《英语写作基础教程》讲义-英语写作基础教程

《英语写作基础教程》讲义

Chapter 1 Using Proper Words

Choice of words

build up a large vocabulary

the recognition vocabulary

the active vocabulary

2. Approaches to the building up a vocabulary

Learning words from a word-list or from a dictionary.

(2) Learning words from speech and writing (context)

E.g. Kill

He killed the man.

He killed the dog.

They killed the proposal.

Please kill the engine.

She is dressed to kill.

You are killing me.

She killed her child with kindness.

He took a snack to kill his hungry.

He killed every day at the park.

He killed himself with overwork

He killed the spirit of the group.

The news killed their hope.

These flowers kill easily.

He killed three bottle of Whisky in a week.

Kill one ’s appetite

Kill peace

Kill the mood

Kill marriage

II. Using words correctly

1.overcome Chinglish

2. Beware of archaisms, obsolete words, anachronisms and newly-coined words

Words or meaning of words which are no longer in common used but occur in special text (e.g. Religious works) and poetry are called archaic.

Words or meaning which have gone out of use altogether are called obsolete.

Words that are inappropriate for the time about which one is writing are called anachronisms

3.Avoid slang

Chapter 2 Make Correct and Effective Sentences

1. Basic elements of a sentence

2. what is a sentence?

3. Typical English sentence pattern: Subject +predicate

Coach Dietz exemplified this behavior by walking off

the field in the middle of a game , l eaving her team at

a time when we needed her.

I need to find a new roommate. I need to find a new roommate

have now isn't working out too well have now isn't working out too well.

Well done! What a day!

George in Beijing ? Susan a singer?

To return from our digression

A run-on sentence consists of two or more

sentence —or a semicolon.)

Comma splices join two complete sentences with a comma.

”and “he needed to buy eggs for Joey went to the grocery store, for he needed to buy eggs for supper.

3. The position of modifiers

(2) Reference of person

(3) Vague Comparison

IV. Coherence

(5) The balanced sentence

VI. The kinds of sentences

In structure: (1) a simple sentence

(2) a compound sentence

(3) a complex sentence

(4) exclamatory

Rhetorically:

Loose Sentence

Periodic sentence

The balance sentence

The cumulative sentence

The anticlimactic sentence

Rhetorical question

A. Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative and Exclamatory Sentences

According to their use, sentences are declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamatory. A declarative sentence makes an assertion or a statement. An interrogative sentence asks a question. An imperative sentence expresses a command or a request. An exclamatory sentence expresses a strong feeling or emotion, such as surprise, pain, or joy.

B. Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences

According to their structure, sentences are simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

SIMPLE SENTENCE

A simple sentence has only one subject and one predicate-verb, but it may contain more than one object, attribute or adverb. Short simple sentences are usually emphatic; they have special clarity and provide variety when used with longer sentences.

e.g. 1. He is a good student.

2. Would you tell the way to the Astor Hotel?

3. Do not disturb your brother!

4. When did you join the club?

5. What a lovely girl she is!

COMPOUND SENTENCE

A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses (or simple sentences) related to

each other in meaning, and linked by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, for, etc.) or by a semicolon without a conjunction. Coordinated ideas should be compatible and roughly equal in importance, or take shape one by one in orderly sequence.

e.g. 1. The heavy rain started suddenly, so we stopped planting the trees.

2. Jack wanted to go swimming, but his wife wanted to go shopping.

3. Her son studies History; her daughter majors in Chemistry.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

A complex sentence contains one main (or principal) clause and one or more dependent (or subordinate) clauses, with a connective word denoting the relation between the two parts. The dependent clause may

play the part of a subject, an object, a predicative, an attribute, or an adverbial in the main clause. As a

rule, the major idea is expressed in the main clause and the idea or ideas of lesser importance in the subordinate clauses.

e.g. 1. The government banned the high-blood-pressure pills because they produced side effects.

2. Although the shop advertised same-day service, my car was not ready for three days.

3. These apple trees, which my father planted three years ago, have not borne any fruit.

COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE

A compound-complex sentence contains at least two main clauses and at least one dependent

clause —a combination of a compound and a complex sentence.

e.g. 1. After I returned to school following a long illness, the math teacher gave me make-up work, but the history teacher made me drop her course.

2. When the power line snapped, Tom was listening to the stereo, and Teresa was reading in bed.

3. Lisa disliked walking home from the bus stop, because the street had no overhead light and it was lined with abandoned buildings.

C. Loose and Periodic Sentences

A loose sentence puts the main idea before all supplementary information; in other words, it puts first things first, and lets the reader know what it is mainly about when he has read the first few words. The reverse arrangement makes a periodic sentence: the main idea is expressed at or near the end of it, and it is not grammatically complete until the end is reached. The reader does not know what it is mainly about until he finishes reading it.

Compare:

1. She was offered a professional contract after winning the Olympic gold medal for figure skating, according to newspaper reports.

2. According to newspaper reports, after winning the Olympic gold medal for figure skating, she was offered a professional contract.

The main idea of both sentences is the fact that she was offered a professional contract. This idea is put at the beginning of the first sentence and at the end of the second, thus making one a loose sentence and the other a periodic one. Besides, the first part of the first sentence is complete in structure, but that of the second are only prepositional phrases and cannot be called a sentence without the second part. Loose sentences are easier, simpler, more natural and direct; periodic sentences are more complex, emphatic, formal, or literary.

D. Short and Long Sentences

Short sentences are usually emphatic, whereas long sentences are capable of expressing complex ideas with precision, because it may contain many modifiers. Short sentences are suitable for the presentation of important facts and ideas, and long sentences for the explanation of views and theories, or the description of things with many details.

The following passage, which describes how a man saved a drowning girl, makes good use of short sentences.

He crouched a little, spreading his hand under the water and moving them round, trying to feel for her. The dead cold pond swayed upon his chest. He moved again, a little deeper, and again, with his hands underneath, he felt all around under the water. And he touched her clothing. But it evaded his fingers. He made a desperate effort to grasp it ?

He laid her down on the bank. She was quite unconscious and running with water. He made the water

come from her mouth, he worked to restore her. He did not have to work very long before he could feel

the breathing begin again in her; she was breathing naturally. He worked a little longer. He could feel her

live beneath his hands; she was coming back. He wiped her face, wrapped her in his overcoat, looked

round into the dim, dark gray world, then lift her and staggered down the bank and across the fields.

---D. H. Lawrence

In contrast to short sentences, long sentences are particularly useful for presenting a set of complex,

interlocking ideas. They are common in legal, political and theoretical writing, which depends on

modification for accuracy. In fiction long sentences are sometimes used to describe a person, a thing or a

scene.

Mrs. Chalmers was kind of fat and her hair was pretty blond and her complexion was soft and pink and

she always looked as though she had been in the beauty parlor all afternoon. She always said “My, you’re getting to be a big boy ”to Peter when she met him in the elevator, in a soft voice, as though she

was just about to laugh. She must have said that fifty times by now. She had a good, strong smell of

perfume on her all the time, too.

Mr. Chalmers wore pince-nez glasses most of the time and he was getting bald and he worked late at his

office a good many evenings of the week. When he met Peter in the elevator he would say, “It ’s getting colder, ”or “It ’s getting warmer, ”and that was all, so Peter had no opinion about him, except that he

looked like the principal of a school.

But now Mrs. Chalmers was on her knees in the vestibule and her dress was torn and she was crying and

there were black streaks on her cheeks and she didn ’t look as though she ’d just come from the beauty parlor. And Mr. Chalmers wasn ’t wearing a jacket and he didn ’t have his glasses on and whaht a h d a i r he

was mussed all over his head and he was leaning against the Early American wallpaper making this

animal noise, and he had a big, heavy pistol in his hand and he was pointing it right at Mrs. Chalmers.

---Irwin Shaw

Although series of short and long sentences can both be effective in individual situations, frequent

alternation in sentence length characterize much memorable writing. After one or more long sentences

that express complex ideas or images, the pitch of a short sentence can be refreshing. Look at the

following example:

We are now so easily misled by vision. Most of the things before our eyes are plainly there, not

mistakable for other things except for the illusions created by professional magicians and, sometimes,

the look of the light of downtown New York against a sky so black as to make it seem a near view of

eternity. Our eyes are not easy to fool.

Similarly, a long sentence that follows a series of short ones can serve as a climax or summing-up that

relaxes the tension or fulfills that expectation created by the series, giving readers a sense of completion.

Here is a good example:

We now have, as a result of modern means of communication, hundreds of words flung at us daily. We

are constantly being talked at, by teachers, preachers, salesmen, public officials, and motion-picture

sound tracks. The cries of advertisers pursue us into our very home, thanks to the TV —and in some

houses the TV is never turned off from morning to night. Daily the newsboy brings us, in large cities, from thirty to fifty enormous pages of print, and almost three times that amount on Sunday. We go out and get more words at bookstores and libraries. Words fill our lives.

VII. sentence variety

Chapter 3 Developing Paragraphs

Chapter 3 Developing Paragraphs

1. Basic structure of paragraphs

Topic sentence:

It states the main idea of the paragraph. It not only names the topic of the paragraph, but it also limits the topic to one or two areas that can be discussed completely in the space of a single paragraph. The specific area is called the Controlling idea.

Supporting sentences:

It develops the topic sentence. That is, they explain the topic sentence by giving reasons. Some of the supporting sentences that explain the topic sentences about gold are.

Concluding sentence:

It signals the end of the paragraph and leaves the reader with important point to remember.

E.g.

There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

What is the topic sentence?

The topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph.

What does it do?

It introduces the main idea of the paragraph.

How do I write one?

Summarize the main idea of your paragraph. Indicate to the reader what your paragraph will be about. What are supporting sentences?

They come after the topic sentence, making up the body of a paragraph.

What do they do?

They give details to develop and support the main idea of the paragraph.

How do I write them?

You should give supporting facts, details, and examples.

What is the closing sentence?

The closing sentence is the last sentence in a paragraph.

What does it do?

It restates the main idea of your paragraph.

How do I write one?

Restate the main idea of the paragraph using different words.

Write a paragraph describing what a polar bear looks like.

above shape

beside

Differences

Similarities

The following words can help you to write a good sequence paragraph. Helper Words:

subsequently

Choice Paragraph

The following words can help you to write a good choice paragraph: Helper Words:

The following words can help you to write a good explanation paragraph: Helper Words:

consequently

hence

Chapter 4 Summarizing

serve as a model for how you divide and write the essay.

Have I rephrased the author

weaknesses? Why? What did the author do well? Not well? Why? II. Requirements for summary writing

omitting the details

reducing the examples

simplifying the descriptions

eliminating all repetition

making phrases do the work of clauses or sentences

using general words instead of specific words

using the shortest possible transitions

avoiding figurative language

3. revision

Conclusion

A summary is a shortened version of someone else's writing or thoughts.

Summaries vary in length and amount of details depending on a teacher's requirements, the length of the original source (article, book, passage) and the purpose of the summary; however, all summaries must: ·be shorter than the original source (article, book, passage) approximately one third the length of the original source;

·include the main idea of the original source in your own words;

·include major details (also known as supporting ideas) in your own words;

·should not include your knowledge, ideas or opinion unless your teacher requests it.

·identify the author, title of article, title of publication, where published, publisher, year of publication, and page information, at the top of the page of your summary (or in-text.)

Chapter 5 Essay Writing

Chapter 5 Essay Writing

Basic Organization

Introduction (beginning)

Body (middle)

Conclusion (end)

Introduction Paragraph

What is an introduction paragraph?

The introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of your essay.

What does it do?

It introduces the main idea of your essay. A good opening paragraph captures the interest of your reader and tells why your topic is important.

How do I write one?

1. Write the thesis statement. The main idea of the essay is stated in a single sentence called the thesis statement. You must limit your entire essay to the topic you have introduced in your thesis statement.

2. Provide some background information about your topic. You can use interesting facts, quotations, or definitions of important terms you will use later in the essay.

Example:

Hockey has been a part of life in Canada for over 120 years. It has evolved into an extremely popular sport watched and played by millions of Canadians. The game has gone through several changes since hockey was first played in Canada.

Supporting Paragraphs

What are supporting paragraphs?

Supporting paragraphs make up the main body of your essay.

What do they do?

They develop the main idea of your essay.

How do I write them?

1. List the points that develop the main idea of your essay.

2. Place each supporting point in its own paragraph.

3. Develop each supporting point with facts, details, and examples.

To connect your supporting paragraphs, you should use special transition words. Transition words link your paragraphs together and make your essay easier to read. Use them at the beginning and end of your paragraphs.

Summary Paragraph

What is a summary paragraph?

The summary paragraph comes at the end of your essay after you have finished developing your ideas. The summary paragraph is often called a "conclusion."

What does it do?

It summarizes or restates the main idea of the essay. You want to leave the reader with a sense that your essay is complete.

How do I write one?

1. Restate the strongest points of your essay that support your main idea.

2. Conclude your essay by restating the main idea in different words.

3. Give your personal opinion or suggest a plan for action.

Example:

Overall, the changes that occurred in hockey have helped to improve the game. Hockey is faster and more exciting as a result of changes in the past 120 years. For these reasons, modern hockey is a better game than hockey in the 1890s.

II. Steps Essay writing

Prewriting Essays

What is the prewriting stage?

The prewriting stage is when you prepare your ideas for your essay before you begin writing. You will find it easier to write your essay if you build an outline first, especially when you are writing longer assignments.

Six Prewriting Steps:

1. Think carefully about what you are going to write. Ask yourself: What question am I going to answer in this paragraph or essay? How can I best answer this question? What is the most important part of my answer? How can I make an introductory sentence (or thesis statement) from the most important part of my answer? What facts or ideas can I use to support my introductory sentence? How can I make this paragraph or essay interesting? Do I need more facts on this topic? Where can I find more facts on this topic?

2. Open your notebook. Write out your answers to the above questions. You do not need to spend a lot of time doing this; just write enough to help you remember why and how you are going to write your paragraph or essay.

3. Collect facts related to your paragraph or essay topic. Look for and write down facts that will help you

to answer your question. Timesaving hint: make sure the facts you are writing are related to the exact question you are going to answer in your paragraph or essay.

4. Write down your own ideas. Ask yourself: What else do I want to say about this topic? Why should people be interested in this topic? Why is this topic important?

5. Find the main idea of your paragraph or essay. Choose the most important point you are going to present. If you cannot decide which point is the most important, just choose one point and stick to it throughout your paragraph or essay.

6. Organize your facts and ideas in a way that develops your main idea. Once you have chosen the most important point of your paragraph or essay, you must find the best way to tell your reader about it. Look at the facts you have written. Look at your own ideas on the topic. Decide which facts and ideas will best support the main idea of your essay. Once you have chosen the facts and ideas you plan to use, ask yourself which order to put them in the essay. Write down your own note set that you can use to guide yourself as you write your essay.

Writing Essays

What is the writing stage?

The writing stage is when you turn your ideas into sentences.

Five Writing Steps:

1. For the introduction, write the thesis statement and give some background information.

2. Develop each supporting paragraph and make sure to follow the correct paragraph format.

3. Write clear and simple sentences to express your meaning.

4. Focus on the main idea of your essay.

5. Use a dictionary to help you find additional words to express your meaning.

Editing Essays

What is the editing stage?

The editing stage is when you check your essay for mistakes and correct them.

Editing Steps:

Grammar and Spelling

1. Check your spelling.

2. Check your grammar.

3. Read your essay again.

4. Make sure each sentence has a subject.

5. Make sure your subjects and verbs agree with each other.

6. Check the verb tenses of each sentence.

7. Make sure that each sentence makes sense.

Style and Organization

1. Make sure your essay has an introduction, supporting paragraphs, and a summary paragraph.

2. Check that you have a thesis statement that identifies the main idea of the essay.

3. Check that all your paragraphs follow the proper paragraph format.

4. See if your essay is interesting.

Publishing Essays

What is the publishing stage?

The publishing stage is when you produce a final copy of your essay to hand in.

Publishing Steps:

1. Make a paper copy of your essay.

2. Show your work to your teacher, tutor, or parents.

3. Ask them for hints on how to improve your writing

III. Types of outlines

The outline quickly and clearly shares your content and thesis with the reader. In the early stages of your research, an outline will help you to organize your ideas and material. Later in the research process, a more detailed outline will help you unify and refine your final paper. Whether formal or informal in style, outlines aid clear thinking and well-developed ideas.

The most important rule for outlining form is to be consistent!

An outline can use topic or sentence structure.

A topic outline uses words or phrases for all entries and uses no punctuation after entries. Advantages: presents a brief overview of work and is generally easier and faster to write than a sentence outline.

A sentence outline uses complete sentences for all entries and uses correct punctuation. Advantages: presents a more detailed overview of work including possible topic sentences and is easier and faster for writing the final paper.

You should start your outline by identifying your thesis statement. Then you clarify the progression of your argument as follows:

I. Use Roman Numerals to identify the section of your paper. (e.g. Arguments for, Arguments against, background information, biographical information, Evaluation, etc)

A. Use Capital letters under each Roman Numeral (Be sure to indent!) to present your arguments within those sections. (e.g. under a paper section called "Advantages of studying at ISP" you may have international community, International Baccalaureate, competitive education).

1. Use numbers to list the details or facts that you will use to back up the claims made by the Capital letters.

Sample outline

Thesis: The war on drugs will do far more to control and eliminate illegal drug use in the USA than will the legalization of drugs.

I. Epidemic proportions of drug problem in last decade have prompted efforts at all levels of society to address problem

A. Three pronged effort of President's war on drugs - overview

1. enforcement

2. education

3. treatment

B. Legalization also proposed by many as solution - overview of sketchy implementation plan

II. Arguments in favor of legalization

A. Takes away criminal element

1. citation of Amsterdam experiment - Goldblatt

2. analogy to legalized prostitution in Europe, Nevada

B. Government can control drug quality and quantity

1. FDA supervision

2. more personnel and support required

C. More revenue to support prevention and education

1. estimates of revenue by Scheffer study

2. analogy to revenue from state liquor operations - Maine, Oklahoma

III. Arguments against legalization

A. Violates moral/ethical principles of country

1. Taber's assessment of constitutional intention

2. Heritage Foundation study

B. Makes drugs permanent fixture of society

1. analogy to prostitution - Rosenburg study

2. normalization lowers standards - Whitten's study

C. Encourages greater drug use by wider spectrum of users

1. Post Vietnam study of mid size American cities

2. Impact on middle class and youth - Fallow's views

D. Subsidizes addiction with public money

1. Amsterdam argument - Goldblatt's rebuttal

E. Does not address causes of addiction - inner city survey from 1996

IV. Three pronged war on drugs addresses supply, prevention, treatment

A. Coordinated law enforcement efforts at local, state, federal levels

1. Legislative intent - McMurphy Bill

2. sample cases from PA, MA, DC, CA

B. Education - treatment programs at state - local levels

1. success of NA based programs

2. statistics on welfare cost saving

3. 1997 Florida based study

C. Attention to factors encouraging drug dealing - addiction

1. poverty and lack of education - Wilson data

2. low self-esteem, lack of hope - AMA's new policy initiative

3. lack of community involvement with youth - Center for Urban Studies position paper

V. War on drugs clearly better than legalization

A. War on drugs is long range solution

B. War on drugs addresses underlying causes

C. War on drugs consistent with country's values

D. War on drugs will eventually end widespread drug use

IV. Types of Writing

Narration

Narration

1. What is narration?

The method of development in which the writer tells a story to support a point. Narrative writing tells a story. In essays the narrative writing could also be considered reflection or an exploration of the author's values told as a story. The author may remember his or her past, or a memorable person or event from that past, or even observe the present.

2．Essential Features

a. Context--the writer makes clear what happened, when, where, and to whom

1.) There is a plot that involves escalating conflict between characters, between a person and

her-/himself, or between people and nature or some other force.

2.) The conflict sets up an imbalance, a tension that a reader wants resolved, and that finally is.

3.) The setting places the events in a definite time period and particular location

4.) The events happen to a combination of round characters, the best of whom perform in ways that are unpredictable, yet ultimately consistent with their own individual personalities and motivations, and lesser personages.

b. Point of view--the writer takes a consistent point of view in relation to the action, writing either as a participant (first person -- using "I") or as a spectator (third person -- using "he," "she," "it," "they").

c. Selection of detail--the writer focuses only on the actions and details that further the story and promote the point, minimizing or eliminating others.

1.) Expression of feelings

2.) Dialogue--direct quotes of what the characters say to each other

d. Organization--the writer organizes the events of the story in a chronological order using time transitions.

e. Purpose —there's a reason for telling the story. One way to find it is to complete the statement, "The moral of the story is..."

2. Why do writers use narration?

a. To entertain

b. To report

c. To instruct

Ultimate goal: to tell an entertaining story yet also bring readers to a clear understanding of a larger issue.

3. How can readers and writers tell narration from the other MODs? They can ask:

a. Does something happen between people and people or people and outside forces? What happens?

b. Where is the tension?

c. How is the conflict resolved?

d. Do characters dialogue with each other? Are there direct quotations?

e. What kinds of feelings are brought out?

f. What is "the moral of the story?"

The more of these items which appear, the more likely it is narration.

4. How does one write essays with it?

a. Determine an audience and purpose in telling the story--a broad instructive point it may make about human nature or the ways of the world. Who needs to have this information in order to have a more satisfying life?

Determining the audience and purpose helps the writer select details and events.

It also keeps him/her from wasting time developing a pointless essay.

b. Context —Establish the setting of the essay, the world in which the action takes place, in the first paragraph or two.

Give the characters real names and include a capsule portrait of each--a one or two sentences or phrases that captures the personalities of the main ones.

State where the events take place using place names that could be found in an atlas, and/or describing items such that Spielberg's set dresser wouldn't have much trouble knowing what to get or where to put them.

Use time indicators: breakfast, afternoon tea, midnight, sunrise, almost noon, first, then, next. . .

c. Keep a consistent point of view throughout the essay, writing either in the first or third person throughout. Eliminate any "you" or "your" that creeps into a sentence by revising it.

d. Select details and events that serve a worthwhile purpose, but not so much that there is an excess of information that is ultimately boring.

e. Organization: Give the information needed in the order that the reader needs it. Whether the story goes straight from the beginning to the end or uses a flashback or frame technique, keep the reader in mind. If words like "I forgot to mention earlier...," creep in to the text, write another draft in which the information appears where the reader needs it. An outline can help.

f. For the most part, past tense is the most effective verb tense to use because it is the easiest for most readers to comprehend. Keep the verb tense consistent.

g. Use time transitions as needed but not obtrusively.

5. Thesis pattern

6. How can one practice recognizing narratives?

In outside reading (not English or reading textbooks),

Practice looking for writing which tells one story

Look for a conflict that causes tension

Confirm that the paragraphs cause a tension to rise

Identify the characters who interact with one another as they work through a conflict

Monitor whether you feel a desire to know how it all turns out

Verify that the overall text teaches a lesson

If the tension rises as a result of the above then gets resolved, the text is probably a story.

An Example and Outline for Narration Writing

If assigned a narrative essay, start like this: think about one of the most important lessons that a person can learn from life. Recall how you came to learn it, list the major events, and develop them to write the story of how it happened for you. Organize it using this outline.

I. Introduction which

Establishes the setting, characters, and time period

Identifies the event and the lesson learned from it in the thesis sentence

Uses a college level strategy

II. Body

First major event

Second part of the story

Third part ?

Climax, the high point in the narrative

Resolution in which the tension is resolved

III. Conclusion

To tell it with a flashback, include the current concern in the introduction, make the transition to the past, narrate the events in the body, return to the present in the conclusion, and explain the relationship of the past event to the present.

Chapter 6 Writing for Practical Purposes

Chapter 6 Writing for Practical Purposes

Notices

Sample:

Contemporary British Theatre

Speaker: Prof. Bernard Holland

Professor of English Literature, Cambridge University

Author of The Experimental Theatre

Date: Monday, 6 October

Time: 10 a.m.

Place: Rm.201

All Welcome

Basically the notices consist of the following parts:

1. activity

2. background information about the speaker

3. day of the week —date —time

4. place

Notes

Notes of introduction

Notes are short letters written for various purposes. Compared with a letter, a note is simpler in form and

often informal or colloquial in language. It must be precise and to the point. In a note, the following may

be omitted:

the addresses of addressee and the addresser

the word “dear ”in the salutation

the complimentary close

the year in the date

In the note of introduction the following are usually included:

the name of the person to be introduced

his or her identity

the purpose of the introduction

appreciation

Sample:

2 Feb.2006

Dear Mr. Smith,

This is to introduce Mr. Ma Ming. He is a graduate student in linguistics at our university. Mr. Ma is

looking for a teaching assistant

’s post. Any assistance rendered him would be highly appreciated.

Jone

Thank-you Notes

In writing a thank-you note. Apart from our gratitude, we may also show our pleasure at such an invitation,

a dinner, a party or a gift itself. For example, we may say that I accept your invitation with pleasure or we

enjoyed the party a lot, etc. we may also show our appreciation of the addressee ’s hospitality or consideration, etc.

Sample:

28 July,2005

Dear Pam & Sim,

I ’m writing to thank you for the lovely dinner yesterday. We enjoyed the evening greatly. It was most kind

of you to introduce some new friends to us. We loved to meet those interesting people. Please accept our

warmest thanks.

Cathy

Notes of invitation

A note of invitation should state precisely. It includes: