写作基本功训练Sentence Construction By using the words in brackets, join each of the following sentences into logical ones.You may need to change some of the words.Eg He studies English.He studies French ( as well as) He studies English as well as French.
1A student has studied English for a few years.He may have a vocabulary of thousands of words.(who) 2Between formal and colloquial English there is unmarked English.It is neither so literary and serious as formal English, nor so causal and free as colloquial English.(which) 3 He bought a jeep.His friend advised him against it.( in spite of) 4 Good writing requires general and abstract words as well as specific and concrete ones.It is the latter that make writing vivid, real and clear.(though) 5It was raining hard.They could not work in the fields.(so…that) 6The politician is concerned with succeful elections.The statesman is interested in the future of his people.(whereas) 7 The results of the experiment were succeful.The school refused to give any help.(although) 8He chose to study computer science.Computer science has good employment prospects.(because of) 9Mary walked very slowly.She didn‟t catch the train.(if) 10He is not coming.The meeting will be put off till next week.(in the event of) 11A cautious driver always bring with him a spare tyre.He has a puncture.(in case) 12Many people do not have enough to eat.There is plenty of food in the world.(however) 13Nuclear power can be used to make electricity .Many people are against using nuclear power.(although) 14It would be rather impertinent of me to expre an opinion.I am not a member of the Church of England myself.(therefore) 15Computer che games are still a bit expensive, but they are getting cheaper all the time.The che-playing strength is rising.(furthermore) 16Western Europe has large reserves of fuel.The UK has a 250 year supply of coal.(for instance) 17Middle-cla children do well in most education system.Working-cla children do relatively poorly.(on the other hand)
Letter Writing (信件写作) Letters can be claified into formal and informal ones.Formal letters can be either formal impersonal or formal personal.For instance, a letter to the principle of a college explaining why you will be delayed is a formal impersonal letter.A letter to the father of a friend of your own age congratulating him or her on an examination succe will probably be written as an informal letter(a personal letter).When you write a letter, you would better always bear in mind that the worst mistakes in letter writing are caused by mixing up the different kinds.Different occasions require
1 different treatment.1.Formal Impersonal Letters(正式非私人信件) Formal impersonal letters are written to get things done.They are written to firms and other organizations, to offices and departments, to employers of firms and to officials.Because of this they are often called “busine letters”.For this reason, the rules of formal impersonal letter must be strictly obeyed.These letters should be busine-like.Concentrate on the busine you are trying to get done.Don‟t bury it in irrelevant personal details.When you are writing a formal impersonal letter, be careful with handwriting, grammar, punctuation and spelling.You are writing to get something done, something that matters to you.So don‟t your reader the impreion that you are carele.See the following example:
Flat6, the Priory, 3 A Nevill Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8NW 30th October,2000 (2) The Project Director Amazon Expedition, 8 Bell St., London WC3 5YA (3) Dear Sir, (4)I was very interested in your advertisement in today‟s edition of The Evening Post and I should like to apply to be a member of the Amazon Expedition team.I am twenty-three years old and have an honors degree in Botany from Bath University.Since leaving university I have been working in a research laboratory but my contract comes to an end in six weeks.I would particularly like to join the expedition for the opportunity it would give me to study the plant life of the area. I enjoy several outdoor activities including rowing and rock climbing and I consider myself to be both fit and healthy enough to undertake such an expedition.If you would like me to attend an interview, I would be come at any time convenient for you, as my employers have agreed to give me time off for the purpose.I look forward to hearing from you.(5) Yours faithful, Signature
(6) Ma Xiaoguang This is a typical formal impersonal letter (busine letter).This kind of letter should be typewritten except the signature.It consists of six parts.(1) Heading.The return addre goes in the top right-hand corner of the page with the date below it.Do not put your name above or near your addre.Remember always to use the postcode.( TN4 8NW) (2) Inside addre.Write the name of the receiver and the inside addre on the left and four to six lines below the return addre.(3) Salutation.Write the salutation on the left, two lines below the inside addre and follow it with a coma.The normal ways of naming the person you are writing to
2 are as follows: If you know the name of the person ,you write : Dear+ Mr.\\ Mrs.\\Ms+ Surname If you don‟t know the name of the person , you write: Dear+ Sir or Madam (4) Body.Start your letter on the left-hand side, underneath the name two lines below.(5) Closing.Write the closing on the left-hand side, and follow it with a comma Yours sincerely.If you have no idea of the person you are writing to, it is usual to use the form Yours faithfully.(6) Signature.You should write your signature three or four lines down by closing by hand.Below your signature you should print or type your name, so that the person who reads your letter is in no doubt about who you are.A formal letter doesn‟t need to be written in very formal languages these days.You should aim to expre yourself in a clear and concise way and to avoid slang, idiomatic expreion and abbreviations.Formal personal letters(正式私人信件) Formal personal letters are different from formal impersonal letters because the relationship between the writer and the reader is different and the letters are written about different kinds of things.The writer of a formal personal letters knows the reader personally.The purpose of the letter is to send a meage from one person to another.You are not writing about a busine or an official subject.The way you write the letter must show your reader that you are thinking if him or her in a personal way.Formal personal letters are formal, so, your letters should be properly set out and carefully written.This kind of letter often covers the following areas: A invitation B requests C arrangements D apology E Congratulations F thanks Now see the following example: Example (1) Flat 3, Hartington House,
9 Hope Park Terrace Edinburgh EH8 9JX 9 July, 2000 (2) Dear Mr.and Mrs.Seaton, (3)Thank you very much for taking me with you on that splendid outing to London.It was the first time that I had seen the Tower or any of the other famous sights.If I would gone alone, I could not have seen nearly as much, because I would not have known my way about.
The weather was splendid that day, which I thought was true.I still remember some people told me that Britain there is weather and no climate.During the same day, it may snow in the morning, rain at noon, shine in the afternoon and be windy before the night falls.So I think I was lucky.I think the river trip was the best thing of all.London really came alive for me as we saw it from the Thames during that wonderful journey down to Greenwich.It was all tremendously exciting—a day that I shall never forget.
Thank you for giving me such a great birthday treat.
3 (4) Yours sincerely, (5) (signature) A formal personal letter could be typewritten (except the signature) or written by hand.It usually consists of five parts.(Inside addre doesn‟t appear in a formal personal letter.) (1) Heading.Your addre always goes in the top right-hand corner.The date always goes under the addre.This can be written as: Monday,28th March March 28th 28\\3\\2000 (2) Salutation.Write the salutation on the left, and follow it with a comma.The normal ways of naming the person you are writing to are as follows: A Dear Mr.\\Ms.+ surname (family name) (3) Body.Indent four or five spaces at the beginning of every paragraph.(4) Closing.Write the closing in the centre of the page---the closing is Yours sincerely—and follow it with a comma.(5) Signature.You should write your signature two or three lines down below the closing by hand. When you write a formal personal letter, you must choose your words to suit the kind of the subject you are writing about.For example, you wouldn‟t write to the father of a friend thanking him for a present in the same way that you would write to the dean of your department putting forward your ideas for changes in the courses in the course study.You can write formal personal letters to the people: A Who are older than you.B Who are in a position of authority C you have not known for a long time
D you are acquainted with E you are not related to F you do not have a lot in common with.Informal Letters(非正式信件) Informal letters are also called “ personal letters”.Often you can write informal letter to the people: A who are about the same age as you B who have the equal social position as you have C whom you have known for a long time D who are amiable friends of yours E whom you are related with F who have many things in common with you Example (1)139, South Close, London NW3 2RF 20 August,2000 (2) Dear Aunt Nellie, I have just started work, and I „d like to tell you about my experiences so far.I am working as a typist in an insurance office which has about forty other people.Most of the time I type a letter for a very kind man called Mr.Merriam, who is manager of the Claims Department.He gives me my work, and I take it back to him when I have typed it.
4 There are all kinds of different people in the office: some rude, some noisy, some funny.I have made friends with a typist called Susan; her bo is a Mrs.Jones, who is manager of the Accounts Department.Susan and I get on very well together, and we often go to a nice little café for lunch, which costs about a pound.You know that I have been trained as a typist, so the work here is easy for me.The office is very clean and modern, though I find the atmosphere bizarre and a bit difficult to get used to.Transport from home to work is no problem for me: I first catch a 26 bus, change at Bidlam Square, and then continue on a number 12.It takes about 20 minutes.Well , that is all for now.Next time I write I hope I will have more news for you.(3) with love (4) (5) Mary The usual rules of an informal letter are more or le the same as the formal personal letters.Narration (记叙文) Narration , as a pattern of thought, consists of the act of following a sequence of actions or events in time.It is a recounting of the facts or particulars of some occurrence, incident, or experience.The simplest kind of narration is the which follows chronological order, that is, which tells the events in the order in which they occurred.Reading the following paragraph: I went to the lecture at 11.Before that I had a sandwich and a cup of coffee at the university canteen.I didn‟t have enough time to eat breakfast.After the lecture, I went off and ate a big lunch.This paragraph is not following the chronological order.It seems to be a bit jumbled.It is better to be written as follows: I got up late in the morning, so I didn‟t have enough time to eat my breakfast.Before I went to the lecture at 11 I had a sandwich and a cup of coffee at the university canteen.After the lecture, I went off and ate a big lunch. Exercise
rearrangement A Aristide had gone for a walk in the forest one day B He set out early in the morning C He didn‟t know how to find his way back to the town D He soon fell asleep E He was tired and hungry, and sat down to rest F Having walked for several hours, he suddenly realized that he was lost G He was surrounded by redskins H When he awoke, it was nearly dark I They bound his hands and led him away to their village
The common Structure of Narration
The rhetorical structure of narration can be partially conveyed by a single sentence: Yesterday morning, on the main street in the city centre, Mr.Wang had a car accident.This sentence contains all the elements of narration (except cause and effect): the
5 time(when the events occurred), the place(where the event occurred), the agent ( the person or persons who take part in the action), and the action( the thing done).Because narration follows the laws of chronological succeion, in the narrative the pattern can be as follows: Introduction ( contains time, place, agent, and beginning of action) Event1 2 3 4 Conclusion Narration often goes hand in hand with description.Practicing writing a factual description of a place and a day‟s routine aociated the place is useful for an IELTS candidate.From this, he will learn to describe a workplace or educational institution and to describe the main facts of a person‟s working day in chronological order.The present simple tense in the narrative is used when writing about everyday routine.This is a very common use of this tense.
In real life, one is often required to write a personal factual narrative on particular events.It is therefore useful for students to learn how to arrange the events in chronological order and to describe the events in a simple piece of continuous writing.Exercise1 Write about a day‟s outing you went on.Say who went with you, where you went and what you did.The guiding for the writing: (1) Introduction and explanation ---who you are where you live where you went (2) Traveling there--- when you left how you traveled when you arrived (3) What happened there---what you did first next after that
when you have a meal (4) Traveling back---- when you left how you traveled when you got back home The past perfect tense is used in the writing because it fits in naturally when narrating events in the past.Superlative of adjectives clauses are also used here.Adjectives clauses are a very common feature in written English.In academic writing, a narrative is often used to outline a sequence of steps carried out a specific occasion.It is also particularly important in report-writing, when the writer outlines the developmental stages of an experiment or a piece of research, or the sequence of steps in an event such as a fire or an accident. Vocabulary Guide (1) now then next before after subsequently afterwards earlier later sooner (2) first second third once former latter before this formerly prior to (3) previously every day a long time ago one of these days last year up to this time on the occasion (4) while at the same time meanwhile
(5) yesterday the day before yesterday two days ago tomorrow (6) finally eventually simultaneously at last 6
