General English Level 6 Version 2.1 © 2004 acl Pty Ltd GELEV6 Unit 01 Topic 02.doc Diet is important. Eating fruit and vegetables is important for several reasons. Supporting sentences The supporting sentences expand on the idea developed in the topic sentence. They give more detail about the topic. A good way to decide which details to include in the supporting sentences is to make the topic sentence into a question. The supporting sentences answer the question. Historically, hand-held food played a very different role in our culture. How was the role of hand-held food different in our culture? • Historically only wealthy people ate hand-held food • Presently all of society eats hand-held food • The size of hand held food has increased • It is now a meal in itself • The number of courses people eat in a meal has decreased All information included in the supporting sentences must support the topic sentence. 13