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BASIC WRITING TECHNIQUE
Every natural language is a means of Communication.
Consequently, an important tool, language manifests as oral, visual, productive and receptive skills in individual users. These skills are referred to as listening, reading, speaking and writing.
For effective communication to take place, the language users must possess, and be able to put to use these skills, particularly the productive speaking and writing skills.
Writing, unlike speaking, is an expressive skill, which language users must deliberately learn. Writing is used to convey information via graphic representation of that idea to the readers.
Speaking is also an expressive skill that man uses to communicate to listeners via oral medium. Man speaks with natural possession. However, he learns an exceptional skill for him to arrange his thought.
Reading is another skill of communication. It is a receptive skill that man use to receive information from written text.
Listening is another receptive skill that man uses to obtain information via ear. Man naturally listens to other men’s voice, but with attentiveness, he understands the message aptly.
In discussing writing, no one can write a single letter of alphabet without a conscious and deliberate effort of mind and hand. Effective writing can only be developed and be perfected through persistent and consistent practice.
The word writing means delineation or art of inscribing ideas in letters, words, sentence and essay or theses. The term Continuous Writing involves the full utilization of the art so cultivated in the production or composition of essays, theses, and so on.
Therefore, the Quality of good Writing shall be examined before discussing Writing techniques
QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING
Writing is a difficult and strenuous engagement. Young writers who just venture into writing should be encouraged. When they realize that even the best-known Writers and those Who have made a profession of Writing still see writing as a difficult task.
A good writer will not only generate ideas, he also subjects the ideas to strict control, organization and discrimination. This belief is translated in the qualities which every good writing must possess and these qualities include:
Grammatical Accuracy
It should be noted that no piece of writing can be called good if the grammatical level of the work is not reasonably high. One cannot write any meaningful idea without adhering to conventional rules of grammar. It May, however, be said that even though the writer cannot write well without a mystery of the convention, he can still write badly with the grammatical convention at his finger tips. Thus, understanding the appropriate use of grammar is a thing; to use it perfect is another skill.
Unity
Writing essay is made up of a number of sentences arranged in convenient structural units called paragraphs. One essential requirement of writing, as well as of structural constituents ( the sentence and the paragraph) is Unity. This means that the write-up is composed around a central idea, usually reflected in the topic of the write-ups or essay. Similarly, all paragraphs that build up the piece of writing must each contribute substantially to the paragraph, in making its contribution to the production and sustenance of the central idea of the essay. The sentence itself, as the smallest constituent of the essay must have unity. In practice, even if a sentence contains more than one fact, all facts stated must have some relations to the main or central idea of the sentence.
Topic Sentence
Any well- written paragraph in an essay has one sentence that indicates the theme of that paragraph. That sentence is referred to as Topic Sentence. All other sentences of the paragraph can be regarded as Supporting Sentences that illustrate the message of the topic sentence. The first sentence in a paragraph always plays the role of a topic sentence. However, it can sometimes be located at the middle or at the end of the paragraph. It is advisable for a would-be good writer to begin his paragraph with topic sentence. By this, the write-up engages immediate attention of the reader to grasp the leading idea of the message.
Coherence
One way to reserve the unity of an essay is to ensure that there is a smooth linkage from one paragraph of the essay to its succeeding paragraph. This linkage is referred to as coherence. This (coherence) is present in any piece of writing when there is continuity of thought from one paragraph to the other. Coherence is achieved through the use of Transitional elements either to bring about a cause-effect relationship or to contrast ideas. The commonest of these transitional elements are also called connectives. These include: however, nevertheless, therefore, consequently, on the other hand, in conclusion, finally etc.
Completeness
Every write-up must have the Beginning, the Middle and the End. Thus, there must be an end for the message pass across via the write-up. This will make it comprehensive for the reader.
Clarity
The message has to be clear enough for an average reader to understand. It is frustrating at the part of the reader if the message lacks the essential feature of good writing, Clarity. A piece of work fails the test of clarity if the rules of grammar are carelessly violated; if the sentences are ambiguous; if the sentence are wordy; if the modifiers are dangling and they not properly punctuated.
Brief Exercise
Visit this Blog post Now, then, clearly note out (Figure out) the following
- Grammatical Accuracy
- Unity
- Topic Sentence
- Coherence
- Completeness
- Clarity
Note: clearly express out this point and do this for all that apply in this given post content.
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