Components of the English Paper for Form One, Two and Three

A shout out to my lovely students in set 1A, Ariscca, Aisyah, Ainul, Allyssa, Alea, Karmila, Ardini, Adriana, Aina, An, Dania, Damia, Aida, Anis, Hanis, Sushi, Farahin, Amirah, Reena, Niranjana, Nurin, Insyirah, Nurfarra...
please study this video. I will ask you about it in class later.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Listen and watch the video
2. Make a bubble map on 'The Components of The English Paper'

See you in class <3<3<3

Signing off a formal letter...

A Lesson in Punctuation

To master writing, one must master punctuation. Punctuation is arguable the most taken-for-granted part of grammar. Many students do not optimally use punctuation marks in their writing; hence their writing lose that versatility and invite ambiguity.

Punctuation rules 

Punctuation marks are symbols which

1. organize the structure of written language,
2. and indicate intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.

Punctuation marks are also used to avoid ambiguity. For example, "woman, without her man, is nothing" has a different meaning from "woman: without her, man is nothing"
This is a summary of punctuation rules.
Read the punctuation rules and study the examples given.

End punctuation marks:

1. Full stop , or period (.)

• Used a full stop at the end of a sentence:
  She stood up and went away. She was furious.
• Used for abbreviations:
  Co. (Company)
  M.P. (Member of Parliament) 

2. Question marks (?)

• Question marks are used at the end of direct questions:
  Where do you live?
  Are you crazy?
  Did you do the homework?
• Use a question mark at the end of tag questions:
  You will help me, won't you?
  He likes soccer, doesn't he? 

3. Exclamation marks (!)

• Used to indicate strong emotions:
  She's so beautiful!
  What a nice girl!
  How interesting!
• Used after interjections:
  Oh! It's awful.
  Hi! What's up?

Commas (,)

• Commas are used between items in a series or list. The last two items of the series usually do not need a comma between them. They are separated by "and".
  I like spaghetti, fish, pizza and couscous.
• Commas are also used between adjectives or adverbs:
  I'd like to have a big, black, German car.
  She speaks slowly, quietly and eloquently.
• After the street address and city in an address:
  34 Hassan II Street, Rabat, Morocco.
• Before or after direct speech:
  He said,"I hate being treated like that."
  "I'm sorry", she replied.
• Before a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
  He woke up late, so he had to drive to work.

Semicolons (;)

• Semicolons are used instead of a full stop or period to separate independent sentences:
  They woke up early; then they went jogging.
• Use a semicolon to separate items in a series when those items contain punctuation such as a comma:
  They visited the Eiffel Tower, Paris; Big Ben, London; and the statue of liberty, New York

Colons (:)

• Use a colon to introduce a list:
  He visited three cities last summer holiday: Madrid, Roma and Athens.
• To introduce an idea or an explanation:
  He had one idea in mind: to see her as soon as possible.
• To introduce direct speech or a quotation:
  The secretary whispered in his ear: "Your wife is on the phone. "

Dashes (--)

• To introduce parenthetical information:
  I put on a blue jacket --the one my mother bought me-- and blue jeans.
• To show an afterthought:
  I explained to him my point of view-- at least I tried!

Apostrophes (')

• Use an apostrophe to indicate a missing letter or letters in a contraction.
  I'm fed up with his stories
• Use an apostrophe plus the letter "s" to show possession.
  My brother's girlfriend is such a sweet girl.

Quotation marks ("")

• Quotation marks are used to quote speech, sentences or words.
  She said, "I love you."

Taken from myenglishpages

How to Write Good

 

Always avoid alliteration.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Avoid cliches like the plague -- they're old hat.
Employ the vernacular.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Contractions aren't necessary.
Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
One should never generalize.
Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
Avoid archaeic spellings too.
Understatement is always best.
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
One word- sentences? Eliminate. Always!
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
The passive voice should not be used.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors -- even if a mixed
metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Who needs rhetorical questions?
Don't use commas, that, are not, necessary.
Do not use hyperbole; not one in a million can do it effectively.
Never use a big word where a diminutive alternative would suffice.
Subject and verb always has to agree.
Be more or less specific.
Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
Use youre spell chekker to avoid mispelling and to catch typographical errers.
Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
Don't be redundant.
Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
Don't never use no double negatives.
Poofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
Eschew obfuscation.
No sentence fragments.
Don't indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
Always pick on the correct idiom.
The adverb always follows the verb.
And always be sure to finish what

Review of Tenses

click to enlarge

  

Remember, most students use PERFECT TENSES FOR EVERYTHING when the simple tenses would suffice and not give headaches to examiners. My two-cents is if you don't know how to use perfect tenses, DON'T. How to know you know to use perfect tenses? Ask your English teacher. If she had marked your essays, she would know.

Taken from englishleap.com

38 Common Spelling and Grammar Errors

     This is serious matter. LISTEN TO HIM.

Telephone Phrasal Verbs

 

Use the correct phrasal verb when using the telephone. Empower yourself.