Underline the instances of a cautious style of writing that you will be able to find in the text below.

 

Native American Cultures

The America that greeted the first Europeans was far from an empty wilderness. It is now thought that as many people lived in the Western Hemisphere as in Western Europe at that time—about 40 million. Estimates of the number of Native Americans living in what is now the United States at the onset of European colonization range from two to 18 million, with most historians tending toward the lower figure. What is certain is the devastating effect that European disease had on the indigenous population practically from the time of initial contact. Smallpox, in particular, is thought to have been a much more direct cause of the decline in Indian population in the 1600s than the numerous wars with European settlers.

Indian customs and culture at the time were extraordinarily diverse, as could be expected, given the expanse of the land and the many different environments to which they had adapted. Some generalizations, however, are possible.

Most tribes, particularly in the wooded eastern region and the Midwest, combined aspects of hunting, gathering and the cultivation of maize and other products for their food supplies. In many cases, the women were responsible for farming and the distribution of food, while the men hunted and participated in war.

By all accounts, Indian society in North America was closely tied to the land. Indian life was essentially clan-oriented and communal, with children allowed more freedom and tolerance than was the European custom of the day.

Although some North American tribes developed a type of hieroglyphics to preserve certain texts, Indian culture was primarily oral. Clearly, there was a good deal of trade among various groups and strong evidence exists that neighboring tribes maintained extensive and formal relations—both friendly and hostile.

3. "Soften " the following statements by using cautious writing strategies.

1. Supervision is a critical link between top managers and workers.

2. The expansion of the Universe continues.

3. Monetary policy is not effective.

4. Diseases are the results of the interaction of genetic and environmental factors.

5. The most influential component of a computer is a central processing unit.

6. Genetic differences in alcohol metabolism between American Indians and other races caused the death of a Navajo teenager.

7. Errors are the indicators of the learners' stages in their foreign language development.

8. Economists think that statistical methods have a profound impact on process involvement, production costs, quality, and competitive position.

9. A drop of nicotine kills the horse.

10. Ecology is defined as a study of the relations of living things with their environment.

4. Below are the most frequently used "scientific verbs " (in the left column) and the descriptions of their meanings (in the right column) arranged in groups often, alphabetically. Check your knowledge of the verbs by matching them with the descriptions of their meanings.

A)

1. accept 1. put in order

2. accomplish 2. reach by effort

3. account for 3. decide the importance and give reasons

4. achieve 4. have an influence on, act on

5. adjust 5. agree or recognize with approval

6. affect 6. make practical use of

7. apply 7. regulate

8. arrange 8. take as true before there is proof

9. assess 9. perform successfully

10. assume 10. explain the cause of

B)

1. avoid 1. describe similarities or differences

2. clarify 2. arrive at an opinion

3. coincide 3. be similar in area and outline

4. compare 4. keep away from

5. complete 5. arrive at (knowledge, a theory) by reasoning

6. concern 6. have relation to

7. conclude 7. finish

8. consider 8.make clear

9. correspond 9.be in harmony

10. deduce 10. think about, regard

C)

1. define 1. appear

2. derive from 2. lay stress on

3. determine 3. found, set up

4. emerge 4. state precisely the meaning of

5. emphasize 5. form a judgment about, calculate the value of

6. ensure 6. find out precisely

7. establish 7.guarantee

8. estimate 8. take as a starting point, source or origin

9. evaluate 9. concentrate on

10. focus on 10.find out the value of

D)

1. identify 1. keep up

2. imply 2. become concerned with something

3. include 3. point

4. increase 4. pay no attention to

5. indicate 5. make a careful study of

6. infer 6. make a suggestion

7. investigate 7. become greater in size

8. involve 8. conclude

9. maintain 9. bring in

10. neglect 10. establish the identity of

E)

1. observe 1. make

2. obtain 2. go before

3. occur 3. make smaller

4. omit 4. give, supply

5. perform 5. get

6. precede 6. watch carefully

7. proceed 7. go forward

8. produce 8. do

9. provide 9. leave out

10. reduce 10. happen

F)

1. refer to 1.depend upon

2. regard 2. give a result

3. rely on 3. be enough for

4. require 4. turn to for information, etc.

5. satisfy 5. change position

6. specify 6. make use of

7. suppose 7. consider

8. transfer 8. state or name definitely

9. utilize 9. demand

10. yield 10.guess, take as a fact

 

Special advice: write out the verbs on a separate sheet and keep it at hand while writing in English: you will find this helpful. You may also add to this list other "general scientific verbs" that you will come across when reading literature in your field.

Reduce the informality of each sentence.

1. The investigation of the origin of the Universe will go on.

2. What are the effects of pollution on the population of birds in large urban areas? Several assumptions can be made.

3. You can clearly see the difference between these two sets of data.

4. The experiment will be over in three months.

5. We can't tell whether electricity is some peculiar kind of substance or motion of ordinary matter.

6. This approach does not promise many innovations.

7. Our new research assistant is a nice guy.

8. 7 out of 25 students had difficulty with the task.

9. Each statement in a high-level programming language is translated into many machine-code instructions generally.

 

Choose a verb from the list that reduces the informality of each sentence. Note that you may need to add tense to the verb from the list.

 

Assist reduce create investigate raise establish increase determine fluctuate eliminate

 

1. Expert Systems can help out the user in the diagnosis of problems.

2. This program was set up to improve access to medical care.

3. Research expenditures have gone up to nearly $350 million.

4. The use of optical character readers (OCRs) should cut down the number of problems with the U.S. mail service.

5. Researchers have found out that this drug has serious side effects.

6. Building a nuclear power plant will not get rid of the energy problem completely.

7. Researchers have been looking into this problem for 15 years now.

8. This issue was brought up during the investigation.

9. Engineers can come up with better designs using CAD.

10. The emission levels have been going up and down.

Reduce the informality of each sentence by substituting a single verb for the one in italics.

1. The implementation of computer-integrated-manufacturing (CIM) has brought about some serious problems.

2. The process should be done over until the desired results are achieved.

3. Plans are being made to come up with a database containing detailed environmental information for the region.

4. Subtle changes in the earth's crust were picked up by these new devices.

5. Proposals to construct new nuclear reactors have met with great resistance from environmentalists.

 

Which of the underlined words would be more suitable for an academic paper?

1. The government has made good / considerable progress in solving environmental problems.

2. We got /obtained encouraging results.

3. The results of a lot of I numerous different projects have been pretty good / encouraging.

4. A loss of jobs is one of the things that will happen /consequences if the process is automated.

 

Supply a more academic word or phrase for the one underlined in each sentence.

1. The reaction of the officials was sort of negative.

2 The economic outlook is mighty nice.

3. The future of Federal funding is up in the air.

4. America's major automakers are planning to get together on the research needed for more fuel efficient cars.