Task 1. Identify the ways of organising the information in the the following paragraphs.

A. The inventor of the diode valve was Fleming. He made use of the fact, first noticed by Edison, that an electric current could be made to flow across the empty space between the hot filament of an electric lamp and another metal electrode placed inside the evacuated bulb. This effect depends upon the thermionic emission of electrons from the heated metal filament. (W. P. Jolly, (1972). Electronics, p. 61)

B. Hemp's environmental credentials are indisputable. It grows better in organic systems than in conventional ones. It smothers weeds and controls pests, clearing the land for other crops. It improves the structure of the soil, with strong roots to prevent erosion. If processed in the field, it returns nutrients to the land and purports to 'clean up' soil contaminated with heavy metals. It is one of a minority of textile-fibre crops that can be grown in temperate climates. So why, given its potential, is so little hemp used today? (New Internationalist, June 1998, p. 14)

Task 2. In the following paragraphs, the first and last sentences are correct. Rewrite the middle sentences to put the theme at the beginning and the rheme at the end of the sentences.

A. Atoms of all elements consist of a central nucleus surrounded by a "cloud" containing one or more electrons. We can think of these electrons as occupying a series of well-defined shells. The number of electrons in its outermost shells determines the behaviour of a particular element. Other factors, such as the total number of electron shells, also play a part in determining behaviour but it is the dominance of the outer electron configuration that underlies the periodic law and justifies the grouping of the elements into groups or families.

B. Every substance contains a certain amount of heat, even a relatively cold substance such as ice. The substance's molecules are in continual motion and, by this motion, possess kinetic energy which produces heat. The average kinetic energy of the molecules is measured by temperature. Cooling to the point at which molecular movement ceases completely should thus be possible. Scientists are very interested in this point, absolute zero, but it is in practice unattainable. At temperatures close to absolute zero some materials exhibit remarkable properties, such as superconductivity and superfluidity.

C. Nauru is so small that the plane lands in what is best described as the capital's main street. To stop cars when planes are landing the seaward side of the runway has traffic lights at each end. Well-fed and brightly clothed Naurans cowd the tiny air terminal with their smart cars. The only hotel, the luxurious Menen, is a 10-minute drive half way round the island and is where new arrivals are driven off in Japanese minibuses. The well-paved road passes rows of neat, modern houses, set among the trees. (David Lascelles, The Financial Times)

D. The most striking example of value rigidity I can think of is the old south Indian Monkey Trap, which depends on value rigidity for its effectiveness. A hollowed-out coconut chained to a stake makes the trap. A monkey can put its hand though a small hole in the coconut and grab some rice inside. The monkey can put its hand into the hole but cannot take its fist out with rice in it. The monkey's value rigidity traps it when it reaches in. The rice cannot be revalued. He cannot see that freedom without rice is more valuable than capture with it. (Robert Pirsig, Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance)

TASK 1. What does the text lack: coherence or cohesion?

My favorite animal is the domestic cat. Cats were domesticated almost 10,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a name that literally means "the land between two rivers," taken from Greek. The Greek language is one of the oldest written languages, and its alphabet forms the basis of many other writing systems, including Latin. Latin ...

TASK 2. Does the paragraph flow well? Why?/Why not?

Farmers try to provide optimal growing conditions for crops by using soil additives to adjust soil pH. Garden lime, or agricultural limestone, is made from pulverized chalk, and can be used to raise the pH of the soil. Clay soil, which is naturally acidic, often requires addition of agricultural lime.

TASK 3. Read the two paragraphs below. Which one flows better?

A. Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The southern part of Costa Rica is characterized by dense rain forests, which contain some of the world’s most unusual wildlife. Hoping to get a bird’s eye view of these animals, tourists take zip lining tours through the top canopy of the rain forest. Located in Central America, it borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. Some of the interesting creatures found in these forests include tree frogs, white-faced monkeys, and sloths.

B. Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Located in Central America, it borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. The southern part of Costa Rica is characterized by dense rain forests, which contain some of the world’s most unusual wildlife. Some of the interesting creatures found in these forests include tree frogs, white-faced monkeys, and sloths. Hoping to get a bird’s eye view of these animals, tourists take zip lining tours through the top canopy of the rain forest.

TASK 4. The following six sentences are all part of the same paragraph, but the order has been scrambled. Using the old/new information structure, see if you can number the sentences in the order in which they should logically be. Start with the MOST general statement.

A. The birth of stars, however, cannot be followed by an optical telescope, since it takes place in regions of space from which light cannot escape.

B. To study this process, therefore, astronomers have to make use of telescopes operating at other wavelengths.

C. Developments in radio, millimetre-wave and infra-red astronomy have turned the study of star-formation into one of the most exciting areas of astronomy.

D. The majority of stars, including the Earth’s sun, are clouds of gas which are maintained at a high temperature by the energy liberated by thermonuclear reactions in their centres.

E. Most of our knowledge of stars and how they evolve comes from the study of the visible light they emit.

F. It is currently thought that most of the matter of the universe is in the form of stars.

TASK 5.The following sentences are in mixed order. To form a paragraph they need to be reorganized. Underline the topic sentence and put the sentences in the correct order by numbering them 1-5.

A. It is mainly formal, impersonal and objective.

B. In most of these the writer is expected to include references to other writing or research.

C. Academic writing is a particular kind of writing that can be recognized by its style.

D. These include essays, research reports and articles, case studies, surveys, dissertations, theses, and examination papers.

E. Other distinctive features will depend upon the specific types of academic writing.

TASK 6. Put the sentences in order. What helped you do this? How are the ideas linked together?

A. Twelve years after Sputnik, the United States caught up by becoming the first nation to land a man on the Moon.

B. European Space Agency was founded in 1975, and they joined the competition, vowing to land European astronauts on the Moon by 2015 and on the Mars by 2035.

C. The number of nations competing in the ‘space race’ has grown since the early days of space exploration.

D. China joined the competition in 2003 when it launched Shenzhou5.

E. Initially, the former Soviet Union took the lead when it sent the first Sputnik in 1957 and later a man into the Earth orbit.

F. For almost 50 years, the United States and Russia were the only competitors in the contest to explore space using manned spacecraft.

TASK 7. Put the sentences in order. What helped you do this? How are the ideas linked together?

A. In the first year of the loan scheme 45,000 students had loans.

B. Year by year more students are borrowing money for their education, and they are borrowing more money.

C. The total levels of student debt have reached unsustainable levels for the New Zealand economy.

D. It is now $10,600, according to figures supplied by the Alliance party (Gordon, 2015).

E. By 2015 the number had grown to 300,000.

F. Two years ago, the average loan debt was NZ$5,000.

TASK 8. Put the sentences in order. What helped you do this? How are the ideas linked together?

A. But modern anthropology stands opposed to the view that anatomy is destiny.

B. Men are taller, heavier, and stronger than women; hence it is "natural" that hunting and warfare should be male specialities.

C. Men have higher levels of testosterone; hence they are "naturally" more aggressive, sexually and otherwise, and are "naturally" dominant over women.

D. Since differences in the anatomy and physiology of human males and females are so obvious it is easy to be misled into believing that sex-linked roles and statuses are primarily biological rather than cultural phenomena.

E. As the underlying demographic, technological, economic, and ecological conditions to which these sex-linked roles are adapted change, new cultural definitions of sex-linked roles will emerge.

F. Moreover since women menstruate, become pregnant, and lactate, they "naturally" are the ones to stay at home to care for and feed infants and children.

G. Nor are women born with an innate tendency to care for infants and children and to be sexually and politically subordinate.

H. Rather it has been the case that under a broad but finite set of cultural and natural conditions certain sex-linked specialities have been selected for in a large number of cultures.

I. Males are not born with an innate tendency to be hunters or warriors or to be sexually and politically dominant over women.

Using Referents

TASK 1. Circle all the referents. Which of them are unclear? Edit them.

A. I consider my global English level as A2+. It is based on the CEFR document and my test results. It consists of four parts: reading, speaking, listening, and writing. My reading and listening skills are close to B1 level, while writing and speaking are much lower. According to these results, I must improve it.

B. Filing your taxes properly is an important part of good business practice. To ensure it is done correctly, many businesses choose to work with an accountant. They are skilled in tax law and can help minimize your tax savings. They can even provide knock-on benefits in future years.

C. If the baby does not thrive on raw milk, boil it.

TASK 2. Fill in the gaps to build cohesion between sentences and ensure a smooth flow.

A. In some lecture halls, students spend their time searching the web or answering e-mails instead of paying attention to the lecture. ___________ activities may distract the students around them.

B. The ways in which cultures differ in their conversational styles have long interested language researchers. For example, in some cultures, when two people meet they must exchange information about their families’ health, whereas _________ would not be a conversational topic in ________ cultures.

C. Cohesion is an important feature of academic writing. _______ can help ensure that your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in your essay or report. You can achieve good cohesion by paying attention to three important features. The first of ________ is repeated words. The second key feature is reference words. The final important aspect is transition signals.

TASK 3. Read the following paragraph and complete the table.

La Ferrera (1997) has researched the life cycle of new businesses. She found that they have an average life of only 4.7 years. This is due to two main reasons: one economic and one social. The former appears to be a lack of capital, the latter a failure to carry out sufficient market research. La Ferrera considers that together these account for approximately 70 per cent of business failures.

Reference	Reference word/phrase
La Ferrera	she
new businesses
average life of only 4.7 years
one economic
the former, … the latter….

TASK 4. In the following paragraph, insert suitable reference words from the box below in the gaps. There are some extra words you won’t need.

he / he/ his/ his/ his /it / them / they / this

When Andy Warhol died at the age of 58 in 1987 few people guessed that (a)______ would soon become one of the most valuable artists in the world. In 2007 total sales of (b)_______ work at auction reached 428 million dollars. When, a year later, (c)______ painting 'Eight Elvises' sold for over $100 million, (d)______ was one of the highest prices ever paid for a work of art. In (e)_______ working life (f)______ made about 10,000 artworks, and dealers believe that (g)_______ will continue to be popular with collectors in future. (h)_____ is because of Warhol's huge reputation as a super-cool trendsetter and innovator.

TASK 5. Read the paragraph below and replace the words in bold with reference words.

Velcro is a fabric fastener used with clothes and shoes. Velcro was invented by a Swiss engineer called George de Mestral. Mestral's idea was derived from studying the tiny hooks found on some plant seeds. The tiny hooks cling to animals and help disperse the seeds. Mestral spent eight years perfecting Mestral's invention, which Mestral called 'Velcro' from the French words 'velour' and 'crochet'. The invention was patented in 1955 and today over 60 million metres of Velcro are sold annually.

This/That And It: Things That Have Just Been Mentioned

When more than one thing has been mentioned, it generally refers to the main subject of discussion; this and that generally refer to a new subject that has been introduced (often the last thing mentioned). Compare:

• We keep the ice-cream machine in the spare room. It is mainly used by the children, incidentally. (The machine is used by the children.)

• We keep the ice-cream machine in the spare room. This/That is mainly used by the children, incidentally. (The spare room is used by the children.)

The simplest form of this-cohesion is the use of the word this in four situations: 1) by itself, 2) with a repeated word, 3) with part of an earlier noun phrase, or 4) with a synonym. Look at these examples:

this by itself	Potassium increases the strength of plant tissues. This helps the plant to withstand mechanical damage.
this + a repeated word	Many processed foods contain additives. These additives generally retard spoilage and replace vitamins lost in cooking.
this + part of an earlier noun phrase	Alzheimer’s disease causes senility in older people. This disease may be related to aluminum in the diet.
this + a synonym of an earlier noun phrase	The sensory and motor nerve centers make up the major portion of the brain. This organ is situated in the cranium.

TASK 1. This or it?

1. I was carrying the computer to my office when I dropped it on the kitchen table. _____ was badly damaged. (The computer was damaged.)

2. I was carrying the computer to my office when I dropped it on the kitchen table. _____ was badly damaged. (The table was damaged.)

TASK 2. Fill the blanks with this or these plus an appropriate word or phrase from the first sentence.

Example: The first good roads were built by the Romans. These roads were mainly for military use.

1. Suspension bridges depend upon giant wire cables for support. ___________ are usually manufactured at the site.

2. A mucous membrane covers the tongue. ___________ contains four types of tiny bumps or papillae.

3. Rising air over a moist region may cause cumulus clouds to form in cooler air above the surface. ___________ darken to rain clouds as they receive more moisture.

4. Each spiral nebula seems to be rotating and throwing off matter at its rim. ___________ may condense into stars.

5. The autonomic nerves are either motor or sensory. ___________ are further divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic.

6. The volume of water in the oceans is 14 times that of all land above sea level. _________, frozen into a ball, would form a globe 850 miles in diameter.

7. The generator design can be suggested by three loops. __________ are mounted on a common shaft 120 degrees apart.

8. In small buildings, there are elevators which passengers operate them­selves. In ____________, the doors usually open and close automatically.

9. Sea level is the standard pressure for purposes of weather forecasting. _________, under normal conditions will support a col­umn of mercury 29.92 inches high.

10. A huge amount of water still remains locked in the ice over Antarctica and Greenland. If ___________ melted, it would raise the oceans about 200 feet.

TASK 3. Fill the blanks with this or these plus an appropriate word or phrase from the list below.