What is the topic sentence in this paragraph? alexander hamilton’s major role in the us government was secretary of the treasury. he used his position to generate income to strengthen the federal government’s power. after the revolutionary war, the new government needed a way to pay its debts, and hamilton created several plans to make this happen. one plan involved a tax on luxury goods. another included buying and selling bonds to private investors. hamilton wanted to establish a national banking system using one currency, which would bring the states together as one nation.

He used his position to generate income to strengthen the federal government’s power.

Frequently, the first sentence of a paragraph will be the topic sentence, the notion of which might make the selection of the topic sentence of this paragraph a bit tricky.  However, in this instance, the topic sentence is, in fact, the second sentence.  This can be determined by looking at all the body sentences.  When we look at the body sentences, all sentences are about the income and power of the government.  As such, the remainder of the paragraph following the second sentence is an elaboration of the second sentence, “He used his position to generate income to strengthen the federal government’s power.”  Thus, it is safe to say that the second sentence is the topic sentence of the paragraph.

the sentence that best describes the tone of the passage from the radio broadcast compared to the passage from the book is b. the radio broadcast has a more surprised tone.

consider the text evidence: in the passage from the book, the description is more matter-of-fact. it is simply describing the things resembling little grey snakes, but there is no urgency in the description. on the other hand, in the passage from the radio broadcast, there is definetely urgency (you can tell from the expression used, "good heavens", which clearly indicates surprise.)