..ENGLISH…NOTES..

I. DICTION

A. Effective

1. Specific

· Problems destroyed the relationship.

- Mistrust and jealousy destroyed the friendship.

· The leader vowed to win against the enemy.

- The admiral vowed to seize the enemy’s flagship.

2. Exact

· Steve’s costume was frightening to the children.

- Steve’s costume frightened the children.

· Baron Von Steuben led the Continental Army in drills at Valley Forge.

- Baron Von Steuben drilled the Continental Army at Valley Forge.

3. Simple/Short

· Garrulous waiters attempted to obtain inordinately generous tips by acting familiar.

- Talkative waiters tried to get very large tips by acting overly friendly.

· Your room will look neater if you eliminate the refuse.

- Your room will look neater if you throw out the garbage.

B. Ineffective

1. Sexist

· The policemen were able to seize the robbers.

- The police officers were able to seize the robbers.

2. Clichés

· Getting the lead in the play put Roberto on cloud nine.

- Getting the lead in the play exhilarated Roberto.

· Please stop beating around the bush.

- Please go directly to the point.

3. Counterfeit

4. Slang

· The lecture was so dull that I crashed right in the middle of it.

- The lecture was so dull that I slept in the middle of it.

· We decided to beg off from Mr. Lehman’s invitation.

- We decided to decline Mr. Lehman’s invitation.

5. Jargons

· Aunt Lily hired a new household domestic engineer to cook meals for the family and take care of the house.

- Aunt lily hired a new maid to cook meals for the family and take care of the house.

· Ang examination sa English ay nakaka-epistaxis.

- Ang examination sa English ay nakaka-nosebleed.

>>>> wahaha. Jowk lang tong sentence pero scientific term talaga ng nosebleed yung epistaxis..

6. Clipped

· We had an exam yesterday.

- We had an examination yesterday.

II. SENTENCES

A. Clear

B. Concise (less wordy)

1. Active voice in place of passive voice

2. Short words in place of phrases

3. Phrases in place of clauses

C. Fluent

Exercises

>>>>>Wordiness<<<<<

1. Any particular type of dessert is fine with me.

· Redundancy – Any type of dessert is fine with me.

2. A system that is most accurate and efficient has not been thought of.

· Clause to phrase & phrase to word – The most accurate and efficient system has not been invented.

3. It is the president who signs and vetoes bills

· Directedness (avoid using “it is”) – The president signs and vetoes bills.

4. Your figures were checked by the research department

· Passive to active voice – The research department checked your figures.

5. The function of this department is the collection of accounts.

· Noun to verb – This department collects accounts.

>>>>>Parallelism<<<<<

6. The restaurant is very popular and has crowds.

· The restaurant is very popular and crowded.

7. The workshop on the spreadsheet taught me several useful techniques and which was quite entertaining.

· The workshop on the spreadsheet taught me several useful techniques and entertained me.

8. He is a player with great energy and who is ambitious.

· He is an energetic and ambitious player.

9. The location of the house, its size and how much it cost made it the best choice for the family.

· The location, size and cost of the house made it the best choice for the family.

10. The instructional manual for the computer was somewhat useful, but one in which most of the information was too technical for me.

· The instructional manual for the computer was somewhat useful but too technical.

>>>>>Coordination<<<<<

11. The campus parking problem is getting worse. The university is not building any new garage.

· The campus parking problem is getting worse, yet the university is not building any new garage.

12. One of the cameras was not packed very well. It was damaged during the move.

· One of the cameras was not packed very well, so it was damaged during the move.

13. Dr. Ramirez specializes in sports medicine. She helped my cousin recover from a basketball injury.

· Dr. Ramirez helped my cousin recover from a basketball injury for she is a sports medicine specialist.

14. The room fell silent when the TV newscaster reported the story of the earthquake. We all stopped what we were doing. The pictures of the quake shocked us. We could see that large sections of the city had been completely destroyed.

· WAAAAAAHHHH????!!!!

III. PARAGRAPHS

A. Steps in Paragraph Writing

1. Pre-writing

a. Narrowing down the topic

i. Developed by Purpose

· Expository Paragraph – to explain

· Descriptive Paragraph – to create an image

· Narrative Paragraph – to recall an event

· Persuasive/Argumentative Paragraph – to convince

ii. Developed by Questions

iii. Developed by Diagrams

b. Gathering data

i. Brainstorm

ii. Research

iii. Survey

c. Organizing an outline

i. Classify

ii. Label

2. Drafting

3. Post-writing

B. Topic Sentence – controls/guides/summarizes

· Should contain the main idea + purpose

· Should be specific

· Should neither be too limited nor too broad

· Should be unified

· Should dictate the mode of development

· If topic sentence is AT THE BEGINNING of the paragraph, it GIVES PREVIEW to the sentences that comes after it.

· If topic sentence is AT THE END of the paragraph, it CONCLUDES or SUMMARIZES the whole paragraph.

C. Characteristics of a good paragraph

1. Unity

a. Supporting information should be related to the topic sentence and should maintain the purpose and tone of the topic sentence.

b. Mode of Development – dictates the order of development

i. Comparison and Contrast

ii. Cause and Effect

iii. Examples

iv. Descriptive Details

v. Incidents

2. Coherence

a. Supporting sentences should follow a clear logical order and smoothly connected by cohesive devices.

b. Cohesive devices

i. Transition words

ii. Pronouns

iii. Repetition of main words or use of synonyms

c. Mode of Arranging Details

i. Chronological – time; presents events in the order of their occurrence

ii. Spatial – space; arranges details by their locations

iii. Logical –supporting information has no right arrangement…example: paragraph developed by EXAMPLES

1. Deductive

2. Inductive

iv. Order of Importance – arranges information from the least important to most important fact

v. Order of Development/Developmental – presents information according to an order mentioned in the topic sentence