Describing Graphs using Noun Phrases

Overview

• Describing data in charts requires that we ‘translate' statistical information into grammatically correct sentences.

• Students can have particular problems doing this when they are required to produce complex noun phrases.

• Noun phrases perform the same grammatical function as nouns which are single words: for example they can be the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, etc. However, noun phrases consist of a number of words, and in academic English can often be long and complex.

• Noun phrases always have a ‘head noun', which is then modified by (further described by) other elements of the phrase (adjectives, relative clauses, prepositional phrases, etc).

• Examples of noun phrases (head noun underlined):

the man who works in that shop

people who live in glass houses

the car in the picture

Asian-heritage children who live in the UK but who do not speak their heritage language

• Examples of noun phrases used within sentences:

- The man who works in that shop used to live next door to me.

(noun phrase is subject of the verb)

- I saw a film last night about people who live in glass houses.

(noun phrase is object of a preposition)

- I don't like the car in the picture.

(noun phrase is object of the verb)

- The graph presents data about Asian-heritage children who live in the UK

but who do not speak their heritage language.

(noun phrase is object of a proposition)

Noun Phrases used in Chart Descriptions

Introducing the Description

Typical ways to introduce the description of a graph include:

The chart shows + noun phrase

The chart describes + noun phrase

For the chart above we could say:

The chart shows data about homelessness in the US in terms of race / ethnicity.

The chart describes the race / ethnicity of homeless people in the US.

TIP - The introductory sentence often contains a re-wording of the title of the graph.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14