Basic Writing Skills

Introduction
 Word
A word is a meaningful unit of language sounds. Or it can be a meaningful sound or combination
of sounds. There are two types of words.
1. Function words: they are words such as prepositions (at, on, with, from etc.), articles (a,
an, the). They have grammatical purposes, and they express relationship among words.
2. Content words: they are words having meaning beyond grammar function.
Example: nouns: boy, cow, bed, car
Pronoun: he, she, they, you, it, I
Verb: play, dance, kick
Adjective: strong, fast, good
Adverb: quickly, bravely
E.g. The boy hit the child with a toy.
From the above sentence, the function and content words are:
Function words: the, the, with, a
Content words: boy, hit, child, toy
 Phrase: it could be a word or a group of related words that has no subject or predicate,
and it is used as a single part of speech.
E.g. I watched a movie.
Np: I
Vp: watched a movie
 Clause: it is a group of words which has a subject and predicate. There are two types of
clause.
1. Main (independent) clause: it has a subject and predicate, but there is no
subordination.
E.g. The girl is so beautiful.
2. Subordinate (dependent) clause: it has a subject and predicate in the presence of
subordination. In order to have a meaningful thought, there must be a main clause.
E.g. The girl is beautiful when she wears the Ethiopian cultural dress.
Main clause subordinate clause

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 Chapter One

1.1. Sentence

A sentence is a group of words that we use to communicate our ideas in writing and speech. It is
complete, independent unit of thought and consists of two main parts: a subject and a predicate.

Subject: person, thing, place

Predicate: makes a statement about the subject (verb + modifier + complement)

E.g. Sara and John have shown a commendable achievement in their academic endeavor.

Subject Predicate

1.1.1 Types of Sentence

Depending on the number and type of clauses they contain, sentences can be classified into four:

1. Simple sentence: it is an independent clause.

E.g. -I enjoy watching movies every Saturday and Sunday.
-All students should be patient, optimist and kind.
2. Compound sentence: it is formed by combining two or more independent clauses in any
one of the following three ways.
a. By a coordinating conjunction
E.g. I enjoy watching movies, but I hate playing tennis.
b. By a sentence connector (conjugative adverb)
E.g. I enjoy watching movies; however, I hate playing tennis.
c. By a semi-colon
E.g. I enjoy watching movies; I hate playing tennis.
3. Complex sentence: it is constructed by merging dependent and independent clauses. The
two clause can be in either order.
E.g. If I were you, I would let her go. Or
I would let her go if I were you.
4. Compound complex sentence: it is a combination of two or more independent clauses
and one or more dependent clause or vice versa.

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 E.g. Come on time; otherwise you will miss the Sophomore English class whose teacher
is angry at late comers.
1.1.2 Kinds of sentence
Based on their purpose or function, sentences are classified into four kinds.

1. Declarative: they are statements.

E.g. I am a student
2. Interrogative: they are used to form questions.
E.g. What do you mean by command economy?
3. Imperative: they are either requests or commands
E.g. Would you give me the pen please! (Request)
Don’t park the car. (Command)
4. Exclamatory: they are used to show exclamation.
E.g. What a paradox? (To show a surprise)

1.1.3. Sentence combination

Two or more ideas can be connected by two common methods: coordination and subordination.

1. Coordination: it is a method of joining two independent clauses by using coordinators.

I. Coordinating conjunctions

The most common coordinating conjunctions in writing are for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so.
When we use these coordinating conjunctions to join complete sentences, we should use a
comma before the coordinators.

 For: it shows logical consequences

a. The boy eat very quickly.
b. The boy was very hungry.
Combined sentence: The boy eat very quickly, for he was very hungry.
 And: it shows the addition of two positive ideas
a. We went to the movies.
b. We ate popcorn.
Combined: We went to the movies, and we ate popcorn.

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  Nor: It shows equality of two negative ideas.
a. He did not study for the exam.
b. He did not pass the exam.
Combined: He did not study for the exam, nor did he pass.
 But: shows contrast or opposition.
 Or: it shows choices.
 Yet: it shows strong opposition.
 So: it shows cause and effect relationship.
II. Correlative conjunctions

They are coordinating words that work in pairs to join words, phrases and sentences. They are:

I. Either…or: one of the two

E.g. To go to Lalibala, you can use either a bus or a plane.
II. Neither…nor: none of the two
E.g. Neither Abebe nor Almaz knew the secret.
III. Both…and: both
E.g. Both John and Sara are clever students.
IV. Whether…or: dilemma /confusion/
E.g. I’m not sure whether Abebe or Elias is a clever student.

V. Not only…but also: both (with emphasis)

E.g. Not only the government but also the people are responsible for the economic
inflation.

III. Adverb conjunctions

It is an adverb used to relate and connect main clauses in a sentence. Common conjunctive
adverbs are:

Addition: moreover, in addition, furthermore

Contrast: however, nonetheless, nevertheless, in contrast, contrarily

Result: therefore, consequently, thus, as a result

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Alternative: instead, otherwise

E.g. I ordered the concert ticket by mail; therefore, I didn’t have to stand in line.

Unlike coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, adverb conjunctions occupy different

positions within the main clause in which they stand.

E.g. He loved the girl; however, he didn’t marry her.

He loved the girl; he didn’t, however, marry her.

Most adverb conjunctions are preceded by a semi colon and followed by a comma. However,
adverb conjunctions such as still and also are not preceded by a semi colon but followed by a
comma.
E.g. Sorry I’m late. My alarm didn’t go off. The road was also too crowded.

Some other adverb conjunctions like otherwise and then are preceded by a semi colon but not
followed by a comma.

E.g. John must be sick; otherwise he would be here.

Saba took shower; then she dressed her cloth.

2. Subordination

It is the joining of an independent and a dependent clause in the same sentence by using
subordinators. In subordination, the status of one of the sentences to be combined is reduced to a
subordinate (dependent) clause.

The linking devices we use in subordination are:

- Subordinating conjunctions
- Relative pronouns
I. Subordinating conjunction

It is a kind of conjunction that joins subordinate clauses with independent clauses.

E.g. a. The bus was late.

b. I arrived late to work.

Combined: Because the bus was late, I arrived late to work.

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Here, the addition of the subordinate conjunction ‘because’ changes the independent clause into
dependent clause.

Common subordinate conjunctions are:

Cause: because, since, as

Time: since, as, after, when, before, while

Condition: if, unless

Contrast: although, though, even though, while, where as

Result: that, in order that, so that

Place: where, wherever

Comparison: as, than, as…as

II. Relative pronouns

They are used to join subordinate clauses with independent sentences. They also introduce
relative clauses.

E.g. a. the boat sank in the harbor.

b. the boat was owned by Mr. John.

Combined: The boat that was owned by Mr. John sank in the harbor.

The underlined part is a subordinate clause.

Unlike the other type of subordinate clauses, the subordinate clause in a relative clause is an
adjective clause.

In relative clauses, the adjective clauses which are dependent clauses that modify a noun or a
pronoun in the main clause usually begin with relative pronouns: who, whom, which, whose or
that.

Types of adjective (relative) clauses

There are two types of relative clauses.

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 1. Restrictive (essential) adjective clause: they are necessary to make the meaning of the
sentence complete.
E.g. The man that we met in the supermarket is my father.
In the absence of the underlined relative clause, it is difficult to identify which special
person the writer is stated about.
2. Non-restrictive (non-essential) adjective clause: it merely adds information to a
sentence in which the full meaning of which is already clear.
E.g. Addis Ababa, which is Ethiopia’s capital city, is beautiful.
In this example, the noun, Addis Ababa, is clear by itself. In other words, it is already
known that AA is the capital city of Ethiopia. A non-restrictive relative clause is
separated from the main clause by commas.

1.1.4. Faulty Sentences

Faulty sentences are sentences which are formed with errors.

1. Sentence Fragment

It is an incomplete sentence lacking a verb or a subject or a complement. Fragment mostly

occurs

a. When part of the sentence, usually the subject or verb, is missing.

e.g. 1. Incorrect: Robel going to the school. (It lacks an auxiliary verb)

Revised: Robel is/was going to the school.

E.g. 2. Incorrect: gone before they came. (it lacks a subject and part of a verb)
Revised: Robel had gone before they came.
b. When a dependent clause is used alone.
E.g. Incorrect: Even though the pizza was hot. Henok ate it quickly.
Revised: Even though the pizza was hot, Henok ate it quickly.
c. With prepositional phrases
E.g. Incorrect: The term command economy should be clear. To everyone.
Revised: The term command economy should be clear to everyone.

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2. Comma Splice (run on)

This error occurs when we misplace comma in a sentence. When this happens, either the
message would be distorted, become incomprehensible, or convey a message opposite to what
we intend to convey.

e.g. 1. Incorrect: If you need me you can see me, in my office.

Revised: If you need me, you can see me in my office.

Comma splice also occurs when two independent clauses are separated by only a comma i.e. the
use of a comma between two main clauses without an appropriate conjunction results in comma
splice.

E.g. 1. Incorrect: Mixed economy is practiced in many countries, it makes a few people rich.

Revised: Mixed economy is practiced in many countries, but it makes a few people rich.

Revised: Mixed economy is practiced in many countries. It makes a few people rich.

Revised: Mixed economy is practiced in many countries; it makes a few people rich.

Revised: Although free economy is practiced in many countries, it makes a few people
rich.

3. Run on (Fused) Sentences

This error occurs when two sentences are mixed in the same sentence when they should have
been separated by an appropriate conjunction, semi-colon or a full stop.

E.g. Incorrect: The price of the good is increased peoples’ demand is decreased.

Revised: The price of the good is increased, so peoples’ demand is decreased.

Revised: The price of the good is increased. Peoples’ demand is decreased.

Revised: The price of the good is increased; peoples’ demand is decreased.

Revised: The price of the good is increased; therefore, peoples’ demand is decreased.

Revised: Because the price of the good is increased, peoples’ demand is decreased.

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Ways to correct comma splice and run on (fused) sentences

- Connect the main clauses with a coordinating or adverb conjunctions and appropriate
punctuation marks.
- Replace a comma with a semi colon.
- Make a separate sentence of each main clause by a full stop (period).
- Change one of the main clauses to a separate clause.

4. Dangling Modifiers

A modifier that opens a sentence must be followed immediately by the word it is meant to
describe. Otherwise, the modifier is said to be dangling, and the sentence takes on an unintended
meaning.

Dangling modifier is a word, a phrase or a clause that either modifies nothing in a sentence or
that seem to modify a word to which it is not logically related.

There are two ways to correct/revise a dangling modifier.

1. Change the subject of the main clause or state an appropriate subject for the main clause.
E.g. Error: Driving through the mountains, three bears were seen.
Revised: Driving through the mountains, he/she saw three bears.
2. Change the dangling phrase into a subordinate clause by adding a subordinating
conjunction and a subject.
E.g. Error: Driving through the mountains, three bears were seen.
Revised: While Edward was driving through the mountains, he saw three bears.

5. Misplaced Modifiers

When a modifier is wrongly placed, the resulting construction would be either awkward or the
message would be distorted. This modifier could be a word, a phrase or a clause.

E.g. 1. Error: Their marriage nearly was broken.

Revised: Their marriage was nearly broken.

2. Error: She found it where she had left the book.

Revised: She found the book where she had left it.
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6. Faulty Parallelism

This fault occurs when there are non-parallel constructions in a sentence.

E.g. 1. Fault: John likes walking, swimming, and he likes reading.

Revised: John likes walking, swimming and reading.

2. Fault: They like dancing and to swim.

Revised: They like dancing and swimming.

3. Fault: he told us to check the value of the property and that our insurance should be
increased.

Revised: he told us that we should check the value of the property and that we should
increase our insurance.

Revised: he told us to check the value of the property and to increase our insurance.

7. Ambiguous Pronoun Reference

A pronoun depends for its meaning upon its antecedent, the noun or other pronoun to which it
refers. If the antecedents of the pronouns in your writing are not clear, your writing will not be
clear. To avoid faulty reference of pronouns, each pronoun should refer to a single antecedent.

E.g. Ambiguous: Sara went with Rosa to the airport, and she took a plane to England.

[Who took a plane to England, Rosa or Sara?]

Clear: After going to the airport with Rosa, Sara took a plane to England.

Clear: After Sara went to the airport with Rosa, Sara took a plane to England.

8. Subject-Verb Disagreement

Agreement is the relationship between a verb and a subject, a pronoun and its antecedent. This
fault occurs when these agreements are not well maintained. This fault occurs:

1. When words come between the subject and the verb;

E.g. Error: The tomatoes in this salad is brown and mushy.
Revised: The tomatoes in this are brown and mushy.
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 2. When a verb comes before the subject;
E.g. Error: There is many pizza places in Addis.
Revised: There are many pizza places in Addis.
3. With compound subjects
E.g. -Error: Fear and ignorance has a lot to do with hatred.
Revised: Fear and ignorance have a lot to do with hatred.

-Error: Sugar and honey tastes delicious.

Revised: Sugar and honey taste delicious.

When subjects are joined by correlative conjunctions (either…or, neither…nor, not only…but
also and whether…or), the verb agrees with the subject closer to the verb.

E.g. Error: Neither the internet nor TV shows is as enjoyable to me as spending time with my
family.
Revised: Neither the internet nor TV shows are as enjoyable to me as spending time with
my family.

NB: Both…and always takes a plural verb.

4. With indefinite pronouns

The following words, known as indefinite pronouns, always take singular verbs
One words body words thing words
One nobody nothing
Anyone anybody anything
Everyone everybody everything
Someone somebody something

E.g. -Error: Everybody at WDU are friendly.

Revised: Everybody at WDU is friendly.

- Error: Something touch my shoulder.

Revised: Something touches my shoulder.

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1.1.5. Mechanics (capitalization and punctuation)
Mechanics helps to make sentences meaningful.
A. Capitalization
Capitals are used for many purposes in writing. In writing, we capitalize:
1. The first letter of the first word in a sentence.
E.g. Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.
2. The first word in a quotation
E.g. He said, “Command economy has a number of advantages.”
3. The pronoun ‘I’
4. All proper adjectives
E.g. Ethiopian, Eritrean
5. All proper nouns
E.g. Johnson, Liya
6. The names of the days of the week, months and holidays.
E.g. Monday, January, Epiphany
7. Places
E.g. Ras Dashen, Addis Ababa
8. Titles of books, poems, courses, essays
E.g. Sophomore English (course), Art of Effective English Writing (book)
9. Names of organizations
E.g. College of Business and Economics, World Trade Organization
B. Punctuation
It helps the reader to see and understand ideas in a sentence easily.
1. The comma (,): The following are some of the uses of the comma:
A. to set of introductory clauses
E.g. When he had faced a problem, he went to his teacher to ask.
B. to set off the day from the date
E.g. May 18, 2015
C. to set off non-restrictive clauses in a sentence
E.g. Ghana, which is one of West-African countries, is the leading cocoa producer.

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D. to add information onto another information
E.g. Ethiopia, according to the EBC report, has shown a commendable economic growth.
2. Apostrophe (‘): it is used to:
A. show possession: E.g. Teacher’s book, Teachers’ book, John’s attitude
B. contracted form of speech: E.g. I’ve (I have), I’ll (I will)
C. to mark the plural forms of letters and numerals: E.g. 25 June ’05
3. The Exclamation Mark (!): It is used to show:
A. surprise: E.g. Wow! What a lovely jacket?
B. fear: Close the door! The dog is coming to us.
4. Semi-colon (;): it is used:
A. to link two independent clauses
E.g. I had known the answer; I didn’t write it well.
B. to restate a concept in different words
E.g. She is polite and kind; she respects and loves all people.
C. to separate independent clauses which are joined by conjunctive adverbs
E.g. He has a good mind; however, he is not hard working.
5. The colon (:): we used it:
A. when we list items or when we define a concept or idea.
E.g. Daniel knows the following points from Sophomore English course: types of sentence,
sentence combination and faulty sentences.
B. after salutation in a business letter:
E.g. Dear sir/madam:
C. for formal statements/quotations
E.g. Richardson (2012) says:
6. The Hyphen (-): it is used to:
A. combine words into compounds: E.g. twenty-two
B. set off prefixes: E.g. anti-democracy, post-graduate
C. form compound nouns, adverbs and verbs: E.g. Ice-cold (noun), full-heartedly (adverb), dry-
clean (verb)

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 Chapter Two

2. Paragraph Writing

2.1. Fundamentals of Paragraph Writing

2.1.1. Definition

Paragraph can be defined as a group of related sentences expressing and developing one basic
idea, which is stated in the topic sentence, usually the first sentence of the paragraph. The topic
sentence is a summary sentence informing the main idea of the paragraph to the reader. All other
sentences in the paragraph help, show, prove or explain that topic sentence.

2.1.2. Parts of a Paragraph

A formal academic paragraph contains the following three parts.

1. Introductory Sentence

This sentence identifies the topic for the reader and makes a statement of some kind about the
topic. Hence, it leaves the reader with the feeling that more information will follow.

2. Body

The body section of the paragraph is the part of the paragraph which provides details that refer to
the introductory sentence. These details are called supporting sentences.

Supporting sentences supply information about the topic in a number of ways. It can be by
explaining something, by offering examples, by defining or describing something.

3. Concluding Sentence

The concluding sentence draws the paragraph to a close, restates the main idea and reflects the
idea expressed in the topic sentence. In formal paragraphs, we find it at the end of the paragraph.

N.B. A concluding sentence can be a recommendation, an implication or a summary of points

mentioned in the body part.

Topic sentence

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A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main idea of a paragraph. In a paragraph, the
position of a topic sentence can be at:

the beginning of a paragraph;

the middle of a paragraph;
the end of a paragraph; or
the beginning and end of a paragraph.

Sample paragraph

Advantages of Free Economy System

Free economy system has a number of advantages. First of all, since it gives the people the
power of choice, it makes producers to produce materials which have great qualities. Secondly,
a successful business in the free market system makes a consistent profit in a field of competitors.
Thirdly, the market produces a wide variety of goods and services to meet the consumer’s wants;
as a result, it gives a quick response to people’s wants. Therefore, free economy system has a
number of merits since it helps to ensure sustainable development if it is practiced properly.

2.1.3. Qualities of a Good Paragraph

1. Unity

This refers that all sentences within the paragraph are related to the main point or to the topic
sentence.

2. Coherence
The notion behind coherence is related to having natural flow of ideas in a paragraph. Coherence
can be achieved using the following cohesive devices.
I. Pronouns
E.g. Command economy system doesn’t let merchants to decide on the price of goods, so it
discourages the private sectors.

Here, the pronoun ‘it’ in the second sentence of each pair provides coherence by referring to the
important subject in the first sentence.

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II. Repetitions

 Direct Repetitions
E.g. Economic inflation can damage any country. This damage can discourage
investment and long term economic growth.
 Indirect Repetitions
E.g. During the great famine of Niger, people were eating grass. This was unbelievable.

III. Transitional Markers: they are used as a glue to hold ideas together.

 Addition: also, in addition, moreover, furthermore

 Comparison/similarity: similarly, at the same time, in like manner, in the same way
 Contrast: however, nevertheless, nonetheless
 Emphasis: above all, besides, moreover
 Illustration: for example, for instance, as an example of this
 Time and sequence: after this, first of all, eventually, lastly, then, next
 Summary: to sum up, in general, in short
 Result/conclusion: after all, finally, thus, hence, therefore

IV. Sequencing (ordering)

 Time (Chronological) Order: connecting words can be later on, afterwards, years ago,
first, before, after, yesterday etc.
 Spatial Order: connecting words can be on the right/left, at the bottom/top, over, near,
under, in front of etc.
 Sequence in Importance: your paragraph can be started from the important or more
interesting to least one or vice versa.
3. Completeness

This involves how much explanation an idea requires depends on how much the reader needs.
Your paragraph should have a complete idea.

4. Variety

It refers to using a variety of sentence structures to express your thoughts i.e. you should use the
combination of simple, compound, complex and compound complex sentences.

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2.1.4. Types of Paragraph

The major types of paragraph are descriptive, narrative, expository and argumentative. However,
no paragraph text is purely descriptive, narrative or so. A paragraph takes its name based on the
major portion it holds.

1. Descriptive Paragraph

In this type of paragraph, we recreate objects, scenes and people. This can be achieved through
our first hand observation, imagination or the combination of the two. Descriptive paragraph can
be:

I. Objective: it depends on something which is visible and known by our senses.

II. Impressionistic: it depends on something which is invisible and not known by our senses. It
is mostly imaginative.

E.g. -we can describe Haile G/Selassie in terms of height, color, hair style etc.

- we can describe a certain building in terms of its color, geographical location etc.

Terms to Describe a Person

 Age: young, elderly, middle aged, early 50’s late 30’s etc.
 Body build: thin, plump, fat, buck, bonny, slim etc.
 Height: medium, tall, short, squat etc.
 Face: long face, round face, thin face, long nose, flat nose, thin lips, large/small ears,
honest looking etc.
 Distinguishing features: beard, mustache, scar, square jaw, dimple, round chin, long
chin etc.
 Personality: shy, moody, sociable, intelligent, good looking, attractive, cruel, aggressive,
fashionable, conservative, friendly etc.
 Hair: long, short, brown, golden, dark, shiny etc.

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Write a Descriptive Paragraph.

Saron

Age-18

Color: chocolate

Hair: long, black

Height: medium

Physique: round face, long neck, large eyes, slender waist

Behavior: sociable, kind and helpful, smiling

Begin your paragraph as follows:

Saron is a young beautiful girl. She….

2. Narrative Paragraph

A narrative paragraph focuses on and develops the occurrence of events/ happenings sometime
in the past. It begins from the earliest and develops it up to the latest.

In narrative paragraphs, the writer carefully plans the structure of the story. The story might have
a beginning, middle (climax) and an ending. Therefore, the reader could sharpen his ear to follow
the story structure.

Possible topics
- My Life Experience at BDU University
- The Person I Shall Never Forget
- When I Was a Little Boy/Girl
- My Life History
Procedures to write an effective narrative paragraph

 Think of the events that happened;

 Order the events according to their occurrences;
 Write the first draft;
 Check (read) the first draft; and
 Rewrite it (if there is a problem): the problems can be arose regarding qualities of a good
paragraph.

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 3. Expository Paragraph
Exposition is a type of writing which presents and explains an idea, object, or phenomenon. Its
purpose is to inform, clarify, explain, define or instruct by giving information i.e. the writer
provides information about and explains a particular subject.
Possible topics

-Disadvantages of command economy

-Causes of Inflation
-Coffee Making
4. Argumentative Paragraph

This type of paragraph is a process of reasoning in which a series of facts and judgments are
arranged coherently to establish a conclusion for or against a proposition, opinion or a course of
action. Thus, in this kind of writing, we must reason out why we go for or against a view or
principle.

Steps (procedures) to write an argumentative paragraph

To write an effective argumentative paragraph, we should follow the following steps:
I. Clearly define the proposition or issue you wish to defend;
II. Collect all pertinent facts;
III. Analyze the facts and establish their relationships;
IV. Examine the major issues that must be settled to win the argument;
V. Decide on the most appealing way you can develop and present your points;
VI. Construct an outline; and
VII. Start writing your paragraph
Possible topics
-Mixed economy system is important/not important for the economic growth of Ethiopia
-Abortion should be/should not be legal
If you support the role of mixed economy for the economic growth of Ethiopia, you can start
your paragraph as follows.

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I support the idea that mixed economy system is important for the economic growth of Ethiopia.
First of all, mixed economy….

2.1.5. Paragraph Development Methods

1. Definition

This refers to that ‘what does the term or idea mean?’, and it is followed by examples or details.
There are four ways of defining a term or a concept. These are:

A. By use or quality: here, we express the use or quality of the term to be defined.

E.g. -A microscope is an instrument which is used to magnify invisible organisms.

-A zebra is a black and white stripped animal which is found in Africa and Asia.

B. By Category: here, we supply the definition by giving the group in which the item to be
defined belongs to.

E.g. An ox is an animal used to plough a farm.

C. By Example: we supply definition by giving examples.

E.g. Lions, zebras, monkeys etc. are all called wild animals.

D. By Negative Definition: This is a way in which we define a concept by telling what it is not.

E.g. When I say the medical personnel, I am not referring to the administrative staff.

2. Exemplification/Illustration

An example paragraph is the one that uses specific examples to illustrate a point made in the
writing. An example can be a fact, a historical example, an event or behavior.

3. Comparison and/or Contrast

Comparison focuses on how something is similar to something else, but contrast involves how
something is different from something else.

4. Classification

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Classification is a method of in which one takes a general concept or entity and divided it into its
component parts of divisions. These may again be sub-divided until the level of the smallest unit
desired is reached. This method enables one to have an outline into which various details can be
slotted.

5. Cause and Effect

It is a bi-directional paragraph in which the writer gives the answers to one or both of these
questions: what caused the event or the idea, and what effects or consequences does the event or
idea have? Hence, this method helps to develop a statement by giving an account of the causes
and effects of an event or situation.

Possible topics: - Causes and Effects of Car Accident

- Causes and Effects of Economic Inflation

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 Chapter Three

3. Essay Composition

3.1. What is an Essay?

An essay is an extended form of writing which focuses on a particular topic/subject mentioned in

the thesis statement. A thesis statement is a sentence that contains the main idea of an essay. At
this level of writing, a writer has ample opportunity to develop ideas in detail when compared
with paragraph writing which limits a writer to develop only one major idea.

3.2. Parts of an Essay

1. Introductory Paragraph

This part of an essay introduces the reader about a subject or topic. The reader will be made to
know why the writer writes on that specific topic and what points will be included in the essay.

2. Developing Paragraph (Body)

This part develops the major ideas of the essay; one major idea in a paragraph. This can be
achieved by using different methods of developing idea such as definition, classification, cause
and effect, comparison and/or contrast etc.

3. Concluding Paragraph

This part ends the essay by summarizing the main points, making generalizations/conclusions
and/or by making some recommendations which the writer thinks should be done/followed.

3.3. Types of Essay

1. Descriptive

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It is a verbal picture of a person, place or thing. It is very much concerned with sensory
impressions. It is the kind of writing which attempts to appeal to the reader’s sense, recreating
for him/her the author’s original impression of the subject being described. Description can be:

I. Objective: it is based on reality.

II. Impressionistic: it is imaginative.

2. Narrative

It is a written discourse in which a writer tells the story of something that happened. it is
concerned with narrating a series of events, happenings or incidents which may be either real or
imaginary. It is common in short stories and novels as well as in news stories.

3. Exposition

It is patterns of development that expresses an idea, object, or phenomenon. In exposition, the

material which is communicated is primarily information. Exposition is based on the principle
that information should be structured in a way that is logical and serves to make the information
clear to the reader.

Ways to Organize Information in Expository Text

1. Description- in which a topic is introduced and followed by its attributes;

2. Sequence- in which a topic is introduced and followed by details that need to be
presented in an order.
3. Cause and/or effect- in which an event or act and its effects are explained;
4. Comparison and/or contrast- in which the similarities and/or differences in two or more
things are presented; and
5. Problem/solution- in which a problem is presented followed by one or more solutions.

Possible topics:-Advantages of Free and Command Economic Systems

-Effects of Smoking
-Effects of Globalization

4. Argumentative

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In this type of essay, the writer attempts to support a controversial point or defend a position on
which there is a difference of opinion. The main purpose here is to convince a reader about a
certain issue through logical reasoning.

Possible topics:

-Command Economy System is/is not better than Free Economy System for Economic Growth

-Educating a woman is educating a family, but educating a man is educating himself

Chapter Four

4. Summarizing, Paraphrasing and Quoting

4.1. Summary writing

A summary is a short hand version of a text, and it restates only the author’s main ideas.

What to include in a summary?

1. Purpose: a summary should indicate why the article or report was written. Your
summary should give the reader a brief introduction (even one sentence will do);
2. Essential Specifics: include only the names, costs, codes, places and/or dates essential to
understand the original;
3. Conclusions and results: focus on what was the final vote, the result of something or the
proposed solution to the problem; and
4. Recommendations or implications.

What to omit in a summary?

1. Opinion: avoid your own or author’s opinion;

2. New data;
3. Irrelevant specifics: e.g. biographical details about the author;
4. Examples;
5. Background: materials in introductions should be omitted;
6. Reference data: exclude information in bibliographies, appendices, tables or graphs.
7. Jargon: words which are known by a particular group should be avoided.
4.2. Paraphrasing

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It is the process of changing an author’s words by your own words. Whenever we paraphrase, we
must include author’s name and year of publication; however, it is suggested that you also
provide the page number. While paraphrasing, you should use appropriate words such as:

Richardson (1998) says ….

The author believes (states, elaborates, defines…)

4.3. Quoting

Quoting refers to that taking author’s original idea without changing his/her word. While
quoting, we must include author’s name, year of publication and page number. Depending on the
portion of a given idea, quoting takes place into two ways:

I. If the idea that we directly take from a certain source (book, article, bulletin etc.) is below 4
lines or 50 words, we should open (use) quotation.

E.g. Johnson (2005:7) says “Education is….”

II. If the author’s idea that we directly take is more than 4 lines or 50 words, there is no need of
opening a quotation; instead, we should start our writing on a new line by leaving some spaces at
the right and left margins, and it should be written in italic.

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