WRITING
Basic writing skills
• Adaptation is the key for effective writing.
• Adaptation means use of words and concepts that our
readers understand.
• Adaptation includes
1.care in word choice
2.write simply and write simple
3.using familiar words
4.use technical words
5.using attractive and concrete words.
6.emphasizing short sentences
7. Using correct capitalization
A. Paragraph writing
•
A paragraph is a group of sentences that develops one main
point of idea.
• Types of paragraph: Generally speaking traditionally writing
has been divided into 4 patterns of paragraph development.
1. Descriptive Paragraph (Describing A Scene Or Person)
2.Narrative Paragraph (Narrating a story)
3.Expository Paragraph (Exposition)
4.Argumentative (persuasive) paragraph (Arguing a position )
5.Objective Writing
6.Subjective Writing
7.Review Writing
8.Poetic Writing
Descriptive paragraph
The descriptive paragraph, like all descriptions, clearly
shows an object person, a place, an idea or an event that
the writer wants the reader to experience.
• It presents many details and the reader experiences in
detail though the senses.
• It is also the art of translating perceptions into details.
These details are necessary to create a visual
impression of an object or a scene.
• All description thus involves two elements. THE
OBJECT-that which is seen or heard and THE
OBSERVER he who sees or hears it.
• There are two basic types OBJECTIVE and
IMPRESSIONISTIC.
Objective description
•
•
• Direct method describe the feeling itself, attempts to report
accurately the appearance of the object as a thing in itself,
independent of the obser perception of it or feeling about it.
• It is also a factual account to inform reader who has not
been able to see with his own eyes.
• The writer regard himself as a kind of camera, recording
and reproducing, though in words a true picture. Here, the
writer wanders freely about the object or scene witho
bothering to record his own movements:
Impressionistic description
• It is Focusing on the mood or feeling the object evokes in
the object, rather than upon the object as it exists in
itself, impressionism does not seek to inform but to
arouse emotion. The process begins in the writer and it
must originate in genuine feeling. The writer must do
more than feel deeply and he must define in his own
mind of that feeling.
Description of character
1. Describing of character : Essentially the description of
character is not different from the description of things. The
same general principles and techniques govern both. Yet,
character drawing has special problems of its own.
• There are different ways of approaching the description
of character, and many kinds of characters for the writer
to create, each serving different purposes.
•
All characters fall into one of the four classes,
depending upon the kind of trait the writer depicts.
A. NATIONAL TYPES -the typical Ethiopians,
Australians, Englishmen, Americans and the like.
B. OCCUPATIONAL TYPES the typical farmer,
professor, policeman,
C. SOCIAL TYPES - the typical bachelor, uncle, the
distant cousin, the
blind date, the hostess, the week-end guest and the
like
D. PERSONALITY TYPES the tactful man, the tactless
Qualities of descriptive writings
• DESCRIPTION depends on 5 senses. Talentented
descriptive writers refine the power of their five senses in
order to recreate things
• The writer must choose only those details most useful in
painting a picture for the reader.
• Writers must organize their descriptions carefully.
• Descriptive writing creates a "dominant impression" of its
subject.
• Descriptive writing offers a thesis or main idea
concerning its subject, as does all sound writing In short,
description makes a point. We should keep a basic goal in
mind - to permit the reader to see the world that we
describe in a fresh, vivid, and concrete way.
Things we can describe in descriptive
paragraph
1.Describing Processes: Description can take many forms
in academic writing. In scientific and technical writing it
usually involves explaining how to do or make something.
 Process description:- a type of descripive paragraph
that used to show the methodology we used in the
research or to show the reader the way.
 sequence linking words are used in this describing
method.
• In process description, the laguage writer uses it is
different in two ways
a. If the description is being provided in order to enable the
reader to carry out the process themselves, the imperative
form is used. like
first,remove...next,insert...finally,unscrew...etc
b.If the description is merely informative we use passive
voice. like ...is removed...are inserted...
2.Describing Component Parts: sometimes involve
explaining the different elements of which something is
composed- for example the various elements that make up
a piece of machinery.
• Describing a Sequence of Events: Another form of
description commonly used in academic writing is
chronological description. As the term suggests, this is a
description of time sequence of the order in which events
unfold in time.
NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH
•
• tells us a story about one incident or happening.
• It provides a series of details that are connected to this
incident.
• There are signal words such as after, then, first, second,
next, finally, later, instantly, loon, immediately or the next
day.
• It is also characterized by stating things in chronological
order
Characterisitics of narrative writing
1.Revealing something of importance: A narrative makes a
point
2.Depicting, giving a picture of, characters and setting
vividly.
3.Showing, not telling
4. Presenting events in a clear and chronological order.
Time signal words: before,first, next, then, after, at the
same time, during the morning, since that day, and the next
month...etc
Expository paragraph
• Exposition is a type of writing that explains events.
• It is the most kind of exposition.
• It is written to give information, an explanations or
directions.
• It is built around one main idea.
• The begining gives the main idea, the middle gives the
details that support it and the ending summarizes the
details,restate the main idea or emhasizes the main
idea.
• It also answers the questions how? and why?.
• It is often formal and acadamic.
• The expository writer must ask the following
questions
1.What specific point do i intend to make?
2.Is it worth making?
3.For whom am I writing?
4.How can I best convey my point to my readers?
 The writer has to make sure that he/she is able to
answer the questions that begin with
who,what,when,where,why and how.
Characteristics of expository writing
1. Arranging the details: topic sentence is most often
placed in the beginning of the paragraph. The ending
sentence of an expository paragraph does one of these
things:Summarizes supporting details,restates the main
idea or emphasizes the main idea.
2.Using signal words and phrases
After, nest, finally, first of all Beside, here, beyond, there,
On the other side, at the right, Although, nevertheless,
similarly, in the same way.
4.Cause and effect analysis-The analysis of cause and
effect, casual analysis, seeks to explain why events occur
or what the outcome of expected results of a chain of
happenings might be.
Basically, cause and effect analysis looks for connections
between things and reasons behind them.
5.Immediate and ultimate causes
6.Comparison and contrast paragraph- It is a method of
analyzing likenesses and differences between two or more
subjects.
• In comparison, the likenesses or similarities appear in a
carefully organized manner
• In contrast, the approach centers on the differences
between two items.
7. Process analysis- concentrates on how something is
done, how something works, or how something occurs. If
writing aims essentially ex plain things, you can see why
writers need to use process analysis. It traces all important
steps, from beginning to end, in an activity or event.
8.Analysis and classification of paragraph
Classification is the arrangement of information into groups
or categories in order to make clear the relationships
among members of the group Writers need to classify.
9. Exemplification/ Illustration Paragraph: ILLUSTRATION
is one way for writers to present or to support a point that is
by means of several examples to back up an idea.
11.Defination: is a method of explaining a word so that the
reader knows, as exactly as possible,what we mean by it.
Expressions we can use in defination
by x is meant...I am taking x to mean...,namely,...in the
present study, X refers to...The term as used here refers
not to...but instead/rather to...This term refers to...
In other words,In this respect,..in this sense
in the study I am taking it to mean(specifically)...X,is used
in this report/work/thesis to refer to
ARGUMENTATIVE (PERSUASIVE) PARAGRAPH
• Argumentation is a form of writing in which we offer
reaps in favor of or against something.
• It is an attempt to convince the reader to have the option
we have on a subject.
• It also involves an effort to persuade the reader to act in
a particular manner and a good end point for a course in
writing
• It generally includes both opinion and factual details
Factual detatis are used to defend the writer's opinion
and to convince the readers that this opinion makes
sense
Creative Writing
Creative writing is a style of writing where the author is
expected to break free from the shackles of already
existing writing structures. The aim is to surprise the reader
by storytelling in a completely new way.
It does not ask the author to follow an already given format
or use such-and-such writing devices. The author is free to
choose how they want to convey their thought or idea to
the reader.
Any form of writing that requires imagination on the part of
the author can be categorized under creative writing.
examples: Biographies, screenwriting, script-writing, flash
fiction, creative non-fiction, etc.
Objective Writing
• Objective writing is a style of writing where the writing
is supported by proven facts and pieces of evidence.
The information included must be correct; scientifically
and statistically. The author must remain unbiased so
that the readers can form their own opinions.
• This style of writing is fact-driven and must not have any
emotional aspect to it. The author is expected not to
intensify things as they are being described and keep
them straight.
• Objective writing style, due to the above-mentioned
requirement, is safe to be called fair and accurate. It is
devoid of bias and exaggeration, too.
• Examples: Texts written for educational purposes,
assertive texts, etc.
Subjective Writing
• Subjective writing showcases the author’s beliefs,
preferences, perspectives, feelings, and opinions on
things. The author, unlike objective writing, need not
bother about the correctness or accuracy of writing.
• This type of writing style is supposed to originate from
the personal experiences of the author and the
observations they have made of the world around them.
• This style of writing is essential because it helps build a
connection between the author and the reader as the
reader reads the written material. Examples:
Travelogues, blogs, opinionated pieces, etc.
• Features: Written in first person, shows the personal
opinion and thoughts of the author.
Review Writing
• Review writing, as the name suggests, is a style of
writing where one reviews things. Be it a restaurant,
food, other commodity, books, or movies.
• This type of writing style has gained further importance
in the age of digitization. People rarely shop online or
book a restaurant for vacation, without reading a review
online.
• Companies and brands, therefore, pay people to review
their products or service well to increase business.
• Examples: Product reviews, service reviews, book
reviews, etc.
• Features: Requires persuasive writing and descriptive
writing skills.
Poetic writing
• Poetic writing is a style of writing where the writer uses
rhyme, rhythm, and meter to convey a story or idea. It is
a broad style of writing which can be used in fiction.
Furthermore, it, of course, uses poetic devices like
similes and metaphors.
• Sometimes, a poetic form of writing needs some poetic
elements to make it smoother and more continuous.
Poetic elements come in handy while painting a picture
and making it more vibrant for the reader’s delight.
• Examples: Novels, poetry, plays, short stories, etc.
• Features: Uses various poetic devices, rhythmic
structure.
B.Letter writing
• Letters are perhaps the most important means of
communications to get right informations because they
officially represent our company or organization to the
outside world. Sloppy layout reflects wrong impresston
not only on you but also on the organization we
represent.
A. Ordering Your Letter:
1.The date. This is now almost always shown a follows In
British English- 23 October 20XX
• 23rd October 20XX-but that is now much less common.
• In the USA the month comes before the date- October
23rd 20XX
2. our reference. It is not essential to include a reference,
but it may help us to retrieve/get back a letter from our filing
systems. for example TRM/HCS/63/4
3. The inside address. This is the name and address of
the person to whom the letter is being sent.
5. The letter itself
6.Any notes about enclosures or copies.
Although it is not essential, is useful to indicate at the
bottom of our letter whether we are ending anything with it
and whether any copies are going to other people.
• The usual abbreviations are
Enc. This means that the recipient should expect to find an
enclosure.
cc, followed by someone's name-This stands fo “carbon
copy” and means that a copy is going to the person named.
cc. - this stands for 'blind carbon copy' and is only typed on
copies of the letter, also followed by someone's name. It
indicates that you are sending a copy to the person named
without the original address knowing.
B.Letter layouts
1. Block style Every line, except for the heading
complementary close, and signature begins at the left hand
margin. Since it eliminates indentions for the openings of
paragraphs, the block style also saves same time and does
not seen guides so unbalanced as the full block
2 Semi block or block indented style: is similar to block
style, except that the opening line of each paragraph is
indented either five or ten spaces. This is the most common
of all business letter styles, and may be used in any
situation
3. Full block style: Every line begins at the left hand
margin. Since if eliminates all indentions, the full block
style is often used by those who are concerned with saving
typing time. Some object to the appearance of the full block
because it seems unbalanced to the left.
C.Styles of Address:
It is important to get the name and job title of our
correspondent right.
D.Salutation :Address known:-Dear
Ms/Mis/Mrs/Mr/Dr/Simon
Address unknown:-Gentlemen/Madam/Ladies/ Deat
Personnel Director
WRITING A BUSINESS LETTER
• A business letter has six parts.
1.heading
2.inside address
3.greeting
4.body
5.closing
6.signature
A JOB APPLICATION LETTER
• Be prepared by bringing a list of information such as
addresses and dates.
• Give all the necessary information about our application,
explaining how we intend to use opportunity/ money
what you hope to achieve
• The information is about ourself including age,
qualifications, past employment, relevant experience and
any special hobbies or interests, and explain why we are
particularly interested in this post.
• Use a new paragraph for each main topic.
WRITING A RESUME
• A résumé is a summary of a job-seeker's education,
experience, and skills It gives an employer an overview
of a job applicant's background.
• In a real resume, we must get their permission before
listing their names.
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LETTER OF APOLOGY
• It can be hard to write a letter saying we are sorry.
Perhaps, however, we need to apologize for something
you did that was hurtful or thoughtless. Or perhaps we
want to express our sympathy to someone whose friend
or relative has died.
•
Explain why we are apologizing, give reasons for our
behaviour express regret for any damage inconvenience,
offence which was caused, and offer to put things right
and promise not to let it happen again or to make up for
what we've done, as appropriate.
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common apology letter beginnings
I'm writing to apologize/ sincerely apologize about
For fact that(+ dause)
for (not) (+ ing)
I'm terribly sorry that
I do hope that
LETTER OF INVITATION
•
• Say what the event is and explain the details of date,
time and place clearly we may need to add other details
such as who else is coming, what we would like our
friend to bring if anything), whether they can bring a
partner or friend when you need a reply by, and how to
get there. Use separate paragraphs for each main piece
of information.
• I'm having a birthday party on Saturday the 22nd and I
hope you'll bea to come
• I was wondering if you'd like to come to see Wild Lives at
the theatre with me
• Would you like to/why don't you come and stay for the
weekend?
• Could you possibly let me know if you can come by
THE END