Problems with verbals

Any of these verbals – gerund, or infinitive – may be incorrectly used when another one of them is required, depending on the meaning. Take, for example, two sentences:

· I stopped to talk with my friend. The infinitive expresses purpose – I stopped because I wanted to talk with my friend.

· I stopped talking with my friend. The gerund is an object – I stopped this action because I was pressed for time and had to go.

Unit 1-5. LANGUAGE AND DIVERSITY

Section 1. Guidelines for intensive reading of ESP texts

The author’s tone and attitude

Identifying the author’s tone and attitude is often required for an overall understanding of the passage. Tone questions ask you to determine the author's feelings about the topic by the language that he or she uses in writing the passage. Attitude questions are very similar to tone questions. Again, you must understand the author's opinion. The language that the author uses will tell you what his or her position is.

You should keep in mindthat, in ESP texts,most reading passages have a neutral tone, but sometimes an author may take a position for or against some point. However, answer choices that indicate strong emotion – amused, angry, outraged, pleased, and so forth – will seldom be correct.