Spoštovani člani in članice društva SDAŠ,
na portalu issuu.com si lahko ogledate novo knjigo “102 English Tips: Another Quick Guide to Avoiding ‘Slovenglish‘” (Jason Blake in Andrej Stopar, 2014). Knjiga je nastala na podlagi jezikovnih nasvetov, ki ste jih lahko spremljali tudi na društvenem blogu in na društvenih FB straneh.
Volume XI – Spring (2014): The Play’s the Thing: Eclectic Essays in Memory of a Scholar and Drama Translator (Joural Eds. Smiljana Komar and Uroš Mozetič, Volume Eds. Tomaž Onic and Simon Zupan)
Dear SDAŠ members, dear friends, dear visitors,
The latest volume of the academic journal published by the Slovene Association for the Study of English and the Department of English at the University of Ljubljana is now available on-line.
You can access the articles here: ELOPE Vol. XI – Spring.
ELOPE XI – Spring has arrived. SDAŠ members and the authors will be receiving their free copies this week!
Congratulations to the journal editors ( Smiljana Komar, Uroš Mozetič), the guest editors (Tomaž Onič and Simon Zupan), and the authors: Tina Cupar, Alenka Valh Lopert, Michelle Gadpaille, Nursen Gömceli, Klementina Jurančič Petek, Primož Jurko, Victor Kennedy, Melita Kukovec, Frančiška Lipovšek, Katja Plemenitaš, Janez Skela, Simon Zupan and Marko Štefanič.
Soon, ELOPE XI – Spring will also be available on-line. Meanwhile, feel free to browse the past issues of ELOPE: http://www.sdas.edus.si/elope.html
Avoid using the same conjunctions again and again. “But” and “as” are two main culprits here.
Showing contrast:
“The academic year is almost over, BUT that doesn’t mean I have stopped already. Some students are tempted to stop, BUT I am not. BUT this is not a desire that is limited to students.
Showing causality:
“AS the moon goes around the earth, and AS the earth goes around the sun, we can conclude that the moon goes around the sun. AS I do not have a telescope, I have to take this on scientific faith.”
Fresher:
“ALTHOUGH the academic year is almost over, it doesn’t mean I have stopped already. Some students are tempted to stop, BUT I am not. This, HOWEVER, is not a desire that is limited to students.”
“BECAUSE the moon goes around the earth, and AS the earth goes around the sun, we can conclude that the moon goes around the sun. SINCE I do not have a telescope, I have to take this on scientific faith.”
[“AS the moon goes around the earth, and AS the earth goes around the sun…” or “BECAUSE the moon goes around the earth, and BECAUSE the earth goes around the sun” would of course be pleasant parallelisms.]
Another note: starting with “Because…” signals causality from the outset. In other words, there’s none of the ambiguity that might spring from “As…”
“As I was walking…” can continue:
a) “…I was obviously not driving.” (causal)
b) “…down the street, I saw a duck.” (temporal)
All of the tips to date are available at:
http://www2.arnes.si/~bjason/LW%20tips.pdf
The semi-colon is a wonderful half-break in a sentence; a fine way of not-quite stopping the flow of words.
And that sentence is simply wrong.
There is no call for a break before the fragment “a fine way…” It is a continuation of the copulative “is.”
Remember that the semi-colon is a substitute for a period.
That is a simple way to remember how to use the semi-colon; [sic] an easy rule of thumb.
(Never use a semi-colon instead of a colon, such as when you are introducing a quotation.)
Dear SDAŠ members,
Please consider signing the petition described below.
Dear All
You may have heard about the proposed closure of the Institute of English Studies which is part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. A Steering Group to oppose this has been set up, co-chaired by Professor Anne Varty (Head of the Department of English at Royal Holloway University of London) and Professor Gordon Campbell, DLitt, FBA (Professor of Renaissance Studies at Leicester University).
The Steering Group (of which I am a member) has set up a website at http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/professor-sir-adrian-smith-abandon-the-recommendation-to-break-up-the-institute-of-english-studies-2 in the form of a petition calling for this decision to be stopped. I am attaching a brief document that gives some further information on the subject and some links that may be of interest. We very much hope that you will be able to give us your support by signing the petition, by writing to the Vice-Chancellor and by passing this message on to interested parties.
Yours faithfully
Henry Woudhuysen
On behalf of the Save the IES Steering Group
Co-Chairs:
Professor Anne Varty (Head of the Department of English Royal Holloway University of London)
Professor Gordon Campbell DLitt, FBA (Professor of Renaissance Studies, University of Leicester)
As is often the case, this is one you all know:
“Only after I arrived at the store I remembered that my wallet was still at home.”
No. You need an inversion. When you start a sentence with “Only after…,” alarm bells should go off.
This mistake is the over-salted sauce that ruins a fine meal.
More bluntly: even if you use splendid words, scintillating syntax, and solid argumentation throughout, all (sic) the reader will remember is the missed inversion.
(I won’t write the correct sentence because you all know how it should sound!)
This week a few presentation tips. Adapt them according to the class and subject matter:
– Your first sentence does not have to be “This presentation is about…” Think of movies that start with action scenes before the opening credits roll. Why not lay out your topic two minutes into the presentation? (Also, if you have the topic emblazoned across your Powerpoint, you can be subtle: “As you can see…”)
– The typical tripartite structure is not always necessary. “First I will…, then I will, then I will…” Sometimes a narrative, meandering structure is more fun and useful. Especially with less academic topics – say, chocolate or my puppy Leonard – there can be a gap between form and content (“First, I will elucidate how we acquired Leonard from the pound; then I will examine the factors involved in re-naming Fluffy Leonard; in the third section, I will explain how Leonard prefers…”)
– Limit yourself. If have ten minutes to work with, skip the nine-minute-biography, stick to three rather than nine points. You can cover your bases by saying, “Of course, we don’t have time for…” or “It’s too bad we can’t discuss the late Wittgenstein at this point…” (i.e. show that you know more than you are relating)
– Consider the audience and the time of day. Early morning? Your classmates might be asleep and might need to be coaxed into Deep Thinking. Late afternoon? The later in the day, the harder you’ll have to work to get or keep our attention. Is this a Practical English class? Give us a chance to participate!
– Engage the audience at least every two minutes. Have students read from the overhead; ask a rhetorical question; ask if we agree with something – none of these takes any time away from your presentation.
– Don’t use more than three borrowed words in a row. Even if you are not plagiarizing, the audience can hear a different “voice.” (Of course, look up the meaning and pronunciation of words that are new to you.) If you are paraphrasing another thinker, tell us!
– Be fair with questions: it’s useful to lead into a tricky question with a series of little ones. Few people will spring to answer an out-of-the-blue questions such as “Can anyone briefly explain the essential differences between verb movement in Slovenian and English?” (A pre-question here could be: “Which language lets you move things around more? Slovenian or English?”)
– Don’t be a control freak. Discussion can be scary because someone might ask a very tricky question or seem to outshine you during your moment of presentation-glory. Worse, however, is ignoring the audience altogether.
– Make sure that what you say can’t be delivered in paper form – i.e. that your presentation is not merely an essay read loud; even if it’s a mere matter of humour or enthusiasm.
– Powerpoints (sp?). Nothing to tell you. Students all seem to have grasped that the overheads should be digestible, fun, not overly long and not too distracting.
– Videos. If you play a clip: keep it short; ending with a clip is dangerous (you want the final statement to be you; no need to compete with Spielberg).
– You don’t always have to end with a bibliography or works cited (in my view, even if you do mention your sources, one or two minutes is more than enough).
– If you say, “In conclusion…” finish up within a minute.
A few notes on abstracts.
– avoid footnotes (they get very ugly very fast, especially if the abstract appears in two or more language – three harmless-looking footnotes become six)
– try to pack everything init to a single paragraph; more than two is ugly
– talk about the PAPER not the research that preceded it
– say what the paper is actually about
– pay at least passing attention to the possibility of coming within range of the word limit
– follow the rules for citing titles: quotation marks for small things, italics for books, etc.
– avoid copy-pasting from your introduction or elsewhere in your paper – i.e. show that you are capable of writing different sentences
– if you cite an original title, look for the official translation; do not provide an ad hoc translation of your own for an already-translated work – Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” should not become “Dež in veter!”
– if the work you are considering has NOT been translated, do not italicize the title (think of it as advertising: no italics means “Don’t bother trying to buy it from Amazon”).
