Some writing TIPS!!

Many students ask me how to write well. Well, I am not really gifted in writing, but one think I know for sure is, I love writing. Personally, I think writing is a symbol that we are literate. So, because we are not illiterate, we should be able to write. In addition, writing has benefits which are not found in speaking. For instance, I love to write some lines when I want to grumble at myself...when I slip on something bad. No one knows, just me and my writing...if you shout at yourself verbally...wow just imagine it, people might think that you are crazy. But through writing, there are only you and your writing...so people still think that you are normal...hehhe.
 Below are some things that I find them work to improve our writing skill.
1. Never do translation
 If you are to write in English, but you need to first write in your native language (bhs. Indo or Sasak Lang, or Bimaness L. or Marsh L, or whatever you call as native), trust me, you are killing your brain. Our brains don't work that way in processing a second language. If you do that, it means you activate the part of the brain for the first language acquisition, not the second language. I had some friends in my collage who needed to write in Bhs. Indo before the went on writing in English. I could see how tiring was that, they had more works to do than us who didn't do translation. And the worst thing was, they couldn't write directly in English even when they reached gained competencies with their speaking and reading. So now, please force yourself to write directly in English.

2. Write all things in English
When I need to take a note, I always write in English, even though the speaker uses Bhs. Indo, I just translate them into English, in this case, translation is good. This may help you to drill yourself in thinking in English, and  later, helps you with your flow in writing.

3. Why not write a diary or journal
Well, this one may be considered classic. When I was a school girl in junior and senior high school, my teachers asked us to write a daily journal. I did it with Bhs. Indo in junior high school and in English when I was in senior high school. Both had great benefits for my writing. They helped me with my flow and style in writing---and for my structure and tense, particularly how to write in past tense.
Now, you can do it in a more modern way, just write on your blog...it will be safe in terms of privacy and protection from viruses.

4. Read a lot
We learn to speak from listening, and we learn to write from reading. So, just read a lot...you'll experience the goodness for your writing.

It's been ages since the last time I shared something on this blog...I hope this one will be useful. Happy to share. Good luck.

Printed Pages

Hello students!
Here are the pages that you need to have the printed from our handout : Great Writing 2 Great Parag.

1.       Session 1:

·         P. 20-23

2.       Session 2:

·         26-27

3.       Session 3:

·         28-30

·         36

4.       Session 4 & 5:

·         49 – 54

5.       Session 6: Midterm test

6.       Session 7:

·         58 – 60

7.       Session 8 -9:

·         63 – 64

·         70- 72

8.       Session 10-12 :

·         221 - 231

  P.S : It is a must for you to come to the class with this printed material.

Hurting

Your smile red and dark

Flatter the sorrow within

To gleam and laugh

But it hurts my soul a lot

Your bodily passes to and fro

Yet mine frozen under the shadow

The pain you lock me here and there

How couldn’t your bare eyes see?

 That hurts me from head to toe

From skin to flesh

Scattering my nerve and cells

It’s no need to say in this odd day

Cause my lips turn petrified

To beg you to stop

For that hurts me a lot!

Men and Women Brain Distinction

      If you are a woman, I am sure sometimes, if not often you happen to feel disappointed by the way your couple responds to what you need him to. For instance, you want him to listen carefully to your grumble about your boss, but what he did is to your thinking, not as a good listener because he cannot move his eyes from the television screen. Then you start to get mad but he insists on saying that he is listening to you! Well, it happened to me sometime in the past, but I finally understood that it has something to do with the distinction of brain structure between men and women which to me, has some philosophical issues.

     In the case sample above, the condition reveals the basic differences between how men and women communicate ruled by the brains. Women brain tends to have bigger sense of emotion as women have larger deep limbic system. Meanwhile men brain tends to be task-oriented. So, what your couple does is truly listening to your saying but he does not simply and easily capture the emotion that you feel. What he does is trying to analyze what was happening by linking each detail of the information given. Thus, he may give more logical opinion or solution. However, in this same case, the other possibility is which is worse; your couple does indeed not pay attention. In this case, it is not because he ignores you or considering you hyperbolize everything but it is due to men brain cannot cope with doing more than one thing at once. Men have fewer connecting fiber between the hemispheres. So, men cannot branch their attention as good as women do.        
     Nevertheless, men may focus on one problem better than women. Regarding the case sample, your couple may be so deeply absorbed by the TV program that he could not really pay attention to you. Personally, I think this difference has been designed to meet the need of men and women daily life. Women brain is designed to be able to do more things at once, because women have indeed larger role in life. For example, as a working mom, we often deal with preparing the documents needed to be brought to the office while also finding the shock for the kids and answering a telephone call! On the other side, men get more leadership position, perhaps for they have better projection on only one goal problem which is sharp and deep.

     The different brain structure also influences the language capability and language choice between men and women. Research has found that women achieve more success in language learning. As an English teacher for years, I notice that my female students are better in learning the foreign language. It is due to women process language in both hemispheres while men dominantly do it in the left hemisphere. In addition, linguists have also found that men and women have different words choice to express a similar thing. Some words are more associated with women such as lovely, beautiful, cute and some other similar adjectives which sound more feminine. Men, tend use words such as great, good, brilliant, and short of.

     These whole differences may even be recognized in kids. If you are a mom like me, you will notice the difference. My little boy will usually deeply focus on his new toy, by sometimes breaking it into pieces because he wants to know what are there. So he will ignore my calling. On the opposite, my little daughter will tend to ask me to play doll with her. Again, this deals with the structure that men brain focuses on the object while women’s need to maintain an emotional relationship.

     So, just don’t easily get frustrated if you find this annoying case in your relationship. As men and women think differently as we have different brain structure, designed based on the need of each.

 

Coordinating conjunction

Coordinating Conjunctions by NisaScrib

An article for writing 1

Hello students, welcome to the english writing 1.
Perhaps, this is  your first look onto my blog..well it's not too late as some hundreds other students have been tired of this. Talking about the course,  this course is designed to meet your needs to perform the basic competence of academic writing. Below is an article that I would like to discuss on the very beginning of our class. You can also Google this article or just take it for granted from this blog.
The last but not the least, make sure you read it, bye then.
 

English Composition 1

Sentences: Simple, Compound, and Complex

A common weakness in writing is the lack of varied sentences. Becoming aware of three general types of sentences--simple, compound, and complex--can help you vary the sentences in your writing.

The most effective writing uses a variety of the sentence types explained below.

1. Simple Sentences

A simple sentence has the most basic elements that make it a sentence: a subject, a verb, and a completed thought.

Examples of simple sentences include the following:

1. Joe waited for the train.
   "Joe" = subject, "waited" = verb
    
2. The train was late.
   "The train" = subject, "was" = verb
    
3. Mary and Samantha took the bus.
   "Mary and Samantha" = compound subject, "took" = verb
    
4. I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station.
   "I" = subject, "looked" = verb
    
5. Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon and left on the bus before I arrived.
   "Mary and Samantha" = compound subject, "arrived" and "left" = compound verb  

Tip: If you use many simple sentences in an essay, you should consider revising some of the sentences into compound or complex sentences (explained below).

The use of compound subjects, compound verbs, prepositional phrases (such as "at the bus station"), and other elements help lengthen simple sentences, but simple sentences often are short. The use of too many simple sentences can make writing "choppy" and can prevent the writing from flowing smoothly.  

A simple sentence can also be referred to as an independent clause. It is referred to as "independent" because, while it might be part of a compound or complex sentence, it can also stand by itself as a complete sentence.

2. Compound Sentences

A compound sentence refers to a sentence made up of two independent clauses (or complete sentences) connected to one another with a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions are easy to remember if you think of the words "FAN BOYS":

• For
• And
• Nor
• But
• Or
• Yet
• So

Examples of compound sentences include the following:

1. Joe waited for the train, but the train was late.
    
2. I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station, but they arrived at the station before noon and left on the bus before I arrived.
    
3. Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, and they left on the bus before I arrived.
    
4. Mary and Samantha left on the bus before I arrived, so I did not see them at the bus station.

Tip: If you rely heavily on compound sentences in an essay, you should consider revising some of them into complex sentences (explained below).

Coordinating conjunctions are useful for connecting sentences, but compound sentences often are overused. While coordinating conjunctions can indicate some type of relationship between the two independent clauses in the sentence, they sometimes do not indicate much of a relationship. The word "and," for example, only adds one independent clause to another, without indicating how the two parts of a sentence are logically related. Too many compound sentences that use "and" can weaken writing.

Clearer and more specific relationships can be established through the use of complex sentences. 

3. Complex Sentences

A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses connected to it. A dependent clause is similar to an independent clause, or complete sentence, but it lacks one of the elements that would make it a complete sentence. 

Examples of dependent clauses include the following:

• because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon
• while he waited at the train station
• after they left on the bus

Dependent clauses such as those above cannot stand alone as a sentence, but they can be added to an independent clause to form a complex sentence.

Dependent clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions. Below are some of the most common subordinating conjunctions:

• after
• although
• as
• because
• before
• even though
• if
• since
• though
• unless
• until
• when
• whenever
• whereas
• wherever
• while

A complex sentence joins an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses.

The dependent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the independent clause, as in the following:

Tip: When the dependent clause comes first, a comma should be used to separate the two clauses.

1. Because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, I did not see them at the station.
2. While he waited at the train station, Joe realized that the train was late.
3. After they left on the bus, Mary and Samantha realized that Joe was waiting at the train station.

Conversely, the independent clauses can go first in the sentence, followed by the dependent clause, as in the following:

Tip: When the independent clause comes first, a comma should not be used to separate the two clauses.

1. I did not see them at the station because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon.
2. Joe realized that the train was late while he waited at the train station.
3. Mary and Samantha realized that Joe was waiting at the train station after they left on the bus.

Complex sentences are often more effective than compound sentences because a complex sentence indicates clearer and more specific relationships between the main parts of the sentence. The word "before," for instance, tells readers that one thing occurs before another. A word such as "although" conveys a more complex relationship than a word such as "and" conveys.

The term periodic sentence is used to refer to a complex sentence beginning with a dependent clause and ending with an independent clause, as in "While he waited at the train station, Joe realized that the train was late."

Periodic sentences can be especially effective because the completed thought occurs at the end of it, so the first part of the sentence can build up to the meaning that comes at the end.

Beginning Sentences with "And" or "Because"

Should you begin a sentence with "and" or "but" (or one of the other coordinating conjunctions)?

The short answer is "no." You should avoid beginning a sentence with "and," "or," "but," or the other coordinating conjunctions. These words generally are used to join together parts of a sentence, not to begin a new sentence.

However, such sentences can be used effectively. Because sentences beginning with these words stand out, they are sometimes used for emphasis. If you use sentences beginning with one of the coordinating conjunctions, you should use these sentences sparingly and carefully.

Should you begin a sentence with "because"?

There is nothing wrong with beginning a sentence with "because."

Perhaps some students are told not to begin a sentence with "because" to avoid sentence fragments (something like "Because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon" is a sentence fragment), but it is perfectly acceptable to begin a sentence with "because" as long as the sentence is complete (as in "Because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, I did not see them at the station.")