Ensuring Paragraph Unity: Check That All Details Are Relevant

A unified paragraph contains only details and explanations that are relevant to the point made in the topic sentence.

Read the following paragraph and identify which sentences are not relevant to the topic sentence.

Version A

(1) Baking a cake relies on some complex chemical reactions to transform all the individual ingredients into something delicious to eat. (2) Flour, eggs, butter, one or more leavening agents, and some sort of flavoring, such as vanilla or chocolate, are all combined in a bowl and then baked in the oven. (3) Many people avoid eating eggs due to health considerations. (4) Chocolate is my favorite flavor. (5) Leavening is the process that makes air bubbles form; this helps the batter to rise when it is heated.

Which of the following sentences are not relevant to the topic sentence? Check all that apply.

Version B

(1) My town holds a 5K road race every year to raise funds for charity. (2) People pay to participate and the money is used to help families in need of assistance. (3) More than 5,000 people ran in the race this year. (4) I am on the track team at Hosmer High School. (5) My sister also runs track, but we don’t go to the same school.

Which of the following sentences are not relevant to the topic sentence? Check all that apply.

Version C

(1) Taking care of a vegetable garden takes a lot of time and money, and the results don’t always seem worth it. (2) I like pumpkins, but I didn’t have enough room to grow them. (3) I bought tomato, pepper, and zucchini plants for about $35. (4) I spent hours planting, watering, and weeding so I wouldn’t have to buy some of the things I like to eat. (5) I don’t eat eggplant, so I didn’t plant any of it. (6) My garden didn’t yield much; by the end of the summer I had three peppers, eight tomatoes, and two zucchinis. (7) I think I would have been better off going to the farmers market and spending $35 on vegetables there.

Which of the following sentences are not relevant to the topic sentence? Check all that apply.