Unit 5 The Structures of English (II)
[Check your understanding]
State whether each of the following statements is True or False.
1. Every English paragraph contains a topic sentence, supporting details and a summary sentence.F
2. One may tell a story when arguing for a thesis. T
3. In order for two neighboring sentences to be cohesive, one must use some explicit device to conjoin them. F
4. Since people take turns speaking, overlaps are unlikely in conversation. F
■ In-Class Activities
1. ASK:
a. What does “it” refer to?
MONEY
b. What is omitted in the sentence?
“WORK HARD” is omitted after “DOESN’T”.
2. ASK:
a. What components make up the public notice?
A heading (“CityHallPark”), a preface, major contents, and time of notice.
b. How is the public sign organized?
By listing.
c. How is it different from a similar sign in the Chinese context?
There is usually the sealed name of the issuer of the notice in the Chinese context.
3. ASK:
a. Is the conversation composed of adjacency pairs?
Not wholly.
b. If not, how would you characterize the conversation?
Two adjacency pairs are inserted within an otherwise adjacent pair. The inserted pairs are technically called insertion sequences.
4. ASK:
a. How would youdescribe a conversational repair?
The conversational repair here is composed of a trouble source from LI, the initiation of a repair from Li, the self repair from Zhang, and an optional follow-up from Li.
b. Are there other types of repair in daily conversation?
Apart from other initiation + self repair, we have other types: self-initiation + self-repair, other-initiation + other repair, and self-initiation + other-repair.
Repair can be classified according to the content repaired, too.
5. ASK:
a. What is the pattern for opening a telephone conversation in English?
First, we summaron by saying “hello” and (when hearing “hello” from the responder, we) identify ourselves by saying “This is xxx.” or “xxx speaking.” We come to business once we get the right receiver.
b. How is the pattern different from that of a Chinese telephone conversation?
In Chinese, we identify ourselves by saying “我是……。”
c. Are there any differences between English and Chinese in terms of closing a telephone conversation?
We Chinese often use concluding remarks like “就这样”and sometimes promise to recall again in the near future. These things are seldom found when telephone talks are closed in English.
6. ASK:
(1) Point out the cohesive devices used in the paragraph.
reference
Grammatical ellipsis
substitution
tense
conjunctions
Logical
conjuncts
repetition
Lexical reiteration
meronym
(2) Which type of cohesive device is used most often?
grammatical devices (esp. substitution “it” and “its” and tense)
7. ASK:
(1)Does Chinese follow the topic-comment pattern? How can it be different from English in this respect?
Yes. More so than English. English attaches greater importance to the grammatical subject.
(2)Do we sometimes start a sentence with new information? Use an example to illustrate.
Yes, though not so often. E.g.
A: Do you know my cousin?
B: Jack is his name.
8. ASK:
(1) What characteristics does each mode of thematic progression have with regard to narrative effects?
Type 1: continuity, smooth flow.
Type 2: clear focus; yet some monotony.
Type 3: complexity and diversity.
(2) Analyze the earlier excerpt from Life on the Mississippi in terms of thematic progression.
Theme 1 Rheme 1
Type 2 Theme 1 Rheme 2
Theme 1 Rheme 3
9. ASK:
(1) What is the theme the poet seems to convey?
Lack of love between the couple.
(2) How does the layout of the poem best reveal the theme?
The whole poem (even some words) is divided into two halves with a vertical line in between.
■ Exercises
Task 3: Study Questions
1. What differences and similarities exist between conversation and written discourse (text)?
Similarities:
a. both are rule-governed and structured.
b. both are communicative by nature.
Differences:
CONVERSATION DISCOURSE/TEXT
a. often spontaneous and transient a. often involving much planning
b. involving two or more people b. monologic
c. often fraught with errors c. usu. error-free
d. often informal or colloquial d. generally formal
2. What is the typical global or macro structure of a data-driven MA thesis /a note of thanks / a resum?
The main body of an M.A thesis; Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusion.
A note of thanks includes terms of address, words of thanks, reason(s) for giving thanks, a promise of some reward, complimentary close, and signature.
A resum generally includes the heading, name, correspondence address, educational background, occupational background, personals (such as age/date of birth, sex, marital status, etc.).
3. The following conversation is taken from Harold Pinter’sThe Birthday Party. What aspects of this fragment of conversational speech would you point to as characteristic features of this type of language-in-use?
A great deal of ellipsis; informal.
4. a. A story can be divided into orientation, evaluation, complicating action, and resolution. Analyze the texts in terms of these categories (not all of these will be present in all texts).
Note: Orientation identifies the participant(s) in the narrative and provides the necessary background information; evaluation is used when one wants to make clear the significance being attributed to the event(s) and shows the narrator’s personal judgment or attitude; by means of complicating action, the narrator builds the dramatic structure or plot and sets it in motion; the narrative ends with a resolution to signal the result or consequence of the complicating action.
(a) One day some people moved in a house[0]. The army ant gobbled up the house[C]. So the people had to start all over again[R].
(b) Once there was a parrot and she laid an egg[0]. The egg didn’t hatch and the mother parrot, whose name was Sheila, started crying. One day Sheila heard a peck-peck and the baby bird walked out[C]. The mother bird was very happy[R].
(c) Once upon a time there was a lady bug who was busy eating aphids. There are plants in the garden. The lady bug is always in the garden. Every day the lady bug eats aphids. The lady bug is always on plants. The lady bug is always catching aphids[O].
(d) Once there was a shark and there was another shark[0] and they ate fishes and they got so fat that they exploded. The sea got so hot that it got on fire and all the fish died[C] and sharks and plants died and the sea was not there[R].
(e) One day I planted a seed [0]and I waited and waited and waited until I was an old man. Then it grew a little bit [C]and I died[R].
b. Are there any examples here that are not narrative (i.e., that do not use temporally ordered narrative clauses)?
c. There is no development of plot.
c. Causal and/or chronological sequence in a text may not be explicitly specified. Give two examples where theyare established by implication.
One day Sheila heard a peck-peck and the baby bird walked out. The mother bird was very happy.
5. Find two more examples of each from novels by such authors as James Joyce, Henry James, and William Faulkner.
Omit.
6. An ad is a short discourse. Study the following ad and analyze the way it is constructed. Discuss the perspective employed and its effect on communication.
a. by parallelism;
b. The ad takes the perspective of those who stress about the brochure, fret about the expense, are bored with some common color and/or business.
c. The perspective is effective in that it appeals to people by addressing their concerns.