Chapter Five The Fourth Step in Writing English

Chapter Five The Fourth Step in Writing English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Step 4 Chapter 5 Write Clear, Error-Free Sentences Strategies for revising sentences: • • • Use parallelism. Use a consistent point of view. Use specific words. Use concise words. Vary your sentences. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Use Parallelism By balancing the items in a sentence, you will make the sentence clearer and easier to read. Ex. : My job includes checking inventory, initialing orders, and to call the suppliers. Calling English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Use a Consistent Point of View: Verbs Do not shift verb tenses unnecessarily. Ex. : Jean punched down the risen dough. dumped Then she dumps it onto the worktable. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Use a Consistent Point of View: Pronouns Do not shift point of view unnecessarily. Ex. : One of the fringe benefits ofmy job is that you can. I use a company credit card for gasoline. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Use Specific Words To be an effective writer, you must use specific words rather than general words. General: The dog ran down the street. Specific: The mangy stray loped down Broadway, dodging cars and startling pedestrians. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Specific Sentences 1: Use exact names. (Not “Vince. ”) 2: Use lively verbs. “slurped. ”) “the boy, ” but (Not “ate, ” but 3: Use descriptive words. (Not but “the rickety old Buick. ”) 4: Use sense descriptions. “the car, ” (“Vince slurped his ice-cold chocolate milkshake while sitting on the squeaking front seat of hisrickety old © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. English Skills, 10 e Buick. ”) English Skills with Readings, 8 e

Chapter 5 Use Concise Wording Prefer concision. Wordiness -- using more words than necessary -- is often a sign of lazy or careless writing. In this paper, I am planning to describe the hobby that I enjoy of collecting old comic books. Revision: I enjoy collecting old comic books. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Vary Your Sentences Effective writing is writing that is varied and interesting. Vary your sentences by: • Adding a second complete thought. • Adding a dependent thought. • Beginning with an opening word or phrase. • Placing adjectives or verbs in a series. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Adding a Second Complete Thought Transform simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -- Greg worked on the engine. The car still wouldn’t start. into compound sentences: sentences Greg worked on the engine, but the car still wouldn’t start. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Adding a Dependent Thought Transform simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -The library was very quiet. I couldn’t concentrate. into complex sentences: sentences Although the library was very quiet , I couldn’t concentrate. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Beginning with a Special Opening Word or Phrase . . . transforms simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -- Paul was concerned about his daughter’s fever. Paul called a doctor. into varied sentences: sentences Concerned about his daughter’s fever, Paul called a doctor. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Placing Adjectives or Verbs in a Series . . . transforms simple sentences (which can be monotonous) -- The truck bounced off a guardrail. It sideswiped a tree. Itplunged into the ditch. into varied sentences: sentences The truckbounced off a guardrail, sideswiped a tree, andplunged into the ditch. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Editing Sentences After revising, check for mistakes in grammar, punctuation, mechanics, usage and spelling. Edit according to the conventions of written English, English aka sentence skills. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Proofreading Check the edited draft of your paper for typos and other careless errors. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 5 Activities – Work in Pairs • • Activity 1, page 110 (parallelism) Activity 2, page 111 (verb tense) Activity 3, page 113 (pronouns) Activity 6, page 118 (concise word choice) • Switch paragraphs from your activity on page 108 & check your peer’s essay for errors in parallelism, verb tense, pronoun usage, and word choice. English Skills, 10 e English Skills with Readings, 8 e © 2012 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.