Exercise 7

Concordancer Exercises

Mini-Research Question 7:

Can 'yet' be used at the beginning of a sentence?

First go to http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/ and find the "Web Concordancer" in the middle of the page.

Type in the word "yet" in the "Keyword" box. Don’t worry about the first box , which is set at "equal to" , just now. After you’ve typed in "yet" hit the "Go" icon.

    1. Can 'yet' be used at the beginning of a sentence?

    2. What does it mean in that position?

To help you with this you can see the complete paragraph where the word occurs by clicking on 'yet' in the concordances. Click, for example, on 'yet' in Line 7.Read the paragraph. What do you think 'yet' means?

Go back to the concordances, now click on 'yet' in Line 19, have you got a better idea of the meaning?

Finally to help you some more, on the same page as the fuller text it says "Net Dictionary entries for yet" Click on 'yet' You’ll seven meanings for 'yet'  which one refers to the 'yet' that you've been looking at?

Remember to look out for the answers which will be given with the next question next week!

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Key to Last Week’s Exercise: Research Question: 6

1. Meaning 2

2. Meaning 2

3. Meaning 1

4. Meaning 2

6. Meaning 1

7. Meaning 1

8. Meaning 1

9. Meaning 1

 

Note that ‘outlook' NEVER means ‘appearance'.

 

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Suggested answers to last week’s exercise comparing business letters:

1. The alternative letter uses less negatively-toned language. Here are some examples:
"clears the main query" instead of "do not believe your complaint is justified"
"clear any other queries you may have" instead of "you will not be too disappointed"
"do our best to provide after sales service" instead of "cannot be more helpful"

2. The alternative letter includes some key points for rejecting the complaint.

3. It is often advisable to highlight key points by repeating them. These key points also serve to make the letter sound smoother and more diplomatic. The original letter is quite stark in tone: immediately after ending the first paragraph with "we do not believe your complaint is justified", it starts the second by saying that a decision has already been made before the client reads the test report.