Grammar & Composition – Noun & Essay Writing JSS3 English Studies Lesson Note

REVISION

GRAMMAR

TOPIC: MEANING AND TYPES OF NOUN

The word noun is derived from the Latin word “nomeri” (a name). a noun can, therefore, simply be defined as the name of anything. It may be concrete, real, or tangible such as Ayo, Lagos, Book, Teacher, Pupil, Water, etc. It may be abstract, intangible, or imaginary such as Hope, Fear, Belief, Wish, Idea, Thought, Love, etc. 

ROLES OF NOUN 

A noun can play the role of either the subject or object of a verb. It could also be the object of a preposition or even a complement in a sentence. The role also indicates its position in a sentence. 

EXAMPLES 

The subject of a verb: Lagos is a busy city

The object of a verb: The girl loves the boy

The object of a preposition: John put the car in the garage

Complement of the verb “is” or its varieties as am, are, was, were: Stella is a teacher

TYPES OF NOUN 

There are two types of nouns: proper and improper or common nouns. 

Proper nouns are names given to specific people, places, things, days, and months.

Examples; 

Ayo, Audu, Emmanuel, Ibadan, Ghana, Europe, The Guardian, Mr. Biggs, UBA Plc, Friday Wednesday, January, December etc.

Improper or common nouns do not refer to anything specific, they can refer to one in a group, count mass concrete, or abstract. Thus we can have varieties of common nouns such as: –

1.     Collective:– The name of a group of people or things considered as a unit e.g. flock, team, crew, crowd, army, furniture.
2.   Concrete: – The name of what can be touched or felt e.g book, teacher, biro, cloth, table radio, etc
3.    Abstract: – The name of what cannot be touched or felt e.g hope, love, poverty, honesty, fear, etc
4.   Countable: – The name of a thing that may be counted e.g. house, student, three, car clock, etc.
5.     Uncountable: – The name of a thing that may not be counted e.g water, salt, oil ink, etc               

 REVISION

COMPOSITION 

TOPIC: ESSAY WRITING

Writing is a form of persuasive communication. There is always a point of view to project and which the writer wants the reader to understand. In other words, we write for a reader. The success of writing is therefore best judged by how well the reader understands the message we are trying to send by writing.

Writing is one of the most significant features of a literate society. It is the use of language in its writing form. The writer’s opinion is the thesis, which indeed an essay should contain. This thesis should be supported with a range of organized materials properly synthesized to constitute good writing. 

THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD WRITING

The qualities of good writing have been discussed in varied forms. However, we find these noted in Ebele Eko (1987) more encompassing and exhaustive than others. They are;

1.       Economy
2.           Simplicity
3.     Clarity

1.       Economy: – Economy in this sense means conciseness. To be concise is to utilize the minimum number of words to express an idea in a sentence without losing any detail. Also, good writing should be concise in the number of sentences in a piece of writing. Good writing should not emphasize economy at the expense of clarity and accuracy. Redundancy of words sentences and paragraphs should be avoided. 
2.     Simplicity: – The language of good writing should be simple. It should not be too difficult to understand. To achieve this, the writing should avoid the use of rare and complex vocabulary and long complex sentences which could be broken down into several well-arranged simple sentences. What should engage the writer’s mind is how well his message is delivered and understood. Anyway, writing is done for someone else to read. In all, good writing should be straightforward and easily understood.
3. Clarity: – Clarity is another important quality of a good writing. A writer should express his subject of discussion as clearly as possible. He should have the ordinary readers in mind. He should be eager to invite more people into his field. This can be best done by demystifying the subject with the use of language that does not convey the obscurity and vagueness of ideas. No matter how technical and abstract a subject might be, a writer should be able to give the reader information and instructions that are simple, clear, direct, and therefore effective, useful, and educative. This goes a long way to show that the writer has adequate knowledge of his subject.

 THE ESSAY OUTLINE 

Longer essays require elaborate outlines. These outlines can occur in any of the two forms – topic and sentence outlines. The topic outline is shorter. It sets down points or ideas in stages without explaining. The sentence outline is more restricted and more specific in its directions.

 THE FORM OF THE OUTLINE.

Stage 1: – Formulate the thesis and establish the purpose of the essay.

Stage 2: – Write down the major ideas or topic sentences each directly connected to the thesis as a major paragraph. 

State 3: – Sub-divide each topic sentence into sub-paragraphs, each dealing with just a point

Stage 4: – (a) Complete the sub-division and write complete sentences (b) Revise the essay, ensuring the topic of the presentation

 ADHERE TO THE OUTLINE

TYPES OF ESSAY

1.     Narrative Essay
2.    Descriptive Essay
3. Argumentative Essay
4.    Expository Essay                             

NARRATIVE ESSAY 

A narrative essay is not only a story one has made up. Any account of one’s previous experience is a narrative. Most novels and short stories are forms of narrative whether one is writing an imaginary story or a real-life experience, there is a need for preparation. The following steps should be taken:

1.     Established just what you want to relate to.
2.     Know that every narrative tells what took place in a definite period. Then remember to break up the period into units you can manage; treat each unit separately.
3.     Identify the points of emphasis and ensure that each point constitutes a unit of expression, just like what you have in a paragraph when writing.
4. Remember to include only those details that will be useful to your narratives.
5. If you have any important lesson to be drawn from your narrative, remember to emphasize it after your decision. Above all, the past tense is predominant in the narrative.