Focus on Words

A CUP OF TEA (the end of the story)
Half an hour later Philip was still in the library, when Rosemary came in.
“I only wanted to tell you,” said she, and she leaned against the door again, “Miss
Smith won’t dine with us tonight.”
Philip put down the paper. “Oh, what’s happened? Pre vious engagement?”
Rosemary came over and sat down on his knee. “She insisted on going,” she said,
“so I gave the poor little thing a present of money. I couldn’t keep her against her
will, could I?” she added softly.
There was a pause.
Then Rosemary said dreamily: “I saw a wonderful little box today. It cost twentyeight
guineas. Can I have it?”
“You can, little wasteful one,” said he. “You know I can’t deny you anything.”
But that was not really what Rosemary wanted to say.
“Philip,” she whispered, “am I pretty?”
WRITE ON
Organising the text
The ideal English text is easy to read and understand. Even scientific texts are
usually written in plain English words. So try to keep your sentences plain, clear and
well structured.
Before writing an essay you should:
• find out whether the writer is positive or negative
• distinguish between facts an opinions
• find arguments for and against
When writing in English, keep the following rules in mind:
• exclude irrelevant information
• organise the ideas in a logical order
• divide the text into paragraphs
• use simple language
• keep subordinate clauses short
• prefer verbs to nouns (not: The meaning of this is that …, but: This means that …)
• avoid slang and techy language
• make your texts interesting by using various types of clauses
To make your essay better you can make use of the following words and
expressions:
Defi ning purpose: the purpose of the essay is the to describe/to persuade/ to
discuss/to explain/ to analyse/ to compare to evaluate
Reporting opinions: suggest, believe, argue, claim, maintain
Expressing certainty and uncertainty: it is certain/clear/probable/possible/likely/
unlikely, undoubtedly, probably, possibly
Adding information: moreover, what is more, as well as, in addition, furthermore
Now write an essay “Why should people speak English?”
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