32. Create Linking Sentences

32. Create Linking Sentences that establish the Context of the passage:

linking sentences occur after the topic sentence of the paragraph and before the introduction to the quotation or paraphrase of a concrete detail. They move the paragraph from the broad topic of the paragraph toward the illustrative example that will be analyzed in order to support your topic sentence.

Linking sentences can develop the context of the passage to allow the reader to recall the surrounding events in the poem, play, story, or novel.

For example: (linking sentences are in bold)

Gus turns away from his family’s view of religion to fishing because he thinks he needs to develop his own understanding of faith. At this point in the novel, Gus was voted “Most Out of It” by his high school classmates, had become an expert fly fisherman and bait fisherman, and believed anything that dod not involve fishing was a waste of time. However, when Gus is given Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler, he realizes that the book is more about finding God in nature than about fly fishing. To illustrate this point, it is instructive to look closely at Gus’s reaction to the pantheism-the worship of the divine in nature-expressed in Izaak Walton. (linking sentences) Disgusted with the mixture of religion and fishing, Gus asks, “Who was this God of nature? Why hadn’t I met him, or at least learned something substantial about him, or at the very least heard his name consistently taking in some way other than vain?” (Duncan 37). Finding that his only source of comfort (in terms of spirituality) had come to shambles, Gus goes into one of his many depressions; this depression consisted of Gus feeling alone and confused on a river fishing. He finds himself wondering if there really were a nature god then why was He allowing such things to happen to the environment. Why was he allowing the destruction of the habitat of so many animals? Why hasn’t he shown himself to me? Gus shows his immaturity by asking himself what is the point of caring for a God that is so scarce and unconcerned.

-notice how the linking sentences allow the reader to be prepared for the quotation by filling in the events surrounding this moment in the novel and the main points of Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler.

LINKING SENTENCE STARTERS:

“CONTEXT STARTERS” TO USE:

(X is a character’s name)

-Up until this moment in the text X has _________________.

_______________, _________________, and ________________ are the most significant moments at this point in the text.

-It is important to remember that at this point X has _________________.

-When X states this, X is______________________________________.

-At this moment the narrator is recounting _________________________.

-At this point in the text, the speaker has ___________________________.

LINKING SENTENCE STARTERS:

MOVING TOWARD THE PASSAGE:

-To illustrate this point, it is helpful to review a passage from ________________ in which _________________.

- It is instructive to look closely at _____________________ because ____________________.

-To take a case in point, the passage in which _____________________.

-For example, when ________________________, we can see that ___________________________________.

-In the passage when _________________________, the idea that _________________________ is revealed.

-By studying the excerpt when ____________________________, it becomes obvious that ______________________________.

-Specifically, when ___________________________________, it is apparent that ______________________________________.

-For instance, when ___________________________________, it is apparent that ______________________________________.

-As an illustration, we should turn to _____________________________.