Tài liệu Academic Writing A Handbook for International Students part 9 ppt

2.2 Cause and Effect
1. The relationship between two situations can be shown in a
variety of ways:
EFFECT:
flooding
CAUSE: heavy
rain
Heavy rain causes flooding.
Heavy rain leads to flooding.
Heavy rain results in flooding.
Heavy rain produces flooding.
CAUSE: heavy
rain
EFFECT:
flooding
Flooding is caused by heavy rain. (note use of passive)
Flooding is produced by heavy rain.
Flooding results from heavy rain.
2. It is also possible to use conjunctions which demonstrate
cause and effect.
Cause Effect
because (of)
since
as
owing to
due to
so
therefore
consequently
which is why
Because it rained heavily, the flooding was severe.

(because + verb)
The flooding occurred because of days of heavy rain.
(because + noun)
As/since it rained heavily, the flooding was severe.
(conjunction + verb)
Owing to/due to
the heavy rain the flooding was severe.
(conjunction + noun)
(also: Owing to it raining . . .)
cross-reference
3.20 Verbs – Passives
cross-reference
3.7 Conjunctions
2.2 Cause and Effect
71
It rained heavily for days, therefore the flooding was severe.
(used in mid-sentence)
NB It is more common to use conjunctions to illustrate
particular situations.
3.
Decide whether the following are particular or general, then
complete them with a suitable verb or conjunction.
a) Childhood vaccination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
reduced infant mortality.
b) ................................. the cold
winter hospital admissions increased.
c) Printing money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . higher
inflation.
d) The summer was extremely dry, ..................
. . . . . . . . . . many trees died.

e) In 2003, falling sales ...........................
. . . . . . the company closing two factories.
Write two more sentences from your own subject area.
f)
g)
4.
Use conjunctions to complete the following paragraph.
WHY WOMEN LIVE LONGER
Some British scientists now believe that women live
longer than men a) ............... T cells, a vital
part of the immune system that protects the body from
diseases. Previously, various theories have attempted to
explain longer female life expectancy. Biologists claimed
that women lived longer b) .................. they
need to bring up children. Others argued that men take
more risks, c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . they die earlier.
But a team from Imperial College think that the difference
may be d) ................... women having better
immune systems. Having studied a group of men and
women they found that the body produces fewer T cells
as it gets older, e) ............... the ageing process.
However, they admit that this may not be the only factor,
and f) . .................. another research project
may be conducted.
72
Elements of Writing
5. Study the flowchart and complete the paragraph which describes
it.
During a recession,
government can

lower taxes
increased
demand for
goods and
services
people have more
money to spend and
buy more goods and
services
government has
higher income
from taxation and
spends less on social
security
lower unemployment more jobs created
to satisfy demand
If a country is suffering from economic recession, the
government can reduce taxation. ......................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
.............
6.

Draw a flowchart similar to the one above, for your own subject,
and write a paragraph to describe it.
2.3 Cohesion
1. Cohesion means linking phrases together so that the whole
text is clear and readable. It is achieved by several methods,
such as the use of conjunctions. Another is the linking of
phrases and sentences with words like he, they and that
which refer back to something mentioned before:
Jane Austen wrote six major novels in her short life. They deal
with domestic drama in middle-class families.
Examples of reference words and phrases
Pronouns
he/she/it/they
Possessive pronouns
his/her/hers/their/theirs
Objective pronouns
her/him/them
Demonstrative pronouns
this/that/these/those
Other phrases
the former/the latter/the first/the second
2. Read the following paragraph and complete the table.
Jenkins (1987) has researched the life cycle of new
businesses. He found that they have an average life of
only 4.7 years. This is due to two main reasons; one
economic and one social. The former appears to be a lack
of capital, the latter a failure to carry out sufficient market
research. Jenkins considers that together these account
for approximately 70% of business failures.
Reference Reference word/phrase

Jenkins he
new businesses
average life of only 4.7 years
one economic
one social
the former . . . . ., the latter . . ....
3. Read the paragraph and complete the table below to show what
the reference words (in italics) refer to.
There is little prospect of improvement in the standard of
living of the villagers from their present low level without
the support of electricity. Presently, the households can
enjoy only a limited number of hours of illumination based
on kerosene or diesel. These are not cheap and so are
not affordable by a large majority of the rural masses. This
restricts the range as well as the intensity of their activities
severely. But even if supply of power from these sources
is available more abundantly, there is the problem of
adverse environmental effects of such use.
cross-reference
3.7 Conjunctions
74
Elements of Writing
Reference Reference word
their
these
this
their
these sources
such use
4. In the following paragraph, insert suitable reference words from

the box below in the gaps.
Disposable razor blades were invented by Gillette at the
beginning of the twentieth century. a) ......... were
a simple idea but at first b) ....... found it very hard
to sell c) ........ d) ....... was because nobody
had marketed a throw-away product before. However,
e) ....... use of advertising to stimulate demand
gradually increased sales and before long f) . . . . . . . . .
became a millionaire.
he x 2/his/them/this/they
5. Complete these paragraphs with suitable reference
words from the table in (1).
A) The Victoria and Albert Museum is in South Kensington
in London. a) ....... is named after Queen Victoria
and b) ....... husband, Prince Albert. c) ....... was
made Queen in 1837, and married d) . . . . . . . three years
later. e) ....... had a happy marriage which produced
nine children. f) ........ life together was quite simple,
although g) ....... was the queen of the world’s most
powerful nation. Albert had a serious character, and
perhaps h) ....... major achievement was to organise
the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits from which helped
to build the Museum.
B) One group of commentators have little faith in the
ability of food availability to improve child nutrition.
a) ............... arguments are supported by the
fact that over two-thirds of malnourished children live
in countries with food supplies adequate for b) . . . . .
.......... populations’ needs. c) . ..............
point to problems of poverty and to non-food factors,

such as children’s health and the quality of d) . . . . . . .
........ care. e) ............... belief is that both,
but especially f) ............... (which is increasing
in many countries), play a more significant part in
malnutrition than is often admitted.