Tips for writing a composition

1. Do remember and use the seven C’s of composition:

Clarity - the writing is clear, lucid

Coherence - parts of the writing "stick" together, are connected

Completeness - no parts are missing, has a beginning, middle, and end

Conciseness - condensed, brief, no extra, unneeded padding

Concreteness - solid, united

Continuity - continues in sequence or order

Correctness - rightness, rectification of errors, revised without errors

2. Do use the writing process: brainstorm, organize, support; write rough draft, revise, rewrite until work is error-free and clearly communicates your ideas; do final write for publication, assignment, or posting.

3. Do use correct spelling and a variety of correctly used words (increase your vocabulary). Check for words that sound the same but have different meanings so that the correct word is used. (Examples: it's and its; your and you're; their, there, and they're). Use synonyms for overused words, but be sure the synonym "fits" the way you use it in a sentence.

4. Do use correct punctuation and capitalization, even in poetry.

5. Do use correct sentence beginnings. Unless used in dialogue, certain words are not strong sentence starters. Coordinating conjunctions (such as and, nor, but, or), there, that, and this (unless used as adjectives before a subject) and well should be avoided.

6. Do make all work believable and understandable to the audience (your readers). You need to know to whom you are writing, who will be reading your work.

7. Do use active voice most of the time in writing. Passive voice is to be used seldom and only when it cannot be avoided, because passive voice many times destroys accountability.

8. Do keep verb tenses consistent.

9. Do not write more words than it’s stated in the task.

APPENDIX 4

Useful phrases for a discussion

Expressing opinions and preferences:

I think...,

In my opinion...,

I'd like to...,

I'd rather...,

I'd prefer...,

The way I see it...,

As far as I'm concerned...,

If it were up to me..., I suppose...,

I suspect that...,

I'm pretty sure that...,

It is fairly certain that...,

I'm convinced that...,

I honestly feel that,

I strongly believe that...,

Without a doubt …

Disagreeing and suggesting an alternative:

I don't think that...

Don't you think it would be better to do …,

I don't agree, but …

I'd prefer to …

Shouldn't we consider+ Ving,

But what about +Ving,

I'm afraid I don't agree with you (on that),

Frankly, I doubt if...,

Let's face it,

The truth of the matter is...,

The problem with your point of view is that...

Giving reasons and offering explanations:

To start with,

The reason why...,

That's why...,

For this reason...,

That's the reason why...,

Many people think....,

Considering...,

Allowing for the fact that...,

When you consider that...

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