ENGL 121: Writing Skills 1

Prof. I. O. Daniel

The English TensesIn English, there are effectively three types of tenses

These are:

past

present

future

Tenses essentially indicate the time of an action as reflected in a verb.

AspectAnother important element in the English tense structure is the aspect

Tense essentially indicates the progress of an action within a time frame.

The aspect could thus be

simple

continuous

perfect (continuous)

These tell us that while tense is about the time of an action occurrence, aspect is about the progress of the action in process.

English Tense Morphemes

Table of English tenses in

morphophonemic realisations

Persons Present Past

First /0/ /d, t, id/

Second /0/ /d, t, id/

Third

/s/ /d, t, id/

/z/ /d, t, id/

English Aspect Morphemes

Table of English aspectual

morphemic realisations

PersonsContinuo

usPerfective

First -ing -en

Second -ing -en

Third

-ing -en

-ing -en

Tenses

Examples:

She ate the food.

We attended the party

They came to class with her.

She looks great in that outfit.

SimplePresen

tPast Future

eat eat(s) ate will eat

look look(s) lookedwill look

AspectI am going home.

I have gone home.

You were sleeping on my bed.

They were talking to her.

You had given her the book before we arrived.

She has forgotten my name.

Irregular and Zero Formations

I gave him the money.

He understood what I said.

They told him the story.

She cut the meat into tiny pieces yesterday.

Adjoa burst into the room.

The Thesis Statement

This is usually the central idea in a paragraph

The topic sentence normally contains the main idea in a sentence

The topic sentence could be placed at the initial, middle or final position in a paragraph

However, it is more usual for the topic sentence to be in the initial position

Supporting Sentences

Supporting sentences usually contain the expansion of the central idea in the paragraph.

Often these provide elements such as explanation, illustration, exemplification, cause or effect, etc.

FEATURES OF NARRATIVES

Narratives tell a story.

There could also be other stories within a story

Narratives usually have plot

There is also a central theme, which is the focus of the story

Narrative Processes

Narratives are chronological

They form a sequence of events

These events are usually linked and one occurs after the other

Narrative Processes cont’d

There is usually a narrator

The narrator could be a participant

This described as the “I” narrator

The narrator could be someone on the sideline

This is called the omniscient narrator

Narrative Processes cont’d

There are usually characters in a story.

They are at the centre of the story

Dialogues are the exchanges in the story

Description of places, things or individuals could be be used by the narrator to make clearer the setting

Setting is where and locations of the story

Dialogue is the words or direct quotes used by the characters

Characters are the people acting out the story

Suspension enables the author to sustain our interest to the very end.

The resolution of the suspension in a story is usually its climax.

No Sweetness Here - Ama Ata Aidoo

The extract is titled: The Message

The story is about an old woman who has just received a ‘bad’ news that her grandchild has had a caesarean section done on her.

In the traditional sense, this could not be explained, it was therefore imagined that the young lady had died. pg 44 (last paragraph)

Some Practice

Give the passage a title

Did the young lady die as speculated by the villagers?

How did we know that?

What do you make of the suggestion by the driver that the new mother may not be known by the indigenous name the grandmother calls her by?

In your view, do you think the Esi Amfoa’s anxiety is justified?

How will you view the use of the indigenous terms by the author

What do you find most striking in the story?

Are the nurses attitude to the anxious grandmother justifiable?

How many family members do you think Nana Esi Amfoa now has when she got to the natal ward?

BETRAYED BY THE CITY — QUESTIONS

Discuss the relevance of the title to the story.

Who do you think is the strange man the children found with Chief when they returned home?

What is referred to as the rite of passage in the story?

Why do you think the Chief’s welcome to his wife was a bit cold?

What technique did the author employ to reveal this in the story

Name 3 possible consequences of female circumcision as outlined in the story.

Would you do this to your daughter? Discuss

DESCRIPTIVE WRITINGS

ELEMENTS OF DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

FEATURES OF DESCRIPTIVE WRITINGS

It gives a pictorial detail about a thing, person, place or an event.

An event could also be described.

Description has the power to create pictures in our mind

A good description will make us see what is being described as if we can actually see it

Descriptions make use of a lot of adjectives

It also uses a lot of adverbs

These help to create vivid reality of the element being described; it is called sense impression

Description has a structure

It should be done in a directional manner

It either starts from the top to bottom or the other way round.

Descriptions should be objective

comparisons and contrasts also help to make distinct descriptions clear

Apart from the wood itself, there were of course people themselves just so many hands and fingers bringing help to the wood in its course towards putrefaction. Left-hand fingers in their careless journey from a hasty anus sliding all the way up the banister as their owners make the return trip from the lavatory downstairs to the offices above.

The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen. There were only three such boys in each team. They were not the real wrestlers; they merely set the scene. Within a short time, the first two bouts were over. But the third created a big sensation among the elders who did not usually show their excitement so openly. It was as quick as the other two, perhaps even quicker. But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling before. As soon as the two boys closed in, one of them did something which no one could describe because it had been as quick as a flash. And the other boy was flat on his back. The crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied drums. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down again. Three young men from the victorious boy’s team ran forward, carried him shoulder high and danced through the cheering crowd. Everybody soon knew who the boy was. His name was Maduka, the son of Obierika .

Practice: Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death — Dr Igonoh Survived Ebola

What sort of description do we have here?

Who is doing the description in this text?

Give an idea of how she was informed of her Ebola infection.

Can you guess how she possibly contracted the disease?

Describe in details how she dealt with her situation.

What was her major worry in the course of her treatment.

Who do you think is the happiest person concerning her survival?

State clearly how you think her attitude affected her survival?

From the text, how many of her colleagues do think went with the disease?

From the text, can you determine if she thinks her survival is basically because she is smarter and her colleagues that died were foolish?

From the text, can the government be described as being responsible, responsive or careless?

According to Dr Igonoh, who are the heroes of this text?

In your view, who are the real heroes here?

EXPOSITORY WRITING

Week 8

Features of Exposition

Expository writing involves giving explanations.

It involves giving out facts about an issue

It essentially involves educating people about a particular thing

It is the giving of details about a particular process or experience

Essentially, expository writing involves education a set of individuals about something new or of which they do not have full understanding

It is easily used to teach a process of doing something

An example is teaching someone on how to do something such as cooking, performing an experiment, or performing a task

It could also be used to teach someone on how to appreciate a place or thing

Teaching someone how to understand the things to look out for in appreciating an art work or a scenery

Even the class as we have it now is being done through the expository process. You are being taught through explanations about facts and things the lecturer thinks you need to know

Practice

Students to provide the process of cooking rice.

Students to give an outline of the essay topic:

Opening a Facebook Account

ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING

WEEK 9

Identifying Argumentative Writings

It is important to know that arguments are not about imposing your opinion on others but convincing them to see your point of view on a matter.

Arguments should present the two sides of the argument.

Otherwise, arguments will become a parochial imposition of one’s point of view on others.

However, a good argument should actually be persuasive, working hard at convincing the other party of the merit of one’s point of view.

Arguments should be able to find merit in the other point of view.

These merits should be stated and make clear.

However, why they are not acceptable to you or the weaknesses you perceive in them should now be part of your argument against them.

In addition, you should be able to give facts and figures that enable you to convince the other party based on the facts before them.

These should then be presented with sound reasoning to show why your argument is superior.

Practice

Read the passage and present the argument structure

Answers (Dr Igonoh’s story)

[Description of an event]

READING CRITICALLY

PROF I. O. DANIEL

Determining the Gist of the Writing

Critical reading is the highest form of reading

It involves reading and asking questions

It has at its base scepticism as noted in the writer’s guide

You must learn to query what you read as you should not take everything that you read hook, line and sinker.

Dialoguing with the Author

Don’t just soak up opinions and information provided by others

Query them

Criticise them

Wonder at them

Argue back at them

Demand for evidence — this could be facts and figures or others experiences

However, accept a superior reasoning

Suggested ChecklistWhat problems and issues does the author raise?

What is the author’s purpose

Where do you agree or disagree with their reasoning or point of view?

How does the piece relate to your life?

What is the author assuming or taking for granted in the piece?

Practising Critical Reading

Make annotations on the piece

Make comments

Write your questions

Note your queries

Challenge the author with your comments

Think through along with the author and uncover the nuances in the write up

Some Questions to Help you Think through

Is the author credible?

Can you analyse the author’s writing strategies?

How is the text organised?

Do you understand every important word or idea in the text?

What is the author’s tone of voice in the text? Is it sounding bias or objective?

In PracticeLocate author’s main idea in the text; state this in your own words

Summarise the gist in each paragraph that make up the text

Locate the author’s conclusion and sum it up

Identify the evidence provided by the writer to support their point(s) in each paragraph or section

Write out your response to the piece

Doing your own Writing You need to prepare by outlining what you want to write

Let the points and the point of view to be expressed be very clear; either you are responding to another’s writing or writing your own thing

Organise your ideas in a logical manner

You are free to borrow content to either support or give evidence to your point(s) but the source must be duly acknowledged

You can make quotations or paraphrase what you are borrowing

After writing, make sure you read over your writing to ensure that what you have written is what you want to say

Ensure that you cross your t’s and dot your i’s

Ensure that your sentence structures are varied and fit what you want to say. Using only long or short sentences, simple or complex/compound sentences is not good enough. Sentence variation makes for good style

Avoid one sentence paragraphs as they are a sign of bad writing

Use the tenses correctly in order not to mis-represent what you want to say

PracticeWrite a one page essay in response to the essay in your handout titled: “Times series delved successfully into race”.

Write on the topic: “Male children are more useful in the home than female children”.

Total length should be 400 words.

The logicality of your discussion will earn you good marks.