Supporting detail are also referred to as the body of the paragraph.They are called "supporting" sentence because they "support", or explain the idea in the topic sentence.After a reader reads the topic sentence, a question should appear in the reader's mind. For instance,take this topic sentence: "Mrs. Simmons is the best teacher I have ever had." The reader should then ask, Why is she the best teacher you have ever had?" or "How is she different from other teachers?" The supporting sentence should then attempt to answer the reader's question.