Transcript Action and agency

Action and agency
What would be the employee reception accorded the
introduction of such a proposal?
How would the employees receive such a proposal?
Action and agency
Readers expect the action of a
sentence to be articulated by the
verb.
Action and agency
How would the employees receive such a proposal?
How would the employees receive such a proposal if the
Executive Board introduced it at this time?
Nominalizations
The North Carolina proposal involved the manufacture and
interstate shipment of mobile homes.
The Legislature was confused as to what the proposal from
these three States actually involved. The answer in one case,
however, was clear: The North Carolina proposal involved
the manufacture and interstate shipment of mobile homes.
Nominalizations
The North Carolina proposal involved the manufacture and
interstate shipment of mobile homes.
In response to new quality control problems in the housing
industry, North Carolina proposed to regulate the
manufacture and interstate shipment of mobile homes.
What’s the story?
Once upon a time a walk in the woods occurred when
suddenly a jump from behind a tree caused surprise!
Verbs
A weak verb is one whose meaning has little or nothing to
do with the action of the sentence as a whole.
A strong verb is one whose meaning is the focal point of the
action of the sentence as a whole.
Jack articulated his love for Jill.
Usually express the action of a sentence as a verb
Usually use verbs only for expressing actions
By understanding what readers expect to do
with a verb, a writer is empowered to some
extent over the ways in which a majority of
readers are likely to interpret the writer’s
prose. If the writer wishes to make it more
likely that a reader will consider a particular
piece of information as representing the action
of a sentence, all the writer need do is
articulate that action as a verb.
The reorganisation of the old Department into two new Departments
should also include the institution of separate detailed bookkeeping
procedures and the maintenance of separate bank accounts for each.
When you reorganize the old Department into two new ones, institute
detailed bookkeeping procedures and maintain separate bank accounts
for each Department.
In reorganizing the old Department into two new ones, be sure to
institute separate bookkeeping procedures and to maintain separate
bank accounts for each Department.
Writing and thinking
Only you can communicate what is happening in your
sentence. Whatever the action might be, express it as a verb.
In doing so you will start to be aware of the relationship
between writing and thinking – especially your writing and
your thinking.
When you start applying these ideas
you might start a bit like this:
… but you should end up more like
this:
This is a two way process that firstly implies the acceptance of a different
culture by the recipient society and secondly the adjustment by the
immigrants who decided to live in another country. Moreover, the recognition
of a country’s laws by the immigrants is another important step in this
approach: it does not entail the eradication of cultural differences which can
instead be peacefully accommodated as long as there is a common
commitment to live together. We can therefore say that the backbone of this
approach is the willingness to share between the immigrants and the citizens
of a given country and that the relationship between these two categories is
based on equal worth and respect.
This act has indeed an historic significance, as the two states doctrine
is reaffirmed with a large support: the consensus shown by the
General Assembly was undoubtedly broad and equally distributed
among the five regional groups. Moreover, it is important to highlight
that by now only Israel, the US, Canada and the Czech Republic are
left as the only front expressing an articulated political opposition to
the recognition of Palestinian statehood.