Page 197 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

LEXICAL CLASSES OF VERBS
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subside subsidize subtle suffice
sum superimpose
supplement sum suppress tape survey team suspend tire sustain tolerate switch trace
transact underlie violate
As with nouns, expanding the lexical range of verbs can take place by means of building semantic domains of verbs with similar meanings to in- crease writers' options in constructing text. For this purpose, two- and three-word verbs and formal idiomatic expressions (Moon, 1998) can also be practiced in context, together with other verbs with similar meanings. For example:
abandon—give up—leave
accelerate—speed up—quicken
access—enter—go in(to)
accompany—go hand in hand (with)
accomplish—achieve—fulfill— attain—realize
appear—emerge—show up choose—select—elect—opt—pick (out) continue—go on—keep on discover—find out—learn—determine
discuss—take up—raise—talk over finish—complete—get through
investigate—look into—research—examine leave—go away—depart
maintain—keep up—continue
reject—turn down remove—take off-—take away review—look over
search (for)—look for
The verbs in semantic domains can be practiced in editing or contextualized substitutions. The following example of a student text can benefit from an expanded range of verbs and a bit of editing:
As a development of science and technology, the research fields of human beings are changing into more variety. Medical technology is also changing, and computers are changing everything. Most of the projects cannot be completed by the person whojust knows the one field. These projects require the researcher who knows many disciplines. This produces a contemporary scientific research approach that is also changing. With the development of microelectronics, much progress has been achieved in electrical engi- neering. The research area of electrical engineering has increased much more. On the other hand, people change to care about themselves more and more. There is much devel- opment in medical fields in recent years. Research has given us a lot of information that is always changing. (An introduction from a junior-level term paper on the technological advancement in the 1990s.)
transfer transform transmit transport undergo
undertake withdraw utilize x-ray utter
vary
verify
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