Here s why. The Lofty Sounding Throat-Clearing Paragraph . This paragraph indulges in empty rhetoric that does not advance the argument of the paper. In addition to economics and institutions, one of those challenges is geography. America is a country of great abundance that spreads from sea to shining sea.
Diversity is a hallmark of the United States, a source of our greatness.
It is the complex combination of these facts that has played a role in American foreign policy. Notice that you can t fault this paragraph on grammatical or factual grounds. The problem is that this opening doesn t say anything distinctive, i.e., when you finish reading it, you have no idea what the author intends to argue. Writers typically resort to lofty sounding throat-clearing paragraph openings when they re not sure what they want to say and are hoping that readers won t notice. But readers do notice because they read in order to find out what you have to say.