Developing Writing Strategies
S. Kathleen Kitao
Kenji Kitao Ikubundo Tokyo, Japan Copyright C 1995 by Dr. S. Kathleen Kitao and Dr. Kenji Kitao. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the authors. Printed in Japan. This textbook is accompanied by a tape and a teacher's guide which includes an English explanation of how to use the textbook and answers for the exercises. For class adoption, we offer a complimentary tape and teacher's guide. Please contact us at the following address. Ikubundo 5-30-21 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113 Tel 03-3814-5571 Fax 03-3814-5576 Introduction In spite of their many years of studying English, most Japanese students have little chance to write compositions in English. There is more to writing compositions than putting sentences together. It is important to understand such factors as the conventions of English writing, to know what the readers expect, to express yourself clearly. In this textbook, you will learn strategies to make your writing in English better. The book is divided into six sections. In the first section, "The Basics," you will learn about sentences and relationships between sentences. You will learn how to combine short sentences to make your writing easier to read and more interesting. You will also learn about making the relationships between sentences and ideas clear. The second section is on organization of paragraphs and longer pieces of writing. It is easier for your reader to understand your writing if it is organized clearly and according to a conventional pattern. This section has chapters that cover parts of paragraphs and essays, types of organization, topic sentences, and irrelevant sentences. There is also a chapter on outlining, a strategy that can help you see how your writing is organized or help you plan the organization of your writing. The third section is "Making Your Writing Clearer." In this section, you will learn how to choose the right word to express your meaning, to measure how difficult your writing is to read, to use parallel construction, to use verb tenses correctly. All these strategies will help you make your writing easier to understand. The fourth section is on how to make your writing more effective. Chapters in this section cover emphasis (controlling the ideas that your writing focuses on), audience analysis (considering the reader and what the reader will consider understandable, interesting, etc.), persuasion, conciseness, and figures of speech. The fifth section covers different types of writing. You will learn about abstract versus concrete writing, writing about time, and distinguishing facts and opinions. You will also learn about a type of writing that you should avoid--sexist langauge. Each chapter has explanations of a strategy to improve your writing, examples of paragraphs and essays, exercises to help you understand the strategy, and a composition assignment to help you learn to apply it. In some chapters there are examples of writing with problems, which you can compare to an improved version in order to understand how the strategy works. This book has strategies to help you learn to write better. However, it is also important for you to express your own feelings, ideas, knowledge and experiences. * * * * * * We would like to thank Christine Convery of Doshisha Woman's College and Christine Sato of Doshisha Woman's College for reading and making valuable comments on this manuscript. S. Kathleen Kitao, PhD Kenji Kitao, PhD July 1995 Table of Contents Introduction I. The Basics 1. Sentence Combining (1) 2. Sentence Combining (2) 3. Making Referents Clear 4. Using Connectors (1) 5. Using Connectors (2) II. Organization 6. Parts of Paragraphs and Essays 7. Types of Organization (1) 8. Types of Organization (2) 9. Topic Sentences 10. Irrelevant Sentences 11. Outlining III. Making Your Writing Clearer 12. Choosing the Right Word 13. Readability 14. Parallel Constructions 15. Using Verb Tenses Correctly IV. Making Your Writing More Effective 16. Emphasis 17. Conciseness 18. Audience Analysis 19. Persuasion 20. Figures of Speech V. Types of Writing 21. Abstract and Concrete Writing 22. Writing about Time 23. Facts and Opinions 24. Sexist Language I. The Basics Chapter 3 Making Referents Clear Read the following pairs of examples. How is the second example better? 1. When Dave left the meeting with Larry, he was angry with him. When Dave left the meeting with Larry, he was angry with Larry. 2. I have to go on a business trip next week, meeting with some representatives of my company's German office. I'll be back on Friday. It's not something I'm looking forward to. I have to go on a business trip next week, meeting with some representatives of my company's German office. I'll be back on Friday. Going on this trip is not something I'm looking forward to. In each case, the referent of a pronoun is hard to understand. A pronoun (for example, he, she, it, they, some, one, or others) is a word that stands for something else; a referent is the word or phrase it refers to. In the sentence "Carol likes the apartment she rented," the pronoun is "she," and the referent is "Carol." Sometimes referents are phrases or even sentences rather than just words. In the sentence "Gwen says there will be a new college president next year, but I hadn't heard anything about it," the referent for the pronoun "it" is the phrase "there will be a new college president next year." When you write, it is important that the referent be clear. If it is not clear, you need to rewrite the sentence so that it is clear. If you look at the pairs of examples above, in the first example in each pair, the referent for the pronoun is not clear. In the first sentence, it is difficult to identify who the pronouns "he" refer to. Who is angry with whom? It is difficult to be sure. That is clarified in the second sentence, when the second "he" is replaced with "Larry." Now the reader can understand that it was Dave who was angry with Larry. In the second example, it is not clear what the writer is not looking forward to ("It's not something I'm looking forward to"). Is it "going on a business trip," "meeting with some representatives of my company's German office," or "being back on Friday." In the second part of the example, "going on this trip is" is substituted for "it's," making it clear what the writer is not looking forward to. Exercise 1 Read the following sentences or short passages. Identify the referents of the underlined words. 1. Take this book and after you have read it, return it to the library. 2. Sydney, Australia is one of the most beautiful port cities in the world. It is located where the Parametta River runs into a deep harbor. It is known for its bridge and opera house. They help make it a memorable sight. 3. I have two brothers. Jay is a student. He is in the psychology department at McCleary University. It is a very good school. My other brother Jerry is in business. He has a small business. It is not making a lot of money yet, but it soon will. They are both special people. 4. Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, is famous for its beautiful bridges. One of them, the Charles Bridge, is particularly famous. It is a pedestrian bridge with statues on both sides. They (4) represent saints and famous people from history. Exercise 2 Read the following sentences or short passages. If a referent is not clear, rewrite the sentence so that it is clear. [answers in brackets] 1. My friends Debbie and Kim went to San Francisco last week. She liked it, but she didn't care for it so much. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2. My birthday is on December 24, and Christmas is on December 25, so when I was a child, we would celebrate it with a Christmas party. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 3. The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865 between the United States and the Confederate States of America. In 1961, eleven southern states left it and formed the Confederate States. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4. My teacher was angry with Kimiko, one of my classmates. She told her @ not to be late again, but she has been late several more times. She is going to fail her if she isn't careful. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Exercise 3 Read the sentences or short passages and substitute pronouns for nouns where appropriate. [answers in brackets] 1. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States. Rhode Island [It] has an area of only 1200 square miles (3100 square kilometers). 2. My brother is getting married this summer. I will go to Tokyo to attend my brother's [his] wedding. My brother's [his] fiancee is an old friend of mine. My brother's fiancee [she] and I met when my brother's fiancee and I [we] were in elementary school. 3. Richard III was king of England from 1483 to 1485. Some people believe that Richard III [he] killed his brother's sons so that Richard III [he] could become king. However, other people do not think Richard III [he] was guilty. Other people [they] think that the next king, Henry VII, killed the little princes. Writing Practice Write five sentences or short passages that have pronouns. Underline the pronouns and their referents and indicate which referents the pronouns go with.
Write five sentences or short passages without pronouns. Reread your sentences or passages and substitute pronouns for the nouns.