* Blog 012 English PreProCon

Prepositions, Pronouns, Conjunctions.

Some English words used as pronouns include:

I, mine, we, our, ours, us, you, your, your, yours, he, his, they, their, theirs, them, she, her, hers, it, its, who, whom, whose, which, that, what, this, these, those, all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, more, most, much, neither, nobody, none, no one, one, other, several, some, somebody, someone, such, myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, nothing

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Some English words used as prepositions include:

aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, but(meaning except), by, concerning, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, outside, over, past, once, through, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without, according to, because of, by means of, in addition to, in front of, in spite of, instead of, on account of, prior to, as, since, unless


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Some English words used as conjunctions include:

Thereby, whereas, notwithstanding, thus, thereas, on condition that, and, but, or, nor, for, yet, either...or, neither...nor, now that, nor, both...and, not only...but also, after, although, that, since, as, as if, as long as, as soon as, because, before, if, in order to, in order that, so, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, while, if...then, even if, nevertheless, lest, in case, in case of, what's more, whereon, or else, however


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* Blog 011 - English - Writing - MetaSources Leading To MegaSources of Good Writing Samples

METASOURCES TO MEGASUPPLY
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Access to literally thousands of quality writing samples covering every conceivable topic, subject and interest can be found through the three meta sources listed below. Basically, these sources lead to a mega-supply of samples of good English writing.

If you concentrate on navigating through these sites, you can find specific sources that can regularly feed your need to read and closely review essay and article samples in subject areas that interest you, motivate you and drive you through further, extended reading.

In this area, a little effort every day can add up to a lot of achievement within three or four months.


1. MetaSource Part 1

http://www.library.ubc.ca/ejour/

2. MetaSource Part 2

http://gort.ucsd.edu/ejourn/jdir.html

3. MetaSource Part 3

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/internet/resources/sourceofinfo.html#journ

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* Blog 010 - Transitions - Connecting Thoughts and Groups of Thoughts

* Blog 010 - Form 6 English - A - G - S - Transitions

Transitional Devices - Connecting Thoughts and Connecting their Groupings

Adapted from Purdue University Online Writing Lab

Transitional devices are like bridges between parts of your article, your essay, your text or your research paper. They are cues that help the reader to interpret ideas in the way that you, as a writer, want them to understand.

Transitional devices help you carry over a thought from one sentence to another, from one idea to another, or from one paragraph to another with words or phrases. And finally, transitional devices link your sentences and paragraphs together smoothly so that there are no abrupt jumps or breaks between ideas.


There are several types of transitional devices, and each category leads your reader to make certain connections or assumptions about the areas you are connecting. Some lead your reader forward and imply the "building" of an idea or thought, while others make your reader compare ideas or draw conclusions from the preceding thoughts.

Here is a list of some, but not all, common transitional devices that can be used to cue your reader in a given way.

What should you do about these 150 + sample transitions?

1. Find out what each one means.
2. Find out how each one is used.
3. Use the WordNet site for definitions.
4. Use the edict site for access to the concordancer at WordNet. Then you can find dozens and dozens of examples of each transition in use on the Internet by using the Concordancer to find those examples.
5. Write out some sample sentences using each transition. The more you work with these transitions, the more familiar they will become to you. This familiarity provides a foundation for your competent use of these "thought bridges" in your written English.

THE LIST:

To Add:

and, again, and then, besides, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly, what's more, moreover, in addition, first (second, etc.),

To Compare:

whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the other hand, on the contrary, by comparison, where, compared to, up against, balanced against, vis a vis, but, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast, although this may be true

To Prove:

because, for, since, for the same reason, obviously, evidently, furthermore, moreover, besides, indeed, in fact, in addition, in any case, that is

To Show Exception:

yet, still, however, nevertheless, in spite of, despite, of course, once in a while, sometimes

To Show Time:

immediately, thereafter, soon, after a few hours, finally, then, later, previously, formerly, first (second, etc.), next, and then

To Repeat:

in brief, as I have said, as I have noted, as has been noted,

To Emphasize:

definitely, extremely, obviously, in fact, indeed, in any case, absolutely, positively, naturally, surprisingly, always, forever, perennially, eternally, never, emphatically, unquestionably, without a doubt, certainly, undeniably, without reservation

To Show Sequence:

first, second, third, and so forth. A, B, C, and so forth. next, then, following this, at this time, now, at this point, after, afterward, subsequently, finally, consequently, previously, before this, simultaneously, concurrently, thus, therefore, hence, next, and then, soon

To Give an Example:

for example, for instance, in this case, in another case, on this occasion, in this situation, take the case of, to demonstrate, to illustrate, as an illustration, to illustrate

To Summarize or Conclude:

in brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude, in conclusion, as I have shown, as I have said, hence, therefore, accordingly, thus, as a result, consequently, on the whole,


For further information, including suggestions on how to use transitions more effectively, check out the OWL link on this blog, and at that site click the " Sentence Variety" link.

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* Blog 009 - Student's Writing Sample

* Blog 009 - Form 6 Student Composition Writing Sample - Examination Question - HKALE Format – Together with Teacher's Comments - September, 2006


Some Form 6 students in this Blog's audience wrote a composition under HKALE conditions. While these compositions are being graded, a sample composition with teacher's comments has been set out below for students to study. Students can compare a recollection of their own composition to this sample, and then closely read the comments made by the teacher. Students may consider whether these comments also apply to their own writing challenges.


Note: The instructions for the examination question were as follows:

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Write a composition on the topic set out below.
2. Write legibly and on every line.
3. You should write at least 500 words.
4. You are reminded of the importance of planning your essay and managing your time.
5. You must proofread your work.

There has recently been an increase in the number of Secondary 6 students granted early admission to university on the basis of their outstanding Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination results. Write an article for your school newspaper from your perspective as a Form 6 student. Give your views as to the benefits and drawbacks of the Early Admission Scheme for secondary schools, for students who have been admitted, and for students doing the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations.
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Below is a reproduction, in both form and content, of a “sample answer” that was hand-written in September, 2006, by a current Form 6 student, in response to the question above. Earlier this year this student received a grade of “A” in the 2006 Certificate Level English examinations. Following the sample answer is an assessment commentary written by a teacher.



Benefits and drawbacks of the Early Admission Scheme

The Early admission scheme has been launced for a few years in Hong Kong, which allows students with outstanding Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination results to get in university without taking Form 7 and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations. It has been a controversial scheme that some people advocate it so much as they think it’s beneficial to students. Yet, some argue the scheme as an unfair one. I would like to share my views on its benefits and drawbacks for secondary schools, admitted students and students doing the HKAL exams.

Without doubt, the ones most affected by the EAS are those who got six distinctions or more in the HKCEE. They are offered with an opportunity to get in university earlier, without taking the HKAL exams. In some ways, the scheme does benefit these outstanding students, as they can save one year of harsh examination and education in Form Seven. So they can get in university and so complete their degree courses one year earlier than the rest. It is advantageous to get in the society earlier and to be offered a good job.

However, the EAS has some drawbacks for them as well. The students who have been admitted are to lose experience in coping with different people and taking up posts in their Form seven school life. These are very important for us to prepare for university’s education. Moreover, the HKAL curriculum is much more harder than the HKCEE one. And their syllabus are so different, the HKAL is of a much higher level. Getting good grades in HKCEE doesn’t mean a person is ready for university and so can skip the HKAL. They will actually be unable to learn many things that are taught in Form seven. As a result, the admitted students may feel it hard or not capable for studying in university.

For secondary schools, The Early admissions scheme brings great impact on them too. The schools may benefit from the scheme to raise their reputation and status. When students of the school get good grades in HKCEE and being offered an opportunity to join the Early Admission Scheme, the school can use it as an attraction to get students joining the joining the school and build up reputation. It is because the good results of its students seem like the school’s effort. To the others, this means the school is a good college that can nurture students with high quality. On the other hand, the scheme brings drawbacks to the school. Admitted students will stay in their school for Form 6 before they can get in university. But then teachers are wasting their time and the school is wasting its resources to teach these students. It is like a temporary place for these students to stay, afterwards, they will fly away. Also, the school is losing these talents to serve the students and the school.

For the majority, which is the students doing the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations, the scheme is controversial to them. On the one hand, Hong Kong is a place of keen competition, especially in the secondary education system. Examinations are so harsh that hundreds of thousands of students are competing for limited university places. Through the Early Admission , strong candidates, as well as strong competitors are not going to do the HKAL exam. So, competition in examinations seem less keen and it would be easier for the students to get a seat in university. This is the point that I think the scheme might somehow benefits the students doing HKAL exams. But the drawbacks of it are money. It is unfair to them that they have to go through such a hard time in Form seven and doing the exams while their counterparts in the EAS are getting in university without taking any exams. It is unfair because the HKCEE results cannot reflect student ability in solving propblems, interpersonal skills, responsibility in taking up posts but their ability to do exams. In addition, it is really frustrating to see your friends so relaxed and privileged, while we, the majority of students in HK which are going to take the harsh HKAL exams, are working so hard to achieve our goals. It is certainly a bad phenomenon and it affects the learning atmosphere adversely. The EAS divides students into different classes according to their academic results, and it might give a wrong message to the students that exam results rule the world.

In conclusion, the Early Admission Scheme brings great impact to secondary schools, students who have been admitted and students doing the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations. Some of it is positive yet some of it is negative. For the benefits, secondary schools can build up their reputation and raise their status as their students join the scheme. Students who have been admitted can save time learning and doing exams to get in university earlier. And students doing the advanced level Hong Kong examinations are facing less keen competition. But there are drawbacks for them too. The secondary schools are losing talents and wasting resources. It might make admitted students feel difficult to study in university and cope with problems. It is unfair to the students doing the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations and it brings adverse effect on their learning atmosphere.

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Prefatory Comments - Teacher to Teacher

Any teacher who has to “mark” 90, unique, original, handwritten, three or four page, Form 6 compositions at a time, and grade over 1,000 other writing items each month, while attending to duties related to teaching and co-curricular activities, together with pastoral, monitoring, sharing, administrative, bureaucratic and other responsibilities, is not likely to find the time needed to produce a coherent, detailed, diagnostic analysis of the writing performance produced in each composition. If enough time was available a critique of a good student's article might have some similarities in form and content to the critique set out below.

This student's article has six paragraphs and approximately 900 words. Approximately 48 sentences were written in the time allotted, with an average of about 18 words per sentence.

The focus of the assessment of this writing is on how much has been done well, rather than on what has not been done at all.

Within the writing environment in which this examination article was done (Form 6 - Hong Kong), the writer would score fairly high. At the word, phrase, clause and sentence level the writer demonstrated good control over grammatical accuracy, a fairly wide range of grammatical structures and fairly well-developed vocabulary resources. This writer has acquired most of the important micro-level skills needed to write in a second language. There are lapses, but the communicative effect of the flaws is low. (For instance, the student wrote “ It might make admitted students feel difficult to study in university...” and frequently wrote “...get in university...”).

The content of this writing performance suggests that the major writing developmental challenges now faced by this student lies at the paragraph level and at the macro levels of theme generation and content organization of the writing piece, in other words, in the areas of unity and coherence within and between paragraphs, and in the overall organization of the article or essay. This type of challenge and the timing of its emergence within this student's writing skill developmental process is normal and natural now that the preconditions for macro-skill development, namely the micro-skill development at the word, phrase, clause and sentence levels, are fairly well established.

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General Teacher to Student Comments About This Writing Sample

To me this exercise was intended to elicit an opinion piece, not an expository piece. Having a clear focus on the purpose of the writing is important. The examination question asked the writer to “give your views”. In the generally accepted meaning of this phrase, the writer is clearly being asked to express his or her opinion. This exercise is intended to assess the writer's skill in writing an opinion piece, rather than in simply describing and explaining a phenomenon.

Knowing the purpose of the writing strongly influences the choice of content for the introductory paragraph. In an opinion piece the writer should, first, try to arouse the readers' interest, give some very brief background information about the topic and then express strongly the writer's thesis, or position, on the issue. The rest of the essay should develop that thesis by analyzing a unified set of sub topics, each coherently developed within a paragraph. All sentences within each paragraph should be unified, that is, they should only relate to the topic of that paragraph, and there should only be one topic in the paragraph. The order of the sentences within a paragraph should follow some pattern that is clear to the reader. In formulating arguments the writer should take a definite stand while remaining fair to the contrary point of view. The writer's arguments should be supported by evidence, and, if possible, try to refute evidence to the contrary. An attempt should be made to be convincing.

The conclusion of the piece should resolve the issue first expressed in the introduction. With brief, fresh expressions, the writer should recall the purpose of the article, his or her thesis or view on the matter, and then express in three or four sentences why the writer thinks his or her position is reasonable. In reiterating his or her position, the writer should use new expressions that have the same meaning as his or her original expressions in the preliminary arguments. The effect of the writer's conclusion should be to clearly signal to the reader that the writer has completed the composition, and that it is finished, not simply abandoned.

When writing a composition under examination conditions some students recall and rely upon guidelines such as these:

1. In the introduction make a clear statement as to the purpose of the writing.

2. A paragraph is a series of sentences developing a single subtopic related to the main topic of the article or essay, so make sure in this type of writing that in the paragraphs forming the body of the article or essay each paragraph has one main idea.

3. Within the paragraph the main idea should be developed with additional, detailed information that is presented in an orderly way, in accordance with some criterion of organization that is made evident to the reader.

4. The information in the paragraph should be unified, that is, it should all relate to the subtopic stated in the topic sentence of that paragraph.

5. Use transition expressions to bridge gaps between sentences within a paragraph and between paragraphs. Try to avoid using trite, clichéd transition expressions such as Firstly, Secondly..., and steer away from other over-used, threadbare transitions such as “Moreover”.

6. Ensure that each main idea treated in each paragraph is directly related to the topic as a whole.
7. Is there some obvious order of development to the whole article or essay?
8. Is the title of the article interesting and suggestive of the main idea of the article or essay?
9. Have all mechanical errors been removed and is the presentation of handwriting readable and neat?

Having recalled these guidelines, let's return to the sample article for some more specific comments:

In this student's composition the title is, ah...well..., boring ! It is not a good rouser of interest and curiosity in the reader. Remember, the goal of this writing exercise is to demonstrate English writing proficiency, not to fulfill a mandatory bureaucratic order.

1. In the introductory paragraph, some background information is given. The writer then states that he/she would “like to share his/her views about the benefits and drawbacks for schools, admitted students and other students”, but in the article the writer does not stick to that purpose but instead strays into simply describing a series of benefits and drawbacks. This introductory paragraph does not have a strong focus, does not arouse reader interest, and does not announce the writer's stand or thesis on the issue. This introductory paragraph is therefore, weak.

2. In the second paragraph, the writer's focus is fairly tight, coherent and unified. One problem however, is that there is no signal given to the reader about the rationale for dealing with this particular subtopic at this place in the article. Where is this writer going with this information? Why is it being dealt with at this point in the article? Is it because it is very important? Is it because it is not very important? What rubric is the writer using to organize the presentation to the reader of all the information in this essay? The rubric should not be secret. It should not be hidden from the reader. The reader is an essential partner in any communicative process involving the transmission of writing. The reader is the object of transmitted writing. Let the reader know, quickly and clearly in this short article, where you are going in this "cognitive hike"! As well, in this article the writer states that the admitted students are the ones most affected by this process, but no evidence is offered for this statement. It could just as easily be said that the students who were not admitted, were the ones most affected, not only because their number greatly exceed the number of admitted students, but also because as a result of not being admitted after Form 6, all of them risk wasting a year of their youth in Form 7, a public education year that will be abolished shortly after these students complete it.

3. In the third paragraph apparently the writer has temporarily lost focus of the purpose and thesis of the article. There are no signals to the reader communicating the purpose of the content and positioning of the particular information contained in this paragraph. There is no smooth transition to the next subtopic.

4. In the fourth paragraph there is no smooth transition from the last subtopic and no smooth transition to the next subtopic, the one that follows this paragraph. The focus of the fourth paragraph is the subtopic that deals with the impact of the program upon secondary schools. The content of this paragraph is unified and fairly well structured, and the message is coherent.

5. In the fifth paragraph the content generally is poorly organized. There is no transition from the previous paragraph and no transition to the last paragraph of the body. This paragraph is too long, not because there are too many words but because there are too many disorganized words. This paragraph could have been organized into two paragraphs dealing with two subtopics, each one of which could have then been more tightly organized, unified, and made coherent, instead of bouncing the reader from one disconnected idea to another.

6. The content of the concluding paragraph adds little if anything to the value of this article. It is simply a mechanical paraphrase of some information expressed earlier. There is no exhortation to resolve the issue in a certain way. There is no fresh expression of the writer's point of view. This article is abandoned rather than completed.

This student has potential to excel in his or her ability to use written English to accomplish complex tasks. Close study of good essay models, thousands of which can be found on the Internet, and further writing practice using those models as reference, can accelerate further development of writing skills.

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