WRITING SKILLS

Objectives
After studying this content, the students should be able to:
i. Define writing.
ii. Explain the four basic skills that are identifiable in writing.
iii. Identify and use punctuations correctly.
iv. Write essays of various types correctly.

Introduction
Writing skill is one of the four cardinals of language learning. It falls under the expressive skills.
The other expressive skill is Speaking. Writing is a skill that so many people aspire to acquire.
This is because of the enormous importance it possesses. A lot of processes must be followed
and a lot of details and mechanics must be adhered to, in order to produce error free and
acceptable write ups. All these are discussed here.

Cultivating Good Writing Skills

Several decades ago, the Ford Foundation survey team on the teaching of the English Language
in Nigeria at all levels observed that English essays and compositions prepared by Nigerian
students: Tend to be somewhat pedantic; making especially extensive use of rather flowery
expression … the writing skills of many Nigerians in a variety of areas ranging from the
secretarial to journalistic suffer from similar problems in achieving a simple accurate production
(WAJE 1980, p. 42).

A critical look at the situation today shows that nothing has changed, every year, the result of
English examination in institutions reveal that we are not out of the woods yet.

An average freshman at the tertiary level finds himself unable to cope with the array of writing
tasks before him. This is because he was spoon-fed’ at the secondary education level where notes
were dictated and dished out on all subjects. Higher education demands that students should be
able to express their thoughts and ideas more concisely since there is now an urgent need to
achieve communicative competence than in the previous levels of education.
Our pupils in the primary schools also require the skills of writing.

Four basic skills are identifiable in writing. These are:

1. Content
This concerns the way a writer gives sufficient attention to his choice of relevant and interesting
material. It is equally important to consider the adequacy of treatment given to items selected. In-
depth treatment is required in narrative and expository essays while some descriptive and
analytical writings thrive on consciousness and explicitness. For example, when a writer is
discussing a topic like “Why we lost the football match”, attention should be focused on factors
such as overconfidence, lack of preparation, underestimation of the strength of the opponent,
individualism as against team work, etc. It will be out of point to dwell on riots, crisis and protest
after the match or feeling of disappointment and lukewarm reception given to the losing side.

Content in essay writing should highlight the objectives of the write-up. It also has a lot to do
with the proper interpretation of the subject of discourse. A topic like “should capital punishment
be abolished?” Are wrongly interpreted, will water down the quality of the essay. Majority of
students who attempted this topic in one English examination refer to “capital punishment” as
“caning”, “spanking” or “punishment given in schools by teachers”. This led to inadequate
treatment of the topic.
2. Organization
The sources and forceful impact of a piece of writing begins with the way it is organized, as this
will affect the whole of the writing process. Organization deals specifically with a writer’s
originality of approach and layout of ideas and thoughts. It is plotting a topic in an orderly and
systematic fashion, to achieve clarity of
expression with maximum efficiency. The following steps are found useful for developing the
skill of organization:
a. Introduction: An introduction announces the writer’s intention. It should be attractive
and effective enough to sustain the reader’s attention. Good writers are known to use
rhetorical questions and quotations to introduce their essays, e. g. what then is life? “All
that glitters is not gold”, etc.
 b. Body/Paragraphing: A paragraph is a unit of thought. It expresses, presents, explains
or supports one major point. In a well developed paragraph, there is always a topic
sentence which forms the kernel around which other sentences revolve. Being the most
important in a string of thought, the topic sentence captures the crux of the message, e. g.

Topic sentence: Alcoholism is a Major Cause of Accidents on our RoadsSupporting details:

Blurred vision, loss of balance, inaccurate judgement, lack of control of sentences, etc

Consider these passages:

1. Abuja is now Nigeria’s Federal capital and modern town. Many government establishments
are springing up there with each passing day. It will sooner or later become one or the leading
commercial and industrial cities in Africa.
2. Abuja is now Nigeria’s Federal capital and a modern town. It is full of aborigines who still go
naked without the slightest trace of civilization.

Which of these passages do you think is clearly and logically liked? Coherence in paragraphing
helps ideas to flow smoothly so as to create a harmonious relationship between the strings of
sentences. Good transition from one paragraph to another is however done by efficient writers
through the use of linkers or connectives. By this, readers are made to move from one point to
the next and their attention is steered in the right direction. The following is a list of connectives
or linkers made for coherence:

When illustrating: for example, to illustrate, etc.

When listing or enumerating: firstly, secondly, to start with; in the first place, in addition,
moreover, fin ally, etc.

For logical conclusion: therefore, accordingly, as a result, without equivocation, etc

For connection: admittedly, granted that, no doubt, truly, without equivocation, etc
For summary: to conclude, finally, in sum, in short, etc.
 c. Conclusion: A good write-up should have a conclusion. Conclusion is the
reinforcement of the topic sentence so as to achieve a fitting and striking climax in a
series of ideas.

3. Expression
This is a major skill for which the highest credit is allotted in assessment writing. It makes or
mars your writing. Expression refers to good use of language with regards to structural and
grammatical patterns. When a writer matches the style of writing with the situation, his
expression is bound to be effective and instructive. For example, official writing displays formal
expressions like: “It has come to our notice that …” “We shall be obliged if …” etc. while
informal writing makes use of language suggestive of familiarity, cordiality and zest: as personal
and intimate relationship is guaranteed between the writer and the reader. The nuance of words
like appropriateness and acceptability in lexico-semantics falls into the realm of the skill of
expression. Here the writer needs to consider his choice of lexical items to achieve optimum
writer-reader communication. Where there is error at the syntactic or lexical level, “expression”
will suffer and communication will collapse.

Errors in Expression
A telescoped structure where the writer begins in one syntactic pattern terminating in another
will make the sentence vague and incorrect, e. g.
1a. The computer can get answers to not only Mathematical problems and also sociological and
emotional difficulties.
Here the writer has “run off” with different structural arrangements. Note that “not only” is
structurally aligned with “but also”, which is the correct form.
b. Bola loves writing, reading and to play Ludo game.
Here, the gerund forms (writing and reading) have negated the infinitive “to play”
2. Collapsed structure where the writer combined two thought processes without adequate care
for structural organization poses a problem for writing correct sentences, e. g.
We shall have a momentous session next week when Dr. Syntax comes back from his sabbatical
which he got it last year everything has been dull.
3. Wrong use of tenses, e. g.
* I have “binded” my project. (Bound)
4. Misuse of Pronoun, e. g.
* He asked for a ruler and an eraser and I gave “it” to him (them)
5. Lack of concord, e. g.
* Ayo, with his friend are standing on the road (is)
Misuse of Prepositions and Particles
“at, by, on, in, at the, by the, …” in reference to duration and time, e. g. “in Sunday” for “on
Sunday”, “by river”, for “by the river”.
1. Mechanics: Words and Symbols in Motion
Some features of our writing system are fully functional. The graphology of English language is
quite dynamic. A mark here, a dash there or an ellipsis; all have their special effects on what is
put on paper. As the writer manipulates his thoughts in print, making one symbol or the other, he
has a definite purpose and a clear message to give meanings to the writing. Some authors refer to
this as mechanical accuracy because any misleading or inaccurate hint will amount to
misrepresentation. A good reader must cultivate the ability of accurate application of mechanical
skills. We shall focus on punctuation and spelling.

Punctuation Marks
These are tools used purposely by the writer to give clarity and specificity to what is said.
Convention demands that there is a low pause, mid pause and long pause in any length of
utterance. The way a question is asked differs from the way emotion is displayed in speech.
Marks are used in punctuation to help the reader to realize these various inflections. Below are
common punctuation marks needed for all types of writing:
1. Period /. /: Commonly referred to as a full stop is used at the end of a declarative sentence, e.
g. I was there. Visit your dentist once a year.
2. Question Mark /? /: Used at the end of interrogative sentences, e. g. what is your name?
3. Exclamation Mark /! /: Used at the end of an imperative sentence or any statement expressing
strong emotion. E. g. Get out! What a tragedy! Etc.
4. The Comma /, /: Used to separate independent elements from the rest of the sentence, e. g.
Yes, I accept your proposal.
To set of non-restrictive clauses, e. g. Ade, the terror of the college, has repented.
5. Semi-Colon /; /: Used between items in a series where commas have been used, e. g. The
election had Tayo, President; Bola, Vice-president; Jide, Secretary; etc
6. Colon /: /: Used as an appositive before making a list of items, e. g. I need the following: a
pen, a paper, a pencil and some ink.
b) To separate hours from minutes, e. g. 3:30 p. m.
7. Dash / - /: Used to modify a line of thought e. g. we thank God – at least we are alive.
8. Quotation Marks / “/: Used to identify direct quotations. “Happiness, like unhappiness, will
soon pass away”.
b) For titles of short stories, articles and special/technical words, e. g. I’ve read “The Tortoise
and the Elephant”. They have also seen Alebiosu’s article titled “Sociosemantics in E. S. L.
context”.
Nowadays, there is less “Owambe parties”.
9. Apostrophe / ‘/: Used to (a) indicate contractions and omissions, e. g. we don’t, they don’t,
etc.
b) To show possessive forms, e. g. Rilwan’s Quran, Bola’s book.
10. Parenthesis / ( ) /: Used to enclose illustrative material, e. g. Democracy (not the Nigerian
type) respects the voice of opposition.
11. Ellipsis / … /: Used to show some information has been deliberately left out, e. g. it is true
that “Little drops … make the mighty ocean”.

Spelling
Spelling presents considerable difficulties to many writers of the English language.
This stems from the fact that most English words do not have a corresponding sound/symbol
relationship present in many Nigerian languages. Good spelling should be carefully studied and
acquired through reading and constant reference to the dictionary.
Memory Aid for Mastering English Spelling
1. Sound Association: Writers must consciously learn some words by the use of sound
association and these should be noted accordingly. These are words like “lane, vain, vein, maid,
sleigh, bray, clay, they, day, break, brake, etc”. (all with the diphthong “ei”). Some other words
like “deed, keen, leisure, believe, receive” also fall into other words like “deed, keen, leisure,
believe, receive” also fall into this category with “I” as the base while the consonant “f” is
associated with “father, phone, phrase, laugh, cough” etc.
2. Blending: “All right (all is right) not alright” “in spite” not “inspite”, “hope” blends with
“hoping” as “hop” rhymes with “hopping”.
3. Homonyms and Homophones: Week spellers need to be familiar with the correct usage of
these words and their spellings as they tend to confuse unwary users: accept except, censor
censure, cite, site, course coarse, counsel council, ingenious ingenuous, effect affect, desert
dessert, impliment implement, complement compliment, personal personnel, precedent
precedence, principle principal, quite quite, waist waste, weather whether, etc (Check your
dictionary for the meaning of each of these words and know their correct use).
Spelling errors may sometimes be as a result of poor hyphenation as we have in “all-ready with-
out, more-over, how-ever” etc. as the addition of hyphen extends the symbols required for the
correct word. Besides, there is faulty amalgamation like “cooperation, coordination” where these
words should be realized as separate entities. Weak spellers could reduce their errors if they take
caution and make use of the dictionary whenever they set pen on paper.

Essay Types
Writing has been generally categorized into four areas. This is academic treatise could be
described as essay types. However, before one begins to write any of these he must bear in mind
that writing is a productive skill which requires the writer to impress his reader. He must
therefore arouse his reader interest and attract is attention for his writing to make any positive
impact. He can achieve such by following these principles.
1. Ask a rhetorical question: What is life? Why do bad things happen? Now proceed to suggest
answer to these questions and your reader will tag along with you having grasped his attention.
2. Use Classical Quotation: Inimitable Shakespeare says “life is but a walking shadow …”
“Coward
dies many times before their death …” Quranic and Biblical quotation are equally relevant. In an
abortion debate topic, “Thou shall not kill …” “Do unto others what you wish do to you”.
Biblical Quranic quotes may be used, etc. Other general quotations like “make hay while the sun
shines, better late than never, honesty is the best policy, etc will enrich your story.
3. Use Illustration: In narrative like “all that Glitters is not Gold”, you can relate the fable of
Adun – The lady with the delicate eyeballs who fell in love with a stranger because of her pride.
This will prepare you for a self landing to anchor your essay.
The following Essay types are identified:
1. Narrative Essay: This tells a story or gives an account of any incident, occurrence or
experience. It is the most common of all the essays. A narrative essay usually has a story line.
There must be the plot which has a beginning, the middle and the end. Many fiction writer and
novelist have good plots to appeal to their readers. For a short narrative, a popular story begins
like this “Once upon a time, the king of the animals called a meeting”. Usually, narratives are
given in the simple past or past participle. The story above has been concluded in many forms
including “… and so that was how king lion perished because of his great and arrogance…”

Essentials of a good Narrative: In relating an incident or telling a story some principles must be
borne in mind e. g.
 Relevant setting: This is the locale or situation of occurrence of the incident being
related.
 The plot: This should sustain your reader by making them curious e. g. what happens
next? How did it go? Etc. Loose or rambling plots will confuse your reader or you can
lose a good narrative
 Language: Your use of language should be vivid and picturesque since you are appealing
to your readers’ imagination, it is your use of figures of speech like simile, metaphor,
personification etc that will bring life and colour to an otherwise stale story.
 Theme: Your story should radiate a central idea and motif that your reader can actually
pin down the author message. The virtue of honesty must be obvious in an essay titled
“Honesty is the best policy”
 Characterization: This refers to the people in the story who must be convincing and
realistic in the way they were portrayed. A well articulated character can be recognized
by what the writer speaks of him/her, what he/she speaks of himself/herself and what
other characters says of him/her. Sometimes you can judge a character by what he/she
refuses to say or do.
Some interesting topics in narrative essay include:
 A day I will never forget
 I wish I never disobeyed my Parents
 A story titled “All that Glitters is not Gold
 Too many cooks spoil the broth

2. Descriptive Essay: In this essay, language is used to paint a vivid picture of the topic under
discussion. The writer is expected to describe by engaging in an item by item analysis of the
matter. He needs to create a sense impression in such a way as to make the reader feel, smell,
taste, hear and see the illustration being enacted e. g. The national museum this must give factual
details of the location, appearance and the makeup of the museum. This includes artifacts, batik,
paintings, images and sculptures kept within the museum to make the reader wish to visit the
place on an excursion. Some important features descriptive writing are precision, accuracy and
clarity. When an accident scene is being described, irrelevant details must be omitted. In
describing an experiment, logical arrangement of the steps from one stage to the other is essential
so that your attention will not be distracted from the details being provided.

Some of the topics in descriptive essays include:

 My lecturer’s office
 A visit to the zoo
 The new yam festival
 My favourite dish

3. Argumentative Essay: This requires the writer to speak in support or against a proposal of a
motion. Controversial matters of debate fall under the category of argumentative essay. The
writer is expected to defend his/her position as more convincing than his/her opponent’s. This
should be done by marshalling a superior argument in a matter devoid of rancor or bitterness.
Name calling and dressing down of people opposed to your view point do not constitute a good
debate, just like two monologues do not mean a dialogue. When one party tries to justify why
Women Education should be discouraged, it will be immature to abuse the female debaters by
saying “you girls are just baby making machines whose education ends in the kitchen” impartial
judges have been known to discredit aggressive debaters who see their own positions as
sacrosanct. The major aim of any argument is to persuade your listener to see reason with you
and accede to your viewpoint. You first present relevant information on the topic, analyze the
data and airlive at objective conclusion and thought coloured by personal experience. Clever
debaters balance their arguments by seeing some good points in the opposing views. This
ambivalent position accepts that you cannot throw away the baby with the birth water e. g. in
opposing a topic titled. “Military Regime is better than civil Rule” you bring out some
advantages or military rule.

Some topics under argumentative essay include supporting or opposing these motions:
 Uniforms should be retained in our school
 Fuel subsidy should not be removed
 Government should grant scholarship to undergraduates
 Capital punishment should be scrapped
 Post UTME should be done

4. Expository Essay: This comes from the word expose (to throw more light upon). Expository
writing requires that the writer should enlighten, inform, explain or clarify a point of view. In
such a write up there is need for accuracy and objectivity.

When students write tests and examination, they are telling the examiners what they have
garnered from read materials. Any attempt to obscure facts is bound to lead to failure. For a good
expository writing to be done, the writer must be knowledgeable on the topic under discussion
which could be definitions of items or explanation of a process.

The ideal behind expository writing is to carry along the reader into the inner recessing of the
writer. When a Nigerian boxer won the Commonwealth Boxing Gold Medal in the 70’s he was
honoured to make a tour of parts and he came back to write a travelogue titled “See Paris and
Die”. It was an expose of Paris as a beautiful city of light.
Some topics in expository writing include;
 Preparation of Oxygen in the Laboratory
 Who is an Engineer?
 Piloting A Jet Airlines.

Students Activity
1. Develop two paragraphs as an introduction to any of the following topics.
(a) An Unforgettable Dream I had
(b) My Favourite Food

2. Use the following sentences as starters for your essay

(a) I shall always remember my first day at school.
(b) He was a man I wish I had never met
(c) All that glitters is not gold

3. Write an essay of about 250 words on these topics:

(i) “A journey to my home town”
(ii) “A festival in my town”
(iii) Road Accidents

4. Write a letter to your father living in Kano, telling him about your new school and the
challenges you are facing as a new intake.

5. Write a letter to the chairman of your local government, complaining about the poor
environmental conditional of your vicinity.