a very general sentence. All it does is introduce the topic of the paragraph, nothing else. All the details comes after. So speaking of details, we'll talk about details in detail, but all other ideas, all the other sentences, all your sentences with the details must directly relate back to the main idea. So let's say here is your thesis statement; very general, every sentence after must relate back to that thesis statement. Okay? You can't go off to another idea. Everything must support this, must talk about the same topic. Very important. Okay?

How long should your paragraph be? Technically, a paragraph could be one sentence, but in an academic essay that rarely happens. But it could be any length you want, as long as you're still on that one topic, as long as you still have things to write and things to say about that topic, say it. If you have four sentences, fine; if you have 10 sentences, also okay. Again, for IELTS, TOEFL, SAT students: four, five sentences should be your limit. You can't be too long because you don't have time and you're going to start making mistakes.

So now, the details. Very important to have lots of details. Why is this topic important to your overall idea of your essay? Not only tell me what is the topic, what is the thesis statement of the paragraph, make sure you explain to me why this is important to the general idea of the essay. Give me your reasons. Now, why is it important? And then reasons, why you think what you're saying supports this idea. Examples, always use examples because giving me the reasons is okay; examples make me see exactly what you're trying to say. Very easy for me to understand what you're trying to say.

Now, in terms of flow, in terms of the way the reader can approach the paragraph, you have to have bridges. What is, what do bridges mean? Basically, when you have one idea in this sentence, you must connect it to the next sentence, you must connect it to the next sentence. Every sentence must have a link to the next sentence. This creates flow, makes it much easier to read and understand, and it keeps you on the one topic.

Now, key terms. If you're talking about something specific and you have to use a key term, use it as many times as you need to. Otherwise, avoid repetition. Try not to use the same word more than once in one paragraph. Okay? For example: if you're using the word "moreover" in the paragraph, don't use it, don't use "moreover" again -- use "in addition to", use "furthermore", "another", etc. Try to avoid using one word more than once, especially in the same paragraph.

[adamfurst]

this guy is the best english teacher i have ever seen in my life.

[YanTaina]

Adam, I am an Eglish teacher myself and I have been watching your videos for years and I can undoubtly say you are MAGIC! One of the best teachers I have ever crossed.

[literature]

A teacher like sir Adam is rare. He's a gem for students who have the thirst to learn english.hats off to him.

[glstuov]

U 've taught me more about making paragraph than many years of academic studies

[oritsegbubemiadokpaye]

where has this video been all my life?? this is a life saver. so easy to understand and easy to apply when you have the right informations. thank you thank you Adam.

[talaranreinnyzhelv.]

His teaching style makes him a great teacher, what a true educator he really is!!🙌🏻

[kruvmansweet]

I was watching this video at midnight 😂
Because next day was the day of regional olympiad and i would say that this dude saved my ass to take the second place on it.i am sincerely grateful for him✌️

[williamvalerio]

I want to praise this teacher for the concise and good explanation about the topic. I'm from Costa Rica . I'm taking composition course and learned bunch of thing during this virtual session with Adam. Keep doing that good job!

[alfonsomoser]

Hi Adam I have listened to your lesson in one breath because you are so talented at explaining even difficult or wired stuffs that it is as if I had watched my favourite movie for the first time. You are absolutely one of the best English teacher I have ever met in my life. Hang in there! A mighty hug as big as your skills .. therefore infinite. Alfonso

[Azrealon]

hey I want to ask, is the sentence "My brother looks alike with our father." correct? and why?
because im dabating with my teacher, she said "looks alike our father."
thx

[enobongthomas]

This guy is very good. He didn't only teach paragraph but how to understand and connect thoughts.

[jaypapa]

I learned and improve my writing skills since I started watching Adam's instructional video. And for that, i want to thank Adam for sharing his wonderful knowledge to the world. Salute!

[morineagbor]

This is so explicit and simple.
I have been looking for someone like Adam.
Thank you very much sir for this piece of work

[orthoguy]

Paying attention to the information that you write is really crucial, especially if you wanna write a good essay. Adam thank you so much for sharing this knowledge. it makes me wonder how much more I don't know.

[thalitadadda]

I've been watching some videos about writing skills, but yours is the best! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[rosahernandez]

Looking at Adam's videos is a tremendous support on my writing skill. Each lesson is so explicit that I cleared up some of my grammar mistakes nevertheless I still need support.

[baharzangana]

The best English teacher of all time! ♥️♥️♥️

[lyvinx]

School: teaches

youtube: Teaches in a better way

School: *am I joke to you?*

[TheZebraTribe]

Great video Adam! As a homeschooling mom I find your videos to be especially useful. You're much appreciated!

[hazimalshahin]

I looked 20 video too many time to learning about ielts but you are different from all them so very thanks for your efforts especially when you said in writing part 'this is the English test not the intelligence 'this is the mile stone of the writing essay