Unit 3bc Book

Go to page 23 in your coursebook (Bonamy, D. (2011). Technical English Level 3 Coursebook. Pearson Longman). Read the explanation of how the launch abort system works. As you read, put the events in this task in the correct order.

You may have noticed that the description of the events in the previous task just used very simple sentences and the only indication of the sequence of these events was through numbering. Stylistically, this is not sufficient. In order to make the order of events clear, it is necessary to add some time expressions and time indicators. In the previous unit, you came across sequencers, i.e. short adverbials of time which help readers understand the sequence of events. For example, you can say:

First, the capsule reaches a safe altitude, and then/after that, the parachutes open up.

Another option is to combine the two clauses using some time expressions:

After/Once/When/As soon as the capsule reaches/has reached a safe altitude, the parachutes open up.

You can see that what has been created is a complex sentence with one main clause and one subordinate time clause. The example above has present tenses in both the main and subordinate clauses because it describes a technical principle. But what if you just wanted to answer the following question asking about a probable consequence:

What will happen after/once/when/as soon as the capsule reaches a safe altitude?

The answer would read like this:

After/Once/When/As soon as the capsule reaches/has reached a safe altitude, the parachutes will open up.

Notice that the future tense is only used in the main clause. Like conditional clauses, time clauses cannot use the future tense and use the present tense instead.

You can also change the order of the clauses in the sentence:

The parachutes will open up after/once/when/as soon as the capsule reaches/has reached a safe altitude.

However, if you make this change, the comma will no longer be used. A comma is only used if the subordinate time clause comes first.

Notice that the example sentence above had different subjects in its clauses. However, if the subjects are the same, you can simplify the complex sentence a bit:

The computer detects a problem. Then it (= the computer) activates the abort engine.

= After the computer detects a problem, it activates the abort engine.

↓

After detecting a problem, the computer activates the abort engine.

However, this reduction is only possible if the subject in both the clauses is the same. This is because the present participle (“detecting”) doesn´t inform the reader who does the activity of “detecting”, so the reader automatically assumes that the subject of this subordinate clause is the same as the subject in the main clause.

Now practice the time clauses. In how many ways can you give information while not shifting its meaning? Find out in this task. Then match sentences in this task, so that there is a logical link between them. After you finish, leave the task open. Open a Word document and link the pairs of sentences from this task using a suitable time connective. Submit the completed task here. Finally, you will describe a more complex process in more sentences. First, put the sentences describing the process of barcode scanning in the correct order in this task. After you finish, leave the task open. Open a Word document and link the ordered set of sentences from the previous task using suitable time connectives. Submit the completed task here.