Structural parts of a paragraph

Topic Sentence -TS

The topic sentence provides the main idea or subject of the paragraph, and further

identifies a controlling idea restricting the topic area of discussion. It is the first

sentence in the paragraph. Look at the topic sentence in the sample paragraph

Environmental pollution is having a devastating effect on mankind.

topic controlling idea

The topic of the paragraph is environmental pollution, but this topic is further limited

to a discussion of the devastating effects on mankind

SSuuppppoorrttiningg s Senetnetnecnecse (sa s(S tShe) word ‘suppor t’ indicates) support the topic by providing

points, which develop the idea with an explanation, illustration, reason etc. The two

supporting sentences, which explain the topic sentence about environmental

pollution are

• Firstly, water pollution reduces valuable supplies of fresh, clean water needed

for daily consumption

• Another devastating effect is brought about by air pollution, which turns fresh,

clean air into smoggy, unpleasant smelling air

Developing Sentences-DS

Developing sentences further develop the points in the supporting sentences by

providing more information or an example, a reason, a clarification etc. For example,

the point about water pollution is further developed in the following two developing

sentences

• Most of the pollutants, which enter the water come from industry, sewage

systems, and agriculture

• These include chemicals and harmful wastes from animals and plants

The point about air pollution is further developed in the following sentences

• The result of air pollutants is the harm it has on human health.

• For example, the gases, which are released into the atmosphere can cause

such diseases as emphysema and cancer

Thus the paragraph on environmental pollu tion has the following structure

TS Environmental pollution is having a devastating effect on

mankind. SS1 Firstly, water pollution reduces valuable supplies of

fresh, clean water needed for daily consumption. DS1.1 Most of

the pollutants, which enter the water come from industry, sewage

systems, and agriculture. DS1.2 These include chemicals and

harmful wastes from animals and plants. SS2 Another devastating

effect is brought about by air pollution, which turns fresh, clean air

into smoggy, unpleasant smelling air. DS2.1 The result of air

pollutants is the harm it has on human health. DS2.2 For example,

the gases, which are released into the atmosphere can cause such

diseases as emphysema and cancer

writing a letter 3

 Phrasal Verbs

Informal (Phrasal Verb) Formal (Single Verb)

look into                           investigate

think about                          consider

look back                          reflect

pass on                             forward

go out                                exit

go in                                 enter

get off                               alight

get on                              board

 Modal Verbs

Informal Formal

I will be very happy if you can …. I would be very happy if you could….

I want to point out …. I would like to point out ….

Can you please …. Could you please ….

If you want …. If you would like ….

If you need …. Should you require ….

Why don’t you …. You might like to ….

You should take a train. It would be better for you to take a train.

Grammar

 Active/Passive Voice

Informal (Active Voice) Formal (Passive Voice)

Unless you do something about …. Unless something is done about ….

If you don’t do something about … If something is not done about ….

I will have to take …. I will be forced to take ….

I would appreciate it if …. It would be appreciated if ….

This caused the fire to break out. The fire was caused by ….

. Instructions and Polite Requests

Informal (Direct Instruction) Formal (Indirect Request)

Please clean all the windows= I would like all the windows cleaned.

Please make a reservation in my

name

I would like a reservation made in my name

writing a letter ( formal - informal) 2

We write because we have a purpose. It is important to indicate at the beginning of a

letter what its purpose is – exactly why you are writing:

Type of Letter Purpose Statement

Giving information I am writing to advise that ….

Requesting information I am writing to request information about ….

Giving instructions I am writing to explain how to ….

Relating an event I have been asked to give details of the accident ….

Giving good news I am very happy to tell you that….

Giving bad news I regret to inform ….

Complaining I am writing to complain about ….

Describing I am writing to describe what I remember of the ….

Advising or suggesting I would like to offer some suggestions about ….

Functions

Giving information

Structures

It gives me great pleasure to be able to…

I am pleased to be able to…

I am happy to announce…

Please be advised/informed that…

I would like to inform you that…

Here is the information you required/requested/asked for.

Attached please find the information you required/requested/asked for.

Giving good news

Structures

I am delighted to be able to advise/tell/inform you that…

I am pleased to advise/tell/inform you that…

It gives me great pleasure to advise/tell/inform you that…

It gives me great pleasure to be able to advise/tell/inform you that…

I have some great/good/happy news to share with/tell you.

Giving bad news

Structures

I am sorry to say that…

I regret to advise/tell/inform you that…

Giving a reason

This is due to…

This is owing to…

This is because of…

How are letters organised in English

How are letters organised in English

Letters in English are structured in a particular way. They consist of several parts:

•  
• . The Greeting, or salutation
• . The Body
• . The Conclusion – final words to conclude the letter
• . The Closing salutation and personal signature
• Greeting
• Body
• Conclusion
• of the letter
• Closing
• salutation
• Dear ______________ ,
•  introduce yourself and say why you are writing
•  your arrival details
•  what you look like, so your relative will recognise you
• Final words to close the letter
• Regards
• Yours sincerely for a formal letter
• or Yours faithfully for a business letter

ٍEnglish language

English - the International Language

A language is the soul of its people      

English is part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It is spoken as a native language by around 377 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers in the world. Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language. Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language. English has an official or a special status in 75 countries with a total population of over 2 billion. The domination of the English language globally is undeniable. English is the language of diplomacy and international communications, business, tourism, education, science, computer technology, media and Internet. Because English was used to develop communication, technology, programming, software, etc, it dominates the web. 70% of all information stored electronically is in English. British colonialism in the 19th century and American capitalism and technological progress in the 20th century were undoubtedly the main causes for the spread of English throughout the world. The English language came to British Isles from northern Europe in the fifth century. From the fifteenth century, the British began to sail all over the world and became explorers, colonists and imperialists. They took the English language to North America, Canada and the Caribbean, to South Africa, to Australia and New Zealand, to South Asia (especially India), to the British colonies in Africa, to South East Asia and the South Pacific. The USA has played a leading role in most parts of the world for the last hundred years. At the end of the 19th century and first quarter of the 20th, it welcomed millions of European immigrants who had fled their countries ravaged by war, poverty or famine. This labor force strengthened American economy. The Hollywood film industry also attracted many foreign artists in quest of fame and fortune and the number of American films produced every year soon flooded the market. Before the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which ended the First World War between Germany and the Allies, diplomacy was conducted in French. However, President Woodrow Wilson succeeded in having the treaty in English as well. Since then, English started being used in diplomacy and gradually in economic relations and the media. The future of English as a global language will depend very largely on the political, economical, demographic and cultural trends in the world. The beginning of the 21st century is a time of global transition. According to some experts, faster economic globalization is going hand in hand with the growing use of English. More and more people are being encouraged to use English rather than their own language. On the other hand, the period of most rapid change can be expected to be an uncomfortable and at times traumatic experience for many people around the world. Hence, the oposite view, that the next 20 years or so will be a critical time for the English language and for those who depend upon it. The patterns of usage and public attitudes to English which develop during this period will have long-term effects for its future in the world. *Sources David Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 1995. English as a global language, Cambridge University Press, 1997. David Graddol The Future of English?, London The British Council, 1997

ٍEnglish spelling rules

ENGLISH SPELLING RULES
Short and Long Vowels

1. To spell a short vowel sound, only one letter is needed:
 
                 at           red            it            hot           up

2. To spell a long sound you must add a second vowel. The second may be next to the first, in the VVC pattern (boat, maid, cue, etc.) or it may be separated from the first one by a consonant in the VCV pattern (made, ride, tide, etc.). If the second vowel is separated from the first by two spaces, it does not affect the first one. This is the VCCV pattern in which the first vowel remains short. Thus, doubling a consonant can be called "protecting" a short vowel because it prevents an incoming vowel from getting close enough to the first one to change its sound from short to long: 

          maid,  made,  but  madder;            dine,  diner,  but dinner.

Spelling the Sound /k/

This sound can be spelled in any one of four ways:

1. c     2. cc     3. k        4. ck

1. The single letter, c , is the most common spelling. It may be used anywhere in a word:

cat	corn	actor	victim	direct	mica
scat	bacon	public	cactus	inflict	pecan

2. Sometimes the letter c must be doubled to cc to protect the sound of a short vowel:

stucco	baccalaureate	hiccups
Mecca	tobacco	buccaneer
occupy	raccoon	succulent

3. The letter k is substituted for c if /k/ is followed by an e, i, or y.

kin	make	sketch	poker	kind	risky
skin	token	skill	keep	liking	flaky

(Boring examples? How about kyphosis, kylix, keratosis, and dyskinesia?)

4. Similarly, the spelling ck, is substituted for cc if the following letter is an e, i, or y:

lucky	picking	rocking	finicky
blackest	mackintosh	frolicked	ducking
Kentucky	picnicking	stocking	Quebecker

5. The letters, k and ck are more than substitutes for c and cc. They are used to spell /k/ at the end of a monosyllable. The digraph, ck, ALWAYS follows a short vowel:

sack

duck

lick

stick

wreck

clock

(Forget about yak. Your student will never need it.)

The letter, k, follows any other sound:

milk	soak	make	bark
tank	peek	bike	cork
tusk	hawk	duke	perk

The Sound, /j/
The sound, /j/ is spelled in three ways: j ge and dge.

1. The letter j is usually used if the sound if followed by an a, o, or u.

just	jam	jungle	injure	major	adjacent
jog	jar	Japan	jury	job	Benjamin
adjust	jacket	jolly	jaguar	jump	jalousie

2. Since the letter g has the soft sound of /j/ when it is followed by an e, i, or y, it is usually used in this situation:

gentle	ginger	aging	algebra
Egyptologist	gem	origin	gym

2. If /j/ follows a short vowel sound, it is usually spelled with dge. This is because the letter j, is never doubled in English.

badge	ridge	dodge	partridge	gadget
judge	edge	smudge	judgement	budget

The Sound, /ch/

The sound /ch/ has two spellings: tch after a short vowel, ch anywhere else:

witch	sketch	botch	satchel
catch	hatchet	kitchen	escutcheon

Exceptions:
Which, rich, much, such, touch, bachelor, attach, sandwich, and ostrich.

The Sound, /kw/
This sound is ALWAYS spelled with the letters, qu, never anything else.

Using -le

Words ending in -le, such as little, require care. If the vowel sound is short, there must be two consonants between the vowel and the -le. Otherwise, one consonant is enough.

li tt le	ha nd le	ti ck le	a mp le
bo tt le	pu zz le	cru mb le	a ng le

bugle

able

poodle

dawdle

needle

idle

people

Odds and Ends

1. The consonants, v, j, k, w, and x are never doubled.
2. No normal English words ends with the letter v. A final /v/ is always spelled with ve, no matter what the preceding vowel sound may be:

have	give	sleeve	cove
receive	love	connive	brave

Adding Endings

There are two kinds of suffixes, those that begin with a vowel and those that begin with a consonant. As usual, the spelling problems occur with the vowels:
 

Vowel Suffixes			Consonant Suffixes
- - - age	- - -ist		- - - ness	- - - cess
- - - ant	- - - ish		- - -less	- - -ment
- - -ance	- - -ing		- - -ly	- - -ty
- - - al	- - -ar		- - -ful	- - -ry
- - -ism	- - -o		- - -hood	- - -ward
- - -able	- - -on		- - -wise
- - -an	- - -ous
- - - a	- - -or
- - -es	- - -ual
- - -ed	- - -unt
- - -er	- - -um
- - -est	- - -us
- - -y	- - -ive

1. Words that end in the letter y must have the y changed to i before adding any suffix:

body - bodily	marry - marriage
many - manifold	family -  familiar
happy - happiness	puppy - puppies
beauty - beautiful	vary - various
company - companion	fury - furious
plenty - plentiful	merry - merriment

2. In words that end in a silent e you must drop it before you add a vowel suffix. The silent e is no longer needed to make the preceding vowel long as the incoming vowel will do the trick:

ride - riding	cure - curable	use - usual	age - aging
fame - famous	force - forcing	refuse -  refusal	slice - slicing
pure - purity	ice - icicle	nose - nosy	convince - convincing
globe - global	race - racist	pole - polar	offense - offensive

 3. Words that end in an accented short or modified vowel sound must have the final consonant doubled to protect that sound when you add a vowel suffix:

Quebec - Quebecker	remit - remittance	confer - conferring	refer - referred
upset - upsetting	shellac - shellacking	occur - occurred	concur- concurrent

Note that this doubling is not done if the accent is not on the last syllable. If the word ends in a schwa, there is no need to "protect" it.

open - opening	organ - organize
focus - focused	refer - referee

4. Normally you drop a silent e before adding a vowel suffix. However, if the word ends in -ce or -ge and the incoming vowel is an a, o, or u, you cannot cavalierly toss out that silent e. It is not useless: it is keeping its left-hand letter soft, and your a, o, or u will not do that. Thus:

manage - manageable	peace - peaceable
courage - courageous	revenge - vengeance
surge - surgeon	change - changeable
notice - noticeable	outrage - outrageous

Gorgeous George bludgeoned a pigeon noticeably! Tsk.

5. Adding consonant suffixes is easy. You just add them. (Of course you must change a final y to i before you add any suffix.)

peace - peaceful	harm - harmless	age - ageless
pity - pitiful	child - childhood	rifle - riflery

/sh/

When this sound occurs before a vowel suffix, it is spelled ti, si, or ci.

partial	cautious	patient	vacation
special	deficient	suspicion	suction
inertia	delicious	ratio	pension
musician	physician	optician	quotient
electrician	nutrition	statistician	expulsion

/ee/ before a vowel suffix

When /ee/ precedes a vowel suffix, it is usually spelled with the letter i:

Indian	obvious	medium
ingredient	zodiac	material

Spelling Determined by Word Meaning

1. Mist and missed sound alike, as do band and banned. To determine the spelling, remember that -ed is a past-tense tending.

a.                     The mist drifted into the harbor.

b.                     I nearly missed my bus.

c.                      The movie was banned in Boston.

d.                     The band played on.

2. The endings of dentist and finest sound alike. Deciding which one to use can be tricky. One rule helps but doesn't cover all cases:

a.                     --ist is a suffix meaning someone who does something:
   artist    -   machinist    -   druggist

b.                     --est is the ending used on superlative adjectives:
   finest    -   sweetest    -   longest

3. The sounds at the end of musician and condition sound alike. but....

a.                     cian always means a person, where...

b.                     tion or sion are never used for people.

4. How do you tell whether to use tion or sion?

a.                     If the root word ends in /t/, use -tion: complete, completion

b.                     If the root word ends in /s/ or /d/, use sion: extend, extension
suppress, suppression

c.                      If the sound of the last syllable is the "heavy" sound of /zhun/ rather than the light sound, /shun/, use s: confusion, vision, adhesion

Exception: The ending, --mit becomes -mission:

permit - permission	omit - omission
submit - submission	commit - commission

The Hiss

1. The letter s between vowels sounds like a z:

nose	result	noise
present	partisan	tease
preside	resound	reserve

2. The light "hissy" sound is spelled with either ss or ce. Predictably, ss, like any proper doubled consonant, follows accented short vowels. Soft c is used anywhere else. (A soft c is one that is followed by e, i, or y).

notice	reticent	massive	bicycle
recent	gossip	russet	rejoice
essence	vessel	discuss	pass

3. The plural ending is always spelled with a single letter s unless you can hear a new syllable on the plural word. In that case, use -es:

loss, losses	bank, banks	twitch, twitches	tree, trees
box, boxes	list, lists	judge, judges

No compendium of spelling rules would be complete with the most important rule of all:
WHEN IN DOUBT, ASK (or look it up)

But ask first - it's quicker.

talking with God

...

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with God.

خیال میکردم که در کنار ساحل با خدا قدم می زنم

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

در میان آسمان تصویری از زندگیم جلوه گر شد

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand;

در هر قسمت دو جای پا بر روی شن ها دیدم

One belonging to me, and the other to God.

یکی متعلق به من و دیگری به خدا

When the last scene of my life flashed before me.

وقتی آخرین صحنه زندگیم نمایان شد

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

بازگشتم و به جای پای روی شن ها نگریستم

I noticed that many times along the path of my life there was only one set of foot prints.

دیدم که چندین زمان در طول زندگانیم یک جای پا بیشتر نیست

I also noticed that it happened at very lowest and saddest times in my life.

همچنین دریافتم که این در سخت ترین و غمناک ترین لحظات زندگیم اتفاق افتاده است

This really bothered me so I questioned God about it.

این موضوع مرا براستی میرنجاند پس برای رفع ابهامم از خدا سوال کردم.

"God, you said that once I decided to follow you. You'd walk with me all the way."

خداوندا فرمودی که اگر به تو ایمان بیاورم، هیچ گاه مرا تنها نخواهی گذاشت

But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprint.

اما دیدم که در سخت ترین لحظات زندگیم فقط یک جای پا بیشتر نیست

I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.

نمیدانم چرا در زمانی که بیشترین نیاز را به تو داشتم، تنهایم گذاشتی

God replied, "My precious, precious child"

خدا فرمود: فرزند عزیزم

I love you, and I would never leave you.

تو را دوست دارم و هرگز تنهایت نمی گذارم

During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints

اگر در مواقع سختی و رنج فقط یک جای پا می بینی

It was then that I carried you.

در آن لحظات تو را بدوش کشیدم

gift

آنچه که هستی هدیه خداوند به توست و آنچه که می شوی هدیه تو به خداوند ، پس بی نظیر باش .

The person that you are, is gods gift to you, and the one you will be is your Gift to god, so be perfect and excellent.