Category Archives: English

Properties of Language

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Language naturally plays a critical role in communication. Conveying ideas, sharing opinions, and even arguing are not often possible unless people are able to communicate using language. There are many properties and characteristics of language among them include the following.

  1. Social property
  2. Rules property
  3. Creative property

Social Property

Language serves the purpose of serving as a transmission code between people. This code is influenced by the context and culture that it is found in. In many cultures, how you speak to someone depends on their social rank. Teachers are addressed differently than students in many contexts. A teacher is called “sir” while a student might be called “girl” or “boy.”

Language is also influenced by the what happens before and after it. Saying “that’s a good boy” is appropriate when speaking to a dog by probably is not acceptable when speaking to your boss. It is the immediate context that impacts the appropriateness of a phrase or word.

Rules Property

There are rules for the process of using language.  A person’s knowledge of these rules is his linguistic competence. For example, if someone is excited the often sound “strange.” He or she may leave out words or stammer while speaking. Your ability to identify these mistakes is your linguistic competence.

Linguistic performance is the ability to use a language accurately. It is from the performance that we are able to derive a person’s linguistic competence. When the rules of language are broken a competent language user can edit the mistakes to derive the meaning of the world.

Creativity Property

There is an infinite number of ways in which a language can be used. The word order, phrase, and other aspect have endless possibilities. This has led to the conclusion that language use can be extremely creative.

Consider poetry, music, novels, and even movies, all of these examples demonstrate highly creative ways of using language. By knowing the rules of a language, a person can use it in a countless number of ways.

Conclusion

Language is at the heart of education. Understanding the properties of language can help people in understand language itself. The properties listed here are just the surface of the myriad of characteristics of language.

Speech, Language, and Communication

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There are three terms that people commonly use interchangeably when describing how people interact verbally with each other. The terms are speech, language, and communication. Although these terms are similar they are not synonyms for each other. This post will explain the difference between these three terms.

Speech

Speech is specifically a verbal means of communicating. This distinguishes it from non-verbal forms of communicating such as written communication or body language. Speech involves the vocalizing of specific sounds called phonemes. Every language has specific phonemes that make of sounds for that language. For example, Spanish involves the rolling of the “r” often.

Speech is not limited to phonemes. Other aspects of speech include the voice quality, intonation, and rate. Voice quality is the phonetic characteristics of a person’s voice. Our example of the r sound in Spanish relates to voice quality. Intonation is related to the pitch of the voice. Sometimes a language uses different pitches depending on the context. For example, if a question is asked in English the pitch rises at the end. Lastly, the rate is how fast the people talk in the language.

Language

Language code for conveying concepts through the use of symbols. For example, almost all languages have some sort of word for “dog.” In English, the word for this animal is “dog.” In Spanish, the word is “perro.” In French, the word for dog is “chien.” Regardless of the language, when people hear one of these words for dog in their language they connect this word with the concept of a four-legged creature that often barks. The term “dog” is a symbol for an animal. This is thinking in a highly abstract way.

Languages can be expressed verbally through speech and also through writing. In order for each side to understand the other, they must know each other’s language in order to convey and share ideas. An obvious reason that people from different countries do not understand each other is because they speak different languages.

Communication

Communication is a process of exchanging ideas and needs. This process involves encoding, transmitting, and decoding. Encoding is the process of taking a concept identifying a word that is associated with it. If a person has in their mind a barking animal they may think of the word “dog.” Transmitting is sharing the concept through the use language. This is when the person says “dog” verbally.

Decoding is this process in reverse and is done by the receiver. The receiver hears the word “dog” and he translates this into a barking animal in his mind. All of this happens in a split second every day in many peoples lives.

Communication can happen in many was beyond verbal. As mention earlier, people can communicate ideas in writing or through the use of body language. Even art can communicate information through the use of music, painting, or more.

Conclusion

Speech, language, and communication are distinct aspects of understanding how people convey information. Understanding these differences can help people to know how they are trying to share information.

The Difference Between Facts and Opinions

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One aspect of reading that my students seem to struggle with consistently is telling the difference between facts and opinions. This post will attempt to explain the often subtle difference between these two components of reading.

Facts

A fact is something that can be verified as true by someone else. This truth can be tested through observation, experimentation, experience or some other means. Below is an example of a fact.

The average temperature of the human body is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit

To test this fact, we can simply take the temperature of several individuals and see if the average temperature is the same. If our experiment matches the statement then the statement is a fact.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The opposite of a fact is not an opinion. The opposite of a fact is incorrect information. If I said that the average temperature of the body was 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Your analysis would disprove this and show that the information was incorrect. This confusion over facts and incorrect information is a common misconception of even university students.

Opinion

Opinions are statements people make about their beliefs and or judgments. They cannot be tested and verified as facts can. Below is an example of an opinion.

I believe that America is the best place to study English.

There is no real way to verify this opinion. There are many English speaking countries all over the world where a student can study English. Determining how one is better than the other is highly subjective.

One problem with the opinion statement  is the word “best.” How do you judge what is best? Another problem is the phrase “I believe.” What one person believes is different from what another person believes. How do we test this?

Since opinions cannot be verified they can only be supported with additional explanation and facts. An author can build a persuasive case for their opinion through providing evidence that supports their belief. Consider the following example

I believe that America is the best place to study English. A study done by Researcher’s Anonymous found that people who study English in America learn twice as fast as those who study in other countries. In another study conducted by Student University, it was found that people who study English in America have a higher proficiency in the four skills of a language when compared internationally. Therefore, not only do people learn English faster in America, they also develop a higher proficiency from studying in that country. 

In this fictitious example, the author shares their opinion that America is the best place to study English. He follows this by sharing to facts about English. The study by Researcher’s Anonymous and the study at Student University. The results of these two studies are “facts” in this example because they can be verified. The facts the author uses provide support for their opinion.

You cannot prove an opinion but you can indicate how reasonable an opinion is through the use of facts. Based on the two facts of the study, it appears that America might be a good place to study English.

Conclusion

Students struggle with facts and opinions. They often accept everything an author shares in a book as the truth when in reality the author is sharing a great deal of well-defended opinion. Understanding facts and opinions are critical in analyzing the strength of an individual’s argument.

Writing Patterns II

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In this post, we conclude our discussion on writing patterns by looking at two more types. The two types of writing patterns for this post are cause and effect and comparison.

Cause and Effect

Causes are reasons and effects are the results of the reason. Causes have an effect on something or somebody. A paragraph that uses this writing pattern indicates the reason something happened and how it has an impact. Below are some common phrases and clues that indicate cause and effect writing pattern was employed.

Cause                Effect

the reason(s)     thus

the cause(s)       the result(s)  as a consequence

because, since  the effect(s)  on that account

is due to [cause]  the outcome  [effect] is/was caused by

Here is an example paragraph using this writing pattern, The cause is bold and the effect is underline.

Dogs make good pets. Since they are friendly dogs cause people happy.  In addition, because dogs love being around humans, the consequence is people often begin to love dogs.

In this paragraph, there were two cause and effect moments. The second and third sentence were both cause and effect. As you looked at the paragraph, you may have noticed that in the first example the effect came before the cause. This is common and normal in writing. The second example shares the cause before the effect. Either approach is acceptable. The goal of cause and effect or effect and cause is to show how one thing leads to another.

To determine cause and effect consider the following questions

  • What causes the “effect”? (The answer to this will be the cause.)
  • Why does “effect” happen? (The answer for this will be the cause.)
  • What is the reason for the effect? (The answer will be the cause.)
  • How can the “effect” be explained? (The answer will be the cause.)
  • What does the “cause” lead to? (The answer to this question will be the effect.)

From this list, you can see that it is more common to identify the effect first and then the cause. However, this is not always the case.

Comparison/Contrast

This identifies similarities, difference, or both in two or more things/concepts. Below are common words and phrases associated with compare/contrast writing pattern.

Comparison          Contrast

similarly                  in contrast  some; others

likewise                   however  nonetheless

both                         as opposed to     

same; alike              whereas

Here is an example comparison words are bold and contrast words are underlined.

Dogs are similar to cats.  Both have four legs and a tail.  However, dogs and cats are different in their behavior.  Dogs are much friendlier than cats are with people.  Though they are different both dogs and cats make good pets.

There is not much to explain. The different words employed indicate how dogs and cats are similar and different. Paragraphs can employ this mixed approach or focus completely on comparing or contrasting. What’ is best depends on the context.

Conclusion

Writing patterns provide ways in which to communicate ideas. There is no reason another will limit themselves to such fix approaches when expressing their ideas. These patterns are for helping students to see how an author is trying to express themselves.

Writing Patterns I

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An author’s writing pattern is how they organize the information they are sharing with the reader. There are many different patterns but we will only talk about three today. The writing patterns are list, sequence, and definition.

List Pattern

In the list pattern, the author shares a group of items in a way in which the order does not matter. Some clues that the paragraph is a list pattern includes the following, such as the use of such words and phrases as also, too, another, moreover, besides and the use of such signals as a, b,c …,  bullets (•), and asterisks (*). Below is an example paragraph using the list pattern.

There are three things you need to know about dogs

–They are cute

–They are friendly

–They are loyal

These are some of the reasons you should own a dog

Instead of using dashes we could have used bullets or a, b, c, or any other host of ways to indicate a list.

Sequence Pattern

The sequence pattern is the same as the list. The only difference is that the order of items matters. Some of the signal phrases/words are first, second, third…, now, then, next, finally and some other forms include 1, 2, 3, or a, b, c. Below is an example of a paragraph using the sequence pattern.

There are three steps to buying a dog.

–First decide which kind of dog is best for your environment.

–Second, consider how much it will cost to buy the dog.

–Third, find a nearby dealer who can provide the dog.

Here, the order matters in order to buy the dog.

Definition Pattern

In this pattern, the author describes or explains a term. Common signal phrases.words include is defined as,  by this we mean, means  or (preceding a synonym), in other words, is, is known as. In the example below, the author attempts to describe dogs by defining their characteristics.

Dogs are one of the many types of pets people can own.  They are unique in that they are much friendlier than other types of animals.  In addition, they are always loyal and will not often leave a good master.  People need to know that dogs make good pets.

Conclusion

Different writing patterns are useful for sharing information in an appropriate way. The examples here provide some idea for determining how an other is trying to share information with a reader. Knowing the pattern can help in seeing the “big picture” of a reading passage. It helps in understanding what the writer is trying to say to his audience. As such, this is a valuable skill to develop.

Finding the Implied Main Idea

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There are at least two types of main ideas. The stated main idea, which was already discussed, is an idea that the author supplies in the paragraph. The topic of this post is the implied main idea.

An implied main idea is stated indirectly. The reader has to develop it based on the information in the paragraph. The author never provides that one single sentence that states the “point” of the paragraph. T

There are several ways to find the implied main idea. Below are just some of many strategies.

  • Strategy 1: Add necessary information (normally the topic) to a sentence in the paragraph that almost shares the main idea.
  • Strategy 2: Combine  two separate sentences in a paragraph into a one sentence to develop the main idea.
  • Strategy 3: Summarize supporting details into one general sentence to serve as the main idea.

Below is an example and explanation of each strategy

Strategy 1: Add Needed Information

Many times, the main idea is present but the topic is replaced with another noun or pronoun. Look at the example paragraph. The implied main idea is underlined and bold for you.

–Dogs are friendly. Dogs love to play. Dogs like to eat food and run. Everyone should own one.

The topic of this paragraph is dogs. The last sentence in the paragraph above is the main idea. However, the word dog is not used in the last paragraph. The author replaces the word dog with the noun one. The word one means dog in this context. In order to develop the main idea, the reader would need to know to replace the noun one with dog.

Strategy 2: Combining Separate Sentences

Sometimes them main idea is spread over two sentences. In this case, the sentences need to be combined in order to develop the main idea. Look at the example paragraph. The implied main idea is underlined and bold for you.

–It is important that people own dogs. It is also important that people love their dogs. Consider that dogs are friendly. They love to play. Finally, dogs like to eat food and run.

This paragraph has two main points in two sentence as shown above. In order to create an implied main idea, we combine these two sentences into one. Below is the answer

It is important that people own and love their dogs.

The rest of the paragraph  is supporting details that explain why people should own and love dogs.

Strategy 3: Summarize Supporting Details

In some instances, an author will develop a paragraph that is only supporting details. The author never shares nor even implies a main idea. The reader must derive the point by examining the details. Below is an example. Nothing is bold or underline because there is no answer anywhere in the paragraph.

–Dogs are cute. Dogs are funny. Dogs love to play. Dog like to eat. Why would anyone not want a dog?

In order to develop the main idea, we have to find a way to summarize this information. There are many different answers. One potential answer would be to count the number of supporting details and determine what they have in common. Look at the following potential answer.

There are at least four reasons why people should want a dog.

If you look at the paragraph there are five sentences, four sentences talk about great things about dogs. The last sentence is a question. Main ideas can never be questions but this sentence provides a clue about what the author was trying to tell us. Instead of giving us the main idea, the author gives the answers to a question and then provides the question at the end of the paragraph. Turn the question into a statement and this is one way to get the main idea.

Again, this is not the only answer. Someone might see something different in the text and derive a slightly different answer. The goals is to try to determine what you think the author is trying to say.

Conclusion

The implied main idea must be derived by the reader. This requires knowing the different strategies to do this. These strategies are particularly useful for people who are struggling with their reading.

NOTE TO WRITERS: In most research settings it is unwise to imply the main idea. Teachers want to know what the point is and they often do not have the patience to try and guess what you are saying. It is better to state the main idea when writing academic papers. Being coy and indirect will usually harm your grade. One major exception is writing in the English department.

Searching for Supporting Details

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A paragraph consists mostly of three components

The supporting details are examples, explanation, proofs, statistics, etc. that support and illustrate the point being made by the main idea of a paragraph. They are supporting because they lift up the main idea and help to make it clearer through providing a deeper explanation of the author’s main point.

In order to find the supporting details, a reader needs to find the main idea and turn it into a question. The aspects of the paragraph that answers these questions are the supporting details. Let’s look at an example.

Example

There are several reasons why smoking is bad for you. First, smoking waste a lot of money that can be used for other activities. Second, smoking harms your health. Lastly, smoking is a bad example for children.

Here is a breakdown of the paragraph. We know that the first sentence is the main idea.

Topic: Smoking

Main idea: There are several reasons why smoking is bad for you.

Supporting Details: First, smoking waste a lot of money that can be used for other activities.
Second, smoking harms your health.
Lastly, smoking is a bad example for children.

Perhaps you noticed that most of the time, everything that is not the main idea is normally a supporting detail but there are exceptions to this.

As stated earlier, in order to identify the supporting details, a reader needs to turn the main idea into a question(s). Below is an example.

Topic: Smoking

Main idea: There are several reasons why smoking is bad for you.
Conversion of the main idea into a question: What are the reasons that smoking is bad for you?

Supporting Details: First, smoking waste a lot of money that can be used for other activities.
Second, smoking harms your health.
Lastly, smoking is a bad example for children.
Conversion of supporting
details into an answer: First, smoking waste a lot of money that can be used for other activities.
Second, smoking harms your health.
Lastly, smoking is a bad example for children.

Clues for Finding Main Ideas

In addition to turning the main idea into a question, there are three clues for finding supporting details.

  1. Supporting details often appear as a list of bullets, as a set of numbers, or lettered list.
  2. After the first supporting detail, additional details are introduced by words and phrases such as In addition, also, moreover, another, next, then, first, second, last, finally, etc.
  3. The main idea sentence itself often provides hints about the number or type of supporting details. Such words and phrases such as four reasons, two kinds, six types, certain ways, three categories, etc.

We will take the previous paragraph and provide examples of each.

Clue 1 List

There are several reasons why smoking is bad for you.

  • It wastes a lot of money that can be used for other activities.
  • It harms your health.
  • It is a bad example for children.

This is not much of paragraph but it provides reasons for the main idea.

Clue 2 Introductory Phrases

There are several reasons why smoking is bad for you. First, smoking waste a lot of money that can be used for other activities. In addition, smoking harms your health. Lastly, smoking is a bad example for children.

In this example, the introductory phrases are bold and it shows the addition of another supporting detail.

Clue 3 Main Idea Clue

There are several reasons why smoking is bad for you. First, smoking waste a lot of money that can be used for other activities. Second, smoking harms your health. Lastly, smoking is a bad example for children.

This example highlights how the main idea can provide the clue. The phrase “several reasons” in bold is a signal to a reader that there should be several supporting details that explain the main idea about smoking.

Conclusion

As you can see several clues can be used to find the supporting details in the same paragraph. It does not matter how you find the main idea as long as you separate the point from the details. For writers, it is important that there is consistency between the main idea and supporting details. Many times, writers will only have details and no main idea or the say that they have several reasons and only provide one. Understanding the importance of supporting details and their role in reading and writing will enhance reading comprehension and writing clarity.

Finding the Main Idea

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After determining the topic of a reading passage. The student needs to figure out what the main idea is. The main idea is the most important statement the writer makes about the topic. There are three common characteristics of main ideas.

  • Must always have the topic (the word, name, or phrase that tells who or what the paragraph is about)
  • Must always be a complete sentence by itself (even if you were not able to read the rest of the paragraph)
  • Must be a sentence that summarizes the details of the paragraph

IMPORTANT NOTE: In many ways, the main idea and the thesis statement can be the same thing. A thesis statement is the main idea of an entire paper whereas a regular main idea is the most important statement about the topic in a particular paragraph. In other words, there are different levels of main ideas from ones that cover an entire paper to ones that only cover a paragraph. This applies to the concept of topics as well.

The main idea of a paragraph can be in one of three places.

  • The beginning
  • The middle
  • The end

We will now look at examples of each.

Main Idea at the Beginning

The main idea at the beginning is often the easiest to understand. The first sentence states clearly what the rest of the paragraph is about. The reader never has to wonder why the author is saying something because the author tells them from the beginning. Below is an example. The main idea is underlined and in bold

Dogs are good pets to have.  Dogs are fun to play with and are friendly to everyone.  Dogs are also very close to their master and obey them.  Dogs even love children and will protect the family.

Dogs are good pets to have is the main idea. The rest of the paragraph provides reasons and evidence for why dogs are good pets. This is deductive reasoning in which is going from a general principle (the main idea) to specific examples (the rest of the paragraph.

Main Idea at the End

The next most common place to put the main idea is at the end.

Have you ever had a dog for a pet?  Dogs are fun to play with and are friendly to everyone.  Dogs are also very close to their master and obey them.  Dogs even love children and will protect the family.  Dogs are good pets to have.

The writer starts with a question (a question can never be the main idea). They supply reasons for having a dog and the summarize by sharing that dogs are good pets to have. This is inductive reasoning in which the author goes from specific examples (the beginning of the paragraph) to a general principle (the main idea).

Main Idea in the Middle

The worst place to put the main idea is in the middle. This approach is neither deductive or inductive it is just confusing for many academic disciplines. Below is an example.

–Have you ever had a dog for a pet?  Dogs are fun to play with and are friendly to everyone.  Dogs are also very close to their master and obey them. Everyone should own a dog.  Dogs even love children and will protect the family.

The question to ask is “why” provide another example after sharing the main idea?” This is why this approach is not always the clearest.

Conclusion

When reading it is important to determine what is the point and to answer why is the writer writing about this. The answer to these questions is the main idea. It is the most important idea about the topic. The main idea is what the writer wants a student to remember after he or she finishes reading. The placement of the main idea can be anywhere in the paragraph. Finding the main idea will help a student to see the big picture of what the writer was trying to say.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR WRITERS: In an academic writing, it is almost always best to put the main idea at the beginning. A student wants the reader, which is often a professor, to know exactly where the student is taking them in their text immediately. If a teacher has to try and figure what a student has to say, the teacher can often become frustrated and this could cost a student points. Scholars want to know what the point is right away, they want to see the big picture and check details as necessary. Therefore, students should tell them in the first sentence or as soon as possible what the main idea is. There are exceptions depending on discipline but this is a very safe rule for most circumstances.

The next best place to put the main idea is at the end. As mentioned, this is a sort of inductive reasoning approach. The reader wonders what the student is talking about but the get the point at the end. It’s frustrating but eventually, they get the punchline. The worst place is the middle. A student gives examples, state the point, and give more examples. This is totally confusing in many disciplines. Remember, the main idea should be first whenever possible, last if necessary, and never in the middle.

Determining the Topic

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The first step for a student to understand what they are reading is to know the topic of what they are reading. The topic is simple what the author is writing about. This sounds ridiculous but for students, especially those who are reading in a second language, it is not always easy to determine what the topic of a reading passage is. Below is a list of common characteristics of a topic.

  • The “something” an author is writing about is the topic.
  • The topic is the who or what that the author writes about.
  • The topic is always a word, a phrase, or a name and it is never written as a sentence.

In addition to these characteristics above, there are four common clues that can be used to identify the topic. Below is the list and each will be explained with an example.

  1. Look for a heading or title.
  2. Look for words in special print, such as bold, italics, or color—or some combination, such as bold italics.
  3. Look for repeated words in a paragraph.
  4. Look for something mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph and then referred to throughout the paragraph by pronouns or by other words.

Clue 1: Find the Heading

The example below gives the topic of the passage in the title. This is an obvious example, however, students often skip the title to begin reading and never know what they are reading about. This is one reason that students must be taught to read the title first, if it is available, as it provides a framework for reading the details.

Somewhere University

Somewhere University is a school in Southeast Asia. It has about 300 students. The school offers several majors that focus mainly on humanitarian service. Somewhere University also has a diverse faculty with teachers from all over the world.

The title tells you what the topic is. This passage was about “Somewhere University.”

Clue 2: Look for Special Print 

Sometimes the topic is in the text and the writer uses special print or color to identify it. Again students run right to pass such obvious information. Below is the example. The topic is in bold and italics within the paragraph.

Somewhere University is a school in Southeast Asia. It has about 300 students. The school offers several majors that focus mainly on humanitarian service. Somewhere University also has a diverse faculty with teacher from all over the world.

In this example, the text is bold and in red. This is a common approach in textbooks.

Clue 3: Look for Repeated Words or Phrases

Many times the topic can be found by looking for words and phrases that are repeated continuously within a reading passage. The more often a word or phrase is used the more likely it is the topic. Below is an example. Count how many times the word “Somewhere University” is used.

Somewhere University is a school in Southeast Asia. It has about 300 students. Somewhere University offers several majors that focus mainly on humanitarian service. Somewhere University  also has a diverse faculty with teacher from all over the world.

The noun Somewhere University is in every sentence as the subject. As such, it is the topic of this paragraph.

Clue 4: Find a Word or Phrase Mentioned at the Beginning and Throughout the Passage by a Pronoun

After mentioning the topic by name, many authors will refer to it by other names or pronouns. This can be especially confusing for people new to the language as they may not have mastery of the various pronouns and synonyms appropriate for the topic. Below is an example.

Somewhere University is a school in Southeast Asia. It has about 300 students. The school offers several majors that focus mainly on humanitarian service. The Institute also has a diverse faculty with teacher from all over the world.

In the paragraph above, Somewhere University was referred to by the following words

  • It (2nd sentence)
  • The school (3rd sentence)
  • The Institute (4th sentence)

Remember this can be very confusing for many students when one word is referred to by several different other words.

Conclusion

These are some tools to help students to figure out what they are reading about. Are there other ways to do this? If so please respond in the comments section.

Part II of Without a Dictionary: Finding the Meaning of Unknown Words

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In the last post, we discuss the first three clues that a person can use to finding the meaning of unknown words. In this post, we conclude our discussion by looking at the last two rules, which are

  • General sense of the sentence
  • Clues from another sentence

General Sense of the Sentence

This clue is really not a clue. In other words, there is nothing in the sentence that provides a hint as to what the unknown word is. Instead, the student uses their prior knowledge and personal life experience to determine the meaning of an unknown word. An example sentence is below. Keep in mind that there is no signal word or phrase for this type of clue. The unknown word is the word clumsy.

The drunken man was staggering, falling all over the place, and looked really clumsy.

Assuming a student does not know what the word clumsy means he can call on his experience to figure the word out at least partially. For example, many students know how intoxicated people act. It is not a secret that drunken people at not very careful and the sentence indicates that the person was falling down. Therefore, the word clumsy means someone who has poor control of their body.

Clues from Another Sentence

At times, the meaning of a word is not in the sentence that you find it. For many students, they stop reading until they figure out what the word means. This is often a mistake because many times the meaning of the unknown word is in the next sentence or beyond. In other words, sometimes a student needs to keep read.

Below is an example. Remember that there are no signal words or phrases for this clue.  The unknown word is the word convoluted.

  • This book is convoluted. I cannot understand it because it is so complicated

Notice how the first sentence had the unknown word but no meaning. It is in the second sentence that the definition of the word can be extracted.

Conclusion

The clues shared here are only to help a student. They are not intended to replace a dictionary. There are times, however, when students cannot use dictionaries such as during a test or when one is not available. It is in the context such as these that these clues for finding the meaning of unknown words can be helpful.

Without a Dictionary: Finding the Meaning of Unknown Words

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A common problem for students, from elementary to grad school, is figuring out the meaning of a word they do not know. Understanding the words in a reading passage is important for comprehension. Fortunately, there are several ways of determining the meaning of these unknown words. These approaches are called context clues because the context or environment in which the words are used help to explain their meaning. In this post, we will look at three context clues and they are Definition or synonym clues, Contrast clues, and Example Clues.

Definition or Synonym Clues

The definition clue is the easiest way to determine what the meaning of an unknown word is. In this approach, the author tells the reader the meaning of

the word. Below are some signals that the author uses to define the unknown word. A sentence using the signal is provided for each one and the signal is in bold. The unknown word for each sentence is the word convoluted.

–phrases such as the term, is defined as, means, is known as

  • The word convoluted is defined as something that is complex
  • The word convoluted means something that is complex

–a definition following a comma, colon, or dash, or enclosed in parentheses, brackets or dashes

  • The text is convoluted (complicated) so the students complained about reading it
  • The text is convoluted-really complicated-so the students complained about reading it

–synonyms introduced by or, in other words, that is, is also known as, by this we mean, etc.

  • The book is convoluted or complicated
  • The book is convoluted and by this we mean it is complicated.

Of course there are other ways that author defines words but this serves the purpose of providing a foundation for knowing when this happens.

Contrast Clues

Contrast clues define unknown words by providing a word that has the opposite meaning of the unknown word. Below is a list of signals with examples and the signal is in bold when possible. The unknown word again is convoluted.

–Words such as but, however, on the other hand, nevertheless, yet, in contrast, and some . . .others

  • Women are convoluted but men are simple.
  • Women are convoluted, however, men are simple.

–Opposite words (e.g., men and women; Democrats and Republicans; ancient and modern)

  • Women are convoluted and men are simple

Example Clues

An example clue illustrates a word through providing examples. Below is a list of signals with examples and the signal is in bold when possible. The unknown word again is convoluted.

–Examples are typically introduced by  for example, to illustrate, for instance, and such as

  • There are many examples of convoluted machines in nature such as the human body
  • For example, a convoluted machine would be the human body.

There are several other ways to define unknown words that have not been discussed yet. In the next post, we will look at the last two clues for determining the meaning of unknown words.

Beat the IELTS Task 1 Writing: Application

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In the previous post, I provided tips on dealing with the IELTS Task 1 writing prompt. This post will provide an application of the various suggestions made. Below is the prompt

The graph below shows how married men and women spend their unpaid work hours. Describe the information shown below in your own words. You should write at least 150 words. Allow yourself 20 minutes for this task.

Table: Unpaid Work Hours per Week
Without Kids               With 1-2 Kids               With 3 or More Kids
Gender
Male                20                                     20                                  18
Female            30                                     50                                  58

Remember there are four approaches to writing the prompt

  1. A simple fact from the graph/table
  2. Compare information in the graph/table
  3. Contrast information in the graph/table
  4. Summarize information from the graph/table

In addition, it is wise to work from left to right when deciding what data to write about.

Always start with an outline. It does not have to be this formal. However, you need to know where you are going when you write and just a little bit of scribble can help in writing clearly especially when English is not your first language

Outline

  1. Fact
    1. Women without kids spend 30 hours a week in unpaid work.
    2. Women with 1-2 kids spend 50 hours a week in unpaid work
  2. Comparison
    1. Men without kids and men with 1-2 kids both spend about 20 hours a week in unpaid work.
    2. Men with 3 or more kids spend almost the same amount of time in unpaid work as men with no kids and men with 1-2 kids
  3. Contrast
    1. Female with 3 or more kids spend 58 hours a week in unpaid work but men with 3 or more kids only spend about 18 hours a week in unpaid work.
  4. Summary
    1. Women spend more time in unpaid work than men

Example Essay

The table shows data on the amount of time men and women spend in unpaid work depending on the number of children they have. Women without kids spend 30 hours a week in unpaid work. Men without kids and men with 1-2 kids both spend about 20 hours a week in unpaid work. Female with 3 or more kids spend 58 hours a week in unpaid work but men with 3 or more kids only spend about 18 hours a week in unpaid work. In conclusion, it can be said that women spend more time in unpaid work than men.

IMPORTANT

If you count the number of words in the example above it is only a 100. The directions asked for at least 150. This means that I would receive a lower score because of the brevity of my paragraph. My writing is too concise and I need more than one fact, comparison, and contrast. How many do I need? It depends. You need to be familiar with your writing style. Do you tend to be brief? Then you will need to pull more data from the graph/table. Do you tend to have a lot to say? Then you need to pull less data from the table. You need to know your style before the test not after because then it will be too late. Practice, practice, practice is the only way to discover how you write. Below is a modified outline and essay example

Modified Outline

  1. Fact
    1. Women without kids spend 30 hours a week in unpaid work.
    2. Women with 1-2 kids spend 50 hours a week in unpaid work
  2.  Comparison
    1. Men without kids and men with 1-2 kids both spend about 20 hours a week in unpaid work.
    2. Men with 3 or more kids spend almost the same amount of time in unpaid work as men with no kids and men with 1-2 kids, 18 hours versus 20 hours
  3. Contrast
    1. Female with 3 or more kids spend 58 hours a week in unpaid work but men with 3 or more kids only spend about 18 hours a week in unpaid work.
    2. Women with 3 or more kids spend more time in unpaid housework than women with fewer or no children.
  4. Summary
    1. Women spend more time in unpaid work than men

Modified Example Essay

The table shows data on the amount of time men and women spend in unpaid work depending on the number of children they have. Women without kids spend 30 hours a week in unpaid work. In addition, women with 1-2 kids spend 50 hours a week in unpaid work. Men without kids and men with 1-2 kids both spend about 20 hours a week in unpaid work. Men with 3 or more kids spend almost the same amount of time in unpaid work as men with no kids and men with 1-2 kids, 18 hours versus 20 hours. Females with 3 or more kids spend 58 hours a week in unpaid work but men with 3 or more kids only spend about 18 hours a week in unpaid work. Women with 3 or more kids spend more time in unpaid housework than women with 1-2 or no children. In conclusion, it can be said that women spend more time in unpaid work than men.

In this example, I have 165 words. For me, I need more data from the table to have success. For you, you have to figure out what works.

Beat the IELTS Task 1 Writing

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The Task 1 writing prompt on the IELTS normally involves the interpretation of some sort data or a diagram. In my experience, the Task 1 is much easier for students to write than a Task 2. The reason being that in a Task 1 you are taking numbers or pictures and putting them into simple English. With a Task 2, the students have to actually develop an original thought rather than interpret someone else’s data. Creating is much more challenging then describing something for most people especially in their second language.

There are some basic guidelines that can help people to improve their performance on a Task 1. Below is an example with an explanation of how to approach it.

The graph below shows how married men and women spend their unpaid work hours. Describe the information shown below in your own words. You should write at least 150 words. Allow yourself 20 minutes for this task.

Table: Unpaid Work Hours per Week
Without Kids            With 1-2 Kids               With 3 or More Kids
Gender
Male                20                                     20                                              18
Female           30                                     50                                              58

The prompt above tells us to describe the graph. This is important. For the most part, your opinion does not matter. You could make statements that women are being oppressed by the men because they are doing more unpaid work. This may be true but is this describing the graph in terms of its numbers or an expression of your opinion? The word count is short (150 words) so there is not much space for sharing an opinion. It is wiser to just describe the information as instructed. The injustice can be express after the test.

When working with my students, I always tell them to describe the data from left to right if possible. Look to the far left and describe that information first. Then move to the right. This helps in making sure that the entire graph is described in the essay. Many times students sit at their desk and have no idea where to begin. Telling them to start on the left-hand side is an easy way to get them started. It gives them a starting point and speeds up the ability to make a choice about what to write.

Normally, you only need to describe four elements of the graph to reach 150 words. You don’t want to write more than you have to as it does not increase your score but increases the chance you will make grammatical mistakes. Below is one approach I have used with students that include four different elements.

  1. A simple fact from the graph/table
  2. Compare information in the graph/table
  3. Contrast information in the graph/table
  4. Summarize information from the graph/table

A Simple Fact

A simple fact is just that. Taking data from the table and putting it in simple English. A fact for our purposes is one description of one data point in the table/graph. Looking at the example in this post here is an example of a fact.

Males without kids spend 20 hours a week in unpaid work.

The reader can check to see if this is correct. In addition, notice how I use as many components from the table as possible. I use the term  male, I use part of the title of the table “Unpaid Work Hours per Week” and I use the hours “20.” The more components from the table that you put into the sentence the clearer the sentence should be. I have my students right little checkmarks next to each component they use in a sentence so they can see how they are translating the table into simple English.

Compare Information in the Graph

Comparing the information in the graph involves taking two facts within the passage and pointing out how they are similar. Looking at the table above here is an example.

Males without kids and males with 1-2 kids both spend 20 hours a week in unpaid work.

Here I compare males without kids with males with 1-2 kids. They both spend about 20 hours a week in unpaid work. This provides yet another description of the table in simple English.

There are an infinite number of comparisons that can be made. However, following the principle of moving from left to right helps to eliminate choices, which helps in making a faster decision. Remember, we only have 20 minutes so we are not going to make in-depth exhaustive comparisons. Always keep it simple in clear English to maximize your score

Contrast Information in the Graph

This is the opposite of comparing. Here you indicate how to facts in the graph are not the same. Here is an example.

Females with 1-2 kids spend 50 hours a week in unpaid work but Females with 3 or more kids spend 58 hours a week in unpaid work.

The important part to mention is that when contrasting you need to use a contrasting word such as but, however, in contrast, etc.  This implies opposite and serves as a signal to the reader.

Summarize

The summary is usually one of the last sentences in the essay. It provides an overall theme of the graph. Again there are an infinite number of possibilities but you need to pick what you think is most important. Below is one example of many.

In conclusion, women spend more time than men in unpaid work.

Of course, there are other ways to do summarize such as emphasizing how men work less instead of women working more. Try to provide the reader with a one-sentence summary of the graph.

In the next post, I will provide an example of an application without so much description.

Beat the IELTS Task 2 Writing: Application

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In the last post, I provided some basic tips for dealing with the IELTS Task 2 writing prompts. In this post, I will apply these tips in order to show how they can help someone to perform better on the IELTS.

Below is an example of a potential writing prompt for the Task 2

Smoking is bad for you. Do you agree or disagree? Use reasons and examples to support your answer.

Writing Process
Step 1: Break down the prompt to determine what to do

The prompt has three components to it
An opinion: Smoking is bad for you
Your job: Do you agree or disagree
Advice: Use reasons and examples to support your answer

This prompt is a one job task as we only have to do one thing, which agrees or disagree that smoking is bad for you.

 Step 2: Develop outline

You need to think and plan before writing. It is common for people to take off and start writing without any idea of what they will say. Writing is different from speaking. We can speak without thinking but our body language can help in expressing what we want to say. In addition, when speaking to people, they can ask us for clarification. Both body language and follow-up questions are not possible when writing. This is why planning is so important. If you are unclear there is nothing that can be done.

Your thesis is whether you agree or disagree. It is the ultimate main idea of your essay. Your reasons are explanations of your thesis. Lastly, examples help illustrate your reasons. Keeping this in mind helps with the internal consistency of your argument. Many times students make unrelated points that do not support each other. Remember your thesis is supported by your reasons and your reasons are supported by your examples. This has less to do with your English ability as it has to with thinking and organizational skills. There are native speakers who cannot organize their thoughts to pass the IELTS.

Outline Example
The standard five-paragraph essay will be employed in the outline below.

  1. Introduction
    1. Topic sentence-There are people who believe that smoking is bad for you
    2. Thesis-I agree that smoking is bad for (remember agreeing or disagreeing is the easiest way to write)
    3. Reasons
      1. Causes health problems
      2. Is a waste of money
      3. Is a bad example for children
  2. Reason 1-Smoking causes health problems
    1. Example-grandfather smoked many years. He got cancer and died a terrible death (NOTE: examples do not have to be true. The goal is to illustrate the reason)
  3. Reason 2-Smoking waste money
    1. Example-Friend spent money on cigarettes and hand constant financial problems
  4. Reason 3-Smoking is a bad example for children
    1. Uncle smoked. Eventually, his kids smoked. My uncle always regretted that his children smoked even though he did it. His kids said that they smoked to be like him.
  5. Conclusion
    1. Smoking is not good for a person because it leads to many problems

Your outline does not have to be this formal. A few notes on a scratch piece of paper is enough for most people. You do need to think before you write. Since people who take the IELTS are non-native speakers they must be much more careful in how they approach writing. Planning allows them to focus on English while writing. Failing to plan leads to trying to plan and worrying about the English at the same time. This leads to cognitive overload and loss of points.

One other point, the Task 2 prompt requires at least 250 words. Give them only about 250 words. The more you write the more mistakes you will make as a non-native writer, which will lead to an irritated reader. Writing 500 lousy words is not going to help you pass if instead, you write 275 excellent words. It is quality with a minimum amount of quantity that matters.

Step 3: Write the Essay 

Essay Example
Below is a write up of the outline

Smoking is bad for you. Do you agree or disagree? Use reasons and examples to support your answer.

There are people who believe that smoking is bad for. I agree that smoking is bad for you. I have three reasons why I believe this. First, smoking leads to health problems. Second, smoking waste a lot of money. Lastly, smoking is a bad example for kids.

One reason smoking is bad for you is that it harms your health. For example, I know of someone’s grandfather who smokes cigarettes for years. Eventually, he becomes really sick with cancer. The disease destroyed his body and made his life miserable. After suffering for some time, he died. His death was caused partly by his decision to smoke cigarettes for many years.

Smoking is also bad for you because it wastes money. I have a friend who smokes. He spends several dollars a day on this habit. Since he is always spending money on cigarettes he is constantly short of cash. Even though he has a good job his habit is eating a hole in his finances. He is always asking people if he can borrow money. If he stopped smoking he might have more money.

Lastly, smoking is a bad example for children. I have an uncle who smokes. When his children grew up, they started to smoke as well. My uncle always regretted that his kids smoke even though he smoked himself. He was worried about their health. His kids told him that they smoked because they wanted to be like him. His influence led to their poor choice.

I believe that people should avoid smoking. There are physical, financial, and social concerns when people choose to do this. It benefits everyone if people choose not to smoke.

Conclusion

In this post, we learned that there are three steps to writing which are breaking down the prompt, developing an outline, and writing the essay. These steps will hopefully help anyone who needs to take the IELTS

Beat the IELTS Task 2 Writing

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The task 2 writing on the IELTS calls on students to express their opinion about a topic. This is not as easy as it sounds even for native speakers. There are many common pitfalls such as not responding to the question or not understanding what the question wants you to do. One of the first steps to take in writing a response to task 2 question is to break down the question to determine what you need to do.

Many Task 2 writing prompts have three components to them. They are listed below

  1. A statement that is a fact or opinion
  2. What you need to do (the job)
  3. Advice on how to complete the task

Let’s look at an example

  • Schools should ask students to evaluate their teachers. Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

In this example, we have all three components.

  1. Schools should ask students to evaluate their teachers. (This is the opinion you are reacting to)
  2. Do you agree or disagree? (Your job is to explain why you agree or disagree)
  3. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. (Here is the advice to complete the task)

In this example, our job is to agree or disagree about whether students should evaluate teachers. This example is a one job task. In other words, you have to only do one thing which explains why you agree or disagree. Some writing prompts call for doing more than one job such as compare and contrast in which you compare and then you contrast. One job tasks are the easiest to respond to.

Another important point is that if the prompt asks you to agree or disagree this is what you should do. It is too complicated to try and agree and disagree because it takes a much higher level of English to express a nuance opinion. Keep it simple and maximize your score through simply agreeing or disagreeing. Everybody knows the world is more complicated then that but if you need to take the IELTS you might not be ready to express this yet. Don’t try to show the reader how smart you are save that for the future.

Outline
The biggest mistake many students make is they jump right in to writing without developing any sort of outline. This is similar to jumping in your car to drive somewhere you have never been without directions. You’ll eventually get there but you journey is longer and unpredictable because of lack of preparation. It is important to make a simple outline of what you want to say.

Below is one way to approach a one job Task 2 writing prompt. It uses a traditional 5 paragraph essay format.

  1. Introduction-Paragraph has three component to it as explained below
    1. The 1st sentence should restate the statement or opinion. Indicate what the topic is even though the reader already knows.
    2. Indicate whether you agree or disagree. Tell the reader if you agree or disagree right away. There is no time to be indirect and mysterious
    3. Give your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. In order to have five paragraphs you will have to develop three reasons why you agree or disagree. Each reason will have its own paragraph in which you explain it. It is common for students to struggle here. They have an opinion but they do not have any well thought out reason for the opinon. This is one reason why the IELTS is not only an English test but a test of thinking ability.
  2. Body paragraph-The three body paragraphs follow the same format as explained below
    1. 1st sentence should state the reason-Your first sentence in each body paragraph should restate one of your reasons why you agree or disagree.
    2. Example-Every reason needs some sort of illustration that further explains the reason. For example, if you think smoking is bad for someone because it causes health problems. You might share a story about how smoking killed a close relative. This illustration further clarifies why you think smoking is bad for you
  3.  Conclusion-Restate your opinion and reasons using different English if possible. There are other ways to end an essay but this is the simplest.

Examples will be provided in the future