WRITING SKILLS FOR FIRST CERTIFICATE

Writing Malcolm Mann Steve Taylore-Knowles ~ MACMILLAl\ Macmillan Education Betwee n Towns Road O xford OX4 3PP A division of Macmillan Publishers Limited Companies and representa tives throughout the world ISBN1405 01747 jext and design e Macmillan Publishers Limited 20m First published 2003 All rights reserved: no part of t his pub lication may be reprod uced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electromc mechanical photocopying record ing or oth erwise without the prio r written permission of the publishers Original design by Marc Theriault at Polyplano Tnessalon iki Greece Additional design by Anne Sherlock Design development by Thomas Nicolaou at Polyplano Illustrated by Micro Sympan Cover design by Marc Theriault Cover photo e Photoprsc Malcolm Mann wou ld like to th ank eve ryo ne at Macm illan and Macm illan Zenith for all their support and en co uragement during the writing of th is series Steve Taylo re -Knowles would like to thank Jeanne Sue Emma, Yanni and Geo rge for making it happen and keeping it fun Malc for put ting up wit h putting him up Jo for just putting up with him and all his FC students who se faces and voice s were constantly in his mind as he wrot e The publishers wou ld like to th ank Ann Gibson , ELl Consu ltant Thanks a lso to Ja in Coo k The aut hors and publishers would like to t hank t he following for pe rmissions to reproduce th eir p hotog raphs: Co rbis pp12, 16(a), 18, 22(b, c d), 34, 40, 46(b), 52, 54 58 60 64,66, 70(a, c), 76 82, 88(b, c), 94: Eyewi re pplO(d), 16(a,c), 22(a): Ko bal pa: Sto ne p78; Superstoc k pplO(a b c) 22{a) 46(c), 70(b) 88(a), Comm issioned photography by Dean Ryan p46(a) Printed and bound in Thailand 2006 2007 10 87 200 S Topic Skills focus Exam practice Grammar Composition focus focus Page Films selecting correct register informal letter have got to Occupations awareness of target article gerunds and infinitives 10 reader Education using prompts informal transactional letter articles 16 Sport layout and text structure report direct and indirect objects 22 adverbs and adjectives 28 direct and indirect speech 34 40 People Travel using descriptive language story developing a narrative story Food and Drink awareness of purpose letter of application inversions The Media selecting appropriate article elision of relative style pronouns and auxiliary verbs 46 The Weather making suggestions informal letter the verb 'suggest' 52 10 The Environment developing beyond prompts formal transactional letter preposition placing 58 11 Technology using complex sentences discursive composition participle clauses 64 12 Health and Fitness using set phrases letter of application formal conditionals 70 13 Transport formal transactional prefer / letter would rather 76 informal transactional causative form 82 expression of contrast 88 comparative comparisons 94 14 15 16 Fashion interpreting graphics paragraphing letter Crime Shopping presenting an argument punctuation, spelling and abbreviations Model compositions Useful Phrase Reference discursive composition report 100 109 Formal and Informal Language 111 Exam know-how 112 U n t Films WARM -UP Look at the pictures In pairs, ask and answer the fo llowing que stion s • Have yo u seen any of th es e f ilms? Did you en joy t hem? • What yo u th ink the ones yo u haven't see n are about? • What's yo ur favo urit e film? Why? DEVELOP YOUR WRITING SKILLS / Formal or informal? Read t hese ext racts fro m d iffere nt pieces of writ ing about films, and decide whether the language is generally formal o r informal Circle the appropriate word above eac h extract A formal /informal I saw a great movie last night with Helen You'd have loved it! It's called The Score and it's about a robbe ry De Niro is fab as one of the robbers, and Ed ward Norton - as usua l is realty cool! Great twist at the end, too reckon it's gonna win loads of Oscars B formal / informal I would be extremely grateful if yo u cou ld let me know how long I will have to wait from the date of my order until the satellite dish and programme decoder are inst alled C formal / informal Alt houg h there may we ll be some kind of connectio n between vio lence on TV and vio lence in society it's really not clear what that connection is It ce rtainly is not the case that the majority of people after wat ching a vio lent film, feel an increased need to commit vio lent acts In fact possibl y quite the opposite D fo rmal / info rmal As requested, I have visit ed the three outdoor cine mas currently t aking part in th e film fest ival I have co mpared them in terms of t icket pricing, facilities, comfort , so und quality and picture qualit y My findings are o utl ined belo w E formal /informal To conclude cinema appears to be increasing in popu larity amongst younger age groups despite t he availability of high-quality video and DVD The evidence suggests that t his is due partly to th e social element involved in going to t he cinema , and part ly to the benefits of a large screen and state-of-t he-art sound system G formal /informal -Furthe rmore your advertisement stated that the DVD contains interviews with the stars and t he director The copy which I received unfortunately co nta ins the film and nothing more H formal / informal As you will see from my C.V (attached), I have worked as an extra on a number of films I believe that my references from those films demonstrate that I am professional, reliable and hardwork ing F Kyle's language: fo rma l / _iof9rma( The writer's language: formal/ informa l 'Oh, I really don't fancy going to t he cinema tonight Can't we just sta y in and watch a movie on TV or something?' said Kyle His tone of voice revealed t hat he was hiding his real reasons for wanting to remain at home How did you know? Look again at ext racts A, Band C Write a word or short phrase from t he ext racts on t he lines provided e xtr act A Find two examples of informal grammar Fi nd an example of an informal verb Fi nd an example of informal punct uat ion Find a sentence without a ve rb S Find an example of VERY informal spe lling Which word is short for 'fabulous'? Which phrase means 'many'? extract B Which phrase mea ns 'Please te ll me : ? Find one example of the passive extract C Find one example of fo rmal grammar Find one example of informal grammar Find a mo re formal phrase fo r 'It's not tru e at all ' Find a more formal phrase for 'most' W r i t i ng s » 1/5 I Unit U n t DEVELOP YOUR WRITING SKILLS Match the text types Now loo k at all the extracts again Match each e xtract with a text type below, by writing A-H on the lines provided letter of application letter of complaint letter req uest ing information letter to a penfriend composition for your teacher art icle fo r a young people's magazine report short sto ry Discuss ~ Discuss your answers Do you agree on the text t ypes? What you think? Write T for True and F for Fa lse next to these statements about writing In an article for a young people's magazine you shouldn't use contractions (don't can't it's etc) at all In a composition for your teacher you should avoid using contractions Only gramm ar is formal o r informal; vocabu lary isn't Phrasal ve rbs are usually (but not always) informal When yo u write a piece of writing, th e level of fo rmality depends on who yo ur reader is You only need t o have paragraphs in a formal piece of writ ing You can be quite chatty and co nversational in a lette r of ap plicatio n A co mposition fo r yo ur teacher is mo re formal than an art icle for a young person's magazine An art icle fo r a young person's magazine is the same level of formality as a letter to a penfriend Study the model Quickly read model co mposition on page 100 and find info rmal words and ph rases that mean the same as these more form al words and phrases Thank you very much bought I am very plea sed much Yes howeve r difficult I have t o Now find three examp les of informa l grammar and t wo e xamples of informal pun ctuation and circle them in t he model COMPOSITION DEVELOPMENT ~ Read th is composit ion question and t he exercises that follow You saw an interesting film at the cinema last night Write a lett er to you r penfriend explaining why you enjoyed the film so much and recommend ing that they see it Write your letter • Brainstorming Answer the followin g quest ions using yo ur imagination Discuss your answers with the class What 's the name of your penfriend? _ What will yo u refer to fro m t he ir last letter or what will you ask them, BEFORE you ment ion th e film? Who did yo u go to th e cinema wit h? What was th e name of the film you saw? What kind of film is it? Who is in it? Who directed it? What is it about? Why did you parti cularl y en joy it? Why yo u t hink your friend will enjoy it? What reaso n will yo u give for ending your lette r? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Th in k ab out fo rm a li t y Circle the sentences which would be appropri ate for this kind of lette r There might be mo re t han one se ntence in each group which is ap pro priate Paragraph a I am writing to thank you fo r your letter b Thanks a lot for yo ur last lette r e I'm writing to thank you fo r your last lette r d Go and see it if you get th e chance I think you'll lo ve it! e I wo uld st ro ngly suggest that you go and see thi s movie Paragraph a Anyway, a bunch of us went t o the cinema last night b My news - I went to th e movies last night wit h Darren and Angie c I would like to de scribe an interesti ng film I saw at t he cinema last night Paragraph a To concl ude , th e film was marvellous b Well, I'd better go now as I've got to some ho mework e That's all from me fo r now I'll be in touch again soon Paragraph a Bruce Willis was great as the baddie! b Furthermore, we we re all ext re mely impressed by both the quality of the acting and the direct io n e I'd t he refore reco mmend that you se e it as soo n as you get th e chance Closing expressions a Yours, b Yours faithfull y, c Yours sincerel y, d Take care, e Lots of love, f Bye for now ! Wr r ing Sk i l l s / Unit u n t Wordperfect Plan your paragraphs Complete t he fo llowin g par agraph plan, making notes o n what yo u are going t o include in each paragraph I",-Poy"",,,,,l let+ey pI""", De"",., , P""''('''B'"'''''Pl.- I PO\v",~ O\pv., P(>\YO\BYO\pV ., PO\YO\BYOI.pI.-.4 Closi B Read t hese sente nces and then use t he words in bold to complete t he sentences below • You can get your tickets at th e box office at the cinema • We don't watch many videos these days; we ten d to watch DVDs - t he quality is bette r • The film is about a guy who t ravels back in t ime to save t he planet • The Score stars Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Edward Norton • In t he film, De Ni ro plays a jazz dub owne r who is also a maste r t hief • Gone with th e Wind is set in t he American Civil War • Shall we go to the video store/club and get a video out for tonight? • Most foreign-language films have subtitles at the bottom for you t o read • Some foreign-language films are dubbed, which means t hat t hey put all t he voices into your language • A twist in t he plot is when something very unexpected happ ens e,cpvessio (s) Yo " p(vst 11.