the keys to academic english: educators...

The Keys to Academic English: Educators

GuideAdrian Hale and Helen Basides

First published 2013 byPALGRAVE MACMILLAN15–19 Claremont Street, South Yarra 3141

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Copyright © Adrian Hale and Helen Basides 2013

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iii

Contents

Introduction 1

Resources Overview: How to Teach This Book 6Textual Assumptions 6Subject Outline and Schedule 6Assessment Tasks 9Lesson Plans and Staff Meetings 12Sample Lesson Plans 13

Stage 1: Introductory Class Discussion and Content Related to Chapter 1 13Stage 2: Grammar Work, Early Writing and Critical Thinking 15Stage 3: Advanced Writing, Introduction to the Essay Structure and Reflection 18

Marking Rubrics and Criteria 21Assessment 1a: In-Class Writing Tasks 22Assessment 1b: Final Essay 23Assessment 2: Online Grammar and Glossary Tasks 25Assessment 3: Referencing Tasks 26

Chapter 1 The History of English 28The Nature of Academic English 28

Why Do Dictionaries Take So Long to Catch up to Actual Usage? 28

Neologisms 29Common and Classic? 29Standard vs. Non-Standard? 30Native Speaker or Expert User? 30

iv Contents

Killer or Lifesaver? English as an Imperial Language 31The Germanic Family of Modern Languages 31Spelling “Rules”? 32Names as Relics 32The Old English Alphabet 33Inbuilt Prejudice? 33Just a The? 34OE Affixes: Like for Like 34Hale or Hail? 35The Contrast Between OE and ModE Syntax 35Norman French (NF) vs. English 36Lexical Pairs and Triplets 36Magna Carta: A Very English Event? 37French Endures 37Excuse My “French” 38Expression vs. Functionality 39Rhetoric, OE and SVO 39Topics for Discussion 40

Chapter 2 Language, Literacy and Power 41Orthographies for Eye 41Denotation vs. Connotation and Register 41Metalanguage for the Sake of Metalanguage 42Synonyms: More Sense or Just Pretentiousness? 43The Dictionary and the Thesaurus as Assets 44Changed Words 44Political Correctness: Gender and Folk Etymology 45

African American: Back to the Future? 45Grammatical Implications 47Morphology: Terms and Conditions 47The Academic Register is under Attack! 48

Chapter 3 Grammar and Language Essentials 49Grammar as Glamour? 49I Hereby Sentence You 49A Prosodic Hit List 50Never a Truer Word Said 52What is Unusual about These Nouns? 52Noun Exercises 53

Noun Importance 54The Invisible Subject (or Object) 56Empty Phrases 57

Contents v

Noun Characteristics 57Infinitive Verb-osity 59Verb Exercises 59

Verb Forms 60Noun (Subject)–Verb Agreement 60

Non-Standard = Extra Sense? 62Aspect and Moods 63Adjective Exercises 64

Adjectival Order 65Multi-Class Lexemes 66Abbreviated Language 66Punctuation What? For! 67Cohesion 68

A Good Text 69A Bad Text 70

Other Items of Expression 71Rhetorical and Exclamatory Questions 71A Quick Exercise in Accurate and Effective Expression 72

Advanced Sentence Analysis 75Textual Analysis (Excerpt) 76

Resources 79Topic Sentence Exercise 79Writing Task 1 – Clearing the Cobwebs Free 81Writing Task 2 – Summary 82Writing Task 3 – Critical Summary Writing Task 84Writing Task 4 – Body Paragraph Writing Task 86Writing Task 5 – Advanced Body Paragraph Writing Task 88Writing Task 6 – Introducing Research Material 90Sample Grammar Quiz 92Sample Glossary Quiz 97Referencing Assessment 101Drafting References, Footnotes and Citations 107Preparing Reference Lists 110Bibliography Exercise 111

1

IntroductionThis book is the product of three years of course development. It encapsulates the successful implementation of a novel approach to academic literacy. This approach is a holistic treatment of the English language which brings together elements of the language’s history, its essential grammatical structure and its specific usage at the academic register, for the purposes of scholastic argumentation. Quite simply, our approach offers a literacy platform for tertiary students who seek language success at any university where English language competence is a requirement.

The Keys to Academic English provides an overview of the development of the English language so that students can understand many of the complex systems at work in English grammar, spelling and usage. It also offers an introduction to language theory, so that students can develop an appreciation and a knowledge of the ways in which registers, particularly the academic register, contain great potential for power. It then guides students in how to apply these skills and knowledges to the essay and the academic system of argument. Perhaps most importantly, it offers students key knowledges which enable them to apply their own inherent critical ability to a particular exercise in academic literacy: the formal essay. The book and its resources are applicable across all tertiary institutions where students need assistance in transitioning to the literacy and critical requirements of higher education.

There are several advantages to this integrated approach to language learning. One advantage is that it avoids assumptions about students’ language (and social) background, concentrating instead on an assumed English-language minimal competence. That is, if a student presents at a university where the medium of instruction is a standard form of English, there has already been an assessment of that student’s language ability to that minimal standard. This is the case even (or especially) when the student has not completed any formal language assessment prior to enrolment. More importantly, there is an implicit assumption in any enrolment that a student is amenable to instruction and is also capable of improvement in the usage of the English language. Rather than addressing issues

2 The Keys To AcAdemic english: educATor’s guide

of language acquisition, systems of knowledge or socio-economic background, this text presents a language approach which can benefit all students.

Another advantage of this approach is that it addresses areas of language learning which might otherwise be neglected. In our experience, for instance, students who present either as ESL or L1 speakers will frequently have different aspects of English competence, but such backgrounds may be irrelevant for measuring expert user status. Similarly, students who are mature age or from lower socio-economic backgrounds may not have the benefit of formal, uninterrupted schooling, but they often demonstrate advanced critical thinking skills. By making no assumptions about such student variables, this text allows students to apply content to areas where they require it most. This non-specificity for language acquisition allows the educator the freedom of adapting content to student needs.

A further advantage in rethinking such a literacy approach is that it offers no particular allegiance to any particular field. By integrating elements from linguistics with semiotics, history, foundational grammar, critical theory and traditional notions of scholarly enquiry in the Western tradition, this approach offers the student not only the tools of academic argument, but also the chance to see the university as an arena for an open dialogue with the academy and with other students. Other texts adopt either an unreflexive generic approach or a discipline-specific frame which is typically overburdened with and limited by current philosophical approaches. Many of these texts thus offer unitary philosophical frames and are outmoded very quickly. On the other hand, fields or applications of language instruction such as TESOL are very good at what they do, but they are limited to specific student needs of literacy. This text assumes that these essential literacy needs have already been attained or taught.

This text offers a cross-disciplinary frame using a synthesis of concepts from the authors’ areas of expertise in linguistics, functional literacy, language reflexivity (including linguistics-based discourse analysis), literature and social-critical theory. Consistent with the Western academic tradition of open scholarly enquiry, this text offers multiple frames which students are exposed to and which in turn they are taught to critique. Unlike other texts in this field, this book has no allegiance to any single philosophical tradition or frame. Rather, using the scope of frames of reference, all theories are presented as being part of an ongoing continuum of thought, where empirical reflexivity is paramount. No theoretical position is accepted as a ‘given’; it must be tested against other frames where it can be evaluated for logic and application.

This allows the educator freedom to implement instruction according to a ‘micro-subject’. We have found this to be very successful. Each lecturer or tutor can implement the lessons and book content through the frame of virtually

inTroducTion 3

any particular area of expertise. The central content is in the book itself, and is supplemented by this educator’s guide, but the subject is most effective when it is taught through the vehicle of tutor expertise. So, for instance, tutors can teach this subject by providing students with a ‘micro’ version of their own specialist subject. We ‘sell’ this approach to students by saying that not only will they get the benefit of the academic English subject itself, they also get a free introduction to a subject such as literature, fine arts, media studies, cultural analysis or studies of religion at the tertiary level. The advantage for the unit coordinator is that students are more engaged with the material because they know that their tutors are experts in that field, and because they can see that their tutors are more enthusiastic about teaching some of the drier content. Another advantage for everyone involved is that it is possible to be more selective for tutor quality, because the recruitment pool is wider. In our experience, some of our best tutors are people who confessed to no grammatical knowledge when they first started. They were, however, motivated to learn, and it is the premise of this book that you do not need any grammatical knowledge to start off with: the book provides much of this and the educator’s guide make any person sound like an expert in a very short time. This is another reason why some central content is ‘missing’ from the book itself, particularly in the area of critical thinking. It is more important to teach this content, through the educator’s guide, within the ‘frame’ of the micro-subject. This is a very different approach, but we have implemented it with great success for a number of years.

Similarly, this approach employs an ‘introspective’ set of tools in the teaching of language. Rather than using an approach which aligns with any particular top-down or bottom-up view of language teaching, this book offers a synthesised linguistic-discourse approach, so that language use is seen as necessarily reflexive but also highly practical. Highly specific approaches to grammar, for instance, are avoided. The idea is that grammatical knowledge must be at the service of the student, rather than comprising a study for its own sake. If a student finds grammar interesting enough to pursue further study, they should be encouraged to do so. The purpose of this text, however, is to provide functional literacy across several key areas, without digressing into unnecessarily complex avenues. Thus, the student is guided through the ‘mechanics’ of the English language at the academic register while also seeing how these elements can be fitted together in the pursuit of logical argumentation. That is, the student is encouraged to reflect on language use at the same time as being instructed on its elements and applications. This offers a literacy where the student learns mastery over language use in formal essay writing where critical reading and writing are required, while being motivated by an in-language knowledge. This complex literacy can be defined by the following set of knowledges.

4 The Keys To AcAdemic english: educATor’s guide

Functional literacy. Grammatical knowledge and skill for the academic register. Formal writing requirements at this level include:

■■ Complete sentences, typically with subject–verb–object order■■ Avoidance of minor sentences, sentence fragments and run-ons■■ Conciseness, coherence and cohesion■■ Grammatical agreement and consistency including the correct use of tense,

syntax, word class and lexical choices■■ Correct and consistent spelling and punctuation■■ Correct and consistent use of terminology relating to the unit that the student

is writing for■■ Correct use of phrases, clauses and conjunctions■■ Consistency in the register appropriate for the unit that the student is

writing for■■ Correct use of cohesive devices linking sentences and paragraphs, including

topic sentences and thesis statements■■ Use of formal structure, including introduction and conclusion■■ Integrated use of quoted and paraphrased material: including meta-commentary

and linking phrases.

Intra-language literacy. Knowledge of and skills in the conceptualisation of language for:

■■ Metalanguage: application and functionality■■ Reflection on types of language use: how people use language and how

language choices affect the person we are communicating with, as well as ideas on how our language choices manage our communicative intention

■■ Social attitudes to language use: ideas of semiotics, denotation and connotation■■ The academic register: the expressive and social power embedded in a type of

language use and its utility for the essay■■ Vocabulary: depth, width and rules■■ The history of the English language: its formation, grammar (including

morphology, syntax and spelling) and role in the academic community

Critical literacy. Knowledge and skills in:■■ Logic and the evaluation of argument, philosophy and the Western university

liberal arts tradition■■ Distinguishing argument from exposition and opinion■■ Identifying authority, evidence and speaking positions■■ The question of bias and objectivity in university-level writing■■ Advanced database and internet skills (electronic resources; evaluating the worth

and reliability of internet resources)

inTroducTion 5

■■ Avoiding plagiarism■■ Knowledge and application of logical analysis to a range of theoretical positions

beyond the binary (or unitary).

The primary application for the book and its supporting resources is the first-year undergraduate literacy unit, typically a core subject. The Keys to Academic English is specifically addressed to the growing number of students presenting at university without the functional-critical literacy required, and for which high school did not prepare them. It is a rapidly growing need across Australian universities which most of these institutions have identified and which they are responding to. This is the first authoritative text to assist universities to holistically cater for this growing need.

Other texts offer good grammar exercises and a broad set of hints for essay writing. Our text offers a ‘whole language’ approach, with a continuum from language history through to writing the essay, and offers substantial educator resources. It is virtually a complete subject in the one book. Instead of adapting the text to the subject, users can model or write the subject by using this text. The educator’s guide is designed to present a set of ideas on how to teach this book. It offers many resources, but, as with our team of educators, it is expected that it is really only the basis of quality teaching. Your own ideas will invigorate the content. We expect that the old-fashioned ideas of face-to-face teaching, quality delivery and creativity will never be fully replaceable.

6

Resources Overview: How to Teach This BookTextual Assumptions

This text provides a basis for a standard one-semester university subject with 12 teaching weeks. It is designed for first-year undergraduates in a Bachelor of Arts program, but is applicable across many other programs as well.

We have found that there is a distinct improvement in student outcomes for those students who completed the subject, therefore, we recommend that this subject be taught as a first-semester unit for equity reasons. We had success in making it a mandatory core unit for all first-semester first-year programs.

It also operates as a threshold subject and an informal diagnostic tool. The subject content, delivery and assessment-task criteria are based on (and test) a minimum English competence at the conversational level. It is important to note that the book itself is not designed to teach English for beginners. The subject it teaches to has no other prerequisites. Therefore, it is applicable to students of varying ages and language-social backgrounds.

Subject Outline and Schedule

This tutorial guides assumes that the subject will follow the format of a one-hour lecture and a two-hour tutorial workshop, supported by extensive lecture notes and e-learning, blended assessments and resources. Lectures follow the content and layout of the book for ten weeks, where tutorials support the theoretical content with practical exercises. Ideally the final two teaching weeks are without lectures, and are reserved for intensive essay-writing workshops, where the tutor works in close consultation with students. We recommend that some student consultation time is allowed for at the end of each tutorial, so a two-hour class would have effectively one hour and 40 minutes of teaching time.

ResouRces oveRview: How to teacH tHis Book 7

Subject content provided here uses a general module layout divided into three major areas: grammar, writing and theoretical discussion. The tutorials follow this modulisation, with emphasis on practical exercises and theoretical discussion in the first half of semester, followed by a focus on essay structure and critical responding in the second half of semester. We propose that each tutorial is divided roughly into thirds, where students are encouraged to develop critical skills in class discussion before they engage in practical writing skills. As outlined in the sample lesson plans, the first few weeks are highly oral-centred, where students are encouraged to participate in class discussion. This builds confidence, breaks down barriers and allows the tutor to gauge literacy levels for critical thinking and for conversational-level competence in English. By week 3 students are engaging in grammar exercises and in preliminary writing. While the oral discussion component remains a staple of tutorial content, students progressively do more grammar and writing work between weeks 3 and 9. By week 10, students switch to discussion and essay-draft writing exclusively.

We recommend that, where possible, tutorials are streamed so that students can self-select (or be encouraged to register) for levels of tutor support. The smaller tutorials can be supported by in-class literacy aides, while larger tutorials are mainstreamed.

Assessment tasks are divided between centrally administered tasks and in-class writing tasks. We have found that the design of the in-class assessments has been very effective not only in active teaching of the requirements of the tertiary essay, but also in deterring plagiarism. Students write three 500-word responses to texts during tutorial time, and then work on essays predominantly in class, during the final weeks. Tutors become very familiar with students’ writing, and this alleviates the marking load. Following the class program outlined here, there will be around two hours of marking per student, which equates to half an hour per writing task. The more intensive written feedback is given for the in-class writing tasks, since this scaffolds student learning and is very targeted.

It should be evident from the sample schedule on the following page, that tutorial time is not mandated to any high degree. Our management of the subject has always allowed tutors a lot of freedom to include specific content and delivery. We offer tutorial lesson plans, but these have not been obligatory. There is a ‘central mandatory content’ which is required, so that students are prepared for the examination of grammar and other content. There are also centrally generated essay questions which relate to the book’s content. However, tutors are encouraged to apply their own expertise within the frame of the subject. This is reducible to asking tutors to teach students the literacy of a critical essay. It is much more

8 tHe keys to academic englisH: educatoR’s guide

Table 1.1 a sample semester schedule

Semester week

Topic Weekly activities

1 lectures and tutorials start this week

Language essentials: Introduction to the unit

topics:

History of the english language and etymology

Responding to texts (introductory)

language exercises

introduction to textual responding

subject and university protocols and expectations

2 The components of language

topics:

History of the english language

morphology, grammar, syntax, phonology, repertoire, orthography

introductory grammar work

textual responding (practice)

3 Researching: an introduction

topics:

lexicology: dictionaries and the thesaurus

a hierarchy of research: books, the web and the library

sentences and word classes (parts of speech)

introductory research

Formal reading and writing in-class tasks begin

grammar work

4 Registers

topics:

communication, creativity and social aspects

compound and complex sentences

Putting sentence elements together

advanced grammar work

Formal reading and writing in-class tasks continue

online glossary and grammar quizzes begin

5 Complex language use

topics:

Punctuation and expression

tense, active and passive voice

word use and word choice

advanced grammar work

Formal reading and in-class writing tasks continue

6 The essay and the university tradition

topics:

classic essays

Purpose and structure

the academic argument and the university tradition

Referencing and transparency

Formal reading and writing in-class tasks finalised

in-class referencing tasks begin

7 Analytical reading

topics:

Revision and overview of essay theme and structure

Referencing and quoting

summarising and quoting as understanding an argument

in-class referencing tasks finalised

Results for in-class writing tasks available


8 Analytical reading: response

topics:

objectivity and subjectivity

self and object of inquiry

9 Analytical reading: metacommentary

topics:

cohesion of argument

metacommentary

10 Analytical writing: advanced reflection and critical response

topics:

discussion techniques

motivations and ideology

writing for a specific reader

Frames of reference

online glossary and grammar quizzes finalised

11 end of lectures; workshop mode for tutorials essay writing and draft submission in class

12 Final week of classes essay writing and draft submission in class

Final essay due

than that, of course, since it presupposes that tutors will follow and implement the content of the book, but if each tutor observes this central idea, the actual implementation of the subject allows a lot of autonomy at the tutorial level. This may sound problematic, but in reality, if the tutors are selected well, this local management of content is one of the major advantages of the book and the subject itself. As stated in the introduction [p. 2], we sell this idea to students and tutors alike by saying that students are being offered a micro-subject within the frame of the subject itself. Tutors, in turn, are obliged to offer and adapt this micro-subject so that it is at the service of the macro-subject. It must not distract from, but offer a pathway to, writing the essay.

Assessment Tasks

The assessment tasks are divided into three major areas, or categories. These are:1 The essay and preparatory (practical) writing2 Grammar and glossary quizzes3 Referencing tasks.

The rationale for higher weighting for the writing tasks is that these tasks are the major application of unit content. They address the structure, purpose and method of writing an essay. All other tasks are meant to enhance student literacy so that


Sample quizzes and marking rubrics are included in the appendices. Although standards-criteria rubrics are more normative now in the tertiary environment, we have designed the rubrics and quizzes with a traditional standard distribution in mind. These assessment suggestions, therefore, will need to be adapted by individual unit coordinators and tutors.

The marking of online quizzes is preset, as they are multiple choice in format. We usually set these as randomised, one question at a time and open-book, with a one-hour limit. The student is offered a result but no feedback. The quizzes are open from week 3 to week 12, to allow freedom and to not interfere with other

students can perform the writing tasks. The writing tasks are also the best means of examining student competence across all literacy areas. They provide an excellent means of demarcating student competence. For instance, in our experience, international students and students with experience in non-English language education tend to outperform other students in the grammatical areas; they tend to not do as well in the writing tasks. On the other hand, most students (regardless of background or literacy levels) are not well prepared for the referencing tasks; yet this is an essential area of expertise. Some tutors or lecturers may decide to make the referencing tasks a threshold or hurdle category if they believe this is a non-negotiable area of expertise.

In our teaching we have introduced a preparatory referencing task which occupies an entire tutorial. Students are given a questionnaire (similar to the in-class referencing task worksheet) and travel as a group to the university library, where librarian assistants provide support in researching a specific essay question. This teaches students not only the basics of library-based online and print research; it also introduces them to the ‘mechanics’ of finding, extracting and quoting material and proper referencing. We have not included this item as part of the resources, because we offer a template to tutors who then generate their own essay-specific exercise. It can be easily generated by basing it on the in-class referencing task which is included in this package.

Without this preparatory task, the categories of assessment tasks with respective overall grade weighting are as follows.

Graded assessment tasks Weighting

1a. academic writing skills: in-class writing exercises (1500 words)

1b. essay (1000 words)

1a. 30%

1b. 40%

2. grammar and glossary tasks: online; multiple choice 20%

3. Referencing tasks: in-class and online 10% (5% each)


marking. The online referencing quiz is a library-generated tutorial and quiz; we suggest working closely with the university library staff to generate and load this task. The in-class referencing task is templated (it is included in the appendices) and works best when delivered and marked during the tutorial. This offers students immediate feedback and limits the tutor’s marking load. We suggest that this task be offered as a simple pass or fail mark: if the student obtains a minimum 50% mark that student gets the full 5% for the assessment. All other assessment tasks should be graded. The online content is centrally run and supported by the unit coordinator. Practice quizzes are run during tutorial time, but tutors are not expected to be involved with the maintenance or student queries regarding the online content.

The in-class writing tasks are deliberately set at 500 words each. This is an attainable writing level for the tutorial period and it also allows the tutor adequate scope for assessing the student’s ability. It is highly recommended that these tasks are written during tutorial time so that the student can demonstrate their native abilities for literacy and innate critical thinking. It is also a valuable learning exercise and avoids issues of plagiarism. If facilities allow, these writing tasks can be generated and submitted electronically (say in a computer lab or a library) to make marking easier. We have also had success in allowing students to generate writing from home by delivering the question by email: students are given twenty-four hours before class to produce their response, print it and submit during class (or submit it by return email). It is important for tutors to retain a copy of the marked work but also to give back marked work so that students can reflect on the feedback.

These tasks are marked with intensive feedback and corrections, since they are essential and highly practical learning tasks. The essay is limited to 1000 words because the student needs to learn how to write effectively within such a small word limit: the purpose of this task is not merely to demonstrate logicality of argument, research and adherence to structure, but also to demonstrate the elements of cohesion, precision and accuracy. The word limit also enables the tutor adequate time to mark each essay. All assessment tasks are spaced evenly to allow students to scaffold their learning and to develop literacy over the course of the subject. We have had great support from our library and we use its resources extensively in the last few weeks. This includes the software Turnitin, which we utilise as a learning device for students. Students submit their drafts through the program in weeks 10 to 12, prior to final submission, as this teaches them how to check their citations and summarising skills. An extra benefit is that tutors get a final report from Turnitin attached to the essay, which can be cross-checked against earlier submissions and student drafts. This has assisted in preventing collusion and plagiarism.


The workload for tutors, in the light of this intensive marking schedule, is something that should be considered carefully. We find that the maximum number of tutorials per tutor is six, which equates to twelve teaching hours, plus preparation, marking, meeting times and so on.

Lesson Plans and Staff Meetings

In a two-hour block of teaching, we recommend that actual teaching time should occupy fifty minutes per hour with a ten-minute break. This will allow you to finish twenty minutes early, or take the break between hours. Vacating the room around ten minutes prior to end of the class allows the tutor of the next class time to set up, if necessary.

The readings and lecture content provide a rough template for tutorial plans, but more important are the objectives. Tutorials may lag one week behind lecture content due to the timetable. Lectures and tutorials are linked for the first half of the subject, after which tutorials switch to workshop mode: practical writing, online research, library visits and focus on journal and essay writing.

We encourage our tutors to not only generate their own lesson plans, but also to circulate these among other tutors and to share ideas. It is useful to allocate two paid hours per week for tutors to meet with each other and/or with the unit coordinator, to develop teaching strategies, to report on student progress, and so on. This works well to encourage collegiality and to enhance teaching quality. We also use these reporting and debriefing sessions to focus on tutor needs. Another benefit of these meetings is that students ‘at risk’ are identified early. We then refer these students to the academic student advisor and to literacy support. We also discuss students who require special consideration or who need disability support (where this does not breach confidentiality). This aids in retention and in focusing support for students who need it. The unit coordinator or one nominated tutor provides a lesson plan each week, which works to centralise the main teaching objectives: tutors are expected to follow the objectives at least, but the rest of the content and delivery is up to them. This has worked well for us, as there is consistency in delivery but also great creativity. Tutors feel free to experiment more and we generate a resources pool on the Blackboard system so that all tutors can access each other’s ideas.

We recommend holding general tutors’ meetings prior to semester, mid-semester and after semester. These are used to make sure that the tutors understand their roles, to develop content and delivery, and to discuss marking and university policies regarding plagiarism, misconduct, and so on.


Sample Lesson Plans

Stage 1: Introductory Class Discussion and Content Related to Chapter 1

week 1 lesson Plan: introduction

■■ Tutor introduction: welcome; contact details; roles of the tutor and the unit coordinator explained

■■ Student introductions. Students answer these questions as a readiness exercise:Who am I?What languages do I speak?

■■ Overview of the course and the unit outline■■ Assessments schedule and introduction to assessment types. In our classes we

provide a general introduction here, stating that more information will be provided as we progress through semester. Perhaps use a time line on the board to show how students can budget their time.

Objectives

■■ To understand that language is variable according to context■■ To understand that English is a language with a history and that language has

great power■■ To understand that access to this power relies on a person’s level of literacy

(including education)■■ To introduce the concept of critical thinking and academic writing as

desirable skills■■ To apply this concept to a written text (possibly including visual elements)

and to reflect on responses to this text.

Discussion Points

■■ What is your attitude to the French and English languages?■■ Does English as an ‘imperial’ language bother you?■■ Does English have power?■■ How did English get to be so complex for spelling, grammatical rules, and

so on?■■ When and how did you learn English?■■ How do you rate yourself as a user of English?

Critical Reading, Critical Thinking and Academic Writing

1 Discuss the difference between analytical and critical, or are they the same?2 What is meant by critical-analytical?3 What is the difference between reading and thinking?


1 Discuss the difference between analytical and critical, or are they the same?

Critical Reading: What to Look For

Students should be encouraged to write down what they understand critical thinking and critical reading to be. Write students’ answers on the board during class discussion. This list will be useful when looking closely at essay questions later in the semester.

Answers might include any or all of the following:Argument

Author’s thesis or argumentThe main points used to support the argumentThe intellectual context of the argumentWhether or not the argument is convincingLogicality of the argumentTimeliness of the argument: current or out of date?Implications of the argumentEngagement with other worksObjectivitySubjectivity or biasWhat is left unsaid: are there important points the author has left out?Underlying assumptions.

AuthorPersonal information (only if relevant)Other publicationsCredentials and authority.

TextPurposeMedium of publication: newspaper, book, electronic, speechImpact of mode of deliveryGenreStructure and organisation: the ordering of parts; the impact the structure hasContext: historical, cultural, geographicToneLanguage: vocabulary, literary devices, rhetorical devicesIntertextualityIntended audience.

MethodologyEvidence: type (qualitative, quantitative, anecdotal), reliability, appropriateness, applicationTheoretical frameworkWhether theory stands the test of reality.


Critical Thinking (the Doing Part)

Analyse (break into parts)Establish the relationships between the partsDescribeClassify and categoriseCompare and contrastEvaluateInterpretInterrogateLook for a deeper meaningIsolate problemsCome up with solutionsTest theory against realityAscertain causalityLook for consequencesDraw conclusions.

2 What is meant by critical-analytical?

The class is given time to read or respond to a text provided by the lecturer or tutor. If you do not have a text prepared, you might use a current (controversial) topic or an idea or term which has already been presented in the lecture.

3 What is the difference between reading and thinking?

Class discussion on the text, taking into account the list on the board. Also ask about the following:

■■ the text’s main argument■■ the purpose of the text■■ the argument to which it is responding■■ how the author treats evidence■■ how convincing the argument is.

Stage 2: Grammar Work, Early Writing and Critical Thinking

week 3 lesson Plan: Research of language is essential

Objectives

■■ The work of researching language has already been performed, or is available to us

■■ There is a hierarchy of sources which includes dictionaries and thesauruses.


Introduction

(10–15 minutes) Present your ideas on research from personal experience. Do you prefer online sources or print sources, or a combination of both? What about Wikipedia or Google Scholar? Demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of any of these research categories, comparing with ‘folk wisdom’, anecdotal evidence, urban myths, and so on. Discuss your expectations for research: for instance, do you want a set number of referenced texts in the final essay?

Readiness Exercise

(10 minutes) Go online with the Oxford English Dictionary, commonly abbreviated to OED (often available through the library website), and discuss commonly misused words in the academic register (and other registers). These might include the following: decimate, disinterested, essentially (or basically), (ir)regardless, momentarily, affect/effect, subconscious vs. unconscious, effluent/affluent.

Prepare some other examples or ask students for words they do not understand.

Go through some ‘Bush-isms’ (various malapropisms and spoonerisms) for an interesting exercise: “the human being and fish can coexist peacefully”, “misunderestimate”, and so on. There are various sites dedicated to these.

Lecture Content

You may wish to refer to lecture content to reinforce this concept of correct usage and ‘looking things up’, or introduce other ideas which would support it.

Undertake some revision of terminology in preparation for the glossary and grammar quizzes.

The Writing Task

(About 40 minutes) This will increasingly occupy your tutorial time. I would suggest that during the first six weeks it will develop to around half of all tutorial time. During the second half of semester, preparation for essay writing will dominate. At this stage, focus on providing texts so that the students can develop their response skills. You may want to compare the texts other tutors are using.

Model a ‘mind map’ on the board and ask students to assess their responses as pro or con. Provide a contradictory text and ask students to reconcile the competing views and to isolate the facts from opinion. Explain to students that they will need to justify a personal position, not try to give a response they think the tutor wants to hear, and that they will be marked for strength of argument rather than grammar or expression. Ask students to lead with a thesis statement. To do this, they will need to come up with a suitably forceful ‘research question’ or essay topic and rewrite it as a thesis statement. Next, ask them to write a concluding sentence, then go back


and fill in the sections in between, following a logical progression from one to the other. Go around the room and assist those who seem insecure or unsure.

Marking the Writing Tasks

There are several options for delivering this in-class writing assessment task. The marking criteria follow the rubric in the unit outline, but you can adapt as needed for your classes. Consider showing students how their marks are recorded. Advise them that this is how their marks will be recorded and calculated; that way students can improve as they go. Note that this should be one-on-one to avoid any embarrassment.

Suggested Delivery

In my class, I used a media article on binge drinking, which I opened up for class discussion. I then showed the students a brief from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with statistics on alcohol consumption in Australia. Students had not previously seen the texts, which they responded to in turn. The idea was for students to respond incrementally.

I collected the papers and marked them in time for the next week. I generously marked for original ideas and relevance, not so much for grammar and so on. We discussed the marks the following week with my prepared summaries of student strengths and weaknesses. I was especially careful to encourage students for their skills in critical thinking.

As I marked the papers, I also copied the best student responses (removing identifying numbers or names) and prepared a student handout for the following week. If possible, use responses from one tutorial group to use in another, so that no-one recognises their own. A document of common errors was also prepared and I went through these materials in the next class. Using the grammatical knowledge students had learned so far, I asked them to say what was good and bad about the example student papers.

Grammar Task

(20–30 minutes) Using student suggestions, write a sentence on the board, one word at a time, until the sentence is twice the length of the board. Continue the sentence indefinitely, using conjunctions.

Go around the room, asking students to identify the different word classes. Then ask what each of the words is actually doing in the sentence. This expresses the difference between form and function at a rudimentary level.

Ask students to identify phrases based on each word class, using a type of hierarchical tree (lines between sentence elements). This graphically illustrates the links between phrases. Then ask students if different words could be substituted at any point in the sentence. This illustrates the way word classes relate to each other and more importantly, the way sense is built up lineally in English.


If time permits, identify the subject, object and verb elements of the sentence. Point out that constructing a sentence in this way offers high unpredictability but it also shows how conventionality works in English: that is, we have many choices, but the choices go together in predictable ways (collocations).

Stage 3: Advanced Writing, Introduction to the Essay Structure and Reflection

week 9 lesson Plan: Research and the essay

Objectives

■■ To understand the components and structure of the essay■■ To review famous essays and see commonalities■■ To understand a hierarchy of research■■ To start writing drafts of the essay: peer assessment, reflection and revision.

Readiness Exercise

Show students two (anonymous student) essays from previous years: one is a basic Pass, the other one is a HD-level essay. Students are invited to discuss the differences between them. This typically illustrates for students the reality between levels of writing and responding. Show them the marking of each essay, and ask them if they agree with all of the corrections. Then give students an essay plan and ask them to compare the sample essays against the plan. They should be able to see where an essay plan is useful in avoiding poorly planned essays.

The Essay Structure

Lectures and resources online have formally introduced the idea of the essay by this stage. Now that the in-class writing task is finished, it is time to model writing more explicitly on the essay structure. The following are some ideas for making structural links between argument ideas.

Model a Famous Essay

Select a famous essay to discuss with the class. Start with an overview of the text and then open it up for discussion. In my classes, I use the US Declaration of Independence.

Questions might include:■■ What are the differences and benefits of diachronic and synchronic readings?■■ Is this a persuasive argument?■■ What are the underlying assumptions of the author of this text which are

different for us today?■■ What does this text tell us about its cultural context?


Then use your text to demonstrate essay organisation. Ask students to identify:■■ the conclusion■■ the introduction■■ evidence■■ thesis statements and topic sentences■■ use of rhetorical devices■■ underlying assumptions■■ frames and schemata■■ inherent weaknesses or strengths in logic.

My students typically have enough awareness of US history to then develop counterarguments for the Declaration of Independence. Objections include: silences in the text (slaves, women, children); and appeals to givens such as rationality, theism, entitlements, happiness, freedom, nation-hood, and so on.

Ask students to brainstorm a critique of the document. Encourage them to use formal systems such as adverbial phrases, paraphrasing and direct quotes.

Then model an essay structure on the board. Students need to come up with an essay question relating to the document, and then rephrase it as an answer to that question. This then gets worked out as the introduction.

This is usually sufficient as a sample class exercise, as it can then be adapted to one of the pre-set essay questions for another class period.

Research Task

Book either the library or a computer lab and use tutorial time to conduct research on a particular topic (such as the essay questions you have set), or to assist students in finding the type of texts they will need in a general research task. If you haven’t approved essay topics yet, you can use a sample essay question.

If that’s not feasible, you could simply go online in class and project on the screen as you demonstrate research. Or you could prepare several web pages prior and leave them open as you compare the merits of various sites.

Use the hierarchy included in the lecture to contrast information available from different sources.

For instance, to demonstrate the reliability of web information, look at a variety of sites including Wikipedia, the OED, scholarly journals and blogs. Look for directly contradictory information, and show how to test misinformation. Ask students to evaluate the merits and disadvantages of each site, and to then rank them as a hierarchy.


The Classic Essay

Spend some time (perhaps 10 minutes) presenting a classic essay. Perhaps it is justifiably famous because it is subversive, rather than simply well written. Tell the students why you think (and perhaps why others think) it is deservedly famous.

What does it have in common with other ‘great’ essays?

Model One of Your Essay Questions

Take an essay question and prepare some of the readings as extracts. Write the question on the board and ask students to brainstorm. Their comments, typically random, are added to the board. Students might suggest that the comments are not organised, which is indeed the point.

Ask students to sort out the comments on the board into categories of for and against. These are evidences and arguments: students should also assess the weight (or merit) of each thought as an argument.

Next, demonstrate how to link these conflicting ideas through cohesive devices such as “it may be true that … yet it is also true that …” or “several arguments can be made in favour of …” After you have worked through one or two on the board, students can usually complete the rest.

Students then copy these mind maps into their notebooks. Hand out the excerpts from some of the documentary material prepared earlier and ask students to revise their former conclusions and assumptions. Students need to learn that while not everything is ‘useful’ for a particular argument they still need to address these other items of information in their essay/argument structure.

Demonstrate ‘shortcuts’ to presenting several arguments as concise information. For instance, “Authors X, Y and Z may take this position with some consensus, but there are arguments made against it by other authors such as A, B and C, who assert that …”

This is also a very good opportunity to suggest ways in which there are often ‘gaps’ in the literature. Students may very well be able to offer dissenting opinions for which they have no authorial support. Show the class how to postulate ideas using hypothetical constructions such as “despite the apparent consensus on this subject, it is possible to see it in another way …” Even though these opinions may be low for empirical validity, so long as they are argued logically, students should be encouraged to include them.

Dummy Essay

Prepare a short essay with all sorts of deliberate problems and get students to ‘spot’ the errors and clean it up. There’s no need to make the ‘correct’ essay: students’ responses are usually good enough to produce a presentable collaborative effort.


The idea is that there are many ways to express the same thing, and that there are also levels of ‘presentability’.

The Cut Essay

Prepare a page from a published paper, minus all the references and so on, and double space the text. Consider removing full stops to make the task a little more complicated. Photocopy it and cut out all the lines so that there is one line per strip of paper. Avoid making the cuts in any distinctive pattern.

Students then have to reassemble the page, strip by strip. They can add punctuation as they go. Try to make sure that there is really only one viable way to put the lines together.

Students need to justify their assembly by referring to grammatical elements and other items of cohesion. For example, students will say that the lines make sense now, because there is subject–verb agreement, or because there is a topic sentence which relates obviously to the rest of the paragraph.

Peer Reviews

With students’ permission, use draft essays as exercises for students to critique their peers’ work during class. I usually find that students who are confident enough to volunteer their drafts are also the beneficiaries of high feedback from me and from their peers (this is how I ‘sell it’ to the students and I have no shortage of volunteers). Effectively this means we help the student ‘write’ their essay during workshop time.

The rules: feedback must include one positive for every negative, and it must be expressed in an objective way.

I also use ‘roundtables’, where copies of an essay are distributed and groups work on ‘marking’ it. It is a little risky but can be managed very well.

Marking Rubrics and Criteria

As with the lesson plans, there needs to be high internal consistency in content and assessment marking. This does not mean, however, that each tutor has to mark identically. Equity can be maintained by adhering to centrally generated rubrics, and these are published in the subject materials given to students at the start of semester. This way, students know exactly how they will be marked, and they can write to the marking criteria. We also alert students to the fact that we cross mark and that the university reserves the right to moderate results. Nevertheless, they can feel assured that the marking criteria are very closely followed by all tutors. Some tutors deviate slightly from the criteria (sample below) and generate their own criteria, but this needs to be approved by the unit coordinator.


We also allow tutors to use the criteria as a ‘sliding scale’: that is, it is applied stringently or leniently according to context. So, some tutors explain clearly to students that they will be marking harder for the in-class writing tasks, but that they will be more generous in the essay. Other tutors apply the sliding scale in reverse: they mark leniently for the in-class tasks but are more stringent for the essay. Either way, students must be explicitly told what the criteria are and how the criteria will be applied. We find this sliding scale to be an effective teaching method, since students feel that they are part of their own learning process.

The following section provides a sample layout.

Assessment 1a: In-Class Writing Tasks

graded assessment task: academic writing skills in-class writing exercises (1500 words, 30%)

Due Date

Weeks 3–6, in tutorial time or at the direction of your tutor during this assessment period.

Assessment Aims and Objectives

This set of writing tasks assists students in identifying weaknesses and strengths in their grammaticality and critical reasoning. Qualified tutors offer intensive feedback to students so that these students can develop skills in reasoning and literacy. This task prepares students for the major (and related) writing task, which is the formal essay.

Assessment Description

Students will perform tertiary-level writing during tutorial time. This writing will consist of critical responses to texts on three separate occasions. Each task will average 500 words. Texts selected will be at the tutor’s discretion.

Assessment Requirements

Each written response will be the product of class discussion which may include student-led presentations, but will predominantly consist of individual student writing during tutorial time without collaboration.

Assessment Criteria

Students will be required to respond at the incremental-cumulative level of the lectures, readings and tutorials to that point. Feedback will be provided by the tutor as each task is completed so that students can build on their results. Some writing


may be performed and submitted after tutorial time but as the direct result of tutorial exercises.

Marking Criteria

Criteria may vary slightly at tutor discretion but should resemble the following:

Greater application required

Satisfactory Good

Summary unclear synopses with a number of conceptual or factual errors

marks: 0–2

synopses are generally clear with few conceptual or factual errors

marks: 2–3

synopses are clear with no conceptual or factual errors

marks: 4–5

Evaluation no justified argument or opinion offered

marks: 0–2

some evidence of a justified argument or position

marks: 2–3

clearly stated argument or position well supported by reasons

marks: 4–5

Grammar Poor sentence and paragraph construction

marks: 0–2

generally good sentence and paragraph construction

marks: 2–3

good sentence and paragraph construction

marks: 4–5

Presentation Few tasks submitted

incorrect format

no adherence to word limit

marks: 0

most tasks submitted

acceptable format

word count more than 10% over or under the limit

marks: 1

all tasks submitted

correct format

correct word count

marks: 2

Assessment 1b: Final Essay

graded assessment task: essay (1000 words, 40%)

Due Date

Week 12 in tutorial time or at the direction of your tutor during this assessment period.

Assessment Aims and Objectives

The essay task addresses the needs of functional literacy, intra-language literacy and critical literacy as outlined in the Bachelor of Arts course aims and objectives. It meets all of these aims and objectives.


Students will select an essay question from a central bank of topics provided during the first half of semester; they will be directed in this selection by their tutor. They will then research their chosen essay topic for the balance of semester.



Students are expected to produce a tertiary-level essay of around 1000 words. They will be supported in the essay-writing task by dedicated workshops in the last few weeks of semester. These workshops will assist students in understanding the formal requirements of essay writing and preparing drafts prior to final submission.

Assessment Criteria

The essay should demonstrate a competence across the set of literacies taught in this subject. These include sophisticated writing, critical analysis and control of the academic register and argumentation. There is significant weighting for functional literacy.

Marking Criteria

Criteria may vary slightly at tutor discretion but should resemble the following:

Final essay marking criteria

Criteria Clear fail Unsatisfactory GoodVery good

Excellent

Referencing (5%) 1 2 3 4 5

How does the assignment use quotes, referencing and bibliography?

Style and Presentation (15%)

1–3 4–6 7–9 10–12 13–15

is the assignment sophisticated to the tertiary level for the following?

spelling and punctuation

clause–paragraph coherence

grammar

vocabulary

Research and Argument (20%)

1–4 5–8 9–12 13–16 17–20

is the assignment sophisticated to the tertiary level for the following?

Background reading

logical organisation

critical reading

objectivity

Persuasiveness of argument

Total % /40


Assessment 2: Online Grammar and Glossary Tasks

graded assessment task: 4 x multiple-choice online Quizzes (word count not applicable, 20%)

Due Date

Available from week 4 until week 12.

Aims and Objectives

These online quizzes examine student comprehension and application of lecture and textual content relating to grammar and basic linguistic metalanguage.


Students will log on to the online learning platform using their personal details. A link is provided under “Assessments” where students can access each quiz. One hour is allocated for each quiz from the time the student opens the quiz. Each question must be answered in strict order (from 1 to 25), and each must be saved before proceeding to the next question. Questions cannot be revisited. Students are allowed one attempt each per quiz. There are 25 questions per quiz.

It is recommended that students do not attempt the quizzes until content is covered in lectures, tutorial exercises and set readings.

Quiz #1 is the Glossary Quiz. It tests student comprehension and application of intra-language literacy, or basic linguistic terms relating to language theory.

Quiz #2 is the Grammar Quiz #1. It tests student comprehension and application of grammatical understanding.




Students are required to complete or attempt at least one quiz to satisfy the minimum requirements of the assessment set. The quizzes are available 24/7 on the online learning platform and students must have access to a computer. Students who qualify for Special Consideration may take a paper version of the quizzes by direct arrangement with the unit coordinator.

The quizzes are open book.


Assessment Criteria and Marking Criteria

Questions are auto-marked online as being either correct or incorrect. The accumulated marks are awarded as an independent graded score for each online quiz. The results of all quizzes are added together and averaged across the assessment task. Therefore, a student who completes only one quiz, scoring a perfect score of 25/25, would receive an averaged mark for this assessment task (i.e. for all the four quizzes) at the rate of ¼, or of 25% of the total marks available. For the total assessment task, which is worth 20% of a student’s grade, that student would then receive a total of 5%. It is in students’ interests to attempt as many quizzes as they can. The raw mark is released to the student on completion but detailed feedback is not available.

Assessment 3: Referencing Tasks

graded assessment task: 2 x Referencing tasks (10%)

Due Date

Task #1: In-class referencing task, available during weeks 6–9. Task #2: Online (library) referencing task, available during weeks 2–12.

Aims and Objectives

The referencing tasks introduce students to the rationale of citation, academic transparency and correct referencing procedures. They assess students on practical exercises in referencing, using both online and in-class tuition.


Task #1 offers students a paper-based tuition and set of exercises. It provides students with instruction and practical exercises in organising references and correct citation in an APA-based model. It also offers students tuition in a variety of referencing styles.

Task #2 offers students an online tutorial, which is the library program. It consists of an online tutorial followed by a brief quiz.


Task #1 requires students to attend the tutorial during weeks 6–9, when their tutor has scheduled the task. The task occupies around 1.5 hours of tuition, during which time students will complete the exercises in a paper workbook. If a student has Special Consideration, other arrangements can be made. The assessment task is open book.

Task #2 requires students to log on to the subject site, and then follow the link under assessments to the library program. The online tutorial and quiz should take less than one hour. The link is available during weeks 2–12.


Assessment Criteria and Marking Criteria

Both assessment tasks are graded.

In task #1 the workbooks are marked during tutorial if time permits; otherwise they are marked within two weeks and students are advised of their marks. Marks are deducted for errors or non-completions to the rate of 50%. Where a mark falls below 50%, the student is awarded 0% for the task; where a mark exceeds 50%, the student is awarded the full 5%. Reattempts are only permitted by arrangement with the unit coordinator.

In task #2 the online quiz is auto-marked and the student receives a raw mark which is graded for the 5% allocated for this task in the student’s overall grade. Each student may revisit questions and attempt the quiz three times. The best result is recorded for that student.

28

Chapter 1

The History of EnglishThis guide provides answers to the questions in the text boxes, as well as ideas for stimulating discussion on the content of Chapter 1.

The Nature of Academic English

“Personal lexicon”, “vocabulary” and “language inventory” are roughly synonymous terms. They do not mean, however, merely a knowledge of words. They also entail a systematic knowledge of how to use these words accurately for sense, syntax and for effect on the person you are addressing. This includes a knowledge beyond mere definition. Typically the person with an effective knowledge of words will also have at their disposal a good idea of appropriateness. A typical example would be a knowledge of swear words in English: the effective user of English will know not only what the words mean, but also when it is appropriate to use and to not use them.

Implementation: prepare a vocabulary test for students. These should not be obscure terms, but rather items from academic registers in your field. They can be taken from a glossary which occurs in a standard textbook. Students need to use the item in a sentence.

Some vocabulary work is a good idea here. Define and relate items such as:

ideational standard language grammaticalityrelated and distinctive prestige parallelism

A brief but useful vocabulary test can be found at: <www.lextutor.ca>.

Why Do Dictionaries Take So Long to Catch up to Actual Usage?

Consider why a dictionary might ‘lag behind’ usage in this way.

Answers include:It takes time for any new word to become established in a language.A dictionary must follow usage and all new words must be documented as a prerequisite for inclusion.

Chapter 1: the history of english 29

A dictionary cannot record all combinations, all technical usages and ‘nonce’ words. Many words simply disappear without becoming established.

Neologisms

What can you say about English from these examples?

The patterns of English language development are apparent in these examples.

Some are directly borrowed, intact, from the source language. Abuelita, a diminutive derived from abuela (grandmother), is a term of endearment in Spanish.

Gigapixel is a new term derived from Greek (Giga, meaning “giant”, and by extension “prefixed to the names of units esp. in the metric system to form the names of units 1000 million (109) times greater”) and Latin picture (meaning painting or picture). Pix is derived from “pics” (abbreviated from “pictures”, meaning photographs) and expanded into pixel as a term for “each of the minute areas of uniform illumination” (OED, 2012). Obviously it is a new word invented to describe a new concept.

Posilutely is recognisable as a blend (probably a malapropism) from the interjections/adverbs “positively” and “absolutely”.

These words are typical of English in that they respond to conceptual need by borrowing directly from other languages, or are invented by sourcing concepts from dead languages, or are blends from existing words. New words such as these say a lot about the people who use them.

Have students search for these words and for others on the list at <www.oed.com/public/whatsnew/whats-new>.

Some videos explaining the OED methodologies are available as links from this site.

Common and Classic?

Tracing the origins of Latin and Greek forms in modern English establishes a key principle: that modern English adapts words which then shift very quickly in sense.

Students should be able to investigate the ways in which echidna, platypus, television and modem have been derived (and how they differ in sense) from the ancient languages of Greek and Latin. They can then look for other words in modern English which describe technology and science, and investigate them.

30 the Keys to aCademiC english: eduCator’s guide

Examples are: computer, superconductor, automobile, hybrid vehicle, digital versatile disc, sub-atomic particle, DNA, PVC and university.

Standard vs. Non-Standard?

“Standard” and “non-standard” are important terms. “Standard” refers to the form of a language which is used as a model of language in any society. It is modelled for education, culture and similar official uses. So there is a Standard English which is highly prescriptive in various local forms such as media, governmental forums and in educational textbooks. Slang and conversational forms of the English language are therefore contrasted with the ‘educated’ form of the language: they have more variation in grammar and lexical uses and are usually associated with poor education and lower social class. Thus, they are non-standard by comparison with the prestigious form of the language. “Language use” refers to the places and people for whom we use each type of language. We tend to use non-standard forms in casual conversation where we are more relaxed about our language use, while we use the standard form when we need to communicate more formally. We will return to this in a later chapter, but students should be encouraged to see that by calling one language variety (such as the academic register) a ‘standard’ means that all other varieties are measured against it.

Does this mean that all other usages are ‘not as good’ as the standard?

Native Speaker or Expert User?

The distinction in the literature between native speaker and second language learner (L2) of English is difficult to dislodge. Because grammar was dropped from many English-language education systems and is only now being reintroduced, most native speakers do not understand their own language grammar. By contrast, most learners of English who already have an education based on their own language’s grammar, apply rules to English usage readily. They will also have learnt formal English grammar when learning English. This assists the uptake of a Standard English variety such as academic English. Many academics who have learnt English as L2 speakers will publish in English as the literature is dominated by English-language journals and other texts.

L2 learners do not, however, easily learn colloquial or conversational English, since its rules are not found in standard English-language teaching materials. Therefore, the term ‘expert user’ may be applied to an ability to use several forms of English across different fields (or domains).

Exercise: a snap quiz on grammar here would be useful, particularly if you have L2 English speakers. It would demonstrate their competence, especially if they are


under-confident in their conversational English ability. This could be followed by a discussion on how (and where and for how long) students have learnt English. A good comparison would then be for ‘native speakers’ to offer items of slang or local usage, and to see how many of these terms are understood by all class members.

Students should be encouraged to see how these different skills in language use are part of being expert users.

The question is then: which of these areas of language knowledge will help most in students’ learning and performance of academic English for this subject?

The answer is probably both, since they are language awareness, but from different angles.

Killer or Lifesaver? English as an Imperial Language

Where do you think academic English fits, in the overall ‘scheme’ of language power?

The point here is that, even while we are learning academic English, we can question the fact that it exists as a norm of language use. To understand that academic English is a resource is to see it as a tool offering access to social and linguistic capital.

Discuss. Students will have different opinions here. These may very well be informed by background and ideology. It is more important to leave the discussion open-ended at this point. In our teaching, we tend to make this one of the essay questions that students can select for the subject.

The Germanic Family of Modern Languages

What do you notice and why do you think this is the case?

They are all cognates, and very similar in sound and form. Cognates are words which share a common alphabetic system, a common origin. In this case, these words survive in multiple languages principally because they are so mundane, or functional.

Words with low prestige will continue to be used because they are the word stock of the majority of the population.

A good way to test this is to find synonyms for any of these words.

Exercise: look up the OED and show students the information under etymology for any of these words. Note the similarities in form and the number of languages which share these cognates. This is the heart of modern English: it subsists on


a word stock of very old and very functional OE words. Even in the academic register, the most common words continue to be these highly functional items.

Spelling “Rules”?

How many different ways of pronouncing ough did you find?

There are nine different pronunciations represented here.

“Ought” and “thought” rhyme with caught, “though” rhymes with go, “cough” and “trough” rhyme with off, “rough” and “tough” rhyme with huff, “through” rhymes with you, “Lough” (origin Irish) rhymes with lock, “Marlborough” rhymes with Edinburgh, “hiccough” rhymes with pickup, and “plough” rhymes with now.

The explanation?

Refer to dialectical differences in Anglo-Saxon regions, a Celtic borrowing, the Great Vowel Shift, idiosyncratic printing conventions (including Flemish-speaking printers) and the intrusion of Norse phonics.

They represent a language caught in a type of ‘time warp’, where spelling became fixed long before pronunciation conventions changed.

Names as Relics

Even today these peoples and regions retain distinctive accents and language varieties. One distinguishing feature is the pronunciation of “r”. Why?

The pronunciation of “r” differs across the UK, and it is a feature of Englishes around the world. Research the various pronunciations for Kentish, Scottish, Welsh and Cornish.

Exercise. This may be simply a discussion of stronger and softer forms of the “r”, or it could be a more in-depth discussion with recorded examples. Students may have some experience or knowledge of the different forms of “r”. For instance, the presence of the rhotic is stronger in Celtic and western English dialectical forms such as Cornish, Scottish, Welsh, Lancashire and Warwickshire. It may be heard as a trill, tap or retroflex.

For Kentish and Estuary-Cockney the “r” may be silent or realised as a glottal.

In standard US English forms the “r” is usually stronger, but in some eastern states the “r” is more like the pronunciation in New Zealand and Australian English.

The pronunciation of “r” can also indicate a person’s previous languages.


The Old English Alphabet

Can you translate this OE text?1 An mann hæfde docgan.2 Se mann wæs hwit. His hund wæs blæc and æc wæs eald.3 Se docga æt ban. Se mann æt flæsc.4 Tha ban wæron heard and thæt flæsc wæs god.5 Se hund dranc wæter ac se mann dranc win.6 Se mann weox thynne and se docga weox great.7 Sona wæs se hund dead ac se mann is nu- mid u-s.8 Hwæt leorniath we fram thissum?9 Man lifeth lengest the ne drincth wæter.

10 Wis mann ne giefth god flæsc to hundum.

This translates in modern English as:1 A man had a dog.2 The man was white. His hound was black and also was old.3 The dog ate bones. The man ate meat (flesh).4 The bones were hard and the meat (flesh) was good.5 The hound drank water and the man drank wine.6 The man grew (waxed) thin and the dog grew (waxed) big (great).7 Soon was the hound dead but the man is now with us.8 What do we learn (learn we) from this?9 Man lives longest when he doesn’t drink water.

10 A wise man doesn’t give good meat (flesh) to hounds.

Note the syntax and word endings (morphology) as well as the words that are still recognisable.

Inbuilt Prejudice?

Many words taken from Norse languages seem to possess mundane or negative connotations and associations. What do they say about English?

The Norse contributions are certainly ‘positioned’ in English: they are ‘marked’ for negative connotations or associations. Students should be able to identify reasons for this.

One reason is that the scribes recording language use in official records were English speaking, and the words selected from Norse would have been deliberately chosen, not only for their lexical potential, but also for their sounds: Norse became associated with a lack of education as it dropped out of established society.


Norse speakers would have been marginalised for hundreds of years, especially as the south of England became industrialised and more powerful in English society.

The northern areas of England, where Norse place names dominate, are still associated with rural ideas: remoteness, lack of social power, lack of education and lack of social sophistication.

What patterns are there?

The patterns of names indicate affixation to create new proper nouns.Watson, Robinson, Harrison, Johnson, Gibson, Stevenson: a typical Norse family name is produced by adding the suffix “-son” to the father’s name.Whitby, Lazenby, Thursby: the suffix “-by” denotes a farm (or town) in Norse. So Whitby means the farm of a man called Whit.Scunthorpe, Linthorpe: the suffix “-thorpe” denotes a village in Norse.Bassenthwaite, Ruthwaite: the suffix “-thwaite” denotes a land division or landholding in Norse.Wasdale, Langdale: the suffix “-dale” denotes a valley in Norse.

For more information and examples, see the following texts:David Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.Melvyn Bragg. The Adventure of English. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2003.Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. London: Faber & Faber, 1992.

Just a The?

What languages still use a system like OE?

The answer is that most contemporary European languages use a determiner system expressing case and gender, as OE once did.

OE Affixes: Like for Like

What pattern do you notice?

Prefixes which survive from OE include:after-: afterwards, afterburnerbe-: bespoke, beneathfor-: forgive, forbidout-: outside, outspokenun-: unlikely, undid


under-: underneath, undertakeup-: upwards, upshotwith-: withhold, withdraw

Suffixes which survive from OE include:-dom: freedom, kingdom-ling: underling, earthling-ed: storied, knighted-er: singer, fighter-en: wooden, fallen-ful: awful, mouthful-hood: sisterhood, neighbourhood-ish: childish, Scottish-less: nameless, homeless-ship: friendship, kinship-ster: hipster, youngster

The pattern of OE affixes is that they tend to attach to words which are also OE. They also ‘anglicise’ words which are taken from other languages, and thus make these borrowings more ‘English’ in sound and spelling.

Hale or Hail?

So where does “hail” (the solid form of precipitation) come from?

“Hail”, the form of ice rain, derives from an entirely different OE word: haegl. Its original spelling indicates its different origins, but the distinction has been lost over time.

There are many other examples of this loss of distinction in spelling, pronunciation and meaning. Other examples of homographs and homophones include: flower–flour, bank, rode–rowed, night–knight, queen–quean, bridle–bridal.

The Contrast Between OE and ModE Syntax

If I want to say “I am going to the shops” (in ModE), how much can I rearrange the syntax without losing meaning?

Any other variation becomes ‘marked’, which means that a stress is evident, and the syntax becomes clumsy. Many variations are possible, but they are not as meaningful. There is typically a hidden stress (underlined) which is voiced when the syntax is disrupted.


Note how the phrasing (noun or verb phrases, with prepositional order) must be retained. Once it is lost, the meaning becomes more difficult to decipher.

For instance:Going to the shops I am.I am to the shops going.To the shops I am going.To the shops I going am.Am the going to I shops.

Norman French (NF) vs. English

What patterns do you see?

The new words present concepts which were either outmoded or deficient in OE. Where a concept did not exist, French supplied the words. This is the case with gaol, and later jail: they are the same word, borrowed twice, and at different times, from French. Apparently the concept of a prison (another, later borrowing from French) did not exist for the Anglo-Saxons until the Normans introduced the term and the reality.

Where nuances of meaning were not available, French supplied greater lexical and synonymic possibilities. The OE word thrall could not possibly convey all the meanings provided by the words servant, serf, villain and peasant. Similarly, love does not mean the same thing as romance.

Where food was prepared and presented to the elites in society, the OE words were inadequate or had low prestige. It was not good enough to serve up cooked pig flesh to the ruling Normans; it had to be porc (later pork).

Lexical Pairs and Triplets

Do you see any ‘system’ in these pairs/triplets?

The Latin word, which is more likely to be multisyllabic than either the English or French word, also tends to offer more prestige. This prestige offers more social authority. So, for instance, Queen Elizabeth II is represented on official documents and coins (and she signs her name) by the initials E.R., where the “R” stands for Regina. The French spelling of the OE word (queen, originally cwen) is apparently inadequate for the official title of the monarch.

Similarly, to interrogate is usually something done by a person in authority. Students at university can question social constructions, but anyone can ask where the toilets are.


Interestingly, as far as sweat goes, it is something that uneducated Anglo-Saxon men do, while refined people (typically women) perspire. It is not clear, lexically, what ancient Latin speakers did, since the Latin-based perspire wasn’t borrowed until the sixteenth century from the French, and it is derived from the Latin root perspirare, which referred to breathing, or the action of the wind.

So the Latin and French items offer euphemisms, clarity and prestige.

Magna Carta: A Very English Event?

What is the significance of the words: “shire”, “reeve”, “alderman”, “businessman” and “earl”?

These words are relics of Anglo-Saxon society and social norms. They were retained (linguistically and politically) by William the Conquerer in the interests of an efficient and pre-existing local administration and revenue-raising system. However, they are also powerful conceptual items which undermined the imposed feudal system and which eventually enabled a more democratic English society.

Shire is derived from the OE word scir, which was an official administration division.

Reeve is derived from the OE word gerefa, and was the officer of the shire, in command of a military unit. The modern rendition of the shire reeve is sheriff.

Businessman is derived from an OE construction of bisignes + mann (busy + ness + man).

Alderman is derived from the OE combination of eolder + mann (chief or elder + man). It is more commonly a local government office now known (non-gender specifically) as councillor.

Earl is retained as an office of nobility, contemporarily located in rank between the imported offices of marquess and viscount. Originally the earl was the highest rank of nobility in OE society, and the king obtained his office by the election of his earls.

French Endures

Does the retention of French orthography (including diacritics) enhance English, or is it a matter of showing off by the person who uses the borrowing? And how does the use of borrowed French words complicate English spelling?

The borrowing of French words is problematic if the system of orthography is borrowed as well. If French words offer prestige, they must be (even if unconsciously) part of a person’s need to demonstrate erudition or sophistication.


At the same time, if the borrowing adds sense that doesn’t otherwise exist in the English lexicon, it must offer a widening of expressive power. The problem, of course, is that by importing a system of orthography for only a few words, it means that the words themselves are marked forever as foreign. It also makes the system of English spelling more difficult.

French words employ a system of orthography which is not part of the English orthography. This is a collision of two language systems, and is not supportable unless the English orthography is amended to include French styles.

French words have always imported new sounds when borrowed into English, even when anglicised. For instance, the OE “g” uses a narrow pronunciation, as in get, go, gather. The French “g” offers a variety of pronunciations, such as general, genre, vogue or meringue.

Using French spelling may very well indicate the word’s origins, but it adds significantly to the difficulty of English spelling. At any rate, even if we import some of the sounds, they will never sound the same once they have been adopted by English speakers.

By contrast, English words taken into other languages are usually adapted so that they fit in with that orthographic system. So, football becomes fútbol in Spanish (note the accent over the “u”), and in German it is rendered Fussball, or Fußball. Just to complicate matters, the French have borrowed the word fully intact, as le football.

Students can decide which system of borrowing makes the most sense.

Excuse My “French”

Why do you think we say “excuse my French” when we are swearing in English?

There are several reasons. To say “pardon (or excuse) my French” (according to the OED) is a euphemism for bad language. It appears to also be a type of intentionally humorous irony, since swear words in English are of such low prestige that they are the opposite of French words on a social scale. Or, it could be because it is mocking the pretensions of people who do, or who think they can, speak French. This seems to be the most likely reason, since the expression is first recorded in 1845, when French enjoyed widespread cultural and diplomatic power. The expression thus captures succinctly the ‘cringe factor’ which English speakers seem to have had since 1066.

One other reason, which relates to its euphemistic purpose, could be because the person using bad language wants to shield children, or polite persons, from understanding what has been said, usually in a low voice.


Expression vs. Functionality

How many of the above are verbs, and what do you think is the significance of this feature?

The verbs are, in bold:

the of and a to in is you that ithe was for on are as with his they Iat be this have from or one had by wordbut not what all were we when your can saidthere use an each which she do how their ifwill up other about out many then them these sosome her would make like him into time has looktwo more write go see number no way could peoplemy than first water been call who oil its nowfind long down day did get come made may part

This does not include some non-standard usages or elements of verb phrases (such as word up or go now or look into). We will look more closely at these elsewhere.

Significance: Including auxiliaries and modal forms, and nouns which act as verbs, the list is quite extensive. This is significant because the integral ‘action’ of an English sentence is still expressible through items which have survived for 1500 years. Other significant items are pronouns and determiners/articles. The essential meaning of any English sentence is expressed by highly functional, and simple, lexical items.

Rhetoric, OE and SVO

What do you notice?

In both speeches, the overwhelming lexical base is OE. Rhetoric requires immediate understandability across multiple registers for it to be communicated effectively. Both speeches require lineal sense building, in that each clause builds on the one before it. This requires a fairly straightforward subject–verb–object (SVO) order, which can then be built on to generate a cumulative set of ideas. There is a complexity at the clausal level as well, but both speeches (extracts) require fundamental OE expression to link together the ideas. Note also the system of affixation which is dominated by OE.

In Churchill’s speech only the bold items are borrowings, and both of these have been in English for hundreds of years:

We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall

fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills: we shall never

surrender.


In Obama’s speech there are more borrowings, but the essential sense of the speech is OE based (not making the distinction for some Norse items and the uncertain origin of falter):

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship,

let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once

more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our

children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey

end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the

horizon and god’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom

and delivered it safely to future generations.

If students model their essay language on this type of usage, where metalanguage is at the service of the sense, they should do well.

Topics for Discussion

■■ If English is a global language, what does this mean for people whose first language is not English, or for people who do not speak any form of English at all?

■■ English has been referred to as a ‘bastardised’ language. Is this acceptable as a description?

■■ In Australia, many places are given Aboriginal names, such as Canberra, Ballarat, Yeppoon, Kalgoorlie, Jabiru, Toowoomba, Mandurah, Allambee, Moonah, Parramatta, Milperra, Uluru. Other locations are named after European people or places, including Sydney, Newcastle, Liverpool, La Perouse. Is this linguistic imperialism?

■■ Consider the following list of British place names, which occur in more than one state. There are: – three Fairfields (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria) – six Richmonds (South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, two in

Queensland) – four Cremornes (New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland, Victoria) – five Newtowns (New South Wales, two in Queensland, two in Victoria) and

two New Towns (SA, Tasmania) – four Windsors (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia) – two Glebes (Tasmania, New South Wales) – a Mosman in New South Wales, a Mossman and a Mosman Park in

Queensland, and two Mosman Parks in Western Australia.

41

chapter 2

Language, Literacy and PowerOrthographies for Eye

What is the significance of these images? How does the US dollar represent a layering of semiotics?

The all-seeing eye represents Providence, a type of anthropomorphism of nature which displaces the Christian God in late Enlightenment thinking. There are multiple layers of semiotics drawing on classical and more recent civilisations: the pyramid (Egypt); the Latin numerals and mottoes (Rome); the new name for the new nation which draws on Latin lexical items; the dollar, which draws on a Germanic monetary system (as opposed to the British pound); the eagle and arrows of the Roman Senate; and the Christian motto “In God we trust”.

Each of these symbols is significant in its own way, but it is the reuse of the symbols in a new context which generates the most important meaning. One way of viewing this unique combination of symbols is to say that the new nation (the USA) is seeking to invoke the authority of these symbols to warrant the creation of a new nation which needs legitimising. That is, the designers of the US national symbols needed to look back in order to look forward.

The same is true for our use of language, especially in the essay.

Denotation vs. Connotation and Register

Do these sentences (or words) ever belong in an essay? When used for solidarity, is the power given back to the person who uses these words?

These are items that should appear in the academic register only if they are items being discussed contextually.

Because the items are high for connotation, they can be markers of solidarity and can be used in an ironic sense as well. In these ways they can potentially reverse

42 the Keys to academic english: educator’s guide

their offensiveness. However, the continued use of such words in any context can also perpetuate the misogynistic nature of the words themselves. Any use is problematic.

Exercise. Collocations are the test of an expert user. Correct usage shown in bold:To (sag, drop) into place.To (toe, foot) the line.To make a (splish, splash).Spicks and (specks, spocks).(Never, once) and for all.Research (supports, sustains) the idea.(Borne, carried) out by the data.Sensible (shoes, socks).(Despite, because of ) our best intentions.To (work at, play) soccer.To (give, derive) an undertaking.From your point of (view, opinion).Service with a (smile, file).To (wind, wend) your way home.

Metalanguage for the Sake of Metalanguage

Yes, but what does it all actually mean?

First example:

as a causal-comparative study, instructional time represents an uncontrolled

factor. teachers in each fifth grade classroom made decisions about instructional

time based on the required time to complete activities dictated by the reading

program in use. it is likely that instructional time varied between the classrooms,

but the decisions about instructional time were based on the independent

variable used to define the groups. any variance developed, in part, because of

the independent variable being examined.1

Interpretation: The teachers in each fifth-grade classroom were not given minimum or maximum time limits. They determined how much time to spend on reading each day by considering their students’ needs and the activities recommended by their reading programs.

The balance of the article presents a good argument for the primacy of clarity in expression.

1 John Medina, “Do You Speak ‘Academia’?”, Edurati Review (September 5, 2010), <eduratireview.com/tag/academic-language>.

chapter 2: language, literacy and power 43

Second example:

in the process, however, consciousness experiences just this appearance of

particularity in the unchangeable, and of the unchangeable in particularity. consciousness becomes aware of particularity in general in the immutable

essence, and at the same time it there finds its own particularity. For the truth

of this process is precisely that the double consciousness is one and single.2

This text is typical of the dense use of metalanguage in the academic register. It needs a specialist understanding.

Synonyms: More Sense or Just Pretentiousness?

Which of these are interchangeable, or have high synonymy? Do synonyms automatically ‘fall into’ obvious register choices for you when you see them together like this? Are any of the above exact synonyms?

verbosity, wordiness, loquaciousness, volubility, circumlocution, prolixityrumour, gossip, hearsay, shooting the breeze, scuttlebutt, buzz, canardsschadenfreude, misery guts, smugnessorient, orientate, position, locate, accustompro bono, free, gratis, no chargenonplussed, bemused, confused, addledinaccurate, wrong, erroneous, mistaken, fallacious, unfounded, misinformedred, scarlet, crimson, maroon, strawberry

The test for any synonym is interchangeability, or the potential for substitution. In an essay, synonyms are very useful to generate nuances of meaning, or simply to be creative and to vary word choice. Because synonyms tend to fall into different registers when meaning is very similar, some synonyms cannot be used, as they will disrupt the flow of sense. In actual usage, the differences become more obvious. So, for instance, verbosity can be used for either written or spoken communication, while loquaciousness is more specifically used to describe oral communication. Similarly, to say an argument is simply wrong is to assert complete incorrectness, while an argument which is inaccurate may still be correct in some areas.

Students can discuss these examples and any others they can think of. A good exercise is to go through a thesaurus and determine differences in actual usage. Students can discuss whether items such as volubility and prolixity are of any use at all, or are simply pretentious or arcane.

2 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, quoted in Darrin McMahon, The Pursuit of Happiness (London: Penguin Books, 2006), p.368.


The Dictionary and the Thesaurus as Assets

There are usually distinctions made between words that offer highest synonymy and for synonyms from an informal register. Antonyms are also included. Which are synonyms and which are antonyms?

Any ranking will be subject to context (and you can argue for a different ranking), but a suggested list will place the synonyms which are most similar for usage and register in the following order:

Dispassionate: Unprejudiced, neutral, detached, disinterested, impartial, non-partisan, unbiased, scientific, unemotional, emotionless, impassive, cool, calm, unruffled, unperturbed, composed, self-possessed, self-controlled, unexcitable, laid-back, analytical. Antonyms: emotional, biased.

Note that analytical is placed last after the lower register items because it is a very active approach to textual reading; it may or may not be dispassionate at all. To be analytical requires an active investment of time and application to any text. To be dispassionate could mean that a person is simply aloof and uninterested.

Exercise: Use a thesaurus entry and jumble words so that students can allocate synonymy as demonstrated above. It builds vocabulary and awareness of sense. Be sure to include antonyms.

Changed Words

Many common words in English have changed meaning over time. Some of these changes are subtle while others are drastic, even antonymic. What did they once mean?

These are all examples of words which have been contested for meaning and usage. A good exercise is to look at the historical development of meanings for these words (and any others you can use).

decimate terrific deadly sick madfabulous meat corn handsome nicepretty cute hot cool jazzstraight right disinterested paedophile pedagogyfun fond killer special fantasticpeculiar queer gay intercourse conversationcowboy conservative liberal lewd congresssinister dextrous silly grammar glamour

Perhaps the most unlikely connection of all is the original link between grammar and glamour.


This is especially relevant for studies of literature, where, for instance, the words terrific and gay meant entirely different things at different times and as used by different authors. For the student, the use (or misuse) of decimate or disinterested will rely entirely on the vocabulary of the person marking their essay.

Political Correctness: Gender and Folk Etymology

Should we go back to leofman?

Language intervention is a perilous undertaking. PC is certainly and generally a success in English. However, the more strident the rule-making and enforcement, the more likely it is that people will reject, or at least undermine the imposition. This is typically because the rules are socially prescribed ‘from above’. Compare this with the more successful interventions ‘from the ground up’. One example is the push by African Americans to overthrow and assume control over the word nigger. It seems that this is a word that is largely disappearing from the general lexicon, but which has some currency in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) – in rap, for instance – as nigga. Of course, contextually, the word could be a marker of solidarity and identity or it could be an insult. Another item of offence which seemingly has been reclaimed to become a marker of solidarity is the word queer.

A good discussion point here is to ask students what words they think have been ‘rehabilitated’ or reclaimed by the people who have traditionally been most offended by them.

African American: Back to the Future?

This is an example of the power of words. The article below offers a very good discussion exercise for students. Most students will have an opinion. Remember to inform students that President Obama is biracial and was raised by white grandparents and a white mother.

“neither obama nor society should define his race”the Washington Post’s elizabeth chang is concerned that Barack obama has let society

define him. with his recent declaration of race as exclusively african-american on his

us census form, chang believes the president is reacting to how society perceives him,

though she also highlights the importance of racial “accuracy” on official forms. which

begs the question: with as fluid a concept as race, who defines accuracy if not social

convention?

(continued)


her concerns stem from a comment the president made while filling out his form

that he is african-american because “that is how i am treated,” rather than because

of who he is. she believes this is a sign that he is misrepresenting himself to adhere to

social pressures: “if the most powerful person in this country says that because society

thinks he looks black, he is black, it sends a message that biracial children have to

identify with the side they most resemble.” in the same breath, however, she argues that

it is as much an issue of racial accuracy as one of defying social pressures:

“aren’t people supposed to fill out their census forms accurately? why else are we doing

it? if everyone put down on the form how they ‘identified,’ i don’t know what kind of

count we’d wind up with, but clearly it would not reflect the racial makeup of the united

states.”

But by trying to enforce accuracy in the way the president defines himself, she is apply-

ing as much social pressure as anyone who has “treated” the president as black in the

past. obama’s case makes it more difficult to point out why her argument for him being

biracial is equally pressuring and arbitrary, especially in light of the fact that she is push-

ing her notion of race as “almost useless” on the president, as well. achieving a fairly

universally recognized definition of racial accuracy with him, given the background of his

parents, is easy: his mother was white; his father, black; he is biracial.

however, those lines are not so clearly cut with many others in the country – for exam-

ple, those of latin american backgrounds where generations of unrecorded miscegenation

have made it nearly impossible to determine the racial makeup of a family. the census

does not identify “latin american” as a race, but an ethnicity, so is it disingenuous for a

person of that ethnic background to check “african american” if they have a suspicion of

said background with little physical evidence? and what to do about people like paula

abdul, where the term “biracial” only accounts for about a fourth of their identities?

the lines are simply too blurred to defend a universal metric for racial accuracy, so the

forces of society become arbiters by default. while it would be enforced by the govern-

ment, since the census is under their jurisdiction, there is no clear scientific way to

determine race, and the billions of dollars it would take to trace the background of every

individual’s family is probably not worth the effort.

chang concludes: “if we let society determine what we are, we will never change society.”

she is absolutely right. But by involving herself in the racial and ethnic self-identification

of another america, she is doing the work of society by determining the identity of

another at a time in history when this form of identity in our country is especially elusive.

Frances martel, “neither obama nor society should define his race”,

Washington Post, april 30, 2010, sourced from <www.mediaite.com/online/

washington-post-neither-obama-nor-society-should-define-his-race>.


As an item of trivia, note also the more contemporary use (and traditionally a misuse) of the item “begs the question”. How is it supposed to be used?

Note also the ‘credentials’ of the contributor, Elizabeth Chang. Is she qualified to comment on such an issue?

Grammatical Implications

So, why is the following example resisted? “Each person works for themself.”

The determiner each when used in a typical construction agrees with the singular noun it takes (as above in each + person). The problem occurs when the writer wants to avoid gender specificity. More usual constructions are:

Each person works for themselves.Each person works for himself or herself.

There is varied acceptance of themself. The OED does not recognise it. Quoting from the Macquarie Dictionary (2003: s.v. “each” & “they”):

each is a singular form … but it is often used in contexts that allow it to be used

as a plural. as a result, their is often used to refer to each … the use of they, them

and their as non-gender-specific singulars … gives rise to the form themself for

the reflexive pronoun.

Students need to know what your rules are for this type of usage.

Morphology: Terms and Conditions

How many elements of morphology are present (bound and free) in the following words?re + establish + mentdis + continu(e) +ationsubsid(y) +is(e) + ingknow + ingun + feel + ingrecognis(e) + abil/le + ityfriend + l(y/i) +ness

The bold items are the free morphemes and these are the original words in English, regardless of their original derivation. The bound morphemes are attached to these words in a strict order. So, for instance, friend must take -ly before it can take -ness. Similarly, feel must take -ing before it can take un-. Note also how affixation often changes word class. So, recognise (a verb) becomes an adjective when formed as recognisable, only to become a noun when it is formed as recognisability.


The Academic Register is under Attack!

goodification (KFC)unstress and unworry (NRMA Insurance)fantastic-er-er (Progressive Direct Insurance Company)The game show just got funnerer (promo for game show Randling on ABC television)unfriend (Facebook)

An ancient noun (meaning ‘enemy’), unfriend has been revived as a verb form (to unfriend someone), and very quickly has become a noun (derived form), which means someone who has been unfriended from your Facebook page.

If you recognise these new forms, you may also know where they occurred and what products or services were being marketed. That probably means the advertising agency wins, no matter how annoying the morphology might be.

49

chapter 3

Grammar and Language EssentialsGrammar as Glamour?

Should “televisions” be rendered as: “televisioni” or “televisiona” or “televisione”?

The simple answer is none of the above. As a ‘manufactured’ word, television is half Latin and half Greek, but 100 per cent English. Its plural form should observe the rules of English morphology, which it does, as televisions. To insist on the morphology of the original language for any borrowing is to not understand how language actually works. If strict rules of language-origin morphology are observed, the speaker is code-switching, which means that the grammatical rules of two languages are being mixed together. This is a confusing situation which is also, ultimately, unstable. Because language rules follow usage, applying grammatical rules from other languages is artificial and typically of little practical use.

That is why it is only a matter of time before the most recognisable plural forms will almost certainly be as follows (if they are not already):

octopuses, not octopicactuses, not cactidatas, not dataantennas, not antennaebureaus, not bureauxfishes, not fishinsignias, not insigniephenomenons, not phenomena

I Hereby Sentence You

Below are some “sentences”. What do they mean, and how do we know that? Are they “real” sentences?

They are all ‘minor sentences’. Some are interrogatives, others are vocatives or salutations, and some are simply one-word responses (usually assuming a


previous question). Whether they have a status as real sentences, or are just functions of oral speech, depends on the grammarian you consult. Most of them are contractions, or they are elisions of a formal sentence which can be deduced from context and from what they represent.

They are all very good examples of what should not appear in essay writing.

Some will be explained; the rest can be completed by students as part of a discussion. The discussion should focus on how these utterances differ in form and in function, from formal written English.

‘Sup? Meaning: What is up? or What is happening? An informal interrogative, which functionally equates to: How are you, Hello, or perhaps a specific request for information on events in a person’s life.G’day! Meaning: Good day (to you). An informal greeting or, less often, as a farewell.As if! Meaning: As if that were true! An informal remark, usually sarcastic, denoting disbelief.It’s all about the music. Meaning: The primary focus of this (the subject) is music. A particularly virulent construction, with what could be defined as a dummy subject. In an essay the construction of It’s all about or We are all about should be regarded as laziness or as a lack of expressive ability. We will do more on this later.

These utterances all seem to assume or predict a prior utterance to which they respond, or at least they seem to take much background knowledge for granted.

Yeah. Sure.You go, girlfriend! No way!Been there, done that. No.I don’t know. Where you been?You ain’t all that. Too true.

A Prosodic Hit List

Part of prosody is the “hidden” harmony of words which seem to naturally fit together. See if you can spot the difficult sequences of sounds in these examples.1 I acknowledge the fact that certain passages of this text will be difficult

to follow, but it is certain, no matter who the reader is, or what part of society that person comes from, that there is a real obligation, as far as I’m concerned, to elucidate these matters to the best of my ability, regardless of the criticisms, implicit or explicit, that may ensue!

One problem here is the sequence of repeated sounds: in this case there are 27 (almost) consecutive sibilants (or ‘s’ sounds). Reading the text aloud might alert the writer to this rather annoying repetition. Also, the large number of embedded clauses, as indicated by commas, creates a difficult flow. If read aloud, this would not

chapter 3: grammar and language essentials 51

only be difficult to finish in one breath, the constant stops and starts interrupt the natural rhythm and ‘tune’ of the sentence.

2 Why should we agree with this type of conditioning? Is there a reason for this type of normative reasoning?

One question in an essay is bad enough, but two consecutive questions with upward intonation … well, enough said. This is especially true when these questions appear to be rhetorical; they could be better expressed as statements.

3 Perhaps the maxims would handle these indirect effects. And Grice later repeated his doubts. Which is important.

Beginning a sentence with the conjunction and is something that is best avoided, because it offers a longer pause which is usually redundant, since and signals an intra-sentential pause anyway. Beginning a sentence with the subordinator which is to signal a longer pause when there should be a minimal pause, or none at all. This is the type of expression which is increasingly used in creative writing to offer a dramatic pause, and it is arguable effective in that context. In essay writing it is simply annoying, prosodically and grammatically.

4a Alliterative assonance actually allows us to see beyond the discursive construction.

Repeating the same phonetic value (alliteration) is ideally suited to creative writing or poetry, but in an essay it comes across as careless or puerile. Once is forgivable, but in this sentence the multiple repetitions are asking the reader to perform a clumsy prosodic trick for no benefit.

4b Indubitably, doubts as to the proper division of property at death, whether local governmental or state governmental, were not, as explained previously, even if contested, likely to recur.

Count the number of commas. The constant reversion to comment clauses and dependent clauses slows down the reader. It needs breaking up, or omission of at least some of the dependent clauses. The repetition of the same sound at the start of the sentence could also be reworked, for instance, Certainly, doubts …

5 Initialisation strategies are optimal-temporal-spatial-political mediations between ideational realisations; they are not real-time delivery corporative interfaces.

The main problem here is the multi-syllabic construction of the hyphenated compound. It asks for a flat intonation of a list of words, only to then have any natural rhythm further disrupted by more multisyllabic words. The whole sentence is too syllabic heavy. The semicolon, which asks for a brief prosodic pause, does not give the reader enough time to digest the previous material. The second main


clause needs reworking as a new sentence. In fact, the whole construction might also need rephrasing, since the sentence is dominated by four heavy compound nouns (or noun phrases), and this is very flat-toned overall.

Never a Truer Word Said

Can you finish these lexemes?A rolling stone … gathers no moss.A stitch in time … saves nine.The apple of … my/your eye.(The love of) Money is … the root of all evil.Those who can, do, while those who can’t … teach.Better late than never … (This one is complete, but sometimes it is responded to by an equivalent or reversed lexeme, such as: Better never than late, said the man at his own funeral.)Romeo, Romeo … wherefore art thou … Romeo?The milk of human … kindness.War is the continuation of politics … by other means.Spaghetti … bolognaise/and meatballs.Macaroni and … cheese.A deck of … cards.The lunatics have taken … over the asylum.Driving me … insane/crazy/around the bend/to drink.

What is Unusual about These Nouns?

All nouns in this list have some aspect which is unusual.

Kings Cross and Queensland are proper nouns which express possessive case, but they do not use the possessive apostrophe because they have unique usage when capitalised. Note also how Queensland is compounded into one word while Kings Cross is retained in a form as separate words. By contrast, the common noun queen will indicate plurality and possessive case, as will the proper noun when it is not a recognisable lexical item. So, for instance, we would express these differently: the queens of Europe; Australia is one of the Queen’s lands.

Fatherland and motherland are typically translated from other languages, since it is not usual for English speakers to refer to country of birth by gender. It used to be common to refer to a car, ship, boat or truck as a she, but this seems to be dropping out of practice. There is nothing in these items which grammatically expresses gender. Gender was expressed in the item chairman, and it was replaced


by chairwoman or chairman according to context, but is now more typically replaced by the neutral chair.

Data is already the plural form of datum but increasingly the form data is used for both singular and plural. It remains a non-count abstract noun, however, and is referred to, for instance, as some (pieces of) data. It may eventually become some datas if this usage continues to evolve.

Abstraction is also present in the items speed, power, education, difficulty, idea, dream, thought, feeling and certainty. They are also typically non-count nouns, but in some usages they take number. We can, for instance, refer to a vehicle which has a four-speed transmission which is capable of high speed; or we could say that I had three dreams last night, but also that we, as a nation, once had a dream. The same appears to be happening with the items elite, people, remark, structure and version.

Plurality is not obvious in the forms sheep or fish but it is becoming more common to see plurality indicated by the form fishes. This form, however, is usually reserved for different species of fish. They can be countable nouns or non-countable, as in five fish or some fish.

However, there seems to be no change with the items music, trousers and swimwear. That is, these items continue to require quantifying noun phrases: two items of music, or the music of different cultures; three pairs of trousers or some trousers; some swimwear or some items of swimwear.

Exercise: Label the features of the following items:

soup intelligentsia faculty minority populationliterature persona corpus knowledge staffpremises curriculum schema

This is a worthwhile exercise to spend some more time on. Look for other nouns which are problematic in these ways, and set your rules for usage.

Noun Exercises

The following noun exercises are not an exhaustive range, but rather an indicative series. Note how these point to the quizzes which we produce and use online. There are a number of resources available which you may want to consider, many of them online. These include:

Winifred Belmont & Michael Sharkey. The Easy Writer: Formal Writing for Academic Purposes (third ed.). Frenchs Forest (NSW): Pearson, 2011.My WritingLab, available through Pearson Education (an online resource which charges for content).


Noun Importance

Nouns operate as the subject, object or complement of a sentence. Some grammarians refer to the verb as the most important element of any sentence. Certainly the verb performs an essential function, but as newspaper headlines demonstrate, we can still infer the meaning of a sentence when a verb is elided. We cannot do this (or at least not easily) if a subject or object is missing. As Crystal says, nouns and noun phrases “tell us what a text is about”.1

What verb (or part of the verb phrase) is missing?1 Manchester United in trouble again2 Police mystified by spate of robberies3 President on campaign trail again4 Rain all week5 Interest rates on the up and up6 Teachers out on strike7 University loss-making year8 What did the Prime Minister next?9 Lectures off this week

10 UFOs over Melbourne

Can you understand the following by not completing them?

Possible answers (not exclusive):1 are, will be, have been or is2 are3 is4 expected5 are, have been or will be6 go, will go, will be, have been or are7 has, experiences, had, experienced, will have or has had8 do, have, make or see9 are

10 seen, spotted, have been seen or have been spotted

Now reverse the construction, so that the nouns are removed from the sentence, but the verb and other items are present. One way of explaining this functionality is to refer to the verb or the verb phrase as the predicate. This enables students (who may be new to English) to distinguish between the central action of the sentence (which is the verb-predicate) and all other functional items in the sentence. Later you may want to illustrate this hierarchy of sense relationships (an exercise is included under Advanced Sentence Analysis, p. 75). For now, we are

1 David Crystal, Making Sense of Grammar (Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2004), 177.


using one example of a verb to illustrate the functionality of the sentence, minus nouns.

How important are nouns in these sentences?1 … are in … again2 … are mystified by ….3 … is on … again4 … expected all …5 … are on the ….6 … are out on ….7 … experiences a ….8 What did the … do next?9 … are off this …

10 … sighted over …

Answer: hopefully students can see that there is little or no referentiality in these examples. Students can then try to create sentences without nouns to see if they can express meaningful information.

The same principle can be illustrated through the use of pronoun replacement. In normal speech, pronouns are very common because there is typically much shared background knowledge. In formal writing we cannot make this assumption. Indeed, in the essay, “pronouns are rare other than …to refer back to a previous noun phrase”.2

For instance, in the following, what does the pronoun replace (or refer to)?1 Avatar was a very successful film. It was released in 2009.2 If she does not resolve economic problems, the President of Argentina, Cristina

Fernández de Kirchner, may lose the next election.3 New Zealand, a nation of Oceania, is located to the east of Australia. It is a

nation which loves rugby.4 If I use the proverb “A stitch in time saves nine”, you may not understand what

I mean by it.5 He is coming to visit – the son of the woman who works at the university.

Answers:1 It refers to the film title: Avatar.2 She refers to the full title and name: President of Argentina, Cristina

Fernández de Kirchner. The definite article is not capitalised, but can also be considered as being part of the title.

3 It refers to New Zealand; it does not include the appositive phrase: a nation of Oceania. This is because the extra information provided by the appositive phrase is not part of the referent.

2 David Crystal, Making Sense of Grammar (Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2004), 179.


4 It refers to the entire noun phrase: the proverb “A stitch in time saves nine”.

5 He refers to the son of the woman who works at the university. This is because the entire noun phrase is needed to obtain specificity. If any of the items in the noun phrase are removed, the referent is ambiguous.

The Invisible Subject (or Object)

There is an increasing (Americanised) informality which is influencing Australian and other varieties of English. Much of this influence comes via advertising, but it is especially pervasive in conversation. While certainly appropriate in the conversational register, it is a verbal shorthand which is justifiably regarded as pure laziness (or a lack of expressive power) if it appears in the academic register. Of course, this may change over time. For now, we suggest that the following linguistic shortcuts should be dropped from students’ repertoires. This is because bad habits in speech are often reflected in essay writing as well.

What do you notice about these?It’s all about me.I’m loving it.I’m loving that you get the whole university thing.It’s a girl thing.We get it, Sydney.Let’s not go there.Too much information.

Answer: there is, in many of these, an invisible (or dummy) subject. ‘It’ does not actually refer to anything, since there is no stated referent which is then replaced by the pronoun. The absence of an explicit referent makes these constructions minor sentences, or at least incomplete for referentiality.

Note how in the example I’m loving that you get the whole university thing, the present continuous tense form (I’m loving) has intruded from non-standard forms of English. A more standard form would be the base form of the verb in present simple tense: I love. The use of the pronoun (that) to replace the more frequent pronoun phrase (the fact that) acts as a conjunction to introduce the object (which is the complex noun phrase that you get the whole university thing). Another grammatical problem is the fact that the verb get offers an informal usage and is vague for sense. It could mean anything from “understand” to “are feeling in control over”. Similarly, the phrase the whole university thing is vague for referentiality. Such a construction requires extensive background knowledge between interlocutors. This is (one reason) why it is inappropriate for formal writing.


In the last example, the absence of a verb (and almost everything else) means we have to decode the sentence without knowing if ‘too much information’ is the subject, the object or the complement.

None of these examples should be used in formal writing.

Empty Phrases

Along with dummy subjects, students often employ ‘fillers’. These are phrases or words which have no informational content, but which are used to fill gaps in expression. The problem is that these are perfectly acceptable in the conversational register, but when they find their way into essay writing, they should be seen as a defect of expression. So, students will use fillers such as: “like”, “you know”, “kind of”, “sort of ”, “really kind of”. Academics use fillers too, and some students imitate this usage. Examples are: “as it were”, “if you like”, “in terms of”, “in order to”. We can do better.

Noun Characteristics

Nouns are recognisable in usage because they have nine main characteristics:3

They act as the head of a noun phraseThey take a determiner to express specificityThey express the most important referential information in any sentenceThey change form to express case for singular/pluralityThey change form to express the genitive caseThey add morphology to change word class and derive new formsThey express aspects of abstraction and concretenessThey express degrees of specificity as proper or common nounsThey can predict animateness or gender, taking the appropriate pronoun form.

Which of these characteristics are present in the following examples?1 The lecturer attended class today. Not all lecturers are willing to do this.2 Any university can provide an education. The quality of the education, however,

depends on the calibre of the university’s teaching staff.3 Because she was going, it made us happy. In fact, you could say that her going

gave us happiness.4 That child is scared of this mouse. Not all children are scared of mice.5 On Monday I sang I don’t like Mondays.6 She is looking for some furniture. Do you know where the furniture is?

3 David Crystal, Making Sense of Grammar (Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2004), 180-197. He suggests five features. I would recommend nine as a more complete definition.


7 Space is enormous. The enormity of Space surprises most people. The spaces between words in an essay, however, are much smaller.

8 There are (is) a lot of people here today. I wonder what the people is (are) looking for. The people of China are different to the people of Tonga; these are very different peoples.

9 The woman who lives next door had her baby yesterday. It’s a nice baby, but their dog – which is male – is reacting badly. He’s jealous.

Answers: Note that referentiality is present in all of these examples and can be discussed in isolation.1 Determiners: the and all. Case for plurality: the addition of an “s” to lecturer.2 Determiners: any, an and the. Genitive case changes the form of university to

university’s.3 Determiner: the pronoun form her could be said to act as a determiner in this

function. Word class change morphology (derivational): the verb going is derived as a noun (gerund), but its form does not otherwise change, and the adjective happy takes the inflectional suffix “-ness” to form the noun (with the spelling change from “y” to “i”) happiness.

4 Determiner: the determiners that and this offer high specificity. This usage contrasts with the general function of the determiner not all and the absence of a determiner preceding mice: the information is highly contrastive. Ask students what effect this has. Plurality is provided by the irregular noun forms children and mice.

5 The lack of determiners before proper nouns is normal, but in this case, it offers ambiguity. The day of the week is a proper noun and takes capitalisation. Normally we do not pluralise proper nouns, but because we can conceive of multiple Mondays in this sense, the capitalisation is necessary. There is also the possibility that the reference is to the 1980s song (by The Boomtown Rats) so that I don’t like Mondays operates as a noun phrase.

6 The determiners some and the modify the same non-count noun furniture in two different ways. They alter sense in specific ways. We can’t say furnitures, but we can say three pieces of furniture. The sentence refers to a singular noun in both usages, but the use of the determiner the narrows the reference. In the first instance she is looking for furniture in general; in the second instance she is looking for specifically locatable furniture (we can infer that the context is in a large retail outlet where furniture is located in one of many departments).

7 Space as a non-count noun does not take a determiner; it can sometimes be capitalised as it can function as a proper noun. This is because Space refers to the perhaps unquantifiable dimensions and vacuum of the universe; it is a specific referent. The adjective enormous can be derived as a noun by adding the suffix ‘-ity’ and dropping the ending ‘-ous’. Note that the enormity of Space functions as a noun phrase, where enormity of Space is the lexical head of that phrase.


The noun phrase the spaces, by contrast, needs a determiner and the noun itself is a countable noun.

8 The noun people is the plural of “person” and it can be a countable noun (“there are twenty people here today”). However, it can also operate as a non-count noun, and when it takes the collective form (a lot of people), it is not always clear what form the verb should take. This is because we can make agreement for the verb between the collective noun or the plural noun. Most common is the verb are when agreement is made. Similarly we can use the noun people as a singular form, as in the people of Tonga (and the people of China), where the distinction is made between different peoples. In this instance people is synonymous with population.

9 The pronouns typically agree with gender where it is known. So, in the noun phrase the woman who lives next door, woman agrees with who (for animateness) and with her (for gender). Because the gender of the baby is not known, the inanimate/gender-neutral form it is used. On the other hand, the gender of the dog (which is known) in usage can take either the inanimate form (which) or the gender form (he).

Infinitive Verb-osity

Is there any real lexical or sense difference between these variations?

to boldly go vs. to go boldlyto completely fail vs. to fail completelyto rashly undertake vs. to undertake rashlyto finally call vs. to call finallyto express clearly vs. to clearly express

Answer: There is definitely a sense difference, even though the meaning is almost identical. The lineal order of words in any sentence determines sense relationships. In some cases, this is an emphasis, or stress. That is, the stress falls on different places according to where the words occur. You can hear the difference when you say out loud: to finally call, as opposed to to call finally. When this happens, we focus on call, rather than finally. There is a subtle difference which is not lexical, but rather cumulative sense building. When students are writing, they should be sensitive to these differences.

Verb Exercises

Some basic verb exercises should be used to introduce the idea of distinctions between verb forms. We use the following as interactive exercises, but how you use them depends on the levels of literacy you encounter in the classroom.


Verb Forms

Using an example of a lexical verb, students are required to suggest as many variations as possible for each, to make a simple sentence, using the following items: she, study, English.

They are to construct sentences (which must be different to each other), going round the room until all possibilities are exhausted. Students must also identify the different forms of the verb. Students can write on the board, or the tutor can write the answers on the board.

Pronoun (subject) main verb verb auxiliary verb/s noun phrase

Example: She studied English (simple past tense)

Other examples:She studies English.She is studying English.She has studied English.She has been studying English.She was studying English.She had studied English.She had been studying English.She was going to study English.She had been about to study English.She will study English.She is going to study English.She should study English.She can study English.She must study English.She could study English.She does study English.She did study English.She was about to study English.

Note that if we add the negator not to many of these sentences, we can almost double the number of potential sentences. For example: She cannot (or can’t) study English. Decide if you will allow contracted forms as separate entities.

Noun (Subject)–Verb Agreement

One difficulty with noun–verb agreement is when the noun phrase offers several items as subject. There is some confusion as to how to use the main verb in such cases. This is especially true when the subject noun is a plural noun phrase, when


the noun and verb are separated by an appositive or relative clause, or when the noun phrase is replaced by an indefinite pronoun.

So, which verb form would be used in the following examples?1 She (main verb) going to university this year.2 She and her sister (main verb) going to university this year.3 She, and her sister, and half of their school class, (main verb) going to

university this year.4 The majority of people (main verb) not attending university.5 The entire cohort of students (main verb) there yesterday.6 The staff (main verb) here to see you.7 Each and every student (main or lexical verb) a chance to succeed at this

institution.8 Australian universities, regardless of each university’s specific location, typically

(main verb) well regarded internationally.9 Any student, at this university, or any other university for that matter, whether

one of many international students, or one of the local student body, (main verb) important.

10 A number of these essays (verb) referencing issues.11 There (main verb) a lot of students on campus today.

Answers:1 She is going to university this year. Singular pronoun subject takes singular

form of the be main verb.2 She and her sister are going to university this year. The noun phrase She and her

sister comprises a double subject, which therefore predicts the plural form of the main verb be as are. Note that the lexical verb going remains unchanged, as it expresses tense agreement.

3 She, and her sister, and half of their school class, are going to university this year. Again, the piling up of referents makes for a multiple (plural) subject. The confusion might arise because the specific element (half of their school class) is a collective, and a singular (partitive) noun, and it would be appropriate to use the singular form of the verb in this construction: half of their school class is going. However, the subject consists of all the elements in the noun phrase: She, and her sister, and half of their school class.

4 The majority of people are not attending university. The problem here is that the noun phrase consists of a plural noun (people) and a collective noun (or partitive) which is: the majority of. Normally the verb would agree with the noun phrase as a unit, but because the last occurring item (people) is plural, we tend to use it as the referent and it attracts the plural form of the verb.

5 The entire cohort of students was there yesterday. The collective noun (cohort) acts as the head of the noun phrase (the entire cohort of students) and so it is treated as a singular noun.


6 The staff are here to see you. Traditionally the verb form is would be used, as staff has been treated as a non-count noun, and thus regarded as a singular item. However, in most current usage, staff is only regarded as being singular if there is one specific staff member being referred to.

7 Each and every student has a chance to succeed at this institution. The indefinite singular pronouns (each, every) predict the singular form of the verb have. Lexical verbs in this sentence might include deserves, merits or needs.

8 Australian universities, regardless of each university’s specific location, typically are well regarded internationally. The appositive phrase, in the singular, is a ‘distraction’. The subject is Australian universities, and the main verb must agree with this plural noun phrase. The main verb can only be are or, in the past tense form, were. Of course, we could add more information by way of auxiliary verbs, such as have been, could have been or might have been.

9 Any student, at this university, or any other university for that matter, whether one of many international students, or one of the local student body, is important. The appositive phrases, in the singular and plural, are ‘distractions’. The subject is any student, and the main verb must agree with this singular determiner and singular noun.

10 A number of these essays have referencing issues. Other verbs could include present, represent, indicate. The noun phrase (subject) is A number of these essays. The indefinite article (A) matches the partitive usage (number of ) and it is singular, but the plural form of essays means that the phrasal quantifier (a number of these) acts as a plural. Therefore the verb must take the plural form as well.

11 There are/were a lot of students on campus today. This is the formal usage. The more common informal usage predicts is/was. This is especially common when the pronoun and verb are joined as a contraction: There’s a lot of students on campus today. The same rule applies as in example 9: the phrasal quantifier renders the noun phrase (A lot of students) as a plural referent. Note that there is no consensus on these usages.

Non-Standard = Extra Sense?

These forms are non-standard. The reason they still exist (and were once part of ‘normal’ English) is because they express something that Standard English (SE) cannot:

She been around. He been’t doing that.

The sense of a permanent state of affairs (or the habitual present/past) is not easily expressed (at least, not succinctly) in SE. It is easily expressible in Romance languages, for instance in Spanish, with the difference between es and esta. The first example expresses the (more specific past perfect) thought that: she has been living


around here lately and/or permanently. The second example offers a negation of the same idea.

They ain’t there. She hain’t got it.

The item ain’t is a contraction of has not, have not, am not or is not: in this usage it is a contraction of is not. The item hain’t is most typically a contraction of has not or have not, but could also be a rendition of Cockney pronunciation for ain’t. They do not add any sense to SE, but rather they offer options of informal register. They can also be found in some idiomatic expressions derived from songs and lower registers, such as: It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings; It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it; or I ain’t got nobody.

If we had’ve had it first.

The double perfective aspect in this example is becoming more common and usually finds its way into essay writing. Another, more problematic example is the form which follows colloquial speech: If we had of had it first. It is nonsensical duplication and replaceable by either: If we had had it first (where the first had refers to past tense and the second had refers to past perfective aspect) or by If we had it first. Apart from the addition of redundant extra sense as a type of stress or emphasis, they do not offer any advantage over SE usage.

We’ve gotten ahead.

The verb phrase gotten ahead (in this case with the contracted past perfective have) is not easily replaceable, since its meaning is not altogether clear in this context. It could mean made progress, advanced, or perhaps gained an advantage. Interestingly, the use of got forms is increasingly common in US academic writing. It certainly was also unremarkable in older British usage. It may very well be once again acceptable in the future, but for now it should be avoided. It does add informality and also a generic sense which replaces other, more specific verb forms such as: obtained, grown, advanced and developed. The appeal of its generic sense is one reason why it might ‘get’ accepted in the academic register.

I haven’t done nothing.

Common in non-standard forms, this (double negative) usage in the academic register can be used for stress, to mean: rather than do nothing I have done something. That is, it stresses the action taken when there is an option to do nothing. In informal registers, it functions to stress the negative, in the same way that In my personal opinion offers a redundancy (or tautology).

Aspect and Moods

We will not be covering mood and aspect, but a brief explanation will assist. For a good introduction, we suggest a text like David Crystal’s Making Sense of Grammar (Harlow, UK: Pearson Longman, 2004), unless you feel like tackling


the authoritative A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik (Harlow, UK: Pearson-Longman, 2007).

Use the OED to refer to specific usages and for examples. In this book, we take the attitude that such grammatical work must be to directly assist students’ writing; it must not be unfocused grammar work purely for its own sake.

Aspect refers to the ‘time’ of action referred to by a verb phrase (especially the auxiliaries). Previously regarded as ‘tense’, aspect is more specific. Similarly, mood expresses potentiality or abstraction. The subjunctive mood is especially relevant in formal registers.

So a simple past tense is expressed thus: I played football for ten years. The simple past tense relates an event which no longer continues, and implies that the action occurred some time ago with no relation to the present time.

The perfective aspect contrasts thus: I have played football for ten years. The perfective relates the past to the present, with the implication that the action is ongoing and not likely to stop. That is, the ten years of playing football dating back from the utterance.

The progressive aspect contrasts thus: I had been playing football for ten years. The progressive indicates the duration of the action with the implication that is was interrupted, or will be. The construction also uses the form: I have been playing football for ten years.

The subjunctive mood contrasts thus: If I had been playing football for ten years … If you were to be playing football for ten years … The subjunctive is used to express potentiality or doubt. It also expresses tentativeness, typically through the subordinator.

Adjective Exercises

The adjectival order of sense is important. One way of emphasising this is to invert order in an adjectival-noun phrase. So, for instance there is a big difference between saying the light, pretty child and the pretty light child. In this case, the qualifying adjective pretty modifies the adjective light rather than the noun child. It is easier to extend the phrase to make it clearer:

The light, pretty child = the child is light and pretty.The pretty light child = the child is pretty light (weight).

Not so easily defined is the difference between saying the large and extremely diverse cohort of students, and the extremely large and diverse cohort of students.


This is because we may not be completely sure if the modifier extremely changes the sense of diverse, or if it only modifies the sense of large. So we extend the phrases as below:

The large and extremely diverse cohort of students = The cohort of students is large and it is (also) extremely diverse.

The extremely large and diverse cohort of students could mean either:The cohort of students is extremely large. The cohort of students is also extremely diverse.

Or:The cohort of students is diverse. The cohort of students is also extremely large.

We can’t ever be entirely sure what the author means unless it is made clear by this type of ‘extension’. Students should be very clear when making this type of sentence construction.

This is because lineal sense order in English sentences means that words add meaning to each other in an incremental relationship. This is especially true when we are talking about multiple subjects, for instance. The correct way to describe this relationship is to talk about the way adjectives modify the noun phrase (or subject, or object). The relationship is especially ambiguous when we use “and” to connect sets of adjectives in an elaborate sentence.

Exercise: Ask students to produce some of these ambiguous sentences by writing them on the board. It is essential to see them written so that lineal sense order can be visually decoded.

Adjectival Order

Explain the ambiguity in the construction of these phrases by rephrasing:1 That was a huge piano sale.2 They specialise in Australia wide towing.3 Results will be released when we are good and ready.4 Lecturers at Sydney University and UWS are well read.5 He did good in the exam.6 She is tall and skinny and a very good listener.7 We left for work, tired and hungry.

Answers:1 That was a huge piano which sold (or) That was a huge sale of pianos (or) Selling that

piano was a huge event.2 They specialise in offering towing services anywhere across Australia (or) They specialise

in towing of wide vehicles in Australia.


3 Results will be released when we are finished preparing them (or) Results will be released when we are good people and when we are prepared to do so.

4 Lecturers at Sydney University and UWS are erudite (or) Lecturers at Sydney University and UWS have many publications which are widely read internationally.

5 He did well in the exam (adverbial usage) (or) He behaved in a good manner (did some good) in the exam.

6 She is tall and skinny. She is also a very good listener (or) She is tall. She is skinny. She is a good listener. The main problem here is the sequence of adjectives, which imply a causative relationship, which may or may not be intentional.

7 The ambiguity here is the order of words, where the adjectives occur after the noun phrase. This position is more typical of adverbs, but is the predicative type of adjective in this case. There is an associative linking of these adjectives, thus: We left for work (even though we were) tired and (even though we were) hungry.

Multi-Class Lexemes

“Over” can be a preposition, a noun or an adjective. “Round” can be a noun, a verb, a preposition, an adverb or an adjective. Use each of these lexemes in a sentence to demonstrate different word classes.

The roof over my head. (preposition)Let’s go over the text again. (preposition; it can also be a phrasal verb)You are over the hill. (adjectival phrase)I am so over you. (adjectival phrase)I bowled three overs. (noun)Let’s play a round of golf. (noun)This subject rounds off your degree. (verb)Tie the ribbon round the tree. (preposition)The wheels on the bus go round and round. (adverb)That ring is perfectly round. (adjective)

Can you think of any other lexemes that behave like this?

Other examples of words which are very productive for word class derivational morphology are: short (noun, verb, adjective), even (verb, adjective, noun, adverb), right (noun, verb, adjective), cross (noun, verb, adjective) and drawing (noun, verb, adjective).

Abbreviated Language

What are they short for?ABC = Australian/American Broadcasting CommissionUSA = United States of AmericaBA = Bachelor of Arts/Buenos Aires


DVD = Digital Versatile/Video DiscAve. = AvenueDr = Doctor/Debtor#13 = number 13F4 = function key 4

Note the etymology of OK (from the OED), which was originally an initialism but now functions as an intact lexeme, and can be a verb, a noun, an adverb or an adjective.

Exercise: Ask students to look up the remaining terms from the boxed text using a dictionary.

laser ANZAC AIDS PCWAGs exams BA Hons. postgradsmodem PhD bus misc.

Punctuation What? For!

Punctuation can completely change the meaning of these sentences. A good exercise is for students to punctuate in various ways so as to alter meaning, and then to explain how the meaning is generated. Examples of variations and correction are:

What’s this thing called love?What’s this thing called, love?What’s this? Thing called, love.The Australian wombat is reckless; it eats roots and leaves.The Australian wombat is reckless; it eats, roots, and leaves.For sale: books, DVDs and CDs.A woman without her man is nothing. A woman – without her, man is nothing.The king of France was talking to me an hour after he was guillotined.The king of France was talking to me. An hour after, he was guillotined.Winner’s photo published today.Winners’ photo published today.Woman given two weeks’ notice. ‘Unfair dismissal’ screams union.He cried. ‘Why not go now?’ she replied in the negative.He cried ‘Why not go now?’ She replied in the negative.It’s going. That will be fortunate.Its going – that will be fortunate.

Exercise: Find and correct the punctuation, syntax and spelling errors in this text.Do u no Ryan wot he did last weekend. (5 errors)He goed to the beach with he’s family. (2 errors)First, Ryan builded a huger sand castle. Which was fun. (4 errors)


Then, he collect seashell’s and rock’s After that. (5 errors)he goed swimming with his brother. (2 errors)Their enjoying a wonderful time at they’re beach. (2 errors)if its too late to ring it’s number how will I know if its the right company (5 errors)hey youse academix dont use normal englsih lol (6 errors)

Answers:Do you know what Ryan did last weekend? (Note that he is elided as it is a double subject.)He went to the beach with his family.First, Ryan built a huge sand castle, which was fun. (Note the comparative form cannot be used if there is no previous referent, and if it was used, it should be the form ‘bigger’, as ‘huger’ does not exist as a comparative form, except in informal usage.)Then he collected seashells and rocks. After that, he went swimming with his brother. (Note that the comma after ‘then’ is not necessary, but it is possible to use a comma after ‘after that’.)They’re enjoying a wonderful time at their beach.If it’s too late to ring its number, how will I know if it’s the right company?You academics don’t use normal English.

The increasing use of informal registers and textspeak is a major concern. It indicates that some students do not understand or observe boundaries of politeness and distance. Apart from the errors in the final example, the sentence itself is inappropriate in academic English. We use lecture and tutorial time to explain to students that emails and face-to-face interactions need to observe certain protocols and that these are opportunities to practice the academic register.

There are many other instances of errors available from various sources, but some of the best exercises can be taken from authentic student essays. We have developed a page of these errors for our own use, and we recommend you compile your own version.

A good resource is at <www.grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/ a/punctrules.htm>.

Cohesion

This type of textual exercise can be managed easily in tutorial time. The first text should be shown to students without any underlining, so that students can identify the various parts of speech and then identify how these elements work together. The underlined version can then be shown to students to show how the incidence


of particular items can work for cohesion. Show the second text to students, firstly without any underlining, and ask them to identify the problems with it. The underlined text can then be shown to indicate how the elements do not work together.

As part of the exercise, students should be encouraged to work together in groups to sort out the sentence construction. These group efforts can then be compared; it is likely that there will be several, equally viable, solutions and this plurality should be encouraged.

A Good Text

In this academic text coherence is managed without difficulty, using various creative techniques of elision: pronoun substitution, anaphoric-cataphoric reference, adverbial/prepositional phrase onset and a variety of conjunctions. Some of this you may find useful in demonstrating to students; otherwise, use some of the more basic ideas to show how expression can be varied to create interest and cohesion.

Swift also uses satire to comment on domestic politics in England. After his return to his native land, Gulliver feels alienated from its human inhabitants. Rather than live with his wife and children, Swift’s Gulliver feels more comfortable living in the stable with the family’s horses. By linking domestic intolerance to the condition of the returned traveller, Swift suggests that Gulliver’s fate is typical of the person who views English society from the position of the outsider. After experiencing the world beyond England, no reader can reasonably expect Gulliver to ever be, truly, a part of it again.

Double underlining indicates the use of main nouns (head noun phrases) and their pronominal replacements. The text uses a complex phrasing and clause structure, but there is no confusion because the text separates the referents. These several referents (common nouns, proper nouns, pronouns) are systematically used. Note the way Gulliver is repeated four times in successive sentences in order to disambiguate the reference; there is no confusion as to which person the author is referring to, even when plural referents are in the same sentence.

Single underlining identifies all the subsidiary nouns (and noun phrases with adjectives as modifiers). Nominalisation is a common feature of academic writing. In this case adjectives are also a very common feature. We can consider the adjectives and nouns together as noun phrases. They function most typically as subjects, objects or complements.

Wavy underlining shows the links and tension points. They link items of reference and suggest implicit or explicit tension, from one sentence to the next. The item


also in the first sentence offers a transition: we know that Swift has already been referred to (in a paragraph or sentence which is implicitly ‘there’) as having done something because also signals an addition of action. Green items are typically adverbs or adverbial phrases: they suggest contrast, addition or manner.

Items with dotted underlining are typically the verb phrases and function words such as prepositions and adverbs. They tend to disappear into the background because the noun phrases dominate so much. Of course, the verbs are very important. Note how some of these are in the form of infinitives: to comment, to ever be. Another feature of the text is the use of the definite article, which serves to disambiguate the pronominal and nominal usage as well. Note also how the author uses the present tense for much of the descriptive functionality of the text, so that it operates as a narrative.

A Bad Text

The following is taken from a newspaper article.4

INSIDE Gould’s Book Arcade – Sydney’s unkempt temple of the printed world – little seems to have changed in decades.

Books still spill over in piles that force customers to shuffle crab-like between the shelving, and the range of works – from the romantic frisson of Tall, Dark and Dangerous to the keys to the doors of perception (Growing the Hallucinogens) to a self-published pamphlet of Jim Cairns – remains as catholic as ever.

Customers still dawdle their way through the Newtown store but they are ageing, like the owner. Mr Gould – the one-time firebrand who organised the anti-Vietnam War protest that provoked the then premier Robert Askin to utter his “run over the bastards” line and helped chase down the man who shot the ALP leader Arthur Calwell – moves very slowly these days.

Genre is important to note here: it is media writing. However, this does not mean that the journalist can write in confusing English. Indeed, the same types of errors present in this text are common, not only in student writing, but also in academic writing.

Apart from the high adjectival use, the clausal construction slows the reader down. It is often ambiguous and the embedded clauses (including dash, parenthetical and appositive phrases) offer too much information. They also introduce multiple

4 Andrew Stevenson, “Novel character who knows every trick in the book”, Sydney Morning Herald (March 26, 2011), <www.smh.com.au/nsw/novel-character-who-knows-every-trick-in-the-book-20110325-1c9yn.html>.


subjects in the same clause. This confuses the reader because we are not sure which information relates to which subject.

In the first paragraph, the construction is complex but it works well. The real problems occur in the next two paragraphs. Agreement between verbs and nouns serves to help us decode which referent is doing what, but this is simply hard work, and in some cases it doesn’t really help at all. Without the bold and colour highlighting, the elements do not work together well for cohesion.

An example of identification and repair would be:Books still spill over in piles that force customers … We are not sure whether that refers to the books or to the piles. It could be either, as the plural nouns both agree with the verb force.to shuffle crab-like between the shelving, and the range of works -…The sentence should have ended with shelving. This is because the coordinator (and) seems to link with the main verb of the previous clause, so that the customers are shuffling between the shelving and the range of works. The next clause should start a new sentence thus: The range of works remains as catholic as ever: from the romantic frisson … this would place the list last. There is still a problem, of course, with the embedded clause containing a parenthetical phrase. This is the title of the book referred to (Growing the Hallucinogens), as well as its description (the keys to the doors of perception). This doubling up of referents needs demarcation and a consistent use of parentheses. One solution would be to leave the titles in parentheses and the descriptions as a prior referent.

In the third paragraph, the main problem is the multiplicity of noun phrases, with their referents competing for the limited number of verbs and pronouns, so that we are not really sure who is doing what. A simple solution would be to remove the dashes and to rephrase the content as separate compound sentences.

Other Items of Expression

Rhetorical and Exclamatory Questions

The exclamatory question and the rhetorical question do not belong in the essay. Many students use them, perhaps as a ‘leftover’ from school. We suggest that you try to rid essays of these items which are, in reality, ‘non-questions’. The fact that some academics use them as oratorical devices means that students will attempt to imitate them in their essay writing.

There are several reasons why they should not be used. The first is that they are replaceable with statements of force. For example, the rhetorical question: Aren’t students supposed to be studying when they are at university? is replaceable with the


statement: Students are meant to be studying when they are at university; the question remains as to why many of them do not do so. Students should be encouraged to see that an open question rephrased as a thesis statement is more effective than a rhetorical question.

The second reason is that the (prosodic) upward intonation of a question can be annoying when reading and marking an essay. This is even more problematic for the exclamatory question because it is, prosodically, the equivalent of being yelled at – with upward intonation.

The third reason is that we recommend students follow the maxim: don’t ask a question unless you know the answer. Many times a student will provide the question/s, only to leave them unanswered. Students who don’t understand the function of such questions may drop them into their essays in an attempt to sound like their lecturers, despite not knowing the answers themselves.

The other reason to avoid these questions is because any question, no matter how narrowly phrased, is to some extent undecidable. This is especially true for rhetorical and exclamatory questions. The answer is meant to be in the question itself, but we can’t ever really be sure if the student is being clever or is simply trying to take a shortcut and make us do the rhetorical–interpretive work for them. After all, the student is meant to be answering the essay question, not asking us more questions.

Some of our favourite examples from student essays are:Wasn’t that great?!Wasn’t that awful?!Do children really need this type of close supervision?!Do the media really understand women?!Do the Cronulla riots represent white Australia, or is white Australia represented by the Cronulla riots?This begs the question: was Plato a misanthropist?What do we learn from this?

To which we would respond: What is the point of asking a rhetorical question if a rhetorical question doesn’t belong in an essay?

A Quick Exercise in Accurate and Effective Expression

This is a tutorial exercise we use to determine high-level language awareness. Students should be able to articulate reasons why some sentences are better than others. We also use students’ writing as exercise examples, to assist in personalising the constructive suggestions. Many more of these writing ideas can be found in the chapter on essay writing.


Below are some more examples of sentence constructions which could be better. This may involve rephrasing.

1 Avoid contractions.It’s impossible to install these measures if the person won’t allow it.It is not possible to install these measures if the person will not allow it.

In the lineal sense order of English sentence construction, to use contractions is not only inappropriate for the academic register, it also weakens force. By leaving the contractions out, it obliges the reader to read every single word in order: this places stress on the negations. The reader then notices this duplication more. It is obvious that the negation of one clause sense (the main clause) is conditional on the negation of the dependent clause, as indicated by the subordinator if.

2 Use the more appropriate negative forms.The government did not allocate much funding for the program.Little government funding was allocated for the program.

In this case, we want to move away from the negation, because it is contained within (and obscured by) the main clause. We want to stress the negative aspects of not much funding, so we move it to the front of the sentence. We also use an adjectival construction (more concisely as little) rather than an adverbial-adjectival combination. It thus employs the contextual negative connotations of deficiency. This way we also stress it as part of the head noun phrase: its occurrence at the start of the sentence means we notice it first and we retain it longer by association.

3 Limit vague ‘run-ons’.The people attending included teachers, students, and so forth, etc.The people who attended were all interested parties in local educational outcomes: teachers, students, administration staff, and parents.

If we are going to mention people, we need to contextualise them as referents. If the context is narrow enough, we should identify it. Then the range of people involved also becomes more specific, and because there aren’t that many different categories, we should itemise them. To use so forth or etc is to indicate laziness or a lack of knowledge, or perhaps that we were in a hurry.

4 Limit use of pronouns for address.So you know what I mean when I say this.The meaning in this instance is immediately apparent.

As mentioned in the textbook, some tutors may insist on the use of personal pronouns; others may insist that they are not used. Either way, the direct addressing


of the reader is unlikely to be favourably received. In our opinion, personal pronoun usage weakens the power of the essay’s language and subverts the essay form itself.

5 Avoid vague (contradictory and tautological) forms.pretty muchmore nicervery kind ofreally goodreally like sort ofin my opinion

If we ‘hedge’ our expression, we are undecided and hesitant. We are also expressing illogicality. None of these forms should appear in an essay; they are conversational items and belong in that register.

6 Place adverbs within the verb phrase (or just rephrase).Actually, very little is known about the extinction of megafauna.Very little is actually known about the extinction of megafauna.In reality, very little is known about the true causes of megafauna extinction.

Reason: the item actually is mostly associated with the conversational register and is overused. As with literally, it is typically not used the right way either. It can be used so long as it is used well, and sparingly. As an adverbial conjunction, it must refer to information which preceded the sentence, so if the topic has not been already introduced in the frame of some contestable information, it doesn’t relate to anything except itself. Note also how the third example is easier to say out loud. There is a phonetic reason for this, and it is not a bad idea for students to read aloud their essays, to see how they ‘sound’, before submitting their final drafts. In addition, the order of sense focuses the reader on the idea of very little and in reality, so that the rest of the sentence is ordered for the reception of what this reality might be.

7 Succinctness is better than many words.Persons undertaking the exit strategy should egress via the most immediately available method of departure, within a constrained lineal measurement.Leave now.

Succinctness is usually tied together with accuracy. Students typically suffer from the transition to writing from speaking: their sentences can run into many lines and even whole paragraphs. Note how the redundant information in the first example is ‘official’ sounding. It is a common error for students to misapply the formal register when trying to sound profound. They are not alone in this. Many instances


of this type of writing can be found in government and business communications. A good exercise is to get students to put together sentences like this one in class in order to obfuscate, or hide meaning, then to see if other students can decipher their meaning. A thesaurus is a good resource for this exercise.

Advanced Sentence Analysis

The following is an example of advanced language analysis. If students are up to this level it is very instructive.

The exercise should be stepped. Students should first label the word class for each item; then identify phrases; then identify clauses; then construct a hierarchy of how these elements fit together. The purpose of such an analysis is to demonstrate to students how lineal sense order works to accumulate feeling, logicality and power of expression. The same concepts can be applied to their own writing. For the purposes of this exercise, it is still important to note the first person usage and its genre (oratory-speech), but to note that the structure is worthy of analysis and imitation.

The whole text:

Winston churchill

4 June 1940

i have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected,

and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove

ourselves once again able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of

war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary

alone.

at any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. that is the resolve of his

majesty’s government—every man of them. that is the will of parliament and

the nation.

the British empire and the French republic, linked together in their cause and in

their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good

comrades to the utmost of their strength.

even though large tracts of europe and many old and famous states have fallen

or may fall into the grip of the gestapo and all the odious apparatus of nazi

rule, we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas

and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the


air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the

beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and

in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if,

which i do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were

subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded

by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in god’s good time, the

new World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the

liberation of the old.5

Textual Analysis (Excerpt)

paragraph 1: discussion

The initial and principal main clause (I have myself full confidence) is linked by that to another main clause (we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home), which in turn is linked elliptically to other equal-status clauses (to ride out the storm of war; to outlive the menace of tyranny). They are coordinated by and.

All other clauses are conditional and subordinated with each other (if all do their duty; if nothing is neglected; if the best arrangements are made; if necessary for years; if necessary alone). A coordinated clause (they are being made) is linked by as to these conditional clauses, but remains a conditional (relative) clause itself.

It is obvious therefore that the propositional content can be rephrased as:I have myself full confidence that we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home (and) (I have myself full confidence that we shall prove ourselves once again able) to ride out the storm of war (and) (I have myself full confidence that we shall prove ourselves once again able) to outlive the menace of tyranny.

This content is modified by if for the following conditional clauses: if all do their duty; if nothing is neglected; if the best arrangements are made; if necessary for years; if necessary alone.

The clausal element (as they are being made) is attached only to the one conditional clause (if the best arrangements are made), and can be considered as either an internal clausal element or as a coordinated, intact clause but subordinate to all others.

5 Sourced March 12, 2012 at: <www.presentationhelper.co.uk/winston_churchill_speech_fight_them_on_beaches.htm>.


paragraph 1: labelling of elements and hierarchy tree

I have, myself, full confidence

that

if all do their duty,

if nothing is neglected,

and

if the best arrangements are made,

as they are being made,

we shall prove ourselves once again able

to ride out the storm of war,

and to outlive the menace of tyranny,

if necessary for years,

if necessary alone.

Step 1: hierarchy of sentence and clause-phrase meaning

to defend our Island home,

full confidence

their duty,

and

are being made,as they

are made,

if the best arrangements

Step 2: hierarchy showing phrase and clause elements

Sentence 2: conditional (dependent) clause

Sentence 3: conditional (dependent) clause

Sentence 4: conditional (dependent) clause linked by co-ordinator

HeadNounPhrasePronoun

verb phrase

verb

co-ordinatingconjunction

subordinatingconjunction

co-ordinatingconjunction

subordinator definitearticle

noun phraseadjective + noun

adverbial phraseadverb pronoun copular verb + auxiliary verb + lexical verb

noun phrasepronoun

nounphrase

noun phraseadjective + noun

noun phrasepronoun + noun

have, myself,

if do

that

I

subordinatingconjunction

noun phrase verb phrasecopular verb

lexical verbpast tense

neglected,if nothing is

all

verb phrasecopular verb + lexical verb

if necessary alone.subordinator adjectival phrase adverbial phrase

(adverb)

Sentence 9: conditional (dependent) clause linked by subordinator

if necessary for years,subordinator adjectival phrase adverbial phrase (adverb + noun)

verb phrase(infinitive form of phrasal verb)

definite article noun phrase(noun + preposition + noun)

to outlive the menace of tyranny,

Sentence 8: conditional (dependent) clause linked by subordinator

Sentence 7: main (independent) clause



andco-ordinating conjunction with:

verb phrase(infinitive form of phrasal verb)

definite article noun phrase(noun + preposition + noun)

storm of war,theto ride out

verb phrase (infinitive form) noun phrase (pronoun + noun + noun)

adverbialphrase

adjectivalphrase

nounphrase

modalverb

lexicalverb

noun phrase(pronoun)

ourselveswe shall prove

our Island home,to defend

once again able



Final sentence

The final sentence is distinctive for its length, which is intact for its original punctuation (or lack of it) in its spoken form. It could just as easily be divided into independent sentences, which indicates that it consists of a series of main clauses. It is also distinctive for elision (of and) since there are very few link words, only commas and a semicolon. The clauses could be linked by and but this would eliminate the cumulative sense and rhythm. Each clause commences with a modal indicative future verb and a first person plural pronoun. The use of and in (seas and oceans; growing confidence and growing strength; the fields and in the streets) can also be considered as signifying further divisions into more independent clauses.

We shall go on to the end (and), we shall fight in France, (and)we shall fight on the seas and oceans,we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,we shall fight on the beaches,we shall fight on the landing grounds,we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,we shall fight in the hills;we shall never surrender,

The rhythm is broken up by whatever the cost may be, and then the subordinator phrases (and even if; which I do not for a moment believe; then our Empire; until, in God’s good time) signify a shift in ideas, content and rhythm, as well as subordinate information status.

79

ResourcesThis appendix offers the following resources:

■■ Sample writing tasks

■■ Sample glossary and grammar quizzes and a topic sentence exercise

■■ Sample referencing assessment.

Topic Sentence Exercise

Time allowed: 15–25 minutes

This exercise on topic sentences may be delivered as early as week 4 in order that students have

the opportunity to practise topic sentences in the second and third Writing Task Assessments.

PurPose

The aim of this exercise is to introduce the basic structure of topic sentences by asking students

to ‘repair’ faulty topic sentences. By the end of this exercise, students should understand that

a topic sentence establishes one major point of argument for each paragraph. This should go

some way towards preventing students from trying to make too many arguments in a single

paragraph. Students will learn to identify when they are setting up paragraphs with separate

arguments, or no arguments at all.

Need to KNow

■■ The topic sentence contains a topic and a controlling idea.

■■ The topic sentence must set up an argument.

■■ The topic sentence should contain only one point of argument.

■■ The topic sentence does not contain evidence for the main point.

■■ For the purposes of this exercise, the topic sentence is ostensibly the first sentence in the

paragraph.

■■ For the purposes of this exercise, students need not have evidence to support the claim

made in the topic sentence. In fact, students need not even believe their own claims.

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exercise

on the board, present four or five inadequate topic sentences. That is, the sentences should

contain a topic but no controlling idea. examples include:

■■ Smoking is banned in pubs and restaurants.

■■ Some refugees arrive in Australia by boat.

■■ Some young children are obese.

■■ The Japanese hunt whales in the Southern ocean.

iNstructioNs

Students select one sentence and redraft it to include a controlling idea (ten minutes). The

sentence may be reworked as much as necessary to suit the student’s ideas and writing style.

Students should underline the topic and the controlling idea.

Tutors should check that each student has included a suitable controlling idea and that the topic

sentence establishes only one argument for the paragraph. Students whose work does not meet

these criteria should redraft their sentences. Students who are struggling to create a sentence

might be prompted to think about who (or what) is ‘to blame’ for a topic. For example, Who

is to blame for obesity in young children? (parents, fast food outlets, advertising, sedentary

lifestyles).

Repeat the exercise with a second sentence (five minutes).

ReSouRceS 81

Writing Task 1 Clearing the Cobwebs Free

Discussion time: 15–20 minutes

Writing time: 10 minutes

PurPose

A free writing task is a useful first exercise, especially given that first-year students may not

have done any substantial writing for several months before arriving at university. Ideally, this

task would be delivered towards the end of the first tutorial or at the beginning of the week

2 tutorial. Tell students that they will not be required to share this work with the class (unless

they volunteer afterwards) and that the tutor will not be collecting the work. (We have found

that it is usually unproductive for tutors to collect written work this early in the semester.)

exercise

Allow up to 20 minutes of discussion time on the allocated text and note major points on the

board to which students can refer later. A general question – for instance, “What is the author’s

main argument?” – is often sufficient for this exercise.

iNstructioNs for studeNts

■■ Focus on speed over quality – do not stop writing.

■■ Do not erase anything.

■■ Write in your own words – do not use direct quotations.

■■ Leave a space and keep going if you can’t think of the right word.

The tutor might offer support to students struggling with this task by asking them individually

to explain (verbally) what they think the author is trying to say.

Ask students to volunteer to read a couple of lines of their work at the end of the task or to

explain how their ideas developed during the writing process.

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Writing Task 2 Summary

Discussion time: 20 minutes

Writing time: 15 minutes (with a possibility of adding an extra 10 minutes)

PurPose

This writing task is intended to develop students’ skills in close reading, identifying the argument

and paraphrasing. The task may be delivered in weeks 2 or 3 as a feeder exercise for the first

assessable writing task. That is, this writing task can be on the same text that is being used for

the first written assessment and could contribute to a portion of the first assessment.

The discussion preceding the writing task should include an explanation of the term thesis and

the identification of the author’s main argument(s).

optional prompters may be provided on the board to help those students who are having

trouble beginning their writing.

exercise

Students are asked to write two paragraphs summarising the text, in their own words. The

author’s thesis should be included in the summary.


Write a summary of the text.

■■ Include a thesis statement (highlight it).

■■ Delineate the author’s main arguments, not the examples used to prove the arguments. Take

a wide view of the aims and methods of the text.

■■ Paraphrase – the summary should be all in your own words with no substantive quotations

from the text.

■■ Remain neutral; that is, do not include any evaluative language. Your reader should not know

whether or not you agree with the author.

■■ Length: 10–15 ll.

optional prompters:

In his article, X argues/claims/makes the case for …

X establishes her argument by …

A key concern of the text is …

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VariatioN

As an advanced exercise or for more accomplished cohorts, the summary can focus on a

particular aspect of the text. For example:

■■ Summarise the text for an essay arguing that the author’s ideas infantilise adult learners.

■■ Summarise the article for an essay arguing for a pedagogical bridge between high school and

university.

■■ Summarise the linguistic/rhetorical techniques the author uses to support her argument.

■■ Summarise the text for an essay arguing that in persuasive writing, technique is as

important as the content of the argument. Your answer may include (but is not limited to)

a focus on rhetorical techniques, literary techniques, language usage and structure.

■■ Summarise the argument to which the author is responding, as represented in the text.

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Writing Task 3 Critical Summary Writing Task


PurPose

This task extends the work on writing summaries begun in the previous writing task by including

an evaluative component. Students continue to practise their paraphrasing skills.

This task can be set as the first in-class writing assessment. It should be administered as an

open-book, open-dialogue assessment, in which you are free to help students who are struggling

with their work or who would like feedback during the assessment. Students should be

encouraged to see trial and error and redrafting as normal parts of the writing process.

The task can be collected for marking at the end of the class, or you may instruct the students

to email a clean copy by the end of the day. If the assessments are to be collected at the end of

the class, remind students ten minutes before the end to prepare a legible copy if necessary.

exercise

This task adapts the idea of analysing the author or critic’s ideas before presenting one’s

own, outlined in Gerald Graff and cathy Birkenstein’s They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in

Academic Writing, second edition (New York: Norton, 2010).

The task is broken down into three separate paragraphs summarising the argument to which

the author is responding [They Say]; the author’s argument [The Author Says]; and the student’s

evaluation of the author’s argument [I Say]. For the middle paragraph, students may reuse or

adapt the summaries they have written in the previous week’s assignment.

Remind students that the evaluation required in the third paragraph should be based on how

well the author has presented his or her case, and not on the student’s personal experience

(unless this happens to be relevant for your course).

Strong examples of each section can be read aloud the following week.


Word limit: 400 words

construct three paragraphs using the following criteria as your structure. You may use the

prompter templates provided if they are helpful to you, but they are not compulsory.

The task is assessing your paraphrasing skills, so no substantial quotations should appear in

the work.

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evaluate the author’s argument. The language you use should indicate whether the author has

succeeded in making his or her argument.

1 To what argument is the author responding?

– Some critics have argued that …

– It is a commonly held belief that …

2 What is the author’s argument?

– In his article, X argues …

– However, X makes the claim that …

– In contrast to the dominant view, X puts forward the idea that …

3 evaluate the author’s argument.

X’s argument is convincing/unconvincing/compelling in some areas but unconvincing in

others because …

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Writing Task 4 Body Paragraph Writing Task

Discussion time: 20 minutes or as available


PurPose

This task is intended to help students work on their body paragraph writing skills. It reinforces

the need for each body paragraph in an essay to concentrate on a single point of argument.

Students are allowed to introduce quotations from the text.

This task can be used as the second in-class writing assessment.

A lesson on topic sentences should precede this task.

exercise

Provide students with a text and an essay question. unless the text is brief and/or simple,

give it to students the week before the assessment, allowing some discussion time before

the writing task.

Students are asked to draft two body text paragraphs in response to the essay question

provided. The paragraphs should each contain a single argument that is a valid response to the

essay question. The paragraphs might develop quite distinct ideas that don’t necessarily ‘talk

to each other’. At this stage, the completeness of the paragraph is more important than the

coherence of the overall argument that would, hypothetically, emerge from these responses.


construct two body text paragraphs in response to this essay question. That is, do not include an

Introduction or conclusion.

each paragraph must contain a topic sentence. Highlight it. This is part of the assessment.

Total word count: 400–450 words

Follow the following format for each paragraph.

1 Topic sentence (highlight it.)

2 explain what you mean by your topic sentence in relation to the text (in your own words.)

Prompters:

In other words, …

What this mean is …

3 Add evidence from the text – a paraphrase or direct quotation.

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4 Analyse the quotation.

Prompters:

X suggests/infers/describes/explains/criticises

While X makes a good point about [this issue], …

X’s idea about … is persuasive because

The connotation here is that …

The implication is …

5 explain the significance of this information for the topic of the paragraph. (So what?)

Prompters:

What this means for [this issue] is …

This is significant because …

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Writing Task 5 Advanced Body Paragraph Writing Task

Discussion time: 20 minutes or as available


PurPose

This task extends the practice paragraph writing tasks by including a thesis statement.

In addition, the paragraphs need to be complementary.

The task helps students refine their focus when answering an essay question by having them

explore two aspects of a single theme.

This task may be set as the third in-class writing assessment.

exercise

As with previous exercises, students are presented with a reading before the class. Some

discussion time should be provided if practicable.

This task asks students to construct two or three body paragraphs in response to an essay

question relating to the set reading. The paragraphs must be examining a common theme and

each paragraph examines a single aspect of that theme.

Students provide what is effectively a proto-thesis statement that indicates what their focus is

and that links their paragraphs to the essay question.

Although students are given the option to include a third paragraph, this is not mandatory and

should not necessarily impact on their marks. Students should judge whether they need a third

paragraph in order to develop their ideas fully. Two complete paragraphs may be sufficient,

depending on the argument pursued.

Students should be encouraged, before they begin writing, to draft a small essay plan that

identifies their main theme and the evidence they intend to use.

This exercise is prone to a few false starts for some students. Work closely with students who

are having difficulty beginning the task by prompting them to think about what they find most

compelling in the text and help them come up with two reasonable points they could develop

from these ideas.

Another strategy is to ask students to identify the two quotations that match the theme they

wish to pursue. Students then use the quotations as the basis for their piece by writing the

quotation in the middle of their page and then analysing it. once the student has identified

the main idea in the quotation, he or she can use this to construct the topic sentence and fill

in the missing parts of the paragraph.

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To complete the writing task, you need to construct two to three body text paragraphs

answering the essay question provided. (This will not be a complete answer to the essay

question.)

Your answer should be developing a single theme or idea (i.e. the paragraphs should

complement each other).

Word range: 400–450 words.

Points of assessment:

■■ Preceding your answer, write the theme or topic you will be examining in your paragraphs.

This needs to be a complete sentence. (You might need to do this last, or review the

sentence at the end to make sure that it matches what you have actually written.)

■■ Include a topic sentence in each paragraph. Highlight it.

■■ explain the topic sentence in your own words.

■■ Include evidence from the text – paraphrase or direct quotation.

■■ Analyse the evidence.

■■ explain why this point is significant. (So what?)

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Writing Task 6 Introducing Research Material

Time allowed: 1 week

PurPose

This task asks students to introduce appropriate research material into their paragraphs and to

reference this material correctly. Students also practise writing thesis statements.

Lessons on referencing and research should precede this task.

exercise

Possible options for setting up this task include:

1 Providing students with a primary source and asking them to find a suitable secondary

source in order to answer a set essay question.

2 Asking students to research an idea or argument raised in the lecture.

The task asks students to present two or three body text paragraphs and to introduce a

secondary source into the work. correct referencing must be presented, including a reference list.


The task is made up of the following three components. They are all assessable and compulsory

elements in the assessment.

1 construct two to three body text paragraphs answering the essay question on the primary

source text or topic you have chosen to examine. Your answer should be developing a single

theme or idea (i.e. the paragraphs should complement each other).

2 In addition, you must supply a thesis statement at the top of your page. Label it.

3 each paragraph must contain a topic sentence. Highlight it.

You should not include an Introduction or conclusion in the task.

research aNd refereNciNg requiremeNts

You must use one secondary source as part of your research. The source must be a scholarly

source (academic book or journal article), and it must be referenced correctly. Newspaper

articles and magazine articles are not scholarly sources and may not be used for this task. You

must show correct and complete referencing for this task. This includes footnotes or in-text

citations and a reference list based on the chicago or MLA documentation styles.

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Keep in mind that this task is principally assessing you on your close reading skills. The research

should be supporting your argument.

VariatioN

For more advanced classes, the requirements for this task may be extended to include an

Introduction and conclusion, more research material, and a larger word limit (say 500–600

words). The task can be based on the final essay questions if tutors wish their students to

present essay drafts for review or assessment.

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Sample Grammar Quiz

Student name:

Student number:

Instructions: this is an open book exam; mark one answer only; 1 hour allowed (unless prior

approval has been arranged via unit coordinator); no collusion.

1 Subject–verb agreement. choose the correct form of the verb in the following sentence so

that there is agreement between the subject and the verb: “She (verb) at the shops”.

a works

b work

c working

d was work

e will works

2 Modal auxiliary verbs. Modal auxiliary verbs add sense to, and must always precede:

a other modal auxiliary verbs

b the prepositional phrase

c the noun phrase

d the main verb

e the singular subject

3 Verb pronoun agreement. In the following sentence, select the correct form of the verb: “All

of the students (verb) going to the play”.

a is

b are

c will

d was

e won't

4 Plural subject–verb agreement. Select the correct form of the verb in the following

sentence: “Drought and floods (verb) problems for farmers”.

a presents

b generates

c makes

d causes

e cause

5 Fragments. A fragment is an incomplete sentence. What is missing from the following

sentence: “These books found on the lower shelf”.

a isn’t

b were

c never

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d can

e can’t

6 The participial phrase. Identify the past participial phrase which can be added to the

following fragment to complete a sentence: “(Phrase), she entered the hall”.

a Prepared for anything

b Looking upstairs

c Finding the door

d Noting her surroundings

e Preparing for anything

7 The infinitive verb phrase. Identify the infinitive verb phrase in the following sentence: “His

ability to play full back was capitalised on by the club”.

a by the club

b football

c His ability

d to play fullback

e was capitalised on

8 The apostrophe. Identify the sentence which correctly uses the apostrophe:

a Its never too late to see its results.

b It’s never too late to see its results.

c Its never too late to see it’s results.

d It’s never too late to see it’s results.

e Its’ never too late to see its’ results.

9 The apostrophe. Identify the sentence with no mistakes in the use of the apostrophe:

a They saw the car’s and bikes at Kings cross.

b Kings cross has many cars and bikes on it’s streets.

c Kings cross is not known for its cars and bikes.

d Kings’ cross is well known for cars and bikes.

e Kings cross is well known for its car's and bikes’.

10 Sentence endings. There are three ways to end a sentence. They are:

a the comma and the definite article

b the semicolon, the full colon and the question mark

c the full stop, the colon and the exclamation mark

d the full stop, the exclamation mark and the question mark

e the full stop, the comma and the question mark

11 The dash. The dash is designed to replace the:

a colon or semicolon

b full stop

c comma

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d quotation mark

e inverted comma

12 Italics. Italicised words in an essay typically indicate the words are being:

a marked for stress

b quoted

c misquoted

d capitalised

e inverted

13 Quotation marks. Quotation marks are used when:

a I can’t find the reference

b the inverted commas just don’t seem good enough

c the usage is ironic

d direct speech of another person is being quoted

e the usage is non-literal

14 The active voice. The active voice in essay writing means when we:

a emphasise the activity of the complement in a sentence

b emphasise the activity of the subject in a sentence

c emphasise the activity of the object in a sentence

d emphasise the activity of the verb in a sentence

e emphasise the activity of the verb phrase in a sentence

15 The passive voice. The passive voice in essay writing is when we:

a emphasise the action undergone by the subject in a sentence

b emphasise the action undergone by the object in a sentence

c emphasise the action taken by the subject in a sentence

d emphasise the action undergone by the complement in a sentence

e emphasise the action undergone by the verb phrase in a sentence

16 The use of and and but. Beginning a sentence with either and or but is typically incorrect in

the formal register because:

a they are simply overused

b they are coordinators used to link two dependent clauses

c they are subordinators used to link two dependent clauses

d they are subordinators used to link two independent clauses

e they are coordinators used to link two independent clauses

17 use of the single inverted comma. use of the single inverted comma can signal when:

a the referent is non-literal or is being used in a non-standard sense

b it is a direct quotation

c we have referred to the lexeme previously

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d capitalisation is incorrect

e italicisation is inadequate

18 Punctuation. Punctuation began as an attempt to:

a imitate prosody and the natural expression of the voice

b imitate silences in the text

c initiate paper shortages so as to capitalise on a trade deficit

d restrict the emotional nature of language

e permit the even-toned rendition of the academic register

19 The comma. Identify the best use of the comma in the following sentences:

a Wherever, the sun is shining, children can be, found playing outside.

b Wherever, the sun is, shining, children can be found playing outside.

c Wherever the sun is, shining children can be found playing, outside.

d Wherever the sun is shining, children can be found playing outside.

e Wherever, the sun is shining, children can be found, playing outside.

20 Punctuation and spelling errors. How many punctuation and spelling errors can you find in

the following sentence: “Do u no wot Ryan he did”.

a 1

b 2

c 3

d 4

e 5

21 More error spotting. Identify the correct sentence from the following examples:

a They’re having a party over there at their house.

b Ther’e have a party over there at their house.

c There have a party over there at there house.

d Their have a party over there at there house.

e They’re have a party over there at they’re house.

22 The full colon. Identify the correct usage of the full colon in the following sentences:

a There are three people here; George, Mali and Mo.

b There are three people: here George, Mali and Mo.

c There are three people here: George, Mali and Mo.

d There are three people here; George; Mali; and Mo.

e There are three people here George, Mali and Mo.

23 The hyphen. The hyphen is different to the dash because:

a the hyphen is most commonly used in compound nouns

b the dash is most commonly used in compound nouns

c the dash is used to signal a complex sentence

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d the dash is not regarded highly by academics

e the dash is a poetic device

24 The semicolon. Where should the semicolon appear in the following sentence: “Academics

use many Latinate lexemes students need to imitate this usage”.

a Academics use many Latinate lexemes; students need to imitate this usage.

b Academics use many Latinate lexemes students; need to imitate this usage.

c Academics use many Latinate lexemes students need to imitate this; usage.

d Academics; use many Latinate lexemes students need to imitate this usage.

e Academics use; many Latinate lexemes students need to imitate this usage.

25 The dash. use a dash correctly in the following sentence: “Wherever the verb predicates the

action that is where the dash needs to go”.

a Wherever – the verb predicates the action that is where the dash needs to go.

b Wherever the verb predicates the action – that is where the dash needs to go.

c Wherever the verb predicates – the action that is where the dash needs to go.

d Wherever the verb predicates the action that is where – the dash needs to go.

e Wherever the verb predicates the action – that is where – the dash needs to go.

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Sample Glossary Quiz

Student name:

Student number:

Instructions: this is an open book exam; mark one answer only; 1 hour allowed (unless prior

approval has been arranged via unit coordinator); no talking or other communication with

anyone except the quiz monitor; no electronic devices.

1 etymology is:

a the study of the historical development of words as linguistic forms

b the study of insects

c the study of academic english

d the study of correct usage of linguistic forms

2 A language inventory is also known as:

a personal lexicon and vocabulary

b dictionary and thesaurus

c register and vernacular

d global language and idiom

3 A borrowing is:

a a language made up of foreign words

b a lexical item no longer used

c an invented lexical item

d a lexical item taken from another language

4 Morphology is the:

a study of painkillers

b study of the grammar of a language

c study of the structure, formation and grammatical parts of language

d study of words used to describe shapes

5 Grammar is:

a the study of the rules of language

b married to grandpa

c based on the spelling system

d highly unsystematic

6 Prescriptive grammar is:

a grandma at the chemist

b the study of grammar as actually used

c the application of rules in response to usage

d the application of rules in advance of usage

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7 Political correctness is:

a an ancient practice

b an artificial register, or intervention in language

c never a good thing

d a means of controlling disempowered people

8 A lexeme is:

a always more than one word

b never more than one word

c rarely more than one word

d at least one word

9 Which of the following is an accurate statement on sense?

a words by themselves actually make sense

b the sense of words never changes

c words only make sense when they are used in a sentence

d sense is always context free

10 Lexicology is the study and preparation of:

a synonyms

b dictionaries

c thesauruses

d tautologies

11 Arbitrary means:

a there is no obvious connection between the lexeme and what it signifies

b there is no obvious conventional agreement

c there is an obvious relation between the lexeme and what it signifies

d sound symbolism

12 orthography refers to:

a the writing system, including spelling, of a language

b the writing system, excluding spelling, of a language

c the sound system of a language

d the grammatical usage of orths

13 Which of the following is an example of a code?

a upward intonation

b the academic register

c falling intonation

d flat intonation

14 Syntax refers to:

a the internal grammatical structure of sentences

b the external grammatical structure of sentences

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c a tax on syn

d the sound quality of words

15 Which of the following is an example of a euphemism for the toilet?

a shithouse

b dunny

c bathroom

d bog

16 Your repertoire is your:

a ability to use a thesaurus

b inability to use language varieties

c ability to use language varieties correctly for the needs of the person you are addressing

d ability to use language varieties

17 The first truly global language was:

a Latin

b english

c Mandarin

d French

18 Which of the following sets of words are direct from old english?

a wife, house, cat, man, dog

b pretty, cute, beautiful, attractive

c ugly, awkward, husband

d taboo, taco, tattoo, macho

19 A neologism is:

a a new form which only appears once

b a new form which permanently enters the language

c an old form which reappears in the language

d a word borrowed from another language

20 A compound word is:

a broken in several places

b completely made up

c made by combining other words or parts of words into a new form

d made exclusively from nonce and neologisms

21 The word decimate once meant something very different to how it is used today. This

means:

a that most people who use it today are wrong

b that it should only be used in one way

c that usage is always wrong

d that usage is, sooner or later, the only rule that matters

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22 The spelling system in english:

a is the result of a language which was codified before it had finished developing

b is the result of a language which was codified before the invention of paper

c is the result of a language which was codified purely because of the Norman invasion

d is all the uSA’s fault

23 Syntax in english:

a is typically subject–object–verb order

b is typically verb–subject–object order

c is typically subject–verb–object order

d is typically complement–object–verb order

24 Lingua franca describes a language:

a which is tied exclusively to one geographical area

b which is tied exclusively to one social class

c which travels over geographical areas and across diverse linguistic environments

d which rarely travels over geographical areas or across diverse linguistic environments

25 Which of the following uses the apostrophe correctly?

a It’s time to use the apostrophe correctly in all sentences

b Its time to use the apostrophe correctly in all sentences

c Its time to use the apostrophe correctly in all sentence’s

d Its’ time to use the apostrophe correctly in all sentences

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Referencing Assessment

iNstructioNs for the educator

Some or all of the following material may be used to assess students’ referencing skills.

Multiple-choice questions are not ideal for this particular assessment task, since it requires

scaffolding-incremental learning; however, they may be used to introduce discussion about

what is appropriate use of source material. We have tried to embed in these questions some

of the issues common among students. For example, students are often under the impression

that material from the lecture may be used without attribution (see question 6, below).

A selection of ten multiple-choice questions, followed by some practical exercises, make a

complete lesson on academic referencing. A small number of questions specifically on the chicago

and MLA documentation styles have been included so that you can tailor the assessment to your

needs. of course, these questions can be adapted for use with another documentation style.

The final section calls for you to provide copies of sources (or even the sources themselves).

These are used as the basis of a reference list.

Given that there is little practical value in having students memorise referencing conventions, the

following questions are intended to be completed as part of an open-book assessment. Drafting

references is best tackled in a workshop environment so that students have an opportunity to

understand exactly what they need to be looking for (punctuation, italics, and so on).

The multiple-choice questions can be valued at one mark each. Suggested values have been

provided for other components. These values may be adjusted depending on the intended

degree of difficulty of the assessment.


circle the correct answer in the following questions.

academic integrity

1 Which of the following would constitute plagiarism?

a quoting from the footnotes of a text

b presenting a paraphrase without a page citation

c presenting an indented quotation without quotation marks

d ‘padding’ the reference list with texts you haven’t actually read

Answer: B

2 collusion is considered to be a problem at university because:

a The university doesn’t want students to discuss their ideas with each other

b The university values the individual more than the community

c It disadvantages students who don’t have friends

d It is a form of cheating

Answer: D

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3 Which of the following would constitute collusion?

a discussing the meaning of the essay question with another student

b lending another student a book from the course reading list

c giving another student your reference list to copy

d misleading another student about the research requirements for the essay

Answer: c

4 You have run your essay through Turnitin (a plagiarism detection program) before submitting

it. The similarity reading is 100% because you have previously submitted this essay for

another course. Is this likely to cause a problem when your tutor sees the similarity reading?

a No. You can’t plagiarise yourself, so resubmitting your essay is oK.

b Yes. It shows that you haven’t done extra reading since the first submission.

c Yes. You can’t submit the same work for different assessments.

d No. The first submission was for a different department.

Answer: c

referencing and citation

5 The main purpose of referencing is to:

a show that we have made use of another’s work

b demonstrate the quality of our sources

c show originality in our approach to the topic

d affirm the relevance of the critic’s work

Answer: A

6 Which of the following sources will not require a reference if quoted in an essay?

a the course lecture

b the essay question

c the Oxford English Dictionary

d Wikipedia

Answer: B

7 Information can be presented without a reference if it:

a is disputed

b has been published anonymously

c is considered to be common knowledge

d is in the public domain

Answer: c

8

It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in

the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabbin-doors crowded

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with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags,

and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of being

able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in

stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either

turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the

Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.

Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal

Which of the following presents the source material correctly?

a casual observers cannot help but feel compassion for those “beggars of the female sex

importuning every passenger for an alms”.

b When grown, beggars’ children “turn thieves for want of work ……. fight for the Pretender in

Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.”

c Burdened by large numbers of children, destitute women “beg sustenance for their helpless

infants … instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood”.

d Instead of earning a living through honest work, “beggars of the female sex … are forced to

employ all of their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants”.

Answer: D

Answer A needs an ellipsis between “sex” and “importuning”. Also, the full stop should be

inside the closing inverted commas.

Answer B has shown the ellipsis incorrectly (one dot for each word omitted, rather than

three dots).

Answer c has the quotations in the wrong order. The ellipsis cannot be used to reverse the

order of the text.

9

Faults, my friend, I hear you say; you take the matter in too general a sense; you

know there is but one fault which a woman of honor may not commit with

impunity; let her only take care that she is not caught in a love intrigue, and she

may lie, she may deceive, she may defame, she may ruin her own family with

gaming, and the peace of twenty others with her coquettry, and yet preserve

both her reputation and her peace.

catherine Macaulay, Letters on Education

Which of the following makes acceptable use of the source material?

a A “woman of honor” is free to “lie … deceive … defame … ruin her own family with gaming,”

as long as her virtue remains intact.

b “let her only take care that she is not caught in a love intrigue” and a woman may be guilty

of a catalogue of sins without repercussions.

c A woman’s “reputation and peace” is linked directly to her capacity to avoid being caught in

a love intrigue.

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d The ‘one fault which a woman of honor may not commit with impunity;” is sexual

indiscretion.

Answer: A

Answer B – The first letter of the quotation needs to be uppercase and in square brackets in

order to fit the grammar of the sentence: [L]et.

Answer c – The word her has been omitted from the quotation. The quotation must be

presented exactly as it appears in the original. Caught in a love intrigue should also be in

inverted commas.

Answer D – The opening and closing inverted commas are different. The semicolon isn’t

needed at the end of the quotation and should have been left out.

reference Lists

10 Reference lists are organised

a alphabetically by the author’s surname

b most cited to least cited

c alphabetically by title

d by publication date – newest to oldest

e by publication date – oldest to newest

Answer: A

11 In the chicago and MLA documentation styles, the reference list is presented with

a bullets

b numbers

c hanging indents

d first line indents

Answer: c

12 Which is a correct reference in the chicago style?

a Law, Stephen. Humanism: A Very Short Introduction. oxford: oxford university

Press, 2011.

b Stephen Law. Humanism: A Very Short Introduction. oxford university

Press, 2011.

c Law, Stephen. (2011). Humanism: A Very Short Introduction, oxford, oxford

university Press.

d Stephen Law. Humanism: A Very Short Introduction. oxford university Press:

oxford: 2011.

Answer: A

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13 Which is a correct reference in the MLA style?

a Le, Nam. The Boat. 2009. Victoria: Penguin.

b Le, Nam. The Boat. camberwell: Penguin, 2009. Print.

c Le, Nam. 2009. The Boat. camberwell: Penguin, Book.

d Le, Nam. The Boat. camberwell, Vic.: Penguin Books, 2009.

Answer: B

MLA does not require a state reference (Vic.).

14 Which is an example of a correct short-form footnote in the chicago style?

a Angela Downing and Philip Locke, English Grammar: A University Course, second ed.

(London: Routledge, 2006), 128–31.

b Downing and Locke, English Grammar, 128–31.

c Angela Downing & Philip Locke, English Grammar, second ed., 128–31

d Downing & Locke, English Grammar: A University Course, pp. 128–31.

Answer: B

Note that A is not exactly correct for a long-form footnote. The page reference would be set

off by a colon, not a comma, in the correct form.

15 Which is an example of a correct in-text citation in the MLA style?

a [Mantel, Wolf Hall, 2009, 87–8]

b [Mantel, 87–8]

c (Mantel 87–88)

d (Mantel, 2009, pp 87–88)

Answer: c

style and Presentation

16 Which of the following is the correct styling for a book title?

a “The Monk”

b “The Monk”

c The Monk

d The Monk

Answer: D

17 Which of the following is in italics?

a “The Wizard of oz”

b The Wizard of oz

c The Wizard of Oz

d The Wizard of oz

Answer: c

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18 Which of the following is a correct way to present page numbers?

a pp. 9

b p. 9–10

c pp. 9/10

d pp. 9–10

Answer: D

19 In the chicago and MLA documentation styles, quotations are indicated by:

a single inverted commas

b square brackets

c double inverted commas

d forward and backward slashes

Answer: c

20 Which of the following book titles have been presented correctly in title case?

a The enlightenment: A Sourcebook and Reader

b The enlightenment: a sourcebook and reader

c The enlightenment: a sourcebook and reader

d The enlightenment: a Sourcebook and Reader

Answer: A

21 According to the conventions of the chicago documentation style, the footnote marker in

the body of the essay should be:

a an asterisk – *

b a roman numeral in parentheses – (IV)

c a superscript lowercase letter–a

d a superscript arabic numeral – 1

Answer: D

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Drafting References, Footnotes and Citations

1 create a bibliographic entry in the chicago documentation style for the following

publication:

Author: Pam Brown

Book title: Authentic local

Date of publication: 2010

Publisher: Papertiger Media

city: West end, Queensland

Answer: Brown, Pam. Authentic Local. West end, Qld: Papertiger Media, 2010.

Note that the student must format the title in title case and abbreviate the state reference.

5 marks. Deduct half a mark for each error or omission.

2 create a bibliographic entry in the chicago documentation style for the following

publication:

editor: David Rose

Book title: Sexually, I’m more of a Switzerland: personal ads from the London Review of

Books


Publisher: Picador

city: London

Answer: Rose, David, ed. Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland: Personal Ads from the London

Review of Books. London: Picador, 2010.

Note that the student must format the title in title case. London Review of Books does not need

to be roman when forming part of a larger title here – i.e., the italics aren’t reversed for a title

within a title.

5 marks. Deduct half a mark for each error or omission.

3 create a long-form and a short-form footnote in the chicago documentation style for this

publication. The reference is for page 85.

Answer:

1 David Rose, ed., Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland: Personal Ads from the London Review of

Books (London: Picador, 2010): 85.

2 Rose, Sexually, 85.

Also acceptable would be a variation such as:

3 Rose, Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland, 85.

Long-form footnote: 5 marks. Deduct half a mark for each error or omission.

Short-form footnote: 3 marks. Deduct half a mark for each error or omission.

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4 Place the footnote mark in the correct spot in the following sentence. Indicate clearly

the exact placement of the mark. (The quotation is from page 72 of Rose’s book, detailed

above.)

one woman highlighted her prowess with a knife: “They said the best way to a

man’s heart is through his stomach. Disqualified surgeon (F, 32), a touch on the

literal side maybe, seeks man for nights of complete misunderstanding.”

Answer: The footnote mark should be placed at the very end of the quotation, after the closing

inverted commas. The mark should be a superscript arabic numeral.

Two marks – one for the correct placement, one for the correct type of marker.

5 create an entry for the reference list, in the MLA documentation style, for the following

publication:

Author: Kim Scott

Book title: That deadman dance


Publisher: Picador

city: Sydney

Answer: Scott, Kim. That Deadman Dance. Sydney: Picador, 2010. Print.

Five marks. Deduct half a mark for each error or omission.

6 create an entry for the reference list, in the MLA documentation style, for the following

publication:

Author: David Malouf

Book title: The great world


Publisher: chatto & Windus

city: London

Answer: Malouf, David. The Great World. London: chatto, 1990. Print.

Note that the publisher’s name has been shortened as per MLA convention, and the medium of

publication has been included.

Five marks. Deduct half a mark for each error or omission.

7 create an in-text citation in the MLA documentation style for the following publication.

The reference is to pages 141 to 142.

Author: Arundhati Roy

Book title: The god of small things


Publisher: Flamingo, an Imprint of Harpercollins Publishers

city: London

Answer: (Roy 141–42)

ReSouRceS 109

Note that this is the reference entry for this book (notice the format of the publisher’s name):

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. London: Flamingo-Harper, 1997. Print.

Three marks.

8 Place the in-text citation in the correct spot in the following sentence. Indicate clearly

the exact placement of the mark. The quotation is from page 105 of Roy’s novel (detailed

above).

captain von Trapp can’t love the twins because estha now has a “sticky other Hand”.

Answer: captain von Trapp can’t love the twins because estha now has a “sticky other Hand”

(Roy 105).

Note that the in-text citation appears immediately after the quotation, inside the final

punctuation.

Three marks – two marks for the correct citation, one mark for the correct placement.

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Preparing Reference Lists

1 The heading for the reference list in the chicago/MLA documentation style is:

_________________

Answer: chicago – Bibliography; MLA – Works cited or Works consulted

one mark

2 Where should the heading for the reference list appear on the page?

a aligned left

b aligned right

c centred

d one tab stop from the left

Answer: c

1 mark

3 The reference list should be:

a single spaced

b one and a half spaced

c double spaced

d single spaced with an extra line between entries

Answer: c

1 mark

ReSouRceS 111

Bibliography Exercise

iNstructioNs for the educator

Provide students with a printout or photocopy of the following:

1 A book’s title and imprint page.

2 A journal article, showing full bibliographic information, or a screenshot of similar from an

online database.

3 A screenshot of an online newspaper article.

4 A photocopy of the sleeve of a DVD or cD.

Ask students to prepare the bibliographic entry for each of these sources, according to the

documentation style you are using. Students must then prepare the reference list according to

the conventions for that documentation style. The three questions in the previous section help

to clarify some of the formatting of the reference list, so make useful introductory questions.

Students should be provided with or supply their own ruled page if the work is being done

manually (in order to show the spacing between the lines). The full reference list may be marked

out of 20, with half a mark deducted for each error.

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