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Universitatea Dunrea De Jos din Galai Facultatea de Litere

Writing in Focus

A course for students in English

Associate Professor Ioana Mohor-Ivan, PhD

Galai 2010

Cuprins

Cuprins CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS . . . . . . . . . . . . 4


1.1. Grammar and vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2. Spelling and Punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.3. Style and appropriateness . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING THE WRITING PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24


2.1. The essential elements of an essay . . . . . . 24 2.2. Additional guidelines for ensuring cohesion 25

CHAPTER 3: LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS . . . . . 29


3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. 3.6. 3.7. 3.8. 3.9. Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Exemplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Comparison and contrast. . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Analogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Cause and effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Argumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

CHAPTER 4: BUILDING UP THE ESSAY . . . . 55


4.1. Writing introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 4.2. Writing transitional paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . 57 4.3. Writing conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

CHAPTER 5: WRITING FROM SOURCES . . . 60


5.1. Paraphrasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 5.2. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 5.3. Referencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Writing in Focus

Obiective

Obiective:
Dezvoltarea abilitii de exprimare coerent i corect n scris; Familiarizarea studenilor cu stilurile funcionale si refereniale; ncurajarea exprimrii creative n scris.

Tipuri si modalitati de activitate didactica:


explicaia, dezbaterea, studiul de text, problematizarea, metode de lucru n grup, individual i frontal, metode de dezvoltare a gndirii critice, portofoliul, studiul bibliografiei.

Writing in Focus

Chapter 1 Fundamentals

CHAPTER 1 - FUNDAMENTALS
1.1. Grammar and Vocabulary 1.1.1. Joining sentences
Complete the following sentences by choosing one of the two words or phrases given in brackets: (And, Both) my wife and I went out early yesterday. (Or, Either) we will have to wait for them, or we will have to leave a message. He neither took my advice (nor, or) his fathers. The man (who, whom) you saw yesterday is my neighbour. He has received the money (which, who) I sent him. I cannot remember (where did I leave, where I left) my coat. He asked me (when would my brother, when my brother would) arrive. You did not tell me (how much this cost, how much did this cost.) He had to leave (why, because) it was so late. (Now that, So that) it has stopped raining, I shall not have to take an umbrella. He was (such, so) pleased when he heard the news that he rang me up at once. It is (such, a so) nice day, I cannot bear to stay indoors. I ran quickly (in order to be not, in order not to be) late. The little boy hid behind the door (in order his aunt not to see him, in order that his aunt might not see him.) Ill come and fetch you from the station (so that you will not have to, in order you do not have to) walk as far as my house. Seeing me coming (the man, the man he) ran towards me. (Turning the corner, When he turned the corner) the brick fell on his head.

Join the following pairs of sentences using the conjunctions given in brackets. When you have done so write similar sentences of your own.
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He was in Italy last year. Now he has returned home. (but) The talk on the radio was not amusing. It was not interesting. (neither nor) He told me to leave. He told me never to call again. (not only but) I have often invited him here. He has never come. (yet) Hurry up. You will be late. (or) The manager told him he must work hard. He must leave the firm. (either or) She sent a present to my brother. She sent a present to me. (both and)
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She finished her housework. She went out shopping. (so/and) The shops have shut. We should go home. (now that) You have not understood the question. I will repeat it. (since) You had better not stay too long. I have a lot of work to do. (as) I did not tell him. I was afraid I would hurt his feelings. (because) I have many friends abroad. I cannot write to all of them. (so that) He is an interesting person. It is a pleasure to hear him talk. (such that) The student asked the teacher a question. He wanted to understand the exercise better. (in order that) The thief drove quickly out of town. He did not want the police to catch him. (so that) He went into the room quietly. He did not want to disturb his brother who was asleep. (so as to) I wrote to him several times. I received no answer. (although) He plays well. He is still not good enough for the football team. (in spite of the fact that) We are determined to get there. It does not matter how far away it is. (however) The journey takes too long. It does not matter if you go by plane. (even if) I still think the film is poor. It does not matter if so many people enjoyed it. (even though)

Join the following pairs of sentences using relative pronouns or adverbs where necessary: There were a lot of people at the party. I had not met them before. My sisters friend came to see me. Her parents died last year. The vase was very valuable. My younger brother broke it. A friend of mine will be coming tomorrow. I received a letter from him. Is he your friend? Did you go to the cinema with him yesterday? He has sent me a number of letters. I havent had time to answer them. The man had to pay a fine. His car was parked on the wrong side of the road. Why did he refuse to see me? You must find out. How did you find out my address? Please tell me. When did you last hear from him? Write and let me know. What did he tell you? I would like to know. Where did he put the book I lent you? Please ask him.

Join the following pairs of sentences using the participle construction. She though I was a friend of hers. She greeted me. They found the door shut. They had to climb through the window. The guard was killed. The prisoner escaped.

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He has not been abroad for many years. He is now finding it difficult to settle down. He was not able to understand. He asked the teacher to explain. She did not believe me. She went to see for herself.

1.1.2. Tenses
Supply the correct form of the verbs in brackets. He rang me up several times but I (be) out every time he (call). I thought it (rain) today. He asked me if he (can) leave the room. When he (ask) me I told him I never (be) here before. As he (leave) the house he remembered he (forget) his coat. If this (cost) so much why did you buy it? As she (not understand) what he said she (ask) him to repeat it. She must remain here until she (finish) her work. We will tell him about it after he (arrive). We shall stay at home if it (rain). I would have been able to come if you (let) me know in time. If I (be) in your position I would tell him exactly what happened. If the teacher (explain) more carefully they would have understood. Did you ask him if he (want) to see me? I could have finished yesterday if you (ring) me up.

1.1.3. Word order


Re-write the following sentences correctly.
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The captain ordered the men to throw into the sea the goods. I went out to buy a book which had written a friend of mine. It is pleasant to spend sometimes an hour in a library. On my way to the office happened something very funny. They both again reached home. Once used to live two detectives opposite our house. I went into the room where was the thief hiding. I used very often to visit in the country my uncle. Suddenly arrived at the house relations whom he did not want to see. From the shelf by someone the book was taken. The friend from abroad whom I told you about has arrived. I forgot on the letter I sent to write the address. Never he has mentioned the subject. You can trust him always. You never can be certain that he will succeed.
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He rarely has taken much trouble with his work. If you had been careful this never might have happened.

1.1.4. Common mistakes


Underline the errors in the following sentences. Re-write each of them in correct English. Table 3 is showing that most of this accidents occurs to young children. Each worker pay a small money which is taken from their salary. Specialist doctors in hospitals can divide into surgeons which operate the body and another specialists which act as consultants. The number of schools growed gradually till 1965 and then number rised suddenly. When a country apply for foreign aids is because it has no enough resources of its own. If someone become ill, then can to local doctor. To my opinion, there is many parent which dud not take care their children. In the other hand, if we look the table of accidents, we will see this facts. In my country we have other kind of system; it is bigger and more better. The problem was solve by the introduction of machineries.

1.1.5. Words often confused


Make up sentences to illustrate the difference between: make, do say, tell lend, borrow rise, raise rise, arise practice, practise advise, advice affect, effect all ready, already choice, choose choose, chose clothes, cloths coarse, course complement, compliment conscious, conscience dessert, desert economics, economical fourth, forth
Writing in Focus

human, humane latter, later loose, lose logic, logical mathematics, mathematical moral, morale passed, past personal, personnel politics, political quiet, quite statistics, statistical than, then very, too weather, whether

Chapter 1 Fundamentals

In the spaces in the following sentences write the correct form of the word chose from the list that is given. He ________ a big effort to finish in time. (do/make) Considerable progress has been ___ with the experiment. (do/make) He found that he could not ________ the research. (do/make) He ________ a number of attempts to finish the work. (do/make) She had some difficulty in ______ her homework. (do/make) Many discoveries have been _______ during the 20th century. (do/make) The painting was ________ by a famous artist. (do/make) His supervisor _____ him to prepare a talk. (say, tell) The lecturer ____ that he would finish early. (say/tell) He _______ to her that it did not matter. (say/tell) It is possible to ______ four books at a time from the library. (lend/borrow) Mr. Smith ____ his dictionary to the student. (lend/borrow) Sandra tried to ______ some money from the bank. (lend/borrow) The sun usually _______ at 5 a.m. in the summer. (rise/arise/raise/increase) A new problem ________ in the college. (rise/arise/raise/increase) Bus fares were ________ three times last week. (rise/arise/raise/increase) The landlord said he is going to ________ the rent. (rise/arise/raise/increase) He _______ a loan. (rise/arise/raise/increase). There was a steady ________ in the population. (rise/arise/raise/increase) The oil crisis _______ the price of petrol. (rise/arise/raise/increase) Last year the price of food ______ by 15%. (rise/arise/raise/increase) Tutors often give good _______ (advise/advice) but students sometimes _____ (choice/choose) not to follow it. Of _______ (mathematics/mathematical) and _________ (politics/political), the former is, perhaps, more ________ (logic/logical) than the ______ (later/latter).

Correct the errors in the following sentences: Some years ago Dr. Selye set fourth his theory of stress. He couldnt imagine any torture worse than doing nothing accept lying on a beach day after day. The affect was disastrous. Turning water haphazardly into the Everglades of coarse destroyed the natural wet-dry rhythm of nature. At the end of the campfire talk, we gave the park naturalist a complement on his clear explanation of the problem. Im going to except Professor Eickens advise and strive for mastery. I took soft clothes to polish my car and course ones to clean the wheels.
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If pidgeons are let lose 700 miles from home, theyll be home in about 12 hours, depending on the whether and weather they have a tail wind The moral of the personal were I work is excellent. Our supervisor is quiet a sympathetic women and help us threw difficulties She has high principals and strict morale standards. More than 90 nations ratified a law banning international trade in rhino products, but its quiet difficult to enforce. Recently Yemen past a law forbidding the import of the horns. In this weather Im sure a cold desert will be best.

More confusing words: His behaviour at the party was (contemptuous/contemptible). This must be the (definite/definitive) reference work on Roman history. The doctor told him to use (liniment/lineament) twice a day. If you print that, Ill sue you for (libel/slander). This is my last will and (testimony/testament.) We may have won all our matches this season, but we mustnt allow ourselves to become (complaisant/complacent.) Ive always wanted to drive (luxurious/luxuriant) cars. It is most (regretful/regrettable) that Mr Brown has decided to resign. The police have (conclusive/decisive) proof that he robbed the bank. How do you expect me to get the work finished when Im (continuously/continually) interrupted? She was a very (intensive/intense) person, who seemed to care deeply about everyone and everything. My father is a great believer in (alternative/alternate) medicine. She had died her hair a (distinct/distinctive) shade of blue. He spent three years in (goal, gaol). Do you enjoy (urbane/urban) life, or would you prefer to live in the country? He was a man of (sanguine/sanguinary) temperament. My brother is (credible/credulous) enough to believe anything you tell him. The Government are very worried about the (elicit/illicit) sales of champagne. What can be (implied/inferred) from the Prime Ministers remarks? Im afraid the project is far too expensive to be (practical/practicable). There was an (appreciative/appreciable) drop in temperature last night. Are these mushrooms (edible/eatable) or are they poisonous? The majority of tinned food is (deficient/defective) in vitamins. The company made (judicial/judicious) use of a Government grant. The difference in performance between the two computers is (negligent/negligible).

Read the following short story. As you can see, there are a few problems with the text. See if you can sort them out - the title should give you a clue.
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A SHORT STOREY? NO PIECE FOR HARRY HOMOPHONE Detective Harry Homophone new that this job was almost over. He had bean hot on the tale of Pinky Malone, ex-heavywait boxer and now notorious gangster, four over a weak. But now he was only ours away from getting his man. Harry lent against the wall, pulling his hat low over his eyes. He was at the harbour down buy the sure, and knight had already fallen. The plaice was deserted, and silent except for a ships bell that had wrung out once or twice threw the see missed that had crept up the beech that evening. He tossed his cigarette but into a puddle left by that afternoons reign, and approached the seedy sailors hostel that Malone was using to whole up in. Harry entered silently, past the door leading to the bar and began to climb the stares. At the top he paused, listening intently to the noise that came from the room. Was this Pinky Malone, oar was this just an ordinary guessed? No, that awful snore could only mean won thing and have only won sauce. This had to bee the write man. In his final fight in the wring Pinky had had his knows broken and now snored like a foghorn. As Harrys shoo crashed into the door, he whipped out his gun, and their he was face to face with Malone lying in bed. Malones startled expression soon gave weigh to a rye smile. Looks like you got me this thyme, Homophone - my gun hands empty, he said, waiving his write hand in the heir. Harry was just about to put up his peace when he remembered that Malone was a south-pour, and that his left hand was still mysteriously under the bed-close. As Pinky Malone was about to let loose with his concealed weapon, Harry snapped him back into his sites and pulled the trigger. The blanket went read. Aargh! screamed Malone. Youve filled me full of led! Harry put up his gun and said, You went two far when ewe tried to beet Harry Homophone. Youll find below forty pairs of homophones. Look at the clues for each pair and try to work out what the words are.
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its all around us / will inherit one day used in snooker and billiard / a line of people to risk money to gain more money / to skip or jump about playfully a shade or tint of colour / to cut with blows a round, flat piece of metal given as an award / to interfere two things or people / to cut away the outer covering of something with a sharp knife perfume / an American coin part of the body / to pull along behind with a rope
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just / the money paid for a journey the actors in a play / a social class harsh, rough / a series of education classes or medical treatment an implement for rowing / rock or earth from which metal can be obtained to put / a type of fish these appear when you cry/rows or levels placed one above the other a wild pig / a dull person a percussion instrument / an emblem gold covering/a feeling that one is to blame for something or is at fault a disclosure of secret information / a vegetable a jetty / a member of the House of Lords a container for ashes / to receive money in return for working used by an artist / to solicit support or votes a number of notes played simultaneously / a thin rope or string candid / a French coin land surrounded by water / a corridor between two rows of seats (in a cinema, church, etc.) bodily suffering caused by injury or illness / a single sheet of glass not mistaken / a religious ceremony to move ones hand from side to side in greeting, farewell, etc. / to relinquish, give up, forgo a vegetable / a weight for jewellery part of an apple / a trained army group a manner of walking / used to close an opening in a wall, fence, field, etc. a part of a typewriter or piano / landing place used for loading and unloading ships small opening found all over the skin/ to flow steadily and rapidly to summon to appear in court / an area of ground for a building a sporting offence / a domestic bird used as food stolen money or valuables / a musical instrument to flatten buildings or towns / to bring up (children) condensation found in the morning / about to arrive to lose consciousness / a mock attack or movement to distract an enemy or opponent a female horse / the head of a city or borough a rough preliminary sketch / a current of air

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1.1.1. Further practice


Explain the mistakes in the sentences below and write the correct variant.
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Your hands are not very clear. At last the ship it managed the rich the harbour. Nobody said nothing for what had happened. He was enjoyied his travel very much. The sun was shinning at the sea. We went for a walk with our car. The storm cause a very big damage. He did not leave me to go. I tried to find the luggages who I had left at the platform. We did not have a moment to loose. The afternoon I went for a walk with a friend of me. For my good luck he told me the hole story. We saw the boat to sink and run for help. I did not afraid when I herd it. People use to say that it was not a so easy ting to travel with a plane. I am enough comfortable he told. Sometimes when it happens the sea to be rough we do not go for baths. The teacher, he explained us our mistakes as usually. He went at school early this morning without to eat any breakfast. He is the friend of hers. What shall I do with all these money? The bad was that we could not to go home. He said us much stories. He is bigger than me one year. They wanted to make us a surprise. As soon as I will return at home I will go to bed. I am thinking to go to England next year. He threw to the dog a stone. He has not succeed to pass his examination. In the dark room I fell on the wardrobe. Something prevented it to open. Except what I told you, you must to remember to write clearly. We went to bed early because the other day we were going to do an excursion. By this way you will learn how to swim. For my surprise the lesson had began. His hairs are turning grey. He told me he will leave and so he did. He went at the garden to cut some woods. The whole class was too shocked when they heard the news. They stole our house last weak. We were discussing about the political position. That lady is our new typewriter.
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From the very beginning I was sure nothing wrong happened. The buss ran fastly in order that the children arrived quickly to the school. He borrowed me some money. He was hearing the results from the radio. In the contrary of my brother I work hardly. Do not do so many mistakes!

1.2. Spelling and Punctuation 1.2.1. Commonly Misspelled Words


Underline the misspelled words in the following passages. Then write the correct spellings in the space above the lines. He put alot of work into his vegtable garden, hopeing to sell part of his produce to a locale restaraunt. Last Wensday, five atheletes from Taiwan visited the campus for a gymnastic exibition. Amoung other things, thez preformed a dicsiplined series of excercises on the paralell bars, probally one of the finest such preformences Ive ever seen. The instructer decided to develope a course calander listing the due dates for all major asignments. Than she revised her abscence policy, making it consistant with the new attendence regulations issued by the universitz during the preceeding semester. Nobody thought that the desparate, starving prisoners had the strenth to excape, but through an extrordinary effort, they managed to make it accross fourty miles of mountainous terrain, arriving safely at the border where they where rescued by local police. His poor judgement, his overly agressive style of managment, his lack of disipline, and his tendancy to exagerate his sucesses and ignore his failures all these factors led the firm to a truely disasterous year.
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Embarassed and outraged, the board of directers fired him as soon as his incredable ineptitude came to light. Michael Learys newest novel is a study in the psycology of teror. By subtley manipulating the reader, he manages to make the villian seem monsterous without making him seem all together unrealistic. Up until last week, things were going alright. Then I had my worst day of the semester: first, I caused a fire in the chemistry labratory; later that day, my English teacher returned a paper marked with twelf mispellings and several errors in grammer; then on Thursday, I had an arguement with my roomate about which of us should contrall the thermostat in our room. During her campaign, the govorner made alot of promises about cleaning up the enviroment, but she now seems unable to fulfill those promises. She still seems knowlegeable about the kez ussues, but she no longer posesses the committment she once had.

The following words are all spelled wrongly. Rewrite them correctly, using a dictionary if you have great difficulty. ACOMODATION, CARACTERISTICS, ACHEIVE, CRITISISM, APPLICIBLE, DEVELOPEMENT, BEGINNING, DISSAPPEARED,

DEVIDED, EMBARASSED, ENVIROMENT, FREQUANTLY, FOREINGER, HEIGHTH, HIPOTHESIS, INCRESINGELY, INSUFFICENT,

INTERVIEIWED, LABORERS, MAINTANING, MEDECINE, NECCESSARY, OCUPATION, OCURED, PRECEED, REASERCH, SEPERATLY, RECEIVE, STUDING,

RECOMENDASION, SUCCESSFUL.
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REFFERING,

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1.2.2. Punctuation Marks and Capital Letters


Identify the main uses of the following punctuation marks: 1.3. comma It is years since I read Anna Karenina, which is my favourite novel. If you do not understand, please tell me. James Joyce, the great modernist writer, once said . . . The speaker, getting to his feet, began to . . . I shall need a book, some paper, a pencil, and a ruler. You can, however, do it if you wish. They tried, in spite of my advice, to climb the mountain. 1.4. full-stop She quietly watched the man passing. Then she . . . 1.5. colon I have some news for you: Johns father has arrived. Please send the items indicated below, namely: (i) passport (ii) visa application (iii) correct fee 1.6. semi-colon The lecture was badly delivered; it went on far too long as well. The chief commodities are: butter, cheese, milk, eggs; lamb, beef, veal, pork; oats, barley, rye and wheat. 1.7. hyphen The manager co-opted the workers in the project. Self-control is what he needs. 1.8. apostrophe The directors interpretation altered the basic script of the play. 1.9. question mark What time is it? But: Please tell me what time it is.

1.10. dash He received a prize and a certificate as well.


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1.11. quotation marks (inverted commas) He said, Why did you do that? 1.12. exclamation mark Oh dear! Get out! 1.13. brackets (parentheses) He (Mr Brown) told him (Mr Jones) that he (Mr Green) had been accepted for his job. William Smith (1910-1969) lived first in Manchester (see p. 70) and then . . .

1.2.3. Further practice


Punctuate the following passages and add capital letters where necessary: the most striking feature of the oceans is their vast size the next most striking feature is the constant motion of their surfaces one cause of the motion is the wind it may make waves from an inch to over sixty feet in height another cause of waves is geologic disturbances such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions below the surface of the oceans waves from geologic disturbances are sometimes incorrectly called tidal waves but they have no relation to the tides. the first of the great civic universities established in england manchester is today the largest unitary university in the united kingdom and an internationally famous centre of learning and research it is well endowed with resources and facilities the university library for instance is one of the four big academic libraries in the country and the university has its own modern theatre television studios art gallery museum shopping centre and of course extensive sports facilities mr brown had been teaching English abroad for a number of years he had forgotten how cold it could be in england in the winter it was often dull and grey in november but it could be really cold in december january and february even in the spring it could snow mr brown looked out of the window as the train crossed the river avon he remembered the weather forecast that he had heard on the bbc at 9 oclock that tuesday morning it had said that it would be wet and windy in the north west manchester where he was now travelling to was unfortunately in the north west

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1.3. Style and Appropriateness 1.3.1. Linguistic registers


Compare the following examples of letters (both replies to an invitation). In each case, identify the relationship between the writer and the recipient of the letter. How many differences (in point of style) can you establish between them? Dear Fred, Thanks a lot for the invitation. Im afraid Sue is ill so we wont be able to come. See you soon. All the best, Tom Dear Professor Smith, Thank you very much for the kind invitation to dinner. I regret that my wife is ill so that it will not be possible for us to come. I do hope, however, that I shall have an opportunity of seeing you again in the near future. Yours sincerely, Tom Jackson Compare the following explanations or definitions of economics. To what register do they belong? Which are the main differences between them? Economics? . . . Yes, well, um . . . economics is, I suppose, about people trying to . . . let me see . . . match things that are scarce you know with things that they want, . . . oh yes, and how these efforts have an effect on each other . . . through exchange, I suppose. Economics is the social science that studies how people attempt to accommodate scarcity to their wants and how these attempts interact through exchange. The following sentences are mixed formal and informal. Write F (formal) or I (informal) after each of them, and explain your decision. The project will be completed next year. I showed that his arguments did not hold water. I wonder why he put up with those terrible conditions for so long. Five more tests will be necessary before the experiment can be concluded. It is possible to consider the results from a different viewpoint. It has been proved that the arguments so far are without foundation. Hell have to do another five tests before he can stop the experiment.
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It is not clear why such terrible conditions were tolerated for so long. There are a number of reasons why the questionnaire should be revised. Well finish the job next year.

1.3.2. Colloquial English and Slang


Note that: The kind of informal English which is normal in ordinary conversation but is not considered acceptable in more formal language is called colloquial. Slang is even more informal language and consists mainly of particular words and phrases used principally by one group of people, eg young children, teenagers, students, professional people, working people etc. (The line between colloquial and slang words is not at all clear and many words considered colloquial by some people would be considered slang by others.) After each conversation below, first explain each colloquial or slang item written in italics and then rewrite the conversation in a more formal style.

Alan: Do you fancy going to the pictures tonight? Jill: Great. Hang on, though. Theres something good on telly. Peter: Lend us a few quid. Im broke. Tony: Heres a fiver. Peter: Smashing. Ta. George: Wheres my thingamajig? Eileen: Whatsisnames got it. Chris: Do you like your new school? Gus: Its OK. Chris: And the kids in your class? Gus: Theyre a decent bunch. Chris: And the teacher? Gus: Oh, hes a terrific bloke. Fred: Im not too keen on this new guy in the office. Alex: Yeah, hes a bit of a big-head. Throws his weight around. Fred: Yeah, if I get any more hassle from him, Im going to tell him what I think. Alex: Come off it. You havent got the guts. Youd get the sack.

Joe: Posh suit! Brian: My grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Were having a bit of a do.
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Joe: Come and have a drink first. On me. Brian: Just for a jiffy. Musnt get there plastered Mr Stanton: You look a bit fed up. Whats up? Mr Moore: Someones pinched my brolly and its coming down in buckets. Mr Stanton: Oh, tough luck. Valerie: Saw a film the other night. Chap falls for a girl, then discovers shes dying. Bit of a tear-jerker. I suppose it was pretty corny, but I liked it. Mary Major had a part in it. She must be pushing 70. Bob: I think my old bangers clapped out. Ill have to get a new one. Jim: Yes, it does look past it. Whatll you get? Bob: I rather fancy the new Rover. Jim: Classy! Itll cost you a packet. Donald: Someones walked off with my specs! Sheila: Dont be daft! Youve got them in your hand. Donald: Oh, yes. Im going bonkers. Phillip: Im afraid the new secretarys a dead loss, John. The red-head with the trendy clothes. John: Youre right. She thinks shes the cats whiskers, but in actual fact shes a bit dim. Phillip: Yes, her works poor and, as you say, she fancies herself. Shes very snooty with the other girls. John: Do you think we ought to give her the push? Phillip: Im afraid so, but shell be shattered.

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1.3.3. British and American English


A few words are sometimes used differently on either side of the Atlantic. However, most of the vocabulary is identical, so British and American people do understand each other perfectly well most of the time. Look at the words in the following lists and match them: Am.E.: apartment, attorney, to call someone, checkmark, closet, couch, downtown, drugstore/pharmacy, the fall, faucet, garbage/trash, movie, movie theater, potato chips, schedule, sidewalk, zero, zipp Br.E.: autumn, chemists, cinema, city/town centre, cupboard/wardrobe, film, flat, rubbish, nought, pavement, potato crisps, sofa, to ring someone up, solicitor/barrister, tap, tick, timetable, zip

Work in pairs. Fill the gaps in the sentences below with suitable words from the lists one of you using British English words, the other the American ones. Turn left at the next . When you arrive, report to the reception desk on the . floor and then take the or walk up the stairs to the . floor. Every man was wearing a three-piece suit: jacket, , and . Does the . go all the way to the airport, or do I have to take a bus? There was a long for tickets at the .. station. We had to drive off the .. to fill up with . . If theres a power cut you may need to use a to see in the dark. Do you need to go to the . before we leave? Br. E.: crossroads, first floor, ground floor, lift, motorway, petrol, queue, railway, toilet, torch, trousers, underground, waistcoat Am. E.: bathroom, elevator, first floor, flashlight, freeway/highway, gas, intersection, line, pants, railroad, second floor, subway, vest

In British and American English some words may be spelt (Br.)/spelled(Am.) differently. Work in pairs and decide how the following words, spelt in Am. English, would usually be written in British English:
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Catalog Center Color Defense Favour Honor Humor Jewelry Kidnaper Labor

Pajamas Quarrelling Skilful Theatre travelers cheque TV program Woollen

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1.3.4. Further practice


Underline the informal diction or slang in the following passages, and explain why the words are appropriate for the context in which they appear. Note any other features that make the writing informal. Choose a passage and rewrite it in a more formal style. At first I hated the school, but by-and-by I got so I could stand it. Whenever I got uncommon tired I played hookey , and the hiding I got the next day done me good and cheered me up. So the longer I went to school the easier it got to be. I was getting sort of used to the widows ways, too, and they warnt so raspy on me. Living in a house, and sleeping in a bed, pulled on me pretty right, mostly, but before the weather was cold I used to slide out and sleep in the woods, sometimes, and so that was a rest to me. I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, a little bit.

Tom and I are planning a get-together this Friday night nothing fancy, just a few folks from the neighbourhood. Why dont you drop by for a drink and a bite to eat around 8 or 8:30. Give us a call if you cant make it. Underline the formal diction in the following passages, and explain why the underlined words are appropriate for the context in which they appear. Note any other features that make the writing formal. Re-write one of the passages in a more informal style. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Bennington request the honour of your presence at the marriage of their daughter, Christina Lynne, to Mr. Gilbert Everett Fulmer, Saturday, the eighth of November, at ten oclock in the morning, St. David Church, 8500 Ridgeway, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Provide a middle-diction equivalent for each slang or formal word in the following list. Consult your dictionary as needed. Nefarious Stuck-up Icky Commence Buddy Misprize Pernicious Pulchritude Mix-up Booze Flagellate Masticate Hyper (adjective) Super (adjective) Cool (adjective)
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Task:
The following passage contains an incongruous mixture of formal and informal language. Underline the offending words, and replace them to make the passage consistent in its use of middle diction. At the turn of the century, the female of the species was defined as someones property. She was someones mother, someones daughter, or someones wife nothing more. She had few legal rights and therefore was stuck in her nowhere life. However, some members of the gender were experiencing an awakening. They were getting in tough with new feelings and were starting to envisage a future in which they might attain existence as people separate from their families. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin delineates the life of such a woman Edna Pontellier. Married to a rich New Orleans patrician, Edna discovers that her marriage is a big flop. Dimly cognizant of her own sensual and intellectual nature, she attempts to get it together as a person, seeking an independent life in which she defies social convention. Her happiness, however, is fleeting. Realising that she is stuck with few alternatives, Edna chooses suicide rather than facing the conventional life from which she cannot extricate herself.

Note that:
A feature of written academic English is the need to be tentative (i.e. to indicate less than one hundred per cent certainty). The most usual ways of expressing tentativeness or caution are:

BASIC MEANING

METHODS OF EXPRESSING BASIC MEANING VERB PHRASE ADVERB Not definitely true Appears to Apparently Seems to Seemingly Not definitely Tends to (very) probably (is) likely to certain may well possible Might Maybe May Perhaps Could Possibly Can

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The following sentences are definite statements. Make them more tentative or cautious by changing or adding some words from the table above. Industrialisation is viewed as a superior way of life. Many people mistake the cause for the result. They are prejudiced against evidence. Potential changes are limited by two factors. They are to turn into obstacles that prevent further progress. The glossaries at the end of the articles help the readers in more than one direction. Even for readers that do not need this lexical help, the glossaries highlight many interesting words and phrases.

Now look at the following sentences taken from an economics book. How should they be rewritten if we wanted to make them definite and not tentative? It is also likely to appear in the development of institutions . . . The ideal of economic development tends to be associated with different policy goals . . . Perhaps greater clarity can be brought to the meaning of economic development . . .

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CHAPTER 2 - UNDERSTANDING THE WRITING PROCESS


2.1. The essential elements of an essay
Consider the plan below, which is typical for the organization of an essay: 1. Introduction The thesis statement: the subject or topic; a statement of the problem, etc. comments on the way it is to be treated 2. Development (the body of the essay) Presentation, analysis and discussion (involving comments on advantages and disadvantages) Paragraph 1: Main idea (topic sentence) + examples, details (supporting evidence) Paragraph 2: Main idea (topic sentence) + examples, details (supporting evidence) Etc. 3. Conclusion Perhaps a summary of the main points in 2. Own views/opinions and decisions. Look at the following student essay, paying attention to the way in which it is structured. Re-write it in the form of a diagram, by identifying the elements presented in the plan above. THE HYPOCRISY OF THE COLLEGE GRADING SYSTEM State Universitys grading system is designed to show how much a student has learned in each course and to motivate him through competition with other students - at least that is what the school catalogue says. Since I have been here, though, Ive found that this system is illogical and its motivation is misdirected. What makes the grading system illogical is that professors teaching the same course often have different goals. For example, my roommate Gail and I are both taking U.S. History I, but all my examinations are essay and hers are multiple-choice. All she has to get an A is to memorise information. On the other hand, Im required to explain why certain conflicts and changes took place and to do it in good, clear English. Not only does my professor take off for content, but he also drops the grade for writing errors, or what he calls lack of clarity. In addition, Im expected to read two history books, while Gail has to use just one for her class. In a way, I really shouldnt complain. Gail and I both realise that Im learning much more than she is about U.S. history. Nevertheless, that isnt going to show up in the grade reports. As of last week, she was averaging a B (she isnt memorising everything) compared to my C. The other thing that undermines the grade system logic is the different standards that individual professors have. For
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instance, two of my closest friends - Beth and Jerry - took firstyear French, used the same textbooks, and were each required to cover the same material. Professor Erickson, however, counted simple vocabulary quizzes and short translations much more heavily that did Professor DuBois, who relied mainly on oral examinations for determining grades. Having had four years of high school French, I realised that both Beth and Jerrys knowledge of the language was about the same at the end of their courses. Beth received a B. Meanwhile, poor Jerry, who became very nervous during oral recitations, had earned only a D. Jerrys anger at the grade is understandable, as, I think, is mine with regard to my U.S. History I class. But this anger points up the other problem with the grading system: because students know that others will immediately measure their knowledge by the grades they have received, they are liable to become more interested in As and Bs than in learning. I admit that the grading system is likely to motivate students, but not in the way the university intends. Instead, it will motivate them away from the pursuit of knowledge and toward the pursuit of the easy A, the simple course, and the most lenient professor. Jerry has already signed up for Professor Erickson next term, and I am planning to take U.S. History II from the professor Gail has this semester. What are the solutions to the problems created by the present grading system? Standardising course requirements in each department is a first step. More important, though, is that each teacher enthusiastically stress the benefits to be gained from the material in his or her course.

2.2. Additional guidelines for ensuring cohesion


Read the following guidelines for ensuring cohesion in the development of the topic of an essay: The discussion, argument, or comment in the development of the topic may be very straightforward. In this case the ideas will be added together, one after the other. The basic connective AND (or a number of connectives with a similar meaning) are used in this case. Sometimes, the comments may be expressed in another way, or an alternative proposal, etc. may be made. This is represented by the basic connective OR (and a number of connectives with a similar meaning). After the alternative has been considered, the main argument will continue. There are also occasions in arguments, etc. when the opposite is considered. This is represented by the basic connective BUT (and a number of connectives with a similar meaning). After the opposite or opposing view has been considered, the main argument is continued.

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The main connectives are grouped below according to the similarity of their meaning with the three basic connectives AND, OR, BUT. Provide at least four examples for each type. AND 1. listing: a. enumeration b. addition b. 1. reinforcement b. 2. equation 2. transition 3. summation 4. apposition 5. result 6. inference OR 1. reformulation BUT 1. contrast

2. replacement

2. concessions

Look at the following examples. What types of connectives are used in each of them? He passed his examinations; therefore, he had some good news to tell his parents. / Because he passed his examinations, he had some good news to tell his parents. He said he had kept the library book for several years. In other words he had stolen it. The time available for discussion was very limited. Nevertheless, it was still possible to produce some interesting arguments.

In the following sentences add (a) a suitable connective and (b) an appropriate ending from the list below. a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j)
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Many students find it difficult to read an English newspaper . . . _____ Most overseas students in Britain are interested in news of their own country . . . _______ When a student comes to study in Britain he may have to complete about twelve different forms . . . ______ Maria is rather slow at learning . . . _____ Helen finds languages quite easy . . . _____ Anna speaks English like a native speaker . . . ____ Some of the examination questions were very difficult _____ There was only limited money available for research . . . _____ The project was very complicated . . . ____ British news is found to be of most interest. They usually read the international news first in the newspapers. An average of five books per month are read. Not many read one regularly. It is useful to be able to answer questions briefly. She speaks it excellently. She speaks slowly. She is taking a long time to improve her English. She speaks it with great difficulty. Dimitros was not able to do it.
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k) l) m) n) o)

Juan succeeded in completing it in time. Abdul was able to obtain a grant. Oscar did not manage to complete them. Ali managed to answer them satisfactorily. She has little difficulty in learning English.

Complete the following by adding a suitable ending: The lecture was very difficult to understand. Consequently, ____ Carlos was only able to read very slowly in English. Therefore, ____ Margaret is bilingual. In other words, ____ Some people say that if you are good at music you will also be good at learning languages. To put it more simply, _____ It seemed likely that he would fail the test. However, ____ There were a number of good reasons why he should not finish the experiment. Nevertheless, _____

Re-read the student essay under point A. Identify the basic connectives it employs to develop its argument. Supply alternatives where possible. TASK: The following essay would profit from careful revisions. Read it two or three times, keeping in mind the three-part structure of an essay, its essential elements thesis statement, topic sentence, details, and conclusion and the guidelines for ensuring cohesion. Then rewrite the essay, making any changes (in point of organisation, connectives, diction, logic and grammar) you consider necessary for improving it.

FOOD WORLDS MADDING CROWD I spent the summer bagging groceries at a large supermarket. I saw the usual mix of American suburban humanity young, single people buying brie and white wine, old people buying bread and beans, middle-aged people buying tons of everything to feed themselves and their teenaged kids. Some were rude, some were polite, but most were withdrawn, preferring to remain nameless and faceless. What interested me more was not the customers but the way that the employees at Food World reacted to the different kinds of customers. The cashiers, who had the most contact, may have been friendly people once, but they seemed to have grown indifferent to the customers, probably because few of them responded when wished a friendly Good afternoon or Have a nice day. The manager and assistant manager, who saw the customers only to approve checks, were much friendlier. The bag boys, including me, were somewhere in between, and of course we had an in between amount of contact compared to the managers and the cashiers. So maybe it is the amount of contact an employee has
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with a customer that determines whether the employee becomes burned out in the realm of friendliness. Anyway, there are the three types of employees when it comes to how they treat the customers. Howard is typical of the cashiers, the first type, which is sort of robot-like when it comes to customer relations. Let me give you an example. I bagged for Howard and watched him all one Saturday morning. The first customer was an elderly lady, who made three or four attempts to chat with him, asking him whether he hated to work on Saturdays and didnt he think it was a lovely day. Howard never even answered her. I dont think he ever made eye-contact with any of the customers. He just kept looking at the individual grocery items coming down the conveyor belt of the check-out counter, pulling them across the price-scanner, and dropping them back for me to put in bags. About the only thing I ever heard him say was a mechanical thank-you as he handed change and recipients to customers. The second type of employee is the friendliest. These are the managers. They have two reasons for being friendly. Less frequent contact with the public than the cashiers have allow the managers not to become burned out greeting people who are usually unresponsive, and the managers have a greater interest in promoting the success of the store than the cashiers who do. Ursilla, for example, who is assistant manager, always has a smile and cheery greeting for everyone, even with the people whose checks she says she cannot approve and to whom she apologizes profusely. The baggers, including me, tend to be in-between. We have less contact with the public than the cashiers do but more than the managers do. We tend to be friendly to the people who answer when we say How are you. Other customers, especially the ones who wont make eye-contact, we tend to ignore. Maybe the answer to better customer relations is to work especially on ways to improve the cashiers attitudes. That could be done through training sessions and frequent reminders to be friendly, even to customers who look like they wont be responsive. The way the three types of employees are able to show friendliness in proportion to their lack of public contact also says to me that China isnt the only place suffering from overcrowding, and maybe the only way a busy retail business is going to preserve politeness is to give frequent breaks or split schedules to the employees who have to have the most contact with the public.

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CHAPTER 3 - LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS


3.1. Description
Read the following sentences and decide what sense impressions they convey: Axel has an orange wart on his nose. The train whistle hooted faintly in the distance. The coat felt soft. The aroma of frying grease wafted from behind the restaurant. The warm, musty red wine bit sharply on her throat. Examine the following descriptive paragraphs. Identify the dominant impression (i.e. attitude, image, or feeling that the writer has about the topic of his description and wants to share it with his/her audience) in each, explain how the details reinforce that impression, and note which senses are appealed to: The most striking characteristic of the universitys indoor stadium is its visual beauty. The artificial grass sparkles like a new carpet. Though soft to the eye, it is prickly to the touch, and if a runner slides on it, the grass burns and scrapes the skin. This man-made football field is 100 yards long, with an additional 20 yards for end zones. Large white numerals mark each 10 yards from goal to goal. Encircling the field is a track, one-sixth of a mile long. When the huge, bright light directly overhead blaze down on the artificial grass at night, the turf resembles a large, flat, luminous piece of jade.

Documentary photographers at the turn of the century frequently turned their attention to persuading society of the necessity of providing for the poor. Typical of them was Jacob Riis. His photography of Baxter Street alley in 1888 shows tenements on either side of the narrow passage, crowding so close as to shut out the daylight. On one side the tenements are brick and on the other wood, but they appear rickety and squalid. Bags of rags and bones and paper are stacked in the alley. A small child stands beside the bags, in front of a pile of scrap wood she apparently gathered for fuel.

I was surrounded by hills. They werent mountains like you see in calendar pictures, topped with evergreens smiling down on a blue, sparkling lake. These were rolling, brooding hills, barren except for some brown scrub grass. As I looked up at the grey sky, I heard the whine of the wind and felt its sharp fingers pierce my thick, black coat. A driving rain soon began to beat me. Large drops
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smacked my face and ran into my mouth. They tasted sour. The hills continued to look down at me, making me small and afraid. I felt completely alone. Everything in the restaurant smacked of old England: heavy beamed ceiling, dancing fires in all three fireplaces, dark brown creaking tables with ages-old initials carved in their tops. One had only to look about, sink back into one of the sumptuous green leather easy chairs that surrounded the tables, and feel an overwhelming sense of mellow contentment. This would soon be replaced with anticipation, however, as the smells of the kitchen pervaded the atmosphere. Few would fail to be stirred by the rich earthiness of the roast haunch of venison with red-currant jelly and chestnut puree, let alone the chicken cooked in red wine with mushrooms or the trout poached in white wine with shrimp and mussels. And as waiter after waiter moves from kitchen to table, the easy anticipation is replaced by impatience. Taste buds at attention, knife and fork at the ready, the cozy room seeming to be getting too warm, a little voice inside- begins to murmur, Wheres mine? Revise the following descriptive paragraph so that it makes use of sense other than just the visual. The open market had a large variety of fruits: apples, oranges, watermelons, peaches, and pears all colourfully arranged. Sunshine poured over the square, brightening the copper pots, pans, and utensils as well as the red, green, orange, and yellow bolts of cloth. People dressed in their native ethnic costumes crowded between the tables that displayed the wares. The square on International Day is a glorious sight.

Task
Write a paragraph in which you describe your first day as a fresh student. Keep in mind that developing a description involves the following tasks: Determining the purpose of the description. Determining the dominant impression you want to create, and selecting details that will reinforce that impression. Drawing details from the other senses hearing, smell, taste, and touch in addition to sight.

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3.2. Definition
Look at the following table. Join the 8 sentences on the left with the correct ones from the 10 on the right by using the appropriate relative pronoun. 1. An engineer is a person 2. A microscope is an instrument 3. A generator is a machine 4. A botanist is a person 5. A square is a geometric figure 6. A cucumber is a vegetable 7. An economist is a person 8. An encyclopedia is a book a. It produces electricity. b. He studies the way in which industry and trade produce and use wealth. c. He treats the diseases of animals. d. It makes distant objects appear nearer and larger. e. He designs machines, buildings or public works. f. It gives information on subjects in alphabetical order. g. He studies plants. h. It makes very small near objects appear larger. i. It is long and round with dark green skin and light green watery flesh j. It has four equal sides and four right angles.

Definition presents the meaning of a term, by showing the specific characteristics that give something its identity, i.e. set it apart from things that are similar to it. The typical language construction is: Term + verb + general class word + wh-word + particular characteristics (differentia) Identify the term, class and differentia in the following definitions: A ballad is a folk song or orally transmitted poem which tells in a direct and dramatic manner some popular story usually derived from a tragic incident in local history or legend. An act is a major division in the action of a play, which comprises one or more scenes. Analogy is an illustration of an idea by means of a more familiar idea that is similar or parallel to it in some significant features. Antithesis is a rhetorical device which emphasises a contrast or opposition of ideas, usually by the balancing of connected clauses with parallel grammatical constructions. A dream vision is narrative (usually in verse) in which the narrator falls asleep and dreams the events of a tale. The mystery play is a major form of popular medieval religious drama which represents a scene from the Old or New Testament.

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What mistakes have been made in the following definitions? Re-write them in a more satisfactory way. An amnemeter is used to measure electric current. A lecturer is a person who lectures. A dictionary is a book like Collins English Dictionary. A degree is given by a university to a student who has passed the appropriate examinations. Plastics are moulded into shape when they are heated. A mineral is a structurally homogenous solid. A fossil is buried by natural processes and subsequently permanently preserved. Sociology is concerned with the development and principles of social organisation.

Write definitions for the following terms: satire mock-heroic poem the carpe diem motif the novel the romance plot point of view the epic the lyric the pastoral heroic couplet Renaissance Neoclassicism. Age of Sensibility

Compare the following definitions of Nationalism. State the differences between them. Which one do you consider to be clearer? Which of the two is more emphatic? Nationalism is the political doctrine which favours or strives after the unity, independence, interests or domination of a nation. Nationalism is an amalgam of two elements; an ideology embroidered about the idea of nationality, and the political institutionalisation of that ideology into the national state. The strength of nationalism rests on a consensus of national unity which may stem from race, language, common history and experiences, religion, territory or other interests. The national state, reflecting the political and social organisation of the individuals which comprise it and having coercive power over them, claims, in their name, sovereignty over the territory in which they live.

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Task:
Revise the following paragraph so that the opening sentence clearly defines the term and the paragraph sufficiently distinguishes it from similar terms: Satire usually shows scepticism or lack of respect. Like a sardonic remark, a satiric comment shows up weakness. A satiric remark may bite sometimes, but a sardonic remark always bites and always shows up doubts about values. Satire pokes fun at something by magnifying or diminishing it, and the result must be that people laugh. Jonathan Swift, for example, made people laugh at the vanity of man by first making Gulliver so much bigger than the Lilliputians that Gulliver looked ridiculous. Next, Swift put Gulliver on an island with giants, so that Gulliver was so trivial he seemed ridiculous. Satire is also present in my roommates exaggeration of the accent of his maths teacher. It remains satire as long as he does the imitation in front of people who like the math teacher. But it would get nasty and cross the bounds of satire if the imitation were done in front of people who didnt like the math teacher, because then it would not just be for fun but would be to hurt.

3.1. Exemplification
Identify some ways of exemplifying used in the following sentences: Linguistics may be defined as the science of language, for example, its structure, sound systems and meaning systems. Geology may be defined as the science of the earths history, as shown by its crust, rocks, etc. Geography may be defined as the science of the earths surface; it is concerned with a number of features, particularly physical, climate and products.

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Read the following passage and draw a box around all the expressions which have the same meaning as for example. Notice how they are used and the punctuation that is used with them. Then underline all the examples. What is Language? A language is a signalling system which operates with symbolic vocal sounds, and which is used by a group of people for the purposes of communication. Let us look at this definition in more detail because it is language, more than anything else, that distinguishes man from the rest of the animal world. Other animals, it is true, communicate with each other by means of cries: for example, many birds utter warning calls at the approach of danger; apes utter different cries, such as expressions anger, fear and pleasure. But these various means of communication differ in important ways from human language. For instance, animals cries are not articulate. This means, basically, that they lack structure. They lack, for example, the kind of structure given by the contrast between vowels and consonants. They also lack the kind of structure that enables us to divide a human utterance into words. We can change an utterance by replacing one word in it by another: a good illustration of this is a soldier who can say, e.g. tanks approaching from the north, or he can change one word and say aircraft approaching from the north or tanks approaching from the west; but a bird has a single alarm cry, which means danger! This is why the number of cries that an animal can make is very limited: the great tit is a case in point; it has about twenty different calls, whereas in human language the number of possible utterances is infinite. It also explains why animal cries are very general in meaning. Other commonly used verb forms and methods of expression for exemplification are: Shown / exemplified / illustrated by . . . X shows / exemplifies / illustrates this. The following examples, a and b. / The following are examples of X: a and b. / a and b are examples of X. Writers such as X and Y / Such writers as X and Y

The following sentences are based upon the information contained in the text above. Complete the sentences making use of each of the following words only once. illustration instance for example a case in point such as an example for

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At the approach of danger many birds utter warning calls: this is ________ an animals communicating with each other. Cries, ________ those of anger, fear and pleasure, are uttered by apes. There are important differences between human language and animal communication: ________ , animals cries are not articulate. Animals cries lack, __________ , the kind of structure that enable us to divide a human utterance into words. A good _________ of changing an utterance by substituting one word for another is a soldier who can say tanks approaching from the north or tanks approaching from the west. The number of signals that an animal can make is very limited: the great tit is _________ .

The following paragraph also employs exemplification. In what does it differ from the previous examples? What function does exemplification serve and how are the specific details used by the author? Volcanoes, waterfalls, battle scenes, rescues on horseback, amazing transformations - all were done often on the stages of the nineteenth century. But the questions of how - and of how well are more difficult to answer. Certainly the handling of scenic effects was often crude and blundering. A Philadelphia manger, famous for his dramatic spectacles almost failed once when a gauze representing rain fell properly on the stage, but had to be removed by drawing it up again. The sight of rain rising offended the audiences sense of reality, but, impressed with the other scenery, they chose to be amused rather than angered. The failure of Vesuvius to erupt on cue, however, totally ruined a lavish production of The Last Days of Pompeii. The stage manager ordered the curtain down and managed to get the eruption going, but by the time the curtain was reopened the disappointed audience, already leaving the theatre, saw only the last sputters of the cataclysm.

Tasks:
1. Rewrite the passage above using some of the language and vocabulary aid provided in the first half of this unit.

2. Write a paragraph that presents several illustrations to exemplify the difficult life of a student, or to illustrate the thesis according to which recent movies demonstrate our fascination with violence.

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3.2. Classification
Read the following passage carefully and decide what are the main criteria used in the classification. Then draw a classification diagram of state schools in England and Wales.

STATE SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND AND WALES The vast majority of children in Britain (87%) attend state schools (local authority schools) which provide compulsory education from the age of 5 to 16 years. These schools can be classified according to the age range of the pupils and the type of education provided. Basically there are two types of school. Primary schools cater for children aged 5-11, and secondary schools for ages 1116 (and in some areas up to 18 years). Primary schools can be sub-divided into infant schools (for ages 5-7) and junior schools (for ages 7-11.) Secondary schools are normally of one type for all abilities, viz. comprehensive schools. More than 90% of children in state schools attend this kind of school. In some areas middle schools exist as an extra level after primary school for children aged 8 or 9 to 12 or 13. Pupils then transfer to senior comprehensive schools. In a very small number of areas, pupils may be grouped according to their ability and selected by means of an examination at the age of 11. In these areas, grammar schools cater for those who pass the exam. Those who fail go to another secondary school. When pupils reach the age of 16 there may be three choices open to them. Firstly, they may leave school. Secondly, they may stay on at school for two more years of it has a Sixth Form. Thirdly, they may transfer to a Sixth Form College, a Tertiary College or a further Education College. Draw a diagrammatic classification of the Romanian education system. When you have completed it, write a brief description of it, employing the structure and vocabulary aid provided below:

Nouns: criterion/criteria basis/bases categories groups types kinds sorts divisions categories/classes/groups/etc. Verbs: classify categorise group arrange(in) put into fall into subclassify/categorise/divide/etc.

classes sub-

divide into

X consists of/comprises according to X may be classified according to/on the basis of/depending on (upon) The classification is based upon .
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Which of the following categories may be employed as a logical set to be employed in classifying works of art? Renaissance art / landscape painting / oil painting / sculpture Renaissance art / neoclassical art / Romantic art / modern art

Tasks:
1. Think of three means of classifying students in the curriculum you have chosen. Consider your audience to be: a) your fellow students; b) you teachers. What basis of classification would be most useful for each of these groups? 2. Revise the following paragraph of classification so that it is complete, useful and logical: Choosing a gift for a graduating high school senior requires knowing whether the student is planning to attend college and what the student needs. Judging from what I and my friends received, I would classify graduation gifts for the college-bound as highly-practical, moderately practical, barely practical, and impractical. In the first category, highly practical, were cash, towels, sheets, a fan, an alarm clock, a new desk dictionary, a study lamp, a typewriter, and other such accessories such as stationary and pens, and a small refrigerator. Moderately practical gifts included reference books, wall posters to prevent visually boring walls, and recreation things like music tapes for a radio tape player. Also in this category is a small television set, which one of my friends got. Barely useful things included things like chess and Scrabble games, because so few college students have time for them. A basketball and frisbee are much more useful, because many students like to get exercise when they take breaks from studying. In the last category, the impractical, were such gifts as new ties and clothing for formal occasions, a tropical fish tank, and novels unlikely to be assigned reading in any course

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3.5. Comparison and Contrast


Read the following passage, then fill in the sentences given below it, by choosing words and phrases provided in the accompanying list. Several years ago, some research was conducted at Manchester University into the amount of time that overseas postgraduate students spent listening to spoken English and speaking English. Sixty students co-operated by completing questionnaires. It was found that an average of 22 hours per week were spent listening to English and only 6 hours speaking English to English people. An analysis of the time spent listening to English showed that lectures accounted for 5 hours and seminars 2 hours. An estimated 2 hours were spent in serious discussion while 2 hours were devoted to everyday small-talk. Watching television accounted for 5 hours and listening to the radio 4 hours. Going to the cinema or theatre only accounted for an average of hour per week. biggest; as much as; more than; least; most; mot so many as; as many as; the same as; greater than o The students spent considerably ________ time listening to English ________ speaking it. o A _____ amount of time was spent in lectures _____ in seminars. o Nearly ______ hours were spent listening to the radio ____watching television. o The ______ popular way of listening to English was by watching TV. o ___________ number of hours was spent in everyday smalltalk _______ in taking part in seminars. o The __________ popular way of listening to English was by going to the cinema. o __________ hours were spent in serious discussion ________ in watching television. o Nearly ______ time was spent __________ in speaking English. in watching television

o __________ time was spent in serious discussion ________ in everyday small-talk. o The ____________ surprise in the survey was the small number of hours spent speaking English to English people.

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You have just received a letter from a friend, asking for some information about English dictionaries and asking you to recommend a suitable one to help him/her learn English. Look at the information provided in the table below and write a letter recommending of the dictionaries, giving reasons for your choice.

Dictionary Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary Cambridge International Dictionary of English Collins COBUILD English Dictionary

Words and phrases 80,000

Examples 62,700

Pages 1,690

Level Upper intermediate - advanced Upperintermediate - advanced Intermediate advanced

63,000

90,000

1,428

100,000

110,000

1,792

75,000

100,000

1,951

Intermediate - advanced

Read the following sentences - which are based on the information provided in the table below - and underline the language constructions used to express similarity or difference: Both Belgium and Canada have a small agricultural population. Ireland and Belgium are dissimilar in that Ireland has a much smaller population than Belgium. Canada is similar to Nepal in that it has a large forest area. The main religion in Belgium is Christianity, whereas in Egypt it is Islam. On the one hand, Canada has the largest population; on the other hand, it has the lowest density of population.

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Population Area: sq.km. Density: per sq.km. Forest area Arable land Agricultural population Main languages Main religions

Belgium 10,140,000 32,800 323 21% 23.5% 2% Dutch/ Flemish, French Christianity

Canada 29,972,000 9,221,000 3 39% 5% 3% English, French Christianity

Egypt 64,100,0 00 995,000 52 0 2% 39% Arabic, French Islam

Ireland 3,589,000 68,900 53 4.5% 13.5% 12% English, Irish

Nepal 21,953,00 0 137,000 136 39% 17% 91% Nepali, Maithili

Christianity Hinduism, Budhism

Write six more sentences similar to those above, basing your information on the same table.

Note that:
When developing paragraphs that employ comparison/contrast method of development, alternatives may be considered: the two

a) you may first discuss qualities of Subject A, and then discuss qualities of Subject B, taking care to treat the strikingly similar or distinctively different qualities of A and B in the same order; b) you may make alternative statements (arranged so as to be parallel) on A, then on B; A again, then B again, etc.

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What methods are used in the following excerpts that employ comparison and contrast? The seat next to Mom and Dad was a dreaded position. Here I was forced to do all the things in a church that, as a child, I hated to do. I had to pay attention to the mass, I had to sing, I had to recite all the prayers throughout the entire service. No talking, sleeping or daydreaming was permitted. I not only had to sing, but I had to listen to Dad sing as well. That was real torture. Trips to the bathroom were positively prohibited. Youll just have to hold it! Mom would say. Sitting away from my parents, in the rear pew and near the aisle, was a much more desirable position. I was far enough away from my parents so that I could daydream all I wanted without being bothered. I didnt have to worry about singing, or praying, or paying attention. I could even fall asleep. The end seat was a place in a world all my own. I didnt have to hear Dad sing, and I could dart out anytime I wanted to go to the bathroom. Most important, I could be the first person to leave when the service ended, and leaving was my favourite part of church.

The advantages of cable television over commercial television are illustrated by last Saturdays schedule: in sports, one cable network offered live coverage of two baseball games involving teams vying for first place in the National League, while the commercial network showed only a wrestling match. In movies, cable featured a new and popular film that was still playing at the local theatres; the commercial networks offered two older movies, a Doris Day film from 1966 and a 1975 western starring no one Id ever heard of. In addition, cable had no commercial interruptions, but the commercial channels had dozens. The one disadvantage to cable is its cost (from twenty-two dollars to thirty-three dollars a month), whereas the commercial networks are free.

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Tasks:
1. Revise the following paragraph, rearranging or adding details as necessary to sharpen the point of contrast and comparison. Re-write it in the academic register. I hope that Peahen Airlines and Mudlark Air both go bankrupt. Peahen has poor service. Its employees are often rude, slow, and sloppy. On my last trip, I had to wait an hour in line (I was behind only three other customers) just to buy my ticket. A Peahen stewardess spilled coffee on my shoulder and never even apologised. What I remember most about my last flight on Mudlark is that Mudlark lost my luggage, and Ive heard other travellers complain that Mudlark usually loses a large portion of the luggage it carries on each flight. At least, Peahen doesnt lose luggage often. Mudlarks employees are like Peahens. Mudlark must save money by not giving training to its stewardesses, who chat with each other until the very last few minutes of a light, then rush around trying to serve drinks at the last, never allowing time to pick up the bottles, cans and plastic cups. Moreover, Mudlarks employees uniforms usually look wrinkled and soiled, often by food stains that result from carelessness and rough weather. Its hard to tell which airline is worse. 2. Use the comparison/contrast method to develop an essay on one of the following topics: a) an ethnic or racial stereotype and a member of the ethnic or racial group b) two musical groups.

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3.6. Analogy
Read the following excerpts that employ analogy and identity the main impression that the speaker wants to convey in each case. Bear in mind that analogy is a type of comparison used to clarify something unfamiliar by comparing it to something familiar or easily understood. Though it is legal to steal a base, it is unsportsmanlike to spike the shortstop. When my opponent refers to me as a man who would rather breathe fresh air than see his neighbour have a job, then he is spiking me and stealing the political issue. He is trying to draw off the support of union members who would be able to have both clean air and a job. The great advantage of the electron microscope was that it could magnify objects far more than the light microscope. The reason for this had to do with quantum mechanics and the waveform theory of radiation. The best simple explanation had come from the electron microscopist Sidney Polton, also a racing enthusiast. Assume, Polton said, that you have a road, with a sharp corner. Now assume that you have two automobiles, a sports car and a large truck. When the truck tries to go round the corner, it slips off the road; but the sports car manages it easily. Why? The sports car is lighter, and smaller and faster; it is better suited to tight sharp curves. On large, gentle curves, the automobiles will perform equally, but on sharp curves, the sports car will do better. In the same way, an electron microscope will hold the road better than a light microscope. All objects are made of corners, and edges. The electron wavelength is smaller than the quantum of light. It cuts the corners closer, follows the road better, and outlines it more precisely. With a light microscope - like a truck you can follow only a large road. In microscopic terms this means only a large object, with large edges and gentle curves: cells and nuclei. But an electron microscope can follow all the minor routes, the byroads, and can outline very small structures within the cell micochondria, ribosomes, membranes, reticula. (Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain)

Task:
Create the basis for an analogy for the following. Develop one of them into a paragraph. a) McDonalds and . . . b) a professor and . . . c) a politician and . . . d) a car and . . .

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3.7. Narrative
Note that: The introduction to many pieces of academic writing contains some kind of historical background or development. This is usually in the form of narrative: an account or description of events in the past which entails following a time sequence or chronological order (i.e. earliest first). Verb forms commonly used are the simple past active, simple past passive, and past perfect active. Read the following carefully. Notice the structure, time sequence, date forms and prepositions, and the verb forms used: The beginnings of the EEC date from May 9th 1950, when Robert Shuman, Frances Foreign Minister, proposed that France and Germany should combine their coal and steel industries under an independent supranational authority. This led to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (E.C.S.C.) in 1952. In addition to France and Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands also became members. The E.C.S.C. was a step towards economic integration in Europe and led to the Treaty of Rome which was signed on March 25th 1957. This established the E.E.C. with the same six member states as in the E.C.S.C. In 1973 the U.K., Denmark and the Republic of Ireland became members; Greece, Spain and Portugal joined in the 1980s. Read through the passage below, then write an appropriate word in each of the spaces: The ____ of the U.N. can ____ traced back ___ the League of Nations. This ___ an international ___ which ___ created ___ the Treaty of Versailles ___ 1920 with the purpose ___ achieving world peace. Before 1930, the league, from its Geneva headquarters, ___ international conferences and did useful humanitarian work. ___ , it failed ___ deal effectively ___ international aggression ___ the 1930s. The league ___ formally closed ___ 1946 and ___ was superseded ___ the United Nations. The U.N. was ___ on 24th October 1945, when the U.N. Charter was ___ by the 51 ___ member countries. Almost ___ the countries of the ___ are now ___: 159 in ____ . The U.N. was ___ to maintain ____ peace, and to ___ international co-operation to ____ economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems. ____ from the ___ organs of the U.N. (e.g. The General Assembly, the Security Council, etc.), ___ of the U.N.s work is done ___ its specialised bodies, ___ agencies. ________ of the best ____ are, perhaps, the FAO, ILO, IMF, WHO, UNESCO and UNICEF.

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1. Below is a passage tracing the development of the universities. Read it through. When you have finished do exercise 2 which follows the passage. The word university comes from the Latin word universitas, meaning the whole. Later, in Latin legal language universitas meant a society, guild or corporation. Thus, in mediaeval academic use the word meant an association of teachers and scholars. The modern definition of a university is an institution that teaches and examines students in many branches of advanced learning. Awarding degrees and providing facilities for academic research. The origins of universities can be traced back to the Middle Ages, especially the 12-14th centuries. In the early 12th century, long before universities were organised in the modern sense, students gathered together for higher studies at certain centres of learning. The earliest centres in Europe were at Bologna, in Italy, for law, founded in 1088; Salerno in Italy for medicine; and Paris, France, for philosophy and theology, founded in 1150. Other early ones in Europe were at Prague, Czechoslovakia, founded in 1348; Vienna, Austria, founded in 1365; and Heidelberg, Germany, founded in 1386. The first universities in England were established at Oxford in 1185 and at Cambridge in 1209. The first Scottish university was founded at St. Andrews in 1412. By comparison, the oldest universities in the U.S.A. are at Harvard, founded in 1636, and Yale, established in 1701. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, three more universities were founded in Scotland: at Glasgow, in 1415, Aberdeen in 1494, and Edinburgh in 1582. The next English university to be founded was not until the nineteenth century - London, in 1836. This was followed, later in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, by the foundation of several civic universities. These had developed from provincial colleges which were mainly situated in industrial areas. Manchester, for example, received its charter in 1880, and Birmingham in 1900. In addition, the federal University of Wales was established in 1893, comprising three colleges. Several other civic universities were founded in the 1940s and 1950s, such as Nottingham in 1948, Southampton in 1954 and Exeter in 1957. However, it was in the 1960s that the largest single expansion of higher education took place in Britain. This expansion took three basic forms: existing universities were enlarged; new universities were developed from existing colleges; and seven completely new universities were founded. The latest, Kent University, in sough-east England, and Warwick, in the Midlands, were both founded in 1965. Like the other new universities they are situated away from town centres and are surrounded by parkland and green fields. Finance for universities comes from three sources, namely grants from the government (the largest), fees paid by students, and donations from private sources. All the British universities, except one, receive some government funding. The exception is
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Buckingham, which is Britains only independent university, and which received the Royal Charter in 1983. One of the latest university developments was the foundation in 1969 of the Open University. It is a non-residential university which provides part-time degree and other courses. It uses a combination of correspondence courses, television and radio broadcasts, and summer schools organised on a regional basis. 2. Below is a summary of the passage in sentences which are given in the wrong order. Put them in the correct one. The quarter of a century from 1940 to 1965 was the period when there was a big increase in the number of universities in Britain. The Open University was founded in 1969. The oldest American university was founded in the 17th century. One of the original meanings of university was an association of teachers and students. There is one private university in Britain: it was established in 1983. After three more Scottish universities were established in the 15th and 16th centuries, the next major developments were not until the foundation of a number of civic universities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest English universities. Government grants are the most important source of university income. The first Scottish university was established in the early 15th century. There were gatherings of students at centres of leaning in Europe between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Using narration effectively requires that you perform the following tasks: Identify the feeling or idea you wish to convey through your narrative. Arrange the narrative events chronologically, selecting the details that will reinforce that feeling or idea. Include only those other details that you need to make the narrative credible. Determine whether you can gain greater impact by rearranging the chronology, perhaps placing the most important or interesting episode at the beginning or at the end. Revise to cut irrelevant detail, select the most appropriate detail, and arrive at the most effective order.

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Tasks:
1. Refer back to the narrative on the development of universities. Is the pattern chronological? Identify elements of narrative vocabulary. What idea or feeling is emphasised in it? What understanding does the narrator reach in it?

2. Develop a narrative paragraph or full-length essay on one of the following: a) an intriguing event b) the development of a literary genre c) the biography of a favourite artistic personality.

3.8. Cause and Effect


1. Discuss each of the following as a sufficient or as a contributing cause: a) Charlie wore blue jeans to church because he wanted to irritate his mother. b) Doctors usually charge high fees to recoup the high cost of their education. c) Alcoholism causes marriages to fail. d) The kitchen is hot because thirty people are stacked into it. e) Cigarette smoking may cause lung cancer. f) Adults continual interference in childrens squabbles results in childrens being unable to solve their own problems. 2. Note the cause-effect relationships in the following: a) A humming noise on a tape may result from a variety of recording errors. A common mistake in recording that will result in humming is to forget to change the amplifier dial to the recording source position: phonograph, radio or microphone. Placing the microphone too close to the speaker or having the amplifier volume set too high will also produce a hum or even a howl. Another kind of interference that may result in tape hum comes from stacking the recorder and amplifier on top of each other.

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b)

TEENAGERS AND BOOZE

Americas young people have found a potent, sometimes addictive, and legal drug. Its called alcohol. Drinking is nothing new for the teenagers. In fact, its a kind of ritual of youth. In recent years, however, a great many youngsters from all the walks of life have turned to drugs like marihuana, heroin and barbiturates. Reports coming in from schools and national studies tell us that theres a change occurring. The newest way for kids to turn on is an old way - with alcohol. Listen to these words of a high school senior in Brooklyn as told to a reporter from Newsweek Magazine: A lot of us used to smoke pot, but we gave that up a year or two ago. Now my friends and I drink a lot . . . and in my book, a high is high. Why are youngsters rediscovering booze? One reason is pressure from other kids to be one of the gang. Another is the ever-present urge to act grown-up. For some, it eases the burden of problems at home or at school. And its cheaper Perhaps the main reason is that parents dont seem to mind. They tolerate drinking - sometimes even seem to encourage it. In part this may be due to the fact that parents themselves drink; in part its because theyre relieved to find that their children are only drinking, and are not involved with pot, LSD or other drugs. What these parents may not realise is that alcohol is also a drug, and a potentially dangerous one. Furthermore, few are aware just how young the drinkers are these days. The National Council on Alcoholism reports that . . . the age of the youngest alcoholics brought to its attention dropped from fourteen to twelve. Other studies have found that three fourths of senior-high students have used alcohol - an increase of 90 percent in three years. And 56 percent of junior-high students have tried alcohol. The Medical Council on Alcoholism warns: the potential teenage drinking problem should give far more cause for alarm than drug addiction. Many schools have reacted to teenage drinking. Theyve started alcohol education programs. But a lot of experts feel that teenagers are not going to stop drinking until adults do. (C. T. Rowen, Just Between Us Blacks)

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c)

CLIMATE

For the last hundred years the climate has been growing much warmer. This has had a number of different effects. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, glaciers have been melting very rapidly. For example, the Muir Glacier in Alaska has retreated two mile in ten years. Secondly, rising temperatures have been causing the snowline to retreat on mountains all over the world. In Peru, for example, it has risen as much as 2700 feet in 60 years. As a result of this, vegetation has also been changing. In Canada, the agricultural cropline has shifted 50 to 100 miles northward. In the same way cool-climate trees like birches and spruce have been dying over large areas of Eastern Canada. In Sweden the treeline has moved up the mountains by as much as 65 feet since 1930. The distribution of wildlife has also been affected, many European animals moving northwards into Scandinavia. Since 1918, 25 new species of birds have been seen in Greenland, and in the United States birds have moved their nests to the north. Finally, the sea has been rising at a rapidly increasing rate, largely due, as was mentioned above, to the melting of glaciers. In the last 18 years it has risen by about six inches, which is about four times the average rate of rise over the last 9000 years.

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3. From the texts above, fill in the following table with several examples of cause and effect relationships. Cause / Reason Connective or Marker Effect/Consequence/ Result/Solution Glaciers have been melting very rapidly.

e.g. The climate has (different) effects been growing much warmer.

Task:
Develop a passage on one of the cause-effect relationships mentioned under 1. You may use the following structure and vocabulary aid: The cause of / reason for X . The / One effect / consequence / result of . X causes / results in / leads to / produces X happens because of / as a result of / on account of / owing to / through X has occurred. Therefore, / So, / As a result / Accordingly, / Consequently, / Because of this, / Thus, / Hence, / For this reason, / Now, .

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3.9. Argumentation 3.9.1. Principles and techniques


A) GENERALISATIONS: a principle of providing supporting evidence, by using inductive reasoning and examining particulars in order to conclude what is true in general or for similar particulars. e.g. Americans are more likely to be influenced by quality than price when buying a compact car. (Reason: A nationwide survey of 10,000 people who recently bought compacts showed that 73% listed quality as the major determining factor in their decision.) Note: in the course of presentation, objectivity is illustrated by considering exceptions to the generalisation and explaining them. Errors:
a) hasty generalisations

e.g. The rude bus driver in Bucharest did not surprise me, because city people are never helpful.
b) sweeping generalisations

e.g. I have tested thirty Xerox photocopiers, and each one gave clear reproductions. This thirty-first one, therefore, will make clear reproductions. B) APPEAL TO AUTHORITY: use experts opinions to reinforce the point of the argument. C) POSITIVE SUPPORT: Use positive evidence to convince. e.g. An argument in favour of art courses at undergraduate level should use examples of the applicability of the principles of art to everyday decisions (not merely state that there is no reason against it.) D) SPECIFIC EVIDENCE: provide specific supporting evidence for any argument, in order to avoid circular argumentation. e.g. Panasonic stereos give better sound because they have superior tonal quality. A landfill would ruin the environment of the city because it would pollute the air and water. E) CONSIDER ALTERNATIVES: dont ignore choices in stating a solution to a problem or in assigning a cause to a problem (avoid the either-or fallacy). e.g. Either real estate taxes should be raised or the schools should be closed.

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F) OBJECTIVITY: avoid emotion; points that are not buttressed by supporting evidence, regardless of how strong your feelings are towards them, may alienate the reader. Note: Try to avoid the following means of persuasion: the appeal to fear; the appeal to force; the appeal to pity; the popular appeal Identify the errors of logic in the following statements: A person should not drive while intoxicated because of the possibility of getting a very high fine. If you had seen the fire that destroyed the Smiths house, you would not hesitate to buy our homeowners insurance policy. Every visitor to Belfast should dine at the Crowns. The food must be great because many officials eat there. The supervisor must really like Joes work, because I never heard him criticise him. Every country boy desires to live in Bucharest. The Engineering College is noted for its teaching excellence; therefore Professor Jones must be a fine teacher. You cant believe anything she says. Ten years ago she was convicted of drunken driving. Professors are expected to spend much of their time publishing. Therefore, you shouldnt go to university because your teachers will be more interested in their publications than they will be in you. Neighbouring state universities have schools of veterinary medicine, so ours should too. The players union should either accept the owners terms or go on strike.

Task:
Examine the following argument for logic problems, and then revise it: The states sales tax on college textbooks should be eliminated. The tax was first levied to raise funds to improve state colleges. If the intent of the legislature was to improve higher education, it certainly makes no sense to have a tax that increases costs for college students. Only an idiot would consider the tax on textbooks reasonable. Students have enough of a burden as it is. The first reason is that college textbooks should not be taxed is that the sales tax was intended to help college students. Taking more
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money away from college students is not the way to help them. It would be easy to exempt textbooks, if not the other things required by college students. Textbooks could be sold only by licensed booksellers who had certified letters from a designated college official specifying the titles of the books that are required for college courses. Those titles then would be exempt. Many college bookstores, I realise, sell many things besides books - sweatshirts, mugs, pencils, even detergent. But if separate cash registers were kept for book purchases - or even if a special key were set up - the cash registers could easily be isolated or programmed to erase the job of the sales staff in assessing the amount of sales tax. You might think it would not save each student enough to make the extra bookkeeping worthwhile. But it looks like my expenses for books will be close to $ 500 this year alone, and the costs will probably go up each of the next three years. The five percent sales tax on that comes to a significant sum for me. Another reason not to impose the sales tax on college textbooks is that there are plenty of other sources of revenue for the state.

3.9.2. Constructing an Argument


STEPS: a) b) c) d) present a conclusion note your reasons for arriving at the conclusion test your conclusion by asking questions of it test your reasons for logic; make sure they support the conclusion e) revise both your reasons and your conclusion Test the following argument. Revise it as necessary. CONCLUSION: private education for the elementary pupil is superior to public education. BASES: o Private education offers greater discipline. o Private education limits the pupils exposure to undesirable elements. o Private education affords parents the opportunity to select a school on the basis of educational philosophy rather than on proximity to the home. Develop one of the following statements into an argument or counter argument and illustrate it with a diagram. Legalising prostitution would reduce related crime. Scientists should not use live animals in their experiments.
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3.9.3. Writing an argumentation essay


Writing an argumentation essay involves the following steps: develop a conclusion and its basis assert the conclusion of your argument in the thesis statement and introductory paragraph c. support the bases of your conclusion in body paragraphs that use facts, statistics, and discussion based on observation and experience d. emphasise the main point of your argument in a concluding paragraph.
a. b.

Task:
Read the following passage and identify the basic plan of its argument. Provide it with a suitable title and write a concluding paragraph. I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battle field. Even if one didnt know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles. Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced it you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe at any rate for short periods that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.

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Chapter 4 Building Up the Essay

CHAPTER 4 - BUILDING UP THE ESSAY


4.1. Writing introductions
Consider the following methods of introducing your essay:
a) opening with the thesis statement:

e.g. Hitlers murder of eight million Jews has given West Germany a legacy of guilt evident in some of its major foreign policies.
b) opening with a broad statement

e.g. Sometimes unwelcome guests are just what a party needs.


c) opening with a scene-setter

e.g. For anyone fortunate enough to have a wood-burning fireplace, sitting in front of a healthy fire on a frosty winter afternoon provides a sense of comfort and luxury.
d) opening with a quotation

e.g. H.L. Mencken defined Puritanism as the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
e) opening with an anecdote

e.g. When Jonathan Swift described Gullivers trip to the land of Laputa in Gullivers Travels, he depicted scientists who had one eye turned inward and the other aimed at the stars.
f) opening with a statistics or a fact

e.g. Fully half the fatal automobile accidents in England involve a drunk driver, according to the Royal Division of Motor Vehicles. Are any of them used in the following introductory paragraphs of an essay discussing the present-day problems facing secondary education in England and Wales? Which of the four introductions on the next page do you consider to be most effective?

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a) There are, of course, two sectors of secondary education in England and Wales: the private sector and the state sector. This essay will be concerned only with the latter since it is by far the largest and is faced with many more problems. These can be traced to two important sources: a rapidly changing society and a chronic lack of resources. b) Secondary education in England is, if not in a mess, in a state of crisis. It faces problems of organisation, partly due to a sharp decrease in the number of pupils, and partly due to constant rearguard action by the proponents of selection. It faces problems connected with curriculum development and the reappraisal of the examination system in the attempt to prepare pupils for the modern world. Finally, it faces problems as a result of government underfunding and, often due to a bad press image, a lack of public confidence. c) The present structure of state secondary education in England and Wales can be traced back to the Education Act of 1944 which established the school divisions of grammar, technical, and secondary modern. It was a reaction to the divisive effects of this tripartite system that comprehensive education was introduced in the 1960s. Under the present system all pupils proceed from primary to one kind of secondary school without the need for an examination. In what follows, an attempt will be made to show that most of the present-day problems of secondary education stem from an inadequate provision that was made for the changeover to comprehensive education. Inadequate provision will be shown to relate to the preparation of the teachers and the supply and type of school buildings and educational materials. This essay will examine problems facing secondary education in Britain today. It will examine the background to the problems, starting with the 1944 Education Act, which established universal free primary and secondary education. It will then look at problems associated with comprehensive schools. After this, it will examine the concept of the National Curriculum, the extended responsibilities and powers of school governors, the local management of schools, and the principle of schools opting out from local authority control. Finally, there will be an analysis of the relationship between central government and local education authorities, and a discussion of the problems relating to the financing of schools.

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4.2. Writing transitional paragraphs


All the language functions presented under point 3 (Language Functions) may be employed to create the special purpose paragraphs that make up the body of your essay. Here follows a brief recapitulation of these: USING DESCRIPTION: General purpose: enhance the readers understanding and appreciation of a certain topic; help the readers identify something by providing specific information; establish a mood or create an atmosphere. Tasks: - determine the purpose of the description - determine the dominant impression you want to convey to your readers, by selecting reinforcing details. USING EXPOSITION: General purpose: clarify and explain. Forms of exposition: a) exemplification b) comparison/contrast c) analogy d) classification e) definition f) causal analysis USING NARRATION : General purpose: informing the readers of an event or a series of events. Tasks: - identify the feeling or idea you wish to convey through your narrative - arrange the narrative events chronologically, selecting the details that will reinforce that feeling or idea. - include only those other details you need to make the narrative credible. - determine whether you can gain greater impact by rearranging the chronology, perhaps placing the most important or interesting episode at the beginning or the end. - revise to cut irrelevant detail, select the most appropriate detail, and arrive at the most effective order. USING ARGUMENTATION: General purpose: convince the readers about a point, by setting forth the reasons (presentation of observations, experience, generalisations, facts and statistics that make up the evidence) along with the conclusions drawn from them.
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Chapter 4 Building Up the Essay

4.3. Writing conclusions


The most commonly employed means of concluding essays are:
a) b) c) d) e) f)

concluding with a summary concluding with a prediction concluding with a question concluding with recommendations concluding with a quotation using combined methods

Which of these methods are made use of in the following excerpts? a) The children of Dolphu and Wangri are learning that the sabu snow leopard is worth more to them alive than as a pelt for barter. As they come of age and take their places in village concerns, they could become the most effective guardians of their national treasure, keeping the scow leopards of the Langu a safe distance from the edge of extinction.

b) Trust, then, open trust has nothing to do with expecting or doing specific, predetermined things in marriage, but rather with sharing the knowledge of your immediate desires and needs with your mate, living for now and not for yesterday or tomorrow, living not the life that somebody else has laid out for you in terms of role expectations, living instead for your own self through share communication and growth with your mates self. Trust then is freedom to assume responsibility for your own self first and then to share that human self in love with your partner in a marriage that places no restrictions upon growth or limits on fulfilment.

c) It is clear from the examples above that the state is spending far more on highways than it is on education. Most residents will be glad to have efficient road systems for getting to and from work as well as for easy access to recreation areas. However, if current spending trends continue, the question that voters will have to answer is, Do I want to be on the same highway with functionally illiterate drivers?

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d) Afterwards one can choose not simply accept the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impressions ones words are likely to make on another person. This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness generally. But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases: a) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech, which you are used to seeing in print. b) Never use a long word where a short one will do. c) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. d) Never use the passive where you can use the active. e) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. f) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous. These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.

Task:
Write a 500-word argumentative essay on a topic of your own choice. Plan it in accordance to the guide lines provided in this course. Highlight (on the right-hand side of the page) its structure and the language functions you employ.

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Chapter 5 Writing from Sources

CHAPTER 5 WRITING FROM SOURCES


5.1. Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing involves changing a text so that it is quite dissimilar to the source yet retains all the meaning. Effective paraphrasing is vital in academic writing to avoid the risk of plagiarism.

Note that:
1. Although paraphrasing techniques are used in summary writing,paraphrasing does not aim to shorten the length of a text, merely to restate the text. For example, Evidence of a lost civilisation has been found off the coast of China. could be paraphrased: Remains of an ancient society have been discovered in the sea near China. 2. A good paraphrase is significantly different from the wording of the original, without altering the meaning at all. Read the text below and then decide which is the best paraphrase, (a) or (b). Ancient Egypt collapsed in about 2180 BC. Studies conducted of the mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to feed itself. a) The sudden ending of Egyptian civilisation over 4,000 years ago was probably caused by changes in the weather in the region to the south. Without the regular river flooding there would not have been enough food. b) Research into deposits of the Egyptian Nile indicate that a long dry period in the mountains at the rivers source may have led to a lack of water for irrigation around 2180BC, which was when the collapse of Egyptian society began. Compare the original text above with its paraphrases and exemplify some of the techniques used in paraphrasing under the headings below: a) changing vocabulary: ______________________________ b) changing word-class: ______________________________ c) changing word-order: ______________________________

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Chapter 5 Writing from Sources Find synonyms for the words in italic. a) Sleep scientists have found that traditional remedies for insomnia, such as counting sheep, are ineffective. b) Instead, they have found that imagining a pleasant scene is likely to send you to sleep quickly. c) The research team divided 50 insomnia sufferers into three groups. d) One group was told to imagine a waterfall, while another group tried sheep counting. b) Instead, they have found that imagining a pleasant scene is likely to send you to sleep quickly. c) The research team divided 50 insomnia sufferers into three groups. d) One group was told to imagine a waterfall, while another group tried sheep counting. Change the word class of the words in italic, and then re-write the sentences. a) A third group was given no special instructions about going to sleep. b) It was found that the group thinking of waterfalls fell asleep 20 minutes quicker. c) Mechanical tasks like counting sheep are apparently too boring to make people sleepy. Change the word order of the following sentences. a) There are many practical applications to research into insomnia. _______________________________________________________ b) About one in ten people are thought to suffer from severe insomnia. _______________________________________________________ c) It is calculated that the cost of insomnia for the American economy may be $35 billion a year. _____________________________________________________________ Combine all these techniques to paraphrase the paragraph as fully as possible. Sleep scientists have found that traditional remedies for insomnia, such as counting sheep, are ineffective. Instead, they have found that imagining a pleasant scene is likely to send you to sleep quickly. The research team divided 50 insomnia sufferers into three groups. One group imagined Writing in Focus 61

Chapter 5 Writing from Sources watching a waterfall, while another group tried sheep counting. A third group was given no special instructions about going to sleep. It was found that the group thinking of waterfalls fell asleep 20 minutes quicker. Mechanical tasks like counting sheep are apparently too boring to make people sleepy. There are many practical applications for research into insomnia. About one in ten people are thought to suffer from severe insomnia. It is calculated that the cost of insomnia for the American economy may be $35 billion a year.

Task:
Use the same techniques to paraphrase the following text. Before the last century no humans had visited Antarctica, and even today the vast continent has a winter population of less than 200 people. However, a recent report from a New Zealand government agency outlines the scale of the pollution problem in the ice and snow. Although untouched compared with other regions in the world, the bitter cold of Antarctica means that the normal process of decay is prevented. As a result some research stations are surrounded by the rubbish of nearly 60 years operations. Despite popular belief, the polar continent is really a desert, with less precipitation than the Sahara. In the past, snowfall slowly covered the waste left behind, like beer cans or dead ponies, but now, possibly due to global warming, the ice is thinning and these are being exposed. Over 10 years ago the countries using Antarctica agreed a treaty on waste disposal, under which everything is to be taken home, and this is slowly improving the situation. However, the scientists do not want everything removed. The remains of very early expeditions at the beginning of the twentieth century have acquired historical value and will be preserved.

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5.2. Summary
Making summaries is a common activity in everyday life. If a friend asks us about a book we are reading, we do not tell them about everything in the book. Instead, we make a summary of the most interesting and important aspects. The same principle applies to summarising in academic writing. Choose four of the topics below and write summaries in no more than twelve words each. Example: Birmingham is a large industrial city in the English West Midlands. a) Your home town b) Bill Gates c) Your academic subject d) The last book you read e) A film you saw recently f) Your mother/father Look at the summaries you have written above. What are the features of a successful summary? Note that: In essay writing students often have to summarise part of a book or journal article. The summary may be just one or two sentences, to explain the main idea of the article, and perhaps compare it with another summarised text, or it might be necessary to include much more detail. In other words, a summary can range from 12% of the original to more than 50%: summarising is a flexible tool.

Complete the list of stages in a successful summary. a) Read the text carefully and check key vocabulary. b) Underline or highlight the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... c) Make notes of these, taking care to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..................... d) Write the summary using the notes, re-organising the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ e) Check the summary to make sure no . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . have been omitted or distorted.

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Chapter 5 Writing from Sources Read the following text and compare the summaries. Decide which is best, giving reasons. Researchers in France and the United States have recently reported that baboons are able to think abstractly. It has been known for some time that chimpanzees are capable of abstract thought, but baboons are a more distant relation to mankind. In the experiment, scientists trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals had to match computer designs which were basically the same but had superficial differences. The baboons performed better than would be expected by chance. The researchers describe their study in an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. a) French and American scientists have shown that baboons have the ability to think in an abstract way. The animals were taught to use a computer, and then had to select similar patterns, which they did at a rate better than chance. b) Baboons are a kind of monkey more distant from man than chimpanzees. Although it is known that chimpanzees are able to think abstractly, until recently it was not clear if baboons could do the same. But new research has shown that this is so. c) According to a recent article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, baboons are able to think in an abstract way. The article describes how researchers trained two baboons to use a personal computer and a joystick. The animals did better than would be expected. Read the following text and underline the key points. Indian researchers are trying to find out if there is any truth in old sayings which claim to predict the weather. In Gujarat farmers have the choice of planting either peanuts, which are more profitable in wet years, or castor, which does better in drier conditions. The difference depends on the timing of the monsoon rains, which can arrive at any time between the beginning and the middle of June. Farmers, however, have to decide what seeds to sow in April or May. There is a local saying, at least a thousand years old, which claims that the monsoon starts 45 days after the flowering of a common tree, Cassia fistula. Dr Kanani, an agronomist from Gujarat Agricultural University, has been studying the relationship since 1996, and has found that the tree does successfully predict the approximate date of the monsoons arrival. Complete the following notes of the key points. a) Indian scientists checking ancient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...................... 64 Writing in Focus

Chapter 5 Writing from Sources b) Old saying links monsoon to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ c) Used by farmers to select peanuts (for wet) or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............. d) Dr Kanani of Gujarat Agricultural University has found that . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................. Link the notes together to make a complete summary using conjunctions where necessary. Check the final text for factual accuracy. Indian scientists are checking . .. Task: The original text was about 150 words. The summary above is about 50, so the original has been reduced by about 65%. However, it might be necessary to summarise still further. Using the same techniques, summarise the summary in about 20 words.

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Chapter 5 Writing from Sources

5.3. Referencing Note that:


- A reference is an acknowledgement that you are making use of another writers ideas or data in your writing: As Collins (1997) pointed out, post-war British theatre mirrors the upheavals in the social sphere. - There are three main reasons for giving references: a) To avoid the charge of plagiarism, which is using another persons ideas or research without acknowledgement. b) The reference can give more authority to your writing, for it shows you are familiar with other research on the topic. c) The reader can find the original source by using the reference section, which would list the full publishing details of Collinss book: Collins, M. (1997) Post-War British Theatre. Manchester: Manchester University Press Decide which of the following need references. a) A mention of facts or figures from another writer b) An idea of your own c) Some data you have found from your own research d) A theory suggested by another researcher e) A quotation from a work by any author f) Something that is agreed to be common knowledge Match the examples below with their function: 1. Orwell (1940) pointed out that although Charles Dickens described eating large meals in many of his books, he never wrote about farming. He explains this contradiction in terms of Dickens upbringing in London, remote from the countryside. 2. Orwell clearly highlighted this inconsistency in Dickens: It is not merely a coincidence that Dickens never writes about agriculture and writes endlessly about food. He was a Cockney, and London is the centre of the earth in rather the same sense that the belly is the centre of the body. (Orwell, 1940: pp. 53-54) 3. As Orwell (1940) noted, Dickens frequently described food but was uninterested in food production. He considered that this was because of the writers background: He was a Cockney, and London is the centre of the earth.(pp.5354) a) Mixture of summary and quotation.

b) Summary of a writers ideas.

c) Quotation of a writers words.

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Chapter 5 Writing from Sources Read the following extract from the same essay (Charles Dickens in Inside the Whale, Orwell, G., 1940: pp.5455) What he does not noticeably write about, however, is work. In Dickens novels anything in the nature of work happens off-stage. The only one of his heroes who has a plausible profession is David Copperfield, who is first a shorthand writer and then a novelist, like Dickens himself. With most of the others, the way they earn their living is very much in the background. a) Write a summary of the authors ideas, including a suitable reference. b) Introduce a quotation of the key part of the extract, again referring to the source. c) Combine (a) and (b), again acknowledging the source. Note that: There are three main systems of reference in use in academic writing: a) The system illustrated above (the Harvard) is the most common. Note the following: Hunter (1989) states (date of publication in brackets when referring verb is used) Women pose less security risk. (Burke and Pollock, 1993) (authors and date in brackets after summary) NB. For quotations page numbers should also be given after the date. b) Numbers in brackets are inserted in the text for each source, and at the end of the chapter or article the references are listed in number order: A survey of Fortune 500 companies found that over 70% have problems recruiting skilled staff (1). Some analysts argue that this could be as high as 90% (2). 1. Cuervo, D. 1990, Whither Recruitment? HR Journal 13. pp. 23 39. 2. Segall, N. 1996, Cross-cultural studies, Harper & Row, New York pp. 173-4. c) A third system uses footnotes: More than 80% of families own or are buying their own homes.2 In this system the references are listed at the bottom of the page: 2. The Economist, 13 January 1996, pp. 278. NB. A full reference section is required at the end of the article or book.

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Chapter 5 Writing from Sources Study the pattern of organisation of the following reference section of an essay written by a business student and answer the following questions: a) How are the entries ordered? b) What is the difference between the information provided for: i) a book by one author ii) an edited book iii) a source on the internet iv) an article in a journal c) When are italics used? d) How are capital letters used in titles? e) How is a source with no given author listed? REFERENCES Brzeski, W. (1999) The Polish Housing www.onenet.pl (Access date 15 Feb.2000). Market

Hill, S. (1989) Managerial Economics, The Analysis of Business Decisions. London: Macmillan Education Ltd. pp. 100135. Koutsoyiannis, A.P. (1963) Demand function for tobacco in Wagner, L. (ed) Readings in Applied Microeconomics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mintel Database (2000), Retail Coffee Market in the UK (31 Jan. 2000) Available via Warwick University Library (Access date 20 Feb. 2000). Pass, C. and Lowes, B. (1997) Business Microeconomics. London: Routledge pp. 16-40. and

Peck, S. (2000) Managerial Economics Course Notes. Warwick Business School. Russell, T. (1995) A future for coffee? Journal of Applied Marketing. No.6 pp. 1417.

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Bibliography

Bibliography

Alexander, L.G., Essay and Letter-Writing, Harlow: Longman, 1996. Bailey, Stephen, Academic Writing: A practical guide for students, London and New York, Routledge, 2003. Gehle, Quentin L. and Duncan J. Rollo, Writing Essays: a process approach, New York: St. Martins Press, 1987. Henessy, Michael, The Borzoi Practice Book for Writers, 5th edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. Jordan, R. R., Academic Writing Course, London and Glasgow: Collins, 1994. Murray, Rowena and Sarah Moore, The Handbook of Academic Writing, Maidenhead, Open University Press, 2006. Palmer, Richard, Write in Style: a guide to good English, 2nd edition, London and New York: Routledge, 2002. Spatt, Brenda, Writing from Sources, 3rd edition, New York: St. Martins Press, 1991.

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