Feedback on Warm-Up 3

I think I've now finished marking Warm-Up 3, so here's my general feedback on how you performed on the task.

This task was all about turning informal spoken English into formal written English and you've all got the right basic idea of a) turning the focus away from the people and towards the situation or phenomenon you're describing; and b) using the right kind of formal language.

It's difficult to find the right formal tone, if you're not used to this sort of language, and quite a few of you didn't realise that a 'digger' is an excavator when you're talking formally. A dumper truck, however, is the same no matter how formal you are!

We also use far fewer phrasal verbs in formal English, preferring a word of French or Latin origin instead. 'Expire' for 'run out' is one of these examples.

Then there's the problem of English having so many damn words! You ought to be able to 'certify' an excavator … except that this particular verb is chiefly used to describe what a psychologist does when he commits someone to a mental hospital! You also ought to be able to 'certificate' one, except that this verb is only used in the context of a new drug - or a new aircraft - being brought on to the market and receiving official permission to be launched from a government licensing authority.

The tool you can use to help you here is a thesaurus. Roget's Thesaurus is the standard one in English. Here's part of their entry for 'expire':

Main Entry: expire

Part of Speech: verb 1

Definition: end

Synonyms: back gate, buy it*, cease, close, conclude, conk, croak*, decease, deep six, depart, die, elapse, end, finish, go, kick off, lapse, meet maker, one-way ticket, pass, pass away, pass on, perish, quit, run out, stop, strike out*, terminate

Antonyms: begin, commence, live, start, thrive

Here's the direct link: Thesaurus.com

Use the thesaurus to find some synonyms for 'get' too - it's too colloquial for just about anything other than e-mails and memos on this course.

Apart from that, don't forget to use the full form of verbs, instead of short forms, like 'I'm' and 'won't'.

Good luck with Send-In Task 3!