Language Use & Register

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Language Use & Register

Looking for Words

What have we learned so far?

• A text is a unit
  
• Intro-body-conclusion
  
• Clear structure to each paragraph
  
• Clear Thesis statement to keep the writing focused
  
• APA formatting

This Lesson:

• You know which register to use when writing your editorial
  
• You have options to improve your vocabulary and grammar.
  
• You are aware of the dos and dont’s concerning formal writing
  

Academic English

• English used in formal writing, often for academic purposes
  
• Theses, papers, essays, editorials
  
• Nuance: a wrong word or punctuation mark can spell doom for your entire paper.
• Education
  
• In summary: Form AND Function
  

Nuance Example

• Example: Woman: without her, man is nothing.
  

• Example: Woman without her man is nothing.

Specifics (Vocab)

• Go beyond the obvious

• Also --> furthermore
  
• Idioms: Easy --> piece of cake

                        Agree --> be on the same page.

Very Good?

Rewrite this sentence: In The Real Inspector Hound, Tom Stoppard’s use of temporal distortion was done very well.

Specifics (Basics)

Avoid first-person phrasings when providing proof. First-person phrasings are ok (in moderation) while discussing your opinion.

Rewrite this sentence: According to this website I found, the blood on Lady Macbeth's hands represents her guilt over the crimes she committed.

Process

• Plans, plans and more plans
  
• Adapt, Improvise, Fix
  
• Formatting all the way
  

More specifics

• No contracted forms: don’t --> do not
  
• This does not include genitives --> Professor Xavier’s research
  
• Slang: kids --> children
  
• Vague pronouns: It should always be clear and unambiguous.
  
• Other than that, use any grammatical structure you control.

Ambiguous Example

Miami beat Boston 4-3, which caused widespread celebrations in the victors’ city, but equal violence in Beantown. Police were called on to restore order in their city.

Grammar:

Rewrite this sentence: The main character is flat. So are the minor characters. The plot is predictable.

Structures to use

• Passives: Vonnegut’s use of multiple identities was considered to be revolutionary for his time.
  
• Relative Clauses: Maya Angelou, who wrote from personal experience, managed to convey her own anguish in her poetry.
  
• Conditionals: If there is one thing we should take from this poem, it would be to never give up hope and to soldier on until all goals have been achieved.
  
• (pseudo-)cleft sentences: The reason why Maya Angelou was able to write such powerful poetry, was because she could use her own experiences to fuel her writing.
  
• Reported speech: It is believed that Ginsberg was so enamored with Walt Whitman that he felt compelled to quote Whitman in each of his works.
  

Practice

• On paper, edit the text below to improve the register concerning vocabulary and grammar.

• Look at It’s Learning for extra exercises on specific grammatical structures.
  

Oxford is the oldest university in England. It was established in the 11th century. Henry II banned English students from going to Paris to study. Today it is one of the foremost universities in the world. This is why so many students apply every year. Teaching is based on weekly tutorials and these are supported by lectures and essay assignments.