Grammar and Language Workbook

Make Lists: Make lists of events, experiences, people, ideas, or even words that interest
you. Use these lists to generate ideas for topics.
Ask Questions: Write down questions that you would like to find the answers to.
Answers to questions such as What if...? How...? or Who...? might provide an interesting
topic for your writing.
After choosing your topic, it is time to determine your 
purpose
, or reason for writing.
Your purpose might be to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to describe, or to analyze.
Deciding on a purpose can help you narrow your topic.
Finally, determine what audience you are trying to reach with your writing. Knowing
your 
audience
will help you to decide on what writing style and what level of
vocabulary to use. For example, writing a lab report for a group of environmental
scientists would be very different from writing a report on pollution to present to a group
of second-graders.
 Composition_307'>Exercise 1
Spend 10 minutes prewriting, using any of the methods described above. 
Unit 14, Composition
307
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Name ___________________________________________________ Class _________ Date ____________________
Composition

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 Exercise 2
Select five possible writing topics from your prewriting in Exercise 1. Write the
topic, a possible purpose, and a possible audience for each topic.
 Exercise 3
Determine a purpose and an audience for each topic listed below. 
1. instructions on how to change an oil filter on an American car
2. a humorous poem describing children
3. tips on Japanese business etiquette
4. how to determine the volume of a cylinder