WHAT IS THE TOPIC AND SUPPORTING DETAILS IN PARAGRAPHS 1) The stages of life, from birth to death, may seem controlled by biology. (2) However, the way we think about life’s stages is shaped by society. (3) During the Middle Ages, for example, children dressed—and were expected to act—just like little adults. (4) Adolescence became a distinct stage of life only fairly recently, when a separate teenage subculture began to appear. (5) But in the Middle Ages, young people were “children” until about age 16. (6) Then they went to work, married, and had their own children. (7) Today, “young adulthood” has become a new stage of life, stretching from about age 20 to 30. (8) As life expectancy becomes longer and people spend years in active retirement, older adulthood has also become a distinct life stage.

The topic of the paragraph is presented in sentence number 2, while the supporting details are presented in sequences 5, 6 and 7.

Explanation:

The topic of a paragraph refers to the subject that the paragraph will cover and present to the reader. Generally, this topic is presented right in the first sentences, which allows the reader to recognize, right at the beginning, the subject that will be discussed in the text. The paragraph presented in the question above is an example of this, as the topic is presented in the second sentence, which allows the reader to realize that the subject covered in the paragraph will be about how society is influential in our way of seeing the phases a life.

The supporting details, on the other hand, are the sentences that justify the topic of the text, that is, the supporting details show why this topic is real and relevant to be discussed. In this case, sentences 5, 6 and 7 present evidence of how youth is seen differently in two different societies.

faulty parallelism is a construction in which two or more parts of a sentence are equivalent in meaning but not grammatically similar in form.

the correct version of this faulty parallelism in the sentence is:

the hikers knew that the hike was six miles, that it usually required the entire day, and it would not be wise to start after 10: 00 a.m.

the problem is the last sentence, the first two have a basic subject+verb+object structure.

so, to give a proper balance to the structure, or better said, to give a parallel structure, we must write a basic s+v+o structure in all three sentences:

the hikers knew that the hike was six miles, that it usually required the entire day, and it would not be wise to start after 10: 00 a.m.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)