Task 1

Study the following paragraphs, one, identify examples of poor style and try to rewrite it in an
academic style.

These days a lot of kids are starting school early. Years ago, they began at 5, but now it’s normal
to start at 4 or younger. Why is this? One thing is that mums need to get back to work. Is it good
for the kids? Jenkins has studied this and says that early schooling causes social problems like
stealing, drug taking etc. I think he’s right and we should pay mums to stay at home.


How to make people work harder is a topic that lots of people have written about in the last few
years. There are lots of different theories etc and I think some of them are ok. When we think
about this we should remember the old Chinese proverb, that you can lead a horse to water but can’t
make it drink. So how do we increase production? It’s quite a complex subject but I’ll just talk
about a couple of ideas.


Task 2

Identify the informal expressions in the following sentences and rewrite them by replacing the
informal expressions with a more formal equivalent.


1.      Researchers looked at the way pressure builds up around a fault.

2.      The reaction of the officials was sort of negative.

3.      Exports figures won’t improve until the economy is stronger.

4.      She did not want to perform the experiment incorrectly.

5.      The problem didn’t have many viable solutions.

6.      These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD players, etc.

7.      What can be done to lower costs?

8.      Then the solution can be discarded.

9.      The future of Federal funding is up in the air.

10. The data confirm that there is an association between unemployment and poor health.