Open essays and errors to avoid

‘OPEN’ ESSAYS
In the examination, there is a short essay subject consisting of only one or two words which is quite popular with students.
Typical exam questions:

1. Dreams
2. Friends
3. Memories
4. Teenagers
5. Water
6. Computers
7. Time management
8. Examinations
9. Holidays
10. Social Ills

NOTE THIS

These essays are open in the sense that no help or focus is given and students have to plan and concentrate only on certain aspects.

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT
There are many ways to tackle ‘open’ essays. Let’s look at some examples.

1. For the topic ‘Memories’, you could write a short story in which someone remembers certain things that happened to him. You could even write a story on a girl named ‘Memories’ and it would still be accepted.
2. The essay on ‘Teenagers’ could be planned as follows:

Introduction: Say something general about people’s impression of teenagers
Body: Discuss the problems faced (Causes and effects) and solutions
Conclusion: Close with an opinion or hopes.

The same treatment could be done for other topics such as ‘Social Ills’ and ‘Water’.

3. For the essay on ‘Examinations’ and ‘Computers’, you could discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the topics. This is by far the best way to answer a question if you ever run out of ideas.

4. One way of tackling the question on ‘Time Management’ is to discuss ways to manage your time, pitfalls to avoid and some advice.





PITFALLS TO AVOID

Be careful when you have to write about a plural subject such as ‘Dreams’, ‘Examinations’ or ‘Memories’. If you write about only a dream, you are not answering the question.



MORE ERRORS TO AVOID

1 Do not use ‘etc’ or etcetra (meaning ‘and so on’) to list something in your essays.
Example: She likes to play games such as badminton, table tennis, etc. (X)
She likes to play games such as badminton, table tennis and tennis. (/)

2 The verbs ‘happened’, ‘died’, ‘occurred’, ‘arrived’ cannot be used in the passive.

Example: Something was happened last night. (X)
Something happened last night. (/)

My grandmother was died in her sleep last night. (X)
My grandmother died in her sleep last night. (/)

3 Do not use ‘about’ with the words ‘discuss, consider, describe, study explain’.

Example: We will consider about your application tomorrow. (x)
We will consider your application tomorrow. (/)