Analyze the Structure of a Specific Paragraph in a Text

Which paragraph structure identifies and explains similarities and differences?

• Expository / Explanatory

• Descriptive

• Compare / Contrast

• Narrative

Which paragraph structure uses description and sensory language to help readers imagine.

• Expository / Explanation

• Descriptive

• Compare / Contrast

• Narrative

Which paragraph structure tells a story and usually has sequence, characters, setting, and conflict?

• Expository / Explanatory

• Descriptive

• Compare / Contrast

• Narrative

Which paragraph structures gives information, specifies the topic of a text and why it is important?

• Expository / Explanatory

• Descriptive

• Compare / Contrast

• Narrative

“In the past, people knew about food because they grew it or hunted it themselves. They learned about food from their parents and grandparents. They cooked and ate the same foods people in their part of the world had always eaten. Modern Americans don't have strong food traditions. Instead we have dozens of different “experts” who give us lots of different advice about what to eat and what not to eat”

• Narrative

• Compare/Contrast

• Explanatory

• Descriptive

“The average supermarket doesn’t seem much like a field of corn. Take a look around one. What do you see? There’s a large, air-conditioned room. There are long aisles and shelves piled high with boxes and cans. There are paper goods and diapers and magazines. But that’s not all. Look again. Somewhere, behind the brightly colored packaging, underneath the labels covered with information, there is a mountain of corn.”

• Narrative

• Explanatory

• Compare/Contrast

• Descriptive

“Back when George’s grandfather started farming, farmers grew their own seed. That’s the way farmers had always gotten their seed- they just kept some of their crop to be planted for the next season. Then in the 1930s seed companies came up with a new kind of corn seed - hybrid corn. A hybrid is a plant or animal whose parents have different traits. For example, you might take a type of corn that resists disease and cross it with another type of corn that produces a lot of ears. Sounds good, right?”

• Narrative

• Explanatory

• Compare/Contrast

• Descriptive

“New hybrids have increased farm yields to about 180 bushels per acre. One bushel holds 56 pounds of kernels, so 180 bushels is slightly more than 10,000 pounds of food per acre. The field George and I planted that day would produce 1.8 million pounds of corn. Not bad for a day’s work sitting down, I thought to myself.”

• Narrative

• Explanatory

• Compare/Contrast

• Descriptive

Determine the key concept of the following paragraph:

“In the past, people knew about food because they grew it or hunted it themselves. They learned about food from their parents and grandparents. They cooked and ate the same foods people in their part of the world had always eaten. Modern Americans don't have strong food traditions. Instead we have dozens of different “experts” who give us lots of different advice about what to eat and what not to eat”

• This develops the concept that we do not know where our food comes from, which creates the “omnivore’s dilemma.”

• This provides the reader with the history of farmers and seeds.

• This provides data to inform the reader about hybrid corn plants.

• This appeals to the sense of sight to help readers imagine what the supermarket looks like and how most foods contain corn.

Determine the key concept of the following paragraph:

“The average supermarket doesn’t seem much like a field of corn. Take a look around one. What do you see? There’s a large, air-conditioned room. There are long aisles and shelves piled high with boxes and cans. There are paper goods and diapers and magazines. But that’s not all. Look again. Somewhere, behind the brightly colored packaging, underneath the labels covered with information, there is a mountain of corn.”

• This develops the concept that we do not know where our food comes from, which creates the “omnivore’s dilemma.”

• This provides the reader with the history of farmers and seeds.

• This provides data to inform the reader about hybrid corn plants.

• This appeals to the sense of sight to help readers imagine what the supermarket looks like and how most foods contain corn.