2018-03-09
87
Ahead of schedule early a total of three reasons three reasons
Almost all most, the majority brief in duration brief
Along the lines of similar to completely destroyed destroyed
As well as also, and current status status
At all times always end result result
Conduct a review of review first began began
Give consideration to consider mutual agreement agreement
In advance of before potentially dangerous dangerous
In possession of have/has shorter in length shorter
Is able to can true fact fact
With a view to for usual habit habit
Activation
Rewrite the following piece of text, removing any vague or redundant language.
Following the completion of their first draft, overseas students from abroad often choose not to recognize the fact that their essay is in possession of an excessive number of words. For many, their usual habit is to avoid carrying out an evaluation of their work. The honest truth of the matter is that the majority of students do not proofread properly. Proofreading, on most occasions, is too brief in duration. Students do not want to edit their work in case they need to make their essay longer in length.
What are collocations and how can we use them?
“You shall know the word by the company it keeps”
John Firth
Reflection
Look at these pairs of words. Circle the phrase which you think is most commonly used in English.
-fast car/quick car -fully recognize/completely recognize
-fast shower/quick shower -fully broken/completely broken
-smoke fatly/ smoke heavily -cause problems/provide problems
-make homework/do homework -have a job/work a job
The word education has many collocations. Think of as many as you can.
Contextualization
Read the following passage, identify any collocations and complete the table.
Collocations are particularly useful in academic English, and indeed when students are taught abut the topic, their interest levels are generally high. At least, this is what the research indicates. Reading critically is a good way of developing your understanding of collocations. One of the key criteria in using collocations is identifying the frequency with which they appear together.
Verb + noun
Verb + adverb
Noun + verb
Noun +noun
Adjective + noun
Adverb+ adverb
Adverb+ adjective particularly useful
Note It is important to distinguish academic or political collocations from idioms. Idioms (such as up to the minute or figure something out) tend to be more informal, and therefore are not much used in academic English. Phrasal verbs may also be categorized as collocations, but these are generally considered too informal for academic or political writing as well.
The following table provides a list of useful collocations used generally in academic language
Verb + noun
-develop + an understanding/a framework/ a plan
-do business/an experiment/ homework
-find an answer/a solution/time
-follow advice/an example/a procedure
- give a definition/a description/an explanation
- make an attempt/ a criticism/a reference/an effort
- reach an agreement/a conclusion/a decision
-submit an application/an essay/your resignation
-take an opportunity
Noun + verb Adjective + noun
-the research indicates/shows/demonstrates -key criteria/reason/idea
-X’s argument illustrates/ justifies/supports -major problem/ issue/ challenge
-the figure shows/reveals -detailed /in-depth/ground-breaking
Adverb+ adverb research
-specific argument/reason
-much more /less -present/current study
-almost certainly/entirely -previous studies
-very interestingly/importantly/noticeably -significant differences
Adverb+ adjective Noun+ noun
- particularly useful/challenging/ important - sample size
- -significantly higher/ different/changed -data set
- relatively interesting/important/high -control group
-quality assurance/control
Verb + adverb
- reading critically/carefully/with interest
- strongly suggest/argue
-dramatically increase/ change
-fundamentally change/disagree
-recently develop/arrive/start
Activation
Using a collocation dictionary and/or the corpus-based collocation website
http://www.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx, identify which words collocate with the following; and in what order.
Word Collocates
Development (D) noun economic D, early D, rapid D, industrial D,
child D, language D, research and D,
D grant, facilitate D.
Significant (adjective)
Completely (adverb)
Confidence (noun)
Indicate
(verb)
What phrases are commonly used in academic writing?
”After people have repeated a phrase a great number of times,
they begin to realize it has meaning.”
H.G.Wells
In what circumstances would you use the following phrases in academic writing?
1. The structure of the: Description (e.g ., the structure of the double helix is as follows)
2. The role of the: --------------------------------------------------------3. One of the most: --------------------------------------------------------
4 At the beginning of: --------------------------------------------------------
5. In contrast to: -------------------------------------------------------6.In the second section: ---------------------------------------------------------
Contextualization
Read the following passage and identify any academic phrases which are frequently used in academic writing. An academic phrase may be defined as a group f three, four or five words which often appear together. They may be considered as a kind of collocation.
Academic phrases, also known as’ lexical bundles’, are an important feature of academic discourse. One of he most important reasons that you should use these short, formulaic phrases is that they are a common feature of academic writing. As well as this, academic phrases can lessen certain grammatical problems which you might face. It should be noted that academic phrases are not a complete solution to grammatical problems; at the same time, they may offer a partial solution. As a result, it is clear hat a god understanding of these three-, four-and five-word phrases is one of the key ways you can make your writing sound more ‘academic’.
Common lexical bundles
