Reporter: Shiela Marie B.

Laguipo Subject: English Composition for Teachers

The Whole Composition

Composition
 comes from a Latin word componere which means “to put together”

word – phrase - clause – sentence - paragraph - whole composition

Composition thought
 a thought that demands elaboration through a series of related paragraph.

Success in writing will depend upon three factors:

1. The content of your composition.
2. The organization of your material.
3. The correctness with which you observe the general mechanics.

Content
 is an essential part of composition writing.

Sources of Material
 There are three general sources of material for compositions:
1. What we experience?
2. What we study?
3. What we read?

Choosing an Appropriate Subject

 The choice of subject will depend upon your general background, your interests,
your personal experiences and the time given you to develop your composition.

Organization
 a well-planned composition has three main divisions:
1. Introduction or Beginning
2. Body or Discussion
3. Conclusion or End

Introduction
 it concerns itself with the background of the subject.
 it has three parts; 1) the hook 2) background information 3) thesis statement

Hook
 it is the opening sentence of introduction. It can be a question, catchy phrase or
quote or song lyrics, tongue twister or an exclamatory sentence.
Examples:
 You will write a short composition about your best friend, so the hook can be; A
friend in need is a friend indeed.
 “A friend is one who walks in when others walk out." ( Quote from Walter
Winchell)
 Get by with a little help from my friends. (song lyric by John Lennon)
 Have you ever thought the importance of the people around you? (question)
 Life is so short that we need someone to share our thoughts and feelings.
(an exclamatory sentence)

Background Information
 More specific than the hook.
 Gives background information about the topic.
Examples:
 A friend is someone that will stand by you, even during the toughest times.
 Friendship is about believing in your friends and helping them to achieve all they
can or want to do in life.
 We are there for each other with hugs, advice, kind words, fights, anger, and
whatever comes along.

Thesis Statement
 In this part, the writer states what the composition is all about.
There are two kinds of thesis statement:
1) Stated Thesis Statement
- The writer wants to give a specific outline of the composition.
Example: “Sarah is my best friend since she is honest, social, and loyal.”

2) Implied Thesis Statement

- The writer does not give an outline of the composition.
Example:
“There are several reasons why Sarah is my best friend.”
Avoid these errors in writing introductions:
1. Writing a vague or ambiguous introduction.
2. Failing to define terms that the reader is not familiar with; some terms should be
defined if you are using them in a special sense.
3. Writing an introduction that is too long.
An effective introduction ordinarily does two things:
1. It catches the reader’s interest (hooks him) and lures him into the subject.
2. It may explain why the subject should interest the reader or how it touches his
life.

Body or Discussion
 The body or the discussion should not fall short of the promise of the
introduction.
 The body of a composition is composed of the ideas that are going to be brought
out in the work.

Transitional Device
 the connecting link between two paragraphs.
Transition
 refers to those words, phrases, and paragraphs that point forward and backward.
Here are some typical transitional words and phrases:
 To explain ideas: for instance, for example, such as, specifically, in particular, to
illustrate, thus.
 To count or separate ideas: first, second, third, moreover, in addition, another,
furthermore, also, again, finally.
 To compare ideas: likewise, similarly, in the same way
 To contrast or qualify ideas: however, on the other hand, on the contrary, but.
 To show cause or effect: as a result, consequently, therefore, thus

Several ways of using the transitional paragraph:

1. To sum up before beginning the next unit
So far, we have spoken only about that portion of the stellar
population that falls within the main sequence. All these stars, as we have seen, are
very much the same. They differ mainly in their stages of evolution, which in turn is a
result of their mass and the speed at which they use up their original fuel supply. But
what happens to a star after it has used up its allotment of hydrogen? Can we find
examples of such stars that have reached old ages in their life cycle? Or can we find
examples of stars that are still in their babyhood as far as the stellar cycle is concerned?
(T. Rubloueski, Life and Death of the Sun)

2. To introduce a series of illustrations

This is especially true in religion. So today I am presenting three
ways of looking at life by looking at three great religious men. The three men are John
Henry Newman, the Catholic; Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Baptist preacher and
evangelist; and James Martineau, Unitarian Minister, writer and scholar. (Lon Call, The
Biography Cure)

3. To show what the writer intends to do next

The language of the chalk is not hard to learn, not nearly so hard as
Latin, if you only want to get at the broad features of the story it has to tell; and I
propose that we now set to work to spell that story out together. (Thomas Henry Huxley,
On a Piece of Chalk)

In narration
 You usually adopt the natural coherent order, either of time or of cause and effect
in arranging the incidents, you may use as transitional devices such as phrases
as “The next morning,” “Having satisfied myself that the door was locked,” “Such
an insult I could not forget,” or “Knowing his irritable nature.”

In description
 You usually arrange details in the natural order of either space or time
relationship. You may begin your transitional phrases as “Across the street from
our house.” “in the center of the excited group,” “This same scene viewed at
sunset,” “As the man came nearer.”

In exposition and in argumentation

 Some of the most useful means of transition between paragraphs in these two
types of writing are the following:
1. Beginning a new paragraph with a word or a group of words referring to
something mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
2. Ending a paragraph with a sentence looking forward to what is to be discussed in the
paragraph that follows.
3. Transitional words and phrases, such as however, therefore, moreover, furthermore,
accordingly, notwithstanding, nevertheless, in addition, to all this, in spite of this fact, for
this reason, in this way, by such a method, on the contrary.
4. Repetition of a word or a group of words used in the previous paragraph.
5. Close connection of thought, so that no formal transitional device is required.

Conclusion or End
 it gives you your last chance to get a favourable reaction from your reader. If you fail
there, you have failed in the whole composition.

There are many interesting forms of conclusion

1. The summary conclusion – this is the logical type of conclusion it is suitable for a formal
treatment of the subject matter or if the subject matter is inherently difficult.
Example:
“There is only one way out. We have to learn the lesson that nations, deserting
their petty ideas of sovereignty, prestige, national self-interest, must combine to act together for
the common good of humanity – which is the meaning of acting normally. There is still time to
learn this lesson.”

2. Leaving a question in mind of the reader.

 this ending is effective because the words linger in the mind of the reader long after he
has read them.
Example:
“Is it any wonder that peace is so often but invisible war, in which the nations rest
only to fight again?”

3. Indulge in prophesy.
 this form is suitable for impassioned or inspired works.
Example:
“Finally, I reject the defeatist withdrawal from the world as it is… The only hope
for man today is to work for a better world within the framework of what we have, imperfect as it
is. It can be improved, and such improvement must arise not from withdrawal, but from
intelligent and vigorous participation in existing affairs. Most scientists stand ready to do their
part.”

4. Reaffirm beginning.
 this is suitable if the purpose of the composition is conviction.
Example:
“Such is a university in its idea and in its purpose, such in good measure has it
before now been in fact. Shall it ever be again? We are going forward in the strength of the
Cross, under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, in the name of St. Patrick, to attempt it.”

5. Quotation
 as a concluding sentence, a quotation is both attractive and may even be impressive.
Example:
“As Chaucer has it, ‘And if gold rust, what shall iron do?’ “ And so we have a
plain indication of one of the reasons for the inferiority of American prose-writing to that of
England or of France. It is a simple lack of intellectual discipline.”

Avoid these errors in writing conclusions:

1. Failing to fill out a conclusion, leaving the reader hanging.
2. Adding irrelevant or unnecessary detail.
3. Adding an undeveloped idea; the conclusion is not the place to develop or introduce
ideas.
Arranging Ideas in Graded Order
 The following are different plans of ideas in graded order.

Graded Order Subject: Adopting a Written Constitution in a Convention.

Least easy to A constitution that satisfies only the economic desires of the people will
adopt not be very easy to adopt.
Most easy to More acceptable, and therefore easier to adopt, is the constitution that
adopt appeals to the people sense of justice:
Experience shows that the easiest type of written constitution to adopt
is the one that satisfies most of the political and economic desires of
the powerful factions in a country.