Part I Basic Elements of English Writing
Unit One Words and Phrases
1.1 Correct Uses of Words
1.1.1 The singular and plural forms of a special group of nouns
1.1.2 Abstract nouns
1.1.3 Collective nouns
1.1.4 Synonyms
1.1.5 Transitional words
1.2 Precise Uses of Words
1.2.1 Synonyms
1.2.2 General and specific words
1.2.3 Words similar in spelling
1.2.4 Formal and informal words
1.2.5 The emotional coloring
1.3 Terse Uses of Words
1.4 Identification of Phrases
1.4.1 Idioms
1.4.2 Free phrases
Exercises
Unit Two Sentence Writing
2.1 Contrasts between Chinese and English Sentence Writing
2.1.1 Synthesis vs. analysis
2.1.2 Contrasts �� subjective awareness vs. objective awareness
2.1.3 Contrasts�� straightforward vs. periphrastic
2.2 Principles for English Sentence Writing
2.2.1 English basic sentence patterns
2.2.2 An extension of English sentences
2.2.3 Varied English sentences
2.3 Improvements in English Sentence Qualities
2.3.1 Avoidance of redundant words
2.3.2 Avoidance of clich6s
2.3.3 Precise construction
2.3.4 Coherence
2.3.5 Good rhythm and beautiful pronunciation
2.4 An Avoidance of Typical Sentence Errors
2.4.1 Sentence fragments
2.4.2 Choppy sentences
2.4.3 Stringy sentences
2.4.4 Disturbing inconsistency
2.4.5 Incomplete constructions
Exercises
Unit Three Punctuation
3.1 The Comma
3.1.1 The main uses of comma
3.1.2 Comma errors in students' essays
3.2 The Period
3.2.1 Main uses of the period
3.2.2 Mistakes on the period
3.3 The Colon
3.3.1 Main uses of the colon
3.3.2 Mistakes on the colon
3.4 The Semicolon
3.5 The Dash
3.5.1 Main uses of the dash
3.5.2 Mistakes on the dash
3.6 Parenthesis
Exercises
Unit Four Paragraph Writing
4.1 General Introduction
4.1.1 Definition
4.1.2 Contrastive analysis
4.2 Components of a Paragraph
4.2.1 A topic sentence
4.2.2 Supporting sentences
4.2.3 The concluding sentence
4.3 Paragraph Development
4.3.1 Development by listing
4.3.2 Development by examples
4.3.3 Development by definition
4.3.4 Development by comparison and contrast
4.3.5 Development by cause and effect
4.3.6 Development by classification and division
4.3.7 Development by process analysis
4.3.8 The Combined pattern of development
4.4 Special Paragraphs
4.4.1 Introductory paragraphs
4.4.2 Concluding paragraphs
4.4.3 Transitional paragraphs or emphatic paragraphs
4.4.4 Paragraphs in a conversation
4.5 Building Effective Paragraphs
4.5.1 Unity
4.5.2 Coherence
4.6 Tips to Avoid Ineffective Paragraph Writing
4.6.1 No hesitation to show your main point in the first place
4.6.2 Maintaining coherence by using transitional means
4.6.3 No subjective assumption in paragraph development
Exercises
Unit Five Figures of Speech
5.1 Parallelism
5.1.1 Three main uses of parallelism
5.1.2 Two applications of parallelism
5.1.3 Some misuses of parallelism
5.2 Simile and Metaphor
5.2.1 Simile
5.2.2 Metaphor
5.2.3 Applications of metaphor
5.3 Personification
5.3.1 Definition of personification
5.3.2 Kinds of personification
5.4 Hyperbole
5.5 Metonymy
5.6 Synecdoche
5.7 Euphemism
5.8 Antithesis
5.9 Alliteration
Exercises

Part II Essay Writing
Unit Six Narrative Writing
6.1 General Introduction
6.1.1 Definition
6.1.2 Modes of narration
6.1.3 Characteristics of narration
6.1.4 The basic pattern of narrative writing
6.2 Constructing Process
6.2.1 Abstract a theme
6.2.2 Theme expressing
6.2.3 An outline listing
6.2.4 Selections of meaningful incidents and appro
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