Referential Elements

Cohesion in a text is accomplished through words that refer to other words or information elements, already mention or that are going to be mention in the text. This relationships are done through repeating the same word, use of synonym , personal pronouns, object pronouns, possessive pronouns and demonstrative pronouns.

a) John Said that he was not going to school
b) When he came John tripped over the blocks.

Back-referential pronouns, such as the pronoun in example a, are called anaphora. Forward -referential pronouns, such as the one in example b, are called cataphora.

Personal pronouns:

 he/she/it/him/her/they/them,

the pronouns- they/them, can refer to people or to facts in the text.

The pronoun it, refers to objects, animals, ideas, places, thoughts, emotions. Its value is neutral and represents a singular element.

Demonstratives:  this / that or these / those
Adverbs of place:  here, there;
Question words: when, where, what, which, who

Examples:
* This book is intended for student who are studying ESP.

* The monkey took the banana and ate it. "It" is anaphoric under the strict definition (it refers to the banana).
* Pam went home because she felt sick. "She" is anaphoric (it refers to Pam).
* What is this? "This" can be considered exophoric (it refers to some object or situation near the speaker).
* The dog ate the bird and it died. "It" is anaphoric and ambiguous (did the dog or bird die?)
* I went home to take a nap because I thought it would make the headache go away. "it" is anaphoric (refers to the nap)

Identifying reference in a text
Theory
http://www.uefap.com/reading/underst/refer/refer.htm
Exercises
http://www.uefap.com/reading/exercise/refer/refer.htm
http://www.uefap.com/reading/exercise/refer/refer2.htm

More
http://people.rit.edu/japnce/payne/teachers/referencewords.html

Workshop

1. Look for an article related to your field of expertise. Use Google, write key words related to a topic you want to read about.
2. Write a post in your blog. Introduce the topic of the article. Make sure to add the link where you got it from. Write a short summary of the article. Say what it is about.Give your opinion about it.
3. Select two paragraphs from your article and copy them in your blog.
4. Look for the referential elements in the two paragraphs.

Keep on shining love and peace!

Verb Phrase

Verb Phrase

A verb of more than one word is called a verb phrase. It is a phrase consisting of a verb, its auxiliaries (helping verbs), its complements, and other modifiers. Auxiliary verbs always come before the main verb.

A verb phrase is a syntactic unit that corresponds to the predicate. There are two types of auxiliary verbs. Inflected auxiliary verbs e.g. be, have, do and Modal auxiliary verbs e.g. will, should, must etc.

Verb Phrase Examples

Below are some verb phrase examples with explanation:

* She has taken the job. (Auxiliary has + main verb taken)

* Mom is making the room.  (auxiliary is  +  main verb  make)    

* He did sing at the party.      (auxiliary do  +  main verb sing)

* He has been coming late everyday.     (auxiliaries has been + main verb take)

 

In a VERB PHRASE (VP), the Head is always a verb. The pre-Head string, if any, will be a `negative' word such as not [1] or never [2], or an adverb phrase [3]:

        [1] [VP not compose an aria]
        [2] [VP never compose an aria]
        [3] Paul [VP deliberately broke the window]

Many verb Heads must be followed by a post-Head string:

        My son [VP made a cake] -- (compare: *My son made)
        We [VP keep pigeons] -- (compare: *We keep)
        I [VP recommend the fish] -- (compare: *I recommend)

Practice Exercise #1  

Underline the verb phrase:

    She kept working like a machine.
    They were being exploited.
    Life goes on.
    I came across these old books today.
    Her new dress fell apart in the washing machine.
    My little brother has always looked up to me.
    No one gets away with murder.
    Take off your clothes and jump in the lake.
    We have to work out a plan to handle this situation.
    It is difficult to wake up very early every day.
    I threw the dirty ball away from the bag.

Practice Exercise #2

Directions: In the following sentences, underline the subject of the sentence and double underline the complete verb phrase. Label the subject (s), helping verb (hv), and main verb (mv)   

1. Chocolate has been loved for many centuries.

 

2. I am not sure for how long exactly.

 

3. Some people might store their chocolate in the refrigerator.

 

4. Chocolate should be served at room temperature.

Exercise # 3

Look at the model.   

A logo is not your brand, nor is it your identity. 

Noun phrase: A logo

Head noun: logo

Pre-modifiers: a

Post- modifier: -

Verb phrase: is not your brand, nor is it your identity. 

Head verb: is

Helping verb: -

Verb tense: is  Simple Present

Now, check the following sentences and Label the noun phrase (NP), head noun (HN), pre-modifier (PreM), post modifier (PostM) Verb phrase (VP) Head verb (HV), helping verb (hv), and main verb (mv).

1.These guidelines ensure that the identity of the company is kept coherent, which in turn, allows the brand as a whole, to be recognisable.

2. A logo does not sell the company directly nor rarely does it describe a business.

Workshop

1. Look for an article related to your field of expertise. Use Google, write key words related to a topic you want to read about.
2. Write a post in your blog. Introduce the topic of the article. Make sure to add the link where you got it from. Write a short summary of the article. Say what it is about.Give your opinion about it.
3. Select two paragraphs from your article and copy them in your blog.
4. Find three sentences and underline the complete verb phrases. Verb phrase (VP) Head verb (HV), helping verb (hv), and main verb (mv)
5. Also, Label the noun phrase (NP), head noun (HN), pre-modifier (PreM), post modifier (PostM) Verb phrase.

Keep on shining love and peace!

Noun Phrase

Nominal Phrase Construct (abbreviated NP)
The nominal phrase is a group of two or more words that together substitute for a simple noun. As with the simple noun, the phrase answers the question "who" or "what" is involved in the verbal action. The nominal phrase takes the same position in a sentence---"The boy with the red hair bought the milk"---as does the simple noun---"Bobby bought the milk."

Nominal Phrase Head
Each nominal phrase has a head. This is a simple noun that the remaining words modify. In the sentence, "The boy with the red hair bought the milk," the boy is the head noun. The prepositional phrase "with the red hair" modifies the boy.

Simple Nominal Phrases
A nominal phrase does not necessarily require modification of the head noun. The sentence, "The boy buys milk," contains the nominal phrase, "the boy." The addition of the definite article turns the single word noun into a phrase.

Form

Noun phrases normally consist of a head noun, which is optionally modified ("premodified" if the modifier appears before the noun; "postmodified" if the modifier follows the noun). Possible modifiers include:

* determiners: articles (the, a), demonstratives (this, that), numerals (two, five, etc.), possessives (my, their, etc.), and quantifiers (some, many, etc.). In English, determiners are usually placed before the noun;
* adjectives (the red ball); or
* complements, in the form of a prepositional phrase (such as: the student of physics), or a That-clause (the claim that the earth is round);
* modifiers; pre-modifiers if before the noun and usually either as nouns (the university student) or adjectives (the beautiful lady), or post-modifiers if after the noun. A postmodifier may be either a prepositional phrase (the man with long hair) or a relative clause (the house where I live). The difference between modifiers and complements is that complements complete the meaning of the noun; complements are necessary, whereas modifiers are optional because they add information about the noun.

Read more: What Is a Nominal Phrase? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_6921580_nominal-phrase_.html#ixzz1tlvYrOVR


Watch these videos for more on noun phrases

Exercises
1. The basic structure of phrase

Workshop

1. Individual task. Look for an article related to your field of expertise. Use Google, write key words related to a topic you want to read about.
2. Write a post in your blog. Introduce the topic of the article. Make sure to add the link where you got it from. Write a short summary of the article. Say what it is about.Give your opinion about it.
3. Select two paragraphs from your article and copy them in your blog.
4. Find three sentences and find the NP, head noun, pre modifiers and post modifiers.

Keep on shining love and peace!

Cognates

There are thousands of words in Spanish and English that share the same roots and therefore may appear or sound very similar in the two languages (cognates).

A true Cognate  is a Spanish word that looks or sounds similar to an English word and has the same meaning. Some examples are shown below.

Spanish Word    English Translation  
profesor          professor
carácter           character
música            musica
literatura         literature
inteligente       intelligent

A false cognate is a Spanish word that looks or sounds similar to an English word but has a totally different meaning. Some examples are shown below.


Spanish Word     English Translation     Confused With     Spanish Translation

abandonar	to quit	to remove	quitar
absoluto	absolute	absolutely	absolutamente

Workshop

1. In pair task. Go to this page and work on the exercises. Copy the exercises in a Google document so both of you can edit and work in the same document.
2. Individual task. Look for an article related to your field of expertise. Use Google, write key words related to a topic you want to read about.
3. Write a post in your blog. Introduce the topic of the article. Make sure to add the link where you got it from. Write a short summary of the article. Say what it is about.Give your opinion about it.
4. Select two paragraphs from your article and copy them in your blog
5. Draw a chart with examples of true and false cognates.

Resources and References
FALSE FRIENDS OR FALSE COGNATES
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curious/falsefriends.html

COGNATES/PALABRAS AFINES
http://dlti.us/doc/COGNATESDISD.pdf

False cognates
http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/false_cognates

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Content and Function Words

Words 

When we read any text in English, we'll find words. According to Wikipedia.... " a word is the smallest element that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content (with literal or practical meaning). This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own. A word may consist of a single morpheme (for example: oh!, rock, red, quick, run, expect), or several (rocks, redness, quickly, running, unexpected), whereas a morpheme may not be able to stand on its own as a word (in the words just mentioned, these are -s, -ness, -ly, -ing, un-, -ed).

A complex word will typically include a root and one or more affixes (rock-s, red-ness, quick-ly, run-ning, un-expect-ed), or more than one root in a compound (black-board, rat-race). Words can be put together to build larger elements of language, such as phrases (a red rock), clauses (I threw a rock), and sentences (He threw a rock too but he missed).

Content words and Function words

Content words are words that have meaning. They are words we would look up in a dictionary, such as "lamp," "computer," "drove." New content words are constantly added to the English language; old content words constantly leave the language as they become obsolete. Therefore, we refer to content words as an "open" class.
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are content parts of speech.

Content Words	examples
Nouns	John, room, answer, Selby
Adjectives	happy, new, large, grey
Full verbs	search, grow, hold, have
Adverbs	really, completely, very, also, enough
Numerals	one, thousand, first
Interjections	eh, ugh, phew, well
Negative Auxiliary verbs	aren’t, won’t, can’t
Demonstratives	Those, this, that
Question Words	How, when, why
Yes/No answers	yes, no (as answers)

Function words are words that exist to explain or create grammatical or structural relationships into which the content words may fit. Words like "of," "the," "to," they have little meaning on their own. They are much fewer in number and generally do not change as English adds and omits content words. Therefore, we refer to function words as a "closed" class.
Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, qualifiers/intensifiers, and interrogatives are some function parts of speech.

Function Words	examples
Prepositions	of, at, in, without, between
Pronouns	he, they, anybody, it, one
Determiners	the, a, that, my, more, much, either, neither
Conjunctions	and, that, when, while, although, or
Modal verbs	can, must, will, should, ought, need, used
Auxilliary verbs	be (is, am, are), have, got, do
Articles	Few, a, the, an
Particles	no, not, nor, a

Practice 
Content or Function? Check your answer
went
with
just
quickly
the
hard
next to
CD ROM
open
had

Workshop:

1. Look for an article related to your field of expertise. Use Google, write key words related to a topic you want to read about. Add your article to your Scoop.it.
2. Create a document and write about the article. Introduce the topic of the article. Make sure to add the link where you got it from. Write a short summary of the article. Say what it is about. Give your opinion about it.
3. Select two paragraphs from your article and copy them in your document.
Draw a chart. Find 2 examples of each of these: 

• Content words: Nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, numerals, demonstratives, question words, interjections. 
• Function words: prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, modal verbs, auxiliary verbs, particles.
• Prefix and suffix
• Cognates: True and false

References:

Word (definition) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word
Introduction to Content/Function Words http://banana.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/transcription/intro.html
PARTS OF SPEECH http://www.towson.edu/ows/ptsspch.htm

TOEFL Content Vs Function Words
http://toefl.jumbotests.com/info/toelf-content-vs-function-words

Getting the Tools

For this classes we will be using different tools:

* A Class blog: Doris3m EFL Center English for work
* On line dictionaries
* Gmail Services
* Facebook Group
* Wikipedia
* Blogs and sites related to your field of expertise.

You must create your own blog to post the different activities in the class
Click on the following link to read about how to work on your blog:  Interesting facts about blogging

Keep on shining love and peace!
Doris3m