Unit 9 • Articlesandreviews
DWritingpractice
Ata timew hen many peop leare takingexams,yourcollege's English-language
newsletter invites youto submita 250-word article on the subject of exams, Are
t heyuse ful? Are they necessary? Do exams help studentsto study, or do they
obstructa stu dent'swider education?
DoNotWrite theArticle ,Just writetwoopeningsfor your article,of no more
thantwo sentences each
a) a very bad one, so that no one will read beyond the opening
b) a very good one, sothat everyone will want to read the rest of your articleTask bank:Task 382.1 Closings
A piece of writingis like afilm : a weak or unsatisfying ending spoils all the good
thingsthat went before, The endingof agoodfilm givesyou a feeling of
satisfactio n, The filmfeels whole,complete,
How do we always recognizethe end of the film before the wordsTHE ENOcome
up onthe screen?What signals does thefilm give out to tell us it is finishing?
What makes afilm feel complete? Thinkofthe plot, the musical score andthe
images,
Referring to spec ificfilmsyou have seen,howmany different kinds of endingcan
you thin k of?A Sixwaysofclosingan article
1 Returnto thebeginning: aconclusion paraphrasingthe opening, or areturnto
thehnngcryor wordsof theope ning.
2 ASummaryorco ucl us ion.
3 AQuestion ,
4 AQuotation.
5 An Image/picture ,symholizing the end( SU II Set,death) or anewhegin ning
(d awn,birth ).
6 Ashortsenten cetosignal a breakwithwhatwentbefore.or to indicate the
intentionto finish.
The closingof a piece of writingis also often signalled by certain linkingwords:
Allillall;(hell;(0sum ul" Thereis a list on page 23,BExamples
Here is theopeningof an article attacking education,I don 'tbe lieveineduca tion .Inm ostcasesitdoesmoreharm
tha ngoo d.In the wordsofO sear\ Vilde, 'Ig no ra nce is like a
d elicate exo ticfruit- touchit,andth e blo omis gone .'126 • Task types