Federal Technical and Vocational Educational and Training Institute

Department of Language and Humanities

Basic Writing Skills Assignment for summer in-service students for the year 2012 E.C.

Name of student: __________________________Id. No.: _________ Section____________

N.B. Please read the following important points that would help you in doing this
assignment.

 You need to go through the course material from the very beginning to the end to do
the questions. To allocate some 30 minutes daily for your Basic Writing Skills course
to read and practice the activities will help you a lot to develop your writing skill.
 On arrival for face-to-face tutorial sessions, you are most welcomed to ask questions
on issues you are not clear to do the questions. Even during tutorial sessions you
have to change some of your answers which you could find not correctly done.
 Any written material copied from a friend or down-loaded from internet will be
nullified.
 Your answers should go into a separate piece of paper written neat and legible.
 Total mark allotted for the assignment is 30 %

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A. Decide the type of structural sentences the following are (5 points).
1. While walking on the streets of Addis Ababa, I often come across honest people.
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2. They say if you try to wrongly take others’ property, you will pay off.
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3. They were able to fix the problem of the engine however, no body acknowledged their
efforts and this made them to feel awful.
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4. My football talent is attractive and comfortable to watch.
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5. As we were rushing home, a heavy rain caught us in the middle of the field and we had
nowhere to escape.
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B. Combine the following sentences using the clues given. (4 points)

1. Dino likes to eat Kitfo for dinner. Dino likes to eat Shiro wat for dinner (either-or)
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2. The girls never go on vacations every year. The boys never go to their home
towns on weekends. (nor)
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3. The electricians have taken part in the construction of the new town. The
surveyors have taken part in the construction of the new town. (not only –but
also)
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4. Agriculturalists did not contribute in the introduction of the new technology.
Manufacturers did not contribute in the introduction of the new technology.
(neither -nor)
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C. Complete the following text using appropriate conjunctive adverb from the
following list: never the less, for example, or else, therefore, in addition. (3 points)

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This paper presents the use of various forms of conjunctions in the writings of students in
English as Foreign Language situations. It has found a significant difference in the use of
‘and’ between high and low rated texts. The conjunctive ‘and’ is seen to have a less unifying
function, it is 1._____________ avoided in the high rated texts but vigorously utilized in the
low rated ones. 2. _____________, the study further reveals that there is no significant
difference in the use of other conjunctives. 3. ____________ with ‘temporal’, and
‘demonstratives’, these are scarcely employed in any of the texts. The conclusion drawn is
that these EFL students have yet to master the mechanics of text connection through
conjunctions and forwards extra efforts towards the teaching of conjunctions to achieve the
proficiency level required of students.
D. Identify the faulty type these sentences are and write the corrected version. (5
points)
1. I did not feel good last night. For the second time this week alone.
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2. She can’t be with you she has to be at home before curfew.
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3. Nuru likes to play basket ball, playing football and jugging in the field.
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4. The trader sold the dress to the lady with a stripe.
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5. While taking exams, told not to talk to friends.
___________________
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E. Narrowing down the following topics, write a topic sentence to write a paragraph. (2
points) (here you are not supposed to write a paragraph)
1. Economic freedom

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 2. Civilization

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F. Write a well developed paragraph using one of the topic sentences you have written
in part E above in about 150 words. (4 points)
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G. Develop those same topics in E above into thesis statements. (2 points)
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H. Write a well developed essay of five paragraphs on the topic you have developed
into a paragraph in F above. Make sure that your essay consists of an introductory
paragraph, three body paragraphs and a concluding paragraph. (5 points)

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