Editorial
This article was first published in Modern English Teacher Vol 20/1, Jan 2011

Explaining and Practising the Grammar and Lexis of Academic Prose

Simon Mumford, Turkey

Simon Mumford teaches EAP at Izmir University of Economics, Turkey. He has written on themes including using stories, visuals, drilling, reading aloud, and vocabulary, is especially interested in the creative teaching of grammar. E-mail: simon.mumford@ieu.edu.tr

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Introduction
Part 1: Practising individual forms
Part 2: Putting it all together
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Academic written grammar has tendencies, if not rules, which are well documented in grammar texts, especially in Longman grammar of written and spoken English (Biber et al. 1999), and Cambridge grammar of English (Carter and McCarthy, 2006). From these sources, the common tendencies of academic written grammar can be categorised as follows:

1. To use noun phrases, especially complex, abstract nouns
   Example: The man was proved guilty. → Proof of the man’s guilt was established.
2. To pre-modify rather than post-modify nouns
   Example: the policy of the school → the school policy (school pre-modifies policy)
3. To post-modify nouns with prepositional phrases rather than clauses
   Example: children who have higher IQs… → children with higher IQs… (prepositonal phrase replaces a clause)
4. To use non-finite rather than finite clauses
   Example: The students were disappointed when they learned that the school would close.→
   The students were disappointed to learn that the school would close (non-finite verb replaces a clause)
5. To use subordination rather than coordination, especially non-finite subordinate clauses
   Example: Several countries disagreed, and they vetoed the motion. →Several countries disagreed, vetoing the motion. (second clause is dependent on first, main clause)

While it is important not to underestimate the complexity of academic written grammar, such a categorisation could be helpful as a first step to helping students (and teachers) in understanding the difference between spoken register, where people and their actions (and therefore verbs) are important, and written academic register, where abstract concepts (and therefore nouns) are the focus. For students expected to write in academic style, practice in manipulating these form may well be helpful. This article consists of two main parts.The first part deals with explaining and practising individual grammar categories, the second looks at transforming spoken into written register, involving all categories. Thus, students can practise manipulating individual forms in isolation, before working on the differences between the two registers in a more general and comprehensive way.

Part 1: Practising individual forms

Practising pre-modification

This exercise exploits students’ knowledge of names of organisations.

These organisations’ names are informationally-dense pre-modified noun phrases. The post-modified alternatives sound clumsy and unnatural by comparison. Using this logic, ask students to turn the following post-modified into pre-modified noun phrases. (Solutions are given in italics).

Nominal phrase maze

Nouns are often post-modified by multiple prepositional phrases in academic writing, which integrates information in a very efficient way. In this exercise, students have to find a route round the maze to make a nominal phrase, starting in the top-left hand corner, choosing alternate noun phrases/gerunds and prepositions. Note: they can move up and down, right and left, but not diagonally. (Arrows show solutions.)

1

2

Solutions

1. concern over lack of participle clauses in the writing of EFL students
2. a study of human factor causes in accidents in five companies between 2001-2004

As a follow-up, ask students to design mazes with noun and prepositional phrases from their own field of study.

Predicting non-finite forms

Reading texts can be used to direct students attention to non-finite forms, and these can be exploited to maximize student noticing. Select some non-finite forms from the text. Write the finite eqivalents next to the forms e.g.

Non-finite original: using technology to blackmail people
Finite equivalent: people use technology so that they can blackmail people

Non-finite original: Now there is software available, which when installed on…
Finite equivalent: Now there is software available, which when it is installed on…

Non-finite original: …but taking into consideration the speed at which…
Finite equivalent: … but if we take into consideration the speed at which…

Ask students to predict which version is in the original text. They can then check by scanning the text. This will demonstrate a tendency to favour non-finite forms in academic prose. Following this, take some more non-finite forms from the reading, turn them into finite forms, and ask students to translate them back into non-finite forms. Students then scan the text to see if their versions match the originals.

Examples:

A thirty-two year old man who lived in a rich suburban area of Delhi…(living in)

…was arrested because he conspired to carry out a very well organised plan (for conspiring to carry out)

…other countries will try to break into them, and they will use hackers… (into them using hackers)

We can see that the health issues which are reported in the press are… (issuesbeing reported)

In another case which was brought about because of the wonderful advancements in everyday technology… (…case brought about…)

Eliminating finite forms

1. Write the text below on a strip of paper. The words should be large enough for the whole class to see, and the whole strip about 1 metre long, so you can hold it in front of you with arms at full stretch.
   

   Students who are using English because they want to speak to other non-native speakers...

2. Fold the strip in four places, at a,b,c, and d.
   

   Students

   who are

   using English

   because they want

   to speak to other non-native speakers...

                  a           b                    c                        d
3. Move line a to meet b, so the words who are are folded back behind, and are hidden. Do the same with c and d, so that the words because they want are similarly hidden. Secure the folds with paper clips. It now looks like this:
   

   Students

   using English

   to speak to other non-native

                           a b                             c d
4. Point out that the second version gives the same information, but is much tighter than the first. Demonstrate that with the new version, you cannot stretch your arms to their full extent. This shows that academic prose is more concise than spoken register because there are fewer redundant words; in this case, two finite clauses have been removed.

A metaphor for explaining the role of non-finite subordinate clauses

Non-finite, subordinating –ing clauses are often used in academic prose. The explanation for the metaphor is as follows: when a house is too small, you have two choices, buy a second house (picture 1) or extend the old one (picture 2). Buying another house is more expensive, extending the old one is more economical and uses less space. Similarly, subordination is economical in writing, it takes up less space. The shared wall of the extension parallels the fact that the verb tense in the dominant clause is used, or rather implied, in the subordinate clause. This structure suits the compact style of academic writing. As a follow up, students work on more examples, e.g.

• The price of raw material increased, and this resulted in higher prices in the shops.(...resulting in higher prices...)
• Communism collapsed, and this brought both new freedoms and new insecurities in Eastern Europe. (...bringing both new freedoms...)
• Video game players have a higher level of attention due to their brain’s efficiency in processing information, and this makes them outperform non-gamers in visual attention tasks. (…information, making them outperform…)

Academic written grammar loops

The following sentences contain grammatical information. The information given in each sentence should be applied when rewriting the sentence in a more formal written register, so, for example, the sentence about the use of abstract noun phrases should be rewritten with an abstract noun phrase. The parts which need changing are in italics.

1. Academic writers prefer abstract noun phrases, which increase formality.
2. Nouns which are pre-modified integrate information efficiently.
3. Academic writing tends to make use of post-modification which is done by prepositional phrases, rather than clauses.
4. A non-finite clause is often chosen because it eliminates the need for pronouns and tenses.
5. Subordination is often clearer than coordination. It shows relations between pieces of information more effectively.

Solutions (changes underlined)

1. Academic writers’ preference for abstract noun phrases increases formality.
2. Pre-modified nouns integrate information efficiently.
3. Academic writing tends to make use of post-modification ...by prepositional phrases, rather than clauses.
4. A non-finite clause is often chosen to eliminate the need for pronouns and tenses.
5. Subordination is often clearer than coordination, showing relations between pieces of information more effectively.

Part 2: Putting it all together

After working on grammatical items in isolation, we can ask students deal with them in combination, transforming spoken register into written register, making changes across all five categories described at the beginning of this article.

Every-other-word cloze

Translating spoken into written grammar can be very demanding, so this technique can be used to guide students. Give the spoken register sentence and a cloze showing every other word of the written register version. Students fill in the blanks using their knowledge of academic written grammar. Discuss the possibilities for the class of word for each blank before. In the example, they are: 1 adjective, 2 preposition, 3 noun etc.

Spoken register: The land became increasingly dry, and there was not enough water to drink, so the inhabitants moved away.

Academic written register: The ___1_____ aridity __2___ the____3__ led __4__ a __5__ of __6____ water, __7____ migration.

Solution: 1 increasing, 2 of, 3 land, 4 to, 5 lack, 6 drinking, 7 causing

Ask further questions to prompt as necessary, e.g

• How do we make the adverb increasingly into an adjective? (increasing)
• What is a more formal way of saying not enough? (a lack of)
• What kind of water was it? (drinking water)
• What relationship does so show? (cause-effect)

Prompts

Students can be helped to change sentences from spoken register into a more formal written register by a series of prompts, which can break the process down into manageable stages. (changes made each time underlined)

• Version 1: People are more aware that smoking is dangerous, and this has reduced the number of deaths.
• Prompt: Which is more important, the people, or the fact that they are aware?
• Version 2: There is greater awareness that smoking is dangerous, and this has reduced the number of deaths.
• Prompt: Which is more important, smoking, or the fact that it is dangerous?
• Version 3: There is greater awareness of the dangers of smoking, and this has reduced the number of deaths.
• Prompt: Is the fact that the number of deaths has been reduced an indirect result, or is it central to the proposition?
• Version 4: The greater awareness of the dangers of smoking has reduced the number of deaths.

After studying this, students work on the following parallel sentence and prompts.

• Version 1: The public have become more conscious that terrorism is a threat, and this has increased vigilant.
  • Prompt: Which is more important, the public or the fact that they are conscious?
  • Prompt: Which is more important, terrorism, or the fact that it is a threat?
  • Prompt: Is the fact that the public is more vigilant an indirect result, or is it central to the proposition?

Solution: The greater consciousness of the threat of terrorism has increased vigilance.

• Version 1: Property buyers have had their options limited as house prices have gone up and this has caused people to move out of city centres.
  • Prompt: Which is more important, the buyers or the fact that they have had their options limited ?
  • Prompt: Which is more important, prices, or the fact that they have gone up?
  • Prompt: Is the fact that the people are moving out of the centre an indirect result, or is it central to the proposition?

Solution: Limited options as a result of increased house prices have caused property buyers to move out of the city centre.

• Version 1: Hackers have the ability to misuse technology, and they can now do almost anything, and this suggests that the next world war will be fought on the internet.
  • Prompt: Which is more important, the hackers or their ability to misuse technology?
  • Prompt: Which is more important, the hackers’ ability to misuse technology, or the fact that they can do almost anything?
  • Prompt: Is the possibility that the next world war will be fought on the internet an indirect result, or is it central to the proposition?

Solution: The almost unlimited ability of hackers to misuse technology suggests the next world war will be fought on the internet.

A metaphor to illustrate the difference between spoken and written academic register

Write the following two short texts on the board.

1. The portrait: The people who lived in mud huts were in extreme danger from bad weather.(spoken register)
2. The landscape: The extreme dangers posed by bad weather to mud structures…(academic written register)

The difference between these two is similar to the difference between a portrait and a landscape painting. In the first text we are looking at people. There may be other things in the background, but the focus of portraits is overwhelmingly on the human subject. The second text is a landscape. People, if there are any, are not the focus. Rather, we are interested in the different features of the landscape and the relations between them. In the second, the relationship between the huts and the weather is important. In academic writing, the focus is on abstract relationships rather than people and their processes. Note that in the academic version, all information is integrated into a single, complex noun phrase, which itself needs a verb and complement to make it a sentence. Here is another example:

The portrait: Designers who were influenced by pop culture were totally dominant in the 1960s. The landscape: The total domination of designs influenced by pop culture in the 1960s….

The portrait. Programme language developers, who have introduced a number of new computer languages since the 1950s, continue to refine new languages. This has been important in… The landscape: The continual development of new programming languages since the 1950s has been important in…

The portrait: Office designers began to experiment with cubicles in the 1970s, but their reception by office staff was mixed. The landscape: The experiment with cubicles in office design in the 1970s had a mixed reception from the workforce.

The portrait: Couples who live together before marriage have lower levels of marital statisfaction, and have weaker rather than stronger marriages. The landscape: Lower levels of marital satisfaction and weaker marriages are the result of cohabiting before marriage.

The portrait: People’s view of bullying affect how they respond to it and cope with it. The landscape: Perceptions of bullying affect responses to it and coping strategies.

Conclusion

Knowing and being able to use the tendencies of academic written grammar are essential in producing text of the correct register. Although corpus-based grammars have revealed the tendencies of academic written grammar, a direct focus on these tendencies is often absent from EAP courses and texts. Perhaps one reason for this neglect is the complexity of the metalanguage, such as modification, and subordination. However, as EAP students by definition have to deal with complex concepts, ‘protecting’ them from such complexity may be counter-productive in the long term. A clear classification of academic written grammatical tendencies, combined with metaphors and exercises based on this classification could help EAP students understand, practise and produce the forms.

References

Action Games Improve Visual Attention. Retrived from http://biology.about.com/

Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S. & Finnegan, E. (1999). Longman Grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Longman Pearson Education.

Carter, R. & McCarthy, M. (2006). CambridgeGgrammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Granger, S. (1997). On identifying the syntactic and discourse features of participle clauses in academic English: Native and non-native writers compared. In F. Aarts, J. Aarts, J. de Mönnink & H. Wekker (Eds.) Studies in Language Teaching in honour of Flor Aarts. (185-198). Amsterdam-Atlanta GA: Editions Rodopi BV.

Mirowsky, J., & Ross, C. E. (1989). Social causes of psychological distress. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

Mistechnology. Retrived from http://buzzle.com/editorials/1-14-2005-64240.asp

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