Page 187 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

TEACHING VERB TENSES AND VOICE 173
have a relationship going with their old supplier and that the new sup- plier will not like it if they switch.
When we heard that we said to them do you care if your old supplier will not like it or do you care to save money? And then we said that if they will have trouble in their business in the future than their old supplier will have to sell them fewer containers because they will ship fewer cheeses. We rec- ommended that they talk to their old supplier and explain the problem with the price. We said maybe your old supplier will match the price of the new supplier then you'll be in good shape. But they said that they always buy from the old supplier for almost 30 years and that they cannot talk to them about a new price after all this time.
(Extracted from a group student assignment in marketing.) When you are finished with the revisions, please explain the various func- tions of the passive voice that you noticed while working to improve this essay.
(5) Subjects of ActiveVerbs
The goal of this activity is help learners become adept at using activeverbs with subjects that are not live beings and that are seemingly unable to per- form the verb action.
Please complete thefollowing sentences. The main verbs are provided.
1. Hot weather [lead]
2. Ice cream and diary consumption [increase] 3. In some regions, climate [change]
4. The chapter in the book [lack]
5. Human eyes [adapt (to)]
6. Mixingcolors [produce]
(6) Mixing Active and Passive Constructions in Academic Writing
The goal of this exercise is to help L2 writers employ both active and passive constructions to the best advantage of their text (e.g., employ varied struc- tures in a reasonably cohesive text). This practice can be particularly useful for paired work when students can discuss their suggested revisions and changes. The teacher needs to be sure to follow up with a whole-class review when students are finished working. Exercises of this type can also be as- signed as homework with a follow-up in-classdiscussion.
Please decide which structures should be used in the active or the passive voice to improve the text. Some structures should be converted (l)from active to passive, oth- ers (2) from passive to active, and (3) some should be left unchanged. Also please pay special attention to (4) various types of errors and (5) the uses of by-phrases. It isyour decision how to improve this text, but your goal is revise it to help its author get the
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