Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Marsh.all cavendish
1
'] . - .•, Educatmn
Aletheia Chan
� Marshall Cavendish
UA::'.IEducation
Table of Contents
Chapter 3 ...... The Introduction - Hook and Thesis Statement........... ...................... 30-40
Chapter 4 ...... The Bod y - Support and Coherence ......... ... ................................ 41-48
Writing is purposeful and helps to serve one or a combination of the three main purposes:
When you write to inform, you are writing an exposition to explain something. Newspapers or
magazines are examples of expositions.
In persuasion, your primary goal is to win your audience over to your point of view. You do so
by explaining, stating facts, putting forward logical arguments and appealing to expert opinions.
A persuasive piece of writing is called an argument.
In entertaining your audience, you aim to amuse them, perhaps by using interesting or humo_rous
descriptions.
To achieve the above purposes, there are five main text types:
I. Description
Purpose: To describe a thing, a person or a place in detail.
Following below are two composition titles of descriptive texts. Descriptive titles usually begin
with the word "Describe" which indicates that you have to write descriptively by appealing to
the readers' senses.
Structure
Identify main features
Language Features
--------------
Present I Past tenses
Quiz Time !
Identify what the following description are for :
While a narrative has a definite story plot with conflicts to be resolved, a recount mainly retells
the events that have happened.
Write about an occasion when you had to eat humble pie (admit that you are in the wrong
and apologise).
Climax (Peak)
Sa�in1f rr
Adjectives: huge, red
Remember:
Description and recount texts have to do with real-world events while· narratives are mainly
fictLon.-al such as in nove_-ls or fairy tale.
.
s.
In contrast, expository and argumentative texts mainly deal with ideas and thought processes.
Use a formal tone by not using contractions (use "do not" and not "don't) and choosing words
with a more serious feel (use "attractive" instead of "cool").
What effect does air pollution have on daily life in your country? What steps should be taken,
or are being taken, to deal with it?
First, cook two cups of rice (serves four We are what we eat. If we eat unhealthily or
people). excessively, our health will be ruined.
Next, prepare the ingredients: smash two In contrast, a healthy diet is one that helps
pieces of garlic, cut five pre-soaked black maintain or improve general health. It helps
mushroom pieces into strips and dice three to lower risks such as obesity, heart disease,
pieces of Chinese sausage. type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cancer.
Heat up the wok and add two tablespoons A healthy diet entails increased consumption
of oil. Add in the garlic pieces and fry till of plant foods, particularly fruits, vegetables,
fragrant before adding in the rest of the legumes, whole grains and nuts, while
ingredients. Saute (toss) the ingredients. limiting intake of salt, sugar and fats.·
persuade refuting
opposing arguments.
NOUNS
PRONOUNS
VERBS
ADVERBS
CONJUNCTIONS
INTERJECTIONS
either ... or
whether ... or
apt
ethnicities
Undoubtly
Likewise
precocious
In this chapter, you will learn expository skills: explain, define, give examples, link cause and effect,
classify as well as compare and contrast. We start with an expository essay - "Life".
Life
Cho Ming En
Hwa Chong Institution, Year 1
Life is full of mystery. No one knows what life has in store for us. I feel that life is not just about
living and dying but about enjoying it, adapting to changes and making it meaningful.
First of all, life is the state of existence as a living thing. Thus, all living things, including bacteria,
fungi, animals and plants, have life or are a form of life. For survival, life on Earth has to depend
on food, water and oxygen.
Although food, water and oxygen are essential for life, hope is equally important. With hope,
living things have the will to continue living and working. Many believe that tomorrow will be
a better day and this is considered hope. Some prisoners-of-war in Germany during World War
II managed to survive because they remained hopeful. They believed that they had a chance to
be freed. This is an example of how miraculous hope is. People who are bereft of hqpe may
do silly things like committing suicide to escape from the gruelling reality of life. Tf:ius, hope
sustains life.
Life is also stubborn. The good side of life's stubbornness is life's determination. Life persists to
the end. An example is Aung San Suu Kyi. In 1990 her political party, National teague for
Democaracy, won the election, but she was detained and placed under house arrest for fifteen
years by the Burmese military. She is pro-democracy and is determined to help MyanmatJtA order
to live in Myanmar, she gave up the chance of seeing her late husband who had suffered from
cancer.
It is also in the nature of life to do things that may benefit or harm others. Things
life include pollution, terrorism, poaching, destruction of natural habitats and glob
One of the things that benefit life - especially humans :...._ is science and technolo
has made many things much easier for humans. However, most beneficial things
side. Sadly, technology uses electricity which requires the burning o.f fossil fuels to
This causes the air to become polluted .and fossil fuels to be depleted.
Lastly, many people have goals which they wish to fulfill. These goals are the drivin'.g force of
life. Without them, life would be meaningless. In the case of other living things, we do not know
if they have goals but I think that they live just to grow, reproduce and die.
My hopes are that life would not face any severe threat and that people would treasure their
predous lives. Then the world would become a beautiful and vibrant place filled with life.
He went back to the table and sat down beside the shorter man.
"Tomorrow when Kee Guan Import & Export delivers the gold bars, we'll STRIKE," Guan
announced resolutely as he pulled out a piece of paper and scrawled some words on it.
Heng took a look and then nodded. "No worries. I'll tell the men to meet there tomorrow
night at 6 p.m."
"Make sure they are prepared. I want a clean job," Guan looked past Heng, as if into the
future and his lips lifted to give a ghost of a smile.
"Sure, Ko* trust me to organise them," Heng lowered his voice as he leaned towards Guan,
"Tomorrow night, WE shall become the proud owners of 120 gold bars."
Both men broke into a guffaw and slapped each other's back.
Guan then folded the paper and shallowly stuffed it into his pants' pocket.
They stood up and walked towards the staircase landing.
What have I gotten mysel im ? I travelled back 89 years to stumble upon some crooks!
They seem to be planni m to? Kody thought in exasperation.
ll man m
lice will not sa
He turned and came face to face with a fat man wearing a white singlet that barely
covered his round belly protruding above a pair of black shorts. Beside him stood a girl
with two pig tails of about ele.ven years old.
"I - I am just visiting," Kody finally found his voice to reply the fat man.
"Xiao Lan, did you see this boy go up the stairs? We were here the whole afternoon
watching the charcoal stove."
"No ... Pa I don't remember seeing him," the girl blinked her bright byes and looked at
Kody curiously.
'"COME HERE!" ordered the fat man gruffly. "Let me check to see if you have stolen
anything."
"Raise your hands!" instructed the fat man. Kody noticed that his bushy eyebrows
twitched noticeably whenever he spoke loudly.
The fat man patted Kody down and pulled out the Com-Glass' from his pocket.
"It looks like a pair of glasses but it has a few buttons." Xiao Lan mo ·n e-
the Com-Glass that her father was holdip.g in his hands.
and_
" an image of a lady appeared on
As spe pressed the first button,
spoke.
"Ahhl" Xiao Lan let out a frightened ccy and 1et go of the Com-' Glass<
Kody swiftly reached out and caught itjust in time, (Not.that hewasJ1.fraid thatit;,would
br�ak because it was unbreakable.)
in awe.
''Wh.ere are you from?" asked the pot-bellied rnan, looking at Kody if�
2. Lead by example A good leader leads by example. Shalini is always early for training and she
pushes herself hard during training. From what we know, she has to work part
time to supplement her parents' income on top of studying and training hard.
Therefore, whenever we feel the strain of juggling our studies with the training,
the thought of Shalini stops us from giving excuses for putting in mediocre
efforts.
3. Cares for team Shalini cares for her team members. Those who are absent from training will,
members without fail, receive a phone call from her. During training, she looks out for our
safety and welfare. Hence, the whole team is truly united. As the leader, she
makes us feel that each of us is significant.
4. Strategises Shal1ni organises team games and she analyses our performance together with
the coach during practice runs and friendly races. I feel she is a strategist who
knows how to win a battle.
Conclusion She has taught me what effective leadership is all about. I feel that all of us are
leaders in some ways since we often find ourselves in some areas of influence in
other people's lives. I hope to be able to emulate her example of being purpose
driven, empathetic and strategic in achieving life's goals.
Let us now consider a sample essay of a title that involves a narration of events and an exposition.
State annual event The Chinese New Year celebration is an annual event which I enjoy and it is very
important to me.
Narration with "Gongxi gongxi gongxi ni ... " Strains of familiar Lunar New Year songs can be
descriptive details heard in most public places and on TV each year around mid-January. Hearing
them reminds me of the arrival of the new year. Even though we do not get to
enjoy the four seasons in equatorial Singapore, the oft-mentioned "spring" in
Chinese New Year songs conjures images of blossoming flowers with an excited
air of anticipation.
Women will usually step up their buying spree during this time - new clothes,
home decor and accessories. There is a sense of renewal and hope that a new
year heralds. My mum and aunts will also be exchanging recipes on the baking
of New Year goodies. As children, we are willing and even happy to try out their
1
experimental products, even if they were somewhat burnt!
See Yu Yan
CHU St Nicholas Girls' School, Sec 3
Good definition to clarify Entrepreneurship is the application of an individual's talent to the resources.
key term which she has and increasing these resources in the future so that she can
attain success. Entrepreneurship may sound easy; it took a few months for
the custom-made sweet shop, Made In Candy, to become recognised as one
of the n;iost innovative stores in Asia. However, the process is not as easy as
one thinks. Some may have succeeded, but many have failed. That is why
Thesis statement most people prefer to work for others and perhaps, earn a lower pay
and spend the rest of their life in a manner that is not as fascinating
as successful entrepreneurs.
1 st argument The huge Entrepreneurship requires out-of-pocket money, which might be a lot in order
investment of time and to carry out market research and business plan developments. Greenhorns
money. often need professional/corporate advice and tend to approach ma1:1agement
consultants at a fee. An entrepreneur must also be prepared to give up the
luxury of leisure time and the freedom from stress. Business owners are usually
the busiest of all among working people, especially at the beginning of their
business. Most entrepre.neurs agree that the first few years were the hgrdest.
Data collected from numerous interviews have exposed the urban myth of
entrepreneurship and instead revealed the grueling journey behind the alluring
fa�ade. Creativity also decides how well you come up with new ideas and
whether people would want to spend money on it. An innovative idea
increases the chances of one succeeding.
2 nd argument: High Not all entrepreneurs are successful. Many have tried and failed. According
failure rate to'Harvard researchers, first-time entrepreneurs have only a 18 percent chance
of succeeding, whfle entrepreneurs who have previously failed have a
20 percent chance of succeeding. The time an_d effort spent will be wasted
and the money spent on promotions goes down 'the drain.
If one does not have ,:1 backup plan, and his business fails, he would ha11e to
work for someone else and spend the rest of his life just like most other
A high profile example people. For fnstance, David Murray, a former Google employee with an
appealing six-figure salary, left his job to become an entrepreneur to work
on a smartphone application. However, he failed rn his venture and became
buried in debt. Hence, entrepreneurship might not ?!ways be that easy and
not everyone is able to succeed and lead a different life.
Opposing argument However, many feel that entrepreneurship is able to let one lead a life different
from others. If -an entrepreneur's innovations are unique and customers are
willing to spend their time and money on the products or services, the
entrepreneur becomes famous and earns a lot of money. For example, due
to his successful creation of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has a net worth of
$9-4 billion. With such an enormous sum of money, he will be able to do
many things that most people cannot aHord to do.
raid."
ISBN 978-981-01-9721-6