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ESSAY WRITING LETTER WRITING STORY WRITING COMPREHENSION IDIOMS AND PHRASES
PRECIS WRITING

By ZAHID SAEED

M.A. (English)

PUBLISHERS EMPORIUM

AHATTA SHAHDARIAN

22 - URDU BAZAR, LAHORE TEL: 7358997
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- Preface .

Essay-writing is an art which can only be mastered by practice. It is
practice that makes the man perfect. Additional vocabulary contributes a
major role in the essay writing.

This is the second volume regarding essay-writing, letter-writing and story-
writing etc. It is prepared for the students of High Secondary school. This
book is specially designed for the students who want to improve
their knowledge about certain copies. They have prior information to the
giving topics but they want to get more knowledge about the certain topics.
I have tried my best to choose the word, which will be proved effective
in the vocabulary building. Good and wise suggestions wilt be welcomed

The author


The Art of Essay Writing

"I had learned, too, that the first requisite of good writing is to have an
earnest and definite purpose, whether aesthetic or moral, and that even
good writing, to please long, must have more than an average amount either
of imagination or common sense." - Russell Lowell in Biglow Papers

1. There are people who have a talent for writing, just as there are people
who are born with a gift for music or painting. It is fortunate that we are
not all moulded after one pattern, otherwise life would be very monotonous.
We sometimes read of men who, at an early age, produced verse, or prose,
that is now considered classic. There are others who seem to have no innate
ability to write at all. They say: "We simply cannot do it; we do not know
how to start, or how to arrange our thoughts." So far as people who have no
ear for music are concerned, it would be a waste of time and money, as well
as a source of continual irritation to themselves, and to others, for them
to try to learn music. But essay-writing is an entirely different matter,
for it is a natural thing that people should express their thoughts in
words; therefore, from Caedmon downwards, many who have imagined that they
had no literary ability have come to realise that, with practice it is
possible to achieve a reasonable facility in composition. Pope says: -

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learned to dance.

There is more than a grain of truth in this couplet. Even the

dullest person can improve under the care and skill of a competent

teacher of English composition.

2. In all probability most of the unfortunate people who read this chapter
will have- before them the nightmare of some future examination that it is
necessary that they should take, and that involves the writing piece of
English prose. They will do well to follow our 'remarks heedfully, and to
recollect that a habit of reading good literature is most essential.
Although this remark is repeated elsewhere, it is so . important that we
take this opportunity of emphasising the point.

3. To begin with, we urge every student to cultivate good handwriting,
and to learn how to spell correctly all words of ordinary occurrence. Bad
handwriting and incorrect spelling responsible for the failure of very many
candidates at English examinations. Remember that the only impression the
examiner

studied the use of words until they have become masters of their art. That
is to say, constant practise has made them efficient in using the right
word in the right place. The less care you bestow upon your composition,
the more slipshod it will be As with ?ll other pursuits, practice makes for
perfection, and the more dissatisfied you become with your composition, the
more likely are you to be on the road to mastery of style and effect .
Avoid all Unnecessary Words: Practice in precis writing \q v.) should help
you in this respect; but, apart from that, when you have written a piece of
composition, go over it critically before you hand it in the anyone for
comment, and try to ascertain whether you have expressed /ourself as
simply, directly, and forcibly as you are able to do, See if you can find'
one word to take the place of several, and deliberately strike out (as Mark
Twain suggests) unnecessary adjectives. Let your thoughts wear as light and
easy as garb as you can fashion for them. Remember how David put aside
Saul's cumbrous armour, and went forth armed only with sling and
stone. Avoid unjustifiable repetition, and all those forms of
clumsiness involved in the use of heavy words, of redundant, tautological
pleonastic expressions - unless you have a direct and artistic reason for
retaining them. We do not urge you to render your writing colourless,
anaemic, or invertebrate - far from that; but we do recommend you to
cut out ruthlessly all that is superfluous.

Adapt Style to Subject-matter: Be judicious in your use of words. A man who
made a jest at a funera would be regarded as a tactless person. On the
other hand, if in the midst of some festivity, anyone introduced a solemn
or heavy topic, his remarks would not be received with approval. People
would call him a wet blanket. In choice literature we always find harmony
in the blend of language and matter. With a literary artist, the words seem
of their own accord to adapt themselves to the subject. This is not really
so, for, as the old adage says, the highest form of art is to conceal art.
One has come across essays on some serious subject in which a slang phrase,
or a flippant remark, is suddenly let loose, with much the same effect as
if someone had started a riotous music-hall chorus at a meeting of the
Royal Statistical Society, or had burst into loud, sarcastic laughter
during the reading of the wedding service. As you would feel ashamed to
realise that you had been tactless in regard to conduct, so strive to be
tactful in the employment of words. Let your language trip merrily in a
lightsome theme; let it be duly

solemn when the occasion seems to demand solemnity. Read and study the
blend of word and thought in the works of the great masters of style, and
employ every artifice that you know of to make your words harmonise with
the mood of your composition. This will necessitate a command over
vocabulary, as well as the exercise of taste in expression.

10. Have Something to Say: There is only one thing more painful than
listening to an inexperienced speaker who has to address to read the
writing of a person who is putting down words merely to fill up his pages.
It is far better to write a few powerful sentences conveying all the
thought that has come to you in connection with a subject, than to ramble
on incoherently through page after page to.some inconclusive ending. We
earnestly recommend those who find great difficulty in the matter of
writing essays, to jot down, just as they occur, all the thoughts and ideas
that suggest themselves in connection with the subject of an essay. When
these ideas are exhausted, they should be arranged in logical groups, to
each of which some suitable heading should be given, and, finally, with the
help of this methodically assorted information, the subject should be
discussed in the form of an essay. At all events, such a production would
possess the merit of being orderly and direct in its arrangement, and it is
probable that, with a little practice, a student will become quite an adept
in dealing with such groups of thoughts. Read Lecture V in Quiller-Couch's
Art of Writing. It will explain to you very clearly what is meant by
jargon. Once you understand what it is, avoid it as you would the plague.
It is to be feared that rjiany of us, in these days, succumb to the
complaint; but a little healthy tonic, such as a reading of really good
prose, helps to ward off the malady and to keep us fit.

11. Things to be avoided: Again, it is well to remember that we are called
upon at various times, and in different circumstances, to adapt our
conversation to our company. We endeavour to use simple language to
children; plain, direct language in giving an order; free, conversational
language, when we are speaking to close friends, and so on. There are
people who write their essays just as they would utter their thoughts in
everyday conversation. This may be advisable at times, but, in general, the
language of the essay should be more literary, more copious in its
vocabulary, more dignified in the matter of style, and less elliptical than
the forms we employ in ordinary speech..Again, do not borrow the
sententious style of the sermon on the one hand, or the oratorical style of
eminent counsel on the other. These
111styles are both good in their proper place, and for their proper

-purpose, but they are not suitable for the essay, unless

introduced deliberately to illustrate some point. Also, avoid slang

; and those very common words used in vulgar speech', and that

cut-and-dried, worn-out phraseology known as journalese. The

newspaper reporter has to write up his information rapidly, and

there is a language of the Press which is employed for this

purpose. It should be ruthlessly shunned in any essay that aims

at literary form. Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay - that is,

use simple, direct, natural language set in sentences that are as

pleasing as you can fashion them, Try to produce an essay that

will be a joy to read, both for the ease of