English - ESL classes

Writing Paragraphs

Make the paragraph your basis of writing a larger work, and limit each paragraph to a specific topic. In fact, begin each paragraph with your topic sentence, thereby avoiding a succession of loose sentences. Choose a method of organizing your thoughts in advance, which will allow you to complete an essay or writing assignment with flair and a readable style.

Narration is normally presented in chronological order (through time). However, a good narrative contains more than just listing events in the order that they happened. Narration develops characters, describes a setting, entertains via a conflict, and ultimately a resolution. You don't just throw your story onto the page, you must have a point to the story.

Exposition is explanatory writing, presented with clarity, and credibility, often relying on a source for factual information, citing authorities who have good credentials or are experts in the subject. Meaning is found in the world, not in the dictionary. Bring the world into your story and use it to define your terms.

Descriptive paragraphs must avoid flat-out telling something. Adopt a strategy that makes your description into a story: move from far to near, left to right, old to new, or along any other natural flow. Try dropping in a dramatic revelation along the way, like you were watching a movie unfold. The main difficulty in description is that people can take in a scene almost instantly, but they read sequentially, in a series of small pieces.

Comparisons can be made easier by drawing out a 't-chart' on a blank piece of paper, to make certain you have enough elements to compare and contrast. List the two items being compared at the top, and all the differences and similarities you can think of that will be compared, on the left and right sides of your page. Finally, choose among your options to put together a decent comparison.

Process Analysis explains how to perform a series of actions, breaking the process down into a series of steps. Then, you arrange the steps into some sort of meaningful sequence. Perhaps ask a friend to read your analysis out loud to see if they can follow your directions easily.

Persuasion is the art of letting people make up their minds. More is required than just your opinion or personal sense of conviction. You need to equip the reader with information, analysis, and context, so they can form their own opinions, make judgments, and perhaps take action. Readers are primarily interested in their own opinions, so if you can help them formulate and deepen their understanding, they'll likely enjoy reading your article.

Reading Lists

The secret to improving your score on any type of English test boils down to one common factor, your skill in reading. The secret to improving your mind in the least possible time, given the material limitation of a huyman body, is to know which books to read in the first place. Every thinker has a favored list if books that they promote as the most important, but among authors of exceedingly rare intelligence, a consensus is easy obtained.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 3.92 of 5 stars Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse 3.93 of 5 stars The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran 4.18 of 5 stars Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach 3.73 of 5 stars Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu 4.32 of 5 stars Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 4.03 of 5 stars I Ching, Book of Changes by Cary F. Baynes (Translator) 4.13 of 5 stars Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung 4.75 of 5 stars Heaven and Hell by Emmanuel Swedenborg 4.5 of 5 stars Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava 4.8 of 5 stars The Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran 4.8 of 5 stars The Essential Rumi by Rumi 4.42 of 5 stars The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin by Rumi 4.33 of 5 stars The Book by Alan Watts 4.1 of 5 stars Isis Unveiled By H.P. Blavatsky 3.9 of 5 stars The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky 3.9 of 5 stars

Songs of Milarepa by Milarepa 4.3 of 5 stars Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore 4.34 of 5 stars The First and Last Freedom by Aldous Huxley 4.44 of 5 stars Beelzebub's Tales by G.I. Gurdjieff 4.03 of 5 stars Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis 4.09 of 5 stars In Search of the Miraculous by P.D. Ouspensky 4.28 of 5 stars Tertium Organum by P.D. Ouspensky 4.2 of 5 stars Psychology of Man by P.D. Ouspensky 4.04 of 5 stars Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 4.12 of 5 stars Meetings With Remarkable Men by G.I. Gurdjieff 4.15 of 5 stars Experiments With Truth by Mahatma Gandhi 4.05 of 5 stars The Bijak of Kabir by Kabir 4.28 of 5 stars The Yoga Sutras by Patanjali 4.35 of 5 stars The Talmud: Selected Writings by Ben Zion Bokser 3.93 of 5 stars Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 3.99 of 5 stars Zen and Japanese Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki 3.93 of 5 stars Parables of Sri Ramakrishna by Ramakrishna 4.25 of 5 stars

Word Roots

Learning the following word roots and prefixes are a fast way to strengthen your vocabulary. Given that a fluent English speaker must learn over 5,000 words, combining word-parts is a smart approach. Even if you don't know the meaning of a new word straight off, you can make an 'educated guess' if you only had a clue to the word root or prefix within the word.

Prefix or Word Root	Meaning	Example
a, ab/s	from, away, off	abstract
aer/o	air	aeroplane
agr/i/o	farming	agriculture
ambi, amphi	both, on both sides, around	amphibian
ambul	walk, move	ambulance
ami/o	love	amiable
anim	life, spirit	animal
anthrop/o	human	anthropology
anti	against, opposite of	antibody
aqu/a	water	aquarium
arch/a/i	primitive, ancient	archaeology
arthr/o	joint	arthritis
astro, aster	star, stars, outer space	astronaut
aud/i/io	hear	audible
auto	self, same, one	automatic
avi/a	bird	aviation
bene	good, well	benefactor
bi/n	two, twice, once in every two	biweekly
bibli/o	book	bibliography
bio	life, living matter	biology
calc	stone	calcium
capt, cept, ceive	take, hold	intercept, perceive
cardi/o	heart	cardiology
carn/i	flesh, meat	carnivorous
cede, ceed, cess	go, yield	exceed
cent/i	hundred, hundredth	centennial
centr/o/i	center	egocentric
cerebr/o	brain	cerebral
cert	sure	certain
chrom/o chromat/o, chros	color, pigment	chromatic
chron/o	time	chronic
circum	around, about	circumnavigate
claim, clam	shout, speak out	clamor
co	with, together, joint	coauthor
cogn/i	know	cognition
con	with, jointly	concur
contra/o	against, opposite	contradict
corp/o	body	corporation
counter	opposite, contrary, opposing	counteract
cranio	skull	craniology
cred	believe	incredible
crypto	hidden, secret	encryption
cycl	circle, ring	bicycle
dec/a, deka	ten	decade, decathalon
dem/o	people	democracy
dent, dont	tooth	dentist
derm/a	skin	dermatology
dia	through, between, apart, across	diagonal
dict	speak	contradict
domin	master	dominate
don/at	give	donation
duc/t	lead	conduct
dyn/a/am	power, energy, strength	dynamic
dys	abnormal, bad	dyslexia
e-	out, away	evaporate
ego	self	egotistic
em, en	into, cover with, cause	empathy
endo	within, inside	endotherm
ethno	race, people	ethnic
ex	from, out,	excavate
extra, extro	outside, beyond	extraordinary
fac/t	make, do	manufacture
flor/a, fleur	flower	florist
fore	in front of, previous, earlier	forefront
form	shape	formation
fract, frag	break	fracture
funct	perform, work	function
gastr/o	stomach	gastric
gen/o/e/	birth, production,	genealogy
geo	earth, soil, global	geography
giga	a billion	gigabyte
gram	letter, written	diagram
graph/y	writing, recording, written	graphics
hect/o, hecat	hundred	hectare
helic/o	spiral, circular	helicopter
hemi	half, partial	hemicycle
hem/o/a	blood	hemorrhage
herbi	grass, plant	herbs
hetero	different, other	heterogeneous
homo, homeo	like, alike, same	homogeneous
hydr/o	liquid, water	hydroelectric
hyper	too much, over, beyond	hyperactive
hyp/o	under	hypoglycemia
il, in	in, into	illuminate
ig, il, im, in, ir	not, without	illegal, irrespective
infra	beneath, below	infrastructure
inter	between, among, jointly	international
intra, intro	within, inside	intrastate
juven	young	juvenile
kilo	thousand	kilobyte
lact/o	milk	lactate
liber	free	liberate
lingu	language, tongue	linguistics
luc	light	elucidate
lumin	light	illuminate
lun/a/i	moon	lunar
macro	large, great	macroeconomics
magn/a/i	great, large	magnify
mal/e	bad, ill, wrong	malcontent
mania	madness, excessive desire	maniac
mater, matr/i	mother	maternal
mega	great, large, million	megastore
meta	change, after, beyond, between	metaphysics
meter, metr	measure	audiometer
micro	very small, short, minute	micrometer
mid	middle	midsection
milli	onethousandth	millimeter
min/i	small, less	miniskirt
mis/o	bad, badly, wrong, wrongly,	misbehave
morph/o	form	metamorphosis
multi	many, more than one or two	multicolored
nav	ship	navigate
neo	new, recent	neolithic
nom/in	name	nomenclature
omni	all	omniverous
para	beside, beyond	paranormal
per	through, throughout	permit
peri	around, enclosing	periscope
phon/o	sound	phonograph
phot/o	light	photogenic
pod/e	foot	podiatrist
poly	many, more than one	polygraph
post	after, behind	postdated
pre	earlier, before, in front of	prevention
pro	before, in front of, fore	proactive
psych/o	mind, mental	psychology
quad/r/ri	four	quadrant
re	again, back, backward	rebound
retro	backward, back	retroactive
rupt	break, burst	bankrupt
scop/e/y	see, examine, observe	microscope
scrib, script	write, written	scribble, inscription
self	of, for, or by itself	self-respect
semi	half, partial	semiannual
sol	sun	solar
son	sound	sonic
sphere	ball	spherical, biosphere
spir	breathe	inspire, spirit
struct	build	construction, structure
sub	under, lower than, inferior to	submarine
super, supra	higher in quality or quantity	superimposed
techno	technique, skill	technology
tel/e/o	far, distant, complete	telephone
temp/or	time	temporary
term/ina	end, limit	terminus
therm/o	heat	thermal
trans	across,beyond, through	transfer
tri	three, once in every three,	triangle
ultra	beyond, extreme, more than	ultralight
un	not,opposite of, lacking	unavailable
uni	one, single	unicycle
urb	city	urban
vac	empty	evacuate
vid	see	video
vis, vid	see	vision
viv/I, vit	live, life	revival
voc/i	voice, call	advocate

Suffix	Meaning	Example
- able	capable of, worthy of	noticeable
- ade	action or process, persons acting	renegade
- age	state of being, or quality, pertaining to	marriage
- al	state of being, or quality, state of	marital, causal
- ancy	state, quality, act or condition	agency
- ant	one who acts	registrant
- archy	rule, government	monarchy
- ard	one who acts	steward
- ary	pertaining to, connected with	elementary
- ced	move, yield	recede, secede
- cide	killing, act of	homoicide
- cious	capable of	capacious
- cit	having the quality, or call	incite
- clam	call, cry out	exclamation
- clino	lean	decline, incline
- clud	shut	seclude, preclude
- cracy	rule	democracy
- crat	ruler, member of ruling body	autocrat
- ennial	yearly	centennial, perennial
- ent, er	one who acts	student, teacher
- ery	occupation, business, or condition	archery grocery
- ette	small or diminutive	dinette, statuette
- fic	of, bringing, yielding	pacific, soporific
- gon	angled, angular	polygon, pentagon
- grade	step	retrograde
- hood	full of abounding in, to make, belong to	childhood
- ible	capable of, worth of, tending to, or having the quality of	credible
- ic, ical	of, pertaining to, similar or like	historical
- ier	possessing or being, one who acts	carrier
- ify	full of, abounding in, to make state of, move, do	testify
- il, ile	act, quality or state, like one who acts	civil, servile
- ine	act, quality or state, pertaining to, like one who acts	heroine
- ing	expressing action	running, growing
- ion	state, condition or act of	volition
- ish	acting like, in the nature of, or similar to	impish, mannish
- ism	art of, philosophy of, practice of	liberalism, Buddhism
- ist	one who acts	philanthropist, artist
- ite	possessing or being, one who acts	favorite
- ive	having the nature of, tending toward	imaginative, collective
- ize	to make into, to practice	mesmerize, familiarize
- ject	hurl or throw	projectile
- lateral	side	unilateral, multilateral
- lent	full of, abounding in	succulent
- less	without, beyond the	fearless, useless
- like	resembling	childlike
- lith	stone	monolith
- logy	knowledge, termination in writing	psychology
- ly	similar in manner	fully, carefully
- ment	state, quality, or act of	entanglement
- metry	measure	geometry
- ness	condition, or state	consciousness
- ology	science or branch of knowledge	technology
- or	a person or thing that acts	actor, elevator
- ory	of, pertaining to, place of	auditory
- ous	state or quality	furious
- par	make ready	prepare
- pathy	suffering, feeling	sympathy, telepathy
- philia	abnormal liking or tending toward	hemophilia
- phobia	fear, dread	acrophobia, hydrophobia
- phone	sound	telephone
- pon, pos	place, put	postpone, position
- pter	wing, feather	helicopter
- scope	see	microscope
- sect	cut	intersect, section
- ship	state or quality, art of skill	partnership
- sis	action, process, state	thesis
- some	like or same	bothersome
- sophy	science of	philosophy
- sphere	layer	hemisphere
- stat	standing, stationary, set	thermostat
- ster	one who acts	teamster
- tomy	a cutting	appendectomy
- tort	to twist	distort
- tract	draw, draw from, pull	extract, tractor
- tron	an instrument	cyclotron
- try	art or profession of, state or quality	forestry, ministry
- tude	art or profession of, state or quality	aptitude
- ule	diminutive force	miniscule
- ulent	abounding in	fraudulent
- ure	act or process, result of	adventure, tenure
- urgy	work	dramaturgy, metallurgy
- ven, vent	come	convention
- vore, vorous	eating	carnivore

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