Ch 7

Discourse Grammar

Text-level grammar · cohesion · reference chains · genre constraints

Rewrite each sentence as instructed. Check your answer with the model.
Exercises
1
Rewrite applying end-weight (move the heavy subject clause to the end): "That she had won the lottery was a shock to everyone."
A heavy clausal subject is awkward — "it"-extraposition moves it to the end, the natural position for new/complex information.
2
Rewrite using the passive so the achievement gets end-focus: "Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize."
The passive lets the writer choose what goes last (end-focus) — here, the person rather than the prize.
3
Improve cohesion using pronoun reference: "The PM resigned. The PM's decision surprised everyone."
Repeating the full noun phrase is clumsy — a pronoun keeps given information light once it's established.
4
Rewrite avoiding repetition with substitution: "I wanted the red car, not the blue car."
Nominal substitution ("one") replaces a repeated noun without losing meaning.
5
Rewrite with fronted "yesterday" and subject-verb inversion for cohesion and emphasis: "A long-awaited and controversial report was released yesterday."
Fronting the time expression as subject ("Yesterday saw...") keeps the heavy noun phrase at the end, respecting end-weight.
6
Rewrite three short sentences as one cohesive sentence using reference and a connector: "The house was damp. The house needed renovation. The house was demolished."
Pronoun reference ("it") plus a connector ("but", "eventually") turns a list of repetitive sentences into a cohesive text.
Exercise 2 — Production
Write original sentences using the target structure. Feedback appears automatically as you type.
1
Write two connected sentences using a formal discourse connector at C2 level (not "however" or "although").