A Piece of Cake y & Section A Writing Essays In Section A you have to write a composition of 120 to 150 words. You have a choice of four topics. There are three kinds of essays. De re 2. 3, jescriptive Essays My favourite... weekend activity / school subject / food / festival / book. The most interesting... person that | know / place | have been to. My country / hometown / best friend. larrative Essays (i.e. writing a story) 1. Write a story beginning with the words... ‘I was walking down the street when suddenly...” / ‘It was midnight and the dogs started barking’. 2. The worst week of my life. / A day I will never forget. Imaginative Essays 1. Aday in the life of... a dog / your favourite sports star / a policeman / a film star. Remember: You can write your essay in American English if you want to. Just remember to be consistent:Writing Linking Words when, because, although, and, so and but are linking words that are used within sentences. Note th position and the use of commas in the sentences below. When I turned 18, | bought a motorcycle. I'll tell him when | see him. Because the traffic was 0 bad, we arrived an hour late. She likes David because he loves music. Although | like playing tennis, | don’t really enjoy watching it on TV. We ate some bread and cheese. The weather was really bad so we stayed home. He's 40 years old(,) but he looks much older. ‘She washed the car(,) and her husband cooked dinner. Complete the sentences with words from the box. so andx2 although when x2 because x2 but x2 1. the weather was bad, we stayed home and relaxed. 2. It was very expensive we didn’t buy it. 3. ____I was very young, | was afraid of the dark. 4. | can't go out this weekend I have exams on Monday. 5. She's lived in Mexico Argentina. 6. Steve can't sing very well, he’s really good at dancing. © Steve looks unfriendly, he is very kind. 8. He moved to London he was twenty. 9. Judy cooked dinner,Writing My Favourite Food Asking questions helps you think of things to say or write about a topic. Match the answers below, A-H, to the questions, 1-8, about ice cream. What... Where... When... Why... HOW...? 1. What kinds are there? 2. Where do you eat it? 3. When do you eat it? 4. When did you first eat it? 5. Why do you like it? 6. How often do you eat it? 7. 8. How much does it cost? How do you eat it? A. Insummer. | often eat it after dinner. B. | eat it at home and | also eat it outside. C. Because it's delicious, feels smooth and cold. It's very refreshing on hot days. D. Some ice cream is very expensive but | usually eat cheap ice cream. E. | usually eat ice cream cones. When I'm at home, | put it in a bowl and add fruit. F. A few times a week during summer. G.I started eating ice cream when | was very young. I've always liked it. H. There are many different kinds. My favourite flavour is vanilla. i Example Essay - My Favourite Food My favourite food is ice cream. My favourite ice cream flavour is vanilla. | started eating ice cream when I was very young. | love ice cream because it’s delicious and it feels soft and smooth. Ice cream is very refreshing, especially on hot days. In summer | eat ice cream four or five times a week. When | am outside, | usually eat ice cream in a cone. | like to try new flavours. At home, | usually eat simple flavours like vanilla, chocolate, and mint. My family often has ice cream for dessert after dinner. Sometimes we eat it with fruit such as strawberries. My favourite ice cream dish is called a banana split. To make it, | use a banana, two kinds of ice cream, chocolate sauce and cream. 30Writing [J Avoiding Repetition “My favourite ... is ...’ is used too many times. Using it twice is okay, but do not use It twice in a row such as: ‘My favourite food is ice cream. My favourite ice cream flavour is vanill This can be rewritten as: My favourite food is ice cream. The flavour I Itke best is vanilla. My favourite food Is ice cream, especially vanilla ice cream. My favourite food is ice cream. In particular, I love vanilla ice cream. Writing a good first sentence for ‘My favourite’ essays. A simple correct sentence is better than a more difficult one that is incorrect. My favourite sport is football. However, it's better if you can write a more complex sentence. | play several sports but my favourite is football. There are many sports that | like but my favourite is football. Footballl is, by far, my favourite sport, Football has always been my favourite sport. Write your own sentences using these patterns.Writing 36 A Narrative Essay El Describe the worst holiday you have gone on. What things can go wrong on a trip? Complete 1-8 with wards from the box. Then add two of your own ideas flight stolen rained passport terrible stay lost delayed 4. The food was 6. The airline my luggage. 2. ost my 7. thad to in hospital. 3. Our flight was 8. It the whole time. 4. {missed my 9. 5.__My camera was . _|10. : Complete the essay by using words from the box below. beginning time days second ever when January first The worst holiday | have (4) had was a trip to Florida. | went there for a week last (2) with my parents. They decided to fly to Florida because they wanted to enjoy some warm weather. Things started to go wrong from the (3). (4) of all, our flight was delayed. We had to wait for ten hours. (5) we finally arrived in Miami, our luggage was missing. The weather in Florida was horrible. It was very cold and wet. In fact, it rained the whole __(6) we were there. On the (7) day, | felt sick. It was the flu. | stayed in bed for three (8). Unfortunately, my parents also caught the flu. It was a terrible holiday and | was really happy to get back home.Writing A Day in the Life One of the essay choices for the Pre-Intermediate Exam is an imaginative composition about a ‘day in the life of’ someone or something. The structure of the grammar is simple - start with the morning, then describe the afternoon, and evening. However, knowing what tenses to use can be difficult. Although we usually use the second conditional (i.e. If... would) when we imagine things, it is difficult to write a whole essay using it. You need to ask yourself two questions: 1. Will you write about a typical day or just one particular day in the past? If you write about a typical day, you will use the present tense. / get up at 6.00. Hf you write about one particular day, you will use the past simple. / got up at 6.00. 2. Are you that person/thing? You can write in ‘the first person’, i.e. pretend that you are the subject ‘/ eat/ate a huge breakfast’. This is usually best, but you can also write in ‘the third person’. A swimmer eats a huge breakfast. The Day in the Life of a Footballer My name is John and I'm a famous footballer. | play for an English football team called Liverpool. People often ask me what | do on a typical day. { get up at about seven o'clock. After eating breakfast, | drive to the Liverpool team's training ground. We exercise and practise football skills. Our coach talks to us about our next game. | usually eat lunch with my teammates. Footballers need a lot of energy so we eat large meals. After lunch, | like to have a nap or relax for an hour. | play one or two football games a week. Most of our games are in the afternoon at the weekend. On other afternoons | go to a gym and lift weights. | also have to do some activities to promote the team. | give television interviews, talk to fans and sign autographs. In the evening, | watch TV and surf the Internet. | go to bed at about eleven o'clock. 43Unit 6 | Writing My Favourite Festival Read the essay about the Turkish festival of Seker Bayrami. Use words from the box to complete the essay. during calendar first celebrates together falls visits best My favourite holiday is ‘Seker Bayrami’. This three-day festival (1) the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. (2) Ramadan, adults can't eat between sunrise and sunset. Seker Bayrami falls on the first day of the 410th Muslim month, Muslims use an Islamié_._(8) which is different from the western calendar so this festival )'on a ferent dey.” each year. BE n°: r hie On the yf Sekei SMe. Turkey go to their local ial prayers. After that, DearS ete, fon theif people. Some pzopPn a ‘oldest people in fl . This means at many people retu zople also visit (6) ple are given sweet | Useful Words and Phrases For fixed holidays like Christmas we usually use ‘is’. Valentine's Day is on the fourteenth of February. For non-fixed holidays (that are on different days each year) we often use ‘falls jon’. 4 Seker Bayrami falls on the first day of the 10th Muslim month. This festival falls on a different day each year.Writing Dy What's wrong with the y? ‘+ Itis not personal enough. The writer doesn't say why he/she likes it. When you talk or write about your favourite things, you should say why you like them. Repetition of the word ‘people’. it is used eight times in the second paragraph. Avolding RepetitionGL EA AL Writing mn Sitl A Narrative Essay Essay: Write a story which begins, ‘It was a cold, snowy day in the mountains...’ Cold Weather Vocabulary Put the words in the right columns. Add ane of your own words to each column : build a snowman [soup jacket ce woollen hat freezing ‘|skiing (hot) coffee [boots ‘showstorm : stowboarding chocolate things to do things to eat/drink | things to take/wear | other / weather € als Write ae fa, apathie or x) in the gaps, and correct the underlined | cold, snowy day in mountains. | was skiing along ___ trai. twas . — } was having great time. It is snowi have warm clothes. little but | didn't mind because | re snow became home. It takes me ‘Suddenly, __ weather changed. It become very windy and heavier and heavier. | decide to go back to my car and drive hour to ski to car. | feel very tired and cold. | start to drive home. All of sudden, car slid on some ice and it crashed into tree. car was badly damaged. | called for help but. weather whole night in was too bad for anyone to come right away. | had to spend ‘the car. It is freezing so | can't sleep! Luckily, | have lots of hot coffee and chocolate. 82It was a cold, snowy day in the mountains. | was skiing along a trail with my brother, Wilson. We were having a great time. It was snowing a little but we didn’t mind because we had warm clothes. Suddenly, the weather changed. t became very windy and the snow became heavier and heavier. Wilson and | decided to go back to our car and drive home. te took us an hour to ski to our car: We both felt very tired and cold. 5 While | was driving the car, Wilson took a nap. All of a sudden, the car slid on some i ice and it crashed into a tree. The car was badly damaged. Wilson called for help but the weather was too bad for anyone to come right away. We had to spend the whole night in the car, It was freezing so | couldn't sleep! Luckily, we had lots of hot we coffee and chocolate. Essay Tip: A simple way to improve essays (both descriptive and narrative ones) is to add another person. It adds variety to the words and sentence patterns and gives you more to write about. | Useful Time Phrases for Telling Stories Suddenly, the weather changed. All of a sudden, the car slid on some ice... It took us one hour to ski to our car. While I was driving the car, Wilson took a nap.