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1. Observation ................................................................................................................................ 5
Observation......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Judgments and generalizations vs. concrete descriptions ............................................................................................................ 5
Descriptive Vocabulary for the 5 Senses. ....................................................................................................... 6
Figurative Language ........................................................................................................................................... 6
2. Tone........................................................................................................................................... 7
What is Tone? ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Formal and Informal Tone ................................................................................................................................................................ 7
12. Sample Essay and Analysis: The Creation of the World .......................................................... 40
Essay Analysis: The Creation of the Illumination ...................................................................................... 42
3
A Note on Citations and Plagiarism
Always cite the sources that you use. If you research a topic and come across text that you want to use
in your essay, then always remember to cite the original source. Put whatever language you borrow in
quotes and footnote the quote (Alt + Ctrl + F).
A small number will appear next to the quote and on the bottom of the page, like in the example
below. Include the following information in the footnote:
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Name of Website. Web. Day Month Year of access. <URL>.
Example:
“Dark colored leaves and flowers in shades of red work together to make a moody display.” 1
Plagiarism
Using text from outside sources without citations constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism is theft. Signing
one’s name to someone else’s words constitutes a serious violation of university policy and carries
equally serious consequences.
1 Greenthumb, Marigold. "Landscaping and Colors." Fine Gardening. Web. 7 Jan 2018. <finegardening.com/landscaping>
4
1. Observation
The beginning is the most important part of the work. –Plato.
The human world has two sides. One side is the material world which can be sensed with the five
senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste); the other side is the world of ideas, such as freedom, justice,
and fate. In essays, we describe the material world, and we define ideas and concepts. We cannot describe
ideas because ideas leave no traces of physical sensations. Only material objects—people, places, and
things—can be sensed with the five senses and described. This chapter covers observation; the next
chapter covers paragraph structure; and chapter 3 puts observations together with paragraph structure
to get descriptive paragraphs. From there we will move on to essays.
Observation
The purpose of a description is to recreate the image of an object in mind of the reader. The writer
stands between the object and the reader and goes back and forth transferring observations. A good
writer, then, is a good observer.
Observation comes down to asking oneself, over and over again, What do I see (or sense)? Often
what we notice first in a scene are the “loudest” details: a blue car passing, a dog barking, a big building
across the street with many balconies. If we keep observing, however, we soon pick up on smaller,
quieter details, and some of these details begin to form a pattern. What do I see? A man in a chair,
smoking, watching television; beside him, a woman talking on the phone. What do I see? A breezy
Sunday in spring. What do I see? A child with a drawing, trying to get the woman's attention. What do I
see? An older woman cooking in the kitchen. We realize: It’s a typical family on a Sunday morning.
Most details are just facts. They are what they are, like a stone lying on the sidewalk. Leave these
out of your descriptions. Other details, however, suggest a story: a tree planted by a great-grandfather,
a seashell in a poem, or even a stone on the sidewalk painted blue. Leave these details in. To be good
observer, you have to hunt through all of the meaningless facts to get to the details that fit into a story
like a piece in a puzzle. It is the story that fills them, retroactively, with meaning and feeling.
Exercise 1. Observe the classroom and make a list of everything you sense. Compare your details with
the details others have noticed. What do you think accounts for the similarities and differences?
Judgments and generalizations vs. concrete descriptions
Judgments and generalizations are the enemies of description. Good, beautiful, and nice are judgments,
not descriptions. “The movie was boring” evaluates; it does not describe. Likewise, thing literally refers to
every thing in the world. It leaves the reader asking, What thing? Trace such judgments and
generalizations back to the concrete sensory details that caused them. If you think something is
beautiful, say what exactly makes it beautiful: color, shape, design? You do not have to remove the
word beautiful from your description, just add the details that support that judgment. Compare:
A. The food had many ingredients, looked beautiful, and tasted good.
B. The chicken sandwich was filled with tender bits of sizzling grilled chicken, tucked inside a bunch of thinly
sliced fresh lettuce, drizzled with lemon juice, and tightly wrapped in fresh-baked pita bread smeared with a
layer of tangy aioli.
Notice that sentence (A) contains no sensory details. Beautiful and good are judgments. It is not possible
to sense “beautiful" and “good” because they have no material existence. Things, too, is so general that it
is meaningless: everything is a thing. By contrast, sentence (B) is a word sandwich. It is filled with a
variety of physical sensations: bits of sizzling chicken; a bunch of thinly sliced lettuce; and fresh-baked
pita bread. Precise vocabulary and detailed observations like these are tasty to the imagination.
Exercise 2. Replace the vague language below with concrete details and specific language.
Some time ago, we went out of town for vacation. We stayed at a nice hotel. It had a restaurant that served
very good food. I liked our rooms because everything was right, and the service was nice, too. The first
morning there, my brother and I went outside. It was so beautiful, the place! There were many exciting things,
and we did them! At night we went out to a new place. I will remember everything always!
5
Descriptive Vocabulary for the 5 Senses.
Sensory vocabulary. A large vocabulary of Adjectives dedicated to sensations is essential to
descriptions. Below are words commonly used to describe sights, smells, textures, tastes, and sounds 1:
Sight:
o Shapes: Oval, angular, steep, bulbous, narrow, curly, rugged, fuzzy, hollow, graceful, flat.
o Sizes: Colossal, minute, epic, paltry, petite, towering, strapping, scrawny, brawny.
o Colors: Scarlet, tangerine, Tuscan yellow, olive, moss, turquoise, cobalt, eggplant, iris.
Smell, touch, taste, and sound:
o Smells: Floral, pungent, spicy, earthy, clean, fishy, musty, wispy, loamy, light, or redolent.
o Textures (Touch): Soft, dry, gelatinous, metallic, shiny, wooden, hatched, flakey, barbed, dusty.
o Tastes: Fiery, chocolatey, robust, acidic, oily, watery, savory, gooey, nutty, sugary, and minty.
o Sounds: Shrill, baritone, faint, buzzing, bubbly, muffled, melodious, gentle, or thumping.
Things can also slosh, clink, smack, rustle, fizz, lilt, trill, and ping.
Exercise 3. Spend a little time outside—at the mall, the metro, park, or just a busy street—and make a
list of the sensations you experience in five columns: sights, smells, tastes, textures, and sounds.
Writing Assignment. Write a description of the place you experienced.
Figurative Language
Figurative language is the use of language in a nonliteral way: The wings of the butterfly were like Chinese
paper spotted with watercolors. Two common types of figurative language are metaphors and similes, which
compare two things. Similes use like or as in the comparison: flat like lavash. Metaphors compare
directly: All the world's a stage; Time is money; The brain is a computer . Metaphors are more powerful than
similes because they are instant and direct. Another type of figurative language is personification, which
gives human qualities to things or ideas, such as “Opportunity knocks but once.” Compare:
o The lake was beautiful during sunset.
o The sun scattered a thousand flames across the lake.
In the example above, the sun is personified, and the light that it scatters is compared to flames. This
vivid description replaces beautiful in the first sentence, which is a judgment, not a description. Used in
the right places, figurative language brings descriptions to life and adds meaning to them: Big as a
Himalayan mountain, slow as a three-toed sloth, fast as a falcon. Figurative language can also be used to very
quickly describe things in a few short words: he's a tank; the problem is a brick wall; he has a nose like toucan.
Figurative language that has been overused loses its effectiveness, however. It becomes clichéd.
The city is a museum under the open sky; Aram is as smart as Einstein; He is a square: these ideas were once
new and exciting but are now commonplace. Avoid such clichés, or revive them by adding new details,
such as: the city is a free museum under the open sky; Aram is as smart as Einstein's teacher.
Exercise 4. Fill in the left blank with the following qualities and the right blank with a simile: round,
shrill, floral, soft, oily, fiery, scrawny, blue, sugary, bubbly. Examples: As square as printer paper.
Wide like an oil-spill.
As ____________ as _____________. ____________ like ___________.
Exercise 5. Fill in the blank with a metaphor. Example: The snowflakes are ballerinas.
Love is ___________________________. A good book is ____________________.
Exam Week is ______________________. My friend is ______________________.
Exercise 6. Take the list of details of your classroom that you made for exercise 1 and provide a
metaphor or simile for each item. Read your favorite ones aloud.
Writing Assignment. Describe in a paragraph a strange looking animal, like a Jerboa, Saiga Antelope, or
Axolotl. You can also describe a child's room, a doctor's office, or your favorite teacher in school..
1 Googling words for shapes/sounds/tastes and so on will yield hundreds of other such words describing sensations.
6
2. Tone
The tone of an essay is the emotion that comes through the writing, sometimes explicitly, sometimes
implicitly. Readers sense this emotion when reading, and they react to it. Therefore, before starting to
write, it is a good idea to make a conscious decision about what the tone of the writing will be.
What is Tone?
Like a role that an actor assumes on stage, writers assume a persona when they write, sometimes without
knowing it. They leave clues in the writing that help readers create a picture of who they are: serious or
emotional, cynical or naive, sad or happy, mysterious, diplomatic and so on. Based on this impression,
readers decide how to interpret what the author says and even whether they want to keep reading. Like
Aristotle says in his discussion of ethos 3, readers tend to believe those writers they perceive to be
educated, rational, and level-headed.
Formal and Informal Tone
The most consequential distinction between tones is that between formal and informal. The formal
tone is used with serious topics when writing to professionals who expect solid arguments founded on
sober reasoning. Formal essays keep an emotional distance and persuade with facts and statistics.
They have a steady focus and a tight structure, and they get directly to proving their point. Formal
essays tend to use Latinate words, and they avoid colloquialisms and contractions, such as won’t. They
also abstain from the first person point of view, opting instead for the third person he, she, or one.
By contrast, informal essays have a casual tone. They are looser in their structure; use shorter
sentences and simpler grammar; and they do not necessarily avoid emotions and creativity. They can
be objective, but they are objective in a conversational way. Their language often contains
colloquialisms and figures of speech, which they use for rhetorical effect. If formal essays sound like
textbooks, informal essays sound like conversations with friends and acquaintances.
To those who prefer a serious tone, informal writing can seem childish; to those who prefer a
conversational tone, formal writing many seem pretentious and stuffy. The choice depends on the
topic and the purpose of writing, as well. The formal and informal tones are not mutually exclusive,
however. It is possible to have an essay that has a distinct emotional tone and uses language creatively
and, at the same time, makes a technically sound argument based on solid facts and reasoning.
Technicality
If your audience is not familiar with your essay topic, then define the relevant technical terms and
concepts and provide them with background information to the topic. If they are familiar with the
topic, however, or if the topic is not technical, then you can proceed directly to the main points.
Exercise 1. Decide on the proper tone (formal or informal) and level of technicality
(low/medium/high) for the following essays.
Ex: (formal/medium technicality) An essay for a respected newspaper about a current event.
1. ___________________An essay for the school newspaper evaluating a new film.
2. ___________________An essay for older people explaining how to use a computer.
3. ___________________An essay for tourists about cool places to visit around Yerevan.
4. ___________________An essay written for a contest to be judged by university professors.
5. ___________________A narrative about a trip to the sea that the whole family will remember.
6. ___________________An argumentative essay in a newspaper trying to convince people to vote.
7. ___________________An explanation of why and how bees make honey for young students.
8. ___________________An essay about Spitak earthquake survivors 30 years on in a magazine.
9. ___________________An essay about eating disorders and depression in a teen magazine.
10. ___________________A comparison between Yerevan and Tbilisi in a political journal.
3 ethos (character), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic) are the three modes of persuasion.
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3. The Paragraph
The desire to write grows with writing. –Erasmus.
A paragraph is division of writing that is, on average, about 100-200 words long. Each paragraph is
centered around one main idea. The first line of a paragraph is always indented, spaced a centimeter or
two into the text with the Tab key or the space key on the keyboard. The indentation makes it clear to
readers that a new idea is beginning. Some writers and publishers also add a space between paragraphs
for the same purpose of separating ideas into convenient units.
The following outline divides the paragraph above into its topic sentence, generalizations, and details.
1. Topic sentence: Armenia is a topographically varied country.
a. Generalization 1: Armenia has many mountains.
i. Details: Aragatz, Arai Ler, Achkasar.
b. Generalization 2. In between and across these mountains are forests.
i. Details: Shikahogh.
c. Generalization 3: In the middle of the country, the fertile valley of Ararat stretches....
i. Details: Over 40% of Armenia's food is produced here.
Notice that the grammatical subject of the topic sentence is Armenia, and the predicate is a topographically
varied country. Every sentence in the paragraph is either directly or indirectly concerned about Armenia
being a topographically varied country. Generalizations support that idea, and the facts and details support
the generalizations. This is the standard structure of all paragraphs.
4 topography – n. the surface features of a region, like mountains, lakes, valleys, and so on.
8
Details: Types and Order
Details are concrete and specific; generalizations are abstract and general. Details support
generalizations as concrete examples of them. For example, “Fasting has many benefits” is a
generalization. Examples that support it are the following: fasting promotes the secretion of human
growth hormone, it slows down the aging process, and it lowers the levels of bad cholesterols. Most
generalizations require facts and examples to support them. Try to get into the habit of following your
generalizations with details that back them up.
The following are common types of facts and examples:
o Descriptions: “The wedding was booming with music and blooming with flowers and smoke.”
“At twilight, one side of the sky was icy black, and the other side was a warm orange.”
o Historical details: Personal: “My father taught me how to ride a bike in our yard when I was 5.”
Objective: “Poison gas and flamethrowers were used for the first time in World War I.”
o Facts: “In Switzerland, it is illegal to own just one guinea pig, because they get lonely.”
o Statistics: “Eighty percent of new restaurants close within 5 years of opening.”
o Quotes: “The journalist H. L. Mencken said, ‘Democracy is the art of running the circus from
the monkey cage.’”
o Behaviors/traits: “She was humble and attentive and did not have a Facebook account.”
o Examples: “You can get around Yerevan using the metro, minibuses, or taxis, or you can bike.”
“Dolmas, steak, and sushi are just a few of the many types of food available in Yerevan.”
Exercise 1. Provide at least three types of details for each of the following topics: Clothing stores, the
Yerevan Zoo, being famous, ice cream, and statues.
Example: Chairs.
o Description: It was a leaf green chair with a deep seat, firm cushioning all around, and a stiff backrest.
o Historical: Chairs were used in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
o Fact: Chair styles in Europe changed with changes in men's and women's fashion.
o Statistic: People who spend most of their time sitting have a 90% greater risk of heart attack.
o Quote: Henry Thoreau wrote, “I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship,
three for society.”
o Traits: The Office chair usually swivels and has wheels and adjustable height.
o Examples: Three very different kinds of chairs are the Farthingale, the Shaker, and the Electric.
The Power of Facts and Statistics
If you want to convince your readers, use facts and statistics to support your arguments. Notice how
actual evidence makes the following argument convincing:
According to the World Health Organization, about 30 million people are injured and 1.2 million people die in traffic
accidents every year; one in four traffic accidents is caused by cell-phones; and texting drivers are 20 times more
likely to cause an accident. Driving while using a cell-phone is quite reckless.
Writing Assignment. Write a paragraph about Brusov students. First, identify the topic in the topic
sentence. Next, make three generalizations about Brusov students and follow the generalizations with
supporting facts and examples.
9
Topic Sentences
The first sentence of the paragraph, the topic-sentence summarizes the main idea of the paragraph.
The main idea is what all of the generalizations and details of a paragraph are about. For example, the
topic sentence Exercise is good for health can be broken down into two generalizations: Exercise improves
heart and lung function, and exercise promotes muscle strength.
In the paragraph below, the topic sentence is underlined, and the generalizations are in italics.
Details supporting the generalizations make up the rest of the paragraph. Notice the relationship
between the topic sentence and the generalizations.
Lawlessness prevailed near archeological sites in Anatolia in the 19th century. Bandits repeatedly attacked and
murdered archeologists from the early 1800s. In 1829, they killed Friedrich Schulz and his party at a site near
Adamakert. Rosch was killed a few years later trying to copy the Kelishin stele. Bandits were not the only
danger, however. Locals regularly plundered newly discovered sites and sold the artefacts on the black market. In 1875, they
plundered the ruins of an Urartian fortress and sold the artefacts to Europeans collectors.
Topic Sentence Errors
Topic sentences summarize the main idea, but they do not do any of the following:
Address the reader directly: “In this paragraph, I am going to tell you...”
Quote someone else. Quotes are fine inside the paragraph but not as topic sentences.
State simple facts. “Water freezes at 0 degrees,” for example, cannot be broken down into
generalizations. It is a simple, brute fact about the world.
Unrelated Ideas
All of the sentences of a paragraph must be related to the topic sentence. Unrelated ideas should be
removed. Compare the statements below, for example. The first statement mixes up the author's likes,
dislikes, and plans with the main idea of the sentence. The second statement is clear and to-the-point.
1. I am now going to tell you about my favorite philosopher Heraclitus.
2. Heraclitus was a philosopher.
Exercise 2. Cross-out the sentences that do not belong in the paragraph below.
I am going to tell you about movies. Movies are films. Movies are the most popular art form today. They
are seen in theaters all over the world. For example, the Batman movies were shown in over 4,000 theaters
worldwide. I did not go when they showed “Batman” here because I like romances. In 2016, about 1.2 billion
tickets were sold in the United States; China and India had even higher ticket sales. There is a lot of pollution
in these countries. Every year, movies make about $40 billion. “Kung Fu Panada 3” made $143 million. I
thought “Kung Fu Panda 2” was better. “Zootopia” made twice as much as “Kung Fu Panda 3.”
Exercise 3. Write topic sentences that summarize each of the following groups of generalizations.
1. Cigarette smoking causes cancers. Smoking causes emphysema. Smoking causes heart attacks.
2. Potato chips contain unhealthy oils. Potato chips are expensive. Potato chips are fattening.
3. Village life is calm. It is inexpensive. Fresh food is available in villages. Villages have clean air.
4. Riding bikes comes naturally. Falling from a bike is usually not dangerous. Bicycles reduce traffic.
5. Cars consume lots of fossil fuels. Cars produce pollution. Car accidents cause serious injuries.
Writing Assignment. Observe the older generation in detail. What are their tastes in clothes, music, and
television shows? What conclusion can you come to about them based on your observations? Write a
paragraph about your observations (details), the generalizations they support, and your conclusion
(topic sentence). Try the same exercise with university lecturers, doctors, and other professionals.
Ask yourself the following questions about the paragraphs you write:
o Does the topic sentence summarize the content of the paragraph?
o Is the topic sentence broken down into smaller, provable generalizations?
o Does each detail support, prove, explain or provide an example of the generalizations?
Test Preparation. Be ready to define, provide examples of, and distinguish between topic sentences,
generalizations, and (the various types of) details. Know the average length of a standard paragraph,
what an indentation is, and what a topic sentence should not do.
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4. Descriptive Paragraphs: People, Places, and Things
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. –Plutarch.
Descriptions of Things
In the previous lesson, we reviewed figurative language and words for describing sensations. Another
quality of good descriptions is exact identification.
When describing a thing, first identify it exactly. Find the exact word that names the type of thing,
specifically. If describing a car, for example, name the kind of car that it is, such as a limousine, a
station wagon, or a barchetta. Identifying a thing exactly means differentiating it from all the other
things in the same class: the type of flower, type of horse, type of hairstyle, and so on.
Precisely identifying nouns is easy to do nowadays with internet search engines. If you are
describing a hat, for example, do an image search on Google for “types of hats” to retrieve the trilby, beret,
boater, top hat, cowboy hat, bobble, and so on. An online thesaurus does the same thing for verbs.
Exercise 1. Find at least 5 specific types of the following things: Horses, beards, umbrella handles,
deciduous trees, jackets, hairstyles for men and women, shoes, pink gemstones, and jellyfish.
Example: Handbags: The clutch, minaudiere, hobo, satchel, tote, bucket, sling backpack, bowler.
Exercise2. Find synonyms for the following actions: walk, run, eat, describe, think, essay.
Example: Laugh: chuckle, guffaw, chortle, grin, snort, giggle, and snicker.
Descriptions of Places
Places have moods. Some houses feel haunted; other houses feel light and happy. Abandoned prisons
exude an eerie feeling, as if the prisoners have left behind their suffering, while abandoned factories
echo with the power of giant machines. Try to capture these moods with carefully chosen details. For
example, a tranquil lake might be described as tucked away in the woods and surrounded by old trees
and moss-covered boulders. There might be cones of light shining through the leaves unto the surface
of the water, undisturbed and still like a mirror. A person there might feel wet leaves cool to the touch,
smell the earthy scent of loam, and hear the sound of breezes blowing through the leaves.
Remember to order the details you use in a logical pattern. You can order them according to size,
or intensity, or generality. Or you can order them according to the way a person would see them, first
from far away, then closer and closer, then from inside. For example, you could begin the description
of a house from the outside of the house, then go in through the front door, move down the entrance
corridor, through each of the rooms, and emerge out the back door to the yard, as if you were looking
through the eyes of a person walking through the house. Such a logical order would be easy to follow.
What is the order of the details in the paragraph below and what feelings do they evoke?
Black Monastery
A series of peaks along a mountain range pierced the sky in central Tavush, and beside a crest next to one of them stood
the black monastery, in a clearing, like a monolith 6. It was built by a local prince in memory of his son who died from the
plague in the year 1377. From the outside, it looked black, for its stone was carved out of a rare kind of black tuff from a
quarry hidden in a maze of trails through the mountains. Inside, it was cool, at first, and dim, until slowly the thin shafts
of light beaming in through the narrow windows grew progressively more intense and lent the interior space a holy glow.
The church had been abandoned centuries ago, but it felt alive. Underneath the absolute silence, liturgies resonated from
centuries past, and a faint odor of frankincense 7 wafted into the crystal air, as if emanating from the bones of the church.
Exercise 1. Describe the house of a person you know. Use details to bring out the mood of the place.
Writing Assignment . In a paragraph, describe the most beautiful room that you have ever seen.
Writing Assignment: Describe in a paragraph a person who has inspired you in your life. Remember to
have a topic sentence, generalizations, and plenty of details.
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5. The Narrative Paragraph
It is the heart which inspires eloquence. –Quintillian.
“The Cold Winter” is a narrative paragraph, for several reasons. First, the paragraph has a main
character. In this case, the character is an Everyman, without many specific personality traits. All we
know is that the winter cold makes the narrator feel a little gloomy and miss summer. Because the
character is so simple and has an emotion that is common for people during winter, many readers can
relate to him. The second characteristic that makes it a narrative is the chronological order of events.
The paragraph starts with the narrator waking up, looking outside, and thinking about the summer. It
then progresses through the events that happen next as the narrator opens the window and looks at the
street below: someone skids across the ice and almost has a serious accident, the driver and narrator
feel relief, then the narrator turns away and feels grateful. All of these things happen in chronological
order. Finally, at the end of the story, there is a lesson learned: just being warm and alive makes it a
good day. Thus, narratives have a character experiencing events in chronological order and learning a
lesson. And, as we see in “The Cold Winter,” what characters want and the lessons they learn don’t
necessarily have to be intense; they can be quite subtle.
14
Exercise 5.1. Pick three numbers from 1 to 7 and make a story out of the corresponding story elements
in the three columns. For example, 2, 4, 7 would be: Ashot the taxi driver meets his soulmate and
learns to always charge the cell-phone battery. Write the story in 3rd person.
Character Event Lesson learned
1 Ashot, a taxi driver who loves his Starts hearing a loud whistling Always stay humble.
job and keeps his taxi clean. sound in left ear.
2 Varduhi, a worried 20-something. Wins a trip to China for two. Don't think too far ahead.
3 Anahit, a young photographer. Is arrested for terrorism. Think positive.
4 Yeranuhi, a great-grandmother. Meets soulmate. Don't trust everyone.
5 Hrand, a member of an Gets a strange call from one Always charge the cell-phone
Armenian rock band. claiming to be an old friend. battery.
6 Marshal, a used-car salesman Cooks at home for the first Make plans for the future.
from Moscow. time.
7 Olya, a vegetarian yoga teacher. Opens a shawerma stand. Make friends with neighbors
8 If we were to analyze the word “analysis,” itself, we would break it down into the prefix “ana-” and the Greek “lysis,” akin
to the Armenian լուծել, which together mean “to dissolve” or to “break down into parts.”
9
Narratives, too, are arranged in chronological order, as you may have noticed, but the two are very
different. Narratives are about events that have already happened; process analysis paragraphs are
written to guide events that are planned to happen in the future.
16
Exercise 1.
In the process analysis paragraph below, double underline the topic sentence, underline the
generalizations, and put a circle around the groups of details that support the generalizations.
For tastier, tangier, and healthier bread, use a homemade sourdough starter instead of store-bought yeast to bake
bread at home. First, gather your materials: a medium sized glass jar, a wooden spoon, bread flour, and water. You
can use a regular metallic spoon, too, but a wooden one is easier because it will not crack the glass when mixing.
Once you have your materials, spoon into the jar 100 grams of flour along with 100 grams of water and mix. If you
don’t have a scale with which to weigh the water and the flour, don’t worry. Just put a small cup of flour into the
jar, then add small amounts of water and mix until you reach the consistency of oatmeal or harissa. Next, cover the
jar and set it aside. If you use a lid, make sure you put a hole in the lid so that any gasses that build up inside the jar
can escape; otherwise, the jar might crack. Of course, you can also put the lid on the jar very loosely, allowing the
gasses to escape from the side, but then you will have to remember not to tighten the lid every time. I think it is
easier to just put a hole in it. Now all you have to do is wait for a day or two. When you start seeing bubbles in the
mixture and the wheat starts smelling a little sour—congratulations—you have grown an active yeast colony. From
now on, your job will be to keep it alive. You do that by feeding it equal amounts of flour and water (100 grams)
every day. If the starter gets too large, then pour it out. Just keep 100 grams of the original starter and add the fresh
flour and water to it. In about three weeks, you will be able to make bread with your all-natural homemade sourdough
starter.
Chronological and Sequential Transitions
Process analysis paragraphs, as we have seen, show the reader how to do something, and they are made
up of several steps arranged in chronological order. In order to show the reader what comes first, what
comes next, and what follows, we use transitional words or phrases signaling changes in time, such as,
first, next, and finally. There are other kinds of transitional phrases, showing contrast, emphasis, changes
in location, and so on, but those that show changes in time and sequence are particularly relevant for
process analysis paragraphs.
Chronological Transitions
Before, after, at first, finally, in the meantime, later, meanwhile, next, now, then, at the same time
Sequential Transitions
First...then...now...next...finally.
First...second...third...
Exercise 2. Go back to the paragraphs above or to process analysis paragraphs that you have written
and circle the transitional words and phrases. Can you replace them with other words?
Writing Assignment
Write a process analysis paragraph on something that you know how to do, or any of the following
topics: researching scholarships on the internet, making dolmas, or any skill that you are familiar with.
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Process Analysis – Advisory
The kind of process analysis writing discussed above that gives step-by-step instructions is called
instructional process analysis. There is another kind of process analysis writing which is advisory.
Operating a sewing machine requires step-by-step instructions; raising a child calls for discussion of
information and advice. Making jewelry out of epoxy requires step-by-step instructions; buying a house
entails advice. Again, a person who wants to raise children the right way needs information, like why
children throw temper tantrums, how to talk to them and calm them down, if and when to punish
them, and so on; a step-by-step instruction manual would not help them. It is clear, then, that the
difference between the two types of process analysis is that one involves concrete steps in
chronological order, while the other involves information and discussion.
In the advisory type of process analysis paragraph, the topic sentence identifies the process to be
discussed and states the benefits of mastering the process or comments on how easy or hard it is to
carry out. The generalizations then provide the necessary information and advice, and the details that
follow discuss the generalizations further, narrowing them down and making them more precise. The
following paragraph is about quitting watching television.
Living without television can be difficult if you have become accustomed to it, but it can be done, and it can be
immensely rewarding. Consider that television totally distorts your view of reality. The characters that are shown in TV-
shows are usually very clearly divided into those who are good and those who are evil. But in real life, people usually
have a propensity for good and evil. The world and what it means are simple and obvious on TV, but the real world
is far more complex—and interesting. If you watch too much TV, the ideas that you develop of the world will be
tinged with ideas you have picked up from TV-shows. Be aware, however, that watching TV causes brain changes and stopping
watching TV brings about panic and depression in some people, but these negative feelings go away in a few days. Television shows
play on people’s emotions, causing the release of large amounts of feel-good hormones called endorphins in the
brain. People who watch TV a lot become used to these endorphins and experience withdrawal symptoms, like drug
addicts, when they stop. In time, however, their brains get back used to normal levels of endorphins and regular life
becomes enjoyable again. The trick to kicking the TV habit is to immediately turn your attention to doing something else the minute
you get the urge to watch TV. Exercise, or go for a walk in the clear open air; talk to friends and family; learning how to
do something challenging, like making jewelry at home, building a radio, or program computers; , clean up and
organize your living space; write a book about your life; or take care of whatever it is that has been bothering you.
There are a million things that you could do. The point is, the time you save when you stop watching TV is your
free time to do with whatever you want and to become the person that you have always wanted to be.
Exercise 4. Write an advisory process analysis paragraph about how to introduce your
boyfriend/girlfriend to your parents.
Writing Assignment. Write a process analysis paragraph about how to eat healthy, how to find time for
exercise in a busy day, how to know whether you are in love, how to plan a wedding, or another topic
that interests you.
-Shel Silverstein
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Comparison/Contrast Paragraphs
Another way to inform a reader about a thing or idea is to compare or contrast it with something else.
To compare means to find similarities; to contrast means to find differences. If two things are
different, it is their similarities that are informative. For example, the similarities between mice and
humans is fascinating. If two things are similar, like lemons and limes, it is their differences that are
informative. Many things can be meaningfully compared and contrasted. However, if two things are
from totally different classes, like an elephant and a light bulb, they cannot be meaningfully compared
at all.
Criteria for comparing and contrasting.
When we compare and contrast, we always use criteria, or a set of standards. We often compare cars in
terms of fuel efficiency, comfort, and looks, for example. We compare restaurants based on their food,
ambience, and service. Take the example of mice and humans.
Comparison Criteria
Apples taste sweet. Oranges also taste sweet. Taste.
Apples are round, and so are oranges. Shape.
Apples and oranges are both fruit. Biological class.
Criteria are also used for contrasting things. Take the streets Tumanyan and Abovyan:
Contrast Criteria
Tumanyan has a northwesterly orientation; by contrast, Abovyan has Orientation.
a northeasterly one.
Abovyan connects to Republic Square. However, tumanyan Connection to squares.
connects to Freedom Square.
Abovyan passes close to two metro stops, but Tumanyan is not close Proximity to the metro.
to the metro.
Exercise 1.
Decide whether the following are 1) comparisons or contrasts and 2) what criteria they represent.
Example: “Lions eat meat, while giraffes eat only leaves.” This sentence is 1) a contrast between lions
and giraffes and 2) uses the criteria of feeding habits.
1. Tigers and cows are both mammals.
2. Parrots are more colorful than eagles.
3. Ladas are more fuel efficient than Dodge trucks.
4. Skateboards and bicycles are both manually operated.
5. Lavash is a flatbread like the pita bread.
Words for showing comparisons and contrasts
Notice that the comparisons and contrasts above use words that show that two things are the same
(both, like, and) or different (by contrast, however, but, more than). Here are a few more of such words.
Words used to show comparison
as, just as, alike, like, likewise, in the same way, also, similarly, too, both, and.
Exercise 2. Add the appropriate comparison or contrast word in the following sentences.
1. Tea and coffee ________ contain caffeine. __________, coffee contains more caffeine than tea.
2. The Earth is hot, _______ the moon is hotter. _______, they are both cooler than Venus.
3. _________ dinosaurs and birds have similar joints and sleep in the same position, dinosaurs are
extinct, ________ birds are not..
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The topic sentences, generalizations, and details of comparison/contrast paragraphs.
The topic sentences of comparison/contrast paragraphs identify the topic of the paragraph and say
whether a comparison or a contrast is to follow. A topic sentence for a paragraph about apples and
oranges, for example, would say something like “Apples and oranges are quite similar,” signaling that a
comparison between apples and oranges is to follow.
The generalizations of topic sentences are the same as the criteria used to compare or contrast the
items. For example, “Apples and oranges both taste sweet,” is a criteria used for comparing apples and
oranges, and it can also serve as a generalization in a paragraph.
The details that follow the generalizations support the generalizations with examples, facts, and
evidence. The following sentence provides details that logically follow the generalization, “Apples and
oranges both taste sweet”: “It is possible to make sugar out of apples. For their part, oranges were bred to be sweeter and
tastier by humans 2000 years ago when they crossed a mandarin with a pomelo.”
Again, the topic sentence states the items and whether a comparison or a contrast is to follow; the
generalizations are the criteria for the comparison/contrast; and the details support the generalizations.
If we turned the contrast between Tumanyan street and Abovyan street above into a paragraph, then, it
might look something like this:
Abovyan Street and Tumanyan Street are two streets in downtown Yerevan that are very different from one
another. Tumanyan has a northwesterly orientation, while Abovyan has a northeasterly one. For that reason, they both cross
Northern Avenue, but at different angles and at different places, and one gets a little more light during sunrise, and
the other during sunset. Abovyan connects to Republic Square, but Tumanyan connects to Freedom Square. These are the two
main squares of downtown Yerevan, and because tourists go to the squares to see them, the streets connected to
them tend to have many restaurants and cafes. Finally, Abovyan travels along the metro route, but Tumanyan cuts across it.
Consequently, you could just as well use the metro to travel the same path as Abovyan, but if you wanted to cross
town from the Moscow Cinema to Brusov University, you would have to either walk or take a taxi. Abovyan and
Tumanyan are both downtown streets, but they are very different in their orientation, connection to main squares,
and transportation possibilities.
In class exercise. Compare/contrast two movies by the same director, men and women, two types of
dolma, or Yerevan and Gyumri.
Writing Assignment. Compare/contrast two painting by the same painter, Armenia before and after
independence, having a job and attending university, or the feelings of love and hate.
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Definition Paragraphs
There are two kinds of definitions: Formal and informal.
Formal Definitions
Formal definitions are dictionary definitions. Dictionaries define words by taking the category (the
genus) of the thing that the word refers to and then differentiating the thing from all the other things in
that category. To put it in another way, a formal definition starts by identifying the club that a thing
belongs to and then points out how it is different from all the other members of that club. For
example, a horse fits into the club of mammals, and it is different from all the other mammals in that it is
large, has hooves, short hair and a mane, and is domesticated for work or riding. Therefore, the formal
definition of a horse is “a large hoofed mammal, having short hair and a mane, domesticated for work
and riding.” The only time you would write a formal definition is when you are using a difficult word
that your reader might not understand, and, in such a situation, one or two sentences would be enough.
In-class Exercise 1. Without looking at a dictionary, identify the genus (club) each noun below belongs
to, differentiate it from the others in that genus. Write your formal definition, and, after you are done,
compare it to a dictionary definition. Example: T-shirt. Club: Garment. Difference: Short sleeved,
simple, without a collar. Formal definition: A simple short-sleeved garment without a collar.
Informal Definitions.
There are words—like happiness, freedom, and love—that are interesting in themselves and one can go
on talking about them. These kinds of words are good for informal definitions. They tend to have
subjective definitions along with their literal definitions, different people define them in different ways,
and they tend to be rich with associations and connotations.
Informal definitions are not like dictionary definitions. They do not follow the genus/difference
pattern. Instead, one discusses all the thoughts, ideas, feelings, and history that one associates with the
word. It is possible to write informal definitions of concrete (such as eyeglasses) as well as abstract (such
as freedom) nouns.
There are many examples of informal definitions of concrete nouns. Cell-phone is a concrete noun.
An informal definition of cell-phone may be, a device used for keeping the owner answerable to everyone who has his
number 24 hours a day. Another example is horse. Horse is a concrete noun. Formally, it is a large hoofed
mammal, but informally a horse is also culturally associated with strength and beauty. In an informal
definition of a horse, then, strength and beauty would be the generalizations, and the details that would
follow would give examples of and describe the qualities make a horse strong and beautiful. Finally,
writing technically means to record words so that they can be read and understood. But, informally,
writing is also a way of understanding the world, of finding out about oneself, and of creating entire
worlds. If you wanted to write an informal definition paragraph about the word writing, then you would
use these or other generalizations about writing in your paragraph.
Abstract nouns are more difficult to define than concrete nouns because they belong to the world
of thoughts and feelings and cannot be sensed. Consequently, they can be easily misunderstood, and it
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is for that reason that they often require informal definitions. Freedom, for example, is an abstract noun
that is used in so many different ways that it is capable of definitions that are actually contradictory.
For some, freedom means being able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, in whatever amount
they want. For others, freedom means taking responsibility, restricting their ability to do what they want,
becoming more disciplined and powerful as a result, and gaining freedom that way. Thus, like many
abstract nouns, freedom requires a lengthy discussion to be properly understood. Love, too, is a very
abstract noun. It takes an informal definition to point out the qualities of love, try to explain them, and
understand what the word means.
Exercise 2. Add a fourth column to Exercise 1 above and inside it write the qualities that you would
write about in an informal definition of the word.
Writing Assignment. Write an informal definition of sanity, witch, selflessness, blood, youth, sunflower
seeds, God, soulmate, or troll.
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Cause-and-Effect Paragraphs
To ask “Why?” is to ask for a cause. We explain the world by noticing causes and effects. We say one
event, like feeling nervous, is related to another event, drinking too much coffee, causally. The words
we use signal a causal relationship: Aram is feeling nervous because he drank too much coffee.
Drinking coffee → feeling nervous. This is one link in the causal chain. We can continue causal
chains backwards or forwards, indefinitely. Aram drank too much coffee because he was bored, and he was bored
because he had not planned his day. Or, in the other direction, we can say, Because Aram was feeling nervous, he
could not sleep, and because he could not sleep, he decided to read a book, and the book changed his life. The chain
would look like this:
Aram failed to plan his day → became bored → drank too much coffee → felt nervous → could not sleep →
read a book → Aram’s life changed.
So can we say that Aram’s life change because he failed to plan his day? In a sense, we can say that, but
it would not be very convincing because it is too far from the effect. In general, the nearer the cause is
to the effect, the clearer and more convincing it is. It is more convincing that Aram’s life was changed
by a book than by failing to plan his day.
Another aspect to consider about causal chains is that every event has more than one cause; it has
multiple causes. A ball slides down a table because it is round, the surfaces are smooth, the table is
inclined, gravity, and because someone pushed it. Out of all of these causes, the most significant one is
that someone pushed it because humans choose things and thereby accept responsibility for the causal
chains that they start. Out of an infinite number of causes, a few are chosen as the most significant.
Exercise 1. Take one of the following events and make up a cause-and-effect chain that goes five steps
into the future and five steps into the past: Jumping out of an airplane, walking in the rain, running out
of food. Which seem the most convincing?
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The generalizations of cause-and-effect paragraphs focus on one cause or one effect. For example, if
the topic sentence is “Cats purr for different reasons,” the following would be valid generalizations:
• Cats purr when they are happy.
• Cats purr to stimulate bone growth.
• Cats purr to influence humans.
The details of cause-and-effect paragraphs support the generalizations. For example, if the
generalization states that “cats purr to influence humans,” the following details would support it:
• University of Sussex researchers have discovered that the purr of a cat contains a sound that is
at the same frequency as that of a human baby’s cry. At least one researcher explains it as a
case of cats exploiting the tendency of humans to respond to babies crying.
In short, as in all paragraphs, the details are real world facts that support the generalizations that
support the topic sentence, which is the reason that the topic sentence summarizes the paragraph.
Exercise 2. Create a topic sentence, three generalization, and details supporting the generalizations for
the following topics: studying all night for modules; smoking; learning a foreign language.
Topic sentence:________________________________________________________________.
Generalization 1:_______________________________________________________________.
Details supporting Gen. 1:________________________________________________________.
Follow with Generalizations 2 and 3.
Sample Paragraph
The topic sentence (underlined), generalizations (italicized), and details are noted in the sample cause-
and-effect paragraph below, written as a narrative. The first generalization is about causes, while the
generalizations that follow are about effects.
Waking up with the sun changed everything. Last year, my life was not going too well, and I needed a change. I had been
looking for a job for a long time, without any success, and at school, my grades were just average. All the stress from
work and school made me depressed, and the only relief I found was to stay up all night on facebook. Of course,
that just made everything worse. I would wake up tired, fail to pay attention in class, and return home confused and
frustrated. I argued with people all the time because I was always in a bad mood. Something needed to happen.
One day, everything changed when a breeze blowing from the sun put a thought in my head: Sleep early, wake early. The first time I
tried it, I was super tired, but I felt strangely good at the same time because I knew I had done something right. The
second time was much easier, and by the third time up I woke up at 6 in the morning, I was ready to do something
with my extra time, so I prepared for the day’s classes. It was a whole new experience to walk into class prepared. I felt
confident and actually wanted the teacher to call on me. I answered all the questions in class and took notes on
everything the teacher said. Pretty soon, I was at the top of one of my classes. My mood began to change because things
were going right in my life—and the goodness spread. I quit watching television and facebook and used that time for more
productive things. I took on more responsibility and people began to rely upon me. My life was no longer a boat
drifting into the ocean, but it had a purpose, planned out every morning when I woke up at 6 AM. Looking back, I
believe it must have been the sun asking me to say hello every morning.
Writing Assignment: Write a cause-and-effect paragraph about the causes, effects, or both of: Getting
married in Armenia, getting divorced in Armenia, the lack of affordable housing for married couples in
Armenia, living with in-laws after marriage, going to college in Armenia.
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7. What is an Essay? History, Definition, Structure
I quote others only in order the better to express myself. – Michel de Montaigne
1 assay – vb. to test or evaluate [from Old French essai; see essay]
2 essay – French for to try.
3 genre – n. a category, kind, or class of literary or artistic work, such as lyric poetry, epic, short story, and so on.
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The Structure of the Five-Paragraph Essay
4Even though it is called the “five-paragraph” essay, the number of body paragraphs can vary widely in essays. For
practical purposes, however, we will stick to three body paragraphs per essay.
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8. What is an Essay? The Four Purposes & 12 Types
Reasoning comes as naturally to man as flying to birds – Quintillian
There are 12 types of essays, grouped into four purposes.
The Four Purposes
The purpose of any essay is to describe, narrate, inform, or persuade:
Descriptive essays describe the physical appearance of things.
Narrative essays tell a story about a real experience that teaches a lesson.
Informative or Expository essays explain things. They teach. They classify big groups, define difficult
concepts, and so on. For example, the statement, The Lycanidae butterflies are divided into the following classes:
the blues, the coppers, the harvesters, and the hairstreaks, is informative, it classifies. And an essay that
discusses what the word “awful” meant in the 14th century would be an example of a definition essay.
Persuasive essays try to change the reader's mind or get him to take an action. They often, but not
always, contain words like should and ought in their thesis statements. The following statement is
persuasive in form: The idea that beauty is an ultimate value should not be taught in schools. Whether persuasive
statements actually end up persuading depends on whether they are supported by evidence and sound
reasoning—the pillars of the Scientific Method 1. Anything else is sophistry 2.
Exercise 1. Determine whether the sentences below are meant to be (P) persuasive, (I) informative, (N)
narrative, or (D) descriptive.
1. ___The school should have a place for students to spend time when they are not in class.
2. ___Everyone knows that Lusin lavash is the best flatbread.
3. ___Food poisoning is usually caused by e coli bacteria or salmonella.
4. ___More than 17,000 kids go to the hospital each year because the television set falls on them.
5. ___Glass frogs have transparent skin through which their organs and beating hearts are visible.
6. ___The experience I had hiking around Sevan lake change my life.
7. ___Inside Out is an entertaining animated film that is worth watching.
8. ___The mountain-top flower was small, with crimson petals and an orange pistil.
9. ___It is a fact that Politician X is the best choice for parliament.
10. ___The actor was horrible and played Richard III as a ridiculous combination of Quasimodo and a
gangster.
Exercise 2. Pick one of the following topics and write a descriptive, then a narrative, then an
informative, and finally a persuasive statement about them. Topics: Bears, speeding in a car, the statue
of Mashtots, the potato, salesmen, flour, the walnut tree, fingernail polish, parks, restaurants.
Example: Bears.
Descriptive: Bears are usually big, brown, with sharp claws, and they like eating honey.
Narrative: When I saw a bear in the woods, I took a deep breath and backed up slowly.
Informative: Bears usually do not attack humans unless they have a reason to.
Persuasive: The habitats of bears in the forest should be protected.
Writing Assignment. Write a paragraph that describes the music coming from a karaoke bar, narrates a
story about going to a karaoke bar, tries to persuade its owner to lower the volume of the music, or
informs about what karaoke bars are. For extra credit, do all four.
1 The Scientific Method is a method of investigation that has been used in the natural sciences since about the 17th century.
The technological progress of the modern world is partly, if not wholly, the result of it. The method includes the following
steps: First a problem is identified and information is gathered about it. This information is then used to formulate a
possible solution, called a hypothesis. The hypothesis is tested in an experiment, and if it passes the test, it is considered true.
If the experiment proves the hypothesis false, however, then it is dropped and a new hypothesis must be formulated.
2 Sophistry is a kind of persuasive writing that presents itself as informative writing. It presents opinions in a way that makes
them sound like facts. It is common in discussions around controversial topics. Some defend sophistry by saying that there
are no truths, only points of view. The question is an ancient philosophical one. There is, however, a real difference
between ideas that meet the rigorous standards of the Scientific Method and ideas that do not. Ideas that are supported by
hard evidence and sound logic are probably true; those that lack evidence and contain faulty reasoning are false.
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The 12 Types of Essays
There is one kind of descriptive essay, one kind of narrative essay, three types of persuasive essays, and
seven types of informative essays. This adds up to a total of 12 types of essays. Below is a list of all 12
types of essays, along with a brief definition and an example of a topic written from that point of view.
1. Descriptive essays describe a material thing. The colors of Dilijan in the fall are breathtaking.
2. Narrative essays tell a story. The experience of hiking in Dilijan last summer taught me to be prepared.
3. Persuasive essays.
i. Arguments directly argue a point. Mining should not be allowed in Dilijan.
ii. Evaluations judge the worth of something. Dilijan is the ideal place to have a wedding.
iii. Problem-solution essays establish a problem and propose the best solution.
In order to reduce pollution in Dilijan, all of its factories should be inspected and updated.
4. Informative essays.
i. Cause/effect essays discuss causes, or effects, or both. Tourism has had many effects on
Dilijan, most of them positive.
ii. Process analysis essays discuss how to do something. Touring Dilijan is easy to do.
iii. Classifications divide a big group up into parts. Dilijan’s ecosystem falls into five categories.
iv. Definitions define a subtle or difficult word. The meaning of “Dilijan.”
v. Comparison/Contrast essays compare two different, or contrast two similar, things.
Dilijan today is different and the same as the Dilijan of the Soviet period.
vi. Claim and support essays make a claim and support it with evidence.
The quality of life in Dilijan has improved over the last 10 years.
vii. Analogy essays compare an unfamiliar or difficult concept with a familiar one.
Remote areas in Dilijan are like unexplored planets.
Exercise 3. Read the statements below and identify which of the 12 types of approaches it best reflects.
1. It is remarkable in what diverse ways the word “joy” is understood.
2. The new Benedict Cumberbatch film is so-so.
3. My grandmother tells a story of when she was young during the war.
4. The government should concentrate on space exploration.
5. It was a big painting, painted in warm colors, with all of the figures painted realistically.
6. You can operate a sewing machine in five easy steps.
7. Minibus drivers fall into one of three categories: angry, talking on cell-phones, or asleep.
8. Filtering tap-water removes much of the chlorine but not the minerals.
9. Coding for computers is like speaking an alien language made of numbers.
10. The economic problem can be solved through cooperation.
11. The number of spices used in Armenian cooking has increased over the last decade.
12. The Armenian Yeraz has bigger doors, a heavier frame, and a smaller engine than the
average Korean minibus.
Exercise 4. Pick one of the following topics and write 12 types of statements about it. Use the
statements about Dilijan above as examples. Topics: Yerevan, movie theaters, love, exercising.
Writing Assignment. Which of the 12 approaches do you think would be best for writing about
daydreaming? Pick one of the approaches and write a paragraph about daydreaming.
Test Review. In a test, you should be able to answer the following questions.
1. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the essay?
2. What are the differences between body, introductory, and concluding paragraphs?
3. What is the thesis statement, where is it located in an essay, and what is its job?
4. What four purposes can an essay have?
5. What are the types of informative essays?
6. What are the types of persuasive essays?
7. In what kind of essay would a writer relate a story about an experience that taught him an
important lesson?
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9. How to Write an Essay
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle.
Exercise. Study the drawing by Norman Rockwell below and apply all the techniques that you have
learned for generating ideas to it. First, as the Reporter’s Questions, then ask the 12 Questions.
The 12 questions don’t only work on paintings, they work on concepts and ideas as well. Take, for
example, the concept “forest.” Here are the 12 questions applied to the concept:
1. Description. What does a forest look/sound/smell/feel/taste like?
2. Narration. Can I tell a meaningful personal story about a forest that taught me a lesson?
3. Argumentation. What are controversial issues related to forests? Do I support a side?
4. Evaluation. What painting, film, music about forests is good or bad? What hiking-trails or tours are good or bad?
5. Problem-solution. What problems do forests face or cause, if any, and what solutions can I offer?
6. Claim and evidence. What do the facts and statistics tell us about forests?
7. Cause-effect. Forests, or things inside forests, are caused by, or effect, what other things?
8. Process analysis. What forest-related activities, such as camping, can I explain how to do?
9. Classification. Into what smaller groups can I divide forests (or parts of them)?
10. Definition. What important forest-related words, such as preservation or conservation, can I define?
11. Analogy. What complicated forest-related issue can I explain through an analogy?
12. Comparison/contrast. What things related to forests, like logging, hiking, or flora, can I compare and contrast?
Exercise. Apply the 12 Question to the following topics: advertisements, dignity, art, diplomas, faith.
Not all 12 will apply to all the topics.
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10. Working on The Thesis Statement
No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more. –St. Augustine.
1 The Evolving Thesis Essay: This process of asserting a thesis, contradicting it, and then rewriting it with the contradictions
incorporated into it can be turned into an essay itself. In such an essay, the First Thesis is placed in the introduction, the
Final Thesis in the conclusion, and the intellectual journey from one thesis to the other recorded in the body paragraphs.
This Evolving Thesis type essay is different from the Traditional essay that we are studying in this book. If the thesis
statement of the Traditional essay states the detective’s solution to the crime, so to speak, and the rest of the essay simply
demonstrates the truth of that solution, then the Evolving Thesis essay records the thinking process of the detective as he
solves the crime.
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The 12 Types of Theses
We have said that the predicate of a thesis statement contains the opinion of the writer (or information)
about the topic of the essay. It happens that human opinions can only be of 12 types—the same 12
types that essays are divided into—and each of these has its own kind of thesis statement. For
example, if the topic of the essay is butterflies, and the author’s opinion is that genetically engineered
crops are killing them, then it is clearly an argumentative essay; accordingly, the predicate of the thesis
statement will be an argumentative type predicate.
Whenever you are writing a thesis statement, then, make the subject the same as the topic and
make the predicate correspond to one of the 12 types of essays. You will have to memorize the 12
types of thesis statements and determine which one of them best suits your opinion about the subject.
Exercise 5. Consider the thesis statements on this page, which are in italics. What could the topic
sentences of the paragraphs that follow them reasonably be?
Test Review. In a test, you should be able to answer the following questions.
1. In a thesis about trees, what will the subject of the thesis statement often state?
2. What does the predicate of the thesis statement indicate?
3. What kind of thesis statement is the following: Yerevan should devote some of its streets to bicycle traffic.
1. The Introduction Catches the Reader’s Attention and Sets the Tone
The opening sentence of the essay is crucial because it is often the difference between an essay that is
read and one that is ignored. The opening sentence along with the sentences that follow set the tone of
the essay: humorous, serious, argumentative, neutral, and so on. The following are a variety of
effective ways to open an essay.
a) The Question. Questions are an effective way of opening an essay because readers become
invested in reading the essay once they start thinking about the answer. However, some questions can
also make the essay sound like an advertisement.
What is the best place to eat in the city on a Saturday night?
b) The Corrected Misconception. Disagreeing—with experts, society, or a particular person—is an
effective and common way to open an essay. State what you disagree with clearly and talk about why
the misconception poses a problem. Return to the question in the conclusion to frame the essay.
Remember, however, that even though challenging social norms automatically affords an essay the aura
of progressivism, the real value of an essay is in the solidity of the facts and arguments that it offers.
Most people think that food poisoning occurs mostly in fast food restaurants, but the truth is that
most food poisoning cases are in sit-down restaurants.
c) The Quotation. The right quotation can be an effective way of opening the essay, especially if the
author of the quote is a recognized authority.
Van Horne once said, “Cooking is like love: It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
d) The Fact or Statistic. Surprising facts and statistics are an effective way to catch attention.
Laboratory tests have shown that 10% of the chicken that enters the country is tainted with
salmonella, in spite of the State Food-Safety Service.
e) The Description. A vivid description with figurative language can pull readers into the essay.
The kabob lay across the hills of soft white rice like a locomotive, each glistening wagon charred
at the corners and leaking juice. A skinned tomato bled tangy red nectar into the plate, while butter
melted on the rice and stretched from one fluffy grain to the next. The aroma of the ensemble
rose with the saffron steam like the melody from a heady saz and made the hungry swoon.
f) The Definition. If the essay involves a difficult concept, define it at the opening. There are many
interesting ways to do this. For example, you can talk about how an expert has defined the concept,
discuss how it has been understood historically, or define it according to what it is not.
More than just the art of cooking, “gastronomy” has been defined as including an entire set of
rules and habits that define a way of life.
g) The Emotionally-charged Statement. The reader’s attention can be aggressively seized with a
shocking statement. Some readers might even forgive the emotional manipulation if the rest of the
essay delivers a solid argument.
How long will Yerevan allow its restaurants to poison its tourists?
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h) The Vivid Scenario. Sometimes describing a scene or a situation is the best way to start an essay,
especially if the scene is a familiar one.
After many years of hard work, a group of university students finally graduates from the university
and wants to celebrate. The group wants to rent a well-decorated hall at a good restaurant, hire a
DJ, and have a blast. But when they browse through the available options on the internet, they
find dozens of confusing offers. How do they pick the right hall for their graduation party?
i) The Illustration. An illustration of a key concept or situation that put readers immediately in the
middle of the action. In an essay about the difficulties faced by people in the restaurant business in
Armenia, for example, a description of a restauranteur in his office on a typical day would make an
excellent opening.
Sporting a clean shave and a baby blue shirt, Harut Hambardzumian is an up-and-coming
restauranteur in Yerevan. Today, he is on the phone with a truck driver who transports tomatoes
to his restaurant from just outside the city. The locally grown, sun-ripened tomatoes keep the
tourist buses returning to his restaurant. But there’s a problem. The truck has broken down on
the highway, and the tomatoes are spoiling in the heat. What is more, the mayonnaise has been
left out too long, and the chicken, imported all the way from Brazil, might be tainted. It is just
another day on the tightrope for Harut, balancing staying alive in the restaurant business with
keeping his customers happy—and healthy.
j) The Catalog. A list of examples is like a sledge-hammer of evidence that wakes readers up.
La Cucina, Cafe Vergano, Pizza di Roma, Bella Italia, Marco Polo, Mamma Mia, Napoli, Segafredo,
Verona, and Fresco Pizza—these are the Italian restaurants in the city; the list of restaurants that
do barbecue is three times longer.
k) The Analogy. If your essay is about a complicated unfamiliar topic, comparing it to a familiar
topic in an analogy might help your readers grasp it easily.
Running a big restaurant is like conducting an orchestra: Every night there is a new performance,
and every night everything has to be perfect. The head chef is the soloist, while the line cooks,
dishwashers, and the waiters are the supporting orchestra. Everyone has to be in position and
ready to do their jobs—at exactly the right time. And it is the job of the manager to conduct all
the different parts into a harmonious whole.
l) Background Information. Sometimes a little background information about your topic can
provide context and drama.
Up until 1991, Armenia was a part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It enjoyed stability,
and almost everyone enjoyed the bare necessities of life and a measure of security. The menus
were short, however, and all the restaurants were the same. But the Soviet Union collapsed,
Armenia experienced a disastrous earthquake, and the country plunged into a war with Azerbaijan.
For years, gas, electricity, and water were rationed, and life was hard. Things have changed again,
however. Armenia has overcome war, blockades, and instability to develop a capital city that
boasts several hundred restaurants. If you want to know what the enterprising spirit tastes like,
then try the sushi in Yerevan. It’s tastes as if the Pacific Ocean were next door.
m) Something Strange and Unexplained. A strange and unexplained thing, event, or truth gives
people pause because they want to explain it, like they would a pink elephant. Beginning an essay with
an anomaly thus attracts attention. Revisit it in the conclusion to create a frame for the essay.
The Armenian economy is far smaller that the economy of the United States, yet the menus in
Armenian restaurants are several times the size of those in American restaurants. Why is that?
Exercise. Pick one of the following topics and write seven different kinds of openings for it: Khash, the
Yerevan Metro, friendship, street dogs, growing old, marketing strategies, the works of Dostoevsky.
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Exercise. If you were writing an essay to an audience made up of your peers, about which or the
following topics would you provide background information, and what would that background
information be? Khash, the Yerevan Metro, friendship, street dogs, growing old, marketing strategies,
the works of Dostoevsky..
3. The Introduction Reveals the Wider Issues at Stake and Says Why the Topic Matters
After you identify the topic, talk about why it is important. Take a step back from your essay and ask
yourself, Why does this topic matter? If the topic is World War II, for example, ask, Why does World War II
matter? Because the world we live in today is the result of it. An essay is considered important when it
is connected to a wider issues or values that people care about, such as freedom, or family, or equality.
An essay’s connection to wider issues is not always immediately clear to the reader and needs to be
pointed out. For example, most readers will not immediately know why a topic such as The End of Net
Neutrality, about changes in internet law, matters. It will seem boring and uninteresting to them. But
when they learn that these changes in internet law could result in the internet slowing down, they will
become more interested in the topic, because most people value quick access to information. This
issue is, itself, connected to wider issues, such as freedom and democratic power. Topics thus gain
meaning when they are seen to be connected to bigger topics.
There are many 21st century issues that people all across the world care about. The following are
only a few:
• Globalization • Spirituality
• Technology • Evil
• Social media • Survival
• The family • Health
• Nature • Identity
• Love • Social engineering
An essay that helps readers engage such fundamental concerns helps them understand the world they
live in, which is about as profound an experience as can be expected from an essay.
Another way to arrive at a larger issue, a more direct and logical way, is to consider the broader
class to which your topic belongs, as in the genus to which the species belongs. For example, a horse is
a type of mammal is a type of animal is a type of living thing. You can always start with a discussion of
the broader class, move toward the specific topic, and end with the thesis statement about it.
Exercise: Go through the list of topics below and connect each one to larger issues. Then pick one of
the topics and write an introductory paragraph for it. The introductory paragraph should perform all of
the functions so far discussed: it should open with one of the methods discussed; it should identify the
topic and provide background information if necessary; and it should talk about why the topic is
important. It does not have to perform those functions in that particular order, however.
Example: Flower petals.
“To create a little flower is the labour of ages,” said William Blake [Quote opening]. Indeed, the function of flower
petals is far more sophisticated and exact than is usually realized [topic identification], and to consider them is an
exercise in appreciating the connection between form and function, not to mention beauty [connection of flower
petals to wider issues].
Topics:
• Noise • Barley
• Non-fat Desserts • Marketing Strategies
• Lightning • Dostoevsky
• Skiing • Barbie dolls
• Book-binding • Vegetarianism
• Smoking
• Bad eyesight
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4. The Introduction Ends with the Thesis
An introduction that catches the reader’s attention; identifies the topic and talks about why it is
important; and provides the necessary background information has only one more thing left to do,
which is to state the thesis.
The thesis is usually placed at the end of the introductory paragraph where it acts like the
culmination of the introduction: a reader must become interested in a topic, take in the necessary
background information, and consider the wider importance of a topic before he is able to fully
appreciate the thesis. It is, however, possible to place the thesis somewhere else in the paragraph, such
as at the beginning; nevertheless, for the sake of practice, in Writing Skills classes always place the thesis
at the end of the introductory paragraph, unless instructed otherwise.
Introduction Checklist
The following are common problems that introductory paragraphs have.
• Directly referring to the reader in the opening: “In this essay, I am going to tell you about...” or
some variation of this statement, which turns what should be a more objective and abstract
discussion personal and conversational.
• Apologizing to the reader for the topic, opinions, or quality of the evidence. This includes
reviewing the history of the writing of the essay, the problems encountered, and so on. Focus
on the topic.
• Starting the introduction from the origin of the topic. If the topic is social media, there is no
need to return to the invention of mathematics and trace its development, through computers,
to the internet and social media. Going back one step is far enough. In this case, starting from
the internet would be already too far back in most cases.
• Writing the entire essay in the introduction. Introduce the essay, do not write it in the first
paragraph. The purpose of the introduction is to catch the reader’s attention, give a little
background if necessary, connect the topic to a larger issue, and state the thesis. The main
points are for the body paragraphs.
Test Review
1. What are the four functions of the introduction?
2. What is the corrected misconception type of opening?
3. Name seven other types of openings.
The Conclusion
The main purpose of the conclusion is to provide a final judgment on the topic. What new things have
been learned through the essay? What do they suggest about the field of study, about what people
should do, or about the future of humanity? Writing an effective conclusion is sometimes as simple as
restating the thesis and commenting on it from the perspective of someone who has read the essay.
A good conclusion connects the topic to a larger issue. If this larger issue is the same one that is
mentioned in the introduction, then we say that the essay has a frame, which we will discuss in the next
section. A conclusion that connects the final judgment to a larger issue strengthens the essay. An easy
way to come up with a larger issue is to ask why the final judgment matters. Why does it matter, for
example, that a millionaire named William Jones was inspired by beauty and not by money? Does it
teach us something about wealth? Does it teach us something about beauty?
A number of other strategies can be used to close the essay as well. Quotes, descriptions,
scenarios, illustrations, and other strategies used for opening essay can be used to close them. The
ramifications of the final judgment may be pursued to their ultimate end and be used to speculate about
the future. If the final judgment is very radical, the conclusion can make a call for action, or, if the tone
of the essay is more meditative, the conclusion can close with a question that keeps readers thinking
about the topic, such as, “What does it tell us about art that even the wealthiest people in history return to it and,
through it, find the meaning of their lives?”
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Conclusion Checklist
The following are mistakes commonly made in the conclusion:
• Repeating the introduction or the thesis—verbatim. Repeating the main idea or the thesis is an
effective move, but not word-for-word. If nothing else, at least paraphrase it.
• Starting a completely new idea in the conclusion.
• Apologizing to the reader for the topic, opinions, or quality of the essay, or recounting the
history of writing the essay, the problems encountered, and so on. Focus only on the topic.
• Making a final judgment in the conclusion that contradicts or overlooks the thesis and the
points made in the essay. The conclusion is the place to affirm your main point, not call it into
question or look at it from a different point of view. Stick to your point of view and be
consistent.
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12. Sample Essay and Analysis: The Creation of the World
We must learn how to imitate Cicero from Cicero himself. Let us imitate him as he imitated others. –Erasmus.
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Figure 1Malnazar, The Creation of the World, Isfahan, 1637-1638.
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Essay Analysis: The Creation of the Illumination
Now that you have read the essay and compared it to the picture, let us consider it more closely,
identifying its parts and functions.
Which of the 12 types of essays that you have studied would you say that it is? It is true that it
begins with a comparison between films and writing, but the essay is not a comparison essay. The
comparison in the introductory paragraph is there to stimulate the interest of the reader and to open a
frame for the essay that the conclusion returns to and closes. The comparison is not the main focus of
the essay. The best way to identify the type of essay is through the thesis statement and the topic
sentences of the paragraphs. These make it clear that “The Creation of the Illumination” is mainly a
description essay with identifications, which often accompany descriptions.
If comparison was the main focus of the essay, then the thesis statement would indicate a
comparison. The thesis statement in The Creation of the Illumination, however, does not indicate a
comparison. It states: Malnazar’s Creation of the World is an illumination in 12 scenes portraying the creation
narrative that opens the Book of Genesis. There is no mention of a comparison with films in this thesis.
Instead, there is a general description. The grammatical subject is “Malnazar’s Creaion of the World.”
The grammatical predicate is a general description and identification of the grammatical subject: “an
illumination in 12 scenes portraying the creation narrative.”
If the essay was a comparison essay, the paragraph topic sentences, too, would suggest a
comparison or contrast, likely by stating criteria for comparison. Instead, each of the three topic
sentences in the essay suggests a description. Let us consider more closely these topic sentences and
the body paragraphs they summarize.
The topic sentence of the first body paragraph states, “What makes the Creation of the World an
illumination is the story that it tells and the gold leaf that covers the painting.” This paragraph contains
a description of the gold leaf as well as a description of the arrangement of the pictures on the page.
The topic sentence of the second paragraph states, “The creation of the world is told in six scene-
circles.” What follows the topic sentence is a description of the visual content of each circle, one by
one. The generalizations of this paragraph each identify and then provide visual details about
everything that is in the circles. The third topic sentence states, “The creation story ends at the bottom
right corner, and the story of Adam and Eve begins in the middle of the left side of the page.” The
paragraph describes the Adam and Eve scenes, focusing on the colors that are used and on the
postures of the figures and identifying what they signify. Thus, the essay is a description essay.
The conclusion of the essay returns to the comparison that opened the essay, this time with the
description of the painting in mind. Having read the body paragraphs, the reader has learned that the
illumination tells a story through scenes and can easily compare the scenes to those of films. The
conclusion also raises the question of Malnazar’s choice of scenes and affirms his role as directorial in
nature. Finally, the conclusion ends with an observation that many readers can relate to, and it opens
the door onto a wealth of ideas by inviting readers to consider the relationship between language and
the world.
Reread the essay with these observations in mind and familiarize yourself with the organization and
flow of the essay.
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Appendix 1: From Words to Sentences
Study the following sentence.
Seda likes flowers and books.
Can you name the parts of the sentence? Does it have a subject? Does it have a verb? Is it an independent clause?
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Appendix 2: Joining Sentences
Circle the subjects and verbs, and underline the independent clauses in the following sentences.
1. Ani has a piano she does not know how to play it.
2. Seda's family grows fruit in their garden, they give the fruit to their friends and relatives.
3. Khajak broke his toy, so his mother comforted him.
How many independent clauses are there in each sentence? How are they joined?
Joining Clauses with Coordinating Conjunctions
Each of the three examples above is made of two independent clauses. The difference between them is
in the way they are joined. Sentences 1 and 2 are joined incorrectly.
o Sentence #1 is a run-on: two independent clauses are simply stuck together.
o Sentence #2 is a comma splice: two independent clauses are joined with a comma.
o Sentence #3 is correct. It joins two independent clauses with a comma and a coordinating
conjunction.
There are seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so: “f.a.n.b.o.y.s.”
And is the most common coordinating conjunction. It joins equivalent ideas.
But and yet both signify contrast, but yet signifies a stronger contrast.
For and so both signify causal relationships.
Fill in the blank in following sentence with different coordinating conjunctions and notice how the
meaning changes:
Shant is successful architect, ____________ he creates drawings of giant structures.
Here are a few more examples of coordinating conjunctions joining independent clauses with commas:
o We were getting hungry, so we stopped for a bite to eat.
o The building had an elevator, but they took the stairs.
o We can go to India, or we can go to Iran, but we cannot go to both countries this summer.
o It was 43 Celsius, yet they refused to turn on the air conditioner.
Coordinating Conjunctions Used within One Independent Clause
Consider the following sentence: Ani plays the piano and surfs the internet every day.
How many independent clauses does the sentence contain? One. There is only one subject,
“Ani”; therefore, the sentence forms only one independent clause. When there is only one subject,
coordinating conjunctions do not take a comma. Here are a few more examples of sentences that do not
need commas:
o The desert menu includes cake and ice cream.
o The restaurant is small but has very tasty food and is in a good location.
o The fox and the monkey made a deal but told no one about it.
Remember: Coordinating conjunctions take a comma when they join independent clauses, but they do
not take a comma when there is only one subject.
Coordinating Conjunctions Should Not Start Sentences
As a rule, coordinating conjunctions should not begin sentences, but this rule is sometimes ignored.
Avoid beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions.
Exercise 1. Circle the coordinating conjunctions in the sentences below. Add commas if necessary.
1. Armen works with computers and spends time with his family.
2. Lily and Alenush got an A on the big test so they went out to celebrate
3. Anush took a month off from her job but all the work was easily done by her coworkers.
4. Ara lives in Hrazdan yet he drives to Yerevan every day for work.
5. Nare and Mariam studied at the university together but only Mariam stayed to get a PhD.
Exercise 2. Combine the following sentences using coordinating conjunctions.
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1. The kitchen closed at one o'clock. The customers stayed until three.
2. He knew many shortcuts through the city. He had lived there all his life.
3. He made a wooden chair. He gave it to his friend. His friend said he already had a chair.
4. Finnish is a difficult language. It takes a long time to learn it.
5. The river starts in the Taurus mountains. It flows all the way to the Persian Gulf.
6. The Ermine has very soft fur. It is hunted by poachers.
7. People driving cars scream at each other angrily. Bicycle riders smile and wave, “Hello!”
8. We can go to the zoo. We can go to the botanical garden.
9. Alice is buying a new dress. She has been invited to a wedding.
10. He built a house. He lived in it for the rest of his life.
Exercise 3. In which places in the fable by Aesop below can you combine sentences for a smoother
flow of words that is easier to read? Start with circling subjects and verbs, and underlining independent
clauses.
The Four Bulls and the Lion
A lion used to hunt in a field where four bulls used to live. The lion tried to attack them many times.
Whenever he came close to the bulls, they turned their tails toward one another. The bulls stood in a circle.
Whichever way the lion approached them, he was met by the horns of one of them. Eventually, the bulls
started arguing with one another. Each of them went off to graze alone in a separate part of the field. The
lion attacked them one by one. The lion ate all of the bulls.
Exercise 4. Edit the following paragraph. Combine or split sentences, add or remove punctuation, and
use the coordinating conjunctions that fit best. Several good solutions are possible for this exercise.
Chess is a good game. There is not very much to see it is not very spectacular. Football is a physically
energetic game there is a lot of running. There is a lot of kicking. There is a lot of jumping. I enjoy
watching it on television. It is visually exciting and it requires some thinking and planning as well. One can
play football in the morning. One can play chess at night.
A dependent clause cannot stand alone. It must be joined to an independent clause. A dependent
clause can be joined to an independent clause with a subordinating conjunction, such as because:
1. Because I am happy, I am laughing.
2. I am laughing, because I am happy.
3. I am laughing because I am happy.
As the examples show, there are three ways in which dependent and independent clauses can be joined
with a subordinating conjunction. If a dependent clause begins the sentence, like it does in (1) above,
then it is always followed by comma. If a dependent clause ends the sentence, like in cases 2 and 3,
then the comma can be placed after the independent clause (2), or it can be left out (3).
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There are many subordinating conjunctions. Here are a few of them.
Because, since, even if, so that, although, even though, though, whereas, even if, if only, unless, as if,
while, rather than, whether, after, as long as, as soon as, before, once, when, whenever, wherever
Which of the following is the correct way to join a dependent to an independent clause?
1. Even if the sun does not come out all day, we will keep hiking in the mountains.
2. We will keep hiking in the mountains even if the sun does not come out all day.
3. We will keep hiking in the mountains, even if the sun does not come out all day.
Answer: All three ways are correct.
Exercise 6. Pick the appropriate subordinating conjunction to join the pairs of sentences below. Use a
comma if necessary. Several of the sentences have more than one solution.
1. The lake is a 100 meters deep. Haik managed to swim to the bottom.
2. The bell rings at 12:20. We go out to get something to eat.
3. He rang the doorbell. He opened the door.
4. The music was playing. No one cared about the storm outside.
5. They bought expensive tickets to the show. They gave the tickets to their friends.
6. The clock starts ticking. There is no stopping it.
7. The book was old. Its pages were brittle.
8. The infants are vaccinated. They will not be immune to certain diseases.
9. Everyone got to the photo session on time. All of the pictures were taken quickly.
10. This road remains unpaved. No cars can travel on it.
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Review: The Four Ways of Joining Clauses
We have studied four ways of joining clauses. We will now use them to join the clauses that we
introduced at the beginning of this chapter. The transitional elements have been placed in boxes.
1. Coordinating conjunctions join independent clauses with a comma:
a. Ani has a piano, but she does not know how to play it.
b. Seda's family grows fruit in their garden, and they give the fruit to their friends and relatives.
c. Khajak broke his toy, so his mother comforted him.
2. Subordinating conjunctions join dependent and independent clauses with or without a comma:
a. Ani has a piano, even though she does not know how to play it.
b. Because Seda's family grows fruit in their garden, they give the fruit to their friends and relatives.
c. When Khajak broke his toy, his mother comforted him.
3. Transitional elements join two independent clauses with a semicolon and a comma:
a. Ani has a piano; however, she does not know how to play it.
b. Seda's family grows fruit in their garden; as a result, they give the fruit to their friends and relatives.
c. Khajak broke his toy; his mother comforted him, of course.
4. A semicolon by itself joins two related independent clauses:
a. Ani has a piano; she does not know how to play it.
b. Seda's family grows fruit in their garden; they give the fruit to their friends and relatives.
c. Khajak broke his toy; so his mother comforted him.
Exercise 8. Edit the following fable from Aesop to fix the run-ons, fragments, and comma splices.
Combine sentences when necessary.
The Fox and Stork
The Fox was bored one day he thought of a way to amuse himself. The Fox invited the Stork to
dinner. The Fox. Served delicious soup for dinner. The fox served the soup in a very shallow dish, the
stork could not eat it. His bill (կտուց) was too long and narrow. All the Stork could do was wet the tip of
his bill, the Fox lapped up all the soup easily with his tongue.
The Stork did not like the trick he did not get angry. He invited the Fox to dinner. The Stork served
fish. It was served in a tall jar with a very narrow neck. The Stork stuck its bill through the neck. Ate the
delicious fish. The Fox could only sniff the appetizing odor. Only lick the outside of the jar. He got angry.
The Stork said, “Don't play tricks on others. If you can't stand the same treatment yourself.”
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Appendix 3: Using Grammar for Style
Emphasis in Coordinated and Subordinated Sentences
If you can recognize independent clauses, coordinate conjunctions, and subordinate conjunctions, then
you can change the structure of sentences to emphasize or de-emphasize ideas. In a coordinated
sentence, the second clause is emphasized:
1. I enjoy using fountain pens, but they are sometimes messy.
2. Fountain pens are sometimes messy, but I enjoy using them.
Even though they are saying the same thing, the two sentences emphasize different ideas. Sentence 1
focuses on the messiness of fountain pens, while sentence 2 focuses on the pleasure of using them. All
things being equal, someone who read the second sentence would have a more favorable opinion about
fountain pens than someone who read the first sentence.
The same rule about emphasis holds true when subordinating conjunctions join clauses; however,
in addition, the main clause of these sentences receives more emphasis than the dependent clause.
There are therefore two elements determining emphasis in subordinated sentences.
1. Although I like using fountain pens, they are messy.
2. Although fountain pens are messy, I like using them.
3. Fountain pens are messy, although I like using them
4. I like using fountain pens, although they are messy.
Sentences 1 and 2 strongly emphasize the thoughts “they are messy” and “I like using them,” respectively. In
sentences 3 and 4, the main clause competes with the end of the sentence for emphasis.
Periodic and Cumulative Sentences
Generally speaking, the basic unit of meaning in language is the sentence, the independent clause, a
subject and a predicate. Everything else in a sentence is a modifier, long or short. Consequently, there
are three basic ways to arrange a sentence with modifiers.
Either the subject, verb, and predicate come in the beginning and the modifiers follow: Clancey ran
away to join the circus, having taught himself to walk a tightrope strung from his parents’ house to an electricity pole, and
having improved enough to be able to fool his teacher into believing that he was a talented professional.
Or the subject verb and predicate can come at the end: Having taught himself to walk a tightrope strung
from his parents’ house to an electricity pole, and having improved enough to be able to fool his teacher into believing that
he was a talented professional, Clancey ran away to join the circus.
Or the modifiers are dispersed between the subjec, verb, and predicate: Clancey, having taught himself
to walk a tightrope strung between his parents’ house and a light pole, ran away, after he had improved enough to fool his
teacher into believing that he was a professional, to join the circus.
Other Suggestions
Strunk and White, who wrote The Elements of Style, which is probably the most widely used style manual
of the last century, have many other useful suggestions for making communication clearer, more
orderly, and precise. The following are classics in this regard.
• Change passive voice to active voice.
Passive: The holiday is celebrated every year.
Active: The natives celebrate the holiday every year.
• Change “to be” verbs to active verbs with objects:
“To be”: The new museum was an event that had a revolutionary effect on the lives of the locals.
Transitive verb: The new museum revolutionized the lives of the locals.
• Cut “there are” and “it is” and replace them with real subjects doing things.
“It is”: It is the case that there are about 500,000 pieces of space junk orbiting the planet Earth.
Identified Subject: About 500,000 pieces of space junk orbit the planet Earth.
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Appendix 4: Writing Skills Formatting and Citations
The first box below contains the formatting specifications for all Writing Skills assignments; the second
box contains an example of an assignment formatted in this way.
Name:
Student Year, Major, Group:
Assignment date:
Class meeting days and periods:
Word Count:
[2 spaces]
Titles Centered. Prepositions, Articles, and Conjunctions Uncapitalized
[2 spaces]
Example:
Ani Hambardzumyan
Year 3, Area Studies III
September 17, 2017
Thursdays 9:30-10:55
471 words
Example of a Title
The main text starts 2 lines below the title and is indented, usually with the “Tab” key. The
lines of the text are single-spaced. Technically, the lines should be double spaced, but we use
single-spacing to save paper. The font is Times New Roman, 12 point.
Notice that the period goes inside the quote: “Periods and commas go inside the quotes.”
Commas follow the same rule. However, colons and semicolons go outside quotes: She said, “I
would like a cup of coffee and desert”; her brother said, “I would prefer tea.”
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