Error No.: 3
Error: Periphrastic topic-constructions
Some common examples
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5.
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside for education reforms.
*In a reliable report, it says that 300 cases have been reported to the police.
*Based on the book, it says you need at least 3 hours to complete the project.
*In my own opinion, I think you need to add one more paragraph here.
*Based on this article, it describes two ways to solve the problem.
Core grammatical problem
The source noun phrase in a fronted adverbial phrase of source is repeated unnecessarily as the subject
pronoun of the sentence. The anomaly is most commonly associated with the following adverbial
phrases:
According to XXX,
Based on XXX,
In XXX,
In XXX’s opinion,
e.g.,
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion will be set aside…
Probable causes of this structural problem
L1-related factor: The periphrastic topic-construction structure, though anomalous in English, is
acceptable in Cantonese, e.g.,
根 據 董 建 華, 佢 話 會 預 留 二 十 億 元 作 教 育 改 革 用 途.
(i.e., *According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside for education
reforms.)
L2-related factor: Lack of awareness that periphrastic topic-constructions are unacceptable in
English.
Correction procedure
To help students (Ss) overcome the structural problem such as
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside …
teacher (T) can go through the following procedure with students (Ss):
1. T presents a sentence with periphrastic topic-construction structure, e.g.,
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside …
2. T asks Ss to identify the subject of the sentence and underlines it for later demonstration.
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside …
3. T asks Ss what the subject pronoun refers to. [Answer: the source noun phrase]
4. T writes the source noun phrase above the subject pronoun.
Tung Chee Hwa
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside …
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T asks Ss to read the sentence, replacing the subject pronoun with the source noun phrase.
T asks Ss to identify the problem in the sentence. [Answer: redundancy]
T tells Ss that the source cannot be repeated as the subject in the main clause.
T crosses out the subject pronoun and then replaces it with the noun phrase of source.
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he Tung Chee Hwa said that $2 billion would be set
aside …
9.
T tells Ss to cross out the adverbial phrase of reference,
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, Tung Chee Hwa said that $2 billion would be set aside …
10. T tells Ss that if they want to keep the adverbial phrase of reference, they will need to cross out
the subject pronoun, the reporting verb and the relative pronoun that , e.g.,
*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside …
Follow-up exercise
Correct the following sentences.
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According to a book, it says that you can now download files from the Net.
According to a report, it describes 5 popular types of entertainment.
Based on their study, it describes five advantages for using verbal reports.
In Jane’s opinion, she sees that the crucial problem is time.