Writing assignment1

NAME: WANG TIANREN (APPLE)
Martic NO.: U086069E
GROUP: E06
TUTOR: MS KHOO SIM ENG
Writing Assignment 1
Paragraph 1: Cause and Effect -- Why people resist new technology 
Rewrite :
The high price of high-technology products is one of the reasons that people resist new technology. As new technology is at the beginning of its development stage, it does not have as much infrastructure as other industries. The products of new technology are normally more expensive than other products. For example, solar energy is a new technology. Consequently, solar energy’s price is about 5 to 20 times higher than other energy sources (Solar Energy: Competitive Positioning by each Market Segment, 2006, para1). There are four factors that cause the high price of high-technology products. The first factor is the high price of the patent. As new technology has not been applied in daily life for a long period, the producers must pay a high price to get the patent. The second factor is the high cost of new installations. New technology is different from existing technology and requires specific equipment. The producers may need to spend much money to make this specific equipment. That leads to another factor, which is the high cost of educating workers. Since the machines are new, most of the workers have not used them before. Hence, the producers have to pay a lot of money to educate their workers and train them so that they work efficiently. The fourth factor is the high cost of advertising. Since most people are not familiar with the new technology, the producers have to put out many advertisements to popularize their products. While this is effective, it is also expensive. In conclusion, the high price is a great obstacle for people to accept the new technology.

References:
 Solar Energy: Competitive Positioning by each Market Segment (2006). Retrieved 01 Sep, 2008, from http://www.solarbuzz.com/StatsCosts.htm

 Word 267

W5T2 Grammar Mistakes

One of my common grammar mistakes is sentence fragment. I always write incomplete sentences when I write my essays. According to Writing Academic English (Oshima A, Hogue A, 2006, P183), the key to solve this problem is to remember that a complete sentence must contain at least one main or independent clause. Refer to Writing Academic English, “an independent clause contains a subject and a verb and express a complete thought” (Oshima A, Hogue A, 2006, P163). For example, “I am writing my assignment.”, it is a independent clause. Another key to avoid sentence fragment is to pay attention to the sentences with subordinators, such as although, since, because, if, before and so on. Make sure that every clause beginning with these words is attached to an independent clause. For instance, “Before we make the detailed plan, we need some more facts and figures.”, it is a sentence with correct usage of “before”. As I hold to the tenet that theory should be united with practice, I will do some exercise then. 

Practice: to correct the followed sentence.

1. Everybody in this village know, April fond of hunting.

Right: Everybody in this village knows that April is fond of hunting.

2. To study a foreign language, a good dictionary should be bought.

Right: To study a foreign language, we should buy a good dictionary.

3. Finishing my composition, I had nothing to do.

Right: Having finishing my composition, I had nothing to do.

4. Sailing on and on, a new island was discovered.

Right: Sailing on and on, they discovered a new island.

5. He succeeded because had work hard.

Right: He succeeded because he had worked hard.

All in all, the structure of the sentence is very important. We can pay attention to it.

Task1:Sustainablity--the Great Challenge for Engineers

Today, engineers are facing a lot of challenges with technological advancements such as sustainability, human health, vulnerability and joy of living. I regard sustainability as the greatest one. My reasons are as followed:

First of all, sustainability is related to the existence of all the human beings. It is a common sense that we only have one earth; we should take care of it. However, we cannot deny that the living situation of our earth is getting worse and worse. People have to fight against a lot of sustainable problems, such as energy crisis, water crisis, world starvation, greenhouse effect, kinds of pollutions and so on. The problems above all have very significant influence on our life. As we know the resources on the earth are finite. They will be run out one day. It is urgent to put the Strategy of Sustainable Development into effect. Without doubting, human beings will benefit a lot from implementing the Strategy of Sustainable Development.

Secondly, there are a lot of limitations that we have to deal with. It is very sad that the sustainable problems are not easy to solve in a short time, though the situation of the world now is very serious. One of the important reasons is that some academic theories are impractical. Normally, they cost too much to make the products, that makes them cannot be applied in manufacturing industries. In addition, this sustainable industry is a kind of new industry. The related technologies and skills still need to be improved. And as it is new, the customers need time to accept its products.

In conclusion, sustainability is the greatest challenge for the engineers, and the work will be more and more challenging in the future. However, do not forget the challenges always come with chances. We can find out ourselves’ ways to face the challenges and seize the chances. Come on, the engineers in the future!