USING A VARIETY OF SENTENCE STRUCTURES (1)

1 P a g e P r e p a r e d b y U y N g u y e n ( M. A. ) USING A VARIETY OF SENTENCE STRUCTURES (1) CLEFT SENTENCES Structures: 1).. 2).. Examples sentences: Tourism helps create jobs and reduce unemployment.... Infrastructure should be improved first. Parents are responsible for giving children their first lessons. Children interact with one another only at school. (inversion possible) Children learn a foreign language best at their early age. Exercise 1: READ THE INFORMATION IN THE BOX THEN COMPLETE THE REPLIES. EACH REPLY MUST CONTAIN A CLEFT SENTENCE. Nick turned up late for work on Monday because he got stuck in a traffic jam on the ring road. Luckily Nick has a mobile phone so he was able to phone his boss and warn her that he would be late. She was furious but managed to reschedule an important meeting for the afternoon. 1. Nick was late because he overslept, wasn't he? No, it that he was late. 2. How on earth did Nick let the boss know he'd be late? Well, what call her from his mobile phone. Page 1

2 P a g e P r e p a r e d b y U y N g u y e n ( M. A. ) 3. Wasn't Nick late on Wednesday? No, that he was late. 4. Nick's boss had to start the meeting without him, didn't she? No, what she the afternoon. 5. Didn't Nick get stuck in a traffic jam in the town centre? No, not in the town centre; it got stuck. 6. I heard the boss was a little annoyed with Nick for being late. No, she wasn't "a little annoyed". What! Exercise 2: FOR EACH OF THE SENTENCES BELOW, WRITE A NEW SENTENCE AS SIMILAR AS POSSIBLE IN MEANING TO THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE, USING THE WORDS GIVEN IN BOLD. I. We just need 5 minutes to fix it. ALL 2. I'm not questioning his dedication. ISN'T 3. These men are totally ruthless. WHAT 4. We inherited everything except the house. ONLY THING 5. You know the sales assistant told me exactly the same thing. THAT'S 6. We're taking the au-pair with us. DOING INVERSION a) Inversion after ONLY - Only after posting the letter did I remember that I had forgotten to put on a stamp. - Only when I have written my essay am I allowed to log on to Facebook. Page 2

3 P a g e P r e p a r e d b y U y N g u y e n ( M. A. ) Other examples: Only if / Only when / Only then / Only later / Only by... b) Inversion after phrases containing NO / NOT These include under no circumstances, on no account, at no time, in no way, on no condition, not until, not only... (but also) - Under no circumstances are students allowed to enter the exam room if they are more than 15 minutes late. - Not until I got home did I notice that I had the wrong umbrella. c) Inversion after LITTLE Little conveys a negative or restrictive meaning in this sense. - Little does the Government appreciate how the results will be. - Little have the young people been trained about birth control methods. d) Inversion after SO / SUCH So + adj + be + noun + that - So devastating were the floods that some areas may never recover. - So difficult was the test that the students needed three months to prepare. Such + be + noun + that - Such was the force of the storm that trees were uprooted. e) Inversion in conditional sentences without IF Type 1 Should If you should hear anything, let me know. Should you hear anything, let me know. Type 2 Were It would be a serious setback, if the talks were to fail. Were the talks to fail, it would be a serious setback. Type 3 Had If we had preserved the forests better, global warming wouldn t be so serious. Had we persevered the forests better, global warming wouldn t be so serious. PRACTICE 1: Rewrite these sentences, starting as shown: Page 3

4 P a g e P r e p a r e d b y U y N g u y e n ( M. A. ) 1. It was only when the officer phoned me that I found out about the meeting. Not until 2. If I had realized what would happen, I wouldn t have accepted the job. Had 3. The money is not to be paid under any circumstances. Under 4. Three days passed before we arrived at the first destination. Not 5. Such was the demand for tickets that people queued day and night. So 6. Press photographers are banned from taking photographs backstage. On no 7. The police didn t at all suspect that the judge was the murderer. Little 8. Harry broke his leg and also injured his shoulder. Not only PRACTICE 2: Translate the following sentences into English 1. Vấn đề về ô nhiễm môi trường sẽ không thể nào bớt nghiêm trọng đi nếu con người không hành động ngay. 2. Thật không may, nhiều bạn nữ ngày nay biết rất ít về tác hại của việc phá thai đối với sức khỏe của họ. 3. Cơ hội nghề nghiệp ở miền quê quá hạn chế nên nhiều thanh niên đã quyết định chuyển lên thành phố sinh sống với hi vọng đổi đời. 4. Chỉ khi nào các nhà máy sản xuất xe hơi có thể thiết kế được những chiếc xe thân thiện với môi trường thì ô nhiễm không khí sẽ được giảm bớt (do lượng khí thải từ xe hơi ít đi). 5. Giới trẻ không những dễ bị lôi kéo sử dụng thuốc (ma túy) mà còn có thể chấp nhận vi phạm pháp luật để gây quỹ cho thói quen xa xỉ này của họ. Page 4

5 P a g e P r e p a r e d b y U y N g u y e n ( M. A. ) 6. Mãi cho đến khi trái đất trở nên quá nóng thì con người ta mới bắt đầu tìm hiểu nguyên nhân của cái-được-gọi-là sự ấm lên toàn cầu. 7. Chỉ bằng cách giảm bớt số lượng bài vở ở trường thì học sinh mới thật sự có thể tập trung học tập một cách hiệu quả và đem lại kết quả tốt nhất. 8. Mức sống bây giờ ngày càng cao, và nhu cầu của con người cũng vậy; điều này dẫn tới một điều hiển nhiên là con người ta chạy theo chủ nghĩa thực dụng và chối bỏ các giá trị truyền thống. Page 5

6 P a g e P r e p a r e d b y U y N g u y e n ( M. A. ) Writing Practice: Write responses to the following questions. Include at least two cleft sentences and two inversion structures. 1. In the future, it seems more difficult to live on the Earth. Some people think more money should be spent on researching other planets to live in, such as Mars. Discuss. 2. Cycling in many cities is not very popular despite its many benefits. Discuss causes of this situation and suggest possible measures. Page 6