Writing an essay

Writing an essay

1. The Structure of an Essay

           Your essay should start with an introductory paragraph. There are actually many different ways to begin an essay; therefore, the format of the introductory paragraph isflexible. Often, essays begin with a general introductory statement. This statement could be an anecdote, description, striking statistic, a fact that will lead to your thesis, etc. Beginning this way, you will use the first few sentences to prepare, or "lay the groundwork" for your thesis, and use the last sentence of the first paragraph to presentyour thesis. However, your thesis statement can be anywhere in your introduction. In a longer essay, you can even wait to present your thesis until the second paragraph or later. Also for a longer essay, you should begin to introduce a few supporting ideas in the first couple of paragraphs. These supporting ideas should be the topics that you will discuss in full in your body paragraphs. For a short essay, presenting supporting ideas during the introduction is optional.

         Your second paragraph generally begins the body of the paper. (For a longer paper, the body of the paper may not begin until the third paragraph or later). This paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the first supporting idea (the support for your thesis). You should use the middle of the paragraph to discuss your support, give examples, and analyze the significance of these examples. Your last sentence of the body paragraph could be used to draw a conclusion for that supporting idea, or to transition into the next paragraph.

          Your next two body paragraphs should follow the same format as your first body paragraph. They should each have a separate topic sentence and supporting ideas, but the three paragraphs should work together to prove your thesis. If you are writing a longer paper, you will have more than three body paragraphs, but they should all follow this format.

       The form of your conclusion, like your introduction, is flexible. One good way to conclude a paper is to begin the last paragraph with a statement that reflects on what has been stated and proved, without repeating it exactly. Then you should briefly restate your key points to gently remind the reader how well you proved your thesis. Your conclusion should end with a statement or idea that leaves a strong impression and provokes further thought. 

2. The essay

          To define the essay briefly, one can say that it is a piece of writing usually short (3 to 10 pages), written in prose, and that may be on any subject. The essay is generally based on other people's statements. In the essay you can include your personal opinion, and some examples to illustrate your point of view. It is written about one topic, just as a paragraph is. However, the topic of an essay is too long and too complex to discuss it in one paragraph. Therefore, you must divide the topic into several paragraphs, one for each major point. In general, essays have three basic parts: introduction, body and conclusion.

1. The Introduction

It is the first section of your essay. This makes it extremely important, because first impressions are often lasting ones. It consists of two parts: a few general statements about your subject to attract your reader's attention, and a thesis statement, that states the specific subdivisions of your topic and/or the "plan" of your paper. The introduction then, begins with remarks to interest people. As it progresses, it should present general ideas or facts to orient the reader. Then, it will narrow its focus, and move from general to specific facts smoothly and logically.

2. The body Paragraphs

They are the longest section of you essay. In a short essay there are usually three body paragraphs, each one considering in detail one aspect of the essay's controlling idea. This is called a three-point essay. At the beginning of each of your support paragraphs, there is a topic sentence that tells what the rest of your text is going to be about. This sentence should direct your readers back to the controlling idea and indicate which aspect of it you are going to discuss. Once you present your topic, you need details and facts to support it. It is not enough to state your position; your reader needs to be convinced that your point of view is valid an accurate. There is not any rule that determines how long a body paragraph should be. The more relevant detail you can bring in to support each of your topic sentence, the clearer your points will be.

3. The Conclusion

The ideas in this part must be consistent with the rest of your essay. In it, you should restate the controlling idea. This restatement is usually more effective when it is located at the beginning of the conclusion. It reminds your public about the major points you were trying to make, and it indicates your essay is about to end. Many writers like to end their conclusion with a final emphatic sentence. This strong closing statement will make your readers think about the implications of what you wrote. You do not introduce your points in your conclusion.

Making presentation (mindmap)

Useful language for making a presentation (mind map)

1.    MAKING A START - Introducing yourself and your talk

Greeting, name, position:

- Good morning. My name’s (…). I’m ( the manager … ).

- Ladies and gentlemen. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience.

- Good morning. Let me start by saying just a few words about my background. I started out  in ...

- Welcome to (…). I knew I’ve met some of you, but just for the benefit of those I haven’t, my name’s (…). 

Title / subject

- I’d like to talk (to you) today about …

- I’m going to present  the recent …

                     explain our position on …

                     brief you on …

 inform you about / describe…      

  - The subject of my talk

       focus            presentation    

       topic             paper (academic)       

                               speech (usually to public audience)

Purpose / Objective

- We are here today to decide …

                                  agree …

                                  learn about …

- The purpose of this talk is to update you on …

                                       put you in the picture about …

                                      give you the background to …

- This talk is designed to act as a springboard for

  discussion. Start the ball rolling.

Length

- I shall only take (…) minutes of your time.

- I plan to brief.

- This should be only last (…) minutes.

Outline / Main parts

- I’ve divided my presentation/talk into four

  parts/sections. They are (…).

- The subject can be looked at under the following

   headings: (…).

- We can break this area down into the following fields:

          Firstly / first of all … 

          Secondly / then / next …

          Thirdly / and then we come to …

          Finally / lastly / last of all ...

Questions

- I’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk.

- If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt.

- Please interrupt me if there’s something which needs clarifying.

  Otherwise, there’ll be time for discussion at the end.

Reference to the audience

- I can see many of you are …;     

- I know you’ve all travelled a long way.

- You all look as though you’ve heard this before.

- As I’m sure you know … ;          

- You may remember …

- We have all experienced …         

- As I’m sure we’d all agree …

2.    LINKING THE PARTS – Linking ideas

Sequencing / Ordering

- Firstly …    secondly …    thirdly … ;     

- Then …    next …   finally / lastly …

- Let’s start with …;  

- So that covers ....

- Let’s move/go on to … ;

- Now we come to … ; That brings us to …

- Let’s leave that (there) … ; That covers …

- Let’s get back to …;     … and turn to …

Giving reasons / causes

- Therefore / so;    

- as a result; that’s why ;

Contrasting

- But;

- however;

Comparing

- similarly;     

- in the same way;

Contrasting

- in fact;       

- actually;

Summarizing

- to sum up; 

- in brief / in short;

Concluding

- in conclusion; 

- to conclude;

Highlighting

- in particular;  

- especially;

Digressing

-By the way ;  

- in passing;

Giving examples

- For example / for instance;  

- such as;     

6. FINISHING OFF - Endings

Signaling the end

- That brings me to the end of my presentation.

- That completes my presentation.

- Before I stop / finish, let me just say …

- That covers all I wanted to say today.

Summarizing

- Let me just run over the key points again.

- I’ll briefly summarize the main issues.

- To sum up …

- Briefly …

Concluding

- As you can see, there are some very good  reasons …

- In conclusion …

- I’d like to leave you with the following thought / idea.

Recommending

- So, I would suggest that we …

- I’d like to propose … (more formal).

- In my opinion, the only way forward is …

Closing

- Thanks.

- Thank you for your attention.

- Thank you for listening.

- I hope you will have gained an insight into …

Inviting questions

- I’d be glad to try and answer any questions.

- So, let’s throw it open to questions.

- Any questions?

7. QUESTION TIME – Asking and answering questions.

Welcoming a question

- Go ahead  / Please do / Certainly.

- That’s a good question.

- That’s interesting.

Clarifying a question

- If I understand you correctly, you are saying / asking …

- I didn’t quite catch that.

- Could you go over that again?

- I’m not sure what you’re getting at.

Avoiding giving an answer / or taking time to think before answering

- Perhaps we could deal with that later.

- Can we talk about that on another occasion?

- I’m afraid that’s not my field.

- I don’t have the figures with me.

- I’m sure Mr. (…) could answer that question.

- That’s interesting, but I’d prefer not to answer that

   today.

Checking the questioner is satisfied

- Does that answer your question?

- Is that clear?

- May we go on?

          2 . . . Suffixes

A suffix is a group of letters placed at the end of a word to make a new word. A suffix can make a new word in one of two ways:

1. inflectional (grammatical): for example, changing singular to plural (dog → dogs), or changing present tense to past tense (walk → walked). In this case, the basic meaning of the word does not change.
2. derivational (the new word has a new meaning, "derived" from the original word): for example, teach → teacher or care → careful

A suffix goes at the end of a word. A prefix goes at the beginning.

Inflectional suffixes

Inflectional suffixes do not change the meaning of the original word. So in "Every day I walk to school" and "Yesterday I walked to school", the words walk and walked have the same basic meaning. In "I have one car" and "I have two cars", the basic meaning of the words car and cars is exactly the same. In these cases, the suffix is added simply for grammatical "correctness". Look at these examples:

		example
suffix	grammatical change	original word	suffixed word
-s	plural	dog	dogs
-en	plural (irregular)	ox	oxen
-s	3rd person singular present	like	he likes
-ed	past tense past participle	work	he worked he has worked
-en	past participle (irregular)	eat	he has eaten
-ing	continuous/progressive	sleep	he is sleeping
-er	comparative	big	bigger
-est	superlative	big	the biggest

Derivational suffixes

With derivational suffixes, the new word has a new meaning, and is usually a different part of speech. But the new meaning is related to the old meaning - it is "derived" from the old meaning.

We can add more than one suffix, as in this example:

derive (verb) + ation → derivation (noun) + al → derivational (adjective)

There are several hundred derivational suffixes. Here are some of the more common ones:

suffix	making	example original word	example suffixed word
-ation	nouns	explore hesitate	exploration hesitation
-sion		persuade divide	persuasion division
-er		teach	teacher
-cian		music	musician
-ess		god	goddess
-ness		sad	sadness
-al		arrive	arrival
-ary		diction	dictionary
-ment		treat	treatment
-y		jealous victor	jealousy victory
-al	adjectives	accident	accidental
-ary		imagine	imaginary
-able		tax	taxable
-ly		brother	brotherly
-y		ease	easy
-ful		sorrow forget	sorrowful forgetful
-ly	adverbs	helpful	helpfully
-ize	verbs	terror private	terrorize privatize
-ate		hyphen	hyphenate

Note that the suffix -er can convert almost any verb into the person or thing performing the action of the verb. For example: a teacher is a person who teaches, a lover loves, a killer kills, an observerobserves, a walker walks, a runner runs; a sprinkler is a thing that sprinkles, a copier copies, a shredder shreds.

Example:

 -ian
clinician- клиникийн эмч
technician- техникч
politician- улс төрч
beautician- гоо сайханч
musician- хөгжимчин
historian- түүхч
electrician-цахилгаанчин
librarian- номын санч
optician- нүдний эмч
dietician- хоол хүнсний мэргэжилтэн

-ist
economist- эдийн засагч
meteorologist- цаг уурч
cyclist- дугуйчин
geologist- геологич
biochemist- биохимич
journalist- сэтгүүлч
taxidermist- чихмэлчин
sociologist- социологич
pharmacist- эм зүйч
florist- цэцэгчин

-er
barber- үсчин
docker- ачигч
plumber- гагнуурчин
cleaner- цэвэрлэгч
builder- барилгачин
bartender- наймаачин
designer- зохион бүтээгч
astronomer- одон орон судлаач
defender- хамгаалагч
lawyer- өмгөөлөгч

-or
director- зохиолч
sailor- усан цэрэг
solicitor- заргач
author- зохиолч
conductor- орчуулагч
actor- жүжигчин
doctor- эмч
inspector- байцаагч
vector- зөөгч
tailor- оёдолчин

1. The infinitive and the -ing form

           1. . . . The infinitive and the -ing form

We use the to - infinitive:

•  To express purpose e.g. She went to the bakery to buy some bread. 
• after would love, would like, would prefer e.g. I'd love to go to Paris.
• after certain adjetives: glad difficult, happy, sorry etc. e.g. We were glad to meet them again after so many years.
• after certain verbs: advise, agree, appear, decide, expect, hope, learn, manage, offer,  promise, refuse, seem, teach, want, etc. e.g. She managed to catch the train on time. We promised to write home every day.
• in the expressions: to tell you the truth, to begin with, to be honest, to start with, to sum up, etc. e.g. To tell you the truth, I don't like vanilla ice-cream.

We use the infinitive without to:

• after modal verbs: can, could, may, might, will, would, must etc. e.g. I must see the doctor immediately. Can I open the window?
• after feel, hear, make, late etc. e.g. "I will let you go to the party if you promise to be back by 10.30" Mother said.

We used the -ing form:

• as a noun e.g. Playing chess is very exciting.
• after love, like, dislike, hate, enjoy, prefer etc. e.g. I hate cooking dinner. I enjoy working in the garden. 
• after prepositions e.g. He left without taking his umbrella.
• after certain verbs: avoid, admit, fancy, finish, forgive, imagine, keep(=continue), mind (=object to), regret, suggest etc. e.g. He suggested visiting the modern art museum. They kept dancing until the clock struck twelve.
• after the expressions: I'm busy, it's no use, it's (not) worth, what's the use of, can't help, can't stand, there's no point (in), look forward to, what about...? how about ... ? etc. e.g. It's no use trying to repair that bicycle. We had a great time and we're looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Note: certain verbs may be followed by either the to-infinitive or the -ing form. In this case, however, there is a change in meaning. 

• FORGET

          forget + to-infinitive = not remember e.g. I'm sorry I forgot to turn the light off.

          forget + -ing form = forget a past event e.g. I will never forget winning the first prize.

• REMEMBER

          remember + to-infinitive = remember to do something e.g. He remember to turn off the gas.

          remember + -ing form = recall a past event e.g. I don't remember visiting the zoo.

• TRY 

          try + to-infinitive = do one's best, attempt e.g. The climbers tried to reach the mountain peak buy they couldn't.

          try + -ing form = do something as an experiment e.g. Why don't you try adding some tomato sause? It might taste better.

• STOP

         srop + to-infinitive = stop for a while in order to do something else. e.g. The students stopped to have a break.

         stop + -ing form = finish, end e.g. When the president came in everybody stopped talking.

• REGRET

         regret  + to-infinitive = be sorry e.g. I regret to inform you that we cannot accept your application.

         regret + -ing form = have second thoughts about something that one has already done. e.g. I regret talking to her so rudely.