Lesson four

• Paragraph general comments• Tenses• Conditional constructions• Text discussion

Paragraph – general comments

• TitleThe Mobile PhoneLife companion

The technology in your pocket will enhance the interaction between you and the people around you

Title

Academic journals (“Computers & Industrial Engineering”)

Resource constrained project scheduling problem with discounted earliness–tardiness penalties: Mathematical modeling and solving procedure

Titel

Biofuels

Panda poop powerMicrobes in pandas’ guts can help in biofuel production

Obesity

Wider understandingHow the bacteria in your gut may be shaping your waistline

Title

Log off from the Internet and log on to life

Help the children save their future

Concluding sentence

End of the text, not a link to the next paragraph

Since the children will not stop chatting with each other, the responsibility lies with the adults – we have to act, it is our future as well.

The things that could have been accomplished if these hours had been spent on something slightly more meaningful are worth an extra thought or two.

Concluding sentence

The human touch is hard to replicate since it must include aspects such as pressure, heat, structure and moisture. On-going research lead by Deli Wang at University of California is on to the problem.

In order for everyone to have the same opportunities in life, Speechless has been developed.

Style

I get bummed for not having the means to quickly google a question…It is frustrating/annoying not having the means to quickly google a question…

Many suffer from what I’d call an unhealthy attachment to their phone…Many suffer from what could be described as an unhealthy attachment to their phone…

Style

Avoid initial “and”, “but” and “so”

But the possibility to access all your friends’ statuses…However, the possibility to access all your friends’ statuses…

Argumentative style

PreachingTherefore, I call for all the developed countries of the world to step up to the task and see to it that we get rid of all this unnecessary service which no longer is on any use in the developed parts of the world, and instead help save our planet by using the wonderful invention called the Internet.

Argumentative style

TentativeAnonymity is one of the most important features of the internet, but if people cannot behave perhaps an identification system could be the solution.

Punctuation

Launched in 2005, YouTube enables people to upload and share video material for free. Ever since the number of uploads has increased exponentially to a point where…

Launched in 2005, YouTube enables people to upload and share video material for free. Ever since, the number of uploads has increased exponentially to a point where…

Number of

The number of members ___ limited to between three and eight. (be)The number of members is limited to between three and eight

A number of members ___ authorised through this route. (be)A number of members are authorised through this route.

Definite article

The downside of the social networksThe downside of social networks

…bad decisions that could affect the society……bad decisions that could affect society…

…text messages and phone calls in the modern society.…text messages and phone calls in modern society.

Definite article

The gadget that is the Google GlassThe gadget that is Google Glass

Spelling

A chines study has confirmed that…A Chinese study has confirmed that…

It breaths with you, talks with you…It breathes with you, talks with you…

Potential problems

• Present simple vs. Present continuous• Past simple vs. Present perfect• Conditional construction

Present tense

The present tense group:a) Present simple He writes booksb) Present continuous He is writing a bookc) Present perfect He has written a bookd) Present perfect continuous He has been writing a book

Past tense

The past tense group:e) Past simple He wrote a bookf) Past continuous He was writing a bookg) Past perfect He had written a bookh) Past perfect continuous He had been writing a book

Simple vs. continuous

1) She writes novels. (she is a writer, she always writes)

5) She is writing a letter. (right now during a limited period of time, she hasn’t finished writing)

Simple past vs. present perfect

(5) She lived in Paris for many years. (but no longer lives there) (6) She has lived in Paris for many years. (and may still be living there)

Conditional construction

Conditional type

If-clause Main clause

universal If we pay more (present simple)

we get better quality (present simple)

real possibility If we pay more (present simple)

we will get better quality (future)  

remote possibility/hypothetical

If we paid more (past simple)

we would get better quality (would + base form)

impossibility/unreal

If we had paid more (past perfect)

we would have gotten better quality (would have + ed-particple).

No will or would in the conditional clause

If she wins (not: will win) tomorrow, I'll eat my hat.

Exercise

(a) Now we are lost! If you ____ (write down) Mary’s directions, this___ (not/happen).Now we are lost! If you had written down (write down) Mary’s directions, this would not have happened (not/happen).

(b) Why don’t we emigrate? If we ___ (live) in Australia, at least theweather _____ (be) better!Why don’t we emigrate? If we lived (live) in Australia, at least the weather would be (be) better!

(c) I am afraid that Smith is a hardened criminal. If we ______(not/punish) him this time, he _____ (only/commit) more crimes.I am afraid that Smith is a hardened criminal. If we do not punish (not/punish) him this time, he will only commit (only/commit) more crimes.

(d) I am sorry I cannot lend you any money. You know that if I ____ (have) it, I _____ (lend) it to you.I am sorry I cannot lend you any money. You know that if I had (have) it, I would lend (lend) it to you.

(e) Do not be afraid. If you ____ (touch) the dog, it______ (not/bite).Do not be afraid. If you touch (touch) the dog, it will not bite. (not/bite).

(f) In those days, if you ______ (have) a job, you______ (be) lucky.In those days, if you had (have) a job, you were (be) lucky.

(g) It is always the same! If I _____ (decide) to leave the office early, my boss ____ (call) after I have left.It is always the same! If I decide (decide) to leave the office early, my boss calls (call) after I have left.

(h) What a terrible thing to happen! Just think , if we _____ (not/missed) the plane, we ____ (killed) in the crash.What a terrible thing to happen! Just think , if we had not missed (not/missed) the palen, we would have been killed (killed) in the crash.

What if - SummaryThis article focuses on the probable scientific agendas if the Nazis had won their war againstRussia in early 1941. Had the Nazis won, the scientific agenda of the next half-century wouldhave been dominated not by subatomic physics and nuclear energy, but by ecology. It is hardto believe that the success of Nazism could have given rise to a world with any redeemingfeatures. For racial hygienists, vaccines did not restore the body to a natural state, butartificially enhanced the body. Vaccine research had also historically been driven by themixing of peoples caused by imperial expansion, which led racial hygienists to conclude thatonly states with stable and "pure" populations could survive naturally. The Nazis would haveomitted vaccines from what we now call preventive medicine, a field in which they wereotherwise pioneers. There would also have been compulsory sterilisation and permissibleeuthanasia, done in the name of reversing the "damage" caused to the human ecosystem bythose 19th-century enemies of biodiversity.

What if - summaryThis article focuses on the probable scientific agendas if the Nazis had won their war againstRussia in early 1941. Had the Nazis won, the scientific agenda of the next half-century wouldhave been dominated not by subatomic physics and nuclear energy, but by ecology. It is hardto believe that the success of Nazism could have given rise to a world with any redeemingfeatures. For racial hygienists, vaccines did not restore the body to a natural state, butartificially enhanced the body. Vaccine research had also historically been driven by themixing of peoples caused by imperial expansion, which led racial hygienists to conclude thatonly states with stable and "pure" populations could survive naturally. The Nazis would haveomitted vaccines from what we now call preventive medicine, a field in which they wereotherwise pioneers. There would also have been compulsory sterilisation and permissibleeuthanasia, done in the name of reversing the "damage" caused to the human ecosystem bythose 19th-century enemies of biodiversity.

1. In the 1920s Thomas Babington Macaulay claimed that when knowledge progress to a certain point, discoveries become inevitable. What arguments supporting this view are presented in the article? What arguments can you think of?

2. A view that opposes Macaulay’s is promoted by people who argue that discoveries are completely arbitrary. What arguments for this view are found in the article? Are there other arguments?

3. What makes counterfactual reasoning difficult? Why does the author of the article still think that it is worthwhile pursuing?

4. List the three inventions in the 20th century that have had the greatest effect on our current way of living and explain what the effects would have been, had they not existed.