Page 233 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS 219
dressed in most ESL textbooks. Specifically, in corpus research, both these types of clauses are identified at the rate of approximately 0.03% per 1mil- lion words of academic text (Biber et al., 1999). Thus, if ESLwriting instruc- tors have a limited amount of time and need to make choices, it does not seem that these constructions should have a high priority.
Similarly, superlative degree adjectives and adverbs are particularly rare in formal prose (e.g., most impressive[-ly], most clean[-ly], most clear[-ly]}. Occa- sionally and in specific collocational contexts, simple adverbs without-ly can be used in superlative degree, but largely not in academic essays (e.g.,at
your earliest convenience, at the earliest/soonest, most nicely, or most pleasantly). On the whole in their corpus of academic text, Biber et al. (1999) found only 800 superlative degree adjectives and adverbs per one million words (0.08%). These researchers pointed out that the markedly low frequency of superlatives "in academic writing probably reflects a general reluctance to make extreme claims" (p. 524). This finding can be contrasted with a much
greater frequency of superlatives in news reportage or conversation.
What to Teach. The comparative and superlative degree adjectives and adverbs that do occur in academic writing are actually limited to only afew common items. These are presented next in two groups and organized by the frequencies of occurrence: first those with particularly high rates and then the second tier (Biber et al., 1999).
The Most Frequent Comparative/Superlative Degree Adjectives and Adverbs in Academic Writing (in declining order)
Pairs of One-Word Comparatives/Superlatives
better—best greater—greatest higher—highest larger—largest
One-Word Comparatives Only
earlier easier lower older smaller wider
Phrasal Comparatives/ Superlatives With More and Most
most important more difficult more important more likely most likely
The second tier of common more/most combinations with adjectives in ac- ademic writing includes:
most common more complex more complicated
most effective more frequent more general
most significant more sophisticated most suitable
TLFeBOOK