Writing
Writing strategies
Read these general ideas to write a composition in English
Remember to follow these steps:
- Stage 1: Thinking before writing
- Stage 2: Brainstorming ideas
- Stage 3: Relevant information
- Stage 4: Paragraphing
- Stage 5: Writing carefully
- Stage 6: Checking
Paragraphing
One of the most important stages when writing a composition, is the idea of dividing what you want to write in paragraphs. After deciding what ideas you are going to use in your composition, try to organize these ideas in paragraphs; remember we usually recommend three:
1. Introduction: introduce the topic
2. Main body: write the main ideas
3. Conclusion: summarise your thoughts
Checking
After you have written your composition, it is very important to read it carefully and check the following aspects:1. Spelling
2. Grammar
3. Punctuation
A description of a person
A description of a person
When you are writing a description essay, you are "painting a picture"
with words.
Good Description:
- Creates a main impression-an overall effect, feeling, or image -about the topic
- Uses concrete, specific details to support the main impression
- Uses details that appeal to the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch
Try to make it more interesting by adding some of the following adverbs and adjectives.
- Adverbs: quite, really, fairly, a bit, extremely, etc
- Adjectives and expressions of description you have learnt in section A of vocabulary.
Suggested paragraph plan:
1. Introduction: explain who this person is: name, occupation, age, ..., when you first met her/him, how long you have known her/him, etc
2. Main body: describe her/his physical appearance and then her/his character
3. Conclusion: brief summary of why you like or admire this person
Example of a descriptive composition
| Example of a descriptive composition My best friend is Helen. She is an English teacher, and she is now 52 years old. I've known her for almost thirty years, since we were at university together.She is now Head of the Foreign Affairs Department in our local government, and I am very proud of her. |
| The first thing you notice about Helen is her smile: she is always
smiling and she always looks happy. She is quite thin and not very
tall. She's got short dark hair and brown eyes. She married young and
by the age of 25 she already had her only child, George. She looks very sporty and we both often meet to go jogging or cycling. She doesn't like wearing make-up, but she doesn't really need to. Helen is a very outgoing person and very reliable. You can always count on her. |
| I admire her because she is clever and always achieves her objectives. Even when things go wrong she knows how to get over these bad moments. She is an extremely admirable person. |
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3