BODY PARAGRAPHS CONCRETE DETAIL/COMMENTARY HANDOUT

DEFINITIONS

1. Concrete Detail (CD) -Specific details that form the backbone or core of your body paragraphs.

2. Commentary (CM)-Your opinion, comment, or additional information about something.

3. Chunk (CK)-One sentence of Concrete Detail and two sentences of Commentary. The smallest unified group of

thoughts you can write. Each body paragraph must contain at least two Chunks.

4. Word Counts (WC)-The minimum number of words per Chunk to earn a "C." A Chunk needs at least 30 words.

5. Topic Sentence (TS)-The first sentence in a body paragraph. This must have a subject and opinion (commentary)

for the paragraph.

When you write a paragraph, it will follow this format:

Sentence #1 TS

Sentence #2 CD

Sentence #3 CM

Sentence #4 CM

Sentence #5 CD

Sentence #6 CM

Sentence #7 CM

Writing Commentary

Commentary is a difficult skill to master because all the thoughts must come from you. Your teacher will not

supply you with the information you will need to write commentary. It is up to you to think up some original

statements to make about your concrete details. To show you what commentary sounds like, read the following

paragraph. This paragraph has a topic sentence, two sentences of concrete detail, and four sentences of commentary.

Example Paragraph

Driving in the fog to Sacramento was a frightening experience (TS). No signs were visible from the freeway,

so I couldn't see if there were any gas stations to fill my near-empty tank (CD). The thought of being alone in

a strange place made me feel panicked (CM). I kept hoping to see a station materialize and felt incapable of

making a decision (CM). In addition, it was twelve noon, and the fog was so thick that I could not read the exit

signs until I started passing them (CD). Dreading the never-ending blurring lines on the horizon, I realized I had

driven aimlessly for hours (CM). I was afraid that the weather would never lift and let me get back on schedule

(CM).