Text 4.9
‘Like a Long-legged Fly’ is (identifi es) a short story written by Ursula Dubosarsky. The title refers to (identifi es) a quote by William Yeats that starts the story and alerts the reader to important themes in the story. The two main characters are (identifi es) Snow and Martin, two high school students who sit together in English class. The plot is (describes) relatively simple: … The story is (describes) mainly about communicating, through words, actions and silence.
Exercise 4.4
Verb group Verb type Verb group Verb type
fl ickered action blamed sensing: feeling
was relating going missing action
got action ‘ve got to go action
said saying said saying
didn’t understand sensing: thinking moved action
The old surfboard under the house was his favourite one until yesterday
Noun group Verb group Noun group Adverbial group
She closed her laptop
Noun group Verb group Noun group
Then, genuinely exhausted, she started cooking dinner
Adverbial group
*
Adverbial group Noun group Verb group Noun groupAnother destructive rumour had been spread through her careless talk
Noun group Verb group Adverbial group
*
Note that ‘then’, which is often used as a text connective to join sentences, is here answering the probe question ‘When did she start cooking dinner?’Exercise 3.4
Clause Clause type Sentence type
Every person in the café was huddled together independent complex watching a news report on the old television in the corner. dependent
Soon Nirvin too found himself drawn to the television set. independent simple ‘Although the bodies had no fi ngerprints on them, dependent complex a small carved marking was found,’ independent
said the reporter. dependent
Now Nirvin was sweating independent complex
as he had seen the symbol and the letter dependent
and he knew independent
that this was not the doing of a mad mortal dependent but symbolised something much grander and dangerous. independent
164 Working Grammar Answers 165
Extent
(how far, long, often?)
Every three seconds, Worldwide, Worldwide, past the fifth grade, usually, until their sixth birthday, by 2015, to 0.7% of their country’s Gross National Income (GNI), at 0.28% GNI, Since the United Nation’s conception
Cause (why?)
for their family
Contingency
(under what conditions/ despite what?)
In addition to this promise
Role (what as?)
as important factors
Note: there are no adverbials of accompaniment, angle or matter.
Exercise 5.1
Note: verb groups in bold, main verbs circled, auxiliaries underlined. Text 5.1
I meet a girl. She has hair the colour of straw, great shiny handfuls of it, and even here, in a ski town, she reminds me of the beach. She carries a big black cloth handbag that musthave just about everything she owns in it. She laughs a lot and willnotstand still. Text 5.1 uses mostly simple verbs in the simple present tense, with little modality (must have, will not stand) or polarity (will not stand). This captures a simple picture of a person as she is at one, present moment of time.
Text 5.2
The challenge of Environmental, Street and Event theatre is unlike traditional theatre. It mustbe more intimate, more confronting and the connection between the audience and the performers mustbe extremely strong and identifi able. During the planning of our group’s piece we had toincorporate this idea as well as use specifi c theatrical techniques.
Text 5.2 uses more modality (must, had to) to capture the importance of particular features of this type of theatre and the demands on the student group. Simple present tense is also used (is, use).
Exercise 5.2
1 know (simple present); have been (present perfect) 2 told (simple past); am (simple present); am (simple present) 3 are (simple present); will be (future continuous)
4 was wondering (past continuous); had remembered (past perfect) 5 was painting (past continuous); produced (simple past)
Verb group Verb type Verb group Verb type
had been missing action could smell sensing: perceiving
vanished action burning action
were brought in action went action
had cracked up sensing: feeling grabbed action
were relating called relating
said saying took off action
knew sensing: thinking
Exercise 4.5
Category Examples
Concrete/ Abstract
a problem
The story, knowledge, approach, the resolution Common/ Proper He Martin, Snow Particular/ General
Martin’s grandmother, the resolution, the knowledge that … writers and film-makers, the reader
Everyday/ Technical
the reader
This sort of unresolved narrative, a more realistic approach, no clear-cut resolution
Exercise 4.6
Meaning Examples from text 4.15
Place (where?)
in developing countries, in rural areas, In some areas of the world, Everywhere, within global development
Time (when?)
In 2000, So far, currently, any time soon
Manner (how?)
The ruling government committed an injustice against the Stolen Generations.
An injustice was committed against the Stolen Generations.
Dictators ruled the country for decades. The country was ruled dictatorially for decades. South Africa successfully hosted the World Cup
Soccer in July 2010.
The World Cup Soccer was successfully hosted in July 2010 in South Africa.
The new desalination plant will endanger marine wildlife. Marine wildlife will be endangered.
Exercise 5.5
Text 5.3Can(modal auxiliary adjusts for degree of possibility) simple words written down change
(main verb) the way the world works and thinks? History shows(verb in simple present tense suggesting an ongoing, universal truth) us that the answer is(verb in simple present tense suggesting an ongoing, universal truth) yes. Great works that hold the ideas, values
and hopes of thousands or even millions of people have overthrown(verb in present perfect tense locating these events in past time, but acknowledging that they continue in present time) monarchies, freed(verb in present perfect tense, with ‘have’ ellipsed but understood) countries from colonial bonds and enticed(verb in present perfect tense, with ‘have’ omitted but understood) nations to a particular way of seeing the world.
Works of literature which have changed the world include(verb in simple present, again suggesting an ongoing, universal truth) …
At this stage of her exposition, Jana uses verb groups that move between the simple present and the present perfect as she supports her present assertions about a universal issue with evidence which extends from the past to the present. Her verb groups are relatively simple, with no aspect used to adjust the otherwise straightforward processes. She likewise uses little modality or polarity, reserving the modal auxiliary ‘can’ to ask the question which she is going to answer clearly in the affirmative. Text 5.4
I am(verb in simple present) very pleased to be here today at the launch of Australia’s
celebration of the 1993 International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. It will be(verb in future present) a year of great signifi cance for Australia. It comes(verb in simple present) at a time when we have committed ourselves to succeeding(aspect verb in present perfect) in the test which so far we have always failed (verb in present perfect). Because, in truth, we cannot confi dently say (verb in simple present, modalised and polarised to indicate strong negative certainty) that we have succeeded(verb in present perfect) as we would like to have succeeded(verb in present perfect, with aspect indicated by ‘like’, and modalised by ‘would’ to suggest probability) if we have not managed
to extend(verb in present perfect, with aspect indicated by ‘managed’, and ‘not’ indicating negative polarity) opportunity and care …
At this stage of his speech, Keating uses verb groups that move between the simple present and present perfect as he reflects that past injustices are not necessarily over. He also uses aspect in ways that suggest ongoing processes requiring commitment (‘have committed ourselves to succeeding’), desire (‘would like to have succeeded’) and capability (‘have not managed to extend’). Some of these
Exercise 5.3
Saro’s story Verb group Tense
Nirvin walked up to the orb walked up simple past
and picked it up. picked up simple past
‘You can’t destroy it can’t destroy simple present (strong negative modality)
if that’s ’s (is) simple present
what you’re thinking’ are thinking present continuous
he said. said simple past
Saro uses the simple past to recount events (walked up, picked up) from an omniscient narrator’s perspective. He uses the simple present (can’t destroy) and the present continuous (you’re thinking) as he reports the direct speech of his characters at one point of imagined present time within that world.
Rudd’s Apology Verb group Tense
... the forced removal of Aboriginal children was happening as late as the early 1970s.
was happening past continuous
The 1970s is not exactly a point in remote antiquity.
is not simple present
There are still serving members of this parliament
are still serving present continuous
who were fi rst elected to this place in the early 1970s.
were first elected past perfect
It is well within the adult memory span of many of us.
is simple present
Kevin Rudd moves between the past continuous (was happening), to represent the duration of the process of removing Aboriginal children in the past, and the simple present (are) and simple past tenses (were elected) to make an argument about present responsibilities for these past events.