UNIT 1: EUROPE AND THE WORLD OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

1. SENTENCE STRUCTURE 2. BASIC VOCABULARY 3. WRITING A SUMMARY

TEXTS: 1. ‘Graphical Users Interface’ 2. ‘Eu Digital Policies ‘Not Good Enough’ 3. ‘The Clarion Call for Modern Services: China, Japan, Europe and the U.S.’

Further reading: ‘Asian Trio’s Adoption of Linux-based Open Source Development’

* * * 1. SENTENCE STRUCTURE:

We will be using terms that you already know but that you have probably forgotten. These terms belong to the realm of Linguistics and are absolutely necessary in order to better understand the way English language works.

As a general task, during these first weeks, you will have to review the meaning in Spanish and in English of the following terms, write it down in this paper and learn it.

First of all, we will start with Morphology (discipline of Linguistics centred on the study of the morphemes of a language and of the way in which they are joined together to make words) by reviewing how words are created and the types of words that we can find in a language.

Can you select from the list those words related to Morphology? Try to give a meaning to the terms that you have selected.

Adjetivo Adverbio Afijo Análisis del Discurso Artículo Atributo Complemento Agente Complemento Directo Complemento Indirecto Complemento Predicativo Conjunción Determinante Gramática Infijo Morfología Morfema Nexo Nombre O.S.C. Comparativa Oración Subordinada Nominal O.S.C. Concesiva O.S.C. Condicional O.S.C. Consecutiva O.S.C. de Causa o Causal O.S.C. de Finalidad o Final O.S.C. de Lugar O.S.C. de Modo o Modal O.S.C. de Tiempo o Temporal O. S. Adverbial o Circunstancial Oración Activa Oración Coordinada Adversativa Oración Coordinada Copulativa Oración Coordinada Distributiva Oración Coordinada Disyuntiva Oración Coordinada Explicativa Oración Declarativa Oración Exclamativa Oración Imperativa Oración Interrogativa Oración Pasiva Oración Simple Oración Compuesta Oración Yuxtapuesta O.S. Adjetiva o de Relativo

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Pragmática Predicado Nominal Predicado Verbal Prefijo Preposición Pronombre Proposición Párrafo Sintagma Nominal Sintagma Adverbial Sintagma Verbal Sintagma Preposicional Sufijo Sujeto Paciente Sujeto Suplemento Sintaxis Texto Vocabulario Verbo Moreover, find among the following words the correspondent Spanish term for them from the above: Active Sentence Adjectival Phrase Adjective Adverb Adverbial Phrase Adverbial Sentence Affix Agent Complement Article Attribute Causal Sentence Clause Compound Sentence Correlative Sentence Comparative Sentence Concessive Sentence Conditional Sentence Conjunction Connective Consecutive Sentence Declarative Sentence Determiner Direct Object Discourse Analysis Distributive Sentence Exclamatory Sentence Grammar Imperative Sentence Indirect Object Infix Interrogative Sentence Juxtaposed Sentence Modal Sentence Morpheme Morphology Noun Phrase Nominal Predicate Nominal Sentence Noun Paragraph Passive Sentence Passive Subject Place Sentence Pragmatics Verb Complement Prefix Preposition Prepositional Phrase Pronoun Purpose Sentence Relative or Adjectival Sentence Sentence Simple Sentence Subject Suffix Syntax Time Sentence Text Verb Verbal Phrase Verbal Predicate Vocabulary Predicative Complement

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MORPHOLOGICAL LEVEL

A morpheme is the smallest lingual unit that carries a semantic interpretation. Morphemes are, generally, a distinctive collocation of phonemes (as the free form pin or the bound form -s of pins) having no smaller meaningful members. Example: The word "unbreakable" has three morphemes "un-", (negatory) a bound morpheme, "-break-" a free morpheme, and "-able". "un-" is also a prefix, "-able" is a suffix. Both are affixes.

Types of morphemes • Free morphemes like town, dog can appear with other lexemes (as in town hall or dog

house) or they can stand alone, or "free". • Bound morphemes like "un-" appear only together with other morphemes to form a

lexeme. Bound morphemes in general tend to be prefixes and suffixes. Unproductive, non-affix morphemes that exist only in bound form are known as "cranberry" morphemes, from the "cran" in that very word.

• Inflectional morphemes modify a word's tense, number, aspect, and so on. (as in the dog morpheme if written with the plural marker morpheme s becomes dogs).

• Derivational morphemes can be added to a word to create (derive) another word: the addition of "-ness" to "happy," for example, to give "happiness."

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme such as a root or to a stem, to

form a word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed.

Types of affixes Affixes are divided into several types, depending on their position with reference to the root:

• Prefixes (attached before another morpheme) • Suffixes (attached after another morpheme) • Infixes (inserted within another morpheme)

A noun, or noun substantive, is a part of speech (a word or phrase) which can co-occur

with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action ("bring", "read"), occurrence

("decompose", "glitter"), or a state of being ("exist", "stand"). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. It may also agree with the person, gender, and/or number of some of its arguments (subject, object, etc.).

A determiner is a noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase in

the context, including quantity, rather than attributes expressed by adjectives. This part of speech is defined in some languages, such as in English, as it is distinct from adjectives grammatically, though most English dictionaries still identify the determiners as adjectives. Determiners include articles, demonstratives, possessive determiners, quantifiers, cardinal numbers, and ordinal numbers.

Determiners in English: • Articles: a, an, the • Demonstratives: this, that, these, those, which, etc. (when used with noun phrases)

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• Possessives: my, our, your, her, his, its, their, whose, and possessive nouns (John's, the teacher's)

• Quantifiers: all, few, many, several, some, every, each, any, no etc. • Cardinal Numbers: one, two, fifty, etc. • Ordinals: first, second, last, next, etc.

The words some, one, and no are also used in ways that are demonstrative not quantitative: "Roger Clemens is some ball player." "A diplomat who says 'no' is no diplomat."

An article is a word that is next to a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by

the noun. Articles can have various functions: • a definite article (English the) is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a

particular member of a group. (The cat on the mat is black.) • an indefinite article (English a, an) is used before singular nouns that refer to any

member of a group. (A cat is a mammal). An adjective is a part of speech which modifies a noun, usually describing it or making its

meaning more specific. The most widely recognized adjectives are those words, such as big, old, and tired that actually describe people, places, or things. These words can themselves be modified with adverbs, as in the phrase very big.

An adverb is a part of speech. It is a word that modifies any other part of language (verbs,

adjectives (including numbers), clauses, sentences and other adverbs) except for nouns; modifiers of nouns are primarily determiners and adjectives. Adverbs typically answer such questions as how?, when?, where?, in what way?, or how often? This function is called the adverbial function, and is realised not just by single words (i.e. adverbs) but by adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses.

A preposition is an element that combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how

that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, phrases, or clauses

together. In general, a conjunction is an invariable grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins.

The definition can also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same function as a single-word conjunction (as well as, provided that, etc.).

Types of conjunctions Coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are conjunctions that join two items

of equal syntactic importance. As an example, the traditional view holds that the English co-ordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (which form the mnemonic FANBOYS). Note that there are good reasons to argue that only and, but, and or are prototypical coordinators, while nor is very close. So and yet share more properties with conjunctive adverbs (e.g., however), and "for...lack(s) most of the properties distinguishing prototypical coordinators from prepositions with clausal complements". Furthermore, there are other ways to coordinate independent clauses in English.

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions which work together to coordinate two items. English examples include both … and, either … or, not (only) … but (… also).

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Subordinating conjunctions, also called subordinators, are conjunctions that introduce a dependent clause; English examples include after, although, if, unless, and because. Another way for remembering is "BISAWAWE" which are: "because", "if", "so", "after", "when", "although", "while", and "even though".

SYNTACTICAL LEVEL

In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a

sentence. For example the house at the end of the street (example 1) is a phrase. It acts like a noun. It

contains the phrase at the end of the street (example 2), which acts like an adjective. Example 2 could be replaced by white, to make the phrase the white house. Examples 1 and 2 contain the phrase the end of the street (example 3) which acts like a noun. It could be replaced by the cross-roads to give the house at the cross-roads.

Each phrase has a word called its head which links it to the rest of the sentence. In English the head is often the first word of the phrase.

Phrases may be classified by the type of head they take • Prepositional phrase (PP) with a preposition as head (e.g. in love, over the rainbow). • Noun phrase (NP) with a noun as head (e.g. the black cat, a cat on the mat) • Verb phrase (VP) with a verb as head (e.g. eat cheese, jump up and down) • Adjectival phrase with an adjective as head (e.g. full of toys)

Adverbial phrase with adverb as head (e.g. very carefully) Prepositional phrases The bolded phrases are examples of prepositional phrases in English:

• She is on the computer. • He could hear her across the room. • Sarah walked down the ramp.

Prepositional phrases have a preposition as the head of the phrase. Verb phrases consist only of main verbs, auxiliary verbs, and other infinitive or participle constructions. For example, in the following sentences only the bolded words would be considered to form the verb phrase for each sentence: (2) a. John gave Mary a book. b. They were being eaten alive. c. She kept screaming like a maniac. An adjectival phrase (AP) is a phrase with an adjective as its head (e.g. full of toys). Adjectival phrases may occur as premodifiers to a noun (a bin full of toys), or as predicatives to a verb (the bin is full of toys). a predicate (grammar) is one of the two constituent parts of a sentence. It is the rest of the sentence apart from the subject. For instance, in the sentence "All good things come to an end" the "come to an end" is the predicate, whereas the subject is "all good things."

An adverbial phrase is a linguistic term for a phrase with an adverb as head. The term is used in syntax.

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Adverbial phrases can consist of a single adverb or more than one. Extra adverbs are called intensifiers. An adverbial phrase can modify a verb phrase, an adjectival phrase or an entire clause. Examples of adverbial phrases in English:

• oddly enough • very nicely • quickly • in a happy way

A simple sentence is a sentence structure that contains one independent clause and no dependent clauses.

Examples The singer bowed. This simple sentence has one independent clause which contains one subject, singer, and one predicate, bowed. The baby cried. This simple sentence has one independent clause which contains one subject, baby, and one predicate, cried. The girl ran into her bedroom. This simple sentence has one independent clause which contains one subject, girl, and one predicate, ran into her bedroom. In the backyard, the dog barked and howled at the cat. This simple sentence has one independent clause which contains one subject, dog, and one predicate, barked and howled at the cat. This predicate has two verbs, known as a compound verb: barked and howled. This compound verb should not be confused with a compound sentence. In the backyard and at the cat are prepositional phrases.

The subject of a sentence is an obligatory sentence element in English. It is also one of the

two main parts of a sentence, the other being the predicate. The subject has the grammatical function in a sentence of relating its constituent (a noun phrase) by means of the verb to any other elements present in the sentence, i.e. objects, complements and adverbials.

Forms of subject The subject is a noun phrase in the sentence and can be realised by the following forms. Noun Builders are at work. Phrase The large car stopped outside our house. Gerund Eating is a pleasure. Infinitive To read is easier than to write Clause That he had travelled the world was known by everyone. Citation 'I love you' is often heard these days.

A predicate is one of the two constituent parts of a sentence. It is the rest of the sentence

apart from the subject. For instance, in the sentence "All good things come to an end" the "come to an end" is the predicate, whereas the subject is "all good things." A predicate can be verbal or nominal. It is a nominal predicate when the main verb of the sentence is the verb “to be”. In such cases, instead of a direct object, we call it attribute.

An object in grammar is a sentence element and part of the sentence predicate. It denotes

somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. As an example, the following sentence is given:

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In the sentence "Mr Bibby kicked the ball", "ball" is the object. "Mr Bibby" is the subject, the doer or performer, while "kick" is the action, and "ball" is the object involved

in the action. The main verb in the sentence determines whether there can or must be objects in the

sentence, and if so how many and of what type.

The predicative complement is an element of the predicate of a sentence which supplements the subject or object by means of the verb. Predicatives may be nominal or adjectival. A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames the subject.

He seems stupid. (adjectival predicative of the subject) Bob is a postman. (nominal predicative of the subject) We painted the door white. (adjectival predicative of the object) They elected him president. (nominal predicative of the object) Though they are sometimes termed complements, object predicatives are often able to be

omitted leaving a well-formed sentence. In grammar, a clause is a group of words consisting of a subject and a predicate, although,

in non-finite clauses, the subject is often not explicitly given. A clause is either a whole sentence or in effect a sentence-within-a-sentence. Clauses are often contrasted with phrases, which do not express complete thoughts through combinations of subjects and predicates. Phrases generally do not contain verbs except as verbals (gerunds, participles, and infinitives).

Example: • I didn't know that the dog ran through the yard.

o through the yard is not a clause, but a phrase, since it has no subject or verb. o the dog ran through the yard is a clause; it is a whole sentence contained within a larger

sentence. Independent and dependent clauses There are two basic categories of clauses: independent clauses and dependent clauses. n

independent clause (or main clause, or coordinate clause) can stand by itself as a grammatically viable simple sentence. Multiple independent clauses can be joined (usually with a comma and a coordinating conjunction) to form a compound sentence.

Examples: • I am a bus driver. (simple sentence) • I drive a bus. (simple sentence) • I am a bus driver, and I drive a bus. (compound sentence) • I want to be an astronaut, but I haven't gotten my diploma. (compound sentence) • I am a bus driver, but I want to be an astronaut. (compound sentence) • Go to the store, and get me a copy of Newsweek. (compound sentence) (Though a subject is not visible,

in English the subject of an imperative is considered to be the pronoun 'you') A dependent clause (or subordinate clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. It usually

begins with a subordinating conjunction or, in the case of an adverb or adjective clause, a relative pronoun. A sentence with an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses is referred to as a complex sentence. One with two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses is referred to as a compound-complex sentence.

Types of dependent clauses Dependent clauses are often classified by which part of speech they function as: a noun

clause functions as a noun, an adjective clause functions as an adjective, and an adverb clause functions as an adverb.

Examples: That the kid was making so much money bothered me. (A noun clause is the subject of bothered.)

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Her eyes were a shade of blue that reminded me of the sea. (An adjective clause is modifying a shade of blue.) I have a tendency to hyperventilate when I'm upset. (An adverb clause is modifying the entire main clause.)

In the English language, a compound sentence is composed of at least two independent

clauses, but no dependent clauses. The clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction (with or without a comma), a correlative conjunction (with or without a comma), or a semicolon with no conjunction.

Examples He finally bought the book, or so I thought. The two independent clauses are joined by a comma and the coordinating conjunction "or". Either he goes or I go. The compound sentence is held together by the correlative conjunction "either…or". Mary understands math; she has studied it for years. Here the two are joined by a semicolon with no conjunction.

An adverbial clause is a clause that functions as an adverb. In other words, it contains

subject (explicit or implied) and predicate, and it modifies a verb. I saw Joe when I went to the store. (explicit subject I) He sat quietly in order to appear polite. (implied subject he)

Kinds of adverbial clauses

Kind of clause

Usual conjunction Function Example

Time clauses when, before, after, since, while, as, until

These clauses are used to say when something happens by referring to a period of time or to another event.

Her father died when she was young.

Conditional clauses

if, unless These clauses are used to talk about a possible situation and its consequences.

If they lose weight during an illness, they soon regain it afterwards.

Purpose clauses

in order to, so that, in order that

These clauses are used to indicate the purpose of an action.

They had to take some of his land so that they could extend the churchyard.

Reason clauses

because, since, as These clauses are used to indicate the reason for something.

I couldn't feel anger against him because I liked him too much.

Result clauses

so that These clauses are used to indicate the result of something.

My suitcase had become damaged on the journey home, so that the lid would not stay closed.

Concessive clauses

although, though, while

These clauses are used to make two statements, one of which contrasts with the other or makes it seem surprising.

I used to read a lot although I don't get much time for books now.

Place clauses where, wherever These clauses are used to talk about the location or position of something.

He said he was happy where he was.

Clauses of manner

as, like, the way These clauses are used to talk about someone's behaviour or the way something is done.

I was never allowed to do things the way I wanted to do them.

(Sinclair, 1990)

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A noun clause is a subordinate clause that functions as a noun in a sentence. Some examples can be:

Unfortunately, some erudite linguists have demonstrated that such a definition is entirely too simple.(This noun clause is used as a direct object)

What I had for breakfast gave me heartburn. (This noun clause is used as a subject.) What the English teacher said was downright inspiring. (This noun clause is used as a subject.) The wonderful thing about English teachers is that they all get along so well. (This noun clause is used as a

subject complement) I must decide which English course to take. (This noun clause is used as a direct object.) English teachers dispense wisdom to whoever will listen. (This noun clause is the object of a preposition).

A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun. For example, the noun phrase the man who wasn't there contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there. In many languages, relative clauses are introduced by a special class of pronouns called relative pronouns; in the previous example, who is a relative pronoun. 2. BASIC VOCABULARY: SOME BASIC EXPRESSIONS IN THE CLASSROOM When we are in the classroom, several situations are always repeated both by teachers and students and it is essential that the learner becomes aware of the sentences and expressions used in such moments. There is a whole series of sentences that may be useful to know in English when we are in class. 1) Read the following sentences. Can you think of some other expressions commonly used in academic contexts? Write them down.

- ¿Podría repetir la explicación? No la he entendido bien.

- Siento llegar tarde, ¿puedo pasar?

- ¿Puedo salir de la clase un momento? Es que no me siento muy bien.

- ¿Podría repetir? No le he oído bien.

- ¿Podría hablar más alto?

- Hace calor, ¿podría encender el aire acondicionado?

- Hace frío, ¿podría poner la calefacción?

- ¿Te importa cerrar la puerta, por favor?

- ¿Puedes venir a la pizarra, por favor?

- ¿Has hecho los ejercicios? Dime tu nombre completo.

- ¿Podría salir unos minutos antes? Tengo cita en el médico.

- ¿Podéis apagar vuestros teléfonos móviles, por favor?

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- No entiendo bien el ejercicio. ¿Puedes explicarlo de nuevo, por favor?

- Por favor, guardad silencio.

- No se puede hablar durante este ejercicio.

2) How would you say the following sentences in English? Translate them into English. RECOMMENDATIONS: Read these sentences as often as possible. Try to have this sheet of paper at hand in case you might need it. Start practising in next lessons. Bear always in mind that there are many variants of the sentences above!!!

3. WRITING A SUMMARY: (Text 1) Read the artic1e below and decide which of the expressions in the box best describe a graphical user interface (GUI).

user-friendly slow attractive text-based complex graphics-based

The term user interface refers to the standard procedures the user follows to interact with a particular computer. A few years ago, the way in which users had access to a computer system

5 was quite complex. They had to memorize and type a lot of commands just to see the content of a disk, to copy files or to respond to a single prompt. In fact, only experts used computers, so there was no need for a user-friendly

10 interface. Now, however, computers are used by all kinds of people and as a result there is a growing emphasis on the user interface.

A good user interface is important because when you buy a program you want to use it

15 easily. Moreover, a graphical user interface saves a lor of time: you don't need to memorize commands in order to execute an application; you only have to point and click so that its content appears on the screen.

20 Macintosh computers - with a user interface based on graphics and intuitive tools - were designed with a single clear aim: to facilitate interaction with the computer. Their interface is called WIMP: Window, Icon, Menu (or

25 Mouse) and Pointer (see p. 64) and software products for the Macintosh have been designed to take full advantage of its features

using this interface. In addition, the ROM chips of a Macintosh contain libraries that provide program developers with routines for generating windows, dialog boxes, icons and pop-up menus. This ensures the creation of applications with a high level of consistency.

Today, the most innovative GUIs are the Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/2 Warp. These three platforms include similar features: a desktop with icons, windows and folders, a printer selector, a file finder, a control panel and various desk accessories. Double-clicking a folder opens a window which contains programs, documents or further nested folders. At any time within a folder, you can launch the desired program or document by double-clicking the icon, or you can drag it to another location.

The three platforms differ in other areas such as device installation, network connectivity or compatibility with application programs.

These interfaces have been so successful because they are extremely easy to use. It is well known that computers running under an attractive interface stimulate users to be more creative and produce high quality results, which has a major impact on the general public.

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Look at the text again and guess the meaning of these words in your own language. 1 user interface (line 1) 2 commands (line 6) 3 tools (line 21) 4 program developer (line 30) 5 platform (line 36) 6 desktop (line 37) 7 file finder (line 38) 8 nested folders (line 42) Summarize the text in 70-75 words. You may like to follow these steps. 1. Read through the whole text again and think of a suitable title for it. 2. Make sure you understand all the main points. Go through the text and underline the relevant information in each paragraph. 3. Make notes about the main points:

* omit repetitions and unnecessary phrases * leave out details, such as examples. E.g. notes on the first paragraph: In the past only experts used computers. But now, emphasis on userfriendly interfaces.

4. Make sentences from the notes and connect the sentences by using linking words (and, but, also, because, that's why, in fact, therefore, etc.). Write your first draft. 5. Improve your first draft by reducing sentences (see HELP box below). 6. Check grammar, spelling and punctuation. Write the final version of your summary.

HELP BOX Ways of reducing sentences • Transform a relative clause into an –ing participle clause

e.g. Icons are graphic images that represent tasks ... = Icons are graphic images representing tasks.

• Take out relative pronouns where possible e.g. The software (that) we bought last year ...

• Omit qualifying words (adjectives or modifying adverbs) e.g. (quite) complex/(very) similar

• Take out that in reported speech or thought e.g. It is well known (that) computers ... I think (that) there's something wrong with this program.

• Cut out unnecessary phrases e.g. Macintosh computers were designed with a clear aim: to facilitate the user's interaction with the computer. = Macintosh machines were designed to facilitate the user's interaction with the computer.

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What is summarising? A summary is a shortened version of a longer text. Sometimes you need to read or listen to lengthy pieces of information, extract the main points in order to make a decision, then give an opinion or draw conclusions. Summarising is an important skill which is often used when researching, gathering or presenting information. A good example of summarising is preparing a Curriculum Vitae (CV). Although the term comes from Latin and means 'life story', a CV should be a concise and easy to read version of your main strengths, achievements and experience. The person reading your CV should be able to make a decision about whether or not you have the necessary skills and experience for the job. It should not contain unnecessary detail or be written like an essay! Hints for summarising written text

• Read the original text thoroughly to make sure that you understand its overall meaning.

• Be aware that sometimes you might have to 'read between the lines' in order to pick up 'hidden' information.

• Use a dictionary or ask someone who knows to help you find the meaning of any unfamiliar words.

• Underline or highlight the main points of the text, ignoring any unnecessary facts, descriptions or opinions. Make a note of the most important details - you could even draw a diagram or use pictures if this helps.

• Summarise by linking together the key points using sentences or paragraphs as appropriate. If images provide additional meaning then these can also be included in your summary.

• If you are shortening a very long text then it may be useful to summarise under headings or sub-headings.

• Read your draft to make sure that you haven't lost the overall point of the original information. Make amendments to your draft as necessary.

Remember! • A written summary should be a brief, 'easy to read' version of a longer piece of

writing. • It must contain the main points of the original text and it should be written in

your own words. Don't just copy out 'chunks' of the original version. • You should write your summary using correct grammar, punctuation and

sentences. • A summary does not need to contain information, descriptions or opinions that

do not support the general meaning of the text.

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TEXT 2: ‘EU Digital Policies ‘Not Good Enough’

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TEXT 3: ‘The Clarion Call for Modern Services: China, Japan, Europe and the U.S.’

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FURTHER READING: ‘Asian Trio’s Adoption of Linux-based Open Source Development’

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