Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is coming very soon (November 26), and here are some links to prepare you for “turkey day” 2009:
1. The History Channel’s Thanksgiving site
2. Video introduction to Thanksgiving from history.com
3. The “textbook” story of the First Thanksgiving (Scholastic books)
4. Pictures of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City
5. Recipes for Thanksgiving dinner (from the Food Network)
6. Ben Franklin’s suggestion about turkey (New York Times)

7. Thanksgiving Day NFL (football) schedule — a tradition!

8. Chapel Hill Transit Thanksgiving bus schedule (scroll to the bottom)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Comparisons and Clauses

This one really had me scratching my head this week! The problem sentence was:

Firm A’s forward integration results in a higher price than that if it backward integrates.

Clearly, something is wrong with the words in red, but which one(s) does the writer need to delete?

There are two basic guidelines here for comparative clauses:

1. The comparative clause should be parallel to the main clause.
2. Words which are repeated can be dropped or replaced by pronouns.

Let’s start with some simpler examples. Store A sells a product for $5. Store B sells it for $4.99. Therefore:

1. Store A is more expensive than Store B is. (delete “is” because it’s repeated)
2. The price of the product is higher at Store A than (it is) at Store B. (“it is” can be deleted, but may be retained)
3. The profit of Store A is higher than that of Store B. (replace “the profit” with “that” in formal writing)

In the sentence we started with, the situation is more complex. The word that only works if you are replacing a single noun or noun phrase (e.g., “the profit” in #3). Consider this expanded version of the sentence:

Firm A’s forward integration results in a higher price than the price that results if it backward integrates.

Since “the price that results” is repeated from the main clause, we can delete it entirely to give:

Firm A’s forward integration results in a higher price than if it backward integrates.

However, this is not a very elegant sentence. We could also write:

1. Firm A’s forward integration results in a higher price than that which results if it backward integrates.
2. Firm A’s forward integration results in a higher price than backward integration [would/will/does result in].

I think some sort of verb is necessary in #2 for clarity, although the sentence is grammatically possible without any. The difference now is that the two clauses are (more) parallel — since there’s no if in the first part of the sentence, it’s a little awkward to introduce one at the end. Note also that I’ve suggested changing from a verb (integrates) to a noun (integration), which is parallel with the beginning of the sentence. Given the choice, academic writers usually prefer nouns to verbs!

Please post any questions or feedback on this one. I couldn’t find much help in my grammar books, although there are short explanations in the Longman Grammar of Spoken & Written English and The Grammar Book.

Nouns, nouns, everywhere (modifiers, compounds, and possessives)

The grammar question of the week came from one of my writing groups. We were talking about this phrase:

• the socialization mechanism [compound noun]

and why we don’t say:

• *socialization’s mechanism (INCORRECT) [possessive with 's]
• the mechanism of socialism (CORRECT, but longer and less elegant) [possessive with of]

It’s a good question! The best answer I can give is that there is a different meaning between the compound noun and the two possessive forms. When you put one noun in front of another, the first noun functions as a modifier — basically, just like an adjective: it describes the last (or, “head”) noun. So, “socialization” is a kind of mechanism, just as we could talk about a useful mechanism or an American mechanism.

These compound nouns are very frequent in academic writing, especially when you have a nominalized noun (or, gerund) in the modifier slot (socialization). Notice that the main noun is the last one — we’re talking about a type of mechanism (not a type of socialization).

Now, possessives … the first thing to notice is that it’s unusual to use the ’s possessive with nouns that can’t act. We use ’s with humans, animals (sometimes), companies, institutions, and words like study, research, experiment that stand for the people who did the work. However, these forms are rare in writing — much more common in speech.

Possessives can have several meanings, none of which work for the example above:

• possession (Nigel’s pen)
• source (Smith’s ideas)
• relationships (Ella’s brother/teacher/neighbor/boyfriend, etc.)
• body parts (Bill’s leg)

(There are others). An interesting exception is to describe natural phenomena using a gerund (ing) noun: the earth’s rotation. Rotation here is a property of the earth.

Clearly, in socialization mechanism, socialization is not the possession or source or the mechanism.

The preposition of is very flexible. It can express possession (“the purpose of this paper is …”), but it can also describe (“a description of grammar”, “the mechanism of socialization”). I would say that this structure puts more emphasis on the second noun (grammar / socialization) because English tends to put new and important information late in phrases, clauses, and sentences. This form is also longer, and you don’t want sentences with too many prepositions (the … of … of … of …).

Two notes about compound nouns before I bore you completely …

1. Don’t make the modifier plural — words in the “adjective” position can’t be plural in English. So: book covers (not *books covers); student union (not *students union); two-year-old boy (not *two-years-old boy) — and notice the hyphenation here!
2. If the noun has a common adjective form with the same meaning, use that as a modifier. So, national flag (not *nation flag); experimental data (not *experiment data). But we say grammar book not grammatical book because it’s a book about grammar, not a book that is grammatical!

Enough! Leave a reply if you have a question or comment!

(Sources for this explanation: Eli Hinkel, Teaching Academic ESL Writing; Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, The Grammar Book.)

Homecoming at UNC (and other news)

This weekend is Homecoming at UNC, a time for alumni (people who were once students here) to come “home” to Carolina and watch the football team play traditional rivals, Duke University. There is a parade on Saturday morning in Chapel Hill, and the game is at 3pm.

This weekend and next weekend, you have a rare opportunity to see an outdoor student performance of the hit musical, RENT, performed by Carolina Company (performance and ticket information). Rent is an important modern American musical, and the performance is outside (yes, dress warmly!) in UNC’s beautiful Forest Theatre on campus.

I also wanted to share with you an opinion column from yesterday’s Daily Tar Heel (read it here), written by a Genetics and Molecular Biology graduate student. This touches on a lot of issues that might be relevant to your studies!

Grammar of the week: -ing clauses

We had an interesting discussion in a writing group about this grammar structure:

Now, a study [...] provides support for the [...] protein being this missing link.

The question was: why being? And the answer is that this is an example of an -ing clause, a very common structure in writing. These non-finite clauses occur after certain verbs and are used for many functions, including reporting (as shown in the example above — the finding of the study is actually in the ing clause). Two patterns are possible, depending on the main verb and meaning:

1. verb + -ing clause (The problem keeps happening.)
2. verb (+preposition) + noun + -ing clause (Participants heard a bell ringing.)

In pattern 1, the subject of the main verb is also the subject of the -ing verb (problem). In pattern 2, the -ing verb has a different subject (a bell). In both cases, the -ing clause is also the object of the main verb.

In our first example, the only added complication is that the ing clause is the object of a preposition — “provide support for.” Notice that you could use either pattern here, too:

1. The study provides support for doing further research.
2. The study provide support for the protein being the missing link.

In the first example, there is technically no subject for the verb doing, but we understand that it has a very general subject (us, other researchers, etc.).

It’s also worth noting that this type of clause can also follow adjective + preposition combinations, such as afraid of, available for, good at.

(Source for this explanation: Biber et al., Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English)

Word choice: purpose, objective, aim, or goal?

These words are all similar, but they probably have different uses in different fields and types of writing. For example, in grant applications, you have a broad objective but specific aims.

Some other advice:

Your purpose for doing something is your reason for doing it; your aim is what you want to achieve. (Oxford Learner’s Thesaurus © Oxford University Press, 2008.

You are also more likely to say “the purpose of the experiment” than “the aim of the experiment” but you would say “our aim in this study …” not “our purpose.”

Collins COBUILD defines objective as “what you are trying to achieve” whereas purpose is “the reason something is made or done.” — in other words, a difference between the process of doing something (its purpose) and the end point (the objective). A goal is something you “hope to achieve” (so, perhaps less certain?).

In the COCA corpus, goal and purpose are about twice as common as aim and objective, but all 4 words occur thousands of times.

 

Happy Halloween!

This Saturday, October 31, is Halloween, a popular celebration in the United States and a small number of other countries. You can read about the long history of this holiday here, and find out about Chapel Hill’s Homegrown Halloween. Please note the street closures, parking restrictions, and changes to the bus routes.

Many Americans celebrate Halloween by dressing up in costumes, and children go trick or treating. You will see lots of candy and decorations in the stores this week: apparently, nearly $4 billion is spent on Halloween every year!

There are family Halloween events in our region in Carrboro on Friday evening (not Halloween itself, which is Saturday!) and in Fearrington Village, just south of Chapel Hill (I’m told that their annual Jack O Lantern — carved pumpkin — display is a bit hit with the kids!). Plus, for older kids and parents, Morehead Planetarium on the UNC campus is putting on a special Halloween Laser Show during the day on Saturday. This page from the local NBC affiliate has great listings of other fun Halloween activities, including haunted houses!

[Update: Your kids can also go trick or treating at University Mall on Saturday!]

And for an unusual story about one school that will not be celebrating Halloween this year, read this story (thanks to Nao for suggesting it!).

Have a happy Halloween, and please stay safe.

Are you ready for some football .. and some traffic?

Kenan Stadium at UNC-Chapel Hill

If you’re going to be on campus here at UNC on Thursday October 22 (during Fall Break), please be aware that there is going to be a football game starting at 8pm. Carolina is playing Florida State at home. This means that the traffic on campus and around Chapel Hill is going to be bad, starting as early as 4pm. There are no classes on Thursday, and most university faculty and staff will go home at 3pm.

Chapel Hill Transit is running a special bus schedule on Thursday to get us all home. Parking on campus will be difficulty!

If you’re a UNC graduate student, I hope you’ll come to my workshop on dissertation proposal writing at 12pm and then leave soon after that! You can watch the game on ESPN (cable TV)!

Go Heels!

Carolina's Bruce Carter scoring a touchdown

Grammar of the week: as well as

I was joking with one of my writing groups last week that I always get nervous when someone uses as well as in case they ask me to explain it! So, here’s the final word on this unusual linking phrase, adapted from the Cambridge Grammar of English.

1. As well as cannot link finite (independent) clauses. This is incorrect: I am studying at UNC as well as I am a teaching assistant. Correct: use and or and I am also.

2. As well as can join noun and verb phrases easily: I am a teacher as well as a researcher. (This suggests to me that your main job is as a researcher, but you also want to highlight your work as a teacher.) “These searches generate excitement as well as provide terrific teaching opportunities” (COCA)

3. You can join a finite (independent) clause to a non-finite dependent clause using as well as +-ing: “the Behavioral Systems Family was rated as having the highest value as well as providing the most enjoyment to the students.” (NOT: as well as it provides …)

4. In formal writing, as well as can start a sentence: “As well as being authentic, the goal should also be substantive.” Here it is very similar to in addition to, and again the main idea is expressed in the main clause (substantive is more important in this sentence than authentic). I think this could be useful for making a good link to the previous sentence (ie., the last sentence here probably discussed authenticity).

I hope you find this entry useful as well as informative.

Opportunities for international students/scholars at UNC

I’ve received several emails this week that I wanted to pass on to you. Click on the links for more details. These are not ELAC/Writing Center events.

• Proposal Development: From Great Idea to Funded Proposal (This is a workshop at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Sciences.)

• AMA manual of style: a guide for authors and editors (the American Medical Association’s style guide is now available online through the UNC Libraries)
• Inside the Academic Search Committee (a workshop sponsored by the Graduate School and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs).

A panel discussion on the faculty recruitment process from the search committee’s perspective. Topics include what the search committee looks for in the application documents, the screening process, and the process for selecting candidates to interview.

When: Wednesday, October, 28^th from 2:00PM – 3:30PM

Where: The Graduate Student Center, 211A W. Cameron Ave.  – http://gradschool.unc.edu/student/gsc/

Registration: http://cfx.research.unc.edu/res_classreg/browse_single.cfm?New=1&event_id=22222

• Language Across the Curriculum Teaching Assistants:  UNC’s Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) Program currently seeks experienced bilingual TAs to lead foreign language discussion sections in French, German, and Spanish.