| 1. | T.S. 1 and 2 or just 2; I.D. X Note: The real point of the passage is that Clemente made full use of his time on earth, but some students may feel that sentence 2 alone, with its reference to “these words” is incomplete. |
| 2. | T.S. 2; I.D. 11 |
| 3. | T.S. 3; I.D. 5 |
| 4. | T.S. 3; I.D. 8
Note: Sentence 1 is also possible as a topic sentence. |
| 5. | T.S. 1; I.D. X
Note: A case could also be made for sentence 5 being the topic sentence although I would count sentence 1 as the better answer because the whole paragraph is devoted to explaining the paradox of teenagers’ natural health being undermined by increasing health problems. |
| 6. | T.S. 1; I.D. 5
Note: Sentence 12 as the topic sentence would also be correct. This is a good example of a paragraph that introduces the main idea at the beginning of the paragraph and then repeats it at the end. Although it is less precise, you could even argue, correctly I think, that sentence 11 is a topic sentence. As long as students could interpret the clause “the jury is still out,” I would also accept sentence 11 as a correct answer. |
| 7. | T.S. 3; I.D. 4 |
| 8. | T.S. 1; I.D. 2 |
| 9. | T.S. 1; I.D. 9
Note: I would also accept sentence 2 as a topic sentence that could sum up the paragraph. |
| 10. | T. S. 1 and 2; I.D. 3
Note: This is a case where I think you need to have both sentences to create a two-step topic sentence. However, some instructors would consider sentence 2 as correct as long as students knew they had to mentally plug in the phrase “during World War II.” That’s fine with me. |