<p>Error No.: 3</p><p>Error: Periphrastic topic-constructions </p><p>Some common examples</p><p>1. *According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside for education reforms. 2. *In a reliable report, it says that 300 cases have been reported to the police. 3. *Based on the book, it says you need at least 3 hours to complete the project. 4. *In my own opinion, I think you need to add one more paragraph here. 5. *Based on this article, it describes two ways to solve the problem.</p><p>Core grammatical problem</p><p>The source noun phrase in a fronted adverbial phrase of source is repeated unnecessarily as the subject pronoun of the sentence. The anomaly is most commonly associated with the following adverbial phrases: </p><p>According to XXX, Based on XXX, In XXX, In XXX’s opinion, e.g., </p><p>*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion will be set aside… </p><p>Probable causes of this structural problem</p><p>L1-related factor: The periphrastic topic-construction structure, though anomalous in English, is acceptable in Cantonese, e.g., </p><p>根 據 董 建 華, 佢 話 會 預 留 二 十 億 元 作 教 育 改 革 用 途.</p><p>(i.e., *According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside for education reforms.) </p><p>L2-related factor: Lack of awareness that periphrastic topic-constructions are unacceptable in English. Correction procedure </p><p>To help students (Ss) overcome the structural problem such as </p><p>*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside … teacher (T) can go through the following procedure with students (Ss): </p><p>1. T presents a sentence with periphrastic topic-construction structure, e.g., </p><p>*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside … </p><p>2. T asks Ss to identify the subject of the sentence and underlines it for later demonstration.</p><p>*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside … </p><p>3. T asks Ss what the subject pronoun refers to. [Answer: the source noun phrase] 4. T writes the source noun phrase above the subject pronoun. </p><p>Tung Chee Hwa *According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside … </p><p>5. T asks Ss to read the sentence, replacing the subject pronoun with the source noun phrase. 6. T asks Ss to identify the problem in the sentence. [Answer: redundancy] 7. T tells Ss that the source cannot be repeated as the subject in the main clause. 8. T crosses out the subject pronoun and then replaces it with the noun phrase of source. </p><p>*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he Tung Chee Hwa said that $2 billion would be set aside …</p><p>9. T tells Ss to cross out the adverbial phrase of reference, </p><p>*According to Tung Chee Hwa, Tung Chee Hwa said that $2 billion would be set aside … </p><p>10. T tells Ss that if they want to keep the adverbial phrase of reference, they will need to cross out the subject pronoun, the reporting verb and the relative pronoun that , e.g., </p><p>*According to Tung Chee Hwa, he said that $2 billion would be set aside …</p><p>Follow-up exercise Correct the following sentences. 1. According to a book, it says that you can now download files from the Net. 2. According to a report, it describes 5 popular types of entertainment. 3. Based on their study, it describes five advantages for using verbal reports. 4. In Jane’s opinion, she sees that the crucial problem is time. </p>