SIGNAL WORDS FOR CONTRAST
17. If you want to save money, you have to stop buying things on
---., and ask yourself first if you really need them.
Signal and transition words
Signal and transition words are particularly useful in writing, although of course they are also used in spoken English. Signal and transition words have distinct purposes:
• To link ideas
• To indicate a change in direction of thought
• To draw attention to an important point
These connectors make your thoughts flow. Without them, your thoughts would seem jumpy, disjointed, and difficult to follow.
Signal words can be compared to road signs, and they perform the following functions:
• Introduce examples: for example, such as, specifically
• Show agreement: of course, definitely
• Introduce additional information; and, in addition to, moreover
• Indicate order and sequence: first, then, after that
• Indicate time: before, after, finally
• Compare and contrast: like, similarly / although, however, on the one hand
• Demonstrate cause and effect: because, due to, on account of
• Demonstrate condition: if, unless, provided that
• Summarize and conclude: in conclusion, to summarize, in other words
EXERCISE 4-4
Underline the signal and transition words in the following texts.
Text A
Although Superman started out as an evil character, the second version was a savior in the tradition of Moses, Samson, or Hercules. This time he used his superpowers to fight for truth, justice, and the American way of life. In addition he wore his trademark bright blue costume with a red cape and a diamond-shaped S emblazoned on his chest. Because Superman's birth father, Jor-EI, had sent his infant son, Kai-El, from the doomed planet of Krypton to the safety of Earth in a rocket, he was raised in an orphanage. Later the story changed, and Superman was raised by a kind elderly couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent, from Smallville, Kansas. Unaware of his powers until the age of eighteen, the boy grew up as Clark Kent and became a newspaper reporter for the Daily Planet. Unlike Superman, Clark Kent was myopic, socially awkward, and meek, but he was also intelligent, hard-working, and decent to the core
the kind of guy no one, including his pretty, feisty, and disdainful co-reporter, Lois Lane, would ever suspect of having superhuman powers.
TextB
First of all, a Pixar movie begins with an idea for a story. If the employee with the idea can sell it to the development team, different versions of the story, called treatments, are written in summary form. From there artists draw storyboards that resemble comic book sequences and develop the storyline and its characters. On condition that the story meets the director's approval, the script is written and then employees record the first voices. After that, the dialogue is perfected and professional actors are hired to read the parts. Next, the best versions are made into a videotape, or reel, which goes to editing for cleanup. Afterward the art department creates the visuals: characters, set, props, lighting-everything that appears on the movie screen.
How to overcome vocabulary challenges
International and foreign words
Language is a living organism that is continuously subject to change. English began as a Germanic language, and traces of its roots exist in many basic words, such as water and door. After the Normans under William the Conqueror invaded Britain in 1066, French became the language of the court, and as French became fashionable, it invaded the English language. With the Renaissance, English underwent a further transformation, incorporating scientific vocabulary borrowed from Greek and Latin. In the 1600s
exploration took English sailors, and eventually settlers, to many parts of the world. When Britain established itself as a global empire, the English language assimilated words from other languages. The development of technology, beginning with the Industrial Revolution, created a need for more new words, and to this day English adds vocabulary on an ongoing basis.
As an international language, English has absorbed a considerable number of foreign words, and the list is growing. In addition to his Basic Word List, C. K. Ogden compiled a list of basic international words (http://ogden.basic-english.org/wordalpi.html). Of course this list is outdated. Unfortunately there is no definitive current list of international or foreign words in the English language. Because these words are generally recognized internationally, they are common to other languages with only small variations, mostly in pronunciation, from one language to another-for example, salad, salade, salata, insalata, caJiaT.
Within the English language itself, there are regional differences, and we can think of English as American, British, Canadian, Australian, etc. There are also words and expressions that are used specifically in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Newfoundland, the West Indies, New York, East London, or Johannesburg, for example.
EXERCISE 4-5
What is the origin of the following international words? The origins can be found in a dictionary.
1. chocolate 2. king 3. algebra 4. beer
s. automatic
6. economy 7. Gestalt 8. hygiene 9. influenza 10. camouflage 11. mammoth 12. kimono 13. sauna 14. propaganda 15. cafeteria 16. ombudsman
17. pariah 18. barbecue 19. assassin 20. juggernaut
How to overcome vocabulary challenges
Academic words
What is the difference between a basic word and an academic word? Basic words are used in informal everyday communication, whereas academic words are used in academic speech (at the university and college level). Sample words include analyze, classify, discuss, compare-words that can also be used across disciplines (whether it's an economics, literature, or biology class, a student must analyze a topic, for example). Frequently, academic vocabulary can be elevated or formal.
Informal Where did you get that information?
Formal Where did you obtain that information?
For your purposes, the Academic Word List (AWL) is your most useful resource. The AWL was developed in 1998 by Averil Coxhead as her M.A. thesis at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The AWL consists of 570 word families with a total of 3,000 words that do not necessarily belong to the 2,000 most frequently occurring words in English, but which appear with high frequency in the Arts, Commerce, Law, and Science faculty sections of the Academic Corpus (a collection of texts). These words were selected on the basis of their high frequency of use and are therefore considered critical if students are to understand and evaluate academic material (lectures, texts, papers, etc.) and to successfully carry out academic assignments (papers, discussions, presentations, examinations, etc.).
The AWL is divided into 10 sublists and can be found in its entirety on any of the following websites:
• https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/2l870l#view=notes
• http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/ academicwordlist/ awl-headwords
• http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/awl.htm
Appendix A has a list of the AWL words in this book. The AWL is addressed in more detail in Chapter 8.
Although the majority of vocabulary questions involve AWL words, a number of useful non-AWL words appear on the TOEFL® test as well. There is, however, no definitive list of these words, and as a result you need to be aware of words that you encounter repeatedly in your reading and listening.
EXERCISE 4-6
Underline the 17 academic words and circle the 11 useful words in the following text.
In 1990, the United States National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, in collaboration with partners from eighteen countries, embarked on the most ambitious venture to be undertaken since the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb or the Apollo project to put a man on the moon: the Human Genome Project. At an estimated cost of $3 billion to complete the task by 2005, leading scientists and researchers in the field of molecular biology set out to identify all 30,000 to 40,000 genes belonging to the human genome and to map the location of three billion bases of DNA;
in other words, to write the Book of Life. This definitive resource was meant to lead to the understanding of genetic diseases, the creation of effective pharmaceuticals and medical treatments, and the alleviation and prevention of human suffering due to genetically transmitted diseases. In order to serve all mankind and to prevent control by any scientific, corporate, or national interests, all information was to be stored in public electronic databases and made freely and readily accessible to anyone who required it.
How to overcome vocabulary challenges
EXERCISE 4-7
Scan the following text. Identify the underlined words as basic, signal, international, academic, or useful.
As strange as the above elements may sound, near-death experiences (NDEs) can be scientifically verified. The cases of children, including very young children, who have had NDEs provide strong supporting evidence. Because children have neither preconceived notions nor previous knowledge of death or an afterlife, they cannot fake an experience that shares so many elements with adult NDEs. Furthermore, people who have been blind from birth have described visual experiences of color, shape, and form during NDEs that they could never have "seen" if their experience had not been real.
Although they were under anesthesia, NDEers have accurately described objects unknown to them and located them in a place they could not have possibly observed in an unconscious, immobile state. While on the operating table, one woman described a pair of running shoes lying on the roof of the hospital building; this was later confirmed. The profound life-changing effect that NDEers carry with them also testifies to the validity of their experience.
After having an NOE, individuals are said to be changed people. They tend to be more religious, more aware of how short life is, more determined to live their life fully, and less afraid of death. They become more caring, and show increased concern for others to the point of making personal sacrifices.
Surely, no one can be so deeply affected by an event that has never happened to them.