英语写作手册教案

Part 1 Paragraph Development by Listing

一、授课时间：Feb.22- Feb.25

二、授课类型：理论课

三、授课题目：Paragraph development by listing

四、教学目的和要求：

To make the students know how to develop paragraphs by listing

五．教学重点及难点：

The structure of a listing paragraph

六、教学方法、基本内容与步骤

讲授法、讨论法、师生互动

Step I Greetings

Step II Introduction to TEM4

Step III Presentation

Focus:

Listing is probably the most common way to develop a paragraph

The structure of a listing paragraph

Notes

Samples and analyses

Listing is an extremely common way to develop paragraphs. It can be used to analyze causes and effects, to state the importance of something, to list the shortcomings or benefits. It can also be used to refute opponents’ ideas, or to state personal opinions.

5.1 The structure

Most often listing paragraph starts with a general statement and proceeds to details. In other words, the paragraph starts with a topic sentence that states a point of view and then provides discussions usually ordered from the most important idea to the least important, or vice versa.

The following formats show how paragraph can be built up by listing.

1. The importance of English cannot be overemphasized.

First, ….

Second,….

Third,….

Finally, ….

2. This book will have a major impact on both politics and economics in China.

In politics, …

In economics, ….

3. Reading extensively is obviously of great benefit in learning a new language.

For one thing, ….

For another, ….

In the end, …

4. The negative effects of the infections disease on service businesses were obvious in the first few months.

Firstly/ for example, ….

Secondly, ….

Thirdly, ….

Lastly, ….

5.2 Notes

There are several points that are worth our attention when we build a paragraph by listing: First, arrange the supporting ideas in a logical order. It is true that we should arrange the supporting ideas in a logical order in everything we write for other people; otherwise, paragraphs are not effective or cannot be best followed by readers. Chinese students, when writing in English, tend to focus all their attention on expressing ideas, and thus ignore the arrangement of the ideas.

For example:

Teachers of foreign languages should be extremely well-qualified in order to carry out their duties properly. Interest in teaching, social skills to deal with all kinds of students, mastery of modern audio-lingual techniques and competence in the target language are four basic requirements of language teachers…

If the paragraph goes on from this topic sentence, the paragraph will not be quite effective as the supporting ideas are not arranged in an effective order. “competence in the target language” is the most important idea among the four; therefore, it should be placed first. When the idea to be developed are placed in order of importance, the argument will be stronger.

The second point we should pay attention to when we develop a listing paragraph is the correct use of listing expressions. Figure 1 shows the possible expressions used for listing.

When we use these expressions, we should follow these rules:

1. Don’t mix sets of listing expressions

Chinese writers tend to mix sets of expressions used for listing. It is not good style to do so. Be consistent when using the following two basic sets of expressions used for listing:

First firstly firstly

Secondly second secondly

Thirdly third thirdly

Finally, finally finally

2. Distinguish “first” and “at first”

“first” is a listing word, but “at first” is not. “at first” indicates a change. Compare the following two sentences.

First, you should be frank.

At first he was a little shy in class, but now he acts more natural.

“at first” is often used as the following: after a while

At first … but now ….

later

then;

e.g. At first he had one small shop; now he is the owner of a vast business with many branches.

3. Distinguish “lastly” and “at last”

“lastly” is a listin g word, but “at last” is not. “A t last” indicate that something happens after a long expectation.

For example:

Lastly, I would like summarize the points of my argument.

We waited and waited, still at last, after a three-hour delay, the train arrived in the station.

5.3 Samples and analyses

Sample paragraph 1:

Sentence Functions in Paragraph Development

The sentence in the most well written paragraphs has one of four common functions. First, there are paragraph introducers, which are sentences that establish the topic focus of the paragraph as a whole. Second, there are several paragraph developers, which present examples or details of various kinds that support the ideas set forth by the paragraph introducers. Third, there are viewpoint or context modulators, which are sentences that provide a smooth transition between different sets of ideas. Fourth, there are paragraph terminators, which logically conclude the ideas discussed in the paragraph in a psychologically satisfying manner. Not all pieces of writing will conform to this analysis; however, most successful paragraphs usually contain some combination of these four sentence types.

Analysis:

This is a typical paragraph developed by listing and also a very unified and coherent paragraph.

七、作业、讨论题、思考题

Write a paragraph by listing

八、课后小结:

九、参考资料:

Cheryal Pavlik，《写作通》，辽宁教育出版社，2005

陈会军，《中国人英语写作全攻略技巧与训练》，外文出版社，2004

吕煦，《实用英语修辞》，清华大学出版社，2005

Part 2 Paragraph Development by Classification

一、授课时间：Mar.l - Mar.3

二、授课类型：理论课

三、授课题目：Paragraph development by classification

四、教学目的和要求：

To make the students know how to develop paragraphs by classification

五．教学重点及难点：

The structure of a classification paragraph

六、教学方法、基本内容与步骤

讲授法、讨论法、师生互动

Step I Greetings

Step II Check of homework

Step III Presentation

Focus:

Expressions for classification

Organization of a classifying paragraph

Samples and analyses

Note: parallel classification

Classification is one of the most useful methods for explaining an object or idea. We break a general class down and group the parts into categories whose members share similar characteristics. With this method, we create order out of confusion and provide a clear overview of the information we offer.

6.1 Expressions for classification

Expressions in the following table are common words used for classification. They are in two groups:

Verbs Nouns

Fall into class

Divide…into group

Group….into sort

Sort…into kind

Category

Label

Type

In practice, to avoid sounding repetitions, writers often use a variety of classification words rather than just stick to only one word.

6.2 Organization

Like other standard paragraphs, a classification paragraph may also consist of a topic introducer to introduce the subject to be classified, a topic sentence to provide the controlling idea, supporting details to clarify the nature of the classification and a concluding sentence to end the paragraph. sometimes the topic introducer and the concluding sentence are unnecessary.

Topic sentence

If a paragraph starts with only a topic sentence, apart from a clear topic, the topic sentence

for a classifying paragraph should indicate the criterion of classification and the number of smaller groups into which our topic group is broken. Fro example:

1. There are different kinds of people in society.

2. Any good library should contain three basic types of materials.

Sentence 1 is not a good topic sentence, as it does not indicate the criterion by which the classification is made. The second sentence is a good topic sentence as it contains the topic “any good library,” and the controlling id ea should contain three basic types of materials. The criterion is “basic types” and the number “three”.

Note: The criterion of classification may also be clearly indicated in each support. Supporting details

The supporting items in a classifying paragraph are parallel and are presented by listing. Therefore, generally speaking, the classifying paragraph is also a listing paragraph. we make a list of the items and discuss them one by one. We achieve coherence by using listing words.

6.3 Samples and Analyses

Sample 1

The classification of Paragraphs

Individual paragraphs—the building blocks of essays, articles, chapters, and other longer papers—may be classified in a variety of ways. At the essay level, paragraphs may be sorted into functional groups such as introductory, developmental, transitional, and the like. Depending upon the purpose or intent of the writer, particular paragraphs may be thought of as aiming to persuade, inform, argue, or excite. Paragraphs may also be classified according to such techniques of development as comparison, contrast, and definition. Another developmental device might also be the classification paragraph, which organized items or ideas to be discussed into relatively homogeneous groups. Such classifications make it possible to talk about a large number of paragraphs by grouping them into a small number of classes.

--author unknown

Analysis:

This is a well-written classifying paragraph. it is unified. The topic sentence presents the topic “paragraphs” and the controlling idea “can be classified in a variety of ways”. The word “classified” indicates the type of the paragraph and “a variety of ways” is the controlling idea to be developed. The specific criteria for classification are clearly stated in each supporting item. At the end, the writer makes a personal comment on the classification in the paragraph, thus binding the whole paragraph together. There are no sentences that are unrelated.

This paragraph is also a coherent paragraph. the structure itself prompts coherence. Furthermore, repetitions of the key word “paragraph” plays an important role in binding all the details together.

Sample:

Hotel

Hotels are found in every country and city of the world. Generally, they can be classified into three large groups based on location. First, airport hotels are located near airports. Their guests include passengers of short stay-overs or canceled flights and travelers who are on business. The second type is downtown hotels, also called commercial hotels. These