Writing Skills and the Essay

U N IT 2 : C o m m o n W ritin g E rro rs a n d S u m m a riz in g

In the next three units we will examine common grammar mistakes with writing as
well as looking at the different paragraphs that make up the essay. We will also learn
how to summarize.

P A R T 1 : S IM P L E & C O M P O U N D S E N T E N C E S
Most beginning writers of English will use only three basic sentence types: simple,
compound and complex. In this section you will learn how to form simple and
compound sentences. When you know how to use these sentence types, you will be
able to write with more confidence. In the following section, S = subject and V = verb.

S im p le S e n te n c e
A simple sentence can take the form SV, SSV, SVV, or SSVV. For example:
SV: The cat slept.
SSV: The cat and the dog slept.
SVV: The cat slept and ate.
SSVV: The cat and the dog slept and ate.

Notice that all the subjects stay on the left and the verbs stay on the right. The
conjunction and is used above to connect two subjects or two verbs.

Simple sentences are very useful, but they are not enough to communicate well in
English. ← The sentence you just finished reading is a compound sentence.

C o m p o u n d S e n te n c e
A compound sentence contains more than one SV pair connected by a conjunction.
The most common conjunctions are: and, or, but, so. Examples:

SV, and SV: The cat slept, and the dog played.
SV, but SV: The cat slept, but the dog ran around.
SV, so SV: The cat slept, so the dog ate the cat’s food.
SV, or SV: The cat ate the diamond ring, or someone stole it.

A compound sentence requires a comma ( , ) after the first SV pair.

PRACTICE: Label the subjects and verbs. Decide if the sentence is simple or
compound. Add a comma if it is compound

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 PART 2

My sister went on a vacation and my mother went shopping.

My sister and mother went on a vacation and went shopping.
Kate will date Jack or Kate will date Sawyer.
Kate will date Jack or Sawyer.
My mother finished cooking so we ate.
My mother finished cooking and slept.

P A R T 2 : C O M B IN IN G S E N T E N C E S
In formal writing avoid beginning sentences with: and, or, but, so. These words
connect sentences together into a single sentence

Tammy went to Florida. And her sister went to California.

Tammy went to Florida, and her sister went to California.

Joan went to Florida. But her sister stayed home.

Joan went to Florida, but her sister stayed home.

Tammy went to Disneyworld. So she saw Mickey Mouse.

Tammy went to Disneyworld, so she saw Mickey Mouse.

PRACTICE: Combine these sentences using and, or, but, so. You can make simple
or compound sentences. Remove repetitive words to make short, efficient sentences.

1. Harry Potter is friends with Hermione Granger. And Ron Weasley is friends with
Hermione Granger.

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2. At the end of the series only Harry will survive. Or only Voldemort will survive.

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3. Harry Potter is brave. So the Sorting Hat sorts him into Gryffindor.

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4. Harry Potter grows up lonely. But he makes many friends when he goes to
Hogwarts.

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 Writing Skills and the Essay

5. Edward and his family are vampires. But they don’t drink human blood.

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6. Bella likes to read. Bella likes to ride motorcycles. Bella likes to hang out with Jacob.

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7. In the future, Bella will marry Edward. Or maybe she will become a werewolf.

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P a rt 3 : V e rb s
When telling a story, you should try to keep all of your verbs in the same tense, either all
past or all present. When writing a review, your verbs should be in the present. Only change
tenses when there is a very specific time marker. Also be aware of subject-verb agreement.
A singular subject needs a singular verb while a plural subject needs a plural verb.

Look at the following examples with your partner. Discuss the problems you find in
each sentence. Then rewrite the sentence

1. Last weekend they go home. And seeing their parents.

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2. She watching movies every weekend. But she don’t watches TV.

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3. Next year, he will moved to Seoul. Or he will studying overseas.

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4. I thinking that Mad Max Fury Road was the best movie I has ever seen.

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5. The character Frank from Blue Velvet was violent and impolite. So I doesn’t like him.

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 PART 2

6. My Sassy Girl was a Korean comedy about a guy who fall in love with a very strange girl.

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Paragraph Analysis
Analyze the paragraph with a partner.
find problems and then rewrite the paragraph for homework.

Oldboy is a Korean action film directed by Park Chan-wook and based on

the manga by Nobuaki Minegishi. Oldboy was about a man named Oh Daesu who
trying to find out why he was imprisoned for fifteen years. First, he is mysteriously
kidnapped one night. Next, he spent fifteen years making a list of all of the people
he hurt. And trying to escape. Then one day he is mysteriously set free. But doesn’t
remember much about his past. After that, he tries to find out why he was locked
away. Along the way, Oh Daesu met a young woman named Mido who try to help
him. Finally, he confronts his kidnapper. Oh Daesu's confrontation with his kidnapper
was one of the most shocking. And impressive scenes in the movie. It is here where
Oh Daesu learning the identity of the man who kidnapped him. And the reason why
he was locked away.

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 Writing Skills and the Essay

Summarizing is a very important skill. It allows the writer to tell a story quickly by
focusing only on the most important information. Read the following passage.

One night a man named Oh Daesu gets arrested because he is drunk and loud. He
causes problems in the police station and he is very rude. His friend comes to take
him home, but while he is on the phone with Oh Daesu’s wife, Daesu is captured
and locked in a secret room. He stays in the room for fifteen years. Every night the
room floods with gas and it makes him sleep. The only food he is given is mandu.
At first he’s very sad and tries to kill himself several times. He makes a list of all
the people he has hurt in his life to try to figure out why he has been locked up.
Later he becomes angry and strong and tries to escape by using a metal chopstick
to dig through a wall. One day he is suddenly set free and has a new suit and a
lot of money. He fights with some young gang members and later meets a sashimi
chef named Mido in a restaurant. He suddenly gets suck and Mido takes him to her
home and helps him to get better. Daesu tells Mido his story and she offers to help
him. They find the Chinese restaurant that delivered mandu to the secret room and
then find the secret room. Daesu confronts the man who runs the room and tortures
him to find out why he was taken. He fights a large number of gangsters in a corridor
and gets injured and meets the man who wanted him taken when the man helps
Daesu and puts him in a taxi. Daesu continues his search for the man and learns
that the reason he was taken was because of a rumor he spread back when he was
a high school student. With this knowledge, Oh Daesu goes into the city to confront
the man who held him for fifteen years.
As you can see, it’s very long. It’s too long to use in an essay. However, if we focus
only on the most important information we have this:

Oh Daesu is mysteriously kidnapped one night. He spends fifteen years making

a list of all of the people he hurt and trying to escape. One day he is mysteriously
set free but doesn’t remember much about his past. He tries to find out why he was
locked away. Oh Daesu meets a young woman named Mido who tries to help him.
He confronts his kidnapper.

This is much smaller and easier to read and understand.

Your summary should only include main ideas and key points.

The main idea is what the text is about.

Key points are information that is used to support the main idea.
Ask yourself:
“Do you need this information to understand the text?”

If the answer is yes, put it into your own words in your summary.

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 PART 2

Transition signals. Transition signals are used when we want to:

show time: first, next, then, after that, finally

organize ideas: first, second, third, fourth, finally

Add information or change to a new detail: also, furthermore, in addition, however

Here is the same summary from above, but with transition signals. The writing flows
much better, and it’s easier to picture the order of events.

First, Oh Daesu is mysteriously kidnapped one night. Next, he spends fifteen years
making a list of all of the people he hurt and trying to escape. Then one day he is
mysteriously set free but doesn’t remember much about his past. After that, he tries
to find out why he was locked away. Along the way, Oh Daesu meets a young woman
named Mido who tries to help him. Finally, he confronts his kidnapper.

Practice:

On the lines below, write a summary of the last movie you saw. Make sure to use
transition signals and don’t give away the ending.
____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

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____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

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Now, share your summary with your partner or your group and see if they can guess
the title of your movie.

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 Writing Skills and the Essay

U N IT 3 : In tro d u c tio n P a ra g ra p h s a n d s u m m a rie s

Today we will be looking at an introduction paragraph. An introduction paragraph has

three parts:
Intro sentences
summary with transition signals
An interesting point

P a ra g ra p h A n a ly s is
The Incredibles is a computer animated movie about a family of superheroes
living in a time when superheroes are outlawed. The movie was directed by Brad
Bird and released in 2004. Mr. Incredible taking a job at an insurance company. But
he thinks his new job is very boring compared to being a superhero. Next, he got
a secret message that tells him he needs to come out of retirement for a secret
mission. Then, he flies to a remote island. And he fights with a giant robot. After that,
Mr. Incredible discover a plot by the villain Syndrome to attack a city with another
giant robot. Finally, Mr. Incredible and his family must working together to try to
defeats Syndrome and his giant robot. The battle between the Incredibles and the
giant robot in the city is one of the most impressive scenes in the movie. The action
was very fast and there are many twists and turns, especially when Syndrome lose
control of the giant robot. And it starts to destroy everything around it.

Now, With your partner:

Underline the first two sentences. We will talk about them later
Find the common errors: verb tense and conjunctions
Find and circle the transition signals
Underline the last two sentences

Exploring Details
The first two sentences in this paragraph are introduction sentences. What information
does the writer put there?

The last two sentences describe an interesting scene. What is it?

Turn back to page 21. Underline the introduction and interesting scene sentences and
circle the transition signals in the summary.

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 Appendix

Name:
Time:

Directions:
Watch a movie you think you will enjoy (unless you want to watch a movie you think you will hate)
Take notes about the movie
You don’t have to write long sentence. Get the basic details down.

Movie Title: Directed by: Main Characters and type: Setting (Time and place):

I. M ovie S ummary :

II. W hat was a key scene?

Why was it important?

III. D escribe your two favorite C haracters:

Character 01: ___________________ Character 02: ___________________

Trait (adjective): Trait:
Explain: Explain:
Trait: Trait:
Explain: Explain:

IV . E xplain your opinion of the movie

I thought the movie was ______________. I also thought it was __________________.

Explain: Explain:

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