ADVANTAGE

&
DISADVANTAGE
PARAGRAPHS
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In an advantage and / or disadvantage paragraph, you write about the advantages and / or disadvantages
of a thing, a situation, etc.

Read the sample paragraphs below.

ADVANTAGES OF TELEVISION

Television has many advantages. First of all, it can educate people because there are a lot of
documentaries and quiz shows. There are also educative programs for children. Secondly, it is cheaper than
going to the cinema because cinema tickets can be expensive. Finally, there are news programmes every
hour, so you can learn the latest news around the world. In brief, there are a lot of advantages of watching
television.

Answer the following questions.

1. What is the topic sentence?
__________________________________________________________________________

2. What advantages does the author give?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the concluding sentence?

__________________________________________________________________________

HAVING A BABY
There are a lot of disadvantages of having a baby. Firstly, you cannot spend time with your friends
because you must look after your baby. Furthermore, your relationship with your friends can get worse.
Therefore, you can feel depressed. Secondly, you can have financial problems since you need to spend a lot
of money to look after your baby. Finally, you can have sleep problems. For example, babies generally cry at
night. As a result, you can be sleepless. To sum up, having a baby can cause a lot of disadvantages.

Answer the following questions.

1. What is the topic sentence?
__________________________________________________________________________

2. What disadvantages does the author give?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the concluding sentence?

__________________________________________________________________________
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Look at the cluster diagram below.

THE ADVANTAGES OF SPEAKING ENGLISH

There are many advantages of speaking English. First of all, if we know English, we can find a job
easily. Many jobs require English knowledge. What’s more, we can easily get promoted if we speak
English. The second advantage is communication. We can communicate with everyone who knows
English by sending e-mails. We can go abroad much more easily and do many things such as ordering
food at a restaurant. Finally, knowing English will help us when we are studying because many materials
on the Internet are in English, so we can do lots of research for our assignments and read original
documents on the Internet. In conclusion, we must know at least an intermediate level of English to
survive in the globalising world.

1. What is the topic sentence?

__________________________________________________________________________

2. What advantages does the author give?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the concluding sentence?

__________________________________________________________________________

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Read the following paragraph.

SLEEPLESSNESS

There are several disadvantages of sleeplessness. The first disadvantage of sleeplessness is that you
can have psychological problems. For instance, if you do not sleep enough, you can feel depressed.
Moreover, you can be aggressive towards other people. Another disadvantage is failure at work or school.
When you are sleepless, you cannot concentrate on your work or study. For example, when I am sleepless, I
get bad grades. Finally, you can have some important health problems because of sleeplessness. When you
sleep less than you have to, you may need to take drugs to sleep. This can cause drug addiction. To sum up,
sleeplessness brings about several important disadvantages.

Answer the following questions.

1. What is the topic sentence?
__________________________________________________________________________

2. What disadvantages does the author give?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the concluding sentence?

__________________________________________________________________________

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 WRITING TOPIC SENTENCES FOR ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE PARAGRAPHS

Topic Sentence
There are several advantages of watching television.
OR
Watching television has several advantages.
OR
Watching television is advantageous / beneficial for us.

WRITING CONCLUDING SENTENCES FOR ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE PARAGRAPHS

Concluding Sentence
Finally,

In short, there are several advantages of watching television.

OR
In brief,
watching television has several advantages.
All in all,
OR
To sum up, watching television is advantageous / beneficial for us.

In conclusion

USEFUL TRANSITIONAL SIGNALS

TO LIST POINTS In the first place,

To start / begin with,

Secondly, we can find a job easily.

Thirdly, CLAUSE

Finally,
TO ADD POINTS In addition (to this),

Furthermore,

Moreover, we can easily get promoted.

Besides, CLAUSE

What’s more,

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TO LIST ADVANTAGES The main / first / most important communication.

advantage of speaking English is NOUN

that we can communicate easily.

CLAUSE

communicating easily.

VERB + ing
TO LIST DISADVANTAGES The main / first / most important irregular sleeping hours.

disadvantage of living in a dormitory NOUN

is that you have irregular sleeping

hours.

CLAUSE

having irregular sleeping hours.

VERB + ing
GIVING EXAMPLES for example Lastly, living in the dormitory can be expensive. For
for instance
example, / For instance, you cannot cook your food, and

you have to eat out.

such as There are several advantages of speaking English such as /
like
like finding a job easily, communicating with many people,

and using the Internet much better.

GIVING RESULTS Therefore, Lastly, living in the dormitory can be expensive. For
As a result,
For this reason, example, / For instance, you cannot cook your food.
As a consequence,
Consequently, Therefore, / As a result, / For this reason, / As a

consequence, / Consequently, / That’s why, you

have to eat in a restaurant.

GIVING REASONS because

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 since Lastly, living in the dormitory can be expensive. For
as
example, / For instance, you have to eat in the

restaurant because / since / as you cannot cook your

food.
TO CONCLUDE In short,

In brief,

All in all, living in the dormitory has many disadvantages.

To sum up, CLAUSE

In conclusion,

EXERCISE
PART A: Fill in the blanks accordingly in order to complete the paragraph below.

________________________________________
Travelling by a boat has certain advantages. To begin with, boats are usually more comfortable than
planes or cars. Instead of staying in your seat the whole journey, you can go for a walk on the deck, eat in a
restaurant, or even go shopping. Having more space to move around makes a long journey much more
pleasant. __________________________, boats are often cheaper than other forms of travel. For example,
a boat ticket usually costs less than a plane ticket. Finally, boats __________________________________
cars and planes. There are fewer accidents at sea than in the air or on the roads. _____________________
_______________________________________________________________

PART B: In the space below, write any ideas that come to mind in circles around the main circle.
Then connect these ideas to the centre circle with a line.
Topic: Being Rich

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 ADVANTAGES

BEING RICH

DISADVANTAGES

Fill in the blanks in order to complete the paragraph below.

_______________________________

There are several advantages of being rich. _______________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

All in all, being rich is very advantageous.

PART C: In the space below, write any ideas that come to mind in circles around the main circle.
Then connect these ideas to the centre circle with a line.

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Topic: Having a Car

ADVANTAGES

HAVING A CAR

DISADVANTAGES

Fill in the blanks in order to complete the paragraph below.

_______________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

______________________ First of all, driving can sometimes be extremely stressful. For example, being

caught in a traffic jam is not only irritating but also time-consuming. _________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

As a result, if you want to have a car, you should consider all the disadvantages.

Now fill in the blanks in order to complete the paragraph below.

DISADVANTAGES OF USING A COMPUTER

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 __________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________. The first disadvantage of using a computer is that
__________________________________________________________________. Staring at a screen for
long periods can be harmful to the eyes. Moreover, sitting on a chair for hours at a time is certainly not
healthy. Another disadvantage is that computers draw one’s attention away from social interactions such as
conversation. For instance, people who stay at home to use their computers can become unsociable. Finally,
computers do many jobs that people did before. Therefore, plenty of people lose their jobs. For instance,
many people have lost their jobs at factories because computerised machines have replaced human power.
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

PART E: Read the sample paragraph.

DISADVANTAGES OF LIVING IN THE DORMITORY

There are several disadvantages of living in the dormitory. First, you are away from your family, so you
can miss them and feel homesick. Secondly, you may have irregular sleeping hours. For example, your
roommates may listen to loud music at night. Also, you can share a room with people you do not know. For
instance, they can be rude or untidy. Lastly, it can be very expensive. For example, you cannot cook your
food, and you have to eat in a restaurant. To sum up, living in the dormitory has several disadvantages.

Answer the following questions.

1. What is the topic sentence?
__________________________________________________________________________

2. What disadvantages does the author give?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the concluding sentence?

__________________________________________________________________________

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