writing
Courses tagged with "writing"
Types Of Sentences
Learn about types of sentences that can be used. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
A sentence is a grammatical unit made up of one or more words. Sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation point.In this course we will be learning about the three main types of sentence:
· Simple
· Compound
· Complex
A simple sentence has one idea. It has a subject and only one verb.
For example:
The girl sprinted after the tiger (the verb is sprinted).
The cat purred (the verb is purred).
A simple sentence is one subject and one verb.
A complex sentence is formed when you join a main clause and a subordinate clause with a connective.
A subordinate clause is one that relies on a main clause to make sense.
The connectives in complex sentences tell us about the order or the place in which things happened or specify a cause or effect relationship between events (e.g. after, although, as, because, if, since, unless, when).
For example:
I love roast potatoes, although my mum prefers them boiled. (The connective is the word ‘although’.)
You need to prepare for the English test tomorrow if you want to get full marks. (The connective is the word ‘if’.)
You will learn
- Types of sentence
- Simple sentences
- Compound sentences
- Complex sentences
Essay Writing Process
Learn about the essay writing process and how to successfully and effectively use it. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
The essay writing process consists of 6 parts that lead on from one another:1. Analysing the question
2. Generating Ideas
3. Research
4. Planning
5. Drafting
6. Editing
Analysing an essay title has 4 stages:
1. Pick apart the title. Look for:
a. Topic or content words or phrases that tell you the main subject of the essay
b. Limiting or focus words that tell you which aspects of the subject you should write about
c. Direction words that tell you what you need to do
2. Focus on the title
3. Make notes – write down any questions that are prompted by the title
4. Use the title – keep checking the exact wording and refer to the essay title in your introduction and conclusion
You will learn
- The process
- Analysing the question
- Generating ideas
- Research
- Planning
- Drafting
- Editing
Summarising
Learn about summarising and what it is. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Summarising involves taking the main ideas from a piece of text and rewriting them in your own words.
A summary tends to give an overview of a topic area. It should not contain unnecessary detail or be written like an essay.
Summarising is an important skill that is often used when researching, gathering or presenting information. Being able to write a good summary demonstrates that you have fully understood the text you are reading.
You will learn
- What summarising is
- Writing a summary
- Checklist
- Example summary
Spelling
Learn about why spelling is important and information on spelling. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Knowledge of spelling and grammar will support you to correctly arrange words in sentences and add the correct punctuation. This will allow you to communicate efficiently with other people, your ability to spell, punctuate and produce grammatically- correct sentences in assessment is important.
· You are marked on your spelling· It aids communication
· It avoids confusion
· It helps you understand the patterns of language
· It helps you understand the connection between letter combinations and sounds which will help your reading
Can’t I just use a spell checker?
A spell checker such as (google translate) is only useful if you start the word correctly, getting most of the letters right.
It will not correct another legitimate word, for example, if you mis-type ‘does’ as ‘dose’ the spell checker will not pick this up.
A spell checker will not help if you are writing by hand.
You will learn
- Why spelling is important
- Commonly misspelled words
- Spelling strategy (look, cover, say, write and check)
- Homophones
- Silent letters
Quotation Marks
Learn about quotation marks and why and when you should use them. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Quotation marks can also be referred to as:· Speech marks
· Inverted commas
Question marks can be single or double.
They always come in pairs – open quotation marks and close quotation marks.
Quoting means repeating exactly what someone has said or written.
Whenever you use a quotation you must use quotation marks. This is important as it shows the words are not your own (and will stop you being accused of plagiarising).
You will learn
- Quotation marks
- Why you should use quotation marks
- Using single and double quotation marks
- Use of quotation marks
Punctuation
Learn about punctuation and all the different punctuation marks. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Capital letters are used for a number of different purposes which are the following:· At the beginning of a sentence. For example: The dog barked loudly (the capital letter is at the beginning of the word ‘the’).
· For the personal pronoun ‘I’. For example: Yesterday, I went the zoo (the capital letter has been used the for the word ‘I’).
· For proper nouns (specific names of people, places and things). For example: Rashid went to Paris in April (the words Rashid, Paris and April all have capital letters at the beginning).
Full stops are used in the following ways:
· To mark the end of a sentence. The full stop marks the end of the sentence, unless a question mark or exclamation mark is being used instead.
· To indicate an abbreviation. For example: 6 a.m. (The full stop is used between the ‘a’ and ‘m’ and after the ‘m’.
· For ellipsis (three dots at the end). For example:
o As Shakespeare said, “If music be the food of love …” (The ellipsis is at the end).
o “You know how I feel about that…” (The ellipsis is at the end).
You will learn
- Capital letters
- Full stops
- Commas
- Apostrophes
- Question marks
- Exclamation marks
- Colons
- Semi-colons
- Quotation marks
- Hyphens
- Dashes
- Parentheses
- Brackets
Prepositions
Learn about prepositions, what it is and examples. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Prepositions can be used to indicate time.The mostly commonly used prepositions of time are at, on and in.
These are used in the following ways:
· At is used to indicate specific times for example, the train is due at 11.45 p.m.
· On is used to indicate days and dates for example, my mother is coming on Monday.
· In is used to indicate nonspecific times (during a day, month, season or year, for example, he likes to play in the morning.
Prepositions of place, some locations do not require a preposition, including:· Downstairs
· Downtown
· Inside
· Outside
· Upstairs
You will learn
- What a preposition is
- Preposition of time
- Prepositions of place
- Preposition positions
Planning a Speech
Introduction
A good speech needs a good structure. In your speech introduction you should:· Define your key terms (if needed)
· Give a general overview
· Provide a tentative conclusion, so your audience knows where the speech is going
Say something at the outset that will make them sit up and listen to you – because you are saying something interesting and you have an interesting way of saying it.
A good speech needs a good structure.Just like an essay, a speech needs a beginning, middle and end.
Your audience won’t be able to remember every single thing you say, but you need to make sure they remember your key message.
A useful way to do this is:
· Opening - tell them what you are going to tell them
· Main content - tell them
· Closing - tell them what you told them
You will learn
- Structing your speech
- Introduction
- Main body
- Conclusion
- Audio and visual aids
- Tips for using visual aids
- Principles of using audio and visual aids
Paragraphs
Learn about paragraphs and how and when to use them correctly. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
A paragraph is a group of related sentences that develops one main idea, which is the topic of the paragraph.A paragraph is like a sandwich. The topic and concluding sentences are the two pieces of ‘bread’ enclosing the ‘meat’ in the supporting sentences.
The elements of a paragraph differ according to topic and purpose. Introductory paragraphs often contain definitions, while descriptive paragraphs include a lot of information. Other sentences may give examples, reasons and restatements.
3 of 13 – When to start a new paragraph
To remember when to start a new paragraph, use the TIPTOP rule which is, you move onto a new paragraph when you change the following:
- Time
- Place
- Topic
- Person
You will learn
- Organising paragraphs
- When to start a new paragraph
- Paragraph structure
- Paragraph content
- Unity in paragraphs
Nouns and Pronouns
Learn about nouns and pronouns and the different types. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Nouns are naming words for people, places, things and ideas.They are divided into two subsections:
1. Concrete nouns are objects we can smell, taste, touch and see such as chair, table, dog and pen.
2. Abstract nouns are ideas, states and feelings such as love, hope, honour and clarity.
Nouns can also be sub-divided into proper and common nouns.
A proper noun has two distinctive features that make it different to a common noun:
1. It will name a specific item.
2. It will begin with a capital letter no matter where it occurs in the sentence.
Pronouns are words that replace the name of a person or an object when it is already clear whom or what you are talking about.Example: “Jane has broken her leg. She’ll not be able to play football for weeks.”
You will learn
- Nouns
- Concrete nouns
- Abstract nouns
- Proper nouns
- Common nouns
- Pronouns
Essay Structure
Learn about essay structure how to use it. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
All essays should have three parts:
- Introduction
- Main body
- Conclusion
A good essays introduction should:
● Tell the reader how you are going to answer the question
● Define or explain any specialist terms in the essay title
● Set the scene for the rest of the essay
● Give a brief outline of the key issues or points you are going to cover in the essay, in the order you are going to cover them
● Grab the reader’s interest so they want to read more
You will learn
- Essay structure
- Introductions
- Main body
- Paragraph structure
- Conclusions
Hyphens and Dashes
Learn about hyphens and dashes and how and when they can be used. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Hyphens are used for the following:· To link compound words and numbers. For example: Well-being (the hyphen is after the word ‘well’) and fifty-one (the hyphen is after the word ‘fifty’).
· To clarify words that use prefixes. For example: Re-covering (the hyphen is after the ‘re’) and self-taught (the hyphen is after the word ‘self’).
· To write fractions. For example: Two-fifths (the hyphen is after the word ‘two) and one-half (the hyphen is after the word ‘one’)
Dashes are used in the following ways:
· To add comments as part of informal writing. For example: “I might get an ‘A’ grade – you never know.” (The dash is after the word ‘grade’). Note that brackets should be used instead of dashes in formal writing.
· Indicate a range. For example:
o It will take 3-6 days to complete. (The dash is between the 3 and 6).
o To gain a merit you need a mark of 60-70%. (The dash is between the 60 and 70).
You will learn
- Using hyphens to link compound words and numbers
- Using hyphens to clarify words that use prefixes
- Using hyphens to write fractions
- Using dashes to add comments as part of informal writing
- Using dashes to indicate range
Express Fact and Opinion
Learn about fact and opinion and how they are used. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
A fact is a piece of information that can be proven to be trueNote:A false fact is a piece of information that is presented in a factual way, but which can be proven to be inaccurate.
An opinion is a person’s subjective viewpoint. Because it cannot be verified as a fact it is an opinion. Once it is verified it is no longer an opinion but a fact.
One way to distinguish between fact and opinion is to look at the language used.
Language helps us to decide whether a statement can be backed up with evidence and verified in some way, or if the statement is someone’s opinion.
Examples of the language we use to express facts are:
· This review has demonstrated
· According to the results of the latest poll …
· The latest findings confirm …
· Researchers have recently discovered …
Examples of the language we use to express opinions:
· The company claims that …
· The research team argues that …
· In Professor Donald’s view …
Most experts in this field suspect that …
You will learn
- Fact and opinion
- Language used to express fact and opinion
- Misleading facts
- Bias
- Blending fact and opinion
Conjunctions
Learn about conjunctions and the different types. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Conjunctions connect and relate ideas in:· Words
· Phrases
· Sentences
They assist in the logical flow of ideas as they signal the relationship between these ideas.
Coordinating conjunctions
The most commonly used conjunctions are:
· And
· But
· Or
These are called coordinating conjunctions.
Co-ordinating conjunctions join two ideas of equal value in a sentence.
It does not matter which way round the ideas are presented.
You could say “it is cold and wet today” or “it is wet and cold today”.
It does not affect the meaning of the sentence.
You will learn
- What a conjunction is
- Coordinating conjunctions
- Subordinating conjunctions
- Conjunction positions
Commas
Learn about commas and why and when they can be used. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
The comma is used to indicate a slight pause in a sentence.It is also used to separate a sentence into blocks of thought or logical groupings.
For example:
They will never go there, whatever they say. (The comma is after the word ‘there’.)
My favourite foods are chocolate, cheese and cake. (The comma is after the word ‘chocolate’.)
Using commas!
Read this piece of writing which has no punctuation.
on our picnic we ate cheese sandwiches fruit salad and chocolate cake
Depending on the punctuation we add in to make it into a sentence, we can have:
· 3 items: cheese sandwiches, fruit salad and chocolate cake. (The comma is after the phrase ‘cheese sandwiches’.)
· 4 items: cheese, sandwiches, fruit salad and chocolate cake. (The commas are after the words cheese and sandwiches.)
· 5 items: cheese, sandwiches, fruit, salad and chocolate cake. (The commas are after the words cheese, sandwiches and fruit.)
· 6 items: cheese, sandwiches, fruit, salad, chocolate and cake. (The commas are after the words cheese, sandwiches, fruit and salad.)
The simple comma makes all the difference to making sense of the meal that has been eaten.
You will learn
- Commas
- Why you use commas
- Using commas to seperate items in a list
- Using commas to mark less important parts of a sentence
- Checking for use of commas
English-Adverbs
In this course , learn about adverbs and how they are used. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Adverbs describe, give more information about or limit a verb.Adverbs answer questions such as:
· How?
· When?
· Where?
· Why?
Adverb examples
Here are some examples of adverbs in sentences.
· Mary sings beautifully
o Beautifully - the adverb beautifully tells us how Mary sings.
· David is extremely clever
o Extremely - the adverb extremely tells us the degree to which David is clever.
· The car goes incredibly fast
o Incredibly - the adverb incredibly tells us how fast the car goes.
Adverb positions
Adverbs can occur before or after a verb in a sentence.
Here is an example of the adverb ‘silently’ being used before and after the verb ‘crept’.
The thief crept silently across the rooftop.
The thief silently crept across the rooftop.
You will learn
- Adverbs
- Turning adjectives into adverbs
- Adverb positions
Writing for an argument
Learn about some common reasons for writing an argument including for and against. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
Writing an argument is a formal way of making a case for and/or against a certain thing or topic, and there are many reasons why someone might do this.In college you might be asked to write an essay where you argue for and against a certain idea,
for example:
''Mobile phones should be banned from classrooms. Discuss.''
However, outside of college, there are lots of reasons for this style of writing as well. You might want to voice your opinions about things happening in your area, for example plans being made by the council, or new political schemes that are being introduced.
You will learn
- Some common reasons for writing an argument
- How to write in favour of something
- How to write against something
- How to piece together a fair argument
Tense
Learn about tense, what is meant by the past tense, present tense, future tense and how simple, continuous and perfect tenses work. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
In this course we are going to look at what the word tense means by looking at three different types of tense, namely past, present and future.In the English language when we talk about the tense of a word what we are really talking about is when the word (usually an action or an event) is taking place.
There are three main tenses in English and these are known as past, present, and future tenses – with one or two variations of these main three available to us, too.
By using the most appropriate tense in our sentences, we can then give the reader a better idea of when something happened, when it is going to happen, or even whether it is happening right there and then as they are reading the text.
You will learn
· Know what is meant by the past tense· Know what is meant by the present tense
· Know what is meant by the future tense
· Understand how simple, continuous, and perfect tenses work
Strategies for Reading
Learn about strategies for reading, what is meant by skimming and scanning, how to read something in detail and how to find what you need from a text. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.
Introduction
In this course we will think about different reading styles that can be used, and which style might be best for finding what you need in a text.If we are flicking through a newspaper, we might only scan the occasional article to see if it looks interesting. If we are reading a book, we are likely to read it in a more detailed way, as we will be paying close attention to the characters and what they are doing.
Reading strategies are basically the different ways you can read a text.
A text could be anything from a newspaper article to a novel, or a long story. When we are reading different things we will probably read at different levels – meaning we will concentrate more or less – depending on the type of text we are reading.
You will learn
· Know what is meant by skimming· Know what is meant by scanning
· Understand how to read something in detail
· Know how to find what you need from a text