Breaking Bad Grammar
Habits
Presented by
Academic Enrichment
Learning Centre
The University of Sydney
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Grammar for academic writing
‘If you don’t know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly’
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The grammar of spoken versus written
language
Spoken language
Written language
If you don’t know who I
am
When individuals are unknown to
each other …
generalised
abstract
When meeting an unknown
individual
Then [I think] maybe your
best course
… it is advisable/ recommended
possibly, the most appropriate
action
would be to tread lightly
to use caution/ to be cautious
impersonal
objective
formal
would be to avoid risk
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Grammar as a choice system
‘If you don’t know who I am, then maybe
your best course would be to tread lightly
Clause complex: conditional sentence
You don’t know me. Be careful
2 sentences. Statement. Command
Warn
Watch your step because you don’t know who I am
Clause complex: cause effect
I don’t know you so watch out
Clause complex: result
P
U
R
P
O
S
E
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The power of language and grammar
"The law I sign today directs new
funds... to the task of collecting vital
intelligence... on weapons of mass
production."
Genre makes sense in
context (university
discipline)
Creating a whole text: a
genre
Creating a paragraph: an
idea
Choices in grammar and
vocabulary
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Page 5
What is grammar?
1.  Grammarasasetofrules,labelsforwordsandstructures
Whatisthiswordorstructure?
If you don’t
know
who
I
am
Conjunc;on pronoun etc.
2.  Grammarasachoicesystemformakingappropriate
meaningstosuitapar;cularpurposeandcontext
WhyamIchoosingthiswordandstructureinthissitua;on?
WhatdoIwanttoachieve?
Indirectwarning
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What is grammar?
Mostimportantly:
Grammarisalanguagetotalkaboutlanguage
§  Welearnlanguage
§  Welearnthroughlanguage
§  Soitmakessensetolearnaboutlanguage
Alllanguageconveys3 kinds of meanings
§  Experiential:
§  how we experience the world, things and events, happenings
§  Interpersonal:
§  how we create relationships with each other and how we evaluate or judge
§  Textual:
§  how we organise these other meanings so they make sense
Halliday, M.A.K. (1993) Towards a language-based theory of learning. Linguistics and Education 5 93-116
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What is grammar?
Experiential
If you don’t know who I
am, then maybe your
best course would be to
tread lightly
Interpersonal
If you don’t know who I
am, then maybe your
best course would be to
tread lightly
Textual
If you don’t know who I am,
then maybe your best course
would be to tread lightly
Language
making
meaning
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Page 8
What is grammar?
In the earliest times, people carved or painted messages on rocks.
Later on, people wrote on pieces of leather, rolled into scrolls.
During the Middle Ages, heavy paper called parchment was used for
writing, and books were laboriously copied by hand.
Then in the middle of the fifteenth century, with the invention of the
printing press, the birth of the modern printing industry was possible.
Now the advent of computers is rapidly revolutionising the process of
communication.
Theme: sentence beginnings: your focus
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What is grammar?
Rocks, on which messages were carved or painted, were the earliest
medium of written communication.
Pieces of leather, however, had the advantage of being portable when
rolled into scrolls and they replaced rock carvings.
These leather scrolls were in turn replaced in the Middle Ages.
Parchment books took over and were laboriously copied by hand until the
invention of the printing press.
Printed books have been central to communication for centuries
but various forms of electronic media will undoubtedly replace them in
the end.
Theme: sentence beginnings: your focus is different
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English Theme Patterns
Thema2cProgression
THEME
THEME
NEW
NEW
Intheearliest,mes,peoplecarvedorpaintedmessagesonrocks.
Lateron,peoplewroteonpiecesofleather,rolledintoscrolls.
DuringtheMiddleAges,heavypapercalledparchmentwasusedforwri3ng,andbookswere
laboriouslycopiedbyhand.
Theninthemiddleofthefi>eenthcentury,withtheinven,onoftheprin,ngpress,the
birthofthemodernprin,ngindustrywaspossible.
Andnowtheadventofcomputersisrapidlyrevolu3onisingtheprocessofcommunica;on.
– 
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English Theme Patterns
Thema2cProgression
THEME
THEME
NEW
NEW
Intheearliest,mes,peoplecarvedorpaintedmessagesonrocks.
Rocks,however,werelaterreplacedbypiecesofleatherrolledintoscrollsastheseweremore
portable
ThesescrollswereinturnreplacedbyheavypapercalledparchmentduringtheMiddleAges.
Parchmentbookswerelaboriouslycopiedbyhandun;ltheinven;onoftheprin;ngpress.
– 
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English Theme Patterns
Thema2cProgression
THEME THEME1 THEME2 NEW1,2,3
NEW
NEW
ThematerialsusedforwriDencommunica,onhavechangedover,meinanumberofways
Rockscarvingsweretheearliestformofwri=encommunica3on
Laterleatherrolledintoscrollswereusedastheseweremoreportable.
– 
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What lecturers are looking for in your writing
Critical
Persuasive
Analytical
What is
most
irritating
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Descriptive
E.g.evalua;ngthisposi;on,
incorpora;ngthedebate,voicesof
otherwritersinthisarea
E.g.suppor;ngyourposi;onthat
electroniccommunica;onwill
replaceprintedcommunica;on
E.g.iden;fyingfeaturesofthese
meansofcommunica;oninorder
tocompareandcontrastthem.
E.g.descrip;onofmeansofwriGen
communica;on
Bad
grammar
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Your background knowledge of grammar
1.  IsEnglishyoursecond,third,fourthetc.language?
2.  Ifyouareana;vespeakerofEnglish,didyoustudyanother
language?
Thisisagoodstartasyoudohavesomelanguagetotalkabout
language
Forexample:IfeelconfidentthatIunderstandthefollowing:
§  Whataclauseis
§  Thepossiblecomponentsofaclause
§  Thedifferencebetweensimpleandcomplexsentences
§  Thedifferencebetweensubordinateandcoordinateclauses
§  Thedifferencebetweendefiningandnon-definingrela;veclauses
§  Whataverbis
§  Thedifferencebetweenfiniteandnonfiniteverbgroups
§  Etc.
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The seven most irritating grammar problems
1.Sentencefragments
1.  Thisinforma;onwillbeemployedtocomparetheperformanceofonefirm
toanother. 2.  Interestinkeepinganillnessfromdevelopingatall,throughvaccina;on,
gene;ccounsellingandwaterpurifica;on.
3.  Whereastheprac;ceofdemocracyisaneduca;veprocess.
4.  Bymanipula;ngthelowerback,thephysiotherapistwasabletoreducethe
pain.
5.  Examinerswhowereaskedtoassessthisspecialgroupmadeupofhighachievingstudents.
§  You need to know : 1 and 4 are correct
§  What is a sentence. What is an independent clause.
§  An independent clause must have a verb attached to a time or
tense
(a finite verb) and this verb must be attached to a subject.
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The seven most irritating grammar problems
2.Confusionbetweenac2veandpassiveverbs
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
EuropeansbroughtnewdiseasestothepeopleoftheAmericasandthePacific.
NewdiseaseswerebroughttothepeopleoftheAmericasandthePacific.
Photosynthesisoccursin2stages.
Photosynthesisisoccurredin2stages
Lookingattherela;onshipbetweengenderandhealth,itisclearthathealth
affectsgreatlybygender.
Womenareexperiencedgreaterdepressionthanmenastheytendtobeisolated
fromthecommunity.
§  You need to know : 1,2 and 3 are correct
§  Some verbs don’t take a passive (intransitive verbs: they only have one
subject/participant)
§  You can use the passive when you choose the second (or third) participant as
the subject.
§  If you know how to use the passive, you can manipulate the information focus
of your sentence beginnings and make your writing more impersonal
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The seven most irritating grammar problems
3.Subject–verbagreement
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
Reliabilityofmeasuresweregood.
Amiscarriagerateof12%ineverythousandwomencompareswith9%inthree
adjacentareas.
Theimpactsontheworldisoveres;mated.
Thehypothesesthatgirlswouldusethetelephonemorefrequentlythanboys
andspendmore;mepercallonthetelephonewerenotsupported.
You need to know : 2 and 4 are correct
§  The structure of the noun group
§  You need to identify the Head noun in the noun group and this
agrees with the verb
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The seven most irritating grammar problems
4.Verbtense
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
Theadvancesintechnologiesprovideuswithavarietyofdigitaldevicesincluding
computers.
Themajorcauseofill-healthinAboriginalcommuni;esisovercrowdingand
unhygieniclivingcondi;ons.
Approximately98%ofAborigineslivedwellbelowthepovertyline(Saunders,
1990:73)andyoungAborigineshavealifeexpectancy20yearslessthanyoung
whites.
AbouthalfoftheAboriginesintheneighbourhoodofthefirstEuropean
seGlementatPortJacksondiedfromsmallpoxby1790.
You need to know : 2 is correct
§  The meaning behind different tense choices in English
§  When you need to make tense changes in your writing
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The seven most irritating grammar problems
5.Vaguereference
1.  Everysocietyisliabletocarryforwardtheirbeliefs.Someofthesearedeemed
quaint,bizarreorgrotesque.Asecondexampleofthisisaritualundertakenfora
purpose...
2.  Alsoduetovaria;onsingenes,theorganismmightlookdifferentasiftheyarea
differentspecies.
3.  Theflowerwhichreflectsultravioletlightisprobablypollinatedbyinsects.In
contrastthatwhichdoesnotreflectultravioletlightislikelytobepollinatedby
eitheranimals,windorwater.
4.  IfanaccidentoccurswithAIDS/HIVposi;vepa;ents,theyusuallyoccurfrom
needles;ck,non-intactskinor….
You need to know : 3 is correct
§  How to use the reference system so that the reader knows who
or what you are referring to
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The seven most irritating grammar problems
6.Theapostrophe
1.  It’simmenselyimportanttoknowthenumberofspecieslivingonthisplanet.
2.  Australia’spubliceduca;onsystemisunderfunded.
3.  Inoursociety,womens’healthisgenerallydifferentfromthehealthoftherestof
thepopula;on
4.  Thedisadvantageofthistechnologyisitsrela;velyhighprice.
5.  Thear;cles’strengthsandweaknesseswereelaborated.
You need to know : 1,2,4 and 5 are correct
§  The apostrophe is used to show possession
§  The apostrophe is used in contracted forms of the verb (not
used in academic writing)
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The seven most irritating grammar problems
7.Modifiers:addinforma2ontotheindependentclause
1.  Havingbeenbredincap;vityforgenera;ons,themajorityofzooanimalsare
almostdomes;cated.
2.  Bornandbroughtupin;mesofwar,warisseenasawayoflife.
3.  Ifproscribingtooohen,an;bio;cscanbecomeineffec;ve.
4.  Grazingonplantswhicharefullofjuicysap,acamelmaygoforovertwomonths
withoutdrinking
5.  Travellingthroughthedesert,duststormsareinevitable.
You need to know : 1 and 4 are correct
§  The modifier is a dependent clause
§  The ‘subject’ of the dependent clause is implied.
§  Make the subject of the modifier the same as the independent
clause
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Page 22
A final word
Yourchoiceoflanguageneedstobe
§  Concise
§  Accurate
§  Clear
Some;ps:
§  Don’trelyonthespellcheck
§  Proofreadyourassignmentsandlookforthesevenmostirrita;ng
grammarmistakes
§  Checkyoursentencebeginningsandendings–doyourideasflow
§  Readyourassignmentaloud
§  Don’twriteyourassignmentatthelastminute.Drahandre-drah
yourassignmentsothatyouhave;metoaGendtohowyouare
usinglanguagetomakemeaningappropriateforcontextand
purpose.
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Contacting the Learning Centre
How the Learning Centre can help you
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Contacting the Learning Centre
Level7,Educa;onBuilding
ManningRoad
Web: www.sydney.edu.au/lc
Phone: 93513853
Fax: 93514865
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What we can do for you
q Centralworkshops
q Individualappointments
q Onlineresources-e.g.TheWriteSite,WRISE
q Supportprogramswithinspecificcourses
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What we can do for you
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What we can do for you
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Examples of workshops
AcademicWri;ng
q  Founda;onsofGrammar(onlineversionalsoavailable)
q  Func;onalGrammarforAcademicWri;ng
Workshopscomingsoon…
March/AprilProgram
14thMarch–22thApril
Onlineenrolmentfrom:Monday7thMarch
Thankyouandgoodluck
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