IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS UNIT 4

A description of a person

Practising connectors
1 Complete the table with the connectors in the box.

although also despite as well as however

in spite of too despite the fact that as well

addition contrast

2 Complete the sentences with connectors from Ex 1.

1 ______________ Beyonc was born in Texas, she now lives in New York.
2 Ricky Martin has recorded songs in English ______________ in Spanish.
3 ______________ performing every night on a world tour, Bono still finds
time to campaign on environmental issues.
4 Chris Martin is a talented singer and a very good songwriter,
______________.
5 The band members of the Rolling Stones are now in their 60s.
______________, they still enjoy making albums and touring.
6 The music festival was great ______________ the bad weather.

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Improving your writing
3 Read the description and note the examiners comments.

The world-famous violinist Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore in 1978. However,

her family moved to London when she was four years old and she grew up in London
and became a British citizen. She is short and slim, and very attractive, with brown big
eyes and, long, black hair. Although she often wears fashionable, expensive clothes on
stage, in her free time she loves wearing cotton, light dresses.

Although Vanessa-Mae grew up playing classical music, her first album combined
elements of techno and pop music and also classical. Clearly, she is an independent
and also open-minded person who enjoys many different types of music. She is also
optimistic and generous. She is also often busy, but she likes encouraging other
British young musicians with their work. Although she doesnt go on tour as often as
she used to, Vanessa-Mae continues to be a popular performer all over the world. She
is currently planning a new tour and also a new album.

Examiners comments
Dont just use although and also use other connectors of addition and contrast.
Watch out for adjective word order!

4 Find and correct three word order errors in the description in Ex 3.

1 __________________________________________________________
2 __________________________________________________________
3 __________________________________________________________

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5 Write sentences about Vanessa-Mae, putting the adjectives in brackets in the
correct order.

1 Vanessa-Mae is a (young, British, popular) violinist.

__________________________________________________________
2 She sometimes plays (pop, new, exciting) songs.
__________________________________________________________
3 She has (straight, black, long) hair.
__________________________________________________________

6 Rewrite the sentences using the words in brackets.

1 Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore. However, she moved to London when

she was four years old. (although)
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
2 Although Vanessa-Mae grew up playing classical music, her first album
combined techno and pop. (despite the fact that)
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
3 She is often busy, but she likes encouraging other young musicians with their
work. (in spite of)
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

7 Write a description of a famous singer or musician (about 100 words). Use

appropriate connectors.

Include:
a physical description
a description of character
the persons achievements and plans.

8 Check your written work carefully and correct any errors.

Text Initiative TRB1 Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2015