Г. В. Ловгач, Е.В. Вильковская, К.М. Дейкун

Г. В. Ловгач, Е.В. Вильковская, К.М. Дейкун

ОСНОВЫ ПИСЬМЕННОЙ РЕЧИ:

THE PARAGRAPH

Практическое руководство

для студентов 1 курса специальностей

Английский язык. Немецкий язык»

Английский язык. Французский язык»

Гомель

ГГУ им. Ф. Скорины

2011

Seminar 1

 

Theoretical materials for revision:

Expository writing.                                              

The paragraph.

The topic sentence: the topic, the controlling idea, the compound controlling idea.

The body of the paragraph. The supporting sentences: major supporting statements, minor supporting statements. The concluding sentence.

Unity and coherence in paragraphs.

                                  

Consolidation exercises

ü A paragraph is a group of sentences that work together to develop one main idea. The main idea is often stated in the first sentence of the paragraph, the topic sentence. The topic sentence includes the topic and a controlling idea, which gives a focus to the topic and often gives the reader the information about the organization of the paragraph. After the topic sentence comes the body. Sentences in the body of the paragraph support or develop the main idea in the topic sentence. Most paragraphs end with a concluding sentence. This sentence either summarizes the ideas in the paragraph or acts as a transition to the next paragraph.

 

Ex. 1. Read the paragraph and answer the questions.

 

Writing for a Purpose

Paragraphs and essays are often categorized according to their purposes. Our purpose is to explain a process. Writers use a process paragraph or essay to tell how to do something, for example, how to change a tire (шина). Another purpose is to classify, and writers use classification paragraphs and essays to categorize things, for example, different kinds of insects or cars. A third purpose is to compare and contrast. Writers compare and contrast when they write about such things as choosing among jobs, movies, or investment strategies. Yet another purpose is to show cause and effect. Cause/effect paragraphs and essays analyze why things happen the way they do. A final and important purpose for writing is to give an opinion or argue a point of view. This purpose is the basis for much academic writing. Categorizing paragraphs and essays according to their purposes is a convenient and useful way of describing them.

 

1 Write the paragraph’s topic sentence. Define the topic and the controlling idea.

2 Write one sentence from the body of the paragraph. Does it support or develop the main idea in the topic sentence?

3 Write the paragraph’s concluding sentence. Does the concluding sentence summarize or relate to the topic sentence?

4 What is the primary purpose of this paragraph? (Circle one)

a) to explain a process

b) to classify

c) to state an opinion

d) to discuss cause and effect

5 How many kinds of paragraphs are discussed in this paragraph? List them.

 

Ex. 3. Write several sentences of your own that illustrate topic sentences with definite controlling ideas. Underline each controlling ideas.

Ex. 4. a) Answer the questions and discuss your ideas in pairs or groups.

 

1 Where in the structure of a sentence does the controlling idea usually come?

2 Where else may it come?

 

b) Write several sentences illustrating the various positions in a sentence in which a controlling idea may be used.

 

ü A topic sentence, if the subject matter requires it, may have a compound controlling idea. That is, the central thought of the paragraph may have two (or more) parts, each of which must be developed. For example:

American scientists have developed methods of firing missiles from land bases and from submarines at sea.

A man owes it to himself to have a modest checking account, a few friends, and integrity.

 

ü The topic sentence with its controlling idea must be fully developed, or explained. The explanation takes form of the supporting statements (major and minor supporting statements).

Ex. 6. Read the paragraph and under the heading “major support”, list the numbers of those sentences that serve as major supporting statements, and under “minor support”, list the numbers of those used as minor supporting statements.

The treaty of Versailles had three outstanding effects. 1 First, a League of Nations was formed. 2 By uniting, the member nations would keep peace among themselves and would help one another if an attack came from an outside enemy. 3 Submitting their own disputes to the League Council for arbitration would reduce the possibility of armed conflict. 4 Second, the reduction of German military strength relieved the whole world of the threat of German aggression. 5 Commissions of control, appointed by the Allies, entered Germany and supervised the execution of the disarmed clauses of the treaty. 6 The Allies destroyed great stores of armaments, munitions, and war supplies and sent investigating teams into areas suspected of hiding or manufacturing such materials. 7 The Allies also dismantled Germany’s navy with the exception of a few ships and set about reducing naval personnel to 15,000 men. 8 Third, Germany’s colonies became the spoils of various nations. 9 Her African holdings went to France and Great Britain. 10 Shantung, China, which Germany had seized, became a prize of Japan.

treaty - договор

submit – представить на рассмотрение

arbitration – суд

reduction –сокращение

commissions – ответственные чины

ally – союзник

execution – выполнение

disarm – разоружать

spoils - добыча

 

Major support:                                     Minor support:

____________________                      _______________________

____________________                          _______________________

 

ü One characteristic of good writing is unity. When a paragraph has unity, all of the sentences in it relate to the topic and develop the controlling idea.

 

Ex. 9. In this exercise only the topic sentence and the major supporting statements from an original paragraph are given; the minor supports have been deleted. Copy the topic sentence and each major statement. Then supply two minor supports for each of the major statement.

Topic sentence: In the course of a day students do far more than just attend classes.

Major support: In order to maintain (поддерживать) their health, they must exercise.

1 __________________________________________________________

2 __________________________________________________________

           

Major support: Because much of what they must learn in a course is not provided (обеспечены) in the classroom, they are required to do outside assignments in the library.

1 _______________________________________________________    

2 _______________________________________________________

 

Major support: Finally, for the education beyond books they participate in social and cultural activities.

1 __________________________________________________________

2 __________________________________________________________

           

Ex. 10. Write a topic sentence with a definite controlling idea. Underline the controlling idea. Write three major supporting statements; then write two minor supporting statements for each major support.

 

ü Another important characteristic of good writing is coherence. Coherent writing flows smoothly and ideas are arranged logically.

Strategies for Coherence:

1   Make sure you arrange your ideas in a logical order (time, space, general-to-specific, specific-to-general, and climactic).

2    Repeat key words, use appropriate pronouns, and use synonyms.

3  Use transition expressions (first, next, finally, in fact, however, although it may be true, and others) to link your ideas together smoothly.

 

Ex. 11. In the following paragraph, the topic sentence and the concluding sentence are in the correct place. However, one or more of the supporting sentences is out of order. Make the paragraph coherent by rearranging the supporting sentences in the correct order.

Coal Formation

Topic sentence: The coal we burn as fuel today began long ago as trees and other plants that grew beside water. 1 Movements of the rocks underneath then crushed some of the brown lignite coal even more and heated it, forming a hard black coal called anthracite. 2 Instead, they piled up, gradually forming a soft brown substance called peat, which was eventually buried. 3 When these plants died and fell to earth, they could not rot completely because the ground was too wet. 4 The peat was then crushed by its own weight of the rocks above it, making it harder and turning it into lignite, or brown coal. Concluding sentence: This process of coal formation from living plants took place very slowly over millions of years.

 

underneath - внизу

brown lignite coal – бурый уголь

anthracite – антрацит

pile up – накапливаться

peat – торф

 

An Amazing Animal

 

On the way back to our hotel one night during our vocation on the beautiful island of Tasmania, my husband and I encountered a very strange animal. This animal had four legs and a furry body. At first they thought it was a beaver, because we also had a long flat tail. Then, however, we noticed something odd about its head. Instead of a beaver’s mouth, you had a bill, like that of a duck or some other bird. What a strange thing! When we got back to our room, we asked the desk clerk for information about this peculiar beast, because we both thought you were seeing things. We were relieved to find out that a furry mammal with a duck-like bill is not just a figment of their imagination. Strange as it may seem, such an animal actually does exist. Do you know what she is?

encounter – столкнуться

furry – покрытый мехом

beaver – бобер

odd – странный 

bill – клюв

beast – зверь

mammal – млекопитающее

figment – вымысел

 

Seminar 2

 

Theoretical materials for revision:

Simple materials of paragraph development: detail, reason, illustration or example.

Combination of basic materials.

 

Consolidation exercises

ü The basic materials of the paragraph development may be identified as detail, reason, and illustration or example.

           

ü In the paragraph developed by detail you support the topic sentence with its controlling idea by supplying facts or material that is factual by nature. There are essentially two kinds of details. One kind are those that come from your having observed them, actually experienced them, through sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. The other kind – details that make up directions or procedures, instructions for doing something.

Seminar 3

 

Theoretical materials for revision:

 Complex methods of paragraph development:

- definition;

- comparison;

Consolidation exercises

ü Complex methods of development that will be discussed in seminars 3 and 4 are definition, comparison, contrast and analogy.

ü Definition means one of two things: the lexical or precise meaning of the word; or the rhetorical or expository statement of its meaning as understood or interpreted by the writer. The first is the usual dictionary meaning and may be expressed in a single sentence, in a phrase, even in a synonym. The second is what the definer wants to say about it in a particular context and is elaborated in a paragraph or even a full essay.

 

Ex. 1. Write a one-sentence definition of each of the following. You are not likely to benefit from not referring to the dictionary. Check up the meaning of the same words in a dictionary. Do the definitions coincide?

  An examination, friendship, home, courage, faith, family.

 

Seminar 4

 

Theoretical materials for revision:

Complex methods of paragraph development:

- contrast;

- analogy.

 

Consolidation exercises

 

ü The purpose of contrast is to show the difference between two persons, things, or ideas. The paragraph of contrast needs a basis of contrast and a specific dominant quality, point, or issue, probably the controlling idea, to give the necessary unity.

 

Ex. 1. Read the paragraph of contrast and define the topic sentence, its controlling idea, the basis for contrast and the specific dominant quality, point, or issue of it. Speak about the basic material and the order of paragraph development.

 

Unlike any other sport, football is played solely for the benefit of the spectator. If you take the spectator away from any other game, the game could still survive on its own. Thus tennis players love tennis, whether or not anyone is watching. Golfers are almost churlish in their dedication to their game. Ping-pong players never look around. Basketball players can dribble and shoot for hours without hearing a single cheer. Even baseball might survive the deprivation, despite the lack of parks. Soft-ball surely would. But if you took away the spectators, if you demolished the grandstands and boarded up the stadium, it is inconceivable to think that any football would be played in the eerie privacy of the field itself. No football team ever plays another team just for the fun of playing football. Army plays navy, Arsenal plays Manchester, Spartak plays Dinamo, only with the prospect of a loud crowd on hand. 

spectator – зритель   

survive – выживать

churlish – упорный

dribble – вести мяч

demolish the grandstands – трибуны

it is inconceivable – невообразимо, невозможно

eerie – жуткий, зловещий

 

Ex. 9. From a map or from your own experience, choose a geographical feature – a continent, a cape, a lake, or the like – that resembles some familiar object in shape. Develop the analogy in a paragraph.

Ex. 10. Write a paragraph of analogy based on a scientific process with which you are familiar, the hundreds or thousands of people arriving at a stadium for an athletic contest, the logs floating down river ending in a jam, the aimless scattering of a crowd of people at the time of an explosion, or some subject you really know.

 

Г. В. Ловгач, Е.В. Вильковская, К.М. Дейкун

ОСНОВЫ ПИСЬМЕННОЙ РЕЧИ:

THE PARAGRAPH

Практическое руководство

для студентов 1 курса специальностей