UNIVERSIDAD DE LA FRONTERA

Facultad de Educación, Cs Sociales y Humanidades

Departamento de Lenguas, literatura y Comunicación
MAR / 2022
Writing tasks - Nominal Clauses
Morfosintaxis del Inglés II
Grammar for Writing 1
Using That Clauses to State Reasons, Conclusions, Research Results, Opinions, and
Feelings.

That Clauses are very common in academic writing. They are particularly useful for starting:
- reasons and conclusions
- research results or information from other sources
- opinions and feelings
Sociologists agree that it can be very difficult to adapt to a different culture.
One reason for this may be that people arrive in new cultures with unrealistic expectations.
The teachers were frustrated that they couldn’t communicate well with the international
students.
For expressing opinions and feelings, the following expressions are common before that clauses
in academic writing: it is (not) clear, it is (not) possible, It is likely/unlikely, and It is obvious. Read these
examples:
It is unlikely that people from different cultures will change many of their beliefs and values
to match the values of a new culture.
It is possible that some cultures have become stronger because of globalization.

Pre-writing Task 1
1 Read the paragraph below. What problems did the students have? Where did the writer’s information
come from?

Cultural Differences in the Classroom
The first semester at college can be very difficult for international students. A recent
study investigated the main difficulties international students had in their first semester in
colleges in the United States and Canada. Ten students participated. The first difficulty that
students had was speaking in class. There were a few reasons for this. One reason was that
the students were embarrassed about their English. They felt that it was not good enough.
However, it was unlikely that their English was not good. After all, each student had to
receive a high score on an entrance exam in English. It is possible that the students did not
have enough confidence at first. Many of the students were not used to speaking in class
because they did not speak in class in their home countries. Another problem many students
had was they did not know what to call their teachers. The reason for this is that the
students call their teachers “Teacher” as a sign of respect when they are in their home
countries. However, they discovered that Teacher sounded rude to some U.S. teachers. The
teachers asked the students to call them by their first names, although they realized that
some students would be uncomfortable with this at first. It was interesting that many of the
students reporting having these problems in the beginning. However, most found that they
were able to adjust fairly quickly.

2 Read the paragraph again. Underline the that clauses. Find and label one noun clause for each of these
purposes: (1) reasons and conclusions, (2) research results and information, and (3) opinions and feelings.
Circle the expressions It is (not) possible that and It was likely / unlikely that. Do these expressions
introduce the writer’s opinions and feelings or the international students’ opinions and feelings?

Writing Task 1
1 Write Use the paragraph from the Pre-writing Task to write about cultural differences. You can
write about one of these topics or use your own ideas.
- classroom practices - dealing with teachers - family life - studying
- dating - eating - making friends - taking tests

2 Self-Edit Use the editing tips to improve your paragraph. Make any necessary change.
1. Did you use the correct verb forms in your noun clauses with that?
2. Did you use any of the common expressions that come before noun clauses with that?
3. Did you avoid the mistakes in the Avoid Common Mistakes chart on page 213?

Grammar for Writing 2

Using Noun Clauses with Wh- Words and If/Whether

Noun clauses that begin with wh- words, if, or whether are useful when describing how events
happened. They are particularly useful for explaining what people think, feel, or know. Read these
examples:
Some inventors don’t care if their inventions change the world.
Many doctors wonder when scientists will discover cures for all kinds of cancer.
The Facebook of creators had no idea how fast the site would grow.

Pre-writings Task 2
1 Read the paragraph below. What discovery is the story about? What things did the discoverer not
realize during the discovery process?

An Accidental Discovery

Penicillin is effective against many serious bacterial infections. Alexander Fleming, a Scottish
scientist, discovered penicillin in 1928. However, he did not immediately understand what he had
discovered. At the time, he was observing substances that could destroy bacteria. However, Fleming was
not a very neat scientist. He often left trays of bacteria around his lab. In August 1928, he went away for a
vacation. When he returned, he found that something strange had happened to one of the trays. A fungus
had grown on the bacteria and killed them. At first, Fleming did not understand why this had happened,
but he later realized what he had discovered. He realized that the fungus was powerful and could be
useful in curing bacterial infections, but he still had not understood how important it was. He doubted
whether the fungus could be effective long enough to kill bacteria inside a human body. The penicillin he
grew in the first few years was too slow in the taking effect, so he stopped working on it. After a few
years, he returned to it. Fleming and other scientists discovered ways to make the substance work more
rapidly, and it soon became the most effective
antibiotic existence. This discovery has saved millions of lives.

2 Read the paragraph again. Underline the noun clauses with whether and wh- words.
Notice how they helped to tell the story of the discovery.

Writing Task 2
1 Write Use the paragraph in the Pre-writing Task to help you write the story of a discovery or an
invention. You may need to do some research. Include discoveries that the inventor or discoverer made
along the way. You can write about inventions or discoveries that were:
- accidental - extremely popular -unnecessary
- controversial - never popular - life-saving

Use about 200 words. Do it at the back of this page using clear handwriting.

2 Self-Edit Use the editing tips to improve your story. Make any necessary changes.
1. Did you use noun clauses to help tell the story?
2. Did you begin indirect questions with a wh- word, whether, or if?
3. Did you avoid mistakes?

Taken from: Blass, L; Iannuzzi, S.; Savage, A. (2012) Grammar and Beyond. UK. CUP