Academic Writing (1)

Academic writing is formal writing. Many students who learn English as the second language have trouble telling informal writing apart from formal writing. They resort to informal writing, since it’s easier and more familiar. Characteristics of informal writing include the use of colloquialisms and slangs.

In academic writing tests such as IELTS, you are assessed according to the following criteria:

•Task Response - how accurately to address the task
•Coherence and Cohesion - how organised your writing is
•Lexical Resource - the range of your vocabulary
•Grammatical Range and Accuracy - the correctness of your grammar


Academic writers usually employ tentative language rather than assertive language in their essays or reports by:

1) Using possibly and probably in front of verbs and noun phrases; e.g. 'This is possibly caused by...' or 'This is probably the most important factor.'

2) Using the modal verbs may and might; e.g. 'This may be the most important factor.'

3) Using appears to and seems to; e.g. 'This appears to be the most important factor.'

4) Avoiding always and every, and replacing them with often and many/much
Using formal vocabulary e.g. discuss rather than talk about. One way to do this is by replacing phrasal verbs with more formal ones.

5) Using more formal grammar, for example:

Use 'There' as a subject; e.g. 'There is a serious risk of...'

Use 'It' as a subject; e.g. 'It is very difficult to...'

Use 'One' as a subject; e.g. 'One may ask whether...' ('One' is a formal version of 'You' [plural] in general)

Use the passive voice; e.g. 'Many things can be done in order to...'

Now let's do an exercise by identifying the informal expressions in the following sentences and then rewrite the following sentences, replacing the informal expressions with a more formal equivalent.

1. Unfortunately, since there are so many possible explanations, the correct one is most difficult to find out.

2. Effective vaccines prevent such hazards, but only if a social organisation makes sure that all potential mothers are vaccinated in good time.

3. Modern houses have so many labour-saving things that it is difficult for the person at home to have adequate exercise by doing chores, cooking, and looking after a family.

Lay and Lie

Good morning folks,

I'm getting a bit better and I hope that I could make it tomorrow.

I read the comments that you made yesterday and I'll publish them when I get everyone's post. Today I'd like you to read the following grammar point which is very confusing to second language learners and then do the activity at the end of the page and post it to me.

Lay and Lie

Be careful not to confuse these verbs.

Lay means 'put down carefully' or 'put down flat'. This irregular verb is always followed by an object. Laying is the present participle. Laid is the past simple and the past participle.
Example:
She laid the papers on the desk.

Lie means 'be in a horizontal position' or 'be in a particular place'. This verb is irregular and is never followed by an object. Lying is the present participle. Lay is the past simple and lain is the past participle.

The papers were lying on the desk.
(NOT)The papers were laying on the desk.
I lay down and went to sleep.
(NOT) I laid down and went to sleep.

The regular verb lie means 'not say the truth'.
He lied to me about his age.

Please post me 3 example sentences for each verb

Direct and reported speech for Monday 11th April

Good moring everyone,

As Gabby has told you by now, I am away today and possibly tomorrow as I am seriously sick.

For today, I want you to read the text below and do the activity task at the end of the page and post it to me. Those who finish it earlier than 1:15, log in to www.english-grammar-lessons.com and catch up with the grammar lesson than you are not good at.

So have a nice day and good luck with the activities.

Changing from direct to reported speech

When changing from direct to reported speech, you need to change the grammar in certain ways. Verb tense forms usually need to change. In most cases, you change the present tense into the past tense.

She said, “I am staying at the Chelsea Hotel.”

She said that she was staying at the Chelsea Hotel.

If the direct speech is already in the past tense, you need to put the verb even further back in time, using had. This applies to both past tense and present perfect forms of the verb.

He said, “I came by bus.”

He said that he had come by bus.

She said, “I’ve definitely seen John recently”.

She said that she had definitely seen John recently.

However, you do not use this rule if the verb in the direct speech already uses had.

She said, “I had given up hope of seeing him again.”

She said that she had given up hope of seeing him again.

If you report something that someone said, which is still true now, you do not need to change the tense of the verb.

“I want to get married.”

She said she wants to get married.

If the direct speech contains will, shall, or may, these also need to change.

will →would shall → should may →might

She said, “I will see you soon.”

She said that she would see us soon.

Would, should, could, might, and must do not change.

She said, “I could visit him on Thursday.”

She said she could visit him on Thursday.

You also need to change times and places which depend on the speaker’s point of view.

He said, “I saw the car here yesterday.”

He said that he’d seen the car there the day before.

In this case here becomes there because you are in a different place, and yesterday becomes the day before because you are now speaking at a later time.

Also, now becomes then, last week becomes the week before, two months ago becomes two months before, tomorrow becomes the next day, and so on. Of course, if the time phrase does not depend on the speaker’s point of view, it can be used without change.

He said, “I bought the car in November 1996.”

He said he had bought the car in November 1996.

REPORTING QUESTIONS

When you are changing a question from direct speech into reported speech, you follow the same kinds of rules as for statements. The only differences are that you need to use a different word to introduce the reported speech, and the word order of the question becomes like that of a statement. You end the sentence with a full stop, not a question mark.

You use if or whether to introduce a ‘yes‑no question’.

I asked, “Does he eat meat?”

I asked whether he ate meat. OR I asked if he ate meat.

You introduce questions that begin with who, why, what, how etc by using the word which begins the question in direct speech.

She asked, “When will you go back to Iran?”

She asked when he would go back to Iran.

You often mention the person who is being asked the question, by using a pronoun (him, her, them etc) or by mentioning their name.

I asked him if he ate meat.

She asked Michael when he would go back to Iran.

When saying what someone has told or asked another person to do, you usually use an infinitive.

“Go home!”

She told him to go home.

“Can you shut the window?”

She asked him to shut the window.

Now change the following direct speech sentences into reported sentences and post it to me.

1. Alex said, "I am going to meet a friend."
2. Ken asked, "What are you going to do tonight?"
3. I said, "I've been to Mexico."
4. Steve said, "I want to go to South Africa."
5. Allen said, "I'd like to come and visit you."

Stunt city recount

Dear folks,

Take a look at the video on the right hand side of the blog. Click on the first video and write a short recount about the events that are taking place in the ad. You can start with:

A man was crossing the road....

Recount Writing

As I explained in the morning, you're required to write two pieces of recount. Topic could be selceted from one the followings: My Wedding Day My last holiday First time I met my wife/husband First day at the English College Each of the reports has to contain the followings: 120 words 10 irregular verbs 10 conjuctions 5 noun groups (adjective + noun e.g smart teacher) 5 sequence words (after that, then, before that, until, finally, first etc..) Remember that your report should contain a topic, an introduction (who, what, where, when...), at least 4 paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph. Good luck!

Colour or color

Do you know why Americans spell "colour" without "u"?

Writing Tasks (Mon-Thursday)

Hi everyone,
As I mentioned earlier, while I am away you are required to write 2 reports. One is about your place of birth (your city) and the other one is about Brisbane.

Remember that your reports MUST include the followings:
100 words (each report)
typed and saved (or you can post it to me on this weblog)
10 conjuctions (and, but, because, or, so, however, etc..)
10 noun groups (adj+noun)
topic
at least 4 paragraphs (each paragraph should contain a topic sentence)

I see you on Thursday then. Be nice to Gabby.

A report sample ( No food, No drink for 70 years)

An 82-year-old man in India is claiming to have not had anything to eat or drink since 1940 and doctors from the Indian military are allegedly studying him to learn his secret.

The man, Prahlad Jani, is being observed in a Gurjarat hospital. Jani claims to be a breatharian someone who does not need to eat or drink, because he draws nourishment from the air and meditation.

As remarkable as his story is, Jani is not the first, nor the only, person to claim such a supernatural power. The claim that people can live without food or water is called inedia, and is actually somewhat of a common claim among religious fakirs and godmen of India. Unfortunately none of the cases have withstood scientific scrutiny. The human body needs both food and water to function; it's as simple as that.

It's easy for anyone to claim that he or she has not had anything to eat or drink for the past few weeks or months (or years). But unless the person has been carefully and continuously watched during that time, it's impossible to prove the assertion true.

Several people who have claimed to survive without food or water were later caught eating and drinking. It can take only a few seconds to eat something, and other than in specific areas such as prisons, conducting a close around-the-clock surveillance on a person is not easy. Often the person will ask for privacy to sleep or go to the bathroom (which is suspicious in its own right) — and then snack surreptitiously. One well-known breatharian advocate in the 1980s, a man named Wiley Brooks, claimed he did not eat yet was caught consuming junk food.

This is not the first time that Jani has made this claim. He was examined in 2003 for about a week, during which time, he apparently did not eat or exercise — but he did lose weight. If Jani's abilities are real, it seems odd that he would lose weight during the time that his food intake was being monitored. If he truly gets all the sustenance he needs from air and meditation, there's no reason he would lose weight when he doesn't eat.

Reports claim that Prahlad Jani "has now spent six days without food or water under strict observation and doctors say his body has not yet shown any adverse effects from hunger or dehydration." Assuming the claim is true — and it's not clear just how strict the observation is — Jani's inedia so far remains unproven. If he really doesn't need food or water, he should be under close observation for months or years to prove it. Given that he claims not to have consumed anything since World War II, this shouldn't be a problem.

New puzzle

Kelly and Victor are found dead on the floor, amidst a small puddle of water and some broken glass. What happened?

Body organ donation

Do you know how many lives can you save if you become a body organ doner?

College closed until Monday

Dear all,
I hope you are all fine and safe. First, I'd like to inform you that our college stays closed until Monday due to the floods and transport interruptions.
Some of you up dated me via facebook or email but I like to make sure that everyone's safe. If anyone has heard from Ex pls let me know. If anyone has affected by the floods and needs help cleaning please let me know.
I will be in Wéstend areas tomorrow and weekend to help those in need.
See u all on Monday then.
Regards
Michael

No school on Thursday

Hi everyone,
I hope that everyone is fine and your place is dry and safe.
Base on the weather reports, our school stays "closed" on Thursday too. At this stage, I cannot give you any advice for Friday, however, I will try to keep you up to dated via this blog or my facebook.
Try to avoid any unnecessary outing in these uncertian conditions and keep your mobile phones charged as we don't know if the power would be cut or not. Have an evacuation plan for emergency and keep your passports and documents handy in case. As we mentioned before, do not approach the flooding water at any circumstances and keep in touch with friends and family as much as you can.
Good luck
Michael