Sat - MC Grawhill part 48 potx

CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 465Practice Essay 1 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below.. How well you write is m

Trang 1

What a Good Conclusion Does Stronger:

Bullies are often people who don’t like them-selves Those who have to pick on the weak can’t really feel good about themselves.

Lesson 12: Finish with a Bang

Your conclusion should do one of the following:

• Make a broader connection to your thesis.

Discuss an implication of your thesis by

con-necting it to your own life, society at large, a

particular problem, the future, etc

• Offer a solution If your essay describes a

problem, offer some ideas of how to ﬁx it

• Reﬁne or clarify your thesis Address

objec-tions to your point of view, or clarify

impor-tant points

A conclusion provides closure to the essay and

should leave the reader with something to think

about A conclusion should not be just a “recap”

of your essay Don’t merely restate your thesis

in different words A good conclusion must

pre-sent a new idea Read good essays in magazines

like the New Yorker and the Atlantic Monthly,

and in the New York Times Op-Ed page, and you

will see that good writers never say “In

conclu-sion, ” or “As I have proven in this essay, ”

So you shouldn’t say that, either

Many writers are distractingly self-conscious

They say things like It is my opinion that drugs

are dangerous instead of Drugs are dangerous.

All competent readers know that your essay

pre-sents your opinion You don’t need to tell them

that you’re giving your opinion; just give it

Similarly, don’t tell your readers that you are concluding your essay Just conclude Don’t

say In conclusion, or As my examples clearly prove .

Don’t Just Summarize

Don’t Tell Us What You’re Doing—

Just Do It

Weak and self-conscious:

I believe that bullies are often people who

don’t like themselves It’s just my opinion, of

course, but those who have to pick on the

weak can’t really feel good about themselves,

as I can demonstrate with a few examples.

Example:

As I said in the beginning, every cloud has a silver lining, and this has been shown in this essay with the examples of some wars and individual diseases Both of these are bad things overall which some-times can have good things come out of them This shows that .

This conclusion seems to be saying: “Well, I guess it’s time for the conclusion In case you weren’t paying attention, here’s what I just ﬁnished saying.” This is not what a conclusion should do; it should present new and interesting thoughts connected to the the-sis This conclusion merely repeats the thesis and doesn’t give the readers anything new to think about

In fact, it insults the readers by assuming that they can’t remember what they just read Compare it to this revision:

Of course, wars are among the most tragic of all human events If wars can have beneﬁcial out-comes, then surely we can see the good in lesser tragedies Perhaps if we could take such a positive perspective on our everyday problems, we would live happier lives.

This conclusion is more effective because it extends the thesis to a wider sphere, offers a suggestion, and leaves the readers thinking without insulting them

Trang 2

CHAPTER 12 / WRITING A GREAT ESSAY 461

Practice 12: Finish with a Bang

Conclusion Review

1 What are the three things that a good conclusion can do?

2 What does it mean for your writing to be self-conscious?

Self-Consciousness Sweeping Practice

Rewrite the following sentences to make them less self-conscious

3 I think that classes should not start until 9:00 am, because I believe students need more rest than they are getting.

4 As I have shown with these examples, there are many factors to consider when choosing a college.

5 It is my opinion that more money should be spent, in my school and schools like it, on music programs.

6 These examples abundantly demonstrate that goals are important in life, as I said earlier.

Check your answers with the answer key at the end of the chapter

Trang 3

Practice 1

1 It means that you respond with a thoughtful and

interesting thesis and provide relevant, speciﬁc

ex-amples and clear, logical explanations

2 It means that you use paragraphs to develop,

sup-port, and explain your thesis, and that you

con-clude effectively

3 It means that you avoid needless jargon,

wordi-ness, cliché, or abstraction, and deﬁne terms as

necessary

4 It means that you vary your sentence structure

ap-propriately, are concise, and choose your words

wisely

5 Four or ﬁve paragraphs

Practice 6

1 A “top-down” essay states the thesis at the

begin-ning, and a “bottom-up” essay states it near the

end of the essay

2 Four brief sentences: the thesis, the topic sentence

of paragraph 2, the topic sentence of paragraph 3,

and the concluding idea

Practice 7

1 We knew that the game would be hard fought.

However, we never thought it would last 8 hours

and 20 innings.

2 There were thousands of visitors in town for the

game Therefore, it was almost impossible to ﬁnd a

hotel room.

3 The theory of evolution has had a profound effect on

scientiﬁc thought Furthermore, it has inﬂuenced

many artists and writers.

4 We knew that punishing the culprits would do no

good Therefore, we took no action against them.

5 Perfect games are rare In fact, in the last two years,

only one was bowled in the entire state.

6 There were several reasons for the delay First, the

bus driver had the wrong directions.

Practice 8

1 Competition encourages excellence.

2 Our managers consider all ideas from our employees, and use the best ones.

3 People are increasingly concerned that the govern-ment is wasting money.

4 When we focus exclusively on personal moral responsibility, we ignore the importance of social institutions.

Practice 9

1 An effective manager must rely on sound manage-ment principles as well as past experience.

2 Parents and students should have input into the new testing plan.

3 Many cleaning substances should not be combined, because violent reactions could result.

4 Even if every citizen contributed to the effort, it would still take several years to complete.

5 The food and blankets dropped for the refugees was far from sufﬁcient to ward off the hunger and cold.

6 We watched the jet until it disappeared.

7 Today, too many people depend on television as their exclusive source of information.

8 Few people know that such gambling violates fed-eral law.

9 Because corporations try to maximize proﬁt, they rarely focus on environmental needs.

10 If your boss opposes your proposal at the meeting, consider talking to her about it.

11 Too few people realize that economic strength often reﬂects the hopes of consumers.

Chapter 12 Answer Key

Trang 4

CHAPTER 12 / WRITING A GREAT ESSAY 463

Practice 10

1 Many people today think that young people are

lazy.

2 They say that they spend too much time playing

video games or watching MTV.

3 They are wrong.

4 In fact, many of my friends are choosing careers

that help others rather than make themselves rich.

5 This action violates the company’s own contract.

6 The earthquake devastated the village.

7 I failed the test because I hadn’t studied.

8 The critics complained that the movie was dull and

hackneyed.

9 The army maneuvered boldly under the cover of

night.

10 A dozen chairs ﬁlled the hallway outside the ofﬁce.

Practice 11

1 Many neoconservatives love to claim that lowering

taxes actually raises government revenue They are

wrong It’s not that simple In fact, the

govern-ment’s tax revenue depends on many things other

than the tax rate.

2 My mother sat me down and explained to me how

important it is to spend money wisely I got the message I began keeping better track of my

ac-counts and became a wiser consumer.

3 David scrutinized his test results.

4 The girls in the car babbled for hours.

5 The coach harangued us about our lack of effort in

the ﬁrst half.

6 When a doctor prescribes something for you, follow the directions carefully.

7 Ordinary people hate liars, but noblemen love them.

Practice 12

1 Make a broader connection to the thesis; offer a solution; reﬁne or clarify the thesis

2 It means that you are telling your reader that you are doing something rather than simply doing it

3 Classes should not start until 9:00 am, because stu-dents need more rest than they are getting.

4 There are many factors to consider when choosing

a college.

5 More money should be spent on school music programs.

6 Goals are important in life.

Chapter 12 Answer Key

Trang 5

ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE

20 Practice SAT Essay Assignments

CHAPTER 13

✓

464

Trang 6

CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 465

Practice Essay 1

Time—25 minutes

Directions for Writing the Essay

Plan and write an essay that answers the question below Do NOT write on another topic An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0

Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex-plain your ideas, use speciﬁc and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs

Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet You will have enough space

if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly

You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay

Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques-tion posed in the assignment

Without a clear goal to focus our energy and drive us to grow, we cease to be truly alive

We are inert particles ﬂoating on the sea of life This is true of not only ourselves, but our

institutions—our families, our corporations, and our societies The moment we cease to

grow, we begin to die

Assignment: Is growth necessary to a happy and productive life? Write an essay in which you

answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue You may discuss per-sonal or institutional growth Support your position logically with examples from litera-ture, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience

or observation

Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper

For more instruction and practice on the SAT Essay, visit our Online Practice Plus at www.MHPracticePlus.com/SATessay.

Trang 7

Our leaders love to tell us that only victory will do, as if they are imparting great wisdom

They seek only to defeat the enemy, to achieve the goal Yet many times a loss, particularly

one that is hard fought, is more valuable than victory We cannot live a life full of only

victories, nor should we The quality of our lives depends as much on how we manage our

losses as on how we achieve our victories

Assignment: Can a loss ever be more valuable than a victory? Write an essay in which you answer

this question and discuss your point of view on this issue Support your position logi-cally with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation

Trang 8

Adventure seekers who merely crave the mitigating rush of adrenaline that accompanies

risky feats do not demonstrate true courage Courage is not fearlessness but the willingness

to face our unmitigated fears and vulnerabilities, particularly those fears that make us think

less of ourselves

Assignment: Does true courage always require putting something that is very important to us

at risk? Write an essay in which you answer this question and explain the reasons for

your choice You may choose an example from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation

Trang 9

Communicating technology was supposed to turn the world into a “global village,”

en-hancing our relationships with others and our understanding of other cultures Yet I fear

it has rendered us more polarized and less articulate Instant communication allows us to

proclaim what is on our minds before we’ve analyzed it, substantiated it, or rendered it

coherent, let alone eloquent

Assignment: Do modern means of communication make our society better or worse? Write an

essay in which you answer this question and explain your point of view on this issue Support your position logically with examples from your reading, current events, or your experience or observation

Trang 10

Being truly human as a member of a society means seeing injustice and working to ﬁx

it The human mind is endowed with not only the ability to perceive the world and act

in-stinctively, but to visualize a better future and endeavor to realize it

Assignment: What is one great injustice in the world, and how should it be addressed? Write an

essay in which you answer this question and explain the reasons for your choice You may draw inspiration and support from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation

Định dạng
Số trang	10
Dung lượng	155,79 KB