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UNIT-3
MECHANICS OF WRITING
As per the syllabus: following are the contents:
1. Writing introduction and conclusion
2. Describing
3. Defining
4. Classifying
5. Providing examples or evidence
MECHANICS meaning in English: the science of how machines work
WHAT ARE WRITING MECHANICS?
✓ Writing mechanics are the set of rules that should be followed when writing sentences.
✓ They go hand in hand(closely connected) with grammar.
Following are the most important Mechanics of Writing.
1. PARTS OF SPEECH
The classifications of parts of speech such as NOUNS, VERBS, and ADJECTIVES among
others are one of the most important things to know for the writer (YOU). You must know how
to use them in a sentence.
2. PARTS OF SENTENCES
Knowing the parts of sentences such as SUBJECTS, OBJECTS, PHRASES, and CLAUSES
helps to give your sentences cohesion (Unity).There must be a logic in your sentences along with
unity in them.
3. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Knowing the PROPER OR SINGULAR FORMS OF VERBS and then matching them to the
SUBJECT as it requires makes your sentences easier to understand.
4. CAPITALIZATION
Capitalization signals to a reader the important details in a sentence.People, places, and ideas that
are capitalized give them a hint as to the significance of that word. Capitalization also helps your
sentences and paragraphs flow well as it signals the beginning of each sentence that you
use.Though the meaning of the sentences does not get affected if there is improper use of
capitalization, in fact, sometimes it creates confusion regarding beginning of a sentence.
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5. PUNCTUATION
Can you tell the difference between ‘Let’s eat, Fred,’ and ‘Let’s eat Fred’.
Isit a simple comma?Just, see, It changes the meaning significantly. One is a dinner invitation,
the other is cannibalism. (Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same
species as food)!
Using the correct punctuation gives you the ability to convey your ideas to the reader exactly as
you intended. Punctuation may be a small part of the sentence as a whole, but it definitely has a
big impact.
6. SPELLING
Improper spelling takes correctnessaway from your work and gives a reader fewer reasons to
finish it. It makes your writing funny sometimes: Tea & Snacks & Tea & Snakes?
7. ABBREVIATIONS
Never use abbreviations that are not familiar to your readers unless you are trying to hide the
meaning intentionally. You must mention the full title first, followed immediately by the
abbreviation.
8. HOMONYMS, HOMOGRAPHS AND HOMOPHONES (Vocabulary)
This is a part of English speech. A lot of words in the English language sound alike or are spelled
alike but have different meanings. The words ‘ there,’ ‘their,’ and ‘they’re,’ or ‘you’re’ and
‘your’ come easily to mind. They sound the same but are significantly different.
Words like leaves can have different meanings depending on the context. It may be the singular
present tense of leave, or the plural of leaf. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the difference.
It’s & Its
Treatment
9. ELIMINATING REDUNDANCY
Using synonyms and antonyms of words reduces redundancy in sentences. Try to limit using
similar words, at least in the same sentence or paragraph.If you must repeat words, try to space
them out so that they don’t seem too jarring. If you run out of synonyms, you could always use
the negative of an antonym to convey the same idea.
11:00am in the morning
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repeat again
She is a positive girl.
She is not a positive girl
A SUMMARY OF MECHANICS OF WRITING:
1. Mastering the proper usage of quotation marks.
2. Ensuring that both grammar and spelling are correct. Knowing grammar rules is extremely
vital.
3. Mastering punctuation.
4. Knowing how, where, and when to use apostrophes.
5. Creating a concise topic sentence or thesis.
6. Being able to form coherent sentence structures and avoiding sentence fragments.
7. Ensuring that capitalization is used properly.
8. Having a mastery of the English vocabulary.
9. Knowing how to formulate concise paragraphs that are not too wordy.
NEXT SUB-TOPIC UNDER MECHANICS OF WRITING:
HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY
INTRODUCTION & CONCLUSION
A good introduction paragraph is an essential part of any academic essay because it sets up your
argument and tells the reader what to expect.The main goals of an introduction are to:
1. Catch your reader’s attention.
2. Give background on your topic.
3. Present your thesis / argument / main idea - which is the central point of your essay.
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MAIN INGREDIENTS FOR WRITING AN EFFECTIVE INTRODUCTION:
1. Hook your reader: Your first sentence sets the tone for the whole essay, so spend some
time on writing an effective hook. Start with something clear; concise and catchy that
will spark your reader’s curiosity.The hook should lead the reader into your essay, giving
a sense of the topic you are writing about and why it’s interesting. Avoid overly broad
claims or plain statements of fact.
2. Give background information: give your reader the context / background which they
need to understand your topic and argument. The information here should be broad but
clearly focused and relevant to your argument. Depending on the subject of your essay,
you may include:
1. Historical, geographical, or social context / background
2. An outline (point) of the debate you are addressing
3. A summary of relevant theories or research about the topic
4. Definitions of key terms / word
3. Present your thesis statement: show exactly what you want to say about the topic. This
is your thesis statementwhich is a sentence or two that sums up your overall
argument.This is the most important part of your introduction. A good thesis is not just a
statement of fact, but a claim that requires evidence and explanation.The goal is to clearly
convey your own position in a debate or your central point about a topic.
For example: You write an essay on Food / Tourism / corruption ---- vast topics-
includes many aspects--- thesis statement may be such as – junk food / healthy/
processed food--- you write on a particular area--
4. Map your essay’s structure: Particularly in longer essays, it is helpful to end the
introduction by indicating what will be covered in each part further in the essay. Keep it
concise and give your reader a clear sense of the direction your argument will take.
HOW TO CONCLUDE AN ESSAY
The conclusion is the final paragraph of your essay. Your conclusion should give a sense of
closure and completion to your argument, but also show what new questions or possibilities it
has opened up. A strong conclusion aims to:
1. Tie together the essay’s main points
2. Show why your argument matters
3. Leave the reader with a strong impression
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1. Return to your thesis: To begin your conclusion, signal that the essay is coming to an
end by returning to your overall argument.
Don’t just repeat your thesis statement—instead, try to rephrase your argument in a way
that shows how it has been developed since the introduction.
2. Review your main points: The conclusion is your final chance to show how all
the paragraphs of your essay add up to a coherent whole.
You remind the reader of the main points that you used to support your argument.Whatever your
essay is about, the conclusion should aim to emphasize the significance of your argument,
whether that’s within your academic subject or in the wider world.
Try to end with a strong, decisive sentence, leaving the reader with a lingering sense of interest
in your topic.
MAY BE CONSIDERED FOR UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION QUESTIONS:
TIPS FOR WRITING AN EFFECTIVE INTRODUCTION
Keep your introduction brief & effective: How?
1. Avoid starting abruptly or too philosophically.
2. Define or explain the title in precise, specific way.
3. Use quotations, dictionary meanings, statements, or sayings to introduce the reader to the
main idea.
4. Don’t take sides on an issue or sound prejudiced (unfair) in your approach.
5. Avoid jargons (special or technical words that are used by a particular group of people in a
particular profession and that other people do not understand" AWOL is military jargon used
to describe a person whose whereabouts are unknown.) clichés (a phrase or idea that has
been used so many times that it no longer has any real meaning or interest) and bombastic
(trying to impress other people by saying things that sound impressive but have little
meaning) beginning.
TIPS FOR DEVELOPING MAIN BODY PARAGRAPHS
6. Evaluate all the possible aspects of a problem, topic, or issue.
7. Give due importance to each aspect; don’t appear biased in your approach.
8. Relate all your ideas to one another.
9. Connect this part to the hopes raised or promises made in the introduction.
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10. Avoid too long or too short paragraphs; equality in the length & size of different paragraphs.
11. This is the section that the writer attempts to convince the reader of his/her perspective on the
issue; therefore; analyze the different aspects of the problem in detail.
12. Use supporting material to develop your ideas. For example: examples, facts, comparison,
contrast, expert testimony.
13. Let the main body lead the reader automatically to the conclusion of the essay.
TIPS FOR DEVELOPING A GOOD CONCLUSION
1. A conclusion is meant to strengthen the idea already illustrated and established in the main
body so avoid developing any new idea in the conclusion part of the Essay.
2. The conclusion must be a punch of force.
3. An unrelated or irrelevant ending makes an essay look nonsensical at times so let the
conclusion naturally emerge out of the discussion.
4. Keep your conclusion crisp and in consistency with the other part of the essay.
HOW TO DEVELOP A PARAGRAPH SO THAT READER FINDS IT AUTHENTIC
1. Comparisons & contrasts:
2. Analogy: similarity
3. Cause & effect:
4. Quotations & paraphrasing:
5. Enumeration: listing
6. Definitions:
7. Testimony; evidence
8. Facts, Figures, Instances & Examples:
9. Episodes: events
ROLE OF THE FOLLOWING IN WRITING ANY ESSAY
1. DESCRIBING
2. DEFINING
3. CLASSIFYING
4. PROVIDING EXAMPLES OR EVIDENCE
DESCRIBING
• Writers use description in writing to make sure that their audience is fully immersed in
the words on the page.
• This requires a concerted effort by the writer to describe his or her world through the use
of sensory details.
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• Sensory details are descriptions that appeal to our sense of sight, sound, smell, taste, and
touch.
• Your descriptions should try to focus on the five senses because we all rely on these
senses to experience the world.
• The use of sensory details, then, provides you the greatest possibility of relating to your
audience and thus engaging them in your writing, making descriptive writing important
not only during your education but also during everyday situations.
TIPS FOR BETTER DESCRIPTION:
• Avoid empty descriptors if possible. Empty descriptors are adjectives that can mean
different things to different people.
• Good, beautiful, terrific, and nice are examples.
• The use of such words in descriptions can lead to misreads and confusion. A good day,
for instance, can mean far different things depending on one’s age, personality, or tastes.
DEFINING
The primary reason to include definitions in your writing is to avoid misunderstanding with your
audience. A formal definition consists of three parts:
1. The term (word or phrase) to be defined
2. The class of object or concept to which the term belongs
3. The differentiating characteristics that distinguish it from all others of its class
For example: Water (term) is a liquid (class) made up of molecules of hydrogen and oxygen in
the ratio of 2 to 1 (differentiating characteristics).
Another example: Comic books (term) are sequential and narrative publications (class)
consisting of illustrations, captions, dialogue balloons, and often focus on super-powered heroes
(differentiating characteristics).
TIPS FOR DEFINING EFFECTIVELY
1. You should include definition in your essay writing when the writing contains a term that
may be key to audience understanding and that term could likely be unfamiliar to them
2. Define a word in simple and familiar terms.
3. Your definition of an unfamiliar word should not lead your audience towards looking up
more words in order to understand your definition.
4. Avoid adding personal details to definitions in order to explain it.
CLASSIFYING
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The purpose of classification is to break down broad subjects into smaller, more manageable,
more specific parts.
We classify things in our daily lives all the time, often without even thinking about it. Cell
phones, for example, have now become part of a broad category.
They can be classified as feature phones, media phones, and smart phones.
Smaller categories, and the way in which these categories are created, help us make sense of the
world. Keep both of these elements in mind when writing a classification essay.
TIP FOR INCLUDING CLASSIFICATION:
Choose topics that you know well when writing classification essays.
The more you know about a topic, the more you can break it into smaller, more interesting parts.
Adding interest and insight will enhance your classification essays.
EXAMPLE: When people think of New York, they often think of only New York City. But
New York is actually a diverse state with a full range of activities to do, sights to see, and
cultures to explore. In order to better understand the diversity of New York State, it is helpful to
break it into these five separate regions: Long Island, New York City, Western New York,
Central New York, and Northern New York.
PROVIDING EXAMPLES OR EVIDENCE:
• Examples and pieces of evidence in a write up can be quite beneficial for writers to
support their claims and ideas.
• They can provide examples to ensure that the overall flow is not muddy.
• Moreover, with the inclusion of the instances, readers will have a certain level of trust as
there is proper proof to back up the claims.
• By using pieces of evidence that the reader can relate to, the quality of the essays can be
enhanced significantly.
Following are the advantages of including examples & evidences in your writing:
1. Leaves something for the reader to relate to
2. Provides the article with much-needed statistics
3. Provides a better understanding
4. Brings in a more realistic approach
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You can visit following links for detailed information on this topic.
1. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-classification-composition-1689849
2. https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/conclusion/
3. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/engcomp1-wmopen/chapter/text-introductions-and-
conclusions/
4. https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_writing-for-success/s14-03-description.html
5. https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Introductory_Composition/Book
%3A_Rhetoric_and_Composition_(Bay_College)/7%3A_Description/7.1%3A_The_Pur
pose_of_Description_in_Writing
6. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/definitions.ht
ml
7. https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_writing-for-success/s14-04-classification.html
8. https://eturbonews.com/260523/the-importance-of-using-examples-in-your-writing/
