Page 28 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

they want.
But just know that these specific numbers are not connected to what English

grammar requires. The English language doesn’t care how many sentences you
use.

Your teachers tell you how many sentences to use per paragraph because
they know if they say, “Write a five-paragraph essay,” some students will write

five three-sentence paragraphs (and short sentences, at that), and consider

themselves done.
What they’re trying to do is get you to write fully, in detail, and to find the

natural flow of your writing so you stop only when the conclusion is honestly
reached.

2.3.4 CONCLUSION

The concluding sentence summarizes what has been said, or presents the

natural final thought that should occur in the reader’s mind when all the
paragraph’s ideas or actions are put together. Many times, the conclusion

restates the topic sentence. In a story or other kind of sequential narrative, the
conclusion tends to include consequences and outcomes. In other cases, the

conclusion is an observation, which more or less says, “Given what we’ve
learned in this paragraph, X is true, Y is not, and we don’t know about Z.”

2.4 Example Paragraphs

Let’s illustrate all three parts of a paragraph using a passage from The Wind in
the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. The numbers indicate [1] topic, [2] body, and

[3] conclusion.

[1] But Mole stood still a moment, held in thought. [2] As one wakened

suddenly from a beautiful dream, who struggles to recall it, and can
re-capture nothing but a dim sense of the beauty of it, the beauty! Till
that, too, fades away in its turn, and the dreamer bitterly accepts the