Writing techniques (and V)

Bueno, bueno, qué tal vamos majos? El exámen está a la vuelta de la esquina. Es cierto que de repente no vas a aprender todo el inglés que no has aprendido estos meses o años. Pero igual de cierto es que si aprendes a utilizar las expresiones que hemos ido viendo en la sección de Writing Techniques, que no te lleva apenas tiempo, tienes muchas posibilidades de aprobar el writing del CAE.

Espero que entre lo aportado con los ejercicios resueltos del Use of English y con las expresiones del Writing, seamos capaces entre los dos de aprobar el CAE.

Como más vale de pedir que de robar, hazte follower, comparte, comenta, que no piense que no me valoras el esfuerzo 😉

List@? Última entrega. GO!!

Making Generalisations

● most

Most people would agree that the law needs changing.  (not “most of the people”)

Pero OJO!!

Most of the class are women.    (most people or things in a group)

Most of the research (in this area) supports this point of view.

● mostly / mainly / largely

The people who use the early-morning shuttle flights are mostly businessmen.

Apart from the Nile valley, Egypt is mainly desert.

Their attempts were largely unsuccessful.

● generally/broadly speaking / as a rule

Generally speaking, girls outperform boys at school.

The surface of Mercury can, broadly speaking, be divided into two types of land area.

As a rule, snakes have simple teeth, all roughly the same shape.

● on the whole / by and large

On the whole, the system worked well apart from a few minor setbacks.

The scheme was, by and large, a success.

  

Problems and Solutions

● solve & resolve

Aprovecho para dejaros las collocations típicas con estas dos palabras:

– Solve collocates most often with problem

– Resolve collocates with a much wider range of nouns such as issue, matter, conflict, dispute, contradictions, difficulties, ambiguities, etc. and only sometimes with problem.

The sooner this problem is solved, the better.

The crisis/issue was resolved by negotiations.

● setback

The peace talks suffered a major setback when a bomb exploded outside the conference hotel.

● pitfall (= a trap that you can easily fall into if you are not careful)

This book shows you how to avoid the usual pitfalls when you are at an interview.

 ● solution

In this report, I shall outline the main causes of air pollution and attempt to put forward some possible solutions.

● answer

People have been struggling with this problem for a long time, but no one has yet come up with an answer.

 

Reporting what other people say

● point out

– Used to show that you agree with the person/people mentioned.

As Rachel Carson points out in her book “Silent Spring”, chemical use in farming is destroying the countryside.

Many writers have pointed out that globalization, hyper-competition and the Internet are constantly reshaping markets and businesses.

● claim

– Used to show that you doubt or disbelieve the person/people mentioned.

Es decir, usando “claim” tú das a entender que no te crees demasiado lo que dice, sería como decir: “Fulanito asegura que ha visto OVNIS” en lugar de “Fulanito ha visto OVNIS”. En castellano, solemos usar la primera forma para insinuar que nosotros no le damos mucha credibilidad.

Some people have claimed that Kennedy was killed by the CIA.

Indian military scientists are studying an 82-year-old who claims he has not had any food or drink for 70 years.

An Ohio man claims to have captured evidence of UFOs.

● argue

Rousseau argued that all men were created equal.

Sceptics have long argued that there are other explanations for climate change than man-made CO2.

Talking about related/unrelated things

● (there is a)   connection/link   between

Studies in the 1960s showed that there was a link between smoking and lung cancer.

Historically, there is a close connection between productivity and welfare.

● there is no relation / no connection   between

There is clearly no connection between a person’s gender and their ability to do the job.

It can be concluded that there is no relation between learning styles and academic achievement.

● have nothing to do with

Intelligence has nothing to do with common sense.

The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

● be beyond/outside the scope of

These debates are beyond the scope of this essay.

Talking about results / findings

● suggest

Recent research strongly suggests that high protein diets are in fact bad for you.

New evidence suggests that humans existed on earth much earlier than was previously thought.

● findings

Her findings show that regular exercise can prevent some of the diseases that are common in old age.

Hasta aquí el material que tenía resumido. Como mucho me queda colgaros mis propios ejemplos de writings con las correcciones, pero no lo veo del todo útil. Le doy una vuelta. Saludos y mucha suerte con el CAE!!