General English Level 6 V 3

UNIT 02 What do you think? TOPIC 01 History or progress?

	LANGUAGE FOCUS 03 Prefacing and ordering

1. Prefacing

The article says:
	The question is , is our small city ready for such a change?
	The problem is that working conditions inside these old buildings are very poor.

When we write an information text, we sometimes want to tell the reader what is coming next. We can use a prefacing structure to do this. A prefacing structure usually introduces the second part of the same sentence.

A common preface structure is the followed by a noun , followed by is . The second part of the sentence is usually a "that" clause, but sometimes it is a non-finite clause or a noun group.

The	thing	is	(that) I don't agree with you.
	point		(that) it's not the best solution.
	truth		(that) I didn't finish reading it.
The	solution	is	to pay someone to do it.
			money and hard work.

We can also modify or quantify the noun in the preface.

Examples

The only answer is to replace it with a new one.
The simple fact is that it doesn't work.

We can add extra information to the preface.
The only solution to the problem is to hire more staff.

2. Ordering

The article says:
	First and most importantly is space. The building itself is small and cramped with poor lighting. Second water, sewage and power systems are all very old and need to be replaced. Then of course there is the lack of eating facilities. Finally , if we want to be a successful city, we need to offer better office space so that businesses will want to set up there.

When we want to keep the reader informed of what stage we are up to in our argument, we can order the information to make it clearer. We make the order clear with the following words.

first	second	third	then	finally
firstly	secondly	thirdly	and then	lastly
			next	in conclusion
			after that	to sum up

Examples

1	Read the examples.
2	Listen to the examples.
3	Practise saying each example. Use the Pause button.

The problem with the proposed plan is that it will take too long to complete.
The good thing is , it's really healthy so I can eat as much as I like.
The first question is , how much is it going to cost?
I totally agree with the plan. Firstly , it will be easy for us to put into action. Secondly , I think everyone will benefit from it. Lastly , it will bring us success in the future.

Now go to 04 WRITING Prefacing and ordering.