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BEFORE embarking on today’s article, read some revision tips. When you revise, try revising little and often rather than in long sessions. Read the hints and tips throughout the book to remind you of important points. Revise with a friend. You can encourage and learn from each other.
During the test, read the question, then read it again. If you get stuck, do not linger on the same question — move on. You can come back to it later. Never leave a multiple-choice question. Make an educated guess if you really cannot work out the answer.
Check to see how many marks a question is worth. Have you earned those marks with your answer? Check your answers after each question. Does your answer look correct? We have focused a lot on writing in the past but there is still more to learn on the different types like recount, explanation, discussion and persuasion to mention but a few.
Recount tells you about something that has already happened. It may include personal opinions and comments. Where might you read an example of this? You might get examples of this from letters, diaries, newspapers, biographies, autobiographies and magazines.
Biographies and autobiographies are synonyms referring to profiles memoirs, accounts or life stories or life history. Instructions and procedures. Though taken for granted by many people — instructions and procedures tell you how to do something in a step-by-step way. You can get examples from recipes, directions, how to make or repair something.
A non-chronological report gives you facts about a topic or subject. You can find these in encyclopaedias, information books, posters, leaflets and travel guides. Explanation tells you how or why something happens or works. You can read an example from leaflets, posters, manuals, letters, diagrams and information books.
Discussion gives you information both for and against a topic. You read more on this on newspaper articles, letters, magazines, information leaflets, posters and speeches. Persuasion tries to influence how you think about someone or something. This can be read from advertisements, articles, leaflets, spam emails, letters.
Non-fiction writing tasks do not always tell you what text type you need to write. They might just say, “Write an information text . . .’ So, it is important that you think carefully about the purpose and audience you are writing for. This will help you know what type of text to write.
Use the correct structure and language features. Organise your writing into paragraphs. Use connectives thoughtfully. Vary the length and type of your sentences. Try to be adventurous with your choice of words.
At O’ level, make sure your writing is lively and thoughtful. You can develop your ideas and organise them according to the purpose of your writing. You can make adventurous choices of vocabulary and use words for effect. You can use complex sentences and your spelling and punctuation is usually accurate.
Decide what the purpose of the writing is. This is the clue to which text type to write. For example, write a letter describing a weekend away . . . Straight away, this tells you the text should be a recount. Write a letter to persuade someone to . . . Straight-away, this tells you to write a persuasive text. Decide who the audience is. This is the clue to what sort of language to include. For example, write a letter to your friend . . . This tells you to use informal language because you know the audience well. Write a report to the local museum on . . . This tells you to use polite, formal language because you do not know exactly who will be reading it.
Always read the question at least twice. Once you have decided on the purpose and audience, plan, write and check your writing. Recount is defined as a piece of writing that gives information about something that has happened in the past. A recount can include personal feelings and comments. Its purpose is to retell an event or events. Plan for recount goes as follows: introduction — when it happened, where it happened and who was involved. Events — what happened in chronological (time) order. Then you give a summary as to why it happened and how someone felt about it.
Think about organising your writing into three paragraphs. Language features — Events in a recount have already happened, so use verbs in the past tense. For example, we drove home. (not we drive home. Use connectives to link events, for example, First, we wrote the English Language examination. Next we went for break. Later we had a debating session.
If you are in the recount, use the First Person (I, we, us). For example: We saw five white goats. If you are writing about someone else, use the Third Person (he, she, they), for example, they left town at 6 O’clock. Typical style: Recounts can be informal when you know the audience, for example, a personal diary or a letter to a friend. They can be formal when the audience is unknown, for example, a newspaper article, a biography or an autobiography.
Next time we will talk about time connectives.
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Bongani Ndlovu