Exercise 2. Match verbs given below from the group on the left with synonyms from the group on the right.

affect attempt calculate challenge demonstrate identify include investigate provide

compute distinguish give influence involve question show study try

 

 

Exercise 3. Read extracts from academic books containing other key verbs. Give the synonyms to the following:

1) divide things into groups according to their type

2) discover or get proof of

3) explain

4) given

5) proved

6) (formal) tries

- In developing methods to explain the significance of health status measures, one can classify ways of establishing quality of life into two main types.

- The length of time spent on the tasks may accountfor the decrease in motivation which was seen in many of the participants.

- The data presented in Chapter 3 showed that the age of the subjects was not the main factor.

- Political theory attempts to build bridges between different schools of political thought.

 

Exercise 4. Consider the table of using a verb + the noun form of the key verb in academic style and give your own examples with the words in bold. Rewrite sentences given below using the word in brackets and make any necessary changes to other words.

verb	verb + noun	example
explain	give/provide/offer an explanation (of/for)	The model providesanexplanation for the differences between the two sets of data.
explore	carry out an exploration (of)	Kumar carriedoutanexploration of music genius.
emphasise	place/put emphasis (on)	The hospital puts a lot of emphasis on training nurses.
describe	give/provide a description (of)	The book givesadescription of modern Europe.

 

1 Erikson's theory explains the fluctuations in the figures for this period. (provides)

2 Bevan explored the relationship between family background and political ambition. (exploration)

3 The book describes the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. (description)

4 Cheng's theory emphasises the importance of extensive reading in language acquisition. (puts)

Exercise 5. Complete each phrase with the appropriate noun.

1) investigate = conduct, carry out an..............into/of                   

2) illustrate = provide an......................................of             

3) analyse = provide, carry out an.......................of

4) affect = have an......................................on

5) attempt = make an..................................... to/at

6) classify = make, provide a.......................of

                                                                                                                       

Exercise 6. Choose the best verb from Exercise 3 or Exercise 4 to complete these sentences. Put the verb into the correct form.

1 As can......................................from Table П, participation figures have been steadily falling since 1970.

2 Different authors have......................................for the President's actions in different ways.

3 Mendel attempted to devise a system for......................................the many different types of pea plant that he grew.

4 It is often most effective......................................your data in a chart or table.

5 The data we have collected......................................that there has been a downward trend with regard to job satisfaction over the last 50 years.

6 The aim of the research is......................................a new software application which will help aviation engineers design more sophisticated aircraft.

7 The archaeologists should be able to use carbon dating techniques......................................exactly how old the bones are.

8 Charles Darwin attempted......................................the existence of different species in terms of evolution.

 

Note: The verbs affect and effect are different. To affect means to influence, to effect means to make something happen / to bring about. The burning of fossil fuels has negatively affected the global climate. The procedure has been successful and has effected a return to normal functioning of the engine.

Exercise 7. Explain the difference between the sentences in each pair.

1 Greig's article supports Park's theory. Greig's article challenges Park's theory.

2 Describe the new tax regulations. Discuss the new tax regulations.

3 Lodhi provides new data. Lodhi considers new data.

4 Popova conducted four sets of experiments. Popova examined four sets of experiments.

5 Sue established why such changes occur. Sue investigated why such changes occur.

6 Okaz assumed that the data were reliable. Okaz proved that the data were reliable.

7 Illustrate the magnitude of the deceleration. Find the magnitude of the deceleration.

8 The events effected economic development. The events affected economic development.

 

Verbs and prepositions

Exercise 1. Read the sentences from academic articles and notice the verbs with on.

Chapter 1 of Huang's book focuses on violent human behaviour. Sura's article draws on data gathered over a period of ten years. The introduction to the book comments briefly on a case study carried out in Brazil. In this section I concentrate on the economic aspects of immigration.

The book is based on a number of studies carried out during the 1990s. The method used by Scanlon relies on / rests on two basic principles.

Exercise 2.Put the words in the right order to make sentences. Use the punctuation to help you.

1 period. / focuses / the changes / The article / on / the / the post-war / economy / US / in / in

2 commented / student's / inconsistencies / a / The professor / of / in the / essay. / on / number

3 conducted / The / is / last / based / a series / theory / of / five / on / years. / over the / experiments

4 on / assistants. / The / research / relies / work / conducted by / professor's / experiments / his

5 is / are / very / your / your / studies / important / concentrate / to / over. / on / until / It / exams

6 was / The / draw / some / to / primary / on / only recently / become / have / available. / writer / sources / which / able

 

Exercise 3.Read the sentences from the teacher's talk to students and match the phrases to the underlined words in the text.

1. say or think that something is the result of something

2. deal with, give one's attention to

3. give a particular job or piece of work to someone

4. be the same as something, or have the same effect as something

5. discover the origin of something by examining how it has developed

 

- We assigned  the tasks randomly to the experimental group and the control group to see how the subjects would react to the different problems.

- Malaria poses a major health risk to people who are exposed to infection where malaria is common. In 1997, 13% of deaths among children were attributed to  malaria in one area in Zaire.

- OK, let's turn to the more difficult cases that I mentioned earlier. How should a doctor respond to a patient who doesn't consent to treatment when it seems to be essential?

- When you're planning a questionnaire, you should always attend to design issues such as the number of questions and how clear they are.

- We can't really say that an increase in inflation of two per cent amounts to  an economic crisis, and I refer here to some recent stories in the media which are highly exaggerated and which can be traced to a deep misunderstanding of how inflation operates.

 

Exercise 4.Consider the table and notice the verbs with the following prepositions

 

	verbs	examples
with	associate, provide, couple, equip	Note: In the active voice, as in the first example, this group of verbs follows the pattern verb + object + preposition + complement. Note also that these verbs are often used in the passive, as in the second example. We try to equip our laboratories with the latest technology. Heart disease is often associated with unhealthy life styles.
from	depart, benefit, emerge, exclude	In this book, Heme departs from his earlier theory. (takes a different view) Some of the data were excluded from the final analysis.
of	write, speak, convince, dispose	Abuka writes/speaks of the early years of industrial development. (both are rather formal) We must convince people of the need for water conservation.
for	account, search, call, argue	Lung cancer accounted for 20% of deaths in men. (formed the total of) Hopper (1987) argues for a new approach to English grammar. (opposite: argue against)

Exercise 5.Put these verbs in the right box

account argue assign associate attribute benefit call  consent    convince     depart   dispose  equip    exclude    provide    react   refer   search   write

 

________for	________from	________of	________to	________with

 

Exercise 6.Choose one of the word + preposition combinations from Exercise 5 to complete each sentence. Change the form of the verb if necessary.

1. The lecturer _____________ us _____________ a number of very good writers on the subject.

2. Traffic accidents _____________ _____________ most hospital admissions at the weekend.

3. The poets John Keats and Lord Byron are closely _____________ ______ the English Romantic Movement.

4. Remember to _____________ carefully _____________ all waste material.

5.  Most people believe that they would _____________ enormously _____________ having more job security.

6. My parents tried to _____________ me _____________ the advantages of studying abroad.

7. I have been _____________ _____________ an article on this topic for ages.

8.  Our experiments _____________ us _____________ the data we needed to prove our hypothesis.

9.  The head of department _____________ _____________ the lecturer's request for leave of absence.

10. Mary Raskova _____________ very movingly _____________ her experiences in Rwanda.