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Office:TraianLalescu2a,Room302
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Email:daniel.dejica@cls.upt.ro
DanielDEJICA,PhD
EnglishforDigitalMedia
2. WrittenCommunicationforDigitalMedia
2.1.Prewritingstage
Prewriting exercises
Task 1. Focus on Brainstorming
Step 1: Your paper's topic is The Ethics of Cigarette Advertising. Write down everything you
can about the topic; omit nothing, no matter how bizarre, and don't stop until you are
completely out of ideas. Don't worry about grammar or editing.
Step 2: Look at the list you made, and reconsider the paper's topic. If there are any ideas
astray from the topic, so cut them.
Step 3: Organize the remaining points. Decide upon an idea that provides a decent place to
start a draft.
Step 4: Try to logically arrange the other points in the order that you would use in your
essay. (New ideas may occur to you as you organize the material. That's okay as long as
these ideas relate to the topic.)
Step 5: You're almost ready to begin a draft, or at least an introductory paragraph. (You still
need to clearly state a thesis for Tasks requiring one.)
Task 3.
EnglishforDigitalMedia
Step 1. Freewrite on an Task for 5-10 minutes. Then, read through your freewriting, looking
for interesting topics, ideas, phrases, or sentences. Circle those you find interesting.
Step2. Then freewrite again for 5-10 minutes on one of the circled topics. You should end up
with a more specific freewriting about a particular topic.
Step 3. Loop your freewriting again, circling another interesting topic, idea, phrase, or
sentence.
Step 4. When you have finished four or five rounds of looping, you will begin to have specific
information that indicates what you are thinking about a particular topic. You may even have
the basis for a tentative thesis or an improved idea for an approach to your Task when you
have finished.
Task 6.
Write the name of your leisure time activity in the center of a blank page and then think of
words or phrases (no sentences) that are keys to your thoughts about this topic. Whenever a
word comes into your mind, jot it quickly on the page. Surround your topic with these words.
When several thoughts are related to each other, put them together in a cluster, and when a
completely new thought comes, put it on another part of the page.
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b) Cigarette ads not on TV
c) Teenagers & cigarettes
d) Government subsidizes tobacco farmers
e) Macho image of Marlboro Man
f) Camel "Hard Pack?"
g) Anti-smoking groups
h) Surgeon General's warnings
i) Why don't we see pipe and cigar ads?
j) Nicotine is addictive
k) Cigarettes still very popular
2.2.Writingstage
Sentence writing exercises
Task 9.
A. Underline the appositives in the following sentences.
1. My son, the policeman, will be visiting us next week.
2. The captain ordered the ship's carpenters to assemble the shallop, a large rowboat.
3. Walter, the playboy and writer, is very attached to his mother, Mrs. Hammon.
4. The actor Paul Newman directed only one picture.
5. Elizabeth Teague, a sweet and lovable girl, grew up to be a mentally troubled woman.
B. Underline and punctuate the appositives in the following sentences. Remember: not all
require punctuation.
6. Sweetbriar a company known throughout the South is considering a nationwide
advertising campaign.
7. An above-average student and talented musician John made his family proud.
8. The extremely popular American film Titanic was widely criticized for its mediocre script.
9. The greatest American film ever made Citizen Kane won only one Academy Award.
10. 60 Minutes the TV news magazine program featured a story on the popular singer
Whitney Houston.
Task 10. The sentences below appeared in papers written by students. Act as their editor,
marking a C if the sentences in the group are all complete and an F if any of the sentences
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in the group is a fragment. Could you tell these writers why the fragments are incomplete
sentences?
____ 1. Then I attended Morris Junior High. A junior high that was a bad experience.
____ 2. The scene was filled with beauty. Such as the sun sending its brilliant rays to the
earth and the leaves of various shades of red, yellow, and brown moving slowly in the wind.
____ 3. He talked for fifty minutes without taking his eyes off his notes. Like other teachers in
that department, he did not encourage students' questions.
____ 4. Within each group, a wide range of features to choose from. It was difficult to
distinguish between them.
____ 5. A few of the less serious fellows would go into a bar for a steak dinner and a few
glasses of beer. After this meal, they were ready for anything.
____ 6. It can be really embarrassing to be so emotional. Especially when you are on your
first date, you feel that you should be in control.
____ 7. The magazine has a reputation for a sophisticated, prestigious, and elite group of
readers. Although that is a value judgment and in circumstances not a true premise.
____ 8. In the seventh grade every young boy goes out for football. To prove to himself and
his parents that he is a man.
____ 9. She opened the door and let us into her home. Not realizing at the time that we
would never enter that door in her home again.
____10. As Christmas grows near, I find myself looking back into my childhood days at funfilled times of snowball fights. To think about this makes me happy.
____11. Making up his mind quickly. Jim ordered two dozen red roses for his wife. Hoping
she would accept his apology.
____12. They were all having a good time. Until one of Joe's oldest and best friends had a
little too much to drink.
____13. Although it only attained a speed of about twelve miles an hour. My old rowboat with
its three-horsepower motor seemed like a high-speed job to me.
____14. With my brother standing by my side, I reached for the pot handle. Tilting the pot
way too much caused the boiling water to spill.
____15. The small, one-story houses are all the same size and style. With no difference
except the color.
____16. Being a friend of mine like he was when we first joined the soccer team. Together
we learned a lot.
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Task 11. These paragraphs need proofreading for possible fragments. Use the space
below each paragraph for revising.
1. How can a person find patriotism in a local night club? Well, it did not take me too long.
About four weeks ago in a little night club in Louisville, Kentucky, a couple of my friends,
Rick and Lon, the duo who were providing the entertainment that night for the club.
2. For the past twenty years, the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan has
been measuring the level of Americans' trust and confidence in their politicians and quasipolitical trust and confidence in their political institutions and their leaders. "Political" being all
levels of government, and "quasi-political" churches, labor unions, large
professional/business associations, educational institutions, and the like. The result is that a
very sharp decline has taken place every year since 1964.
3. For 200 years Americans believed in better jobs, better homes, a better life for one's
children. This confidence no longer exists. Polls now indicate that fewer Americans who feel
they are better off today than they were five years ago. A public-opinion analysis group has
found that large numbers of Americans, at some times and in some places, see themselves
as lower on the ladder. Adding worse living conditions and anticipation of further decline over
the next five years.
4. Well, in looking at the picture at the left you see an old lady. She has a very funny look on
her face. As if she's lonely and just wants to be left alone. She also looks as if she has seen
a lot and experienced lots of things.
5. A president is an appointed leader. Someone who is a decision maker in the executive
branch of our government. This doesn't necessarily mean that the person the people elect is
capable. Just hopefully assumes. Assumes through his past record as a politician, over the
years' buildup of experience and handling situations.
Task 12. The following paragraph has no capital letters or periods to mark the beginnings
and ends of sentences. Add capitals, periods, commas, and/or other punctuation that may
be needed to make the word groups into complete sentences. Your goal is to be sure that
there are no fragments.
my brother was always my best friend when I was a child especially as we two were almost
alone in the world we lived with our old grandmother in a little house, almost a shack, in the
country whenever I think of him now I see a solemn, responsible boy a boy too old for his
years who looked out for me no matter what once there was a bully John Anson who looked
enormous to me though he was probably an average twelve-year-old John had it in for me
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because he liked Littice Grant who liked me he decided to beat me up right before her eyes I
was lucky my brother came by he didn't interfere any he just stood there somehow though
his presence gave me confidence I licked the stuffing out of John Anson if my brother hadn't
been there I don't think I could have done it.
Task 13. Read the following sentences and correct the dangling modifiers:
1. The experiment was a failure, not having studied the lab manual carefully.
2. Having arrived late for practice, a written excuse was needed.
3. Without knowing his name, it was difficult to introduce him.
4. To improve his results, the experiment was done again.
5. After putting on my new dress, my husband told me that the taxi had arrived.
6. After cooking a meal with fish in it, my cat likes licking the plates.
7. After reading a lot of English books, my English became much better.
8. Spending way too much money on his old car, Fred's salary just wasn't enough.
9. I like to listen to rock music doing my homework.
10. To become a respected politician, campaign funds must be carefully administered.
Task 14. The following sentences are incorrect. Re-write them using proper parallel
structures:
1. The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and in a
detailed manner.
2. The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waited until the last minute
to study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and his
would be time for him to show his slide presentation, and that questions would be
asked by prospective buyers.
4. Dante became lost in the woods, was threatened by three animals and he felt
overcome with fear.
5. The leopard represents malice, the lion represents violence, unchecked passions are
symbolized by the she-wolf.
6. Dante was terrified of the dark wood, the three beasts, and to see the swarming
insects.
7. Virgil is a symbol of reason and Beatrice has the function of representing divine love.
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8. The sinners in the Vestibule are pursued by wasps, maggots and a lot of bees follow
them.
9. Dante also employs the character of Beatrice in the poem. She symbolizes the divine
love of God, the power of faith, and hoping.
10. The sinners in the Vestibule are tortured by insects which chase them, sting them,
and are sucking the pus out of their sores.
11. It was both a long ceremony and very tedious.
12. A time not for words, but action
13. Either you must grant his request or incur his ill will.
14. My objections are, first, the injustice of the measure; second, that it is
unconstitutional.
15. My income is smaller than my wife.
in the wintertime.
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evergreens. The
deciduous tree is
important in vegetative
the year.
reproduce suckers, or
Topics:
Cars
Books
Solar energy
Flowers
Pubs
B: Sometimes a topic is very general. Choose the most general topic from each set you wrote
and then write three more specific topics for each:
General topics:
good car:
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-
1
2
3
Task 17. Identifying the topic sentence. Read the following paragraphs and try to find the
topic sentence in each of them:
A. The balance of payments in Greece last year was less favorable than the
Government expected. There was a 3.9 billion dollar trade gap, consumer prices
increased around 13% rising up to 14% in the last months, and wage increases
this year are expected to top 20%; the growth of the Gross National Product in
1977 was down to 3.5%. In addition, per capita productivity in Greece is running
at only one third the CECD average, according to its latest report. Industrial
development in Greece is also near the bottom of the organizations league. Thus,
the gap is likely to stay for a little while
B. The view was beautiful and the weather at its balmiest. I was mildly surprised at the
warmth of the evenings. The hotel surpassed itself in its food, and I dont think Ive
ever tasted better trout. The golf course has been meticulously cared for and one
rarely seemed to meet anyone else on it. Portcudden, I feel, is thus a place to be
recommended for anyone who wishes to stay at a place off the normal tourist track.
C. Im fascinated by my Swedish grandmother; by her increasing age, by her
wholehearted scepticism and lack of sentimentality, and above all, by her abiding
interest in the kings and queens of Europe! Shes about 92 now, I forget, but seems
never to require the services of a doctor; or, in some way mysterious to me, has
ceased to believe in illness. Shes ceased to believe in a lot of things, including
festivity, news, success, money, the efficacy of postal services, and heaven. What
she does still believe in is the royal blood of the deposed kings and queens of
Greece, Yugoslavia, and Russia.
Task 18.
statement of intent:
a. A pharmacist has two main responsibilities: to prepare drugs accurately and to check
for their effectiveness.
b. Women in China have more problem than men.
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c. Living in Florida is better than living in New York.
d. There are two ways to lose weight.
e. Making hayacas, a traditional dish, is difficult and complicated.
f.
j.
languages.
ideas
Which languages?
How many?
the
paragraph:
=>
(northwest). In 1970, only 18% of the Swiss population spoke French. The southern part of my
country, especially Tessin and Grisons (southeast), speaks Italian. The people speak this
official language only for outside contacts; among themselves, the inhabitants speak their local
dialects. It is not the same for the Rheto-Roman (some people of Grisons) who speak and
write their local dialect as the official language: Romanche. But only 1% of the Swiss
population speaks this language, a mixture of German, Italian, and Latin. The biggest variety is
in the German part of Switzerland (the central and the north part of my country). There, every
canton has its own dialect, and very often, the real German people cant understand a word of
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the Swiss German because there are a lot of different pronunciations. For example, my
grandma was a native of the canton of Bern (which speaks a kind of German). She wasnt able
to understand the German language of the canton of Basel! In 1970, 65% of the Swiss
population spoke German. [Thats why in the French part and in the Italian part of Switzerland,
people learn German at school as a second language.]
1. What is the topic of this paragraph? Why did the author write this paragraph?
2. Who is the audience for this paragraph? How do you know?
3. Could the bracketed [ ] last sentence of this paragraph become the topic sentence for
another paragraph?
ideas in each of the paragraphs below, and identify the concluding techniques used at the
end of each paragraph:
Several signs can be observed
as comfortable as a gentle
Om'Kalthoom is still an
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rose with the initial southwest
My Old House
Indonesias
Transmigration Program
In Indonesia, the government has been concentrating on
a transmigration program the moving of people from
one island to another in order to improve living
conditions. For example, one island, like Java, may be
crowded, while other islands are nearly empty because
there are still a lot of jungles and open land that have
never been complicated. Another example is in some of
the villages where the land can no longer be used
because of a lack of water. The government has been
transferring many people from those islands and villages
to other islands, and the people receive free land to begin
their lives again. For one instance, on one of those islands
the government is building a giant dam to supply water
for irrigation for the surrounding area. By transmigration,
those people will have a good water supply from that new
dam; consequently, they will be able to produce food and
increase their crops.
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1. What is the author communicating in the paragraphs above, that is what is the
purpose of each paragraph?
2. Establish the audience for each paragraph.
3. Identify the topic sentences for each paragraph. Are the topic sentences that you
found statements of opinion / of intention / both?
4. Circle the controlling ideas in each topic sentence. What questions did you expect
the paragraph to answer?
5. Underline the supporting facts / put a star (*) in the margin where examples occur /
put an x where details are used / identify which of the five senses is most frequently
used.
6. What concluding techniques are used in each paragraph?
Other tasks
a.
1. Describe a room. Remember to use details that will give your audience a clear sense
of the room.
2. Write a paragraph about your most relaxing or your most exciting pastime.
3. Write a para explaining why you decided to become a ____________.
4. Write a para about a place in your country you like or dislike very much; explain to
your audience why you like it or dislike it.
b. Choose two of the following subjects. Narrow the subjects to topics. Then develop a
paragraph about each topic: the weather in my hometown / the value of quiet / taking
vitamin pills / hamburgers / ghosts / police / politics / dreams / pets.
Explanation Paragraph
country
sport)
6. How to (a topic of your choice)
region
5. Laws to control/prevent birth
rate/pollution/ illiteracy...
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Comparison/Contrast Paragraph
1. Dogs vs. cats as pets
2. Teachers you have in your country vs.
teachers from abroad
3. Your grandmother/grandfather and
yourself
4. Grocery shopping in your country and
abroad
5. Advertisements on television in your
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