3The Elements of Writing

Grace Inbae Kim

ginbaekim@gmail.com

Reading
- Read for author PURPOSE – the “why” of the text – what does the author really want me
to get from this paragraph and passage?
Read for passage STRUCTURE – the “how” of the text – how does the author present
her ideas?
Passage Mapping
- Paraphrase the text
- Three Concepts to Know
o Topic: author’s basic subject matter
o Scope: specific aspect of the topic on which the author focuses
o Purpose: reason why the author wrote the passage
- Key Words and phrases: keys to open the locks that tell you the passage structure and
author’s interest.
o Contrast keywords (Examples: bus, despite, yet, however, alternatively, still,
although, unless), continuation keywords, emphasis keywords (Examples: above
all, essentially, most of all, especially, primarily, particularly, in large measure,
indeed), conclusion (Examples: thus, in conclusion, believes, so, consequently, it
can be seen that, we can conclude that), rhetorical questions, evidence keywords
(Examples: also, moreover, furthermore, plus, in addition, at the same time, as
well as, equally).
Writing
- Writing sample tests your ability to
o Develop a central idea
o Synthesize ideas
o Express ideas logically and cohesively, and
o Write clearly, using standard written English and proper punctuation
- Steps to take when writing the essay
o Read and Annotate
o Pre-write Each Task
o Clarify the Main Idea and Plan
o Write
o Proofread
- Creating a Database
o Events, scenarios, or situations that are applicable to a wide variety of topics
 Constructing Sentences. Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and a predicate.
The subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about, while the predicate tells something about
the subject. Example: The boy walks. “The boy” is the subject and “walks” is the predicate.
Structurally, English sentences can be classified in four different ways, though there are endless
constructions of each. The classifications are based on the number of independent and dependent
clauses a sentence contains. An independent clause forms a complete sentence on its own, while
a dependent clause needs another clause to make a complete sentence.
- Simple sentence: A sentence with one independent clause and no dependent clauses.
o China’s Han Dynasty marked an official recognition of Confucianism.
- Compound sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses but no dependent
clauses.
o The clown frightened the little girl, and she ran off screaming.
- Complex sentence: A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent
clause.
o After Mary added up all the sales, she discovered that the lemonade stand had
made a profit of $5.
- Complex-Compound Sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses and at least
one dependent clause.
o Catch-22 is widely regarded as Joseph Heller’s best novel, and because Heller
served in World War II, which the novel satirizes, the zany but savage wit of the
novel packs an extra punch.

Grammar
- Nouns: person, place or thing
o Concrete nouns (e.g. ball, table, window), Abstract nouns (integrity, love, hope).
- Pronouns: a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence. Subject pronouns (I, we
you, she, he, it, they), Object pronouns (me, us, you, her, him, it, them).
- Articles: precede a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence (a, an, the).
- Adjectives: word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives may precede
nouns, or they may appear after a form of the reflexive verb to be (am, are, is, was, etc.).
o Examples: She is tall for her age. We live in a red brick house.
- Verb: word that denotes actions, or a state of being, in a sentence.
o Examples: Beth rides the bus every day. Paul was an avid reader.
- Adverb: words that modify adjectives. Many, though not all, adverbs end in –ly.
o Examples: He waved wildly to get her attention.
- Conjunctions: a word that joins two independent clauses, or sentences, together.
o Examples: Ellen wanted to drive into the city, but the cost of gasoline was too
high. Richard planned to study abroad in Korea, so he decided to learn the
language.
o Common conjunctions: and, bus, for, or, nor, so, yet.
- Verb forms
• Infinitive: An infinite is a word to plus a verb (in its simplest “stem” form) and functions
as a noun, adjective, or adverb. An infinitive is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or
a state of being. Infinitives are usually in the “to+verb” form.
o As a subject: To wait seemed foolish when decisive action was required.
o Direct object: Everyone wanted to go.
o Subject complement: His ambition is to fly.
o Adjective: He lacked the strength to resist.
o Adverb: We must study to learn.
• Gerunds: A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. A gerund phrase
consists of a gerund plus modifier(s), object(s), and/or complement(s). Gerunds and
gerund phrases virtually never require punctuation.
• Participles: Particles are verb forms that function as adjectives. In the present tense,
participles always end in “-ing” (e.g. laughing, falling, gusting). In the past tense,
participles often end in –ed, -en, or –t (e.g. cooked, washed, broken, written, spent, lost).
• Prepositions: words that work in combination with a noun or pronoun to create phrases
that modify verbs, nouns/pronouns, or adjectives. Prepositional phrases convey a spatial,
temporal, or directional meaning.
o Example: Ivy climbed up the brick wall of the house.
 Two prepositional phrases: up the brick wall (adverbial phrase since it
modifies the verb by describing where the ivy climbed), of the house
(modifies the noun wall – the object of the first prepositional phrase – and
describes which wall the ivy climbs).
o A list of prepositions in the English language: Abroard, about, above, across,
after, against, along, amid, among, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside,
between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off,
on, onto, out, over, past, since, throughout, throughout, to toward, under,
underneath, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.
o For Time
 On is used with days
 I will see you ON Monday
 The week begins ON Sunday
 At is used with noon, night, midnight, and with time of day
 My plane leaves AT noon
 The movie starts AT 6 p.m.
 In is used with other parts of the day, with months, with years, with
seasons:
 He likes to read IN the afternoon.
 The days are long IN August.
 The book was published IN 1999.
 The flowers will bloom IN spring.
o Extended time: since, for, by, from – to, from, from-until, during, (with)in
  She has been gone since yesterday.
 I’m going to Paris for two weeks.
 The movie showed from August to October.
o Place: in, inside, on, at
 Put the present inside the box
 I left your keys on the table
 She was waiting at the corner
o Hither than a point: over, above
o Lower than a point: under, underneath, beneath, below
o Close to a point: near, by, next to, between, among, opposite.
o To introduce objects of verbs:
 At: glance, laugh, look, rejoice, smile, stare
 She took a quick glance AT her reflection
 Of: approve, consist
 Of (or about): dream, think
 I dream of finishing college in four years.
 For: call, hope, look, wait, watch, wish
 Did someone call for a taxi?
• Modifiers: a word or phrase that adds detail or description to a sentence:
o Examples: I walked in and out of dozens of stores yesterday, searching for the
perfect gift. At the library with Lisa today, I found a great book.
o Use modifiers carefully. Beware of dangling modifiers and misplaced modifiers.
 Dangling modifiers: occurs when the subject of the modifier is unclear.
 Example. Incorrect use of modifier: (Having looked through the
whole music store, the CD I wanted just wasn’t there). Possible
revision: Having looked through the whole music store, I realized
that the CD I wanted just wasn’t there.
Improving Sentences
- Writing techniques and exercises
o Parallelism
o Avoiding wordiness
o Descriptive writing
o Using Action Verbs
o Using Abstract and Concrete Language
- Diction: Using words in the right way
o Words that go together
 When you use preoccupation, you always use with: “He has a
preoccupation with something.”
 When you use inconsistent, you always use with: “His words were
inconsistent with something.”
  When you use regarded, you always use as: “She was regarded as the
best.”
 When you use between, you always use and: “She was making a choice
between this and this.”
 When you use either, you always use or.
 When you use neither, you always use nor.
 When you use each, you always use its.
- Idioms: expressions, words or phrases that have a figurative meaning that is commonly
comprehended that is separate from the literal meaning of definition of the words of
which it is made. There are many idioms in the English language.
o Some common idioms: blow up, bring on, call up, chew up, bring about, come
across, come up with, back down, come up.
o Two-part (phrasal) verbs (idioms): Many verbs in English are followed by an
adverb or a preposition (also called a participle). These two-part verbs (also called
phrasal verbs) are different from verbs with helpers.
 Example: Drop off – decline gradually (The hill dropped off near the
river), fall asleep (While doing his homework, he dropped off), stop and
give something to someone (Would you drop this off at the post office?)

Constructing Paragraphs
● Writing structure/organization
○ Paragraph structure
■ Hamburger metaphor
● Big Mac - Essay
● Bread - Introduction and conclusion ‘
● Meat - the “meat” of your essay or paragraph
○ Quotes, evidence, facts, etc.
- Thesis statement: Your thesis statement should be specific (cover only what you will
discuss in your paper) and should be supported with specific evidence. The thesis
statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.
o Antithesis: the opposite statement of your thesis statement. You can mention the
antithesis to your thesis to bring about a tension or contrast in your writing.
- Transitions
o Common contrast Keywords and words: But, despite, yet, however, alternatively,
still, although, unless, otherwise, not, though, while, nevertheless, by contrast,
notwithstanding
o Emphasis keywords: above all, essentially, most of all, especially, primarily,
particularly, in large measure, indeed
 o Conclusion keywords (signal that the author is about to sum up someone’s thesis):
thus, in conclusion, believes, so, consequently, it can be seen that, we can
conclude that, __ claims that
o Evidence keywords: because, for, since, the reason is that
o Continuation keywords: also, moreover, furthermore, plus, in addition, at the
same time, as well as, equally
o Illustration keywords:
 as [Maya Angelou] says,
 According to these experts,
 For historians,
 To [Proust],
 In the words of [Hannah Arendt],
o Sequence keywords (sequence keywords are the author telling you “Hey, there’s
some sort of order at work here.”):
 Secondly, (and thirdly, fourthly, etc.)
 Next,
 Finally,
 Recently,

Some tips/suggestions about improving your writing:

- Read well-written material. The New York Times makes sure to publish good and thoroughly
edited writing. Find a topic of interest (World, US, Science, Culture, Health, etc.) and try to read
articles from that topic at least a few times a week. Reading more widely helps you to identify
what is interesting, varied, and quality writing.
- Practice your writing. Find opportunities to get your writing edited and critiqued by teachers
and fellow students. I found that my writing improved a lot because I started to write for my high
school newspaper. I know my sister wrote for the Spectator at Stuyvesant. HS newspapers and
journals might have a meeting for new writers, and you could try signing up to write an article.
You could give that a shot. If the editors at the newspaper approve of your article, the article
could get published. It's also fun to see your name in print! :)
- Keep a writing journal. Practice writing on your own. My 11th grade English teacher had us
keep a sort of writing portfolio. We had to write a personal essay once every 1-2 weeks and keep
it in a folder. This exercise is a good way to practice writing and process your personal thoughts
and reflections. We could write about anything, as long as it was a creative and coherent piece
of writing. This exercise also made it easier for me to write my college essay senior year.
Quotes on Writing

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
~Toni Morrison

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in
invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir Nabakov

Do not put statements in the negative form.

And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most
valuable. ~Francis Bacon

True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance,

As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.
~Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Criticism"
Good Advice for Scientific Writers

• Each pronoun should agree with their antecedent!

• Proofread to see if you any words out!
• No sentence fragments!
• The passive voice is to be avoided!
• Use apostrophe’s correctly!
• Corect speling is esential!
• Avoid clichés like the plague!
• Don’t be redundant by repeating redundant words!
• Who needs “rhetorical” questions?
• Don’t write run-on sentences they are hard to read!

Adapted from Saffire, William. Fumblerules: A Lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good
Usage. Doubleday and Company, Inc. Random House, New York © 1990 by The Cobbett
Corporation.