Writing Workshop Unit 0.1 Segment 1 - Parts of Speech Quiz

Which of the following is/are not necessarily (a) valid reason(s) to use "I" in academic writing?

• The media is a transcript or a commentary based on a transcript from a speech or lecture

• The person using "I" is a well-known figure in the relevant discourse community and would like to take advantage of their authority on the subject

• "I" is used in a part of a personal alibi or account which can be used as supporting examples or evidence

• Using "I" to portray a subjective argument allows one to acknowledge others' differences and promotes inclusivity

Answer explanation

Recall that the use of "I" in academic writing is dangerous in that it can shift the focus from the argument to the person presenting the argument. The keyword is that this applies for argument, not personal alibi or evidence, hence why the option with "personal alibi or evidence" is an acceptable use.
The option with "inclusivity" is too broad in the categorisation of the speaker in which the focus could shift to, hence why it is not always an acceptable use of "I".

Acknowledging one's authority can reinforce the credibility of an argument, hence why it is acceptable to use "I" to direct the attention of the audience to a reputable figure.

Which of the following is/are (an) assumption(s) that is/are being made upon using "we" effectively in scholarly discussions in the form of speech?

• The intended audience is part of the discourse community that one is addressing towards

• The intended audience will cogitate over the content being presented

• The intended audience agrees with the arguments that are being presented

• The intended audience will identify with the author of the argument

Answer explanation

Recall that in effective usage, "we" can be a powerful rhetorical device that helps point the audience to agree with the argument and author. Any scholarly discussion assumes the intended audience to be part of the discourse community. By process of elimination, the option with "cogitate" is incorrect.

Which of the following is/are not (a) valid reason(s) to use "we" in academic writing?

• The author assumes that the audience is part of the discourse community and wants to foster a sense of community

• The author is openly inviting the audience to take action or participate in discourse through the use of "call to action"

• The author is generalising the opinion of the audience and the author into a more digestible commonly shared opinion

• The author is presenting findings which the author and a group of individuals collectively came to an understanding

Answer explanation

Including the readers in the discussion does not necessarily enhance the credibility of a certain academic finding. "we" can be used for "call to action" towards the audience, but this requires the audience to be engaging in the discourse community to discuss the issue. The presentation of findings that the author is a part of could be done through the use of exclusive "we" as a pronoun, and is a matter of stating the relevance of the author rather than a rhetorical device to persuade. While it is true that "we" can be used to establish a relationship between the speaker and the audience, and that assuming that the audience agrees with your arguments are valid as a rhetoric, generalising an opinion is not a rhetorical strategy, hence "we" is not applicable.

Which of the following is/are not (a) reasons that the 4th person pronoun is useful in academic writing?

• It allows a hypothetical figure to be created in a scenario without necessarily alluding it to an already existing individual in particular.

• It allows the statement to relate to the audience and hence creates a closer relation between the audience and the author

• It allows an argument or statement to be told from a collective perspective rather than an individual perspective

• It is useful in creating hypothetical scenarios that assumes that the statement is applicable to any person that suits the parameters given by the author

Answer explanation

Recall that the 4th person pronoun is impartial and universally applicable to any individual as long as it fits under a parameter that the author assigns to the pronoun. Nothing suggests that the 4th person pronoun could create or build a relation between the audience and the author. The other 3 convey very similar messages - overall, the 4th person pronoun is impartial and allows something to be viewed without focusing on a particular individual.

Which of the following is/are technically (a) possible substitution(s) for the 4th person pronoun in which the argument would still be true after the 4th person pronoun had been changed?

• I

• You

• We

• They

Answer explanation

All of them are possible even if they are not necessarily common. Remember that the 4th person is impartial to a specific person, so technically any pronoun could be used to replace the 4th person pronoun, although that would modify the applicability of the statement as opposed to the original context.

Which of the following is/are (a) compound noun(s)?

• North Pole

• Harbinger

• Slope field

• Boyfriend

Answer explanation

"Harbinger" is not formed from a combination of two words (affixes do not count). Recall that proper nouns are also nouns, and North can be counted as a noun. As such, "North Pole" is made from two nouns with a space between, hence why "North Pole" is a compound (proper) noun. Similarly, since "slope field" is made up of "slope" and "field," which are both nouns and joined together while being separated by a space. "Boyfriend" is a noun and is made up of more than one word, joined together without a space, and is a noun. Hence, "boyfriend" is a compound noun.

Which of the following is/are (a) reason(s) in which interjections are not commonly used in academic writing?

• Interjections are not grammatically connected with other parts of the sentence

• Interjections are ungrammatical in written English

• Interjections disrupt the flow of sentences in academic writing

• Interjections are often times reminiscent of casual speech and informal

Answer explanation

Recall that interjections are expressions that are always used on its own and separated from the rest of the sentence. As such, interjections interrupt flows of the sentence. Interjections are not necessarily only limited to casual speech, but it is reminiscent of speech nonetheless, and hence usually avoided in academic writing where dialogues are uncommon. Interjections are not grammatically connected to the rest of the sentence as it is always separated by a comma, but it is a grammatical feature of English nonetheless (if it were not, interjections would not have been its own class of words in the first place as interjections would not have existed)

Which of the following is/are false about prepositions?

• Prepositions always go before nouns or pronouns

• It is impossible to end a sentence with a preposition

• Prepositions can be used together with verbs to for phrasal-prepositional verbs

• Prepositions express spatial and temporal aspects in relation to a word or phrase in a sentence

Answer explanation

Recall that prepositions include words such as "in," "up," "off," which could be used to indicate spatial or temporal relationships. Example: "sleep in," "stand up," "turn off" for verbs or "in the house," "up on the roof," "off the coast" for nouns. As seen from above, it is possible to place prepositions after verbs, and there is no rule that requires a noun to follow all verbs. Using phrasal-prepositional verbs, one can produce valid sentences such as "I stand up" or "I cut it out," hence why it is false that a sentence can never end with a preposition and also false that prepositions always come before nouns as they can exist without nouns. Phrasal-prepositional verbs merely describe verbs that are used together with prepositions.

Which of the following is/are (a) difference(s) between adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses

• The position in which adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses can appear in relative to the sentence are different

• The presence of a subject and a verb within the adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses

• The requirement of a conjunction at the beginning of the adverbial phrase or adverbial clause

• The method of punctuating to separate the rest of the sentence from an adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses are different

Answer explanation

Adverbial clauses always contain a subject and a verb, whereas an adverbial phrase does not.

As such, adverbial clauses require conjunctions at the beginning, whereas adverbial phrases do not. Adverbial clauses and adverbial phrases are both equally flexible in their positioning in regards to the verb as they both functionally act like adverbs and can take any position that and adverb can take. Adverbial clauses and adverbial phrases are also separated from the sentence using the same punctuation in the same way for this reason.

Which of the following is/are valid (an) indefinite determiner(s)?

• some

• any

• those

• every

Answer explanation

"Those" is a demonstrative determiner and hence not classified under indefinite determiners. Indefinite determiners classify nouns that are unknown or unspecified, hence "some" and "any" are indefinite as they do not refer to any noun specifically. "every" refers to all of one noun specifically and therefore is definite.