Overview
In Essential Writing 1, students take a step-by-step approach to develop skills andknowledge in basic sentence and paragraph writing. Each unit provides instruction
on the essential structural and mechanical elements for producing good writing while
actively engaging students in the learning process.
Essential Writing 1 is especially suited for beginner to low-intermediate JapaneseEnglish as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at the university level, but may be
used by any level writer wishing to develop basic sentence and paragraph writing
skills. Depending on the structure of classes at each university, the 12 units inEssential Writing 1 can be taught over a 28-30-week academic school year by teaching
one unit over a two-week period: thus, covering Units 1-6 in the spring semester andUnits 7-12 in the fall semester.

Some of the highlights found in Essential Writing 1 include:❖ Opportunities for Active Learning
A majority of the over 75 exercises found in the book incorporate some elementof pair work, making each exercise an opportunity to collaborate and actively
engage students in the learning process.

❖ Model Paragraphs
Throughout the book there are numerous “model paragraphs” tailored to thebeginning writer that provide students with examples of the structure andmechanics of quality writing. Additionally, the model paragraphs provide
context for the target lessons found in each unit.

❖ Specific Areas of Focus
Each unit centers around a particular language focus that provides the learning
target for that unit. These “Focus on” sections serve to help learners build theknowledge and skills needed to effectively produce a piece of quality writing.

❖ Common Errors
Many of the units highlight common errors made by beginning Japanese writers
to address writing problems before they take place. This unique feature of
Essential Writing 1 will raise learner awareness and develop more independent
writers.

❖ Vocabulary Checklists
The vocabulary checklists in Essential Writing 1 are designed to develop ashared classroom language between the teacher and students. This allows for
greater ease of communication when offering corrections and feedback.
Additionally, these checklists facilitate increased responsibility and autonomy
in the learner by ensuring that the student has understood the contents of eachunit.

❖ Writing Checklists
Writing checklists found throughout Essential Writing 1 serve as a quickreference for students to make certain they are meeting the demands of theassignment. These checklists are an invaluable resource for reinforcing thelessons found throughout the book to help students build good habits informatting quality drafts.

Organization
Essential Writing 1 is made up of three distinct sections. “Part I: From Sentence
to Paragraph” introduces the elements of sentence and paragraph structure andmechanics. “Extra: On Writing” introduces the approaches of product and process
writing and provides a blueprint for properly formatting a written document. “Part II:
Rhetorical Patterns,” provides instruction, exercises, and assignments working withfour different paragraph types.

PART IFROM SENTENCE TO PARAGRAPH

Part I is covered in Units 1-4. Units 1 and 2 provide a step-by-step approach todeveloping practical knowledge and skills, specifically, building basic sentences,avoiding common fragment errors, and building compound sentences for better
writing clarity and fluency.
Units 3 and 4 focus on building paragraphs through practical knowledge andskills, including writing effective topic sentences, major and minor supporting
details and concluding sentences.

EXTRAON WRITING“Extra: On Writing” is an intermediary between Parts I and II of Essential
Writing 1 that provides context and instruction on writing approach andformatting. Students often focus too heavily on producing the final work of anassignment, while missing the opportunity to engage in the writing process.
“Extra” is a way of raising students’ awareness that, while the final product isimportant, the process by which that final product is created is what develops
the skills and experience needed for quality writing. Therefore, these two
approaches are juxtaposed so that students can differentiate and gain greater
control and understanding of both.

PART II RHETORICAL PATTERNSPart II consists of Units 5-12 and provides instruction and practice using four
different paragraph types: process, descriptive, narrative, and opinion. Eachrhetorical pattern is covered over two units, giving students ample time toengage in the writing process before creating their final work. The exercises
and assignments in these units reinforce the skills of sentence and paragraphbuilding learned in Part I, while providing further instruction on the structuraland grammatical characteristics of each specific paragraph type. Part II helps
build confidence and paragraph writing experience through interactive exercises
and assignments that engage learner interest.

APPENDICES
There is a brief set of appendices at the end of the book to offer some
supplementary materials for select units. These resources can be used as partof the unit exercises or as additional reference materials at any stage of thewriting process.

We hope that skills and practice covered in Essential Writing 1 will prove a valuable
and engaging resource in developing sentence and paragraph writing skills foruniversity EFL students in Japan.
Jethro Kenney

PART I FROM SENTENCE TO PARAGRAPH

p.10

p.16

p.22

p.30

Unit

1

Unit

2

Unit

3

Unit

4

BUILDING THE
SENTENCE

COMBINING
SENTENCESBUILDING THE
PARAGRAPH

Complete Sentences

Focus on GRAMMAR
Independent Clauses

Fragments

Focus on GRAMMAR
Common Fragment Errors

Capitalization andPunctuation

Focus on GRAMMAR
Completing the Sentence

Simple and Compound
Sentences

Focus on GRAMMAR
Using Conjunctions for
Compound Sentences

Sentence Problems

Focus on FLUENCY
Avoiding Choppy Sentences

The Topic Sentence

Focus on STRUCTURE
Parts of a Topic Sentence

Features of the Topic
Sentence

Focus on STRUCTURE
Characteristics of a “Good”
Topic Sentence

The Topic Sentence witha Predictor

Focus on STRUCTURE
Predictors in the Topic
Sentence

The Concluding Sentences

Focus on STRUCTURE
Signal, Restate, Summarize,
and Leave a Final Message

The Supporting Sentences

Focus on STRUCTURE
Major and Minor Support(Give Explanations / Give
Examples / Give Anecdotes)

Structure of a Paragraph

Focus on STRUCTURE
The Parts of the Paragraphand What They Do

BUILDING THE
PARAGRAPH

Table of Contents

EXTRA: ON WRITING
p.40

p.42

Part

1

Part

2

APPROACHES TOWRITING
FORMATTINGYOUR DOCUMENT

PART II
p.46

p.53

p.59

p.64

Unit

5

Unit

6

Unit

7

Unit

8

Writing I

Focus on APPROACH
Process versus ProductWriting II

Focus on APPROACH
Process and ProductFormatting

Focus on FORMAT
Formatting a Document

RHETORICAL PATTERNSTHE PROCESSPARAGRAPH

THE PROCESSPARAGRAPH

THE DESCRIPTIVE
PARAGRAPH

THE DESCRIPTIVE
PARAGRAPH

Outlining Main Steps andSupporting Details

Focus on ORGANIZATION
Creating an Outline

Time-order Words

Focus on COHERENCE
Chronological Ordering

Highlighting Important Details

Focus on GRAMMAR and
MECHANICS
Using Modals

Getting the Reader’s Attention

Focus on MECHANICS
Adding a Hook

Adjective Types

Focus on GRAMMAR
Adjectives of Quantity andQualityMore Descriptive Adjectives

Focus on GRAMMAR
Using Linking Verbs

Using Adjectives Effectively

Focus on STRUCTURE
Adjective Order

Creating a Detailed Image

Focus on LANGUAGE
Specific Language andSensory Details

Organizing the Description

Focus on COHERENCE
Spatial Ordering

Table of Contents

p.71

p.78

p.84

p.94

Unit

9

Unit

10

Unit

11

Unit

12

THE NARRATIVEPARAGRAPH

THE NARRATIVEPARAGRAPH

THE OPINIONPARAGRAPH

THE OPINIONPARAGRAPH

Talking about Past
Experiences and Events

Focus on GRAMMAR
The Simple Past and Past
Progressive (was/were + -ing)

Connecting Events andFocusing the Reader

Focus on GRAMMAR
Complex Sentences andSubordinating Conjunctions

Descriptions in the Narrative
Paragraph

Focus on STRUCTURE
Describing Sensory andEmotional Experience

Quoting Dialogue with Direct
and Indirect Quotes

Focus on MECHANICS
Speech in Narratives

Pronoun-antecedent
Agreement

Focus on GRAMMAR
Tracking Pronoun-antecedent
Relationships

Introducing an Opinion

Focus on STRUCTURE
Clarity and Singularity

Convincing Your Reader

Focus on STRUCTURE
Types of Supporting Details

Opposing Opinions

Focus on STRUCTURECounter-arguments andRefutations

Opinions not Preferences

Focus on MECHANICS
Expressing Opinions not
Preferences

Logical Ordering

Focus on COHERENCE
Order of Importance

Irrelevant Sentences

Focus on UNITY
Staying Focused on the Topic

Concluding a Paragraph

Focus on STRUCTURE
Leaving a Final Impression

PART IFROM SENTENCE TO
PARAGRAPH

Unit 1

BUILDING THE SENTENCE

Unit 2COMBINING SENTENCES

Units 3-4

BUILDING THE PARAGRAPH

Unit

1

BUILDING THE SENTENCE“You can make anything by writing.” — C.S. Lewis

Sentences are the building blocks to paragraphs. To write well, we must
know how to write complete sentences. A complete sentence, also called an
independent clause, is a set of words that includes both a subject and a verb. It
is also a complete idea that needs no more information to be understood.
An incomplete sentence, on the other hand, has either no subject or noverb, or it is a dependent clause. This means that it is an incomplete idea thatneeds more information to be understood. Incomplete sentences are also calledfragments. In this unit, you will learn about four common fragment errors thatnew writers make.

COMPLETE SENTENCES
Focus on GRAMMAR Independent Clauses
A clause is a set of words that includes a subject and a verb.
As mentioned above, an independent clause has at least one subject and one
verb, and its meaning can stand alone.
Tomorrow is Wednesday.
I see Mt. Fuji.

In each example above, a single subject and a single verb express a complete
idea. These are complete sentences.
Circle the subject and underline the verb in each sentence below. Thencompare your answers with a partner.
1. The man sat.
2. Yuji loves animals.
3. I received your email yesterday.
4. The woman sitting next to the window is my friend.

10

BUILDING THE SENTENCE

Unit 1FRAGMENTS
Focus on GRAMMAR Common Fragment Errors
A fragment is not a sentence because it is not a complete idea. It may be
missing a subject or verb, or it may be a dependent clause that needs more
information to make sense. There are three common fragment errors that new
writers make: 1) -ing fragments, 2) inﬁnitive fragments, and 3) dependent
clause fragments. A fourth sentence error, which we will call an 4) example
fragment, is another common problem found in beginning writing.

1. The man sitting next to the window. (No verb.)
2. To call a good friend. (No subject.)
3. When the phone rang.

(Has subject and verb but needs more information.)
4. For example, Saturday and Sunday.

(No verb and needs more information.)

Discuss with a partner why the fragments above need more information to beunderstood.

EXERCISE 1

Identify Complete Sentences and Fragments

Work alone. Read the short paragraph. Underline the complete sentences andcircle the fragments. Check your answers with a partner.

When I came home, the TV was on. My friend Hiro was there. Watching amovie. I have known him for six years. Since I was 14 years old. We met injunior high school. He loves animals. For example, dogs. To have as a pet.

11

EXERCISE 2

Identify and Correct Fragments

Read the following fragments. Work with a partner to make them into complete
sentences. Don’t forget punctuation, such as periods (.) and commas (,).
1. A brown dog.

I can see a brown dog.
2. To buy a new car.

3. Raining tomorrow.

4. Because she doesn’t like horror movies.

5. For example, pizza, hamburgers and ice cream.

EXERCISE 3

Read the Model ParagraphWork with a partner. Read the short paragraph aloud one time each. Then work
alone. Circle the subject and underline the verb in each sentence. Subjects may
appear more than once, and sentences may have more than one verb. Then discuss
your answers with your partner.

Last weekend I went to the park with my friend. We sat in the park and talked
about our plans for the future. My friend said that he wants to travel in the
future. He said he wants to see many places around the world. Most of all, hesaid he wants to visit Egypt. He is very interested in the pyramids and ancient
Egypt.
12

BUILDING THE SENTENCE

EXERCISE 4

Unit 1

Write a Short ParagraphWork alone. What did you do last weekend? Write 5-7 sentences describing what
you did. Then circle the subject and underline the verb in each sentence.

Last weekend, I

EXERCISE 5

Listen for DetailWork with a partner. You will take turns reading aloud your short paragraphs from
Exercise 4. After your partner has finished reading, fill in the chart about yourpartner. If you do not know the answer, ask your partner.
What did your partner do?

Where was s/he?

Who was there?

13

CAPITALIZATION AND PUNCTUATION
Focus on GRAMMAR Completing the Sentence
Capitalization and punctuation are vital to writing complete sentences.
Here are some rules for capitalization and punctuation.
• The first letter in a sentence is capitalized.
She bought a new car.
• The first letter of a proper name is capitalized.
Yesterday, Miki bought a new Toyota in Yokohama.
• Complete sentences usually end with a period.
It is going to rain tomorrow.
• Questions end with a question mark.
Is it going to rain tomorrow?
• Use an exclamation point to add emphasis.
It rained every day for a month!

For more practice with capitalization, go to Appendix Unit 1.

EXERCISE 6➡

Capitalize and Punctuate the Sentences Below

Work alone. Correct the sentences below with capitalization and punctuation.
Then check your answers with a partner.
1. we left the hotel early in the morning

We left the hotel early in the morning.
2. yuna wants to go to france more than germany

14

BUILDING THE SENTENCE

Unit 1

3. are you sure he is from canada

4. when is david going to arrive

5. there is a spider in your hair

EXERCISE 7

Let’s Write

This is a short writing assignment to give you practice with the skills you learnedin this unit.
For each of the questions below, write six or more sentences. Use the checklist to
be sure you are writing correctly.
1. Who are you? Introduce yourself.
2. Where are you from? Write about your city, town, or country.

Checklist
Each sentence has a subject and a verb.
Each sentence can stand alone. It is an independent clause.
I capitalized the first letter of each sentence.
I capitalized proper names of people, places and companies.
I have punctuation at the end of each sentence.

Vocabulary

Check the words you know, and review the words you do not.
ClauseCapitalization

Independent clause

Punctuation

Dependent clause

Proper nameComplete sentence

PeriodFragment

Question markExclamation point15