Band 5 Writing: How to Make Sense para Hindi na Sumakit ang Bangs Ko

     1.       Magsulat para sa “bobong” mambabasa. Tandaan na waley ka sa tabi ng reader mo teh, kailangan isang basa nila intindi agad. Hindi ibig sabihin na bobo talaga ang mambabasa mo. Ibig lang sabihin dapat madali ma-gets ang gusto mo sabihin. Dapat klaro ang exposisyon, may kuneksyon ang mga ideas, at may sense ang mga gagamitin mong example. 

     Pasok ka nalang ng Writing coaching namin, para malaman mo kung paano ‘to ginagawa.

     2.       Wag sobrang philosophical. Kailangan klaro, naiintindihan, at may kuneksyon sa mundo. Hindi pwedeng puro generalized statement/cliché/proverb. Unang-una, walang originality. Pangalawa, e ano naman? Di ko kase na-gets yung sinabi mo, it's so unfathomable that I must reach into th abyss of YOUR mind in order for me to fully comprehend. Hala. Lagot ka pag ganyan. Wag mong gamitin ang salita na cute lang kase may rhyme, pero kailangan ng matagalang soul searching para maintindihan.  Sabihin mo sa essay mo kung anung kuneksyon nyan sa tunay na mundo. Ideas can be struck down by a well-placed argument, but examples taken from the real world are difficult to refute.

Ansabe?: “Contraception is corruption.” (Students, imagine me rolling my eyes and making “quote-quote” gestures while doing this) Ito pa, medyo bago: “Yes to Saved Sex. No to Safe Sex.” 'Nga pala, hindi ko orig ang mga quotes na yan ha?

Clear: Many people fear that the Reproductive Health Law will provide an avenue for corrupt politicians to put more of the people’s money in their pockets because the government may purchase contraception from international producers and manufacturers of contraceptives. This is why they believe that the RH law may lead to corruption.

Singit!(Counter argument): If this is the argument that shall be considered, however, then any law that would make use of the people’s money to provide service to those in need should never be passed, as these will also provide opportunities for some politicians to steal the people’s taxes.

Moral lesson: Kung presenting two arguments ang drama ng essay mo, and you disagree with one argument, then make your rebuttal on the succeeding paragraph, preferably making use of the DC, IC (complex sentence) sentence construction. Pasok ka ng klase namen, para makarelate ka!

     3.       Tandaan: Ang kagandahan, hindi lang sa content, sa composition din (and vice versa; ganda nga ng Grammar at word usage, waley namang utak ang sinulat, waley parin). Minsan, hindi naman talaga mali ang Grammar ng essay mo. Chaka lang talaga. May tawag tayo diyan: aesthetics. Kagandahan teh. Dun ka lumagay sa ikakaganda ng sulat mo (also applicable to mala-doktor na penmanship)

For example:

Chaka: There are several steps to the writing process. Firstly, you plan your essay through either clustering or outlining. Secondly, you write your first draft based on the plan. Lastly, you edit and revise your draft.

Bakit chaka? Wala lang. Oo, wala lang. Ang pangit ay pangit. Like me, kapag haggard na sa pagchicheck ng 1,000,000,000 essays per day.

Moral lesson: lessen adverbs ending with ‘ly’, kase chaka.

Kinaganda mo ito: There are several steps to the writing process. Before you actually write your first draft, you should first plan your essay through outlining or clustering. Once you have finished the plan, you may now write your essay. Upon finishing this step, you should edit and revise your article.

     4.       Huwag gumamit ng salitang walang naiko-contribute sa  mensahe.

Kung pwede mo paikliin, do so. Instead na “due to the fact”, pwede namang “because”. At sobrang personal naman ata ang “I personally think”. Tandaan: ang ideya ang bubuo sa word count. Kung trip mo na gumamit ng pagka-haba-habang sentences dahil lang trip mo rin magpasikat, hindi mo yan kinaganda teh.

    5.       Super Dali Preposition Lesson

Tatanungin mo pa ba ako kung bakit kailangan ito? By the way, hindi ito kumpleto. Gazillion ang use ng prepositions. Simple usage lang ang mga ito.

Preposition	Filipino Equivalent	Example
To	“papunta”, minsan “para” (di yung sa dyip ha)	We are going TO Manila. TO Andre (gift ang peg)
From	“mula sa” o kaya “galing kay”	We are going to Manila FROM Makati. Andre got this FROM Panda (pang regalo lang ulit)
With	“kasama”	We are going to Manila from Makati WITH our teachers.
By	Isang preposition na gagamitin para ipakita ang doer ng action o kaya “katabi”	This was written BY a crazy filingerang Englisherang guro. “Standing BY my window, waiting for your call… Seems I really miss you, after all.” Char.
Through	Tagus-tagusan, o kaya “sa pamamagitan” P.S.: Pareho lang to ng thru, teh. Wag kang toxic, eto nalang ang gamitin mo para ‘di magulo ang spelling.	Some dude with X-Ray Vision: Heeeeeey ! I can see THROUGH  you! I am sure that THROUGH hard work you will be able to achieve your goals.

    6.       Monotony is codswallop.

Anu daw?  Be conscious sa writing.

Example:

The significant increase of the rubbish produced has been attributed to the increase of population. This is because the increase in population would mean that there is also an increase in the production of products, from which significant amount of rubbish may be a byproduct off. The increase of population would mean an increase in the consumption of different products…

Chaka. Hala, sige, waley na ibang vocabs teh?

Compose consciously. I’m sure most of you can make use of other words that can be used to substitute for these. The first step to make sure that you are not redundant, really, is to be aware of your own redundancy.

Remember:

There is no better way to learn how to write than to write and to fail and to write and write and write until you succeed.

Be Challenged.

Janina Santos (aka Liah) is a balahurang guro of IELTS and has written this piece for her beloved and equally balahurang mga estudyante. She is also (secretly) a babaeng bakla and sole proprietor of Codswallop.