ENG 101Lesson -37

In today’s lesson and in the next few lessons we shall examine the main body of the essay in detail and give you practice firstly, in using many common ways of organizing texts as a whole. Secondly, you will be provided with plenty of examples of different types of texts which will by help you to see the principles on which the organization of these texts is based. Learning to write in English is not as difficult as it seems. Of course no one expects you to write like a Shakespeare in a language which is not your own. You are not aiming at writing great literature. Your need is to write clear, accurate

Lesson – 37 - Ways of Organizing Texts Linear Relationships: Line & Process

English which has a central idea and other related information, and which gets the meaning across to your readers. Here I would like to add a note of warning. Writing is such a complex activity that it cannot easily be broken down into a series of skills and sub - skills for teaching. Although no writing course can ever teach you everything you need to know in order to become a competent writer, there is no reason why you cannot learn all there is to know about effective writing.

In the last couple of lessons we have been looking at introductions and conclusions of essays. Good introduction and conclusions hold up the ideas and keep the evidence in order. Take away either the introduction or the conclusion and the whole structure will fall. But introductions or conclusion do not make up the whole essay or composition. They only give directions and a sense of finale or finality. Between these two ends of an essay, we use a system. The body of the essay is written according to a system or a pattern. And once you choose a pattern, you must stick to it. It is possible to combine the patterns in any one essay.

Para 1 general statement Introduction thesis statement

Para 2 Topic sent A. support B. support C. support Concluding Sent

Para 3 Topic sent Main Body4,5,6… A support

B support C support concluding sent.

Concl Restatement/SummaryPara opinion: final comment Conclusion

There are three main patterns for organizing the body of the essay. Writing showing relationships:

(i) Linear (ii) Spatial relationships (iii) Comparison and contrast.

I- Linear relationships ( 4 types) describing a) Chronological b) process in linear sequence.

c) Process in cyclic sequence d) cause-effect

II- Spatial relationships:classifications & definition

III- Comparison in contrast

I- Chronological / Events based in Time. This is one of the most often used ways to rganize the body of an essay. This arrangement begins with what happens first and ends with what happens last. This organization is very common in fiction which is straight narration. This order is also used in autobiographical essays, process themes and history reports. Historians frequently use this pattern of organization. But whether or not you are a historian you will occasionally want to describe a sequence of events in your writing. Chronological sequences can be written in different ways.

We normally think of time as moving forward in a straight line, and a chronological sequence follows this view of time. This is a linear relationship.Practice 1. Read the following text and complete the diagram which follows.

As long ago as 1779, John Frere, an English country gentleman, discovered, at Suffolk several bones from extinct animals associated with stone age flint tools. He published his findings in 1800. Frere’s report was not appreciated for another 60 years. But now Frere is known as the founder of prehistoric archaeology. New Scientist, London

1779 1800 1860 now

Phrases that show chronological order - “as long ago as 1779, in 1800, another 60 years, now.”

Practice 1. Read the following text and complete the diagram which follows.

As long ago as 1779, John Frere, an English country gentleman, discovered, at Suffolk several bones from extinct animals associated with stone age flint tools. He published his findings in 1800. Frere’s report was not appreciated for another 60 years. But now Frere is known as the founder of prehistoric archaeology.

New Scientist, London

1800

List the words and phrases that demonstrate the chronological order of the above paragraph

How to Write Chronologically:

In our daily lives, we see time as moving in one direction only forward. What goes past us we see as history - because it appears to us that we are moving forward into the future. Now there is nothing that we can do to change our relationship to time. However, when we write we can play around with time as we wish and we can move the writing backwards and forwards in time according to our purpose in writing.

Practice 2: Put the following information in an acceptable order. (sent. 5 should come last)1In 1930, the first analog computer was built by an American named Vannevar Bush. 2This device was used in World War II to help aim guns. 3Mark I, the name given to the first digital computer, was completed in 1944. 4This was the first machine that could figure out long lists of mathematical problems, all at a very fast rate. 5Author important advancement in computers came in 1947, when John Von Newmann developed the idea of keeping instructions for the computer inside the computer’s memory. 6 In 1946 two engineers at the University of Pennsylvania, J. Eckert and J. Mauchly, built the first digital computer using parts called vacuum tubes.

Practice 2: Put the following information in an acceptable order. 1In 1930, the first analog computer was built by an American named Vannevar Bush. 2This device was used in World War II to help aim guns. 3Mark I, the name given to the first digital computer, was completed in 1944. 4This was the first machine that could figure out long lists of mathematical problems, all at a very fast rate. 5Author important advancement in computers came in 1947, when John Von Newmann developed the idea of keeping instructions for the computer inside the computer’s memory. 6 In 1946 two engineers at the University of Pennsylvania, J. Eckert and J. Mauchly, built the first digital computer using parts called vacuum tubes.

Practice 3. Read the following text and see if you can answer the questions given at the end.

A Kashmiri Emigrant’s Story

In 1947, Ahmed Din butt, a poverty-stricken twenty year old farm worker left Kashmir for Pakistan. What the future held in store for him, he did not know. However, he did not that it could not be any worse than the past. He had grown up during the cruel rule of the Dogras in Kashmir and had known what it was to be hungry and jobless.

He had watched his mother die of tuberculosis a month before; his father had died a year after Ahmed Din was born. There was nothing now to keep him in Kashmir and so, on a cold march morning, he got into a bus bound for Rawalpindi. In years to come he would remember this moment.

a) Why do you think the passage starts with 1947 and then goes back into the past rather than starting in the past and ending with 1947?

(This use of unexpected time sequence allows the writer to show the relationships between events more strongly, making the text more dramatic).

b) If the text were in the expected sequence, what verb tense would you expect to find used? (past simple)

c) Which of the following tenses are used in the text? Present / present perfect / past / past perfect? (past simple & past perfect).

The writer of the above passage develops an unexpected sequence before he wants to highlight the fact that Ahmed din Butt was forced to leave Kashmir for Pakistan. The way his leaving is highlighted it captures the reader’s attention and makes the reader want to find out why he was leaving and why he was poverty stricken. In general, writers use unexpected chronological sequences when they want to emphasize something other than time.

Practice 4. Look at another version of the same story. Compare the two versions. Which is more interesting?

Ahmed Din Butt was a bright but poverty stricken twenty year old farm worker who grew up during the Dogra rule in Kashmir. He knew what it was to the hungry and jobless. His father had died in 1928, he had watched his mother die of tuberculosis in February 1947. There was nothing to keep him in Kashmir, so, on a cold march morning in 1947, he got into a bus bound for Rawalpindi. In years to come he would remember this moment.

What you have looked at is time-based sequence. There are many time-based sequences which you have studied or are familiar with e.g. making a cake, the life cycle of a butterfly; the life of a famous movie star or politician sportsperson. We will now look at another linear pattern of organization which is known as ‘process’ order. A process, like a chronological sequence involves linear relationships. Again, like time, we think of processes as moving forward in a logical, step-by-step process. A process is usually presented as a flow diagram. e.g.

Practice 5. How to mend a punctured football.

Take bladder out of its cover

inflate it a little

dip into tub of water, press to find out the hole

mark spot with marker

let air out, dry bladder

rub marked place and a rubber piece with sand paper

apply rubber solution to both, let them dry

place rubber piece on bladder press the two very hard

Practice 6. Convert the following process as a flow diagram by filling in the boxes.

STEPS IN PROBLEM SOLVING. Next the programmer must construct an algorithm flowchart or a block diagram. The relationship between the events is shown by means of a connecting arrow. This is followed by translating the algorithm / flow chart into a computer program. The program is usually written on coding sheets which have a specific format drawn on them. The programmer must then keypunch the program. Or key it in at a terminal. The program must then be tested. Next a print out show if the works or if it has errors (bugs). The last step is to add the data to the program and run the program.

define the prog formulate an translate

algorithm algorithm into

flowchart a computer prog

Add data test the prog keypunch program

run the correct the bugs key it in at a

program terminal

When you write up a process in a text, it will normally be in natural time order, i.e. starting at the beginning of the process and continuing step-by-step to the end, as in the example you have just seen.

How to Write a Process Description

One way of writing up a process is to produce one sentence for each step in the process. This would give you a text of six sentences for the text on ‘Steps in Problem Solving’. However, such a text would be very boring as every sentence would state one step, and every sentence would have

the same shape as the others. One solution is to put several steps into one sentence, and you can mark the steps to make them clear for the reader. When you are writing, you must not only always ask yourself, the question. “Am I getting the information across? But you must also ask yourself Am I getting the information across in a clear and interesting form?” To help you answer these questions, keep in mind the following principles of communication.

1.Make everything clear to your reader / listener.

2. Your reader does not need to be told everything - you assume he has a knowledge of the world.

To check whether you have been successful in conveying information about a process, your choice of transition words will be important. Words that convey a sequence such as then, next, after this make clear the sequence in which events, or shapes in a process occur.

The following table gives some sequencing words that are used when describing a process:

Beginning Middle steps End

-First -second (ly) -last (ly)- firstly - third (ly) etc. - finally- to begin with - next -at the end- initially - then

- subsequently- after this- before this- at the same time

These sequences are usually placed at the beginning, or near the beginning of a sentence. Words showing only sequence work as signal or sign posts for the reader. If they give advance warning of the relationships being used. It is up to the writer to decide which sequencer to use to make each step of the process clear. Or the writer might decide that sequencers are not needed because the process is described in natural time order, and the reader’s knowledge of the world will make the sequence clear to him or her.

You will now see a text that departs from the usual order or sequence. This is done to highlight a certain feature or stage of the process. Here the writer does not follow the usual pattern. He uses no sequencers till the fourth sentence when he specifically uses, the sequencer before and first. You should notice that the writer does this to highlight the storage stage of the process.

1Many scientists have worked on solar heating. 2One such attempt was made in 1949 when a house was designed which was heated by using the energy from the sun. in this house energy from the sum was absorbed by a large area of blackened metal sheets which were covered by double plates of glass. 3The air circulating behind the metal sheets carried away the heat. 4Before the heat could be blown around the house it was first stored in large tanks containing Glauber’s salt, a given volume of which can hold eight and a half times more heat than water.

Grammar in Writing Process Description

When writing a text about a process the present simple tense of the passive voice is often used. This is especially true in objective scientific descriptions where who does the action (the agent) is not considered important enough to be mentioned or where there is not specific agent or doer; Moreover, when a description of a process is given, it is usually assumed that the process will be the same no matter who does it.

The passive voice is usually used as it allows the choice of not mentioning the agent of the action. But even here sometimes, for the sake of clarity an agent has to be stated. Now you shall work at a number of sentences where you will have to state if there is an agent or not.

Practice 7a) Rice is harvested out in the fields. (no)b) Hired laborers load the rice onto bullock

carts. (laborers)c) The truck cart drivers bring the rice to

the factory. (drivers)d) The laborers put the rice into the

threshers. (laborers)e) The rice is threshed by machines. (no)f) These machines are regularly maintained. (no)

Practice 7a) Rice is harvested out in the fields. ( __ )b) Hired laborers load the rice onto bullock

carts. ( __ )c) The truck cart drivers bring the rice to

the factory. ( __ )d) The laborers put the rice into the

threshers. ( __ )e) The rice is threshed by machines. ( __ )f) These machines are regularly maintained. ( __ )