Very often, the final form of work in testing English is writing an essay. Many students do not like him, because their level of language proficiency is not high enough. The reason lies in the fact that to write a coherent text you need to have a good command of the grammatical structure of the English sentence and have a rich supply of active vocabulary. But actually writing an essay in English is not so difficult, the main thing is to understand where to start.
What is an essay?
It is a mistake to suppose that the word "essay" came to us from the English language. In fact, it has French roots, but Francis Bacon, the world-famous philosopher and politician , brought this word to English culture.
In England, this genre became a part of journalism and gained immense popularity in the 18-19 centuries. An essay is a short prosaic text that expresses a person’s subjective attitude to what is happening. The sample essay in English contains an introduction, a main part, a conclusion.
Signs
Any genre has a concrete sample in its structure, an essay on the English language is no exception. A spelling pattern is formed on the basis of some features. With the help of them, you can easily determine what is in front of you is nothing but this genre of literature. Knowing the characteristics of a genre will also help to better understand its structure and determine which components must be present in this type of composition. Let's look at the elements that distinguish essays from other genres of literature:
- Narrow focus. Unlike other genres of literature, this type of work cannot illuminate several problems. On the contrary, this work is aimed at revealing one issue, but very deeply.
- Subjectivity. This genre is not intended to show how everyone relates to the problem, it is intended to show the opinion of one person, to reveal the attitude of not the society, but the individual.
- The essay does not evaluate the information that the author gives us, but its inner qualities , the ability to think logically, its worldview, and all that distinguishes it from other people.
What types of essays exist in English?
The general purpose of writing an essay in English is to express your thoughts about a phenomenon, process, or object. But you can express your thought in different ways: find the positive and negative sides of objects, look for the pros and cons. Therefore, in the English language there are several types of essays:
- Opinion, or Opinion Essay - in it you need to express your thoughts about a specific question. The problem is that when writing this type of essay, it is important to be able to find different approaches to the problem, look at it from different angles. In this essay you can’t strictly defend your position.
- Pros and Cons, or For and against essays. The kind of essay that makes a person look at an object from two sides. There is nothing absolutely perfect or absolutely vicious. Therefore, you need to be able to find both good and bad sides in any matter. You need to learn very well how to write this type of essay in English, the exam involves writing it.
- Suggesting solutions to problem. The main problems are always global negative phenomena in the environment and society. By looking comprehensively at a specific question, the student must offer a solution.
How many parts is the essay divided into?
Since school, we know that usually a text consists of several parts: an introduction, the body of the text, and conclusions. An essay has the same structure, but unlike a simple narrative, it should have more concise information, while at the same time containing as many facts and subjective arguments as possible. The entire content of the work is a sequential chain of statements and evidence to them. Logic is the main quality that will help the child write an essay in English. The exam tests not only knowledge, but also the ability to think.
Introduction
Introduction is an important component in the narrative structure. It is in this part that the author outlines the problem that he sets himself, tries to convey to the reader how he relates to the issue raised in the main part. Also in the introduction, he forms a list of the main issues and facts raised. The introduction should be as concise as possible and contain key elements of the problem. In addition, the examiner in this case develops a psychological portrait of the subject in the mind. An essay in English reveals a person’s way of thinking.
Main part
It should contain all your thoughts about the question asked. The main part of the text consists of a chain of "argument - proof." You cannot talk about any phenomena or objects if you cannot prove them. In order to properly structure and logically present information, it is imperative to divide the text into paragraphs. It should be said that when writing the arguments in the main part will represent two opposites. And only with the correct structuring of the text can you write an essay in English well.
Conclusion
The conclusion is what conclusions were drawn when considering this issue. It is in this part that we need to summarize all the results of our reasoning. Write the general provisions that were previously enshrined in the introduction and explained in the main part. Use a bunch of words to help indicate that this is the end of the essay, and you summarize everything you wrote earlier. As you can see, the structure of the essay in the English language must be taken into account when writing.
What is the plan to write?
Adhering to a specific writing plan, it will be easier for the student to concentrate and not be nervous. In fact, any essay is a text formed according to some logical rules. It is important to be able to use both deductive (analysis of information from general to particular) and inductive (from particular to general) logical reasoning. If the work is based on logic, then when writing an essay in English, a plan is an important part of preparation. The following is a spelling algorithm:
- Ponder the question that needs to be covered in the essay.
- Determine how you feel about this issue (from this form an introduction).
- Highlight the facts that perfectly determine the problem posed to you.
- Argument your facts with concrete arguments
- Select a separate paragraph for each fact and argument to it to structure the text.
- Indicate all the most significant points of the essay in the conclusion.
Tips
In order to easily and accurately write an essay, we have prepared several recommendations. Adhering to them, you can not only learn to write essays in English well, but also understand how to handle the text:
- The topics of essays in English are very diverse, so develop your knowledge by reading books and encyclopedias.
- Learn to understand English grammar and try to memorize as much vocabulary as possible. The incorrect sentence structure and low vocabulary are immediately visible, and this means that you do not know the language.
- Always keep a draft with you, however, you need to be able to use it wisely. Do not try to write the whole essay there first, and then rewrite it in clean paper. On the contrary, sketch in a draft essay on an English plan of writing, the most important facts and arguments for them.
- Do not forget that the structure of the essay plays a very important role. An unstructured text looks ugly, and most importantly - it confuses one’s thoughts and does not allow to put information on the shelves.
- The style of this genre is formal, but if it’s hard for you to write in the official language, you can choose semi-formal, but in no case use slang forms of communication.
- Laconicism is not always a bad quality, in an essay it is very important to be able to choose the main information and make the text as informative and cumbersome as possible.
- Always consider that you need to not only write the text, but also check it. Calculate the optimal amount of time that you need to compose, taking into account re-reading.
- Any fact that you cover should be reasoned and logically justified.
- Learn to express your thoughts correctly. Never give facts about which you know nothing or know very little. Be sure that the words you wrote are correct.
- Learn the words-bundles, which are used to connect parts of the text and smooth transition through them. Remember that clichés in an English essay are a frequent occurrence (We cannot ignore the fact that ..., One must admit that ..., In addition to ..., According to some experts).
- Be gentle in your beliefs. Since the essay shows a subjective perception of the proposed problem, never emphasize your full truth, because other people have their own opinion on this matter, and it may not coincide with yours. Also do not touch slippery topics, including politics, religion, etc.
Introductory phrases: what are they and how can they help
An essay in English contains standard word usage that helps the author formulate his thoughts, emphasize the importance of the utterance or objectivity in his assessments. These are called introductory phrases. With their help, the essay becomes more structured and vibrant. For each part of the statement there is a huge number of introductory phrases. For example, for introduction, phrases that attract the attention of the reader (Many people think ... but others do not agree) are used, in the main part they are used comparison phrases (From the other hand), in conclusion, phrases that indicate the drawing up of conclusions will be relevant (To sum up). Be sure to use the above options, they help to transparently express thoughts.
Most common mistakes
Writing an essay in English does not do without flaws, and this fact is very important to consider, because whoever is warned is armed.
Carefully study the list of the most common errors, which will be presented below, and draw conclusions for yourself: look at which mistakes you don’t make, and which ones you need to work on. So you can find out your weaknesses and try to fix them. The most common errors are:
- The boring beginning of the story. From the very first lines it is very important to interest the tester, to show that he is reading your essay not because he just needs to evaluate it, but because he will find information that is useful to himself.
- Not personally verified work by you. Only by re-reading your text, you can find flaws and missing elements in it. When a person rereads what is written, he perceives it holistically. Remember to take the time to check your essay.
- The composition is based on unfounded facts. Better to do less, but better. Choose only those facts that you can correctly substantiate.
- The question is not fully disclosed. Despite the fact that the topics of the essay in the English language are varied ("Animals in the zoo. How do you feel about this", "Cloning. Pros and cons", "Computer games. Pros and cons), learn to fully disclose your position.
“ You are trying to be who you are not.” Always write essays from the heart and say only what you think. Only then will you be perceived as a person.