CONTINUOUS WRITING

1. CONTINUOUS WRITING

2. CONTINUOUS WRITING. • CHOOSING THE TOPIC – DON’T START WRITING UNTIL YOU ARE SETTLED AND SURE. KEEP COOL! • PLANNING. • OPENING PARAGRAPH – IT INFORMS THE READER ABOUT THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE ESSAY. THE OPENING PARAGRAPH SHOULD SHOW THE WRITER AT HIS/HER BEST. • LENGTH – 350 WORDS.

3. CONTINUOUS WRITING • YOU WILL HAVE FIVE TOPICS TO CHOOSE FROM. • YOU WILL HAVE ABOUT ONE HOUR TO COMPLETE YOUR PIECE OF CONTINUOUS WRITING. • YOU ARE REQUESTED TO WRITE ABOUT 350 WORDS, BUT YOU ARE NOT EXPECTED TO COUNT THE WORDS AND TO REMAIN RIGIDLY WITHIN THESE LIMITS.(THE QUALITY OF YOUR WORK IS WHAT COUNTS – NOT THE LENGTH)

4. CONTINUOUS WRITING. • ORGANISING SENTENCES –AVOID WRITING A LONG SERIES OF SHORT SENTENCES. • USE YOUR SENTENCES TO LINK IDEAS TOGETHER SO THAT THE READER IS CARRIED SMOOTHLY FROM ONE IDEA TO THE NEXT. • AS YOU WRITE, TRY TO VARY THE LENGTH AND TYPE OF THE SENTENCES YOU USE.USE SENTENCE VARIETY AS WELL AS APPROPRIATE VOCABULARY TO ACHIEVE THE EFFECT YOU WANT.

5. CONTINUOUS WRITING. • RELEVANCE. • VOCABULARY – FOR COMMUNICATION TO BE CLEAR, YOU MUST USE WORDS THAT CONVEY TO THE READER, AS EXACTLY AS POSSIBLE, THE INFORMATION THAT YOU INTEND.NEVER TRY TO IMPRESS YOUR EXAMINER BY USING WORDS WHICH SOUND CLEVER BUT MAY NOT MEAN WHAT YOU INTEND. • PUNCTUATION.

6. CONTINUOUS WRITING. • PARAGRAPHS – VARIED IN LENGTH, WITH THE FINAL PARAGRAPH SHORT TO DRIVE HOME THE WRITER’S OPINION AND CONCLUSION. • HANDWRITING AND PRESENTATION. • SUBJECT MATTER – WHEN YOU WRITE, BE YOURSELF. USE EXPERIENCES, SETTINGS AND IDEAS THAT ARE FAMILIAR TO YOU AND THAT YOU UNDERSTAND.

7. CRITERIA FOR CONTINUOUS WRITING. • LANGUAGE IS ENTIRELY ACCURATE. • TOPIC IS ADDRESSED WITH CONSISTENT RELEVANCE. • INTEREST OF THE READER IS AROUSED AND SUSTAINED THROUGHOUT. • SENTENCE STRUCTURE IS VARIED – ABLE TO VARY SENTENCE LENGTH AND TYPE TO ACHIEVE AN INTENDED EFFECT.

8. CRITERIA. • PARAGRAPHS ARE WELL-PLANNED, HAVE UNITY AND ARE APPROPRIATELY LINKED. • VOCABULARY IS WIDE AND USED WITH PRECISION. • PUNCTUATION IS ACCURATE AND HELPFUL TO THE READER. • SPELLS ACCURATELY OVER THE FULL RANGE OF VOCABULARY USED.

9. STANDARD ENGLISH • COMMUNICATES CLEARLY. • OBEYS THE RULES OF SPELLING, PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR. • SUITABLE VOCABULARY. • SHOULD NOT CONTAIN SLANG OR EXPRESSIONS WHICH MIGHT BE ACCEPTABLE IN A CONVERSATION BETWEEN FRIENDS, BUT WHICH ARE OUT OF PLACE IN A PIECE OF WRITING INTENDED TO DEMONSTRATE THE WRITER’S ABILITY TO USE STANDARD ENGLISH. • DON’T COPY THE LANGUAGE OF COMICS, ETC.USE ENGLISH THAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH AND WHICH WILL BE EASY FOR YOUR READER TO UNDERSTAND.

10. WRITE BETTER SENTENCES • USE SIMPLE SENTENCES. • SENTENCES WITH JOINING WORDS. • LONGER SENTENCES. • SENTENCES WITH DIFFERENT BEGINNINGS. • SENTENCES OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS.

11. WRITE BETTER SENTENCES. • ADD ADJECTIVES TO NOUNS. • ADVERBS TO VERBS. • PHRASES. • CLAUSES.

12. The order of Adjectives. • 1. size ( how big ) • 2. age ( how old ) • 3. shape ( what shape ) • 4. colour ( what colour ) • 5. origin ( where from ) • 6. material ( what is it made of ) • 7. purpose ( what is it made for ) • > Noun.

13. Examples. • A short young man ( size + age) • An old Indian woman (age + origin) • A long yellow bus (shape + colour) • A new white cotton dress ( age + colour + material) • A big brown shopping basket ( size + colour + purpose)

14. Other examples. • An old boring Italian movie. • A beautiful wooden house. • A small marble chair. • Thick black hair. • A round Japanese serving bowl. • A tall handsome Malay man. • A large colourful Persian carpet. • An enormous black African elephant. • An old leather travelling bag. • A large wooden dining table.

15. WRITE BETTER SENTENCES. • USE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. • IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS. • PROVERBS. • SIMILES. • COLOUR IDIOMS. • PAIRS OF WORDS. • DIRECT SPEECH.

16. HOW TO MAKE YOUR SENTENCES INTERESTING? • ADD ADJECTIVES TO NOUNS – ample food, monotonous voice, risky journey, etc. • ADD ADVERBS TO VERBS – decorate beautifully, dial repeatedly, sleep soundly, etc. • USE PAIRS OF WORDS – safe and sound, hue and cry, time and again, etc. • USE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE – Ali tried to jump thequeue at the canteen because he was hungry and wanted to get his food quickly.

17. HOW TO MAKE YOUR SENTENCES INTERESTING? • USE IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION. – Chee Seng was only pulling my leg when he said I looked fat. • USE PROVERB – All that glitters is not gold. • USE SIMILE – He remained calm and was ascool as a cucumber when he was tortured by his kidnappers. • USE COLOUR IDIOM – Once in a blue moon.

18. HOW TO MAKE YOUR SENTENCES INTERESTING? • ADD PHRASES TO NOUNS – The apartment with expensive furniture belongs to the millionaire. The spectators cheered in an excitingmanner when Singapore scored a goal. • ADD CLAUSES TO SENTENCES – I got up so early so that I could catch the 6 o’clock bus. Mount Kinabalu which is in Sabah is a popular tourist destination.

19. Writing a short story. The opening. Use direct speech because this can be an interesting way to begin a story. It sounds more lively if you do so.

20. These are some examples: • “Hey look” Shouted Halim, “up there! Something’s wrong with that plane.” The children stared into the sun. At first their eyes were dazzled by the blinding rays but even so it soon became horrifyingly clear that the aircraft was falling from the sky, spinning helplessly and hurtling towards the city below.

21. “That’s the last time I’m ever going to listen to you!” I snapped angrily. ”my feet are killing me and I haven’t eaten since breakfast!” Sarah looked downcast. A tear appeared in the corner of her eyes. My heart melted. “Oh come on then, let’s get going. It’s only another ten kilometers to the youth hostel.”

22. Another technique is to be noisy. Begin an essay with a noisy note. This gives a good effect to your essay. • These are some examples…

23. Whizz! Zoom! The rockets sped upwards and illuminated the dark sky. The faces of the children glowed with pleasure as the sound of fireworks exploded in their ears.

24. Splash! The diver broke the surface of the water. For a few seconds the silence seemed to hang in the air and then the wild applause of the crowd shattered the peace as the result came up on the board – a perfect ten.

25. Using the right word. • I had a nice holiday in Hawaii. I had wanted to spend only a week there but I had such a nice time that I decided to extend my vacation for another week. The weather was so nice and I had a nice weekend on a nice stretch of beach. I also met a nice young man. We became nice friends. He took me to his house in a nice sports car. It was a very nice house with a very nice garden. He took me to a nice restaurant which served some really nice dishes. He also bought for me a very nice dress. I looked nice in it. Then we went to see a nice movie.

26. Good and Nice. • 1. I had a happy/pleasant/enjoyable/excellent/fine/ splendid/magnificent/marvelous/superb/ wonderful holiday/time. • 2. How is the weather? It is bright/cloudless/favourable/fine/sunny • 3. He is a pleasant/fine/honest/helpful/friendly/ dependable/considerate/cheerful/charming/ capable/approachable man. • 4. Beautiful/cosy/posh house/restaurant. • 5. Appetising/delicious/enjoyable/mouth-watering/tasty food/dishes. • 6. A lovely/gorgeous/beautiful/attractive dress. • 7. I looked charming/gorgeous/graceful/lovely/stunning. • 8.interesting/exciting/entertaining/amusing/ engrossing movie.

27. USING THE RIGHT WORD. • I had a wonderful day in Hawaii. Initially, I had wanted to spend only a week there but I had such an enjoyable time that I decided to extend my vacation for another week. The weather was bright and sunny and I had marvelous weekend on a beautiful stretch of beach. I also met a charming young man. We became close friends. He took me to his house in a sleek, shiny sports car. It was a very quaint but cosy house with a spacious garden. He took me to a posh restaurant which served some exotic, mouth-watering dishes. He also bought for me an attractive dress. Then we went to see an interesting movie

28. Sentence connectors. • SHOULD CANING BE ALLOWED IN SCHOOL? • As far as the issue of the use of the cane is concerned, there are two different opinions. Onthe one hand, there are some educationists and experts who denounce the use of the cane for the following reasons. First, is the fear that the cane would be abused. For instance/Forexample/As an example, when a teacher has had a bad day or when he has problems, the teacher would resort to the cane to give vent to his frustrations. Besides/Moreover/Furthermore/In addition/Other than that/Apartfrom this, the abuse of the cane can have far-reaching psychological effects on the child as it undermines a students dignity. Consequently/Therefore/As a result/ So, the student will grow up with a low self-esteem.

29. Sentence connectors. • However/On the other hand/On the contrary/Nevertheless, there is another group which believes that the cane can be an effective deterrent. In fact/As a matter of fact, this group believes that the use of the cane can check indiscipline in schools. While the cane may not be the sole answer to all the discipline problems in schools, caning will make students feel that they are being caned for their wrong doings. Inshort/To sum up, the cane should be used with caution only when the situation warrants it.