In Alice Walker’s "To Hell with Dying," Mr. Sweet was a good companion for the narrator and her siblings. Mr. Sweet always made the narrator feel special. She loved to be around him and was overjoyed whenever he would visit her. Mr. Sweet played with the children just as if he were a child himself. Mr. Sweet also displayed a great deal of respect for the narrator and her family. Even though his alcoholism and lifestyle was a bad influence on the children, his virtues far outweighed his faults. Mr. Sweet had a positive impact on the children that would last their entire lives. He was compassionate, caring, and honest, and the children learned to respect themselves and others from their experiences with Mr. Sweet. He also inspired the children to succeed. Mr. Sweet's lifestyle did not make him an excellent role model for the children, but he was always an excellent companion. 1. Does it have a topic sentence?

2. Is there evidence supporting the claim the argument is making?

3. Is there a quotation in the paragraph?

4. Is this an overall well structured paragraph?

Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of the prince. there are, for example, the spartans and the romans. the spartans held athens and thebes, establishing there an oligarchy: nevertheless they lost them. the romans, in order to hold capua, carthage, and numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them. they wished to hold greece as the spartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, and did not succeed. so to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. and he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. and whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the florentines. what idea is stressed in the passage? the desire for liberty the establishment of an oligarchy the dismantling of an acquired state the tendency toward rebellion