Writing composition, Year 7: more practice

'School lunches have become much healthier in recent years.'

提示Look for the sentence that makes a point the rest of the paragraph could go on to prove.

为什么A good topic sentence states an idea big enough to develop with detail. The first is a reaction and the second is a bare fact, so neither gives the paragraph anything to explain.

The title or main topic

提示Everything else branches off it.

为什么The legs of the spider carry the separate ideas or paragraphs. Writing the topic in the middle keeps every branch tied to the question.

'The shop bell rang, though nobody had touched the door.'

提示Which one makes you want to know what happens next?

为什么The second opening starts with something strange and leaves a question in the air. The first is a flat start that tells the reader nothing worth wondering about.

A question

提示Look at the punctuation mark that ends the line.

为什么Opening on a question puts the reader straight into the narrator's puzzle. The reader keeps going to find the answer.

'The kitchen smelled of burnt toast and warm cinnamon.'

提示Which one lets you picture exactly what is in the room?

为什么Naming real things gives the reader something to imagine. A vague word like nice could mean almost anything.

No — write the words in full ('do not', 'cannot')

提示Think about how a stranger expects to be addressed.

为什么Formal writing avoids chatty shortcuts. In a letter to a friend, contractions are fine because they sound like speech.

In the first paragraph

提示The reader is busy and has never heard of you.

为什么A formal letter states its purpose straight away, then gives reasons in the paragraphs that follow. The reader should never have to hunt for the request.

It moves past unimportant time quickly

提示Would the reader want three whole days of detail?

为什么Showing takes space, so it belongs on the moments that matter. Quick telling keeps the pace up through the parts that do not.

'"I'm tired," said Sam.'

提示The sentence carries on after the speech, so look at what comes before the closing speech mark.

为什么When a speech tag follows, the spoken words end with a comma (or a ? or !) inside the speech marks. A full stop would end the sentence too early.

'their' for 'there'

提示Ask whether the wrong version is still a real word.

为什么A spell-checker only flags letter strings that are not words. 'Their' is a real word, so only a careful read-through will catch it.