Read A Workbook to Communicative Grammar of English Online
Authors: Dr. Edward Woods,Rudy Coppieters
A Workbook to Communicative Grammar of English (2 page)
15.1. Agreement and disagreement
15.2. Fact, hypothesis and neutrality
Sections
274–282
; 416; 493; 589; 609; 706–708
Sections
283–292
; 461–463; 483; 501; 542
Sections
293–297
; 508; 587; 733
15.6. Permission and obligation
Sections
336–338 & 340
; 608; 730
17.2. Organising information – Given and new information
17.3. Organising information – Order and emphasis
17.4. Organising information – Inversion
Sections
415–417
; 584–585; 590–594; 681–684
17.5. Organising information – Fronting with ‘
so/neither
’
17.6. Organising information – Cleft sentences
17.7. Organising information – Postponement
17.8. Organising information – Other choices
Sections
430–432
; 488; 608; 613–618; 730; 740
17.9. Organising information – Avoiding intransitive verbs
We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:
A. P. Watt Limited on behalf of Jan Morris for an extract from
Among the Cities
by Jan Morris; Cambridge University Press for extracts from
Exploring Spoken English
by R. Carter and M. McCarthy (1987); Her Majesty’s Stationery Office for extracts from
The Highway Code
; The National Trust Magazine for an extract from
The National Trust Magazine
No. 95, Spring 2002; Ordnance Survey and Jarrold Publishing for an extract from
Pathfinder Guides: Dartmoor Walks
by Brian Conduit and John Brooks; Oxford University Press for extracts from
Britain
by James O’Driscoll © Oxford University Press 1995; Penguin Books Limited for extracts from
Pole to Pole
by Michael Palin, and
The Brimstone Wedding
by Barbara Vine; Saga Publishing Limited for an extract from
Saga Magazine
February 2002; and World Cancer Research Fund for an extract adapted from ‘Losing weight and keeping it off’ by Chris McLaughlin published in
World Cancer Research Fund Newsletter
Issue 45, Winter 2001.
This is the workbook for
A Communicative Grammar of English
by Geoffrey Leech & Jan Svartvik (3
rd
edition, published by Pearson Education, 2002). As such, it should be used in conjunction with the grammar.
In this workbook, we have tried to combine the three parts of the grammar. While we have mainly drawn on Part 2 – Grammar in Use, we make reference to Part 1 and to Part 3. In some units, these parts are the main focus.
The workbook does not follow the order of the grammar, except insofar as the units follow the order of sections in Part One and Part Two. In general we have used the descriptions of the sections in the grammar as the headings for the sub-units here.
In the contents and at the beginning of each sub-unit, we list the sections referred to in the grammar. The main sections are those in bold at the beginning. The other sections mentioned indicate where reference is made to the topic.
At the beginning of each sub-unit, there is a brief explanation of how a particular structure is formed and/or when it is used, how certain meanings can be expressed, etc. This is based on the explanations in the grammar and users should refer to the main grammar for more detailed explanations and examples.
The nature of the grammar means that the length of the sub-units varies. In some cases there will be several tasks to demonstrate the variety of use, whereas in others there are only a few tasks or even just one.
Tasks vary in nature, ranging from traditional gap filling exercises to rewrite assignments and conversational passages in which the student is invited to participate in an interactive way.
Not all tasks are equally difficult. For the student’s guidance, each task is followed by one, two or three asterisks, suggesting that it is relatively easy, moderately difficult or quite challenging.
At the end of the book there is an Answer Key. The nature of the grammar means that many tasks will have several possible answers. In these cases we have only suggested answers and others will be possible. Our answers should not be considered the best ones but are only there as a guide.
It is expected that students using this book will be advanced students with a good grounding in the grammar of the language. They now need the opportunity to perfect their skills in the language. They will find this book useful to work on their own and to practise the points raised in the descriptions in the main grammar. Where possible we have tried to use authentic material and to have a variety of different task types.
Teachers can use the book as a grammar course book to give students the extra practice they need. It will also be useful for homework tasks.
Finally, we would like to thank Professor Leech and Professor Svartvik for their support throughout this project. Their careful reading of the manuscript and the comments they made were invaluable and checked any misreading of the grammar we may have made in developing the tasks. We would also like to thank Professor Dr. Dieter Mindt of the Freie Universitat Berlin for making his corpus of the language in use freely available to Edward G. Woods during the semester he was there as a visiting lecturer.
Edward G. Woods and Rudy Coppieters
Spoken and written English
Informal spoken English has many features which, if written down, make it appear rambling and unstructured:
•
silent pauses
, often indicated by a dash (-) in transcription.
•
voice-filled pauses
(e.g. –
erm
) indicating hesitation.
•
repetition
(unplanned repeat, e.g.
I – I – I get
)
•
false starts
(e.g.
I mean, you know
, etc.)
•
discourse markers and fillers
(e.g.
well, you see
, etc.)
•
short forms and contractions
(e.g.
don’t, we’ll, gonna
)
Task one **
In the following text, underline the features, especially the features of grammar, that show it is spoken language.
I’ll tell you a little tale. –er- When me mother was alive in Cambridge and -erm-we had some coal delivered – me mother was a terror if anything was wrong, you know – and –er- it got some rocks and bits of scale in it. And I was going. I was quite young then, and she said –er- get a, get a, we had a a bag. It was a, quite a strong bag. She said fill it up with some of the coal and stuff. And we got it on the bus and we went all the way to the bottom of Hills Road Bridge. Was –er- in fact the building’s still there – the coal office. And inside was an old table, an oak –er- front. Was about as long as this room. And –er- I didn’t know what she was going to do with it. Just take it back and probably tell them, you know, the coal’s not very good. And as she went, she bent down and picked it up and WHOOSH! Straight across the counter. Dust coal everywhere. “Take it back,” she said. “And come back and get the rest of it.” They couldn’t believe it. I can see their faces today.
(from R. Carter & M. McCarthy,
Exploring Spoken English
, C.U.P. 1997, pp. 37–38)
Task two **
Rewrite task one as a written story.
Task three ***
Below are the instructions on how to vote in a British election. Each person receives a voting card with the instructions on. Rewrite the instructions as if you were explaining them orally to somebody. The first one has been done for you.
Example:
This card is for information only. You can vote without it, but it will save time if you take it to the polling station and show it to the clerk there
.
Answer:
The card tells you what to do. You don’t need it when you go and vote. But take it to the polling station to show to the clerk. It’ll save time
.
1.
When you go to the polling station, tell the clerk your name and address as shown on the front of the card. The Presiding Officer will give you a ballot paper; see that (s)he stamps the official mark on it before (s)he gives it to you.
2.
Go to one of the compartments. Mark only one cross (X) as stated in the polling booth in the box alongside the candidate you are voting for. Place only one mark on the ballot paper, or your vote will not be counted.
3.
If by mistake you spoil a ballot paper, show it to the Presiding Officer and ask for another one.
4.
Fold the ballot paper into two. Show the official mark to the Presiding Officer, but do not let anyone see your vote. Put the ballot paper in the ballot box and leave the polling station.
5.
If you have appointed a proxy to vote in person for you, you may nevertheless vote at this election if you do so before the proxy has voted on your behalf.
6.
If you have been granted a postal vote, you will not be entitled to vote in person at this election, so please ignore this poll card.
Task four ***
Underline grammatical features in the above text which show that it is probably a written text. Give reasons for your decisions.
1.2. Cooperation in conversation
A conversation is not just a matter of giving and receiving information. It is a form of social interaction and participant cooperation is a basic
feature of conversation. There is a give-and-take process which is manifested in several ways:
•
turn-taking
, where the role of speaker is shared in a conversation. This is shown in the interplay of questions, answers and positive follow-up comments.
•
using fillers or discourse markers
. These usually add little information, but tell us something of the speaker’s attitude to their audience and what they are saying.
Task ***
Look at the text below.
1.
Comment on features of turn-taking.
2.
Note the discourse items and indicate whether they are
i. | purely interactive, e.g. ah, aha, mhm, mmm, oh, yes, yeah, yup, uhuh |
ii. | mainly interactive, e.g. no, please, I see, I mean, you know, you see, OK, that’s OK, all right, thank you, that’s right, that’s all right, well, sure, right |
iii. | also interactive, e.g. anyway, in fact, maybe, perhaps, probably, absolutely, of course, certainly, obviously, indeed, wasn’t it (and other tags), really, honestly |
EXTRACT | |
Speaker One who is a woman of 78 is telling speaker Two, a woman of 30, and speaker Three, a man of 47, about a plane journey she had. | |
S.1 | ……. somebody said to me the pilot says you can go in the cabin you see, well my mouth dropped open ……. |
S.2 | (laughs) |
S.1 | No idea you see. Now I thought oh, I’d had a joke with one of the girls, you know ……. |
S.2 | Yes |
S.1 | ……. the stewardess girls, and –er- maybe it was her. Or there was a young man with us who had been in our hotel. Maybe he’d said something. Somebody had anyway. So they took me, and Jeanne went with me, of course, in case I fell ……. |
S.2 | Yeah. |
S.1 | ……. Right into where the two pilots were. It was absolutely fantastic. |
S.3 | Marvellous, wasn’t it. |
S.2 | Was that the first time you’ve ever been ……. |
S.1 | In the cabin? |
S.2 | Yeah. |
S.1 | Yeah. |
S.3 | Yeah. Normally they only take children and V.I ……. |
S.2 | That’s right. |
S.3 | And V.I.Ps |
S.1 | Yeah. |
S.3 | So I don’t know which ……. |
S.1 | Well, this was a V.I.P. |
S.2 | Yeah (laughs) |
S.3 | (laughs) |
S.1 | And –er- I went through this door and below was a city. All, all the lights and that. And it was fantastic. |
S.2 | What was the city? |
S.1 | Er – I was just, you know ……. |
S.2 | Oh, you’re coming to that. |
S.1 | And I kept thinking I wonder where we are now. Just, you know, and –er – one of the pilots said you’re looking down on Budapest. |
S.3 | Mmm |
S.1 | He said the top side of that river is Buda and at this side is Pest. That’s why it’s called Budapest. |
S.2 | Oh, is it. I didn’t know. |
S.1 | Well, I’d never heard that before. |
S.3 | Yeah, it is two ……. |
S.2 | No, I hadn’t. |
S.3 | ……. two towns. |
S.2 | Oh. |
S.1 | I was absolutely transfixed with that. |
S.2 | Mmm |
S.1 | It was like looking on Fairyland. |
S.3 | Mmm. It was lovely, wasn’t it? |
