Conclusiones Respecto al Diagnóstico:

The aim of the first three tasks is to remind you that the notion of the future is expressed in English in many ways, and not only through the use of the sort of verbs that are listed in grammar books under

“The Future”.

Task 4.1

The nine verb expressions containing the word will are:

Paragraph 1 will provide (line 3) Future Simple (Active) will be (line 5) Future Simple (Active) will find (last line) Future Simple (Active) Paragraph 2 will encounter (line 3) Future Simple (Active) Paragraph 3 will continue (line 1) Future Simple (Active)

will have caught up with (line 2) Future Perfect Simple (Active) will be living (line 2) Future Continuous (Active) will also be eliminated (line 5) Future Simple (Passive) will weaken (line 7) Future Simple (Active) Task 4.2

Those nine verbs represent four different tense forms, whose names are shown in bold above.

Task 4.3

Examples of non-will verbs are:

Paragraph 1 move towards / are losing their status / is a growing challenge Paragraph 2 can also expect to

Paragraph 3 can be expected to / is certain to remain / seems likely to…

As you have probably noticed, that text contains a range of other words, apart from verbs, which point towards the future, including ones that emphasise the idea of change and development (which logically extends into the future). Here are some examples:

Paragraph 1 worldwide expansion / constantly better trained Paragraph 2 the need to adapt to…

Paragraph 3 (intensifying) these trends

We will be discussing other non-verb expressions of the future later in this unit.

Task 4.4

1 will have completed 72 (hours)

2 will have been observing/counting… 12 (weeks) 3 will have counted

Task 4.6

The ones with is/are going to…:

we’re going to find;

that’s going to be increased;

this vaccine’s going to have to be combined;

Task 4.7 Tony Lynch’s suggestion:

It is likely that we will find a positive effect of Patarroyo’s vaccine. However, it should be remembered that even the most positive results to date have established only 50-60 per cent protection. It is not yet certain whether that rate will (or: can) be increased by the use of higher antibody levels - although new formulations may help - or whether the vaccine will have to be combined with another, such as sporozoite, in order to achieve the necessary 80-100 per cent protection.

Task 4.8

aims / means / intends / plans (is planning) + TO APPOINT…

is planning on / is thinking of + APPOINTING…

Of those verbs, is thinking of is much less definite than the others; it suggests that no firm decision has yet been made.

Task 4.9

He uses a great variety of future-oriented words: speculate / avenues / future work / expansion / wider variety / exploration / foresee / likely / strands / suggests / renewed interest / expect / further/

(continued) momentum towards

Task 4.10

No sample answer.

Task 4.11 Sample answer:

I began learning English when I was 6 years old at primary school. Since then I have continued my English studies up to the present. However, my ability in English is limited; it may be that I did not work hard enough or pay sufficient attention in class. In my country most of the books are in Thai, although I used English books on my BSc course. Before I came to Edinburgh I had learned English at the British Council in Chiang Mai. I found it quite useful but it was only a short course and my English did not improve much.

When I arrived in Edinburgh in September, I attended the English pre-sessional course for Veterinary Studies students for 4 weeks. Since then I have found that my ability in speaking and writing English has not improved and my TEAM results were poor. I had worked hard in September but still had to enrol on ELTC courses.

Now that I am about to finish this course in grammar, I feel that I have made some progress. I know that I will still have to do Course 5, because of my low TEAM score, but that will probably be enough to help me do the written assignments that I am to do in the second and third terms. I think that my work on these courses will enable me to write my MSc dissertation without too many problems.

References

iAdapted from New Scientist supplement ‘World Trends’, 15 October 1994.

iiAdapted from the transcript of ‘Malaria: Battle of the Merozoites’, Horizon, 3 February 1992.

iiiAdapted from ‘Theoretical perspectives on listening’ by Tony Lynch in Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 1988, page 12.

5 THE PAST: REPORTING

There are many contexts in academic writing where you have to report on past events. You may need to report on work done by other researchers - for example, in an introduction or literature review - or you may be reporting on your own work.

Alternatively, you may need to describe non-academic events, such as economic or social developments. In doing this you will need to make appropriate choices of verb tense forms. In this unit we look at how academic writers choose between four important tense forms - the (Simple) Present, (Simple) Past, Present Perfect and Past Perfect - in reporting events and situations. The commonest verb form used in this type of context is the Simple Past Tense.

Task 5.1

The text below is the abstract of a journal article reporting a community health programme. Read it and underline all the Simple Past Tense verbs - both active and passive. (The first two Past Tense verbs have already been underlined; you should find eight more.)

GROWTH MONITORING: THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY HEALTH VOLUNTEERS ⁱ

A community volunteer programme was initiated in rural Jamaica in May 1990. The main aim of the programme was to monitor the growth of children less than 36 months of age through community health volunteers (CHVs) and improve their nutritional status. At the end of the second year the programme was evaluated to determine its effectiveness. The results of the evaluation indicated that almost all (95.6%) of the children were covered by the CHVs. In addition the participation rate was high (78.5%). However, only 50% of the children were adequately covered. Nonetheless, 81% of them gained adequate weight. Indeed, malnutrition levels declined by 34.5%. The annual cost per child per year for the total programme was fairly moderate (US$14.5). The results suggest that CHVs can play an important role in primary health care programmes in developing countries.

Task 5.2

Six verbs in the text are not in the Simple Past Tense form. Circle them. Then, in the table below, write the verbs, the name of the form, and the reason why that form is used in the text:

verb name of form reason for use