fullspate

Tips for top marks in the essay

Use a sprinkling of:

          a. Participle phrases and gerunds up front:

         

          "Burning plastics produces dioxins."

          "Reducing the retirement age would create significant difficulties for pension funds."

          "Having witnessed a car accident, I know how horrifying it is."

          "Having been released from prison, many people subsequently reoffend."

 

          b. Conditionals

 

          "Were the government to ......... , we would .............."

          "Had television not been invented, economic growth would have been slower."

          "Had the police implemented the law more strictly, fewer people would now be disabled."

 

          c.  Cleft sentences

 

          "What ecologists object to is ............"

          "What many people would like to see is ......................"

          "It is the ................. that I object to."

         

 

          d. Inversions

 

          "Not only are landfill sites unsightly but they are also a source of pollution"

          "Rarely do we see our political leaders riding bikes."

 

          e.  Passives

 

          "It is often forgotten that ..................."

          "............. is considered to be ............."

          "...... has been attributed to ......."

          "The conlusion to be drawn is that ............."

 

          f.  The weird use of 'so'

 

          This is so grave an issue that ........

 

          g.  Alternatives for the ubiquitous 'problem' and 'solution'

 

          a crisis in education which must be addressed

          something that must be tackled / be dealt with

          a challenge which must be met

          something must be done to restore law and order in the inner cities