Advanced Writing with English in Use

Openings (lirst pa r agraph)

AIt\\'''L~atsome time ne arth eendof the '60sthatthe

American s stopped investingmoney in Britishfilms,

andthatwasmore orlesstheendofthe Britishfilm

ind ustry .A pity,becau seth e '60shad been agood

timefl.>rBritish cine ma. To d ay , wea reonly makin g

abouta thirdofth e numberoffilms we were

making then.

BThe 1960 5 were , from the British filmindustry's

poin tofview,th e best of time s andyet, intheend,

doseto hein gth e worstoftimes as well.

C Thepurposeofthis article is to lookbrieflvat the

wayin whichBritishcinemain the 19605 enjoyeda

re naissance which continue duntil the e ndof the

decade ,when the Americansceased toinve stin the

indust ry.T hearticlewillgo on tolook atthe

negati veeffectthatthe '60s collapseo f theindust ry

has hadlip to the pr esent day.

Openings and closings • Module9A

C los ings(las tparagraph)

ATosum up, th e 'fiOs seeme d to he good for the

Britishcinemauntil the ,·erye ndofth e de cad e :

manygood filmswere made ,acting became amore

'class le ss'profe ssion, and mo rale was hig h .Oilthe

ot herhand, th e d e cade ende dwith the collapse of

the industry, fromwhichit has never recovered. In

conclusion, th en, perhapsthe'fiOswere notsuch a

good time for the British filmindustry.

B Througho utthe '90swehavebe e nmakin gfewer

andfewerm oviesin Britain .Fortunately,Il1<.Uly

Britishdirectors are ,'erysuccessful in the USA, and

Britishte levi siontoo is a success,hothco mmerciallv

anda rt i stically,aroundthe world..

C Afa scinating d ecad e, certainly.Such a pity that fo r

film-make rs, as pe rhaps for mallY others, it all

tur ned out t o he a fool'sparadise.

1.1 Writingformagazines:thingstoremember

Don'ttalkaboutyourself

You 'rew riting for thep u blic,not

fo ryou rfriends. Youropinio ns are

only interestin g if you can ex pl a in

th em ,justifythe m,o r mak e them

ente rta in ing.

Beinteresting

Peopledon'tbuyma gazi nes in

o rd ertobe bor ed, If you rarticle

isn't interest ing, they won' t read it

• a ndt hemag azin e wo n't pu blish
  your writingagain , Tobe
  interestin g, yo us ho uld :


• giveyourarticleagood titl e,


• s ta rt withagood o peni ng,


• useconcreteimag esandfacts,
  notconceptsa ndgenera lizations.


• usepr eci sea ndin teres ting
  voca b ulary.


• surprise theread er- o r at lea s t
  say so me th ing new,


• know whento fmis h- a nd fmish
  insty le,

Rememberwhoyou're
writingfor
Who read s this mag azin e?Howo ld
arethey?Wh at nationality?What
do theya lreadyknow abo utthe

su bjecto f th e art icle,andw hatwill

y ou need to expla in?

Whatare youtryingto

achieve?

Areyo u try in g to persuad e the

read er tod o something? To in form?

To adv ise?Torecommend? To

enterta in? Ora combinationof

th es e?

Layout

Yourarticleshoul dnormall yhave a

t itlea nd be writte n in parag raphs,

Som ema gazin ea rt iclesinclude list s

• lists o f instructi on s,listsof't ips '
  o r advice - which require a
  g raphic layou t such as tha tuse d
  in "Be interestin g' above. Note also
  the us eofs ubti tleso n this page
  a ndin certa i n magazinearticles,
  Organizationandplanning
  Trytosayj ust onething ina
  250 -wo rda rt icle ,Makenotes, t he n
  su mma rize what you wantto say
  inonesentence .Yo ucouldw rite a
  planbas ed on that one se ntence;
  the restofth e art iclew ou ldex pla in
  a nd illustrate wha ty ou want
  to say,

Relevance

Make su re that you r article is

relevant tothetitle, and th at

everythingwith inthea rt icleis

releva n ttoyour mainidea.

Length

If amag azi neoranEnglishexam

as ksfo r 'about250 words',don't

write 500, Themagazinewouldn't

print theart icle;theexam iner may

only read the firsthalfofit,an d

y ouw illce rta inly be penalise d,

perhaps sev erely ,

Accuracyandlibel

Don't pr esen t opinions. guessesa nd

rumou rs asif theywere facts. Such

carelessness,apanfromma king

yourart icle inaccurate,

untrustwonhy andvalue less ,can

alsobe illegal when printed in a

magazin e,Disti nguishbetween fac t

andrumourby add inga s impl e

wordorphra se: theallege d

murderer, thesus pec te d mafIOSO,

I've hea rdit said that,.., t he reis a

rumourth at...,theministeris said

tohaveIru moured tohaveI

sup posedtohavetakenbribes,

Task types • 123