HOW TO MAKE YOUR WRITING BETTER

Newsletter Fall 2 2017

To Make Your Writing Better..
1) You need to review and revise it multiple times!
Try reading it out loud!
When fixing something, dont just read the sentence your fixing, read
one or two sentences before and after
Have someone else read it and give you comments!

2) Think about the grammar points we learned

Fix the errors related to these grammar points

3) Did you summarize and paraphrase enough?

You need to change as much as possible, without changing the
meaning

4) Make sure your sentences and paragraphs are connecting well

Grammar Points Weve Learned So Far
What are the grammar points weve learned so far?
Simple/Compound/Complex Sentences
Three Common Sentence Errors
Capitalization
Subject-Verb Agreement
Listing three or more things
Verb ing = Progressive vs. Gerund
Comma Usages

Additional Things Weve Learned:

Points of View in Writing
Thinking about the audience!
Comma Usage Rules
I need to buy apples, oranges, and pears.
Comma in a list of three or more things
To make the grilled cheese sandwich, you need to get some
cheese first.
Comma after the introductory word/phrase
When I went to the summer camp last year, I had a very
good time.
Comma after the dependent clause
I hardly knew what to say, so I just went to hug him instead.
Comma before a coordinating conjunction
Brad Pitt, a famous actor from America, is visiting Japan
next month.
a famous actor from America = appositive
Comma for an appositive
Point of View in Writing
Viewpoint or Person
First person (I, we, me, us, mine, ours, my, our)
Refers to the person who is speaking
For formal and informal writing (not used often in academic
writing)
Second person (you, yours, your)
Refers to the person who is being spoken to
For informal writing
Third person (he, she it, they him, her them, theirs, its..)
Refers to the person or thing that is being spoken about
For formal writing (academic writing)
Third person can be used with first or second person
Audience
Remember this topic?
Topic:
My Favorite Place in NYC
Some supporting ST: Whats wrong with them?
People like going to central park because you can easily
get there by public transportation.
I especially enjoy walking around the big lake in the park
because we can see a lot of people walking their dogs.

Keep the point of view/person consistent (same)!

Third person can be mixed with first or second person sometimes
How to Make My Writing More Connected

You need to have COHERENCE in your writing

Coherence= How all of the ideas in your writing flows
smoothly and linked/connected together

How do I make my writing flow smoothly and

connect well?
Think about making invisible connections in your

paragraph! (Like a spider web that holds your

writing together)
Here are some Way to Ge Coherence
Ways of achieving (creating) coherence:
Logical order of ideas
Does the order of ideas flow smoothly?
Nothing comes in suddenly/randomly?
Transitional words and phrases (coordinating and subordinating
conjunctions too)
See the next slide!
Repetition of key words
Thanksgiving in the Thanksgiving article
But not always!
Using pro-forms
Thanksgiving = it
The families = they
Using synonyms
Thanksgiving = the holiday
Food = dishes
Keeping the point of view consistent (first, second, third persons) =>
Audience
Transitional Words/Phrases
Making good transitions = Like making bridges between your
sentences and paragraphs

Some examples of transitional words/phrases:

They connect your sentences better!
Transitional words: Therefore, moreover, thus, however ..
Transitional phrases: In other words, On the contrary, as a result
Go to this website:
http://www.smart-words.org/linking-words/transition-words.html

Transitional sentences
Remember the transitional sentence between the Thanksgiving
paragraphs and the Black Friday paragraph?
After Thanksgiving day, many people think the following Friday is the first
day of Christmas shopping. This Friday is called Black Friday.
Make the transition (going to) the next paragraph better!
Grammar Points PPT

Review the PPT that are on the class website

Resources/Materials page!!

Here is the link

https://newsletterfall12017.weebly.com/resourcesmate
rials.html