alp season 1 episode 02

8/3/2019 ALP Season 1 Episode 02

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ALP Semester 1 Week 02

Advanced Grammar Topics: Parallelisms and Pro-forms

Parallel Constructions

When you are writing a long sentence with many descriptive parts, it is important to make sure

the parts are all arranged correctly. Otherwise, the sentence will be thrown off-balance.

In the previous module you learnt about arranging modifiers together in the best way.

Now you will see how you can balance the similar parts of a sentence with each other,

instead of combining different parts wrongly or awkwardly.

First, bear in mind the 2 basic principles:

1. Remember to use the correct connectors (in this case, coordinating conjunctions) tojoin independent clauses together.

2. Remember your word types. Combine similar word types together. Avoidmixing forms.

Lets look at an example.

y She is a studious child.y She is a mischievous prankster. She is a studious child but also a mischievous prankster.

Using but also, we connect the similar phrases a studious child and a mischievous

prankster together. Both are Noun Phrases.

This example is not so ideal:

v She is a studious child but also plays many mischievous pranks.The first is a Noun Phrase, but plays many mischievous pranks is a Verb Phrase.

Poor parallelism is not usually a mistake, but is always regarded as sloppy writing. You should

try to avoid this in your own sentences to let them flow more smoothly.


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Note down the word/phrase types that are combined in the following examples.

y Anger is a negative emotion.y Fear is a negative emotion. Anger and fear are negative emotions.y He walked quickly.y He walked carefully. He walked quickly and carefully.y She floats like a butterfly.y She stings like a bee. She floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

Now lets try a few more examples that are longer and more complex.

y Jonathan is a talented young man.y He teaches mathematics.y He plays in an orchestra. ________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

y Mary is a sporty girl.y She likes to hike.y She likes swimming.y She likes to ride her bicycle. ________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

y Mary Malone gave me an apple.y She gave me a red iris flower.y She gave me honeycombs. ________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________


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y I always have eaten breakfast before I go out.y I always will eat breakfast before I go out.v I always have and always will eat breakfast before I go out. ________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Hint: Tenses, too, should be constructed in parallel format. If you combined the wrong tenses

together, as in the negative example above, it is considered a mistake!

v The population ofMalaysia is greater than Singapore. ________________________________________________________________________

Hint: There is an awkward solution, and an elegant solution, to this problem.

v Emily is as tall if not taller than Roland. ________________________________________________________________________

Sometimes, you should find a different word to replace a phrase.

v Leslies new apartment was beautiful, expensive, and had a lot of space. ________________________________________________________________________

Sometimes entire phrases or clauses need to be replaced!

v Please turn down the television, or could you please go to sleep? _______________________________________________________________________


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v I hope that my dedication, committed person and I am diligent will allow me to get thisjob.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

v The coach told his team that they should not eat too much, get enough rest, and to doplenty of warm-up exercise before the game.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

v This is a time not for words, but action. ________________________________________________________________________

Put as many words as you can before the connectors in a sentence, whenever you use

connectors.

v Either you must grant her wish or she will throw a tantrum for the rest of the day. ________________________________________________________________________

Finally lets take a look at an example of good rhetorical parallelism from the legendary

wordsmith statesman, Winston Churchill.

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of

blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing

of miseries. Winston Churchill


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Pro-forms

A pro-form is a word that is used to replace a longer phrase in a construction within a sentence.

Using correct parallelism and good pro-forms in your sentences will let you write withenormous variety and elegance, even though pro-forms are not strictly speaking part of

grammar.

For instance:

y Ive got a new car and Phaik Hwas got a new car too.

It sounds repetitious to say a new car again.

So, we normally say,

y Ive got a new car and Phaik Hwas got one too.One is used here as a pro-form. This is called pro-form substitution.

y The two girls hurt themselves sparring in the ring.Here, themselves is also a pro-form, but it is not substitution. It is referring back to the phrase

the two girls in the same clause. We call this pro-form co-reference.

The most common pro-forms are the definite pronouns:

His, hers, those, such, myself, etc

Also, the definite adverbs to do with time/space:

Then, there, here


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For instance:

y Jane was at the concert and I was there too.y Jane went to the concert and I didtoo.y The over-optimism did result in the bubble bursting and a recession setting in. I told you

so!

Rewrite the following sentences using pro-forms.

1. Ten percent of shoppers at this mall refuse to buy anything. This happens when the tenpercent of shoppers are approached too aggressively.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. Some equipment has been damaged in the flood. No equipment has been irretrievablylost.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

3. The couple planned to go to the Seychelles for their holiday. We do not know if thecouple went to the Seychelles for their holiday.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Look in the bottom drawer. You will find it in the bottom drawer.______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________


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Flexible Writing Exercise

Complete the following sentences by following the rules for parallel constructions, and/or by

using appropriate pro-forms.

1. I was in favour of either painting the walls red, or ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

2. The hall was crowded with excited young students comparing results, talking to theirfamilies, and _____________________________________________________________.

3. Moving house means you have to decide what you want to throw away, what you wantto keep, and _____________________________________________________________.

4. Josie knew neither what to say at an interview, nor ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

5. Either the government will become fairer and less secretive, or __________________________________________________________________________________________________.


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Enrichment Reading: An Introduction to the Crusades

The Crusades between 1095 and 1272 were part of a struggle between Christianity and Islam, a

conflict that has lasted a thousand years or more. European soldiers formed military orders, or

groups, such as the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller. Their aim was to protect the

frontiers of Christian territory and defend pilgrims journeying to the holy city ofJerusalem.

Crusading appealed to the people in Europe in many ways. It gave greedy men the chance to

snatch wealth and valuables for themselves in the chaos of war, it offered spiritual comfort for

idealistic people who believed they were doing the right thing, and it gave the nobles a chance

to gain more territory and increase their power and riches.

For the Pope in Rome, it was a way to unify all the European Christian kingdoms under a

common cause. These kingdoms had all been quarrelling and fighting over territory and power,

and Pope Urban II felt strongly that Christians should stop killing each other. He told the various

rulers and all their followers that Christians in the Holy Land the land surrounding the city of

Jerusalem had been mistreated and even massacred by the Muslims. In this way, he made

them angry enough to set aside their differences and go to war against a common enemy.

However, there is very little evidence that those atrocities Pope Urban II talked about ever

happened.

The soldiers who marched to war against the Muslims were little better than bandits. The

Byzantine Princess, Anna Comnenus, wrote about her impressions of the Crusaders. She felt

they were cruel and ignorant brutes, who had filthy appearances and vile manners. While ontheir long journey, they looted and pillaged villages they came across, even those of fellow

Christians.

The terrible warfare of the Crusades, however, had long-term benefits for the world in general.

After the main fighting was over, the European and Muslim civilizations made more peaceful

contact. Scientific and philosophical ideas were exchanged, and trade took place between many

countries. Goods such as paper, mirrors, carpets, and even carrier pigeons found their way to

Europe. In addition, the Europeans came to know of new goods and items such as cotton, gauze,

sherbet, coffee, and lemons.

Today we know of the Crusades mostly through movies such as Kingdom of Heaven, in which

we see characters such as Saladin and King Richard the Lionheart brought to life.

Discussion: How important do you think religious harmony is to our society, and why? What

do you think are the best ways to foster it?

alp season 1 episode 02

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