English for Academic Purposes (EAP)- Same or Different

Academic English the same or different

Work together to decide if the expressions on each line below have exactly the same meaning (S) or have different meaning (D). If there are more than two, they are all the same or all different (not two the same and one different). If you aren’t sure, try making an example sentence with one and see if the other one fits and if it changes the meaning.

Linking

• At first/ First of all
• First/ Firstly/ First of all
• As for… / Moving on to…
• As for…/ Looking at…
• Last/ Lastly/ Last of all/ Finally
• At last/ Lastly/ In the end
• To summarise/ In conclusion
• If/ When/ Unless
• e./ That is to say/ In other words
• g./ i.e.
• g./ for example/ for instance/ To give an example
• and so forth/ and so on/ etc./ etcetera/ among others

Determiners

• A few/ Few
• Almost people/ Almost all people
• A great advantage/ The main advantage
• Approximately/ About/ More or less
• Abundant/ Numerous
• Many people feel that…/ A large number of people think that…/ It is thought by many that…/ There is a widespread belief that…/ A great number of people hold the view that…
• One of the advantages/ An advantage

Verbs

• Saussure said that…/ Saussure claimed that…
• Saussure stated that…/ Saussure said that…
• Acknowledge/ Recognise

Tenses

• it declined/ it had declined
• it declined/ it has declined
• it will shoot up/ it would shoot up
• the rise caused…/ the rise was caused by…

Adjectives

• apparent/ obvious
• appropriate/ suitable
• critical/ vital/ very important
• similar/ the same

Time expressions

• By 2020/ Until 2020
• 3 weeks before/ 3 weeks ago
• In three weeks/ Three weeks after
• At the moment/ Currently/ Presently
• At the moment/ At that moment
• Nowadays/ These days
• Nowadays/ At the moment

Prepositions

• rose by 20%/ rose to 20%
• fluctuate between 10 and 20/ rise from 10 to 20

Pronouns

• It is…/ This is…

Misc.

• the information below/ the following information
• respectively/ in that order
• As a rule/ Generally/ In general

 

Check as a class or with the suggested answers. Some answers are debateable, so please check if you wrote something different.

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Suggested answers

Linking

• At first/ First of all – D
• First/ Firstly/ First of all – S
• As for… / Moving on to… – S
• As for…/ Looking at… – D
• Last/ Lastly/ Last of all/ Finally – S
• At last/ Lastly/ In the end – D
• To summarise/ In conclusion – D
• If/ When/ Unless – D
• e./ That is to say/ In other words – S
• g./ i.e. – D
• g./ for example/ for instance/ To give an example – S
• and so forth/ and so on/ etc./ etcetera/ among others – S

Determiners

• A few/ Few – D
• Almost people/ Almost all people – D
• A great advantage/ The main advantage – D
• Approximately/ About/ More or less – S
• Abundant/ Numerous – S
• Many people feel that…/ A large number of people think that…/ It is thought by many that…/ There is a widespread belief that…/ A great number of people hold the view that… – S
• One of the advantages/ An advantage – S

Verbs

• Saussure said that…/ Saussure claimed that… – D
• Saussure stated that…/ Saussure said that… – S
• Acknowledge/ Recognise – S

Tenses

• it declined/ it had declined – D
• it declined/ it has declined – D
• it will shoot up/ it would shoot up – D
• the rise caused…/ the rise was caused by… – D

Adjectives

• apparent/ obvious – S
• appropriate/ suitable – S
• critical/ vital/ very important – S
• similar/ the same – D

Time expressions

• By 2020/ Until 2020 – D
• 3 weeks before/ 3 weeks ago – D
• In three weeks/ Three weeks after – D
• At the moment/ Currently/ Presently – S
• At the moment/ At that moment – D
• Nowadays/ These days – S
• Nowadays/ At the moment – D

Prepositions

• rose by 20%/ rose to 20% – D
• fluctuate between 10 and 20/ rise from 10 to 20 – D

Pronouns

• It is…/ This is… – D

Misc.

• the information below/ the following information – D
• respectively/ in that order – D
• As a rule/ Generally/ In general – S