<Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> By the grammar of a language is meant either the relations born by the words of a sentence and by sentences themselves one to another, or the systematized exposition of these . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="3">--Topic sentence of the Grammar article, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 Edition </Td> </Tr> <P> In expository writing, a topic sentence is a sentence that summarizes the main idea of a paragraph . It is usually the first sentence in a paragraph . </P> <P> Also known as a focus sentence, it encapsulates or organizes an entire paragraph . Although topic sentences may appear anywhere in a paragraph, in academic essays they often appear at the beginning . The topic sentence acts as a kind of summary, and offers the reader an insightful view of the writer's main ideas for the following paragraph . More than just being a mere summary, however, a topic sentence often provides a claim or an insight directly or indirectly related to the thesis . It adds cohesion to a paper and helps organize ideas both within the paragraph and the whole body of work at large . As the topic sentence encapsulates the idea of the paragraph, serving as a sub-thesis, it remains general enough to cover the support given in the body paragraph while being more direct than the thesis of the paper . </P>

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