Formal and written English

Formal and written English

What is generally understood by literature?

Most people readily accept that great historical plays and novels are part of it, but what about other types of writing, such as short stories, or other media, such as works published on the internet? Literature is much debated in academic circles. What particularly concerns academic circles involved in education is the type of literature taught in education. Should Literature include contemporary works by little-known authors like children?

Formal and written English 1. Grammar and text within SFG 2. Text and texture 3. Structural components:

• Information structure
• Thematic structure

4. Cohesive components:

• Reference
• Ellipsis and substitution
• Conjunction
• Lexical cohesion

Text and texture

A stretch of language which is coherent and 'makes sense' is said to have texture. This is simply the quality of being a text, rather than a set of unconnected bits of language such as one might find in a collection of independent sentences used as exercises in a language textbook. (Bloor and Bloor, 2015, p. 84)

Textual component 1: Structural components

The structural component refers to the way of organising information in writing. This is subdivided into: Given and New Information / Theme and Rheme:

• Subject: Halliday's SFG has been a success. The theory states ...
• Passive form: Halliday published 'Introduction to SFG' in 1974. Since the book was published, it has been tremendously demanded.
• It as subject: Since it was published, it ...
• Noun phrase: The publication of the book allowed EFL teachers to apply new teaching methods.

Cohesive component 1

Substitution (I): nouns and noun phrases

• Guest speaker Professor John Doherty gave the lecture this morning. His/The Professor's/Doherty's theme was endorphin production in mammals.
• The museum's lifelike new dinosaur will surely enhance its status ammongst younger visitors.
• 'Would you like some sandwiches?' - 'Please pass me the ones with garlic.'
• 'I'm having chicken and rice' - 'I'll have the same.'
• It is possible to respect both your own opinions and those of others.
• The boys went out and some did not return until the morning.

Cohesive component 1

Substitution (II): verbs and verb phrases

• The bride wore pink, as did her bridesmaids.
• Ukraine has agreed to cease fire although Russia hasn't yet.
• Sarah really enjoys the thrill of the open road, and so does her husband.
• Children don't like learning English. Neither do adults.
• The avegare student doesn't work as much as an ordinary person does.
• I was unable to contact the barrister about te trial date. Can the clerk do it/that tomorrow?
• Anyone wishing to interrupt with question should feel free to do so. (formal)

Cohesive component 1

Substitution (III): clauses

• Many of the latest models have been recalled because of a fault in the steering. This has caused embarrassment to the manufacturers.
• Was that a tear in the defendant's eye as he described the incident? She believed so. (=She believed that it was)
• They hoped that the hotel would have a restaurant but they didn't presume so/ presumed not
• Please check that the amendments to your policy are correct. If so, you need take no action.
• We hope that all your dealings with the bank are satisfactory. If not, please see the enclosed leaflet outlining our complaints procedures.

Cohesive component 2

Ellipsis 1. Nominal ellipsis: Lucy went up to the counter and (she) asked for a coffee. 2. Verbal ellipsis: She writes for a magazine and he (writes) for a daily newspaper. Since the divorce I've lived in Salta and my wife (has lived) in Misiones. The kids hadn't spoilt the garden the dogs must have. Sally could play the piano much better than her sister (could) 3. Clausal ellipsis: I bring my teacher these three articles and my partner brings her two (E).

cohesive component 3

Conjunctions:

1. Additive
2. Adversative
3. Causal
4. Temporal

Conjunctions

Causal/temporal

Additive/adversative

It is easy to identify theoretical conflicts in management accounting. For example, contigency theorists argue that the type of management accounting system which is appropriate to an organization is dependent on a number of organization-specific variables. By contrast, the emphasis is ...

There is a severe shortage of mathematics teachers in Britain and America. As a consequence of this, far too many people leave school without any interest in persuing the study of subjects like engineering that rely on mathematical concepts. Two possible solutions are available. Firstly, it should be a priority to train more teahcers. Secondly, teachers' salalries should be made competitive...

Lexical cohesion

Lexical items regarded as:

• Synonymy
• Antonymy
• Identity chain

Cohesive component 4 Reference:

1. Exophoric reference
2. Endophoric reference:

• anaphoric
• cataphoric

Emphasis

Inversion

SUMMARY 1. Grammar and text within SFG 2. Text and texture 3. Structural components:

• Information structure: Given information and New informatio
• Thematic progression: Theme and Rheme

4. Cohesive components:

• Reference: Exhophoric v. Endophoric (cataphoric/anaphoric)

• Ellipsis and substitution (nominal, verbal and clausal)
• Conjunction: Additive, Adversative, Causal, Temporal
• Lexical cohesion: Synonymy, Antonymy, Identity chain

Revision

1. What is a text? 2. What is texture? 3. What is the difference between information structure and thematic structure? 4. What are the cohesive components? 5. What makes substitution different from ellipsis? 6. How can we emphasise what we want to convey?

What is generally understood by literature?

Most people readily accept that great historical plays and novels are part of it, but what about other types of writing, such as short stories, or other media, such as works published on the internet? This topic is much debated in academic circles. What particularly concerns those involved in education is the type of literature taught in schools. Should the subject of Literature include contemporary works by little-known authors, which children may find more accessible, or it this just 'dumbing down'?

Practice

Improve this text by replacing the highlighted words and rewriting the underlined words in more formal language.What are MP3s? In the last few years there have been a revolution in the way people listen to music. The revolution is largely thanks to a breakthrough in the way we can record and compress sounds into a very small file. We call this technology MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, or MP3. MP3 is a development of the technology that brought us CDs in the 1980s. That technology was digital recording. Digital recording changes sound into a digital file that a computer can read. When music is recorded, it usually contains many sounds that the human ear cannot actually hear. MP 3 technology takes away the sound humans cannot hear and compress the music to a tneth of the music's previous size. This means that a single CD can contain hundreds of songs instead of just ten or twleve. The reduction in the size of music files has also meant that you can transfer music over the internet. People can now download music from a website and record the music onto a CD or an MP3 player. Apple developed their own version of MP3s and used the technology in thier famous iPods. iPods were a huge success and Apple has sold more than 500 million of them around the world.

Practice: Answers

What are MP3s? In the last few years there have been a revolution in the way people listen to music. This is largely thanks to a breakthrough in the way sounds can be recorded and compressed into a very small file. This technology is called MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, or MP3. MP3 is a development of the technology that brought us CDs in the 1980s. That technology was digital recording. This changes sound into a digital file that can be read by a computer. When music is recorded, it usually contains many sounds that the human ear cannot actually hear. MP 3 technology removes/eliminates these sounds and compresses the music to a tneth of its previous size. This means that a single CD can contain hundreds of songs instead of just ten or twleve. The reduction in the size of music files has also meant that it is possible transfer music over the internet. People can now download music from a website and record it onto a CD or an MP3 player. Apple developed their own version of MP3s and used the technology in thier famous iPods. They were a huge success and more than 500 million of them have been sold (by Apple) around the world.

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