The semicolon returns!

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;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;   – there you go, some more semicolons before you forget what they look like. I would like to emphasize a couple of key points about using a semicolon:

1. The two parts of the sentence on both sides of the semicolon make sense as individual sentences

2. The two parts of the sentence are both on the same topic and are closely related.

So in this example sentence:

I hate sunbathing; I get burnt really easy.

the use of the semicolon is correct because the two parts of the sentence could be independent sentences, and they are very closely related.

However, this example sentence using  a semicolon is NOT correct:

I hate sunbathing; really boring and dangerous.

because the second part of the sentence would not make a sentence on its own.

Similarly, this example sentence is NOT correct:

I hate sunbathing; I drive to work every day.

because although the two parts of the sentence would make sense on their own, they are not closely related.

Got it? Now, here is a great online exercise in which you can test yourself! This page from Bristol University is excellent and challenging. It’s here.

The semicolon!

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;    OK.  So that’s what semicolons look like! It is rare to see a semicolon used properly by students.  Some students totally avoid them  because they’ve never learnt about them; others use them wrongly, often confusing them with commas. Just take a look at that last sentence again:

Some students avoid them totally because they don’t know about them; others use them wrongly, often confusing them with commas.

The most common use of a semicolon is to join up two very closely related ideas which are independent clauses. Listen carefully – the semicolon could be replaced by a full stop and the sentences still make sense. So the test for the use of a semicolon is to look at the two parts of the sentence and ask yourself if they would make good sentences if they were separated. If we separate this sentence:

Some students avoid them totally because they don’t know about them; others use them wrongly, often confusing them with commas.

into two separate sentences we get:

Some students avoid them totally because they don’t know about them. Others use them wrongly, often confusing them with commas.

Do these sentences make grammatical sense? Yes! You might think why not just have two sentences without a semicolon! Well, you could! But it is better style to use a semicolon and join up the two sentences to make one longer one.

So when you have two separate sentences talking about the same idea join them up with a semicolon and get extra marks for good style!

Read some more about semicolons on this page from the University of Wisconsin Madison here.

Cohesion in your writing (making it flow!)

The sun is out in the UK and everyone is starting to enjoy the longer evenings because the clocks have changed. However, students are working harder than ever now that the Easter holidays are over and the end of the year is in sight (yikes!).

Today’s post is about improving your academic writing by making the text flow comfortably. Teachers (the boring ones!) call this ‘cohesion’ which is a word you will probably forget pretty quickly but if you read this carefully and think about the point I am making I am sure you could improve the ‘cohesion’ in your writing. Here’s an introduction to an article about Coca-Cola:

“The first episode in the Coca-Cola story is an important part of the rise of capitalism in the United States of America. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, America gradually began to transform itself from a nation of farmers to a city-based industrialised society. The industrial revolution was epitomised by new communications and the arrival and spread of the railways. This produced a new kind capitalism, a distinctive American variety where the ethos centred firmly on the image of individual immigrant struggle. The world of US business was on its way.”
Fava Verde, A and Manning, A University Foundation Study: Essay Writing Course Book, Garnet Education and University of Reading

This is a good introduction to a text because the sentences all join up to make ONE LONG PIECE OF TEXT! It is not just a lot of sentences one after the other which do not relate to each other.  I would like to draw your attention to three ways that the writer achieves cohesion in this paragraph.

1.  “The first episode in the Coca-Cola story is an important part of the rise of capitalism in the United States of America. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, America gradually began to transform itself from a nation of farmers to a city-based industrialised society.

This is a great start to a piece of writing because of the way the first sentence opens up the topic – Coca-Cola – and puts it into a context by saying why it is important. In this case, Coca-Cola’s importance lies in the role it played in the development of capitalism in the USA. However, we are mostly concerned about how an idea introduced in one sentence is carried on into the next sentence. So, in the next sentence the idea of the rise of capitalism is developed with the notion of the USA changing from an agricultural society to an industrial society (based on commerce). The first way the writer achieves cohesion is by developing an idea from one sentence to the next.

2.  Towards the end of the nineteenth century, America gradually began to transform itself from a nation of farmers to a city-based industrialised society. The industrial revolution was epitomised by new communications and the arrival and spread of the railways.

In my second example of cohesion the writer carries on the same idea in the next sentence, but does it using different vocabulary or language and avoids repetition:

…America gradually began to transform itself from a nation of farmers to a city-based industrialised society. The industrial revolution was epitomised…

I hope you can see that ‘the industrial revolution’ is another phrase meaning ‘the change from a nation of farmers to an industrial society’. Sentence two rephrases the same idea in the sentence before and says more about the idea. The result is cohesion!

3.  The industrial revolution was epitomised by new communications and the arrival and spread of the railways. This produced a new kind capitalism….

In example number 3 of cohesion from this paragraph we can see the use of ‘This’ to refer to the idea in the previous paragraph. In the example sentences I am looking at here the idea is ‘new communications and railways’. ‘This produced a new kind of capitalism…

Cohesion, therefore, is making all the sentences join up together by:

-developing one idea from sentence to sentence

-referring to ideas in previous sentences using different words to avoid repetition and developing those ideas further

- referring to ideas in orevious sentences using ‘This……’

- using linking words (eg however, therefore etc) – which I haven’t talked about today but which I will come to again shortly.

As usual here is a link, this time from the University of Melbourne, which gives you some more ideas about cohesion in writing!

Successful language learning strategies for IELTS

I’ve just read a very interesting article about language learning strategies that students use. The article finds that the best language learners use strategies to help them learn – and that should be no surprise! This means the best language learners are students who think about their learning, know their weaknesses, and deliberately do particular activities to help them improve their language. Look at this interesting extract from the article:

“The skills the students reported finding most difficult to acquire were listening and speaking, although the Chinese and Korean students stated that writing an essay in an English style format was initially the most difficult and required a major change in mind set, from repeating the tutor’s thoughts to explaining their own. Interestingly, the one skill these students thought the most useful for developing their language, was reading, especially reading for pleasure. They felt this helped to expand their vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structure. However, individual students had other strategies that had worked well for them in overcoming specific difficulties. Those who had listening problems used the media to help overcome this difficulty. Two preferred watching television, one preferred listening to Internet sites and one found that listening to music helped. Another two said they varied between having the television or radio on, but in “Kiwi-style” often just had it on in the background, so they were not always actively listening, but absorbing the sounds and patterns of the language. These two also said they usually went to sleep listening to the radio.”

Giffiths, C and Jordan, D (2005) Strategies for Success in IELTS, Working Paper No 15, August 2005

This is a great example of different things that students do to improve their language. You just have to find some things that work for you and go for it!

The article is also an accessible example of an academic journal article, with all the sections that you would expect to see: introduction and rationale, literature review, methodology, results and conclusion. So improve your English by reading the article, think about the strategies that are mentioned, and improve your knowledge of the structure of journal articles too!

The whole article is here.