Providence University College of Management Describing and Predicting Wu-Lin Chen ([email protected])...
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Transcript of Providence University College of Management Describing and Predicting Wu-Lin Chen ([email protected])...
![Page 1: Providence University College of Management Describing and Predicting Wu-Lin Chen (wlchen@pu.edu.tw) Department of Computer Science and Information Management.](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062714/56649d625503460f94a452e4/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Providence University
College of Management
Describing andPredicting
Wu-Lin Chen ([email protected])
Department of Computer Science and Information Management
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 2
Description
• A description serves to introduce a writer’s view of something.
• A description may also tell the characteristics or distinctive features of an object.
• The nature of something can be explained by describing it.
• To describe something, you simply have to tell your audience about it.
• You simply tell how your subject appears to the senses.• Many experienced writers find description one of the
most challenging expressive modes.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 3
Using English To Describe
• Physical description– It is a flaming ball of extremely hot gases.
• Shape: ball• Physical composition: hot, flaming gases
– The surface temperature is about 11,000° F, hot enough to turn every solid to vapor, but relatively cool compared to the intense heat at the center.
• Surface temperature: 11,000 ° F, hot enough to turn every solid to vapor, cool compared to center
– Located about 93 million miles from the earth …• Position or location: 93 million miles from earth
– …the sum has a diameter that is approximately equal to 109 of our earths lined up like a row of beach balls, and that is about 330,000 times the mass of the earth.
• Diameter: 109 x earth’s diameter• Mass: 330,000 x earth’s mass
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 4
Using English To Describe
• Functional description– The sun is the original source of nearly all our
energy.• Importance: source of our energy
• Chemical description– It is mostly made of hydrogen, although it also
contains nearly every other kind of atom that exists on the earth.
• Chemical composition: mostly hydrogen + nearly all other known atoms
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 5
Sentence Patterns
• The present simple tense is used most frequently when describing.
• The most commonly used verbs are to be and to have.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 6
Sentence Patterns:Describing Characteristics
The Nile RiverMount EverestThe Dead SeaThe pipe
is4,145 miles8,848 meters11 miles3 centimeters
long.high.wide.thick.
The NileThe sunThe Grand CanyonLeadAn elephant
has a
lengthsurface temperaturedepthspecific gravitylife span
of
4,145 miles.11,000° F.5,500 feet.11.3.about 75 years.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 7
Sentence Patterns:Describing Characteristics
lengthcolortextureorbitsshape
is/are
the Neiliodinesandplanetsearth
PlutoGlassZinc and cadmiumBlue starsCopper salts
is/are
relativelysomewhatratherextremelyslightly
small.brittle and transparent.reactive and silvery.hot.blue in aqueous solutions.
The of
4,145 miles.purplish black.rough and granular.elliptical.spherical.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 8
Writing Skills
• To write a good description, you have to do more than string adjectives together.
• Rules for descriptive writing:– Be specific– Focus on a particular aspect of what you are
attempting to describe– Compare the object being described to
something vivid (optional)
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 9
Writing Skills: Be Specific
• When writing description, avoid vague words like big, impressive, beautiful, overwhelming, bad, and awesome.
• Instead, use more precise words.– Rachel is “beautiful.”
• Give the details so that your audience can “see”
– “Rachel’s radiant blonde hair backlit by the winter sun”
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 10
Writing Skills: Be Specific
• Be more specific by “translating” the adjectives into the five senses:– sight– hearing– smell– touch– taste
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 11
Writing Skills: Be Specific
• An “impressive sight”– a “drawn and weary, ashen-faced old man”
• An “impressive sound”– “the mellow strings of the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra”• An “impressive smell”
– “the cranberry vapors of my mother’s breakfast cake”• An “impressive texture”
– “the smooth, cold marble of the altar.”• An “impressive taste”
– “the salt-edged bite of the sea”
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 12
Writing Skills: Focus On
• For example: If you are describing a person, do not just randomly list his or her various characteristics.
• Pick one characteristic (good humor, weariness, awkwardness) and use specific details to develop that characteristic.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 13
Writing Skills: Comparison
• If comparisons go on for too long, focus can easily be lost.
• Keep your comparisons short and pointed.– Example: The soldiers just stood there like
bowling pins.– Example: The whaler’s rocklike captain
refused to abandon the hunt.– Example: Checkerboard rice fields covered
the valley.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 14
Predicting
• The goal of all scientific investigation is to predict the future.
• Assumptions are usually made before predicting.
• No prediction of the future behavior of nature is 100 percent certain.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 15
Using English to Predict
• A prediction is claim that something will happen.– EX: At any giving time, the side of the earth
facing the sun will have daylight, and the side turned away from the sun will have night.
• A probable prediction– EX: If you light a match on an airplane, no
wind will blow it out.• This prediction will come true if certain conditions
are met.)
conditionprediction
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 16
Using English to Predict
• A hypothetical prediction– EX: If you traveled around the earth on these
two dates, you would find the days and nights equal every place you went.
• This prediction will also come true if certain conditions are met. But, since the conditions are unlikely to occur – you are unlikely to travel around the world on these days – the prediction is hypothetical. It may or may not come true.)
condition
prediction
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 17
Using English to Predict
• An impossible prediction– EX: If the earth had been flat, the post could
not have cast a shadow at noon.• This condition is impossible – obviously the earth is
not flat. Therefore, the prediction cannot be fulfilled.)
condition
prediction
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 18
Sentence Pattern
• Prediction– active: There {will be} an eclipse tomorrow.– passive: The eclipse {will be hidden} by the
clouds.
• Probable prediction– active: If it rains, we {will get wet.}– passive: If the eclipse is hidden, the photos
{will be ruined.}
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 19
Sentence Pattern
• Hypothetical prediction– active: If I studied, I would (could or might)
pass.– passive: If the eclipse were hidden, the
photos would (could or might) be ruined.
• Impossible prediction– active: If I had studied, I would (could or
might) have passed.– passive: If it had been hidden, the photos
would (could or might) have been ruined.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 20
Sentence Pattern
• The future tense with will is used for predictions that are likely to occur. The modal would, could, or might are used for hypothetical or impossible predictions.
• With if clauses, the subjunctive form were is used instead of was (for example, If I were rich…).
• Any prediction that is based on a past condition cannot be fulfilled.– EX: If the war had ended a year earlier, many lives would have
been saved.• Since the war did not end earlier, the prediction cannot come true.
Nevertheless, the relationship expressed in the sentence is true.
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Technical Writing S03 Providence University 21
Writing Skills
• Use modal auxiliaries properly to express your attitude towards the prediction.
• Transition words for predicting– a few years from now– eventually– in the future– gradually– later– after a while– before long– one day