Lesson four
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Paragraph general comments
Tenses
Conditional constructions
Text discussion
Paragraph – general comments
• Title
The Mobile Phone
Life companion
The technology in your pocket will enhance the
interaction between you and the people around
you
Title
Academic journals (“Computers & Industrial
Engineering”)
Resource constrained project scheduling
problem with discounted earliness–tardiness
penalties: Mathematical modeling and solving
procedure
Titel
Biofuels
Panda poop power
Microbes in pandas’ guts can help in biofuel production
Obesity
Wider understanding
How the bacteria in your gut may be shaping your waistline
Title
Log off from the Internet and log on to life
Help the children save their future
Concluding sentence
End of the text, not a link to the next paragraph
Since the children will not stop chatting with each
other, the responsibility lies with the adults – we
have to act, it is our future as well.
The things that could have been accomplished if
these hours had been spent on something slightly
more meaningful are worth an extra thought or
two.
Concluding sentence
The human touch is hard to replicate since it
must include aspects such as pressure, heat,
structure and moisture. On-going research lead
by Deli Wang at University of California is on to
the problem.
In order for everyone to have the same
opportunities in life, Speechless has been
developed.
Style
I get bummed for not having the means to quickly
google a question…
It is frustrating/annoying not having the means to
quickly google a question…
Many suffer from what I’d call an unhealthy
attachment to their phone…
Many suffer from what could be described as an
unhealthy attachment to their phone…
Style
Avoid initial “and”, “but” and “so”
But the possibility to access all your friends’
statuses…
However, the possibility to access all your
friends’ statuses…
Argumentative style
Preaching
Therefore, I call for all the developed countries
of the world to step up to the task and see to it
that we get rid of all this unnecessary service
which no longer is on any use in the developed
parts of the world, and instead help save our
planet by using the wonderful invention called
the Internet.
Argumentative style
Tentative
Anonymity is one of the most important
features of the internet, but if people cannot
behave perhaps an identification system could
be the solution.
Punctuation
Launched in 2005, YouTube enables people to
upload and share video material for free. Ever
since the number of uploads has increased
exponentially to a point where…
Launched in 2005, YouTube enables people to
upload and share video material for free. Ever
since, the number of uploads has increased
exponentially to a point where…
Number of
The number of members ___ limited to between
three and eight. (be)
The number of members is limited to between
three and eight
A number of members ___ authorised through
this route. (be)
A number of members are authorised through
this route.
Definite article
The downside of the social networks
The downside of social networks
…bad decisions that could affect the society…
…bad decisions that could affect society…
…text messages and phone calls in the modern
society.
…text messages and phone calls in modern society.
Definite article
The gadget that is the Google Glass
The gadget that is Google Glass
Spelling
A chines study has confirmed that…
A Chinese study has confirmed that…
It breaths with you, talks with you…
It breathes with you, talks with you…
Potential problems
• Present simple vs. Present continuous
• Past simple vs. Present perfect
• Conditional construction
Present tense
The present tense group:
a) Present simple He writes books
b) Present continuous He is writing a book
c) Present perfect He has written a book
d) Present perfect continuous He has been
writing a book
Past tense
The past tense group:
e) Past simple He wrote a book
f) Past continuous He was writing a book
g) Past perfect He had written a book
h) Past perfect continuous He had been writing
a book
Simple vs. continuous
1) She writes novels. (she is a writer, she always
writes)
5) She is writing a letter. (right now during a
limited period of time, she hasn’t finished
writing)
Simple past vs. present perfect
(5) She lived in Paris for many years. (but no
longer lives there)
(6) She has lived in Paris for many years. (and
may still be living there)
Conditional construction
Conditional
type
universal
If-clause
Main clause
If we pay more (present
simple)
we get better quality
(present simple)
real possibility If we pay more (present
simple)
we will get better quality
(future)
remote
If we paid more (past
possibility/hyp simple)
othetical
we would get better quality
(would + base form)
impossibility/u If we had paid more
nreal
(past perfect)
we would have gotten better
quality (would have + edparticple).
No will or would in the conditional
clause
If she wins (not: will win) tomorrow, I'll eat my
hat.
Exercise
(a) Now we are lost! If you ____ (write down) Mary’s
directions, this
___ (not/happen).
Now we are lost! If you had written down (write down)
Mary’s directions, this would not have happened
(not/happen).
(b) Why don’t we emigrate? If we ___ (live) in Australia, at
least the
weather _____ (be) better!
Why don’t we emigrate? If we lived (live) in Australia, at least
the weather would be (be) better!
(c) I am afraid that Smith is a hardened criminal. If we
______
(not/punish) him this time, he _____ (only/commit) more
crimes.
I am afraid that Smith is a hardened criminal. If we do
not punish (not/punish) him this time, he will only
commit (only/commit) more crimes.
(d) I am sorry I cannot lend you any money. You know
that if I ____ (have) it, I _____ (lend) it to you.
I am sorry I cannot lend you any money. You know that if I
had (have) it, I would lend (lend) it to you.
(e) Do not be afraid. If you ____ (touch) the dog, it
______ (not/bite).
Do not be afraid. If you touch (touch) the dog, it
will not bite. (not/bite).
(f) In those days, if you ______ (have) a job, you
______ (be) lucky.
In those days, if you had (have) a job, you were
(be) lucky.
(g) It is always the same! If I _____ (decide) to leave
the office early, my boss ____ (call) after I have left.
It is always the same! If I decide (decide) to leave
the office early, my boss calls (call) after I have left.
(h) What a terrible thing to happen! Just think , if
we _____ (not/missed) the plane, we ____ (killed)
in the crash.
What a terrible thing to happen! Just think , if we
had not missed (not/missed) the palen, we would
have been killed (killed) in the crash.
What if - Summary
This article focuses on the probable scientific agendas if the Nazis had won their war against
Russia in early 1941. Had the Nazis won, the scientific agenda of the next half-century would
have been dominated not by subatomic physics and nuclear energy, but by ecology. It is hard
to believe that the success of Nazism could have given rise to a world with any redeeming
features. For racial hygienists, vaccines did not restore the body to a natural state, but
artificially enhanced the body. Vaccine research had also historically been driven by the
mixing of peoples caused by imperial expansion, which led racial hygienists to conclude that
only states with stable and "pure" populations could survive naturally. The Nazis would have
omitted vaccines from what we now call preventive medicine, a field in which they were
otherwise pioneers. There would also have been compulsory sterilisation and permissible
euthanasia, done in the name of reversing the "damage" caused to the human ecosystem by
those 19th-century enemies of biodiversity.
What if - summary
This article focuses on the probable scientific agendas if the Nazis had won their war against
Russia in early 1941. Had the Nazis won, the scientific agenda of the next half-century would
have been dominated not by subatomic physics and nuclear energy, but by ecology. It is hard
to believe that the success of Nazism could have given rise to a world with any redeeming
features. For racial hygienists, vaccines did not restore the body to a natural state, but
artificially enhanced the body. Vaccine research had also historically been driven by the
mixing of peoples caused by imperial expansion, which led racial hygienists to conclude that
only states with stable and "pure" populations could survive naturally. The Nazis would have
omitted vaccines from what we now call preventive medicine, a field in which they were
otherwise pioneers. There would also have been compulsory sterilisation and permissible
euthanasia, done in the name of reversing the "damage" caused to the human ecosystem by
those 19th-century enemies of biodiversity.
1.
2.
3.
4.
In the 1920s Thomas Babington Macaulay claimed that when
knowledge progress to a certain point, discoveries become
inevitable. What arguments supporting this view are presented in
the article? What arguments can you think of?
A view that opposes Macaulay’s is promoted by people who argue
that discoveries are completely arbitrary. What arguments for this
view are found in the article? Are there other arguments?
What makes counterfactual reasoning difficult? Why does the
author of the article still think that it is worthwhile pursuing?
List the three inventions in the 20th century that have had the
greatest effect on our current way of living and explain what the
effects would have been, had they not existed.