PROPERLY WRITING IN ENGLISH
Your introduction either can come as a question that should be answered along
T HE STRUCTURE
A structured writing has, in many ways, much more chances to succeed when
submitted under a strict evaluation due to two main reasons, the first being the
guaranteed straightness when presenting ideas and the second, the parallelism
given by the sentence enchainment.
1. B EGINNING F OR THE BEGINNING : LISTING IDEAS
When asked for writing about a topic, you should distinguish the specific point you
want to write about: to help you through, it is a good idea to list the main argu-
ments, topics and issues and keep with these listed items all over the text.
As an example, imagine you want to write about abortion and you agree with it: these
could be interesting topics for you to develop:
- unwanted pregnancies
- extreme danger in bad abortion procedures
- womens freedom and rights
That being, you should retain yourself over these topics and do not extrapolate
with other issues you did not listed: knowing about what you are speaking is the
most important thing before going to speak, and the same is applied to properly
writing. Though, if some listed topic is not going to be used, it can be joined to
another one being the case so, enriching the argument.
2. M AKING YOURSE LF UNDER STOOD : INTRODUCTION
If you have the initial listed ideas developed, this means the ideas for the body of
your text is already done. For you to be better understood, you should make an
introductory paragraph, in which you transform the items of your list into a sen-
tence. Here, you are supposed to make yourself brief and say what are you going
to talk about.
your explanation, or it can also be a group of short statements that has the main
idea of your opinion. Observe that the sentence in bold is a generic statement,
while the italics are the items of the list.
Much has been said about abortion lately, but some still avoid seeing the truth behind
its legalization. Many the women suffer with unwanted pregnancies, and submit them-
selves to extremely dangerous abortion procedures that can have them arrested, not to
mention that women should choose the options for their own bodies.
3. E NTERING THE SCENE : THE OPENING SENTENCE
After having your ideas listed, think about which are more important, the ones you
know best or fit to your beliefs/background data, and proceed to explore the open-
ing sentence of your paragraph: this is the most important part of it, and best re-
sults are probable if you let this main sentence in the first place. The rest of the
paragraph will be developed around this idea you are to write, and so it can be
either affirmative or interrogative, as long as it opens way for you to continue writ-
ing about the idea. I choose the first item to make an opening sentence.
Many women have suffered from being pregnant, no matter for which reasons, when
they did not want to be so.
4. E XPLORING IDEAS : P ARAGRAPHS
When the opening sentence is made, you should list all the information you have
about these ideas: you must maintain your argument by supporting facts and evi-
dences and explicitly show how these data assist your statement. Also, you can
bring thoughts, feelings, impressions, beliefs and other ideas as a helping hand for
your argument, but make sure they are clear: they must work as if they were en-
couraging your argument, and by so they must not be neither circular nor rhetori-
cal (the lemon is a citric fruit and all citric fruits are bitter, so the lemon is bitter).
If another text of any other source of information is given to you, and on it you can
find any kind of supporting data, make sure these statements help what you want
to say: the point is that your argument must be assisted by opinions suggested in
the stuff you have or know, and it is up to you to link these data and your ideas.
Use examples abundantly, for they guarantee a good justification.
Developing the main ideas once listed, lets take the first done opening sentence
and expand it with hypotheses.
Many women have suffered from being pregnant, no matter for which reasons, when they
did not desire so. Regardless the reason (raping, unwilling to become a parent), any wom-
an should have the opportunity undergo abortion, because otherwise both will suffer: her
by carrying on an undesired offspring, and the child for not being cared. In addition to
that, many poor families already present numerous children and not enough knowledge
about contraceptive methods: having even more unwanted people under the same al-
ready though conditions does not seem the desirable environment for someone to grow
up. And what to say about those men who patronize their women in their houses, obliging
them to raise as many children as a soccer team can have?
always be subordinated less specific sentences. In a crescent range, in the same
paragraph we have the supporting data, thoughts, feelings, evidences or facts all
subordinated to the opening sentence of each paragraph, and on the whole text
we have the conclusion ruled by the body of the text that is under the introduction.
Seeing the text as an hierarchic complex helps to understand it as a systematical
theory: first you present it (introduction), then you explain it (body), then you say
the reason for it to be this way (conclusion) and, in each part, you say what you
mean (opening sentence) and support your speech (data).
Nonononono nonononononono. Nononononono
Introduction
nonononono. Nononononono nonononono nono nonono.
1 statement
1Nonononono nonononononono. Nononononono
supportive 1

5. W HAT DO YOU THINK : CONCLUSION

nonononono nono nonononono nononono . Nononononono
data 2 3
nonononono nono nonononono . Nononononono .
Having all the information presented upon the topics you choose, its time for you Body
2 Nonononono nonononononono. Nononononono
to clearly answered the question you have proposed to yourself while giving your 1
nonononono nono nonononono nononono . Nononononono
opinion on the subject: what do I think about that? 2
nonononono nono nonononono .
A conclusion paragraph does not need to summarize what you have said, but it Nonononono nonononononono. Nononononono
has to agree with all the sides you picked while defending what you think. It must nonononono nono nonononono nononono. Nononononono Conclusion
be clear to you that your conclusion has to do with your opinion: so, it is related to nonononono nono nonononono.
the issue of the subject and not with the subject itself.

For example, when discussing abortion we are not talking about the medical pro-

T HE CONTENT
cedure itself: we are dealing with how fair it is to legalize abortion, fair to whom,
why and how it should be conducted if it should. So, in the conclusion, our opinion
about these conditions of the issue should be present. The structure aspect regulates the shape of what you are saying, but this is not
enough: having a good shape helps to improve the quality, but the content is as
Given the presented conditions, forbidding someone to have ones freedom of choice important as the form it shows. A wide vocabulary and lots of knowledge about
represents a drawback: if our society follows the human rights, and by so every single different things help you to get through even in the most complicated issues.
human being must be considered free, refusing to legalize abortion represents an illegal
obstruction, not to mention cruel to all those afflicted by the averting of their own will.

1. D O NOT BE LIM ITED : AVOID WORDS REPETITION

6. A GOOD JOB MUST LOOK BEAUTIFUL & SIMPLE
Parallelism happens when a sentence leads to another, and by this way all the text
becomes a good looking cloth made out of fabric. All the used structures must
have something to do with the others, and by so more specific sentences shall
One of the worst things about reading a text is seeing always the same word re-
peating over and over. Besides of the boredom, a repeated expression is like a
hammer in the brain: if you read the same term several times, your attention di-
verts from the texts meaning content to its pieces, and this is not good if you want
to be straightened understood.
a) Make use of pronouns. If the possibly repeated word is close to the point your a) Adjectives and past participles are your friends. Much can be said if the order
writing, use a pronoun to replace it. of your words is the correct one: many times, just a simple inversion of terms can
be helpful.
Instead of saying:
The woman is beautiful. If I could, I would marry the woman. Instead of saying: You should try:
This game is so nice that I could play this game forever. The information that was given was wrong. The information given was wrong.
I like that jacket that is blue. I like that blue jacket.
You should try:
The woman is beautiful. If I could, I would marry her.
This game is so nice that I could play it forever. b) Nouns like to be together. Nouns can be near each other to be read backwards;
this avoids the excess of useless prepositions.
However, make sure that the pronoun is used for one and only one term, to avoid
ambiguity. Instead of saying: You should try:
These walls made of brick are the best. These brick walls are the best.
Ann and Joan went to her apartment. (Whose apartment? Anns or Joans?) These sticks of incense are stinky. I dont like these stinky incense sticks.

c) One thing at a time. Avoid trying to say too much things in the same sentence,
b) Synonyms. When in different sentences, the same expression can be replaced by otherwise it will seem that you are just blabbing.
another that has the same meaning.
Instead of saying:
Instead of saying: It is nice to go to the mall because it is clean, there are many stores with different things
In these days, it is hard to be a mother: you have to do hard tasks and behave as a moth- inside, we can choose different things to eat and there are always some friends togeth-
er all the time your children are around. er.
You should try: You should try:
In these days, it is hard to be a mother: you have to do tough tasks and behave as a par- Malls are clean places where many different stores sell food, and friends use to gather.
ent all the time your children are around.

3. T AKE A BREATH : PUNCTUATION

c) Reduce the sentences. If parts of your sentence are equal in different places on a
near area, you can reduce them by grouping through a gerund or past participle.
Much people dont know how to use punctuation marks, even though they are pret-
Instead of saying: ty simple and logical: they are supposed to insert pauses between the sentences,
I should enter the train. The train leaves in five minutes.
as so the reader can have the words listened into his/her mind with the intent the
You should try: writer wanted to put on the text. The best way to learn the right place and the cor-
I should enter the train leaving in five minutes. rect mark you should use is by reading aloud good texts and analyzing how the
author has put his/her marks on the sentences: by so you must note that punctua-
tion not only make the emphasis of each idea, but also helps to breath while read-
2. T HE LESS THE BEST : BE CONCISE ing aloud.

You do not need to go around and around your idea: getting straight to the point a) One point, one idea. Periods (.) are used to finish the view set of a complete idea.
does the best way to guarantee a better understand. The more concise you are, You can continue developing the same opinion after a period, but it will be with a
the more you prove your capacity to organize your opinions around a clear point. different approach.
 Instead of saying: d) You can be dramatic if you know how to do it. Some punctuation marks were
Joan has left her home in the morning and got a bus into the station, when she was at designed to express feelings and specific ways to read something. Question marks
work, they asked her to go back home. (?) express questions; exclamation marks (!) mean expressive feelings depending
on the words close to it; and ellipsis () leave a suspense aura in the sentence.
You should try:
Joan has left her home in the morning and got a bus into the station. When she was at Instead of saying: You should try:
work, they asked her to go back home. I didnt know she was that wrong. I didnt know she was that wrong!
Would you mind borrowing me that pen. Would you mind borrowing me that pen?
I wonder what he is doing writing now. I wonder what he is doing writing now
b) Dont get tired: breathe. In long sentences or groups of words, commas (,) can
be used to help you while you are developing your ideas.
e) Make or quote comments. If you have an apart relevant comment to do upon a
Instead of saying: statement, you can put it between dashes (); if you think that someones com-
This happy little brown and white dog is very nice. ment can be added to your ideas, you should put it between quotation marks ( ).

You should try: Instead of saying:

This happy, little, brown and white dog is very nice. When I think about it and I do it all the time I know why I love her.
The doctor says you have a very good health.
Related clauses also are separated by commas, denoting that they are together
but speak about different related things. You should try:
When I think about it and I do it all the time I know why I love her.
Instead of saying: The doctor says: you have a very good health.
Once upon a time there was a little man called Little Thumb.
She left the house Joan says.
I didnt know if I were supposed to who did this.
4. B E SIMPLE
You should try:
a) If you know what you are saying, you dont need to spend much time working on
Once upon a time, there was a little man called Little Thumb. how to say it: just think it clearly and straightly, avoid getting back to the same
She left the house, Joan says. point and link your ideas as if you were trying to explain your opinion to a child.
I didnt know, if I were supposed to, who did this
Instead of saying:
All over the world the technology is taking people together because nowadays we can talk
c) Explain yourself. Colons (:) and semicolons (;) help you through explanations and with people that are far from just by using the internet which connects us all day long
long descriptions, and avoid the repeated use of linking words such as who or with everybody no matter where, and this is great because people who cannot see each
that. Colons explain and extend your opinion about something, while semicolons
other for long periods are actually able to communicate by these ways.
make a larger break in the same issue with a meaning detour.
You should try:
Instead of saying:
The technological advances, such as internet, have made life easier to people who
This is a very nice guy who helps us to solve our problems but I find him recently cheating
couldnt communicate due the geographic distance.
upon his girlfriend and this is bad.

You should try:

This is a very nice guy: he helps us to solve our problems; but I find him recently cheating b) Avoid extreme opinions (such as never, always, all the people) and superlatives
upon his girlfriend: this is bad. (the best, the worst), because they denote you are not able to see the different
sides on situations.
 Instead of saying:
We will never be able to legalize the gay marriage.
C HECKLIST
USA always wins all the Olympic Games because theyre the best. 1. Identify the topic.

You should try: 2. Choose a side.

Many societies find it difficult to legalize the gay marriage.
USA uses to win the Olympic Games due its hard training contestants. 3. Write a list of possible opinions.

4. Do the introduction.

c) Use punctuation with moderation. a) Write a generic sentence.

Instead of saying: b) Transform the item list in a sentence.
And then, she says, she should, really, get over through the point, here, because, it is,
indeed, getting late. 5. Do the paragraphs.
You should try: a) Write an opening sentence (expressing your opinion).
And then, she says, she should really get over through the point here because it is indeed
getting late. b) Write an explanation so as to why you think so.

c) Write an example to present what you think.

d) Say what you mean, but be kind. A good thing to do is write some first version 6. Do the conclusion.
and then, while making the final one, cut out the useless sentences and review
parts that you think can be misunderstood or mistaken. a) Continue the sentence, what I wanted to say was that
Instead of saying:
b) Give suggestions or future ideas.
She is very stupid.
This is the worst idea I have ever heard. 7. Check the use of language.
You should try:
a) Check repeated words; replace them for synonyms or pronouns.
She seems to have problems to understand some things.
I am not sure about how good this idea is. b) Check for native-language influence.

c) Check for long sentences; break them down with punctuation.

e) Avoid the use of you. You denotes you are talking to the reader as I am now.
d) Check for common words or the use of you, and replace accordingly.
Instead of saying:
8. Did you say what you wanted to say? If not, change the sentence until what is writ-
If you compare the costs and benefits, you can see that this is the best option.
ten expresses what you wanted to say.
You should try:
Comparing the costs and benefits, it is possible to see that this is the best option.