Unit 1: Exercise 1

Unit 1: Exercise 4

Read the information. Then read the topic sentences. Choose the correct descriptions of what the paragraphs will be about.

The first sentence in a paragraph is called the topic sentence. This usually contains clues as to what the rest of the paragraph will be about. In this exercise, you will see five topic sentences (from a five-paragraph text, which you will read later) and predict what the rest of the paragraph is likely to be about.

Topic sentence A
One of the key challenges facing the world is going to be coping with the hundreds of millions who will flock to the growing number of overpopulated megacities, especially in developing countries.

The rest of paragraph A is likely to tell us about another challenge that needs to be addressed/consequences of falling populations/examples of cities where this has happened/reasons why falling populations fall further/the lives of people living in the countryside.

Topic sentence B
A drop in a city’s population usually leads to a few empty or boarded-up and unoccupied homes, hardly enough to make the headlines or raise eyebrows.

The rest of paragraph B is likely to tell us about another challenge that needs to be addressed/consequences of falling populations/examples of cities where this has happened/reasons why falling populations fall further/the lives of people living in the countryside.

Topic sentence C
That’s just the thing: once a population starts going down, that decline tends to continue.

The rest of paragraph C is likely to tell us about another challenge that needs to be addressed/consequences of falling populations/examples of cities where this has happened/reasons why falling populations fall further/the lives of people living in the countryside.