writing projects – planning texts

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WRITING A COMMENT This week there won’t be tasks on the platform, it’s all in here.

(Falls es Verschiebungen gibt in diesem Dokument, bitte die PDF herunterladen.)

Remember when I told you to collect a list of arguments for what is beautiful and maybe not so beautiful about California into your folder?

Now we want to come back to that and write our very first comment!

BUT WHAT IS A COMMENT? Easy, a comment is a piece of writing in which you express your opinion on a specific statement and you want to convince your reader (überzeugen) of your opinion. How can you do that? You need to have good arguments and arguments are good if you have nice examples and strong facts.

Step by step we want to get to our final comment. Let’s start with the text burger.

• We are going to start with a nice little tool called the text burger. This might sound funny, but the picture of a text burger will stay in our head and helps remember the structure of the comment.

• On the following page you will find the text burger which explains in detail how your comment should be structured.

• Then there is an empty text burger for you to fill in. Choose one of the statements under the complete text burger and complete your writing plan.

• Make sure to find ideas for a nice introduction and also find strong arguments exactly as presented in the full text burger (it has nice examples!). For the best result you maybe want to check the internet for some more facts than presented in your textbook.

Then, before we actually start writing, we need to work on our language.

• Sentence Structure

• No Germanism in English

• No choppy sentences

• Nice linking

Doing the draft and the exercises on language are the tasks for this week. I will only send you the solutions of the language exercises if you send me your draft of the text burger. (I don’t need the language exercise solutions, the text burger is enough.) You can print all the papers or do everything in this document.

In the next week of English tasks (18.-20.5.) we are going to write the full comment. If you have a lot of time and already want to write the comment, then feel free to do so. But send me your draft first, because if you get it wrong you maybe have to do it again. For your full comment you can use the words and phrases on p. 3.

PLEASE, if you have questions EMAIL ME!!!

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The text burger (example) You can compare the structure of a text to the structure of a hamburger.

Introduction ● arouse1 the reader’s interest in reading the text

(Have you ever eaten an insect?) and/or

● give your reader a first idea of what your text is about (In 113 countries around the world, eating insects is quite normal.)

● present your first point (Eating insects has a long tradition.)

● give details and examples (We know that the ancient Romans and Greeks used to eat insects. They loved to eat ...)

● present your second point (Scientists say that insects are healthy.)

● give details and examples (A hamburger contains 18 per cent fat, but cooked grasshopper contains just 6 per cent fat.)

● present your third point (But people don’t eat insects because they are healthy; they simply think that they are tasty.)

● give details and examples (Fried spiders for example taste a lot like nuts.)

Conclusion ● summarize the main points of your text

(All in all insects are definitely a healthy, cheap and good alternative to beef, pork or chicken.) and / or

● give a personal statement (But I don’t care that eating insects is healthy: I would never ever eat fried spiders.)

the main body of your text

Choose one of the two statements for your comment. Then use the empty text burger on the next page to draft your writing plan.

Statement I: California is the land of dreams. Statement II: German grammar schools (Gymnasium) are better than American high schools.

1 arouse the reader’s interest – das Interesse des Lesers wecken

writing projects – planning texts

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The text burger (writing plan)

Introduction

Conclusion

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Useful tips, words and phrases for writing texts In the introduction you can ...

first arouse the reader’s interest by … … then give information on what your text is about

● asking a question: When was the last time you saw a clown?

● telling a joke:

Why don’t aliens eat clowns? – Because they taste funny.

Who? What?

● quoting somebody: ‘All the world loves a clown,’ the American songwriter Cole Porter said.

● telling a surprising fact: Did you know that there is a word for the fear of clowns? It is called coulrophobia.

When? Where? Why?

In the main body of your text you can ...

discuss a topic ... ... or tell your reader what happened

First of all I would like to point out ... – Zuerst möchte ich darauf hinweisen ...

after – nachdem as soon as – sobald / sowie

The main problem is ... – Das Hauptproblem ist … before – bevor on the one hand ..., on the other hand ... – einerseits ..., andererseits ... some people think ..., others say … – einige Menschen denken ..., andere sagen … In addition (to this) / furthermore – darüber hinaus Moreover – außerdem / ferner

during – während

eventually – schließlich / letzten Endes finally – schließlich / endlich later – später meanwhile – in der Zwischenzeit

Besides – außerdem / darüber hinaus Last but not least – Zu guter Letzt

next – als nächstes subsequently – anschließend while – während

first – als erstes at the same moment – im selben Moment after a while – nach einiger Zeit

In the conclusion you can ...

summarize the main aspects of your text ... ... and / or give a personal statement

all in all – insgesamt I think that – Ich denke, dass finally – zum Schluss / letztlich / endlich I assume – Ich vermute in brief – kurz dargestellt I fear – Ich fürchte in conclusion – abschließend I believe – Ich glaube

In my opinion – Meiner Meinung nach

therefore – daher In my view – Meiner Ansicht nach to conclude – folgern / abschließen I hope – Ich hoffe to make a long story short – kurz gesagt summing up – zusammenfassend

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Sentence structure

SUBJECT FREQUENCY ADVERB VERB OBJECT MANNER PLACE TIME

Lucy sang beautifully yesterday. My parents never listen to me. Adam’s aunt loves to feed birds in the park. School starts at 8 a.m. Jamie can throw the ball far. I sometimes have fun at school.

Rewrite these sentences, putting the words into the correct order.

1. had / at the party / a good time / yesterday / we

2. a famous film star / became / he / in the end

3. lived / they / ever after / happily

4. underwater / survived / 25 minutes / the boy

5. at 11 a.m. this morning / got married / William and Kate / at Westminster Abbey

6. the quietly sleeping is the cat on couch

7. this the happily played garden afternoon the children in

8. Oxford father in works a in his supermarket

9. last postman delivered the Friday the letters

10. week my last football club at played very well the stadium

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Stop thinking in German when speaking English Trying to translate a German sentence into English often leads to mistakes in word order. Im Deutschen rutscht das Prädikat im Nebensatz nach hinten. Er ging nach Hause und aß zu Abend. Nachdem er nach Hause gekommen war, aß er zu Abend. In English the predicate stays after the subject. He went home and had dinner. After he had gone home, he had dinner.

Right or wrong? Rewrite the wrong sentences, putting the words into the right order.

I saw the film after I the book read had. ✗ I saw the film after I had read the book.

Before I went to the party, I took a shower. ✓

Although my parents a lot of money have, they won’t buy me a new computer.

Ben didn’t know where he his book put had.

Cole Porter wrote a lot of songs, but I don’t think you have ever heard of him.

I believe they will to the cinema go and a film watch.

I think that Simon in love with Maja is.

Before I to school go, I have breakfast.

When he began to sing, Julia put her hands over her ears.

Every time the teacher ‘QUIET!’ shouts, hides my friend under the table.

My grandmother hates cats because they catch birds.

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1. Look at a text you wrote and count the lines and full stops. If there are more full stops than lines you should improve your writing by linking sentences.

2. In the text below you can find 16 full stops in only 7 lines. So there are more sentences than lines! These short or ‘choppy’ sentences make the text sound simple and boring to read. Rewrite the text and make it sound smarter and more interesting by linking sentences.

Example: India is a wonderful, exciting and very big country.

3. And here are some more choppy sentences to practise with:

I like dogs. Dogs make good pets. Dogs are friendly and loyal.

I like films. I go to the cinema every weekend. I like action films best.

Mrs Taylor is my English teacher. She is a good teacher most of the time. Sometimes she is in a bad mood. Then she can get very angry.

George enjoys football. He plays football every Saturday. He plays in a team.

Annette Charles died. She was an actress. She died in Los Angeles. Mrs Charles was 63 years old.

The Edinburgh Fringe has begun. The Edinburgh Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. There are 2,542 shows. The festival lasts over three weeks.

Elephants are big. They live in Africa and Asia. They eat a lot of food.

India is a wonderful and exciting place. It is a very big country. It is the seventh largest country in the world. India lies in South Asia. It lies between Pakistan, China and Nepal. One billion people live in India. It is the second most populous country. The first is China. India is the largest democracy in the world. The capital of India is New Delhi. The country’s largest cities are Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata. India has about 15 major languages. People in India also speak 844 different dialects. About 45 per cent of the population speak Hindi. It is the official language. The other official language is English.

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Linking sentences Combine two sentences by choosing the right conjunction. Example: He loved her. He married her. (unless / that’s why)

He loved her, and that’s why he married her.

1. I often take a hot bath. I go to sleep. (before / but)

2. Betty sets her alarm. She will not be late for school. (so that / but)

3. She wants to move back to London. She hates living in Nottingham. (because / but)

4. He decided to buy his son a new bike. He didn’t have much money. (although / that’s why)

5. He got arrested for driving too fast. The police had stopped his car. (after / so that)

6. She is small. She’s much stronger than me. (although / so that)

7. Summer is here. We are getting a lot of rain. (but / unless)

8. The little boy cried. His mother didn’t buy the new toy. (although / because)

9. He stole her purse. She was sleeping. (while / although)

10. Mom was furious. I had bought a new mobile. (because / so that)

11. They hate you. You are smarter than they are. (but / because)

12. You will be late for school. You get up now. (unless / so that)

13. Zoe is happy about how fast she is losing weight. Her doctor thinks it’s dangerous. (but / unless)

14. I’d like to learn English. I get to know English-speaking people better. (so that / although)

15. He gave her his jacket. She wouldn’t feel cold. (so that / but)

16. The doctor operated. He could save his patient’s life. (unless / so that)

17. I love dogs. I am allergic to dogs. (but / because)

18. You can go shopping with me. You’ve something better to do. (so that / unless)

19. We’ll still be there in time. We left late. (because / although)

20. The street is very busy during the week. At the weekend it’s very quiet. (but / that’s why)

21. I will kill you. You give me all your money. (so that / unless)

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