‘We cannot accept foxes as part of our landscape’: the plan to save Australia’s threatened wildlife
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EN: A present participial phrase ('Killing more than...') functions as an adverbial clause of cause or attendant circumstance. The implied subject of the participle must logically match the subject of the main clause ('the European red fox') to avoid a dangling participle.
Emitting toxic fumes into the atmosphere, aging factories have been cited as a primary source of local air pollution.
EN: The present perfect passive ('has been identified as') is used to express an established consensus or formal recognition that occurred in the past and remains actively relevant to the present.
Habitat fragmentation has been recognized as a leading factor in species decline.
EN: The superlative adjective 'gravest' (from 'grave', meaning extremely serious or critical) is combined with 'one of the + plural noun' ('one of the gravest threats') to single out an entity among the most critical members of a category.
Deforestation remains one of the gravest challenges to global biodiversity.
EN: The European red fox (Vulpes vulpes) was introduced to mainland Australia in the 1850s for recreational hunting. Because Australian native marsupials and small mammals evolved without placental mammalian predators, they lack adequate antipredator behaviors, making the fox one of the most destructive invasive pest species on the continent.
EN: The non-defining relative clause 'who authored a new draft national strategy' provides parenthetical background information about the subject. Set off by commas, it does not restrict the identity of the proper noun but enriches the journalistic context before reaching the main verb.
Dr. Aris Thorne, who led the expedition, revealed that several uncharted ruins were uncovered.
EN: The idiom 'lose [something] to [cause/outcome]' expresses forfeiture or deprivation resulting from a specific adverse factor or state (here, 'extinction'). Combined with the present perfect tense ('has lost'), it highlights a cumulative historical loss that directly impacts the current state of biodiversity.
The coastal community has lost dozens of homes to severe erosion.
EN: The reporting verb 'emphasized' takes a declarative content clause ('that Australia has lost...'). In formal news reporting, the complementizer 'that' is typically retained rather than omitted to clearly separate complex nominal subjects from clausal arguments.
Economists emphasized that the recovery would require substantial structural reforms.
EN: Australia has one of the worst modern mammal extinction records globally, largely driven by introduced predators like the European red fox and feral cats. Charles Darwin University (CDU), located in Darwin in the Northern Territory, is renowned for its environmental science and indigenous land management research.
EN: Negative inversion occurs when a negative or restrictive adverbial expression (such as 'Not since...') is placed at the beginning of a clause for emphasis or dramatic effect. This triggers subject-auxiliary inversion, where the auxiliary verb precedes the subject ('has the federal government released' instead of 'the federal government has released').
Not until yesterday did she realize the true extent of the problem.
EN: The conjunction 'although' introduces a subordinate concessive clause expressing contrast. It is followed by a full clause with an abstract noun subject ('scientific understanding'), a prepositional post-modifier containing a wh-infinitive phrase ('of how to combat...'), and a present perfect verb phrase modified by an adverb of degree ('has advanced dramatically').
Although public awareness has improved, practical solutions remain underfunded.
EN: In Australian policy discourse, national threat abatement plans for pests like the European red fox require periodic formal updates. Pointing out that 'not since 2008' has an update occurred highlights an administrative and political lag of over 15 years, a common critique in Australian environmental conservation reporting.
EN: The absolute structure 'With + noun phrase + participle (V-ing)' functions as an adverbial of condition or attendant circumstance. Here, 'roaming' describes the active state of the '1.7 million foxes'.
With millions of tourists visiting the island each year, local resources are under immense strain.
EN: The prepositional phrase 'upwards of' means 'more than' or 'in excess of', typically modifying large numbers or quantities to emphasize their scale in formal or journalistic contexts.
The renovation project is expected to cost upwards of fifty million dollars.
EN: The clause 'that upwards of ... are killed annually' is a content clause functioning as the direct object of 'calculate'. Passive voice ('are killed') is used because the agent doing the killing (foxes) was already established in the introductory phrase, focusing the attention on the wildlife victims.
Biologists warn that thousands of sea turtles are caught accidentally every season.
EN: Introduced to Australia in the 1850s for recreational hunting, the European red fox quickly established itself across the continent, severely disrupting native ecosystems that evolved in the absence of placental mammalian predators.
EN: The sentence begins with a present participle phrase ('Conceding that...') acting as an adverbial modifier of concession/reason. The implicit subject of the participle is 'the draft', which performs the action of conceding before introducing the main clause action.
Acknowledging that resources were limited, the committee prioritized the most urgent community projects.
EN: The adverb 'instead' is used as a conjunct to show contrast or substitution with the preceding concessive clause, emphasizing that realistic targeted interventions are adopted rather than total eradication.
He decided not to buy a new car, choosing instead to repair his old one.
EN: The prepositional phrase 'most at risk' functions as a postpositive adjective modifier (reduced from 'which are most at risk'), modifying the preceding noun phrase 'those native animals'.
The government launched vaccination clinics to protect individuals most at risk of severe illness.
EN: In environmental policy and conservation in Australia, the shift from total 'eradication' (completely wiping out an invasive species) to 'targeted control/management' reflects pragmatic realism. Given the continent's vast geographical scale and massive feral fox population, extermination is biologically and economically impossible.
Key vocabulary words with IPA pronunciation, definitions, example sentences, and interactive quizzes.
Phrases with type tags, bilingual definitions, usage notes, and example sentences.
An introduced organism that overpopulates and harms its new environment.
In danger or vulnerable to threat, harm, or extinction.
Actions or policies specifically aimed at addressing a particular group, area, or problem.