Introduction

Narrative techniques (use of direct speech, weather description, use of dramatic language to create mystery/suspense, reference to feelings/ moods, etc.) can be used when describing people. This will make your composition more interesting to the reader. See how an ordinary beginning can be made more exciting:

Instead of saying: / First I met Steven, the secretary of the manager of Best Block Ltd. last Monday.

You could say:

- A cold wind was blowing down the street last Monday morning as I pushed open the heavy glass door of Best Block Ltd. Chilled and nervous, I walked up to Mr Armstrong' secretary. A pair of friendly dark eyes met mine. So this was John! (weather description, your feelings, suspense)

"Mr Armstrong is at a meeting. Would you like to wait? He’ll be back about ten minutes." He had a sharp clear voice, and a narrow intelligent face. I could see why Mr Armstrong, the manager of Sunnington Ltd, spoke so highly of John, (direct speech, mystery)

The six steps of the writing process:

Read about the writing process. These are major steps, which you will practice in this book.

Process writing

When we write, we do more than just put words together to make sentences. Good writers go through several steps to produce a piece of writing.

PRE-WRITING ACTIVITY: GETTING READY TO WRITE.

STEP ONE: Choose a topic.

STEP TWO: GATHER IDEAS ON TOPIC. When you have decided on a topic, take some time and think over what exactly you will write about that topic.

STEP THREE: ORGANISE. Make up your mind on which ideas you want to use and where you want to use them. Choose ideas to write about first, and what you will write next, and what exactly you will write last.

DRAFTING YOUR WRITING

STEP FOUR: WRITE. Write your paragraph or essay from start to finish. Use your notes.

REVIEWING AND REVISING

STEP FIVE: Review structure and content of your writing. Check what you have written. Look at places where you can add some more information.

REWRITING

STEP SIX: Revise structure and content. Rewrite your text making necessary improvements to the structure and context. Make your writing more logical and coherent

What is pre-writing?

• Gather ideas you want to describe;

• Edit these ideas and putting them in logical or chronological order;

Before you begin writing, you must decide what exactly you are going to write about. Then you plan what you will write. This process is called pre-writing.

CHOOSING AND NARROWING A TOPIC

How to choose a topic for a paragraph

A paragraph is a group of five to ten sentences that give in format on about a topic. Before you write, you must choose a topic for your paragraph.

• Choose a topic that isn't too narrow (limited. brief). A narrow topic will not have enough ideas to write about. The ages of my brothers and sisters is too narrow. You can not write very much about it.

• Choose a topic that isn't too broad (genera)). A broad topic: will have too many ideas for just one paragraph. Most paragraphs are five to ten sentences long. A topic Schools is too general. There are thousands of things you can say about it. A narrower topic Specialized English School in my neighborhood is general and more specific.

A student could narrow this topic bv choosing one aspect of schools to discuss. For instance, secondary schools in my country, popular school, dubs university, entrance exams and etc.

Choose three topics from this list. Narrow each of the three down. Then compare with a partner.

1. festivals

2. friends

3. my country

4. dancing

5. cars

Brainstorming

What is brainstorming?

Brainstorming is a way of gathering ideas about a topic. Think of a storm: thousands of drops of rain, coming down together. Now. imagine thousands of ideas 'raining' down onto your paper! When you brainstorm, write down every idea that comes to you. Don’t worry now about whether the ideas are good or silly, useful or not. You can decide a draft later. Right now, you are gathering as many ideas as you can.

You will learn three types of brainstorming in this unit. They are: making a list, free writing, and mapping.

Making a list

Write single words, phrases, or sentences that are connected to your topic. Look at this list and made when brainstorming ideas to write about her topic, 'What should I study at university?'

History — chronological facts about the past; mathematics (too difficult, not interesting?) What job do I have later? English for work? Travel? Writing?

Work with a partner or small group. Choose one of these topics. List as many ideas as you can in five minutes.

1. teenage fashions;

2. things to do on the beach;

3. driving a motorbike;

Free Writing

When you free write, you write whatever is in your head about your topic, without stopping. Most free writing exercises are short—just five от ten minutes.

Free writing helps you practice fluency (writing quickly and easily). When you free write, you do not need to worry about accuracy (having correct grammar and spelling). Do not check your dictionary when you free write. Do not stop if you make a mistake. Just keep writing!

Here is an example of a student’s free writing:

There are so many subjects to study at university; it is difficult to choose just one. I have always had A and B grades in math, but the problem is that I do not like it very much. I also do not like physics or other exact subjects. Writing? Yes, I have always liked writing. Would journalism be a good job for me in the future? Newspapers also have many pictures, so maybe photography will be good for me.

Notice how the writer’s ideas jump around. When she makes a mistake, she just crosses it out and continues writing. One thought leads to another (journalism) and then to another {photography). There are some details that are not exactly should be written about. However, that is OK in free writing. You want to get as many ideas on paper as you can. You can take out all unnecessary words and sentences later.

Choose one of the narrowed down topics you thought of for exercise 1 on page 5. Practice in free writing for live minutes. Remember, do not stop, erase, or go back. Just write as much as you can.

Mapping

То make а map, use a whole piece of paper, and write your topic: in the middle, with a circle around it. Then put. next idea in a circle above or below your topic, and connect the circles with lines. The lines show that the two ideas are related.

The example below shows а map of ‘What should I study at university?’ The writer connected favorite subjects to the main idea. Art and English arc connected to favorite subjects to show that they are related.

What should I study Favorite subject English It is good for a job. It is also good for travels.

Editing

How to edit

After you have gathered plenty of ideas, you will need to go back and edit them. This is the time to choose which ideas are the most interesting, and which are the most relevant to (important or necessary for) your topic. Of course, you can still add some new ideas if you think of something else while you are re-reading your list. For example, the student writing ‘What should I study in college?' edited her list like this: English for work? Travel? Writing? It is important in many subjects.

Not related.

If you believe that some of your ideas are not related, you can just cross out circles or add new ones.