Superordinates
Superordinate terms (often also called 'hypernyms,' 'anaphoric nouns,' or
'discourse-organizing words') are nouns that can be used to stand for an entire 'class' or 'category' of things.
Thus, a superordinate term acts as an 'umbrella' term that includes within it the meaning of other words.
For example, 'vehicle' is the superordinate concept for 'lorry', 'automobile', 'bicycle', and 'tram'.
VEHICLES
(superordinate)
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| lorries |
cars |
bicycles |
trams |
ships |
| (subordinates) |
Superordinate terms play an important role in promoting 'cohesion' by providing writers with a more explicit means
than would be possible using only pronouns (it, they, this, these, those) for linking their ideas
either back to earlier pieces of text, or forward to upcoming information.
Superordinate terms tell the reader what to expect when they occur before an idea.
In this fuction, superordinate terms serve as the 'class' in definitions,
and describe the items and examples presented in lists.
Referring to categories
Definitions
Formal definitions consist of three parts: the term to be defined, the class/category of concepts or objects to which the term belongs, and the characteristics that distiguish it from others in that same class.
Here, the 'class' corresponds to the superordinate term.
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TERM
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CLASS
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CHARACTERISTICS
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A lorry
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is a large
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vehicle
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that is used to transport goods by road.
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Referring forwards in the text
Introducing items in a list
Similar to definitions, lists require a superordinate term that links forward in the text to the items in the list and describes the 'class of things' to which they belong.
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Number + [superordinate] + list of items
In front of the house were parked three vehicles:
a lorry, a car and a large, red bicycle.
[superordinate] + such as + [examples]
Most engineering
The mobile lifestyle we know today would not be possible without vehicles such as automobiles, buses, trams, and aircraft.
[superordinate] + including + [examples]
A new energy tax will be levied on most motorised
vehicles, including automobiles, lorries, and motorcycles.
[examples] + and other [superordinate]
A new energy tax will be levied on all automobiles, motorcycles
and other motorised vehicles.
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Enumerated paragraphs
Enumeration is a paragraph pattern that highlights the connection between ideas by using ordinal numbers.
To use this pattern correctly, writers need to inform the reader in advance about how many and what 'class' of ideas will be listed.
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Enumeration (paragraph pattern)
Today's computer-display manufacturers are limited by
two factors.
First, manufacturing the high-grade "single crystal" silicon used to make fast chips and processors is expensive and requires high temperatures, and the end product is too brittle to be layered onto large surfaces.
Second, while so-called amorphous silicon-typically used in transistors that control whether display pixels are on or off-is easily and cheaply fashioned into thin-film electronics, it has slow electron flow and chews up a lot of power. Nanosys believes it can use nanotech to give the display industry the best of both worlds.
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Many essential relative clauses require a superordinate term as the head word that introduces and refers forward in the text to the relative clause.
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[superordinate] + which
A research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Drexel University has discovered a surprising new
mechanism by which polymer materials used in nanocomposites control the growth of particles.
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Referring backwards in the text
Superordinate terms also classify or summarize what has been said when they occur after a thought.
When representing an entire category of actions, concepts or objects, superordinates are typically modified by demonstrative pronouns
('this/these', 'that/those', such), numbers, and adjectives ('similar', 'another,' 'same').
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Such (a) + [superordinate]
If the companies involved in generic engineering were really concerned with protecting the environment and reducing the amount of chemicals used, they would fund research into organic farming, encourage farmers to move away from chemical dependency towards organic and less intensive systems.
Such a policy would of course not advance corporate profits.
this + [superordinate]
An often repeated lie by the genetic industry is that what we are doing is no different to what has been practised by selective breeding ever since man became a domesticated animal.
This claim is demonstrably not true and shows either an appalling level of ignorance or an act of deliberate deception.
Similar + [superordinate]
It might be argued that complex protein or nonprotein machines are impossible or useless, on the grounds that, if they were possible and useful, organisms would be using them.
A similar argument would, however, conclude that bone is a better structural material than graphite composite, that neurons can transmit signals faster than wires, and that technology based on the wheel is impossible or useless. Nature has been constrained less by what is physically possible than by what could be evolved in small steps. Thus, the absence of a proposed kind of molecular machinery in organisms in no way suggests its infeasibility.
Other + [superordinate]
The Queen owns eight State limousines, consisting of two Bentleys, three Rolls-Royces and three Daimlers, all of which are painted in Royal claret livery.
Other vehicles include a number of Volkswagen 'people carriers'.
Another/ A further + [superordinate]
Social engineering attacks take place on two levels: the physical and the psychological. First, we focus on the physical setting for these attacks: the workplace, the phone, your trash, and even on-line. In the workplace, the hacker can simply walk in the door, like in the movies, and pretend to be a maintenance worker or consultant who has access to the organization. Then the intruder searches through the office until he can find a few passwords lying around and emerges from the building with ample information to exploit the network from home later that night.
Anther technique to gain authentication information is to just stand there and watch an oblivious employee type in his password.
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