Language Focus 6: Understanding complex sentences

Main clause, conjunction + subordinate clause.

Complex sentences show complex ideas. In a complex sentence, there is one main clause or major idea. The subordinate clause shows relationship with the main clause through conjunctions. Conjunctions show the direction of the ideas, whether showing time (after, when, before, while, since, until), showing cause and effect (because, since, now that, as, in order that, so), showing contradiction (although, though, even though, whereas, while), showing condition (if, unless, only if, whether or not, even if, in case).

Examples:
Subordinate conjunction
Decisions made at the summit represent the consensus among the ASEAN nations, although their legal authority has not been tested.

Language Focus 7: Using pronoun references to understand texts:

1. Another useful tool is ‘pronoun references’.

Normally, reading texts in magazines or academic journals can be complicated; sentences are long with many modifiers. Thus, it is important to understand the structure of a sentence and its relative clauses.

Nor does it have the comprehensive set of laws and regulations that a nation-state would have.
‘That’ refers to the comprehensive set, which may be:

The foundational document of ASEAN is the ASEAN Charter, signed in 2007.
The foundational document of ASEAN is the ASEAN Charter, (which was) signed in 2007.

Language Focus 8: Abbreviations

Abbreviations stand for the name of organization or institution or concepts of things. This makes it easier to refer to.
There are some useful and common abbreviations that we should know. Some abbreviations are specific, and we must study the full names before we read texts using abbreviations, so that we can have the same understanding as the writers. Normally, abbreviations are in capital letters, such as ASEAN.

The following are some examples of the abbreviations for certain agreements in ASEAN.
The ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) governs the ASEAN Free Trade Area for intra-ASEAN trade in goods.
The ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) governs intra-ASEAN investment.
The ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) governs intra-ASEAN trade in services.

Language Focus 9: Useful vocabulary and expressions

In reading about law in general, there are some useful expressions and vocabulary. The following verbs are used to describe the detail of laws or agreements.
Govern
Cover
Provide
Apply
Impose