# 英文作文(二) English Composition (2) B (HSFL10027)
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Disclaimer:
These notes are not used for commercial purposes, and are only to serve as a personal study guide. The contents of these notes are compiled and rearranged from various sources.
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Course Overview:
>This course aims to reinforce students' knowledge and sense of good academic writing through weekly pre-class reading, writing exercises and projects.

Grading:
* Assignments: 30%
* Quizzes: 20%
* Midterm exam & essay: 25%
* Final exam and essay: 25%

Lesson Plan:
* Orientation and Course Overview
* Verbs & Phrases
* Nouns
* Prepositions and Punctuation, Presentation
* Summary Phrases
* Paraphrasing, Quotation, Citation
* Essay Structure, Thesis statement & Topic Sentence
* Refining Sentences

## Week 2
### Vocabulary
1. zenith: a highest point or state
2. odious: deserving or causing hatred
3. nascent: beginning to exist or develop
4. obdurate: unmoved by persuasion
5. aberration: deviation from the right, normal, or usual course
6. gregarious: fond of the company of others
7. profuse: abundant
8. bereaved: greatly saddened at being deprived by death of a loved one
9. magnanimous: high-minded, noble
10. rancid: rank, unpleasant, and stale
11. protract: to draw out or lengthen
12. facile: easily done
13. assuage: to make milder or less severe
14. abate: to reduce in amount
15. obviate: to anticipate and prevent/eliminate
16. mollify: to mitigate or reduce
17. exacerbate: to aggravate
18. garrulous: wordy
19. taciturn: inclined to silence
20. laudable: praiseworthy
21. vehement: strongly emotional
22. culpable: blameworthy
23. credulous: gullible
24. arbitrary: based on whim or personal preference
25. unstinting: not frugal
26. equivocal: undetermined
27. vacillated: to oscillate
28. enumerate: to name one by one
### Sending Professional E-Mail
* Use a specific subject line to delineate the central focus or keywords
* Begin appropriately—some companies prefer the standard ==To-From-Date-Subject==
* Keep your message brief and explain in a concise manner
* Make the e-mail easy to read—break it up with headings, numbered lists, or bullet points.
* E-mail messages should sound professional and cordial
* The sign-off should also include your name but also your title, telephone, fax numbers, and postal and email addresses
### When Asking For a Reference Letter
One should...
* provide a brief statement about one's self and academic achievements, including:
* one's character and hobbies
* academic activities, awards, and research interests
* programs and/or schools that one wishes to apply to
* ask for said letter at least one month in advance, providing professors sufficient time
### Verbs and Phrases
* Don't use contractions such as *can't*, *don't*, etc.
* Don't start with words like *but*, *because*, etc.
* Don't use casual, unspecific words such as *things*, *stuff*, *a bit*, etc.
* Single verbs (actions using only one word to convey them) are preferred

The difference between **inert verbs** and **vigorous verbs**:

| Inert Verbs (these words are actionless)| Vigorous Verbs (these words are action-packed)|
| -------- | -------- |
| be-verbs | |
| have | possess |
| exist | live, survive |
| say | argue, propose |
| because | grow |

### I Wish I'd Never Been Born: The Rise of the Anti-natalists
> by *Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow*, Thu 14 Nov 2019 06.00 GMT, The Guardian

Summary:

Stemming from pessimism about the state of the world, anti-natalists claim life as suffering and procreation as wrong. Anti-natalist Raphael Samuel sued his parents for begetting him, believing it unethical to bring people into the world without their consent and therefore wishing to instill fear among parents for such. Philosopher David Benatar explains that the goal of anti-natalism is to reduce human suffering—which happens to everyone by simply existing—and that the sentiments at its heart have existed for a long time.

## Week 4
### Vocabulary
1. insipid: without distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; vapid
2. prosaic: commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative
3. solicitous: anxious or concerned; careful or particular
4. venal: able to be purchased, as by a bribe
5. eclectic: selecting or choosing from various sources
6. extant: still in existence
7. esoteric: belonging to the select few (as in OSP's "esoteric birth club")
8. exigent: urgent; requiring a great deal
9. recondite: little known, obscure
10. apprehensive: quick to learn; requiring a great deal
11. cogent: to the point; pertinent
12. profligate: utterly and shamelessly immoral or dissipated
13. altruistic: unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others (as opposed to "egotistic")
14. debilitate: to make feeble
15. masticate: to reduce to a pulp by crushing or kneading
16. elucidate: to make lucid or clear
17. blithe: without thought or regard
### Résumé and Nouns for Students
#### Writing a Résumé
##### Contents of a Résumé
1. Contact information
2. Educational background
3. Work experience
4. Professional skills & Personality
5. Special qualifications
6. Honors
##### Standard Résumé Structure
1. Heading: should include *contact information*
2. Employment objective: should include the *specific position sought*
3. Credentials:
1. Educational background
2. Work history
* job title
* company name
* time
* **responsibilities**
\*Be succinct and to the point
\*Use effective and effective words
→ avoid "weaker verbs"
→ use strong "active words"
→ When referring to a job in the past, use *past tense*; when referring to a current job, use *present tense*
3. Skills and personality
4. Honors, awards, activity
5. Referees

==For *educational background*, *work history*, *honors*, *awards*, and *activities*, present in reverse chronological order.==

### Nouns
#### Nominalization
There should be a balance between *active voice and verbs* and *passive voice and nominalization*.

| | Active voice & Verbs | Passive Voice and Nominalization |
| -------- | -------- | -------- |
| Strength | Strong and direct | Less objective and sophisticated |
| Weakness | Less objected and sophisticated | More abstract, verbose |

Michael Halliday on **nouns/nominalization** (from *Language and Identity across Modes of Communication*)
\= a metaphor of process (verbs) and properties (adjectives)
\= prioritizes ideas/reasons/causes

### Stylistics Feature in Writing
Prefers usage of:
* single verbs
* active voice
* strong adjectives (avoid using *very*, *really*)

1. De-emphasize "I":
EX. "You can see the result in Figure 1" → "Results can be seen in Figure 1"
2. No contractions
EX. "don't" → "do not"
3. Negative forms are preferred
EX. "not...any/much" → "no/little"
4. No vague wording
EX. No "and so forth" and "etc."
5. Avoid rhetorical questions
6. Adverbs placed as closely to the action it qualifies as possible
7. Avoid split infinitive

### Revising Jane Austen
Rewrite the opening paragraphs of *Pride and Prejudice* by Jane Austen into a more readable and straightforward one.

Keep in mind that the revised version must not be longer than the original passage.

The Original:
> It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

Rewrite:
>Everyone believes that a wealthy bachelor seeks a wife, hence he would wed their daughters.

## Week 5
### Vocabulary
1. olfactory: of relating to the sense of smell
2. acrid: sharp or biting to the taste or smell
3. vindicated: to assert, mantain, or defend (a right, cause, etc.) against opposition
4. obviate: to anticipate and prevent or eliminate (difficulties, disadvantages, etc.) by effective measures
5. dividend: a share of anything divided
6. peripatetic: walking or traveling about, itinerant