Practice Exercise Key

• Decide which of the following sentences is the topic sentence and label it TS.
• Put the remaining sentences into a logical order and number them.

It is in vocabulary that the English language in Canada has undergone the greatest change, largely because of the settlers' need for new words to describe new things. Vocabulary may be increased in predictable ways: words are borrowed from other languages; existing words are given new meanings; new compounds are created; people and places give their names to things with which they are associated. Canadian English has used all these ways. Borrowings from the Canadian native peoples include moose, muskeg, caribou and chipmunk. From the Inuit come parka, mukluk, kayak, umiak and igloo. From Inuit also comes tupek, the skin tent that is the Inuit equivalent of the Indian wigwam or tepee.

(From: "English Language." The 1999 Canadian Encyclopedia World Edition. CD-ROM. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1998.)

Back to The Topic Sentence.