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Opinion Paragraphs

Opinion means what you think or believe. In daily life we express our opinions in different ways. Sometimes
we need to talk about our thoughts and sometimes we need to express them in written ways. In academic
writing it is necessary to state your opinion clearly and support it with good reasons. Thus, a good opinion
paragraph should include:

- Your opinion clearly

- Your reasons about why you think so
- Supporting details to back up your reasons
- Your concluding sentence which is the restatement of your opinion given at the beginning

a. Fact or Opinion

In an opinion paragraph you need to give your opinion clearly and support them with valid reasons. These
reasons may be facts or opinions. Therefore, before writing an opinion paragraph, one needs to identify what
is a fact and what is an opinion. An opinion is described as a person’s thoughts or beliefs. It is something
subjective. However, a fact is something which is proved to be true. It is objective and it means the same for
everyone. One cannot disagree with a fact but can agree or disagree with an opinion.

E.g. “Ataturk was born in 1881” – This is a fact so you cannot disagree with it.

“The landscape is amazing” – This is an opinion so you can agree or disagree with it.

Exercise 1

Write “F” if the sentence is a fact and “O” if the sentence is an opinion. Tick the ones that are good topics for
opinion paragraphs.

1. Basketball is fun. ______________

2. Youth and Sports Day is celebrated on 19th May. ___________
3. Youth and Sports Day is the best public holiday. __________
4. Ankara is the capital of Turkey. ____________
5. I think Ankara is a great city. _________
6. The car ride cost 35 dollars. _______
7. My mom said “Don’t be late”. ____________
8. Coming late is not a big problem for me. ___________

b. Outline of an Opinion Paragraph

A good opinion paragraph starts with a good topic sentence. What is a good topic sentence? It is what you
think exactly about the given topic. In opinion paragraphs, the topic sentences cannot be facts. You need to
give your clear opinion on something. Then your supporting reasons come. You should give at least three
clear, valid reasons to support your opinion. These reasons again can be your opinion or they can be facts.
Moreover, your reasons are also supposed to be supported with good examples, explanations or facts. Lastly,
you need to restate your topic sentence and it becomes your concluding sentence. To sum up, your outline
should be as follows;

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 TITLE ___________________

Topic sentence (Your clear opinion): ________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Supporting reason 1 (Opinion / Fact)

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Supporting details (Examples /Explanations/ Facts)

_______________________________________________________________________

Supporting reason 2 (Opinion / Fact)

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Supporting details (Examples /Explanations/ Facts)

_______________________________________________________________________

Supporting reason 3 (Opinion / Fact)

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Supporting details (Examples /Explanations/ Facts)

_______________________________________________________________________

Concluding sentence (Re-statement of your topic sentence)

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

c. Topic Sentences in Opinion Paragraphs

A topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph and it tells the reader what the whole paragraph is
about. Topic sentences cannot be facts. They are like the road maps of the paragraphs. Every topic sentence
has a topic and the controlling idea. Controlling ideas show which direction a paragraph takes.

E.g. I think school uniforms should be obligatory.

the topic controlling idea
In the topic sentence above ; the topic : school uniforms

controlling idea: should be obligatory. - It gives the point that the paragraph will discuss.

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 Topic sentences in opinion paragraphs should express clearly what the writers think. Thus, they should start
with some specific expressions.
Opinion Signals Examples
In my opinion, ………. (with a comma) In my opinion, smoking should be banned
public places.
In my view, …………….. (with a comma) In my view, education starts at school.

I believe (that) …………… (without a comma) I believe that education starts in the family.

I think (that) …………… (without a comma) I think that smoking should be allowed in public
places.
My favourite ………. (without a comma) My favourite beach is Sunshine Beach because
has a golden sand, it is not crowded and the sea
always calm.

Exercise 2

Write an appropriate topic sentence for each statement below.

1. Private schools are ethical. / Private schools are not ethical.

__________________________________________________________________________

2. There should be more physical education in schools. / There should be less physical education in
schools.

__________________________________________________________________________

3. Vaccination is essential. / Vaccination is not essential.

__________________________________________________________________________

4. The Internet should be censored. / The Internet should not be censored.

__________________________________________________________________________ Exercise 3

Write a proper topic sentence for the paragraph below

Video Games

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Firstly, there are some active video games, and they help teenagers to keep fit. With the help of these
games, they can do some kinds of sports such as playing basketball, tennis or dancing. The place or time
does not matter. They can do these sports whenever and wherever they want, so that they could stay healthy.
Secondly, video games are helpful for teenagers to have fun. These days, people cannot go out because of
Covid-19 and they search different ways to pass time effectively at home. If teenagers do not overplay video
games, they can spend good time and they can even socialize with other people while they are playing online.
Lastly, video games are beneficial for teenagers especially the ones who learn English as a second language
as they learn different types of vocabulary items while playing. When people have fun, they are not aware of
the fact that they are learning something and the knowledge lasts long. They face a lot of new vocabularies

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and since they meet them often, they are able to start using them easily. They extend their vocabulary
knowledge and it becomes permanent. Shortly, I believe that teenagers should play video games as they are
good for them.

d. Supporting Reasons and Supporting Details in Opinion Paragraphs.

In an opinion paragraph supporting reasons come after the topic sentence and they back up the opinion in
the topic sentence. They explain why you think so. When you give each reason in your paragraph, you should
give supporting details which means relevant examples, explanations or relevant facts to support your
reasons. Your reasons should be chosen carefully so that they could support your opinion perfectly. The
reasons can again be your own thoughts or beliefs or they can be facts. Each reason should focus on a
different aspect. In other words, your reasons shouldn’t be the same with one another. More reasons you
have, the more you can express yourself clearly and support your opinion better. Your reasons and details
need to be ordered in a logical order. There needs to be unity.

In your opinion paragraph, you should give at least three appropriate reasons related to your opinion and
they should be given in unity. While you are ordering your reasons and supporting details, you should use
transition signals before them.

Transitions when providing reasons

First Secondly Third

The first reason Second reason Lastly
Firstly Next Last reason
First of all Also Finally
To start Another reason Most importantly
To begin with

Transitions when providing supporting details (Examples / Facts)

For example
For instance
An example is
Another example is
In fact
In addition
Additionally
In other words
In particular
Moreover
Specifically
Especially

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 Exercise 4

Write appropriate reasons to support your opinion and supporting details for the given topics below.

NOTE: Your reasons;

- should be relevant to the topic sentence and support it.

- should be in unity.

- should be different from one another.

- should be given with transition signals.

Your supporting details;

- should be relevant to your reasons and support them.

- can be facts, explanations or examples

- should start with transition signals when necessary.

Paragraph 1

No Homework

I believe that there should be no homework in schools. SUPPORTING REASON 1)

__________________________________________________________________________

Supporting details: (facts/examples/explanations)

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

SUPPORTING REASON 2)

__________________________________________________________________________

Supporting details: /facts/examples/explanations)

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

SUPPORTING REASON 3)

__________________________________________________________________________

Supporting details: (facts/examples/explanations)

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 __________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

To sum up, I think homework should not be included in the schools’ schedules because of the reasons
mentioned above.

Paragraph 2

Addiction to the internet

In my opinion the internet leads to addiction. SUPPORTING REASON 1)

__________________________________________________________________________

Supporting details: (facts/examples/explanations)

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

SUPPORTING REASON 2)

__________________________________________________________________________

Supporting details: (facts/examples/explanations)

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

SUPPORTING REASON 3)

__________________________________________________________________________

Supporting details: (facts/examples/explanations)

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Shortly, I believe that people become addicted to the internet for these reasons.

e. Concluding Sentences in Opinion Paragraphs