Writing tips, tricks and pitfalls.

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

Writing test preparation

Test: Tomorrow

Lesson goals

- At the end of the lesson you are aware of some pitfalls that can cost you points on the writing test.

- At the end of the lesson you know what to do and not do on the writing test.

- At the end of the lesson we know the difference between all the past tenses and how to use them.

First off: Grammar

A review is most often written in the past tenses. 

Past simple

Used to express:

1. A finished action in the past.

I brushed my teeth this morning.

2. A past situation or habit.

We used to live in a smal house.

Every day I walked for miles on the beach with my dog. 

Past simple form:

Same for all people.

Difference between regular and irregular:

Regular: walked, played, stopped, liked, shouted, talked.

Past continuous use

Used to express:

1. activities in progress in the past.

At seven o'clock I was having breakfast.

2. descriptions of things in the past.

She was wearing a blue sweater.

3. something that got interrupted.

I was having a shower when the phone rang.

4. an incomplete activity.

I was trying to finish that assignment yesterday.

Past continuous form

was / were + verb + ing.

Was: I, she, he, it.

Were: they, you, we

I was learning to speak Chinese.

They were doing the dishes when mom got home. 

Past perfect use

Used to show that something happened before something else.

Example: 

John had gone out when I arrived in the office.

I had saved my document before the computer crashed.

When they arrived we had already started cooking.

He was very tired because he hadn't slept well.

Making the past perfect

Had + voltooid deelwoord

Example: She had given

She hadn't asked.

Had they arrived?

Hadn't you finished?

On to some basic grammar tips:

1. Make sure you always end your sentences with a period. 
   
2. Always start your sentences with a capital letter. 
3. The word "I" is always with a capital. 
   
4. Pay attention to when you use an and a in a sentence. 
   
5. It's a sunny day:  is a short version of it is and its is to describe possession. Those aren't interchangeable.
6. Sentence order: Who does what, where, when. 

And some basic spelling tips:

6. Their and they're are two different words. Those aren't interchangable either. Same goes for your and you're. 

7.  To and too. To is a preposition. I am going to do this... Too is used as another word for also or as well. 

8. Then and than. You use then when talking about a time: I am going to go home and then I am going to take a shower. Than is only for comparisons: She is taller than him.

On the test...

You will be asked to write a review on the book "face". You will have to write around 100 words.

You will be given an assignment to help you figure out what to write about. Make sure you follow that assignment.

Let's practice.

On the google classroom you will find an assignment for a review on "Paddington".

What do you do when you're done? 

You swap your work with someone else that is already done. Go through their work to see if you can discover some of the common mistakes we just talked about or any other grammar / spelling or misc. mistakes. Mark them with a pencil.