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Chapter 5
Understanding Paragraphs:
Supporting Details and Transitions

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THIS CHAPTER WILL SHOW YOU
HOW TO:
1. Recognize supporting details
2. Identify types of supporting details
3. Use transitions to guide your reading
4. Paraphrase paragraphs

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Four Parts of a Paragraph
1. Topic: The one thing the whole paragraph is about
2. Main Idea: The broad, general idea the whole paragraph
is concerned with
3. Details: The ideas that explain or support the main idea
4. Transitions: The words or phrases that link ideas
together

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Paragraphs
Supporting Details:
 facts and ideas that
prove or explain the
main idea of a
paragraph.
 range in degree of
importance.
Transitions:
 linking words or
phrases used to lead
the reader from one
idea to another.

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Recognizing Supporting Details
 Supporting details are facts and ideas that
prove or explain the main idea of a
paragraph.
 Key details directly explain the main idea.
 Minor details provide additional information
or further explain one of the key details.

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TYPES OF SUPPORTING DETAILS
Examples
Facts and Statistics
Reasons
Descriptions
Steps or Procedures

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Examples
 Examples make ideas and concepts real
and understandable.
 Example: The speed that a body has at any one instant is
called instantaneous speed. For example, when we say that
the speed of a car at some particular instant is 60 kilometers
per hour, we mean that if the car continued moving as fast for
an hour, it would travel 60 kilometers.

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Facts and Statistics
 The facts and statistics may provide
evidence that the main idea is correct. Or
the facts may further explain the main idea.
 Example: An increasing number of minority workers will
join the work force by the year 2000. The United States
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that white males,
who have dominated the work force for several
generations, will make up only 15 percent of the new
entrants in the labor force between 1990 and 2000.

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Reasons
 A writer may support an idea by giving
reasons why a main idea is correct.
 Example: There are several reasons why warm air
rises. Warm air expands and becomes less dense than
the surrounding air and is buoyed upward like a
balloon. The buoyancy is in an upward direction
because the air pressure below a region of warmed air
is greater than the air pressure above. And the
warmed air rises because the buoyant force is greater
than its weight.

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Descriptions
• When the topic of a paragraph is a person,
object, place, or process, the writer may
develop the paragraph by describing the
object.
• Example: The Koran is the sacred book of the Islamic
religion. It was written during the lifetime of Mohammed
during the years in which he recorded divine revelations.
The Koran includes rules for family relationships, including
marriage and divorce.

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Steps or Procedures
 When a paragraph explains how to do
something, the paragraph details are lists of
steps or procedures to be followed:
 Example: To prepare an outline of a speech, you
should first read about the topic. Next, find the main
points. After that, locate the details that support the
main points. Finally, organize the main points and
details in a logical order.

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TRANSITIONS
 Transitions are linking words or phrases
used to lead the reader from one idea to
another. Types of transitions are:
 Time-Sequence
 Example
 Enumeration
 Continuation
 Contrast
 Comparison
 Cause-Effect
 Summation

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Time-Sequence Transition
 The author is arranging
ideas in the order in which
they happened.
 Examples:
first
later
next
finally

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Example Transition
 It tells the reader that an
example will follow.
 Examples:
 for example
 for instance
 to illustrate
 such as

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Enumeration
 The author is marking or identifying
each major point (sometimes these
may be used to suggest order of
importance).
 Examples: first, second, third, last,
another, next

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Continuation
 The author is continuing with the same
idea and is going to provide additional
information.
 Examples:
 also,
 in addition,
 and,
 further,
 another

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Comparison/Contrast
 Comparison: The writer will show how the previous
idea is similar to what follows.
 Examples: Like, likewise, similarly
 Contrast: The author is switching to a different,
opposite, or contrasting idea than previously
discussed.
 Examples: on the other hand; in contrast; however

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Cause/Effect
 The writer will show a connection between
two or more things, how one thing caused
another, or how something happened as a
result of something else.
 Examples: because, thus, therefore, since,
consequently

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PARAPHRASING PARAGRAPHS
 Substitute synonyms.
 Rearrange sentence parts.
 Concentrate on maintaining the author’s
focus and emphasis.
 Work sentence-by-sentence, paraphrasing
the ideas in the order in which they appear in
the paragraph.

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SELF-TEST SUMMARY
 Name and describe the four essential parts of a
paragraph.
 What is the difference between key details and
minor details?
 What are the five types of details used to support
the main idea?
 What are transitions, and what information do they
give the reader?
 What two steps are involved in paraphrasing
paragraphs?

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For additional readings, exercises, and Internet
activities, visit this book’s Companion Website
at:
http://www.ablongman.com/mcwhorter
If you need a user name or password, see your instructor.
Visit the Companion Website

22. Copyright 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing by Longman Publishers
TEST-TAKING TIPS: Answering
Questions About Supporting Details
 Do not try to memorize factual information as you
read the passage because you can look back at the
passage.
 As you read, pay attention to how the writer
supports the main idea.
 Do not trust your memory about a fact. Look back
at the passage.
 It may be necessary to consider several details
together in order to answer a question.