Consistency of Semantic Meaning with Structure and Function in English Writing

馬文靜 張麗婧

【Abstract】Writing is one of the skills most difficult to train and develop.Although writing can be circumvented in many cases by some people， modern civilization is imposing increasing demands on our ability to write， and write well. In English writing， consistency of semantic meaning with structure and function in English writing is a very important part to evaluate the quality of writing.In students English academic writing， there are different writing types. The consistency of semanticmeaning with structure and function in different academic writings is various. In this thesis， the consistency of the semantic meaning with structure and function in the essay and academic and report writing is analyzed.

【Key words】consistency； semantic； structure； function； English writing

Introduction

Writing，asoneofthefourbasicskillsinlanguagelearning， is usually consideredas themostcomplexandthemostdifficultone.Its alsooneofthemostimportantabilitiesfor collegestudentsbothinChinaandabroad.InspiteoflargequantitiesoftimeandenergyspentinEnglishWriting，thewriting performancesarestillfarfromsatisfactory.Thisstudysetsouttoinvestigatetheuseof cohesivedevicesintheEnglishWritingof non-English majors to improve our teaching of English writing [1].

Sincethe1960s，moreandmore1inguistshaverecognizedthat peopleshouldstudysemanticmeaningdeeplyinordertoknowtheessence，function，lawoflanguagedevelopmentandtherelationship betweenlanguageandthought.Leech （1974） has divided semantic meaning into seven types： conceptual meaning， connotative meaning， stylistic meaning affective meaning， reflected meaning， collocated meaning and thematic meaning [2].

English writing which has gone through a long-term development both in abroadand at home. Nunan once said in terms of skills， writing is the most difficultskill to master for those second language learners. As a process of reproduction on the basis of absorbing thelanguage knowledge， it can reflect learners comprehensive ability to use the language. There are many factors that influence college students writing ability， such as logicalreasoning ability， basic language knowledge and writing skills. However， in the modern English writing， too much attention has been paid to the writing skills.Semantic meaning is the commonobjectofstudyinsemantics.In English writing， semantic meaning is the smallest unit of the writing. The structure and the function of thesemantic meaning in different writing are different. In this thesis， we analyze the essay， academic and the comment writing.

1.Essay writing

University students are often asked to write essays. An essay is a traditional 600-6000 word text written as an assignment or for an exam.As we undergraduates， we will write many kinds of essays. So learning how to write an essay is a necessary task for undergraduates. Writing an essay is not an easy task.

Firstly， choose and limits a topic. The topic may be chosen at your will by yourselves or by limited by the requirements.After you have decided on a subject， your next job is to reduce it to manageable proportions.Secondly determine your purpose. These purposes often overlap： entertain your readers as you inform； inform as you try to persuade； each piece of effective writing has a main or dominant purpose. Then gather material. To develop your topic， you need to gather ideas， facts， examples， and details. In addition to special writing skills concerning tense and voice， academic writing also pays greatest attention to clause structure， namely to complicated clause structure. Academic writing isfeatured by complex thought， which can be achieved only by more than one clause， just in order to achieve greatest precise and accurate description and statement， to arouse no ambiguity nor any form of misunderstanding.

Semantic meaning is the core element of an essay because the readers are willing to learn something from your essay and what they could understand is the semantic meaning [3]. The function of an essay is to talk about something that the author is interested in or something that the author wants to tell the readers. Therefore， the structure of the semantic meaning should be consistent with the function. Only in this way can you write an effective essay.

2.Academic writing

Academic writing is featured by some fixed elements， including fixed （academic） terms and fixed structure， characterized by maintenance of impartiality and objectivity （vs. subjectivity）.It is for this reason that there is no first， second person nor such third person as “he” or “she” or “they”. Instead， passive voce is in wide application.It is also featured by extreme attention to conveyance of information in an accurate and concise manner， by the absence of any attempt to arouse emotion in sharp contrast with novels， drama. Such characteristic results in high concentration of such writing techniques as definition， description （of mechanisms or process）， classification and/or interpretation.Academic paper must present facts in exactly the way as they are， free from any distortion. This implies that no such literature writing skills as suspense and figures of speech shall be applied to academic writing.

Academic writing differs from general writing in readers， style， and organization.Academic writing is to be read by special readers in a particular field， which suggests that academic writing is limited in readers who are supposed to have special knowledge in relevant field， otherwise the writing will appear Greek to him/her.Academic writing is also different from general writing in style， namely in vocabulary， grammar and sentence structure.Applied to academic writing are highly technical and semi-technical words which are characterized by precise and narrow meanings， meanings completely different than when used in general writing.

Academic writing is featured in grammar by frequent use of present tense to express something permanent， like characteristics， process， disposition， general truth or facts， because such information in academic paper usually requires no specific reference to time. Compared with general writing ， passive voice is much more

preferable in academic writing， to appear objective and unemotional， to draw the readers attention to the process or result with no interest in who causes such a result or process.

Since the function of the academic writing is to present facts inexactly the way as they are， free from any distortion， the semantic meaning structure should be consistent with the function [4]. Compared with general writing， passive voice is much more preferable in academic writing， to appear objective and unemotional， to draw the readers attention to the process or result with no interest in who causes such a result or process.So in the academic writing， the consistency of semantic meaning with structure and function is reflected in the writing process.

3.Report writing

Notall students write traditional-style essays. Undergraduates especially students majoring in the engineering have a lot of research work to do. During their research work， they are always required to write reports on projects. The function of reports is to help the research and write down the research results. The structure of semantic meaning must be consistent with the function. The definition of consistency is the state of being complete and having all theseparate parts connected. [5] Report has target readers who are engaging in the scientific research， so report writing has its special function and the structure should be consistent with the meaning. The consistency of the semantic meaning with function and structure is very important in the report writing.

4.Conclusion

Writingis the most difficult one of the four language skills to acquire for learners of English as a foreign language （EFL）. As a process of reproduction on the basis of absorbing thelanguage knowledge， it can reflect learners comprehensive ability to use the language. In English writing， the consistency of semantic meaning with function and structure plays an important role in expressing information. The function of semantic meaning is to express information and the structure of semantic meaning is to help express information in a special way. Only if the function and structure work together， the English writing will clearly express information. So in the English writing， the function of the semantic meaning should be consistent with the structure. During writing， the principle of the consistency should be remembered.

Reference [1]Bambers，B.（1983）.Cohereneeandeohesion：Whataretheyandhowaretheyachieved

[1]College Composition and Communieation，43（4）：417一429.

[2] Goddard， Cliff（1998）.Semantic Analysis： Philosophy of Language. The Macmillan Ltd.

[3]王得杏（1998）：《英語(yǔ)話語(yǔ)分析與跨文化交際》。上海：北京語(yǔ)言文化大學(xué)出版社。

[4]Saeed，John1.（1997）.Semantics.BlackwellPublishersLtd.

[5] Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners[M].Beijing： Foreign language teaching and research press，2003