Academic English- Longer Phrases

Longer academic phrases

Teacher’s instructions

Photocopy (maybe A3 size) and cut up one pack per group of 2-4 students, separating the middle column. Also photocopy one un-cut-up copy per student for them to check their answers with and keep.

Give out the first and last column cards and get students to match them to make the basic phrases. When they are (nearly) done, give them the middle column cards to add to make longer phrases with – this will also help them check their answers from the last stage.

Give out the un-cut-up copies for them to check their answers with, then ask them to test each other in pairs, for example:

• Giving the longer version and asking their partner to come up with the shorter version
• Giving the shorter version and asking their partner to come up with a longer version
• Giving the left-hand and middle columns and asking their partner for the last column
• Giving the left-hand column and asking their partner for the middle and right-hand ones
• Giving the end of the phrases and asking their partner to remember the beginning

 

Cards to photocopy and cut up

… is	usually	defined as…
… could	potentially	cause…
The term… is used	in this paper	to mean…
… will	almost	certainly…
A	great/ substantial/ slight	difference between…
A	(very) small/ tiny/ significant	minority of…
A	very	large number of…
A simpler	if less precise	definition is…
An	additional	example of this is…
An example	which	I often use is…
An example from my	own	experience is…
As a	direct	result of…

 

 

As a	general	rule,…
As is	clearly	shown above…
Because of	all	the reasons above…
Despite	all of	this,…
Even though	all	that is true,…
I can illustrate this	point	with an analogy,…
In	complete	contrast,…
It has remained	more or less/ approximately	stable at…
It is thought	by many	that…
It rose by	just under/ more or less	a third to…
One of the	best	examples is…
Positive	and negative	aspects of this include…
Some	of the	advantages are…
The advantages	easily	outweigh the disadvantages.
The meaning is	somewhat	ambiguous but…
The term is used here in its	usual	sense of…
There are	far	more pros than cons to…
There are two	related	meanings to…
There is a	very	high probability of…
This will reach a	new	peak of…
To be	more	precise,…
You could	also	take this to mean…