ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Language Arts Videos 92 videos

ELA 4: Complete Sentences
775 Views

In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.

ELA 4: Word Choice
222 Views

Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...

See All

ELA 4: Opinion Paragraphs 153 Views


Share It!


Description:

We've got a pretty strong opinion on opinion paragraphs. But you'll have to watch the video to find out about it. Oh, and bonus: we'll also to teach you how to write one. Score.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:13

Sometimes, opinions can be like farts. [Boy farts in a classroom]

00:16

Just because you have one inside of you, doesn't mean you need to let it out.

00:20

But sometimes, that opinion just needs to come out!

00:23

And what better way to do that than in an opinion paragraph??

00:27

Oh, and uh…if you could hold that gas until you're outside, that'd be grand. [Boy waits outside the door for the toilet]

00:32

So what's the first step in writing an opinion paragraph?

00:34

Well, it might sound a little obvious, but it's asking yourself one simple question: [Coop teaching about how to write an opinion paragraph]

00:39

“What's my opinion?”

00:40

Maybe you don’t like a character in a book…

00:42

Or the metaphors in a biography…

00:44

Or the pizza from your cafeteria… [Boy shakes a slice of pizza]

00:46

Why is it so rubbery?

00:48

Anyway, whatever it is, your opinion should always be the first sentence in your opinion

00:52

paragraph.

00:53

Step two is to give two or three reasons as to why you have that opinion. [Dino discussing how to write opinion paragraphs]

00:57

This is pretty important.

00:58

Sure, you can have any opinion in the world… but you need to have some reasoning behind it.

01:02

That’s what makes you a student and not just one of those strange people yelling on

01:06

the street.[Old man with a stick yelling on a street]

01:07

Next up comes your explanation.

01:08

This is when you come up with one or two examples to support your opinion.

01:12

You could show examples of when the main character is mean to his friends, or an example of a [Football hits man in the face]

01:16

bad metaphor, or a list of reasons why the cafeteria pizza is highly suspect....

01:21

You can ball it up and use it in a game of kickball?

01:23

Yup, that's a good example.

01:25

Lastly, you need to end your paragraph by restating your opinion in order to emphasize [Dino discussing how to end a opinion paragraph]

01:29

exactly what your point is.

01:31

After all, people have very short attention sp…

01:33

…ohh, a squirrel. [A squirrel appears by a tree]

01:35

…Uh.

01:35

Sorry, people have very short attention spans.

01:38

And then bingo-bango!

01:40

You're done!

01:41

So just to recap, for any opinion paragraph, you want to state your opinion, give reasons [Coop giving a summary of opinion paragraphs]

01:45

for your opinion, provide examples supporting that opinion, and then restate your opinion

01:49

one more time.

01:50

And if you're having trouble remembering that, just remember “OREO.”

01:54

Opinion, Reason, Example, Opinion.

01:56

OREO.

01:57

Milk’s favorite paragraph.

01:58

…Or…at least, that's our opinion.

02:01

Oh.

02:01

You can let 'er rip, by the way. [Boy farts outside of school by the bus]

Related Videos

ELA 4: How Words Can Help
1205 Views

Sticks and stones, right? Well...only sometimes. It's a good idea to make sure your words aren't going to hurt others. Let's look at some ways to d...

ELA 4: Debating Like a Champ
744 Views

Learn to debate like a champ. It's way better than debating like a chimp. That just takes mudslinging to a whole new level.

ELA 4: Types of Biographies
277 Views

Today we'll learn about biographies and autobiographies. And no, the second one has nothing to do with the lives of cars. 

ELA 4: Complete Sentences
775 Views

In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.

ELA 4: Word Choice
222 Views

Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...