Page 280 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

266 CHAPTER 10
SNhaenfcoyuSnndidtmhatnnsohodwifefedretnhcaetssheyxniestsesdreinprtehsenrteeadctaiorneslaotfivfoeu, cru-mltuorneth-b-oludndblabbieles.
Nancy Snidman shows that shyness represents a relative, culture-bound label. She finds that no differences exist in the reactions of four-month-old babies.
The flexibility of meanings and functions in the simple present tense makes it a highly versatile and practical construction. Simple is as simple does.
In light of structural complexities in the uses of noun clause, it is hardly surprising that even advanced L2 writers continue to make syntactic errors in these structures. Most important, what is needed for these students is practice, practice, and practice.
A Side Note
In English, the pronoun that can serve many masters and do many things, and for this reason it is very confusing for L2 learners:
• The easiest form of that is demonstrative:
That article was on achievement and learned motives, as in this, that, and the other
To identify the demonstrative that, it can be simply replaced by this or the other, and the sentence remains largely similar in meaning and structure: this article was ..., the other article was ... (see also chap. 6 on pronouns).
• The second form of that is the least useful because it introduces noun clauses but does not have a function in them:
The author thinks that the earth is flat.
In this sentence, that can be simply omitted without any damage to or change in the sentence: The author thinks the earth is flat.
•
•
In noun clauses that occupy the subject position of the entire com- plex sentence, the introductory that cannot be omitted:
That students have trouble with noun clauses is understandable.
The third form of that is probably the most complex: It replaces subject or object noun phrases in adjective clauses and, thus, takes over the functions and grammatical features of the noun phrases it replaces:
TLFeBOOK