part one a general introduction to english writing

PartOneAGeneralIntroductiontoEnglishWritingPartOneI•WritinginOurWorldII•TypesofWritingIII•WritingWellinEnglishI.WRITINGINOURWORLDI.WritinginOurWorld•Writingisawaytoreachouttoyourworld.•Writingisalsoawaytofindoutaboutyourself.•Writingiscreating.•Writingisthinking.•Writingisawayoffindingoutaboutyourworld.•Writingisawaytochangetheworld.II.TYPESOFWRITINGII.TypesofWriting•Differenttypesofwritingarerequiredfordifferentpurposes.Ingeneral,wecandividewritingintothreekinds:narration,description,expositionandargumentation.•Oftenapieceofwritingincludesallfourtypes.1.Narration1)Definition•Pre-testonp.3.•Narrationtellswhathappened.Ittellsastory.Itisthekindofwritingthatwefindinnovels,shortstories,andbiographies.2)OrganizingWay—TimeOrder•Innarrationthesentencesareusuallyorganizedaccordingtotimeorder.•Comparethetwonarrationsonp.4andfindouttheimportanceoftimeorder.3)HowtoGainaGoodOrder•Togainagoodorder,sometimesweneedthehelpoftime-orderwords.•Findoutthetime-orderwordsonp.5.•Practiceonp.5.2.Description1)Definition•Descriptiontellshowsomethinglooksorfeelsorsounds.Ittalksaboutsuchfeaturesassize,shape,color,sound,ortaste.2)Organizingways—variouskinds•Descriptionmayfollowvariouskindsoforder,dependingonwhatisbeingdescribed.•Spaceorder:Inspaceorderwetellwherethingsare.Thisistheorderwewillprobablyfollowifwewanttodescribeaplace.(p.6)•Subjectiveevaluatingorder:Thewriterselectedtheman’smostinterestingandmostoutstandingfeatures.(p.7)•Timeorder:ChangesofChina.•Fivesenses:《荷塘月色》•Exercisesonp.7-83.Exposition1)Definition•Expositionisatypeoforalorwrittendiscoursethatexplains,clarifies,informs,defines,orinstructs.（李贵苍．英语写作实践教程[M]．北京：清华大学出版社，2010：147.）•e.g.Instructions2)Fiveorganizingwaysa.Description:Theauthordescribesatopicbylistingcharacteristics,features,andexamples.(Olympicsymbols)b.Sequence:Theauthorlistsitemsoreventsinnumericalorchronologicalorder.c.Comparison:Theauthorexplainshowtwoormorethingsarealikeand/orhowtheyaredifferent.2)Fiveorganizingwaysd.Causeandeffect:Theauthorlistsoneormorecausesandtheresultingeffectoreffects.e.Problemandsolution:Theauthorstagesaproblemandlistsoneormoresolutionstotheproblem.Avariationofthispatternisthequestion-and-answerformatinwhichtheauthorposesaquestionandthenanswersit.4.Argumentation1)Definition•Anargumentisawrittenorspokentextthatexpressesapointofviewwiththepurposeofinfluencingtheopinionsofreaders.•e.g.dissertation,academicessayOrganizingwaysInwritingargumentation,youneedtoknowhowtoputyourselfinthepositionofthereadersothatyoucangetyourownpointsacrosswhileanticipatingandaddressingthereactionsofpotentialreaders.Youneedtoknowhowtoquestionanddisagreetothepointsbeingmadeintheargument.Otherwise,youmayendupwritingreports,ratherthanarguments.Youneedtoknowhowtomakeclaims,attachreasons,offerevidence,andusequalifiers,oryourargumentcannotbeconvincingandresponsible.Becauseofalltheserequirements,writinganeffectiveargumentposesbiganddemandingchallengesformostofus.III.WRITINGWELLINENGLISH1.FollowingtheEnglishThoughtPattern1)DifferentthoughtpatternsIncommunicationbetweentwopersonsfromdifferentcountries,wecanveryoftenseeembarrassmentinmutualunderstanding,evenifbothofthemaretryingtospeaksimplyandbriefly,orareusingsimplelanguageonpaper.Theproblemstemsfrommorethanameredifferencebetweenwordsorsymbols.Itisalsoamatterofthearrangementofwordstogetherinasentence.Theideasofferedbywordsdonotfittogetherinthesamewayfromlanguagetolanguage.Howapersonfromacertaincountrythinkslargelydetermineshowhespeaksorwrites.2)EnglishthoughtpatternGenerallyspeaking,theEnglishthoughtpatternhasabasicfeatureofstraightforwardness.TheEnglishwriterwill,thoughnotalways,presenthismainideaorpointofviewatthebeginningwithastatement,knownasthetopicsentenceoftheparagraph,orthethesisstatementoftheessay.Thenhewilltryeverywaytogethismainideaorpointofviewdirectlyillustratedwithanumberofsentencesinaparagraph,oranumberofparagraphsinanarticle.Attheend,hewillwriteaconclusiontogetthemainideaorpointofviewrestatedforemphasis,ifnecessary.3)ChinesethoughtpatternInthelongrunofhistory,ournationformedawayofcirclingthinking.Manyatime,wewouldstartfrombeatingaboutthebushwhenwespeakorwrite,worryingthatadirecttrue-to-factspeechmightmakeothersfeelunhappyorcausetrouble.Wewouldturnandturnfromunrelatedmaterialtoideasofminorimportanceandatlastmakethepoint.ComparisonofEnglishthoughtpatternandChineseoneEnglishChineseReasonsofdifferentthoughtpatterns--Chinesea.Ournationenjoysafive-thousand-yearhistory.b.Confucius’influence(p.21)c.Byandby,inthelongrunofhistory,ournationformedawayofcirclingthinking.Manyatime,wewouldstartfrombeatingaboutthebushwhenwespeakorwrite,worryingthatadirecttrue-to-factspeechmightmakeothersfeelunhappyorcausetrouble.Wewouldturnandturnfromunrelatedmaterialtoideasofminorimportanceandatlastmakethepoint.Reasonsofdifferentthoughtpatterns--Englisha.TheBritishpeopleandAmericanpeopledonotenjoysuchalonghistory.b.Theydevelopedtheircultureundertheconditionofaworldwiderapiddevelopmentofeconomy.“Timeismoney”becametheirmottoincapitalaccumulation.c.Theywouldtryeverymeanstosavetimeinvo