CE English-A Summary

Part 3-Writing

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Note: This set of WebPages is meant to help you in your revision. You have to refer to your textbook (say “English Usage”) when doing your revision.

Writing

1.Basic Suggestions:

Ø          Do not choose a topic which is too difficult for you. Make sure your understand the topic and are able to express your ideas fluently before you decide to work on it. It is vital that you don’t include irrelevant information in your writing.

Ø          Focus your theme and develop your ideas. Draft an outline and sequence your ideas. You can organize your text in chronological order (time sequence), spatial order (top to bottom, or from the inside to the outside), cause and effect sequence, and from a simple to complex description. Include definitions, examples and arguments when writing opposing views. The examiner should be able to follow the development of your ideas easily. Avoid sweeping comments which are not supported by evidence.

Ø          Correct grammar is essential. A text full of errors (such as wrong tenses, agreement of subject and verb, prepositions, etc.) is very often regarded as a poorly-written piece of writing.

Ø          Correct spelling of the words used is also very important. Do not use a word if you are not clear about how it should be used. Many students have misconception that using new vocabulary can impress the marker. This is far from true.

Ø          Good use of punctuation can help make your essay easy to read.

Ø          Your conclusion should not contradict your introduction. In the conclusion, many writers like to reiterate what they have stated in the introduction to reinforce their arguments.

Ø          The length of the essay should be close to the number of words specified in the question, that is, about 300 words. Do not write too much. Leave yourself sometime to check your work. [For CE level]

2. Basic Components of a good essay:

Ø          Prewriting-organizing ideas & make outline (including 3 main parts: introduction, body & conclusion.)

Ø          Brainstorming through asking questions. (The ‘5W 1H Questions’)

Ø          Sentence fragments. (i.e. don’t put full stop after incomplete sentences.)

Ø          Linking sentences. (i.e. Avoid writing too many short/complex sentences.)

Ø          Tenses. (i.e. apply relevant tense that suit question requirement.)

Ø          Proofreading. (i.e. pay special attention to spelling, agreement, singular & plural forms & connectives.)

Further references: “Practice for Paper I Writing (2)”, Pauline Lee & Paul Corrigan, Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co., 1997