composition mechanics by mr. don b. barr

8/6/2019 Composition Mechanics by Mr. Don B. Barr

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Continuous WritingContinuous WritingBy: Mr. D. B. BBy: Mr. D. B. B



ObjectivesObjectives

Students will be able to:

Identify types of

writing.

Discuss writing

mechanics.

Discuss how to improve

their writing skills.Source: Making The Grade in BGCSE English

Language: Heinemann



Continuous Writing OverviewContinuous Writing Overview

No more

´«and

blah,blah,

blahµ. It·s

time now

forserious

writing.

This is Paper1 of the BGCSE English

Language examination and it accounts

for 40% of your overall marks. The skill

of writing continuously in prose(ordinarywritten or spoken language that is not in

the form of poetry).

Paper 1 offers a range of topics and

you are required to write 350-500words. You will not be penalized if you

write more or less. However, you should

stay within the range.



Types of WritingTypes of Writing

Run away

from boring

essays.

When you sit English Language

Paper 1, you are presented with a

number of topics and asked to

express yourself on one of them

writing continuously. You are offered

topics that reflect a variety of

types(modes) of writing. There arealways two pictorials and a poetry

extract.



Types of Writing cont·dTypes of Writing cont·d

TIP:Remember

: Stay

with the

word

limit!

Narrative: telling a story or giving an

account

Argumentative/Persuasive: expressingpersonal opinion

Expository: explaining something or

giving information.

Descriptive: describing something, a

place, or a person

Personal: writing based on personal

experience



What examiners look for in Paper 1What examiners look for in Paper 1

´Beauty

without

expression

is

boring.µ

Ralph Waldo

Emerson (AmericanPoet

, Lecturer and

Essayist, 1803-1882

Examiners assess your continuous

writing paper on the following four

criteria:

1. The quality of the

content/material: Is what you have

to say clear, logical, relevant to the

topic, developed, explained,mature, appropriate and

interesting?



What examiners look for in Paper 1 cont·dWhat examiners look for in Paper 1 cont·d

´When

building a

house, no

one putsthe roof on

first and

then cuts

the

foundationafterwards.

..At least no

one has

tried to.µ

2. The organization/structure of the

material: Is the content structured in

such a way that the reader canfollow your story, description,

statement, etc? Is there a beginning,

middle and end? Have you written

in paragraphs? Are there links

between paragraphs?




TIP:

Do not

include

explicit

sexual

episodes

and brutal

or violent

acts.

Do not use

profanities.

3. The use of an appropriate style: Does

your writing reflect a sense of audience-

the ability to suit the style you use for the

purposes and the audience? That is, are

the tone and language suitable for your

audience? Have you used a range of

expressions and wide, sensitive and

appropriate vocabulary? Have you used a

variety of sentence constructions- simple,

compound and complex?




´Poor

spelling

and

shoddy

sentence

structure

takes the

flavor andflair out of

continuous

writing.µ

4. The accuracy of language:

Are your grammatical structures

correct? Is your sentencestructure correct? Are your

spelling and punctuation

accurate?



Marking the Continuous Writing PaperMarking the Continuous Writing Paper

´Reading

often

leads todeveloping

better

writing

stylesand

skills.µ

The examiners seek to credit positive

achievement. Therefore it is not the practice of

BGCSE English Language examiners to deduct

from the available total for an essay (40marks)

by counting omissions or inaccuracies. Instead,examiners mark Continuous Writing as a whole

piece of writing. Examiners look for examples

that are interesting, sensitive and thoughtful.

They first read the whole piece, judging its

overall quality and whether that is sustained.

This allows examiners to get a feel for whether

the script is high, average or low in quality.

They look for errors to see if this affects their

overall impression of your work.



Marking the Continuous WritingMarking the Continuous Writing

PaperPaper

The following are considered to be serious errors:

errors of agreement and number

serious tense errors

wrong verb form

elementary errors of sentence construction

misuse or confusion of simple words

misspelling of elementary vocabulary

long, confusing sentences

ridiculous idioms

confusion of key parts of speech



It is time to recap(-itulate)!

so what did you learn?

composition mechanics by mr. don b. barr

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