Assignment 1

Features of Academic Written English

1. Choose the best ending for each of the sentence extracts below from the list underneath: [3]

1. Resentment and jealousy over jobs is a common source of conflict…

2. Many members of the public question the relevance…
3. Retraining courses for the unemployed may just be a way to exclude…
4. The letters L, E and C on the map correspond…
5. Some environmentalists have a very bleak vision…
6. One way in which some countries can produce very cheap goods is to exploit…
7. The demonstrators refused to disperse,…
8. Multi-national companies are often keen to seek…
9. The Earth rotates…
10. It is better to work at a constant rate and to maintain…
11. Nowadays, most people have a more favourable attitude…
12. If a family moves abroad, the children often adapt…

THE ENDINGS
a. …to their new environment more quickly than their parents.
b. …towards women having top positions in the workplace.
c. …within society and can lead to violence.
d. …to London, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
e. …although the police were heavily armed and very aggressive.
f. …more people from the unemployment totals.
g. …child workers by paying them very low wages.
h. …this during the year rather than to try to learn everything the night before the examinations.
i. …on its axis once every 24 hours.
j. …of the monarchy to life in modern society.
k. …local companies in developing economies willing to act as partners.
l. …of the future, while others are much more optimistic.

2. Insert formal expression which correspond to the ones in brackets. [8]

1. I ________ to ________ you that our prices have ________. (sorry - tell - gone up)
2. Unfortunately, I have to ________ you that I ________ not ________ ________ to ________ the
meeting. (tell- can’t - come to)
3. ________ ________ ________ some brochures describing our products. (Here [in this letter] are)
4. We have ________ ________ to increase our prices. (had)
5. You are 90 days past due on invoice #2792, please ________ ________ ________ as soon as possible.
(payup)
6. Please write ________ ________ ________ any ________ (if you’ve got - questions)
7h. Your account is ________ . (in the red)
Find features of spoken language as well as informal English in the writing below. Rewrite the
message using a formal style and the conventions of written English. [10]

Hi Fred,

How’s things? Just thought I’d write to see if you’d received my parcel and give you a few bits of news. I
got into trouble at work again this week…. had a ruin in with the accounts manager and he complained to
the head of the department and got me reprimanded for insubordination or something like that, but it
didn’t worry me too much ‘cos I’d already decide to move on. Can you keep an eye out for anything that
might suit? Nothing to demanding, but with a decent salary! ‘nuff said….!

Rewrite the following using an impersonal and objective style. You may sometimes need to
use passive voice. [3]
I am convinced that migrant children are not very successful in our education system because we
do not have bilingual education programmes. I doubt whether any of us would do well in school
if we did not understand everything that went on in the lessons. I agree with the U.N. report on
language and education (1976), that we should let children become literate in their own language
first, to give them the greatest chance of educational success.
How can you change the following statements to make them more cautious and therefore
easier to support? (and more suitable for academic work). Rewrite the correct hedged
versions. [5]
1. The England football team must get rid of their manager. 
2. Gordon Brown was better than Tony Blair. 
3. Americans are friendlier than British people. 
4. Picasso was more talented than Matisse. 
5. The greatest scientist ever was Newton.

Rewrite these sentences as hedged statements using the suggested verb and making any
necessary grammatical changes. [5]
1. The practice of short selling brought about the collapse of Lehman Brothers. (contributed)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………… 
2. Drought is the major problem in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. (appears)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………… 
3. Male gorillas are more aggressive than female gorillas, according to research. (tend)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………… 
4. Smaller electronic companies are doing better than their larger rivals. (seem)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………… 
5. A 2005 study said that the accuracy of Wikipedia was similar to that of the Encyclopedia
Britannica. (suggested)