Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(EXCLUDING TERMINOLOGY)
Frequent use of list bullets [elenco puntato]
Use of discourse/ logical connectives
Use of modals different from general English
Non-temporal use of tenses (Trimble, 1985)
Use of grammatical as well as lexical metaphors
DISCOURSE CONNECTIVES
Cohesive devices that signal logical relations between parts of discourse, e.g.
Studies on the frequency of connectives in general vs. specialized English have revealed that
the frequency and distribution of connectives crucially depend on:
o Register (context of situation)
o Culture (context of culture)
She knows a lot about illnesses she must be a doctor / she certainly is a doctor
modality stays here
certainly ≠ indeed is more similar to in fact (I’m adding information)
Modality
Modal forms express the speaker’s attitudes towards himself/ herself, listeners or subject matters.
They can be expressed through:
1. MODAL AUXILIARIES (may, might, can, could, will, would, shall, should, must)
BUT ALSO
2. Adverbs (probably, admittedly, arguably, perhaps, absolutely ecc.)
This is arguably an interesting event = it can be argued this is an interesting event [=si
può sostenere che l’evento sia interessante]
3. Phraseologies (kind of, in a way, in some respects, to be sure, I guess, as far as I know,
IMHO (=in my honest opinion)...)
When they aim at distancing yourself from what you’re saying, these expressions are also known as
“hedges” [attenuare]
REMEMBER!
It is in SPOKEN language that most grammatical changes first appear in a language. Writing,
especially ‘formal’ professional writing, tends to be more conservative.
MODALS IN ESP
Should & May à stronger modality in ESP than in general English. Used to give instructions, e.g.
“All exterior doors should be secured with a double cylinder or single cylinder dead bolt”
The instructions to close the airplane doors are given with “should” because it is more
polite than “must”.
This hazard may be minimized through the use of tempered glass or a covering over
WILL
Different degree of commitment depending on adverbial modification (e.g. will certainly,
probably, possibly...)
Often avoided in academic writing, e.g.
This paper will present ≠ This paper presents
The use of the simple present tense is non temporal: it doesn’t mean that we return to this point
REGULARLY, but that we are CERTAIN to do so
INTERNAL vs. EXTERNAL OBLIGATION (it’s you who feel this obligation)
“Must” and “should” are usually considered to express “internal obligation” (a necessity that
is felt by the individual herself/himself)
e.g. “I must go” the obligation start from me
“Have to” and “ought to” are usually considered to express “external obligation” (a
necessity that comes from outside)
e.g. “I have to go” external force, “because of my mother”
“Had better” conveys an idea of danger (“You’ve been ill for a week now. You’d better see a
doctor...”) à stronger modality than “should”, “have to” and “ought to”
e.g. “I’d better go” if I don’t go there will be a risk
DEGREE OF CERTAINTY
1. Must / shall in legal English
2. Need
3. Had better (risk)
4. Ought to
5. Should (sound politer than must)
6. Have to
7. Can
8. Could
9. May
10. Might [potrebbe]
CULTURE
Intercultural patterns of discourse organization, e.g.:
Italian scientific texts typically use more connectives than their English counterparts
(remember when you write your essays in English!!);
British English favors modals (can, will, should), whereas American English favors semi-
modals (have to, be going to, be supposed to...)
AVOID GENERALIZATIONS!!!
DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS
PRESENT TENSE àpermanent device (the typical apparatus used to perform a certain
task)
[simula fenomeni atmosferici per la costruzione degli aerei]
e.g. “the [wind] tunnel is a blowdown-to-atmosphere facility operating over the Mach number range
0.2 to 3.5. Mach number in the tunnel is generated by fixed nozzle blocks at supersonic speeds...”
[=ugello]
PAST TENSE à temporary device (apparatus used only for a given experiment)
e.g. “the test section was constructed of a pure copper cylinder 2 ft long, 6 in in ID and 6.25 in OD.
Both ends of the cylinder were closed with removable Pyrex glass...”
(ft=feet; in=inch; ID=internal diameter; OD=outside diameter)
VISUAL AIDS
Data on the picture à present tense (the data is there à still valid)
Act of showing/ presenting the data à present tense
Process of data gathering à past tense
How could you describe a presentation in Power Point
e.g. “The results which are shown in Table 5 were achieved by developing a new computer
program. These results indicate that...”
e.g. “David deduced that auroral display was essentially a fixed pattern ... In contrast to [this] are
the detailed studies by Akofosu and collaborators...”