Collins Cobuild English Grammar (217 page)

comparisons and contrast

advantages and disadvantages.

arrangement of events in time

If you want to show that one thing happened soon after the other, you can use a finite verb in the main clause, and an
-ing
participle in the subordinate clause:

They
headed
rapidly for the Channel ports,
showing
their passports at the barriers.

You can also indicate the order in which things happened using ordinals and adverbs such as
first
,
then
,
later
, etc.

Later
, in December 1985, the committee decided …

procedure

You can use the same structure – a finite verb in the main clause, and an
-ing
participle in the subordinate clause – to show how something is done.

Researchers
determined
the size of each machine,
taking
into account the properties of the material.

cause/effect

The same structure can be used to show that one thing happened as a result of another.

Many of the men
returned
home,
causing
local unemployment.

Note that you can also indicate cause and effect in a main clause using a verb such as
cause
,
lead to
, or
result in
, or a noun such as
effect
,
result
, or
outcome
.

The consumption of an excessive number of sweets can
cause
obesity.
The
effect
of the famine in 1921–22 was devastating.

comparison and contrast

You can compare and contrast information in the following ways.

using a sentence connector

Conversely
, the effect of intravenous administration of the drug is immediate.
By contrast
, the more recent publication is more straightforward.

using a comparative adverb

Owner-controlled companies performed
better
than those subject to management control.

using a verb

The aim of this report is to
compare
and
contrast
these two business structures.
We will
compare
our own findings with those of Mortimore et al. (1988).
These findings
contrast
strongly with those from other tests.

for and against

You can provide an evaluation leading to a conclusion in the following ways.

using an adjective

This method of production is
preferable
.

using a verb

Consumers
prefer
our products for their quality and finish.

using a noun

This type of surgery has the
advantage
that no abdominal incision is needed.

using an adverbial clause of reason or purpose

This type of organization should be much smaller,
since it will not need personnel concerned with line management
.
You must take as much care as possible,
in order to avoid accidents
.

Referring back and referring forward

The most common way of making a text hold together is to refer back to something that you have mentioned earlier, by using pronouns, demonstratives, determiners, and adjectives (see
10.2
to
10.39
). It is also common to refer forward, particularly in longer texts (see
10.40
to
10.47
).

referring back

This
and
those
are common in academic contexts:

…they had commissioned a specific piece of research.
This
came somewhat late.
There were, however, wide differences of opinion about party chances. Some of
those
differences…

Note that the demonstrative is often linked with a noun referring to:

spoken events