Collins Cobuild English Grammar (219 page)

Nuttall and Gipps (1982)
estimate
that the direct cost of the APU was £800,000 per year.
Collins and Ellis (2001) also
challenge
the traditional concept of the individual.

Note that the verbs that you use will depend on your academic discipline. Research-related verbs are more common in technical and scientific writing; mental and verbal activity verbs are more common in the humanities and social sciences.

These verbs indicate your attitude to the reported material:

Wenger’s data
show
that 43 percent of elderly people named as a confidant someone they had known for at least 50 years.
This evidence
fails to
acknowledge the importance of the children’s diet.

These verbs indicate the cited author’s attitude to the material:

Both Smith and Goodman (2000)
maintain
that skilled adult reading is far from error-free.
Bly
argues
that the process of initiation into adulthood is easier for women than for men.

Note that verbs that indicate attitude are more commonly used in the humanities and the social sciences.

Expressing degrees of certainty

When you are formulating your message, you need to consider how strongly you want to make your claim. Different structures express different degrees of certainty, and allow you to establish a position that you can defend if you are criticized.

For example, it is possible to defend the following statement:

Certain
researchers have
attempted
to show that
some
underprivileged children cannot engage in play.

The following would be less easy to defend:

Researchers have shown that underprivileged children cannot engage in play.

not being precise

You can use the following adverbs when the available information is not precise.

Increased risk of infection is
predominantly
linked to poor sanitation.

cautious language

You can use more cautious language when you think that other people may disagree with your statement, or when you want to express uncertainty about whether or not a proposition is true. This may be because you really are uncertain, or because you want to create opportunities for readers to decide for themselves.

The following lists show distancing structures that are commonly used for making stements sound more cautious.

There is,
arguably
, a common thread in all these positions.
As will be seen later, current models are inadequate
in some respects
.

Note that if you express too much uncertainty, or if you repeatedly show that you are not sure if something is true, your message will have less worth, and it will be difficult to interpret.

Emphasizing

In general English, you can use strong words to emphasize a point. In academic English, you often show emphasis by changing the normal word order of a statement.

subordinate clause in first position

Subordinate clauses normally occur in first position in academic texts. The main clause carries the new or most important information.

You can use the following structures to show that something important is going to be announced at the end of the sentence.

nominal relative clauses (see
8.112
to
8.116
)

What is now required
is a systematic investigation of the data.

prefacing structures (see
9.73
to
9.78
)

The question we now need to consider is
whether the dosage should be reduced.

split sentences (see
9.25
to
9.30
)

It was this declaration
which triggered the events that followed.

Index

Note:
entries in
bold
are grammatical terms; entries in
italics
are lexical terms. At certain entries (for example,
nouns
and
verbs
), there is a list of terms with the • symbol; these lists will help you to quickly find all the main categories in a long section of the book. A number preceded by R refers to a paragraph in the Reference Section.

—————— A ——————

a
and
an
1.228
–
1.229

with countable nouns
1.228
,
1.235

an
with words starting with a vowel sound
1.229

not being specific about which person or thing you are referring to
1.230

in phrases that add extra information
1.231

after linking verbs
1.232

with uncountable nouns
1.233

using individuals to generalize
1.234

after
not such
2.130

saying
a
or
an
instead of
one
2.215

in front of large numbers
2.221

expressing speed
2.257

with days of the week
4.96

in frequency expressions
4.115

ability
5.110
,
5.116
–
5.119

able

be able to
5.222
–
5.224

about
10.12

be about to
expressing the future
4.59

in frequency expressions
4.116

as adverb of direction
6.67

as preposition indication movement
6.97

after reporting verb to indicate subject matter
7.85

above
10.12

absolute
2.36

absolutely
2.148
,
6.50

active
9.8

addressing people
9.95
–
9.98