Messages from the Editors

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Messages from the Editors

Brian Chui Sing Yin Secondary School

BBA (Law) & LLB, The University of Hong Kong

I love writing because it allows me to express my ideas and thoughts in the way I want. The golden rule for writing well is simple: you need to love it and not be afraid of it. Some of you may be under the impression that a piece of writing which is full of advanced phrases and complex sentence patterns must be a well-written one. Nonetheless, this is not true – never put the cart before the horse. The most important thing in writing is to brainstorm good ideas and articulate them clearly so that people can understand your points.

As one of the editors, I hope that this book can be your companion in this uphill battle against the HKDSE. The HKDSE may seem like a trap. But that doesn’t mean that you can be excused from it. I personally don’t like it either, but I know I need to triumph over it in order to fly higher and go further.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and good things take time.

Work hard. Push yourself. Don’t settle. When life gives you a hundred reasons to give up, show life that you have a thousand reasons to persist.

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Derek TamKing’s College

BA (Literary Studies) & LLB, The University of Hong Kong

Languages are not formulae or mathematical functions. Formulae are works of precision; languages are fruits of humanity. Languages serve not to depict the laws of nature, but to reflect the fickleness of humanity – to achieve which one must learn from one’s own life the content and norms of expression; to master which one must develop one’s own style of expression through appreciating others’. Like all arts, it requires time, effort, a heart filled with passion, and if possible, a right direction towards which you pave your path.

It is with this objective we made this book. We shall be the Polaris that guides your way out the forest in your darkest hours.

Many say DSE is a battlefield and language subjects are the bloodiest corners of it. I agree. Yet we should always remember how fictional heroes win their glories in battles:

Against the worst of odds, fight they must.

Fight we must.

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The art of writing is like knitting simple yarns into an elegant piece of cloth; you don’t necessarily need golden threads to make an attractive work of embroidery, only meticulous knitting techniques. Same for writing, you don’t have to use the fanciest words to compose an excellent piece. Instead, to compose a brilliant piece of writing is to effectively convey great ideas in the most appropriate words. Often, sophisticated wordsmiths mind their diction in order to articulate abstract thoughts.

One may wonder how to be trained up with such a skill. It is anything but magic. Borrowing from Maya Angelou, a famous modern American poet, “my encouragement to you is to go tomorrow to the library”. Only through studying others’ works closely can various writing techniques be assimilated into part of your knowledge. By then, you will realise that the art of writing is a cornucopia of pleasure, joy and creativity that you can truly enjoy.

Joyce NgHeep Yunn School


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Learning English is a form of art. To lots of sheer English lovers, writing a contagious article could get you a sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, the DSE English paper often poses itself as an enigma to a lot of students, which somehow encourages them to digest new vocabulary and grammar items within a short period. Many have lost their passion because of that. If you are one of them, the following passages may help reignite your interest in learning English. They may not be of the highest standard, but for sure they are sorts of guidance that you can take references from.

Grab a cup of coffee and spend a day perusing the expressions and ideas presented in the book. Never memorise them without thorough understanding, but explore the styles of writing that you are most comfortable with. In due process of finding the beauty of English, I hope that you will be accompanied with impressive grades in DSE!

Pollux Au-YeungTsuen Wan Government Secondary School


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Having made your way through loads of quizzes and drills in the past few years, you are finally standing in front of the gateway to your first-choice university. You may feel nervous, insecure, or even frustrated, but there is nothing more fulfilling than living a vivid university life and ensuring a bright future. The HKDSE is the gateway to them all. It would be a pity to surrender within the ace of getting through the examination, would it not be?

Many of you may have been focusing on your elective subjects, either by immersing yourselves in past papers or by reciting each and every word in your textbooks. Meanwhile, do not forget your language subjects. Improvements in language subjects take time and effort, but constant practice works. Read more. Write more. I am sure that your effort will pay off.

Rex LeungTsuen Wan Government Secondary School


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Winni ChoiSt. Stephen’s Girls’ College


It’s 4 pm, the school bell finally chimed. Mrs. Man handed over a list of vocabulary and a pile of writing exercise to the young girl and ended yet another torturous day. No, it hadn’t ended yet. The girl swiftly strapped her knapsack and headed over to Causeway Bay with a trot for an intensive writing course held by a so-called star tutor. What also awaited her back at home was the deluge of past paper on her writing desk. At night, the girl peered through the window, wondering if she could “KO” all of the papers before 3 am, hopefully.

Share the same story? This is me when I was in F.6. What you are experiencing now, we all experienced. That’s why this book, encompassing all essential skills for writing, is in place to help you with your revision.

Tough times never last, but tough people do. You may be reading this book right now, learning all the skills required for examination. Yet in the days to come, you may be the one teaching others and sharing your experience. DSE could be the twine strangling you to death, but it could also be the rope you need to attain excellence!

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Contents

Messages from the Editors 5

The Contributors 11

Social Issues in HKDSE 16

Reader’s Guide 20

Report 22

Essay 48

Feature Article: Analysis 72

Feature Article: Advice 98

Letter to the Editor 120

Letter of Complaint and Suggestion 148

Letter of Request and Suggestion 178

Speech 206

SOS Corner 226

Glossary 258

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Social Issues in HKDSEIn HKDSE English Language, students are required to choose

one out of eight questions from Part B in Paper 2. These eight questions are based on the modules in the Elective Part, namely: (1) Sports Communication, (2) Drama, (3) Poems and Songs, (4) Debating, (5) Popular Culture, (6) Short Stories, (7) Workplace Communication and (8) Social Issues.

Over the years, the Social Issues module has proved to be one of the most popular modules chosen by students:

Percentage of students choosing the moduleYear 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Social Issues 31.4% 17.7% 19.8% 42.9% 5.2%Sports Communication 14.1% 17.4% 14.0% 26.8% 34.1%

Worlplace Communication

11.1% 31.0% 34.0% 5.0% 22.6%

Drama 7.8% 2.7% 3.9% 6.5% 7.3%Poems and Songs 8.8% 4.7% 3.3% 2.5% 2.4%

Debating 8.5% 6.3% 13.1% 7.1% 20.6%Popular Culture 7.3% 16.0% 4.4% 5.9% 3.1%

Short Stories 10.9% 3.2% 6.8% 2.8% 4.0%(Source: HKEAA 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 DSE English Language Briefing Session)

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The mean score of each question has also varied a lot. In general, students attempting the question regarding the topic Social Issues attained a comparatively higher mean score than those attempting other questions.

Mean ScoresYear 2012* 2013 2014 2015 2016

Social Issues 24.84 20.92 20.74 22.05 18.7Sports Communication 9.65 12.23 17.33 17.36 19.5

Worlplace Communication

20.50 22.10 18.00 17.96 21.7

Drama 19.14 15.31 12.92 17.78 19.5Poems and Songs 16.30 20.76 16.04 15.68 21.7

Debating 24.56 22.66 20.02 24.69 22.6Popular Culture 26.28 20.78 18.92 22.46 13.2

Short Stories 20.50 22.10 18.00 17.96 21.7

(Source: HKEAA 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 DSE English Language Briefing Session) *: The original data of the mean score for 2012 is “out of 21”. For convenience, the 2012 dataset is multiplied by 2 so that it becomes more comparable with other years’ datasets under a scale of 42.

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The past paper questions regarding the topic Social Issues usually comprise the following elements:

- Describing the social problem / phenomenon

- Illustrating the causes of the social problem / phenomenon

- Explaining the impacts of the social problem / phenomenon

- Proposing suggestions that can help improve the problem

Elements involvedYear

S.P. P.P. 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017Describing the social problem / phenomenon

Illustrating the causes of the social problem / phenomenonExplaining the impacts of the social problem / phenomenonProposing suggestions that can help improve the problem

Essay

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Question

Question Analysis Essay is a type of formal composition. Usual goals of an essay

include conveying an idea, explaining and announcing a finding, and advocating a claim. Logic and persuasiveness are the two most important qualities in terms of essay writing.

A thorough understanding of your role and target audience is of fundamental essence before you can determine how to write anything.

Role & Audience

Who are you? What is your identity?

- Not explicitly mentioned - “Hong Kong” + “you have discovered” - A Hong Kong citizen who would go onto the streets.

Who are your audience? - “Hong Kong teenagers”

Your relationship with the audience?

- Share the same city as home - Live the same Hong Kong life

Recently, you have discovered that a local street culture is vanishing. To arouse Hong Kong teenagers’ awareness of this fast disappearing culture, you want to write an essay about its disappearance and the benefits of preserving it.

Write the essay.

Essa

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Purpose Why are you writing this essay, i.e. what is your claim?

Where does your claim originate?

Why do you want others to believe your claim as true?

Tone Is the tone of your essay suitable?

Is your tone suitable for the topic and your aim? A positive and lively tone? Or a gloomy and depressed tone?

Remember: an essay is a formal address to your audience. However, formality does not equate to boredom and livelessness. The art of essay writing lies not only in relaying a strong and clear claim from the beginning till the end, but also in making a serious topic relatable and intriging to your readers.

Language Some technical terms (jargons) are acceptable. However,

bearing in mind that your readers may not always understand the specific terms you use, it is always desirable to supplement them with down-to-earth examples and elaborations. Despite how colourful your depiction of the issue is, formal essays often maintain a high degree of objectivity.

Essays are written in a formal register. Formality of language is intertwined with your claim’s seriousness.

Essay

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Format & Structure of an Essay o Title: tells your readers concisely what the topic is

A good essay title should also make the significance of your claim known to your readers.

o First Paragraph: MUST contain a thesis statement

A thesis statement is a sentence that summarises the issue, your stance and the reasons for your stance.

o May also include background information that is indeed relevant to your claim.

Never include redundant background information only to make up the number of words required. Instead, only speak of the essential factual backgrounds in the introduction and spend your time on elaborating ideas with examples and scenarios.

o Body: evidence & analysis

The main body of an essay does not have as strict a format as a letter to the editor. Clarity aside, logic and evidence are the two most important elements in this part of an essay. They are where the persuasiveness comes from.

o Conclusion: a brief account that echoes your claim in the first paragraph

A successful essay should have elaborated and proven your claim clearly and sufficiently in the body. Thus, the conclusion need not repeat your entire analyses all over again. A gentle reminder of your core claim should suffice.

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Topic & Scope The topic of any question can be observed from the key words

of the question:

Recently, you have discovered that a local street culture is vanishing. To arouse Hong Kong teenagers’ awareness of this fast disappearing culture, you want to write an essay about its disappearance and the benefits of preserving it.

Write the essay.

“Local street culture”

“Local”: Hong Kong

Is there a street culture that is unique to Hong Kong?

What are the characteristics of street culture? e.g. Easy to be spotted by passers-by; incorporated into the daily lives of everyone.

“Fast disappearing”

Which street culture is diappearing in Hong Kong?

Why is it disappearing at all?

What are the factors that accelerate its disappearance?

Essay

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“Disappearance”

How to depict something’s disappearance? - A transition from existence to non-existence

What is the street culture’s original state? - Description of people’s daily lives under that street culture

What would life be like without this street culture?

“Benefits of preserving it”

Why do we need to preserve this street culture?

To which aspects of society will its preservation benefit? e.g. Economic, cultural

Practice: develop your own topic

Characteristics of street cultures:

Your street culture in mind:

Is it fast disappearing:

One reason why it is disappearing:

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Brainstorming: Sample I

What street cultures are there in Hong Kong?

What are the characteristics of a street culture?

Who are the people that we see frequently on the streets?

- Mobile food vendors

- Second-hand electronics recyclers

Preliminary Choice: Mobile food stalls

Specific characteristics to be depicted:

- What they sell: Food of all varieties (Examples?)

- What makes them so different from ordinary restaurants: Food sold to be consumed on the streets

Is it fast disappearing?

i.e. Are they used to be spotted on the streets frequently, but not so frequent lately?

If yes,

Why: 1. Health and hygiene issue 2. Not much space in the narrow streets 3. Strict government policies against hawkers

We should preserve it.

Why: 1. Cultural benefit 2. Economic benefit

“Preliminary”:Can always change if it turns out to be a bad idea.

Never deviate from the given stance!

Essay

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Gems Hidden Between Lanes – Hong Kong Food Hawkers1

Hong Kong is a renowned heaven for every ardent food lover. Spend just a minute in the streets of this city and you will discover yourself surrounded by dozens of restaurants, in which you may encounter mouth-watering cuisines from Hong Kong, mainland China and even across the globe. The food culture in this international metropolitan is undoubtedly rich – so rich that makes it particularly hard to believe that a handful of local deliciousness is vanishing right in front of our very eyes.2 The unfortunate truth is that local food carts and the precious food culture they carry – a valuable part of Hong Kong’s local food culture and street life, has been drifting away quietly, and that it is almost too late for us to notice their disappearance. It is therefore voiced in this essay that this precious aspect of Hong Kong’s local life should be preserved, for being a unique culture of the locality and for its economic potential.3

Hong Kong street hawkers sell a variety of food, of course; but to further categorise the food Hong Kong street hawkers sell into certain genres is likely an oversimplification.4

Sample I

ardent (adj.) 熱切的 surround (v.) 包圍 encounter (v.) 遇上 mouth-watering (adj.) 令人垂涎的 drift away (phr. v.) 逐漸遠去 potential (n.) 潛力oversimplification (n.) 過份簡單化

Always come up with a title for your essay. A catchy and clear title puts readers in a pleasant mood and captures their attention.

The punctuation “–” is used to insert a following addition-al information about the word, phrase or idea immediately before it.

e.g. People are growing dumb using smartphones – phones smart enough to cater for our everyday needs and basically live our lives for us.

Suspense is for detective stories, not for formal essays. For the sake of clarity, brief ly outline your arguments and stance before actually start arguing.

“Oversimplification” is com-posed of the prefix “over-” and the noun “simplification”.

“Over-” as a prefix has the meaning of “exceedingly”. When attached to “simplifica-tion”, it transforms the meaning of “simplification” into “a simplification exceedingly done”.

e.g. Please do not overdo my steak. It should only be medium rare. You would ruin it otherwise.

A prefix with the opposite effect is “under-”.

e.g. The figures provided by the governemnt has underestimated the cost of this bridge.

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Derek Tam

Essa

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Most of them do not share common ingredients. They do not produce a similar taste of sweet or sour. Some do not even originate from similar cultural backgrounds. From traditional Hong Kong snacks like stir-fried chestnuts and white sugar cakes; the locals’ favourites like fake shark fin soup and the glorious fried-and-stuffed trio5 – eggplant, bell pepper and bean curd; to contemporaneous international stars like skewered meat and vegetables – the variety of tasty roadside snacks along the pavements of Hong Kong never ceases6 to amaze tourists.7

The glamorous charm of these street gems8 is not limited to the savoury sensation in your mouths, but it extends well beyond to reaching noses of pedestrians from other grids of the community.9 Imagine yourself walking on the street, exhausted – perhaps after another daylong boredom at the school or office, or after a wearying journey across the jungle of skyscrapers and shopping malls – suddenly this appetising smell of heavenly tastiness arrives, stimulating your taste buds from a distance.10 In a minute-long walk, you are led to a secret paradise at some side lanes where you can buy some of the best food in the city and enjoy a delicious journey back home. Wonderful, is it not?11

common (adj.) 共同的 fried-and-stuffed trio (n. phrase) 煎釀三寶 contemporaneous (adj.) 現代的 skewered (adj.) 串燒的 charm (n.) 魅力glamourous (adj.) 亮麗動人的 daylong (adj.) 一整天的 appetising (adj.) 開胃的

Trio (n.) means a group of three. For groups with more than one member, “duo” (2), “quartet” (4), “quintet” (5), etc. may be used.

“Never ceases to do some-thing” is equivalent to “always does something”.

e.g. English breakfast tea has always been Britain’s favourite drink.||English breakfast tea has never ceased to be Britain’s favourite drink.

A long sentence using the pat-tern of “from…to…” helps illustrate the wide-ranged variety of examples.

Metaphors are your allies. They add colours to your description.

Sensation may come in all six senses. Pick the most suitable ones for your idea to bring your ideas to life.

Use “you” and “yourself” to draw readers into the im-agined experience and enhance persuasiveness.

Rhetorical question is a succinct way to conclude your paragraph since it implicitly conveys your stance.

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Essay

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species (n.) 物種 drive something into (phr. v.) 導致 extinction (n.) 滅絕crowdedness (n.) 擠擁程度 unlicenced (n.) 沒有許可牌照的 offence (n.) 刑事罪行 unsolvable (adj.) 不可解決的 implementation (n.) 實行 city planning (n. phrase) 城市規劃

It is thus even more surprising to imagine these food hawkers belong to a fast-disappearing species that desperately cries for preservation.12 It has become harder and harder to come across a street hawker on streets nowadays. There are mainly three forces that are driving them into extinction, namely13 people’s rising awareness of 14 food hygiene, crowdedness of the city, and strict government policies against unlicenced street hawkers. Effecting together, these factors hindered the sales of these street snacks while the costs of maintaining the business elevated as each time mobile hawkers were prosecuted for various offences. Eventually, hawkers ended their businesses.

It may be true that the food sold at these mobile carts is less hygienic than those in premised restaurants, or that the city has insufficient space to harbour these hawkers on narrow streets, but these are no unsolvable issues.15 In fact, given suitable government policies, for instance the implementation of a proper regulatory scheme and better city planning, the preservation of these local food carts would actually be beneficial to the city.16

“Thus” indicates a cause-and-effect relationship.

e.g. It is, thus, essential for the teacher to know what exactly he is teaching.

When placed in the first sentence of a paragraph, it works as a connective to bridge the fol-lowing idea with the preceding paragraph.

“Namely”, “to name a few”, “for instance” all means “for example”.

e.g. This committee is composed of two depart-ments, namely, marketing and auditing.

O “Awareness of” an issue.X “Awareness on” an issue.

e.g. This campaign aims at raising people’s awareness of breast cancer.

“These are no unsolvable issues” and “these are not unsolvable issues” are both grammatically correct sentences; but “no” expresses an even strong negativity than “not”.

e.g. Mr. Pan’s death and Miss Regan’s sudden disappearance are no coincidence. Miss Regan was the murderer.

A transitional paragraph:Devoting a few sentences to link up two major yet distinct parts of your essay is usually stylistically beneficial to the overall f low of idea.

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Documents

Messages from the Editors