Hello and welcome to this video class in the MOOC:
‘How to succeed in the English B1 Level Exam’.
Today we are looking at writing,
and I am going to try and provide you with the key features,
the key characteristics of a successful written composition.
This is what we are going to be looking at:
The differences between spoken and written English;
we will look at the writing process, which has three main parts:
one step before writing,
then while writing a draft and finally,
when we have finished, revising what we have written.
And at the end of the presentation you will have a slide
with the references of the authors that are mentioned in this slideshow.
Well, let’s start then by looking at
the differences between spoken and written English:
it is not the same, and we should be aware of that;
of what’s allowed when we are speaking,
of what’s allowed when we are writing,
and what is not allowed, which is equally important.
For example, when we are speaking,
it doesn’t really matter if our grammar is not perfect,
is not always correct.
But, however, when we write,
we really have to make an effort to use correct grammar.
And that’s because spoken English
is less structured, or any spoken language.
However, written English is much more structured
and it has to follow certain rules.
When we are speaking,
we don’t necessarily use all the time full sentences.
However, when we write, we should use full sentences,
we should organise those sentences in paragraphs and use linking words,
etcetera.
When we are speaking, contractions are allowed.
I can say ‘don’t’,
but when we are writing, well, I’ll have to write ‘do not’,
for example, unless it’s an informal context, of course.
We are much more informal when we are speaking,
the kind of vocabulary that we use,
and also we may repeat the same words again and again, or hesitate.
However, when we are writing,
everything has to be much more formal and measured.
Again, in spoken English we can use slang or spontaneous language.
That’s not acceptable really in written English.
And very important, the last characteristic
that I’ve put in this table, the body language.
When we are speaking, we have our face,
the tone of voice, if we are very upset, or scared,
or whatever, we use our body and the tone of our voice for that.
However, we don’t have that when we are writing,
so it’s very important that we use punctuation marks,
for example exclamation marks, or question marks, or full stops,
or commas, etcetera.
Now, let’s get into it and how do we write?
What’s the writing process about?
As I said, there are three steps, three different stages:
pre-writing, writing and what we could call
post-writing or revising and editing.
So, before writing, in that prewrite stage,
we have to plan.
Now, this is quite commonly overlooked and that’s a mistake.
If you don’t plan what you are going to write,
then your writing will be quite poor.
And then, you get on with it.
You write your first draft, but that’s not the end of it.
You will have to then revise it and edit it:
check your writing, if your grammar is correct,
the spelling is correct, the punctuation, and make it better,
that’s the purpose of this third stage.
Now, before writing, what do we have to consider?
Well, since we are preparing for this B1 level exam,
you will be given instructions for a composition.
Now, read carefully:
What is the purpose of the composition?
What are they asking me to do?
Now, that seems very simple, but sometimes it’s not,
sometimes you go what is called off-topic,
you write about something else that nobody was asking you to write about.
Related to that, what is the topic of the composition?
Are they asking me to talk about sports,
or clothes, or the economy?
Who knows? How long should it be?
Normally they provide you with the number of maximum words
that you should use.
Or, is it a formal or informal piece of writing?
If they are asking me to write an e-mail, for example,
it will be informal.
Now, some tips, before writing.
You can see three main techniques, if you want to call it like that.
You can choose whatever suits you best.
For example, it’s quite common to make bullet points
with your main ideas.
But some people find that more difficult
than just timing themselves, saying, OK,
I have five minutes now to think about the topic and just write
non-stop whatever comes to my mind.
And then I’ll stop, look at it, read it carefully
and then organise whatever I have written.
Or I can do what is called ‘brainstorming’,
just thinking about the topic and writing down any word,
any expression, anything that comes to my mind related to that topic.
So now that we have all that in our head and on our paper,
well, we have to write a draft
and you have to consider these aspects that I have listed down.
You have to make sure you cover all
the aspects you are asked to write about.
It’s an exam, and they are asking you to write about something,
and they are asking you to give certain details.
Well, make sure that you don’t forget any of them,
because then you will lose points when marking.
Choose what suits the text better, formal or informal style.
Also very useful, something that sometimes you forget:
Read the instructions carefully
because those instructions contain important information,
what is called ‘key words’.
Take those key words from the question
and make sure that you use them.
Also, keep your sentences simple:
if you try to make very long and complex sentences,
well, it’s very likely that you make mistakes.
However, if you make them short,
then it is more probable that you will be successful.
And then, organise all those sentences into paragraphs.
Usually you should write three paragraphs:
one for the introduction, one with the main points,
and then the conclusion or if it’s a letter or an e-mail,
the farewell, good bye.
Now, some tips.
I have put some sticky notes
there on that slide showing you different ideas.
For example, types of text that you may come up with in this exam.
You may be asked to write an e-mail, or a conversation, or a story,
and you’ll have to be careful to choose key sentences
very important how you open your writing
and how you close your writing.
In the style, keep to the point, do not wander off,
writing about something else.
No, keep to what you are being asked to do.
And try to use varied vocabulary.
If you are describing something and you just say that it is interesting,
and I was very interested, well that’s a bit poor.
That was engaging, it really got me into it, etcetera.
Try to make your vocabulary range
as varied, as open, as big as possible.
Try to find synonyms, basically.
And also important, try to get the reader’s attention.
If you write something that is interesting, engaging,
that really gets you into it, your marks will go up, I’m sure.
Very important, also, to use connectors.
If it’s an informal piece of writing then you should use some connectors;
if it’s a story, for example, that you have to write,
then you have to use connectors that sequence what’s going on
“And then... Finally... etcetera”.
If you are discussing something you will have to contrast ideas,
you’ll have to use “however, but”,
you will be asked to give your opinion.
“In my opinion... etcetera”.
Now, punctuation, again,
I have to insist on that because that’s a common mistake.
If you are asked to write a letter,
well, there are certain punctuation rules that we need to follow:
“Dear Ann, comma” and we start on the following line.
Dialogues have hyphens or bullet points to mark who’s talking.
And of course don’t forget your full stops and your commas.
So, we get to the final stage, revising and editing.
Now, when revising, ask yourself:
Have you read what you have written?
Because sometimes we are so concentrated on writing
whatever is in our head that then we run out of time.
So, save yourself five minutes at the end of the writing
to revise what you have written.
Could you add something else?
Because maybe when you re-read what you have written
you realise that there’s something missing,
that you haven’t covered all the aspects that you are asked to cover.
Or maybe you’ve gone to the opposite,
to the other end, maybe you should delete something.
And very important, also,
Does your composition have a clear structure?
Is it in three paragraphs as I told you before?
And then the editing part is again, have you used full sentences?
Are spelling, capital letters and punctuation correct?
And then, if we have checked all that we can submit it.
And these are a few references
that I have used when preparing this presentation.
I hope you have enjoyed it and it has been useful for you.
Thank you!