Decisions

1. Tense (Dominant)

Past: Present:

telling a story describing past occurrences, events, conditions giving information, relating facts describing regular occurrences making comments, giving opinions, drawing conclusions

Present progressive/continuous:

describing action in progress (now)

2. Vocabulary

Choice of words depends on:

audience (Who are you writing to?)

self (What are you comfortable with?)

appropriateness (What are the best words to express your ideas?)

3. Sentence structure

Simple Compound Complex

S V (O) S + V, and S + V Extra Word S V, S + V

John read a book. John read a book, and Mary wrote a letter. While John read a book, Mary wrote a letter.

4. Paragraph/Essay organization

Time order (chronological)

Spatial order

Order of importance

Steps

Point: Example

Topic: Support

5. Your decisions depend on:

A. Purpose

Why are you writing this?

to inform

to tell a story

to persuade

to instruct

to entertain

B. Audience

Whom are you writing to?

children

experts

your peers

educated people

laborers

the general public

REMEMBER:

You control the language you use.

It does not control you.