Page 271 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES 257
Adjective Participial Phrase: Passive
The volume of ground water that is found in underground reservoirs exceeds that of all surface water.
The volume of ground water found in underground reservoirs exceeds that of all surface water.
Adjective clause reduction in most contexts is considered optional (Chafe, 1970). According to a detailed study by Master (2002), the preva- lence of adjective clause reduction depends on the discipline to some ex- tent. For example, in biology, chemistry, psychology, computer science, geology, math, and physics, adjective clauses are reduced far more rarely than in humanities. On the whole, however, discipline-related distinctions are not very pronounced. Most important, however, Master (2002) found that in a vast majority of cases, adjective clause reduction occurs when relative pronouns (e.g., who, that, which) occupy the clause subject posi- tion (e.g.,theriverflowing...). These typesofparticipialphrases are far eas- ier to teach (and for students to learn) than those where the relative clause pronoun occupies the clause object position (fortunately indeed).
A small number of active or passive adjective participles have been en- countered repeatedly in formal academic writing, and these are derived from highly common academic verbs (see chap. 8). The frequent participles can be learned and used as needed in academicwriting.
With the exception of using, the -ing participles in the list hardly ever occur in the form of progressive verbs, and L2 writers do not need to be concerned about confusing them.
containing using concerning having
involving arising consisting corresponding
Passive (in declining order)
based caused given concerned used made
relating requiring resulting
obtained produced taken
(Adapted from Biber et al., 1999)
Common Academic Participles Active (in declining order)
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