Read the following paragraphs and identify what kind of details are used to support the topic sentence.
Residents of the United States are reaping the benefits of improved health care. People who were born in 1950 could expect to live 68.2 years on average. Just 30 years later, life expectancy had jumped five and a half years, so that people born in 1980 could expect to live to the age of 73.7.
After a spring thunderstorm, the desert is magically transformed. An expanse of dry sand becomes a carpet of blue flowers. Faded green cacti are suddenly adorned with brilliant red blossoms.
Professor Amis is famous for her lectures. I dropped in on her cultural anthropology class once last semester and couldn't find room to sit. Even the aisles were filled with avid listeners.
The evidence is clear that the protective layer of the ozone surrounding the earth is being destroyed. The avergage temperature in the United States has risen steadily over the past few summers. In addition, the incidence of skin cancer reported in the last decade has dramatically increased.
Authors often spend many years writing just one book. Joseph Heller, for instance, spent ten years working on his second novel, Something Happened. James Joyce also spent nearly a decade writing his novel Ulysses.