Writing Better English for ESL Learners, Second Edition

Writing Better English

FOR ESL LEARNERS

Second Edition

Writing Better English

FOR ESL LEARNERS

Second Edition

ED SWICK

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Contents

Introduction

1 Preparing to Write

Verb Tenses

Auxiliaries

The Passive Voice

The Subjunctive Mode

Conjunctions

Pronouns

Possessives and Plurals

The Comparative and Superlative

2 Beginning to Write

Sentence Completion

3 Writing Original Sentences

Understanding the Format

Writing According to the Format

4 Story Completion

Understanding the Format

Completing Stories with Original Phrases

5 Writing Letters

The Friendly Letter

The Business Letter

6 Writing Original Themes

Appendix A: Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense and Past Participle

Appendix B: Verbs and Tenses

Answer Key

Introduction

Writing in any language is a difficult skill to acquire. Therefore, as an ESL student you should approach writing in English carefully. In order to write well, you want to first have an understanding of grammatical structures, vocabulary, and tense usage. You practice those concepts until you can use them with relative ease. Then you are ready to practice writing original material.

This book does two things:

1. It gives you an abundant review of basic structures.

2. It provides various forms of writing practice within a controlled program that focuses on improving the skills needed to write accurately.

In Chapter 1 you will have the opportunity to learn or review grammar basics. By checking the Answer Key at the end of this book, you can find the correct or example answers to the exercises. If you have an English-speaking friend, you might ask him or her to check your work.

If you wish, you can follow your progress by using a very simple method. After each exercise, count every word that you have written—even little words like the, a, and, or but. Then count every error you have made in spelling, tense, word order, missing words, or any other potential mistake.

Divide the number of words you have written (W) by the number of errors (E) you have made. The result is a number (N) that you can compare after every exercise you write:

W ÷ E = N

If you wrote sixty words and made twelve errors, you would come up with:

60 ÷ 12 = 5

If the number is getting larger, you are making progress.

After completing the review exercises, you will be ready to begin Chapter 2. In this chapter you will complete sentences with your original phrases, and you will use your own ideas as you write. You will see a sentence similar to this:

John borrowed to get to work.

You might write something like this:

John borrowed to get to work.

For each exercise in Chapter 3 you will compose ten short, original sentences while using a phrase as the specific element in each sentence. For example:

Sample phrase: The new car

Used as the subject: The new car is in the garage.

Used as the direct object: Mary loved the new car.

Used after the preposition to: A man came up to the new car.

You may, of course, use dictionaries and grammar books as aids in order to write as correctly as possible. You could give yourself a time limit (fifteen minutes or thirty minutes) for writing the exercise, but use the same number of minutes each time you write.

In Chapter 4 you will fill in the missing phrases or sentences in a story. They can be any phrases or sentences that you wish, but they must conform to the plot of the story. For example:

Chapter 5 deals with letter writing. Each letter can be written within the same framework of time (fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, or longer). There is a difference between friendly letters and business letters. This part of the writing program will help you to write both types of letters.

In Chapter 6 you will write original stories. The stories are to be based on the assigned topic, and they should include the grammar structures indicated. For example:

Sample title: Lost in the Desert

Include these structures:

the relative pronoun which

to want to in the past perfect tense

the conjunction if

You would then write a story about someone lost and roaming the desert. You would probably write of heat and thirst and of the difficulties of finding a way to safety. And somewhere in your story you would have three sentences similar to these (which include the required sample structures):

She believed she saw a lake, which, unfortunately, was only a mirage.

She had often wanted to climb a sand dune.

If she found water, she knew she would survive.

If you feel you have not done well enough in any chapter of this book, do not go on to the next chapter. Instead, repeat the chapter that needs improvement. Set a standard of quality for yourself and conform to it. Use the Answer Key not only to check your work but also to find suggestions for how to write appropriate sentences for any of the exercises.

1

Preparing to Write

In order to write well in English, you should understand the basics of the language. Probably the most difficult area for students learning English is verbs. Although English verbs are used in complicated ways, they do not have complicated conjugations with a different ending for each pronoun like other languages might.

With most English verbs there is only one ending (-s or -es) in the third person singular of the present tense. The only exception to that rule is the verb to be:

But English has other complexities. For example, there are three ways to express the present tense:

• The simple conjugation of the verb means that the action of the verb is a habit or is repeated. For example: We speak.

• When the verb is conjugated with a form of to be (am, is, are, was, were), the verb will have an -ing ending. It means that the action is continuing or not yet completed. For example: We are speaking.

• The third present tense form uses a conjugation of to do (do, does) with the verb and has three uses: (1) It is used to ask a question with most verbs except to be or certain auxiliaries (can, must, should, and so on). (2) It is used as an emphatic response. (3) It is used to negate the verb with not. Let’s look at some examples with the verb to speak:

I speak English. (This is my habit. I speak English all the time.)

I am speaking English. (I usually speak Spanish. At the moment I am speaking English.)

Do you speak English? (A question with the verb to speak.)

I do speak English. (This is your emphatic response to someone who has just said, You don’t speak English.)

I do not speak English. (Negation of the verb to speak with not.)

Conjugating English verbs is not difficult. But choosing the correct tense form from the three just described requires practice. The exercises that follow will help you to use English verb forms and tenses with accuracy.

Verb Tenses

Study the following examples, which show how verbs change in the various tenses. Some tenses require a form of to be and a present participle. Present participles have an -ing ending: is going, were singing. Other tenses require a past participle. Regular verbs form the past tense and past participle in the same way—just add -ed: worked, have worked. Use Appendix A of irregular verbs in the past tense and past participle to see how they are formed.

The perfect tenses of both regular and irregular verbs are a combination of a form of to have plus a past participle: I have worked. She has seen. You had broken. Tom will have discovered.

In the exercises that follow you will be making similar tense changes.

TO SPEAK—a habit or repeated action

TO BE SPEAKING—a continuous action

DO YOU SPEAK?—a question with a form of to do

(Because the perfect and future tenses in the preceding example have an auxiliary verb [have, had, will] in the question, a form of to do is not necessary.)

SHE DOESN’T SPEAK—negation of the verb with a form of to do

(Because the perfect and future tenses in the preceding example have an auxiliary verb [hasn’t, hadn’t, won’t] in the sentence, a form of to do is not necessary.)

Exercise 1.1 Rewrite the following sentences in the tenses given. Use the examples given previously to help you maintain accuracy.

1. Present

2.

Past

3.

Future

4.

Past Perfect

5. Present

6.

Future

7.

Past Perfect

8.

Past

9. Present

10.

Present Perfect

11.

Past

12.

Future

13. Present

14.

Past perfect

15.

Past

Exercise 1.2 Rewrite the following sentences in the tenses given. Use the examples to help you maintain accuracy.

1. Present

2.

Past

3.

Future

4.

Present perfect

5. Present

6.

Future

7.

Past perfect

8.

Past

9. Present

10.

Past perfect

11.

Past

12.

Past perfect

13. Present

14.

Future

15.

Present perfect

Exercise 1.3 Rewrite the following sentences in the tenses given. Use the examples to help you maintain accuracy. Notice that you will be dealing with a wider variety of verbs here.

1. Present

2. Present

3.

Past

4.

Past

5.

Present perfect

6.

Present perfect

7.