“Now it is up to you when and how you participate in mass,” the Protestant youth wing in the German city of Hanover said on their Internet site. “Whether alone, with friends, or on the streetcar. It’s your decision!” Under the program 1,400 people who signed up in advance received highlights of the service, including the pastor’s greeting, an excerpt from the Bible, a prayer and a blessing. Religious leaders have made ample use of modern technology to spread the Word in recent decades, but the new service was a novel use of “Short Message Service,” or SMS capability, of cellular phone. Surveys suggest Germans make more use of SMS messaging than cell phone users in any other nation. Not everyone was enthralled with the idea of virtual church. Berlin’s Protestant bishop Wolfgang Huber said an SMS service could not replace the experience of attending mass. “Religious services live on people gathering together in one place,” he told a reporter, speaking from a mobile phone.
—“Protestants Offer Prayer by Mobile Phone”,
English Language Learning, September 2001
 

Using indicators

 
When you were reading the above paragraphs, you might have found the concluding signal words indicating that the paragraph was going to come to a close. Therefore, it is wiser to use some concluding indicators to signal your endings.  Some of the indicators are summed up as follows:
 
restatement:      in short, all in all, above all, ...
result:                  thus, therefore, as a result,...
recommendation: most importantly,  ...
                             should or might probably ...
                             ... suggest that ..., ...
prediction:          It is reasonable to expect ...
                             I might say that ... will ...
quotation:           …said, “…”
                             According to …
                             As … says, “…”
                             As … puts it.
 
As stated above, the type of conclusion used depends upon the type of paragraph. A process paragraph might be suitably concluded with chronological ending. A paragraph giving your opinion may end with a prediction or a recommendation; a paragraph of any type might end with a restatement of the facts. Whatever type you use, be sure not to introduce an idea that you have not discussed.
 

VI.   Reading practice

 
1.      Read each of the following paragraphs carefully. Write the topics and the main ideas and underline or highlight the topic sentences in the paragraphs if any.
 
Passage 1
 
One of the most important aspects of an image is colour. People are very sensitive to colour. Different colours have different effects on people. Red is an exciting colour. It creates an image of action, energy and danger. Red is also the most frequently used colour in flags. Eighty per cent of the world’s flags contain red. A study in Germany showed that football teams wearing red are more successful. Blue is a very calm colour. Business executives usually wear dark blue suits. Blue is also a peaceful colour. The flag of the United Nations is light blue. Yellow is associated with openness and freedom. Green is a very relaxing colour. Surgeons nowadays wear green, because it’s less tiring than white. Black creates an image of power and authority. It can also be a very threatening colour. Gangsters and vampires often wear black. White is a pure and strong colour. This is one reason why doctors wear white coats. We trust them more. Grey is a very anonymous colour. People wearing grey don’t want other people to notice them. Brown is the opposite of black. It’s warm and friendly, while black is threatening.
                                                                English Salon, February 1999
 
(1)    Is the main idea stated or implied?                                           _________
 
(2)    What is the topic of this paragraph?
__________________________________________________________
 
(3)    What is the main idea?
__________________________________________________________
 
Passage 2
 
In Berlin shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Otto Hahu and Fritz Strassmann discovered a puzzling nuclear reaction — nuclear fission. It changed the world. Emigre scientists in Britain and America realized that Hitler would be strongly interested in developing a nuclear weapon, and they feared that this would further his plans to enslave the free world. For this reason, the U. S. Government decided to accept their offer to help with constructing such a weapon. James Franck was asked for his support, and agreed to join the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, on condition that he would withdraw his cooperation if the Germans in Germany under Hitler were not continuing their own research on these lines. In April 1945 Germany surrendered. The Allies learned that German physicists were far from being able to build an atomic bomb. At once, Franck and some of his colleagues wrote a comprehensive report to the American Secretary of War concerning the great political, economic and ethical dangers of using an atomic bomb against Japan, who was still at war with the Allies. This well known “ Franck Report” is an eloquent expression of the responsibilities of scientists. The American government, as we know, did not follow Franck’s recommendations.
—  “Two Life-long Friends”, British Museum of Science, 1983
 
(1)    Is the main idea stated or implied?                                           _________
 
(2)    What is the topic of this paragraph?
__________________________________________________________
 
(3)    What is the main idea?
__________________________________________________________
 
Passage 3
 
In jury trials the judge decides questions of law, sums up the evidence for the jury and instructs it on the relevant law, and discharges the accused or passes sentence. Only the jury decides whether the defendant is guilty. In England and Wales, if the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the judge may direct it to bring in a majority verdict provided that, in the normal jury of 12 people, there are not more than two dissentients. In Scotland, where the jury consists of 15 people, the verdict may be reached by a simple majority. However, as a general rule, no person may be convicted without proven evidence. If the jury returns a verdict of “not guilty” (or in Scotland “not proven”, which is an alternative verdict of acquittal, the prosecution has no right of appeal and the defendant cannot be tried again for the same offence. If “guilty” the defendant has a right of appeal to the appropriate court. A jury is completely independent of the judiciary. Once members are sworn in, they are protected from all interference. Both the prosecution and the defence can object to particular jurors. People between the ages of 18 and 65 whose names appear on the electoral register, with certain exceptions, are liable for jury service and their names are chosen at random. (Proposals to increase the upper age limit from 65 to 70 have been announced.) Ineligible persons include the judiciary, priests, people who have within the previous ten years been members of the legal profession services, the Lord Chancellor’s Department, or the police, prison and probation services, and certain sufferers from mental illness. Disqualified persons also include those sentenced to two or more years’ imprisonment and those who have, within the previous ten years, served any part of a sentence of imprisonment, youth custody or detention, or been subject to a community service order, or, within the previous five years, been placed on probation.
                            —  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 
(1)    Is the main idea stated or implied?                                           ___________
 
(1)    What is the topic of this paragraph?
___________________________________________________________
 
(3)    What is the main idea?
___________________________________________________________
       Passage 4
 
One can suggest that students should spend two or three years in an English-speaking country, which amounts to washing one’s hands of them. Few students have the time or the money to do that. It is often said that wide reading is the best alternative course of action but even here it is necessary to make some kind of selection. It is no use telling students to go to the library and pick up the first book they come across. My own advice to them would be: “read what you can understand without having to look up words in a dictionary (but not what you can understand at a glance); read what interests you; read what you have time for (magazines and newspapers rather than novels unless you can read the whole novel in a week or so); read the English written today, not 200 years ago; read as much as you can and try to remember the way it was written rather than individual words that puzzled you,” And instead of “read”, I could just as well say “listen to”.
                               —W. S. Fowler, “A Kind of Sermon”
 
(1)    Is the main idea stated or implied?                                           _________
 
(2)    What is the topic of this paragraph?
__________________________________________________________
 
(3)    What is the main idea?
        __________________________________________________________
             
2.      Read each of the following paragraphs carefully and answer the questions below it.
 
Passage 1