Delta Module One Revision Course
Syllabus area 3
Before you tackle this section, you
should have completed the relevant section of the Module One course |
Language systems is, of course, a very large area so revision for this part of the examination should include a thorough revision of grammar and syntax. That cannot be done on one page.
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The tasksThink first and then make a note of your answer to the question. Click on the to reveal an answer. |
Language use
varies in two main ways. What are they? |
Language varies
by
a) the people who use it (geographical location and socio-economic class) and b) the register in which it used (occupation and topic). |
Explain, with
an example, what is meant by consultative style. |
Consultative style refers to a social setting of medium
formality, such as conversations between professionals
and their clients.
For example, an interaction between a police officer and a member of the public will not usually be characterised by lots of shared information and will maintain some social distance. |
What other
styles have been identified by Joos and where do they occur? |
Frozen style: fixed language for quotations, standard
notices etc.
Formal style: lectures and monologues where interruption is not allowed and technical, precise language is favoured Casual style: communication between friends Intimate style: between family members and very close friends |
Define 'genre'
in relation to English language teaching. Give two examples of genre. |
When texts share the same
general purpose in the culture, they
will often share the same obligatory
and optional structural elements and so
they belong to the same genre or text type.
(Butt, D, Fahey, R, Feez, S, Spinks, S and Yallop, C, (2001) Using Functional Grammar: an explorer's guide. Sydney NSW: NCELTR, (p9)) For example: A Narrative (telling a story) A Recount (saying what happened) A Procedure (explaining how to do something) An Information report (informing) An Explanation (saying how something happens) An Exposition (arguing a case) A Discussion (setting out both sides of an issue) |
What is the
relationship between theme and rheme? Exemplify what you mean. |
The theme is
the topic (often the subject) of a sentence and what
follows is the rheme. In the next part of the
text, the rheme will often become the theme.
For example, in: John came to see me John is the theme and came to see me is the rheme In the next sentence we may have When he arrived, I explained what the problem was and here the theme is he arrived and what follows, the problem, is its rheme (and that may become the theme of the next sentence). |
What is
meant by text staging? Give an example. |
Text staging
refers to the culturally conventional ordering of information in a
written or spoken text.
For example, a Recount in English will normally start with orientation (who, what, where) go on to a sequence of events in order and finish with a personal reaction or coda. |
What do you
understand by canonical word order? Give an example of English and one other language. |
Canonical word
order refers to the usual ordering of elements in a
sentence.
For example, in English the canonical words orders are: Subject–Verb–Object (I broke the window) Adjective–Noun (the lovely house) Preposition–Noun (over the hill) Other languages do things differently: Japanese has Subject–Object–Verb (he the postman saw) French has Noun–Adjective (an achievement impressive) Turkish (and most other Turkic languages) has postpositions rather than prepositions (the hill over) |
Explain the
difference between a derivational and an inflexional suffix
with an example of each. |
A derivational
suffix usually changes word class.
For example, we can derive the adjective hopeless from the noun hope by adding -less. Inflexional suffixes are related to grammatical function. We need to add -ed, for example, to make the past tense of report (reported). |
What is a
syntactical error? Give two examples. |
A syntactical error
occurs when a learner makes
a mistake in sentence
structure or grammar.
For example: I go last week He make the gardening I would to see you again |
What is a
lexical error? Give two examples. |
A lexical error occurs when a learner selects
the wrong word or phrase
to express the intended meaning.
For example: He's the black goat of the family (should be the black sheep) What are you doing tomorrow? Angling. (should be Fishing) She's very sensible to criticism (should be sensitive) |
What is a
register error? Give two examples. |
A register
error occurs when a
learner uses a specialised term wrongly or fails to use
it at all.
For example: Mechanic: I need to drive the car to see if it's OK (should be I need to take a test drive) On a ship: Where is the kitchen (should be Where's the galley) Building: The window has double glass (should be The window is double glazed) |
What is a
stylistic error? Give two examples. |
A
stylistic error occurs when a learner uses
language which is too
formal or too informal.
For example: To a stranger in the street: Hi chum. Where's the post office, then? To a classmate: I wonder if you could see your way clear to lending me a writing implement. At a formal business meeting: That's all bullshit, y'know. |
What is an
interlingual error? Give two examples. |
An
interlingual error occurs when a learner uses
language structure which is influenced or determined by
the structure of another language.
For example: This is beautifuller The problem economic You are coming? |
If you had significant problems doing these tasks, you should go back to this section of the Module One course.
That's the end |
Now you can go on. Select the revision section you want to do from this menu.