Composition-Writing

Today, I went through with the children the common mistakes in composition-writing.

Some key points are:

1) The beginning must be relevant to the story ie. don't start the story with a beautiful weather and have it followed by sentences like 'Mary is a playful girl'.
Weather+character description = unusual expression.
Either one of the above can be the beginning. Not both.

2) Paragraph your story.
If the scenarios take place at different places, or if the course of actions changes drastically, or if the paragraph is a long one, break it up.
Remember: it's easier for your reader to read your story if it's in smaller chunks.

3) Elaborate.
Always describe the 'how'.
eg. 1) She was over-confident.
Describe how she was over-confident.
eg. 2) She was punished.
Describe the punishment.

4) Describe.
It is not sufficient to simply describe the pictures or the events. You need to give life to the characters by describing how they feel for each event
Eg. He felt ashamed of what he had done and decided to apologise to his friends. ('The Selfish Boy')

Use adjectives to describe the characters.
Eg. She stared in horror with her big, round eyes. ('An Accident')

Use adverbs to describe the actions.
Eg. Her classmates were studying diligently. ('The Playful Girl')

5) Use better vocabulary
Instead of scolded, use 'reprimanded'.
Instead of got home, use 'reached home'.
Instead of got back, use 'received' / 'retrieved'.
Instead of told, use 'informed'.
Instead of said, use 'replied', 'answered', 'shouted', 'screamed' etc.
Instead of cried, use 'wept'.
Instead of caught, use 'apprehended'.
Instead of scared, use 'worried', 'anxious', 'nervous' or 'afraid'.
Instead of happy, use 'thrilled', 'delighted' etc.

6) Write the proper form of the word.
Eg. exam should be written as 'examination'.
Don't use words such as CA1, CA2, SA1 and SA2.
If you mean to say English CA1, simply write 'English test'.

7) Give names to the characters.
Eg. teacher - Mr Tan

8) Don't give unusual names eg. Marry, Josepher.

9) Don't go into the nitty-gritty.
Eg. 1) She scored 40/100.
You may write 'She failed her test badly.'
Eg. 2) Her test was from 7.30 am to 8.45 am.
You may write 'She would have the test in the morning.'

10) Don't write in numbers if they are one- or two-word numbers.
Eg. 1) 1 page should be 'one page'.
Eg. 2) 100 should be 'one hundred'.

11) Always write in past tense (except for the flashback beginning).

12) After writing, read your own composition as if you are a new reader and:
- check for spelling and grammatical mistakes eg. are all the verbs in past tense?
- see if you would understand what you mean for each sentence or word.

Reading your own composition is as important as writing it. Most people, including famous authors, do not publish their first piece of writing. They do many self-corrections or editing on their own writing before they publish it.

Beginnings of a story
I've given the children a list on ways to begin a story. These are the few methods I've taught the children as starters of a story:

1) Sound
2) Flashback (Reminder from the present)
3) Setting/Weather

Homework for the week:
i) Composition 'An Accident'
ii) Composition 'Lost in a Shopping Centre'

The two tasks are meant to allow children to have more practices on composition-writing as the first day of school is also their Paper One Examination. I've gone through a model composition on another 'accident' with them for more helping words, and to show them how a good piece of writing looks like.

All the best, children!