Friday 9 September 2011

Monday 5 September 2011

Topic and Main Ideas

The topic is sometimes referred to as the subject. It may be about pollution, sex, drugs, or crime.

The Main Idea is different from the topic even though they are related.
The main idea is the "key concept" being expressed. It is the focus of the passage or work you are reading. For example, is the article just about crime or is it explaining that crime affects the very core of tourism?
So as you can see the topic is broad, but the main idea gears into the essence or the essential meaning of the passage.

Now turn to page 320 of A Comprehensive English Course and examine Activity 1.
What is the main idea?
What are the supporting details?

Click on Comments. Post your responses.

Class 1: Recap of Basics

Language Register: The passage can either be written in the Formal Standard English (not bombarded with contractions, free of slang, colloquialism) or Informal Standard English (usually casual or intimate; the opposite of the formal register).


What do we mean by Audience?
The audience is whom the writer or author is targeting. Who is the author targeting in the 2010 past paper "Dealing with Irrational Anger" or the "Social Networks" article?


Four types of discourse or rhetorical modes of discourse
1) Exposition   2) Argument    3) Description  4) Narration

Purpose of the types of discourse or the author
Before you determine the purpose you need to identify the discourse type. Is it exposition, argument, description or narration?

EXPOSITION: to explain or inform. (Writing in English, pages 77-78)

ARGUMENT:  to convince or persuade the reader. (pages 78-79)

DESCRIPTION:  to convey to the audience the sense of what a thing (a person, a scene, a feeling) looks like, sounds like, feels like, smells like or tastes like. (pages 74-75)

NARRATION: to relate to a reader a sequence of events as they happened, or a sequence of acts as they should be performed. (pages 75-76)

Sometimes writers combine the discourse types. Read more in Writing in English (page 80).

What is Text Structure?
Text structure is also known as text patterns. The expository passage can utilize one or more of the following : a) Cause and effect (causal analysis) b) comparison and contrast c) problem solving or problem solution d) description e) sequence.