Writing can sometimes get complicated and confusing especially when you have no clear organization. You need structure in writing, whether in a college essay, article, or business email. It should always be organized, clear, and concise. This makes it easier for the readers to understand.

A great way to think about how to structure writing is by using the example of a burger or a sandwich. I was taught this same way when I was young, so this concept has been around for a while now!

INTRODUCTION
You begin first with your main idea/ introduction. This is the top bun of the burger. What are you writing about? What's your topic?

For example:
"Learning English can change your life in positive ways"

DETAILS
All the  ingredients are what provides taste to the burger. These are the supporting details 1,2, and 3 (or more) that gives the writing the "meat." You can add tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, pickles in a burger - these all provide substance and taste. That's what we need to make a writing (and a burger) interesting!

For example:
Detail 1 : English can open up many job opportunities

Detail 2 : English can give you more independence when traveling around the world because English is a common language.

Detail 3 : English can give you more opportunities to meet new people

CONCLUSION
The bottom bun of the burger completes the burger. This is where you would bring everything to a conclusion.

The top and bottom buns hold all the main ingredients (supporting details) together. If you don't start with a bread on the top or bottom, the burger would be strange and probably wouldn't taste so delicious. All the ingredients in your burger would just fall out too. The top and bottom bun provides structure to hold everything together. These are just as important as the ingredients inside a burger.

If you're interested in a Hamburger Chart Worksheet to use in the classroom or to practice on your own, you can download it here.

If you've visited my site lately, you would have seen a new section called "Make a Wish" (you can find this on the homepage). This allows you to make a wish on an English lesson you wish to see on The English Student in the future. I've already received some emails, and although I can't cover everything right away, I will choose some that I think a lot of other learners can benefit from.

A question that I'm answering today is from an English student who wanted to know the difference between the words "bored" and "boring." This is a very common problem and I will try to explain this grammar difference as simply as I can without boring you all!

To be bored is never fun but to be boring is never good! I would much rather be bored than be boring.

If you're bored, it describes how you feel. You feel unhappy or unsatisfied because there is nothing to do. Have you ever heard the saying, "Facebook is like a fridge. If you're bored, you keep opening it." If you feel bored, then you keep opening and checking Facebook. Quite true!

If you're boring, it describes what you're like as person. Someone who is not interesting to be with or talk to. I would never want anyone to say I'm a boring person! That would be a bad quality to have! As the actress Marilyn Monroe once said, "It's better to be absolutely ridiculous than to be absolutely boring." I agree with that!

In the picture above you can tell these friends are not having a great lunch together. The woman on the left is feeling bored. The woman on the right thinks her friend is a boring person (not interesting to be with). Can you distinguish the difference now?

The words "bored" and "boring" are known as participial adjectives.

Participial adjectives function just like any regular adjective, they modify nouns but they are formed from a verb. Adding -ed or - ing at the end of a verb creates a past or present participle adjective. Take a look at how some verbs become participial adjectives.

VERB - PAST PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVE - PRESENT PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVE
(1) BORE - BORED - BORING
(2) AMUSE - AMUSED - AMUSING
(3) RELAX - RELAXED - RELAXING
(4) INTEREST - INTERESTED - INTERESTING

There are so many wonderful resources on the web to learn more about participial adjectives. If you're still confused or want more examples, it may be a good idea to search around. Here is a great video from Sprotak Animations with some examples of present and past participles.

 A few days ago I was helping my cousin proofread some of her work. She asked me why we have to use "a woman" instead of  "a women." This is clearly a confusing and easily mistaken part of English because in some languages, such as mandarin, there are no specific nouns to distinguish between one woman or many women.

There are so many singular and plural words in English, but my focus today is just on helping you understand the difference between WOMAN, WOMEN, MAN, MEN.

With one female or male, we always use 'a' - womAn and mAn
With two or more females or males, we use 'e' - womEn and mEn

Also remember to use the correct verb for each noun.
Since it's Father's Day today, I'm going to give an example related to this:
"He is a great man" - singular (uses the verb 'is')
"They are great men" - plural (uses the verb 'are')


Related Lessons:
Jean or Jeans
This or That
English is a Strange Language

Today I am re-posting an oldie that was one of the first visuals I created for this blog. It's truly been beneficial to a lot of learners to 'see' the basics of capitalization. It's an important part of grammar! In case you missed it before, here it is again. Hope it'll help you out!

Related Lessons:
Proofreading Your Work
Punctuation is Important
Order of Adjectives