Self Learning: Reading and Writing Paragraph development — the topic sentence A topic sentence is a statement of the controlling idea that the rest of the paragraph clarifies, exemplifies, or supports. It is usually the most general statement of the paragraph but meanwhile specific enough so that it can be fully developed in a single paragraph. A good topic sentence promises what is to come. A good topic sentence has three characteristics: it includes a topic and a controlling idea; it is limited; and it lends itself to development. Exercises: 1. Write a topic sentence to sum up the following details. 1) Denver, Colorado, is named for James Denver, a soldier and administrator of the Western frontier. 2) Mississippi’s capital Jackson is named after the seventh President of the United States. 3) Cleveland, Ohio’s largest city, gets its name from Moses Cleveland, a man who invested a lot of money in the area.