ADVANCED WRITTEN = ENGLISH Robin Macphersonok kta ron etlomych Maryna Winiewska Inktor Barbara Wewiér Jaktoetechnicony Leonard Zeiishl spyright © by Robin Macpherson ER Sool BN eO1135754 257 inernecel ica 10 (et) 6888 Kelpetann ae ‘Table of Contents Preface Glossary of Concepts. Vocabulary ‘Lexical Choice Invalving Pars of Speech ‘Nominalsstions ‘Adverbs vs. Verbs Proper Adjectives Adjectives vs. Prepositional Modifies Frequent Problems with Specific Lexical Items ‘Belong Ger Ennerg,tlappen, Occur Prove, Tur Ou "Namely and Rela Expressions as, Difficult, Possible, Impossible. Value Citizen Selected Structural Pecullaiies ‘Appositions ‘Appositions I: Appositions vs. Prepostonal Structures ‘Because in Negative Sentences Being avd Hag nn Be toinfiniive (Comment Causes with As ‘Complements and the Vetb To Ben CConstractions with A and Tha.Germnd . os 6 Articles: A Few TIPS ss 2 Most. 6 ue sense 482 OF: Many of Most of Some of et o Punctuation = : Problems with Negative Sentences o (The Comma see Relative Clauss and the Comma Relative Clauses andthe Comma a The Colon e Ther . 7 The Dash wren : Wha, Which ee 8 Invented Commas nnn : \plistic Devices. : » Cems ‘Cleft Sentences withthe Pronoun I 9 ey to the Exercises Emphatic Word Onde: “Froming” 2 patton = 1 Hardly, Only, Rarely, Searcy et. so 2 : “ Hs With As and Though 95 Relative Clauses in Apposition = s arity and Syntax core 103, ‘Ateapt Sentence Endings 10s. Coordination. 106, 1: Unjusifiod Change of Subject, 106 1: Concord and Gender Bias : 108 ML: Absence of Parallel Stoctore m 1V: Unjastiied Change of Person ania ‘V: "Dangling Paticipes us Splices 9 Unclear Amecedent ma Unclear Antecedents The Pronoun I 123 UnEnglsh Syntax 126 1) Verb and Object 125 Ti: Main and Subordinate Clayces im TL: Composite Atribuive Expressions 29 1V: Parallel Expressions 132 Ve Active vs. Passive a ‘thetorial Enhancers: Conjunetions and Discourse Markers... 136 ‘Concession and Contart, O36 Similarity aed Contrast. : 11 ‘Therefore snd Relat Expressions Ms "in My Opinion.” : 148Preface te past decade has witnessed an unprecedented increase inthe level of Ielish among non-native speakers. Having mastered the language 10 Jegree which allows fr essentially unimpaired communication in both ‘ech and writing, more and more learners are simine to achieve a native ‘© competence. It is precisely these learners whose writen English, ad- ‘ced a5 its, may stil be marred by syntactical pattems that do not vio the grammatical rules in any obvious Way and yet ate alien to English ‘Advanced Written English focusses on sophisticated structures charac- ‘stc of English at high idiomatic level, since tei complex character ‘richness of nuance are soe of recurrent problems. Common a they 5 hese problems ae sll generally overooked by grammar books and ‘nce by the learner, It was my aim to draw the readers attention fo these ‘oblem areas, which Thave presented with dtailed, step-by-step expen ‘ns, accompanied by exercises anda key. Like my previous work English for Writers and Transttors, hi publi tion is addressed to advanced scr of English, andthe two books re t0| large extent complementary in character. However, t must be suessed at my presentation of the issues included in Advanced Writer English ‘es notin any Way presuppose the reader's knowledge of material i ‘ed elsewhere, Nore the render rouired to adhere othe onde of pes "tation as hasbeen offered the respective sections ean be used independ ly oF combined in such a way a8 to ansWwer individual needs, a feature hich makes the book deal bth asa teaching aid and as reference material + self-study. It is particularly recommended 10 teachers, translators, Wi «and journalists, as well as students of philology, teacher-taining col- {es and thore preparing forthe CAE and Proficiency exams. Gass, 2001 Glossary of Concepts Tathis book number of terms appear that might be unfamiliar to the reader: adverbial (also ~ expression, lnk, sentence) ‘An adverbial is « word or phrase Which fanctions as an adverb by Contrast, fortunately in fact moreover. possibly, quite recently. sherton, undoubted), giving us extra information about an action, happening ot State, An adverbla/ may insoduce a sentence, ut isnotto he confved with Seonjunedion (8 although, because, hile ee). antecedent ‘Thisisthe word to whicha pronoun (he, she, it, Who, whichete.) refers, e@ 1. Mhepary was area sce the guest aly enjoyed it 2 Anyone can oi our lub who interested in postr. In 1 the expression The party is the antecedent of i in 2 Anyone is the antecedent of who, apposition Generally an apposition denotes «noun or noun phrase placed beside an ‘ther in onder to describe it, while being unconnetted toi by any preps tion or eonjunetion 1. Jos, myn’ coi, has jt resumed fren Americ, 2 Jack is vsing Brighton is amet. In 1 Joan isthe grammatical subject ofthe sentence, while the pase my fe cousin is an apposition; the phrase is ix apposition to Joan, In 2 Brighton's the object ofthe verb phrase visting, while ts hometown sin apposition to Brighton,sributive tttibutive adjective occurs before the noun to which teers, Compare following alternatives 4 Thisisa dango oad 1 Tis onde dane ‘4 dangerous isin attibotive positon, while in b itis in pedicative ivion. Most adjectives can be both attibutve and predicative \xiliary verb ‘aunliary verbs one lke be, do, have or will wich: Invith another verb to make ver phrases, and especial jin combi to form tens, 1p you want ance ict? Mary wisn Be es. {an as gone Londen, Pete ill mis bein. eft sentence ‘left sentence is when special enaphasss given to one particular rs of Sentence by means of or what, © 1. "Wo took the mney?” as Beer tat ok the moe.” 2. What you nod ia one hoi: ‘ant 2 special emphasis is given to Peter and along holiday respectively. mment clause foliowing sentences contain comment clauses ondetined) 1, John war pit, so is the Be of Britain 2 She wats hens 9012 10 ake the job sro. te types of comment clause discussed inthis book are virtual prenthe- nthe above examples the commas could almost be replaced with sackets 2a. She was (os she tats) 102 0a the jo sey Joi was i 0 clans) nthe Bale of Bi. complement ‘Complement nthe broad sense means someting thats necessary to.com= plete grammatical constuction. Here, however, its used in a restricted ‘meaning denote a noun of noun phase shat completes predicate con- taining the verb fo be: 1. Marpwetis ibaa 2. Por such Kinds man In and 2a fbvarian and suck kindly man ee complements of Margaret and Peter respectively. ‘concord Concordis the way a verb orm changes according to whether the subjects singular or ploral C’ceresed of number’), or fis, second 2¢ third person ‘Cconoord of person”). Thus we say the boy de (singular) but the boys ae {plurals we 89 Ta (Fit person) Bat he (third person conjunction ‘A conjunction isa word like and, but, although, becaase, f whereas ee Itean be used to link clauses together: Taio cy ut on appeared mh er 1. Lame sary whee Jo appeared mach ae (Ch also adverbial and ordinate clause) coordinate clause ‘Compare the following sentences 4 Voivod a sepa early, but Joba appeared much ae. 1. Laie the party ety, orm Ina the to clauses ae grammatically equa (.¢. coordinate). In b, how ‘vexthe second causes suhordinate othe ts: the second clause (wiereas John appeared much later) eanoot function asa grammatically sl con tained sentence, while the Fst clause ived at the party ears) ca coordination Unlike eoordiate elause, the term coordination in this book doesnot have any specialised grammatical significance, The sections which are listed n=«the beading coordination bring together problems involving formal on teney and logialty in the constuction of a given sentence ‘angling participle’ “dangling participle’ is «participle that, when refered to ts grammati- subject, gives nonsense. eg. *Natkiowing the Bish mers, many things igh seem Tater sang re the pariciple not Bowing as te grammatics subject many shin hich makes th sentence nonsensical fining relative clause (also: restrictive relative clause) his isa telative clause which defines or identifies the noun itrefers to, ¢8 Here's the lay who ont ck tre. ‘Sotevery lady owns black terrier. Contrast non-defining relative clause.) Iscourse marker discourse marker denotes large group of word nd phrases which indicate te selaionship between what i being said apd is conte, and which often “ealthespeshc' nue to wht hen sing (oe. a mite off oe Srey ny obinsy pou on the oer hand, ng cronghe) Mipsis "lips the leaving out of words When their meaning aa be understood “om the context Compare the following altematives: On one sik the asenges could se the ba. tnd onthe eter thy ould ag spectacular ls 'b, On one side te pasengers cul sete ta. Som the tes pectoral ‘bite not necessary to inser the Words they could seen the second past "the sentence “Fett he tok ers) ve be oo nde as wich i cee coe temples of noc hve ae wi ate sr 2) 2 fronting Fronting is when » part ofthe cause i brought to the front in order to give it special emphasis, eg Jot loves Renisssnce mosic Hategu be absolutly bes ender bias This expression dences a tendency in grammar (not only English) to be- have as if al human beings were of the male sex. Compare the following altemtives: 4 Allsop can tacome member of our Society who wish 'e deepen hic understanding of Bein’ hehage ', Anvone cat ecome a member of ous Sony nk wishes to deepen hs understanding of Biss sage, Sentence b means esseally the same a, bu the subject Anyone is singu lar The possessive adjective his refers to Anne, even thoush bah noes a dearly intended inversion Inversion i when the verb comes before the subject e: She oa smoker, atest er en (iaeod of jst as ot of he fers) 1 the underlined words the phrase most of her fend isthe grammatical subject ofthe as-clause and governs the verb ar ‘main clause Sentenes often consist of main clause and a subordinate elause, cg. 1. 1Mdo the job when gat tee 2 ough he diver was tk the poice le hin po. 1 he enn fase iF doch job, an in 2 isthe police let him go i both Land 2 thes clases coud form se contained sentence, being rine ‘Sealy complete. By contrast the clauses when get thew an Ahough the doy ‘as dm could never on their wn form gramuticlly complete semen, modifier CF. postmoditier 13