There are many types of paragraphs. The major types are:
Descriptive paragraph
Narrative paragraph
Cause and Effect paragraph
Comparison paragraph
Contrast paragraph
Expository paragraph
Argumentative paragraph
Persuasive paragraph
Listing paragraph
Descriptive Paragraph
Description is that kind of writing that pictures a place, a person, or an object. In learning to write description, you should sharpen your powers of observation i.e. train your five senses- sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Try to picture for your reader the people, places or objects you are familiar with and have observed carefully. This will help you describe them vividly by using details that would appeal to your reader.
When you write a descriptive paragraph, tell who or what you are describing in your topic sentence. Here is an example for you. Read the paragraph below and look for details that appeal to the senses.
Narrative Paragraph
The purpose of narration is story telling. Narrative paragraphs narrate or tell about some past incidents or events. The simplest kind of story is the kind of writing that tells us about a series of actions, usually in time order, in a single paragraph. A good narrative paragraph often tells us not only 'what happened' but also 'how it happened'. While writing a narrative paragraph you should keep in mind the following guidelines:
a. present the subject in a topic sentence
b. include information about the people and the setting
c. tell the action in chronological order
d. use transitional words, such as, first, soon, next, then, later, etc.
e. write a concluding sentence to bring the incident to a definite end
Cause and Effect Paragraph
This type of paragraph begins with a statement of the effect first, and then goes on to give the causes that contribute to that effect.
Listing Paragraph
Listing paragraph provides a list of items in support of the topic sentence. The following paragraph provides a list of the major fruits of Bangladesh.
Comparison Paragraph
This type of paragraphs shows similarities between two persons, places, things, objects, actions or ideas. The topic sentence shows how we are comparing the features or qualities of two subjects. To use this technique, we can have two procedures:
a) We can compare two subjects' features or qualities point by point, or
b) We can state all the features or qualities of a subject first and then
compare these with those of the other subject.
Contrast Paragraph
Contrast paragraphs show the differences between two things.
