develop your central idea 7.3 145
The guidelines in the following sections can help you to put your central
idea into words.
A Complete Declarative Sentence
The central idea should be a complete declarative sentence—not a phrase or
clause and not a question.
Phrase: Car maintenance
Question: Is regular car maintenance important?
Complete declarative Maintaining your car regularly can ensure
sentence: that it provides reliable transportation.
The phrase car maintenance is really a topic, not a central idea. It does not
say anything about car maintenance. The question “Is regular car maintenance
important?” is more complete but does not reveal whether the speaker is going
to support the affirmative or the negative answer. By the time you word your
central idea, you should be ready to summarize your stand on your topic in a
complete declarative sentence.
Direct, Specific Language
The central idea should use direct, specific language rather than qualifiers and
vague generalities.
Qualified language: In my opinion, censorship of school textbooks threat-
ens the rights of schoolchildren.
Direct language: Censorship of school textbooks threatens the rights of
schoolchildren.
Vague language: A 2012 hurricane affected the northeastern United
States.
Specific language: When Superstorm Sandy struck the coast of the
northeastern United States in October 2012, it killed
hundreds of people, caused billions of dollars in
property damage, and closed the New York Stock
Exchange for two days.A Single Idea
The central idea should be a single idea.
Two ideas: Deforestation by lumber interests and toxic-waste dumping are
major environmental problems in the United States today.
One idea: Toxic-waste dumping is a major environmental problem in the
United States today.
More than one central idea, like more than one idea in a purpose statement,
only leads to confusion and lack of coherence in a speech.