Recognizing Paragraph Pattern

Recognizing Paragraph Patterns

Created To Fulfill Duties

Course : Intermediate Reading Comprehension

Lecturer : Mrs. Dliyaul Millah, M.Pd.

Created by:

Ulin Nikmah                    (123411101)

Ummi Lathifah                 (123411103)

Vivi Apriyani                    (123411104)

Class : English Department 2C

EDUCATION FACULTY

ISLAMIC STATE INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES

IAIN WALISONGO SEMARANG

2013

I.                  Introduction

Paragraph are important units of thought in your reading. Each paragraph fits together ideas and information into a connected web of meaning. To understand a paragraph, you must see how its part create an overall pattern of meaning. Writers often help you discover this pattern of meaning by the way they arrange information or ideas in paragraph. Paragraph thoughts often appear in patterns that are easy to recognize. If you miss a paragraph’s pattern and don’t see how the details fit together, the paragraph will seem a jumble of confused ideas or facts to you. Once you are familiar with these patterns you will be able to spot them when you read.

II.               Discussion

There are many patterns in English. Writers often use these form patterns. Here are some examples:

1.             Time Order (Chronology)

         Some paragraph ideas are put together so that we see them in the time order in which they happened. You must keep in mind the sequence: one idea follows another and relates to an event or idea that comes before. This order is often used to tell a story or to explain how to do or make something.

         Signal words often used for chronological order or sequence are:

·         When, Then                                   

·         Last, Finally

·         First, Second, Third

·         Before, After                     

·         Next, Later

2.             Place Order

Some paragraph details are put together so that we see them in terms of their place in a room, a building, or an outdoor scene. These details follow a direction that traces movement from one part of a scene to another. A writer, especially when describing something, may give details from left to right, from near to far, from east to west, or in some other clear place order.

Signal words often used for place order are:

·         Beside

·         There

·         Near

·         Above, Over

·         Below, Under, Beneath

·         Next to

·         Alongside

·         By

·         Behind

·         On

3.             Order of Importance

Some paragraph details are put together so that we know which ideas the writer thinks are more important. In this kind of paragraph the least important ideas comes first, and the writer tells the other details in order of growing importance. Of course, the most important ideas comes last.

Signal words often used for order of importance are:

·         First

·         Next

·         Last

·         Most important

·         Major

·         Greatest

·         In the first place

4.             Listing of Details

Information in a paragraph sometimes appears just as a series of facts or details. Though all statements relate to the main idea, each fact is not expanded. The paragraph presents a listing of information

Signal words often used for listing pattern are:

·         First, Second, Third

·         One

·         And

·         For example

·         Or

·         Some

·         Many

·         Other

·         Another

·         Also

·         Finally

·         Even

·         Several

III.           Examples

In this section, we’ll give some examples from the book for further explaination

A.    Listing

 

Example A Diamonds are very expensive for several reasons. First, they are difficult to find. They are only found in a few places in the world. Second, they are useful. People use diamonds to cut other stones. Third, diamonds do not change. They stay the same for millions of years. And finally, they are very beautiful.

What is the topic of this paragraph? The topic of this paragraph is about diamonds

What is the main idea? The main idea is diamonds are very expensive for several reasons.

The underlined words are signal words. They tell us about the author’s pattern of organization. The signal word for this pattern is several. It tells us to look for a list.

This list tells us several reasons why diamonds are expensive.

It was easy to find the reasons. There is a signal word for each reason:

                    Signals                                     Reasons

                    First                                         Difficult to find

                    Second                                    Useful

                    Third                                       They do not change

                    Finally                                      Beautiful

B.     Time Order

 

Example A Albert Einstein was born in 1879 in Ulm. Germany. He graduated from the University of Zurich in Switzerland in 1905. In 1905 he also did some of his famous work in physics. In 1919 he won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Between 1919 and 1933 he lived in Germany and traveled a lot to talk to other scientists. Then in 1933 he had to leave Germany because of Hitler and the Nazi party. He moved to the United States. From 1933 until his death he lived in Princeton, New Jersey. He died on April 18, 1955

 

What is the topic of this paragraph? The topic of this paragraph is about Albert Einstein.

How can you tell this is a time order pattern?

You can tell because the signals in this paragraph are all dates. Each date points to an event in the life of Albert Einstein. Here are all the signals.

Signals                                         Events

1879                       Albert Einstein was born

1905                       Graduated from the University of Zurich

1905                       Did some of his famous work in physics

1919                       Won the Nobel Prize for Physics

1919-1929             Lived in Germany, traveled a lot to talk to other scientists

1933                       Leave Germany and moved to the United States

1933-1955             Lived in Princeton, New Jersey

April 18, 1955       He died