Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Peter Cahill
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Acknowledgement of Country
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Course Objectives
By the end of this workshop you should have:
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Review - formal vs. informal writing
true or false?
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Revision
Formal vs informal writing – true or false?
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What are your impressions?
A. Despite the importance of writing at university and the need to write
effectively in the business and professional world, students seem not to
realise the necessity of learning the process of writing, which is essential
in creating powerful writing, even though this process is enhanced
greatly by computers and word processing programs.
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What is the main idea of this sentence? How do you know?
Grammar of the sample sentence
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Evaluation of the sentence
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A Subordinating coordinator
conjunction
Despite the importance of writing at university and the need to write
effectively in the business and professional world, students seem not to
realise the necessity of learning the process of writing, which is essential in
creating powerful writing, even though this process is enhanced greatly by
computers and word processing programs.
Subordinator for
adjective clause
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Clauses are the building blocks of sentences
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B
Short simple
sentences can grab
Writing is important at university. the attention of the
audience, but using
People in the business and professional world
too many may
also need to write effectively. sound boring,
It is important to learn the process of writing. childish, abrupt and
choppy. Creating
Students do not seem to realise this.
relationships and
Knowing the process of writing ‘flow’ between
is essential in creating powerful writing. ideas is difficult to
The writing process achieve by using
only short, simple
is enhanced greatly sentences.
by computers and word processing programs.
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C
Writing effectively
is important at university
and in professional contexts. Carefully constructed,
logically developed
sentences build
Developing the range of skills credible, powerful and
fluent text.
involved in the writing process
helps create powerful writing.
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Academic writing generally uses
longer
and more complex sentences
with varied clauses
in order to describe
complex ideas and abstract concepts.
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Clauses and phrases
A clause must contain at least a subject and a verb
If you combine these three separate phrases you can make a sentence.
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Quick quiz…
What are the two types of clauses?
How are they the same?
How are they different?
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Quick quiz…
What are the two types of clauses?
independent clauses and dependent clauses
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Parts of a sentence
Activity 1. Identify:
• the subject (who or what the clause is about) and predicate (comment about the who/what) with its
verb
• independent or dependent clauses (and any subordinating conjunctions)
Indep. Daylight saving has positive and negative effects
Dep. Although there is no certain method to measure the effects
1. During the months of daylight saving, there is no conclusive
saving of energy
2. The change of time can be detrimental to an individual’s health
3. As productivity in the workforce can be considerably decreased
4. Economic factors play a vital role in the political decision
making process
5. Because farmers object to the introduction of daylight saving for
animal welfare reasons, not just economic motives
6. Even though no statistical relevance has emerged in terms
of an increase in traffic accidents
Adapted from: Oshima & Hogue 2006, p. 163
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Answers
• the subject and predicate with its verb
• independent or dependent clauses (and any subordinating conjunctions)
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Sentence types
Every sentence consists of one or more clauses and
expresses a complete idea or thought.
There are four sentence types:
1. Simple
2. Compound
3. Complex
4. Compound-complex
Clauses and sentences
I searched the databases for articles.
(the whole sentence is one independent clause) Simple sentence
A simple sentence is made up of one independent clause and can vary in length and style
with the addition of phrases.
Students study.
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Compound Sentences
1. using coordinating conjunctions (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
Sentence structures are always dynamic, but variations among
them (sentence structures) follow predictable patterns.
Hinkel 2004, p.67
Optional to place a comma (,) after the first independent clause and before the coordinator
Do not join two ideas that are not related!
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Compound sentences
3. using semicolons ;
Sentence structures are always dynamic; variations
among them follow predictable patterns.
Hinkel 2004, p. 67
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Compound sentences
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Possible answers
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Complex sentences
The idea in the independent clause is more important while the dependent
clause has a subordinate function.
While the dependent clause has a subordinate function, the idea in the
independent clause is more important.
After the subject-verb connection is made, you can then introduce longer and more
complicated material.
Bower 2011, p. 90
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Complex sentences
Complex sentences contain an independent clause and one or more dependent
clause/s. These can be joined by a ‘subordinating conjunction’. A few of the
common subordinating conjunctions are:
As far as
After Unless As if
Although Until As long as
As When As soon as
Because Whenever As though
Before Where Assuming (that)
For Whereas Considering
How Wherever Given (that)
However Which Granted (that)
If While In case
Once Who In order for
Since Whoever In order that
That Whom Insofar as
Though Whose In the event that
Providing/provided (that)
Such that
Complex sentences
‘A noun clause acts like a noun; it can be either the subject or an object of the independent clause’ (Oshima &
Hogue 2006, p. 172).
Researchers believe that the effects of global warming will begin soon.
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Complex sentences
signals which introduce dependent noun clauses:
That
(that can be omitted, but it can be omitted only if it is not the first word in a sentence)
e.g. The researchers did not know (that) the experiment had already been done.
Who Whom Whose
Which
If Whether
What When Where How Why
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Compound-complex sentences
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Frequency of sentence types in academic writing
more frequent
Complex
Simple
Compound
Compound-complex
less frequent
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Simple, compound or complex sentence?
= simple sentence
Simple, compound or complex sentence?
Try this…
Carter, R & McCarthy, M 2006, Cambridge grammar of English, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Christensen C A 2001, Transforming classrooms: Educational Psychology for Teaching and Learning, Post Pressed, Teneriffe QLD McKenzie 2009, New
Zealand Handbook for Writers and Editors, Woodslane Press, Australia.
Parkinson, J & Musgrave, J 2014, ‘Development of noun phrase complexity in the writing of English for academic purposes students’, Journal of English for
Academic Purposes, vol. 14, in progress, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2013.12.001
Quinn, C 2009, ‘Social networking: bridging formal and informal learning’, image, viewed 7 November 2014,
http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/57/social-networking-bridging-formal-and-informal-learning
Swales, JM & Feak, CB 2004, Academic writing for graduate students: essential tasks and skills, 2nd edn, Michigan series in English for academic &
professional purposes, The university of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor
Wihbey, J 2013, ‘What’s new in digital scholarship’ image, viewed 7 November 2014, http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/08/whats-new-in-digital-scholarship-
reporters-ignoring-technology-the-continuing-power-of-print-and-booze-on-facebook
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