Unit 2 Elements of Good Writing

Unit 2 (p. 31)

Five Elements of Good Writing
1. Purpose: (Inform, Persuade, Entertain)
What was the purpose of your homework paragraph?
2. Audience (Who? Tone? )
3. Clarity (be descriptive or precise and use clear pronouns)

4. Unity (everything is related)

5. Coherence (logical order, repetition of key words, good
transitional words and phrases)
1. Purpose: (Page 33-34)
 What was the purpose of your homework
paragraph?
2. Audience (Page 35)
3. Clarity (Page 38)
4. Unity (Page 45)
5. Coherence (Page 48)
Audience Page 36-37
Recognizing person: Who is “you”?

If you want to be healthy, you should exercise

Don’t change the person in a sentence or paragraph.

Look at Page 36 Activity 3. Correct the sentences.

Page 37 - Tone and Audience
Tone: Formal and informal
“Person”
Formal: Third, First
Informal: First or second

First: I
Second: You
Third: One, he, she, they, people
Page 43 Clarity (pronoun reference)
Activity 10

Check to see if the pronouns are clear and change them

to make the sentences clearer.
Page 49 Common Transitions
Study those common transition words and phrases.
Use them in your next paragraph.
1. Give examples for example, for instance
2. Add information and, next, in addition
3. Compare/Contrast in contrast, by comparison

4. Show time finally, after, before

5. Emphasize obviously, without a doubt
6. Show Sequence first (second), next, at the same time
7. Summarize therefore, thus, in conclusion
P. 50 Proofreading strategies
Take a break
Read aloud
Read backwards
Cover your work
Pretend you are someone else

Note: A paragraph can

have a title
but it’s not necessary.
But an essay will always
have one.
In-Class Writing Activity
1. Go to:
http://www.pbase.com/davesperling/seoul1
and choose or download a picture of a Korean person.

2. Imagine that person is you. Write a letter to your friend

or family telling them about your life. (Imagine you live in
a new city far away). Be sure to write in informal tone.

3. Write a new paragraph about the person in the photo.

Imagine you are writing a short biography for that person
for a magazine. Make the writing formal in style.
Exchange your paragraphs with your
group or partner.

Read your partner’s paragraphs.

How did you like your partner’s story? Tell them

something you liked.

Can you find any confusing pronoun references?

Can you find any errors of tone (formal vs. informal)?

Homework
Page 51 (Build your vocabulary)
Page 52 (Collocations)
If you want to get ahead, we will start Unit 3 next
week. We will focus on writing a Classification
Paragraph.