Arkansas Benchmark TEST 7 Writing
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction... 1 Test-Taking Tips... 2 Unit 1 Prewriting... 5 Lesson 1: Why Am I Writing?... 6 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.3, W.5.7.1, W.5.7.2 Lesson 2: What Should I Say?... 10 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.1, W.4.7.2 Lesson 3: Organizing and Outlining... 17 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.2 Lesson 4: Information Sources... 25 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.4 Unit 1 Practice... 28 Unit 2 Drafting... 29 Lesson 5: Who s the Reader?... 30 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.3, W.4.7.9, W.7.7.5 Lesson 6: The Right Word at the Right Time... 38 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.9, W.4.7.10, W.6.7.5, W.7.7.1, W.7.7.3, W.7.7.5 Lesson 7: Sentences That Sing... 49 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.9, W.6.7.1, W.6.7.2, W.6.7.3, W.6.7.5, W.7.7.2, W.7.7.3 Lesson 8: Paragraphs and Transitions That Work... 63 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.3, W.4.7.11, W.7.7.4, W.7.7.8 Unit 2 Practice... 71 Unit 3 Revising and Editing... 75 Lesson 9: Revising... 76 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.8, W.4.7.10, W.6.7.5 Lesson 10: Fixing Fragments and Run-Ons... 82 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.4, W.6.7.6 Lesson 11: Verb Tenses and Agreement... 92 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.6 Lesson 12: Adjectives and Adverbs... 101 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.5 Lesson 13: Nouns and Pronouns... 108 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.5, W.6.7.6 Lesson 14: Parts of Sentences... 119 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.6 Lesson 15: Punctuation... 124 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.9, W.6.7.10, W.6.7.11, W.6.7.12 iii
Table of Contents Lesson 16: Spelling... 131 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.7 Lesson 17: Capitalization... 137 ACTAAP Coverage: W.6.7.8 Lesson 18: Revising and Editing... 140 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.11, W.7.7.12 Unit 3 Practice... 148 Unit 4 Write About Now... 153 Lesson 19: Narrative Writing... 154 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.6, W.4.7.7, W.5.7.1, W.7.7.6, W.7.7.7, W.7.7.9, W.7.7.10 Lesson 20: Responding to Literature... 161 ACTAAP Coverage: W.5.7.6, W.5.7.8 Lesson 21: Descriptive Writing... 169 ACTAAP Coverage: W.5.7.1, W.5.7.3, W.5.7.4, W.7.7.1 Lesson 22: Expository Writing... 179 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.5, W.5.7.5 Lesson 23: Persuasive Writing... 186 ACTAAP Coverage: W.5.7.1, W.5.7.3 Lesson 24: Preparing for Publication... 192 ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.14, W.7.7.11 Appendix... 195 Spelling Log... 196 iv
Unit 1 Prewriting ACTAAP Coverage: W.5.7.1 Lesson 1 Why Am I Writing? A helpful way to begin any writing project is to figure out why you are writing in the first place. To do this, you will need to decide your purpose for writing. (Are you writing to entertain, to inform, to persuade, or just to express yourself?) You ll also want to figure out who your audience is, or to whom you are writing. Having your purpose and audience in mind will help you work through the entire writing process. As you read through this lesson, remember that this process begins before you actually start writing. TIP 1: Think about the basic types of writing. Most of the writing you do will fall into one of the following categories. You should always know which type of writing you re going to do before you ever touch your pencil to the paper or put your fingers to the keyboard. Your awareness will help you plan what you want to say, and it will keep you focused once you start to write. In narrative writing, you tell a story. Stories can be fictional, such as a Harry Potter novel, or real, such as the autobiography of a former president. In expository writing, you give information or explain something. When you write a science report or an essay about a Shakespeare play, you are doing expository writing. In descriptive writing, you describe someone or something. This may sound simple, but descriptive writing is often very difficult to do well. The key is to be vivid in your descriptions so that your reader can imagine exactly who or what you are writing about. Descriptive writing is an important part of every kind of writing. 6 In persuasive writing, you try to convince your readers to think or act in a certain way. This is usually done by making a point and then supporting it with good reasons or strong evidence. Letters to the editor of a newspaper are often persuasive.
ACTAAP Coverage: W.5.7.1 Lesson 1: Why Am I Writing? Practice Activity 1 Types of Writing Directions: For each of the following topics, choose the type of writing (narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive) you would most likely use to address the topic. 1. the history of Arkansas s Iron Mountain Railroad 2. the life of Angaska, a great chief of the Arkansas Indian nation 3. whether dodgeball should be played in gym class 4. the smell of fresh apple pie Directions: For each type of writing, give an example of a topic you might write about. 5. narrative 6. expository 7. persuasive 8. descriptive 7
Unit 1 Prewriting ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.3, W.5.7.1, W.5.7.2 TIP 2: Determine the subject, audience, purpose, and form of your writing. Imagine that NASCAR driver Mark Martin is coming to your town to visit one of his sponsors. Your class would like to invite him to visit your school while he is in town. You have been given the task of writing a letter of invitation to Mark Martin persuading him to visit your school. This is a pretty important job you ve been given. You want to make sure you do the best that you can. You already know what type of writing this will be: persuasive. To help you focus even more on your writing task, ask yourself the following questions: 1. What is the subject of the writing? An invitation to visit a school 2. Who is the audience? NASCAR driver Mark Martin 3. What is the writer s purpose? To persuade Mark Martin to visit the school 4. What form should the writing take? A letter Once you understand your purpose and know your audience, you can begin to plan your composition. Your purpose will help you choose the form of your writing (in this case, a letter of invitation). Are you writing to persuade, inform, entertain, or just express yourself? Knowing your audience will help you decide on the type of language to use. (You ll read more about choosing appropriate language later in this book.) Sometimes different purposes overlap, but in most cases, compositions have one main purpose. Deciding on your purpose will help you get started. 8 TIP 3: Decide how long your writing should be. If you write a story that is two sentences long, it most likely won t be very entertaining. Likewise, if your new video game breaks the first day you get it and you write the company a 17-page letter explaining why you got the game, what the weather was like when you bought it, who your favorite characters are, and that it doesn t work, you ll be giving them more information than they need. The purpose of your writing will determine how long it should be. Once you ve finished a piece of writing, reread it and ask yourself if it fulfills its purpose. Does it tell a story, explain a topic well, give enough details to persuade the reader, or give enough information for a reader to follow instructions? If your writing does what it s supposed to do, it s long enough.
ACTAAP Coverage: W.4.7.3, W.5.7.1, W.5.7.2 Lesson 1: Why Am I Writing? Practice Activity 2 Understanding Your Purpose Directions: Read the prompt and answer the questions that follow. You ordered a pair of jeans from the Cool Clothes Company catalog. When the jeans arrived, one leg was a foot shorter than the other. You want to return the jeans for a refund of the purchase price. Write a letter to the Cool Clothes Company explaining what happened and asking for your money back. Be sure to support your ideas with details. Understanding Your Purpose: 1. What is the subject of the writing? 2. Who is the audience? 3. What is the writer s purpose? 4. What form should the writing take? 9