Asking Questions, Predicting from Clues, Relative Pronouns, Opening Hooks and Features of Poems

1. Types of Questions

2. Forming Questions Correctly

In a question, the helping verb usually comes before the subject: "She is coming" becomes "Is she coming?" If there is no helping verb, use do, does or did: "He plays football" becomes "Does he play football?" After "does" and "did", the main verb returns to its base form: "Did she go?", not "Did she went?"

Tag questions are short questions added to statements. A positive statement takes a negative tag ("You are ready, aren't you?"), and a negative statement takes a positive tag ("You are not tired, are you?").

3. Polite Questions

Indirect questions are more polite than direct ones. Instead of "Where is the toilet?", say "Could you tell me where the toilet is, please?" Notice that the word order in the indirect question is the same as in a statement: "where the toilet is", not "where is the toilet".

4. Responding to Questions

Listen to the whole question before answering. Answer the question asked, give a reason or example, and keep to the point. If you do not understand, say "Could you repeat that, please?" If you do not know, be honest: "I'm sorry, I'm not sure." Short answers such as "Yes, I do" are polite and natural.

1. Kinds of Clues

2. Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing: A hint in a story about something that will happen later.

Writers often plant small clues. If a story says "Kofi did not notice the dark clouds gathering behind him", we expect a storm. If a character says "Nothing can go wrong now", readers suspect that something will.

3. Reading Passage: The Short Cut

"Don't use the bush path after dark," Esi's mother had warned. "The old bridge is not safe." But the choir practice had ended late, and the road home took forty minutes. The bush path took ten.

Esi looked at the sky. The last light was fading, and the air smelled of rain. Somewhere ahead, she could hear the river, louder than usual. She tightened the strap of her bag, switched on her small torch and stepped off the road.

Stop here. What do you predict will happen?

4. Using Evidence

Clues in the passage include the mother's warning, the unsafe bridge, the coming rain and the louder river. A reasonable prediction is that the river has risen and the bridge will be dangerous. Always give evidence: "I predict that Esi will have trouble at the bridge, because the river sounds louder and her mother said the bridge was unsafe."

1. The Relative Pronouns

Relative pronoun: A word such as who, whom, whose, which or that which introduces a clause giving more information about a noun.

2. Joining Sentences

3. Relative Clauses

The group of words beginning with a relative pronoun is a relative clause. It works like an adjective because it tells us more about a noun. In "The girl who won is my cousin", the clause "who won" tells us which girl. Place the clause as close as possible to the noun it describes.

4. Who or Whom?

Use "who" when the pronoun is the subject of the clause: "The man who called..." (he called). Use "whom" when it is the object: "The man whom I called..." (I called him). After a preposition, always use "whom": "the person to whom I spoke".

1. Parts of an Introductory Paragraph

2. Types of Hooks

Use facts only if they are true. A hook should suit the topic and tone of your essay. A joke does not suit an essay about a disaster.

3. Model Introduction

"What would Ghana look like if every river ran brown? In many mining communities, this is no longer a question. Illegal small-scale mining, known as galamsey, has polluted rivers such as the Pra and the Ankobra, and towns now struggle to find clean water. This essay explains the causes and effects of galamsey and suggests how it can be stopped."

The first sentence is the hook, the next two give background and the last is the thesis statement.

4. Weak Openings to Avoid

Avoid openings such as "In this essay I want to talk about..." or "Since the beginning of time...". They do not interest readers. Avoid telling the whole story in the introduction. A good introduction promises something and makes the reader want to continue.

1. Structure and Sound

2. Figures of Speech

3. Reading a Poem

Rain on Our Roof

The rain comes drumming on our roof,

A thousand tiny feet;

It dances down the rusty sheets

And rushes through the street.

The drumming roof, the dancing rain,

The gutters' gurgling song:

The thirsty earth lifts up her face

And drinks it all day long.

4. Analysing the Poem

The poem has two stanzas of four lines each. The rain is personified, because it "dances", and the earth "lifts up her face". "A thousand tiny feet" is a metaphor for raindrops. "Gutters' gurgling" uses alliteration and onomatopoeia, and "feet" rhymes with "street". The mood is joyful, because rain gives life to the thirsty land.