2. Giving background

Here we will continue with the part of the introduction where the speaker frames the topic and gives relevant background. This section also deals with the concept of hedging.

Video clip 2: Giving background

Now watch the second part of the introduction. Then read the instructions to the exercises below, watch the clip again and answer the questions.

NOTE: If you feel like it, you can also read the transcript of the presentation.

Exercise A: Transitional devices

1. Watch the presentation clip and pick out all the transitional devices the speaker uses. Write them down here together with the category they belong to. Take into consideration that some transitional devices may go into more than one category. 2. Go to the corpus and search the transitional devices you found in the clip. Give one example of usage for each.

If you need to see the table of transitional devices again, click here.

Exercise B: Linking expressions

Watch the clip and listen for the language items that fit the categories below. Write the expressions into the appropriate box.

Table of useful phrases

Exercise C: Finding expressions in MICASE

By doing this exercise you will understand how the following four words, taken from the previous videoclip, may be used in different contexts. Make searches of these expressions and observe the ways in which they can be used. If you don't get many results, don't be discouraged. Click Bernie to receive feedback.

1. intercept

2. detrimental (detrimentally)

3. scarce

4. disproportionate

Search tip: Simply type the search word in the word or phrase box and then choose the speaker/speech event attributes you wish to observe. Then click search and see what you get. Good to know: the context of a word becomes very important in this exercise, so please read the full transcript.

Exercise D: Correcting errors

MICASE can be used for improving your language and correcting expressions that you might have previously used in an inappropriate way. Below you see expressions that are not quite correct: use the corpus to find the correct versions. Write your answers in the textbox and click Bernie for feedback.

1. ‘to make you a picture’ 2.‘to offer credit to someone’ (when you want to acknowledge some other person’s work) 3. ‘to discuss about various scholarly issues..’ 4. ‘I’m particularly interested at what…’

Search tip: In the first and second examples try to find other verbs that would fit the phrase. Try searches with different verbs that you think could combine with the nouns picture and credit. Write these nouns in the context word box and select 3-4 words to the right. In examples three and four consider whether the use of the preposition is correct. Enter the verb discuss or interested in the word or phrase box and observe the results.

Hedging

Hedges are linguistic devices, typically adjectives or adverbs, that enable the speaker to be precise when communicating the degree of accuracy and truth in assessments.
Hedging can be used to

In other words, a hedge makes it possible for the speaker to stand aside a little from what they are saying. Consider the example from the sample presentation, where the speaker wants to make clear that what he is presenting is not an empirically verified truth but just a suspicion or a theory:

Okay, so it seems that the stereotype of a white man not being physically talented in basketball has hardened into such a strong stereotype in this culture, perhaps other cultures as well, that is it fine to joke about in a Hollywood movie title.

Exercise E: Placing the hedges

Hedges can be rather mobile and they can be used in a variety of ways. How one places a hedge in one’s speech or writing can, nonetheless, serve a very important function. Placing the hedge wrong just might make it useless. Consider the following examples:

1. a) so-called little Christmas party
   b) little Christmas party so-called
2. a) so-called natural athlete
   b) natural athlete so-called
3. a) so to speak, minor offence
   b) minor offence, so to speak
4. a) an enormous luxury if you will
   b) if you will an enormous luxury

You can make searches in the MICASE to see how these hedges behave; do they precede the word or phrase they're connected to, or do they come after it?

Exercise F: Spot the hedges

Now it's time to see how well you can spot hedges in actual use. In the two videoclips that you have already seen once or twice, it is possible to spot a number of hedges. To see the first clip again, simply click here. To watch the second clip, scroll up a bit.


1. Watch the clips again and try and spot all the hedges that the speaker uses. Write them down here. 2. Why do you suppose the speaker uses the hedges that he does? What does he hope to achieve? 3. Make searches of the hedges in the corpus and see what other examples you can find.

Tip: You can spot 2 hedges in the first clip and you should be able to detect 3 in the second clip.

Exercise G: Adding hedges in the right place

Okay, let's move on to the final exercise concerning hedges. Below you can find three text extracts, all taken from the MICASE transcripts. At the end of each extract you will find a hedge that you need to place in one of the three spots. Try it out. You can check if you placed the hedge correctly by clicking Bernie.

Extract 1

In order for heart transplants and kidney transplants to work, the patients have to be treated with drugs, 1., immunosuppressant drugs, which uh inhibit the immune system suppress the immune system, so that their immune system will not in fact reject those 2. tissues as being foreign. The way the immune system normally attacks foreign tissues is using a special cell type called the T-lymphocyte. The 3. T-lymphocyte is the main component of the immune system, which attacks foreign tissues, foreign cells, when they're introduced into the body. --> so called

Extract 2

I mean maybe my perception is I mean, is not quite right but I mean my_ I've certainly been in a lot of situations 1. in which, uh, people observe somebody and say ‘gosh, he's really behaving differently here’, than he did last week under other circumstances 2. . What that says is that the guy has no moral center, 3., uh, and so, but you don't see like an issue of morality at all in this is not the way these things are at all, seen within these kinds of cultures you're talking about. -->if you will

Extract 3

If  we're a tree, or a shrub or a bush that isn't very tolerant of freezing weather especially then once we start to grow, we break our dormancy. We dissolve the ethylene glycol that we've stuck into ourselves to resist freezing 1.. Or we've reinstalled the liquid that's in the phloem and xylem that's moving around inside of us 2. we've started to grow again we're much more susceptible to frost damage than if we were still packaged up more or less dormant hibernating, 3. , getting through the cold winter. --> as it were

NOTE: The search options in MICASE are somewhat limited in the sense that you don't always get proper feedback on whether you have misspelled a word in the search phrase or whether it simply does not appear in the corpus. So don’t be discouraged if you cannot find what you are looking for. Check the spelling or try another search phrase.

In the next section you will learn how to outline your presentation successfully. Move on to Sequencing.