Grammar for Writing:
Level Blue — Chapter 9
On Your Right, You Will See?
Photo: Notre Dame
A ferry packed with tourists heads across the Seine to the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Every year people around the world spend millons of dollars on tourism. Never have so many people been able to travel so easily, cheaply, and quickly around the globe. Every year, tour guides speak to busloads of tourists, explaining what is important, historic, and fascinating about cities, historic sites, monuments, architectural landmarks, and natural wonders.

Your Assignment
Imagine that you are a tour guide for an international tour company. Choose a city, historic site, monument, architectural landmark, or natural wonder anywhere in the world. Write the speech you will give to your group of tourists as you lead them through the site.

STEP 1: Initial Search
Choose a place you would like to learn more about. Use search engines to find virtual tours and other information. Take comprehensive notes - you'll need lots of interesting details with which to keep your listeners interested. Here are some examples of Web sites for various places of interest:

STEP 2: Expanded Search
To get more information, explore library resources such as books, videos, and newspaper and magazine articles. Add recent and historical facts and statistics (if applicable), and interesting stories and anecdotes about your site. Tour guides usually know all sorts of fascinating facts about their subjects.

STEP 3: Use Prewriting Strategies
Organize your information with a prewriting strategy such as clustering or making a rough outline. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Blue, pages 10 and 13.) Then do some freewriting (see page 10) and jot down ideas as you think about how to welcome the tourists and order facts and stories about the site. (For different ways of ordering information, see page 26).

Write Like A Pro
Keep your style simple and informal - write in your own voice. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Blue, "Writing Hint," page 13.) Imagine you are telling a friend all about the fascinating place you found. Use the active voice, rather than the passive voice. Your speech will be stronger and more direct. Use the passive voice only if you want to emphasize the recipient of an action. (See page 173).

STEP 5: Draft Your Speech
Write your five-minute speech. Give the tourists relevant facts about the place, such as its history, age, and other statistics, and recount interesting stories and anecdotes.

Grammar Connection
Be sure to use the correct tenses of verbs in your talk. You may need to use several different tenses as you move from the past to the present or the present to the past. For example, "The city built the Memorial in 1800. Specialists are restoring it to its turn-of-the-century grandeur. Soon visitors will see the murals in their original colors." Remember that irregular verbs have their own special forms. (For help with irregular verbs, see Grammar for Writing, Level Blue, pages 165 and 167. For help with verb tenses, see page 169.)
Photo: Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India

STEP 6: Revising with a Writing Partner
Review your speech to be sure you included everything you want the tourists to know. Read the revised speech to a writing partner. Ask him or her if your speech flows smoothly, and its rhythm is not choppy or monotonous. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Blue, pages 36, 133, and 227.) Incorporate any suggestions from your writing partner that you think will improve your work. Write your final draft and proofread for errors in grammar and usage, for typos, and for misspellings.

STEP 7: Publish Your Speech
Imagine that you are a tour guide, and that the class is a group of tourists visiting the place you chose. As their guide, deliver your speech about the special place they have come to see. Illustrate your speech with photos or slides, if possible.

Copyright ©2007 by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.