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.