ENG 212

COURSE OUTLINE.

1. INTRODUCTION
–DEFINING KEY TERMS: EFFECTIVE WRITING {THE USE OF LANGUAGE AND STYLE}
2. ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE WRITING; WRITER, MEDIUM, CONTEXT, MESSAGE, AND AUDIENCE
3. UNDERSTANDING THE PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE WRITING: ECONOMY, SIMPLICITY, CLARITY,
BREVITY, COHERENCE AND COHESION
4. THE PROCESS OF COMPOSITION
–PRE-WRITING, OUTLINING, COMPOSING, EDITING, PROOFREADING
5. TECHNIQUES OF EFFECTIVE WRITING; LANGUAGE, CONTENT AND FORM
– LANGUAGE_ VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT: METHODS OF DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE
VOCABULARY _ COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS _ COMMONLY MISAPPLIED WORDS
-FORM _ TECHNIQUES OF DEVELOPING FORMS _ TEXTUAL ORGANIZATION {CHRONOLOGICAL,
SPATIAL, ANALYTICAL}
_COHERENCE AND COHESION _ BEGINNINGS AND CONCLUSION
_ TRANSITION MARKERS _ DEVELOPING STRUCTURE _ PARAGRAPHING
_CONTENT_ TECHNIQUES OF DEVELOPING CONTENT _ FINDING TOPIC _ GENERATING IDEAS _
RETAINING FOCUS _ COORDINATING IDEAS
6. TYPES OF WRITING
_ESSAY WRITING: NARRATION, DESCRIPTION, EXPOSITION AND PERSUASION.
_LITERARY WRITING: REVIEWS, CVRITICAL WRITING
_BUSINESS WRITING: LETTERS, REPORTS
_ACADEMIC WRITING: RESEARCH WRITING
7. MECHANICS OF WRITING
_PUNCTUATION {END PUNCTUATION, INTERNATIONAL PUNCTUATION, WORD PUNCTUATION}
_SPELLING {SPELLING FORMS, SPELLING TECHNIQUES, CONFUSING PLAINS, COMMONLY
MISPELLED WORDS}
LESSON ONE [1]

ADVANCED WRITING SKILLS [LANGUAGE AND STYLE]

What is writing? Writing is the process of documentation of information through the use of symbols,
letters, and signs that are commonly shared by a group of people.

The purpose of writing is to communicate information to the audience

What is effective writing? Writing becomes effective when the reader is able to interpret, decipher the
meaning of the message the writer is trying to pass across to the reader. Until a writer is able to
communicate ideas to the reader, the writing is not effective.

Effective writing communicates the intention of the writer to the reader. Until the reader is able to
interpret these intentions, the writing is not effective.

LANGUAGE

Writing entails the use of language, and before you can write effectively, the writer has to understand
the appropriate use of language.

Language entails

1. Topic sentence starting your paragraph: it helps the reader to know the whole idea of the
paragraph by simply reading the first sentence in that paragraph
2. Subject verb agreement
3. Sentence construction
4. Grammatical usage – appropriate choice of synonymous words because some synonyms of
some words may not depict the real meaning of the sentence
5. Avoid usage of limited vocabulary - that is expand the scope of your vocabulary
6. Usage of punctuation marks
7. Usage of capital letter
8. Outline your ideas before writing
9. It should be clear and words shouldn’t be too ambiguous
10. It must be well organized

STYLE

Style is the way thoughts and intentions of the writer are expressed through the choice of words,
sentences, structure length of words, diction, voice, tone and figurative expression made by the writer.

Style determines the nature of language we use for the reader.

When we implore all these expressions, choice of words, sentence structure, diction, and the restv and
the reader is able to depict the exact idea of the writer, then we can say we have employed style; and
style plus language thus make our writing effective.

TYPES OF STYLE

1. Formal
2. Sentimental
3. Elaborate
4. Earnest
5. Artificial
6. Aggressive
7. Flat
LESSON TWO [2]

ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE WRITING

1. WRITER: a writer is someone who engages i9n the activities of writing either of personal or
artistic purposes. A writer is a professional because writing is his profession. Every academician
is a writer, and every student is being trained to be a writer. There are different writers in
different who write to produce re4ading materials for people in the profession. Some engage in
writing short stories and novels. Some engage in writing cartoons, adverts, handbill, etc. every
writer has an idea to write 0on and for a purpose. Without an idea, one cannot write
successfully. The idea of the writer must relate to the purpose of writing. The purpose may be
to motivate, criticize, rebel, insult, insight, protest, educate, entertain, and so on

2. MEDIUM: it ids the channel through which a message is communicated. The medium of writing
is language in a written form. Written language has form and conventions that makes it different
from spoken language. It could be in handwritten form. Grammatical description of written
language is more stringent than spoken form. It is required that the rules of grammar and
conventions of writing should be observed in the medium of writing. The social norms and
conventions that guide language use in each society and professions are observed while writing
in such society or field

3. CONTEXT: Context refers to any situation surrounding a text in relation to the content. One
must consider t6he event, situation, as well as the audience that warrants the writing activity.
For example, when one writes about family, one is said to be writing on a family context using
the right vocabulary. The context determines what the writer has to write. However, settings
like family setting, medical setting, etc are also put into consideration. The context addresses the
audience. The context guide the activity of the writer.

4. MESSAGE: the message is the information that the writer has to pass across to the audience.
The message must be appealing to the audience – THE GHOST VOTERS.

5. THESIS STATEMENT: reflects the view of the writer in a write-up to justify his write-up. It is
usually a sentence at the introductory paragraph

6. AUDIENCE: They are your readers. Are u writing as per less educated or highly educated? You
must consider the audience and this is concealed in writing. Look for the language appropriate
to your audience. Your vocabulary must be appropriate and adequate to your audience. Do not
over explain as this leads to ambiguity.
LESSON TWO {3}

TOPIC: UNDERSTANDING THE PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE WRITING

_ECONOMY, SIMPLICITY, CLARITY, BREVITY, COHESION/COHERENCE

1. ECONOMY

It is one of the qualities of effective writing of effective writing. It means that a writer should avoid using
unnecessary words or expression. Some writers include unnecessary words and phrases to impress their
audience. But economy explains that unnecessary word or phrases that are not crucial to a sentence
shouldn’t be included. For economic purpose, choose the number of words that will make your writing
effective. If there is no need to add proverbs, parables, onomatopoeia in a sentence, then it shouldn’t be
added. Excessive usage of words, however, can be suitable for stories, drama, poems etc. but for the
purpose of essay writing, excessive usage of words should be avoided. Go straight to the point. Every
sentence should be brief and concise. It should be soft and straight forward. Adequate number of words
should be used to avoid wordiness. For example: A good driver should be a person who knows the basic
techniques that are involved in driving. Economy: a good driver should know the basic techniques of
driving. 2. If this very scheme is properly reviewed, one would realize and see right away that it is not
without some shortcomings. Economy: a review of this scheme will reveal its shortcomings

2. SIMPLICITY

Means to easy understand. Effective writing should be simple enough to engage the reader’s attention.
It does not encourage the use of complex language, pompous expressions and high sounding words. It is
direct and easy to understand. But simplicity does not mean that flowering language. But it means that
flowering languages should be avoided. It doesn’t also mean that your sentences should be short.

3. CLARITY

It means being specific in your writing. A writer should write as clear as possible, because a clear piece of
writing communicates faster to the reader. Wordy and unclear expression can cause confusion to the
reader. In order to write clearly, avoid ambiguous statements, obscure and vague expression. Say what
you mean in simple English

4. BREVITY

Means to go straight to the point and avoid unnecessary explanation. Say what you want to say in few
words. In order to be brief, avoid wordiness, redundancies and complex difficult words.

5. COHESION/COHERENCE

These two elements help a write-up in bringing out the meaning in a write-up. They create united
purpose. Their basic function is to bring out the meaning in a sentence. It connects one sentence to
another, paragraph to paragraph and ideas to ideas. Cohesion is a linguistic device used to create
coherence in a write-up. Device s like reference, substitution {replacing noun with pronoun},
connectives such as conjunctions, to link sentences together e.g. and, but, because, etc. so the reader
can see a free flow of thoughts. In this idea, use the proper connectives. Coherence deals with your
logical reasoning ability. It deals with your ability to show your idea so your message will be meaningful,
making use of the right connectives. It shows your ability to link your ideas together to form a
meaningful write-up. Cohesion/ coherence help to connect your ideas together to create a meaningful
write-up.
LESSON THREE {4}

TOPIC: THE PROCESS OF COMPOSITION

PRE-WRITING, EDITING, PROOF READING, OUTLINING

1. PRE-WRITING

Pre-writing is a series of activities you engage in inorder to ensure that the writing process goes without
a hitch. It is the point where you compose what you want to write. As you know, the writing process
involves several stages and it doesn’t start when you put pen on paper, but long before then. Therefore,
the preliminary activities by the actual writing is regarded as the pre-writing stage. Choose the topic---
narrow the topic---choose certain variables (purpose, content, audience). These are variables that help
to determine the writing outcome.

How do you choose your topic?

1. Free Writing: this is a technique that helps you to determine what you already know about the
topic, how deep, shallow your knowledge is, the area you need information or clarifications.
How to do free writing. The writer writes, weather with a book or computer without paying
attention to the idea that are coming whether they are grammatical or not. The writer basically
writes freely on the topic. As ideas come, you keep on writing freely. This i8s where the word
freewriting comes from. It is afterwords that you begin to align your work in order.
2. Brain storming: it is done in collaboration with another people e.g. classmates or other people
more knowledgeable than you. It is the process of engaging others about what they know about
a topic by asking them questions and about their ideas. It is a technique that can be used to find
a topic. However, it can be used to narrow your topic.
3. Listening: when you make a list of all the areas you want to discuss at a glance, you can deduce
whether a point is off or not. It also helps to align your point in order of importance. You take
your strong point before your weak point. You are able to determine the relationship among the
things you are writing. It helps to be more effective without wasting time.
4. Graphic organizer: there are different types of graphic organizer. Graphic organizations are any
kind of graphic organizer used to organize3 your ideas e.g. clustering, outling, etc

CLUSTERING: It is a graphic design where you put the topic you want to discuss in the center of
a page in a circle, and the other ideas related to the topic will be attached round to the topic.
Clustering to, at a glance, know how many paragraph to write.
Another graphic design is called outlining.
OUTLINING: Outlining is a structural presentation of your work, and it has different ties. After
writing the topic, the major sub-sections are written in roman numerals.
For example:
 TOPIC: DANCING
(i) DEFINITION

(a)

(b)

(ii) TYPES

(a) break dance

(b)shakushaku

©gbese

(iii) TECHNIQUES- body movement, hand movement

(a)

(b)

(b)

(iv) CONCLUSION

There are other graphic designs for writing

- Idea trees
- Venn diagram
- Observation charts, etc.

2. EDITING

Editing is the process of ensuring that the piece of writing meet accepted standard. Editing can be done
at the level of sentences or the whole piece of writing itself.

How do you edit sentences? Sometimes a sentence can be long and widened. It can be edited by
breaking it into smaller sentences. So in ensuring that your sentence is concise, you need to avoid wordy
expressions. Another way is to eliminate wordy expressions. Another way is to eliminate redundant
words. A word is redundant when there’s another word in the sentence referring to the same thing. For
example, saying <what are your major courses? <What are your most important major ideas? They are
wrong. There are some words that are not English e.g. moreso. Eliminate unnecessary words opening.
Also check your work for unnecessary adverbs. Note that our local language has a way of reinforcing
what we are saying. E.g. the man is very very strong; too sweet- too is negative; that is the sweetness is
so much that it becomes offensive.

Another thing to do while editing is to vary sentence types (simple, compound, complex). That is you
don’t want your word to sound like a primary school word.

Lastly, edit your sentence for parallel structure. Parallelism means that similar ideas in a sentence are
expressed in similar grammatical forms. It means balancing words with words, phrases with phrases,
and clauses with clauses. For example, the house was large, had a terrace, and it was colorful. The
correct expression when parallelism is applied will be; the house was large, terraced, and colorful. (if you
are using an adjective, use it throughout)

Another thing to do is to check the connotation of the word. There are certain words that have different
connotations. However, ensure that the choice of your word matches with the idea your sentence is
trying to make because certain synonyms of words are negative in meaning. So to avoid that, check the
connotation of the word.

3. PROOF READING

It is not the same as editing. It is the point where you cross your Ts and dot your i. thus is where you
ensure there’s a flow of ideas (cohesion and coherence). This can be achieved by the use of connectives
which links your paragraphs to eachother. This is the point where you ensure that nothing in your write-
up is amiss. A point where you acknowledge all the materials you have used.

LESSON FOUR (5)

TOPIC: TECHNIQUES OF EFFECTIVE WRITING: LANGUAGE, CONTENT, AND FORM

LECTURER: Dr. Sodipe
LANGUAGE

Language skills are;

1. Clarity

2. Accuracy

3. Appropriateness

4. Vividness

Language in writing means the competence of the writer in communicating effectively with the audience

What are the language skills?

1. CLARITY

A writer must be able to use words clearly, that is a word must mean the word u say.

Components of clarity in language:

- The writer must be conversant with dictionary and the vocabulary of the language in which u r
writing
- The writer must have a good command of the vocabulary

Ways the writer can develop a vocabulary.

- Reading widely and broadly

- making use of vocabulary. Vocabulary can be divided into 2. Active and passive.

Active Vocabulary are the words we use everyday that we are familiar with

Passive vocabularies are the words we don't use everyday. So when we are writing, we have to be
careful with passive Vocabulary, since we are going to need to use them in writing. That is where the
dictionary comes in handy. Every writer should have a dictionary at hand.. pocket hand dictionary, table
top dictionary, thesaurus, book of synonyms and books of antonyms are reference materials. They will
help to achieve clarity

2. ACCURACY
The difference between clarity and accuracy are very close. Different kinds of words that are commonly
mispelt or commonly mispronounced or currently misapplied

British norm compliant is the English we use in Nigeria. When we write, be careful of the British spelling.

Colour _ color

Favour _ favor

Centre _ center

Foetus _ fetus

Aesthetic _ esthetic

Be accurate to the origin of the language and the setting of the environment. Accuracy deals with the
words that are often mispronounced. Mispronunciation comes to place when we r writing dialogue.

There are words that are misapplied in terms of the meaning. E.g. simple/simplistic,
modern/modernistic.

Simple/simplistic are not the same. If u r simple, u r easy going. It also means stupid (simpletons). But if
u say simple minded, they mean the same. Simplistic means naive. The same goes for
modern/modernistic. Modern means in contemporary time. Modernistic means ideology.
Flammable/Inflammable; flammable means capable of catching fire on it's own. Inflammable.means
having the capacity to catch fire or that which can be made to catch fire). Continuous/Continual.
Continuous means going on with a break. Continual means break in transmission; stopping and starting
intermittently. Several/severally. Several (adj) severally (advb). Dependent (adj)/dependant(n).
Contemptible/contemptuous. The former means deserving content. E.g her behavior is so contemptible.
Contemptuous means showing contempt for someone else. Eg she has a contemptuous behavior to her
father's advice. Further/farther. Further is a paragraph linking word. Eg. Can I go further. Farther means
more distant. lend/borrow.

Accuracy means using words that show their difference from similar words. The dictionary will help in
this case

3. APPROPRIATENESS
You must distinguish between the languages. Languages of social and occupational group are unique
kinds of language that is applied to a particular field. Eg. Register of law, carpentry, engineering,
architecture, etc. The people in these professions use languages peculiar to their field of study.

'FIX' is word that can be applied to different registers eg mechanic (fix a car), salon(fix a hair).
'Morphology' in language means formation of words.. in medicine it means formation of cells

*Being accurate is being knowledgeable to the application of words in different fields.

Social groups in formation of language also matter. Sometimes we use words in their positive form to
mean something negative. e.g her dressing was mad.

Your language must be appropriate to your audience in terms of age, location, etc

- Formality and informality

Formal spoken English are used for formal environment e.g classroom, an interview. Formal English can
be applied as both spoken and written. Formality comes with a lot of politeness, and politeness is a very
important strategy for formal communication.

- Standard vs. non standard language. Non standard is also called colloquial.

There are differences between language, dialect, idiolect, accent. They are part of our study of
appropriateness. The language has the largest body of speakers and the dialect is a subset of language.
A dialect is a form of language that identifies the speaker according to his origin. And by origin we mean
a particular geographical location.

Idiolect is the use of language that shows the Characteristics of the speaker (individual idiosyncrasy). It is
a person style of speaking.

Accent is a variety of language that identifies a speaker by his origin only at the level of pronunciation.
Accent is different from dialect. Affectation means trying to copy the accent of another area.

4. VIVIDNESS

Vividness means painting pictures with words, writing imaginatively. Painting a picture is to be
enthralling. How can you write imaginatively? By using figurative language e.g. metaphor, simily, et al.
e.g. he is a goat among red bred chickens. Vividness in language is important.

VARIETIES OF LANGUAGE

- Standard vs non-standard English ( colloquial English)

 - Formal vs informal English: formality has a lot to do with politeness. Politeness is a function of
formality. Abbreviating names is a function of informality
- Spoken vs written: spoken has formal and informal version, same as written. Written language is
very formal because writing itself is a very serious business. A lot of technicalities are involved.
Written language uses a lot of punctuation. E.g. woman without her man is nothing – woman:
without her, man is nothing – woman without her man, is nothing. This shows the essence of
punctuation in writing. Dialogue in writing is also important.

TECHNIQUES OF EFFECTIVE WRITING 2

CONTENT

Elements of content in writing

1. Finding ideas
- derailing
- interest inventory
- trigger words
- creative questioning
- gleaning
2. Elaboration
- Questioning
- Explanatory techniques
- Research
- Graphic devices
- Statistics
- Testimonies
- Examples, incidents.
3. Writing techniques
- Free writing
- Listing]
- Using a journal
- Using a source book or clip file
4. Sharing techniques
- Brainstorming
- Discussions
- Graphic aids
- Idea maps
 5. Stages in writing
- Topic
- Outlining{ introduction, body, conclusion)
- Drafting (careful, adventure drafting)
- Paragraphing (Thesis statement, topic sentence, transitions)
- Revision
- Documentation
- Publishing.

1. FINDING IDEAS

Content of your work will begin with your idea. What do I write about? The following techniques can
help to generate an idea to write about; recalling, interest inventory (that is saving up what interests
you in a folder for later use), creative questioning (USING THE 5Ws and H- who, when, what, where, why
and How), gleaning (collecting points, not in words, but in sentences. It is almost like trigger words, but
this time, they are sentences.

2. ELABORATION

It means building up your initial ideas, because writing is intensive. Where, how do I get the details?

- Questioning (5W and H), explanatory techniques,

- Research: Ways to do research- through the use of the library, reading materials and reference
materials, internet
- Graphic devices: are things that sustain the interest of the reader e.g. pictures and charts are
illustrative devices
- Quotations: quoting important writers, people, places, that helps to drive home your point
- Statistics: some subjects employ statistics e.g. a subject on health related topics, population,
government policies, etc.
- Testimonies: hearing from the mouth of those who have experienced a situation, and writing
them down. Examples: helps to connect with the reader and helps to express oneself
adequately, e.g. through stories, incidents, etc

3. WRITING TECHNIQUES

They are personal to the writer. Writing is an isolatory business. What do you do to encourage yourself?

- Free writing: writing from the freedom of your soul. After that, you go on to edit.
- Invinsible writing: you don’t see what you are writing. Two ways to do this. 1. Writing on carbon
paper. 2. The use of computer
- Listing: to jot down points especially if you are in the business of teaching
 - Using a good journal (diary): this is because it is personal to the writer. You can write some
personal nthings which you can later fall back to over the years to write about.
- Source book: a place where you store materials, information about different things. They are
special pieces of information stored in books.
- Clip file: is a file of clippings. Anything you feel sourceful is stored somewhere. It can be used for
illustrations. It is used for collecting treasure able things that cannot be found easily.

4. SHARING TECHNIQUES

They are external techniques which are not confined to the writer alone, but can be shared with
someone else, e.g.

- Brainstorming: combining ideas, generat5ing ideas with people of like minds

- Discussions: they are different from brainstorming. It involves what you already know, but
discussing with friends to build ideas. It helps to see from new perspectives
- Graphic aids: it helps to connect to other people. They are good for explaining technical aspects
of your discussions
- Idea map: works when brainstorming. It helps to assemble ideas. When you have an idea map, it
is easier to make necessary connections, and this helps to organize your task at hand.

TECHNIQUES OF EFFECTIVE WRITING 3

FORM

Elements of Form

Form has to do with how the author structures his ideas. Form can also be applied to what we called
genre (PROSE, DRAMA, and POETRY). The form of a piece of writing determines what the writing will be.

^^Prose is written usually in chapter and paragraph. Sometimes arranged in parts a, b, c.

^^Poetry is written in verse, and verse always has different types of structure, because it has to do with
rhythm.

^^drama is written in dialogue. The form of drama is dialogue. The author determines what form the
piece of work is going to take.

Form deals with the special arrangements of the texture materials in a piece of writing. That's what we
call the form of writing.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF ORGANIZING A PIECE OF WRITING

1. Organization patter of textual organization: this apply generally to prose; easy writing, academic
writing, novels novella stories, etc. It has different types of pattern

2. An outline: another way of organizing your work. It includes three items;; introduction, body and
conclusion

Specific Types of Organization or Textual Material

1. Chronological order: arrangements of textual material according to sequence of eventsm this tuois
most useful for telling stories. Paragraphs are arranged in order of events. While moving from paragrap
to paragraph, transition items like immediately, after a while, after some time, first, second, third,(don't
say fourth), next, after a moment, etc are used.

2. Spatial order: spatial order is arrangement of material according to their position in a particular
space. It is most useful for presenting visual details. Spatial order uses a point of view called vantage
point. It is a point of which a writing is present from different space. Most writing uses vantage point,
uses words like behind the door, under the table, near the door, below the staircase, below, above etc

3. Order of importance, degree or quality: It is mostly used for persuasive writing in arranging them in
order of importance. It is also the type normally used for news writing e.g. "32 dies in gas explosion in
Bauchi". Normal words used include descriptive details. It is the details we use, and some transitional
words like initially, to begin with, next, then, etc are used.

4. Cause and Effect Order: this is a type of organization in writing that explains chain of events,
especially with the intention of showing what happened, how it happened and how it affected the
characters or the people in the story. It is used to show connections. It can be used to explain how
machine works for instance, or how an accident happened, or why a character fears explosion or how a
child got lost. It uses transition such as therefore, consequently, as a result in this regard, subsequently,
etc.

5. Classification Method: this is a common method to organize ideas in order to show categories, kinds,
types or group or characteristics of things. It can be used to write stories about music, passion, colors,
size, etc. and uses transition such as; one(of the major types...), Some, Another, a second group, a third
category, others are/include, etc.
6. Comparison and Contrast: also used to discuss characteristics, but specifically when it is necessary to
show differences or relationships. Two ways of comparison.. comparison by subject or comparison by
quality. If enable u to treat a subject separately and discuss their qualities. Transitions like similarly,
likewise, on the other hand, one hand, however, likewise etc are used to make comparison.

7. Part-two-part Organization: it is different from Comparison because it doesn't use a general

organizing principle, meaning that we are comparing a part of an idea with another part of idea, and
making connection btw both. It helps to bring together unrelated themes or concepts and shows a lot of
creativity.

Another key concept, PARAGRAPHING

Paragraphing is the process of separating a group of ideas into smaller groups of related ideas. It is an
important means of dividing a piece of writing into sections for easy reading and understanding.
Essentially a paragraph is supposed to present a single idea or point in a piece of writing. But if the idea
is complex, it can be split into two paragraphs using transition to link both.

ELEMENTS OF THE PARAGRAPH

There are three;

1. The Thesis Statement.

2. Topic Sentence.

3. Transitions

1. THE THESIS STATEMENT: it presents the main idea in a piece of writing. In relation to a paragraph,
every paragraph has a thesis statement that states the main idea in a paragraph. It states what your
topic is and how you will treat it. It also helps to clarify your ideas both for yourself and your readers. It
is usually always a single sentence in the introduction, but it can also be split into two sentences, and
can also be split into two paragraphs to emphasize.

Example of a thesis statement; whenever you need to do a research, then visit the library.

2. TOPIC SENTENCE: a topic sentence applies to a single paragraph the same way a thesis statement
applies to a longer piece of writing. While a thesis statement states the main idea in a whole writing, a
topic sentence states the main idea in a paragraph. Every paragraph should have a topic sentence. The
topic sentence does not have a particular location in the paragraph (either at the beginning, middle or
end). It is always a sentence that harmonizes what we are discussing in that paragraph.

3. TRANSITIONS IN PARAGRAPHS (transition words): transition words are those words that help to link
one paragraph to another. Transitions enables paragraph to flow naturally into each other. Eg,
furthermore, however, moreover, hence, also, in addition, (henceforth is not a transition word). There
are different types of transition and they are used to show different types of connections. Some of them
are used to show time connection, as in overtime, over the next few decades, towards the end of the
20th c. There are also transition that show connection between ideas, events. Transitions like; by
extension, in relation to this, to this end, in this regard. There are transitions that show opposition such
as moreover, however, in contrast. There are those used to generate interest. E.g. Immediately,
interestingly, by some unexpected turn of events, meanwhile, etc. There are those used for listing. E.g.
Firstly, secondly, thirdly, next, in another dimension, etc.

Paragraphs help to arrange information properly in a way receptive to the writer

TYPES OF PARAGRAPHS

1. Persuasive Paragraph: used discriptions on argumentation.

2. Descriptive Paragraph: uses techniques of vividness, figurative expressions, creative and imaginative
techniques, also described as picturesque

3. Narrative Paragraph: A sequential organization of ideas, especially of events in the order they
sequentially occur. Narrative Paragraph can also use inverted order (not in the way they actually occur)

4. Expository Paragraph: commonly used in academic writing, letter to the editor, newspaper stories,
police report. Mainly, they give information about places events etc. They expose information to the
reader. That's why it's called expository paragraph.

LESSON SIX (6)

TOPIC: MECHANICS OF WRITING (THE USE OF PUNCTUATION MARKS)

LECTURER: DR ENIAYO

The way we punctuate sentences defines the meaning of a sentence.

The misuse of punctuation marks is a very big problem in writing.

Punctuation is the use of appropriate marks to divide written expressions in sections for easy reading
and understanding.

Punctuation marks are the tools for effective writing.

It is easy to read and understand any sentence or expression that is well punctuated.

Poor knowledge of punctuation marks and its application makes it difficult to read a sentence or passage
and comprehend it

Punctuation introduces pulses which regulate and makes understanding easier

It alters the beginning of expressions if they are not well introduced. E.g. Mr Gbenga said, "The man will
arrive tomorrow"...."MR Gbenga," said the man, "will arrive tomorrow."

Types of Punctuation

Longer pauses: full stop, question mark, exclamation marks. They are used to show that a sentence has
come to an end. They are also called terminal punctuation marks

Shorter pauses: it shows a pause in a sentence eg. Comma, colon, semi colon dash and bracket

Punctuation marks for special events. It does not involve any pause. E.g hyphen

Capitalization is a type of punctuation marks. They are easily observed. It takes place at the beginning of
a word.

There are different roles capital letter plays in a sentence

1. It indicates that a subject has been introduced

2. It begins the first verse of a word
3. It used to begin the title of books, poems (Things Fall Apart)
4. It is used to introduce a direct speech in quotation. The first word in the quotation will begin
with a capital letter.
5. It is also used in salutation and closing the letter (Dear Sir,
 6. It is used in first person singular and plural (I)
7. It is used to Introduce proper noun
8. It is used to introduce title of magazine in newspaper
9. names of language, countries, places, towns, streets and roads, names of institutions, gods,
Satan
10. Used for emphasis (WRITE THE WHOLE WORD IN CAPITAL LETTER) e.g. Everyone talks about
INTEGRITY as a virtue without understanding it

PUNCTUATION MARKS

Fullstop(.)

1. It indicates the end of a sentence

2. It is used to end indirect question
3. It is also used in abbreviations, but it is optional
4. It may be used for acronyms, but optional.
5. It is also used in Internet and website, email addresses

Question Mark (?)

Used to indicate a question at the end of a sentence

Comma (,)

Used for a lot of purposes.

1. To separate uses of words in a list..eg. Language skills are reading, skimming, and writing
2. Separates a subordinate clause from a main clause in complex sentence e.g. when u no longer
endure, u back out
3. It seprates two or more adjectives that qualifies the same noun, which belongs to the same
class. Eg. Tola is a nice, decent, responsible, lady... (because the adjectives belong to the same
class)
4. It also separates the tagged question from the main statement..eg. tayo is my friend, isn't he?
5. It separates an adverb from a sentence esp disjunct.

6. A pair of comma marks off a noun or a noun phrase in appositive position. When we say a noun
is in apposition it means both noun will stand alone.
7. Apair of coma split your quotation into two.
Colon (:)

1. It is used to explain that the word that follows is explaining. what had been said earlier.
2. It is use to introduce a piece of items. Eg. The police recovered stolen items: phones, money,
wristwatch, wallets and bags.
3. It also introduce a phrase and clause in a list. Eg. He demanded such things as: a pen, a ruler, a
land and a tablle...he behaves funnily: sings, jumps on the table, etc
4. A colon is also used to make a better explanation in a sentence. If u use a colon to connect to
main clause, the final one will only explain what the previous one has said. Eg. My father is my
best friend: he is so much concerned about me
5. Colon also separates minutes from hour.1:40pm
6. It introduces the speech of a character in drama

Semi colon (;)

It is used to seprates clauses in a sentence. When we use it to seprate two clauses, the later clause does
not explain the previous clause. It only connect them. Eg. If u don't listen to us; I will not give u anything.

There are cases where we have a list within a list. A semi colon is used to separate them.

Quotation marks ("..")

It is used when quoting words.

Brackets()

are used when supplying additional information that may not necessarily be required. When writing,
anything inside bracket is optional. In some cases, it's not even needed

Dash(-)

It is used as a substitute for parenthesis nor comma in an attempt to clarify meaning or place emphasis,
especially for a series within a phrase, e.g. she has this to accomplish today-work, study, cook, and
household duties-as well as take care of her child