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Chapter 5 - Improving your writing: grammar and self-editing. On completion of this chapter students will know how to: identify ways to improve writing independently, develop a strategic approach to editing written work, understand the basic features of specific grammatical constructions.
Chapter Improving your writing: grammar and self-editing Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-1 Learning objectives On completion of this chapter students will know how to: • identify ways to improve writing independently • develop a strategic approach to editing written work • understand the basic features of specific grammatical constructions Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-2 Grammatical constructions addressed in this chapter • • • • • • • • • • Subject/verb agreement Parallel construction Verb tense Article use The apostrophe Word form Passive tenses Gerunds and infinitives So, neither and nor Still and yet Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-3 Be proactive about learning how to write well • Students who adopt an independent and proactive approach to their language development are likely to make better progress than those who simply hope the problem of language will disappear Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-4 How can you improve your English language skills? • Investigate any language support services your university offers, whether as workshops or online In some universities you can make appointments with trained staff to discuss your written work • Invest some money in a self-study grammar book with answers Ask university staff for advice on useful texts • Approach your university librarian for suggestions on how they can help you to improve your language and the resources and services they offer Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-5 Activity • Write down the resources available in your university that can help you to improve your English language • Discuss the options you have tried and recommend some to other students Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-6 Common grammatical errors • Errors are easy to overlook, particularly when working within tight deadlines • Not all errors are detected by computer grammar checkers so edit your work after you have used the software Remember: Poor grammar may change your meaning or make your ideas difficult to understand Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-7 Sentence structure • There are two kinds of common error in writing sentences: – incomplete sentences – ‘run-on’ (or run-together) sentences Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-8 Complete sentences A complete sentence must contain a subject and a predicate (The rest of the sentence must contain a verb.) Example Our business partners will arrive tomorrow Subject Predicate The verb Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 5-9 Complete sentences (cont.) • In formal writing you must use complete sentences • A group of words without a subject or predicate is NOT a sentence For example: – And arrived later No subject – He feeling very happy Incomplete verb Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 10 5-10 Examples • Passive tense – It is recognised that participating in the knowledge economy is important (Crossman 2005, p 22) • Active tense – Both governments and businesses recognise the importance of participating in a knowledge economy (Crossman 2005, p 22) Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 71 5-71 Activities 8–10 • Complete Activities 9–11 on pp 109–111 of your textbook Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 72 5-72 Gerund (‘-ing’) or infinitive • A gerund is a verb that takes an ‘-ing’ form on the ending (e.g processing, developing, explaining) • Compare it to the infinitive verb, which does not refer to a tense, a person or a subject It is basically a verb that has had no changes made to it and is sometimes preceded by ‘to’ (e.g ‘to pay’) Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 73 5-73 Gerund (‘-ing’) or infinitive (cont.) • Some verbs are followed by a second verb in the infinitive and others are followed by a second verb in the gerund form Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 74 5-74 Gerund (‘-ing’) or infinitive (cont.) • Some examples of verbs and expressions followed by a second verb in the gerund form are: finish delay enjoy mind imagine stop regret remember admit deny avoid practise fancy give up go on keen on Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 75 5-75 Gerund (‘-ing’) or infinitive (cont.) • Some examples of verbs and expressions followed by a second verb in the gerund form are: want intend refuse arrange plan hope fail afford tend agree offer decide tend learn need Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 76 5-76 Gerund (‘ing’) or infinitive (cont.) • Some examples of sentences using a gerund or an infinitive are: – Gerund • She avoided talking to her • Weng Fai wasn’t keen on going to management meetings – Infinitive • She intended to look for another job • He tended to overlook his own errors Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 77 5-77 Activities 11 and 12 • Complete Activities 12 and 13 on pp 112– 113 of your textbook Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 78 5-78 So, neither and nor • When expressing agreement, ‘so’ is used in response to positive statements and ‘neither’ or ‘nor’ are used in response to negative statements Positive statement ‘I believe that ethical behaviour is vital to the company’s credibility.’ Response ‘So I’ (If you disagreed with the speaker you would say ‘I don’t!’ meaning I don’t agree that ethical behaviour is always vital to a company’s credibility.) Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 79 5-79 So, neither and nor (cont.) Negative statement ‘I don’t think she should borrow so much from the bank.’ Response ‘Nor I.’ Negative statement ‘She doesn’t check all my references.’ Response ‘Neither does my lecturer.’ Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 80 5-80 So, neither and nor (cont.) • Neither/nor are used when two negative statements are connected Example – She neither comes to class nor hands in her assignments (She doesn’t come to class and she doesn’t hand in her assignments.) Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 81 5-81 Activity 13 • Complete Activity 14 on p 113 of your textbook Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 82 5-82 Still and yet • ‘Still’ is used to indicate when an action or situation is continuing • It usually goes in the middle of the sentence after the verb ‘to be’ • ‘Still’ is more often used with the affirmative (positive statements) or questions Examples – Is he still drinking heavily? – They are still paying bribes even though it has been forbidden by head office Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 83 5-83 Still and yet (cont.) • ‘Yet’ is used when we ask if something has or has not happened, usually in questions or negative sentences • ‘Yet’ often goes at the end of the sentence, after the verb • ‘Yet’ means that something continues to be the case up until the time of speaking Examples – Has the closing date for applications closed yet? – Alexander hasn’t applied to any universities yet Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 84 5-84 References • Crossman, J 2005, ‘Strangers and bedfellows; The relationship between the commercialisation of Australian universities and international education’, HERDSA news, vol 25 no 3, pp 22–26 • Thomson, A & Martinet, A 1990, A practical English grammar, 4th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 85 5-85 ... staff like him Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 15 5- 15 Using conjunctions to fix run-on sentences (cont.) Using a semicolon... and Bordia 18 5- 18 Activity • Complete activity on pp 97–98 of your textbook Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia 19 5- 19... continuous Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Communication Skills, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia I have been studying I will have been studying 35 5- 35 Non-continuous tenses Simple