THE TRANSPORT AND SORTING OF DIAMONDS BY FLUVIAL AND MARINE PROCESSES

Language Conventions

Think as a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

Yeats

Revision of Linguistic Features of Experimental Report Research Writing

SEE WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW

Pretest

Stage I selection is given here from the field of geology. Fill in the blanks with an appropriate word. Some blanks do not require filling in.

THE TRANSPORT AND SORTING OF DIAMONDS BY FLUVIAL AND MARINE PROCESSES

In the late 1940s, production of diamonds from alluvial sources represented about 40 percent of the world total. Thirty years later, alluvial diamond ________________ had more than doubled, and despite ____ development of major new kimberlite mines, it still represented more than 30 percent of the total natural diamond production. ____ economic importance of alluvial _______________ is thus considerable,
and it is further emphasized by the fact that ____ alluvial diamonds are of consistently higher quality than diamonds recovered from source kimberlites, and also because certain countries (e.g., Sierra Leone, Central African Republic), are economically dependent on ____ production of _______________.

General and Specific Noun Phrases

As we have seen, Stage I of the introduction usually begins with factual statements about the general area, which includes your specific topic. When you write these kinds of general statements, it is conventional to use nouns that refer to objects or concepts at the highest possible level of generality. English offers several ways to construct these general nouns, which we examine in this section.

Generic Noun Phrases

Statements in the setting of an introduction tend to be general in nature. Instead of referring to specific things, they often refer to entire classes of things. When you write sentences that contain nouns referring to an entire class of things, you should use generic noun phrases to carry this meaning. Generic noun phrases refer to all members of a particular class of living things, objects like "alluvial diamonds," or concepts like "diamond production" in the previous example. In English there are different ways to write generic noun phrases. If the noun is countable, you can make it generic by adding the plural marker -s and omitting any article, or by using it in its singular form with the indefinite article a or an.

When the noun you want to use is uncountable, you can make it generic by omitting any article. (Of course, uncountable nouns never take a plural -s.)

In addition, English has a fourth way of forming generic nouns you should learn to recognize and use. A countable noun in its singular form sometimes carries the generic meaning when used with the definite article the. This kind of generic noun phrase is often used when referring to living creatures or familiar machinery and equipment.

Specific Noun Phrases

We have seen that the first part of Stage I, the setting of the introduction, usually contains a large proportion of generic noun phrases. Later in the setting, you will probably find it necessary to refer to specific items and concepts in order to move the reader from the general area toward your specific topic. This requires the use of specific noun phrases - that is, nouns that refer to particular, individual members of a class rather than to the class as a whole. In English, nouns with this meaning can be written in several ways.

1. Referring to assumed or shared information. Use the definite article the if you assume your readers share knowledge of the specific thing you are referring to.

2. Pointing back to old information. Use the definite article the when referring to a specific thing which you have already mentioned (the first mention usually uses the indefinite article a/an).

3. Pointing forward to specifying information. Use the definite article the when the specific meaning is made clear in a following phrase or clause.

Guidelines for Marking Generic and Specific Noun Phrases

If you are having difficulty determining which, if any, article to use before a noun or noun phrase, ask yourself the following sequence of questions:
1. Is the noun meant in a general or a specific sense? If it is specific, use "the" before the noun. If it is general, ask yourself a follow-up question:
2. Is the noun countable or uncountable? If it is countable, use a or an (singular) or -s on the end (plural). If it is uncountable, use 0 (no article or -s ending).

Expressing Old Information

There are various ways you can state old information to connect back to the information in a previous sentence. One way is to simply repeat a word or to use a derived form of the word.

Another way you can indicate old information is to use pronouns and pointing words.

Sometimes you can assume the reader knows the old information without your having to state it explicitly.

Citation Focus and Verb Tense

As we have seen, your decision whether to focus Stage II citations on the information or on the author determines the citation form you use. Similarly, this decision also helps to determine the verb tense you will use in each citation.

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