What is the term for a sentence that introduces and/or summarises the main idea of a text or paragraph?

• A. Topic sentence
• B. Substitution
• C. Ellipsis
• D. Parallelism

Answer: (A)

A topic sentence introduces the main idea of a paragraph. It sets up what the paragraph will discuss and often states the writer’s point or claim, giving readers a clear focus to follow as they read. This helps with unity and coherence, since the rest of the sentences in the paragraph should relate back to that idea.

Substitution, ellipsis, and parallelism refer to different ideas: substitution is swapping one word for another, ellipsis is the omission of words, and parallelism is using balanced grammatical structures. They don’t serve the function of presenting the paragraph’s main idea, which is why this term is the best fit.