1. ENGL 121:
Writing Skills 1
Prof. I. O. Daniel

2. The English Tenses
In English, there are effectively three types of tenses
These are:
past
present
future
Tenses essentially indicate the time of an action as
reflected in a verb.

3. Aspect
Another important element in the English tense structure
is the aspect
Tense essentially indicates the progress of an action within
a time frame.
The aspect could thus be
simple
continuous
perfect (continuous)

4. These tell us that while tense is about the time of
an action occurrence, aspect is about the progress
of the action in process.

5. English Tense
Morphemes
Table of English tenses in
morphophonemic realisations
Persons Present Past
First /0/ /d, t, id/
Second /0/ /d, t, id/
Third
/s/ /d, t, id/
/z/ /d, t, id/

6. English Aspect
Morphemes
Table of English aspectual
morphemic realisations
Persons
Continuo
us
Perfective
First -ing -en
Second -ing -en
Third
-ing -en
-ing -en

7. Tenses
Examples:
She ate the food.
We attended the party
They came to class with her.
She looks great in that outfit.
Simple
Presen
t
Past Future
eat eat(s) ate will eat
look look(s) looked
will
look

8. Aspect
I am going home.
I have gone home.
You were sleeping on my bed.
They were talking to her.
You had given her the book before we arrived.
She has forgotten my name.

9. Irregular and Zero
Formations
I gave him the money.
He understood what I said.
They told him the story.
She cut the meat into tiny pieces yesterday.
Adjoa burst into the room.

10. The Thesis Statement
This is usually the central idea in a paragraph
The topic sentence normally contains the main
idea in a sentence
The topic sentence could be placed at the initial,
middle or final position in a paragraph
However, it is more usual for the topic sentence to
be in the initial position

11. Supporting Sentences
Supporting sentences usually contain the
expansion of the central idea in the paragraph.
Often these provide elements such as
explanation, illustration, exemplification, cause or
effect, etc.

12. FEATURES OF
NARRATIVES
Narratives tell a story.
There could also be other stories within a story
Narratives usually have plot
There is also a central theme, which is the focus
of the story

13. Narrative Processes
Narratives are chronological
They form a sequence of events
These events are usually linked and one occurs
after the other

14. Narrative Processes cont’d
There is usually a narrator
The narrator could be a participant
This described as the “I” narrator
The narrator could be someone on the sideline
This is called the omniscient narrator

15. Narrative Processes cont’d
There are usually characters in a story.
They are at the centre of the story
Dialogues are the exchanges in the story
Description of places, things or individuals could
be be used by the narrator to make clearer the
setting

16. Setting is where and locations of the story
Dialogue is the words or direct quotes used by the
characters
Characters are the people acting out the story
Suspension enables the author to sustain our interest to
the very end.
The resolution of the suspension in a story is usually its
climax.

17. No Sweetness Here -
Ama Ata Aidoo
The extract is titled:The Message
The story is about an old woman who has just
received a ‘bad’ news that her grandchild has had a
caesarean section done on her.
In the traditional sense, this could not be explained,
it was therefore imagined that the young lady had
died. pg 44 (last paragraph)

18. Some Practice
Give the passage a title
Did the young lady die as speculated by the villagers?
How did we know that?
What do you make of the suggestion by the driver that the new mother may not be known by the
indigenous name the grandmother calls her by?
In your view, do you think the Esi Amfoa’s anxiety is justified?
How will you view the use of the indigenous terms by the author
What do you find most striking in the story?
Are the nurses attitude to the anxious grandmother justifiable?
How many family members do you think Nana Esi Amfoa now has when she got to the natal ward?

19. BETRAYED BY THE
CITY — QUESTIONS
Discuss the relevance of the title to the story.
Who do you think is the strange man the children found with Chief
when they returned home?
What is referred to as the rite of passage in the story?
Why do you think the Chief’s welcome to his wife was a bit cold?
What technique did the author employ to reveal this in the story
Name 3 possible consequences of female circumcision as outlined in
the story.
Would you do this to your daughter? Discuss

20. DESCRIPTIVE
WRITINGS
ELEMENTS OF DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

21. FEATURES OF
DESCRIPTIVE WRITINGS
It gives a pictorial detail about a thing, person,
place or an event.
An event could also be described.
Description has the power to create pictures in
our mind
A good description will make us see what is being
described as if we can actually see it

22. Descriptions make use of a lot of adjectives
It also uses a lot of adverbs
These help to create vivid reality of the element being
described; it is called sense impression
Description has a structure
It should be done in a directional manner
It either starts from the top to bottom or the other way
round.
Descriptions should be objective
comparisons and contrasts also help to make distinct
descriptions clear

23. Apart from the wood itself, there were of
course people themselves just so many
hands and fingers bringing help to the
wood in its course towards putrefaction.
Left-hand fingers in their careless journey
from a hasty anus sliding all the way up
the banister as their owners make the
return trip from the lavatory downstairs to
the offices above.

24. The contest began with boys of fifteen or sixteen. There were
only three such boys in each team. They were not the real
wrestlers; they merely set the scene. Within a short time, the
first two bouts were over. But the third created a big sensation
among the elders who did not usually show their excitement so
openly. It was as quick as the other two, perhaps even quicker.
But very few people had ever seen that kind of wrestling
before. As soon as the two boys closed in, one of them did
something which no one could describe because it had been as
quick as a flash. And the other boy was flat on his back. The
crowd roared and clapped and for a while drowned the frenzied
drums. Okonkwo sprang to his feet and quickly sat down
again. Three young men from the victorious boy’s team ran
forward, carried him shoulder high and danced through the
cheering crowd. Everybody soon knew who the boy was. His
name was Maduka, the son of Obierika .

25. Practice:
Through the Valley of the Shadow of
Death — Dr Igonoh Survived Ebola
What sort of description do we have here?
Who is doing the description in this text?
Give an idea of how she was informed of her Ebola infection.
Can you guess how she possibly contracted the disease?
Describe in details how she dealt with her situation.
What was her major worry in the course of her treatment.
Who do you think is the happiest person concerning her
survival?

26. State clearly how you think her attitude affected her
survival?
From the text, how many of her colleagues do think
went with the disease?
From the text, can you determine if she thinks her
survival is basically because she is smarter and her
colleagues that died were foolish?
From the text, can the government be described as
being responsible, responsive or careless?
According to Dr Igonoh, who are the heroes of this text?
In your view, who are the real heroes here?

27. EXPOSITORY
WRITING
Week 8

28. Features of Exposition
Expository writing involves giving explanations.
It involves giving out facts about an issue
It essentially involves educating people about a
particular thing
It is the giving of details about a particular
process or experience

29. Essentially, expository writing involves education a set
of individuals about something new or of which they
do not have full understanding
It is easily used to teach a process of doing something
An example is teaching someone on how to do
something such as cooking, performing an
experiment, or performing a task
It could also be used to teach someone on how to
appreciate a place or thing
Teaching someone how to understand the things to
look out for in appreciating an art work or a scenery

30. Even the class as we have it now is being done
through the expository process.You are being
taught through explanations about facts and
things the lecturer thinks you need to know

31. Practice
Students to provide the process of cooking rice.
Students to give an outline of the essay topic:
Opening a Facebook Account

32. ARGUMENTATIVE
WRITING
WEEK 9

33. Identifying Argumentative
Writings
It is important to know that arguments are not about
imposing your opinion on others but convincing them to
see your point of view on a matter.
Arguments should present the two sides of the argument.
Otherwise, arguments will become a parochial imposition
of one’s point of view on others.
However, a good argument should actually be persuasive,
working hard at convincing the other party of the merit
of one’s point of view.

34. Arguments should be able to find merit in the
other point of view.
These merits should be stated and make clear.
However, why they are not acceptable to you or the
weaknesses you perceive in them should now be
part of your argument against them.
In addition, you should be able to give facts and
figures that enable you to convince the other party
based on the facts before them.
These should then be presented with sound
reasoning to show why your argument is superior.

35. Practice
Read the passage and present the argument
structure

36. Answers (Dr Igonoh’s
story)
[Description of an event]

37. READING
CRITICALLY
PROF I. O. DANIEL

38. Determining the Gist of
the Writing
Critical reading is the highest form of reading
It involves reading and asking questions
It has at its base scepticism as noted in the
writer’s guide
You must learn to query what you read as you
should not take everything that you read hook,
line and sinker.

39. Dialoguing with the
Author
Don’t just soak up opinions and information provided by others
Query them
Criticise them
Wonder at them
Argue back at them
Demand for evidence — this could be facts and figures or others
experiences
However, accept a superior reasoning

40. Suggested Checklist
What problems and issues does the author raise?
What is the author’s purpose
Where do you agree or disagree with their
reasoning or point of view?
How does the piece relate to your life?
What is the author assuming or taking for granted
in the piece?

41. Practising Critical
Reading
Make annotations on the piece
Make comments
Write your questions
Note your queries
Challenge the author with your comments
Think through along with the author and uncover the
nuances in the write up

42. Some Questions to Help
you Think through
Is the author credible?
Can you analyse the author’s writing strategies?
How is the text organised?
Do you understand every important word or idea
in the text?
What is the author’s tone of voice in the text? Is it
sounding bias or objective?

43. In Practice
Locate author’s main idea in the text; state this in your
own words
Summarise the gist in each paragraph that make up the
text
Locate the author’s conclusion and sum it up
Identify the evidence provided by the writer to support
their point(s) in each paragraph or section
Write out your response to the piece

44. Doing your own Writing
You need to prepare by outlining what you want to write
Let the points and the point of view to be expressed be very
clear; either you are responding to another’s writing or writing
your own thing
Organise your ideas in a logical manner
You are free to borrow content to either support or give
evidence to your point(s) but the source must be duly
acknowledged
You can make quotations or paraphrase what you are borrowing

45. After writing, make sure you read over your writing to
ensure that what you have written is what you want to
say
Ensure that you cross your t’s and dot your i’s
Ensure that your sentence structures are varied and fit
what you want to say. Using only long or short sentences,
simple or complex/compound sentences is not good
enough. Sentence variation makes for good style
Avoid one sentence paragraphs as they are a sign of bad
writing
Use the tenses correctly in order not to mis-represent
what you want to say

46. Practice
Write a one page essay in response to the essay in
your handout titled: “Times series delved successfully
into race”.
Write on the topic: “Male children are more useful
in the home than female children”.
Total length should be 400 words.
The logicality of your discussion will earn you
good marks.