Writing

This module covers:

 Expanding notes into sentences
 Writing simple and compound sentences
 Simple Present Tense

Let’s do a self check here. Answer the following questions to rate the ability for writing.

Very Very
Strong OK Weak
strong weak
1. I can use a wide range of vocabulary
2. I can use a variety of grammatical structures accurately
3. I can structure a paragraph and an essay well
4. I can understand and answer a variety of essay questions

To express ideas clearly through writing, we usually use:

1) Simple sentence – contains a single idea.
2) Compound sentence – contain more than one closely related.

1) Simple sentence
Simple sentences in English must have a subject (s) and a verb (v). Most sentences also include an
object (o). The subject is a noun/pronoun or noun phrase, and tells you what or who the sentence is
about. The verb tells you what the subject is or does. The object is also a noun/pronoun or noun
phrase, and is affected by the action of the verb.

Examples:
Subject Verb Object
Scientists study human behaviour.
People have different experiences of studying.
Cognitive processes include thinking and problem-solving.

Exercise
Identify the subjet, verb, and object in the sentences.
1. Teachers use a variety of teaching methods.
2. Human brain contains neurons.
3. A professor has expert knowledge in a particular field.
4. Different kinds of motivation affect people’s performance.
5. An examination tests your knowledge of a subject.
Notes often include keywords instead of complete sentences. Examine the following notes and
decide which note include: a subject, a verb and an object
1. have different opinions on politics
2. some magazines not preferred by the contents
3. gives portions of food to the homeless
4. UM an example of a universities in Malaysia
5. parks the car near the library

Expand the previous notes into sentences by using subjects and verbs from the list.
People The man is
The shelter are was

2) Compound sentence
Compound sentence is joining two closely related simple sentences using conjunctions. There are
three most common words for joining simple sentences together are and, but, and or. Each simple
sentence then becomes an independent part of a compound sentence.

Function of and, but and or:

 and - to add information.
 or - to connect different possibilities/ alternatives.
 but - to introduce a contrast or different ideas.

Exercise
Join the two simple sentences together with the correct coordinator, or, and, or but.
1. The human mind contains many ideas which are stored in the memory. These ideas are
organized in categories.
2. Science explores the way the human brain organizes memory. There are still many questions to
answer about the biological origins of memory.
3. People can choose to remember information. They can choose to forget it.
4. Some people use automatic processing to help them remember things. Some use different
techniques.
5. The material is not an exact copy of events or facts. It is stored in outline form.

Write at least two simple sentences and join those sentences by using conjunctions.
1. Ordering food at a restaurant
2. Reserving a hotel room
3. Complaining about a product
4. Giving direction
5. Apologizing
 Simple Present Tense

Simple present tense is used for:

 Habits
 Daily routines
 Fact or general truth

*As simple as its name, this tense is about adding “s/es” or not adding it at all to the verb.
*Simple Present Tense is not used to express actions that happening right now.

Pronouns
Plural Singular
I, You, We, They He, She, It
Write Writes
Love Loves
Agree Agrees
Squat Squats
Decay Decays
Rest Rests

Additional forms – verb that ends in “-o”, “-x”, “-sh”, “-ch” or “-ss”, add “-es” to the end of the verb.
Pronouns
Plural Singular
I, You, We, They He, She, It
Do Does
Mix Mixes
Wash Washes
Watch Watches
Floss Flosses

Additional forms – in Simple Present Tense, verb that ends in “-y” have two forms when the subject
is singular.
Verbs end in”-y”
Consonant before “-y”
Vowel before “-y”
- remove “y”
-just add “s”
- add “ies”
Fry - Fries Convey - Conveys
Deny - Denies Enjoy - Enjoys
Fortify - Fortifies Play - Plays
Multiply - Multiplies Lay - Lays
Identify - Identifies Stay - Stays
Exercise
1. I _______ (repair) a washing machine.
2. She _______ (agree) to come tomorrow.
3. The students ________ (watch) the video together.
4. Amira ________ (drive) a sport car.
5. Akram ________ (write) a letter to his mother.
6. The children ________ (climb) the rambutan tree.
7. My mother ________ (wash) the laundry every Saturday.
8. Sun _______ (rise) from east until now.
9. The baby ______ (cry) all night.
10. Alia ______ (catch) a fish with her bare hands.
11. People ______ (shout) at the market to sell their product.
12. The men _______ (build) a garage next to my house.

Write a sentence using Simple Present Tense by using the given verbs.

Simple Present Tense sentence structure:- Subject Verb Object

Akmal cuts a tree

1. Verb: Carry
He ___________________________________________________.

2. Verb: Pry
The mechanic __________________________________________.

3. Verb: Take
Akmal and Alif __________________________________________.

4. Verb: Read
They __________________________________________________.

5. Verb: Decide
I _____________________________________________________.

6. Verb: Choose
We ___________________________________________________.

7. Verb: Crash
Lina ___________________________________________________.

8. Verb: Open
She ___________________________________________________.

 END OF MODULE -
 Reading
This module covers:
 Identifying topics and main ideas
 Building word classes

Understanding a text canbe difficult as it often expresses complex concepts or ideas and use
specialized vocabulary. There are reading strategies that can help you get the information you need
even from a difficult text. The strategies that you can use to read for information are skim, scan and
close read.
Reading quickly for general meaning or gist. It is a preparation before a detailed
Skimming
reading.
Scanning Involves moving the eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases.
Reading line by line and every word. This is useful when concentrating on a short,
Close reading
specific piece of text.

Understanding a text; topic, purpose and main idea

When reading a text, you need to know what the topic is, the purpose of the text and the main idea
or ideas. Read the descriptions below to understand.
1. Topic - what the text is about
2. Purpose - the reason for writing
3. Main idea - the most important thing that the author wants to communicate

Steps to find the main idea:-

Read the entire paragraph to get an idea of what the paragraph is about. Usually main idea
Read
is in the first sentence but it also could be in the middle or at the end of the paragraph.
Examine Examine each sentence in the paragraph to identify and write down the key words.
Decide Decide which key words are the main ideas of the paragraph.
Write Write down the main idea for each paragraph.

Point to remember!
 When you read, you must be able to distinguish facts from opinion.
 Facts can be proven true through observations, research or experiment.
 Opinion cannot be proven because they are beliefs, feelings, evaluations or judgement.
 Look for signals words or phrases (I believe, we think, in my opinion, etc) and judgement
words (best, greatest, cutest, brave).
 Identify the purpose of the sentence (opinions are likely to persuade or convince).
 Ask yourself if (and how) a statement could be proven.

Example:
Fact: My English teacher’s height is 170cm. More than half of the class thinks my English
teacher is elegant.
Opinion: I think my English teacher’s height makes her look very elegant.
 TEXT 1
No matter how hard we try to stay clean, our bidy is naturally full of bacteria. Every person hosts
trillions of microbes. Microbes, collectively called the microbiota reside in practically every part of the body.
But these microbes are not necessarily all bad. In fact, these microbes do wonders for the body, such as,
building the immune system, processing food and confronting invading pathogens.

However, modern lifestyle has significantly reduced the range of microbes occupying our anatomy.
Modern diets, antibiotics and hygiene seem to be altering humankind’s bodily bacteria. Research on a
small, isolated tribe in southern Venezuela’s Amazonian jungles shows the inhabitants have a greater
variety of bacteria in their bodies and a greater diversity of bacterial functions.

Researchers found that the Yanomami villagers isolated from the outside world until 2009,
possessed the most diverse range of bacteria ever found in people including some never before detected in
humans. Yanomami’s microbes harboured antibiotics-resistant genes including those conferring resistane
to man-made antibiotics. Considering they had never been exposed to commercial antibiotics, researchers
suggest that microbiota diversity decline maybe due to modern practices, such as processed foods and
antibiotics.

Researchers suggest there is probably a llink between the decline in microbiota diversity and the
increase in immunological and metabolic diseases sich as asthma, allergies, diabetes and obesity. An
analusis of microbial samples from 34 of the Yanomami villagers revealed that they have twice the number
of microbe varieties of the US subjects anf 30 ti 40 percent more diversity than the rural Malawians in
southern Africa and the Guahibo, another Venezuelan Amazonian indigenous people. Some of the
bacteriafound only in the Yanomami villages offer beneficial effects like protecting against kidney stones.
The Yanomami are semi- nomadic hunter-gatherers in their remote mountainous region.

Exercise – Read the text 1 and answer the following questions

1. Human are losing healthy bacteria to
modern lifestyles. 4. The Yanomami villagers are less likely to
A. True fall sick because
B. False A. they take lots of antibiotics
C. Not stated B. they do not take processed food
C. they have stronger immune system
2. The Guahibo are semi-nomadic hunter-
gatherers in Venezuela’s Amazonian 5. the researchers believe that modern
jungles. lifestyle
A. True A. increase bodily bacteria
B. False B. is essential to human health
C. Not stated C. reduces microbiota diversity

3. The Malawians and Guahibo had less 6. Which of the following is mostly likely to
disease-resistant bacteria than the US suffer from immunological and metabolic
subjects. diseases?
A. True A. Nomads
B. False B. Urbanites
C. Not stated C. Indigenous tribes
Write a summary by using the main points that extracted from the text.

 END OF MODULE -
 Speaking
We converse with people every day and of course for a conversation to take place there must be at
least two or more people. It is usually involves two moves; an initiating move and a response. Each
move is a turn.
Basically conversations are structured with:
 a beginning - conversation-making involves starting a conversation
 a middle - maintaining the conversation
 an end - closing the conversation

A beginning
1. Greeting is the easiest way to start a conversation and to establish contact with another person,
especially if that person is a stranger. The other party or parties usually response to the
greetings.
2. Greetings are usually followed by introductions. There are two types of introductions:
a. Introducing yourself
b. Introducing someone else

1. Introducing yourself
 How do you do? I’m Ahmad Salohin.
 Pleased to meet you. My name is Salmiah Ali.
 Hello, I’m Adiwijaya. I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name.
 Good morning. I know we’ve met before, but I’m afraid I can’t remember your name.
 Hello. You look familiar. Haven’t we met somewhere before?

2. Introducing someone else

 Hafiz, let me introduce you to Alif, an old friend of mine.
 I’d like to introduce you to Hasnah. Hasnah and I are colleagues.
 Azmira, this is Sarah. Sarah, this is Azmira. We will be housemates tomorrow.
 I believed that you have met Lina in street before, well, let’s start over. Kamal, meet Lina
and Lina meet Kamal.

A middle
1. Once a conversation is started, you should develop and maintain it. Silence in the middle of the
conversation can be uncomfortable for both parties involved. To ensure that the conversation
progresses smoothly, both speakers need to take responsibility for keeping the interaction going.
2. Contents of the conversation could be:-
a. Small talks g. To expressing emotions
b. To give opinions h. To give explanation
c. To give directions i. To agree
d. To apologize j. To congratulate
e. To ask for information k. To complaint
f. To give information l. (many more)
An end
1. In closing a conversation, we do not stop talking suddenly, say goodbye and leave each other
abruptly. We have to close a conversation so that we do not appear to be rude.
2. Politely ending a conversation normally takes sometime and it involves three steps:
1) Pre-closing 2) Closing 3) Taking leave

Pre-closing Closing Taking leave

Look at the time! I’m afraid I’ve got to leave now. It’s getting late, goodbye.
Well, I really should be going now, see you.
I know you’re busy I’ll let you get back to work now, until next time.

Exercise
Choose one topic and create a conversation about the followings:-

a. Eating d. Sports
b. Friendship e. Traveling
c. Health f. Shopping

2. Setup a greeting session with:

a. Formal guests d. Co-worker/ Interest
b. Old friend partners
c. Just met/ Acquaintance

3. Keep the conversation flows. Use the question words:

a. What b. Why c. Where d. Who
e. When f. Which g. How

4. Relate the themes to the conversation. What you can do if you are talking about the
theme?:
a. Eating – place, reservation, menu, recommendation, taste. Can talk about
some other places to eat.
b. Friendship – ask well-being, current job/activity, future planning, tell story
about other friends. Bring up memories together. Plan for reunion maybe.
c. Health – types of exercise and its benefit, supplement taken, gyms, exercise
equipment, exercise competition/ program.
d. Sports – choose a sport, who are the players, favourite team/player,
memorable games, skills needed for the sport, initiative to take to bring up
the sport in Malaysia.
e. Traveling – places to go, what to bring, what to do to go there, what is the
specialty there. Talk about other places as well.
f. Shopping – what to buy, suggestions; where to buy, the price, the
convenience of the place. Talk about some other places to shop.

- END OF MODULE -