The Function of the Topic Sentence in Writing

The writing task of the 20th Meow-meow test asks students to write about an experience of getting sick.  Students have to start their first paragraph with the topic sentence: "When I opened my eyes this morning, I knew I was sick."

Some students described some physical symptoms after the topic sentence.  That's nice.  However, some wrote about how they dealt with their sickness, for example, asking help from their mom, asking for sick leave, etc.  At first, I thought that was the Chinese style of writing.  However, later I found that I was wrong.  There is similarity between Chinese and English writing.  This afternoon when I ran into Ms. Yu, a Chinese teacher in school, I gave her the topic sentence in Chinese and then asked her what she would write after the sentence.  She said she would write about some physical symptoms. 

So the topic sentence is important in both Chinese and English.  It directs the development of a paragraph.