Writing skills

Mechanics of writing
Cohesion and coherence
Expository writing/essay

Mechanics is the term we use to describe the technical aspects of writing, such as spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, etc.

Memorable Students
they are the memorable students in any class they participate fully in any
mischief they see no point in volunteering for extra jobs they delight in
distracting their classmates they take no pleasure in learning they are
never satisfied
Not only is the above example difficult to read because of the lack of
punctuation and capitalization, but it also impossible to understand the
meaning of it. If it had punctuation, it could be read in either of these ways:
Memorable Students
They are the memorable students. In any class, they participate fully. In
any mischief, they see no point. In volunteering for extra jobs, they
delight. In distracting their classmates, they take no pleasure. In
learning, they are never satisfied.
Memorable Students
They are the memorable students in any class. They participate fully in
any mischief. They see no point in volunteering for extra jobs. They
delight in distracting their classmates. They take no pleasure in
learning. They are never satisfied.

So are these memorable students good students or bad students? Based

on the original text, we have no way of knowing. Can you see how
important mechanics are to meaning?

Sentences
a sentence is a complete thought or idea. [I write fanfic] is a
sentence. Like all complete sentences, it has two main parts, a subject and
an action. I is the subject, or noun. Write is the action, or verb. [I am a
fanfic writer] is another sentence with the same meaning. In this case, I is
still the subject, and am is the verb, though it does not really describe an
action. (It is called a linking verb, linking I to fanfic writer, which are one
in the same.)
Some sentences contain more than one thought or idea. These are called
compound sentences. An example of compound sentence is: [I am a fanfic
writer, and I write mostly drama.] The two main ideas are [I am a fanfic
writer.] and [I write mostly drama.] Each of these could be sentences on
their own, since they both form complete thoughts, but I chose to combine
them together into one sentence. Notice that I did this by putting a comma
and and between them. Words like and, or, and but are called conjunctions
and are used to join simple sentences into compound sentences this way.
A run-on sentence is a sentence with multiple thoughts or ideas that are not
joined together in the correct way, using commas and conjunctions or semicolons (which I will get to in a bit). If I wrote, [I am a fanfic writer I write
mostly drama], that would be a run-on sentence because there is no
punctuation to separate the two thoughts.

As you can see, punctuation is important to writing sentences correctly, so I

will cover that next.

Punctuation
Punctuation are marks such as periods (.), question marks (?), exclamation points (!),
commas (,), apostrophes (), quotation marks (), semi-colons (;), and colons (:). When
used correctly, they make writing look more organized and easier to read and
understand. They tell you how to read a line and where to pause or breathe. Even if youre
not reading out loud, punctuation is important to the meaning of text, as you saw in the
example at the beginning of this tutorial.

Commas

Commas are one of the most important punctuation marks, yet they are
often ignored or misused. They have many different uses. Usually, they are
used to separate words or phrases, such as clauses in a sentence, items in a
list, transition words, names, parts of a date or address, and more.
[I am a fanfic writer, I write mostly drama.] is wrong
[I am a fanfic writer, and I write mostly drama.], you could shorten it up by writing, [I am
a fanfic writer; I write mostly drama.] The semi-colon takes the place of the comma and
conjunction and is correct. This may seem picky, but this is what the rules of English dictate.
Quotations
Quotations are used mainly for writing dialogue, or your characters speech.
[Im going to church. ] the right way [Im going to church.] the wrong way

If your line of dialogue is followed by a clause like he said, you should use a comma instead
of a period. For example: [Im going to church, he said.]
Clause > he said
However, if the dialogue would normally have a question mark or exclamation point instead
of a period, you can keep the question mark or exclamation point. For example: [Are you
going to church? he asked.] The punctuation still stays inside the quotation marks.

Paragraphing
A paragraph is a group of sentences that all revolve around the same topic or idea
good-sized paragraph is about 5-7 sentences.

Subject-Verb Agreement
In the English language, which is, admittedly, one of the more confusing
languages out there, there are different forms of every verb that go with
different subjects. One of the ones some people struggle with is the verb [to
be]. Here is the correct subject-verb agreement for [to be]:
Present Tense:
I am
You are
He/She/It is
We are
They are

Past Tense:
I was
You were
He/She/It was
We were
They were

Homonyms

Homonyms are words which sound the same, but are spelled differently
and have different meanings. Theyre just another lovely feature of the
confusing English language. There are many, many homonyms, but a few
of them are used and used incorrectly very often. Seeing these common
homonyms misused are big pet peeves for some people, so if you dont want
to annoy some of your readers, learn how to use them correctly.
Your/Youre
[Your] is a possessive pronoun. It always shows possession,
referring to something that YOU
own. Examples: Your dog, your house, your arm
[Youre] is a contraction. It is a way of shortening you
are. Examples: Youre going away; Youre shorter than me
If youre not sure which to use, ask yourself what the word you want
means. Is it referring to [Your] something, or is it that [Youre] doing
something? When in doubt, try substituting You are in place
of [Youre/Your]. If you are makes sense, you should
use [youre]. If you are does not make sense, use [your].
There/Their/Theyre
[There] usually refers to a direction or place, such as in over there
or here and there. It can also be used as a subject that is linked to
an object in a sentence. Examples: Put your coat over there; There is
my house.
[Their] is a possessive pronoun, like [your]. It shows possession,
referring to something that THEY
own. Examples: Their dog, their house, their arms
[Theyre] is a contraction, short for they
are. Examples: Theyre going away; Theyre both shorter than me

Again, if youre not sure which to use, ask yourself what the word you
want means. Try substituting they are. If they are doesnt fit, ask
yourself if you are referring to something owned by two or more
people (in which case you would use [their]) or to a place ([there]).
Its/Its
Same principle as the last two.
[Its] is a possessive pronoun. It refers to something that It
owns. Examples: Its hair, its smell, its arm
[Its] is a contraction, short for it is. Examples: Its going
away; Its shorter than me
Not sure? Try substituting it is. If that doesnt sound right,
use [its]. [Its] is not a word.
To/Too/Two
[To] is a preposition, used to link a verb to an object, such as a person
or place. Examples: The Backstreet Boys are flying to New York;
Nick tossed his sweaty towel to a fan in the audience.
[Too] can be used as a synonym (word that means the same) for
also or as well, or as an adjective that means in
excess. Examples: I want to go to the concert, too. Unfortunately,
the tickets cost too much money.
[Two] is simply the written form of the number 2. Examples: Two of
the Backstreet Boys are cousins. The Boys made two videos for Ill
Never Break Your Heart.
Then/Than
[Then] is a transition word, used to describe when something
happens. Examples: Howie put on his shoes, and then he walked out
the door; He liked to go for a jog now and then.
[Than] is a preposition, used to compare two
objects. Examples: Kevin is taller than Brian; Nick is
younger than AJ.
Lose/Loose

[Lose] is a verb, the present tense form of the past tense lost. It is
related to the word loss. Examples: I dont wanna lose you now; If
I lose it all, thered be nothing left to lose.
[Loose] is an adjective and a synonym of words such as baggy and
roomy. It is also a slang term that refers to promiscuity, which is
why Nelly Furtados song Promiscuous Girl was a fitting first single
from her album Loose. Examples: The t-shirt I bought at the
Backstreet Boys concert was very loose on me. Brian held my
hand loosely when he reached down from the stage.
*** This can be a confusing pair because the spelling of [lose] does
not fit the rules of phonics based on how it is pronounced. It makes
sense that it should be spelled with a double O, which is why some
people spell it like [loose.] However, there is NO EXCUSE for a
Backstreet Boys fan to misuse this pair. The Boys have TWO SONGS
with the word Lose in the TITLE (Dont Wanna LOSE You Now
and LOSE It All), so you SHOULD NOT be spelling [lose] L-O-O-SE. ONE O, people, just one! If youre not sure, just pull
out Millenniumor Never Gone and look at the tracklisting on the
back.

EXERCISE

Kevin Howie Brian AJ and Nick piled onto the bus, they had just finished
there concert that night in Chicago and was on theyre way to grab a bite
to eat than they would be driving on to the next city Milwaukee. Wear
should we eat? asks Howie his body jerking backward as the bus lurched
away from the venue. How about McDonalds? AJ suggested
smiling. You always want two go too Mickey Ds AJ complained Kevin
cant we eat healthy four once? Howie agrees with Kevin but the to were
quickly overruled by the other three who insisted on fast food, before they
knew it the bus was pulling up in front of the familiar golden arches.
Oh my God its the backstreet boys screamed the gurl at the counter
when they walked in to order. I love U guys so much your my favorite
band, will U sign a song 4 me? Sure Nick agreed and breaks into dont
wanna loose you now, the other guys came in on theyre parts but the girl
was squealing louder then they could sing.

SOLUTIONKevin, Howie, Brian, AJ, and

Nick piled onto the bus. They had

just finished their concert that night in Chicago and were on their way to
grab a bite to eat. Then they would be driving on to the next city,
Milwaukee. Where should we eat? asked Howie, his body jerking
backward as the bus lurched away from the venue.
How about McDonalds? AJ suggested, smiling.
You always want to go to Mickey Ds, J, complained Kevin. Cant
we eat healthy for once? Howie agreed with Kevin, but the two were
quickly overruled by the other three, who insisted on fast food. Before
they knew it, the bus was pulling up in front of the familiar golden arches.
Oh my God, its the Backstreet Boys! screamed the girl at the
counter when they walked in to order. I love you guys so much; youre
my favorite band! Will you sign a song for me?
Sure, Nick agreed and broke into Dont Wanna Lose You
Now. The other guys came in on their parts, but the girl was squealing
louder than they could sing.
Here is a list of the errors found in the first version:
1. Kevin Howie Brian AJ and Nick
There should be commas between the guys names when you list them like
that.
2. piled onto the bus, they had just finished
This is a run-on sentence and needs to be split up with a period or semicolon, rather than a comma.
3. there concert
It should be THEIR concert because their shows possession.
4. they had just finished there concert that night in Chicago and was on
The verb was does not agree with the subject they. It should be were
instead.
5. on theyre way
It should be on THEIR way because, again, their shows possession, and
theyre means they are.
6. to grab a bite to eat than they
This is a run-on sentence and needs to be split up with a period, semicolon, or conjunction and comma.

7. than they would be

It should be THEN, not than.
8. the next city Milwaukee
There should be a comma separating city and Milwaukee.
9. Wear should we eat
It should be Where, not Wear.
10. Wear should we eat?
The question mark should come inside the quotation marks, not outside.
11. asks Howie
In sticking with the past tense of the paragraph, it should be asked, not
asks.
12. asks Howie his body jerking
There should be comma between Howie and his to separate the clauses.
13. How about McDonalds? AJ suggested
Because the speaker has changed from Howie to AJ, this should be the start
of a new paragraph.
14. How about McDonalds?
Again, the end punctuation should be placed inside the quotation marks,
not outside.
15. AJ suggested smiling
There should be a comma between suggested and smiling to separate
the clauses.
16. You always want two go
It should be to, not two.
17. go too Mickey Ds
It should be to, not too.
18. Mickey Ds AJ
There should be a comma between Ds and J to show that Kevin is
speaking to AJ.
19. AJ complained Kevin
There should be a comma between AJ and the quotation mark.
20. complained Kevin cant

This is a run-on sentence. There should be a period or semi-colon after

Kevin, and if a period is used, cant should be capitalized.
21. healthy four once
It should be for, not four. Four is the number 4.
22. Howie agrees with Kevin
In sticking with the past tense, the verb should be agreed, not agrees.
23. Howie agrees with Kevin but the
This is part of a compound sentence, and to break it up properly, there
should be a comma between Kevin and the conjunction but.
24. the to were quickly overruled
It should be two, not to.
25. the other three who insisted on fast food
There should be a comma between three and who to separate the
clauses.
26. insisted on fast food, before they knew it the bus was pulling up
This is a run-on sentence and should be separated with a period or semicolon, not a comma, or should at least contain a conjunction, such as and,
after the comma.
27. before they knew it the bus
There should be a comma between it and the to separate the clauses.
28. Oh my God its the backstreet boys screamed the gurl
Because this is a quote, Oh my God its the backstreet boys should be
contained within quotations.
29. its the backstreet boys screamed the gurl
There should be a comma after boys and before the quotation mark that
should be there.
30. Oh my God its
There should be a comma after Oh my God.
31. its the backstreet boys
It should be its, not its. Its means it is, and its is not a word.
32. backstreet boys

As a proper noun, the name of a group, Backstreet Boys should always be

capitalized. (This is a bonus, since I didnt really talk about the rules of
capitalization in this tutorial.)
33. gurl
Gurl is not a word; it is the teenybopper way of spelling girl. Girl
should never be spelled this way in formal writing, which includes a story
that you want to be taken seriously. (Another bonus point.)
34. I love U guys so much your my favorite band, will U sign a song 4 me?
This is a quote and, thus, should be put inside quotation marks.
35. U guys
U should never be used in place of the word you in formal writing. If
you dont have time to spell out the full three-letter word, you shouldnt be
writing fanfiction.
36. so much your
This is a run-on sentence; there should be a period (or exclamation point)
or semi-colon between much and your.
37. your my favorite band
It should be youre, not your.
38. your my favorite band, will U sign
This is another run-on; there should be a period (or exclamation point) or
semi-colon between band and will.
39. will U sign
Again with the U. The word is YOU, Y-O-U spell it out!
40. sign a song
It should be sing, not sign. This is a typo that spell check will not catch,
since sign is also a word. Only good proofreading will catch these kinds of
mistakes.
41. song 4 me
Another example of Teenybopperese, 4 should never be used for the word
for in formal writing.
42. 4 me? Sure Nick agreed
Since the speaker changes from the girl to Nick, a new paragraph should
begin with Sure.
43. Sure Nick agreed

There should be a comma after Sure, but inside the quotation marks.
44. Nick agreed and breaks into
In sticking with past tense, breaks should be broke.
45. dont wanna loose you now
As a song title, Dont Wanna Lose You Now should be capitalized and put
inside quotation marks. (Bonus)
46. loose you now
It should be LOSE, not loose check the back of Millennium!!!
47. breaks into dont wanna loose you now, the other guys came in
This is part of a run-on sentence; there should be a period or semi-solon in
place of the comma after now.
48. theyre parts
It should be their, not theyre.
49. the other guys came in on theyre parts but the girl
This is part of a compound sentence and should be divided by a comma
before the conjunction but.
50. louder then they could sing.
It should be than, not then.
What is Expository Writing?
Expository writing is a type of writing that is used to explain, describe, give information, or inform. The
text is organized around one topic and developed according to a pattern or combination of patterns.
The writer of an expository text cannot assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior
understanding of the topic that is being discussed. Since clarity requires strong organization, one of
the most important mechanisms to improve skills in exposition is to improve the organization of the
text. The patterns shown below are frequently used to create an expository essay. Additionally, more
than one pattern may be used within an expository essay.

Pattern Name

Written and Graphic Example of the Pattern

Description
The author describes a
topic by listing
characteristics, features,
and examples. It provides
details about how
something looks, feels,
tastes, smells, makes one
feel, or sounds
Cue Words
for example,
the characteristics are...

Example of Descriptive Writing

Expository essays are written by students to demonstrate their
knowledge and understanding of a particular topic. For example,
a student might use a descriptive pattern to emphasize the
features and characteristics of a topic. Sequential writing
emphasizes the order of events, listing items in numerical or
chronological order. A writer might use a comparison or contrast
pattern to emphasize the similarities or differences between two
topics. A cause and/or effect pattern shows the relationship
between events, while a problem/solution pattern shows a
different kind of relationship that discusses a problem and
suggests solutions. Variations of these patterns are sometimes
used, as well as a combination of patterns to create an
expository essay.

Sequence or Process
The author lists items or
events in numerical or
chronological order.
Cue Words
first, second, third; next;
then; finally

Example of Sequential Writing

Expository writing is intended to convey the writer's knowledge
about a topic. While different patterns may be employed to
create the essay, every essay contains the same features: the
introduction, the thesis, the body paragraphs, and the
conclusion. The introduction is the first paragraph in the essay.
The introduction contains the thesis statement, one sentence that
summarizes the main idea of the essay. The body paragraphs
follow the introduction and explain the main topics. Lastly, the
conclusion is the final paragraph that restates the main topics
and and the thesis. Every expository essay contains these
features, in this order.

Comparison
The author explains how
two or more things are
alike and/or how they are
different. A comparison
essay usually discusses
the similarities between
two things, while
the contrast
essaydiscusses the
differences.

Cue Words
different; in contrast; alike;
same as; on the other
hand

Example of Compare/Contrast Writing

Expository writing has distinct features that distinguish it from
creative writing. The content of an expository essay is factual
and straight-forward while the content of a creative story is
imaginative and symbolic. Expository essays are written for a
general audience but creative stories are designed for a specific
audience. The writing style of an expository essay is formal,
standard and academic, while a creative story uses an informal
and artistic style. The organization of an expository essay is
systematic and deliberate; on the other hand, the organization of
a creative story is more arbitrary and artistic. Finally, the most
important difference between the two types of writing is the
purpose of the text. An expository essay is written to inform and
instruct, while a creative story is written to entertain and
captivate.
Cause / Effect
The author focuses on
the relationship between
two or more events or
experiences. The essay
could discuss
both causes and effects,
or it could simply address
one or the other. A cause
essay usually discusses
the reasons why
something happened.
An effect essaydiscusses
what happens after a
specific event or
circumstance.
Cue Words
reasons why; if...then; as a
result; therefore; because

Example of Cause/Effect Writing

There are several reasons why so many people attend the
Olympic games or watch them on television. One reason is
tradition. The name Olympics and the torch and flame remind

people of the ancient games. People can escape the

ordinariness of daily life by attending or watching the Olympics.
They like to identify with someone else's individual sacrifice and
accomplishment. National pride is another reason, and an
athlete's or a team's hard earned victory becomes a nation's
victory. There are national medal counts and people keep track
of how many medals their country's athletes have won.
Problem / Solution
The author states a
problem and lists one or
more solutions for the
problem. A variation of this
pattern is the questionand-answer format in
which the author poses a
question and then answers
it.
Cue Words
the problem is; the
dilemma is; puzzle is
solved; question... answer

Example of Problem/Solution Writing

One problem with the modern Olympics is that it has become
very big and expensive to operate. The city or country that hosts
the games often loses a lot of money. A stadium, pools, and
playing fields must be built for the athletic events and housing is
needed for the athletes who come from around the world. And all
of these facilities are used for only 2 weeks! In 1984, Los
Angeles solved these problems by charging a fee for companies
who wanted to be official sponsors of the games. Companies like
McDonald's paid a lot of money to be part of the Olympics. Many
buildings that were already built in the Los Angeles area were
also used. The Coliseum where the 1932 games were held was
used again and many colleges and universities in the area
became playing and living sites.