Download 547-2(2015)

1. Basic Definitions of Grammatical Terms
(http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/)
A. PARTS OF SPEECH
NOUN -- A noun is a naming word, a word that identifies a person, place, thing, or
abstract idea.
The name of a specific person or place--such as Jane Doe, Abraham Lincoln, New
York, or England--is called a proper noun.
A few common nouns: house, boss, dogs, football, mother, kitchen, King George,
beauty, desks, crime, nation, boy, tempest, tea, coffee.
(if you can put "a", "an", or "the" in front of a word and have it mean something, it is a
noun)
PRONOUN -- Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. I, you, he, she, it,
they, this, that, who, which are all pronouns. The most common pronouns are words
like "them", him, her, he, she.
VERB -- The verb is a part of speech, a word or compound of words, that performs
one of three kinds of tasks: it expresses action; it expresses a state of being; or it
expresses the relationship between two things. In its most powerful and normal
position, it follows a noun (the agent of the verb).
A few verbs: is, are, am, was, were (all versions of the verb "to be"), jump, sing, kick,
use, decide, resemble, play, explode, encounter, celebrate, hope, say, decide, leap,
attack, announce, cook.
ADJECTIVE -- An adjective describes, or modifies, a noun.
A few adjectives: rich, fat, green, sixty thousand, amazing, purple,
unidentified, happy, tired, asleep, four, Roman, modern, clear, uncertain.
PREPOSITION -- A preposition comes before (pre) a noun or pronoun, and
shows the relationship (-position) of that person or thing to something else.
A few prepositions: in, into, on, onto, over, under, through, to, up, down, by,
with, from, of, out, between, across, without, for.
B. SENTENCE ELEMENTS
SUBJECT -- The subject of a sentence is the noun or pronoun (person or thing)
about which an assertion is made or a question is asked. The subject is the
person or thing that the sentence is mainly about. Subjects can either be
“simple” (composed of a single noun or pronoun) or “complex.”
Examples:
The man who had followed us inside walked over to the telephone.
The superior performance of La Traviata pleased the wealthy audience.
Simple subject
Complex subject
DIRECT OBJECT -- The direct object receives the action of the verb ("the victim
of the verb”).
My friends invited me and my room-mate. We accepted the invitation. We all
drank beer and watched videos.
In most sentences the word order pattern is: {Subject}, {verb}, {direct object}.
I or me???
My parents are taking Kyle,
me/I Alan
to the
and
ballgame.
____ to the ballgame.
She and ___ have to make a cake.
How to tell?
I couldn’t believe what she told Kevin and ____.
"I" must be the subject.
"Me" must be the object.
Come to the party with Anita, Max and ____.
Her bench is near Fan, Dan and ____.
An easier way:
remove the other noun(s)
and see if it still makes
sense.
If you tell either Kyle, Anita or ____, he’ll get the message.
Georgia and ___ went to the beach this weekend.
That experiment was done already by Alan, Fan and ____.
Send it to Dan or ____.
2. Characters and Actions (Joseph M. Williams & Robert A. Day)
Once upon a time, as a walk through the woods was taking place on the
part of little red riding hood, the wolf’s jump out from behind a tree
occurred, causing her fright.
Once upon a time, little red riding hood was walking through the woods,
when the wolf jumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.
2. Characters and Actions (Joseph M. Williams & Robert A. Day)
Once upon a time, as a walk through the woods was taking place on the
part of little red riding hood, the wolf’s jump out from behind a tree
occurred, causing her fright.
Once upon a time, little red riding hood was walking through the woods,
when the wolf jumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.
simple subjects
2. Characters and Actions (Joseph M. Williams & Robert A. Day)
Once upon a time, as a walk through the woods was taking place on the
part of little red riding hood, the wolf’s jump out from behind a tree
occurred, causing her fright.
Once upon a time, little red riding hood was walking through the woods,
when the wolf jumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.
simple subjects main characters
2. Characters and Actions (Joseph M. Williams & Robert A. Day)
Once upon a time, as a walk through the woods was taking place on the
part of little red riding hood, the wolf’s jump out from behind a tree
occurred, causing her fright.
Once upon a time, little red riding hood was walking through the woods,
when the wolf jumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.
simple subjects main characters
verbs
2. Characters and Actions (Joseph M. Williams & Robert A. Day)
Once upon a time, as a walk through the woods was taking place on the
part of little red riding hood, the wolf’s jump out from behind a tree
occurred, causing her fright.
Once upon a time, little red riding hood was walking through the woods,
when the wolf jumped out from behind a tree and frightened her.
simple subjects main characters
verbs
ACTIONS
In a clear sentence, the main characters are subjects and verbs name
the actions of the characters.
The federalists’ argument in regard to the destabilization of government by
popular democracy was based on their belief in the tendency of factions to further
their self-interest at the expense of the common good.
Simple subject?
Main characters?
Verbs?
Actions?
argument
federalists, government, popular democracy, factions
was based, further
argue, destabilize, believe, further
Rewriting to make the main characters subjects and the actions verbs yields:
The federalists ARGUED that popular democracy DESTABILIZED government,
because they BELIEVED that factions TENDED to FURTHER their self-interest
at the expense of the common good.
simple subjects
main characters
VERBS
In a clear sentence, the main characters are subjects and verbs name the
actions of the characters.
Abstractions as characters
Readers prefer that subjects of verbs be flesh-and-blood characters. When you
write about concepts, however, you can turn them into virtual characters by making
them the subjects of verbs that communicate actions:
No right is more fundamental to a free society than freedom of speech. Free
speech served the left in the 1960’s when it protested the Vietnam war; and it is
now used by the right when it claims that speech includes political contributions.
The doctrine of free speech has been embraced by all sides to protect
themselves against those who would silence unpopular views. As a legal concept,
it arose….
Alternatively, you can describe unfamiliar abstractions from the point of view of
flesh-and-blood characters:
I argue this about intention. It has a complex cognitive component of two temporal
kinds: prospective intention and immediate intention. Prospective intention lets us
represent how we have acted in the past and in our present situation, and how we
will act in the future. That is, we use the cognitive component of prospective
intention to help us plan. Immediate intention lets us monitor and guide our
bodies as we move them…
Nominalizations
Writing seems dense when abstract nouns derived from verbs and
adjectives (nominalizations) are used frequently, especially when those
nouns are subjects of verbs.
Nominalizations are nouns ending in –tion, -ment, -ence, etc.
gerunds (verbs ending in -ing) can also act as nominalizations.
Examples:
Verb  Nominalization
Discover  discovery
Resist  resistance
react  reaction
utilize, use  Utilization
reduce  reduction
Adjective  Nominalization
careless  carelessness
different  difference
proficient  proficiency
know  knowledge
Try to identify actions that are expressed as nominalizations and change
them into verbs:
The intention of the committee is to audit the records.
Change to:
The committee intends to audit the records.
Why change nominalizations into verbs?
First, you generally eliminate prepositions in the process; second, you often
eliminate “to be” verbs by replacing them with action verbs; and third, you
humanize the text by saying who does what. Humanizing the text makes it
less abstract and allows the readers to more easily visualize what you are
talking about. For example:
The data are indicative of the problem.  the data indicate the problem.
…is applicable  applies
…is deserving  deserves
…is in agreement  agrees
…is in error  errs
…is possessed of  possesses
How to spot problems in your own writing?
Look at the first seven or eight words in your sentences. If you don’t see in
those words a character as a subject and a verb as an action, that sentence
is a candidate for revision.
 Readers prefer your subjects be characters (flesh and blood or
abstract) and your verbs be actions.
3. Active vs. Passive voice (Joseph M. Williams, Michael Alley &
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/))
The "voice" of a verb has to do with whether or not the subject of a sentence acts upon
something else (as agent) or whether the subject is acted upon (by an agent).
The verb is active, when the subject (agent) does the action (verb) to something (object).
The verb is passive, when the subject takes the action upon itself.
Active
John ate the apples.
John, the subject, is the one performing the action of the verb.
Passive
The apples were eaten by John.
The apples, the subject in this sentence, are receiving the action of the verb.
Recognizing Passive Constructions
Step 1: Find any form of the verb "to be": is, was, were, will be, will have been, would be
and so on. Note that tense does not affect voice; passive can take any tense.
Step 2: Is that form of the verb "to be" followed by a past tense verb? (watched,
threatened, considered, thought, and so on.
Step 3: Does the word "by" appear after the whole verb or can you put the word "by" after
the combination of the "to be" verb and the past tense verb.
The passive voice in science writing
The passive voice is common in science writing, particularly in older papers. However,
passive voice verbs either delay the real subject or erase it completely. The passive
verb also requires more words than the active verb, has less impact than the active
verb, and generally suggests passivity, hesitancy, or a lack of clarity on the part of the
writer.
By contrast, active voice foregrounds the real agent of the action, provides force and
clarity in one's statements, and avoids wordiness in sentence constructions. Active
voice is performative; passive is static, even though action and agency seem to exist in
the sentence.
 The passive voice is used far too much in science writing, but it does have its uses.
Use it in these circumstances:
1. You want to focus your reader’s attention on one or another character:
On the second day of our study, one of the calves wandered just a few yards from the
herd and was attacked by wild dogs. [emphasizes the wildebeest calve]
vs.
On the second day of our study, wild dogs attacked one of the calves that wandered
just a few yards from the herd. [emphasizes the wild dogs]
2. You want to shift a long and complex bundle of information to the end of a
sentence, especially when it also lets you move to its beginning information
that is shorter and more familiar.
For example, compare the middle sentences in the following passages:
Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been
raised by scientists studying black holes in space. The collapse of a dead
star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble creates a black hole. So
much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space
around it in puzzling ways.
vs.
Some astonishing questions about the nature of the universe have been
raised by scientists studying black holes in space. A black hole is created by
the collapse of a dead star into a point perhaps no larger than a marble. So
much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space
around it in puzzling ways.
Next weeks assignment:
Background section
Just write ~1 page and outline (one
sentence max/paragraph) the
remainder
(3-4 pages in your written exam)
D. BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Specific Aims section of the proposal provides the reader with a general idea
concerning the scope of the project, the technology involved, the logic of the
experimental approach, and the hypothesis to be tested. However, these ideas
were presented as unsupported statements, so a major goal of the Background
and Significance section is to provide this support through expansion and judicious
reference to the literature. Because the primary reviewers may not be familiar with
the area of investigation, or the technology being used, it is also important to
address these matters. However, the purpose IS NOT to be comprehensive: the
purpose IS to present citations that build a solid foundation for your proposal.
This section of the proposal needs to establish the following matters:
1. The project is important. It relates to significant human disease or to a
significant deficit in our knowledge of an important biologic process: the results of
the hypothesis tests will have a predictable impact on theory and/or ultimately lead
to improvement of the human condition.
2. The project is interesting. The subject can be related to a general theoretical
model that is the subject of widespread interest; important areas within the model
that are unproven, controversial, or ambiguous are addressed.
3. There is a high probability of success. Specific hypothesis to be tested can be
identified as part of a theoretical model; tests of the hypotheses are feasible,
definitive, and within the range of the PI’s apparent expertise.