Writing in English - Learning with Jonny Bahk-Halberg
Writing in English
Korean students face four major problems in writing English compositions.
1. Fulfilling the assignment. You cannot expect to perform well on a written assignment unless you first understand the assignment and then respond appropriately. To put it more simply, do what the instructions tell you to do. This may seem simple, but most western professors have had the experience of failing adult students who could not follow directions.
Often students drift away from fulfilling the assignment because they posses some knowledge that they feel is impressive and they choose to write about this rather than to stick closely to the assignment. Resist this temptation. A professor does not care to hear a history of the Chosun dynasty when he has requested an assessment of recent economic issues in Korea.
2. Organization. Be sure you have at least a general understanding of English organizational strategies. Short written assignments often require only one paragraph. You should know that a paragraph begins with an indentation of five spaces. The first sentence of your paragraph should be your topic sentence. This topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph, and you should think of it as a promise to the reader, a promise of what you are going to talk about. After the topic sentence come body sentences, which support the topic sentence; they fulfill the promise you made in your topic sentence. You should read your paragraph over and ask yourself, first, if your topic sentence is well formed and appropriate to the assignment, and, second, if each of your body sentences somehow fulfills the promise you made in your topic sentence. If not, you have a problem and you need to revise.
Longer writing assignments require an essay. An essay is a collection of paragraphs about one topic. Typically, western students learn to write the five-paragraph essay. This includes an introduction paragraph, which contains the thesis statement, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The most important part of the essay is the thesis statement. The thesis statement works like the topic sentence, but on a larger scale. The thesis statement must be general enough to include the ideas presented in three body paragraphs, but specific to the assignment. The thesis statement is often the last sentence of the introductory paragraph.
Body paragraphs must, of course, each contain a topic sentence. In the essay, each topic sentence should naturally support the thesis statement. In turn, the body sentences of each body paragraph should support the paragraph’s topic sentence.
The last paragraph, the conclusion, is usually rather short, and presents some final comments on the topic.
See pages 4 and 5 for a sample paragraph and sample essay.
3. Sentence Structure. Unfortunately, creating well-formed English sentences is notoriously difficult for Korean students. Part of the problem is the differences in the structures of English and Korean, but there are some simple guidelines students can follow to help ensure construction of clear, well-formed sentences.
First, remember that if you have any doubts about a sentence structure, simple is better. To be sure, a paragraph or essay full of very simple sentences sounds extremely childish. But, in general, a simple sentence is preferable to a long, complicated sentence that is unintelligible.
Second, when constructing complex sentences, limit your constructions to two clauses. You can use two independent clauses in one sentence, an independent clause and a dependent clause in one sentence, or a main clause and a relative clause in one sentence. Typically, Korean students create problems for themselves by trying to construct sentences with three or more clauses. See pages 7 - 10 for sentence structure examples.
4. Word Choice. Using the correct word in the correct context is important to successful writing. The first key is to build vocabulary. Vocabulary textbooks are extremely helpful, but students wishing to attend high-level universities should be reading English articles and books, thus encountering vocabulary in use. One problem for Korean students is outdated and inaccurate Korean – English dictionaries. Even though electronic dictionaries are new technology, they often contain old data. Many word choice errors can be attributed to translation dictionaries. Students should learn to rely on English language dictionaries as much as possible.
Organization Examples
Sample Paragraph
My dog, Paduk, is a dirty puppy. He loves to dig holes in the ground, and then run inside our house. He leaves a trail of dirt wherever he goes. Paduk also loves to go to the bathroom on the floor. He never goes to the bathroom outside. Finally, Paduk hates to take a bath. Whenever I try to bathe him, he screams, bites me, and runs away. Paduk loves being a dirty dog.
In the paragraph above, the first sentence, My dog, Paduk, is a dirty puppy is the topic sentence. Note that every sentence that follows gives an example of how and why Paduk is dirty. We can see that the topic sentence is general: Paduk is a dirty puppy. In the topic sentence My dog, Paduk is the topic, and is a dirty puppy is the controlling idea. The body sentences are specific: he digs holes, he leaves a trail of dirt, he goes to the bathroom on the floor, he hates to take a bath. To say I bought Paduk in Cheongno would not be appropriate, because, even though that sentence is about Paduk, it is information that is not included in the controlling idea of dirty puppy. A topic sentence should always make a general statement, and body sentences should always provide specific details.
Sample Essay
Last year, I was fortunate to be able to spend six months in Los Angles studying English. Although my main goal was to improve my English, I learned a great deal about American culture. America and Korea are different in customs, living conditions, and food.
There are many American customs that are different from those in Korea. First, as most people know, when Americans greet one another they shake hands. They never bow to one another. Second, Americans rarely take off their shoes when they enter their homes. Also, Americans are more independent than Koreans. They don’t often meet in large groups like Koreans do, and they do many things alone.
Living conditions in America are quite different from Korea. Since America is a very large country, there is a lot of space, and apartments and houses are often very large and much cheaper than in Korea. American college students often have their own apartments. Also, many Americans learn to drive when they are fifteen, and get their drivers licenses when they are sixteen. Many Americans own their own cars when they are teenagers.
There are many kinds of food in America that differ from the food in Korea. Americans eat a great deal of red meat and chicken. They also fry much of their food, which makes it fattening. American food is not as spicy as Korean food, and Americans eat much less fish. Many Americans cannot eat raw fish.
I had a great time in America, and I improved my English. Living in another country can be difficult, though, because lifestyles differ so greatly.
In the essay above, America and Korea are different in customs, living conditions, and food is the thesis statement of the essay. Notice that it is the last sentence of the introduction paragraph. Notice also that the thesis statement lists three specific ways in which America and Korea are different: (a) customs, (b) living conditions, and (c) food. The first body paragraph is about customs, the second body paragraph is about living conditions, and the third body paragraph is about food. This is a very clear and effective means of organizing an essay. It can be represented as a formula:
Thesis Statement = a, b, c
Body Paragraph 1 = a
Body Paragraph 2 = b
Body Paragraph 3 = c
The outline below shows how our essay above fits this formula:
Thesis Statement: America and Korea are different in customs, living conditions, and food.
Body Paragraph 1: There are many American customs that are different from those in Korea.
Body Paragraph 2: Living conditions in America are quite different from Korea.
Body Paragraph 3: There are many kinds of food in America that differ from the food in Korea.
The thesis statement is the most general statement; it includes the ideas that make up the topic sentences of the three body paragraphs. The body sentences of the body paragraphs give very specific details.
Sentence Structure Examples
Look at the following two sentences:
1. The weatherman predicted rain.
2. I did not carry an umbrella.
Sentences 1 and 2 above are simple sentences; they each have a subject, a verb, and an object. They are well-formed sentences, but since they are both connected in meaning, or context, good writers will often choose to connect these two sentences to make one compound sentence. A compound sentence is made up of two or more independent clauses. A clause is simply a group of words within a sentence containing a subject and a verb. Joining two independent clauses into a compound sentence is called coordination.
Coordination
We already know that sentences 1 and 2 above can stand alone as sentences; we said that they were well formed. Therefore, if we join them together into one sentence they will become independent clauses. An independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself as a complete sentence. To coordinate means to make equal things work together; therefore, since independent clauses are equal, when we join them together we call it coordination.
There are three patterns of coordination.
A. The weatherman predicted rain, but I did not carry an umbrella.
In sentence A we connected the two independent clauses using , but. In this sentence but is a coordinating conjunction (a conjunction is a linking word). Other coordinating conjunctions include:
, and
, for
, nor
, or
, so
, yet
B. The weatherman predicted rain; I did not carry an umbrella.
In sentence B we have simply used a semicolon to separate the two independent clauses.
C. The weatherman predicted rain; nevertheless, I did not carry an umbrella.
In sentence C we have separated the two independent clauses with a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb and a comma. Other conjunctive adverb options include:
; consequently,
; furthermore,
; however,
; in addition,
; indeed,
; in fact,
; moreover,
; then,
; therefore,
Subordination
Another option for joining sentences 1 and 2 is by making one of the clauses a dependent clause. While an independent clause can function by itself as a simple sentence, a dependent clause would be an incomplete sentence on its own. A dependent clause must be connected to an independent clause to create a well-formed sentence. The word subordinate describes something that is less than equal to something else. Since a dependent clause is not equal to an independent clause, when we join a dependent and an independent clause we call it subordination.
D. Although the weatherman predicted rain, I did not carry an umbrella.
In sentence D the first clause, Although the weatherman predicted rain cannot be a sentence by itself because of the word although. Although is a subordinating conjunction. Other subordinating conjunctions include:
after
as (as if)
because
before
if
since
unless
until
when
whenever
whereas
while
Relative Clauses
Relative clause structures connect two simple sentences for descriptive purposes. For this reason they are sometimes called adjectival clauses, because the relative clause functions like an adjective. Examine the following simple sentences and their relative clause structure when joined:
E. The man is fat.
F. He lives upstairs.
G. The man who lives upstairs is fat.
In sentence G who lives upstairs is the relative clause, which describes The man. The remaining segment of the sentence, The man is fat, is the main clause.
H. Chusok is a holiday.
I. People visit their families then.
J. Chusok is a holiday when people visit their families.
In sentence J when people visit their families is the relative clause, which describes holiday. Chusok is a holiday is the main clause of the sentence.
Effective writers revise their papers, looking for problems. Students should be able to look at every sentence in their papers and identify each sentence as either simple, or made up of at most two clauses. Students should be able to identify the clauses in any of their complex sentences as independent, dependent, main or relative. This simple rule of limiting sentences to two clauses of the types described above can save a student from most serious sentence structure errors.
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