A manatee looks a lot like a *gigantic* swimming cow. In fact, another name for the manatee is "sea cow." Manatees can eat over 100 pounds of water plants every day. They are large and slow- moving *creatures*. They have small, flat front legs and no hind legs. Without hind legs they are *helpless* on land. huge tiny black clumsy animals plants fish strangers unable to do anything unable to breathe funny looking afraid 3 Manatees are 15 feet long and weigh 1,500 pounds. There are many different kinds of water plants. Cows eat huge amounts of grass every year and turn it into milk and beef. The paragraph is about manatees. A sentence about water plants would not fit in. The passage is about manatees. A sentence about cows and what they eat has nothing to do with the rest of the paragraph. 1 Sea Cows Slow-Moving Animals Water Plant Eaters Manatees are indeed described as slow- moving animals, but the paragraph says many other things about them. Look for a broader title. Although the paragraph states that manatees eat water plants, a lot more is discussed than their diet. Look for a broader title. Many people love gold! Gold has been used for money and jewelry for thou- sands of years. It is very heavy but also quite soft. In its natural form gold looks like little *flecks* in a rock. Once it is *removed* from the rock, pure gold has to be mixed with other metals to give it hardness. In the form of shiny gold coins and jewelry, it has been shaped and *polished*. spots stains stars colors taken away washed dug chopped out shined bought melted cleaned 2 Gold is a metal that has both beauty and value. Gold is found in rock. Jewelry is very valuable. The opening sentence should lead into the topic. This fact is mentioned as a detail later in the paragraph. The opening sentence should lead into the topic. The passage is about gold, not jewelry. Jewelry is only mentioned as a detail. 3 Gold's softness makes it easy to shape into different forms. The richest gold field in the world is in South Africa. Like gold, silver is also considered to be a "precious" metal. The paragraph is about the qualities and uses of gold. A sentence about a specific place where gold is found would not fit in. The paragraph is about gold. A sentence about another metal has nothing to do with the topic. Cloth is made out of hundreds of *tiny* threads. When the threads get bent the wrong way, the cloth becomes *wrinkled*. One way to take out wrinkles is with an iron. An iron uses warmth and water to *press* the threads back in the right direction. Irons get very hot. It's important to be very careful when you use one. very small short machine made cotton creased dirty spoiled hung up smoothe curl wet clean 2 Does your clothing ever get wrinkled? Do you like to sew? Did you ever wonder what clothing is made of? The paragraph is about wrinkles in cloth, not sewing. Although this sentence can be connected to the first one in the passage, it has nothing to do with the rest of the para- graph. The paragraph is about wrinkles. 5 Clothing will feel warm just after it is ironed. Irons get very hot when you use them. Heat and water can be used to take out wrinkles. This is clearly stated in the next-to- the-last sentence of the paragraph. The paragraph clearly states: "An iron uses warmth and water to press the threads back in the right direction." Koala bears actually are not bears at all. They are marsupials. A marsupial is a special kind of animal: A baby born to a marsupial mother is not com- plete at birth. It must make its way into a *pouch* on the mother's stomach. That's where it finishes growing. The name koala means "animal that does not drink." This is true of koala bears. They only eat the thick, *juicy* leaves of a special tree in Australia, where they live. Koalas do not need anything else to *survive*. pocket wrinkle skin circle full of liquid underwater fruit-filled unpeeled live drink eat grow 2 Most people love koala bears because they look so sweet and cuddly. Many unusual animals are found only in Australia. The world's most popular bear really isn't a bear. This is true, but the paragraph is about the koala bear alone. The opening sen- tence should properly introduce that topic. The paragraph already says this. Be careful not to repeat anything. 1 The Bear That Isn't a Bear Marsupials Australian Animals This is too general a title. The para- graph is about one specfic marsupial. Look for a title that has to do with that animal. The paragraph is about one special animal that happens to come from Australia. The title should relate to that topic. Long ago, people from far away *believed* that somewhere in the New World there was a special *spring*. They called it the Fountain of Youth. They thought that if you bathed in this fountain or drank some of the water, you would stay young forever. A man named Ponce de Leon set out to find the Fountain of Youth in the New World. He never found it, but he did *discover* a lovely place while he was looking. He named it Florida, for all its flowers. thought it was true heard rumors learned knew fountain bathtub puddle water find line in claim travel to 1 The Fountain of Youth Ponce de Leon How Florida Got Its Name The paragraph is not just about Ponce de Leon. It tells the story of the search for the Fountain of Youth. There is a better title. The paragraph is about the Fountain of Youth, not how Florida got its name. 3 People have always wanted to find something to keep them from aging. Ponce de Leon had several children. Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492. The paragraph is about the Fountain of Youth. A sentence only about Ponce de Leon would not fit in. The paragraph is about the Fountain of Youth. A sentence about Christopher Columbus would not fit in. Embers are what is left over when a fire starts to burn out. In America, children sit around the embers of a fire and *toast* marshmallows or tell ghost stories. In Belgium it is be- lieved that if you jump over embers on June 23, you won't get a stomach *ache* all year. In Syria, everyone in the family jumps over the embers of a dying fire and makes a wish. It is fun to play around the embers but it can also be *dangerous*. cook eat open enjoy pain juice chill hole harmful sad tiring strange 5 Embers are fire that can still set things alight and cause damage. Embers are left over when a fire starts to burn out. You need a large fire in order to have embers. This is clearly stated in the first sentence of the paragraph. There is nothing in the paragraph to help us know whether this is so or not. 3 Many people have customs that have to do with the embers of a fire. June 23 is an important date in Belgium for ember "games." The longer a fire burns, the hotter it gets. This is already described in the paragraph. The paragraph is about embers, not fire itself. This sentence would not fit in. In the United States chocolate bunnies, candy chicks and colored eggs are very *popular* at Easter. People in other countries also have special foods for Easter. Hot cross buns have a cross made of *icing* on the top. They were first baked in England for Good Friday. In Poland people eat a *delicious* cake called "babka." In Italy a special Easter bread is made by baking the dough with hard-boiled eggs placed on top. Each country has a special food to celebrate Easter. well-liked cheap gay homemade frosting chocolate strawberry sugar tasty pretty tiny colorful 1 A Variety of Easter Foods Good Friday in England Easter Chocolates The passage is about different national foods for Easter. "Good Friday in England" relates to one example. Look for a better title. The paragraph is about many types of food eaten at Easter. Chocolate is only one of the types mentioned. Look for a broader title. 2 Easter is a holiday that is celebrated with many different foods. Easter is an important holiday for Christian people everywhere. Around the world different peoples cook many different kinds of food. The paragraph is about different Easter foods around the world. It really isn't about Easter as an important Christian holiday. This sentence is too general. The paragraph is specifically about different Easter foods. Pablo Picasso was a great artist who was born in Spain in 1881. When he was 20, Picasso went to France. At first he painted clowns and musicians as they really were. Later, he painted people and *objects* using the shapes of cubes and circles. One of Picasso's greatest paintings shows how *horrible* war is. It is called "Guernica," after the Spanish town *destroyed* by bombs during the Spanish Civil War. things fish clouds boxes awful exciting bloody dangerous smashed visited helped attacked 4 Today you can see Picasso's works in museums throughout the world. At one point Picasso painted mainly in shades of blue to show loneliness. One of Spain's most famous sons is Pablo Picasso. This sentence could be put into the paragraph, but it would not logically complete it. Look for a sentence that sums up Picasso's achievements. This sentence could begin the paragraph, but would not logically complete it. Look for a sentence that sums up Picasso's achievements. 1 A Great Spanish Artist Modern Art Spain's Famous Artists The paragraph is not about modern art, even though Picasso's paintings are examples of modern art. The title should relate to Picasso. This is too general a title. The paragraph is about one artist from Spain, Pablo Picasso. Did you know that Popeye started as the *hero* of a comic strip called "Thimble Theatre"? Popeye was *created* by a man named Elzie Segar. He first appeared in "Thimble Theatre" in 1929. It wasn't until 1931 that Popeye met his hamburger-eating friend Wimpy. Popeye's girlfriend Olive Oyl has also become famous. When Elzie Seger died in 1938, a friend *continued* to draw Popeye. main character brave person fast runner bad guy invented seen liked shown kept on began stopped changed 3 Popeye ate a lot of spinach, which made him very strong. In the comic strip, Segar gave Popeye a good friend and a girlfriend. Today, people still love Popeye. Popeye's friend Wimpy and his girl- friend Olive Oyl are mentioned in the paragraph. Do not repeat in- formation already given. This sentence could complete the paragraph but would not logically fit into it. 2 Popeye the sailor is famous in comic books, cartoons, and even in a song. Popeye makes people laugh. Many comic strip characters have become famous. The paragraph is about the beginnings of the character Popeye. This sentence could fit into the paragraph, but there is a better sentence to introduce it. This sentence is too general. The paragraph is about one comic strip character who became famous. Look for a sentence about Popeye. The piano is a fairly new *instrument*. The first one was built in 1709 by Bartolommeo Cristofori. He gave it a long name in Italian. Using the last two words, people *reduced* the name to pianoforte. Piano means soft, and forte means loud. Over the next hundred years, the piano was *changed* by other instrument makers. In 1855, Henry Steinway took all these inventions and built the kind of grand piano we know today. device for making music tool for teaching machines part of an orchestra shortened wrote played made made different made difficult made bigger made smaller 5 The modern piano is quite different from the original instrument. Piano is the Italian word for soft. The piano is a difficult instrument to play. This is clearly stated in the paragraph. You could not know this from the para- graph. It tells about the history of the piano. Nothing is said about playing the piano. 4 Today people often refer to any good classical piano as a Steinway. Many people enjoy playing or listening to the piano. Much great music has been written especially for piano. The paragraph tells about the history of the piano. A sentence about the popularity of the piano has nothing to do with the topic. The passage tells about the history of the piano. A sentence about piano music has nothing to do with the rest of the paragraph.