1.统一性

　　一个段落内的各个句子必须从属于一个中心，任何游离于中心思想之外的句子都是不可取的意。例子：

　　My name is Roseanna, and I like to keep physically fit. I used to weigh two hundred pounds, but I joined the YMCA for an exercise class and diet program. In one year I lost eighty pounds. I feel much better and never want to have that much weight on my five-feet frame again. I bought two new suitcases last week. Everyday I practice jogging three miles, swimming fifteen laps, lifting twenty-pound weights and playing tennis for one hour. My mother was a premature baby.

　　本段的controlling idea 是like to deep physically fit，但段中有两个irrelevant sentences，一个是I bought two new suitcases last week，另一个是My mother was a premature baby.

　　卷面上如果这种句子多了，造成偏题或离题，那问题就更严重了。

　　2.完整性

　　正象我们前面说得那样，一个段落的主题思想靠推展句来实现，如果只有主题句而没有推展句来进一步交待和充实，就不能构成一个完整的段落。同样，虽然有推展句，但主题思想没有得到相对圆满的交待，给读者一种意犹未尽的感觉。这样的段落也不能完成其交际功能。例如：

　　Physical work can be a useful form of therapy for a mind in turmoil. Work concentrates your thoughts on a concrete task. Besides, it is more useful to workyou produce something rather than more anxiety or depression.

　　本段的主题句是段首句。本段的两个推展句均不能回答主题句中提出的问题。什么是 "a mind in turmoil"(心境不平静)Physical work又如何能改变这种情况?为什么它能起therapy的作用?读者得不到明确的答案。

　　由于四级统考的作文部分只要求写一篇100～120个词的三段式短文，每一段只有大约40个词左右，因此，要达到完整就必须尽可能地简明。

　　3.连贯性(coherence)

　　连贯性包括意连和形连两个方面，前者指的是内在的逻辑性，后者指的是使用转换词语。当然这两者常常是不可分割的。只有形连而没有意连，句子之间就没有内在的有机的联系;反之，只有意连而没有形连，有时行文就不够流畅。

　　1) 意连

　　段落中句子的排列应遵循一定的次序，不能想到什么就写什么。如果在下笔之前没有构思，边写边想，写写停停，那就写不出一气呵成的好文章来。下面介绍几种常见的排列方式。

　　A.按时间先后排列(chronological arrangement)

　　We had a number of close calls that day. When we rose, it was obviously late and we had to hurry so as not to miss breakfast; we knew the dining room staff was strict about closing at nine o‘clock. Then, when we had been driving in the desert for nearly two hours - it must have been close to noonthe heat nearly hid us in; the radiator boiled over and we had to use most of our drinking water to cool it down. By the time we reached the mountain, it was four o‘clock and we were exhausted. Here, judgement ran out of us and we started the tough climb to the summit, not realizing that darkness came suddenly in the desert. Sure enough, by six we were struggling and Andrew very nearly went down a steep cliff, dragging Mohammed and me along with him. By nine, when the wind howled across the flat ledge of the summit, we knew as we shivered together for warmth that it had not been our lucky day.

　　本段从 "rose"(起床)写起，然后是吃早餐("not to miss breakfast", "closing at nine o‘clock")，然后是 "close to noon"，一直写到这一天结束("By nine")。

　　B. 按位置远近排列(spatial arrangement)。例如：

　　From a distance, it looked like a skinny tube, but as we got closer, we could see it flesh out before our eyes. It was tubular, all right, but fatter than we could see from far away. Furthermore, we were also astonished to notice that the building was really in two parts: a pagoda sitting on top of a tubular one-story structure. Standing ten feet away, we could marvel at how much of the pagoda was made up of glass windows. Almost everything under the wonderful Chinese roof was made of glass, unlike the tube that it was sitting on, which only had four. Inside, the tube was gloomy, because of the lack of light. Then a steep, narrow staircase took us up inside the pagoda and the light changed dramatically. All those windows let in a flood of sunshine and we could see out for miles across the flat land.

　　本段的写法是由远及近，从远处("from a distance")写起，然后"get closer"，再到("ten feet away")，最后是 "inside the pagoda"……当然，按位置远近来写不等于都是由远及近。根据需要，也可以由近及远，由表及里等等。