background preloader

Cohesive Devices

Cohesive Devices
When sentences, ideas, and details fit together clearly, readers can follow along easily, and the writing is coherent. The ideas tie together smoothly and clearly. To establish the links that readers need, you can use the methods listed here. Note that good writers use a combination of these methods. Do not rely on and overuse any single method – especially transitional words. Repetition of a Key Term or Phrase This helps to focus your ideas and to keep your reader on track. Synonyms Synonyms are words that have essentially the same meaning, and they provide some variety in your word choices, helping the reader to stay focused on the idea being discussed. Pronouns This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they, and we are useful pronouns for referring back to something previously mentioned. Transitional Words There are many words in English that cue our readers to relationships between sentences, joining sentences together. Sentence Patterns Related:  CAEENGLISH TEACHING

CAE Writing Test Tips - Guaranteed to Improve Your Exam Score — CAE Exam Tips Most CAE students don't make obvious, basic mistakes like your/you're or its/it's. But they do struggle with things like: Relative clauses You need to learn the difference between defining and non-defining relative clauses. Your non-defining clauses need commas, while your defining clauses shouldn't have commas. I had lunch with my grandfather, who is 90 years old. I had lunch with my friend who lives in Prague. Note that non-defining pronouns cannot be changed to 'that', so you should never write a comma followed by 'that'. Gerund vs infinitive Gerund means the -ing form of a verb. I used to live in China (= I lived in China). I'm used to hearing German (= hearing German is normal for me). I look forward to meeting you. I stopped smoking (= I quit). I stopped to smoke (= I stopped what I was doing because I wanted to have a cigarette). I recommend buying new computer equipment. I recommend you buy new computer equipment.

State verbs and action verbs State verbs State verbs express states or conditions which are relatively static. They include verbs of perception, cognition, the senses, emotion and state of being: State verbs are not normally used in continuous forms: I am needing a new phone. I need a new phone.Who is this bag belonging to? Action verbs Action verbs (also called dynamic verbs) express activities, processes, momentary actions or physical conditions: They may be used in continuous forms: Who was he dancing with? State verbs in the continuous form Some state verbs may be used in the continuous form if they refer to a temporary action or an action in progress at a certain moment, rather than a permanent attitude: I'm having second thoughts about moving abroad. There are also state verbs which may be used in the continuous form, but with a different, active meaning: Naturally, we can use the verbs with the active meaning in the simple form, too: How often do you see your dentist? This melon is weighing 2 kilos.

Transitional words and phrases: matching game Vocabulary and spelling series The transition game "drag and drop" There are three main reasons for using transitional phrases within your writing: Using transitional words and phrases helps papers read more smoothly by providing coherence A coherent paper allows the reader to flow from the first supporting point to the next Transitions indicate relations, whether from sentence to sentence, from paragraph to paragraph, or from one idea to the next. The exercise below will test your ability to place each concept into a category.. In the exercise, as you drag and drop each concept, it disappears, indicating a correct choice. Vocabulary and spelling guides

3 Strategies to Improve Student Writing Instantly Editor's Note: A version of this post first appeared on Techie Teacher and Character Coach. "But Miss Parrish, I can't think of anything to write!" Haven't we all heard similar lines in our classrooms? We see hesitant writers sit with a pencil in their hands and a paper on their desks, almost as if they have been handicapped by the task we asked them to do. How is it that some students have so much to say when talking out loud, but when a pencil is put into their hand they suddenly hesitate, struggle and have nothing to say? The answer is to simply have them produce "writing" without technically "writing" at all. Strategies That Work 1. Have your student stand up while you sit in his or her seat. 2. Identify a way that your students can audio record themselves "speaking" their essay rather than "writing" it. 3. Identify an app or tool that will transcribe speaking into text. Communication Before Craft How have you helped students write without putting pen to paper (or pixel to page)?

Cambridge CAE Speaking Sample Test 1 | Cambridge Practice Tests In this part of the test I’m going to give each of you three photographs. I would like you to talk about your photographs on your own for about a minute and also answer a question about your partner’s photographs. (Candidate A) It’s your turn first. Here are your photos. They show people waiting for something. (Candidate B) Which of these people do you think looks most impatient? (Candidate B) It’s your turn now. u: Sound: How to Pronounce the /u:/ Phoneme This is the u: sound. As in the words:to /tuː/you /juː/new /njuː/ It is a Vowel sound and it’s technical name is the ‘Close Back Rounded Vowel’. How to Pronounce the u: Sound Remember that the key to pronunciation s physical and the name tells us about how the sound is made physically. In this case your tongue is high and back of your mouth. How the u: sound is spelled The u: sound is spelled in lots of different ways. Examples of the u: sound Words don’t normally start with this sound but, here are some words that have the sound in the middle:student /’stjuːdənt/group /gruːp/school /skuːl/move /muːv/ Here are some words with the /u:/ at the end.do /duː/two /tuː/view /vjuː/value /ˈvæljuː/ So that is it for the u: sound but we have made additional videos on each of the groups of sounds Vowels, Diphthongs, Single Consonants, or Consonant Pairs as well as a video explaining the the phonetic chart.

Writing Exercises and Prompts Concluding Sentence It is important for students to know how to write a conclusion, whether to drive the final point home or to transition to the next point. Writing a conclusion clinches everything mentioned in a paragraph. A conclusion may restate the claim in the topic sentence, but now it has all the supporting details behind it. Whether the conclusion reinforces the topic or leads into the following topic, a paragraph’s concluding sentence plays an important role. Time4Writing’s free writing resources cover the formulation of a strong conclusion in a paragraph.

PRACTISE ENGLISH: CAE speaking A: Compare 2 of the pictures, and say why the people might need a short break from work, and weather the short break is really important to all the people. B: Who do you think needs the short break the most? A: Compare 2 of the pictures and say why it might be important to do these things carefully, and what might happen if great care is not taken. B: Who do you think has the greatest responsibility to do the things carefully? A: Compare 2 of the pictures and say why their celebration is so special to them, and whether they will remember the celebration for a long time. B: Who do you think will get the greatest long-term pleasure from the celebration? A: Compare 2 of the pictures and say how easy it is to play music in these situations, and how important it is for the musicians to practise regularly. B: Who do you think might need the most practice? B: Who do you think might need the greatest skill? B: Which activity do you think people find the most exciting?

The Best Creative Writing Activities For Engaging Your Learners Great creative writing teachers are very passionate about literature, and because of them many of their students will continue to pursue creative writing outside of school. Those teachers also impact learners because of the great creative writing activities they use to get the students' imaginations to run free. “There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.” — J.K. Rowling Here are some creative writing activities and prompts that will honor your students’ imaginations. Creative Writing Activities To Explore This terrific list of activities come from Marcus Roskilly in the UK: Free Writing—5 minutes to write on a “spark word” determined by the teacher. Other Engaging Approaches Here are some select creative writing activities from Caroline Swicegood Creative Writing Prompts Some prompts from Buzzfeed’s 23 Of The Most Creative College Essay Prompts From 2014–2015: “You’ve just reached your one millionth hit on your YouTube video. Other Engaging Approaches

What Is A Response To Literature Essay - Teaching Wiki A response to literature is an essay that is written in response to all of, or a specific element of, a piece of literature. In a response to literature essay, you state your own opinions about the theme, plot, characters or settings, backed up with evidence from the literary text. What Is A Response to Literature? A response to literature is, in many ways, the same as a response to a statement. Think of a conversation or a discussion. A response is something that inherently draws from something else - it doesn’t and cannot stand on its own. Put simply, a response to literature essay is where you give your opinion on a text through a reasoned argument. What is the purpose of a response to literature essay? The purpose of a response to literature essay is to provide context on, and criticism of, the original text. Writing a response to literature essay gives you the opportunity to do a deep dive into the original novel or poem. What are the features of a response to literature essay? Context

Summarizing Worksheets | Learn How to Summarize Summarizing is one of those skills that may seem very easy to a teacher but can be difficult for students who have not been properly taught how to summarize. For many years I did not even teach my seventh and eighth grade students how to summarize. I would just ask them to summarize texts and then get mad at them when they failed to produce quality summaries. Writing a good summary is not as easy as it may appear. Here are some resources that I used in my classroom to teach my students how to summarize. Summarizing Lesson – Here is an animated PowerPoint slideshow teaching students how to summarize. Summary and Main Idea Worksheet 1 – Students will read four nonfiction paragraphs about trains. Summary and Main Idea Worksheet 2 – My students loved reading these four nonfiction passages about ninjas and I hope yours do too. Summarizing Practice – Here is a PowerPoint slideshow with four practice passages. Summarizing Test – Evaluate your students ability to summarize with this test.

Related: