Words in Transition

The arrival of the Information Age has brought with it a flood of written material. It’s to no surprise, therefore, that increased attention is being paid to the presentation of written materials. Formatting-improving readability through good page design-helps the reader understand your message by highlighting content and organization. Today’s word-processing software makes it easy to format your written work. You can use different type sizes or styles for emphasis and even insert tables and graphs to help your reader visualize information. The same word-processing software also simplifies writing that must appear in conventional formats, such as academic manuscripts, business letters, and memos.

With all the formatting capabilities available on even the most basic computer software, how do you decide what to do? The answer lies in the piece of writing itself. What is the subject matter? A research paper in the humanities, for example, must follow MLA guidelines (see FORMAT 2). How long is the paper? Would heads make it more readable? What is your purpose, and who is your audience? Is your topic very complicated? Would a list instead of an extended narrative paragraph help your reader understand a particular point better? Aside from these questions, there are, of course, such fundamental matters as setting margins and choosing a text typeface.

Basic Page

Formatting of any kind of writing begins with four basic decisions: margins, spacing, type style, and type size.

Margins & Spacing

Unless instructed otherwise leave a 2.5 cm (1 inch) margin at the top and bottom of the page and on the right and left sides. (Sometimes a preference to 3.8 cm [1½ inch] margin on the left.) Leave a ragged (uneven) margin on the right, because a justified (even) margin causes odd spacing between words and too many hyphenated words at the end of lines.

Most academic writing is double-spaced. Long research papers or reports may be line-and-a-half spaced so that they are readable but not any longer than necessary. Memos are usually single-spaced to be sure they fit on a single page, the preferred length in the business world.

Styles

Use familiar styles (Courier, Times Roman, Helvetica, Geneva) in a standard 10 or 12 point size. Do not use a script typeface or all italics or capitals for your main test; they are too difficult to read. If you have heads and subheads, use the same type style, though you may slightly increase the point size.

When you have made your basic page-design choices, you may want to print out a sample page. Adequate margins and a type style and size that do not call attention to themselves will transmit your message most effectively.

Improving Readability

Use the formatting capabilities of your computer to improve the readability of long and complex pieces of writing.

There is no substitute for good organization in a piece of writing, but in the case of long or complex research papers and reports, the use of heads and sometimes even subheads can enhance readability. Heads and subheads break an extended piece of writing into visibly distinct chunks, allowing the reader to enter and exit your train of thought, to stand back and see what has gone before and what is to come. Heads serve as a road map for reading.

Consistency is very important in using heads. First, you must be consistent in how you phrase headings. Most heads are a single word, usually a noun (Stress), or phrase (Types of Stress). Often they are gerund phrases (Relieving Stress). Heads may also be questions, which are then answered in that section (How can you relieve stress?). Whichever type of head you start with, however, you must continue using that type throughout your paper. If you are using both heads and subheads, you can make all your heads one type (say, single-word nouns) and all your subheads another type (perhaps gerund phrases).

You must also be consistent in the type style and size of your heads.

Suppose your text type is 10 point Helvetica. All your heads should also be Helvetica, but you might put your main heads in 14 point and your subheads in 12 point. You have some options in how you present your heads: boldface (heavier type), underlining, italics or bold italics, all capitals, and capitals and lower case.

Types of Stress

Types of Stress

Types of Stress

Types of Stress

TYPES OF STRESS

As with phrasing, you may choose one style for heads and another for subheads. Again, though, you must be consistent in whichever you choose.

Finally, you must be consistent in the placement of heads. By convention, main heads are usually centered and subheads are at the left margin.

Main Head

Subhead

Heads can improve the readability of a long or complex piece of writing, but they must be used judiciously. Too many heads and levels of subheads can be distracting or annoying. Every head should introduce a key concept, not a major point.

One way to make an extended piece of writing more manageable for your reader is to break it into sections with heads and subheads. Within sections, you may similarly be able to help your reader by pulling material out of the text narrative and presenting it as a more visually accessible list. Some types of material lend themselves to list-making more than others, of course. Steps in a process, categories, and how-to instructions naturally fit into a list.

Set off a list by indenting from the left margin. You can draw attention to the individual items in your list with graphic symbols, such as bullets

• solid dots,

• squares,

• circles

Graphic symbols are a good idea if the items in your list run over one line; in this case, it is also a good idea to indent the second line. See how indentation and graphics work in this example:

Experts say there are four major ways to relieve stress:

• consider whether you are accurately appraising the situation,
• use your problem-solving skills to take action,
• seek the support of family and friends, and
• pay attention to your health by eating right, getting enough exercise, and going to bed at a regular time.

This example also shows that you should introduce a list with a colon, put a comma (or semi-colon) after each item, and end with a period. Note, too, that the phrasing should be parallel. In this list, every item begins with a verb: consider, use, seek, pay. Do not overuse lists. As with heads, they are only effective if used judiciously.

Infinitives and gerunds are verbals, words formed from verbs. Verbals can function in a sentence as nouns, adjectives, or clauses. Infinitives and gerunds can both be used as nouns and, therefore, can follow main verbs as direct objects. Some main verbs can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund. However, some must be followed by an infinitive and others must be followed by a gerund.

The following six rules list common verbs and phrases associated with each of these verbals. They also give help in correctly using infinitives and gerunds as objects.

1. Use an infinitive with to after these common verbs:
   

   agree	come	have	mean	refuse
   arrange	decide	hope	offer	wait
   bed	deserve	intend	plan	want
   claim	expect	manage	promise	wish

   Keith refused participating in the discussion. [to participate]

2. Learn which verbs are followed by a noun or pronoun object and an infinitive with to. Some verbs are followed by two objects-a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb and then the infinitive. The following verbs have a noun or pronoun object as well as an infinitive object:
   

   advise	convince	invite	persuade	tell
   allow	forbid	order	remind	urge
   cause	instruct	permit	require	warm

   We persuaded_^to come with us. [our neighbors]

   The Embassy invited_^to attend a reception in the Princess’s honor. [us]

   The following verbs may either take a noun or pronoun object or be followed directly by an infinitive:

   allow *	cause	force	help	want
   ask	expect	get	need	would like

   I would like dessert.

   I would like it.

   I would like to go.

   Exception: When allow does not have a noun or pronoun object, it is followed by a gerund.

   Many companies no longer allow smoking on their premises.

3. Use let, make, and have correctly.
1. When let means “allow,” make means “force,” and have means “cause,” they are followed by a noun or pronoun object (0) and the infinitive without to.
1. Customs officials let Martha pass through without inspecting her luggage. [O]
2. They did not make her show them her briefcase, either. [O]
3. Tom had the barber cut his hair much shorter this time. [O]
4. Use a gerund after the following verbs:
   

   admit	delay	imagine	practice	risk
   allow *	deny	keep	prevent	stop
   appreciate	discuss	mind	regret	suggest
   avoid	enjoy	miss	remember	tolerate
   consider	finish	postpone	resist

   I enjoyed to meet your family. [meeting]

   The government no longer allows to smoke in government offices. [smoking]

   *Note: Allow is followed by an infinitive when it has a noun or pronoun object.

   I don’t allow anyone smoking in the house. [to smoke]

5. Use a gerund after certain verbs plus a preposition. The following phrases are frequently followed by gerunds:
   

   accuse someone of	be responsible for	feel like
   apologize to	be tired of	insist on
   approve of	be used to	look forward to
   be afraid of	believe in	object to
   be capable of	depend on	talk about
   be interested in	dream of	think about

   Sue is responsible for preparing the financial data.

6. Use either an infinitive or a gerund after the following verbs:
   

   begin *	hate	love	start *
   continue	like	prefer

   The store cannot continue to raise prices.

   The store cannot continue raising prices.

   Note: When begin and start are used in the progressive tenses, they can only be followed by an infinitive.

   Lani is beginning_^enjoying her dance class. [to enjoy]

   After some verbs, such as remember, stop, and try, the infinitive and the gerund have different meanings.

   Sid remembers going to the bank on Friday.

   [Sid remembers that he went to the bank last Friday.]

   Sid remembers to go to the bank on Friday.

   [He remembers to go to the bank every Friday.]

Two-word verbs consist of a main verb plus a particle (a preposition or adverb). Note that the particle changes the meaning of a verb completely.

let down [disappoint]

let out [free]

These combinations of verb + particle are idiomatic; that is, the separate meanings of the verb and the particle do not predict their meaning when they are combined into a two-word verb.

Like other verbs, two-word verbs may be either transitive or intransitive.

Transitive come across [find], let down [disappoint], tell off [rebuke]

Intransitive catch on [understand], crop up [occur], give in [yield]

Transitive two-word verbs are either inseparable or separable. The verb and particle of inseparable two-word verbs are never separated by the direct object. However, the verb and particle of separable two-word verbs are sometimes separated by the direct object. There is no way of telling which two-word verbs are inseparable and which are separable except by noting how a writer handles the object of these verbs. You must, therefore, note this distinction when you learn each new two-word verb.

Follow these four rules in placing the direct object of transitive two-word verbs.

1. Do not separate the verb and particle of inseparable two-word verbs. Place the noun or pronoun after the particle.Lucy does not take after her older sister. [DO]

   Lucy does not take after her. [DO]

2. When the object of a separable two-word verb is a noun, place it either between the main verb and the particle or after the particle.We turned the offer down. [DO]

   We turned down the offer. [DO]

3. When the object of a separable two-word verb is a pronoun, place the object only between the verb and the particle.We turned it down because it came too late. [DO]
4. Learn some common separable and inseparable transitive two-word verbs.
   

   Separable

   fill out an application/fill it out
   give up smoking/give it up
   look up some words/look them up
   put out a fire/ put it out
   tear down a house / tear one down
   throw away the paper / throw it away
   try on some clothes / try some on
   turn down the TV / turn it down
   turn up the volume/turn it up

   Inseparable

   call on a student/ call on her
   come across an article / come across it
   get over a cold/get over it
   hear from an old friend/hear from him
   look after his mother / look after her
   look through an encyclopedia/look through it
   pick on someone smaller / pick on someone
   run into a neighbour / run into her
   take after a grandparent/ take after him

The passive voice of a verb (V) consists of a form of be (am, is, are, was, were, being, be, or been) plus the past participle of the main verb. In a sentence in the passive voice, the subject (S) receives the action; it does not do the action.

Diamonds and gold are mined in South Africa. [S] [V]

Keep the following three points in mind to form the passive voice correctly.

1. Use the past participle, not the base form or past tense, to form the passive voice.Pay particular attention to past participles of irregular verbs.A lot of electronic parts are manufacture in Southeast Asia. [manufactured]

   In my family, clothing was wore by all three children and then gave to the church. [worn] [given]

2. Identify the subject and make sure the helping verb be agrees with it. The sea otter, an endangered species, are native to the Pacific coast. [is][The subject, sea otter, is singular, even though the appositive, species, sounds plural.]
3. Use only transitive verbs in the passive voice. A transitive verb, unlike an intransitive one, always takes a direct object (DO).TransitiveJacques Villeneuve drove the car to victory in the Indy 500. [S] [V] [DO]

   [The direct object, car, receives the action of the verb drove.]

   Intransitive

   Sylvia seems forgetful lately. [V]

   [The verb seems has no direct object. Forgetful is a predicate adjective that describes the subject, Sylvia.]

   In the passive voice, the object of the action becomes the grammatical subject of the sentence.

   The car was driven to victory in the Indy 500 by Jacques Villeneuve. [S] [V]

   Since intransitive verbs have no direct object, you cannot form the passive voice with them. If you are not sure whether a verb is transitive, check your dictionary.

Form the Prefect Tenses Correctly

The perfect tenses of a verb are created by combining a form of have with the past participle of the main verb. (Read about the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses)

Present Prefect

Luis has grown fast this year.

Past Prefect

We already had started dinner when the Smiths arrived.

Future Prefect

Wang will have finished her speech by 8 p.m.

When you use the perfect tenses, remember these two points about the helping verb and the main verb.

1. Make sure the present tense of the helping verb have agrees with its subject.
   • Richard have been a member of the Young Liberals Club for ten years. [has]
   • They has elected her president three times. [have]
2. Use the past participle, not the past tense, to form the perfect tenses.
   • Review the list of the principal parts of verbs.
   • Marie has broke several world records for speed skating. [broken]
   • When I met Harold, he had already began growing bald. [begun]

Form and Use the Progressive Tenses Correctly

The progressive tenses consist of a form of the helping verb be (am, is, are, was, were, being, be, or been) plus the present participle of the main verb.

Present Progressive

Haroon is building a new house.

Past Progressive

Sheila was washing her hair at midnight.

Future Progressive

We will be traveling to Alberta soon.

Some verbs, such as linking verbs, are typically not used in the progressive. The following four points will help you form the progressive tenses correctly and identify verbs not used in the progressive.

1. Use a form of be with the progressive.
   • Kate _^ working in the lab all afternoon today. [is]
   • Several of us _^ working on the same project. [are]
2. Make sure the helping verb be agrees with its subject.
   • The librarians was helping Teresa find books for her report. [were]
   • The number of work-study scholarships are increasing. [is]
   • (Review subject-verb agreement in EDIT 1.)
3. Use the helping verb have in the present perfect progressive.
   • Ari _^ been cooking all day for the party. [has]
   • Elliot and Craig _^ been restoring an old Chevy on weekends. [have]
4. Learn which verbs are usually not used in the progressive.
   • Certain verbs are typically not used in the progressive tenses. These verbs fall into the following categories:
   • Linking Verbs and Verbs that indicate qualities or states of being [appear, be, become, have, seem]
     • Cheng was seeming sick all morning. [seemed]
   • Verbs that show intellectual states, emotional or attitudes [believe, disagree, dislike, hate, imagine, intend, know, like, pity, prefer, realize, suppose, think, understand, want, wish, wonder]
     • I am knowing those formulas perfectly. [know]
   • Verbs that show sense perceptions [feel, hear, see, smell, taste]
     • The milk is smelling sour. [smells]

Mastering a language, whether it is your own or a second language, is an ongoing process. This unit is designed to help students of English as a second language (ESL) with the most frequent problems in writing grammatically correct, idiomatic English.

Verbs

Verbs formed with helping verbs (auxiliaries) can be troublesome for people whose first language is not English. This section provides additional information about these verb forms.

Use Modal Auxiliaries Correctly

Modals (M) are verbs that are used with a main verb (MV) to suggest various judgments by the writer or speaker about the action of the main verb.

You should see a doctor. [M] [MV]

[The modal should expresses the writer's feeling that the action is necessary or urgent.]

Modals express the following ideas about an action or event:

Probability - may, might, shall, will, would

Necessity or Obligation - must, should

Ability - can, could

Follow these six rules for writing verb phrases with modals.

1. Use the base form of the main verb after modals that express ideas about the present or the future.
   • The modals can, could, may, might, must, should, and will can be used to write about the present or the future.
   • Jeff can swimming very well. He should competes. [swim] [compete]
2. Do not omit shall or will to express the future, even in sentences with adverbs that indicate future time.
   • The coach _^ phone Bob soon. I am sure he _^ get to play first base this year. [will] [will]
   • You can also use going to or the present progressive to express the future.
3. Use only one modal with each main verb.
   • The following sentence expresses two ideas that are normally suggested by modals. However, the expression be able to must substitute for the modal can.
   • I might _^ can join the swimming team this year. [be able to]
   • The following phrases can be used with modals. Their meanings are similar to modals.
   • [have to] They may have to leave early.
   • [be obliged to] He might be obliged to pay that bill.
   • [be able to] I will be able to get to the theater by 8 p.m.
4. Use could, was able to, had to, was obliged to, might, and would plus the base form of the main verb to write about the past.
   • Two years ago he cannot read. [could not]
   • See Word Groups for how to use would and might in reported speech.
5. Use would plus the base form of the main verb to write about a habitual action in the past.
   • When I was a child, I will always try to go barefoot in summer. [would]
6. Use the base form of have or be when the modal is followed by a verb in the perfect or progressive form.
   • Ann should not had quit school. She must is looking for a job now. [have] [be]

Sentences can be classified either in terms of the kinds of clauses they contain (grammatically) or in terms of their purpose (rhetorically). Becoming aware of types of sentences allows you to vary your writing style to suit your audience, content, and purpose. You will find, too, that sentence variety holds a reader’s interest. How boring it is to read all simple sentences! In contrast, after many longer sentences, a punchy short sentence adds force to a key point.

Classification by Clause Structure

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence consists of one main clause and no subordinate clauses.

The mastery of basic reading skills is the most important goal in primary education. -Angelo Gonzalez

A simple sentence is not necessarily short, however, because the subject or the predicate-or both-may be compound or have many modifiers. The following example consists of one main clause; the subject is The Order of Canada and the verb is is. The rest of the sentence is made up of details.

The Order of Canada, an award instituted on July 1, 1967, to honour Canadians for outstanding achievement and service to their country and humanity at large, is often given to Canadians in the fields of the arts, sciences, or politics.

Compound Sentences

A compound sentence consists of two or more main clauses and no subordinate clauses. The main clauses may be joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, so, or yet) and a comma; by a semicolon; by a semicolon and a transitional word (however, nevertheless, therefore); or by a correlative conjunction such as either/or, both/and.

The Supreme Court of Canada is this country’s highest court of law, but there are other courts of law in the Canadian judicial system, because each level of court has a different jurisdiction under the Constitution.

Complex Sentences

A complex sentence consists of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

If you decide to take a trip to Quebec, I suggest that you visit the Eastern Townships.

Compound-complex Sentences 

A compound-complex sentence consists of two or more main clauses and at least one subordinate clause.

Even though many cities and towns along the river were prepared, the flood waters were devastating, and many lives were lost.

Classification by Purpose

A declarative sentence makes a statement. In expository prose, most sentences are declarative.

Betsy bought new running shoes.

Interrogative Sentence

An interrogative sentence asks a question. It customarily ends with a question mark.

Did Sarah get a job as a lifeguard?

Imperative Sentence

An imperative sentence gives a command, makes a request, or offers advice. Usually you is the understood subject.

Buy a compact-disc player from a reputable dealer.

Please pass the salt and pepper.

Exclamatory Sentence

An exclamatory sentence indicates intense emotion or excitement and ends with an exclamation point. Sometimes exclamations are not complete sentences.

What a movie!

The women’s basketball team had back-to-back undefeated seasons!

A noun clause can function any way that a noun does-as a subject, a predicate adjective, a predicate noun, a direct or an indirect object, an object complement, an object of a preposition, or an appositive (A). A relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, that, whoever, whomever, whatever) usually introduces a noun clause.

Whoever said so must be telling the truth. [S]

No one knows what his name is. [DO]

One condition of Bill’s employment was that he shave off his beard. [PN]

The news that both sides called a ceasefire took everyone by surprise. [A]

An adverb clause modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. It is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction, such as if, after, when, though, since, where, while. An adverb clause answers the questions posed by the words when, where, why, or how.

The children looked for coins under the bleachers after the game was over.

An adjective clause (also called a relative clause) modifies a noun or pronoun. Usually it immediately follows the word or words modified and is introduced by a relative pronoun-who, whom, whose, which, that, whoever, whomever, or whatever - or by the subordinating conjunction when or where.

Ted’s old Volkswagen, which had a badly rusted body, still ran like a dream.

My grandmother remembers a time when Volkswagens were not on the market.

If the relative pronoun or subordinating conjunction (the subordinator) introducing an adjective clause does not function as the subject of the subordinate clause, you can omit it. In fact, omitting it picks up the pace of the sentence.

The Volkswagen that Janie saw at the car show was restored down to the smallest detail.

If the subordinator is the subject of the adjective clause, you can usually rewrite the sentence to eliminate unneeded words.

A statue of Louis Riel, which is made of marble, is in front of City Hall. [for marble could become]

A marble statue of Louis Riel, is in front of City Hall.

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate.

A main clause, or independent clause, can stand alone as a complete sentence.

Janie bought Ted’s old Volkswagen.

It had a good engine but a rusted body.

A subordinate clause, or dependent clause, in contrast, cannot stand alone as a sentence because it is an incomplete thought.

When I cook, I use a lot of garlic.

If you don’t like garlic, you can substitute onions.

An absolute phrase is a noun or noun equivalent! followed in most cases by a participial phrase. An absolute phrase modifies a clause or sentence, not just a word as all other types of phrases do.

Joseph received many attractive job offers, his first concert having received rave reviews .

Her truck packed with all her belongings, Phoebe set out for the Yukon.

An appositive is a noun or noun equivalent. An appositive phrase is a noun or noun equivalent, together with any modifier(s), that directly follows (or precedes) another noun or noun equivalent. Unlike an adjective! which modifies a noun or noun equivalent! an appositive phrase identifies or explains. Most appositive phrases contain nonessential or parenthetical information and are! therefore! set off by commas.

The Special Olympics, games for disabled children, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1992.

A member of the Group of Seven, A.Y. Jackson painted rugged Canadian landscapes.

When a verb does not function as a verb in a sentence, it is called a verbal. Verbals are usually used in phrases. There are three kinds of verbal phrases: gerund, participial, and infinitive.

A gerund phrase consists of an -ing form of a verb (brewing, flying, joking, studying) with any modifier(s) and/ or object(s). A gerund phrase always functions as a noun in a sentence. It can, therefore, serve as a subject, a predicate noun, a direct object, an indirect object, or an object of a preposition in a sentence.

All this fancy cooking takes time. [S]

Rick’s main recreation is lifting weights. [PN]

I believe in telling the truth. [OP]

A participial phrase consists of a present participle (-ing form of a verb) or past participle t-ed form of a verb) with its auxiliary, modifier(s), object(s), and complement(s). A participial phrase always functions as an adjective in a sentence.

The girl riding the mountain bike is my cousin. [ADJ]

Having finished his work for the day: the carpenter put his tools away and went home. [ADJ]

An infinitive phrase consists of the word to and the base form of the verb (stop, attempt, march, liberate) with its modifier(s) and object(s), if any. An infinitive phrase can function as an adjective! an adverb! or a noun in a sentence.

These are the shoes to wear for golf. [ADJ]

Sam couldn’t wait to eat his ice cream. [ADV]

Kristin and Benny love to rollerblade. [N]

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition (a word such as to, with, after, on, in, by, or between) and its object, which is always a noun or pronoun. In sentences prepositional phrases usually function as adjectives or adverbs, but in some instances they can function as nouns.

The chapter on photosynthesis is fully illustrated. [ADJ]

Many Canadians go to Florida in the winter. [PN]

After two o’clock would be most convenient for me. [N]

The phrase is the most common word group we use in writing. A phrase, unlike a clause, does not have a subject and a predicate. A phrase is used as a single part of speech; that is, as a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb. There are four kinds of phrases: prepositional, verbal (including gerund, participle, and infinitive phrases), appositive, and absolute.

A complement is a word or word group that completes the sense of a verb and adds to the meaning of a subject. There are two types of complements: subject complements and object complements.

A subject complement (SC) is a noun which renames the subject (predicate noun) or an adjective which describes the subject (predicate adjective), and is used in a sentence with a linking verb.

Predicate noun

She is a doctor.

Predicate adjective

The Lake Superior region is rugged.

An object complement (OC) is an adjective in the predicate of a sentence which follows the direct object of a sentence and describes or renames the direct object.

Object complement

I consider Roberta Bondar to be a hero for our time.

A direct object (DO) is the noun, pronoun, or verbal that receives the action of the verb.

He kissed her.

An indirect object (IO) is the noun, pronoun, or verbal that tells to whom or for whom something is done.

The coach gave Melissa another chance.

To test whether a word is a direct or indirect object, insert to or for into the sentence. If the sentence makes sense, the word is an indirect object.

The coach gave another chance to Melissa.

The simple predicate of a sentence is made up of the verb and any helping verbs.

The ship was turning in the harbor.

The complete predicate of a sentence is the simple predicate and its modifiers and complements.

The ship was turning in the harbor.

The compound predicate is made up of two or more predicates that have the same subject.

Harold Ballard owned the Toronto Maple Leafs and invested in the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

The subject [S] of a sentence is the person or thing the sentence is about.

Fear eroded our confidence.

The simple subject is the noun or pronoun alone.

A Camara is my first choice.

The complete subject is the simple subject and all words associated with it.

A teal green Camara with camel interior is my first choice.

A compound subject is made up of two or more simple subjects.

Sticks and stones broke his bones.

A sentence is a group of words that contains a subject and predicate and expresses a complete thought. A sentence has two basic parts, a subject (S) and a predicate (P). The predicate includes the verb (V), direct object (DO), indirect object (IO), predicate noun (PN), predicate adjective (PA), and object complement (OC].

Most English sentences follow one of these six patterns:

Speed kills. [S] [P [V]]

Birds eat berries. [S] [P [V] [DO]]

Dad wrote me a letter. [S] [P [V] [IO] [DO]]

She is a firefighter. [S] [P [V] [PN]]

The soldier is brave. [S] [P [V] [PA]]

The movie made us sad. [S] [P [V] [DO] [OC]]

An interjection (INTJ) is a word or phrase used to express emotion or attract attention. Interjections are independent units not grammatically connected to a sentence, and they are always followed by an exclamation point or a comma.

Hey! There’s a parade coming.

Oh well, maybe we can do better next time.

A conjunction (CONJ), like a preposition, shows the relationship between parts of a sentence. There are four kinds of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, correlative and conjunctive adverbs.

A coordinating conjunction connects words, phrases, and clauses of equal rank.

and but for nor or so yet

Leslie and Hal caught three rock bass, but they didn’t get any lake trout or pike.

A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause (SC) and connects it to a main clause (MC).

Unless we’re very lucky, we aren’t going to get there [SC] [MC]

before the concert starts. [SC]

Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to connect words, phrases, clauses, and whole sentences.

both/and either/or not only /but also whether/or neither / nor not/but

We will be neither swayed nor delayed in our deliberations.

Conjunctive adverbs can function in two ways. First, they can serve as transitional expressions to connect units of thought.

Meanwhile, Todd was home making Lisa’s favorite dinner.

[Meanwhile connects Todd's actions to the previous statement.]

Conjunctive adverbs can also link main clauses (MC).

Lisa thought she’d surprise Todd by picking up a pizza for dinner; [MC]

meanwhile, Todd was home making her favourite-fried chicken. [MC]

Here is a list of common conjunctive adverbs.

A preposition (PREP) comes before a noun or pronoun to create a phrase that modifies another word in the sentence. The noun or the pronoun is called the object of the preposition (OP), and the phrase that is created is called a prepositional phrase. Prepositions show relationships between objects and ideas in a sentence.

She spilled the drink on him. [On him is the prepositional phrase]. [PREP] [OP]

Here is a list of the most common prepositions.

An adverb (ADV) modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Adverbs tell where, when, how, why, under what circumstances, and to what extent.

He drove nearby. [where]

He drove yesterday. [when]

He drove carefully. [how]

He drove because he had to. [why]

He drove while tired. [under what circumstances]

He drove quite carefully. [to what extent]

Adverbs are frequently made from adjectives by adding -ly (roughly, quickly), but not all adverbs end in -ly (first, not, very). Like adjectives, adverbs can also signify degrees of comparison (-er/-est, more/less, and most/least).

Adverbs of Frequently

never seldom often always sometimes even

Adverbs of Degree

even just only very extremely much surely more quite too

An adjective (ADJ) is a word that modifies or qualifies a noun or pronoun. An adjective tells what kind, how many, or which one.

brass trombones [what kind] (N)

seventy-six trombones [how many] (N)

the older one [which one] (PRO)

Adjectives change form by adding -er or -est or are preceded by more or most to form the comparative and superlative.

Articles are considered to be adjectives. There are two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a, an).

You can send the parcel by Canada Post.

The signing of the Proclamation of 1763 was a historical event.

A pronoun (PRO) is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence. While there are vast numbers of nouns in English, there are considerably fewer pronouns. The noun that a pronoun replaces is called its antecedent. Pronouns are divided into the following groups.

Personal pronouns refer to specific persons, places, or things. The case of a personal pronoun refers to its function in a sentence.

Singular: I, you, he, she, him, her, it

Plural: you, we, they, them, us

Possessive pronouns show ownership by persons, places, or things.

Singular: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its

Plural: our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs

Demonstrative pronouns point out the nouns that they replace.

this, that, these, those

Indefinite pronouns refer to nonspecific persons or things.

all, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, no one, nothing, somebody, someone, something, several, some

Interrogative pronouns introduce questions.

who(ever), whom(ever), whose, which(ever), what(ever)

Relative pronouns join a dependent clause to a noun.

who(ever), whom(ever), whose, which, that

Intensive and reflexive pronouns consist of a personal pronoun plus -self or -selves. An intensive pronoun refers back to a noun or another pronoun for emphasis (I did it myself); a reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject for emphasis or to complete the meaning (1 washed myself).

Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself

Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves

A noun (N) is the name of a person, place, thing, quality, action, or idea.

George, Brazil, chair, beauty, flight, mercy

Most nouns are made plural or possessive or both by inflections, or changes in form.

Nouns can be divided into the following subclasses:

Proper nouns name specific people, places, and things and they are capitalized.

Shannon Tweed, South Africa, CN Tower

Common nouns name all nouns that are not proper nouns.

dog, paper, stoves

Abstract nouns name ideas, qualities, and other intangibles.

fear, freedom, neglect

Concrete nouns name tangible items. We know concrete nouns through the five senses.

bottle, telephone, letters

Collective nouns name groups. If a collective noun refers to the group as a whole, it takes a singular verb. If it refers to the individual members of that group, it takes a plural verb.

army, communities, herd

Count nouns name items that can be counted. Count nouns are frequently accompanied by an adjective indicating how many are referred to.

one dollar, twenty-four pills, a half-dozen sandwiches

Noncount nouns name items that come in quantities that are not capable of being counted. Frequently such nouns fall into certain categories.

Food: butter, flour, milk, sugar

Nonfood bulk materials: asphalt, gold, oxygen, snow

Abstractions: anger, love, pity, stress

A verb (V) expresses action (run, think) or a state of being (is, become, seem). A complete verb is composed of the main verb (MV) itself and any helping verbs (HV) that may be used with it. The most commonly used helping (auxiliary) verbs are the nine modals: may, might, shall, will, would, must, should, can, could. Modals express how the writer feels about an action. Modals express probability, necessity or obligation, or ability.

He may wash the dishes. [probability] [HV] [MV]

He should wash the dishes. [obligation] [HV] [MV]

He can wash the dishes. [ability] [HV] [MV]

Other helping verbs include the forms of have, be, do, used to, and ought to.

He is washing the dishes. [HV] [MV]

He did wash the dishes. [HV] [MV]

He used to wash the dishes. [HV] [MV]

Forms of verbs

All verbs have five forms, with the exception of be, which has eight forms. The first three of the five verb forms are called the principal parts of a verb.

The infinitive is made up of to and the base form (to see, to believe).

Most verbs in English are regular (talk, talked, talked), but a few are irregular (write, wrote, written).

Intransitive, Transitive, and Linking Verbs

A verb can be intransitive, transitive, or linking, depending on whether it takes an object or complement and, if so, what kind.

An intransitive verb has a subject (S) but does not require an object or complement to complete its meaning.

Nobody cares. [S] [V]

Transitional Verb

A transitive verb, as its name indicates, transfers its action from the subject to the object of the sentence. Transitive verbs always take a direct object (DO) and sometimes an indirect object (IO) to complete their meaning.

The waves lashed the shore. [S] [V] [DO]

Maria gave her mother flowers. [S] [V] [IO] [DO]

Linking Verb

A linking verb (LV) connects the subject to a predicate noun (PN), which renames the subject, or a predicate adjective (PA), which describes the subject.

Carol Shields is a writer. [S] [LV] [PN]

The grapefruit is sour. [S] [LV] [PA]

Common Linking Verbs

be (is, am, are, was, were) act
appear
become
grow
look
seem
feel
taste

Verbals

Sometimes a verb does not function as a verb in a sentence. In this case, it is called a verbal. There are three types of verbals: gerunds, participles (both past and present), and infinitives. Verbals are usually used in phrases.

Gerund

Swimming is my favourite sport. [N]

Present Participle

Swimming out to the raft, he got a cramp. [ADJ]

Past Participle

His cramped leg still aches. [ADJ]

Infinitive

Bob is learning to swim. [N]

Studying grammar will help you write better in two ways. First, because there is never simply one way to write a sentence, but many ways to present the same thought, knowing the parts of speech and how they function in sentences gives you the power to write exactly what you mean. Second, if you understand how words function in sentences, you are better able to identify why a sentence is confused, awkward, or not as clear as you had hoped. Studying grammar, then, allows you to look at sentences in a new light, both when you compose and when you revise.

Parts of Speech

Because English has more than 600 000 words, we group them in categories that share common characteristics in order to make it easier to talk about language. In grammar, these groupings are called parts of speech. English has eight parts of speech: verbs (V), nouns (N), pronouns (PRO), adjectives (ADD), adverbs (ADV), prepositions (PREP), conjunctions (COND), and interjections (INTD). A word may be a member of more than one category, however, depending on its use in a particular sentence:

She had a sound plan. [ADV]

They sailed across the sound. [N]

The driver will sound the car’s horn. [V]

Repetition is another way of knitting together a paragraph. A sprinkling of key words and phrases improves coherence by keeping the main point in front of the reader in the most obvious way. The repeated key word is italicized.

Tears of hurt and frustration pricked at the corner of my eyes as the now-familiar pain seared my leg. I sat down and looked around the room: beige walls, beige ceiling, beige floor tiles. In one corner was a small cot with a beige bedspread, and in the opposite corner a sink, mirror, and beige waste basket. The shades were drawn and the lights were much dimmer than they had been in the hall. Gradually I relaxed and waited. - Laura LaPierre, student

Use Parallel Structure

Parallel structure is repetition of a certain kind; it is repetition in a series. Parallelism can occur on the word, phrase, clause, or whole-sentence level (see SENT 6a). In the following paragraph Ardrey’s use of parallelism knits the sentences into a seamless whole; sentences 1 through 4 use one pattern of parallelism, and sentences 5 and 6 another. The parallel structures are italicized.

(1) The male herring gull is a creature of sufficient ingenuity that if he picks up a mussel with a shell too hard for his beak to break, he will carry it to a height and drop it on a hard rock. (2) He is a creature of sufficient loyalty and perception to guarantee that he will never attack his own mate, and will recognize her among dozens flying into the colony at a distance to defy human binoculars. (3) He is a creature of sufficient social sophistication that, while many arrive in the spring already paired, definite areas in the colony which Tinbergen calls” clubs” will be set aside as meeting places for the unpaired. (4) He is a creature also, as we have seen, of such sensitive social adjustment that the arriving flock will make “decisions” of mood and readiness as if it were one being. (5) So dependent is the herring gull on the community of his citizenship that he would probably be unable to breed were he to return in the spring to the wrong gull town. (6) So powerful and incomprehensible is his attachment for home that, like the albatross, a pair may return year after year to nest in precisely the same spot, although the North Sea’s winter storms will have effaced all landmarks to guide his eye. - Robert Ardrey, “Herring Gull”

Use Transitions in Link Paragraphs

Just as transitions are used to link sentences within a paragraph, so are they used to link paragraphs themselves. Because each new paragraph indicates a further progression of thought in the composition, transitions help the reader follow along. In the passage that follows, transitions are used to link the first and second paragraphs and the second and third paragraphs; the transitions are italicized.

The age of television began in Canada in 1952, five years behind the United States, when a station in Montreal, and one in Toronto two days later, signed onto the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A third station in Vancouver went on the air three days later.

However, television broadcasting in the 1950s was a far cry from what it is today. Shows were in black and white (Canada didn’t begin colour broadcasting until 1966), they were broadcast live and, as you might suspect, there were more than a few bugs to work out of the system.

Currently, television is a staple of Canadian life. Ninety-nine per cent of all Canadian households have at least one television set, and Canada’s longest running television show, Hockey Night in Canada, has been on the air over 40 years.

WPTips

Testing for Transitional Words

Test the coherence of your composition by putting the transitional words and phrases in boldface or underlining them. If you have surprisingly few, you may need to strengthen the connections between your thoughts by adding transitions, both within paragraphs and between them.

Transitional words and phrases connect units of thought - within a sentence, between sentences, and among paragraphs. In other words, transitions signal relationships, and thus can be categorized by their functions. In revising your composition (see COMP 4a), check that you use a transition everywhere one is needed to establish a logical connection between ideas, and that you use the correct transitional word. For example, do not use also (showing an addition) when you really want similarly (to compare two things), or however (showing contrast) when you really need although (to show concession).

The following list presents some of the more common transitional words and expressions categorized by meaning. (Some words are listed in more than one category because their meaning varies with context.)

ADDITION and, again, too, also, in addition, further, furthermore, moreover, besides

CAUSE AND EFFECT therefore, consequently thus, accordingly, as a result, hence, then, so

COMPARISON similarly, likewise, by comparison

CONCESSION although, to be sure, granted, of course, it is true, to tell the truth, certainly, with the exception of, although this may be true, even though, naturally

CONTRAST but, however, at the same time, in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, yet, nevertheless, after all, in spite of, conversely, still

EXAMPLE for example, for instance, one case of

TIME afterward, later, earlier, subsequently, at the same time, immediately, this time, until now, shortly, currently, lately, in the meantime

PLACE elsewhere, here, above, below, farther on, there, beyond, nearby, opposite to, around

CLARIFICATION that is, in other words, in simpler terms, to put it differently, simply stated, partly

SEQUENCE first, second, third [(NOT) firstly, secondly, and so on], next, finally, following, then, in time

SUMMARY in conclusion, to conclude, to summarize, in brief, in short

The transitional words and phrases in the following paragraph are italicized. To test how important they are in showing relationships among the ideas in the paragraph, try omitting them or substituting others.

Your only reason for starting your own business, in the first place, is to work for yourself and to make money. In other words, you are ambitious, desire a good income, and are eager to climb the ladder to success. Your success will depend on your goals, your skills, and your determination. However, your formula for success must be put into practice. Therefore, get started! Later, you’ll be able to look back at this time in your life and realize that, right now, you’ve made a decision that has started you on the road to financial security and personal independence.

When something coheres it fits together, it makes sense. Coherence in a paragraph is achieved when the sentences flow smoothly from one to another without awkward breaks in rhythm or meaning.

Coherence is achieved by arranging sentences in the most effective order, using transitional words and phrases, repeating key words and phrases, and using parallel structures. These techniques knit the sentences of a paragraph into a tight structure. Coherence is also a feature of the essay as a whole and is achieved by using transitions to link paragraphs. As originally written the following paragraph lacked coherence; it seemed to jump from idea to idea. In the revision, coherence is achieved by (1) repositioning a sentence, (2) repeating a key phrase, and (3) adding a transition.

Arrange Sentence in the most Effective Order

At the most basic level, coherence in a paragraph comes from organizing the ideas and facts in a sensible pattern. Sentences in a paragraph are usually arranged according to one of three patterns: (1) a chronological (time) order, (2) a spatial order, or (3) a logical order. The most suitable arrangement depends on purpose, subject, and audience. Whichever pattern you choose, follow it consistently and thoughtfully to knit the ideas and elements of your paragraph into a seamless whole that your reader can easily follow.

Chronological Order

Chronological order, or time order, presents events as they occurred.

A personal story, a report on an automobile accident or historical event, and the steps in a process, for example, would naturally be related in chronological order. In the following paragraph Ming-Yee Wai uses chronological order to tell about a disturbing memory.

I clearly remember my sixth birthday because Dad was in the hospital with pneumonia. He was working so hard he paid very little attention to his health. As a result, he spent almost the entire summer before I entered the first grade in the hospital. Mom visited him nightly. On my birthday I was allowed to see him. I have memories of sitting happily in the lobby of the hospital talking to the nurses, telling them with a big smile that I was going to see my dad because it was my birthday. I couldn’t wait to see him because children under 12 were not allowed to visit patients, so I had not seen him in a long time. When I entered the hospital room, I saw tubes inserted into his nose and needles stuck in his arm. He was very, very thin. I was frightened and wanted to cry, but I was determined to have a good visit. So I stayed for a while, and he wished me a happy birthday. When it was time to go, I kissed him good-bye and waited until I left his room to cry. - Grace Ming-Yee Wai, “Chinese Puzzle”

Spatial Order

Spatial order is used to describe a person, place, or thing. The writer begins at a particular point and moves methodically in one direction, say, from top to bottom, left to right, far to near, front to back, outside to inside, or, as in the following paragraph, from the perimeter of the yard towards its centre.

My back yard, compared to others in the neighborhood, wasn’t large.

It measured 70 metres in length and was about 45 metres wide. In the winter, all of my mother’s gardens which lined our lot were covered with snow. The old clothesline, where my mother hung our laundry to dry in the summer, stood at the back of the lot, unused and lonely. The only thing that was important to me in our back yard, right in the middle, was the tiny skating rink my father made for me and flooded every night. In my dreams, this rink was the first step towards the National Hockey League.

Logical Order

A logical pattern of organization can take many forms, depending on the subject matter and the writer’s purpose. In organizing a paragraph, it may be most logical to move from the easiest to understand aspects of the subject to the most difficult, from the least important examples to the most important, from the specific to the general or from the general to the specific, or from the least controversial elements to the most controversial, to name just a few possible patterns.

The following paragraph begins with a strong but general topic sentence; each sentence thereafter narrows the subject until the last zeroes in on the writer’s point.

There is scarcely a corner of human affairs that Shakespeare doesn’t touch upon, nor a topic for which he fails to supply a memorable quote. All of this has led, predictably, to every trade and profession claiming him for their own. There have been any number of attempts to prove that before he turned his hand to writing plays he was a lawyer, a soldier, a physician, an astronomer, a printer, a sportsman, a gardener, and heaven alone knows what else. And of all of these guesses as to what he did at Stratford before coming to his London career, one that seems nearest the mark is gardening. This does not mean, of course, that he would tramp off of a morning, spade and hoe slung over his shoulder like a pikeman’s weapons, to delve in the soil of Lord So-and-so’s gardens and orchards. What it does imply is that Shakespeare was a countryman long familiar with the growth of plants in woodlands, fields, and cottage and kitchen gardens. He may well have tended a garden of his own. -Frank J. Anderson, “Shakespeare in the Garden”

Comparison and Contrast

The purpose of any comparison and contrast is to make clear the superiority of one thing over another or to explain something unfamiliar by comparing it to something familiar. A comparison-contrast takes one of two basic patterns: AA/BB or AB/ AB. In the first pattern all the characteristics of A are presented, followed by all the characteristics of B. In the second pattern one characteristic of A is compared or contrasted with its counterpart in B, the next characteristic of A with its counterpart in B, and so forth. Use the AA/BB pattern if you think the reader can remember all the points of A while reading about B; if not, the AB/ AB pattern is probably a better choice.

In the following paragraph, the AA/BB pattern is used to compare the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is among the oldest police forces in Canada. It was established in 1872, and patrols the Newfoundland cities of St. John’s, Labrador City and Corner Brook. Its present strength is close to 375 officers. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was formed in 1873 as the North West Mounted Police. The RCMP presently polices all Canadian communities that don’t have their own police forces. The strength of the RCMP is approximately 15,600 officers.

In her essay on communicating with family and friends, Goodman uses the AB/ AB alternating pattern of development.

Sometimes I think the telephone call is as earthbound as daily dialogue, while a letter is an exchange of gifts. On the telephone you talk; in a letter you tell. There is a pace to letter writing and reading that doesn’t come from the telephone company but from our own inner rhythm. - Ellen Goodman, “Life in a Bundle of Letters”

An analogy is a special kind of comparison. It points out certain similarities between a difficult concept and another that is more familiar and concrete to enable the reader to understand the difficult one.

In the following paragraph, the game of hockey is described by using a war analogy.

Ice hockey is war - war on skates, maybe, or war on ice-but war nevertheless. From the time the puck is dropped at centre ice, the troops on both sides flash up and down the ice in their colourful uniforms, eliminating each other from the play with crushing body checks and intricate manoeuvres with skate and stick. The forwards, the front line troops, pressure the defenders into conceding territory, into abandoning the puck, into surrendering that one good shot on goal that will lead to victory. The general stands calmly behind the bench, directing his old war horses and green recruits, calling for the rearguards to tighten the line, sending in reinforcements to hold the trenches. Make no mistake, hockey may be only a game, but the only goal is the defeat of the enemy at the other end of the rink.

Classification

To classify is to categorize, to group people, ideas, facts-anything-on the basis of some system. The basis of classification is an integral part of the process. In the following paragraph, Cleary, a student, places all stereo buyers into four categories on the basis of why they buy. (In subsequent paragraphs he discusses each type in detail.)

As stereo equipment gets better and prices go down, stereo systems are becoming household necessities rather than luxuries. People are buying stereos by the thousands. During my year as a stereo salesman, I witnessed this boom firsthand. I dealt with hundreds of customers, and it didn’t take long for me to learn that people buy stereos for different reasons. Eventually, though, I was able to divide all the stereo buyers into four basic categories: the wattage buyer, the quality buyer, the price buyer, and the looks buyer. - Gerald Cleary, student

Cause and Effect

A cause-and-effect paragraph shows the relationship between events. The focus may be on cause by naming it in the topic sentence and following with its effects. Or the focus may be the other way around, with an effect given in the topic sentence followed by its causes.

The following paragraph on sleep begins with an effect, and follows with the reasons for it.

Why do students who get a good night’s sleep before a test or exam seem to do better than those who regularly pull “all-nighters”? The reason probably involves the fact that your brain is hard at work while you’re sleeping, even if you aren’t. Studies conducted by the Better Sleep Council in the United States indicate that the brain may actually be more active when you are asleep than when you are awake. Deep sleep and dreaming are reported to be important to learning and memory-the brain seems to store information acquired during waking hours and to organize it while you sleep. Canadian studies indicate that “all-nighters” don’t produce good results next day. So get a good night’s sleep before your next exam-but don’t forget to study.

Mixed Strategies

Often logic dictates that you use a combination of strategies to develop your topic sentence. In the paragraph that follows, Smith uses cause and effect, informational process analysis, statistics, and a hypothetical case in point (a kind of example) to develop her topic sentence, They [cockroaches] reproduce at a truly amazing rate.

Cockroaches give credence to the old adage that there is safety in numbers. They reproduce at a truly amazing rate. About two months after mating, a new generation of cockroaches is born. One cockroach can produce about two dozen offspring each time it mates. To get some idea of their reproductive power, imagine that you start with three pairs of cockroaches that mate. Approximately three weeks after mating the females lay their eggs, which hatch some forty-five days later. If we assume two dozen eggs from each female, the first generation would number seventy-two offspring. These roaches would continue to multiply geometrically so that by year’s end the colony’s population would total more than ten thousand cockroaches. Stopping the process is almost impossible because even if we annihilate the adult population, a new generation still in egg form would be in the making. - Courtney Smith, student

Facts, Statistics, Reasons

A fact is a piece of information with objective reality. Statistics are numerical facts. A reason is a statement offered as a logical explanation or justification. Facts, statistics, and reasons can be used singly or in combination, as in the following example.

The whale is the most astonishing animal the earth has ever known. It does not merely inspire superlatives-it is a living superlative. Some whales are much larger than the gigantic dinosaurs of the Mesozoic. It would take 25 elephants, or 2000 human beings, to equal the weight of a single blue whale; its tongue alone weighs as much as an elephant. The blue whale is as long as four buses placed end to end. The skeleton weighs 18 tons, its blubber 30, its meat 44. When it blows at the ocean’s surface, the spout looks for all the world like a new cloud in the sky. - Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Yves Paccalet, The Assault on Whales

Definition

Depending on your audience, or sometimes your subject, you may need to define key words in your composition. Sometimes this can be done in a sentence or two, or even parenthetically. Occasionally you may want to provide an extended definition (as in the example that follows). To define a term, first place it in a class of similar items and then show how it is different from the others in that class. For example, a wrist watch is in the class of devices for telling time and is differentiated from other items in this class because it is relatively small and worn on the wrist.

A cough is a reflexive action that clears the airways of mucus, phlegm, or other blockages. There are two types of coughs, productive and dry. The productive cough, producing phlegm, unblocks the airways, while the dry cough, usually caused by a viral infection, irritates the nasal passages. Medication is often the only way to relieve a dry cough, while medication for a productive cough should be avoided.

Process Analvsis

There are two types of process analysis: informational and instructional. Informational process analysis explains how something workshow blood moves through the circulatory system or how tides occur. The following explanation of how champagne was first made and how it has been made ever since is informational.

The next time you find an excuse to break open a bottle of champagne-be it New Year’s, a wedding, or a whim-you might raise your effervescent glass in solemn thanks to one blind Benedictine monk who made it all possible. Three centuries ago there lived in northern France a great blender of wines, Dom Perignon, who served as cellar-master at the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers for forty-seven years. For some reason that we may never know, this monk decided one day to seal his bottles with cork instead of the usual cloth soaked in oil. The carbon dioxide that is produced during fermentation could pass through the cloth, but was imprisoned by the new stopper. The result: a sparkling wine. - Caroline Sutton, “How Did They Discover Champagne?”

Instructional process analysis gives directions on how to do something and usually follows a time pattern-first you do this and then you do this (see PARA 3a, Chronological order). Gladstone’s paragraph is instructional, telling step-by-step how to build a good fireplace fire.

Though “experts” differ as to the best technique to follow when building a fire, one generally accepted method consists of first laying a generous amount of crumpled newspaper on the hearth between the andirons. Kindling wood is then spread generously over this layer of newspaper and one of the thickest logs is placed across the back of the andirons. This should be as close to the back of the fireplace as possible, but not quite touching it. A second log is then placed an inch or so in front of this, and a few additional sticks of kindling are laid across these two. A third log is then placed on top to form a sort of pyramid with air spaces between all logs so that flames can lick freely up between them. - Bernard Gladstone, “How to Build a Fire in a Fireplace”

Narration

To narrate is to tell what happened. Because narration is storytelling, it usually follows a chronological pattern, as in the following example. However, the sequence of events can be rearranged for special effect (see PARA 3a).

One thing that I remember clearly about my early youth was the day that my family got its first dial telephone. We lived in the country, in a small southwestern Ontario village named Mitchell’s Bay, and whenever we wanted to call someone in those days, we picked up the telephone and waited for the operator to answer.

“Number, please,” the operator would say.

“754-W1,” I’d answer. That was the number of my friend Brian, who lived about a mile away.

We were on a party line, which we shared with four other families, each with its own ring. When the phone rang twice, it was for us: “ring-ring, ring-ring, ring-ring.” One, three or four rings signaled a call for one of our neighbors. But even when the phone rang twice, you could be sure that other people would listen in. I guess that there wasn’t much else to do back then on a winter’s day in the country.

But the dial phone changed all that. One ring, one family on the line.

The day of the party line was finished. I was so excited about this new dial phone the first day that it went into service that I called my friend at six in the morning. His father answered.

“Just trying it out,” I said.

Like I mentioned, there wasn’t much else to do in the country back then, especially at six in the morning.

Description

To describe is to create a verbal picture of a person, place, thing, or even a mood or idea. Description relies on specific and concrete details to create sensory impressions for the reader (see WORD Ic and PARA 3a, Spatial Order). In the following paragraph, Harry Bruce describes the ferry Trillium:

As she edged away from her slip and picked up speed in the shiny green waters of Lake Ontario, you heard the plash, plash, plash of her paddle wheels. In the railings, in the slats of her wooden benches burnished over the years by a million rumps, you felt the steady, comforting shudder of her engines. The Trillium’s sides were white as a swan, and she was a vision of beauty and business. - Harry Bruce, “Floating Around Canada”

Examples and Illustration

One of the best ways to convince a reader of the validity of a generalization in the topic sentence is to provide examples-specific instances of what you are talking about. In the following paragraph, Teale enumerates eleven superstitions to support the generalization in his topic sentence-that country people have many superstitious ways of predicting what kind of winter it will be.

In the folklore of the country, numerous superstitions relate to winter weather. Back-country farmers examine their husks-the thicker the husk, the colder the winter. They watch the acorn crop-the more acorns, the more severe the season. They observe where white-faced hornets place their paper nests-the higher they are, the deeper will be the snow. They examine the size and shape and colour of the spleens of butchered hogs for clues to the severity of the season. They keep track of the blooming of the dogwood in the spring-the more abundant the blooms, the more bitter the cold in January. When chipmunks carry their tails high and squirrels have heavier fur, the superstitious gird themselves for a long, hard winter. Without any scientific basis, a wider-than-usual black band on a woolly-bear caterpillar is accepted as a sign that winter will arrive early and stay late. - Edwin Way Teale, “Wandering through Winter”

Sometimes a single, extended example - called an illustration-is more effective.

I have always wondered why my best friends were so important to me; but it wasn’t until recently that something happened to make me really understand my relationship with my best friends. My father died, and this was a crisis for me. Most of my friends gave me their condolences. But my best friends did more than that: they actually supported me. They called long distance to see how I was and what I needed, to try to help me work out my problems or simply to talk. Two of my best friends even took time from their spring break and, along with two other best friends, attended my father’s memorial service; none of my other friends came. Since then, these are the only people who have continued to worry about me and talk about my father. I know that whenever I need someone, they will be there and willing to help me. I know also that whenever they need help, I will be ready to do the same for them. - Howard Solomon, Jr., student

Whether it is first or last or someplace in the middle, whether it has a transitional element, or whether it is explicitly stated or merely implied, the topic sentence is the point of departure for writing an effective paragraph. How you develop-clarify and support-your topic sentence depends on how you answer the question, “Why or how is this so?” Consider, for example, the following topic sentence:

Neat people are especially vicious with mail.

Applying the question, “Why or how is this so?” suggests a strategy for development: the writer needs to tell how “neat people are vicious with mail.”

Neat people are especially vicious with mail. They never go through their mail unless they are standing directly over a trash can. If the trash can is beside the mailbox, even better. All ads, catalogues, pleas for charitable contributions, church bulletins, and money-saving coupons go straight into the trash can without being opened. All letters from home, postcards from Europe, bills and paycheques are opened, immediately responded to, then dropped in the trash can. Neat people keep their receipts only for tax purposes. That’s it. No sentimental salvaging of birthday cards or the last letter a dying relative ever wrote. Into the trash it goes. - Suzanne Britt, “Neat People vs. Sloppy People”

Develop Paragraphs Fully

In expository prose (prose that explains), a paragraph is typically 100-150 words. Longer paragraphs appear in professional journals that discuss new or highly complex information requiring more in-depth explanation and evidence. Paragraphs are shorter in newspapers and magazines where the print column is narrow and needs to be broken more of ten, and where the subject matter is less demanding of the reader.

Occasionally a paragraph is too long and needs to be divided or restructured for clarity. The more common problem is the underdeveloped paragraph that leaves the reader wanting more information.

Underdeveloped

It is considerably easier to forge a cheque in your name than you might think. Forgery is a form of fraud, and the number of fraud-related offences has climbed from 17436 in 1971 to 875250 in 1991, the last year for which figures are currently available. It’s also easy for a fraud artist to use your credit card number.

The topic sentence in the preceding paragraph sets up an idea and a plan for developing it, but more information is needed to convince the reader to be careful when writing cheques. A fully developed version of the paragraph follows. The writer adds details about cheque forgery, showing how easy it is to forge a name or an amount on a cheque.

Well Developed

It is considerably easier to forge a cheque in your name than you might think. Many people make it a lot easier for the forgers by not paying attention to proper procedures for protecting themselves. For instance, a pickpocket is able to obtain a copy of your signature when your wallet is stolen, and can easily forge this signature on a blank cheque made out to Cash. Cheques that have been filled out and signed can be altered with little difficulty: simply add zero to $20, for example, if you have left room for extra figures on your cheque. This type of forgery is common: the number of fraud-related offences in Canada climbed from 17436 in 1971 to 875 250 in 1991. So be careful when writing your cheques: someone may be waiting to take advantage of your carelessness.

To be sure you have provided enough information to enlighten and convince the reader-and thus communicate all you intend-ask a friend to read your composition and point out anything that is not explained clearly or fully enough.

A paragraph may be only a sentence or two long and still be well developed. Such paragraphs often function as transitions from one section of a composition to another. Sometimes, too, as in the following example, a very short paragraph is used to emphasize a point.

From modest beginnings more than two decades ago, computer networks have spread to form an enormous global web. Many users log on to Internet, a system of tens of thousands of networks crammed with scientific and scholarly information as well as thousands of discussion forums or news groups. - Mark Nichols, “Welcome to Cyberspace”

In his next paragraph, one of normal length, Nichols continues by discussing the spread of Internet across Canada and the world.

A paragraph is unified when all its sentences develop, or expand on, the central idea in some way. No sentence is off the topic.

Notice how every sentence in the following paragraph develops the topic sentence; it is a unified paragraph.

My husband and I often joke that the reason we have stayed married for so long is that we continually mystify each other with responses and attitudes that are plainly due to our different backgrounds. For years I frustrated him with unpredictable silences and accusing looks. I felt a great reluctance to tell him what I wanted or what needed to be done in the home. I was inwardly furious that I was being put into the position of having to tell him what to do. I felt my femaleness, in the Japanese sense, was being degraded. I did not want to be the authority. That would be humiliating for him and for me. He, on the other hand, considering the home to be under my dominion, in the North American sense, did not dare to impose on me what he wanted. He wanted me to tell him or make a list, like his parents did in his home. - Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, “Living in Two Cultures”

The plan of the paragraph is clear: Houston’s first sentence states her belief that culture shapes our attitudes and our responses. Then she gives reasons:

1. She could not tell her husband what she wanted, so she remained silent and gave accusing looks.
2. She did not want the authority of having to tell him what to do.
3. Her femaleness, in the Japanese sense, was threatened by his attitude.
4. He considered, in the North American sense, that the woman ran the house.
5. He did not want to impinge on her role.
6. He wanted to be told what to do or be given a list.

WPTips

Testing for Unity

If you think that there are sentences in any of your paragraphs that may be unnecessary and might be eliminated, block them off, move them out of the paragraph, and read the new paragraph. If the paragraph is tight, with no gaps in logic, eliminate the sentences permanently.

No matter where you finally decide to place your topic sentence, begin with one in mind. Then, as you write, you will zero in on what you want to say in this portion of your paper. Usually, the topic sentence is at or near the beginning of the paragraph; this way, the writer lets the reader know the direction of thought and function of the other sentences in the paragraph. The topic sentence may, however, come anywhere in the paragraph, particularly if you want to create a special effect.

In the following paragraph the topic sentence (shown in italics) comes first, and the anecdote that follows illustrates how bees astonish us.

Bees are filled with astonishments, confounding anyone who studies them, producing volumes of anecdotes. A lady of our acquaintance visited her sister, who raised honeybees. They left their car on a side road, suited up in protective gear, and walked across the fields to have a look at the hives. For reasons unknown, the bees were in a furious mood that afternoon, attacking in platoons, settling on them from all sides. Let us walk away slowly, advised the beekeeper sister, they’ll give it up sooner or later. They walked until beefree, then circled the fields and went back to the car, and found bees there, waiting for them. - Lewis Thomas, “Clever Animals”

The topic sentence may be most effective at the end of the paragraph when the writer wishes to create a sense of drama or suspense, or when, as in the following paragraph, the main idea is introduced by a convincing example.

Consider, for a moment, the variety of Canada’s forests. This country is home to 31 species of coniferous trees, including the pine, hemlock, cedar and the majestic Douglas Fir of the west coast. In addition, we have over 100 species of deciduous trees, among which are numbered 10 varieties of maple in our vast forests, four of oak, and five of hickory. If these forests aren’t preserved, future generations will know the grandeur of our forests as nothing more than cold statistics.

Often the topic sentence is preceded by a transitional sentence or contains a transitional clause referring to the previous paragraph, as here:

Soon after suffering her greatest disappointment in the pool, Sylvie Frechette decided to take on the world of synchronized swimming. She created a sensation by swimming to French songs, something unheard of in the mid-1980s. She made herself, as well as her routine, conspicuous when she wore bright, colourful swimsuits in competition. And she began to win.

The first part of the topic sentence looks back: soon after suffering her greatest disappointment in the pool; the clause Sylvie Frechette decided to take on the world of synchronized swimming shapes and controls what follows. By providing this transition, the line of thought in the paragraph is easily developed. Sylvie Frechette came back from disappointment, took control of her swimming routine, and after swimming to French songs and wearing bright, colourful swimsuits, she began to win, telling the reader exactly how she decided to take on the world of synchronized swimming.

Topic sentences are explicitly stated in most paragraphs, but on occasion, particularly in narrative or descriptive paragraphs, a writer may merely imply a controlling idea. In the following paragraph, the writer carefully chooses details that will lead the reader to arrive at the main idea without the writer having to state it specifically. Leading the reader along until the point dawns on him or her can often have a much greater impact than a straightforward statement.

You are standing on the threshold of time in as sacred a place as any in the world. It’s where the life of the land and the life of the water converge in biological blur. These are the wetlands-the swamps and the mudflats that sometimes smell like rotten eggs. These are the marshes, clogged with weeds, swarming with bugs, teeming with beautiful life. This is where the moon moves the water in shallow ebbs and floods; where the sun pierces down to the ooze and the nutrients flow in a strange and marvelous way. Nowhere else except here in these sopping grounds is there so much life in so much concentration. But the life is dwindling. And as these lands start to go-you do, too. - Sierra Club, “Threshold of Time”

Through cumulative detail that strongly appeals to the senses, this writer conveys the controlling idea that marshes and wetlands are fascinating and ecologically important, and people ought to be concerned about them. The controlling idea is conveyed even though it is not explicitly stated.

WPTips

Boldfacing Topic Sentences

If you are having trouble with unity or coherence while drafting your paragraphs, boldface or underline the topic sentence in each of your paragraphs. By calling special attention to each topic sentence you see how the other sentences in the paragraph relate to the topic sentence and to each other.

In many ways the paragraph is an essay in miniature. The paragraph has a topic sentence that states the main idea of the paragraph in the same way that the thesis statement presents the main point of the essay. Like the well-written essay, the well-written paragraph is unified-all sentences relate to the main idea (PARA 1); it is well developed-there is apt and sufficient supporting detail (PARA 2); and it is coherent-ideas and sentences flow logically and smoothly (PARA 3).

The following paragraph on the life cycle of neighborhoods, by Kevin Cunningham, a university student, is an example of a well-written paragraph.

Neighborhoods are often assigned human characteristics, one of which is a life cycle: they have a birth, a youth, a middle age, and an old age. A neighborhood is built and settled by young, vibrant people, proud of their sturdy new homes. Together, residents and houses mature, as families grow larger and additions get built on. Eventually, though, the neighborhood begins to show its age. Buildings sag a little, houses aren’t repaired as quickly, and maintenance slips. The neighborhood may grow poorer, as the young and upwardly mobile find new jobs and move away, while the older and less successful inhabitants remain. - Kevin Cunningham, student

Cunningham provides a clear topic sentence that explains what he means by a life cycle. He then goes on to describe the stages of that cycle and the process by which one stage leads to the next. Cunningham maintains unity by excluding anything that does not directly relate to the concept of the life cycle. He achieves coherence by ordering his sentences to flow smoothly without breaks in rhythm or meaning and by using transitional words (and, as, eventually, while).

Paragraph Unity

The topic sentence presents the main idea of the paragraph. It is also called the controlling idea because it limits the subject of the paragraph and, like the thesis statement, suggests ways of developing the thought. The topic sentence of each paragraph should be an outgrowth of the thesis statement.

Topic Sentence

There were three classes of people in Medieval society.

What is a “best friend”?

After I bought a computer, the grades I received for my English essays were much better than they had been.

Implied Strategy of Development

You will name the three classes and describe each one.

You will define “best friend.” You will contrast your grades before and after you bought a computer.

In a unified paragraph all sentences relate to the topic sentence by explaining it with facts, examples, and supporting details. You should eliminate all sentences that stray from the point of the topic sentence.

Having revised your paper, you are now ready to edit it. In other words, having made it right, you now want to make it correct.

When you Edit, Check Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics (Capitalization and Spelling)

How do editing errors creep into your composition? Two ways: first, there are the inadvertent errors. You know how to capitalize proper nouns, but rushing to get down your thoughts you write spanish instead of Spanish.

Second, there are errors pointed out by friends, fellow students, or teachers. The best way to catch errors of this sort is to know yourself as a writer. That means (1) taking seriously the feedback you get from friends and teachers and (2) using your handbook. If you know you have trouble remembering how to use punctuation with quotation marks, you are on your way to correcting the problem. Simply check your handbook during editing. For easy access to the information you need, use the tab indicators, the table of contents, or the index.

The more you know yourself as a writer, the more, too, you will develop a sense of what does not seem to sound or look quite right. Which is correct, none are or none is? Is receive spelled with ei or ie? Turn to the appropriate section of this Handbook for the answer.

Prepare the Final Copy

Having revised and edited your work, you are ready to prepare the final copy of your composition. Consult FORMAT 7 for details. The sample essay in COMP 6 shows what your final draft should look like.

Proofread the Final

Always proofread thoroughly. Your reader cannot tell whether recieve, for example is a spelling error or a typographical error. Many such seemingly small matters add up. If you are aware that you frequently make particular kinds of errors (in comma usage or subject-verb agreement, for instance), read your manuscript once for each specific problem.

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you proofread your composition:

1. Did my manuscript print out as I expected it to? Is it properly linespaced? Is all the text legible?
2. Have I left out words or unnecessarily repeated words or phrases? Have I overlooked any errors in grammar or punctuation?
3. Has my spell check approved a word that is properly spelled but has the wrong meaning for this context?
4. Will I need to reprint my composition, or will my instructor allow me to handwrite in minor corrections?

Check for spelling slips by reading lines of your manuscript backwards. This allows you to read the words out of context and to view them separately, so your eye picks up errors you ordinarily pass over when reading for content.

Finally, it is a good idea to keep your notes and early drafts together with a copy of your submitted manuscript until your graded assignment is returned.

Having revised the largest elements of your composition, turn next to the sentences themselves. Again, the best approach is to ask yourself specific questions. Use the following list:

1. Do my sentences convey my thoughts clearly?
2. Do I subordinate less important ideas to more important ones?
3. Do my sentences emphasize the most important part of the thought?
4. Are they varied?
5. Are my sentences complete sentences?
6. Have I unintentionally written any sentence fragments?
7. Are any of my sentences comma splices or run-ons?

You may find that some of your sentences are long and rambling and that others are short and choppy, giving the impression that your thoughts are disconnected. Perhaps you shifted focus within some sentences or used the same sentence pattern throughout most of your composition. Sentence problems like these may drive you to reconsider paragraphs you previously thought were effective. Again, all this is good. Writing is recursive, moving back and forth between larger and smaller elements and among the various stages.

WPTips

Saving Materials

You never know when sections of text (more than a few phrases or sentences), references, or quotations you wish to delete from a draft may later prove useful, sometimes even after you have completed an assignment. Block off the material you want to delete, and move it to the end of your file in a section labeled “Supplementary Material.” When you are finished writing, print only up to that point, saving the file with the supplementary material intact.

Now look at your diction or use of words. Do you use the word tedious when you mean dull? Do you use man when you mean human? Do you use three words when one would do? To revise for diction, ask yourself the following questions, using the cross-referenced sections for help.

1. Is my diction exact, with each word meaning precisely what I think it does?
2. Do I engage my reader with concrete nouns and strong action verbs?
3. Do I use appropriate language, avoiding slang, regional language, pompous language, and doublespeak?
4. Is my language unbiased?
5. Is my writing fresh and forceful or burdened by unnecessary words?

Some aspects of editing allow for personal choice. Another writer, for example, might have changed the opening of the first sentence to As a sports fan who is also a purist. Both revisions solve the problem of wordiness. Of course outright errors must be corrected.

When you have finished writing your draft, give it an honest appraisal. Focus on the large issues of thesis, purpose, content, organization, and paragraph structure that affect your entire composition. It would be counter-productive to look at grammar and punctuation, for example, if the elements that make an essay “go” need work. Suppose you inherit an old car. Anyone can see that it badly needs a new paint job, but should you spend the money to have the work done if you do not know whether the car runs? What if you discover after you have invested in a paint job that the engine needs extensive repairs or, worse yet, is not worth fixing at all? So it is with writing. First you revisework on the large issues that clarify your purpose and improve your organization-and then you edit-check for correctness and style.

No one-no one-produces perfect prose on the first draft. Be prepared to revise and, in the words of one Canadian critic, “be prepared to revise your revision, and when your revision is revised, prepare yourself for the final revision. Then revise it again.”

Revise the Largest Elements of your Composition First

Revision is best done by asking yourself questions about what you have written. Otherwise, you can stare at a draft for a good long time, wondering what you should be looking for. Begin by reading, preferably aloud, what you have written. Reading aloud forces you to pay attention to every single word; you are more likely to catch lapses in the logical flow of thought. Then ask yourself the following questions, using the cross-referenced sections for help.

1. Is my topic well focused?
2. Does my thesis statement clearly state the point of my composition?
3. Do I have enough supporting details, and are my examples well chosen to support my thesis?
4. Is my organizational pattern the best one given my purpose?
5. Are my paragraphs effective?
6. Do I accomplish my purpose?

In answering these questions you may discover that parts of your paper bear little or no relationship to your thesis and purpose. You may need to rearrange your examples for greater impact. Or, perhaps you need a transition between paragraphs. All this is good. Revision is a process, and effective writing is the result of thoughtful revision.

The beginning of your paper, or the lead as journalists refer to it, is like a personal greeting; it attracts and holds the reader’s attention.
You might consider using one of the following beginnings:

1. An incident, anecdote, or illustration
2. Historical background
3. A quotation
4. A broad, general thesis statement
5. A contradictory or ironic statement
6. A surprising fact or idea
7. A statement
8. A rhetorical question

No matter how you attract your reader’s attention, however, your introduction should clearly relate to your thesis. For this reason, even though the temptation is to get it just right from the outset so you feel you are off to a good start, you may find it best to draft a workable beginning and then revise it after you have written and revised the body of your composition. When the body is in final form, you may have a better idea how to introduce it to your readers.

A good conclusion does more than indicate the end of your composition. You may use it to inspire your reader to some action or new way of thinking about a subject, or you may want to drive home a point you made in your lead by giving another particularly apt example or by repeating a key word or phrase to remind the reader of where you began your composition. You may also use your conclusion to summarize what you have written, but never in a mechanical way and not with such expressions as in summary, in conclusion, or as you can see.

As with beginnings, there are no rules to tell you how to conclude, but there is this simple principle: your conclusion should be a natural outgrowth of what you have said, appropriate to your subject, thesis, purpose, and audience.

See the essays on pages 1-2 and 29-32 for examples of good beginnings and endings.

In writing a draft, your main concern is to get your ideas down on paper. To a certain extent, let the topic take you where it will. Keep writing and do not be overly concerned about the exact wording or whether you punctuate correctly; concentrate on producing a lively flow of ideas and information. Be alert to new ideas about your topic, ideas that are fresh and potentially fruitful. You will revise and edit later.

Try writing your body in two stages. First, concentrate on the paragraphs and look at each individually. Do you provide enough details and examples? Second, look at the paragraphs as a group. Do the paragraphs work together as a unit? Do you need transitions to connect the individual parts logically and make them flow smoothly?

In other section, which deals with paragraphs, you will find advice on writing the topic sentence (PARA la) and the controlling idea (PARA Ib): strategies for paragraph development (PARA 2b) including coherence (PARA 3); and the use of transitions (PARA 3b).
As you write the draft, be mindful of your outline but do not become a slave to it. You may find yourself departing from the outline because you discover something new about your subject through writing about it. Let this happen, but make an “X” or a note in the margin indicating that you may be deviating from your plan. These notes will remind you of what you were thinking as you wrote and allow you to reconsider those thoughts in revising.

WPTips

Triple-spacing for Revision

If you triple-space between lines, you can easily make handwritten revisions on a printout (hard copy). Carry your hard copy with you to read at odd moments; sometimes when you are relaxed and not feeling pressed to produce, you will get new insights into your topic. Before printing out a final copy,. type changes, reformat, and double-space your file.

Sometimes we are so eager to get on with the actual writing that we begin before we are ready, and the results are disappointing. Before beginning to write, therefore, ask yourself, “Am I ready to write?” If you have done a thorough job of gathering ideas and information, if you feel you can accomplish the purpose of your paper, and if you are comfortable with your organizational plan, your answer will be “yes.”

If, however, you feel uneasy, review the steps in the planning stage to get at the cause of your uneasiness. Do you need to gather more information? Adjust your thesis? Rethink your purpose? Refine your organization? Now is the time to engage in critical thinking, to evaluate and clarify your writing plan. Time spent at this juncture is time well spent, and although it may not exactly feel as if you are making progress, you are making critical decisions that will affect the outcome of your composition.

Choose a Good Title

When you write your title is a matter of preference. Some people like to write it first, using it as a banner to guide the rest of the writing. Others prefer to write it last, after they have seen the final development of their ideas. Either way, when you decide to write your title, instead of trying to create the best one, brainstorm about a half dozen so you can choose among them.
A good title announces your subject and prepares your reader for the approach you take. For example, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King is an essay that delivers what its title promises: it explains what for many people is a difficult phenomenon to understand. A good title also hooks your reader. It sets up a question that makes your reader want to read on for an answer. Some titles, such as “Cholesterol” or “The Campus Bookstore” are merely labels. They are not bad, but they do not grab the reader’s interest the way these titles do: “Never Get Sick in July” (why is July worse than other months?); “When Television is a School for Criminals” (can criminals get ideas by watching television?).

WPTips

Capturing Titles

As you work on your composition, titles will occur to you. Do not lose your good ideas; designate an area at the beginning or end of your file and label it “Title Ideas,” so that when a good idea comes along, you can quickly move to that area of the file and type it in. Then, when it comes time to decide on a title, you will have some possibilities and not have to start from scratch.

Organize your material so as to present a logical sequence or flow of ideas and to provide the strongest support for your thesis statement. Begin by making an informal outline. State your title, purpose, and thesis at the top. List the three parts of your essay-introduction, body, conclusion. Select those ideas from your brainstorming or clustering activities that are essential to your thesis; these will form the body of your essay.

Informal Outline

Title: Signs of the times: Bumper Stickers
Purpose: Informative: to explain the purpose of bumper stickers.
Thesis: Bumper stickers express people’s beliefs, interests, and attitudes.

1. Introduction
2. Body - types of bumper stickers arranged in order of increasing social and cultural significance
   • Advertising on bumper stickers - examples
   • Humorous bumper stickers - examples
   • Ethnic and religious statements on bumper stickers - examples
   • Environmental, political, and social issues on bumper stickers - examples
3. Conclusion

Following is the formal outline for the Annotated Student Essay in COMP 6. Andy Pellett, a university student, prepared this outline to submit with his essay.

Title; The Perils of AstroTurf
Purpose; Persuasive; to argue for banning artificial turf and returning to natural turf as a playing surface for football and baseball.
Thesis; Artificial turf is a change for the worse.

1. Arguments for artificial turf
   • AstroTurf saves money
     • Counterargument: installation costs are high
     • Counterargument; artificial turf needs to be replaced more frequently, which further increases costs.
   • AstroTurf increases traction, especially during inclement weather.
     • Counterargument; Football and baseball are meant to be played in all kinds of weather.
     • Counterargument: Fans’ satisfaction is increased by seeing their teams playing in inclement weather.
2. Arguments against artificial turf
   • Artificial turf causes the ball to hop unnaturally, affecting player statistics and game strategy.
   • Artificial turf causes player injuries.
3. Conclusion: If we stick with real grass we cannot go wrong.

In writing a formal outline, follow these rules:

1. Include the title, a statement of purpose, and the thesis statement.
2. Write in complete sentences unless your meaning is immediately clear from a phrase.
3. Divide each category into at least two sub-categories. The reason for this is simple: you cannot logically divide something into fewer than two parts.
4. Observe the traditional formal outline pattern. Notice how each new level of specificity is given a new letter or number designation.

WPTips

Outlining

Develop a master outline file that can be copied for use with each writing project. Fill it in on the screen. Having a master file assures correct outline form (roman numerals, letters, and numerals), and using a word processor makes it easy to revise your outline during the writing process-adding, deleting, and rearranging ideas as you develop your composition.

Having arrived at a thesis statement and decided on your purpose for writing, it is time to consider your audience or intended readership. Tammi Lipski’s intended audience would be a fairly general one-readers interested in human traits and qualities-whereas Terry Mote’s audience would be somewhat narrower-college or university students preparing to embark on a career. Lisa Denis’s audience would also be narrower than Tammi Lipski’s; those who use or could potentially use disposable diapers.

Students often mistakenly assume their instructor is their only audience. Though it is true that your teacher will read your composition, do not forget the other students in your class. They, after all, make up the writing community to which you belong.

Use the following list of questions to identify your audience so you can make appropriate decisions on content, sentence structure, and word choice.

Audience Questions

Who are my readers?
Is my audience specialized (my chemistry lab partners, other Macintosh computer users) or general (literate adults)?
What do I know about my audience (age; sex; amount of education; religious, social, economic, and political attitudes)?
What does my audience know about my subject? What is their knowledge level-expert or novice?
What does my audience need to know that I can tell them? Will my audience have misconceptions that I can clarify?
What is my relationship to my audience: Boss? Equal? Subordinate?
How will my audience respond to what I have to say (interested, openminded, resistant, hostile)?
Is there any specialized language my audience needs or that I should avoid? What do I want my audience to do? How can I help them?
How should I sound-formal or informal?

The best writers empathize with their readers. They try to see things as their readers might, recognize and understand their problems and address them, and appeal to their emotions, their rational faculties, and their humanity.

Implied in your thesis statement is your purpose, the answer you give the question, “What am I trying to accomplish in this composition?” Being clear about your purpose helps you choose the best supporting details and arrange them in the most effective order (see PARA3a). For example, it is clear in Tammi Lipski’s thesis statement that she wishes to describe a person, to re-create him and in particular his loneliness for her readers. Terry Mote’s purpose is to inform readers of the three basic rules of conducting a job search. Lisa Denis ends her paragraph with the thesis statement that it is time to stop using disposable diapers because they are harmful, especially to the environment, a statement she will try to prove in order to persuade her readers. At the editing stage, keeping your purpose in mind helps you use language with an awareness of the effect you want it to have on your readers.

Generally, nonfiction writing has one of three purposes: (1) to express the writer’s thoughts and feelings about a life experience, (2) to inform readers by explaining something about the world around them, or (3) to persuade readers to some belief or action.

Writing from Experience

In writing from experience, or writing expressively, you put your thoughts and feelings before all other concerns. When you express yourself about what it felt like to turn eighteen, describe the relationship you have with your father, narrate a camping experience you had with a friend, or share an insight you had about the career you want to pursue, you are writing from experience. The first purpose of expressive writing is, therefore, to clarify life’s experiences, and the second purpose is to communicate what you learn to someone else. That is not to say expressive writing is not immensely appealing to readers; the reflections of a thoughtful and sensitive writer illuminate the reader’s experiences and clarify his or her own feelings and ideas. Here, for example, are the reflections of a writer on her ambitious nature.

I’ve always liked ambitious people, and many of my closest friends have had grandiose dreams. I like such people, not because I am desperate to be buddies with a future secretary of state but because I find ambitious people entertaining, interesting to talk to, and fun to watch. And, of course, I like such people because I am ambitious myself, and I would rather not feel apologetic about it. - Perri Klass, “Ambition”

Writing to Inform

Informative writing focuses on the world outside the writer-the events, people, places, things, and ideas in the objective or real world. In informative writing you report, explain, analyze, define, classify, compare, describe a process, or get at causes and effects (see PARA 2b). Informative writing is the kind most often found in newspaper and magazine articles and nonfiction books. Informative writing encompasses everything from an article on the Hubble telescope, your chemistry textbook, and a news update on a railroad strike to a provincial government subcommittee report on housing, a travel guide, and a computer manual.

The following example of informative writing provides useful information about Canadian history:

No study of Canadian history is intelligible without some understanding of Canada’s geography. Indeed, geography has been (and still is) one of Canada’s chief problems and has, therefore, been a vital factor in determining its history. - J.A. Lower, Canada: An Outline in History

Writing to Persuade

In writing to persuade you attempt to influence your reader’s thinking and attitudes toward a subject or issue and sometimes move him or her to a particular course of action. Persuasive writing uses logical reasoning and authoritative evidence and testimony, and sometimes emotionally charged language and examples.

There was a time when I traveled everywhere by train. The overnight trip from Toronto to Halifax aboard The Ocean or The Scotian used to be a delight and an adventure that most people today will never experience. But the government has decided to drastically reduce rail service, and Canada will be poorer for it. - Roger Mann, The Reluctant Writer

Most of the writing that you do in college or university will be informative and some will be persuasive in character; occasionally you may be asked to write from experience. Often you will use some combination of these types of writing in a single composition. For example, as an environmental science student you may find yourself informing your readers about the dangers of clear-cut logging, expressing your own beliefs about its effect, telling of an experience you had with an environmental group that has dealt with logging companies, and attempting to persuade your readers that changes are needed.

Having generated ideas and information, you are ready to begin organizing your thoughts. At this stage, you must commit to a controlling idea, a thesis. The thesis of a prose composition is its main idea, the point it is trying to make. The thesis is often expressed in one or two sentences called a thesis statement. Because everything you say in your composition must be logically related to your thesis statement, the thesis statement controls and directs the choices you make about the content of your essay (see PARA 1). That does not mean your thesis statement is a straitjacket, As your essay develops, you may want to modify your thesis statement. This is not only acceptable, it is normal. Remember that writing is a recursive process; you move back and forth among the stages as you clarify your thoughts and try to communicate them to your reader.

Here are some examples of thesis statements.

He was the best friend a person could have, but if I had to choose one word to describe him, it would be lonely. - Tammi Lipski, student

In order for students to successfully compete after graduation in the job market, they must follow three basic rules in their job search. - Terry Mote

These are good thesis statements because they lead naturally into the rest of the essay: we want to know more about the loneliness of the person Lipski describes, and we want to know what Mote considers to be the three basic rules of the job search. Both thesis statements set up expectations in the reader’s mind. For the writer, both thesis statements strike a level of generality that is not so broad as to be impossible to support in the space allotted or so focused as to require virtually no supporting evidence.

The thesis statement is usually set forth near the beginning of the composition, sometimes after a few sentences that establish a context. In the beginning of an essay on the harmful effects of disposable diapers, Lisa Denis builds a context for the last two sentences in which she presents her thesis statement:

Picture yourself having to change a child’s diaper. I’ll bet you don’t see yourself using a cloth diaper and pins. The use of disposable diapers has become the norm in today’s fast-paced society. But the fact is we have no idea of the damage they do. The time has come to put an end to their use. Disposable diapers are expensive, potentially harmful to babies, and environmentally unsound. - Lisa Denis, student

On occasion you may want to delay presenting the thesis until the middle or end of a composition. If the thesis is controversial or needs extended background discussion, presenting it later may make it easier for the reader to understand and accept it. Also, appearing near or at the end of an essay, a thesis gains prominence, and giving it such a position of importance may suit your purpose.

If you already know something about your topic, you might begin collecting ideas by brainstorming, listing the things you know in no particular order. Freely associate one idea with another; let your mind take you in whatever direction it will. Try not to censor yourself or edit your brainstorming because you simply do not know what will emerge or how valuable it might be in the end. Write quickly. Do not worry about spelling or punctuation; abbreviate. Also, because all your ideas may not occur during one brainstorming session, keep your list over several days, adding new thoughts as they come to you. Here is a typical brainstorming list.

When you complete your brainstorming list, number or color-code the entries that closely relate to one another. This is sorting, the first step in thinking about possible organizational patterns and outlining.

WPTips

Brainstorming

Brainstorming on a computer stimulates your thinking because it allows you to keep up with your thoughts, especially if you are a fast typist. Moreover, because a word processor provides a different medium for capturing your thoughts, it may take you down more imaginative paths.

Try brainstorming with your screen switched off or turned down low.

Brainstorming relies on free-association (the presence of one idea suggesting another), but some people find that looking at what they have written inhibits rather than stimulates their thinking. If you try this, every so often turn on the screen momentarily to make sure nothing has gone wrong technically and that you are actually capturing your thoughts. When you are done, turn on the screen to see what you have and print it out if you wish.

Clustering

Another strategy for generating ideas and gathering information is clustering. Put your topic, or a key word or phrase about your topic, in the center of a sheet of paper and draw a circle around it. (The example on page 10 shows the topic gun control in the centre.) Draw four or five (or more) lines out from this circle, and jot down main ideas about your topic; draw circles around them. Repeat the process by drawing lines from the secondary circles and adding examples, details, and maybe questions you have. Or, you may find yourself pursuing one line of thought through many add-on circles before beginning a new cluster. Do whatever works for you. As with brainstorming, keep writing-do not stop to think about being neat or capitalizing correctly.

Clustering allows you to generate material and sort it into meaningful groupings at the same time. Again, sorting is the first step to outlining.

WPTips

Clustering

If your word-processing program has graphics capability, try clustering on screen. Use balloons, boxes, tree diagrams, and lines to diagram and group your ideas. This can be fun as well as productive.

Keeping a Journal

Many people find their best ideas come when they are not actually working on a writing assignment, so they have learned to keep a journal. They carry a little notebook to record thoughts and observations, bits of overheard conversation, ironies, insights, and interesting facts and statistics from newspaper and magazine articles.

Freewriting

Journals are also useful for doing freewriting. Freewriting is simply writing for a brief uninterrupted period of time, say five or ten minutes, on anything that comes into your mind. It is a way of getting your mind working and easing into the writing task. Start with a blank sheet of paper or computer screen and write as quickly as you can without stopping for any reason whatsoever. Don’t worry about punctuation or spelling. Write as if you were talking to your best friend. If you run dry, don’t stop; repeat the last few things you wrote or write “I have nothing to write” over and over again, and you’ll be surprised-writing with more content will begin to emerge. Once you have become comfortable with open-ended freewriting, you can move to more focused freewriting in which you write about specific aspects of your topic. By freewriting regularly, you will come to feel more natural and comfortable about writing.

Researching

You may sometimes want to supplement what you know about your topic with research. This does not necessarily mean formal library work (see UB); firsthand observations and interviews with people knowledgeable about your topic are also forms of research and usually more up-to-date. Whatever your form of research, take careful notes (see RESCH 2c), so you can accurately paraphrase an author or quote interviewees.

Rehearsing Ideas

Some writers find it helpful to rehearse what they are going to write before committing their thoughts to paper. Rehearsal involves running ideas or phrasings through your mind until they are fairly well crafted and then transferring them to paper. The image of the writer at the keyboard, staring off into space, perhaps best captures the essence of this technique. Rehearsing may suit your personality and the way you work; moreover, because it requires a lot of thought, rehearsing may help you generate ideas. Rehearsing may also be done orally. Try taking ten or fifteen minutes to talk your way through your paper with a roommate or friend.

Visualizing your Topic

Some experts believe that much of our thinking is done through images. Tapping into those images can be a productive way of developing your ideas. For example, if you wish to describe a totem pole, visualizing one you recently saw in British Columbia can make your task easier. Imagining that totem pole can also help you to visualize the lives of the traditional Haida people on the West coast.

Thinking Creatively

There are many definitions of creativity, but in one way or another, creativity involves moving beyond what is generally regarded as normal or expected. To push an idea one step further, to make a connection not recognized by others, to step to one side of your topic and see it in a new light, to ask a question no one else would, to arrive at a fresh insight, is to be creative. Creativity and inspired thinking are within the reach of most writers if they take the writing process seriously and work hard.

Ideas and information lie at the heart of good prose. Ideas grow from information; information (facts and details) supports ideas. To inform and intellectually stimulate your readers, gather as many ideas and as much specific information as you can about your topic. If you try to write before doing so, you run the risk of producing a shallow, boring draft. Good strategies for generating ideas and collecting information-and for beginning to make connections within the body of information you accumulate-include asking questions, brainstorming, clustering, keeping a journal, researching, rehearsing ideas, visualizing your topic, and always trying to think creatively.

Asking Questions

Ask questions about your topic to discover areas for exploration and development. The newspaper reporter’s 5Ws and an H - Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, and How? - are excellent questions to start with. Usually, too, questions give rise to yet more questions. Every set of questions will vary with the topic and with the person formulating them. Here is one sample set.

1. Who discovered it?
2. What does it look like?
3. Where was it discovered?
4. When was it discovered?
5. Why did it take so long to be discovered?
6. How can I get some of it?
   • How much does it cost?
   • Are there limitations on how much I can buy?
   • Who sells it?
   • Where can I buy it?
   • Can I resell it?

WPTips

Saving Key Questions

Develop a master file of key questions that you ask yourself at various stages of the writing process: questions about your subject, your topic, various drafts you write, and so forth. Leave several lines between the questions. This way you can copy (and rename) the file each time you begin an assignment, typing in answers and notes as you work and keeping the original for use again. Over time, you will find yourself revising your master file questions as you discover more about your personal writing style.

A topic is the specific aspect of a subject on which the writer focuses. Subjects such as literature, television, and sports are too broad to be dealt with adequately in a short composition; even books focus on only aspects of these and other subject areas. The writer’s task is to select a manageable topic within the chosen or assigned subject area. Thus, if your subject is sports, you might choose as your topic the growing popularity of soccer in Canada, violence in hockey, types of fan behaviour, the psychology of marathon runners, or the growth of sports medicine.

When moving from a subject to a particular topic, take into account any length or format constraints and the amount of time you have to write. These are practical considerations that affect the scope of your topic. The following examples illustrate how to limit a topic.

Farming » livestock » cows » dairy cow diseases » parasite control in dairy cows

Music » classical » Haydn » symphonies » Haydn’s Symphony 101

Advertising » TV advertising » TV advertising of food » TV advertising of cereals » TV advertising of high-fiber cereals

Notice that each successive topic is more limited than the one before it. Moving from general to specific, the topics become appropriate for essay-length work.

A subject is a general field of knowledge; farming, clothing, business, ecology, and transportation are all subjects. You may know a great deal about the subject of your essay or you may simply be curious about an area and wish to expand your knowledge of it.

If you are free to choose your own subject, begin by asking yourself these questions: “What do I really care about?” “What am I interested in?” “What do I know something about?” “What do I want to learn about?” Your answers to these questions will provide you with potentially good subjects. Resist the temptation to seize the first subject that comes to mind. Take your time. Review the possibilities, and then pick the one subject that most appeals to you and best suits your audience.

Much of your college writing will be in response to very specific assignments: your physical science professor may ask you to write a paper presenting pro and can evidence of the greenhouse effect. With such a narrowed topic, you can move ahead to collecting information and formulating a thesis, a one- or two-sentence statement of your main idea. At other times your instructor may assign only a general subject and ask you to choose a particular aspect of it to write on. For example, your business teacher may assign a paper on retail merchandising, giving you the opportunity to choose a specific topic (say, the popularity of recreational vehicles), and develop your own thesis (to explain how the sale of recreational vehicles is affected by the economy).

Sometimes your instructor will allow you to write on any subject that interests you. In such a case, you may already have an idea for a paper in mind (why you feel that federal funding for post-secondary education should be increased, for instance). What happens, however, when you are free to choose your own subject and you cannot think of anything to write about? If you find yourself in this situation, follow the advice set forth in the rest of this section. We give many approaches to selecting a suitable subject and topic; one will work for you.

The planning stage of the writing process encompasses everything you do before you actually begin to write. In planning, you:

1. Analyze the writing task,
2. Choose a subject,
3. Focus on a topic,
4. Generate ideas and collect information,
5. Formulate a thesis statement,
6. Determine your purpose,
7. Analyze your audience, and
8. Make an outline.

Each of these stages is discussed in detail in the following pages.

Throughout this writer’s resources, but most frequently in Composing, you will find suggestions to help you make the most of a word processor as you write. You do not need a word processor to write, of course, but most prefer to work on one. The word-processing tips are labeled WPTips and are found in the blue shaded boxes in the text. The tips are not meant to be exhaustive, nor are they a substitute for the directions and advice offered by your computer manual; rather, the tips serve as a bridge between the instruction in writing and the many ways a word processor can facilitate the composing process. Here, to begin with, are some general word-processing tips.

WPTips

Saving Files

The best tip anyone can give you about using a word processor is this: always save your work as you compose. If you do not have an automatic save feature, make it a habit to press the save key periodically. By doing so you will not lose your work because of a general power failure or because your computer crashes.

Backing up Files

Almost as important as periodically saving your files is making a backup copy of your finished work. Preferably, do this on a diskette and not on your hard drive; if your hard drive fails, you can simply run the diskette on another computer.

Saving Drafts

Rather than revising the same draft over and over again, keep each draft intact. Copy your file and designate it filename I, filename 2, filename 3, and so on. The point is that if you want to return to an earlier draft at a later stage, you will have it. An earlier organizational pattern or a particular phrasing may have been the best after all.

Shared Computers

If you plan to use any shared computer like a school’s or library’s computer lab, check the hours it is open, and keep in mind that others will probably want computer time just when you do. Leave enough time in your schedule to be flexible.

Keeping Supplies

Keep a supply of spare diskettes on hand in order to make backup copies. Change the ribbon or toner cartridge in your printer regularly. (It is a good idea to have a spare cartridge, too.)

A good prose composition, regardless of its length, is purposeful and well organized. In the following essay Harold Krents uses examples from his personal experience to argue for an enlightened understanding of people’s abilities and limitations.

Darkness at Noon

Blind from birth, I have never had the opportunity to see myself and have been completely dependent on the image I create in the eye of the observer. To date it has not been narcissistic.

There are those who assume that since I can’t see, I obviously also cannot hear. Very often people will converse with me at the top of their lungs, enunciating each word very carefully. Conversely, people will also whisper, assuming that since my eyes don’t work, my ears don’t either.

For example, when I go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for assistance to the plane, he or she will invariably go to the phone, call a passenger agent and whisper: “Hi, Jane, we’ve got a 76 here.” I have concluded that the word “blind” is not used for one of two reasons: either they fear that if the dread word is spoken, the ticket agent’s retina will immediately detach or they are reluctant to inform me of my condition of which I may not have been previously aware.

On the other hand, others know that of course I can hear, but believe that I can’t talk. Often, therefore, when my wife and I go out for dinner, a waiter or waitress will ask Kit if “he would like a drink” to which I respond that “indeed he would.”

This point was graphically driven home to me while we were in England. I had been given a year’s leave of absence from my law firm to study for a diploma in law degree at Oxford University. During the year I became ill and was hospitalized. Immediately after admission, I was wheeled down to the X-ray room. Just at the door sat an elderly woman-elderly I would judge from the sound of her voice. “What is his name?” the woman asked the orderly who had been wheeling me.

“What’s your name?” the orderly repeated to me. “Harold Krents,” I replied.

“Harold Krents,” he repeated.

“When was he born?”

“When were you born?”

“November 5, 1944,” I responded.

“November 5, 1944,” the orderly intoned.

This procedure continued for approximately five minutes at which point even my saint-like disposition deserted me. “Look,” I finally blurted out, “this is absolutely ridiculous. Okay, granted I can’t see, but it’s got to have become pretty clear to both of you that I don’t need an interpreter.”

“He says he doesn’t need an interpreter,” the orderly reported to the woman.

The toughest misconception of all is that because I can’t see, I can’t work. I was turned down by over forty law firms because of my blindness, even though my qualifications included a cum laude degree from my university and a good ranking in my law school class.

The attempt to find employment, the continuous frustration of being told that it was impossible for a blind person to practise law, the rejection letters, not based on my lack of ability but my disability, will always remain one of the most disillusioning experiences of my life.

Fortunately, this view of limitation and exclusion is beginning to change. The federal government has issued regulations that mandate equalemployment opportunities for the handicapped. By and large, the business community’s response to offering employment to the disabled has been enthusiastic.

I therefore look forward to the day, with the expectation that it is certain to come, when employers will view their handicapped workers as a little child did me years ago.

I was playing basketball with my father in our backyard according to procedures we had developed. My father would stand beneath the hoop, shout, and I would shoot over his head at the basket attached to our garage. Our next-door neighbour, aged five, wandered over into our yard with a playmate. “He’s blind,” our neighbour whispered to her friend in a voice that could be heard distinctly by Dad and me. Dad shot and missed; I did the same. Dad hit the rim; I missed entirely. Dad shot and missed the garage entirely. “Which one is blind?” whispered back the little friend.

I would hope that in the near future when a plant manager is touring the factory with the foreman and comes upon a handicapped and nonhandicapped person working together, his comment after watching them work will be, “Which one is disabled?”

From the title, which introduces the writer’s blindness and foreshadows the ironic “blindness” of those around him, to the vivid examples of his frustrations and the hope he has for the future, Krents focuses every element of his essay on his purpose-to argue that since everyone has limitations, we should look at abilities.

Writers like Harold Krents do not rely on luck or inspiration to produce an effective piece of writing. Good writers plan, write, revise, and edit. Keep in mind, however, that the writing process is rarely as simple and straightforward as this. Often the process is recursive, moving back and forth among the four stages. Moreover, writing is very personalno two people go about it exactly the same way. Still, it is possible to describe steps in the writing process and thereby have a reassuring and reliable method for undertaking a writing task and writing a good composition.