These English exercises help ESL students learn how to improve writing sentences and paragraphs.
THESIS SENTENCES
A thesis sentence is your main idea. It is the first sentence of a paragraph. It is important to learn how to write this sentence. When you learn how to write this sentence, your writing, speaking and thinking skills will also be better.
Here is an example.
Many Americans buy Japanese cars. (not a thesis sentence)
Many Americans buy Japanese cars because of their competitive price, fuel economy, and high resale value.
How to make a thesis sentence.
1. Start with an idea (Many Americans buy Japanese cars.)
2. Write three reasons (competitive price, fuel economy, high resale value)
3. Change the period to because.
4. Put the sentences together.
Another Example
Dogs are great pets.
Dogs are great pets because they are loyal, are good friends and easy to train.
Dogs are great pets because they are loyal, good friends and easy to train. Having a dog is like having a loyal friend. They will stay with you and protect your family. To have a dog means you will never be lonely. If you want to stay home and relax or go outside and run in the park, your dog will also be by your side. During the first year, puppies should be trained to do basic things, like how to sit. Fortunately, dogs are easy to teach so they learn quickly. Some people think having a dog is hard but I disagree. Dogs are great pets and will be a fun, loyal friend for life.
WRITING ACTIVITY 1
Use the sentence pattern shown above to write a good thesis sentence.
For example: Elementary school children should not eat fast food …
Thesis: Elementary school children should not eat fast food because it has little nutritional value, it doesn’t give students energy to learn and it’s expensive.
Write a good thesis sentence for each question.
1. Cook and eating at home is a good idea for university students …
2. Technology is improving our lives …
3. People should drive compact cars …
4. Moving to America for many immigrants is not easy …
5. Nursing is a satisfying career choice …
6. Writing a good composition is difficult …
7. It is dangerous to be living in this world ..
WRITING ACTIVITY 2
Change these sentences into thesis sentences. Choose two and write a paragraph in the style as shown above.
1. I like my apartment.
2. Fast food is not good for people.
3. Busan is an interesting place to visit.
4. Baseball is a great game.
WRITING ACTIVITY 3
Guided Writing
- Rewrite the story by changing spider to spiders. Be sure to change all of the subject verb agreements.
- Write one more paragraph to finish the story.
A spider, and his neighbor, a hyena, decided to go to the river together. There they met the King of the river who gave them a gift. It was a bucket of fish. The spider and the hyena made a fire. As the spider cooked the fish, he threw them on the river bank to cool. However, the greedy hyena ate all of the fish by himself. When the spider walked to the river bank to eat some fish, tears of anger filled his eyes. The hyena asked the spider why he was crying. The spider replied that some smoke from the fire was in his eyes. Quietly, though the spider was planning his revenge.
WRITING ACTIVITY 4
Write Less to Say More
Some sentences have too many words. Your task is to edit sentences so the main idea stays but useless words go out. Example:
- Wordy: John was employed and now works for the company Samsung.
- Better: John now works for Samsung.
1. Helen is a smart and intelligent woman.
2. Our student is a physically ill student today.
3. I will complete my research paper in a period of a week.
4. John’s stylish boots, made of crocodile skin, cost him an arm and a leg.
5. Susan is the teacher who teaches Chemistry at her High School.
6. The student is writing a writing assignment for his English Composition class.
7. The book which is located on the table is a Grammar book.
8. Julius ran with the other runners in the 10,000 meter track event and finished third overall.
9. Her purse, which was manufactured in Italy, was stolen yesterday.
10. Steve was given a warning by the police officer.