Chunyan Shao (Shandong University)
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To learn 4 kinds of paragraphs
Definition
Comparison and Contrast
Cause-Effect
Explanation
To practice writing different paragraphs
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The paragraph starts with a simple definition.
The topic
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Topic Sentence gives a simple definition
Support Sentences give more information
through the use of examples, description or
explanation
Concluding Sentence (usually unnecessary)
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Three parts: item, category and features.
Item
category
A forsythia
is a flowering with yellow bell-shaped
shrub
blossoms.
are animals which feed on plants.
Herbivores
Change
is a type of
process
features
which involves passing from
one state or phase to another.
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Formal: less known terms
Informal: commonly known terms
informal definition to offer a new or personal
understanding
E.g. A school is a place where children study.
E.g. A school is a place where children become socialized at
an early age.
E.g. A family is a social unit which is composed of parents and
children.
E.g. A family is a shelter where we regain strength and
courage
Formal definition is impersonal.
Informal definition is personal.
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Music is a powerful means to influence and express
thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Have you ever been in a
bad mood or feeling rather sad when a song suddenly
came over the radio which made you feel even worse?
Have you ever been in a good mood and feeling rather
happy, when a song made you feel even better? Many
songs contain a mysterious force that releases listeners
from reality and awakens the inner would of their
emotions. So powerful is this force that people have
always used music to convey their emotions to others,
knowing that if, even for just an instant, the listener feels
the flow of emotion from a memory or dream, the music
maker has communicated with the listener on a profound
level.
Superstition is an unreasonable belief in the supernature. It often originates
because of ignorance of natural causes. It may come from a fear of the
unknown and the mysterious. Many signs and omens symbolize good luck
or bad luck. For example, if you carry a rabbit’s foot you will avoid bad luck.
If you find a four-leaf clover you will have good luck. Hearing the cry of a
crow is a sign of death. Misfortune can result from breaking a mirror,
walking under a ladder, or opening an umbrella in the house. Today,
because people have become more educated and have greater knowledge
of the world around them, they have a rational basis for connecting cause
and effect. For this reason, superstitions are slowly disappearing. But,
although many educated people now say that superstitions are nonsense,
they are still uneasy about some of them. For example, they continue to
avoid doing important things on Friday the thirteenth day of the month. It
will take a long time to eradicate superstitions that originated because of
ignorance and fear of the unknown and that still persist because of
tradition and habit.
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Longitudinal dunes are long low ridges of sand that lie
approximately at right angles to the trend of the sand
waves, or parallel to the direction of the wind. Some
of the ridges are almost straight; others are slightly
wavy. They range up to about 10 metres in height and
30 metres in width. Many are more than one and onehalf kilometres long. Both sides of these dunes have
practically the same slope and are usually covered
with grass and shrubs. While the crest is usually bare
of vegetation, on some dunes, even the crest is
covered. Where this occurs, it means that wind action
has stopped on this particular dune.
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Now pls. write a paragraph defining College
Entrance Examination in China.
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Topic sentence: Item—category—features
Supporting sentence: information related to
College Entrance Examination
Concluding sentence: restatement of the
topic sentence.
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Does your definition make CEE different from
other kinds of exams?
Does your definition state the key features of
CEE?
Does your definition serve as a good topic
sentence?
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CEE is the most important test for students.
a criterion / standard
special way
most important access
form
necessary exam
a set of standard
necessary path
institution
a kind of exam
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The relationship between two things, for
example, your hometown and your university
town.
The similarities between the two entities
A comparison
The differences between the two entities
A contrast
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Despite all the debate and the anguish, the revelations and
the confessions, the assertive women and the new men,
many women are now reluctantly being forced to draw the
same conclusion: the chips are still stacked against women,
and men haven't changed. Even this week a report appeared
confirming what many of us have known for some time,
which is that women earn a lot less than men in the course of
their working lives. In fact, the women who lose out the most
are the intelligent ones with a bunch of GCSE passes but
without a degree. They earn around a quarter of a million
pounds a year less in their working lives than men doing the
same job.
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At a more personal relationship level, men continue to want
to control and lead. They are happy to make the odd gesture
with the house or the children, but fundamentally they want
the women to take responsibility for the time honoured
home-based tasks while they continue to go out and earn
the major income. It gives them a sense of worth and a
meaning to their lives, poor things. It's quite a basic truth
really; how many women have you see on the front of a
Yamaha 850 with a man clinging on behind? They might do it
once, for a laugh, but at the end of the day, the man wants to
be sitting up front with the controls in his hands. Some
people say that women who can't see this are battling
against a fundamental truth of evolution. However, despite
the prevalence of these attitudes, change is on the way.
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What is the topic in the paragraph? Which
two subjects are compared?
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Does the paragraph concentrate on the
similarities or the differences between the
two subjects?
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How many similarities/differences are
pointed out? What are they?
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When I first visited Marangu in 1977, it was a small, sleepy
village about 3,000 ft up the side of Mount Kilimanjaro. A
narrow road wound up from the valley floor, passing
through maize fields, then banana plantations, then
banana and coffee plantations and finally a mixture of
eucalyptus trees and pine trees mixed in with the bananas
and coffee. It was cool and lovely. Despite the fact that the
village itself was small, there were two hotels and a
training college. The hotels were there because Marangu
was the starting point for most of the tourists who wanted
to climb the mountain. The college was there because the
region had maintained a tradition of education for over a
100 years or more and the college was merely one
reflection of that fact.
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Today, in many ways, Marangu has changed very little,
although changes have certainly taken place. The road has
been rebuilt and now it's wider and the traffic travels up and
down faster and more dangerously than it should. There are
more houses too, some of the small and simple and some of
them inappropriately grandiose. The hotels are still there,
unchanged apart from rewiring and repainting. The college is
completely unchanged in almost every respect, and even
some of the same staff members are still teaching there.
One has been there since 1965 after completing his teacher
training in the college. It's a beautiful college and I can still
stand on the steps at the back of the main building and, on a
good day, see the snow covered peak of Kilimanjaro. It
brings back some striking memories.
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What is the topic in the paragraph? Which
two subjects are compared?
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Does the paragraph concentrate on the
similarities or the differences between the
two subjects?
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How many similarities/differences are
pointed out? What are they?
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Block-to-block
A (P1, P2, P3…)
B (P1, P2, P3…)
Point-to-point
P1 (A-B)
P2 (A-B)
P3 (A-B)…
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Everything about A, then everything about B
A separate section or paragraph for each item.
The points should be the same and they should
be explained in the same order.
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Jinan and your hometown
Jinan (people, food, custom, climate…)
Hometown (people, food, custom, climate…)
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One point of comparison before moving to
the next point.
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People (Jinan, your hometown)
Food (Jinan, your hometown)
Custom (Jinan, your hometown)
Climate (Jinan, your hometown)
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In spring, where to go for a vacation?
To the mountains or the beaches?
What is your preference?
Mountain
Beach
scenery
Green
trees
fresh air…
Blue
seawater
warm sunshine…
activities
mountain climbing
Hiking
swimming
beach volleyball
Potential danger
Animals, ways
Drowning
Other relevant topics
List the similarities in the center area (C).
List the different characteristics on either side (A and
B).
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Purpose of comparison and contrast
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1. To explain difference between subjects
Informative comparisons
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2. To persuade readers that one subject is
superior to the other.
Persuasive comparisons
1.
Frequently use definitions, examples and
descriptions to establish similarities and
differences.
2.
This type of writing generally does not
recommend one item as being better than
the others.
1.
This type of writing relies heavily on critical
thinking.
2.
One subject as being superior to another.
3.
Needs convincing evidence.
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What is your purpose for this composition?
Persuasive comparison
The main ideas.
The points you tend to compare in order to
explain the superiority of one thing over
another.
The points that worth discussing or the points
that could best illustrate the superiority of
your preference.
Mountain
Beach
scenery
activities
Potential danger
Please examine the table. Use what has been discussed in the
Venn Diagram to fulfill the blanks in the table below. You may
also choose your own subjects to compare, and accordingly
design your own table.
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Mountain
a. scenery
b. activities
c. potential danger
Beach
a. scenery
b. activities
c. potential danger
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Point 1: Scenery
a. Mountain
b. Beach
Point 2: Activities
a. Mountain
b. Beach
Point 3: Potential Danger
a. Mountain
b. Beach
Short conjunctions
Longer expressions
Similarly
Likewise
...the same... ...
the same as... ...
also... ..., too.
both
In the same way,
X is similar to Y in that (they)...
X and Y are similar in that (they)...
Like X, Y [verb]...
In like manner,
One way in which X is similar to Y
is (that)...
Another way in which X is similar
to Y is (that)...
Short conjunctions
Longer conjunctions
However,
In contrast,
By contrast, ...,
but ...,
yet
On the other hand,
even though + [sentence]
although + [sentence]
whereas + [sentence]
unlike + [sentence]
while + [sentence]
nevertheless,
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Nov. 23 Friday
Your writing on Listening comprehension
Your revised opening paragraph
Key points of evaluation
1. General statement
What kind?
Background information
Able to arouse my interest
2. Thesis statement
Topic? Subtopic? Organization?
3. Not language points
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Now write two paragraphs to
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Compare your hometown with your
university town
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Contrast Chinese university with American
university
Jinan
Your hometown
size
bigger
smaller
population
6,814,000
street
More, narrower
Places of interest Baotu Spring,
Daming Lake…
people
Warm-hearted,
friendly, simple
Education
University town
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European universities and universities in the United States
are different in many ways. First, European students enroll in
fewer courses each term than United States students do.
Second, European students seldom live at a university.
Instead, they live at home and travel to classes. Thirdly, most
European courses are given by professors who lecture to
their classes. In contrast, United States professors often ask
their students questions or allow their students to form
discussion groups. Fourth, European professors ask student
to write fewer papers than United States Professors do.
Consequently, European students’ final examinations are
usually oral, whereas American students take written final
examinations. Finally, a European university is mainly a place
to study. But at most United States universities, social
activities take up a large part of the students’ time.
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My hometown and my college town have several things in common.
First, both are small rural communities. For example, my hometown,
Gridlock, has a population of only about 10,000 people. Similarly, my
college town, Subnormal, consists of about 11,000 local residents.
This population swells to 15,000 people when the college students
are attending classes. A second way in which these two towns are
similar is that they are both located in rural areas. Gridlock is
surrounded by many acres of farmland which is devoted mainly to
growing corn and soybeans. In the same way, Subnormal lies in the
center of farmland which is used to raise hogs and cattle. Thirdly,
both of these towns are similar in that both contain college
campuses. Gridlock, for example, is home to Neutron College, which
is famous for its Agricultural Economics program as well as for its
annual Corn-Watching Festival. Likewise, the town of Subnormal
boasts the beautiful campus of Quark College, which is well known
for its Agricultural Engineering department and also for its yearly
Hog-Calling Contest.
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Definition paragraph
item, category and features.
Comparison and contrast
Informative
Persuasive
Point-to-point
Block-to-block