GFW 8 - Word Form - Lecture notes Word Form PDF

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GFW 8 Word Form

Word Form in English As with most languages, English has parts of speech – words that fulfill certain functions in sentences. The most important of these in terms of communicating concepts are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Nouns represent people, places and things, verbs communicate actions or experiences, adjectives describe nouns and adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Successful second language learners try to learn all forms of a word. Take the word success as an example. A person learning this word may write it out in a grid like this: NOUN success

VERB succeed

ADJECTIVE successful

ADVERB successfully

The concept of “success” as a goal to be achieved makes it a thing – a noun. However, if we wish to make that concept an action or experience – a verb – we change its form to “succeed”. It’s the same concept, but a different form to show its different function in a sentence. Moreover, if we want to use the concept to describe a person, place or thing, we change its form to that of an adjective – “successful”. Finally, if we wish to use the concept to describe an action, we change its form to “successfully”, an adverb. Not all words have all four forms. A word like “choice” has a verb form (choose) and an adjective form (chosen). It has no adverb form. Usually if the adjective form is a participle form of the verb, there is no adverb form. Another example is the word “speech”. It has a verb form (speak) and an adjective form (spoken), which is the participle of the verb. It has no adverb form. Sometimes an “ly” word is actually an adjective. “Orderly” and “Friendly” are two examples. Sometimes the adjective and adverb form are the same. The word “fast” is an example of this. The ability to use different forms of a word by changing its part of speech will help improve your writing and add more variety to your sentences. You can change a word’s part of speech by adding a suffix to the word. Here are some common suffixes to help identify a noun, adjective, verb, and adverb

Nouns tion, sion hood ty ness ar or ist ism

Example publication, profession childhood community illness scholar investor activist volunteerism

Adjectives al ic ous ish ate able, ible ful y

Example informal academic generous childish considerate available, responsible meaningful preliminary

Verbs en ate ify ize ise

Example strengthen educate clarify organize supervise

Adverbs ly

Example basically

GFW 8 Word Form Practice A Read the text below about volunteering. Use the word given in CAPITALS at the end of some lines to form a word that fits in the gap of the same line.

There are a ____________ of ways employers can facilitate volunteering among their employees. Employers may have

VARY

programs or policies that encourage employees to volunteer, such as making ____________ to organizations for which

DONATE

their employees volunteered, based on the number of hours they gave. More often, employers provide __________

FORMALITY

supports that reduce barriers to volunteering, such as lack of resources or time, scheduling conflicts, or lack of ______________. In 2010, well over one-half (57%) of employees who volunteered said their employers provided at

RECOGNIZE

least one type of formal support. The most common type of formal support was employer ______________ to change

APPROVE

work hours or reduce work activities in order to volunteer. This type of support was received by 34% of employees who volunteered and was the most ____________ associated with a high number of volunteer hours (75 median hours,

STRENGTH

compared with 40 hours for those without it). Volunteers who received employer support were more likely to report that their volunteer activities helped them acquire work-related skills (office, _____________, communication and

MANAGE

interpersonal skills). Employer support was also associated with employees' ________________ that volunteering

PERCEIVE

improved their chances of succeeding in their job. In this regard, the most important employer supports were the use of facilities and equipment for volunteer activities and letters of thanks. Other ______________ also related to views that

FACT

volunteering improved job success were gaining work-related skills and volunteering for activities that involve committee or board work or teaching. As well, younger employees were more likely to report that their volunteering activities were ____________ in their chances of job success.

HELP

Adapted from “Employer Support of Volunteering” Statistics Canada. www.statcan.gc.ca

Practice B. In the passage below, find and correct 35 word form errors. Only nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs are errors.

GFW 8 Word Form I have been trying to form a picture in my mind of the Canadian character. Although I have met many Canadians, it’s not easy to classify them. They are from a largely various of backgrounds. Nevertheless, among the people I have met and heard about, some commonly characteristic and qualities have been noticed that help me to understand what a Canadian is. The historical, the geography of the land, and the people themselves must be examined to piece together the Canadian character. To begin with, the history of Canada consistent mostly of peaceful agreements and treaty settlements. Most problems were solved by discussion – not by fought and wars. In factual, the history of the whole country is actual the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Because of the huge size of Canada, the railroad was the important unified link for the country. When each part of the railroad was completed, people could settle in the new-opened region. To prevent any possible problems between the native aboriginal people and the non-natives who were arriving, a specialty police force, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (which later became the RCMP) was formed. Problems were taken care of immediately, before they became larger ones. As a result, the relation between the aboriginal people and the new settlers was good. From the history of Canada, it can be conclusion that Canadians like to handle their problems and situations in a peacefully, orderly way to avoid future trouble. Next, the regions of Canada need to be examined to find out how the Canadian character has development. Canada is a vast land, covered many different regions. Some regions have cold climatology; others have warmer ones. There are mountainous areas, flat prairies, maritime regions beside oceans and lakes and forest areas, too. There is even a desert in Canada. In the past (and in some places even today), people were physical limits in what they could do by their surroundings. As a result, their resourcefulness has become strongly. Furthermore, their willing to help each other is very strong. In my opinion, this friend helpfulness and the resourcefulness are the strongest qualifications that are noticeable in the Canadian character. Canada is a land of immigrants. Except for the aboriginal people (who, scientists say, were also immigrants from Mongolia from as far back as 20,000 years ago), everyone has come from somewhere else. There is not “Canadian look” – or it may be the diversity that is the “Canadian look”. What is importantly, though, is the reason people came here and why they have stayed. Most immigrants came because of problems in their homelands: bad politics situations, poor economic, or personal troubles. They came because they had the foresight to know that there could be a best life for them in Canada if they were willing to work hardly for it. A “second chance” was offered to them in Canada. These kind of people have been attractive to Canada, and live here now. In summary, the Canadian character has been formed by the history, the land, and the people themselves. On the whole, they are people who try to maintain peacefully, are friend and willing to help others, and have strong, sensibly personalities. These Canadians, although they are all very different individuals, are united by those qualities that they have in common.

GFW 8 Word Form Source for text: C. Steckler, Capilano University

Answers Practice A variety, donations, formal, recognition, approval, strongly, managerial, perceptions, factors, helpful

Practice B I have been trying to form a picture in my mind of the Canadian character. Although I have met many Canadians, it’s not easy to classify them. They are from a large variety of backgrounds. Nevertheless, among the people I have met and heard about, some common characteristics and qualities have been noticed that help me to understand what a Canadian is. The history, the geography of the land, and the people themselves must be examined to piece together the Canadian character. To begin with, the history of Canada consists mostly of peaceful agreements and treaty settlements. Most problems were solved by discussion – not by fighting and wars. In fact, the history of the whole country is actually the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Because of the huge size of Canada, the railroad was the important unifying link for the country. When each part of the railroad was completed, people could settle in the newly-opened region. To prevent any possible problems between the native aboriginal people and the non-natives who were arriving, a special police force, the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (which later became the RCMP) was formed. Problems were taken care of immediately, before they became larger ones. As a result, the relationship between the aboriginal people and the new settlers was good. From the history of Canada, it can be concluded that Canadians like to handle their problems and situations in a peaceful, orderly way to avoid future trouble. Next, the regions of Canada need to be examined to find out how the Canadian character has developed. Canada is a vast land, covering many different regions. Some regions have cold climates; others have warmer ones. There are mountainous areas, flat prairies, maritime regions beside oceans and lakes and forest areas, too. There is even a desert in Canada. In the past (and in some places even today), people were physically limited in what they could do by their surroundings. As a result, their resourcefulness has become strong. Furthermore, their willingness to help each other is very strong. In my opinion, this friendly helpfulness and the resourcefulness are the strongest qualities that are noticeable in the Canadian character. Canada is a land of immigrants. Except for the aboriginal people (who, scientists say, were also immigrants from Mongolia from as far back as 20,000 years ago), everyone has come from somewhere else. There is no “Canadian look” – or it may be the diversity that is the “Canadian look”. What is important, though, is the reason people came here and why they have stayed. Most immigrants came because of problems in their homelands: bad political situations, poor economies, or personal troubles. They came because they had the foresight to know that there could be

GFW 8 Word Form a better life for them in Canada if they were willing to work hard for it. A “second chance” was offered to them in Canada. These kinds of people have been attracted to Canada, and live here now. In summary, the Canadian character has been formed by the history, the land, and the people themselves. On the whole, they are people who try to maintain peace, are friendly and willing to help others, and have strong, sensible personalities. These Canadians, although they are all very different individuals, are united by those qualities that they have in common....