WRITING SKITTS CHECKTIST PLANNING WRITINC

W R I T I N G S K I T T SC H E C K T I S T
PL A N N I N G
E Useclearheadings
e Sometimesyou need headingsto help organizeyour
writing, e.g.a report, an article, for instructions:
Beforeyou start to write, plan the content,
organization, headings,and the kind of languageyou
are goingto use.
A
*
e
e
a
*
Brainstormthecontent
it.
Think aboutthe topic,and,ifnecessar¡research
Remember/ revisethe topic vocabulary.
Discussyour ideaswith a partneror in groups.
List the main points beforeyou start writing.
Think of examplesto back up eachpoint.
B Organizetheparagraphs
* Decidehow manyparagraphs
you need.
* Decideon the contentof eachparagraphand list the
main points:
An article:
The(Italians):whatwearereallylike
1:thestereotype
ofpeoplefrom my
Paragraph
singoperaall üe
country(noisy,like spaghetti,
time,etc.)
Paragraph2:
what'strue/ what'snot trueaboutthe
(True:noisy,Iíkespaghetti/ Not true:
stereotype
not everyone
likesopera(or singsit!))
Instructions aboutyour house / flat:
Beforeyou leavethe flat
Make sureyou alwayslock the door beforeyou go out.
Always put the answerphoneon ...
Living room andkitchen
The instructions for the TV and video arein the drawer.
The remote controls areon the coffeetable ...
Plantsand sarden
The indoor plants haveto be watered every day ...
W RITINC
When you write your text, try to make it clear, vivid
andimaginative.
A Makeyour language more vivid
6 Use adverbs and adjectives to make a text'come alive'.
They will make it more enjoyable to read. Why is 2
more vivid than 1?
I It was raining. A man waswalking along the
pavement.He looked round and sawthat a woman
was following him.
2 It was raining heavily. A tall middle-aged man was
walking quickly along the wet pavement.Suddenly
he looked round and sawthat an attractivedarkhaired woman wasfollowing him.
e Useconnectorsto link your ideas.
However,PersonallyI think, etc.
FirstlyI Secondly,
C Usetherighttenses
s Beforeyou start writing, decidewhich tense(s)you
needfor the text type.What tense(s)would you useto
write the following?
1 a story
2 describingthe plot of a film / book
'My ideal house'
3 an article:
4 adiary entry
D Usethe right style and expressions
s Beforeyou start writing decidewhat styleto use:
Formal for a letter or email complainingto an airline,
for a'for and against'composition,for a report about
customsin your country
Informal: for a letter or email to a friend, for a letter
'chat'programme
or email to a TV I radio
s Rememberthe key aspectsof eachstyle:
Formal: no contractions,no colloquial expressions,
e.g.Tosum up, etc.
more formal expressions,
Informal usecontractionsand colloquial expressions,
e.g.anyway,That'sall for now, etc.
w List usefulexpressions
for the kind oftext:
An emailto a TV showgivingyour opinion:
Personallyl
think... / In my opinion...,
...,Second(ly)...,
First(ly)
because
...
Forexample
/ Forinstance
B Use a wide range of vocabulary
* The more varied vocabulary you use, the more
interesting your writing will be. How can you make
this sentencemore vivid?
Shewqsweoringo niceskirt.
I
Use a wide selection of nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
E.g.for physical appearance:
Adjectives: e.g.overweight,medium height, bald,
middle-aged
Nouns:
e.g.fringe, beard, moustache,eyelashes
Verbs:
e.g.looks (younger than his age),lookslike
(her mother), is wearing/ carrying...
C Writingdialogue
You maywant to write dialogue as part of a story.
* Use avariety of speaking verbs:
suggested,insisted,told, asked(not just said )
& Use an adverb to show how someone is speaking:
slowly, quietly, angrily, etc.
* Remember the correct punctuation for dialogue is
inverted commas around the spoken words, and a
comma at the end of the spoken words ('...,').
'l'd loveto
'but l'm
come,'shesoid,
busy.'
CHE CK I N G
When you are happywith the content of your text,
check it for mistakes,e.g.spelling, grammar,
vocabulary, andpunctuation. Make a checklist of your
own t¡rical mistakes and memorize it. That wayyou'll
find it easierto spot and correct them.
c
Checkyourpunctuation
w Make sureyou know the right punctuation syrnbols,
and when to usethem. Completethe ruleswith the
correctnames.
brackets capital letters colon comma full stop
hyphen inverted commas question mark
exclamationmark apostrophe
A Checkyourspelling
& Englishspellingis very irregula¡ so it is very easyto
makemistakes.Improve your spellingby:
- readingin English
- usinga dictionaryto checkthe spellingof words
- making a list of words that you often misspell
Sometimesthereis a spellingrule that can help you.
Look at the spellingrules for the -ing | -ed forms.
Symbol Use
Doublingconsoncints
isdoubledbefore-ingond -ed in:
Thefinolconsonont
'l
verbswhichhoveone syllobleond end in consonont,
(sfop- sfopped,
gel- geftingl.
vowel,consonont
3E
A
2d
(etc.).
(P.J.Proby)
ondqbbreviotions
showsoshortpouse
4
.
e.g.o
portsof o sentence,
thotseporoies
4lu
ond superlotive
¡\ fhe ruleis thesomefor comporotive
odjectiveslbig, biggerl.
2 verbswhichhovemoreihononesylloblebuthovethe
vowel,
stress
on thelostsyllobleond end in consonont,
consononI Ipermil- permittíng, p refer- p referredl.
5 E
showstheend of o
ond is olsousedofteriniiiols
sentence.
relotiveclouseor wordsin o list.
non-defining
showwordsthotore
Theyore olsoused
spoken(directspeech).
oroundtiilesof booksor films,or o nicknome.
showextro informoiion
whichis notconsidered
or on explonotion
essentiol.
is usedwhentwo
An
a
,
wordsore controcted,ond to showpossession,
E
e.o. h'sJone's.
=
€
o!
: fuelnopped
¡[ Exception
3 verbswhichend in -lofteronevowel(concel- concelled,
travel- trovellingl.
7 E
Otherchonges
I verbswhichend in -e losethefinol -e beforeodding-ing
lcome- coming,bíte- bítingl.
8E
¡[ Exception:oge- ageíng
2 Verbsendingin -íechongethe -ieto o ybefore odding
the -ing (die- dying,líe- lyingl.
B Check your grammar and vocabulary
w Typicalgrammar mistakes:
- verb agreement(e.g.a plural verb with a plural
noun:peopleare Nor peoplris, etc.)
- word order (with adverbs,adjectives,
questions,etc.)
- useof tenses(presentsimpleinsteadof present
perfect,etc.)
- irregularverbs(e.g.He lay down.Nor fffi
. .. )
- gerundsand infinitives
* \pical vocabularymistakes:
- verbswhich areoften confuse
d (e.g.meetandknow)
- using a formal word wherethe styleis informal
(e.g.therefore
insteadof so,etc.)
- 'falsefriends'i.e.wordswhich aresimilarin your
languagebut havea different meaning
- usingthe wrong preposition
'!
two wordsore ioinedtogether,e.g. some
o
o
nouns.
compound
isusedtoshow
An
:E
E
ond
surprise.lt comesof theendof o sentence
ó
isoftenusedin diologue.
(
o
t
t
h
e
e
n
d
o
f
t
h
e
A
.
.e
showsthoto directquestionis
sentence)
,E
o
e.g.
beingosked.lt is olsousedin requests,
o
o
Couldyoubringme ...?
o
=
tellsyouthot
A
.
E
o
is comingnexl,for exompleo list.
something
ore usedfor thefirst
€
E
letterof o nome,o counfry,notionolityor
monlhs.
of
the
week,
longuoge,doys
,.H
9 E
D Check GB / US English
Notice the differencesbetweenGB and US English.
Write the British spellingof the words.What arethe
differences?
q&
BritishEnglish
USEnglish
conceled
meler
cenfer
color
fovor
license
defense
cotolog