Writing of essay and narative compositions Using Appropriate Language Content And Style
Learn different tricks on how best you can write Narrative Compositions/Essays (Of Not Less Than 250 Words)
Writing events in the past
Example 1
HOW KIBONGE WAS HUNTED BY TWO WOLVES
The
next morning, when I went down to the river to fill my can, I was
horrified to see a dog’s tracks that were bigger than my fist. I turned
back to my tent, made my breakfast, packed up and get started.
But
just as I was leaving I saw two cars over a bush; it was a wolf all
right. The brute shrank down out of sight as I looked, but when I moved
on it followed me, keeping under cover, and presently I found that there
were two of them walking and hunting together. Every now and then one
of them showed itself in the open and I had a shot at it, but they were
quick you’d think they saw the flash and dodged the bullet – and I never
touched them once.
After
I had several shots at them I happen to look at my belt, and I’d only
one to more left. I would come but with a heavy pack, and had cut down
my ammunition to six or eight rounds to same weight.’ No more shooting,
Kibonge. ”I said you keep the rounds for yourself’’ if they got me, I
tell you I wasn’t going to turn into pieces alive.
As
I went on without firing, the wolves gradually realised that there was
no danger and they got more and more cheeky, keeping closer and closer
to me and calling to one another to check up on my movements. I had to
use up one of my two last shots on them. They followed the raft down
along the sands, but eventually it drifted to the other side of the
river, and I got away. Of course the Indians said it was my own fault
for going out alone.
Exercise 1
- Write an account of result of a recent family dispute that you know about.
- Express the meaning of these phrases in your own words (a) Out and out; (b) Cut down my ammunition to six or eight rounds; (c) Pushing off; (d) Form to pieces alive
- Write a story called ‘’ Lost in the desert’’ (about 250 words)
- Write a 300 words composition carefully paragraphed, on the subject ‘’ the best years of my life’’.
- How far is it true, do you think that schooldays are the happiest ones of our life? (write in 250 words)
Writing Expository Compositions/Essays
Writing Factual Information on a Topic/Subject
Write factual information on a topic/subject
Expository
essays are essays that explain something with facts, as opposed to opinion. They may describe how to do something, analyze events, ideas,
objects, or written works. They must contain an introductory paragraph,
body paragraphs and a conclusion. The introductory paragraph may contain the thesis statement or topic sentence that introduces the theme of an
essay.
Expository essays are mostly written by college, school or university students during their test and examinations. They need a response to questions that asks the writer to explain or expose a specific issue basing on a given topic or subject or describe a process.
Characteristics of an expository essay
- It focuses on the main topic.
- It needs logical supporting facts details, explanations and examples.
- It needs strong organisation.
- Clarity.
- Unity and coherence of ideas.
Expository
essay includes writing letters, definitions, reports and research,
instructions, newspaper articles, magazine articles, etc.
Steps to writing an expository essay.
- Select a topic – it should not be wide so as to make you manage to describe it.( it should be a narrow enough topic).
- Provide an introduction paragraph. It should state the thesis of the essay.
- Think how to develop your essay. E.g. definition, listing, and explaining, classifying, process analysis, etc.
- Think of organisation of the essay. Provide topic sentence for each body paragraph that relates to the thesis sentence; make few suggestions related to the essay. e.g. in conclusion………, all in all……, It is now in position to say that………, etc.
Example 2
FACTS ABOUT THE LOCUST MENACE
In
spite of what has recently done to combat the threat of the locust,
they remain a menace to entire food supply of a quarter of the world.
One trouble of them is they breed, the more they eat; and the more they
eat the more they breed.
A
breeding area may have up to five thousand eggs to the square yard. And
a breeding area may cover up to two hundred thousand acres.
A
large swarm, migrating from one of these breeding grounds, may number
up to five hundred million and be capable of destroying an area of two
hundred square miles. The locusts are a menace to plants therefore
effective steps should be taken to destroy their breeding places.
Exercise 2
- Write an expository essay on the causes of HIV.
- Write down the duties and uses of the police force.(about 200 words).
- Write an essay on the causes of soil erosion (250 words).
- In many African countries there is the plight of children employed in mines. Write an expository essay about the problem in about 300 words.
- Write an essay on “ The power of water” (250 words).
Writing Descriptive Composition/Essays
Vivid Descriptions of People/Places/Events
Write vivid descriptions of people/place/events
Descriptive
essays are concerned with describing objects, experience or ideas. The word descriptive comes from the verb ‘to describe'. In order to get started on your descriptive essay, it is important to identify exactly
what you want to describe. This form relies on creative writing.
Descriptive
the composition requires the writer to express, to portray, show clearly
and vividly something which one can touch, smell, hear, feel or think to
the reader. It involves giving a detailed description of a topic,
person, something, place or an incident.
Example 3
A GERMAN SAUSAGE
‘If you never try a new thing, how can you tell what it’s like? Think of a man who first tried German sausage!
It
was a great success, that Irish stew I don’t think I never enjoyed a
meal more, there was something so fresh and piquant about it. One’s
palate gets so tired of the old things; here was a dish with a new
flavour with a taste like nothing else on earth.
And
it was nourishing too. As George said, there was good stuff in it, peas
and potatoes might have been a bit softer, but we all had good teeth,
so that did not matter much, and as for gravy, it was like a poem, a
little too rich, perhaps, for a week stomach, but nutritious.
We finished up with tea and cherry tart. Montmorency had a fight with the kettle during tea time and come off a poor second.
Exercise 3
- Write carefully paragraphed composition of about 300 words on “trees”
- Write a 300 word essay on “People I Envy”
- Write a 250 word essay composition titled “Things I like Doing”
- Write a composition on “The kind of boy or girl that I liked at school” (250 words)
Writing Argumentative Composition/Essay
Presenting Contrasting Views of a Given Topic
Argumentative
essays are written to present on opinions which either favours or
disagrees with a controversial topic. The writer must prove his/her view
point by supporting it with convincing facts and evidences from
reliable sources.
The
function of argumentative essays is to show that your assertion
(theory, opinion, and hypothesis) about some phenomena is correct or
more truthful than other's.
Argumentative
writing is an act of forming reason, making inductions, giving
supporting examples, drawing conclusions and applying them to the case
of discussions. It also involves a clear explanation of the process of
reasoning from the known or assumed to the unknown and without doing
this you do not have argument; you have only an opinion or theory. It is
used to convince the readers to believe in the opinion of the writer
/author of a particular material.
It
aims at arguing ,convincing , motivating or persuading the reader to
accept ,change and take the required action or step on something, a
topic or subject that might affect the society in one way another .
Example; political written speeches, on the uses of a certain
traditional medicine to treat HIV or Malaria patients which needs
convincing power with clear arguments/reasons
Argumentative
composition involves the use of contrastive words such as whereas,
although, on the other hand, yet, however, nevertheless, despite, but,
meanwhile, etc.
Example 4
CORRUPTION IS RAMPANT
Corruption
is a most problem in African countries. On the other hand, it is one of
the causes of poverty to the majority citizen in most African
countries. Although people are always struggling to combat poverty but
their economy is hampered by corruption which denies them basic rights
such as the right to employment.
On
the contrary, the economy of the most African countries is in the hand
of the few minorities whereas the majority is suffering from bad
conditions.
Consequently,
children retard due to malnutrition caused by lack of a balance diet.
However, African countries have many minerals and forests, but these
resources are not fully utilised as are result of poor investment caused
by corruption.
Furthermore,
corruption has caused lack of proper transport facilities such as
roads, which is one of the factor for speeding up development and in
fact, many roads are not all weather, meanwhile, they are used during
dry seasons only. Therefore, these are the consequences of corruption in
most African countries.
Activity 2
- Write on argumentative composition on forums of child labor. (about 250 words)
- Using the following contrasting conjunctions: while…, conversely, notwithstanding, despite, whereas, and although. Write a composition on the importance of a new constitution in Tanzania .(300 words)
- Argue for the subject “Animals, friends, and enemies of man”. (300 words)
Creative Writing
Writing a Work of Art Using Literary Devices and Skills
Write a work of art using literary devices and skills
Creative
writing refers to an art which involves writing fiction or non-fiction
stories with the figurative use of language. It depends on a person’s
masterly of a particular language and can be inform of a novel or short
stories, poem, and memories in our life. It involves creating the
environment or scene, plot, style, character, and proper, language, to
use in your story.
How to write creatively
- Think on topic of your story.
- List down the general ideas to be included in your story.
- Think of the style and vocabulary which will complete your work.
- Plan the characters in your story.
- Consider the setting i.e. environment that will be reflected in your story.
Exercise 4
- Write a short story titled “ a misfortune woman”(500 words).
- Write a five stanza poem titled “ A village woman”
Writing Speeches
A Speech
Write a speech
A
speech refers to a vocalised form of human communication. It may also
denote a formal presentation on a given topic or subject. A speech may
also refer to a formal faculty or act of speaking, expressing or
describing thoughts, feelings or perceptions through the articulation of
words. Speech is written first before presenting. Normally, speech can
be presented during seminar, graduation, workshop, political campaigns,
report, project presentations, religious speeches, meetings, public
meeting, ceremonies and functions.
How to write a speech
- Think on the purpose of the speech- why do you want to prepare a speech?
- Think on the context and audience whom do you want to write a speech.
- Plan for the heading/ title of your speech. The title/heading should be taken from the topic or subject given. It should relate with the event that takes place and requires a speech.
- The title/heading should be very brief, clear and readable. It should be direct to the event/function that takes place.
- Make a good introduction, starting with, greeting from the superior/guest of honor to the least people. Example; Honorable Guest of Honor,…Your Excellency……,Secretary General…,...Mr. president….., the highness…….., the majority……., etc. It will depend with the title/position of the guest of honor during the event.
- After introduction/greeting, clarify a little bit about the event, clarify the function taking place.
- The main body concentrate on ideas as conveyed in the question/topic given, put each idea in a new paragraph giving examples and evidences. Observe a logical arrangement of ideas with good grammar.
- If you have a guest of honour, address your speech to him/her, but if there is no a guest of honour and your speaking to general audience use the words’’ ladies and gentleman “in every beginning of a new idea.
- Use appropriate vocabulary.. Do not use contractions example: I’ll, I don’t, we’ve, I’ve, etc.Use link words/connectors such as besides, finally, moreover, despite, on top of that, etc.
- Give your own suggestion / view opinions on what you have discussed in your speech.
Activity 3
You are given a chance to address the people on the topic ‘ Environmental Conservation.’
- Write a speech of not more than 250 words.
- Organise words in a logical order.
- Revise and edit your speech.
Delivering a Speech
Deliver a speech
Delivering
a speech requires some things to take into consideration to make your
argument more effective and interesting. The following are some of these
things:
- Stand upright or in the place where you can be seen by all the audience.
- Look all side so as to hold your audience.
- Allow eye contact with the audience, a glance to your speech is enough.
- Avoid repetition , speak moderately, enrich your speech by using proverbs, idioms to make it more colourful (but this will depend with the audience)
- If you feel nervous in front of the audience, take a deep breath and put your legs apart and wait for several minutes before continuing.
- Observe the time duration so that your speech could not bore the audience.
- Avoid using offensive and aggressive language/comments that are embarrassing to the listener/ audience.
Activity 4
Imagine
you’re the one of the political leaders campaigning for votes in an
election. Prepare a speech to give to voters. Use this point;
- Increase in wages
- Increase crop prices
- Lower taxes
- Spend more on education
- Unite the people
- Improvement of transport and communication.
- Building of more schools and laboratories.
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