This document outlines the objectives and content of an English for Academic Purposes class. The general objective is to develop students' reading abilities in academic texts relevant to their fields like geology, physics, biology, chemistry, and renewable energy engineering. Specifically, the class aims to teach students to recognize modal verbs and hedges, and understand their importance in indicating certainty in academic writing, especially in discussions and conclusions. The document then defines and provides examples of auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, and hedges and their uses in academic language.

1. English for Academic Purposes.
 Prof.
Estela Nélida Braun,
 Human Sciences College, UNLPam.

2. Modal Verbs. Hedges.

3. Objetivos de la clase:
General:
 Desarrollar la capacidad lectora de textos académicos
de la especialidad en inglès (Carreras: Geología,
Física, Biología, Química, Ingeniería en Recursos
Renovables)
 2. Específicos:
 a. Reconocer dentro de la frase verbal a los verbos
modales o defectivos.
 b. Asumir la importancia del uso de modales y hedges
para indicar certidumbre por los autores de textos de
lenguaje académico, especialmente en la sección
discusión y conclusiones de un artículo de
investigación.

4. AUXILIARY VERBS:
 BE:
am, is ,are, was/were/been/being
 HAVE: has, had, having.
 DO: does/ did
 Los primeros se denominan AUXILIARIES y
se combinan con el verbo principal para
formar tiempos verbales:
 BE+ ING Tiempos Progresivos
 The students are working in the laboratory.

5. More about Auxiliaries:
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BE+ PARTICIPIO PASADO
Forma la VOZ PASIVA.
The results are presented in this section.
HAVE+ PARTICIPIO PASADO forma los TIEMPOS
PERFECTOS.
We have presented new results.
DO/ DOES / DID ayudan a formar las oraciones
interrogatives y negativas de los tiempos
simples.
1. They did not consider
new theories.
2. Does the paper include bibliography?

6. MODALS:
 MUST/
HAVE TO
 MAY/MIGHT
 CAN/COULD
BE ABLE TO
 SHOULD/ OUGHT TO
 SHALL/ WILL
 WOULD

7. 
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I. SHALL/WILL: Forman el futuro indefinido.
We shall discuss the problem in this chapter.
They will be in the laboratory at 6.00.
II. WOULD: No se traduce , pero indica que el verbo
que le sigue está en potencial.
It would be important.
III. SHOULD/ OUGHT TO: se traducen como
debería, debiera. Indican consejo o acción
deseable.
We should discuss this problem.
The government ought to consider this alternative.

8. IV. MUST / HAVE TO
 IV.
MUST / HAVE TO : Indican deber u
obligaciòn interna/ externa.
 We have to pay taxes.
 We must discuss this problem.
 They will have to repair this road.
 They had to be at the airport two hours
before the flight to check in.

9. CAN-COULD / MAY-MIGHT
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V. CAN/ COULD: significan PODER en el sentido
de Habilidad o Permiso. BE ABLE TO.
Mozart could play the piano at the age of three.
Can I use this computer, please?
The students will be able to read
academic texts
in English at the end of this course.
VI. MAY/ MIGHT: significan PODER en el sentido de
Posibilidad concreta o remota.
They might discover a cure for AIDS in the near future.
It may rain tomorrow.

10. Why are modals and hedges so
important?
 According
to Dudley Evans and St. John
(1998: 76)”Modals , especially may, might,
could, would, are one way of indicating the
degree of certainty of a writer’s commitment
to a statement or a claim”. In academic
writing, if a writer has to state discrepancy
with previous results he/she will be cautious
and try to distance himself/ herself from the
statement by using modals such as may or
could.

11. 
This phenomenon is also referred to as hedging and it
includes other ways of expression, such as the use of
reporting verbs like suggest, appear to, seem to,
tend to, etc. to allow the writer to distance
himself/herself from a statement that contradicts
previous findings .In this way, the writer tries to soften
a statement in order to mitigate a criticism of
another member of the research or professional
community. The writer will still be committed to
criticism but “…follows the convention that criticisms
are made politely” (Dudley Evans & St. John 1998:
77).

12. Contact:
 braun.estela@gmail.com