Key Language: Connectors and Time Relationship Words

APPENDIX

LETTER

ARTICLES

Narration. Narrative article tells a story. There are several important elements that make up a story:

· Setting — the location where the action of the story happens.

· Theme — the basic idea of the story. The theme may deal with a topic that is common in human life (dating, marriage, travelling, etc.) or a topic that describes human nature (greed, independence, love, friendship, etc.).

· Mood is the feeling or atmosphere created by the author in the story. Mood can be happy, hopeful, suspenseful, scary, etc. Both the setting and the descriptive vocabulary help to create the mood in the essay.

· Characters are people in the story.

· Plot is the sequence of events that happen in the story. The plot can often include a climax or turning point at which the characters or events change.

Narrative writing is very often organized in chronological order. The beginning of the action is described in the introduction; the action develops in the body paragraphs and continues to the end — the conclusion. To show how the events in the story progress and help the reader understand time relationships the writer uses connecting words. Here are some of them:

DESRIPTIONS

Descriptive writing typically portrays a place, a person, an animal or a pet, a memory, an object, or an experience. No matter what is described here, it should focus on the writer’s own observations and let the reader see on object or experience something ‘through the eyes of the author’. Colourful language, comparisons and metaphors are peculiar to descriptive writings.

To make the description vivid, use the subjective rather that objective information. Objective information or statistics can impress the reader with figures (e.g. The Dniper is 30 km wide.) but will never show what the author felt when he saw the river (e.g. No words can show the impression of might and power when you see the greatest Slavic river.)

The goal of the descriptive writing is to show. So, remember the phrase ‘show, don’t tell’. Instead of a simple statement of fact (Sally is funny) use a detail that will show the reader how you see the person or the object (When Sally enters the class with her green sparkling eyes, bristling red hair and a broad grin, no one can help smiling when looking at her).

A descriptive writing should have one clear impression. Remember that the dominant impression is built of the details, so check the details to be sure that they are consistent with the dominant impression — either positive or negative.

To describe the person or object fully use five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste.

Try moving the reader through space chronologically, use a liner order to describe things — you can describe the house from the entrance to the smallest rooms, a person — from general impression to the details that make the impression, or from head to feet. Chronological or linear description helps the reader follow your thoughts easily.

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

Comparison writings compare things. They are based on two ideas that are related in some way. The article can focus on similarities between the two things, on the differences or on both the similarities and differences. The goal of the writer is to show to the readers how these objects are similar or different, their strengths and weaknesses or their advantages and disadvantages. Another purpose of comparison and contrast is to persuade, explain or inform. The emphasis should be either on similarities or differences, and details should be included according to which emphasis is chosen.

Comparison articles have two basic methods of organization — the block method and the point by point method.

In the block method the writer presents first one subject and all its points of comparison, then the second subject and all its points of comparison. Here is the example of the block organization of an article about the system of comprehensive education in Ukraine and Great Britain.

With the point-by-point method the writer presents each point of comparison of two subjects. Here is the example of the point-by-point organization of an article about the system of comprehensive education in Ukraine and Great Britain.

When deciding what method of organization is better to choose, you may take into consideration the following peculiarities of each method: