Unit 4c Book

1. Introduction

Unit 4c deals with a skill which is very important in electrical engineering: soldering. Through the description of the soldering process, you will revise language used to give instructions and learn how to talk about simultaneous actions, i.e. actions happening at the same time.

Contents:

Giving instructions:

• The imperative mood: hold, solder, turn over...

Expressing simultaneous actions:

• Written language: simultaneously, while soldering
• Spoken language: (at the same time) as you´re soldering

The Present Participle and the Present Progressive/Continuous tense:

• While soldering... = (at the same time) as you´re soldering

Describing consequent actions:

• Sequencers: first, next, after that, then, finally, consequently

2. Vocabulary and Reading: Basic Terms Related to Soldering

In order to solder properly, it is a good idea to prepare all the necessities in advance. In this matching exercise, you are asked to match basic terms related to soldering to their definitions. The follow-up task here requires you to put the steps of the soldering preparation process in the correct order. Finally, this reading task details the soldering process itself. It is explained using a real-world application: soldering an LED to a circuit board. 

3. Listening: How to Solder on Circuit Boards

In the previous section, you had a chance to read about soldering. You may have noticed that the language of instructions is not difficult with mostly imperatives used. A similar language will be used in a video on soldering here.

Watch the video and complete this listening comprehension task.

Your coursebook (Bonamy, D. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Coursebook. Pearson Longman, p. 30) describes another practical demonstration on soldering. You will hear a short instruction on how to prepare a resistor for soldering on a printed circuit board. You can see three illustrative diagrams on p. 30 in your coursebook. Study the diagrams first and put them in the correct order. To check your answers, listen to or read listening script no. 11 on p. 120 in your coursebook. As you listen, put the instructions in this task in the correct order. 

4. Stylistics: Written and Spoken Language

Below, you can see a table with two extracts from the second listening task in Section 3. Compare the two extracts with the single instructions listed below the table. Out of these single instructions, choose the two that match the two extracts.

1 Secure the circuit board with a clamp to avoid movement during soldering.

2 Bend the component wires using pliers to allow insertion into the correct location on the board.

3 Insert the component on the correct side of the board, flat and parallel to the board’s surface.

4 While holding the component in place with a pad or sponge, turn the board over and secure it.

5 While pushing the component slightly away from the board (to permit air circulation when hot), bend the

component wires outwards.

6 Trim the protruding wire ends using wire cutters.

7 Clean all the parts to be soldered.

(From: Bingham, C. & Wright, L. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Teacher´s book. Pearson Longman, p. 42.)

If you chose instructions 4 and 5, your answers were correct:

Now compare the two columns of the table. You can see that the meaning is the same, but the two columns differ in the level of formality. The first column sounds very informal and is typical of spoken English. The other column, however, is more formal and is typical of written language. When speaking, you can use contractions, phrasal verbs and incomplete sentences, including rhetorical questions. Study the examples copied from your book (Bonamy, D. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Coursebook. Pearson Longman, p. 30):

 There are lots of other differences between formal and informal English. If you want to learn them all, study the table below.

Detailed Information on the Aspects of Formal and Informal Language

5. Grammar: Giving Instructions; Describing Simultaneous and Consequent Actions

As you may have seen so far in this Unit, the easiest way to give instructions is to use the imperative mood. For example: Bend the leads slightly with your pliers.

Sometimes you need to indicate the order of steps, which means you need to use sequencers (first, next, after that, then, finally, consequently, etc.)

Example: First, pick up the transistor and try to get the two leads through the correct holes in the board. Then bend the leads slightly with your pliers.

However, when giving instructions, describing consequent actions may not always be enough. Sometimes you may need to describe simultaneous actions, in other words, a situation when two steps need to be done at the same time.  There are various ways to express this:

You can use adverbials:

• Simultaneously, hold the component and turn the board over.
• Hold the component, and at the same time, turn the board over.

You can use the Present Continuous/Progressive tense*:

• At the same time as you´re holding the component, turn the board over.
• As you are holding the component, turn the board over.
• While you are holding the component, turn the board over.

You can reduce the subordinate clause by using the present participle**:

• While holding the component, turn the board over.

(NB:

* If you feel you need to revise the Present Continuous/Progressive tense, go back to Unit 3a or study the document here.

** If you feel you need to revise the present participle used for reductions, go back to Unit 2b or study the document here.

6. Writing: Homework

Now practise describing consequent and simultaneous actions by doing the task below. Your task is to combine each note into a single sentence, using a variety of forms covered in this Unit. The CAPITALIZED phrases indicate which actions should happen simultaneously. Submit your sentences here. There are more than one correct option, one of which can be found in the key.

7. Forum: Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

A typical situation in which you normally do two things simultaneously, is when you want to use some PC shortcuts. For example, do you know the combination of keys for copying and pasting? Or how do you type in the @ sign quickly? In this forum, come up with as many useful shortcut keys for PC as possible. Do not only provide the shortcuts themselves, but also describe the process, using complete sentences. For example:

&: ALT + C

To type the & sign in your PC, press the right ALT key and at the same time as you´re holding it down, press the C key.

While providing the complete sentence, use a variety of grammar forms presented in this Unit. Give at least two shortcuts and respond to at least one contribution of a fellow student by indicating if it is correct.

8. Word List

The key terms related to the topic of Unit 4c can be found:

• in the Excel format here.
• in the interactive flash card format here. This format is particularly good for drilling the new vocabulary.
• in a zip file here. This file is downloadable, so that after unpacking it, you can drill the new vocabulary on your desktop, laptop or any other portable device where you have a browser installed. The recommended one is Mozilla Firefox. Important: after unzipping the zip file, make sure to keep all the related files in the same directory at all times. Do not change any file names and do not transfer or delete anything.

Recommendation: Remember that the best way to learn new vocabulary is to see each new word in a context; that is, seeing it in the contexts provided in the tasks you complete in the unit.

9. A printer-friendly version of Unit 4c

A printer-friendly version of Unit 4c exercises and the keys to these exercises can be found here.