Writing A Paragraph of Definition

What is a paragraph

In writing, a paragraph is composed of sentences that are connected to each other. These sentences are written to explain or describe something or someone, and they are used for different purposes. In accordance to Oxford Learner Dictionary, a paragraph is

a section of a piece of writing, usually consisting of several sentences dealing with a single subject. The first sentence of a paragraph starts on a new line

Based on the Oxford definition, there are several things that can be extracted, and they are:

• A piece of writing
• Several sentences
• A single subject

So, a paragraph is a group of related sentences that discuss one (and usually only one) main idea. Now, imagine that we are going to define something; for instance, a book.

Paragraph of Definition

In formatting the paragraph of definition, the first thing that we should do is to find the characteristics of the thing. These characteristics could be in form of physical aspects or non-physical aspects which can be defined from five senses. Thus, a book has characteristics such as:

• It is printed or online
• It is packed from sheets
• Written if it is printed, typed if it is online

With these characteristics, we could combine all of these into a paragraph about how to define a book. The process begins by using independent and dependent clause, which is also combined into compound or complex sentence. It is strongly advised to visit the previous teaching material about compound and complex sentence.

From these three characteristics, which one is the independent idea?

• Printed/ online?
• Packed from sheets
• Written?

If we consider written becomes the main clause, then the dependent clauses are printed/ online and packed from sheets; thus, the sentences that are used to express the all characteristics are:

• A book is composed of written papers/ sheets
• These papers/ sheets are packed together
• These packed papers are published in printed version or online version

By using compound sentence with the use of and

A book is composed of written papers/ sheets, and these papers are packed together

On the other hand, if we use complex sentence, it becomes

A book is composed of written papers/ sheets which are packed together, in which these papers are published in printed or online version

Conclusion

A paragraph of definition is written in order to provide a brief explanation about one theme, a single event, description, or idea, etc. The teaching material can be downloaded here from the GDrive.