Writing: connected events and a short response

Using the words you are given

• A writing task gives five words — graduation毕业bì yè、nervous紧张jǐn zhāng、finally终于zhōng yú、to be interviewed (as a…面试miàn shì、success成功chéng gōng — and asks for a short connected text.
• The words must fit naturally and grammatically; a list of sentences that each squeeze in one word does not score well.

Build a small story first

• Find the story the words suggest: graduation → nervous interview → finally successful. Then write it in order.
• graduation毕业bì yèafter以后yǐ hòu，I / me我wǒto go去qùthe whole family一家yī jiācompany公司gōng sīto be interviewed (as a…面试miàn shì。I / me我wǒvery非常fēi chángnervous紧张jǐn zhāng，but但是dàn shìto reply回答huí dá(degree marker)得dedegree / adjective linker很hěnconscientious认真rèn zhēn。一个yí gèweek星期xīng qīafter以后yǐ hòu，I / me我wǒfinally终于zhōng yúto receive收到shōu dào(completed / change)了leto notify通知tōng zhī：to be interviewed (as a…面试miàn shìsuccess成功chéng gōng(completed / change)了le！

I我wǒfinally终于zhōng yúreceived收到shōu dào了lethe notice通知tōng zhī。

Fit each word's grammar

• nervous紧张jǐn zhāng is an adjective: I / me我wǒdegree / adjective linker很hěnnervous紧张jǐn zhāng / nervous紧张jǐn zhāng(adverb -ly)地deto reply回答huí dá. finally终于zhōng yú goes before a verb with a result: finally终于zhōng yúsuccess成功chéng gōng(completed / change)了le. to be interviewed (as a…面试miàn shì can be a verb or noun: to go去qùto be interviewed (as a…面试miàn shì / first一次yī cìto be interviewed (as a…面试miàn shì.
• Check each supplied word is used with its normal partners.

Describe a scene accurately

• Another task gives a picture. Describe what is shown, and connect it with a reason or result you can see, without inventing a plot.
• Picture of a girl at a desk with many books: she / her她tātable桌子zhuō zi(bound form) up上shàngto have / there is有yǒu很多hěn duōbook书shū，seemingly看起来kàn qǐ láiin the middle of正在zhèng zàipreparation准备zhǔn bèito take an exam考试kǎo shì。 (seemingly看起来kàn qǐ lái marks a reasonable guess.)

Common mistakes

Recap