Read the following paragraph. [1] keeping my mind on my writing is not easy when i stay at my grandmother's ocean-side cottage. [2] just about the time that i am going along pretty well, i glance out the window and see two huge bald eagles swooping and tumbling in a spectacular aerial display. [3] naturally, i have to leave my desk and rush to the doorway to watch the performance as long as it lasts. [4] then, as if a conspiracy were trying to keep me from working, two otters poke their shiny heads out of the water and hang there motionless. [5] they watch to see what i am doing. [6] as soon as i return to my desk, seagulls wheel into my window view and screech as they search for scraps of food. [7] within minutes, this confusion of sounds stirs my aging st. bernard out of a deep sleep, and he hauls his massive, lumbering body over to be petted. [8] mickey, my cat, can't stand to see any partiality, so he is soon pacing back and forth across my ankles. [9] as i wiggle my bare toes to tease mickey, i realize that my legs have become stiff. [10] i remember that i have not had my daily ride. [11] so, i slip on my sandals, step out the door, spring onto my bike, and pedal off down the beach. [12] meanwhile, the composition in my typewriter sits and grows colder. what is the topic sentence? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

what of the following? i don't know about you but i see no multiple choice answers.

explanation:

the intellectual community is a place like a university where people with high marks, or original thought or an outstanding interest in something gather. they take classes together. they discuss things. they argue sometimes, and not always in a friendly way. but if they argue, it is because they are passionate about something, and there is nothing the matter with that.

lately i've been hearing rumors that it is not the way it was when i went to school. the one thing all schools used to have was free speech. the 1st amendment rights were sacred. now i'm hearing they are not. students can be reported and disciplined for giving an off the wall opinion.

that is shameful.

intellectual ideas are meant to be discussed. they are meant to be chewed up and worked on. that is the primary responsibility of every intellectual community. if that is not the way it is, then that is not a school to go to.

social media, in my opinion, and this is just an opinion. i wouldn't take it too seriously, complicates everything to do with human communication. you can want to share things and others feel they have the right to be very critical or sarcastic or mean about what you share. lack of respect is an immeasurable intolerable condition and social media abounds with that sort of thing.

one of the things i really like about is how careful people are because they must have some idea that the mods are exactly what the word says they are. they police this board very well, and what is so remarkable about them is that they are no older than the average grade 12 student.

my hat goes off to them (which means i respect them quite a bit).