WRITING ESSAY

WRITING ESSAY

The language that we use for writing essays is often more formal than the language that we use in conversation. The next four pages give you help with the more formal type of language that is usually used in writing. They give words and phrases that will help you to write your ideas clearly and naturally, and in a way that is suitable for an essay.

An example essay

You could be asked to write many different types of essays in English during the course of your studies. These may include factual essays, descriptive essays or stories. You may also be asked to write letters, emails, reports or pages from a diary as writing exercises.

The phrases below all relate to the language you might want to use in a discursive essay (= an essay in which you are asked to discuss something). The title of the example essay is: ‘Despite the increased availability of ‘healthy’ food and our greater knowledge of what makes a healthy diet, we are fatter and less healthy than ever before.’ Discuss.

Before you start

Make sure you understand what you are expected to do in writing the essay. If you do not understand some words, look them up in this dictionary. It might help for you to put the essay title into more simple language – the process of doing this will help you to be sure that you understand it. Another way of writing this essay title might be: Although we know more about healthy food and healthy eating than ever before, we are fatter and less healthy than ever before.

In a discursive essay, you will have to write about the things you agree or disagree with about the title of the essay, give your reasons for your opinions, and finally state what your conclusions (= your final opinions) are, based on the things you have discussed.

Saying what you agree with

You will first need to read the essay title carefully, and decide what you agree or disagree with about it or whether you think it is true. Use these words and phrases to say what you agree with or what you think is true about the statement:

Certainly . . .

It is certainly true that . . .

It is certainly the case (= true) that . . .

Examples:

Certainly more people than ever before are overweight.

It is certainly the case that we know more about healthy eating than ever before.

Giving reasons for why you think something is true

Use these phrases to give reasons why you think something is true about the statement in the essay title:

Perhaps this is because . . .

This could be because . . .

This could/may/might be a result of . . .

This could/may/might be due to . . .

This may be attributable to . . . (formal)

Examples:

Perhaps this is because people today eat the wrong kinds of food.

This could be due to the fact that people today eat the wrong sort of food.

Giving additional reasons

Use these words and phrases when you want to give another reason why you agree or disagree with the statement:

Another reason (for this) might be . . .

It is also true/the case that . . .

In addition . . .

Furthermore . . .

Moreover . . .

Cambridge A

English Word Families

ENGLISH WORD FAMILIES

Words often come in families. You can expand your vocabulary by becoming familiar with these word families and this can also enable you to become a more fluent speaker and writer of English. If you know all the possible words within a word family, you can express yourself in a wider range of ways. For example, if you know the verb and the noun forms related to the adjective boring, you can say:

• That class was really boring.

• I was really bored in that class.

• That class was a real bore.

Another reason for paying attention to word families is that for some exams you have

to know them.

In the list below, the words printed in bold are words that are very common and important to learn. The other words in the same row are words in the same family, often formed with prefixes and suffixes. Sometimes they are just a different part of speech, for example anger, which is a noun and a verb). All the words in this list have entries in the dictionary except for some beginning with un-, im-, in- or ir-, or ending with -ly or -ily, where the meaning is always regular. Sometimes words in a word family can have meanings that are very different from others in the group, so you should always check in the dictionary if you are not sure of the meaning.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

ability, disability, inability enable, disable able, unable, disabled ably

acceptance accept acceptable, unacceptable, accepted acceptably, unacceptably

accident accidental accidentally

accuracy, inaccuracy accurate, inaccurate accurately, inaccurately

accusation, the accused, accuser accuse accusing accusingly

achievement, achiever achieve achievable

act, action, inaction, interaction, act, action acting

reaction, transaction

activity, inactivity activate active, inactive, interactive, proactive actively

addition add additional additionally

admiration, admirer admire admirable admirably

advantage, disadvantage advantageous, disadvantaged, advantageously

advantaged

advertisement, advertiser, advertise

advertising

advice, adviser advise advisable, inadvisable, advisory advisedly

agreement, disagreement agree, disagree agreeable agreeably

aim aim aimless aimlessly

amazement amaze amazed, amazing amazingly

anger anger angry angrily

announcement, announcer announce unannounced unannounced

appearance, disappearance, appear, disappear

reappearance reappear

applicant, application apply, reapply applicable, applied

appreciation appreciate appreciable, appreciative appreciatively, appreciably

approval, disapproval approve, disapprove approving, disapproving approvingly

approximation approximate approximate approximately

argument argue arguable, argumentative arguably

arrangement, rearrangement arrange, rearrange

art, artist, artistry artistic, arty artistically

shame shame ashamed, unashamed, shameful, shamefully, shamelessly

shameless

attachment attach, detach attached, unattached, detachable,

detached

attack, counter-attack, attacker attack, counter-attack

attention, inattention attend attentive, inattentive attentively

attraction, attractiveness attract attractive, unattractive attractiveNouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs

authority, authorization authorize authoritarian, authoritative, authoritatively

authorized, unauthorized

availability available, unavailable

avoidance avoid avoidable, unavoidable unavoidably

awareness aware, unaware unawares

base, the basics, basis base baseless, basic basically

bearer bear bearable, unbearable

beat, beating beat unbeatable, unbeaten

beauty, beautician beautify beautiful beautifully

beginner, beginning begin

behaviour/US behavior, behave, misbehave behavioural/US behavioral

misbehaviour/US misbehavior

belief, disbelief believe, disbelieve believable, disbelieving, unbelievable unbelievably

block, blockage block, unblock blocked, unblocked

blood, bleeding bleed bloodless, bloody

the boil, boiler boil boiling

bore, boredom bore bored, boring boringly

break, breakage, outbreak break broken, unbreakable, unbroken

breath, breather, breathing breathe breathless, breathy breathlessly

brother, brotherhood brotherly

build, builder, building build, rebuild

burn, burner burn burning, burnt

burial bury buried

calculation, calculator calculate incalculable, calculated, calculating

calm, calmness calm calm calmly

capability capable, incapable capably

care, carer care careful, careless, caring, uncaring carefully, carelessly

celebration, celebrity celebrate celebrated, celebratory

centre/US center, centralization, centre/US center, central, centralized centrally

decentralization decentralize, centralize

certainty, uncertainty ascertain certain, uncertain certainly, uncertainly

challenge, challenger challenge challenging

change, change changeable, interchangeable,

unchanged,

changing

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

Prefixes and suffixes

1. Prefixes

A prefix is a group of letters at the beginning of a word which changes the word’s meaning. Here is a list of the most common prefixes and examples of how those prefixes are used.

Anglo- relating to the UK or England an Anglophile

(= someone who loves England)

ante- before or in front of antedate • antenatal

anti- 1 opposed to or against anti-racist laws

2 preventing or destroying an anti-aircraft missile

auto- 1 operating without being controlled by humans autopilot (= a computer that directs an aircraft)

2 self an autobiography (= a book that someone writes about their own life)

bi- two bilingual (= speaking two languages)

• bimonthly (= happening twice in a month or once every two months)

centi-, cent- hundred a centimetre • a century

co- with or together a co-author • to coexist

contra- against or opposite to contradict (= say the opposite) • contraception (= something that is used

to prevent pregnancy)

counter- opposing or as a reaction to a counter-attack (= an attack on someone who has attacked you)

cross- 1 across cross-border 2 including different groups or subjects a cross-party committee (= one formed from many political parties) • cross-cultural

cyber- involving, using or relating to computers, especially the Internet cybercrime • cyberculture

de- to take something away deforestation (= when the trees in an area are cut down)

dis- not or the opposite of dishonest • to disagree

e- electronic, usually relating to the Internet email

• e-commerce. Note: ‘e-’ is usally joined onto a word with a hyphen (as in e-commerce) but email is usually written without a hyphen

eco- relating to the environment eco-friendly tourism

(= tourism that does not damage the environment)

en- 1 used to form verbs that mean to put into or onto something encase • encircle 2 used to form verbs that mean to cause to be something enable • endear

Euro- relating to Europe Europop (= modern, young people’s music from Europe)

ex- from before an ex-boyfriend • an ex-boss

extra- outside of or in addition to extracurricular activities (= activities that are in addition to the usual school work)

geo- of or relating to the Earth geophysics • geology

hyper- having a lot of or too much of a quality hyperactive • hypersensitive (= more than normally sensitive)

ill- in a way that is bad or not suitable ill-prepared

• an ill-judged remark

in-, il-, im-, ir- not incorrect • illegal • impossible

• irregular

inter- between or among international

• an interdepartmental meeting

intra- within an intranet

kilo- a thousand a kilometre • a kilogram

mega- 1 informal extremely megarich

(= extremely rich) 2 one million 40 megabytes

micro- very small a microchip • microscopic

(= extremely small)

mid- in the middle of mid-July. • a man in his

mid-forties • mid-afternoon/-morning

milli- a thousandth a millisecond

mini- small a miniskirt (= very short skirt) • a minibus

mis- not or badly mistrust • to misbehave

mono- one or single monolingual • a monologue

multi- many a multi-millionaire • a multi-storey car park

neo- new neo-fascists

non- not, or the opposite of non-alcoholic drinks

• non-smokers

omni- everywhere or everything omnipresent

• omniscient

out- more than or better than to outgrow • to outnumber • to outdo someone (= to show that you are better than someone)