lntroduction

Steps to Successf u I Writing

problems you may have Hereare somecommon that experienced whenyou are askedto writea composition: 1. Youdon'thaveenough say aboutthe topic. to 2. Youdon'tknowhowto begin. yourideas. 3. Youdon'tknowhowto organise punctuation vocabulary 4. Youare unsure yourgrammar, of spelling, and 5. Youdon'tknowhowto endyourcomposition. 6. Youdon'thaveenough time. you And if that'snot enough, thinkyou haveto get it all rightthe firsttime around! Sounds impossible? You're right- it is.And that'swhyyou must learnto look at composition a process, not as a finishedproducl.The as following problems. stepswill helpyou to solvemanyof yourwriting

you are readyto beginwriting yourcomposition, mustknowwhatyouwantto say and how you Before yourideas. to organise Thefollowing activities helpyouto do so. will
-i. lllai:rsioii::ii;,.

yourtopic,you wantto startthe ideasflowing. Onceyou havechosen Veryquickly: I Makea listof all ideas thatcomeintoyourmind. grammar spelling. I Don't worryabout or I Don't worrywhether ideais relevant not. the or put you havea chance forgetthem.(You Justquickly downon paperany ideasyou havebefore to don'tevenhaveto wiitein English!)
';. Grcupir'q .{iiilr r(ltliii

Readthrough listof ideasyou havewritten Your the down.Are someof themrelated others? to ideaswill probably intoa few maingroups. fall Writethe samenumber letternextto all the ideas or thatforma group.Do the samefor the nextgroupof related ideas.
ij. {ieiting ticl uf iireicvali-:i ici'::,s

Crossout ideasthatdon'tfit intoany of yourgroups.

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Giveeachgroupa name. Thiswill helpyou in the nextstageto writethe firstsentence each of paragraph topicsentence). (the
5. yrri' icieas Ci-i-iering

Number groups the orderyouwouldliketo mention the in them. Lookat theexample page6. on

v
Introduction: Writinq Stepsto Successful

Composition topic: Pollutionis endangering our oceans

Hereare the brainstorming ideasone pupilwrote:

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ol

oceang

ffieTqa\not 984 ffiebAlYfe waoLetn a &ao dirtY

e eaL Po\eon

i tourtsm

Vffiaifwwno a
e6 durfi

inq t o\negaee

{EarmVffiroirr'nr
and sea

{onaus waeT'e

@ Exercise"l
Look at the following brainstorming notes a student made about the topic: Keeping exotic pets at home.Put each of the notes into the correct group. Then add one idea of your own to each group.

you keep company ille1altrade sometimea dangerouo

abandoned animala more excitinq than traditional peta difficult to keep

against I GROUP(3):consequences in GROUP('l): arguments favour I GROUP(2):arguments

Exercise 2 groupsonesentence irrelevant. is Crossout the irrelevant sentence In eachof the following and giveeachgroupa name. Follow example. the
1. Name: Howto makea Pizz.a - h a. 'CqgDine'flour and waterlo makea soft dough. 3. Name:
a. Computers educational. are b. Computers enjoyable. are c. Computers savetime.

ffi
F

b. Plac#dough c,

"iw' ,.

in a greased bakingpan.

': tormto sauceand cheeseon the dough. d. ,Sprsed

'.s."'

people somejobs. d. Computer replacing are at

4. Name:

2. N&"
a. QuiE a lot of shoesare madein Majorca. youtry themon. b.- Findoutthe pricebefore c. Try on bothshoesand walkin themto make surethey'recomfortable. d. lf you'regoingto wearthemwithsocks,be sure to wearsockswhenyou try themon.

Manyteenagers, especially boys,needto show off. Manyyoungdrivers drinktoo muchat weekends.

c. Teenagers easilyinfluenced theirfriends. are by d . The number roadaccidents of increases vear

afteryear.

Introduction: Stepsto Successful Writino

Step2: Writing
Nowthatyou havea clearideaof whatyou wantto say,you are readyto beginwriting. Again,don't worryaboutneatness, grammar, spelling punctuation. try to get yourideasdownon paperas or Just quickly as possible. Writein pencil. Leavewidemargins makenotesin. Leavespacebetween to linesfor additions and corrections. lf you can'tthinkof a wordin English, writeit in yourmother tongue.lf you can'tspella word,writeit any wayyou can.Circlethe wordso you'llremember comebackandcheckit at the nextstage. to Keepon writing.

Yourcomposition include following will parts: the 1, Theopening The openingis a generalpresentation the topic in one or two sentences. to startyour of Try composition an openingthat will catchyour reader'sinterest" you can't think howto begin, with lf don'tworry.Go on to the body of the composition; can alwayscomebackto the openinglater. you 2. Thebody Usethe notesyou prepared helpyou writethe bodyof yourcomposition. to you gaveto yourgroupsin Step1 (Preparing) helpyou to writethe firstsentence The names will of eachparagraph. ideasthat belong eachgroupshouldall be in the sameparagraph. The to When youfinishone group,starta newparagraph.

GROUT
1)

tor 9: Keasone

9ENTENCE TO?IC are man!:7aegno There

ocean? are 90

Resu?sot

have beencaused Several a reeult'of this garioug' oome the situat'ion ig

are eolutions

3.

The closing The closing sentenceor paragraphusually restatesthe opening in differentwords.

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2. 3. 4.

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lf you want to makea deliaious

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Step 3: lrnproving it. needto improve Reread certainly the writing firstroughdraft,you willalmost Whenyou havefinished things: Checkthe following markthe thingsthat needimproving. and yourcomposition clearly 1. Theconteni You to allthe pointsyou wanted mention? can stilladd newinformation, I Haveyou included or or details examples, crossout any ideasthat seemirrelevant. 2. Theorganisation to I Are yourideaseasY follow? order? themin a logical I Haveyou presented to I Haveyou usedconnectors linkyourideas? 3. Thelanguage comPlete? I Are yoursentences I ls the wordordercorrect? I Are the verbtensescorrect? aPProPriate? I ls the vocabulary the I Haveyou repeated samewordtoo often? (too I ls the toneappropriate formal/ informal)? and 4. Thespelling punctuation correct? t ls yourspelling punctuation mark? letterand end witha suitable beginwitha capital I Doeseverysentence wherenecessary? letters I Haveyou usedcapital
.-l

Introduction: Writing Steps to Suc_cessful

@ 4 Exercise
Correctthe underlined errors. Find five more erors and correct them too. ln my oVinion, would ba a serious miatake to raise the minimurn it aqe for a drivin4 licencein tlhefrrat, place,mosf,leenaqerebuy the aqe of 1B are enouqhmaf,ureto be NrealinTlike reeponeible adulto. Ai.-Nhie their are raadyto take there Vlace aqe as full memberoaf so?iebyand i;he qavernmentrecognioes theae fact. For examVle, they they can soon be ableto vote in local and nacionaleleclions 9o why ehouldnt, drivea car.lt, don't seemloaical me: to also be allowed"tn

Step4: Rewriting
Whenyou are satisfied with your work,copy it in ink onto a cleansheetof paper.Be sureto includeall of yourcorrections. I Makesureyour handwriting neatand easyto read. is I Leavea margin the left-hand on side. I Makesureyourparagraphs clearlyindicated: are (moving firstwordof the 1. by indenting paragraph the right) to the or 2. by skipping linebeforebeginning a a new paragraph.

in but Bothstylesare correct, be consistent yourcomposition.

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Unit,l
I

..;,_ .-i,.-

The Sentence
The basic sentence
A sentenceis a group of words which contains a subiect and a verb, and expresses a complete idea. Thefollowing sentences: are . Birds fly. . Susanlaughed. Thefollowing notsentences. you see why? are Can . a nice young man, quiet and a bit shy, but with a hint

of humourin his eyes ' laughingand sl'toutinghappityon their way home from schoolon the lastday of the schoolyear . becausewe had been lookingforwardto their visit

ln orders and in somepoliterequests, subject the (you)is not mentioned, is understood. but . Open the window, please. . Stopmakingthat noiseat once!

@ 1 Exercise
Ganyou changethe following into correct sentences? 1. a niceyoungman,quietand a bit shy,but witha hintof humour his eyes in 2. laughing shouting and happily theirway homefromschoolon the lastday of the school on year 3. we gaveto Peter 4. cameverylatein the evening 5. an expensive bracelet gold roundherwrist 6. rainsa lot 't0

Uniti: The Sentence

Additions to the basic sentence In addition the subject to and the verb,the sentence mayalsocontain: Direct indirect and objects . Dave wrote a letter ta me.

Describing words (adjectives and adverbs) . I couldn't lift the heavy box. (adjective) . I lifted the box easily. (adverb) Tinreexpressions . I usually phone my grandparents once a week. (additions manner,place,time) Complements . She hid the money under the mattress.

@ 2 Exercise
fndicatewith a tick(/l which of the following are sentences.Make any necessaryadditions to those you did not tick. 1. Ourfamilyon this landfor manygenerations. i---l

2. StoptI

3. Oftensnowsin this partof tne country.Ll

4. Although parents my were,both bornin engnnO. f-l

5. I disagree.

6. We enjoy verymuch. LJ

7. Theyrenteda smallflaton a quietstreet. I I

8. A lovelygarden of and a beautifulview the sea. fl

11

Unit"l:The Sentence

The three main kinds of sentences

Thereare threemainkindsof sentences: 1. Simple sentences . He tried hard. . He couldn'tmove the rock. joined a conjunction as and,but, or) (two 2. Compound sentences simple sentences by such . He tried hard, but he couldn'tmove the rock.
simplesentence simpE sentence

We can leaveout the secondsubjectif it is the sameas the first. . He tried hard, but couldnTmove the rock. plus (a 3. Complex sentences simple senience oneor moredependent ciauses) , Althoughhe tried hard, he couldn'tmove the rock.
dependent clause main clause (simple sentence)

. I enjoyed the film

maindause

which we saw last night.

@endentdau*

@ Exercise

Join the simple sentences form compoundor complexsentences. to Theremay be morethan one possibleanswer. 1. The car brokedown.We hadto takea bus home. law He his 2. Jackstudied at Harvard. received degreein 1991. We Spain.We saw a bullfight. 3. We wereon holiday. visited 4. Architecture a profession. requires is lt creativity. alsorequires lt knowledge. technical

took in Theytookcourses rocket 5. The astronauts courses flightmechanics. in too. engines, Theyalsostudied geology the moon. the of

t4

U n i t1 : T h e S e n t e n c e

Word order
Thewordorderof an English sentence veryfixed.The orderis: is i sr"ibject
verb

objectis)

additions

;r.*-----;l
L._

I Thechildren They

,s seemed visit will retum

theircousins

I it to you

a good student. very happyyesterday. every summer. nert week.

Never separate verbfromits object(s). cannot say: the We , Theyviqfr everysummertheir cousins. Timeexpressions alsocomeat the beginning the sentence. can of , Every summer they visittheir cousins. place, lf thereis morethanone addition, usualorderis: manner, the time. . The! spoke quietly in the living-room all evening.

@ 4 Exercise
Rearrange following groups of words to form correct sentences. the 1. they/ the art exhibition lastweek/ visited i 2. French speaks Kareni fluently / / 3. stole/ someone my bike/ yesterday i 4. not/ please the animals do / feed / i 5. thetruthI me ltold / the children 6. his car I lent/ my father/ me 7. injured at the football / matchlTomI badly/ yesterday his knee /

13

Unit1: TheSentence

Punctuation
mark(?) or an must beginwith a capitalletterand end with a full stop (.), a question A sentence mark(!). exclamation itemsin a list,but not beforethe wordsand or or. We put a comma(,) between . He suddenlystoppedtalking,turnedand startedto run. . Youmay order coffee,tea, orangejuice or lemonade. by A nondefiningrelativeclauseis separated commasfrom the rest of the sentence. . I can distinctlyrememberMr. Madden,who taught us English. . Mr. Grant, whogrew up with my mother,is an ald friendof the family. of clausewhen it comesat the beginning a sentence. We usuallyput a commaattera dependent . lf you're ever in Toronto, drop in and visit us. But: . Drop in and visit us if you're ever in Toronto.

@ 5 Exercise
capital letters and punctuation to each of the following sentences. Add the neGessary Holland and ltaly France 1. we are goingon a tourof England 2. whereareyou goingto spendyourholiday 3. if you phonenowyou may be able to get a ticket 4- watchout animals is whichlivesin Australia one of the world'sstrangest 5. the platypus

14

uni*
The

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. - . . . - . - . 1 . . - - . .I

raph

Thereare severalreasonowhymoreand more people are movinqout of citiee. gome VeoVle, tired of livin1in crowded blockeof ffats, Vrefera private housewith a 7ardenin the country. Others are atiraciod by the ?eaceand quiet of Iife in the suburbe. Many are lookinqfor a heallhierenvironment their children. for Finally, manyfa&ories and businesees move out of the citiee and into the euburbe, people are followinqin order to be nearer to their placeeof work.For these reaoone, country lite ie becoming moreatlractive lo qrowinqnumbereof Veople.

The parts of a paragraph

A paragraphis a group of sentencesabout a certaintopic. A paragraph threemainparts: has 1. Thetopicsentence usually firstsentence the paragraph. shouldbe a short,general is the of lt statement whichstatesthe mainideaof the paragraph. . The averageteenagerwatchestoo much TV. . Most studentsfind it difficultto wite a composition English. in 2' The supporting senlences develop topicsentence givingreasons, the by details andexamples. All of the supporting sentences a paragraph in mustrelateto the topicsentence. not include Do unrelated ideas. 3. The concluding sentence summarises mainideaof the paragraph, the although is notalways it necessary.

@ 1 Exercise
In the model paragraphabove, find and label the following: . the topicsentence . the supporting sentences . the concluding sentence
15

_ur4 :.1!Slarsgl?Ei1 2 Exercise are belowit. tlecidewhichsentences and Readeachtopic sentence eachof the sentences to relevant the topic and crossout anythat are not. wonderful make 1. Dogs Pets.
a. Dogsare friendlyand affectionate. kindsof dogsb. Thereare manydifferent c. Theyare loyal. d. Theyprovideus with companionship. actor. 2. TomHanksis an excellent convincingly. abilityto portrayhis characters a. He has an extraordinary b. He playsbothcomicand seriousrolesequallywell. than his age. c. Tomhas a boyishcharmwhichmakeshim seemyounger Awardfor his part in the film Philadelphia. an d. Tomreceived Academy

3 Exercise berog@q eacn the Choose besttopic sentence'for $raSraprr too, gt"teeth an{gnfes.TheB vitamins, are for is 1. V1amin6for example, necessary ttle growth

vitamin$isierelh:1:1-ffiJilrj"o and neededior q1'*W**Ns torhd$bv,Jqn eves.

ano'fitaffir vessels, brooo.gffi.{pntinued,lack of any .is.;.,

to

-t"**$
*, -i

,*aminaar::Tlffi * . 1 1 .: s

of
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with the featurs of a personor an animal.Such 2. Masksthat are wom for disguiseare usuallydecorated They camivalsand otherspecialoccasions. fancydressparties, masksare wom all overthe worldat part of holidaycelebrations, suchas the Carnivalin Veniceon the Ganarylslandsand are oftena masks,on the otherhand,servea morepracticalfunction. in Hallowe'en the UnitedStates.Protective their eyesfrom intense wear maskswith a specialfilterthat protects often metalworkers For example, lightandflyingsparks. a. Maskscan be madefrom a varietyof materials. usedto disguiseor protectthe faceb. A maskis a covering humanhistory. c. Peoplehavewom masksthroughout

Exercise4 Match each topic sentence(1-3)with a suitable concluding sentence(a'c). parentsshouldstop smoking for a. Concerned 1. Smokingis harmfulto your health. good,if not for their own. their children's
2. Smokingshould be banned in public places. 3. Parents who smoke may harm their children'shealth. b. lf you valueyour health,you shouldavoid

smoking. to c. Peoplewho are determined smokeshould only be allowedto do so in their own homes. 16

Unit2: The Paragraph

What makes a good paragraph A goodparagraph expresses only one main idea. The momentyou wishto discussa different idea, you mustbegina newparagraph. A goodparagraph makes sensebecause of the partsfit together all welland logically. mustbe easy lt to readand understand. can achieve by: You this 1. usingpronouns referbackto the key nounsin the text.Sometimes, maychoose to we to repeatthe key nounsto remindthe readerwho or what we are talkingabout. . Thereare many working children all over the wodd. Someof them are employed in agriculture,others in tactorieswhere they may work far long hours under difficultconditions,oftenruining their healtftat an early age. Children make up an importantpart of the workforcein same eounties2. usingconnectors showthe relationship to between ideas: to addlnfornration . Thejob is interestingand the pay is good. ln addition, my co-workersare all very friendlyand helpful. to slrowa parallel situation . Parentsoften have difficultycommunicating with their ehildren.ln the same way, teenagersoften find it impossibleto confidein their parents. to showa contrast . Many of the girls were excellentat languages-An the ather hand, the boys generally betterat maths. did lo showa resi-rlt . The teacherdid her bestto createa pleasantatmospherein the classroom.As a result, she was well liked by the pupils. to showsequence . I consideredthe mattersettledand didn't thinkany more about it. A few days later, I overhearda conversationwhichmademe changemy mind. your (or There severalways whicha paragraph 3. organising ideas are in logicaliy. composition) be organised can logically. Someof theseare: order importance of Arrange information the orderof importance, points. the in starting withthe mostimportant points listing lf thereis no particular orderof importance, the pointsin any orderyou wish. list chronoiogicai order Arrange factsin the ordertheytakeplace.Usetime expressions showthe the to relationship between events. for andagainst Firstgivethe advantages, thenthe disadvantages, the reverse. or comparison contrast and Showhow thingsare similarto and different from eachother. causeand effect Firstgivethe causes, thenthe results.

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Unit2: The Paragraph

@ 5 Exercise
from the box. Fill in the blankswith suitableconnectors
As a result In addition In the same way On the other hand Soon afterwards

countries havetraditionally eatenlow-fatdiets. 1. Peoplein Meditenanean European is rich in fat. diet , the northern at 2. Michael and Judy met whenthey wereboth students the same university.
, they got married and moved to Scotland.

The NorthAmericanIndiansusedbeadsas money. 3. Moneyas we knowit has not alwaysexisted.

, shells were once used as money in Africa, India and China.

value. moneymustbe easyto carryand comein piecesof standard 4. ln orderto be practical, as for it mustbe widelyaccepted a meansof payment goods , and services. an campaign designed convince to us 5. For years,the massmediahas beenconducting advertising thatthinis beautiful. , manypeoplein our societyworryconstantly abouttheirweight. Exercise 6 Numberthe sentencesbelow in the correct order to form a paragraph.The topic sentencewill be number 1. Underlinethe words and expressionsthat helped you determinethe order. witha widevariety plantandanimallife" of a. ln addition,lhe areais blessed kindsof animals be foundthere,too, including widevariety birds. a can of b. Manydifferent paradise. in c. Ordesa, the northof Spain,is a nature-lover's you reserve, canobserve themas theyfeedand restnotfar d. Inside limits the nature of the fromthe visitors.
e. So if you lovenature,be sureto visit Ordesa.

you Brecha Elolando the sparkling to waterfalls f. .Wherever look- fromthe snow-capped de ol Golade Caballo thereare lovelyviewsfor you to enjoy. g. lnspring,for example, hillsides covered withdarkgreengrassand brightly the are coloured wlldflowers. scenery. a. #J of all,thereis the beautiful

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