英语写作unit1

英语写作I

English Composition I

About the lecturer:

Jin Ying,

QQ: 804049661;

Phone: 618196;

Office: Sino-American Education Project Office

2013.9 Requirements

➢no cell phone in class

whatever the purpose is; use other tools to search the new words

➢no plagiarism

stealing of thoughts; reference/ 天下文章一大抄

➢note taking

take notes, but not all, listening is important;

a loose-leaf notebook or a folder to include all the homework and learning materials (A4).

➢1 journal/ week (W6-15)

Times New Roman; Size 10, 1.5 space, original margin, A4, 1 page (roughly 250 words)

P15 keeping a journal

Assessment

▪1. Attendance 10%

▪2. Performance 10%

➢Preview and review the textbook or ppt to understand the main points;

➢Listen attentively and answer the questions raised by the teacher;

➢Do the related exercises out of class

➢…

▪3. Portfolio 30%

➢10 journals

➢1 essay

➢A certain number of reader response logs

➢Quizzes/ Exercises

▪4. Final exam 50%

Unit 1 The Correct Word

▪Unit objectives:

➢recognize multiple meanings a word may have, i.e. denotative and connotative meanings, affective and collocative meanings;

➢identify false friends in English and learn to choose the correct word for an idea;

➢learn to avoid making errors in subject-verb agreement.

Denotation vs. Connotation

▪Suppose you are going to write about a respectable teacher whose body size is above the average. Choose the one you would use from the sentences below:

➢He/ She is plump.

➢He/ She is portly.

➢He/ She is fat.

▪Then if it is an amiable middle-aged female doorkeeper?

▪Think it over first:

▪肥嘟嘟的/ 肉肉的/ 富态/ 丰满/ 肥头大耳/ 婴儿肥/ 膀大腰圆/ 心宽体胖/ 膘肥体壮/ 胖乎乎/ 高大威猛

▪Plump: usu. woman, a pleasant overtone, a pleasing fullness of figure, euphemisms for slightly fat

▪Portly: dignified, imposing

▪Fat: no pleasant overtone, general word

▪Conclusion:

▪Fat, portly and plum p do not just mean overweight; they also suggest whether it is pleasant or unpleasant.

▪We call the suggested meaning of a word its connotation.

▪Denotation, on the other hand, refers to the literal and primary meaning of a word- the definition you find in a dictionary.

▪Some more examples:

▪Handout

Attitude

▪See if you can detect in the following sentences how the writer’s a ttitude changes from sentence to sentence:

➢What a slim girl she is!

➢How thin the girl is!

➢The girl is so skinny!

▪All the sentences above state the fact that the girl has a small size but are different in the writer’s attitude.

▪In all kinds of writing, the selection of a word often reveals how you feel about your subject, whether you are pleased, angry, critical or admiring.