English Applied Writing

Lecture Four

湖南大学• 英语写作实训中心 kczx.hnu.cn/ewriting.html

Contents

Contract Writing1

Annual Report Writing

2

Table and Graph Writing

3

ABSTRACT WRITING4

Contract

Definition• A contract is an agreement which sets

forth binding obligations of the relevant parties. It is enforceable by law, and any party that fails to fulfill his contractual obligations may be sued and forced to make compensation, though most contracts do not give rise to disputes.The contract is based on agreement, which is the result of business negotiations. 

Contract Basic structure of a contract

1. Title2. Preamble3. Body4. Witness clause

Differences between Contract and Agreement

1. Contract: specific terms Agreement: dealing with the principle2. Covering different ranges3. Formats contract: set forms (preamble, body and witness

clause) agreement: no fixed format

Title Sale Contract Purchase Contract Agency Contract Employment Contract Lease Contract Loan Contract Donation Contract Technology Contract Sino-Foreign Joint Venture Contract …

Preamble

• contract number• date of signing • place of signing • signing parties• each party’s authority • preface

Body definition clause general terms and conditions duration termination force majeure governing law arbitration jurisdiction

Witness Clause

language validate copies signature seal

See Sample

Language Features• Use of formal or legal terms• Use of “shall”• Use of present tense• Careful of words indicating time• Careful of indicating space• Use of “subject to”• Use of compound adverbs• Use of repeated synonyms

Use of formal or legal terms

At the request of Party B, Party A agrees to send technicians to assist Party B to install the equipment. (help)

The Employer shall render correct technical guidance to the personnel. (give)

“Shall” and “will” or “should” are often used to mean obligations and

liabilities

• This contract shall be written in English in four copies. Each party shall keep two copies.

• This contract shall become effective upon and from the date on which it is signed.

Present tense is used instead of future tense

• Licensee may terminate this Contract 90 days after a written notice thereof is sent to Licensor upon the happening of one of the following events ：

• The patent described in Article2 is not issued within 30 days from signing this Contract.

Words and expressions like “today”, “tomorrow”, “in three days”, “from now on”, “right away” etc. shall be avoided in contract writing. Instead, such natural periods as hour, date, week, month, season and year are recommended. For example:

Done at Hamburg, this thirty-first day of March two thousand and eight, in a single original, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic.

Careful of Words indicating time

– Casual expressions like “this”, “that”, “here”, “there” should be avoided in contract writing. Instead, concrete nouns are employed. For example:

– A trade talk on technology transfer was being held in Shanghai Cherry Holiday Villa, by and between ABC Company, with its registered office at XXX, Shanghai, China (Party A) and XYZ Company, with its registered office at XXX New York, USA (Party B).

Casual expressions Indicating space should be avoided

• This draft contract is subject to your approval.

• Subject to your agreement, we’ll proceed.

• This offer is subject to our final confirmation.

Use of “subject to”

– A. The “here-” group, with “here” indicating the Contract:• hereafter = after this time• herebefore = until now• hereby = by means of this• herein = in this• hereinafter = later in this contract• hereinbefore = in a preceding part of this contract• hereof = of this• hereto = to this• hereupon = at this point• hereunder = under this• herewith = with this

Use of compound adverbs

– B. The “there-” group, with “there” referring to “that”, or “that part of the contract”:• thereby = by that means / in that connection• therefrom = from that• therein = in that; in that particular• thereafter = afterwards• thereof = of that matter• therinbefore = in a preceding part of the same

contract thereon = on that• thereunder = under that• thereupon = then; as the result of that• therewith = with that or it• thereto = to that

–C. The “where-” group, with “where” meaning “which”, “what”:

• whereas = considering that; but• whereby = by what; by which• wherein = in what; in which• whereon = on what; on which• whereof = of what; of which

•The Buyer hereby orders from the Seller the undermentioned goods subject to the following conditions:• In witness whereof, the two parties

have executed this agreement in duplicate by their duly authorized representatives.

– Such expressions are rare in general writing but common in contract writing to enforce formality:• by and between • terms and conditions• null and void• for and on behalf of• upon and from• hands and seals• as and when

Using repeated synonyms

For example:• The Sellers and the Buyers agree that the

relevant terms and conditions may be amended and revised through negotiation, as and when the need arises.• This contract shall become effective upon

and from the date on which it is signed.

How to say 合同中的“章”、“条”、“款”、“项”

• chapter, article/section/clause, paragraph, subparagraph

Translation（ 1 ） Party A shall pay Party B a monthly salary of US $500 (SAY FIVE HUNDRED US DOLLARS ONLY).

（ 2 ） This credit expires till January 1(inclusive) for negotiation in Beijing.

（ 3 ） This Contract is made by and between the Buyer and the Seller, whereby the Buyer agrees to buy and the Seller agrees to sell the under mentioned commodity subject to the terms and conditions stipulated below.

聘方须每月付给受聘方 500 美元整。

本证在北京议付，有效期至 1 月 1 日。

买卖双方同意按下述条款购买出售下列商品并签订本合同。

Translation•销售合同

•合同号：•签署日期 / 地点：•买方名称：•法定地址：•联系人：•卖方名称：•法定地址：•联系人：• 买卖双方经协商，签署本合同。根据合同条款规定，买方同意购买，卖方同意出售

下列货物。•货物名称及合同适用范围•价格•付款方式•包装条件•……•双方证明，合同自签署之日起生效。•买方： 卖方：•签署人： 签署人：•日期： 日期：

Annual Report

Definition• Annual reports are documents that

corporations, schools, nonprofit organizations and other agencies issue on a yearly basis to give investors, members and analysts information about their ongoing activities and recent results. In the financial world, corporate annual reports include detailed financial information for the previous year, as well as plans for the future that investors use to make decisions and predictions.

A possible format• contents list • what the organization does • some of the year’s highlights • chairperson’s statement/address • main body (possibly department to

department, or task to task) • accounts • appendixes.

Attention

• Properly title all Tables and Figures, and place them correctly within the report

Table and Graph

Organization

• Introduction - rewrite the question in a different way.

• Summary - write one sentence summarising the trend shown on the graph, and one sentence summarising the table.

• Details paragraph - describe the graph in detail.

Language

• Introduction• The charts give information about travel to

and from the UK, and about the most popular countries for UK residents to visit.

• The graph shows numbers of visits to the UK and trips abroad by UK residents.

• The bar chart illustrates the five most popular destinations for UK travellers.

Comparison• Prices in the UK are high compared to /

with / in comparison with (prices in) Canada and Australia.

• There are 5 million smokers in the UK, while / whereas only 2 million Canadians and 1 million Australians smoke.

• Between 1990 and 2000, the number of smokers in the UK decreased dramatically, while / whereas the figures for Canada and Australia remained the same.

Ways of using “see”

• In Britain, CD sales increased dramatically in the 1980s.

• Britain saw a dramatic increase in CD sales in the 1980s.

• The 1980s saw a dramatic increase in CD sales in Britain.

• British shops saw CD sales increase dramatically in the 1980s.

• The graph and table provide information about water use worldwide and water consumption in two different countries. 

• The charts compare the amount of water used for agriculture, industry and homes around the world, and water use in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

• It is clear that global water needs rose significantly between 1900 and 2000, and that agriculture accounted for the largest proportion of water used. We can also see that water consumption was considerably higher in Brazil than in the Congo.

• In 1900, around 500km³ of water was used by the agriculture sector worldwide. The figures for industrial and domestic water consumption stood at around one fifth of that amount. By 2000, global water use for agriculture had increased to around 3000km³, industrial water use had risen to just under half that amount, and domestic consumption had reached approximately 500km³. 

• In the year 2000, the populations of Brazil and the Congo were 176 million and 5.2 million respectively. Water consumption per person in Brazil, at 359m³, was much higher than that in the Congo, at only 8m³, and this could be explained by the fact that Brazil had 265 times more irrigated land.

Abstract

• An abstract should be viewed as a miniature version of the paper. The Abstract should provide a brief summary of each of the main sections of the paper: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion.

• As Houghton (1975) put it, "An abstract can be defined as a summary of the information in a document."

Definition

Features

• The key features of a summary are as follows:

• it is shorter than the source, • it repeats the ideas of the source in different

phrases and sentences.

Writing the Parts of the Abstract1. Write 1-2 introduction sentences that explain

topic, purpose, and research question(s).

2. Write 1-2 sentences describing your research methods (this may also include the type of data analysis you used).

3. Write 1-2 sentences describing the results / findings.

4. Write 1-2 sentences containing your conclusions and recommendations.

Attention

• Do not include your own ideas, illustrations, metaphors, or interpretations. Look upon yourself as a summarizing machine; you are simply repeating what the source text says, in fewer words and in your own words.

Useful languages

• First, the author argues that • At the beginning, the reporter writes/states

that • In the first part, the author points out that • In the introduction, the author

explains/mentions why

• In the next part, the reader is informed about the theory

• In the main part, the author goes on with the data/questions that

• Then/Afterwards, we are told about the statistics

• In addition to that, the author examines the argument

• Next, the author discusses the problem• Furthermore, the author analyses the

opinion/topic

• In the end, the author emphasizes• Finally, the writer concludes that • At last, author stresses/adds

Useful words and expressions

• report, show, demonstrate, model, indicate, suggest, propose, imply, reveal, present, discuss, describe, examine, measure, identify, infer, deal with, cope with, be concerned with, represent, estimate,

• analyze/ make an analysis, distinguish, observe, obtain agreement, combine, compare, differ, differ from/with in, make a difference, conclude, draw/make a conclusion, sum up,

• conduct research on, investigate, make an investigation, survey, apply, employ, use, constitute, fulfill the gap, fulfill the role, perform a crucial function/role, construct,

• make/carry out/perform an experiment in, experiment on/with, experimentally, fabricate, test this hypothesis by, performed normally, require, determine, quantify, measure, replicate

• discover, identify, find, findings, results

23/4/21 ccc 51

创造型教师 : 一个值得推广的概念

• [ 摘要 ] 创造性是 21 世纪信息时代对教师素养提出的新要求 , 创造型教师需成为每一个教师应该努力实现的角色要求。本文对创造型教师的合理性、内涵和特征作了分析 , 认为在当前要重视与推广创造型教师这一概念。

• [ 关键词 ] 创造型教师 ; 教师

Translation

23/4/21 ccc 52

Creativity-Oriented Teacher ： a Concept Worthy of Generalization

• Abstract: Creativity is newly necessary for 21-century information era. Every teacher should try his best to be a creativity- oriented teacher. This article analyzes the reasonableness, connotation and features of being a creativity- oriented teacher. It supports the view that creativity-oriented teachers should be put a high premium on and generalized at present.

• Key words: creativity-oriented teachers; teachers

Thank you!