ENGLISH 4th Quarter Notes

Subject-Verb Agreement
Subject and Verbs must agree in number.

S-V-A Rules:
1. Singular subject requires singular verb
 The aviculturist breeds lovebirds.
2. The verb agrees with the actual subject in a sentence not the nearest noun of the
intervening phrase
 The Dean, as well as his academic chairmen, is expected to announce his plans
for the CAS Month Celebration.
3. In an inverted word order sentence the verb agrees with the actual subject
 Riding in the carriage were the two girls.
4. Compound subject takes either a singular or plural form of the verb
 Cup and Saucer offers delectable food.
5. In a compound subject, one of whose members is singular and the other is
plural, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it
 Either the dogs or the cat has to go.
6. Collective nouns as subjects take either a singular or plural form of the verbs
 The flute ensemble plays at the Kiwanis Music Festival.
7. Nouns that are plural in form yet singular in meaning take the singular form of
the verb
 Rabies is always fatal if not treated immediately.
8. Repetition of article or determiners signals the use of plural form of the verb
 My brother and my friend like to go on a trip.
9. Tittles, Distance, Measurement, and Time are always singular in form ans should
take singular form of verbs.
 The Frogs is a comical play by Aristophanes.
10.Sums of money, mathematical equations, fractions, and unit of measurements
take singular verbs.
 Ten kilometers is too far to walk.

Structure Analysis
 Is the process of getting the meaning of words through examining their
component parts

Word Formation Process

 Clipping
 Acronym
 Blending
 Compounding
 Affixation
 Clipping
 Is the word formation process in which a word is reduced or shortened
without changing the meaning of the word
 Examples:
o advertisement - ad
o alligator - gator
o examination - exam
o gasoline - gas
o gymnasium - gym
o influenza - flu
o laboratory - lab

 Acronym
 A word formed from the initial letters of a name or by combining initial letters
of a series of words
 Example:
o ASAP - As Soon As Possible
o AWOL - Absent Without Leave
o PIN - Personal Identification Number
o NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

 Abbreviation
 Used to shorten a word
 Always start with the capital letter and ends with a period
 Examples:
» Jr. - Junior
» Ave. - Avenue
» Univ. - University
» Gal. - Gallon

 Blending
 Is the word formation process in which parts of two or more words combine
to create a new word whose meaning is often a combination of the original
words.
 Examples:
o breakfast + lunch = brunch
o chuckle + snort = chortle
o spoon + fork = spork
o telephone + marathon = telethon

 Compounding
 The process of combining words to create or form new word
Single Separate Hyphenated
Mainstream School year Father-in-law
Landslide Time frame Well-being
Copyright Blood pressure Grown-up
 Affixation
 The process of adding a morpheme - or affix - to a word to create either a
different form of that word or a new word with a different meaning
 Prefix
o word part added to the beginning of a word that changes the word's
meaning
o Ex. report
 Suffix
o a word part added to the end of a word that changes the word's meaning
o Ex. portable
Academic Writing
 Linear
 to inform rather than to entertain
 Objective
 Formal Language
o a formal style of writing used in universities and scholarly publications.
o Anyone will encounter it in journal articles and books on academic topics,
and be expected to write in the essays, research papers, and dissertation in
academic style.
 It follows the same writing process as other types of texts, but it has specific
conventions in terms of content, structure and style.

Formality
What is Formality in Academic Writing all about?
 Standardized Language
 Accurate and professional

Things to avoid while writing Academic Writing:

 Contractions
 shortened word with the use of apostrophe
o They're - they are
o Wouldn't - would not
o Hasn't - has not
o We're - we are

 Colloquial Expressions
 informal/localized language
 It is not understandable by everyone
o runners - sneakes/running shoes
o lift - elevator
o fam - family
o boo - significant other

 Abbreviations
 shortened words or phrase
o Mr. - Mister
o CEO - Chief Escecutive Officer
o LOL - Laugh out loud
o c/o - Care of

Objectivity
What is Objectivity in Academic Writing all about?
 Objective
 Factual
 Referenced

Things to avoid while writing Academic Writing:

  Personal pronouns
 First, Second, and Third Person
 Avoid First, Second person pronouns
o I, You, Myself, Our, My, Us, We

 Rhetorical Questions
 Questions posed only for dramatic effect
 A device used to persuade or subtly influence the audience
 Because rhetorical questions challenge the listener, raise doubt, and help
emphasize ideas, they appear often in songs and speeches, as well as in
literature.
o How often do people eat?
o If you were in his shoes, what would you have done?

 Emotive Language
 Word choices that are made to evoke emotional response
o defenseless girl
o innocent bystander
o unfortunate child
o worthless lives

Normalisation and Passivization

Nomalisation
 The process of turning verbs (actions or events) into nouns (things, concepts or
people)
 It gives a more abstract and formal or academic tone in writing
o The rapid increase of crime was causing concern among the police.
 It can also make the text more concise by packing a great deal of information
into a few words. It is a function that not only helps you to create variety in
your writing, but also prevents you from repeating the same verb/word over
and over again.

Passivization
 The transformation of a sentence from an active form to a passive form
 Through the process of passivization, the direct object of an active declarative
sentence can become the subject of a passive sentence.
 The opposite of passivization is activization.

 Active
 Subject-Verb-Object
o Scientists classify glass as a solid.
o Millennials spread news through social networking sites.
  Passive
 Object-Verb -Subject
o Glass is classified by the scientists as a solid.
o News is spread by the Millennials through social networking sites.

Explicitness
  Academic writing is explicit about the relationships in the text. Furthermore, it
is the responsibility of the writer in English to make it clear to the reader how
the various parts of the text are related. These connections can be made explicit
by the use of different signaling words.
 The quality of being clear and exact
o Writing a report involves different steps. First, writers have to choose a topic.
Second, they gather data relevant to the subject matter. Next, they compose
their initial paragraph. Then, they check and correct grammatical errors
that are evident in their written report.
o Shaun played online game all night. As a result, he failed the exam.

How can a writer be explicit in writing?

 Transitional Devices
 They act like bridges
 They are words or phrases that help a thought from one part to another
 They are cues that help readers interpret ideas as a text develops
 They link sentences and paragraphs together smoothly so that there are no
abrupt jumps or breaks between and among ideas

 Types of Transitional Devices

 Comparison
o whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the
contrary, by comparison, where, compared to, up against, balanced
against, but, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast,
although this may be true.
 Emphasis
o definitely, extremely, obviously, in fact, indeed, in any case, absolutely,
positively, naturally, surprisingly, always, forever, perennially, eternally,
never, emphatically, unquestionably, without a doubt, certainly,
undeniably, without reservation
 Time/Sequence
o first, second, third, and so forth. A, B, C, and so forth. next, then,
following this, at this time, now, at this point, after, afterward,
subsequently, finally, consequently, previously, before this,
simultaneously, concurrently, thus, therefore, hence, next, and then,
soon
 Addition
o and, again, and then, besides, equally important, finally, further,
furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly, what's more, moreover, in addition,
first (second, etc.)
 Summarize/Conclusion
o in brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude, in conclusion, as I have
shown, as I have said, hence, therefore, accordingly, thus, as a result,
consequently
Academics mostly write texts intended for publication, such as journal articles,
reports, books, and chapters in edited collections. For students, the most common
types of academic writing assignments are listed below.

Types of academic text

 Essay
 A focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence,
analysis and interpretation.
 A fairly short, self-contained argument, often using sources from a class in
response to a question provided by an instructor.
 Composed of 3 main parts:
 Introduction (10-20%)
o It is composed of 3-5 sentences
o Hook
» Pique readers' interest or curiosity
o Background
» Provide context/overview
o Thesis Statement
» The central argument which gives the signal or focus
o Structural Map
» Provide scope and limitation
 Body (60-80%)
o Topic Sentence
o Data/Quotes/Examples
o Transition Words
 Conclusion (10-15%)
o Return to your thesis
o Tie together your main points.
o Show why your argument matters.

 Research paper
 A longer and detailed paper designed to assess writing and scholarly
research skills
 A more in-depth investigation based on independent research, often in
response to a question chosen by the student.
 Steps to Plagiarism-Free Research Paper
 Keep track of the sources
 Paraphrase/Quote
 Credit the original author
 Use a plagiarism checker
 2 Ways of Citing Sources
 Paraphrasing
o Rephrasing main point of a text; Change in word choice, order, and
structure
 Quoting
o Copying a text word-for-word; Enclosed in quotation marks

 Thesis/dissertation
 Part of a Degree
  A long piece of academic writing based on original research
 Thesis/Dissertations use various structures depending on the location,
discipline, topic, and approach.
 The large final research project undertaken at the end of a degree, usually
on a topic of the student’s choice.

 Research proposal
 Mostly answers what, why, and how
 An outline of a potential topic and plan for a future dissertation or research
project.
 Key Questions:
 What?
o What will you investigate?
 Why?
o Why is it important
 How?
o How will you conduct the research?
 Aims of a Research Proposal
 Relevance
 Context
 Approach
 Feasibility

 Literature review
 A critical synthesis of existing research on a topic, usually written in order to
inform the approach of a new piece of research.
 Lab report
 A paper which aims to convey the goals, methods, results, and conclusions of
a scientific experiment.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)

A write-up of the aims, methods, results and conclusions of a lab experiment.

 Annotated bibliography
 List of sources/references
 A list of source references with a short description or evaluation of each
source.
 Types of Annotations:
 Descriptive
o Aims to summarize info and focus on key arguments
 Evaluate
o Access validity and effectiveness of methods and arguments.
 Reflective
o Considers the relevance and usefulness of sources

Different fields of study have different priorities in terms of the writing they produce.
For example, in scientific writing it’s crucial to clearly and accurately report methods
and results; in the humanities, the focus is on constructing convincing arguments
through the use of textual evidence. However, all academic writing shares certain key
principles intended to help convey information as effectively as possible.