INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1

Assignment Title: Exploring English grammar

Student Names:

Student ID:

Institute:
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 2

Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3

Text 1:..............................................................................................................................................3

Noun group composition:............................................................................................................3

Noun group pre-modification:.....................................................................................................4

Nominalisation:............................................................................................................................4

Lexical density:............................................................................................................................4

Cohesion......................................................................................................................................4

Text connectors:...........................................................................................................................5

Text 2:..............................................................................................................................................5

Noun group composition:............................................................................................................5

Nominalisation:............................................................................................................................6

Noun group pre-modification:.....................................................................................................6

Cohesion:.....................................................................................................................................6

Lexical density:............................................................................................................................6

Text connectors:...........................................................................................................................7

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7

References:......................................................................................................................................8
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Exploring English grammar

Introduction:
Noun group composition, pre-modification, and nominalisation are all important
linguistic features that contribute to the clarity and coherence of a text. In the context of the text
provided, these features can be observed and analysed to better understand the structure and
meaning of the text. Also Lexical density, cohesion, and text connectors are important features of
written text that help to make it clear, coherent, and effective in communicating ideas (Akbari.,
2002). In the context of the provided text about urban trees as an energy conservation strategy,
these features can be observed and analysed.

Text 1:
The first text discusses how urban trees can be an energy conservation strategy. Urban
trees can modify the climate of a city and improve urban thermal comfort in hot climates. They
act as shading and wind-shielding elements, reducing solar heat gain and radiant heat gain from
the surroundings. Furthermore, urban trees also affect energy use in buildings through indirect
processes. For instance, evapotranspiration during the summer from a significant increase in
urban trees can produce an ‘oasis effect,’ significantly lowering urban ambient temperatures. As
a result, buildings in cooler environments will consume less cooling power and energy. In a
recent study, urban trees' energy-saving potential was investigated in Salt Lake City, UT
(Eichstaedt et al., 2021). The analysis included both direct and indirect effects, and the estimated
annual reduction in carbon emissions is 13 kilotons Carbon.

Noun group composition:

Noun group composition refers to the way in which nouns are combined with other words
to create a noun phrase, which can function as a subject, object, or complement in a sentence
(Siregar et al., 2021). In the provided text, there are several examples of noun group
composition, such as ‘urban trees,’ ‘urban thermal comfort,’ ‘heat balance,’ and ‘ambient
temperatures.’ These noun phrases are composed of a noun (trees, comfort, balance,
temperatures) and one or more modifiers, such as adjectives (urban, thermal, ambient),
prepositional phrases (of a city, in hot climates), and participial phrases (modifying the ambient
conditions around individual buildings).
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Noun group pre-modification:

Noun group pre-modification is a type of noun phrase composition that involves adding
one or more adjectives or other modifiers before the main noun (Song et al., 2020). In the
provided text, we see several examples of pre-modification, such as ‘significant increase in the
number of urban trees,’ ‘natural 'evaporative cooler',’ and ‘latent air-conditioning load.’ These
pre-modifiers serve to provide additional information about the noun they modify and help to
create a more specific and precise meaning.

Nominalisation:
Nominalisation is the process of creating a noun from another part of speech, such as a
verb or an adjective. In the provided text, we see several examples of nominalisation, such as
‘reducing the outside air infiltration rate,’ ‘increasing the latent air-conditioning load,’ and ‘the
estimated annual reduction in carbon emissions.’ In each case, a verb or adjective has been
turned into a noun in order to create a more formal or technical tone, and to create a sense of
precision and objectivity.

Lexical density:
Lexical density, cohesion, and text connectors are also evident in the text. Lexical density
refers to the proportion of content words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, to
function words, such as prepositions, articles, and pronouns, in a text. The higher the proportion
of content words, the greater the lexical density of the text (Lagutina et al., 2019). In the given
text, there is a high proportion of content words, which indicates a high degree of lexical density.
The text is written in a technical and scientific style, which is expected to have a high lexical
density.

Cohesion
Cohesion refers to the way in which a text is connected through its linguistic elements,
such as referencing, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions, and lexical ties. Cohesion can be
achieved through a variety of means, including repetition of key terms, the use of pronouns,
conjunctions, and other linking devices. In the given text, the writer uses a range of cohesive
devices to create a coherent and connected text. For example, there is a clear use of referencing,
with the writer referring back to key concepts and ideas throughout the text (Antons et al., 2020).
There is also the use of substitution, where terms such as ‘trees’ and ‘evapotranspiration’ are
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used as substitutes for more complex or lengthy phrases. Additionally, the use of conjunctions,
such as ‘and’ and ‘but,’ helps to connect the ideas within the text.

Text connectors:
Text connectors are the linguistic devices used to link the ideas and create a cohesive
text. They include conjunctions, transition words, and other discourse markers (Pejić Bach et al.,
2019). In the given text, a range of text connectors are used to connect ideas and create
coherence. For example, the writer uses phrases such as ‘in addition to,’ ‘considered
collectively,’ and ‘in a recent study’ to introduce new ideas and connect them to previous
concepts. There is also the use of transition words such as ‘however’ and ‘although’ to signal
contrast and opposition between ideas.

Text 2:
In Text 2, the topic of discussion is planting trees to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
The different posts present various arguments and opinions on the matter. The second text
features a discussion about whether planting trees can help reduce CO2 emissions. While trees
absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, they eventually die and release back that CO2 into the
atmosphere. However, if the tree gets buried in the right conditions, the CO2 can be locked up
for millions of years. If people plant a Beech tree today and it lives its full life, it will lock up
CO2 for 150 years, so long as someone else plants one in 50 years and another in 100 years
(Gardeners’ World., 2021). The discussion also includes other ways to reduce CO2 emissions,
such as protecting marine habitats, not cutting trees, not draining wetlands, not building on
woodlands, letting ocean forests thrive, not digging up peat, and letting wild scrubland grow on
non-agricultural land.

Noun group composition:

Noun group composition plays a vital role in the text by helping to clarify the subject
matter of each post (Crossley, S.A., 2020). In Post 1, the noun group ‘trees’ is used as the
subject, and ‘CO2’ as the object, and the preposition ‘from’ is used to show the relationship
between them. In Post 3, the phrase ‘lock up CO2’ is used to describe the effect of planting trees
on reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. These noun groups and phrases help to establish the
central theme of the text, which is the relationship between planting trees and CO2 levels.
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Nominalisation:
Nominalisation is also present in the text; as certain verbs are turned into nouns to
describe the process or result of an action. In Post 1, the phrase ‘suck CO2’ is a nominalisation of
the verb ‘suck,’ and it is used to describe the process of trees removing CO2 from the
atmosphere (Grant., 2020). In Post 3, the phrase ‘lock up CO2’ is another example of
nominalisation, which describes the result of planting trees in terms of reducing CO2 levels.

Noun group pre-modification:

Noun group pre-modification is also utilized in the text. In Post 4, the noun group ‘baby
trees’ is used to describe the trees that grow from the nuts planted by the squirrels and jays in the
woodland. The adjective ‘baby’ is used to specify that the trees are young and have not yet
reached their full growth potential. In Post 6, the phrase ‘peat bogs’ is used to describe a specific
type of wetland that can slow down the release of CO2 (Al-Doulat et al., 2019). The adjective
‘peat’ modifies the noun ‘bogs’ to give a more precise description of the type of wetland being
referred to.

Cohesion:
Cohesion is also evident in the text, as each post is connected to the previous one and
contributes to the central theme of planting trees to reduce CO2 levels. Post 1 raises the question
of whether planting trees can provide a net reduction of CO2. Post 2 agrees with the point made
in Post 1 and provides additional information about how coal is formed (Halliday et al., 2014).
Post 3 answers the question raised in Post 1 and provides more information about how long trees
can lock up CO2. Post 4 contributes to the discussion by pointing out the cumulative effect of
planting trees, while Post 5 provides more benefits of planting trees beyond reducing CO2 levels.
Post 6 and Post 7 expand the discussion beyond just planting trees to include other habitats that
can reduce CO2 levels. Finally, Post 8 presents an alternative viewpoint by suggesting that it
may be better to protect existing natural habitats rather than plant more trees.

Lexical density:
Lexical density is a measure of the proportion of lexical items in a text, which includes
words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (Ashurova and Galiyeva., 2012). In the
second text, we can observe a relatively high lexical density, with a large number of technical
terms and scientific concepts being discussed. For example, words such as ‘CO2’, ‘biodiversity’,
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‘fossilized’, and ‘peat bogs’ are used throughout the text. This indicates that the text is aimed at
an audience with a certain level of knowledge on the topic, and that the author assumes a certain
level of familiarity with these concepts.

Text connectors:
Text connectors are words or phrases that are used to link sentences or ideas together.
These include conjunctions, such as ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘or’, as well as other linking words and
phrases. In the second text, there are a number of text connectors used to link different ideas and
arguments together. For example, in Post 2, the author uses the phrase ‘As you say’ to link the
idea that coal can be created from trees to the earlier point made by another author (Grant.,
2020). In Post 5, the author uses the phrase ‘at a certain point in time’ to link the idea that
planting more trees can lead to a reduction in CO2 levels to the broader argument that there are
many benefits to planting trees beyond just CO2 absorption.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the given text provides an excellent example of the use of noun group
composition, noun group pre-modification, and nominalisation to create a precise and formal
style of writing. The text is also notable for its high degree of lexical density, cohesive elements,
and text connectors, which work together to create a coherent and well-connected text. These
linguistic devices are commonly used in academic and scientific writing, and their effective use
can help writers to create clear and effective communication. Overall, these linguistic features
are all important tools for analysing and understanding texts. In the case of the second text
provided, they allow us to see how the various arguments and ideas presented by different
authors are connected, and how they are presented in a way that is clear and effective. By
understanding these features, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the ways in which language
is used to convey meaning and create persuasive arguments.
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References:
Akbari, H. (2002) ‘Shade trees reduce building energy use and CO₂ emissions from power
plants’, Environmental Pollution, 116(1), pp. 119–126.

Al-Doulat, A., Obaidat, I. and Lee, M., 2019, November. Unstructured medical text classification
using linguistic analysis: A supervised deep learning approach. In 2019 IEEE/ACS 16th
International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA) (pp. 1-7).
IEEE.

Antons, D., Grünwald, E., Cichy, P. and Salge, T.O., 2020. The application of text mining
methods in innovation research: current state, evolution patterns, and development
priorities. R&D Management, 50(3), pp.329-351.

Ashurova, D.U. and Galiyeva, M.R., 2012. Text linguistics. Tashkent: Tafakkur Qanoti, 316.

Crossley, S.A., 2020. Linguistic features in writing quality and development: An overview.
Journal of Writing Research, 11(3), pp.415-443.

Eichstaedt, J.C., Kern, M.L., Yaden, D.B., Schwartz, H.A., Giorgi, S., Park, G., Hagan, C.A.,
Tobolsky, V.A., Smith, L.K., Buffone, A. and Iwry, J., 2021. Closed-and open-
vocabulary approaches to text analysis: A review, quantitative comparison, and
recommendations. Psychological Methods, 26(4), p.398.

Gardeners’ World (2021) ‘Planting trees to suck CO2 – yes or no?’ Available at https://
forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1060527/planting-trees-to-suck-co2-yes-or-no
(Accessed January 2022).

Grant, T., 2020. Text messaging forensics: Txt 4n6: idiolect-free authorship analysis?. In The
Routledge handbook of forensic linguistics (pp. 558-575). Routledge.

Halliday, M.A.K. and Webster, J.J., 2014. Text linguistics: The how and why of meaning.
Equinox Publishing Ltd..

Lagutina, K., Lagutina, N., Boychuk, E., Vorontsova, I., Shliakhtina, E., Belyaeva, O.,
Paramonov, I. and Demidov, P.G., 2019, November. A survey on stylometric text
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features. In 2019 25th Conference of Open Innovations Association (FRUCT) (pp. 184-
195). IEEE.

Pejić Bach, M., Krstić, Ž., Seljan, S. and Turulja, L., 2019. Text mining for big data analysis in
financial sector: A literature review. Sustainability, 11(5), p.1277.

Siregar, I., Rahmadiyah, F. and Siregar, A.F.Q., 2021. Linguistic Intervention in Making Fiscal
and Monetary Policy. International Journal of Arts and Humanities Studies, 1(1), pp.50-
56.

Song, C., Wang, X.K., Cheng, P.F., Wang, J.Q. and Li, L., 2020. SACPC: A framework based
on probabilistic linguistic terms for short text sentiment analysis. Knowledge-Based
Systems, 194, p.105572.