Paragraphs

When we write, we use sentences to separate ideas. If we use a lot of sentences, we need to use paragraphs to put similar ideas together. For example, look at the information below about a person. It has four paragraphs, and each one is about a different part of Martin's life:

1 Martin's early life and education

2 His university years

3 His job at Oxford and life in England

4 His wife and family

Martin Robertson was born in 1974 in Washington. He lived with his family - his parents and two sisters - in a large town house near the centre of the city. He went to the local elementary school and junior high school.

I 2 j When Martin was 19, lie went to Yale University. He studied American and British

literature, and he got a very good degree. He stayed at the university to do some research, and he left in 1998.

After a few months, Martin left rhe USA and took a job at Oxford University, England, as a lecturer in American literature. He has written three books and he is now ver)' well- known. He is still at Oxford University and he plans to stay there.

During Martins years at Yale, he met Annabel. Annabel decided to come to England with Martin and they got married in 2000. They had their first child, a daughter, in 2003 and their second, a son. in 2005.

Pronunciation bank

Part 2 I Sound-spelling correspondences

Consonants

In English, we can spell the same sound in different ways, for example, the sound /i:/ can be 'ее', as in green, *ea' as in read or 'ey' as in key. Students of English sometimes find English spelling difficult, but there are rules and knowing the rules can help you. The chart below gives you the more common spellings of the English sounds you have studied in this book.

Part 3 I Weak forms

In English some words have two pronunciations - the strong form and the weak form, for example, Can (/kan/) you dance? Yes, I can (/kaen/). We usually use the weak form when the word is not stressed. Most of these words are 'grammar' words e.g. a, an.