Writing Talk: Paragraphs and Short Essays with Readings Book

(NOTE: Each chapter contains: Unit Test, Unit Talk-Write Assignment, Unit Collaborative Assignment, Unit Writing Assignment and Photo Writing Assignment).

UNIT  1. The ESL Student and the Native Speaker.

Differences Between a Native and an ESL Student.

A General Note to Both the Native Speaker and ESL Student.  

UNIT  2. Myths About Writing.

Myths About Writing.

Standard English.

UNIT  3. Purpose and Audience.

Purpose.

Audience.  

Computer Writing Assignment.

UNIT  4. Gathering Ideas.   

Talking Writing.

Freewriting.

Brainstorming.

Clustering.

Journal Writing.

UNIT  5. The Paragraph and the Topic Sentence.  

Talking and the Paragraph.

The Topic Sentence.  

UNIT  6. Adding Details.

Supporting Details.

UNIT  7. Sticking to the Point, Proving the Point, and Linking Sentences.

Stick to the Point.   

Prove the Point; Don’t Merely Repeat It. 

Link the Sentences. 

UNIT  8. Narrating. 

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT  9. Describing.

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT 10. Illustrating.  

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT 11. Explaining a Process.

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT 12. Defining a Term.

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?  

UNIT 13. Classifying.   

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT 14. Comparing and Contrasting.   

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT 15. Cause and Effect.  

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do It?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT 16. Arguing.

What Am I Trying to Do?  

How Can I Do it?  

What Do I Need to Look Out For?

UNIT 17. Moving from Paragraphs to Essays. 

Moving from Paragraphs to Essay.  

Tips for Writing Essays.  

Model Essay.   

UNIT 18. The Thesis Statement. 

Common Faults of the Thesis Statement. 

The Good Thesis Statement. 

UNIT 19. Organizing Your Essay, from Beginning to End. 

The Introduction.  

The Conclusion.

The Whole Essay.   

The Title. 

UNIT 20. Revising, Editing, and Proofreading.  

Revising.  

Editing.   

Proofreading.

Student Essay in Progress.

UNIT 21. The Sentence.  

Subject and Verb.

Prepositional Phrases.

Action Verbs and Linking Verbs.

Helping Verbs.   

Verbals.

Compound Subjects and Verbs.

UNIT 22. Building Sentences. 

Dependent and Independent Clauses.

Three Basic Sentence Types.   

The Statement, the Question, the Command, the Exclamation.

Sentence Variety.

The 20 Most Common Sentence Errors.

Error No. 1 Sentence Fragments. 

Error No. 2 Run-On Sentences. 

Error No. 3 Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement.

Error No. 4 Incorrect Verb Forms.

Error No. 5 Incorrect Forms of Do, Be, and Have.

Error No. 6 Passive Voice.

Error No. 7 Shift in Tense.   

Error No. 8 Shift in Point of View.

Error No. 9 Unclear or Missing Referent.

Error No. 10 Lack of Pronoun Agreement and Sexism.

Error No. 11 Trouble with Using Adverbs and Adjectives in Comparisons and Superlatives.

Error No. 12 Dangling or Misplaced Modifiers. 

Error No. 13 Omitted Commas, Part I.

Error No. 14 Omitted Commas, Part II.  

Error No. 15 Apostrophe Problems.  

Error No. 16 Trouble with Quotation Marks.   

Error No. 17 Incorrect Capitalization, Part I.

Error No. 18 Incorrect Capitalization, Part II.   

Error No. 19 Misspelled Words, Part I.

Error No. 20 Misspelled Words, Part II.  

Readings.  

      Help for Your Reading.

      Narrating. 

Daddy Tucked the Blanket, Randall Williams.  

The Circuit, Francisco Jiminez.  

      Describing. 

My Grandmother, the Bag Lady, Patsy Neal.

Black Cadillac, Bart Edelman.

A View from Mount Ritter, Joseph T. O’Connor.  

Illustrating.  

So Who Makes Up All Those Signs that Tell Us What We Mustn’t Do? Bailey White.   

Long Live High School Rebels, Thomas French.  

Explaining a Process.

How I Was Bathed, Michael Ondaatje.  

Research Can Beat Making a Frustrating Call to Tech Support, Bill Husted.   

Defining.  

Bullying Broadly Defined, John Leo.  

“Both” or “Other”? It’s Not as Clear as Black and White, Pamela Swanigan.  

Classifying.

Wait Divisions, Tom Bodett.

The Plot Against People, Russell Baker.   

Comparing and Contrasting.

Doctor-as-God Is Dead, or Dying, Ellen Goodman.

They Stole Our Childhood, Lee Goldberg.  

Cause and Effect.  

Who Killed Benny Paret? Norman Cousins.

Papa, The Teacher, Leo Buscaglia. 

Arguing.

Cure Me If You Can, Michael Kingsley.  

If I Were a Carpenter, John Balzar.   

Credits.  

Index.

Instructor’s Section