UNIT 4 Writing practice
‘People who work for charities should be paid the
Writing skills: step 1
1 Choose the correct options.
1 Many prisons are overcrowded and I however /
therefore believe we must look for alternatives.
2 The system is not working, although / despite the
amount of money that has been invested in it.
3 They decided to buy a farm because / due to their
desire to be closer to nature.
4 We travel to work by train because it’s cheaper
than driving. Furthermore / On the other hand,
it’s better for the environment.
5 He failed his exams, as / so he wasn’t able to go
to university this year.
6 Mona gives a lot to charity, and what’s more /
as a result she spends one day a week doing
voluntary work.
7 Joan has never broken the law apart from /
even so the time when she received a fine for
driving too fast.
8 He lives in a dangerous area. On the one hand /
Nevertheless, he goes out to meet his friends
every night.
2 Rewrite the sentences using the linkers in bold.
1 He drives a lot because of his job. He likes to buy
expensive cars. (for this reason)
.................................................................................
2 She lost the election. She made some mistakes in
a TV interview. (consequently)
.................................................................................
3 He’s got a house in the city. He’s got a cottage in
the countryside. (as well as)
.................................................................................
4 He received a long prison sentence. It was his first
offence. (even though)
.................................................................................
5 She set up an organization for foreigners living in
the city. She teaches them English. (In addition)
.................................................................................
6 They’ve got four cats. They’ve got three dogs.
(besides)
.................................................................................
Writing skills: step 2
3 Read the text and match paragraphs A–D with
descriptions 1–4.
1 The writer's opinion ……
2 Argument(s) for the statement ……
3 Rephrasing of the statement ……
4 Argument(s) against the statement ……
2  PHOTOCOPIABLE © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
same as those who work for profit-making
corporations.’ Discuss.
A We are used to the idea that executives of
private, profit-making corporations earn a lot of money
and have very comfortable lifestyles that most of us
can only dream of. But how do we feel when we find
out that top executives of charitable organizations
often enjoy similar benefits?
B On the one hand, people who donate their hard-
earned cash to help charities want as much of that
money as possible to go to the cause they have
chosen to support. Consequently, they might feel that
it is not right for the executives of those charities to be
driving luxury cars and living in large houses. If these
executives want to help their charity, surely they
should be making sacrifices as well?
C On the other hand, large charities deal with
millions of pounds and thousands of supporters every
year. Therefore, they need to be as professional and
efficient as a large corporation, and they need their
staff to be experienced and highly motivated.
Moreover, fundraising demands similar skills to those
required in advertising and marketing, and if they
cannot attract high-quality staff from these industries,
the charities will fail. As money is a problem for many
people these days, persuading the public to donate to
worthy causes rather than spend money on
themselves requires a great deal of talent.
D Therefore, despite being uncomfortable with the
idea of wealthy charity workers, I believe that
competitive salaries are necessary in order to attract
the kind of staff who will help the charity to achieve its
aims.
4 Find words and phrases in the text that match the
definitions.
1 senior managers (paragraph A) ……………………
2 advantages, good things (paragraph A)
……………………
3 stopping doing enjoyable things (paragraph B)
……………………
4 getting good results without wasting money
(paragraph C) ……………………
5 enthusiastic, wanting to do well (paragraph C)
……………………
6 as good as or better than others (paragraph D)
……………………