Question

When was the last time you went without a meal?

Quotation (from someone famous or important to your life)

“Be careful” were the last words my father said to me every time I left the house.

Strong statement (that your essay will support or dispute)

If you eat enough cabbage, you’ll never get cancer.

Metaphor

The starlings in my back garden are the small boys in the playground, impressing each other with their new-found swear words. The crows all belong to the same biker gang. You need to know their secret sign to join their club.

Description (of a person or setting)

Michael once mowed the lawns around Municipal Hall wearing a frilly apron, high heels, and nylons, with a pillow stuffed under his sweater so he looked pregnant. And it wasn’t even Halloween.

Dialogue

“If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all,” my mother warned me throughout my childhood.

Rhetorical question

When you are eighty years old, what will you regret that you didn’t do?

Statistic

The average married couple only tells each other “I love you” once a week.

Example

Martin Luther King shows us what it means to practice peace in the violent society.

Personal story

The worst vacation destination in the world as to be northern Ontario.  In the summer of 2004, we packed up the van and embarked on a 22 hour drive…