Grammar and vocabulary, Year 9: register and voice

Contraction

提示The same word describes a muscle tightening and getting shorter.

为什么Contractions copy the way we speak, so they pull writing towards the informal end of the scale. Formal letters, reports and essays usually spell the words out in full.

Slang

提示Each generation invents its own, and parents rarely keep up.

为什么It marks who belongs to a group, which is why it changes so fast: once outsiders pick up a word, the group moves on. It sits at the far informal end of the register scale and is avoided in formal writing.

B, C, A

提示Look for the one you would say to friends and the one fit for a printed invitation.

为什么All three say the same thing. 'Cheers' and 'guys' are conversational; 'Thank you for coming' is neutral; 'most grateful' and the noun 'attendance' belong to ceremony. Register is a sliding scale, not a choice between two boxes.

out; for

提示Each missing word is a very short one that usually shows direction or position.

为什么These are two of the national curriculum's own pairs; its third is 'go in' and 'enter'. English often has an everyday verb built with a small word, and a one-word partner of French origin that sounds more formal. Knowing the pairs lets you move a sentence up or down the scale.

was; chased; by

提示Keep the tense, use a form of 'be', and bring the doer back in at the end.

为什么Three things change: the thing acted on moves to the front as the subject, the verb becomes a form of 'be' plus the past participle, and the doer moves into a phrase beginning 'by'. The tense stays the same, so the past-tense verb gives 'was' plus the participle.

Who made the mistakes

提示Try to work out from the sentence whose fault it was.

为什么A passive lets the writer drop the doer altogether, because the phrase beginning 'by' is optional. That is useful when the doer is unknown or unimportant, and convenient when someone would rather not be named.

Passive

提示Decide which noun receives the action, then put it first.

为什么'A painting was stolen from the gallery last night' puts the reader's attention on the painting and needs no thief. The active version would have to open with 'Someone' or 'A thief'. Voice is a choice about emphasis.

participle

提示The same verb form follows 'has' in 'has eaten'.

为什么The glossary to the national curriculum lists the past participle first among the signs of a passive. For many verbs it looks the same as the past tense ('chased'), but for others it differs: 'ate' is past tense, 'eaten' is the participle.

Nominalisation

提示The term is built on the Latin word for 'name', the same root as 'noun'.

为什么It packs an action into a thing, so that the thing can be discussed: 'the decision was unpopular'. Formal and academic writing leans on it heavily, which is one reason such writing feels dense.

arrival

提示Drop the final e and add a two-letter suffix.

为什么English makes nouns from verbs with a handful of suffixes: -al (arrival), -ion (decision), -ment (agreement), -ance (performance). Some verbs become nouns with no change at all, such as 'a walk' or 'a reply'.

failure; rise

提示One noun needs a suffix; the other is spelled like the present-tense verb.

为什么The two events have become two things, and the link between them now sits in a single verb, 'caused'. That is why this kind of writing suits explanations in science, history and geography.

investigated

提示Use the past tense of the action hiding inside the long noun.

为什么Four words, 'carried out an investigation', shrink to one, and the sentence gains a verb that says what actually happened. Unpacking a nominalisation is the quickest cure for a sentence that feels heavy.

Too many actions have been turned into nouns

提示Count the words ending in '-tion' and look for anyone doing anything.

为什么Three nominalisations in a row hide who did what. Unpacked, it reads: 'They cut the budget, so the trip was cancelled.' The formal move helps when used once and clots when it is stacked.