topic sentence

or topical sentence

noun

a sentence that expresses the essential idea of a paragraph or larger section, usually appearing at the beginning.

topic sentence

a sentence in a paragraph that expresses the main idea or point of the whole paragraph

topic sentence

The main sentence in a paragraph , often the first sentence. It briefly conveys the essential idea of the paragraph.

First recorded in 1915–20

Frame a sentence which you think would be an adequate topic sentence for the whole piece.

In this paragraph every sentence is a repetition of some part of the opening or topic sentence, and serves to explain it.

Is his last sentence, in case it is a repetition of the topic, longer or shorter than the topic sentence?

In these cases the topic-sentence follows the transition, and it may come as late as the middle of the paragraph.

Below are four paragraphs, from different forms of discourse, all having the topic-sentence at the beginning.

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