Academic English for Tertiary Studies: EAP 5

WEEK 1 TUES FILE 7

Adapted from Writing Academic English, A Oshima and A Hogue, Addison-Wesley, 1991

GRAMMAR: SENTENCE LEVEL REVISION

CONTENT WORDS FUNCTION WORDS

book a
petrol the
archaeology of
read and
elephant or
computer not
quickly when
horrible about
man und er

Th e man quickly read a book about boats

F c c c F c F c

Clarke studied th e history of th e Eg yptian pyramids

c c F c F F c c

FOUR CLASSES OF CONTENT WORDS

Nouns John, pencil, soap, air, mountain

Verbs jump, think, read, go, remember
Adjectives pretty, wild, hungry, blue, triangular
Adverbs quickly, seriously, often, never, happily

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Aca dem ic English for Tertiary Stud ies: EAP 5

CONTENT WORDS: There are four categories of content words:

VERB: A verb is a doing, being or having word.

Eg. My father plays the drums
My fat her is a dru mmer.
My father has a new set of drums.

NOUN: A noun is the name of a person, place or thing.

A noun can be the name of an ordinary thing and is called a common noun.
Eg. apple girl tree
shirt house kangaroo

A noun can be the specia l name of a person, place or thing and is called a
proper noun and starts with a capital letter.
Eg. John Australia Easter
China Sue Melbourne

A noun can be a group of persons or things and is cal led a collective noun.
Eg. class flock pack
team choir bunch

A noun can be the name of something that you cannot see or touch but
which could exist in your mind and is called an abstract noun.
Eg. love hate jealousy
sadness hope happiness

ADJECTIVE: An adjective is a describing word that adds meaning to a noun

or pronoun. Eg. A clever student
She is clever.

ADVERB: An adverb is a word that adds meaning to verbs, adjectives and

other adverbs. They tell how, when, and where.
Eg. He spoke softly.
(How did he speak? Answer: softly)
He is a very soft speaker I He speaks too softly .

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Here is a table showing the various forms of words. See if you can complete
it. Sometimes a word has more than one form in each class and sometimes a
word does not have all classes.

Verb Nou n Adjective Adverb

energy
succeed
electricity
exclusive
competitively
frequent
economize
sensation
categorically
repeat
strongly
soft

CLAUSE-LEVEL GRAMMAR

The clause is the basic message unit in English .

There are four basic clause patterns:

1. s v 0

2. s v
3. s Link V adj
like + noun/nominal
to+ V
4. s "to be" noun/nominal
adj
p·r epositional phrase

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NOTE: Link verbs connect the subject with the complement.

Common linking verbs are·:
seem appear smell look feel
sou nd becom e (may al so t ake a noun complement)
taste get (w hen it mea ns "becom e")

BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE

1. Simple Sentence = Independent Clause

sv 0 structure

2. Compound Sentence = two or more independent clauses joined by a

co-coordinating conjunction.
FANBOYS - for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

3. Complex Sentence = one independent clause and one or more

dependent clause joined by a sub-ordinating conjunction .
Eg. because, while, when , although etc .....

4 . Compound -complex Sentence = two or more independent clauses joined

by co-ordinating conjunctions arid subordinating conjunctions
respecti ve ly .

COMPOUND SENTENCES WITH COORDINATORS

A compound sentence can be formed with:

Independent Clause, + Coordinator + Independent Clause

Notice that there is a comma after the first independent clause . Remember
that there are only seven coordinators: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so,
which you can remember by the phrase FAN BOYS . The sentences on the
next page illustrate their meanings.

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1. The Japanese have the longest life expectancy of any other people, for
their diet is extremely he~lthful.
(The second clause gives the reason for the first clause.)

2. The Japanese consume a lot of rice, and th ey ea t more fish th an red

meat.
(Both clauses express equal related -ideas.)

3. Many Americans, on the other hand, do not eat a healthy diet, nor do
they get enough exercise.
(Nor means "and not." It is used to join two equal negative
independent clauses. Notice that the "nor" clause uses question word
order.)

4. In the last twenty years, Americans have reduced their smoking, but
Europeans seem to be smoking more than ever.
(The two clauses express contrasting ideas.)

5. Europeans should change their smoking habits, or they will risk

developing lung cancer.
(The two clauses express alternatives or possibilities.)

6. Many Japanese men smoke, yet the Japanese have long life
expectancies.
(The second clause is an unexpected contrast to the information in the
first clause .)

7. The Japanese diet is becoming more Westernized, so their life

expectancy will probably decrease in the future.
(The second clause is a result of the first clause.)

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Sentence Structure Exercise 1:

1. Add another independent clause to the following independent clauses to form

compound sentences:

a. Students can study in the mornings a n d - - - - - - - - - - - -

b. I am a millionaire y e t - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

c. Many students do not attend all their lectures nor _ _ _ _ _ _ __

d. The professor's lectures were always interesting s o - - - - - - - -

e. During holidays, children can play b u t - - - - - - - - - - - -

2. Choose a co-ordinator that best fits the meaning and joint the two
independent clauses:

a. Astronauts know how dangerous space travel can be. They continue
to volunteer for missions;

b. Language learning can be fun. It can also be frustrating.

c. All foreign students should try to develop positive attitudes towards

their host country. They will never be happy there.

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d. Parents should demonstrate their love to their children. Their

children will feel secure.

e. The US is one of the great ind ust rialized countries of the world .
Japan is another one .

2. Add an independent/dependent clause to the independent/dependent

clauses to form complex sentences:

a. When summer comes,

b. Students, ______________________________________________
often suffer from culture shock.

c. Because the exams were very difficult, ______________________

d. The lecturers told the students ________________

e. Even though the students only had to complete one assignment for
the whole course, --------------------------------------

f. While the lecturer was speaking, __________________________

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Sentence Structure Exercise 2:

Read the following sentences and decide what kind of sentence (1-4) each
one is. Circle the conjunctions and state whether each clause is independent
or dependent.

1. The girl hit the boy.

2. The girl hit the boy and he cried.

3. The big girl hit the boy and he cried.

4. The big girl hit the boy and he cried loudly.

5. The big girl hit the boy who was misbehaving and he cried loudly.

6. The big girl with authoritarian instincts hit the boy who was
misbehaving and he cried loudly.

7. The big girl with authoritarian instincts hit the boy who was
misbehaving and he cried loudly and ran to his mother.

8. The big girl with authoritarian instincts hit the boy who was
misbehaving and he cried loudly and ran to his mother who went to
her husband.

9. The big girl with authoritarian instincts hit the boy who was
misbehaving and he cried loudly and ran to his mother who went to
her husband who called the police.

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