GRAMMAR CHOICES
that matter
in academic writing
Nigel A. Caplan (University of Delaware)
for the University of Michigan Press
nacaplan@udel.edu
http://nigelteacher.wordpress.com/handouts/tesol2013
Grammar Choices is different
• Graduate students
• All writing, all the time
• Corpus-based authentic examples and exercises
• Integrated vocabulary building
• Choices not rules
• Beyond the clause
• An efficient grammar
Audience
• Graduate students
• Professional academic writers (postdocs, faculty)
• Advanced undergraduates
• Self-study, course textbook, writing centers
• Writing classes, grammar classes, pre-matriculation,
coursework/dissertation support classes
• Cross-referenced to Academic Writing for Graduate
Students, 3rd ed (Swales & Feak)
A Functional Grammar:
Three Layers of Meaning
• Experiential meaning: what happened?
• Interpersonal meaning: what do you think about it?
• Textual meaning: how will you present it?
(1) This study gives concrete evidence to support policies
that ban smoking in public places.
(2) Concrete evidence supports policies that ban smoking
in public places.
(3) A ban on smoking in public places is supported by
evidence from this study.
(4) This study tells us that smoking should be banned in
public places.
1. Increased natural resource use has negatively impacted the
environment.
(change the interpersonal meaning: add the modal verb may)
2. The United States holds a very small fraction of total world
resource reserves, but we account for a disproportionately large
fraction of total resource consumption.
(change the interpersonal meaning: rewrite without we)
(change the experiential meaning: rewrite about another country)
(change the textual meaning: change the order of the two
clauses)
3. Reserves of oil are expected to last 36 years.
(change the interpersonal meaning – rewrite without the
reporting verb expect)
(change the interpersonal and textual meaning) Scientists expect
(rewrite with an action verb such as exhaust, or run out)
Verb Tenses
(Biber et al., 1999, p. 546-561; Davies, 2012)
Preview Test (Unit 4)
Takahashi et al __________________that most reported
oral non-Hodgkin's lymphomas were B-cell lymphomas
Research ____________________ few insights into why
different attitudes exist
Currently, very few studies __________________ this
issue (Mu, Kurozawa, Wang, & Kotani, 2006)
Today professors ____________________ more
advanced technology such as PowerPoint and blackboard
to deliver course information (Bork, 2000; Mines, 2000).
These multiple purposes and audiences
___________________ textbooks to their discipline.
Their results ______________________ that at about -33C
surface melting starts.
be (been)
occur
note
seek (sought)
include
become
(become)
have (had)
provide
remain
attempt
die
learn
try
indicate
get (got/gotten)+
make (made)
work
bring (brought)
point
decline
come (come)
suggest
produce
hear (heard)
suffer
show
focus
say (said)
know (known)
limit
take (taken)
create
call
pass
study
find (found)
grow (grown)
move
spend (spent)
put (put)
see (seen)
experience
play
complete
hold
do (done)
result
examine
turn
set (set)
lead (led)
write (written)
identify
live
read (read)
develop
fail
establish
allow
teach (taught)
receive
demonstrate
reach
adopt
rise (risen)
begin (begun)
happen
prove
(proven/proved)*
undergo
(undergone)
improve
change
lose (lost)
evolve
achieve
publish
increase
contribute
continue
describe
enter
use
serve
choose (chosen) gain
acquire
give (given)
help
cause
observe
meet (met)
go (gone)
leave (left)
fall (fallen)
tend
decide
argue
emerge
report
appear
propose
Grammar Awareness
• 1This paper looks at the problem of college choice in an
environment with heterogeneous agents, competitive
admissions processes, and post-graduation wages
dependent on college reputation. 2It is demonstrated that
under certain regularity conditions, a separating
equilibrium where all the top agents attend the college
with the good reputation while weaker agents attend the
lesser college exists and is unique. 3This result is
incorporated in a simple dynamic model, which shows
that initially identical institutions may become
endogenously differentiated over time, and that this may
be hard to reverse. 4Finally, the model is applied to racebased admissions policies, and used to analyze the
distributional effects of such policies.
Adjectives
Corpus of Contemporary Academic English (COCA)
www.americancorpus.org
1. The first step is to analyze the results.
2. Work on the new machine began to move faster.
3. It will be difficult to implement the policy.
4. Many tasks that previously done by hand can now be
5.
6.
7.
8.
done on a computer.
After extended use, the product begins to lose quality.
Researchers have found that many people only access
the Internet on their smartphones.
Some public health experts argue that advertising of
prescription drugs should be banned.
It is important for heads of research labs to manage
their resources effectively.
Sentence Revision
1. It is a worthy goal to construct such an integrative
theory.
2. It is very important to the child who is growing to acquire
speech.
3. When writing was invented, humans achieved a lot.
4. The way that people regulate their words by themselves
helps us understand the way personality develops more
broadly. (Tip 1 – “verbal” = to do with words; tip 2:
change “by themselves” to “self” + nominalization)
Hedging and Boosting
• modal verbs
• would
• comparatives
• conditionals
• lexical heading
In 2009/10, the U.S. hosted a record high of over 690,000
international students (Open Doors, 2010). Although the
U.S. market share has declined in the last decade, the U.S.
nevertheless hosted far more international students than
any other destination. The United Kingdom, the second
most popular international study destination, hosted about
450,000 international students, two-thirds of the U.S. total.
According to UNESCO, in 2008, the top five study destinations
(the U.S., the U.K., France, Australia and Germany) hosted 55
percent of the world’s tertiary-level mobile students. At less than
four percent, the proportion of international students to overall
higher education enrollment in the U.S. remains 1[quite small /
almost insignificant / unacceptably low] compared to other top
host countries, 2[although / and / while] the percentage is higher
at the graduate level (11 percent). Furthermore, in 2009/10,
3[fewer than two thirds / over 62 percent / more than half] of
international students in the U.S. were hosted at fewer than 200
colleges and universities. With 4[over 4,000 / many / thousands
of] institutions of higher education in the U.S., there is 5[some
possibility / tremendous potential / little chance] for more
institutions to host more international students, 6[perhaps / only /
particularly] at the undergraduate and non-degree levels.
Wait, there’s more!
Roundtable: Supporting ESL Graduate Students
• Today, 3:00-3:45pm
“Evolutions in EAP Writing: Academic Writing for
Graduate Students” with Chris Feak
• Today, 5:00-5:45pm in C141
Workshop: “Teaching the Genres of Graduate Writing”
(Chris & Nigel’s double act)
• Tomorrow, 1:00-2:45pm in D165
• Meet Nigel & Chris tomorrow, 2:45-3:45 at the Michigan
booth in the exhibit hall
http:nigelteacher.wordpress.com/handouts/tesol2013
Nigel A. Caplan (University of Delaware)
for the University of Michigan Press
nacaplan@udel.edu
http://nigelteacher.wordpress.com/handouts/tesol2013