Basic Writing Skill Module!!

Basic Writing Skills Handout Compiled by:- Yonas Tamiru
Unit One
1. The sentence
1.1.What is a sentence?
A sentence is a grammatically independent unit of thought made up of a word or group of words

which are related to convey a complete thought (meaning).
1.2 What are parts of sentences?
The main parts or ingredients or constituent elements of a sentence are subject and predicate.
Subject is a part of a sentence about which the sentence is made, or that which does the action. It
is a noun or pronoun with any of its modifiers.
Predicate is a part of the sentence which says something about the subject. It is a verb or verb
phrase with any modifiers or words used to complete its meaning.
It is a part of the sentence excluding subject: It is a word or combination of words, including

the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the verb.
Examples
Our soccer team won the state championship
Subject predicate
A subject or predicate can be simple or complete.
Simple subject and simple predicate
Examples
John fights.
They run.
Simple subject (actor) Simple predicate (act)

Flowers Bloom.
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Men Laugh.
Candles Burn.
In the sentences written above, the subject (actor) and the predicate (act) have consisted of a
single word; hence, such subjects and predicates are said to be simple subject and simple
predicate.
Complete subject and Complete predicate
When a simple subject is expanded by the addition of modifying words, the expanded subject is
called a complete subject.
Examples
Flowers are blooming. (Simple subject)
The small flowers are blooming. (Complete subject)
The small red petaled flowers are blooming. (Complete subject)
In the same way, when the predicate consists of a single verb or verb phrase, it is called a simple
predicate. When it is expanded by the addition of other words, then the simple predicate plus its
modifiers, plus any other words that complete its meaning, are called complete predicate.
Examples
Solomon is walking. (Simple predicate)
Solomon is walking quickly to school. (Complete predicate)
Solomon is walking quickly to school in the morning. (Complete predicate)
Compound subject and predicate
A subject can be made up of two or more nouns or pronouns. In this case, the sentence has a
compound subject.
Example
A right attitude and a winning personality should be your best principles to get a job.
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A sentence can have two or more verbs for the same subject. In this case, the sentence is said to
have a compound predicate.
Example
The snow fell throughout the night and blanketed the area.
You should move at six o’clock and arrive by midnight.
Activity 1
Identify grammatically complete sentences and then underline the subject ones and the predicates
twice.
1 The fast advancement of science and technology.

2. Yesterday, we went to Markato.
3. T he expansion of desertification in the world.
4. Malaria and TB have become major killer diseases.
5. His parents live in the country side.
6. The importance of national police in the development of a country.
Activity 2
1. Write two sentences with a simple subject and simple predicate.

2. Write two sentences with complete subject and complete predicate.
3. Write two sentences with compound subject and compound predicate.
1.3. Types of sentences
 In terms of function or usage, sentences are categorized in to four parts (informative,

interrogative, imperatives, and exclamatory)
1. Informative/ declarative - also called assertive sentences; asserting someone in a certain

action, taking an action, informing, or ensuring know-how.
E.g. She writes a story. Drinking alcohol can damage our health.
2. Interrogative sentence - question tags, sentence of question forms.
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E.g. Do they water the flowers? Who is responsible in the city massacre?
3. Imperatives - a sentence that express command/ exhortation, or gives authorized order.
E.g. Be on time to the class. Give up smoking!
4. Exclamatory - sentence of overstatement or exaggeration.
We use an exclamation mark (!) with this sentence to show how the issue is exclaiming.
E. g. He scored an incredible goal!

 In terms of their structure or construction, sentences are commonly categorized into four–
simple, compound, complex, and compound complex.
A/ Simple sentence is a sentence consisting of one subject and one predicate, either or both of
which may be compound. In other words, a simple sentence contains one main clause.
Examples
The players arrived.
The players and the judges arrived.
The players and the judges arrived and reported.
I have never played tennis.
The big oak tree in front of our house is a permanent house for thousands of birds.
B/ Compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more independent clauses

connected by a coordinating conjunction, conjunctive adverbs, or separated by a semi-colon.
Examples
I have played tennis, but I hope to start taking lessons next year.
I steamed the carrots, then I baked the potatoes.
I ate everything on the tray; I was really hungry.
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I bought coca cola, and I drink it at once, for I was very thirsty.
C/ Complex sentence is a sentence which consists of one main clause and one or more
subordinate clauses.
Examples
Although I have never played tennis, I planned to start taking lessons next year.
He met a student who left school last year.
After I took a nap, I felt better.
If you come late, you will miss the bus.
The girl whom I told you about yesterday when we were at the cafeteria is a lawyer.
D/ Compound-complex sentence is a sentence which consists of two independent clauses with

one or more subordinate clauses.
Examples
 Although I have never played tennis, I planned to start taking lessons next year; I
really need the aerobic exercise that tennis provides.
I bought coca cola, and I drink it at once because I was very thirsty.
Activity-3
Read the following sentences and identify whether each of them is simple, compound, complex,
or compound complex.
________ 1. Bekele dislikes sitting on the beach; he always gets a nasty sun burn.
________ 2. Although they are 250 miles apart, they keep in constant contact on the internet.
________ 3. Those students who live in the area often find local college boring, but students
from out of the area seem to like it.
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________ 4. After a lengthy and noisy debate, they established the rules and regulations of the
school.
________ 5. Ronaldiniho dribbled past two defenders and made a good shot, but the goal keeper
easily saved.
________ 6. A gentle man of wealth and position has been found guilty of theft.
________ 7. Those who seek faultless friends remain friendless.
________ 8. Some people of Debre Markos town are throwing garbage anywhere in the town;
consequently, the environment is polluted.
1.4 Sentence Combination
Sentence combination is needed since short pattern sentences bore both the writer and the reader
for two reasons.
1. Repetition of a single, simple sentence pattern draws attention to itself, not to the
ideas in the paper.
2. Simple, short sentences cannot show the reader the many relationships that exist
among ideas of different importance.
Look at the following examples:
A/ joining sentences by omitting a repeated subject.
Original: Radio advertisements are broadcast daily or weekly. Radio advertisements reach a
wide audience.
Revision: Radio advertisements are broadcast daily or weekly and reach a wide audience.
B/ joining sentences by omitting repeated nouns and by using adjectives.
Original: The city council conducted a study of public transportation. The study was lengthy.
The study was detailed.
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Revision: the city council conducted a lengthy, detailed study of public transportation.
C/ joining sentences by omitting repeated subjects and repeated verbs by using adverbs.
Original: The negotiators worked to gain approval for the contact. The negotiators worked at a
steady pace. However, they worked slowly.
Revision: The negotiators worked steadily but slowly to gain approval for the contact.
Generally, there are two ways of sentence combination.
A/ Coordination
B/ subordination
A/ Coordination is a method of joining two independent sentences by using coordinators. In

coordination, the status of the sentences is not reduced when they are combined. In other words,
when they are combined, they still remain independent clauses. The coordinators we use in
coordination are:
i) Coordinating conjunctions,
ii) Correlative conjunctions,
iii) Adverb conjunctions
i) Coordinating conjunctions
Activity1. Examine the sentences, especially the underlined parts, and then answer the questions
below. What patterns can you discover?
 Almaz earned an ‘A’ in the course, for she studied carefully.

 We went to the movies, and we drank coffee.
 He did not study for the exam, nor did he pass.
 Buying this T-shirt is my choice, but it can be expensive.
 Alemu wanted to go swimming, or he wanted to go playing football.
 He knew the cost, yet he did it anyway.
 He knew it did not cost him, so he did it.
1. What is the function of the underlined part?
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2. Where is the underlined portion located?

3. How is the underlined portion punctuated?
4. What is the apparent meaning of each underlined word?
For- shows logical consequence; it has the same meaning as because, the reason why.
And- shows equality between two ideas. It shows addition; it has the same meaning as in
addition, along with.
Nor- shows equality of two negative ideas. It shows an addition of a negative point.
But- shows opposition or contrast between two ideas. It has the same meaning as however,
except, on the other hand.
Or- shows alternative or choice
Yet- shows opposition; also shows emphasis (a strong but)
So -shows cause and effect relationship. It has the same meaning as therefore, as a result.
Activity 2. Write an appropriate coordinating conjunction in the space provided.
1. You read a news paper every day, _____________you do not know what is going on in
the world.
2. Members of the churches met for dinner, ____________ they held an inter faith service.
3. The runner admitted taking steroids, ____________ he was forced to give up his medals.
4. Employers do not want the theft, ____________ do they want the expense and had
publicity of having an employee arrested.
5. You should return the paper on time, ___________ you will lose grade for lateness.
Activity 3. Combine the following pairs of sentences by using coordinating conjunctions.
1. A. The dog ate the food very fast.

B. It was very hungry.
2. A. The boy sang very well at the Ethiopian idols.
B. The Judge didn’t allow him to pass the next stage.
3. A. She didn’t bring her exercise book.
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B. She didn’t bring her pen.

4. A. The farmer worked all day and night.
B. He harvested a lot of crops.
B. Correlative conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are coordinating words that work in pairs to join words, phrases,
and clauses. Below are five pairs of correlative conjunctions commonly used in English:
Correlative conjunction meaning Example

Either ……or One of the two Either you or Susan must stay with me.
Neither …… nor None of the two He helps neither his parents nor his brothers.
Both …… and Both Both Tariku and his son are artists.
Dilemma Yohannes is trying to decide whether to go to medical
Whether …….. or
/confusion/ school or to go to law school.
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but
Not only ……. But also Both
also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
Correlative conjunctions always join grammatically equal elements in a language (e.g. noun &
noun, phrase & phrase, clause & clause, verbs & verbs etc.).
Example:
1. Both my sister and my brother work with computers.

( The Correlative conjunction “both … and” joins the noun.)
2. Put your gold either in a bank or in a treasury account.
( The Correlative conjunction “either …or” joins the prepositional phrases)
3. Either help us in our struggle for equality or step aside and let us pass.
( The Correlative conjunction “either … or” joins two independent clauses.)
4. Betelhem became angry both with our singing and with our shouting.
( The Correlative conjunction in this sentence is “both …. And.” This conjunction links two
prepositional phrases.)
5. She wanted neither cake nor ice cream.
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( The Correlative conjunction in this sentence is “neither … nor.” This conjunction links two
nouns.)
6. The teachers are not only intelligent but also friend.
(This is not correct because intelligent is an adjective and friend is a noun.)
7. The athletes did not know whether to run or walking in order to warm up.
(This is not correct because to run is the infinitive form, and walking is the present participle
form.)
Exercise 1: In the space provided, write an appropriate correlative conjunction.
1. When they found the man who had been lost for four days, he was ___________ tired
_____________ hungry.
2. “__________ the life of an individual _______ the history of a society can be understood
without understanding both.”
3. _________ my sisters _________ my cousins are invited to the party.
4. _________ we meet in the park _______ at Aster’s Hotel is up to you.
5. ___________ Maria _________ Marty can swim.
6. She didn’t know __________ to have fish ___________ chicken for lunch.
7. For lunch, you may have ___________ meat ___________ fish.
8. ___________ my uncle ___________ my cousin live in San Diego.
9. If she has enough time, she will go to ___________ Las Vegas ___________ England.
10. You could ___________ stay here ___________ you can go with us.
11. They ___________finished writing their paper ___________ done their homework.
12. This is the last question. You are now finished with ___________ this quiz ___________
the lesson.
Exercise 2. Combine the following pairs of sentences.
Example: You can pay your fees in cash. You can pay your fees by cheque.
You can pay your fees either in cash or by cheque.
1. You can see her now. You can see her tomorrow.
2. You could do it here. You could do it in your home.
3. He couldn’t meet his mother. He couldn’t meet his sister.
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4. Belaynesh is a secretary. Her daughter is a secretary.

5. You can take the book. You can take the magazine.
6. To go to Gondar, you can use a bus. To go to Gonder, you can use a plane.
7. Azeb is beautiful. She is honest.
8. I want to go to class. I want to go to my appointment.
9. America is a capitalist county. England is a capitalist country.
10. The boy is tall. He is handsome.
C. Adverb Conjunction
Adverb conjunction is an adverb used to relate and connect main /independent/ clauses in a
sentence. Common conjunctive adverbs are:
Also still consequently however indeed
Hence then furthermore moreover likewise
Thus instead nevertheless therefore otherwise
Besides on the other hand on the contrary
Example:
1. I ordered the concert tickets by mail; therefore, I didn’t have to stand in line.
2. Our muscles were tired and score: nevertheless, we kept on jogging.
3. The band struck up a familiar tune; indeed, they were playing our song.
4. Meron is clever, besides, she is polite and kind.
5. The new model car is small; moreover, it consumes little benzene.
6. She recognized me; still she didn’t talk to me.
7. Run away; otherwise, they will kill you.
8. There was no one there; therefore, we came away.
9. We entirely agree with you on this issue. However, there is one objection.
10. It must rain in the next fifteen days. Otherwise, there would be a famine.
To maintain the desired relationship between independent clauses, see the following chart to
know the meaning of coordinating and adverb conjunction.
Meaning Coordinating conjunction Adverb conjunction

Addition And Furthermore, moreover, in addition, also,
besides …
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Contrast But, yet However, nevertheless, on the other hand,

on the contrary …
Alternative Or, nor Instead, otherwise ….
Result So Therefore, consequently, thus …
Exercise: 1 In the space provided, use the appropriate conjunctive adverbs.
1. Sunshine Construction Company is building a plant in Nazareth; ___________, it is

planning to build another in Bahir Dar within three years.
2. Everyone liked the hotel; ___________, on one was able to pay the required price.
3. Ato Bekele must be in Addis Ababa on June 13; ___________ he cannot attend the
monthly status meeting here on that day.
4. She made coffee; ___________, she cooked breakfast.
5. He teaches in private school: ___________, he runs his own restaurant.
6. It’s dark and you can’t go out. ___________, it is raining.
7. They wouldn’t accept our demands. ___________, we must fight for them.
8. Not all snakes are poisonous. ___________, some of them have been found to be useful.
9. We entirely agree with you on this issue. There is one small objection, ___________.
10. We were getting late; ___________, we decided to take a taxi.
Exercise 2: Combine the following pairs of sentences by using the appropriate conjunctive
adverb.
1. He won the lottery. His father gave him a lot of money.

2. He worked hard. He became rich.
3. Abebe’s parents are wealthy. They are not happy.
4. Bahir Dar is growing fast. Debremarkos is growing slowly.
5. He works in the supermarket. He learns in the evening.
6. They work in the same Department. They do not talk to each other.
2 Combining Sentences through subordination
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Subordination is the joining of an independent clause and a dependent clause in the same
sentence by using subordinators. Subordination uses a subordinating conjunction and relative
pronouns to make one clause dependent on another. The dependent clause is subordinated to the
independent clause.
The linking devices we use in subordination are:
A. Subordinating Conjunction
B. Relative Pronoun
A. Subordinating Conjunction: is a kind of conjunction that joins subordinate clauses
with independent clauses. Here the subordinate clauses cannot stand alone; they must
be joined to an independent clause to be grammatically correct. They tell when, where,
why, how, and to what extent. More often we use a subordinating conjunction to show
a difference in importance and strength of ideas.
Example:
1. Because the train was late, I arrived late to work .

subordinate clause independent clause
2. Even though polar bears look like land animals, they are extremely skilled in the water.
3. Rahel was reading fiction while her brother was listing to music.
4. I never knew what love meant until I met you.
5. Wherever you can find an empty spot, just drop your luggage there.
6. Since you have to leave early, why don’t you arrive a few days earlier too?
7. Although I have called repeatedly the credit card company has not corrected my account.
8. He won’t listen to you unless you make him turn off the radio.
9. Heavy rain fell that the rivers were soon in flood.
10. My uncle always calls after he watches film.
11. She saves money so that she could build her own house.
12. Senait is not as old as Dawit.
13. We ate our lunch as soon as we arrived home.
Some of the common subordinating conjunction are given below:
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Meaning Subordinating Conjunction

Cause/effect Because, since, as,
Purpose so that, in order that
Contrast Although, as though, even though, though, even if, whereas, while,
Condition Even if, if, as if, as long as, provided that, unless,
Result That, so………. that,
Time After, until, as soon as, before, since, when, while, once, whenever,
Place Where, wherever, in/or which
comparison than as … as
Exercise: 1 in the space provided, use appropriate subordinating conjunction
As, until, although, because, after, if, whenever, as soon as, that, where
1. The exam was so difficult ___________ many of the students failed.
2. ___________ we arrived home, it started raining.
3. Please come to my home ___________ you can.
4. I will come to your office ___________ I finish my work.
5. ___________ he late his lunch, he went out for work.
6. He cannot study his lesson ___________ he is busy helping his parents.
7. ___________he is thin, he won the race easily.
8. The car won’t start ___________ you push it.
9. I found my book ___________ I had left them.
10. ___________ he likes you, he might help you.
Exercise: 2. Join the following sentences using the most appropriate

subordinating conjunction
1. Meron reaches home quickly. She will tell her father about the accident.
2. Gosaye had to walk five miles to get help. His car broken down a deserted stretch of
country road.
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3. Yosef was working all day as a school teacher. His little daughter was playing with other
young children in a day-car center.
4. The expert spoke to the farmers slowly and simply. Every farmer could understand what
he was saying.
5. He works hard. He doesn’t succeed.
6. The day was very cold. They continued their work.
7. She is a decent girl. Everyone likes to marry her.
8. He is poor. He is honest.
9. They have been very miserable. Their father died.
10. I took a taxi. I received your message.
B. Relative pronoun
Like the other subordinating conjunctions relative pronouns are used to join subordinate
/dependent/ clauses with the independent sentences. They also introduce relative clauses.
Example
1. The boat that was owned by Mr. Mitchell sank in the seaport.
2. This is the purse that I found on the road.
3. The book which I bought yesterday cost me 4.50 Birr.
4. The girl whose pen you borrowed, has come to ask for it.
5. The clerk who took my order made a mistake in the bill.
6. Samrawit, whom you met yesterday, is my aunt.
7. The thief that the police were looking for has been caught.
Note: the italicized parts are subordinate clauses. What makes the subordinate clause in relative
clauses different from the other type of subordinate clause is, the subordinate clause in a relative
clause is an adjective clause.
In relative clauses, the adjective clauses which are dependent clauses that modify a noun or a
pronoun in the main clause, usually begin with relative pronoun: who, whom, whose, which, or
that.
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Who, whose, and whom are used to refer only to people.

Which is used to refer only to things and animals.
That is used to refer to anything-people, things, or animals.
The relative pronoun “that” can be used in place of who, which, or whom, but not in
place of whose.
In relative clauses: - the adjective clauses answer the question which one? Or what kind of?
- Adjective clauses are always placed after the noun or the pronoun they modify.
- The relative pronoun that introduces an adjective clause can function as a
subject, as an object, or as a possessive marker.
Relative clauses: Restrictive and non restrictive
Adjective clauses may be restrictive (also called defining or essential) or non-restrictive (non-
defining or non-essential)
 A restrictive adjective clause is necessary to make the meaning of the sentence complete.
 Example:1. The film that I saw yesterday won a Grammy Award. The information is
the adjective clause that I saw yesterday is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
Without it, it is difficult to the reader to identify which special film the writer is
discussed about.
2 . The girl whom you wanted to marry has married someone else. If you leave out the
restrictive or defining clause, that is whom you wanted to marry, the meaning is not clear.
The girl ____ which girl? The relative clause answers this question.
Note: restrictive or defining relative clauses are never preceded by a comma.
 A non restrictive adjective clause provides additional information to a sentence and if

left out it does not affect the essential meaning of the sentence.
`Example: 1. New York, which is America’s populous city, is one of the world’s leading
commercial, finical, and cultural centers.
2 . Shakespeare, who had a bald head, was a great poet and dramatist.
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3. My sister Sindu, whom you met last week, wants to speak to you.
Note: you can see in this example the noun ‘New York’, ‘Shakespeare’, ‘My sister ‘Sindu” are
defined by themselves. So, the relative clauses do not define them. In other words, they are non-
defining or non-restrictive.
A non-defining of non-restrictive relative clause is always marked off from the rest of the
sentence by commas before and after it.
Exercise: 1 Join the following sentences using the most appropriate relative pronoun.
Who, whom, which, whose,
Example: Her father has just come back. He went to London.
Her father, who went to London, has just come back.
1. The women had been arrested. Her child was accused of theft.
2. The medicine is very expensive. Helen needs the medicine.
3. Rahel went abroad. Daniel wanted to marry Rahel.
4. The man called a police. His car was stolen.
5. Roberto is sure to win an art scholarship. Roberto is talented portrait artist.
6. Professor Wong came in 1960 to study chemistry at Yale University. He was born in San
Francisco’s Chinatown in 1943.
Exercise: 2 complete the following sentences with the correct relative pronoun,
Who, whom, which, whose.
1. This is the bank ___________ was robbed yesterday.

2. A boy ___________ sister is in my class was in the bank at that time.
3. The man ___________ robbed the bank had two pistols.
4. He wore a mask ___________made him look like Mouse.
5. The people ___________ were in the bank were very frightened.
6. A police officer __________ car was parked at the next corner stopped and arrested them.
Basics of sentences
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1. Characteristics of Effective sentences
An effective sentence is like a skilled athlete moving towards a goal. Effective sentences have a
quality that enables them convey an idea with clarity and style. They give the reader a sense of
what in them is important. They do all this with a minimum of words.
Effective sentences have certain qualities such as clarity, economy and emphasis which help to
convince and please the reader.
A. CLARITY: The first requirement of a good sentence is clarity. Most of failures in clarity
result from three sources:
I) from errors such as: faulty/ ambiguous pronoun reference, dangling modifier, misplaced
modifiers, inadequate punctuation/ run-on, comma splice, fragment/, faulty parallelism, etc.
II) From vague diction: one of the errors which affect the clarity of a sentence is vague
diction. Vagueness is one of the major weaknesses in diction. Words are vague when, in
context, they do not convey to a reader one specific meaning. Thus, during diction (choice of
word), know your audience, don’t use jargons in ordinary writing and use common word
which give one clear interpretation for all people.
III) From over involved sentence structure: the other failure in clarity comes from over
involved sentence structure. The following example deals with the lack of clarity that comes
from trying to handle too many ideas in one sentence.
Last month while I was visiting the federal buildings in Washington on a guided tour,
we went to the National Art Gallery, where we had been for an hour when the rest of the
group was ready to move on to the Treasury Building and I told a friend with the group that I
wanted to stay in the Art Gallery a while longer and I would rejoin the group about half an
hour later, but I never did, even though I moved more quickly than I wanted to from room to
room, not having seen after about four hours all that there was to see.
The following version reduces the original eleven clauses to four and condenses the 106
words to 31 words in two sentences.
While visiting the National Art Gallery with a tour group last month, I stayed for four hours
after the group left. Even then I did not see all I wanted too.
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B. ECONOMY: The other requirement to achieve an effective sentence is economy. Economy

is a relation between the number of words used and the amount of meaning they convey
Consider the following two statements
Wordy: I should like to made I entirely clear to one and all that neither I nor any of my
associates or fellow-workers had anything at all to do in any way, shape, or from with
this illicit and legally unjustifiable act that has been committed.
Improved: I want to make it clear to everyone that neither I nor any of my associates had
anything to do with this illegal act.
The common methods to achieve economy are:
I. Cutting out unnecessary words within a sentence:

Example:
Wordy: As we walked in the direction of home, I felt as if I had never been happier.
Improved: As we walked home, I felt I had never been happier.
Wordy: The truth of the matter is, to call a spade a spade, that he is afraid of her.
Improved: The truth is that he is afraid of her.
II. Substituting more economical expressions for wordy ones:
A good style involves avoiding unnecessarily long words when simple words can give
equally clear meaning.
Wordy: We find the situation that exists at the moment intolerable.
Improved: We find the present situation intolerable.
Wordy: I think the time has come for us to be leave.
Improved: It is time to leave.
III.Avoiding Redundancy
Example:
Wordy : We planned to go at 3 O’clock p.m in the afternoon.
Improved: We planned to go at 3 p.m
Wordy: In their opinion they think they are right.
Improved: They think they are right.
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Redundant Direct
Advance forward advance
Continue on Continue
Refer back Refer
Combine together Combine
Circle around Circle
Small in size Small
Disappear from view Disappear
Throughout the whole Throughout
Basic fundamentals Fundamentals
Important essentials Essentials
C. EMPHASIS: The other requirement to achieve an effective sentence is emphasis. It is a

reflection of purposes. Emphasis can be made by the following ways:
1. Emphatic word order: the way word order is used to obtain emphasis in a sentence depend on
two consideration:
A. What words do the writer wish to emphasize?
B. What positions within a sentence provide the most emphasis?
In English sentence, both the beginning and the end are emphatic positions. The most
important information is put in these positions, and less important information is placed in the
middle. Notice the difference between the following statements.
Example:
o On July 31, 1973, a plane crash which killed eighty-eight people and which
was the first fatal crash for Delta Airlines in 95 million passenger miles
occurred at Boston’s Logan International Airport.
o Eighty-eight people were killed in a plane crash at Boston’s Logan
International Airport on July 31, 1973 the first fatal crash for Delta Airlines in
95 million passenger miles.
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The first sentence puts the date and the place in the most emphatic positions, and the second
version puts the most significant information-the number of people killed and Delta’s impressive
safety record-in the beginning and in the end.
2. Emphatic Repetition: Key words and ideas can be repeated for emphasis for the fact that
intentional repetition can produce a desired emphasis. Careless and awkward repetition of
words make sentences weak and flabby, but careful, deliberate repetition of key words, can
be an effective way of gaining emphasis, as in the following sentence.
Example
A moderately honest man with a moderately faithful wife, moderate drinkers both, in a
moderately healthy home: that is the true middle class unit.
3. Emphatic Voice: Verbs in the active voice create more emphasis than verbs in the passive.
The active voice puts the subject/the actor/ first, and then the object/ the receiver of the
action/.
Example:
The cat killed the rat. /Active/

The rat was killed by the cat /passive/
Of the two, the active is almost always more direct, more forceful and emphatic, and also more
economical. Therefore, if your goal is to emphasis the actor and the action itself, the active voice
is the better choice. If you want to emphasize the receiver or result of the action, the passive
voice is usually preferable.
Example:
Active: the firefighter saved the terrified child.
Passive: the terrified child was saved by the firefighter.
The first example focuses our attention on the rescue-firefighter; the second focuses on the object
of the rescue-the child.
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2. BASIC SENTENCE FAULTS
Objective: After working through the part, you will be able to:
 Identify basic faults that may occur in sentence writing

 Revise faulty sentences
 Write clear and correct sentences
The purpose of writing is to communicate facts, feelings, attitudes, and ideas clearly and
effectively. But in order to make your sentences more effective expressions of ideas, you have to
clear your sentences from the following types of faulty constructions.
1. Sentence Fragments
Every sentence must have a subject and a verb and must express a complete thought. A word
group that lacks a subject or a verb and does not express a complete thought is a fragment i.e.
when a dependent (subordinate) clause or a phrase is presented as a sentence, it is called a
fragment. Fragments commonly occur:
A. Part of the sentence, usually the subject or verb, is missing

Example: Incorrect: Robel going to the store. (The –ing form is used as a main verb of the
sentence without the required auxiliary verb.)
Correct: Robel is going to the store.
Incorrect: gone before they came.
Correct: Robel had gone before they came. (Here both the subject and part of the verb were
missing)
B. A dependent clause is used alone, without being attached to a related independent
clause.
Example: Incorrect: Because he was happy
Correct: Henock laughed out loud because he was happy.
Incorrect: Even though the pizza was hot, He ate it quickly.
Correct: Even though the pizza was hot, he ate it quickly
Incorrect: While they were walking down the street.
Correct: They met their old friend while they were walking down the street.
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Incorrect: If I were him. I would marry that girl.

Correct: If I were him, I would marry that girl.
C. Fragments commonly occur with prepositional phrases:
Example: Incorrect: It came as a great relief. To everyone.
Correct: It came as a great relief to everyone.
Incorrect: By three o’clock the next day. The supervisor wanted our reports.
Correct: The supervisor wanted our reports by three o’clock the next day.
D. Fragments commonly occur with verbal phrases:

Example: Incorrect: I plan on working overtime. To get this job finished.
Correct: I plan on working overtime to get this job finished.
Incorrect: Women need to have an average of two children. To keep the world’s population
constant in the long run.
Correct: Women need to have an average of two children to keep the world’s population
constant in the long run.
2. Comma splice
Comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are separated by only a comma, i.e. the use
of a comma between two main clauses without a coordinating conjunction results in the comma
fault or comma slice.
Example:
1. Incorrect: Yohannes shouted at the man, the man called the police.
Correct: Yohannes shouted at the man. The man called the police.
Correct: Yohannes shouted at the man; the man called the police.
Correct: Yohannes shouted at the man, and the man called the police.
Correct: Yohannes shouted at the man before the man called the police.
Correct: Because Yohannes shouted at the man, the man called the police.
2. Incorrect: the police came, they took the man away.
Correct: The police came. Then, they took the man away.
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Correct: The police came; then they took the man away.
Correct: The police came, and then they took the man away.
Correct: When the police came, they took the man away.
 Comma splice can be corrected in one of the following ways.
 Connect the main clauses with a coordinating conjunction and a comma.
 Replace the comma with semicolon.
 Make a separate sentence of each main clause.
 Change one of the main clauses to a subordinate clause.
Exercise: revise the following comma splice faults.
1. She disliked school; however she studied every day.

2. The witness was unwilling to testify, he was afraid of the accused man.
3. Today I am tired, I will take a nap later.
4. I avoided desserts, I was trying to lose weight.
5. Everything seemed quite, then the explosion came.
3. Run on /fused/ sentences
This error occurs when two sentences are mixed in the same sentence when they should have
been separated by an appropriate conjunction, semicolon, or a full stop.
Example:
Fused /error/: Alemu bought the Christmas tree Almaz put it up and decorated it.
Correct: Alemu bought the Christmas tree. Almaz put it up and decorated it.
Correct: Alemu bought the Christmas tree; Almaz put it up and decorated it
Correct: Alemu bought the Christmas tree, and Almaz put it up and decorated it.
Correct: After Alemu bought the Christmas tree, Almaz put it up and decorated it.
Fused /incorrect/: The Theater was very crowded we decided not to wait in line.
Correct: The Theater was very crowded. We decided not to wait in line.
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Correct: The Theater was very crowded; we decided not to wait in line.
Correct: The Theater was very crowded, so we decided not to wait in line.
Correct: Because the Theater was very crowded, we decided not to be wait in line.
Exercise: Revise the following run-on /fused/ sentences
1. He is a clever student he is not disciplined.

2. They didn’t study hard the result was that many of them failed.
3. He has been looking for a wife he couldn’t find one.
4. He showed me the direction to his house I couldn’t find it.
5. She returned from work he directly went to his bed.
6. He always studies he doesn’t pass his exam.
7. Could I get your number please I am poor at remembering numbers.
4. Dangling Modifiers
A dangling modifier is a word, a phrase or a clause that either modifies nothing in a sentence or
that seem to modify a word to which it is not logically related.
I.e. when the word being modified is implied but not explicitly stated, the modifier is left
dangling.
Example: Faulty: Driving through the mountains, several deer were seen.
Revised: Driving through the mountains, we saw several deer.
Revised: When we drove through the mountains, we saw (several deer) were seen.
Faulty: To write effectively, practice is necessary.
Revised: To write effectively, one must practice.
Revised: If you wish to write effectively, you must practice.
These kinds of dangling modifiers can be revised in two ways:
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1. Change the subject of the main clause or state an appropriate subject for the main clause.
2. Change the dangling phrase into a subordinate clause by adding a subordinating conjunction/
when, after, while, /
Exercise: revise the following sentences to eliminate the dangling phrases.
1. At the age of four, my parents took me to Addis Ababa.

2. Chopping the onion, the knife cut her finger.
3. Riding my bicycle, a dog chased me.
4. By checking the answer sheet, my errors become clear to me.
5. Going to Egypt, ancient pyramids were visited.
5. Misplaced Modifiers
When a modifier is wrongly placed, the resulting construction would be either awkward or the
message would be distorted. So, place modifiers as close as possible to the words they modify.
Be sure that adverbs such as almost, even, hardly, just, merely, only, nearly, scarcely, etc refer
and logically to the words they modify.
Example: Error: Their marriage nearly was broken.
Revised: Their marriage was nearly broken.
Error: Abebe performed the role with a dark attitude.
Revised: Abebe with a dark attitude performed the role.
Error: The man is a company manager who invited us to dinner.
Revised: The man who invited us to dinner is a company manager.
Error: A dog is a good company that is well trained.
Revised: A dog that is well trained is a good company.
Error: They scarcely planted any crops on the farm.
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Revised: They planted scarcely any crops on the farm.
Exercise: The following sentences are unclear; place the modifying phrases or clauses nearer to
the words they modify.
1. She borrowed an egg from a neighbor that was rotten.

2. He only left ten minutes ago.
3. I almost read half the book.
4. The department only have meeting once a week.
5. The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.
6. Mr. Yasser Arafat was born in Jerusalem who was the first president of Palestine.
7. The woman is a medical doctor in a green coat.
8. The lady is my wife with a long hair.
6. Faulty Agreement
Agreement is the grammatical relationship between a subject and a verb, a pronoun and its
antecedent, and number of a subject and a verb. The fault occurs when this agreement is not well
maintained.
 Example: Error: Tadelech and her younger sister is studying computer science.
Correct: Tadelech and her younger sister are studying computer science.
Error: Seifu, as well as his friends, are listening to local music.
Correct: Seifu, as well as his friends, is listening to local music
Error: Either Genet or Aster are handling it.
Correct: Either Genet or Aster is handling it.
Error: Either the captain or the soldiers is capable of solving this crime.
Correct: Either the captain or the soldiers are capable of solving this crime.
Error: Neither John nor Alemu have been invited to dinner.
Correct: Neither John nor Alemu has been invited to dinner.
Error: Neither John nor his sisters has been invited to dinner.
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Correct: Neither John nor his sisters have been invited to dinner.
Error: There is a number of unanswered questions.
Correct: There are a number of unanswered questions.
Exercise: The following sentences have errors in agreement. Write the correct version of each
sentence.
1. Ayelech’s roommate, Kebede have won a scholarship.

2. The blue and white car are coming now.
3. There is only a chair and a table.
4. My family, like many others, are involved in a number of community activities.
5. Marta, along with the twins, John and Juliyan, were busy.
6. A well known politician and writer are attending the workshop.
7. Neither the instructor nor the students has finished their work.
8. Dawit was determined to help his father and brother because he love him.
9. He asked each of us to bring our own lunch.
10. Nobody eats their dinner.
7. Faulty Parallelism
The other error which affects the clarity of our sentences is faulty parallelism. In English,
parallelism means form similarity of words expressing equal or parallel ideas.
To avoid faulty parallelism and to maintain clarity, coordinated words, phrases or clauses must
match in grammatical form. I.e. noun should be matched with noun, verb with verb, phrases with
phrases, and clauses with clauses.
Example: Faulty: He likes to read and playing football.
Parallel: He likes to read and to play football.
Faulty: This product is sturdy, light and costs very little.
Correct: This product is sturdy, light and inexpensive (cheap). .
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Faulty: The man gave not only money, but also advised me.
Correct: The man gave me not only money, but also advise.
Faulty: We have stores in Addis, Diredawa, and in Bahir Dar.
Correct: We have stores in Addis, in Diredawa, and in Bahir Dar.
Faulty: Ato G/meskel, told us to check the value of the property and that our insurance should
be increased.
Correct: Ato G/meskel, told us that we should check the value of the property and that we should
increase our insurance.
Correct: Ato G/meskel, told us to check the value of the property and to increase our insurance.
Exercise: Revise the following faulty sentences.
1. He warned me to revise my essay and that I should pay close attention to parallel structures.
2. I like baking and to eat them.
3. He is either visiting the buildings or work in his office.
4. My job includes checking the inventory, to manage workers.
5. The students attended classes, did their homework, they were going back home.
6. In the coming five years, she has planned to marry, construct her own hose and she has
decided to complete her education.
7. Our president not only visiting the causalities but also arranges immediate aid.
8. Shift in point of view

 Shifts from Active to Passive: A sentence that starts out in one voice should usually
continue in that voice.
Shift: I made the honor role, and my parents were notified by the school.
Revised: I made the honor role, and the school notified my parents.
 Shifts in Tense: A sentence that starts in one tense should generally continue in that
tense
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Shift: I am watching the game, and it was exciting.
Revised: I am watching the game, and it is exciting. OR
I was watching the game, and it was exciting.
 Shifts in person and number: the indefinite pronoun one is in the third person.
Only third person personal pronoun (HE or SHE) can refer to ONE.
Shift: One may work very hate at your job, but that does not mean you will get more money.
Revised: One may work very hate at his or her job, but that does not mean you will get more
money
 Many collective nouns such as class, group, club, team, and crowd may be treated as
either singular or plural; however, once the decision is made, the noun must be treated
consistently as one or the other.
Shift: The group hired a bus, and they will take the bus to the game on Sunday.
Revised: The group hired a bus, and it will take the bus to the game on Sunday.
Exercise: In the following sentences, correct the needless shifts in number, person, tense or voice.
1. I wrote the test in one hour, and it was handed back to me ten minutes later by the teacher.
2. One should always be certain that, when you make an accusation your facts are accurate.
3. Just I thought I understood the problem, the teacher brings up another point.
4. Though a tarantula is very large spider, if one is bitten by such a spider, you don’t die.
5. Our soccer team is doing better this year than they did last year.
UNIT TWO
Paragraph Writing
At the end of this unit, the students will be able to
Define a paragraph
Identify parts of a paragraph
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Identify qualities of a good paragraph

Identify different transitional words and phrases
Identify paragraph writing techniques
Develop different types of paragraphs
2.1 What is a paragraph?
A paragraph is a unit of writing in which a group of related sentences develop one main idea.
The length of a paragraph depends on the complexity of the main idea. A paragraph could be as
short as one sentence or as long as ten sentences. However, a typical paragraph has about seven
to ten sentences, it should be long enough to develop the main idea clearly.
2.2 Parts of a paragraph
A paragraph has three parts: a topic sentence, supporting sentences (body) and a concluding
sentence. The passage below contains all the elements of a good paragraph. Read it carefully and
try to analyze its structure.
Gold
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics; First of all, gold has a lustrous
beauty that is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins, and ornamental
purposes. Gold never needs to be polished and will remain beautiful forever. For example, a
Macedonian coin remains as untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three centuries
ago. Another important characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For many
years, it has been used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most recent use of gold is
astronauts; suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat shields for protection outside the spaceship. In
conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.
2.2.1 Topic Sentence (introductory sentence)
The introductory or topic sentence in a paragraph is an opening and most general sentence that
introduces an overall idea that the writer wants to discuss later in the paragraph. It identifies the
topic for the reader and states the main focus or idea of the paragraph and limits the topic to one.
Note how the topic sentence of the model paragraph states both the topic and the controlling idea.
Controlling idea is the specific area delimited.
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(Topic) (Controlling idea)

Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics
N.B Topic sentences in a paragraph can be given at the beginning, middle, end and beginning
and end of the paragraph.
Examples
1. There were a variety of reasons why people said they went to football games. Some of
the fans said they went to games because they felt it would help their team to win the series.
Others considered going to foot ball games more exciting than watching them on TV. A few
felt that purchasing tickets to football games would ensure the financial success of the game
and, thus, its continuance. And a very small number explained that going to football games
was strictly a social occasion.
2. Home work is one of those necessary evils of being a student. The one sure way that a
teacher knows how to measure your progress in his/her course is to assign homework that
tests your knowledge of the information that is taught. Some instructors, however, seem to
use homework as a way of reassuring themselves that they have “taught” the information to
the students. Many students, aware of these ideas about homework, tend to treat homework
as a chore, putting little or no thought into the work that is turned in. However, like any
designated task, homework is a reflection not only on you as a student, but also on you
as an individual. When an employer has to decide whether to hire you, he or she has to
consider your ability to complete the demands of the working world. For many employees,
the way that you handle your “homework” in college often indicates the way that you will
handle your homework on the job. For example, often your grade in a class is determined by
the quality of the homework that you do. That homework grade can be a significant part of
your final grade for the course. In fact, many students can attest to an experience where the
homework grade made the difference in their final course grade. Once you leave college and
attempt to find a job, those homework grades translate in to final GPAs for your major.
Those final GPAs show up on resumes and job applications and employers look to see if you
have done your “homework” in school as a key factor in determining if you will do your
“homework” on the job.
3. In Arab countries, where women do not have equal rights, men commonly cut in front of
women at ticket window. In Britain and the United States, where “first come, first served” is
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almost an obsession, many businesses have customers take numbers to ensure that “first
come” is really “first served”. By contrast, in southern Europe, where people do not like
businesses regulating their behavior, line are disorderly, with lots of pushing and shoving for
the best position: the strongest or most aggressive win. Anthropologists who study line –
forming behavior have concluded that the way people wait in line reflects cultural
values about fairness.
4. The wonder of omelets is that so many things can be put into them. Take cheese, for
example. All sorts of cheese, like Swiss or Provolone, feta or mozzarella, slide deliciously in
to the omelet’s fold, enhancing the texture of the eggs. And vegetables, from the predictable
onions and green peppers to the less common spinach and kohlrabi, add vital flavor. Still
more lavish, for those who are not vegetarians, is the addition of a meat, possibly pepperoni
or bacon or ham. But the omelet’s most exotic components might be the fruits that give it
tang: raisins and avocados. May be somebody an enterprising chief will figure out how to
mix liquor and candy with eggs to [produce vodka-and-fudge omelets.
2.2.2 Body (Supporting Sentences)
Supporting sentences develop the topic sentence. They explain the topic sentences by giving
reasons, examples, and facts. Statistics and quotations. Some of the supporting sentences in the
model paragraph (Gold) above are:
 First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion.

 For example, a Macedonian coin remains as untarnished today as the day it was minted
twenty-three centuries ago.
 Another important characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and science
 The most recent use of gold is astronauts’ suits.
2.2.3 Concluding Sentences
This sentence signals the end of the paragraph and leaves the reader with important points to
remember. This is the sentence at the end of a paragraph which summarizes the information that
has been presented. It restates the main idea rather than merely repeating it. Look at the
following concluding sentence of the model paragraph about gold.
In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.
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Exercise 1: read through the following paragraph and identify
1. The topic sentence and controlling idea.

2. Supporting sentences
3. Concluding sentence
Through the centuries rats have managed to survive all our efforts to destroy them. We have
poisoned them and trapped them. We have fumigated, flooded, and burned them. We have tried
germ warfare. Some rats even survived atomic bomb tests conducted on Entwetok atoll in the
Pacific after World War II. In spite of all our efforts, these enemies of ours continue to prove that
they are the most indestructible of pests.
Exercise 2
Underline a topic sentence in each paragraph: the sentence that expresses the paragraph’s main
idea. (Remember: the topic sentence may not always be the first sentence in the paragraph.)
1. Serious depression, as opposed to the fleeing kind we all feel at times, has several warning
signs. One symptom of depression is a change in sleep patterns-either sleeplessness or
sleeping too much. Another sign is abnormal eating patterns; a person either may begin to eat
a great deal or may almost stop eating. Finally, a general feeling of hopelessness may signal
depression. People feel indifferent to their families and jobs and may begin to think that life
is not worth living.
2. School officials complain about vandalism that leaves classroom wrecked and damages
expensive equipment. Teachers complain about the low salaries they get for their difficult
and important jobs. And parents complain that their children’s test scores are dropping, that
their children can’t read or do math. The problems within our school systems are varied and
affect almost everyone involved.
3. Every thirty-seven seconds, a car is stolen somewhere in the United States. Although this
statistics is frightening, it is possible for drivers to prevent car theft if they take a few simple
precautions. When they leave their cars, they should lock all valuable in the trunk or glove
compartment to avoid tempting a thief to break in. parking in the middle of the block on a
busy, well- lighted street will deter would be thieves. The most obvious precaution, of course,
34
is always to lock the car and take the keys-even if the driver is stopping for just a minute.
One out of every five stolen cars was left unlocked with the keys in the ignition.
4. One of the most significant factors in selling a product is how it is packaged. When Stuart
Hall Company, which manufactures notebooks and paper products for students, realized its
sales were declining because fewer children were being born, it decided to change its
products’ appearance. So, beginning in 1968, the company replaced its plain tablets with
colored paper and decorated the covers of its notebooks with the pink Panther and other
cartoon characters. Students loved the new designs, and sales soared. Packaging, therefore,
can be a method of solving marketing problems.
2.3. Qualities of a good paragraph
2.3.1 unity
One important feature of an effective paragraph is unity. It means all the sentences in a
paragraph discuss only one main idea. The main idea is stated in the topic sentence the topic
sentence and then each supporting sentence develops that idea. If, for example, the topic
sentence announces that the paragraph is going to discuss two important characteristics of gold,
it should discuss only those. It should not discuss anything else such as the price of gold, the
history of gold or gold mining.
We had a terrible storm last night. The winds below up to fifty miles an hour and it rained very
hard. Eucalyptus trees by the river below over and one tree hi a power line and blacked out the
area for five hours. Downtown the main street was flooded: the car was left stranded in the
bumper deep water. Before morning the river flooded its bank and people living nearly were
forced to flee their homes with whatever belonging they could gather. It was the worst storm in
the country since 1985.
The main point of the paragraph is that the storm was terrible. The rest of sentence relate to the
main point by showing how bad the storm was. It knocked down trees, flooded Main Street,
caused blackout, and forced people to evacuate the area.
Exercise-2
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Each of the following adapted paragraphs contains one sentence that is not related to the topic for
that paragraph. Underline the sentence that does not belong to each paragraph.
The Sleeping Lady
A. 1 One day when the land was still populated by giants, a young warrior and a beautiful girl
fell in love. They planned for the day when they could marry and having children.
Unfortunately, their people were at war with a neighboring people, and the young man had to
leave his beautiful maiden for battle. Battles revealed a man’s true character. She sat down to
wait for him and soon fell asleep. He never returned. but she can still be seen lying down.
She is waiting for her young warrior to return.
B. My brother is driving me crazy. First, he borrows my razor and does not put it back. Then he
will sneak in to the kitchen and eat the pancakes I’ve cooked for myself. He helps me with
my homework, which I appreciate then he borrows my car without asking and returns it with
the gas tank empty. Finally, he borrows money from me and never pays it back. I will be glad
when he never out of the house.
C. The dormitory rooms were unusually large. They were sixteen-foot squares with wide bay
window. The ten-feet-high ceilings added to the feeling of spaciousness, as did the light-
colored walls and the mirrored closet door. There was space in the rooms for two double
beds, dressers, a sofa and a chair. The cupboard space was small and cramped. They looked
twice the size of your average dormitory rooms.
Exercise 1
Read through the following adapted task from Tyner, 1987 Circle the letter of one sentence in
each group that is not clearly related to the topic for that group of sentences.
1. Topic sentence: There are many ways to study for a test

A. You can review your notes a few hours the night before the test.
B. You can study an hour a night the week of the test.
C. You can study with friends and help each other.
D. You can get up early the morning of the test and study.
E. You can improve your grade by attending classes regularly
2. Topic sentences: the moon was beautiful last night.
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A. It was very full.

B. It was bright and lit up the sky.
C. There were a lot of stars out last night.
D. There were shadows on its surface.
E. It had a halo around it.
3. Topic sentence: the baby is not hungry this morning.
A. She keeps spitting out her food.
B. She keeps playing with her food.
C. She turns her head when I try to feed her.
D. Her stomach looks stuffed.
E. She loves rice pudding for lunch.
4. Topic sentence: Registration this semester was confusing.
A. Many of the classes I wanted were closed
B. I had to go to six different buildings to register.
C. I couldn’t find the teachers whose signatures I needed.
D. I had to fill out three different applications.
E. The computer for registration worked very well.
Exercise 3
Each of the following paragraph topics is followed by two sentences that relate to the topic. Add
two or more sentences of your own that are also related to the topic.
Topic sentence: the library is a good place to study
It’s quite most of time
The lighting is very good
. ________________________________
._________________________________
Topic sentences: it is difficult going to school and working at the same time
There is time for any social time.
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It is easy to get tired and run-down.
._____________________________________
. _____________________________________
Topic Sentence: I hate the desks in room 36.
The seats are hard and old
The desks squeak constantly
._____________________________________
.______________________________________
2.3.2 Coherence
Paragraph writing coherence means the proper arrangement of sentences. In a coherent

paragraph, the sentences are woven/tied together in a way that a paragraph reads as an integrated
whole rather than as several of separate sentences. In a coherent paragraph, the reader moves
easily from one sentence to the next without feeling that there are gaps in thought or points not
made. If a paragraph lacks coherence the reader will feel that he is reading a collection of
separate sentences.
We can achieve coherence using the following cohesive devices.
Pronouns-we can make a paragraph coherent by using pronouns. Since pronouns refer to
antecedents, they create a smooth link between sentences in a paragraph(s). however, misused
pronouns weaken coherence.
Notice how pronouns in the second sentences of each pair provide coherence by refereeing to the
important subjects in the first.
 There are many incredible trails to hike in South Central Alaska. They have a wide range of
difficulties.
 Your sister is attractive. She has large dark eyes.
 Ato Getachew graduated in English language in 1984. He has been an instructor since then.
38
2. Repetition- Direct repetition of word or expression will achieve coherence. Since direct
repetition will give an awkward look to your paragraph, using synonymous or slightly altered
forms of the repeated expression is preferable.
Example
 Sometimes a driver suffer from blurred vision. This defect is often the result of too much
drinking.
 Exposure to too much sun can damage the skin. This damage is irreversible and ca result in
skin cancer.
 Daily receipts are taken to the central office. Daily receipts are then trailed. (awkward)
3. Transitional words- transitional words make a paragraph coherent by relating ideas. They are
referred to as the ‘give’ to hold ideas together.
Common transitional words/phrases for coherence
1. Addition
Again besides like wise
Also finally
And furthermore moreover
And then in addition similarly
2. Comparison
At the same time in like manner, in the same way, like wise
3. Contrast
Otherwise in contrast despite it but
Conversely instead while yet
However inversely where as even so
In another sense nevertheless not withstanding
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Yet at the same time nonetheless on the contrary
On the other hand though
4. Emphasis
Above all even more
Added to this in fact
And also in other words
Besides like wise
More over
5. Illustration
All things considered incidentally to illustrate
As you will see in connection with as an example of
For example thus this
For instance that is therefore
6. Enumeration
Finally further second then again
First next then
7. Progression
For that reason hence
Further in the first place
Further more in the next place
8. Retrospection
As has already been suggested so far
If what I have said is correct hither to Up to this point
9. Similarity
By the same token in similar manner
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In like manner likewise similarly

10. Succession in time or place
After this beyond presently
Afterwards later then
Before this next
11. Time and sequence
After this eventually next
Firstly, secondly, thirdly.. formerly now
Afterward here up on previously
At last in the mean time since then
While meanwhile
Immediately There up on
12. Summary
In short in general in retrospect
For these reasons in other words to sum up
In a word we know to see
In brief to recapitulate
13. Result /Conclusion
Accordingly consequently
In brief to recapitulate
14. Result /Conclusion
Accordingly consequently
Finally hence
As a sequence in conclusion
As a result thus
At last so
Therefore then
The following paragraph illustrates the use of transitional terms.
Indulgences developed from the medieval church’s concept of penance as a substitute for
punishment due to sin. At first, the penitent was required to make a pilgrimage of perform an act
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of charity. But such activities were only substitutes for the real punishment, and it was a simple
step to make further substitutes for the real punishment, and it was a simple step to make further
substitutes for the original ones. For example, the sinner could make his penance by paying the
cost of going on a pilgrimage rather than actually making a trip. In an age when travel was both
expensive and dangerous, such a monitory substitution was sensible. As a result, the sinner
suffered financially, and the church could use his money for acts of charity. Thus indulgencies
were born. The opportunities for abusing this practice of giving money in place of penance,
however, were numerous. Indulgences were frequently criticized, and Luther’s famous attack on
them was one among many. Yet the principle is sound and difficult to attack without
undermining the entire theology of penance.
Uses of transitional terms used in the above paragraph
At first ------- time
But --------- contrast
For example ---- Example
Such ------------ Repetition
As a result ------ Effect
Thus ------------ Effect
This ----------- Repetition
However ----- Contrast
Indulgences -----Repetition
Them ------------ pronoun
Yet -------------- contrast
An example exercise about coherence
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The coherence of the paragraph below could be improved with the addition of transition
words. Insert appropriate transition words from the list below in the blanks. Then, discuss
your answer with your partner(s).
finally however just as

leads to first of all third
The use of tobacco is interesting to any student of psychoactive drug use for a number of
reasons. (1)____________, very few people-whether they are smokers or not-think of ordinary
cigarettes as containing a potent drug, and practically no one thinks of smokers as drug users.
(2)____________, in sufficient doses, nicotine is (3)___________psychoactive as any current
illegal drug. Second, as we will see, tobacco creates a powerful dependence, and making
cigarettes unavailable to committed smokers (4)_________ a powerful craving not unlike the
one that truly addicting drugs foster. (5)_________, as we saw earlier, cigarette smoking is
connected to illegal drug use, in that adolescent smokers are more likely to go on to use
marijuana, cocaine, and heroin than are non smokers. And (6)___________, governments have
attempted to control or eliminate the use of tobacco in the past-with dismally unsuccessful
results.
Exercise 2
Put the following sentences in the correct order so that it gives a well organized paragraph.
Indicate their sequence by only using numbers.
A. This kind of cheating robs long-time employees of jobs, savings and pensions and public
trust.
B. For example, executives at different business institutions use shareholders money to
purchase other personnel items.
C. Cheating is not only a classroom concern of the students, it is rather our social problem.
D. The first and widespread cheating occurs in the workplace.
E. The worst kind of corporate cheating happens when executives spend company money
for their personal interests and cheat employees out of pensions and benefits.
1._____ 2. _____ 3. _____ 4. _____ 5. _____
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i. completeness (adequate development)
Completeness in a paragraph refers to adequate development of the paragraph by using details,

explanations, evidence and the like so that the reader is not left with only a fuzzy idea of what is
said. Completeness does not mean writing a lot. It is wrong to give too much explanation or not
enough. As giving too little explanation blocks communication, giving unnecessary explanation
may be boring.
Consider the following example:
Pregnant women sometimes attempt to mold the character of an unborn child by studying poetry,
art, or mathematics. What we know of a parental development makes such attempts seem utterly
impossible. How could such extremely complex influences pass from mother to child?
This statement is incomplete. If the writer stops here, all he has given his readers is an
unsupported judgment that these attempts will have no influence on the child. But that is not
enough. Readers still need to know why he attempts will not work. The rest of the paragraph
explains why not.
There is no connection between their nervous systems. Even the blood vessels of mother and
child do not join directly. They lie side by side and the chemicals are interchanged through the
walls by the process that we call osmosis. An emotional shock to the mother will affect her child,
because it changes the activity of her glands and so the chemistry of her blood. And chemical
change in 5the mother’s blood will affect the child. But we cannot see how a linking for
mathematics or poetic genius can be dissolved in the blood and produce a similar king or genius
in the child. (William H. Roberts, Psychology)
b. Paragraph Development Methods
We can develop an idea in idea into a paragraph by using varieties of paragraph development
methods. The common methods are: Definition, Exemplification (illustration), Comparison,
Contrast, Classification, Cause, and Effect.
Definition: Definition is used to fully describe a term or concept in the most easily understood
way. One way of developing a term or idea clearer is to answer the question “What does the term
or idea?” to answer is question we can give a sentence defining the term or idea or we can try to
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answer the question by relating the term or concept to some term or idea the reader already
knows about or understands.
Example
Cause paragraph
These days, the spread of deserts across the world is increasing in alarming rate. There are many
reasons for this occurrence. First, the clearing of vegetation cover to get new land for farming
resulted in rapid loss of forests. This depletion of forests degraded wild life and soil. Second the
rapid growth of population made peoples to push cultivation in to areas that were entirely
unsuitable for agriculture. These activities of man on highly sensitive and delicately balanced
ecosystem led to a progressive decline in the vegetation cover. Third, the pastoral nomads are the
other protagonists in the tragedy for the fact more animals are building up than the system can
maintain, i.e., the number of animals is increasing beyond the potential of land. Finally, the
progressive destruction of the third world’s stock of trees for the existing demand for firewood
and timber as building material is accelerating soil erosion and reducing its capacity to feed and
employ people. If forests continue to be affected by desertification much ore higher than the
present.
Notice that the first sentence identifies the topic desertification is expanding so large and that all
the supporting sentences describe the causes of this phenomenon described in the first sentence.
Effect paragraph
The last night storm caused a great damage. The winds below up to ninety miles an hour and it
rained very hard. Eucalyptus trees by the river blew over, and the trees hit the power lines and
blacked out the areas for five hours. Before morning, as the river overflowed its banks, homes
were flooded, roofs caved in, and thousands of families living nearby were forced to flee their
homes with whatever belongings they could gather Downtown, the main street was flooded; the
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cars were left stranded in the bumper-deep water, and even some automobiles floated over the
streets.
Notice the first sentence identifies the topic a storm caused a great damage and that all the
supporting sentences described in the first sentence.
Types of discourse
The scope of discourse ranges from a paragraph to an extended essay. Basically there are four
main types of writing. These are Descriptive, Narrative, Expository, and
Argumentative/persuasive/ writing.
1. Descriptive Writing
Descriptive writing portrays person, place, or thing with enough vivid detail to help the reader
create a mental picture of what is being written about. Its purpose is to enable the reader to share
the writer’s sensory experience of the subject. In such writing, the writer relies on adjectives to
explain how something feels, looks, tastes, smells or sounds. Description rarely appears alone in
modern writing. It is most often used with narration.
Here are some descriptions of places:
1. Bale’s summer sunshine makes me delightful. I indulge myself under the shade of the
strawberry trees during the summer in Bale National park in order to bask in its sunshine.
Especially when the wind waves the leaves and the sunlight slides through; it feels like
velvet patting my body or like a furry cat rubbing me. I like to sit on the bench, which is on
the southern shore of the Wabi River. One day, an old Abyssinian dog sat beside me.
Although there were many adults jogging, children giggling, and squirrels chasing around,
the old Abyssinian was as solid as a rock; he closed his eyes and ears and made his
daydream without a pause. Sometimes when the sunlight stung his nose, he shifted his ear to
dispel the greedy flies who shared his sunlight. After absorbing enough energy, he trudged
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away contentedly. I love to sip this free tranquilizer during the summer in Bale National
park.
2. My bedroom is very comfortable. It is a small room with think carpeting and light blue walls.
Below the north window is my double bed covered with an imitation of leopard skin
bedspread. To the left of the bed against the wall is a nightstand with a reading lamp, an
alarm clock, and a portable radio. At the foot of the bed is a wooden stand holding my black-
and white TV. Behind the wooden stand and in front of the closet are three comfortable
armchairs. On the east and west walls posters of famous historical and geographical sites are
plastered. The holy cross bearing the crucifixion of Christ is hung to the wall alongside the
portrait of Virgin Mary embracing infant Christ. In short my bedroom is clean, colorful, and
nicely laid out.
Question I: Write a paragraph describing a beautiful location/place/ you have been to at some
time, entitled “My favorite place”/ don’t forget using descriptive words, adjectives, feelings, etc/
Descriptive of people:
In order to write an interesting description of somebody we must use suitable nouns and
adjectives. When we describe persons, we are concerned with their physical appearance and with
their personality. Certain noun and adjectives help us to describe the persons accurately. Here are
some examples:
A. Useful nouns for describing a person’s appearance
Age: baby, toddler, youngster, youth, boy, girl, teenager, man, women, lady, young, old, elder
parts of the face: forehead, eyes, eyebrows, nose, nostrils, ears, cheeks, mouth, lips, jaw, chin
parts of the body: head, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, legs, feet,
Hair: hairstyle, plaits, braids, beard, moustache,
Clothes: cloth, fabric, shirt, tee-shirt, tie, coat, jacket, trousers, jeans, socks, pullover, sweater,
suit, overcoat, raincoat, dress, blouse, skirt shawl, scarf, shoes, sandals, boots, hat,
glasses, spectacles
Jeweler: necklace, bracelet, ring, earnings, anklet,
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A. Useful adjectives for describing a person’s appearance
Age: young, middle-aged, old, elderly, in his/her early thirties/mid forties/ late fifties etc,
Face: long, round, oval, attractive, beautiful, un-shaven…
Hair: long, medium-length, short, straight, curly, wavy, dark, black, blonde, gray, fair, white,
plaited, bald,….
Forehead: high, low, medium..
Eyes: blue, brown, gray…
Ears: big, small…
Nose: long, pointed, turned-up…
Body Build: tall, short, fat, plump, over-weight, thin, slim, sender, skinny, under-weight, broad-
shoulder, muscular…
Clothes: cotton, woolen, hand-woven, leather, traditional, western, colorful….
General appearance: handsome, good-looking, beautiful, lovely, pretty, attractive, well-dressed,

smartly-dressed, dressed….
A. Useful adjectives for describing a person’s personality
Happy, cheerful, friendly, pleasant, amusing, kind, hard-working, reliable, trustworthy, polite,
well-mannered, honest, truthful, unselfish, generous, clever, intelligent, wise, quite, shy,
humble, unhappy, sad, miserable, unfriendly, unpleasant, unkind, cruel, lazy, unreliable,
impolite, rude, ill-mannered, dishonest, crafty, selfish, mean, stupid, silly, talkative, confident,
pound, boastful, arrogant, modest…
Read the following descriptive paragraphs. Notice how the descriptive words are used.
1. This picture of my mother, which was taken fifty years ago, has fascinated me from the
moment I began to study it closely. The young women in the picture have a face that
resembles my own in many ways. Her face is a bit more oval than mine, but the softly
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waving brown hair around it is identical. The small, straight nose is the same model I was
born with. My mother’s mouth is closed, yet there is just the slightest hint of a smile on
her full lips. The most haunting features in the photo, however, are my mother’s eyes.
They are exact duplicates of my own large, dark brown ones. Her brows are plucked into
thin lines, which are like two pencil strokes added to highlight those fine luminous eyes.
I’ve also carefully studied the clothing and jewelry in the photograph. My mother is
wearing a blouse and skirt. The blouse is made of heavy eggshell-colored satin and
reflects the light in its folds and hollows. It has a turned-down cowl collar and smocking
on the shoulders and below the collar. The skirt, which covers my mother’s calves, is
straight and made of light wool or flannel. My mother is wearing silver drop earrings.
They are about two inches long and roughly shield-shaped. On her left is a matching
bracelet. My mother can’t find this bracelet now, despite the fact we spent ours searching
through the attic for it. On the third finger of her left hand is a ring with a large, square-
cut stone.
2. Andrew looks about 30 years old, but I know he is older than that. He is quite tall, slim…
as he has lost a lot of weight recently, but has a medium built. He is white, quite pale; he
goes red easily in the sun. His hair is, I think, a light brown, cut really short-too short
sometimes, and he has rather bright blue eyes. He wears glasses and he often needs a
shave. His mouth is quite full and he has good teeth. He dresses casually usually, often in
jeans and T-shirts. They are generally clean but never ironed. Hs shoes are always also
quite causal, and he never goes to a shoeshine so they are dead dusty. He has a red, water
proof jacket that he wears often and he always wears his green, wide-rimmed, ‘explorer’
hat. This makes him quite easy to spot.
3. I am forty years old, rather tall and I have blue eyes and short black hair. I wear casual
clothes as I teach students in a relaxed atmosphere. I enjoy my job because I get to meet
and help so many different people from all over the world. During my spare time, I like
playing tennis which I play at least three times a week. I also love listening to classical
music and I must admit that I spend a lot of money on buying new CDs! I live in a pretty
seaside town on the Italian coast. I enjoy eating great Italian food and laughing with the
likeable people who live here.
Question2 Answer these questions about yourself. Then, write a descriptive paragraph.
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1. How old are you?

2. What do you look like?
3. What kind of clothes do you wear? Why?
4. What kind of job do you do? Do you like it?
5. What are your favorite hobbies? Why do you like them?
6. Where do you live?
7. Do you like living there? Why or Why not?
Question3 Ask your friends the same questions as in question 1 and write paragraphs
about them.
2: Narrative Writing
Narration is a discourse in which a writer tells the story of something that happened. It is
considered with describing a series of events, happening or incidents which may be either real or
imaginary that lead to a conclusion. It is the kind of writing most people habitually turn to
recreation, it is found in short stories and novels as well as in news stories and essays. Rarely
does narrative writing occur in pure form; most often it includes description and exposition for
additional interest. It usually involves some kind of conflict, its resolution and conclusion. In
narrative writing the writer may write about an experience or event from his/her past, a recent or
an ongoing experience or event, or something that happened to somebody else. Read the
foqqllowing paragraph:
There was a robber who roamed the countryside. He pillaged and killed passers-by. The king,
having heard this, sent out his soldiers. They caught him and brought him to the king who
sentenced him to death. As they took him to the place where was to be beheaded, the old father
of this robber was following him in tears. When the robber caught sight of his father, he tried
to hit him, but he failed to do so because his hands were tied together. So, he tried to inflict
upon him a terrible bite with his teeth. All the people around his shouted, “Really this bandit
deserves death since he even wanted to kill his father.” But he told them, “It is not I who
deserves death but my father. When in my childhood I began stealing corn and grain, he
praised me instead of punishing me and accustomed me to robbery. For this reason, I became
a bandit and thus reached his hour of my death. Had my father punished me at the
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appropriate time, I would not have come to this end. “Having said this, he was beheaded, but
all those who have children understood the seriousness of the matter
Note: narrative paragraph tells about one main incident or happening. The author brings the
incident to life so the reader shares the experience. It should be written in logical order. It
describes what a person dose over a period of time.
In order to write the Narrative discourse:
- Have a topic sentence that arouses the reader’s interest. You can describe a scene or
introduce characters.
- Build your paragraph around one main incident. Here is where your action takes place.
- Write the event in the order that it occurred. Do not skip around.
- Your ending should satisfy your reader’s expectations. Bring your paragraph to a close.
Signal Words and Phrases:
- Next, then, while, after. When, firs

- After while, a little later, at the same time, during the morning, later that night ….
Read the following Narrative Paragraphs:
1.Yesterday evening I got home from school around 4 o’clock. My mother had dinner
prepared which we ate as soon as Dad came home from work. After eating, I helped mother
clear the table and do the dishes. After we got the kitchen cleaned, I had to sit and do my
homework. Mother always says, “No television until your homework is done.” I finally got
my math finished, so I went into the family room and turned on the television. I was
watching American Idol, when the phone rang. It was my best friend, Mary. I talked to her
for awhile then it was time for bed. I put on my pajamas and turned on my favorite CD. I
finally started to get sleepy around 9:30. The next thing I knew, mother was calling me to get
ready for school.
2.When I was about five years old, I remember doing a lot of exciting things. We had a large
mango trees growing behind our house, and my sister and I climbed them in the summer.
One time I fell out of one of the trees and landed on my head, but I was not badly hurt. We
also played base ball in the backyard with the neighbor kids, and I remember we used my
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mother’s dishes for home plate and the bases. We rode bikes all over the north end of the
town, and we raced through the alleys after a train, splattering water and mud each other.
The high school was only a block away, so we walked there in the summer, jumped the fence,
and skated around the cement corridor until a custodian chased us out. Finally, there was a
big vacant lot beside our house where we played cowboys and countrymen almost every
Saturday. It seems like I did nothing but play when I was young.
Question1: Try to write a number of similar paragraphs about what you did last weekend, last
year, last month, last holiday, etc
Question 2: Think about your high school life, and the things you used to do. Write a story
about the days, months, and years you spent with your teachers, classmates, and friends.
3 Expository Writing
Exposition is a type or writing which presents and explains an idea, object or phenomenon. The
purpose of this type of writing is to inform, clarify, explain, define or instruct by giving
information. I.e. the writer provides information about and explains a particular subject. So when
you write exposition, your purpose is to make clear to the reader that how something works, how
something is made, or how something happened. This is usually done by using a combination of
all or some of the following methods of developing idea: cause and effect, classification,
definition, and comparison and contrast.
Look at the following sample
1.Blood from the entire body is transported to the right auricle through two large veins: the
superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava. When the right auricle contracts, it forces the
blood through an opening in to the right ventricle. Contraction of this ventricle drives the
blood to the lungs. Blood is prevented from returning in to the auricle by the tricuspid valve,
which completely closes during contraction of the ventricle. In its passage through the lungs,
the blood is oxygenated, that is saturated with oxygen, and it is then brought back to the
heart by the four pulmonary veins, which enter the left auricle. When this chamber contracts,
blood is forced in to the left ventricle and thence by ventricular contraction in to the aorta.
The bicuspid, or mitral, valve prevents the blood from flowing back in to the auricle, and the
semi-lunar valves at the beginning of the aorta stop it from flowing back in to the ventricle.
Similar valves are present in the pulmonary artery.
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2.During the past five years, the number of people killed annually in car accidents has climbed
to more than 55,000. This needless slaughter on streets and highways can be attributed to
three general causes. Mechanical failures, especially those related to faulty brakes and bald
corners, narrow streets, heavy fog intermittent rain or snow resulting in slippery roads also
contribute to the grisly accident statistics. But without doubt the most frequently reported
factors in car accidents are errors of human judgment all the way such follies as excessive
speed and drunken driving to such momentary lapses as failure to signal turn or a change
from one lane to another. The man behind the wheel is often his own worst enemy.
4 argumentative /persuasive/ writing
An argument is a process of reasoning in which a series of facts and judgments are arranged
coherently to establish a conclusion for or against a proposition, opinion or course of action. i.e.
the writer attempts to support a controversial point or defend a position on which there is a
difference of opinion. When one writes argumentation, his/her main purpose is to convince the
reader about some issue and persuade them to take some action. Argumentation specifically
focuses on convincing someone through logical reasoning.
Steps to develop an argumentative discourse:
1. So, what do you write about? Pick a well-defined, controversial issue. / spend some time
with the latest copies of several news, magazines, watch TV, or listen to national public
Radio’s to generate ideas. Readers should understand what the issue is and what is at
stake. The issue must be arguable. After stating your thesis, you will need to discuss the
issue in depth so that your reader will understand the problem fully.
2. A clear position should be taken by the writer i.e. in your thesis sentence, state what your
position is. You do not to say “I believe that we should financially support the space
station.” Using the first person weakens your argument. Say, “Funding for the space
station is imperative to maintain America’s competitive edge in the global economy.”
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The thesis can be modified elsewhere in the essay if you need to qualify your position,
but avoid hedging in your thesis.
3. Your argument should be convincing. An argumentative essay does not merely assert an
opinion, it presents an argument, and that argument must be backed up by data that
persuades readers that the opinion is valid. This data consists of facts, statistics, the
testimony of others through personal interviews and questioners or through articles,
books, and examples.
4. Your premises should be reasonable. Assume that your reader will disagree with you or
be skeptical. It is important, therefore, that your premises be reasonable, professional, and
trustworthy. By anticipating objections and making concessions, you inspire confidence
and show your good will.
5. Once your paper has been written, revise and edit, and edit, and be sure to apply the
critical process to your argument to be certain you have not committed any errors in
reasoning or include any fallacies for which you would criticize some other writer.
Look at the following model argumentative paragraphs:
1. Main Premise: the government should introduce tighter gun controls
Jack Spring thinks that everyone should the right to own a gun but I don’t agree with him.
People like him think that government is infringing our democratic right when it restricts gun
ownership. They think that most people who own guns are responsible citizens who keep the
guns for sport and recreation. They also think that the police are unable to stop violent crime
in the community. I also think that human life is worth more that sporting shooters right to go
shooting on the weekend. And I also think that many of the guns that are kept around the
house and being used in violent domestic disputers or teenage suicides.
2. Main premise: students should have to pay fees for university courses:
Joan Sprat/1989:13/ argues that the government should provide free university education
because such education benefits the whole community. She asserts that he skills that students
learn at university are important for the future social and economical development of our
nation. Therefore, so this argument goes, the government should invest money in education
as it does with other vital resources. According to this argument, when students are forced to
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pay for their education themselves fewer of them will enroll in higher education courses.
However, as John Dawkins /1988:1/ explains the government is able to invest the money it
gets back in to the higher education system so that over all qualities improved. Furthermore,
there is money to fund more places for students do that in the future we will not have the
shortage of places we had in the past. Moreover, it is unreasonable to expect taxpayers to
pay for Students’ education when those students get well-paid professional jobs after they
graduate.
Unit Three
Essay writing
3.1 What is an Essay?
An essay is simply a paper of several paragraphs, rather than one paragraph, that supports a
single point. Essay writer has more opportunity to develop his/her ideas in detail than a
paragraph writer. The structure of an essay is similar to the structure of a paragraph except their
difference in length.
3.2 Parts of an Essay Essentially an essay has three parts: the introductory paragraph,
the body paragraph and the concluding paragraph. Each of these parts has its own function.
3.2.1 The Introductory Paragraph This part accomplishes three purposes- capturing the
reader’s interest, ending with a thesis statement and suggesting the importance of the essay topic,
The introduction is intended to lead the reader in to the topic and clarify what the essay will
specifically deal with. It usually consists of one paragraph, but this depends on the length of the
essay and the amount of background information the context requires. The introduction will
contain a key sentence that represents the thread running through the whole essay, This sentence
is called the THESIS STATEMENT. The last sentence of this paragraph should also contain a
transitional “hook” which moves the reader to the first paragraph of the body.
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Often writing introductory paragraph is the most difficult part of writing an essay. Being faced
with a blank page can be discouraging. Here are some suggestions for getting started. First
determine the context in which you want to place your topic in other words, identify an
overarching category in which you would place your topic as a case-in-point.
For example, if you are writing about dogs, you may begin by speaking about friends, dogs being
an example of a very good friend. Or you can begin with a sentence on means of protection, dogs
being an example of a good way to stay safe. The context is the starting point for your
introductory paragraph. Once the starting point and ending point are determined, it will be much
easier to connect these points with the narrative of the opening paragraph. For example, if you
are writing about dogs being an example of a very good friend, you would put: a dog is a very
good friend because of X, Y, Z And on the x, y, z you would explain the topic of your body
paragraphs. For example X would be the topic of the second paragraph would be the topic of the
third paragraph and Z would be the topic of the fourth paragraph. And in your conclusion you
would summarize your thesis statement.
Example
There are many different kinds of dogs. As we travel through life we may identify a person as
“friend” but in truth most of these individuals are more acquaintances, and will came and go in
our lives as a matter of convenience. True friends will be there for you always. There is no truer
friend than a dog.
Identifying a context can help shape the topic or thesis. Initially, we decided to write about dogs,
and then we selected friends as the context, the dog being a type of friend. By selecting friends as
the context, it shaped the topic, and narrowed our focus to dogs as friends. This makes writing
the remainder of our essay much easier because it allows us to focus us to focus on aspects of
dogs that make them good friends:
4.2.2 The body Paragraph deals with the major ideas that support the thesis statement.
Each main idea is presented in a separate paragraph (“one notion, one paragraph”) and developed
with supporting ideas in the form of explanations, definitions, or similar, and frustrated with
examples where appropriate or necessary. For example, in our essay on dogs, our thesis sentence
reads, “there is no truer friend in life than a dog.” It is the task of the body paragraphs to justify
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or prove the truth of this assertion. What characteristics do dogs have that make them a true
friend? Each characteristic may be a body paragraph, Loyalty, companionship, protector, helper,
are all terms that could be applied to dogs as friends.
Moreover, each body paragraph is something like a miniature essay in that each of them needs an
introductory sentence and a good closing sentence in order to produce a smooth transition
between one point and the next body paragraph can be long or short. It depends on the idea you
want to develop in your paragraph.
Example
A true friend will be for you when you need them: Any dog owner will say that there is nobody
that will stick with you through thick and thin like a dog. My own dog can barely contain her joy
when come home from a hard day. Regardless of my mood, oven when I am unfairly mean her,
she is happy I am home, and that is usually enough to make me feel better about everything.
True friends will help you when you are in need, whether it is to protect you against some threat,
or to help a blind person walk across the street, dogs are the most reliable comparison a person
could have few villains would attack a person walking a dog at night, and statistics show that
homes with dogs are among the least likely to be broken into.
The above example is a bit free-flowing and is intended to be persuasive. The second paragraph
combines various attributes of dogs including protection and companionship
3.2.3 The Concluding paragraph usually restates the thesis and leaves the reader
something about the topic to think about. If appropriate, it may also issue a call to action, inviting
the reader to take a specific course of action with regard to the points that the essay presented.
Example
It is no accident that many people consider their dog as part of their family. Just like every
member, dogs contribute to the happiness and well being of the hone, making the burdens of
caring for them well worth the effort. Dogs deserve to be loved and respected every but as much
as they love and respect us After all, what are friends for?
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Generality, the conclusion brings the reader back to the purpose of the assay and draws all the
points together before making a final comment on the result of the discussion/ argument. Often
this final comment will point towards some consequence the discussion may lave for the future
or make some observation about what the discussion has revealed on a general level.
Study the following table and see their similarities and difference.
Paragraph Essay
Has a topic sentence Has a thesis statement(the main idea developed
in an essay)
The topic sentence develops the main idea of The introductory paragraph introduces the
the paragraph main idea of the essay
Supporting sentences develop the paragraph Supporting paragraphs develop the essay
Concluding sentence ends the paragraph The concluding paragraph ends the essay
Exercise Read through the following easy for a better understanding of the different parts of an
essay and complete the table given below it.
Introductory paragraph
It is harder than ever for a couple to by that first house. This is a frustrating fact of life my
husband and I learned after we were married. In order to make our dream of being home owners
come true, we decided to take certain steps. By moving in temporarily with my parents, severely
limiting our leisure expense and working extra jobs, we hope to have enough money for a down
payment on a modest house within two years.
First Supporting paragraph
As the first part of our strategy, we moved in with my parents instead of renting our apartment.
Luckily, they have a house with a finished basement, and they were willing to have us live with
them. Tom and set up a bedroom and a living room for ourselves in the basement, and we eat our
meals with my parents. We pay $200 a month for room and board, which is a considerable
savings over the $400 that we would have to pay in rent alone for an apartment in this area. We
do not have total privacy, and we sometimes feel more like kinds than married adults because we
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live at home, but we sometimes feel more like kinds than married adult s because we live at
home, but we are willing to make the sacrifice in order to afford a house.
Second Supporting Paragraph
In addition, we are saving money by agreeing to limit our expenses for recreation. We watch
television instead of going to movies. We have a radio, but we have to put off buying stereo
equipment. We don’t eat out except for a rate $7 meal at pizza Hut. Tom has given up the pro
basket ball games he used to attend several times a season. I dropped out of my task classes at a
health club and now do my workouts on a mat at home. When we feel deprived, as we
sometimes do, we add up how much money we are putting away for our house by giving up
costly leisure activities. Often the total is $100 more a month.
Third Supporting Paragraph
The most important part of our plan is working extra job. In addition to his job as TV cable
installer, Tom works at night in the appliance department of a sears store. I type in a title
company office five days a week; on weekends I am a hostess in a local restraint. The hours are
long for both of us and we miss spending time together. Often we are tiered and cranky when we
get home. But the two extra jobs allow us to save an added $5,500 a year. Once we save the
$12,000 we estimate we will need to by a house, I will probably quite my extra job. Until then,
we are willing to work doubly hard for these two years.
Concluding Paragraph
Tom and I always assumed that we would live in our own houses someday. Once we were
married, through, we learned how expensive house are in today’s market. But we decided that
instead of giving up or getting angry, we would make sacrifices to reach our goal in the future.
Paragraph number The main idea of the paragraph

One
Two
Three
Four
59
Five
Exercise
The paragraphs that follow form an essay, but their order is not correct. Reorder the
paragraphs by writing their number in the spaces provided below so that they can be in
their logical order in the essay. Then discuss your answers with your partner(s).
Don’t Support Nuclear Energy!
A. In addition to being expensive, nuclear materials are not safe. When uranium is taken out of the
ground, radioactive gas is released. This is not safe for the miners. Uranium itself is not safe
either because of its high radioactivity. Because of this, people who work with nuclear fuels are
at risk of cancer. As nuclear power stations run, they create nuclear west, which also is
dangerous. It is very radioactive, and it is difficult to dispose of or even to store safely. No town
wants nuclear waste buried nearby, and for good reason.
B. Most significantly, there is a possibility of nuclear accidents. The power stations themselves can
fail when they get old or if they are not built correctly. The machinery can malfunction, too. In
1979, problems at the Three Mile Island nuclear power station in the United States resulted in
radioactive materials escaping into the nearby community. More recently, equipment failures
were responsible for accidents in power stations in Tarapur, India, in 1992, and Darlington,
Canada, also in 1992. Both of these accidents lead to leaks of radioactive material.
C. Nuclear power is not an economical energy source. First of all, nuclear fuel is expensive. It
must be taken out of the ground and transported great distances. As fuels are used up, they will
even become more expensive, just as oil and gas have. In addition, nuclear power stations cost
a lot of money to build and to operate because of the great care that must be taken with safety.
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Because the people who work in nuclear power stations must be highly trained specialists,
salaries for workers are also high.
D. It is true that oil and gas cannot supply all of the world’s energy needs much longer. However,
we cannot replace them with an energy source that is expensive and dangerous, from the time
the fuels are taken out of the ground to even after the plant is running. Instead, we must develop
cheaper and, most importantly, safer types of energy to power our world.
E. These days it seems like everyone is worried about how the world will meet its energy demands
when we have run out of oil and natural gas. Scientists and researchers are investigating such
power sources as solar energy, wind energy, and even energy from hot rocks beneath the earth’s
surface. However, there is one energy source that I believe should not be developed any further.
In fact, I believe that we should stop using it as soon as possible. Even though it can provide the
world with a source of electricity, nuclear power is not a good energy source because it is too
expensive, the materials use in the power stations are not safe, and there is a great possibility of
accidents.
(Source: Academic Writing from Paragraph to Essay, pp.99-100)
First paragraph ________Second paragraph ________ Third paragraph__________
Fourth paragraph _______ Fifth paragraph _________
------------------------THE END-------------------------------
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Basic Writing Skills Handout Compiled by:- Yonas Tamiru

A sentence is a grammatically independent unit of thought made up of a word or group of words

1.2 What are parts of sentences?

It is a part of the sentence excluding subject: It is a word or combination of words, including

Our soccer team won the state championship

A subject or predicate can be simple or complete.

Simple subject and simple predicate

Simple subject (actor) Simple predicate (act)

Complete subject and Complete predicate

Flowers are blooming. (Simple subject)

The small flowers are blooming. (Complete subject)

The small red petaled flowers are blooming. (Complete subject)

Solomon is walking. (Simple predicate)

Solomon is walking quickly to school. (Complete predicate)

Solomon is walking quickly to school in the morning. (Complete predicate)

Compound subject and predicate

You should move at six o’clock and arrive by midnight.

1 The fast advancement of science and technology.

1. Write two sentences with a simple subject and simple predicate.

1.3. Types of sentences

 In terms of function or usage, sentences are categorized in to four parts (informative,

1. Informative/ declarative - also called assertive sentences; asserting someone in a certain

2. Interrogative sentence - question tags, sentence of question forms.

3. Imperatives - a sentence that express command/ exhortation, or gives authorized order.

E.g. Be on time to the class. Give up smoking!

4. Exclamatory - sentence of overstatement or exaggeration.

E. g. He scored an incredible goal!

The players arrived.

The players and the judges arrived.

The players and the judges arrived and reported.

I have never played tennis.

B/ Compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more independent clauses

I steamed the carrots, then I baked the potatoes.

I ate everything on the tray; I was really hungry.

He met a student who left school last year.

After I took a nap, I felt better.

If you come late, you will miss the bus.

D/ Compound-complex sentence is a sentence which consists of two independent clauses with

from out of the area seem to like it.

________ 7. Those who seek faultless friends remain friendless.

consequently, the environment is polluted.

1.4 Sentence Combination

Look at the following examples:

A/ joining sentences by omitting a repeated subject.

B/ joining sentences by omitting repeated nouns and by using adjectives.

Generally, there are two ways of sentence combination.

A/ Coordination is a method of joining two independent sentences by using coordinators. In

 Almaz earned an ‘A’ in the course, for she studied carefully.

2. Where is the underlined portion located?

Or- shows alternative or choice

Yet- shows opposition; also shows emphasis (a strong but)

Activity 2. Write an appropriate coordinating conjunction in the space provided.

Activity 3. Combine the following pairs of sentences by using coordinating conjunctions.

1. A. The dog ate the food very fast.

B. She didn’t bring her pen.

Correlative conjunction meaning Example

1. Both my sister and my brother work with computers.

Exercise 2. Combine the following pairs of sentences.