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Key words English language II
FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE:
RHETORICAL DEVICES: Used to engage listeners/readers and/or persuade them. They can use different features of language. Content
- Metaphor links new ideas to a known concept to help understanding and promote familiarity. The disruption we cause could so often be easily avoided… we interfere with nature and it bites us back as often as not…
- Analogy extended comparison that helps understand a new situation by comparing it to a familiar situation. Beware of false analogy! It’s crucial for managers to take the emotional intelligence of their employees into account as well as intellectual intelligence when making decisions about staffing and promotions. Ignoring emotional intelligence would be like serving dinner without dessert. Evaluate the following analogies: Not taking emotional intelligence into consideration when promoting a worker is like… 1 creating a basketball team with only short people: NO 2 making a colour wheel with only blue and red, but not yellow: YES, incompleteness that leads to failure 3 making a cup of coffee, but not adding any milk or cream: NO 4 reading popular books, but not classic literature: NO 5 trying to learn how to play the violin without learning how to read music: YES
- Hyperbole uses exaggerated language to emphasize a point. I’ve taught English to millions of children in Spain and France, and it’s amazing how they all benefited in so many ways.
- Rhetorical questions engage the listener but are answered for them. … What language are all these things in? You’ve guessed it, English.
- Questions interest / importance. Interest: readers want to know the answer, so they read further. Common in titles / introductions. The reader answers the question and feels a connection to the subject. Is it better to think with your heart or your head? Importance: directly answered in the text, it’s important for the reader to know the answer. Signal essential information. Common in headings. What are the four stages of cultural shock? Structure
- Parallel structures have the same grammatical pattern in both parts. In almost every country in the world, there is a recognition that to fail to learn English is to fail to join the international community.
- Anaphora means repeating the same word or phrase at the start of successive sentences or clauses.
We will give you three reasons, three reasons that cannot seriously be denied, three reasons that prove our point beyond any possible doubt. TONE: Sender’s attitude towards the message. Usually implicit, pervades the text/a statement. Used to convey irony/criticism, to elicit sympathy etc. (in a subtle way). In written texts, the writer’s attitude is mainly expressed through word choice. Adverbs: clearly, unfortunately, hopefully… Adjectives: critical, problematic, inspirational... Nouns: success, ill-preparedness, sin… Verbs: squander, fritter away, achieve… Adverbs & adverbial phrases can also be used to modify the strength of a statement ‘hedging’. When it is difficult to make definite statements about what is true 100% of the time. When writers/speakers don’t want to make generalizations above and beyond the data they can rely on. When making inferences (e.g. when interpreting data in a graph). Adverbs: probably, maybe, perhaps… some, most, a few… Adverbial phrases: in some cases, for some people, most of the time, for the most part... Modals: may, might, could… SENTENCE FUNCTION: Helps understand the purpose of the writer and the organization of a text. Defining: A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that rapidly leads to large numbers of people being affected. Speculating: While it is doubtful this will lead to increased taxation, it could result in less expenditure in other areas. Classifying: Pain can usually be categorized into two types: chronic or acute. Reporting: Today, according to the World Health Organization, around three to five million people are infected with cholera. Naming: One disease that affected the world by causing a fall of up to 5% in the population was the flu of 1918, sometimes known as the Spanish flu. What is the function of the following sentences? 1 When SARS, a breathing related illness, broke out in South-East Asia it was estimated to have cost millions of jobs : REPORTING 2 One such campaign in the UK was the «Stoptober» event: NAMING 3 An infectious disease is one that can be passed from one person to another : DEFINING 4 Illnesses and diseases are perhaps one of the single biggest causes of a weaker economy around the world: SPECULATING 5 Diseases can predominantly be grouped into two categories – infectious and non-infectious: CLASSIFYING CLAIMS: Sentences used to say whether something is true or false. Always some degree of argument. Claims of fact: involve identifying specific problems. e.g. Greenland’s ice is melting at increased rates due to human activity. Claims of value: involve a judgement / evaluation. e.g. The well-being of the Arctic is more important than the mineral resources beneath the ice. Claims of policy: involve a solution / series of solutions. e.g. We should work harder to limit the causes of global warming than on extracting the Arctic’s mineral wealth. POINT OF VIEW: To identify if the writer agrees / disagrees with a viewpoint, look for: Positive or negative adjectives / adverbs (not credible, interestingly). Opinion language (agree, disagree, true, untrue, believe, view). Linking phrases and signposts (however, therefore, although, in fact).
Present the data first as a basis for the opinion that follows. Use of email for personal correspondence has declined since 2010, while social media has seen a rise to prominence. This strongly indicates that social media has become the preferred method of communication. Choice of adverb shows the degree to which the writer believes in the data. Data can be a simple way to support an argument, BUT has the writer (deliberately) misrepresented it? Some common ways to misrepresent data in order to strengthen the appearance of an argument: Using percentages to make small sample sizes sound more impressive (e.g. 25% instead of 1 in 4). Omitting results that contradict the main argument. Manipulating the presentation of a graph (e.g. presenting an axis ranging from 20-25, rather than 0-100). Read the article and supporting data. Then discuss the questions. Playing video games clearly leads to an increase in violence in children. In one study those that played violent games for more than two hours per day showed much higher levels of aggression toward peers and teachers. Therefore, it can be said that there is a clear cause-and-effect relationship between violent game time and violent behaviour. Read the article and supporting data. Then discuss the questions. 1 How large was the sample size? Why is it important to know this?: the larger the sample, the more convincing an argument is 2 How was the level of aggression measured? Why is it important to know this?: parameters used? which kind of aggression? 3 What other information, such as the children’s background, might influence our assessment of the data? 4 Do you agree with the writer that the data clearly indicates a cause-and-effect relationship? Once you’ve established that supporting data hasn’t been manipulated question whether any significant information has been omitted that would influence your evaluation of the argument. E.g., Research conducted at Pembrook State suggests that desalination plants could provide up to 35% of the U.A.E.’s freshwater needs. Sounds superficially impressive, but raises a number of important questions: What were the research parameters? How many plants would be needed to provide this amount of water? As “up to” implies a maximum estimate, what is the lowest estimate? Identifying what you don’t know, evaluate the significance of the data presented. Discuss what data might strengthen the arguments and where it could be sourced. 1 Carbon emissions have risen since the Industrial Revolution, clearly signifying a link between humans and climate change. 2 Countries that desalinate water use up to five times higher the level of energy consumption than those that use other methods. 3 A company producing new solar panels has data from a dozen countries to show that their panels are now the most efficient way of producing renewable energy.
APPROXIMATION:
Numbers: 30-odd people* Two hundred or so trees Some fifty books* Around/about/roughly/approximately/in the region of/something like ten properties Dozens of jobs, hundreds of birds, loads of time, in a month or two (well) under/above/below zero Adjectives: Kind of: I felt kind of foolish. Suffix –ish (physical features e.g. size, colour etc.) It’s brownish / it’s longish. ‘What time are we meeting?’ ‘One-ish.’ Some: Some + singular noun We’ll arrive some time in the afternoon. Some idiot reversed into my car. Vague words: When we don’t know the name, when the name is not important or when it’s obvious what we are talking about Leave your things in the locker. EVIDENCE: Data, statistics, or research from credible and unbiased sources. An opinion from a credible and unbiased expert. Anecdotal evidence: Type of logically fallacious argument. Relies on informal personal experience (I know a person who… My experience is that…). One problem: people often remember more unusual stories, then present them as support for an argument, even though the anecdotal evidence is not supported by scientific research.
What I don’t like is the layout of the house. Negative inversion: Some negative adverbs can be used at the beginning of a sentence to add emphasis if we put an auxiliary verb before the subject. No auxiliary verb do/does/did. Quite formal and literary. Rarely do you see houses built in this style. Never before have I seen such an untidy house. Do/does/did: We can use the auxiliary verb do to add emphasis to the main verb. I like that decorated ceiling. (no emphasis) I do like that decorated ceiling. Practice: 1.This city needs more low-cost housing. à What the city needs it’s more low-costing housing 2.I hadn’t witnessed such a violent thunderstorm before. à Never before had I witnessed such a violent thunderstorm 3.I’m particularly concerned about the lack of facilities in the area. à It’s the lack of facilities in the area that I’m particularly concerned about 4.Houses rarely come up for sale in this village. à Rarely do houses come up for sale in this village 5.He didn’t complain once about the poor living conditions. à Not once did he complain about the poor living conditions 6.I won’t believe a word he says ever again. à Never again will I believe a word he says 7.I really miss this wonderful view. à It’s the wonderful view that I really miss APPEAL TO NATURE: An argument that suggests that something is good because it is “natural”. Fishing is a natural way for humans to get food. Therefore, it cannot be seen as a problem. The assumption that everything natural is good can be seen as either meaningless or a matter of opinion. It is not the basis of a logical argument. The word ‘natural’ can also be loaded and associated with words such as ‘normal’. This association has a value judgement – ‘normal’ is right, good, correct. The opposite argument is also used if something is not natural, it is bad. Identify the appeals to nature. But aren’t surfborards that are made of wood better? They’re more natural, and that’s how people have always done it, according to Oliwa, right? YES My family worries sometimes, and one of my friends says I’m crazy to take the risks I do. But I say it feels so natural for us surfers to do it – so it would be wrong not to do it… right? They popularized the surfing sound in the early 1960s, where surfing served as a metaphor, if you like, for a youthful, healthy, cool, post-war generation… getting back in touch with nature, rejecting their parents’ values…. YES The coral rejects the algae that it contains and on which it depends for approximately 90% of its energy. Again, there are those who will say that it’s a natural phenomenon, that change is a part of nature, and therefore we shouldn’t worry about it… YES Identify the appeals to nature and the counter arguments presented: 1.Fishing is he most natural activity in the world → in an industrialized country there is nothing natural about fishing) / 2. Overfishing can’t be our fault. Other fish and animals have always naturally haunted and it’s natural that these species get eaten → it’s not natural if you are capable of getting 400 tons of fish on board in 2 hours. No animal can do that. / 3.Agriculture or farming fish in captivity is considered as unnatural because we bring fish in the same problems as we see in farming animal in land. Although it’s not natural it solves the problem of overfishing CONCLUSIONS: Not only at the end. Sometimes texts draw small conclusions throughout, esp. when they cover numerous different topics. Identifying these conclusions and reasons understand the author’s point of view better.
Once you’ve identified the conclusion of a formal argument, evaluate its logic. One way to do this: look for flaws in the way it is presented. Common logical fallacies associated with conclusions are: Irrelevant conclusions – where the conclusion given is thematically related to the topic, but does not logically follow the evidence. Begging the question – using the conclusion as evidence without proving it (e.g. One expert suggested X so let’s look at ways to implement this). Hasty generalizations – Jumping to conclusions through poor inductive reasoning (e.g. Two people said X so it must be true). False cause – identifying a non-existent cause/effect relationship; mistaking correlation for causation; or assuming that only one factor led to an effect. PARALLEL STRUCTURES:
