ENGLISH STANDARD GRADE WRITING Denny High School English Department

TOP TIPS  Write about what you know BUT make sure you know ENOUGH about it!  Always stay RELEVANT to your chosen question.  Avoid letters and magazine articles.

TOP TIPS  You will need – a title, paragraphs, excellent punctuation, legible handwriting.  Time breakdown : = choose = planning = writing = double- check.  Your planning notes should be NOTES or bullet points only.

TOP TIPS  Try to use a STYLE POINT at or near the start of each paragraph (see later page).  Remember ENDINGS have to be decided at the planning stage; depending on the type of essay be sure you know how it will end - for instance: –Discursive = strong final attitude to or judgement on the issue; –Personal = a final feeling or decision about the experience; –Short Story = twist or climax or anti-climax or disappointment.

STYLE POINTS – ‘SHOW - DON’T TELL’  You must convince the marker of 2 things:  1. Your ideas are serious and well developed.  2. Your writing can be stylish and entertaining.  See yourself as a writer shaping the language to fit your ideas, not simply recording facts or actions in a dull, repetitive way.

Sentence structure:  1. Make this varied with long and short sentences and different openings. Do not repeat the same style of sentence constantly.  2. Use minor sentences (short sentences without verbs) for impact.  3. Use single sentence paragraphs to make a detail stand out dramatically.  4. Use questions to reflect doubt or worry.  5. Use exclamation marks to show frustration or irritation or relief. (How could she? My room!)  6. Use colon plus list to emphasise movement or colour or shape.  Use brackets to add a joke or funny aside.

Good Writing:  This depends on VIVID word choice: –EXACT WORDS –PRECISE TERMS –EXAGGERATION  Think ADJECTIVES – think ADVERBS – think VERBS.  Every so often your writing should contain: –a simile (his nose was like a ski slope) –a metaphor (his words bruised my heart) –exaggeration (We had just had enormous luck!) –personification (The trees doubled in laughter as I struggled against the wind).

TYPES OF ESSAY  DISCURSIVE  Choose this only if you are knowledgeable about the issues involved.  You could run out of ideas pretty quickly if it feels familiar - but all you have is one or two general views.  Be very wary of these questions. Remember the 2005 markers will be drowning in essays on the smoking ban – avoid it!

TYPES OF ESSAY  PERSONAL:  Could be a favourite for many but the major error here is description of event or action, rather than relationships.  Here is a good candidate describing a sleepover at his gran’s. Notice how all the detail points to their feelings for one another and not simply what they did together: Despite the grey, gloomy Scottish rain Dave and I were thrilled at the possibility of the freedom held out by a parent-free sleepover at Gran’s. Yes, we would have to suffer “Coronation Street”. but in return we had the reward of her wild and competitive company, and the challenge of her inevitable mood swings. She loved us dearly and for all her flinty reprimands she would soon melt into an absent-minded, and cuddly gran. She hid the sweets around the house – not from us but from our health- obsessed parents…

TYPES OF ESSAY  SHORT STORY:  How good is your plan?  How strong is your characterisation? Character must dominate this type of essay – which is why detail and description from personal essays can be transferred into the short story if you wish.  Never end with, “I woke up and it was all a dream!”  Be sure the drama or conflict is present from the start, and the rest of the essay is about character, feelings and climaxes.  Do not overdo dialogue.  Keep the time-frame short and brief: this is a story, not a novel!