Topic Sentence Ideas

Lets say you have your basic idea: Mission X was busy.
How do you take that and turn it into a complex sentence?
Funny you should ask!
Here are some ideas:
Idea 1
Occasion/Position Statements
Start the topic sentence with an introductory phrase beginning with one of the following
words/phrases:
Although
Even though
Whenever
Because
In order to
Until
Unless
Since
As long as
Even if
As soon as
Before
Examples:
In order to keep Mission X prosperous, everyone at the mission had to work hard every
day.
Because everyone worked hard from morning to night at Mission X, it became very
prosperous.

Idea 2
However Statements
Think of 2 opposite ideas and connect them with the word however. When you do this,
the part that follows the however is your topic. Notice the punctuation semicolon +
however + comma
Example:
During the mission era Mission X was very prosperous; however, that was only true
because everyone at the mission worked hard from morning to night.

Idea 3
ABO (and/but/or) Statements
Write a topic sentence with 2 independent clauses connected with a conjunction. The
conjunction choices are: and, but, or, yet, for, nor, so. Remember, your topic is what
comes after the conjunction. IF you use and the two ideas must be similar. If you use
but the ideas must be opposite.
Examples:
Mission X looked like a small, unimpressive mission, but a closer look showed that it
was very prosperous because the Native Americans worked hard from morning to night.
California missions all worked hard to survive in the wilderness, and Mission X was a
great example of how hard work resulted in great prosperity.