Writing Academic English 4th Edition

Recognizing
Transition
Signals

Chapter 2 IUnit1'andCoherence 29

Subordinators

A subordinator(subordinatingconjunction)isthefirstwordinadependent

clause.^2 Adependentclauseisalwaysconnectedtoanindependentclausetomake

a sentence.Thesentencemayormaynothavea comma.Thegeneralruleisthis:

Puta commaaftera dependentclausebutnotinfrontofone.

I DEPENDENTCLAUSE I,--INDEPENDENTCLAUSE-,

Althoughthecompany'ssalesincreasedlastyear,itsnetprofitdeclined.

I INDEPENDENTCLAUSE I I DEPENDENTCLAUSE I

Thecompany'snetprofitdeclinedlastyearalthoughitssalesincreased.

Forinformationabout subordinators,seeChapter13.

Others

Thetransitionsignalsinthisgroupincludenounssuchasexample,adjectivessuch

asadditional,prepositionssuchasinadditionto,verbssuchascause,andadverbs

suchastoo.Therearenopunctuationrulesfortlnsgroup,butitisimportantto

noticewhatkindsofwordsfollowthesesignals.

Anadditionalreasonforthecompany'sbankruptcywasthelackofcompetent

management.(Additionalis anadjective,soitisfollowedbyanoun.)

Inadditiontoincreasedcompetition,thelackofcompetentmanagement

causedthecompany'sbankruptcy.(Inadditiontoisapreposition,soitis

followedbyanounornounphrase.)

VocabularydifferencesbetweenBritishandAmericanEnglishincludewordssuch

asbonnet/hood,petrol/gasoline,windscreen/windshield,andlorry/truck.(Such

asis fol/owedbyanounornounphrase.)

Step 1 Circleallthetransitionsignalsinthefollowingparagraphs.

Step 2 Punctuatethetransitionsignalsifnecessary.

Genetic^3 Engineering

Geneticresearchhasproducedbothexcitingandfrighteningpossibilities.

Scientistsarenowabletocreatenewformsoflifeinthelaboratorybecauseof

thedevelopmentofgenesplicing.^4 (9ntheonehan~theabilitytocreatelifein

thelaboratorycouldgreatlybenefithumankind.Onebeneficialapplicationof

genesplicingisinagriculture.Forexampleresearchershaveengineereda more

nutritioustypeofricethatcouldhelpalleviatetheseriousproblemofvitaminA

deficiency.It is estimatedthat 124 millionchildrenworldwidelackvitaminA,

puttingthematriskofpermanentblindnessandotherhealthissues.Inaddition

geneticengineershavecreatedlargerfish,frost-resistantstrawberries,andcows

thatproducemoremilk.Indeedagriculturehasalreadybenefitedfromthe

promiseofgeneticengineering.

2dependentclause:groupofwordscontaininga subjectanda verbthatdoesnotexpressa complete

thought.Adependentclausealwaysbeginswitha subordinator.

3genetic:fromgene,theunitofheredity

4 genesplicing:genejoining