Unit 6 Expanded sentence base (II)
Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to
1. identify the functions of participles in expanding sentences;
2. use particles to expand sentences effectively;
3. tell the difference between participles and absolutes;
4. expand sentences with absolutes;
5. avoid run-on sentences in writing; and
6. Write précis for long passages.
Part I warm-up activities
1. Rewrite the following sentences with the help of –ing and –ed forms
1) The father, who was enraged, threatened to throw the boy, who was screaming, out of the room.
2) You can use the method that is frequently used.
3) Tommy, who was filled with despair, left the office.
4) The girl who is smiling through the window is enjoying one of the happiest days in her life.
5) The boy was sitting at his desk, and his feet were tapping the floor gently.
6) Since the computers are damaged by an unknown virus, the employees are happy to take the day off.
Compare your sentences with the original ones, and discuss the effect(s) of using the –ing and -ed forms.
2. Write a paragraph on “can computers help us learn English?”
Part II Focus
Unit 5 has introduced seven ways to expand noun phrases. This unit will focus on two of them: the –ing and the –ed form. When used as attributes, the two forms can help produce economical and flexible sentences. And they are used to describe nouns or pronouns. We call this kind of descriptive verb forms participles.
Participles
Getting to know participles
Look at the following sentences. What do the italicized words modify? What is their function?
a. The crying girl picked up her broken piggy bank.
b. The boy and the girl, singing and dancing, went home together.
Write your findings in the following table.
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Verb form |
Words modified |
Function |
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crying |
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Broken |
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Singing and dancing |
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The four verb forms are used to describe one noun and two noun phrases (girl, piggy bank, and the boy and the girl).
There are two kinds of participles: one ending with –ing (the present participle), and the other ending with –ed(the past participle). Which form to use depends on the relationship between the verb and the noun described. Study the following sentences.
a. The trembling old man stood by the broken window.
b. Frightened by a strange noise downstairs, he went down slowly, holding his gun in his hand.
c. Together the friends followed the trail, picking up the fallen raspberries as they went along.
When we use a verb describe a noun, there must be a logical relationship between them: the noun either carries out the action or receives the action. If the noun carries out the action, it is the logical subject of the verb, and we should use the present participle. If the noun receives the action, it is the logical object of the verb, and we should use the past participle.
As you might have noticed in sentence b above, frightened and holding are not used alone. When a participle is used with other words to express a more complete idea, it becomes a participle phrase.
Classroom Activities
1. There are –ing and –ed forms in the following sentences, but not all of them are participles. Can you identify the participles and explain their functions?
1) “Baking a cake may be the best way to celebrate Roo’s birthday tomorrow,”thought grandma.
2) “I’ll need a lot of raspberries,”said she, handing out basket to Roo and his friend.
3) The friends spent all morning wandering through the wood, picking raspberries as they went.
4) At lunch time, they stopped to eat the sandwiches that grandma had made for them.
5) “Hmm! My basket seems to be empty,” muttered the surprised Tigger.
6) By late afternoon, all the other baskets were filled up and everyone was tired.
7) “But my basket is still empty!” exclaimed Tigger, staring at his basket unbelievingly.
8) “There’s a big hole in it, and that’s why you get nothing left,” Roo announced after checking the basket.
9) However, looking around them, Pooh said, “I think we are lost.”
10) “We can follow Tigger’s trail!” said Roo, looking at the trail of raspberries.
11) “So that’s where my raspberries have all gone!” laughed Tigger.
12) Together the friends followed the trail, picking up the fallen raspberries as they went along.
13) At home, grandma was waiting for them with a delicious supper!
2. Complete the following sentences by turning the verbs in brackets into proper participles.
1) Have you ever seen a _____ (smile) cat?
2) ______ (read) the student’s paper, the professor got more and more confused.
3) ______ (swim) slowly but confidently, he pulled the drowning girl to the shore.
4) It’s a paradox that KFC and McDonald’s, __________ (compete) all over the world, also help each other to succeed.
5) Everybody______(mention) in this list must get ready within a fortnight.
6) ________ (jump) aside, he dodged the stone _______ (throw) at him from a _______ (break) window nearby.
7) Demographic Research, a journal _______ (publish) in Britain but ______ (inform) scholars all over Europe, celebrated its 50th anniversary yesterday.
8) ________ (have) to score all the papers in three days, the professor closed his door to all visitors. Three days later, he reappeared, _______(exhaust) but greatly _______ (relieve).
Complex participle phrases
A. Present participles in different modes and aspects
Present participles can indicate different situations with different forms. Look at the following sentences, and find out differences between the present participles.
a. Watching the movie, the boy became very excited.
b. Having watched the movie, the boy became very excited.
c. Hurt in the game, Beckham may not be able to play in the coming World Cup match.
d. Having been hurt in the game, Beckham stayed in hospital for about two weeks.
As can be seen in these sentences, the present participle may appear in three different forms (sentences b, c and d) besides its original form (sentence a). The italicized part in sentence b is the perfect aspect of the present participle, which means that the action of the participle verb took place before that of the predicate verb. So, sentence a means that the boy became excited while he was watching the movie, but in sentence b the boy became excited after he had watched the movie.
Hurt in the game in sentence c looks like a past participle. However, we can also regard it as the passive voice of the present participle with being omitted. In sentence d, the italicized part is the perfect aspect of the passive form of the present participle.
Now can you fill in this table for the verb do?
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Form |
Meaning |
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Simple form |
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Perfect aspect |
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Passive voice |
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Perfect aspect in passive voice |
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When we need to use the negative form of a participle, we simply put words like not or never before the participle, either in the simple or complex form.
Classroom Activities
1. Study the following sentences, and explain the meanings of the present participles.
1) Having lived in the city for years, he knows when a taxi driver is taking him in.
2) Having been cheated again and again, she is afraid of buying any jewellery.
3) I stood in front of him, not knowing what to say.
4) The boy, not having been permitted to leave the room, dare not answer his friends’ call.
5) Not having read the assigned chapters, I was not brave enough to go to prof. Johnson’s class.
2. Use participles to combine the following sentences
1) I bought a computer last week.
The computer brings happiness to everyone in my family.
_______________________________________________________
2) I was back in my hometown last week.
I didn’t know that my professor had assigned another 5,000-word paper.
________________________________________________________
3) The picture on the wall was painted by a post-impressionist.
Many people were standing in front of the picture.
They pretended that they could understand the picture.
______________________________________________________
4) The boy looked out of the window of the train.
He was amused by the power lines.
The power lines are dancing up and down in the air.
____________________________________________________
B. Participles with conjunctions
Look at the cartoon pictures and answer the questions.
When did the cook burn her finger? What is the difference between her answer and “I burned it in the kitchen while I was preparing your food”?
Now look at some sentences. How are they different form the participles we’ve discussed in terms of structure and meaning?
a. When seeing the teacher, the boys stopped talking.
b. Though living in a big house, she is still not satisfied.
c. If caught cheating, you’ll be thrown out of school.
Structure：______________________________________________________
Meaning:__________________________________________________________
We can sometimes put a conjunction before a participle to make the meaning more colorful. Conjunctions can express the following meanings.
Time: We use when, while to emphasize that the participle action and the predicates action take place at the same time. We also use words like before, after to show the sequence of the two actions. For example:
A. While chasing the cat, the dog hurt its feet.
B. Before setting off, she spent two hours on her hair, face and clothes.
C. After meeting those people, I started to doubt the feasibility of my plan.
Concession: we use words like though, although, even if, etc. to show concession. For example:
a. Though holding important positions and earning big money, he is not happy.
b. Although having finished his homework, the boy is not allowed to go out to play.
c. She doesn’t plan to go to the party, even though invited.
Condition: we use if, when or unless before a participle to indicate that this is just a condition, instead of a fact. For example:
a. If found guilty, he will have to stay in prison all his life.
b. When heated, this material will give off a very bad smell.
c. These animals will not attach human beings unless cornered.
Classroom activities
1. Rewrite the following sentences, using the “conjunction + participle” structure.
1) Kate fell asleep when she was reading Bob’s letter.
_________________________________________________________
2) She started to chat with her friend after she had finished her work.
_________________________________________________________
3) The old man still watches the video from time to time although he has
Seen it a thousand and one times.
___________________________________________________________
4) The prisoner plans to escape though he is closely watched by the guards.
___________________________________________________________
5) Many people believe that if an article is read may times, it will
naturally be understood.
___________________________________________________________
6) If you buy mare, you can pay less.
___________________________________________________________
2. Write two sentences for each of the three types of the “conjunction + participle” structure.
Time: 1)
2)
Concession: 1)
2)
Condition: 1)
2)
Getting to know participles’ functions
A. Creating concise sentences
Study the following sentences, and answer the questions.
Education is a scientific process. Education requires conscientious planning.
a. Education is a scientific process. It requires conscientious planning.
b. Education is a scientific process which requires conscientious planning.
c. Education is a scientific process, requiring conscientious planning.
Questions:
1. Do sentences a, b, c, d deal with the same topic?
2. How many complete ideas can we find in each sentence?
3. What is the difference between their relationships in each sentence? Which sentence has the closest relationship?
4. Which sentence is the most efficient?
As the relationship between the two ideas grows closer, the expression becomes increasing efficient. Using proper sentence structures, we can reduce words and tighten the relationship within the sentence.
B. producing more detailed sentences
Look at the following groups of sentences. Which on is the best in each group?
a. 1) Mr. King went happily to his office, sang to himself and nodded to acquaintances he met.
2) Mr. King went happily to his office, singing to himself and nodding to acquaintances he met.
3) Singing to himself and nodding to acquaintances he met, Mr. King went happily to his office.
b. 1) Waves lifted his body, caressed it, and carried him out to the misty sea.
2) Waves lifted his body, caressing it, and carried him out to the misty sea.
3) Waves lifted his body, and carried him out to the misty sea, caressing it.
c. 1) Shocked at what he was told, the old man held the receiver in his hand, not uttering a single word.
2) The old man held the receiver in his hand, shocked at what he was told, not uttering a single word.
3) Shocked at what he was told, not uttering a single word, the old man held the receiver in his hand.
Participles can add more details to sentences. We can use present participle to describe live animated actions (as in group a), or simultaneous actions (as in group b). The best position for participle is in the middle or the end of a sentence. Past participle can also be very helpful in suggesting the cause of an action in the sentence, and they are usually put at the beginning of a sentence. Group c is an example of combining the present participle with the past participle.
C. Establishing clear logic
Look at the sentence
a. Sam jumped out of his chair, hearing a sudden loud crash at his gate.
b. He slowly walked up to his house, checked his mailbox and opened his door, getting off the taxi.
c. I’ll have to stay in bed for a couple of days, hurt in a car accident.
d. The boys went happily to the movie, having finished their homework.
Is there any wrong with these sentences? Yes. They have made the same mistake by putting the action that happened earlier after the action that happened later, thus distorting the logical order. Although participles can be put almost anywhere within a sentence, they should generally appear according to the logical order.
Classroom activities
1. Use participle phrases to make the following sentences more efficient.
1) As she was thinking about her kid at home, Judy made several mistakes in her work.
_____________________________________________________________________
2) The car raced along the street, and sent passers-by running for shelter.
______________________________________________________________________
3) She was born in Guangzhou. She was educated in Nanjing. She is now working as a manager in Beijing.
_____________________________________________________________________
4) After he was shocked and chased by a ferocious dog, the thief hid behind a dustbin, and held his breath for fear of being found.
________________________________________________________________________
5) The bomb blew up in the distance. It shook the ground slightly, and made bursts of light on the dark horizon.
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Correct any mistake in the following sentences.
1) I thought the world had ended for me, hearing the news.
2) Reading a newspaper, I sat happily in my chair.
3) Sitting down at the table, she opened the letter and started reading.
4) The boy stood there dumbfounded, shocked at the sight of his teacher.
5) I know this place like the back of my hand, having lived there for twenty years.
3. Look at your paragraph for the warm-up activities again and try to improve it by using participle.
Absolutes
Getting to know absolutes
Look at the following two pairs of sentences and try to tell the difference between them.
a. 1) Hurt in the game, I will not be able to go to your party tonight.
2) My best friend hurt in the game, I will not be able to go to your party tonight.
b. 1) My grandma was sitting in her rocker, singing happily in the spring fragrance.
2) My grandma was sitting in her rocker, her radio singing happily in the spring fragrance.
Sentence 2 in both pairs is different from sentence 1 in that the two participles have another noun before them (my best friend before hurt, and her radio before singing). These participles have a logical subject different from that of the sentence. In English, participle phrases used with their own logical subjects are called absolutes constructions, or simply absolutes.
Now look at some other sentences. Do you think the italicized parts are the same as or different from the absolute constructions in the above sentences?
a. The man stood in the street corner, his hands put in his pockets.
b. The man stood in the street corner, hands put in his pockets.
c. The man stood in the street corner, hands in pockets.
Sentence a is exactly the same as the above kind of absolute constructions, but sentence b omits the personal pronoun his, and sentence c further omits the participle word put. As a result, the three sentences are different in structures. However, since the italicized parts in sentences b and c perform the same function as in sentence a, we can regard them as absolute constructions.
Now work together to sum up the above explanation.
1. an absolute construction is__________________________________________
2. an absolute construction may appear in three forms:
a._________________________________________________________
b._________________________________________________________
c.__________________________________________________________
Classroom activities
Write three sentences, using different forms of absolute constructions.
_________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Using absolutes with purpose
A. adding descriptive details
Look at the following sentences. What effect do you think the absolutes can bring about?
a. The manager sat quietly in his office, his eyes closed.
b. The manager sat quietly in his office, a cigarette burning in his hand.
c. Sam walked slowly off the playground, his face streaked with tears.
d. Sam walked slowly off the playground, his left leg bleeding.
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Absolutes add details, and make sentences much more vivid. Try to combine sentences a and b, and sentences c and d, and see how the new sentences describe the manager or Sam.
B. Indicating cause-effect relationships
Besides adding description details, absolutes are used for another purpose. Try to figure it out by looking at the following sentences.
a. His notebook stolen, Larry is certain to fail in the coming exam.
b. Wallet lost, I had to go home on foot.
The italicized parts in the above sentences don’t add description details; instead, they indicate a cause-effect relationship. One more example;
His housework done, the night movie having ended, Mr. Strong could do nothing but go to bed.
Classroom Activities
1. Expand the following sentences with absolutes.
1) The boy leaned against a tree,____________________
2) He glared at his boss,____________________________
3) The interviewee entered the office,__________________
4) The rabbit stared at the approaching wolf,_____________
5) The girl was enjoying her favorite song,________________
2. Supply reasons for the following sentences using absolutes.
1) _____________________, I will never come to this place again.
2) __________________________, she doesn’t want to meet her boy-friend today.
3) ________________________, the ship sank slowly into the sea.
4) __________________________, the school has attracted many foreign students.
5)___________________,I was given ﹩1,000 more last month.
3. Look at you paragraph for the Warm-up Activities again and try to improve it by using absolutes to combine sentences.
Part III Grammar
Comma-split Sentences
Look at the following sentences and answer the questions.
a. He heard laughter inside the house, no one answered the bell.
b. The boy was scolded, he banged the door and ran out.
c. Nobody will buy these computer books, they are too expensive.
Questions:
1. How many independent ideas are there in each sentence? What is used to connect the ideas?
2. Is the relationship between these clear to you? If not, how can you clarity it?
3. Look at the sentences:
d. He heard laughter inside the house, but no one answered the bell.
e. Because he was scolded, the boy banged the door and ran out.
f. Nobody will buy these computer books: they are too expensive.
What are the differences between these sentences and those at the beginning? Can you make a list of strategies that can clearly demonstrate the relationship between two or more ideas in one sentence?
In comma-split sentences, the writer divides ideas with commas. However, because a comma is too weak to indicate the relationship between the ideas, such sentences are not acceptable.
Classroom Activities
Improve the following comma-split sentences.
1) I had no idea what I was getting into, I did not really care.
_______________________________________________________
2) You can’t go home now, it is raining so heavily.
_________________________________________________________
3) The cop saw the escaping thief, he stopped his car, he got off his car, he started to chase him.
___________________________________________________________
4) You study hard, you will succeed.
___________________________________________________________
5) She said“Yes,”he felt he was in heaven.
___________________________________________________________
Now, can you summarize the rules against comma-split sentences?
Summary: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fused Sentences
Look at the following sentences, and answer the questions.
a. Garfield decided to stop eating too much sweet food he does not want to die of heart attack.
b. The examination was cancelled the whole class were disappointed.
c. I don’t like Shanghai food it is too sweet.
Questions:
1. How many complete ideas does each of the sentences contain?
2. Are the sentences difficult to understand? And why?
3. How can you improve these sentences?
As a type of run-on sentences, a fused sentence is even worse than a comma-split sentence: there is no indication of the division of ideas at all.
Classroom Activities
Improve the following fused sentences by indicating the relationship between ideas in each sentence.
1) In some parts of China marriages are still arranged by parents consequently money becomes more important than love.
___________________________________________________________
2) Vegetables are good to your health however, overeating them will also be harmful.
__________________________________________________________
3) People watch TV for different reasons their judgment naturally differs.
___________________________________________________________
4) These houses sell very well they enjoy first of all a very desirable location.
__________________________________________________________
5) Nobody will completely love this kind of mass-produced food nobody will be unbearably put off, either.
___________________________________________________________
PartⅢ Writing
Unit 5 has discussed what a précis is, and how to write précis for short passages. However, in some cases, you are required to write précis for longer and more complicated articles. The following are the five steps you need to follow:
1. Read and understand the article;
2. Select and underline the important points;
3. Group relevant points into one item, and group points distant enough into another item. Arrange these points into a list;
4. Rearrange the list into an outline according to the author’s developing strategy; and
5. Using this outline, develop each item into a separate paragraph.
We’ll try to apply the five-step strategy with the following passage.
Step 1 Read the following passage, and try to understand it correctly. Ignore the underlines when reading.
Nowadays, the standard for measuring national power has changed. These changes foretell a new standard for measuring power. No longer will a nation’s political influence be based solely on the strength of its military forces. Of course, military effectiveness will remain a primary measure of power. But political influence is also closely tied to industrial competitiveness. It’s often said that without its military strength the former Soviet Union would really be a third-world nation. The new standard of power and influence that is evolving now places more emphasis on the ability of a country to compete effectively in the economic markets of the world.
America must recognize this new course of events. Our success in shaping world events over the past 40years has been the direct result of our ability to adapt technology and our people’s capability to maintain peace. Our industrial genius over most of this period was unchallenged. It is ironic that it is just this genius that has enabled other countries to prosper and in turn to threaten our industrial leadership.
The competitiveness of America’s industrial base is an issue bigger than the Department of Defense and is going to require the efforts of the major institutional force in our society----government, industry, and education. That is not to say that the Defense Department will not be a strong force in the process. But we simply cannot be, nor should we be, looked upon by others as the savior of American industry.(245 words)
Step 2 Select and underline the important points (refer to the passage)
Step 3 List the important points:
l standard changed
l no longer based on military power
l more emphasis on economic power
l America must recognize this change
l past success depending on technological power and military power
l industrial competitiveness is more important than military influence
l military power unable to save industry
Step 4 Upon careful examination, it may be found that these three paragraphs cannot all stand alone. We may safely treat the first paragraph as one part because it makes a general statement, and then put the second and third paragraphs together because they are more specific, and there is a close cause-effect relationship between them. So the outline for this passage should look like this:
Ⅰ.This standard for measuring power of country has changed.
A. The standard used to be military power.
B. Now economic power has become more important.
Ⅱ.Necessity for the US to make corresponding changes.
A. The US depended on both its economic power and military power for its success in the past.
B. Now more attention should be given to economic power.
Step 5 Based on this outline, we may produce a précis like this:
Now the standard for measuring national power has changed. In the past military power decide a country’s influence. But now economic competitiveness is playing an increasingly important role. America should realize this change. In the past 40 years, its success depended both on technological success and on military power. However, we must now understand that the whole society should be devoted to maintaining our industrial success, because we cannot, and should not, depend on our soldiers to safeguard our industry.(80 words)
PARTⅤFollow-up Exercises
1. Point out the participles in the following sentences, and explain what they describe.
1) Missing his home and his parents, the boy could not sleep all night.
2) They all look forward to meeting the newcomer.
3) Holding just a scarf in his hand, the magician made snowflakes fall all over the stage.
4) We all know that magic is just cheating.
5) She lay in bed, sleeping soundly.
6) Everybody living in this apartment building knows him.
7) Finding a joy is not easy now, even for a college graduate.
8) Cancelling exams has been a dream of many students.
9) Knowing what had happened, I stood there at a loss.
10) Getting up early is one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
2. The following excerpts are four pieces of news briefings from Channel NewsAsia, a TV station in Singapore. Identify all the participles that are used for attributive purposes, and study how they are used.
Excerpt A
Fifteen South Koreans were killed and 17 others, including a US citizen, injured in an expressway collision on Saturday between a truck and an inter-city bus. A 23-yea-old Korean woman died in hospital overnight, bringing to 15 the death toll from the tragedy in Okcheon Country, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, police said. There were no foreigners among the dead, while the injured included Sims Tommy Dean, a 47-year-old American man staying in the southern port of Busan.
Excerpt B
Beijing has ordered all the city’s Internet cafes to close after a blaze at an illegal Internet café killed 24 people and injured 13.Out of 2,400 Internet cafes in the capital, 2,200 were operating illegally, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Many of the cafes operate in secret, with doors locked and windows barred, turning them into fire traps. The fire broke out at the Lanjisu café in Beijing’s university district. Most of the victims were students aging about 18 or 19.
Excerpt C
One in six of 7,000 people responding to a major survey said they had never heard of AIDS, a disease that has claimed 25 million lives. The survey, released at the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, also showed nearly three quarters of those who had heard about AIDS were unaware of its causes and almost 90% did not know how AIDS could be detected.
Excerpt D
Heavy downpours have caused widespread flooding in southern China’s Guangxi and Hunan region, affecting more than 15 million people with its devastation. Reports say more than half of the 71counties in the mountainous region were hit by the flood, Causing 22 deaths and 15,000 houses to collapse.
3. The following is an excerpt from Aesop’s Fables. Fill in the first four blanks with a participle of the verbs in brackets; and then write an ending for the story.
A wolf who had a bone_____ (stick) in his throat hired a Crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the________(promise)payment, the Wolf,____(grin)and ________(grind) histeeth,exclaimed,”____________________________________________________________”
4. Write a précis for the passage following the 5-step strategy.
Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the least harm to us or our belongings.
How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in a grass field in the south of England, and he estimated that there were more than2,250,000 inone acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch. Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a day. It has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country. (239 words)