Cadi Ayyad University

School of Arts and

Humanities
English Department

Prof. Slamti Karima

Semester 2
 In this activity, you will exchange papers with a peer and read
each other’s papers. Your main purpose is to help your classmate
with ways to improve his or her paragraph.

 It is equally valuable for you to read other people’s writing so you

can see different ways of organizing ideas.

 It is important to offer positive comments that will help the

writer.
 Brainstorm ideas for writing

• Imagine that you are in a room on the fourth floor of a hotel when
suddenly the fire alarm goes off. you cannot go out the door of your
room because the hallway is filled with smoke. The window looks
like the only exit, but you are on the fourth floor. What will you do?

 Make a list of at least three ideas. Work quickly. Do not worry

about how good the idea is or about correct writing.
The goal is to create a list as quickly as possible.
Brainstorming is quickly writing down all the thoughts that come
into your head.
when you brainstorm, you do not think about whether the idea is
good or bad or whether your writing is correct.
You simply write to get your ideas on paper.

This process is called brainstorming because it feels like there is a

storm in your brain-a storm of ideas!
Use this topic and situation to practice brainstorming.

Next Saturday is your grandmother’s birthday. She is going to be

eighty-eight years old.
What will you get for her! Make a list of five suitable birthday
gifts for a person this age.
Compare your list to a classmate’s list. Did you get more gift ideas
from your classmates. Sometimes it is helpful to work with other
writers and share ideas.

Remember that in brainstorming, there are no bad ideas. The

purpose of brainstorming is to produce as many ideas as possible and
not worry about correct grammar and punctuation.
Topic sentence: one of the people that I most admire is my great-
grand mother, Clara.

What kind of information do you think is in this paragraph.

Choose the topic sentence from your paragraph, write four questions
about the topic.
Remember to use who? What? Where? When? Why? Or how? Questions.

Study this example:

Topic sentence: I will never forget my 1999 summer vacation.
a. Why was it the best vacation?
b. Where did you go?
c. What did you do?
d. How old were you at that time?

You now have a lot of ideas about what to include in your

supporting sentences. You may not want to write about all of the
ideas, but you have many choices.
Remember that the supporting sentences must be related to the
topic sentence.
You will have seven sentences that form a paragraph, but the
sentences are not in the best order. First, read the sentences and
number them from 1 to 5 to indicate the best order. write the kind
of sentence that each one is: topic, supporting, or concluding.
A- During ancient Greek and Roman times, when a new ship was
built. a small number of coins were left under the mast of the
ship. The shipbuilders did this for a very special reason.

B- Today scientists find evidence of this long-standing tradition in

a variety of locations, from the decayed remains of old Greek
ships to the still active frigate U.S.S. Constitution.

C- The art of shipbuilding has some odd traditions, and one of the
most interesting of all has its roots in Greek and Roman history.

D- In case of a disaster at sea, the dead crew needed these coins

to pay to get to the afterlife. It was believed that sailors without
money to cross this river would not be able to take their place in
the afterlife.

E- According to legend, the crew members gave these coins to the

ferry master Charon to take them across the river Styx to Hades,
the land of the dead.
Create a paragraph by copying the sentences from Activity 4
in their new arrangement. Write a title for the paragraph.
Analyze the content and purpose of the paragraph.
By answering the following questions:
1. What is the topic?
2. What is the topic sentence?
3. What is the writer’s main purpose to write this paragraph?
4. Do you have any idea for improving this paragraph?
As you write, always look back at your topic sentence. Do not include
any information that is unrelated to the topic sentence. It is very easy
to lose track of the main idea if you don’t refer to the topic sentence
from time to time.

To write a good concluding sentence:

Restate the main idea (or summarizes the main points of the
paragraph):
Example of the paragraph computers can be a student’s best friend
Another kind of a concluding sentence is to Make a prediction

Maintaining Your Pool

Swimming pools can be beautiful, but they need to be maintained

every day. First, you must check the amount of chlorine in a swimming
pool. (1) If there is not enough chlorine, the pool might begin to grow
algae. In addition, you must check the pH level, especially after a
rainstorm. Certain chemicals can be added to make sure that the pH
level of the pool water is balanced. (2) If you accidentally swallow
some of these chemicals, you have to go to the doctor immediately.
(3) Finally, you should remove any leaves and small insects that are in
the pool. By doing all these things, you can be sure that your pool will
last a very long time.
Before you read the paragraph, discuss these questions with
your classmates.
1. What is gossip? Give an example.
2. Is gossip good or bad? Why or why not?
3. Do you think that men gossip less than women do! Explain
your answer.
When you write, the ideas and the words are usually your own.
However, sometimes you might want to borrow someone else’s
words. When you use anoth person’s words, you must let the
reader know that they are not yours. In English, you do this by
putting the borrowed words in quotation marks.

PUTTING THE PARAGRAPH TOGETHER: SEQUENCING

Good writers create paragraphs with sentences in a certain order
for the meaning they want.
Good writers include examples, especially when they are
writing about a difficult or abstract topic.
When to Use an Example
How do you know when to use an example! Consider your
readers. If you think they already know something about your
topic, then you do not have to give many examples, details, or
facts. However, if the topic may be new to many readers, it is
helpful to include some supporting information.
 Where to put an example

Where should you put examples in the paragraph?

The best place to put an example is usually just after you have
explained an idea. If your paragraph compares two ideas, explain
both ideas first, then provide examples of both in the following
sentences.

How to begin an example

How should you begin a sentence with an example?

You might write, « for example, … » « for instance, … » or « an

example of this is … » you can also write an example sentence
without such an introduction. In the following sentences, the
example sentence is underlined.

Different cultures have different superstitions, but all cultures

have some kind of superstition. People might believe that a
certain number is lucky or unlucky. Many North Americans think 7
is a lucky number, but the Chinese believe 4 is unlucky.