Writing workshop november
- 1. Writing Workshop November 2012 margo.hernandez@nisd.net GETTING READY TO WRITE A PARAGRAPH What is a paragraph? A paragraph is a group of sentences about one main idea. This main idea is called the topic. What does a paragraph look like? An English paragraph has a special form. Look at the paragraph below. It is written in the correct form. My name is Christine Baker. I am 32 years old. I am from Boston, Massachusetts. My native language is English. I am an author and a teacher. RULES OF PARAGRAPH WRITING 1. Indent the first word of a new paragraph. 2. Begin each sentence with a capital letter. 3. End each sentence with a period. 4. Do not start each new sentence on a new line. What is wrong with this paragraph? my name is Karen Lourie i am 30 years old i am from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania my native language is English i am a fashion designer Write the above paragraph correctly. 1
- 2. WRITING A PARAGRAPH: Things I Enjoy Doing A. Circle the things you enjoy doing Bake Cook Dance Draw Exercise Shop Museums Parties Movies Read Music Paint Golf Swim Games B. Answer the following questions 1. What do you like to do in your free time? _________________________________________________________ 2. What are some things you would like to learn how to do? _________________________________________________________ C. Write a short paragraph about the things you like to do. _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ 2
- 3. FINDING ACTIVE VERBS IN YOUR WRITING Let’s build on the concept of "nouns as stuff" and verbs as "what stuff does." Choose a NOUN, and then write the active verbs for this noun. Noun Active Verb Dog Faithful, companion, barks, plays, yelps, talks, sleeps, whines, loves Example paragraph of the “Dog” NOUN: The dogs are faithful human companions. Dogs play and sleep next to their masters every day. Although some dogs bark, whine and yelp, most humans consider them a valuable part of the family. Dogs have become an integral part of human’s loving nature for thousands of years. Now, you write a paragraph using your noun: ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3
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