This assignment assesses your confidence and accuracy in the description of linguistic data. It relates to your study of Units 1–3 of Book 1 as well as the Foundation Grammar on the Activities CD-ROM, and represents 15% of the overall continuous assessment score (OCAS). It is meant to serve as an audit to both yourself and your tutor to indicate your grasp of some of the essential areas of grammar which underlie the remainder of the module.
Before you start this assignment, refer to the general guidance on writing assignments Section 3 of this booklet, as well as the marking grid in Appendix 2. In the marking grid, the criteria relevant to TMA 01 are 1, 2, 3, and 6. Please note that your assignment will not be in essay format, and that no overall word count is specified for this assignment. Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 simply require the appropriate classifications or figures, whilst the more discursive Step 5 requires no more than 250 words. Please use headings and subheadings to make it clear which step you are answering.
Task:
First read Texts 1 and 2 and then complete the task in each step. Note that Texts 1 and 2 have been divided into lines and each one numbered for ease of reference.
Text 1
1) Recent research in underwater caves could provide clues about the origins of life on
2) Earth. Tom Iliffe, professor of marine biology, examined three “blue holes” in the
3) Bahamas and found that layers of bacterial microbes exist in all three.
4) “Blue holes” are so named because from an aerial view, they appear circular in shape
5) with different shades of blue in and around their entrances. More than 1,000 such
6) caves have been found in the Bahamas.
7) “We examined two caves on Abaco Island and one on Andros Island,” Iliffe
8) explains. “In one on Abaco, at a depth of about 100 feet, inch-thick sheets of
9) bacteria clung to the walls. In another cave on the same island, the bacteria lived
10) within poisonous clouds of hydrogen sulphide at the boundary between fresh and salt
11) water.” Iliffe discovered that the different caves had differing forms of bacteria, and the
12) types and density changed as the light source from above grew dimmer and dimmer.12
13) “It shows that life forms adapt to their environment. Some can exist in a particular
14) habitat, while others cannot. These bacterial forms of life could share similarities
15) with microbes on early Earth. They may provide a glimpse of early evolution on this
16) planet” he adds.
(Adapted from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126131511.htm [Accessed 18 June 2014] )
Text 2
1 A I’m usually in for about quarter to eight, half seven, quarter to eight
2 B Finish earlier?
3 A Erm yeah, can finish at four o’clock then
4 B Oh very good
5 A so er next week I’m going to start going swimming straight from work as part
6 of my keep fit
7 B Very good
8 A Well I
9 B Adrian looks forward to going er, she just does half an hour
10 A Aye, she goes up to
11 C Up in Summerhill
12 B does she?
13 A Yeah
14 B every Tuesday
15 A Well I, I think it’s nice, supposed to be relaxing and everything
16 B Yeah
17 A isn’t it?
18 B Yeah, well she said she, she feels it does her, her legs good
19 A Yeah
20 B so
21 A Oh I’m gonna start going, I haven’t been swimming for that long and I’ve been
22 saying off and on oh I must go, I must go, but when it’s so cold outside you
23 don't feel like coming out with all wet hair and all that
(Adapted from http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc (File no. KD8) [Accessed 22 December 2012]Family discussion on swimming.)
Step 1
For Text 1, (a) identify the word class of each of the following words, and (b) indicate whether it is a lexical word, a function word or an insert. If the word is an insert, no word class label is necessary.
(a) line 1 underwater
(b) line 3 that
(c) line 4 are
(d) line 5 blue
(e) line 6 found
(f) line 7 Abaco
(g) line 9 another
(h) line 11 had
(i) line 12 dimmer
(j) line 14 cannot
(15%)
Step 2
For Text 2, (a) identify the word class of each of the following words, and (b) indicate whether it is a lexical word, a function word or an insert. If the word is an insert, no word class label is necessary.
(a) line 1 quarter
(b) line 3 erm
(c) line 4 good
(d) line 5 straight
(e) line 6 of
(f) line 8 well
(g) line 9 does
(h) line 15 relaxing
(i) line 18 it
(j) line 21 swimming
(15%)
Step 3
Calculate the lexical density of each text. As a preliminary stage, copy Texts 1 and 2 into the main body of your assignment. Then mark all the function words in each text. You may find it effective to use pale grey highlight, bold or the underline tool in your word processing software. However you present your analysis, it should be explicit and easy for your marker to understand. Show your overall calculation at the end of each text. (Group inserts together with function words in your calculation.)
Step 4
(a) Choose 10 clauses (marked by the boundaries ‘||’) from anywhere in Text 1 below and label all participants, processes and circumstances in these chosen clauses. Two clauses have been analysed below as examples. Please note that these examples may not be used as answers in your TMA. Please use tables for presenting your answers as shown below.
|| Recent research in underwater caves could provide clues about the origins of life on Earth. || Tom Iliffe, professor of marine biology, examined three “blue holes” in the Bahamas || and found || that layers of bacterial microbes exist in all three. ||
|| “Blue holes” are so named || because from an aerial view, they appear circular in shape with different shades of blue in and around their entrances. || More than 1,000 such caves have been found in the Bahamas. ||
|| We examined two caves on Abaco Island || and we examined one on Andros Island,” || Iliffe explains. || “In one on Abaco, at a depth of about 100 feet, inch-thick sheets of bacteria clung to the walls. || In another cave on the same island, the bacteria lived within poisonous clouds of hydrogen sulphide at the boundary between fresh and salt water.” || Iliffe discovered || that the different caves had differing forms of bacteria, || and the types and density changed || as the light source from above grew dimmer and dimmer. ||
|| “It shows || that life forms adapt to their environment. || Some can exist in a particular habitat, || while others cannot. || These bacterial forms of life could share similarities with microbes on early Earth. || They may provide a glimpse of early evolution on this planet” || he adds. ||
Example 1
|| Recent research in underwater caves
could provide clues about the origins of
life on Earth ||
Participant Process Participant
Example 2
|| Tom Iliffe, professor of
marine biology, examined three “blue holes” in the Bahamas
||
Participant Process Participant Circumstance
Step 4 (b)
Choose 10 clauses (marked by the boundaries ‘||’) from anywhere in Text 2 below and label all participants, processes and circumstances in these chosen clauses. Two clauses have been analysed for you as examples. Please use tables for presenting your answers as shown below. These examples should not be used as answers in your TMA. Please note too, that non-clausal material and incomplete clauses may not be used as examples. These have been indicated for you.
A I’m usually in for about quarter to eight, half seven, quarter to eight
B || Finish earlier? ||
A || Erm yeah, can finish at four o’clock then ||
B || Oh very good (incomplete clause) ||
A || so er next week I'm going to start going swimming straight from work as part
of my keep fit ||
B || Very good (incomplete clause) ||
A || Well I (incomplete clause) ||
B || Adrian looks forward to going || er, she just does half an hour ||
A || Aye, she goes up to (incomplete clause) ||
C || Up in Summerhill (incomplete clause) ||
B || does she? ||
A || Yeah (non-clausal) ||
B || every Tuesday (incomplete clause) ||
A || Well I, I think || it's nice, || it’s supposed to be relaxing and everything ||
B || Yeah (non-clausal) ||
A || isn't it? ||
B || Yeah, well she said || she, she feels || it does her, her legs good ||
A || Yeah (non-clausal) ||
B || so (incomplete clause) ||
A || Oh I'm gonna start going, || I haven't been swimming for that long || and I've been
saying off and on || oh I must go, || I must go, || but when it's so cold outside|| you
don't feel like coming out with all wet hair and all that||
Example 1
I ’m usually in for about quarter
to eight, half seven,
quarter to eight
Participant Process Circumstance Circumstance Circumstance
Example 2
|| Do you finish earlier? ||
Pro... Participant …cess Circumstance
Step 5
Give evidence for regarding one of these texts as originally written, and one as originally spoken. You should draw on your findings from earlier parts of the assignment (including any difficulties you encountered in establishing clause boundaries for Step 4), as well as any further linguistic features of the two texts not covered so far). Discursive writing or bullet points are acceptable. For ease of reference you may want to use the line numbers to refer to specific parts of Text 1 and 2, but these should be used in addition to, rather than instead of, actual examples. You should include references to relevant module reading in this part of the TMA and a reference list at the end of the assignment.
Step 5 requires no more than 250 words.