...ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS 1. GENERAL ADVICE a. READ the title of the essay carefully and make sure that you understand it. If necessary, underline key words in the title. REMEMBER: if your essay does not cover the topic(s) proposed in the title, your mark will be very low. b. WRITE AN ESSAY PLAN. You can do this in English or in your mother tongue – but remember that you must be sure that you can express your ideas easily in English. In your essay plan you should note down specific vocabulary related to the topic. You should also write down any appropriate CONNECTORS (linkers). At first, you will find writing an essay plan difficult and time-consuming, but with practice it will save you time in the end and will also help you to organise your ideas in coherent paragraphs. EXAMPLE OF AN ESSAY PLAN: What are the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones? 1. INTRODUCTION: Now everybody has a mobile. What happened in the past? There are pros and cons. 2. PARAGRAPH 1: Advantages Immediate contact with family and friends. Good in emergencies. Many news uses – technology is developing. 3. PARAGRAPH 2: Disadvantages Bad for our health; addictive. Not sociable? What happens in schools? 4. CONCLUSION: Good and bad aspects. My opinion. KEY WORDS: technology, technological, developments, to keep in touch with someone, text messages, (on) the Internet, health, healthy, unhealthy, good//bad manners, to be banned. POSSIBLE LINKERS: Contrast...
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...the other. “My Little Bit of Country” is an essay by Susan Cheever, this essay starts from when she was a little girl and ends in 2012 which is when she wrote the essay. In the beginning little Susan Cheever was living in New York and was pretty happy with her life there, but that wasn’t enough for the family, they wanted the American Dream with the white picket fence and a place in the “real” country, as Susan Cheever puts it. This did not please her and she really disliked the suburbs, that when she got older she would go to New York as much as possible. In the end she moves to New York again and is happy and forever satisfied with the urban life. The story is basically written with contrasts, contrasts and more contrasts. The most obvious one is the suburb life vs. the urban life; country vs. city. She very much dislikes the country life, it being a step down from the city: “Why would I want to scrape around the rough, dangerous ice of a country lake when I could glide around the smooth ice at the Wollman Ring and pause for a hot chocolate when my toes and fingers get too cold?” here she compares the natural procedure of the lake turning to ice with a manmade ice rink specifically made to be the most safe way to skate. Some would say that the country would have something special about it, a sense of authenticity, which romanticizes the country but here Susan Cheever does the opposite, she romanticizes the “safe” city life. Another contrast is the quote fr...
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...with strangers” from the New York Times in 2002, simply will not understand. Whether if it is in the country like Minnesota where greeting everyone is considered obligated or New York City where addressing a stranger would make you seem mental. This observation is what has inspired author Siri Hustvedt to write the essay “Living With Strangers”. The title refers to what apparently is going on in every major city, although the essay never specifically mentions it: We are becoming increasingly isolated while being surrounded by more and more people. Why can this be? Siri Hustvedt describes this through an anecdote from her first apartment in New York. Even though she was living alone at the time, she think of her neighbours as roommates because she was the witness to several acts that should remain private such as an argument from the downstairs apartment or another woman walking around wearing only underwear, for her to see. However, she did not know these people. They lived so close and shared so many private moments and yet, Hustvedt can still not see them as anything else other than “fellow New Yorkers”. That’s why she is living with strangers. In the text Hustvedt is really fascinated by is the “pretend-it-didn’t-happen-law”. The “law” is made so people won’t feel embarrassed. It links to the previously mentioned about never greeting a person you don’t know. It is a peculiar phenomenon because one would think that people move to the cities to be around other people...
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...Essay “Living with Strangers” Minnesota and New York are two thoroughly diverse cities, but still there are exceptions of this belief - they both, like every other city in the world, have their own tacit norms and proprieties. Cultures and societies have through time build ethics, which people outside the given group or civilization won’t understand. It can be everything from simply greeting each other, from rural Minnesota where “hi” slip of people’s tongues like honey to New York where its normal to live side by side with strangers, and addressing others on the street will make you seem ridiculous. This huge culture gap is what inspired Siri Hustvedt to write her anecdote “Living with Strangers”. The text is an essay, which is characterized by several things. It’s a non-fictional text, which means its about something real, and relates to this in an unbiased way. It is a very subjective style, written from a personal point of view, where the writer used own experience and reflections: “When I moved to New York in 1978, I quickly discovered what it meant to live among hordes of strangers…”. You can tell the text is personal by the fact that “I” is used a lot. The way of writing will seem very convincing to the ready. Hustvedt uses the ethos argument and therefore seems truthful and upstanding as a writer about this particular topic. The title represents the main topic quite well, as it refers to a very common paradox in urban societies - we have been to the moon...
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...Living with Strangers In the essay “Living with Strangers” Siri Hustvedt discusses the lack of solidarity and the difference between the unspoken social rules, one can meet in a in a big city, for example New York City, and a small town in the state of Minnesota. These unspoken social rules are very hard for an outsider to understand. Hustvedt starts the essay by giving a briefly description of the huge difference she felt, when she moved from rural Minnesota to New York City. She talks about how one is expected to behave where she grew up. It was considered as rude and snobby to pass someone in silence – which is pretty much the worst thing in a small town – you have to say “Hi”. “Passing someone in silence wasn’t only rude; it could lead to accusations of snobbery – the worst possible sin in my small corner of egalitarian state (paragraph 3-5)”. Whereas in New York City it will make you seem mental greeting a stranger if you were to greet everyone you meet on the street. It is this problematic issue that has inspired Siri Hustvedt to write the essay. The title refers to the paradox living in a big city: on one hand you live among so many people and on the other you do not know these people so you are really on your own. Although this is not specifically mentioned; but she indicates it indirectly through an anecdote about the habits of her neighbors “...I listened to the howling battles of the couple the lived below me, their raging voices punctuated by thuds, bangs, and the...
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...Living with strangers In the text “Living with strangers” Siri Hustvedt discusses the lack of solidarity and the social rules, one may meet in a big city, like New York City. Siri Hustvedt starts the essay by describing, the big difference she felt, when moving from rural Minnesota to New York City. She begins by briefly describing to the reader, how one was expected to behave, where she grew up. Whenever you encountered someone on the road, whether you knew them or not, you should always greet them. If you didn’t, you would be considered both rude and a snob, which was pretty much the worst thing, you could be in that part of rural Minnesota. Therefore, Siri Hustvedt quickly felt the difference between these two places, when greeting everyone you meet in downtown New York simply isn’t practical. But Hustvedt does not only describe it as impractical, but also as a kind of social code in the city. The title “Living with strangers” refers to a paradox that is apparent in every major city, although never specifically mentioned in the essay: We are becoming increasingly isolated while being surrounded by more and more people. Siri Hustvedt describes this through an anecdote from her first apartment in New York. Even though she was living alone at the time, she represents her neighbors as roommates, because she was witness to several acts that should remain private, such as a heated argument from down stairs and walking around wearing only underwear. However, she did not...
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...Cheyne Brown Rachel Stevens Writing 121 7 October 2014 How Charles Simic Might Approach Vivian Maier’s Photography Imagine a black and white photograph overlooking a New York City street circa 1953. The Chrysler Building dominating the background skyline, you notice a group of commuters waiting on an El train platform looking down below as people congregate near shops and restaurants lining the street in the foreground. This might be an adequate insight into a Vivian Maier photograph. Although accurate, the description feels lifeless, and lacks the amazing nostalgic detail Poet Laureate Charles Simic might put on it. Simic, the author of the essay “The Life of Images” might ask himself questions like: “Where are the commuters going? What is the group of women doing by the hardware and appliance store?” Maybe Simic has eaten at Joe’s Restaurant (large signage in Maier’s photograph), and that brings back a flood of memories. It wouldn’t take him long to weave a detailed story about what these people in the photo were doing, or even conversations they might be having. Simic writes, “A photograph…, where time has stopped on an ordinary scene full of innuendoes, partakes of the infinite” (576). I feel Simic would approach Maier’s photographs the same way he approached Berenice Abbott’s photos, referenced in “The Life of Images”, breathing life and imagination into them. First I should give you a little background on who these three people are. Charles Simic is a writer, most...
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...d. 14/9/2011 Essay 1 Living With Strangers The big city. Just the word gives a wealth of associations: The big city is noise and traffic, a lot of life. The big city is the anonymity in the crowd. The place where everything you do is not noted by others. The big cities came as a result of the increasing urbanization after the industrialization in the 1800s when a lot of people moved from the country to the cities to get a job. But the fact that you are now living with hundred thousands or millions of other people creates many challenges. It can especially be a problem how to deal with all the people who you do not know and who you do not manage to get to know. That is exactly the theme the American writer Siri Hustvedt takes up in her essay Living With Strangers published in The New York Times in 2002. The text is built up in three main sections. In the first part Hustvedt tells her personal story about her moving from the country where everyone knows each other and everyone always greets everyone, and to the big city New York where nobody greets each other and millions of people live side by side. She quickly learns the unwritten rule which says something like, pretend like nothing is happening, “It didn’t take long for me to absorb the unwritten code of survival in this town (…): PRETEND IT ISN’T HAPPENING” (line 17-20). Hustvedt quickly captures the reader’s interest by telling this personal story in the beginning because the reader can identify herself with her and...
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...In the essay “My Little Bit of Country” from the anthology “Central Park” from 2012, the American writer Susan Cheever writes about her life In New – and how she loves the life there much better than the life on the country. In this essay, I am going to analyse and comment on the text with focus on the contrasts between New York and the country. I would also like to have a look at the themes that are used in the text. Contrasts, contrasts, contrasts... There is no doubt that the contrasts between the urban life and the life on the country are very thought-through by Cheever. She has created a potpourri of contrasts, which emphasizes the bond between Cheever and Central Park. For instance, “Why would I want to swim in someone’s muddy pond crawling with leeches when I could perch myself on a marble basin and cool myself with splashing clear water […]?” This is just one of many examples, where she trashes the country and praises New York, or rather Central Park. In the beginning of the text, we do not exactly know why she hates the country so bad, but what we do know, is that she loves Central Park, and that she just cannot live without it. In page 3 , Cheever mentions Andy Warhol, who had said that the reason why the city was better than the country was that in the city he could find a little bit of country, but in the country there was no signs of the city. She adds that she knows exactly what he means, because Central Park was her little bit of country in the city. This...
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...bustling, the streets and avenues filled with the cacophonous symphonies, and the city nearly busting at the seams with people. You stand there on the sidewalk filled with awe and taking it all in while your sides are being assaulted by the passers-by and their elbows. Sometimes it seems quite hopeless to make someone notice you and send a smile your way, because while you acknowledge people they don’t acknowledge you. They’ve all grown accustomed to the oblivion that comes with big city life, or rather the feigned state of oblivion. We may all get drawn to it thanks to numerous movies and TV series romanticising it, but in fact adjusting to the big city, where things are getting lively, is somewhat of an acquired taste. This is some of the things that Siri Hustvedt emphasises in the essay “Living With Strangers”. Siri Hustvedt begins her essay with writing about the “culture shock” she is met by when she first moves to New York City. In her hometown in rural Minnesota it was a custom to greet everyone that you walked past even if you didn’t know the person. The most important part of the greeting when passing by someone was to actually speak the word “hi”. “When I moved to New York City in 1978, I quickly discovered what it meant to live among hordes of strangers and how impractical and unsound it would be to greet all of them.” (p. 1, l. 6-8). You will quickly realise that you need to adapt to the new environment and follow the rules that people in the vicinity live by. Another...
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...CHAP TER Rhetorical Modes 1. NARRATION L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S 10 1. Identify the purpose and structure of narrative writing. 2. Recognize how to write a narrative essay. Rhetorical modes simply mean the ways in which we can effectively communicate through language. This chapter covers nine common rhetorical modes. As you read about these nine modes, keep in mind that the rhetorical mode a writer chooses depends on his or her purpose for writing. Sometimes writers incorporate a variety of modes in one essay. In covering the nine rhetorical modes, this chapter also emphasizes these as a set of tools that will allow you greater flexibility and effectiveness in communicating with your audience and expressing your ideas. rhetorical modes The ways in which we effectively communicate through language. 1.1 The Purpose of Narrative Writing Narration means the art of storytelling, and the purpose of narrative writing is to tell stories. Any time you tell a story to a friend or family member about an event or incident in your day, you engage in a form of narration. In addition, a narrative can be factual or fictional. A factual story is one that is based on, and tries to be faithful to, actual events as they unfolded in real life. A fictional story is a made-up, or imagined, story; the writer of a fictional story can create characters and events as he or she sees fit. However, the big distinction between factual and fictional narratives is based on a writer’s purpose...
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...a businessperson should it matter how we read and write? Why worry about reading strategies when we are crunching numbers and focusing on making a business excel, right? Wrong. “How to Read like a Writer”, an essay by Mike Bunn, explains to us how one’s reading and writing strategies can deepen your understanding of a piece of writing. Specifically strategies and techniques of reading like a writer. Not long after reading Bunn’s essay for the first time I was searching for articles concerning business owners and restaurant management and came across an article on forbes.com. The article is titled “Starting a Business? One Question Could Save You Years of Misery” by a man named Eric T. Wagner, a contributor to Forbes and writes about the core principals and secrets of entrepreneurship. The title quickly caught my attention and before I began to read, Bunn’s questions crossed my mind. What is the purpose of this piece of writing? Who is the author’s intended audience? With these tools sketched in my brain I began reading about six different types of entrepreneurs and businesses, and what sets them apart. Wagner goes into quick detail to paint a picture of what makes up every group on his list and how which group or type of businessperson you as a reader would best make. Wagner’s intended audience is quickly obvious to be newly ambitious, self-motivated businessmen and women. I realized knowing Bunn’s techniques of reading like a writer shed a new light on my reading experience. I...
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...Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits Patria J Holloway Dr. Gordon Theisen Eng. 115 October 20, 2013 I feel that Suki Kim was a spoiled child. She had a governess, maid, and a chauffeur when she lived in Korea. She didn’t need anything as she was growing up there. Her father was a millionaire from having a shipping company, a mining business and hotels. Then one day they lost all of their money and had to flee to America. Bankruptcy in Korea had jail time behind it, something that her father didn’t want to go through or put his family through. So they left Korea in the ‘80’s and moved to Woodside, Queens in New York. To what Suki says was an “ugly house” that a Korean family owned that ran a dry cleaners. Their sons, Billy and Andy became her playmates. Suki was picked on from the other Korean children both at home and in school. She felt out of place. Therefore the other students didn’t want anything to do with her kind. They were Koreans, but not Korean American. They would call her FOB, “fresh out the boat,” or “yellow.” Funny because they didn’t arrive in a boat, they flew here in an airplane. Even the rich Koreans that left there and came here moved to Manhattan or Westchester. The children were ashamed of her and her kind. In order for her to learn English, she would watch reruns of “Three’s Company.” “Immigration is meant to be the great equalizer, yet it is not easy to eradicate the class divisions of the old country.” (para. 7 pg...
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...I gave my life to Christ and continued believing the truths of God that I was taught as a child. As a Christian, I believe that the Bible is the word of God, and it stands as the lenses of how the world is viewed in a Christina/Biblical view. In Romans chapters 1-8, the apostle Paul writes about the views a Christian should have and how they should live. In the next paragraphs of this essay, it will be briefly discussed how the Bible guides us through tough life questions such as: Who we are? Where do we come from? What is the meaning/purpose of life, Relationships, and our Destiny? The Natural World A Christian’s Biblical world view of this world is seen in Psalm 139.16, the Psalmist describes how God personally created him in the womb of his mother. We are humbled at the fact that Good took the time to create us in His image. Since the creation of the world humans have been given the revelation of the truth (Romans 1:18) Gen1:1 shows God as the creator of all things. God in his all-knowing power formed the Natural world in detail to perfection. Human Identity Mankind was created in the image of God. Adam and Eve were tasked to be caretakers of the land of Eden (Gen 2:15). They were above the animals. Therefore the misconception some people may have concerning animals and how they identify them with humans is nullified through the Bible. The Apostle Paul, introduces himself as a servant of Christ (Rom 1:1). We too, as Christians, are to obligate ourselves to serving...
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...making the United States the leading industrialized nation in the world during the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, also known as the Gilded Age? In the book, Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson the author describes how greed and corruption by the United States government ultimately leads to poor decisions after a horrific disaster in 1900 [Larson]. In addition, well-researched essays by Henry Demarest Lloyd and Emma Goldman back up Larson’s theory that the Gilded Age was actually a very dark time for the United States. Isaac’s Storm describes the historical aspects of the national weather service, weather forecasting, and hurricane predictions. Larson gives insight into the personal tragedy of a destructive storm in September of 1900 and how it affected Galveston, Texas and its position as a major city in the United States. Teemed with devastation and arrogance, the book follows Isaac Cline who was one of the first meteorologists at a time when there really was not a true science connected to weather predictions. He showed a real aptitude in this new field and eventually found himself assigned to the weather bureau in Galveston, Texas [Larson]. At the beginning of the 20th Century, a great confidence pervaded the United States. Isaac Cline was one of the era’s new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. This type of confidence was matched with the wealth and power of industry leaders acting as robber barons...
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