Tmu english test preparation writing revised

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

WRITING OVERVIEW...1

MODULE 1: SENTENCE WRITING...2

MODULE 2: EMAIL WRITING...5

MODULE 3: PARAGRAPH WRITING...13

MODULE 4: ESSAY WRITING...19

SAMPLE TEST 1...24

SAMPLE TEST 2...25

SAMPLE TEST 3...26

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WRITING OVERVIEWTEST FORMAT

The writing test consists of 2 tasks with the total time of 40 minutes.

In the first task, you have to write an email of around 80-100 words to your friend to give information, ask for permission, tell a story or make an appointment, etc.

In the second task, you have to write an essay of about 200 words presenting the advantages and disadvantages of something.

MARKING CRITERIA

Your writing competence is rated on 4 criteria as follows together with some advice given on how to meet each criterion:

* Each of these criteria receives a score from 0 to 10 points. An arithmetic mean iscalculated to determine the writing total score.

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MODULE 1: SENTENCE WRITING

Classified by its structure, a sentence can be of four types: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences and compound-complex sentences.

1. SIMPLE SENTENCES

- A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb.

- It expresses a single complete thought that can stand on its own.

Examples:

1. The baby cried for food.

^ There is a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought.

2. Professor Maple’s intelligent students completed and turned in their homework.

^ A simple sentence does not necessarily have to be short. It can have adjectives. In this case, there are two verbs “completed” and “turned in.” However, the sentence expresses one complete thought and therefore is a simple sentence.

3. Megan and Ron ate too much and felt sick.

^ Although there are two subjects and two verbs, it is still a simple sentence because both verbs share the same subjects and express one complete thought.

2. COMPOUND SENTENCES

- A compound sentence has two independent clauses. An independent clause is a part of a sentence that can stand alone because it contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.

- Basically, a compound contains two simple sentences.

- These independent clauses are joined by a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so – FANBOYS for short).

Examples:

1. The shoplifter had stolen clothes, so he ran once he saw the police.

^ Both sides of the conjunction “so” are complete sentences. “The shoplifter had stolen clothes” can stand alone and so can “he ran once he saw the police.” Therefore, this is a compound sentence.

2. They spoke to him in Spanish, but he responded in English.

^ This is also a compound sentence that uses a conjunction to separate two individual clauses.

3. COMPLEX SENTENCES

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- A complex sentence is an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A dependent clause either lacks a subject or a verb or has both a subject and a verb that does not express a complete thought.

- A complex sentence always has a subordinator (as, because, since, after, although, when) or relative pronouns (who, that, which).

Examples:

1. After eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, Tim went to the gym to exercise.

^ The independent clause is “Tim went to the gym to exercise.” The subordinating clause before it is dependent on the main, independent clause. If one were to say “after eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory,” it would be an incomplete thought.

2. Opinionated women are given disadvantages in societies that privilege maleaccomplishments.

^ The subject is “opinionated women” and the verb is “are given.” The first part of the sentence “opinionated women are given disadvantages in societies” is an independent clause that expresses a complete thought. The following “that privilege male accomplishments” is a relative clause that describes which types of societies.

3. The woman who taught Art History 210 was fired for stealing school supplies.

^ The dependent clause in this sentence is “who taught Art History 210” because if removed, the rest of the sentence would stand as an independent clause. “Who taught Art History 210” is an adjective clause that provides necessary details about the subject, woman.

4. COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCES

- A compound-complex sentence has two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Examples:

1. After the two soccer players lost their game, they joined their other teammates for lunch,and they went to the movies.

^ If we remove the dependent clause “after the two soccer players lost their game,” we have a compound sentence. The dependent clause makes this sentence compound-complex.

2. The man believed in the system, and he knew that justice would prevail after the murdererwas sent to jail.

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER: A summary to help you remember the four types of

sentences

Compound Two or more None

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Complex One One or more Compound-Complex Two or more One or more

PRACTICE:

Identify whether the sentences are simple, complex, compound or compound-complex. Please underline dependent clauses where it applies.

1. Vampires Dairies is my favorite television show, but I also love True Blood.

2. The student wiped the white board that was filthy with last week’s notes. 3. The trendy fashion designer released her new line on Wednesday.

4. Trina and Hareem went to a bar in Hollywood to celebrate their anniversary. 5. Wicked Regina cast a spell on the entire city, so the citizens decided to rebel.

6. While waiting for the paint to dry, Angela went to Home Depot, and Martin organized the kitchen appliances.

7. After listening to the Kanye West CD, I have new respect for his music.

8. After the teacher chose groups, John and Sara were selected as partners for a project, yet Sarah did most of the work.

9. She smiled sweetly, and he grinned shyly. 10. Mary and Tom agreed to meet after school.

11. I had a poor background, and the subject was quite difficult; however, the teacher explained the concepts very clearly.

12. Because the store was closed, we returned home. Complex

13. The old prospector was discouraged; however, when I suggested giving up, he was indignant. 14. Although my friends were lost for a while, they eventually found the restaurant that you recommended.

15. The runner, who had trained for many months, won the race easily.

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MODULE 2: EMAIL WRITING

Email is a system of sending written messages electronically from one computer to another. Email is an abbreviation of ‘electronic mail’. (Collins)

1. INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING AN EMAIL

In this part of the test, you are given an email from an English friend or relative, and you are asked to respond to it in about 100 words. This email contains annotations which help you identify exactly what you need to respond to.

As regards the topics, they are usually not very difficult, as you are expected to write at an

intermediate level about topics you are familiar with: sports, hobbies, TV programmes,weather, your town / city, best friend etc. Here is a sample email:

Write your email to Sandy using all the notes

As you can see in the example above, we have received an email from a person so-called Sandy, who is a friend of ours. In addition, we have made some annotations, which are the points we need to address in your email:

 Me too!

 Say which I prefer

 No, because…

 Ask Sandy…

You must answer this question. Write your answer in about100 words on the answer sheet.

Read this email from your English-speaking friend Sandyand the notes you have made.

From: Sandy Subject: Your visit! Hi,

I’m so excited that you’re coming to stay with me for a week! On your first evening here, there’s a rock concert in our town. Would you like to go to the concert or would you prefer us to relax at home?

Also, shall we go climbing in the mountains while you’re here? Let me know if you have any questions.

See you soon Sandy

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2. EMAIL STRUCTURE

The first thing you need to know is the different parts of an email, and these are:

 Greetings: we greet the other person (i.e. say “hi” or “hello”)

 Opening paragraph: we react to the other person’s news and ask them how they are

feeling and whatever else you feel is appropriate.

 Main paragraph 1: in this paragraph we deal with the first important point, which we

can identify in the instructions.

 Main paragraph 2: if there is a different point to deal with, this paragraph will do so.

(We might have more main paragraphs, depending on the task.)

 Closing paragraph: in this paragraph we “start” to say goodbye by wishing the other

person well and asking them to reply to your email.

 Goodbye: we use a short expression to say goodbye.

 Signature: we sign the email with our name.

3. SAMPLE EMAIL

Let’s take a look at the following example of the email where we can see an answer to the sample task we saw above:

In the example above, the different parts of an email are well defined. It’s important that

the writing is visually appealing, apart from having good grammar and vocabulary. This

means that the paragraphs should be well defined, with a space in between, and that you

should know when to break lines. This is especially important after greetings, after opening and closing paragraphs, and after saying goodbye. This will make your text visually appealing, as it will look like a real email.

Thanks a lot for writing back. I’m also really excited about visiting you!On my first evening, I’d like to relax at home. I will probably be very tired from the trip, so I need to rest and get ready for the other days. Is that okay?As for climbing, I’m afraid I can’t. I forgot to tell you, but I hurt my knee lastweek, so I can’t do sport now.

How about visiting some art galleries in your town? If you want, we could go. You know I love art! What do you think?

Well, I have to go now, but please let me know what you think.

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4. EXPRESSIONS TO USE IN AN EMAIL

In this section, we are going to focus on different expressions to use in the different parts

of the email. While the main paragraphs will vary completely depending on the topic of the

writing, most of the other parts in the email can be practised and memorized almost completely. Let’s take a look:

4.1. GREETINGS

In order to start the email, we can used different expressions, which are really typical and easy to remember. We have 3 basic ways to greet in this kind of writing, which is usually for a friend or family member:

Hi John,

Hello John,

Dear John,

Note: Notice how “Hi” is less formal than “Hello” or “Dear”. Also, don’t forget to write a

comma (,) right after greeting your friend or relative. After greeting the addressee (i.e. the

person who will read the email), you must start the opening paragraph in a new line.

4.2. OPENING PARAGRAPH

The opening paragraph is the place to react to your friend’s or relative’s email. In order to

do so, you can use a number of different expressions. Here we have some examples:

It’s nice / great / good to hear from you.

It’s nice / great / good to read your email.

I’m glad to hear your news.

I’m excited about … (your news.)

It’s great to hear that…

I’m sorry to hear that…

I’m really sorry to read your news.

Thanks a lot for writing!

It was good to receive your email.

Thank you very much for your email.

Also, it’s a good idea to ask your friend or relative how they are feeling, which you can do

like this:

Hope you are doing well.

How’s it going?

How are you (doing)?

How are things (going)?

You can also add some information that you think is relevant or necessary, but don’t expand

this paragraph very much, because the important information must go in the main

4.3. MAIN PARAGRAPHS

For the main paragraphs, there aren’t any fixed expressions which you must use, as it depends

mostly on what you have to write about. However, you should try to make use of connectors

and appropriate punctuation. So let’s take a look at common useful connectors and thepunctuation we use them with:

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…and…: to connect two similar things or ideas.

I love reading and listening to music.My favourite meal is fish and chips.

…, but…: to connect two contrasting ideas.

I love watching TV, but I don’t have a favourite show.I am reading a book, but I don’t remember the title.

However,…: to connect contrasting ideas.

Last month, I went to the cinema. However, I didn’t enjoy the movie.I am a very big fan of this author. However, I haven’t read his last novel.

Moreover,…: to add more information about something.

… because…: to justify an opinion or idea.

My mum is the perfect cook because she knows a lot of recipes and has plenty ofexperience. Moreover, she experiments with different ingredients all the time.

Because of that,…: to justify an opinion, fact or idea.

My mum likes to cook using new ingredients all the time. Because of that, she creates

original dishes every month.

As for…/ Regarding…: to switch to a new topic. For instance, you can use this connector

to start the second main paragraph.

As for/Regarding why I like this cookery show, I think because it’s a great way to see

new recipes.

Time linkers: then, after that, yesterday, this morning, last summer, etc.

Last night, I watched a very good action film.

With many connectors, we typically use a comma (,) after it when we start a sentence (e.g.:

However, Last night, Moreover, etc.).

4.4. CLOSING PARAGRAPH

As we mentioned earlier, a closing paragraph in this Writing part 3 is used to start saying goodbye to the addressee and to ask for a response to your email. So we can use the following expressions:

Well, it’s time to say goodbye.

Anyway, I have to go now.

Well, it’s time to go.

 Anyway, gotta go.

I really hope to hear from you soon.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

I hope you write back soon.

Make sure you write back soon.

Also, if you still have to write more words, you can add a question for a subsequent email.

This question should be related to the topic of your piece of writing.

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Notice how there is a comma (,) after each of the phrases. Also, after writing any of thesesentences, make sure you write your name on a different line. And write your name without

a full stop!

WRITING PRACTICE

Now that we know what expressions we should be using in our writing, we are going to take a look at another task and then practice your writing:

Read this email from your English-speaking college classmate Alex and the notes you havemade. Write your email to Alex using all the notes.

Subject: College science presentation

It’s great that we are going to work together on the college science presentation. Do youthink we should choose the rainforest as our topic?

We only have two weeks to prepare, so can we start tomorrow? Where can we go toprepare the presentation? My cousins are staying at my house at the moment, so we can’twork there because it’s too noisy.

We can give our presentation to the class either in the morning or the afternoon. Whichwould you prefer?

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Sample answer:

Hi, Alex

I’m very glad to work with you. I think we shouldn’t choose the rainforest as our topicbecause I’m not good at this topic. I would like to prepare the science presentation aboutdeserts. In my opinion, it will be interesting.

Sorry, but my parents have gone to another town and I must look after my little brother sowe can’t start to prepare tomorrow. What about starting in 2 days?

We can prepare the presentation in my house because no one will disturb us.

I would prefer to give our presentation to the class in the afternoon as this is the mostconvenient time.

Best wishesGrette

TOP 5 TIPS FOR WRITING AN EMAIL

1. Learn and memorize a set of expressions. Make sure you already know a set of

expressions to use in your greetings, opening and closing paragraphs, and to say goodbye. This will save you a lot of time while doing a task, and you will avoid making silly mistakes as you will already know the expressions by heart.

2. Write a well-structured and visually-appealing email. One of the things the examiners

pay attention to is the organization of your piece writing, so make sure not to write a messy

email. Also, remember that punctuation matters, so be sure to separate your sentences with

stops and commas and don’t write excessively long sentences.

3. Brainstorm, write, read and edit. Before starting to write your email, brainstorm a couple

of things and write down some ideas. This can include vocabulary related to the topic. For example, if you have to write about TV shows, you can write down things like “contestants”, “cookery show”, “prize”, etc. Then, write your email. After that, read it and look for possible mistakes or opportunities for improvement (e.g.: adding descriptive adjectives, rephrasing sentences, etc.).

4. Read carefully and identify the task. Don’t start writing right away. Make sure you read

the task carefully and that you identify exactly what you are being asked. Sometimes, we don’t pay attention to the instructions and we end up writing about something different. This will mean losing points, in a very silly way.

5. Experiment at home, be conservative in the exam. Homework is the best chance to be

creative and experiment different ways to express yourself. So make sure you try your hardest to keep improving when you write at home. On the other hand, when you’re doing an exam, don’t risk trying out new words or expressions, as you may be making a terrible mistake. So be safe in your exam and stick to what you already knows works.

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FURTHER PRACTICE

Read this email from your English teacher Miss Jones and the notes you have made. Write your email to Miss Jones using all the notes.

From: Miss Jones To: All students

Subject: Visitor to English class Dear students,

I’m planning to invite a well-known person to come into our English class and give a talk.

I’d like to invite either a scientist or an actor. Which would be better? I hope that each student will have a question to ask this person – what would you like to ask?

We want our visitor to enjoy the day with us – what do you think we can do to entertain the visitor after the talk?

I’m looking forward to receiving your ideas! Miss Jones

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Read this email from your English-speaking friend Grace and the notes you have made. Write your email to Grace using all the notes.

We’re having a family dinner for my mum’s birthday next week My brothers and I are each going to cook a course. Do you think I should make the starter, the main course or the dessert?

Where can I find some good recipes?

Have you ever made anything for your family? What did you make? Was it a success?

Love Grace

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