Academic Writing -- Autumn semester 2005

   Handout 5

   2/16 December 2005 (group B), 9 December 2005 (group A)

   Scientific vocabulary

   

   Task 1:

   Replace the highlighted expressions in the text by the appropriate scientific/formal terms or
   phrases. Use the pattern below.

   

   If you place some bean seeds on damp cotton-wool, in a few days you will see thet they have
   begun to change. If you make them soft by leaving them for a time in water first, the changes
   will start to happen sooner.

        The outside  skin of the bean seed, which is called the seed-coat, splits, and a small
   root begins to grow downwards. A little later a tiny shoot comes out backwards from between
   the seed-leaves, and begins to grow upwards. The shoot slowly // grows longer and turns green
   while the root grows downwards. Smaller roots on the sides begin to appear on the most
   important and largest root.

        It doesn´t make any difference which way you plant the bean seed on the cotton-wool or in
   the soil; the root always grows downwards while the shoot grows upwards. As the leaves open on
   the shoot, the seed leaves begin to dry up, and, in the end, they disappear.

        If you grow a bean seed in the dark, it begins to grow // in the usual way, but the shoot
   does not turn green and, in the end, the plant dies. This shows that green plants need light
   to make them green, and that they cannot stay alive for long without it.

   

   

   If some ____________________________________________________ on damp cotton-wool,
   _________________________ they will ________________________. If they ______________
   ________________________ by ________________________________________, the changes
   ___________________________________________ .

        The __________________________ skin of the bean seed, _____________________the seed-coat,
   splits, and a small root begins to grow downwards. _________________________ a tiny shoot
   _____________________________ backwards from between the seed-leaves, and begins to grow
   upwards. The shoot ___________________________________ and __________

   _______________________________________ downwards. _______________________ begin to appear on
   the ______________________________.

        ___________________________ way the bean seed _____________________ on the cotton-wool or
   in the soil, the root _________________________________________ while the shoot
   ___________________________________. As the leaves open on the shoot, the seed leaves
   ______________________, and ________________________ disappear.

        If ____________________________________________ in the dark, ______________
   _____________________________________, but the shoot does not turn green and 
   _____________________________ dies. This _________________________ that __________
   ________________________________ to make them green, and that they cannot _________
   __________________________ for long _________________________________.

   

   Task 2:

   Translate the Czech words or phrases given in brackets into English.

   

        Syntactically ___________________________ (fungující slovosled) is but one of the many
   aspects of grammatical structure that are, _____________________________ (do značné míry),
   arbitrary in the sense that they _____________________________ (nedají se vysvětlit) in terms
   of more general logical and psychological principles (_______ (srov.) 1.5).

       And yet the young child, in the normal _________________________________ (průběhu
   osvojování jazyka), succeeds in learning, ___________________________ (aniž by ho kdokoli
   učil), the grammatical rules of __________________________ (své rodné řeči). This is all the
   more astonishing in that natural languages, _____________________ (na základě/kvůli) their
   grammatical structure, also have the ______________________ (vlastnost) of productivity. The
   task that _______________________ (stojí před) the young child during the period of
   language-acquisition is that of _____________________________ (vyvozování z) a large, but
   finite, _______________________ (vzorku promluv), those largely arbitrary grammatical
   principles by virtue od which _______________________ (nekonečně velká), and perhaps infinite,
   set of word-strings are grammatical and another, even larger, set of word-strings are
   _________________________________ (gramaticky špatně tvořené).

       It was Chomsky who, in the mid-1950s, first _______________________________ (docenil
   význam/důležitost) of the child´s mastery of the syntactic determinants of grammaticality. It
   was he, too, who _________________________________ (navrhl/předložil to, co se ukázalo být)
   the most influential theory of syntax so far developed __________________________________ (v
   jakémkoli období jazykovědy, ať starověké či moderní). Chomskyan syntax is formalized
   ___________________________ (v rámci) generative grammar and, especially in its more recent
   versions, ___________________________ (spojuje/sdružuje syntax s) phonology and semantics
   _________________________________ (ve/do všeobecné/jednotné teorii/e) of the structure of
   language. We __________________________ (nemůžeme se pouštět do) the more technical details of
   generative grammar. However, we _________________________________________ (budeme
   věnovat/zasvětíme jeden oddíl/úsek) of this chapter to a _______________________
   (netechnickému popisu/vysvětlení) of the main principles of Chomskyan generative grammar (4.6)
   and, in a later chapter, __________________________________ (se zaměříme/podíváme na to, co
   budu nazývat) generativism in its historical context.

        Generativism, __________________________ (na rozdíl od) structuralism, functionalism,
   historicism, etc., is what most people _____________________________ (mají na mysli) when they
   ___________________________________________ (správně hovoří o / narážejí na) the Chomskyan
   revolution.

   

   (John Lyons: Language and Linguistics, Cambridge 1981)