Writing 基礎英文 寫作 進四技應二甲 周怡君 September 2010

Unit 1 Understanding Sentence Basics

What Is a Sentence? A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. The words in a sentence are in a special order. begin with Capital letter ending with period question mark prepositions of place exclamation points *

Prepositions of place----At, On and In Three important prepositions are at, on, and in. These prepositions have many meanings, but one important function is to indicate location. Exclamation points You use an exclamation point (!) to show emphasis or emotion about something.

Parts of a Sentence 1.Simple sentence 2.Subjects, Verbs, and objects 3.Be 4.There is/ there are

Sentences and paragraphs A group of words that tell about one idea is called a sentence. A group of sentences that tell about one topic or one idea is called a paragraph.

The title of a paragraph A title gives you information about what is in a book, a song, a movie, or a paragraph. A good title is usually very shout. A good title is usually not a complete sentence. A good title catches the reader’s interest. A good title also follows special capitalization rules. A good title does not have a period at the end.

Unit 2 Connecting sentences and paragraphs

Sentences: Using Adjectives You can make a sentence much more interesting if you add descriptive words. These descriptive words are called adjectives. They describe nouns. Ex: I have a red car with a black top.

What is paragraph? A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. A paragraph has three main parts: the topic sentence, the body, and a concluding sentence.

Topic sentence Every good paragraph has a topic sentence. When you write a paragraph, remember to use a topic sentence. It gives the general topic of the whole paragraph. Indenting the First Line of Every Paragraph The action of making this space at the beginning of a paragraph is to indent. It is important to indent the first line of every paragraph. Always remember to indent!

The body of the paragraph 1.Supporting sentences 2.Possessive adjectives 3.Checking for the verbs 4.Concluding sentences

Unit 3 Writing about the present

Simple Present Tense When you write about daily habits and activities or things that are generally true, use the simple present tense. 1. using contraction 2. there is/there are 3. objective pronoun

Using Contractions A contraction is a short version of two words combined, such as a pronoun and a verb (I’m = I am ). The apostrophe (’) shows where a letter has been left out. Ex. You are = You’re He is = He’s/She is = She’s We are = We’re They are = They’re

Simple and Compound Sentences A simple sentence has a subject and a verb. When writers combine two simple sentences in one longer sentence, and that is called a compound sentence.

Why Questions You use the word because to answer a question with why. You can put because at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence. If you use it at the beginning of a sentence, follow this clause with a comma. Because is never used in a simple sentence. Ex: Because Laura felt ill, she went to the doctor. Laura went to the doctor because she felt ill. Ian ate dinner because he was hungry.

Brain storming with Questions Good writers often ask questions to help them get ideas about what to write. Ex: Topic: A popular sport Possible questions: What is a popular sport? How many people are needed to play this sport? Is this sport popular on television? How old is this sport?

Unit 4 Writing about the Past

Simple Past Tense When you talk about actions in the past, you use the simple past tense. Time Phrases with the Simple Past Tense We use certain words and phrases in a sentence to help show that something happened in the past. Some of these time phrases include: last night last week this morning yesterday (two minutes) ago

Irregular Simple past Tense Verbs begin began begun break broke broken bring brought brought build built built buy bought bought catch caught caught choose chose chosen cost cost cost drink drank drunk

You can put these time phrases at the beginning or the end of a sentence. Avoid using them in the middle of a sentence. Incorrect: I yesterday scratched my knee. Correct: Yesterday I scratched my knee.

Compound sentences with But One common sentence connector is “But”. This word is often used to make compound sentences. The connector but shows a contrast. Ex: I bought a car. John bought a truck.  I bought a car, but John bought a truck.

Unit 5 Describing Actions

Present Progressive Tense 1.The present progressive tense is often used to describe actions that are happening right now. be +Verb +-ing

Using the connector “And” Good writers often use the connector and to join Good writers often use the connector and to join words and ideas. words and ideas. Ex: Ex: 1. And is used to join two (or more) words that 1. And is used to join two (or more) words that are in the same grammar category (or are in the same grammar category (or group). group). 2. The connector and is also used to form 2. The connector and is also used to form compound sentences. compound sentences.

Using the connector “So” The connector “so” shows a cause and result. I was hungry, so I ate a sandwich. Leslie has a big exam tomorrow, so she is studying at the library.