•Describing - telling the doctor how you feel. •Informing - the doctor gives you the facts. •Explaining - the doctor explains what a cold is and tells you more about it.

Imagine this scenario: You feel ill and go to see a doctor. Which of the following is informing, explaining or describing?

•Describing - telling the doctor how you feel.•Informing - the doctor gives you the facts.•Explaining - the doctor explains what a cold is and tells you more about it.

Writing to Inform/Explain/Describe

Q5 – Shorter writing task

Lesson Objectives

• To be prepared for what is required in the shorter writing task, in section B of the exam.

• To be able to adapt your writing for different purposes: inform; explain; describe.

The Shorter Writing Task – 16marks

In Q5 you will be asked to write to: 1. To inform – telling the reader about something or someone.

This involves putting information across clearly.2. To explain – giving the answers to the questions ‘how?’ and

‘why?’ about something. This helps the reader to understand an idea, a point of view or a situation.

3. To describe – painting a picture with words. This means putting across in an imaginative way what something or someone is like.

The Mark Scheme

Communication and Organisation

• Band 4 = 8-10 marks• Band 3 = 5-7 marks• Band 2 = 3-4 marks• Band 1 = 1-2 marks

Accuracy

• Band 3 = 5-6 marks• Band 2 = 3-4 marks• Band 1 = 1-2 marks

Purpose In

form

Information about a topicBalance EvaluationInformation is factual Straightforward language to convey essential information‘What’, ‘who’, ‘where’ ‘when’, ‘how’

Expl

ain Details about a topic

for the non-expert Explanation is factual, but with more detailExplain is to make clear, show the meaning or to account for‘how’ and ‘why’

Des

crib

e Detail Camera lenses and zoom Imagery Not a storyDescription is usually about how something makes you feel

Writing to inform

• When writing to inform, make sure language is clear, factual and impersonal. Use short and clear sentences.

• You could break up the writing with subheadings (if appropriate to Format!)

A Simple Example of Writing to Inform:

Chocolate chip cookies recipe

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Chop the chocolate into chunks and put to one side.

2. Heat the butter in a small saucepan gently until it has melted. Meanwhile, put the two types of sugar into a mixing bowl. Pour the melted butter on top of the sugar and beat well with a wooden spoon.

3. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat until well blended.4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixing bowl and stir them in,

then add the chopped chocolate.5. Dot heaped pudding spoonfuls of the mixture over the lined baking sheets.6. Wearing oven gloves, put the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 8-10

minutes, until the cookies are just turning golden brown.7. Leave them to harden for a couple of minutes before eating.

Even though you are just ‘informing’, you must still try to engage the reader...

The road to Dubai is long, straight, dusty, littered with wrecked cars and punctuated only by the odd windswept gas station. There are no villages, no oases, and the Gulf is hidden behind sand-dunes which look as if they are suffering from some sort of desert scurf or mange. It is the kind of road on which car crashes look like philanthropic gestures; they at any rate do something to provide a momentary relief in that monotony of sand and rusted oil drums.

Techniques used in Writing to Inform

• Factual• Present tense• Short, clear sentences – although all writing should

have a variety of sentence structures • Connectives • Technical terms • Reader addressed as 'you‘• Objective

REMEMBER: • Adapt language to suit AUDIENCE• Set out writing in accordance with FORMAT

Explanation is different to straightforward information.

WRITING TO EXPLAIN REQUIRES: • A response that answers the precise demands

of the question.

• Content that focuses on HOW or WHY something happens – rather than just what happens

• Appropriate language

Explanation is different to straightforward information.

• As a writer you must give reasons. • You must say why or how something happens

• You must comment and explain ideas throughout your writing.

Be warned: • Students loose grades by just informing NOT

explaining. • Don’t loose focus and just inform your reader

with out explaining ideas.

Exam question: Think about the focus of the title

Most people have memories about a particular holiday or

trip. Choose one that you have experienced and explain why it

was so memorable.

Most people have memories about a particular holiday or trip. Choose one that you have experienced and explain

why it was so memorable.

YOU SHOULD:• decide what makes that one

trip special and say why• select memorable features

and say why they are memorable

YOU ARE NOT:• being asked to write

about trips in general• describe what actually

happened on one trip• write about the place

that you visited

To get the grade limit the points

you write about –

don’t try to include too much material

A* answer =

• Explanation must be clear so reader understands

• Examiners give marks for varied sentences – so show your skills

• Use phrases to do with cause and effect:

As a result of thisThis meant that This is because

The reason for this is As a consequence

Therefore..

Can you think of any more?

Practise a possible exam response to this question:

Explain how you have dealt with difficult situations that have arisen in your life. You might

wish to write about:

•Relationships with parents•Friends and their expectations

•Problems at school•Other difficult situation that you have

encountered

Explain how you have dealt with difficult situations that have arisen in your life.

• There is no specific audience identified and so you must stick to formal, Standard English.

• Remember – this is the shorter writing task and you will only have about 25mins, so it does not need to be lengthy; 2 or 3 detailed paragraphs should do.

• Explain ‘how’ you have dealt with a situation, don’t just inform what happened!

Writing to describe…

• a place

• an event

• a memory

• a person

Writing to describe

• there is more to description than recording the visible.

• organisation is as important in description as expression

• contrast helps structure and language detail• objects are more interesting when they stand

for something else

Writing to Describe

• Effective writing makes you feel almost as if you're 'there'

N.B.You are writing todescribe; you are nottelling a story.

Get the grade

Use imagery – metaphor, simile and personification to make your text come to lifeTry out the 5 senses to add variety

Use contrast 'zoom in' and 'focus' the lens of your 'camera'

Writing to describe (places)

Strategy - the zoom lens

1 From a distance, the place looks like….

2 As you get nearer, you begin to notice…

3 Close up, you realise that...

Writing to describe (places)

Strategy : contrast:

1Unlike Rome/New York/Barcelona, X is…

2Like these places,….

3Unlike these places...

How to approach your description

• What does it look like?• What does it sound

like? • What does it feel like? • What does it taste like? • What does it smell like?

Use Language Devices...

• Similes• Metaphors• Personification• Alliteration• Imagery• Repetition for effect• Onomatopoeia

Have a go at creating similes and metaphors to describe the scene...

Read the descriptive extract by Dylan Thomas...

• Identify any interesting vocabulary or language devices (similes, metaphors etc) that he uses.

• Annotate the text by underlining and labelling/making notes.

Practise time...

• Have a go at responding to the following question, you can use some of the similes and metaphors that you have created.

• You could use one of the strategies: contrasting or zooming.

• You will not have long in the exam – so you only have 20mins now!

• Describe a beach that you have visited.

WRITING WITH POWER

Be clear about punctuation:

Full stops to signal the end of a sentence Commas to separate items in a list or create islands of words Dashes – in pairs – to create emphasis Colons: signal something to follow Semi-colons allow you to link related ideas; they add balance to a sentence

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