AS Level English - Learning about FANBOYS and Grammar

This is an AS Level English lesson focussing on grammar

1. Classroom Rules

2. Quick Revision

3. Academic writing for EPQ (Part 2) AS-Level English: Term 1, Week 2, Lesson 2

4. Class Objectives

5. Rule IV: Formal Grammar structures

6. Something to think about: "English is truly impressive . . . in the way it lets you construct nouns from verbs, adjectives, and other nouns;  blogger  and  blogosphere  are examples. All you have to do is add one of an assortment of  suffixes :  - acy   (democracy), -age  (patronage),  -al  (refusal),  -ama  (panorama),  -ana  (Americana),  - ance  (variance), -ant   (deodorant),  - dom  (freedom),  -edge   (knowledge),  - ee   (lessee),  - eer  (engineer), -er  (painter),  - ery  (slavery),  - ese  (Lebanese), - ess  (laundress),  - ette  (launderette),  - fest  (lovefest),  - ful  (basketful),  - hood  (motherhood),  - iac  (maniac),  - ian  (Italian),  - ie / - y  (foodie, smoothy), - ion  (tension, operation),  - ism  (progressivism),  - ist  (idealist), - ite  (Israelite),  - itude  ( decripitude ),  - ity  (stupidity),  - ium  (tedium),  - let  (leaflet), - ling  (earthling), - man / - woman  (Frenchman),   - mania  (Beatlemania),  - ment  (government),  - ness  (happiness),  - o  (weirdo),  - or  (vendor),  - ship  (stewardship),  - th  (length),   - tude  (gratitude). . . . At the present moment,  everybody  seems to be going a bit nuts with noun creation. Journalists and bloggers seem to believe that a sign of being  ironic  and hip is to coin nouns with such suffixes as  - fest  (Google ' baconfest ' and behold what you find),  - athon ,  - head  (Deadhead, Parrothead , gearhead),  - oid ,  - orama , and  - palooza ." -(Ben Yagoda , "When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It". Broadway, 2007)

7. Should you noun verbs? Some people say yes, some people say no. People in the sciences or who write impersonally tend to say yes. Why? The words and phrases which are used in science are often abstract The style of writing also likes to nominalise verbs in scientific writing. Science writing is often passive (not ACTIVE!) and so it is dry and boring, nominalization/nouning verbs adds to this. Why learn? Because it is important to understand how to do it.

8. Example In the first example, 'acid rain' is the subject and 'erodes' is the verb. In the second example, which is “more academic,” the subject has been made more complex by changing the verb into a noun and creating a noun phrase: 'the erosion of buildings by acid rain’. This is, a common feature of academic writing. It needs to be understood, in order to understand the writing better.

9. Exercise: Change this into a nouned verb The errors in the sentence  were removed , which made it look much better. Tips: Start your new sentence with the verb in red (nominalise it) Don't use the relative pronoun ( which ) in your new sentence  If you want to make your sentence even shorter, try reducing ' errors in the sentence ' You'll need to add the preposition ' of ' The removal of the errors in the sentence made it look much better OR The removal of the sentence errors made it look much better

10. Exercise 2 Wealth  is distributed  around the world very unfairly. Tips: You'll have to move ' is ' to somewhere else You'll need to change the word form of ' unfairly ' You'll need to add in a preposition somewhere! ' wealth around the world ' can be shortened if you want The distribution of wealth around the world is very unfair. Or The distribution of the world's wealth is very unfair

11. Exercise: Back the other way There was a significant increase in the number of people consuming fast food in 2005. Tips Begin your sentence with “The number” There is one too many “ in”s in this sentence. The number of people consuming fast food  increased significantly in 2005.

12. Exercise 2 The analysis of the data showed an increase in the uptake of the chemical. Tips: There are two nouns which need to be verbed. Make the sentence more personal (use a pronoun) I  analysed  the data and it showed that uptake of the chemical  had increased .

13. Rule V: Make statements! Should we make statements? Is it better to ask questions when we are telling the truth? Shall we always question what we know the reader knows?

14. Rule VI & IV: Impersonal Language (and ‘hedged’ language) You need to avoid talking about you! These things need to be not done: using personal pronouns such as ‘I’, ‘we’, ‘you’, ‘our’, ‘us’ to refer to the author or reader. using judgemental words that indicate your feelings about a subject. using generalisations. (this is suggesting something is almost always true, it also shows personal Bias ) “You know, Australians are generally lazy, and sleep a lot like Koalas!”

15. Hedging Students at university are all very very smart!

16. An example: Which words suggest hedging? Help may be at hand for those of us who want to keep the wrinkles and grey hair at bay and slow down the process of aging. New research suggests that eating green vegetables can ward off the signs of aging. Researchers say that broccoli, cabbage and avocado in particular contain a compound that helps slow down the rate at which we age. The key compound, present in green fruit and vegetables, is called NMN. It has been seen to help slow down the physical signs of getting old. Scientists say NMN can also rejuvenate the metabolism. It helps replenish levels of energy production in our body that deteriorate as we age. It could also help reduce weight gain and the deterioration of vision.

17. Help  may  be at hand for those of us who want to keep the wrinkles and grey hair at bay and slow down the process of aging.  New research suggests that eating green vegetables  can  ward off the signs of aging.  Researchers say that broccoli, cabbage and avocado in particular contain a compound that helps slow down the rate at which we age. The key compound, present in green fruit and vegetables, is called NMN. It has been seen to help slow down the physical signs of getting old. Scientists say NMN  can  also rejuvenate the metabolism. It helps replenish levels of energy production in our body that deteriorate as we age. It could also help reduce weight gain and the deterioration of vision.

18. Examples of Rule VI    ✓ There are three main problems.    ✗ I can think of three main problems.    ✓  In the experiment, the water was heated...    ✗   In the experiment, I heated the water...    ✓  There were very few errors in the experiment.    ✗   Amazingly there were very few errors in the experiment.

19. Passive structures: Active : They built  houses . Passive :  Houses  were built ( by them ). Active : The professor gave   the students  the books. Passive :  The students  were given the books ( by the professor ).

20. Review Passive grammar Nominalization Hedging Make Statements

21. Homework Complete the 4 worksheets which have been handed out in class

22. Feedback How do you feel about this lesson? Write how you feel on a slip of paper and leave it on my desk along with any suggestions for a better lesson.