The Study and Production of Texts Lesson 7

Homework lesson 7 (i) Read, (ii) analyse (iii) find lexical nets in any of the paragraphs in the text p59 Start working on the section on lexis pages 28 - 35

Pages 28-35

TRANSITIONS Today’s lesson

TRANSITIONS Words Sentences Paragraphs Sections

p36 Transitional Words & Sentences One particular set of lexis often used in connected discourse is the group of words used to signpost the different elements in a text and also to indicate to the reader the relationship between these elements. This set is called the language of transition and indicate relations, whether from sentence to sentence, or from paragraph to paragraph. Using transitional words and phrases (1) helps render the text far smoother and more coherent, (2) ensuring the text flows from the first supporting point to the last, thereby (3) helping the reader follow the content more easily.

Understanding function Generalizing Sequence Illustration Similarity Addition Direction Consequence Complication Location Summarizing Restatement Contrast/ Comparison

Addition Consequence Summarizing Generalizing Restatement Contrast/ Comparison Sequence Illustration Similarity Not used: Complication Direction Location

TRANSITIONS THIS NOT THIS

Words Sentences Paragraphs Sections TRANSITIONS Words Sentences Paragraphs Sections

Analysis of p 37 text 3 paragraphs Each paragraph 3 sentences Length of paragraphs: shorter / longer / shorter Semantic thread between paragraphs Transition markers ‘So’ / ‘Of course’ / ‘But’ Opening topic sentence Opening & closing sentences of whole text Tight lexical nets Grammatical cohesion

GRAMMATICAL COHESION LEXICAL COHESION

Turn to P 38

Cohesion is the term for the quality of a text such that it appears as a single unit, not as a random sequence of thoughts or sentences. Students may have trouble understanding a text that seems to have easy words and concepts because they fail to identify the cohesive ties, or even because the student has not yet learned how to tie English sentences together clearly and naturally with the appropriate cohesive devices.

Turn to p41

The Three Minute Test

p41 – p49

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pc9wq/ episodes/downloads

p51 Tense usage contributes significantly to the effect the text has on its reader. Even a simple, cursory analysis of the Lenny Kravitz text reveals that a wide variety of tense usage is in action and that there are multiple ways to express habitual actions. It is important to consider how the different tenses interweave in the fabric of the text to make it more interesting and more stimulating to read. A text which is merely a list of verbs in the present simple describing mundane actions in a chronological time sequence can be nowhere nearly as sophisticated and ambitious as a text, which offers its reader the opportunity to experience a myriad of verb forms and a wide range of adverbial time phrases.

Homework Lesson 8 Revise the Macron text on p 37 and look for lexical nets Do the exercises on p 39 for next lesson Read (and study) p 40 Start the grammar section p 41 – p 49

Mock grammar test Monday 3 December 9-11 VSR Rm 10 For those who did not sit the test in October