ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY
Overview of Unit 4 IWork materials and Supplementary materials
iWork (online proficiency
exercises)
1. Error Correction (1)
2. Error Correction (2)
3. Error Correction (3)
4. Grammar – relative clauses
5. Modals
6. Vocabulary – Register
7. Idioms
8. Precise words
9. Replacing ‘get’
11. Key words in university
study: important versus
unimportant
11. Listening
iWork (CILL activities)
1.Formal and Informal words-
English Vocabulary in Use
(Upper Intermediate and
Advanced) 1996 Unit 7
2. Relative clauses - English
Grammar in Use (Intermediate)
2005 Units 92-97
3. May & Might English
Grammar in Use (Intermediate)
2005 Units 29 and 30
4. American English English
Vocabulary in Use (Upper
Intermediate and Advanced)
1996 Unit 93
5.Visit WAP
iWork (forum and learning
journal)
1. Pre Unit 3 Forum Activity
2. learning journal reflections at
end of Unit 3
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Supplementary Materials
1. Pairwork Error Correction
2. Pairwork Hedging techniques
3. Pairwork Crossword –
vocabulary related to
‘importance’
4. Vocabulary Crossword with
clues and key
5. Grammar Exercises (remove
answers at bottom before
printing)
Intermediate 28 Reported
speech and passive forms
Intermediate 48 Modals of
probability
Intermediate 51 verbs: passive
and general
Advanced 32 Punctuation: the
colon and semi-colon
 ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY

Activity 1

Class discussion
Note that students should /could prepare for this activity by bringing copies of relevant articles
from their discipline, so that they are not doing the activity ‘blind’.

Activity 2

Practice activity as in Task Based Approach / Process Writing. Also see activity 13 at the end of
unit. Teachers should exercise their own judgement about when to do this activity.

Activity 3

The problems are organised under the headings vocabulary and grammar. The passage
includes examples of the problems identified in the section on ‘Improving the style and tone of
your writing’. Note that the writer’s use of assertive language is discussed in the section on
hedging in academic writing.

Vocabulary

1. Informal verbs

The passage contains a number of phrasal/prepositional verbs. Examples (line number in

brackets):

find out (3) work out (3) hand out (4) fill in (5) look at (8) talk about (18)

2. Colloquial expressions

Examples of colloquial expressions (line number in brackets):

really (7) huge (7) lots of (4)

3. Clichés

Examples of clichés (line number in brackets):

in a nutshell (29-30) first and foremost (18) crystal clear (18)

golden opportunity (28-29)

4. Basic words

Examples of basic everyday words (line number in brackets):

do a survey (6) got the questionnaires (8) put it into (9)

very good (27) biggest (7)

5. Lack of synonyms

Note that the writer repeatedly uses the words students, survey and data.

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 ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY

Grammar

1. Contractions

The passage contains many contractions. Examples (line number in brackets):

I’d let’s it’s don’t that’s can’t wasn’t there’s

(10) (18) (18) (15) (26) (26) (27) (23)

2. Addressing the reader as ‘you’

The writer addresses the reader as ‘you’ at several points in the passage. Examples (line number
in brackets):

You can see, though, that …(27)

As you can see, I’ve put …(16-17)
You can tell this … (20)

3. Personal pronouns

The author uses the personal pronoun I too much. Examples (line number in brackets):

I wanted to find out …(2-3)

I decided to do …(3)
I worked out …(3)
I did the survey …(6)
When I got the questionnaires back, I looked …(8)

4. Questions

The author begins the passage with a question:

How often do PolyU students use English outside the classroom?

5. ‘Run-on’ expressions

Examples (line number in brackets):

… when they talk to friends, parents, etc. (13)

… a few situations (overseas holidays and so on) (28)

6. Informal negative forms

Examples (line number in brackets):

… students don’t have many opportunities to speak English … (19)
… PolyU students don’t speak English much outside …(30)
… PolyU students don’t have any need to speak to …(21)

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 ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY

Activity 4

1. The research team devised an imaginative solution to the problem.

2. In this essay, I will discuss the issue of genetic engineering.

3. The study was conducted between May and July 2004.

4. A research associate was appointed to assist with the analysis of the data.

5. Researchers discovered that the chiller was the source of the problem.

6. This study investigates the problems which immigrant children experience in their first year
at secondary school.

7. Government figures indicate that food prices increased by 3% in January.

8. The working party was established to review the teaching of English.

9. The stock market fluctuated quite sharply last month.

10. The government intends to reduce expenditure on tertiary education in the coming decade.

Activity 5

1. The problem of air pollution has become increasingly serious in recent years.

2. In the past decade, a great deal of / a considerable amount of research has been
conducted into indoor air quality.

3. The results indicate that the quality of service in some Hong Kong restaurants is
unsatisfactory.

4. Hong Kong companies value employees who possess effective communication skills.

5. Language policy in secondary schools has been a controversial topic for many years.

6. It is generally accepted that students learn more effectively when they are taught in their
mother tongue.

7. The students encountered few problems finding relevant data for their project.

8. Ensuring a substantial sample of subjects for a questionnaire survey is essential.

9. Researchers obtained / collected / gathered their data by conducting telephone

interviews.

10. Cheung’s 1 interpretation of the data is questionable.

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 ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY

Activity 6

Practice activity as in Task Based Approach / Process Writing. The hedging techniques used by
the writer are presented in Section 3 of this unit. The examples from the passage in each
category are given below. (paragraphs letters are given in brackets)

1. Hedging verbs

The results indicate that the situation in which tertiary students use English least is in interactions
with their grandparents. (E)

On the evidence of the findings presented in Figure 1, it would appear that tertiary students in
Hong Kong generally have little need to speak in English outside the classroom. (C)

2. Modal verbs

In the case of younger relatives (e.g. cousins), it is possible that they have no knowledge of
Cantonese, while older relatives (e.g. uncles, aunts) may feel more comfortable using their
adopted language. (G)

3. Adverbs

This finding is perhaps not surprising as census data indicate that the overwhelming majority of
people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese 1. (D)

4. Adjectives

One possible factor behind the use of English in this situation is that their relatives live in an
English-speaking country. (G)

5. Nouns

The evidence suggests that undergraduates rarely communicate with their parents or
grandparents in English. (D)

6. Generalisation

While the data in Figure 1 suggest that tertiary students tend not to speak English very frequently
outside class, there are apparently several situations where spoken English has some degree of
importance in the subjects’ lives. (F)

This largely stems from the fact that the provision of English-medium secondary education was
limited in the 1940s and 1950s 3. (E)

The majority of citizens in the 60-70 age group are likely to have received only a Chinese-
medium primary education 4. (E)

In the intimate family domain, young people understandably have little need or desire to speak
English, apart from special circumstances such as preparing for English language examinations.
(D)

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 ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY

Activity 7

1. filled in completed

looks into investigates

handed out distributed

found out revealed

2. done conducted

big substantial

later subsequently

got derived

3. students: undergraduates, subjects, respondents, young people

findings: evidence, results, data

4. … have little need to …

5. The writer uses the terms ‘people in their sixties and seventies’ and ‘citizens in the
60-70 age group’ rather than the negative term old people. He/She replaces the crude
and negative phrase ‘can’t speak English’ with the more cautious and positive phrase
‘English is less widely known’. The writer also provides three references to back up his/her
interpretation of the finding.

Activity 8

Note that in North America a more assertive style of writing is now quite common. Students
should aim to assertive and tentative language where appropriate. In supplementary materials
there is an interactive activity for these pages.

Activity 9

a) travelled f) to practise

b) theatre g) sceptical

c) cheque h) programme

d) analogue i) centre

e) defence j) fulfil

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 ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY

Activity 10

Ode to My Spell Checker (anonymous)

Eye halve (I have) a spelling checker

It came with my pea sea (PC).
It plainly marks four (for) my revue (review) miss steaks (mistakes) eye (I) kin knot (cannot)
sea (see).
Eye (I) strike a quay (key) and type a word and weight (wait) for it to say
Weather (whether) eye yam (I am) wrong oar (or) write (right).
It shows me strait (straight) a weigh (away) as soon as a mist ache (mistake) is maid (made).
It nose (knows) bee fore (before) two (too) long and eye (I) can put the error rite (right).
Its (It’s) rare lea (rarely) ever wrong.
Eye (I) have run this poem threw (through) it,
I am shore (sure) your (you’re) pleased to no (know).
Its (It’s) letter perfect awl (all) the way.
My checker told me sew (so).

Activity 11

Self reflection exercise

Draw attention to CILL and WAP

Activity 12

1. Worried by rising prices and alarmed by the decline in business activity, the Chief Executive
arranged an emergency meeting with prominent figures from the commercial and industrial
sectors.

2. The next chapter has a great deal of important information in it. You should start studying it
right away.

3. Most of the computers in the self-access centre are broken already. This is a good example
of the lack of care among the students.

4. Even though he was the most popular member of the government, he was beaten to the top
job by one of his juniors.

5. Since we were in Tsim Sha Tsui, we visited Ocean Terminal.

OR
We were in Tsim Sha Tsui, so we visited Ocean Terminal.
OR

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 ELC1411 Unit 4 KEY

As we were in Tsim Sha Tsui we visited Ocean Terminal.

6. This computer does not make sense to me. It came without a manual.

7. Mr Wong is the head of the finance department. He is also on the board of directors.

8. Although he has scored more than 200 goals in his career and played for his country over
70 times, he has yet to play in a major final for either his club or country.

9. Judy lives a charmed life. She never seems to have a serious accident.

10. Although I went to the conference, I did not stay long.

OR
I went to the conference but I did not stay long.

Activity 13

Follow up to Activity 2.