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English: skills for learning
English: skills for learning

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8 Summary

This week you have learned how to structure word groups and use them to form clauses and sentences.

In Week 8 you have learned:

  • A noun can combine with articles, adjectives, adverbs and other nouns to form a unit of language called a noun group.
  • Noun groups are used in academic and formal texts to express a great deal of information very concisely. They are frequently used to make notes and label diagrams.
  • It is useful to notice and make a note of noun groups you find in your readings.
  • Verbs are words used to describe doing or feeling, thinking and being.
  • Verb tense is the way you can show whether an event takes place in the past, the present or the future.
  • Verbs can combine with other verbs to form a unit of language called a verb group.
  • Noun and verb groups can be combined to form either an independent or a dependent clause.
  • Clauses contain a subject and a predicate.
  • A sentence is a unit of language that makes sense on its own. It starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
  • There are three types of sentence: simple, compound and complex sentences.

Well done for completing English: skills for learning! During the past eight weeks, you have learned the skills necessary to communicate effectively at university but also in many everyday contexts. In particular, you have learned how English speaking academic communities structure units of language and link ideas, and how to exploit this understanding to read and write university texts. You have also learned how to break reading and writing tasks into manageable steps and how to employ a range of note making strategies. You should also be better able to recognise and use an academic and formal style and use online dictionaries to select the most appropriate vocabulary.

I hope that these skills will help you to fulfil your wish to become a more confident communicator and a successful student.

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