Unit 1
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What is the Language We Learn?
Language is a form of human reason, and has its reasons
which are unknown to man.
Levi-Strausse Claude, a French anthropologist and sociologist
(1908 -)
Cultures are chiefly transmitted through spoken and written
languages. Encapsulated within a language is most of a community’s
history and a large part of its historical identity.
David Crystall (1941 - )
The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
Wittgenstein Ludwig, an Austrian philosopher
(1889-1951)
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
Charlemagne, the King of the Francs and ‘Holy Roman Emperor’
(1742-814)
Who does not know another language, does not know his own.
Goethe Johann von, a German poet and scientist
(1749-1832)
We die. That may be the meaning of our lives. But we do
language. That may be the measure of our lives.
Morrison Tony, a US writer
(1931- ).
Quiz-time
Choose the correct answer.
1. How many native words are there in the English language?
a) 70%
b) 50%
c) 30%
2. How many new words are added to the English vocabulary each year?
a) about 50
b) about 300
c) about 500
3. Where do the majority of computer terms come from?
a) the UK
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b) the USA
c) Australia
4. Which of the following English words are not French borrowings?
a) table, wardrobe, chair
b) army, battle, peace
c) father, king, pig
5.Which of these 'drink' words was borrowed from Arabic?
a) wine
b) juice
c) alcohol
6.What language is the word 'sauna' from?
a) Swedish
b) Dutch
c) Finnish
7.Which famous fast food comes from Germany?
a) pizza
b) hamburger
c) sandwich
8.What language is 'robot' from?
a) Czech
b) Polish
c) Hungarian
9. The British ask for the bill in a restaurant at the end of the meal. What do
Americans ask for?
a) the check
b) the receipt
c) the script
10. In British English, it's called a 'mobile', what's it called in the USA?
a) a handy
b) a cell phone
c) a portable phone
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11. In Cockney, 'I don't Adam and Eve you' means
a) I don't love you
b) I don't understand you
c) I don't believe you
12.What do the British say before a meal?
a) Bon appetite!
b) Bless you!
c) nothing
13. If someone says 'Cheerio’, what do they mean?
a) Goodbye.
b) Hello.
c) Thank you.
14. What should you say in English if someone sneezes?
a) How's it going?
b) Bless you!
c) Can I help you?
15. What would you say if you wanted to sit down in a busy place?
a) Excuse me, is this seat busy?
b) Let me take this seat, please.
c) Excuse me, is this seat taken?
16. What is a polite response to 'Thank you very much1?
a) Of course!
b) The same to you!
c) You're welcome!
17. What do you say in a shop if you only want to look and not buy?
a) I'm just browsing.
b) I'm just viewing.
c) I'm just shoplifting.
18. To tell someone who you are on the phone, which of the
following is the most natural?
a) It's Tom.
b) I'm Tom.
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c) Tom speaking.
Text 1
PRE-READING
Try to put these events from English history in order.
a. Caxton introduces the printing press.
b. Norman invasion of England.
c. Samuel Johnson's dictionary.
d. Germanic invasions of Roman Britain.
e. Viking raids and Danish invasions.
f. English is used at court again.
g. St Augustine introduces Christianity.
Read the text and check your answers.
The history of the English language
The story of English began a long time ago, in the fifth century
AD. In the year 410 the Romans withdrew from Britannia, their northernmost province. In around 449, Germanic tribes, the Angles, Jutes and
Saxons from what is now northern Germany and Denmark, crossed the North
Sea and began to settle on the east coast. The Celtic Britons put up fierce
resistance with leaders such as Artorius, the King Arthur of the legends. It
took over 150 years of fighting for the Anglo-Saxon invaders to take over
most of what is now modern England, pushing the Celts into the west and
north. The relations between the two peoples can't have been good - there
are only several Celtic words in English.
Then, in the year 597, St Augustine was sent by the Pope to convert
the pagan Anglo-Saxons. St Augustine was successful, and he started by
converting the king of Kent, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
Christianity had a major cultural impact, not only bringing Latin words to
the language, but also developing education and writing, with examples
such as the great Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf. The language of
Beowulf is not at all like modern English, eighty-five percent of AngloSaxon words have disappeared and the grammar was more like that of
modern German than of modern English.
From 750 to about 1000 the Viking raids brought another period of
disruption and war. These raids were followed by invasion and the Danes
took over northern and eastern England. The Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the
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Great, led the resistance to the Danes and England eventually became
united under an English king. Most of the time though, the Danes lived
peacefully alongside the Anglo-Saxons. Their languages were similar and
they could understand each other - but gradually the endings of AngloSaxon started to disappear to make communication easier between the two
peoples. Bit by bit, this process has led to modern English, in which we
have no gender and very few endings.
The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England was just settling down when
there was another invasion. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded
England and defeated the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold, at the Battle of
Hastings. The official language of England soon became French, and for the
next three or four hundred years English was the language of the common
people. But somehow English survived and became more and more common
among the dominant classes. Because of this, by the end of the fourteenth
century, English was used at court and official documents were written in
English. This is the first great period of English literature with writers such
as Geoffrey Chaucer. Then, in 1476, Caxton brought the printing press
from Belgium. Printing meant that a standard language started to emerge,
based on the dialect spoken around London.
In the sixteenth century, the Renaissance with its revival of
education and classical scholarship, brought literally thousands of Latin and
Greek words into English - words like 'expensive' from Latin or 'chaos' from
Greek. The late sixteenth century also was a great period for literature with
writers such as Shakespeare and the publication in 1611 of the Authorised
Version of the Bible in English. The two and a half centuries between 1400
and 1650 also brought major changes in pronunciation. For example, old
Anglo-Saxon vowels like the [u:] in [hu:s] changed to [haus]. Nobody
knows why this change in vowel sounds happened but it had a major
influence on English.
From the seventeenth century there were increasing attempts to
standardise the English language. English did not have an academy such as
other languages like French or Spanish and it was left to one man to write
the definitive dictionary. Samuel Johnson published the Dictionary of the
English Language in 1755 and it included 43,000 words.
In the nineteenth century, English was influenced by many countries
that were part of the growing British Empire - with words such as
'bungalow' coming from India. In the last 100 years or so, a huge amount of
new words have come into English from science and technology. Finally, in
the last few years, through television and the cinema, American English has
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had a very important influence on British English. For example, British
people are starting to say the American 'Hi!' instead of the old British 'Hello'.
English, as a living language, is changing all the time. Who knows what the
future holds for it in the twenty-first century?
(From ‘New Opportunities. Upper Intermediate. Russian Edition.
Student’s Book’ by M. Harries, D. Mower, A. Sikorzynska.)
Read the text again and choose the best answer.
1. Why are there so few Celtic words in English?
a. the Saxon invasion took a long time
b. the Celts and Saxons did not mix
с. the two languages were too similar
2. What impact did Christianity have on English?
a. it changed the grammar
b. it introduced new words
с. it influenced pronunciation
3. Why is it difficult to understand old Anglo-Saxon?
a. most of the words were different
b. the spelling was different
с. the grammar was unusual
4. How did the Danish invasions influence English
grammar?
a. Danish grammar was different from Anglo-Saxon
b. the two languages were similar so they mixed and simplified
с. new Danish endings appeared on some words
5. What happened after the Norman Conquest?
a. English disappeared for a long time
b. French became the most important language
с. English was the language of culture
6. Why did English become the official language again in the 15th
century?
a. because of great writers like Chaucer
b. because of the printing press
с. because it was used by the ruling classes
7. What changed in the 16th and 17th centuries?
a. English pronunciation
b. English grammar
с. English vocabulary
8. In which way is English different from other European languages?
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a. it was standardised a lot later
b. it has a lot of scientific words
с. it does not have an official academy
9. What has been the most important influence on English in the last
few years?
a. the old empire (e.g. India /Australia)
b. the United States
с Europe (e.q. France)
Text 2
Read the text quickly and say what facts about the English
languge you can remember.
Statistics of the English language
1. The English language contains about 490,000 words, plus
another 300,000 technical terms, the most in any language, but it is doubtful
if any individual uses more than 60,000.
2. In written English, the most frequently used words are in order:
the, of, and, to, a, in, that, I, it, for, as. The most used in conversation is I.
3. The most common letter in English is ‘e’.
4. The least common letter is ‘q’.
5. The most overworked word in English is the word ‘set’ which
has 58 noun uses, 126 verbal uses and 10 as a participial adjective.
Text 3
PRE-READING
Answer the questions.
1. How many sounds are there in the English language?
2. How many letters are there in the English alphabet?
Scan the text to find out if the following statements are true or
not. Correct the false ones.
1. In the English language every sound has only one letter.
2. The letters gh are quite useless in the words right and night.
3. The Anglo-Saxons spelled the sound [kh] as h.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
There is no [kh] in Modern English.
The Anglo-Saxons did not have any alphabet.
Before they got to know the Latin alphabet they wrote with runes.
Angles, Saxons and Jutes spoke similar tongues, but pronounced
the same words differently.
8. The pronounciation of long vowels and diphthongs in English
hasn’t changed since the 15th century.
9. The Great Vowel Shift did not affect short vowels.
10. Nowadays only about 1,000 English words are spelt as they are
pronounced.
English spelling and how it got that way
In England people often say that if the gods gave the art of writing
to man, the devil probably gave the English people their terrible spelling.
What is the easiest way to spell? The answer is clear: when every sound has
only one letter. Which is not the case with English. English possesses a
system of orthography that does not always accurately reflect the
pronunciation of words. Where did it get such difficult spelling?
First of all the spelling of many English words seems strange
because some parts of the English language have changed while other parts
have not. For example, take the difficult English spelling gh. These letters
give the sound [f] in enough, they do not give any sound in right and night,
but show that the vowel is pronounced [ai] and they are quite useless in
through and though.
This spelling makes no sense in modern English, but it did a thousand years ago in Old English.
The Anglo-Saxons had a sound [kh] which they spelled h. Wherever you see a gh in modern English you know that it was spelled h by the
Anglo-Saxons and represented to them the throat-clearing sound. When the
Normans came to England in 1066, they changed the whole system of
writing and spelling. The Normans did not have the Old English h sound in
their language and had no spelling for it. So they spelled it in different
ways, one of them being gh. Just when they were trying to find a single way
to spell it, the sound itself disappeared. The difficult spelling gh which is
left in a few modern words shows how the Normans tried to spell a sound
which they did not have and which the English have now lost.
So almost every strange spelling which has come out of the past has
a history. The thing is that the Anglo-Saxons did not have a very good
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alphabet, although they wrote a little with Germanic letters called runes.
When they got to know the Latin alphabet they found it so much better than
runes that they learnt to write in it. First, of course, they wrote Latin, then
they tried to use the same alphabet to write their own language (now termed
Old English).
The Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes spoke the very
closely related tongues pronouncing the same words differently. Thus, some
of them, seeing a high place of the land surface, called it a hill, and others
called it a hulle; the earth could be world, werld, or weorld. When the
language was written the word was spelled differently because it had
different pronunciation.
The result of all this is perhaps the most mixed up of spellings of all
the languages of the world. When a word is taken into English from a
language which has a different alphabet, the result is many English
spellings of the same word. As an example, the following variants in the
spelling of the great composer's three names may be given: Peter, Pyotr,
Petr, Piotr - Ilich, Ilitch, Ilych - Tchaikovsky, Tshaikovsky, Tchaikowsky,
Tschaikowsky, Chaykovski and various other ways.
English spelling is based for the most part on that of the 15th
century, but pronunciation has changed considerably since then, especially
that of long vowels and diphthongs. The extensive change in the
pronunciation of vowels, known as the Great Vowel Shift, affected the
whole phonetic system, and for centuries spelling remained untidy. If the
meaning of the message was clear, the spelling of individual words seemed
unimportant. In the 17th century adopted were fixed spellings for practical
reasons, and in the order-loving 18th century uniformity became more and
more fashionable. Since Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755), orthography has remained fairly stable. Numerous tacit
changes, such as "music" for "musick" (1880) and "fantasy" for "phantasy"
(1920), have been accepted, but spelling has nevertheless continued to be in
part unphonetic. According to some estimates, only about 1,000 words are
phonetic in that they are spelled as they are pronounced, and vice versa. To
spell, for example, "the English Alphabet" on a phonetic principle, it will be
changed into "thee Inglish Alfabet".
(From Pismennaya О.А. «Окна в англоязычный мир. История,
георграфия, социальные аспекты, языковая ситуация»)
1. Make a list of the key words and phrases from the text.
2. Find and write down 5-7 key sentences.
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3. Retell the text using the key words and sentences.
Text 4
Check the pronounciation of the words in bald italic in your
dictionary. Read the text aloud.
Our Queer Language
I think you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, tough and through
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead For goodness' sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and thread
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt
A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother or in brother
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear
And there's dose and rose and lose
-Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward;
And font and front and word and sword
And do and go and thwart and cart
- Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive,
I'd mastered it when I was five!
(Author Unknown)
Match the rhyming words.
1. heard
2. dead
3. great
a. meat
b. bed
c. straight
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4. suite
5. thread
6. here
7. bear
d. bird
e. debt
f. pear
g. dear
Text 5
Scan the text to find the answers to the questions:
1. Is English spelling difficult only for non-native speakers of the
language?
2. How did the English originally spell their words?
3. Have the English ever thought of changing their system of
orthography?
4. What improvements of English spelling did Isaac Pitman offer?
5. How many letters were there in Bernard Shaw’s alphabet? What
was it called?
6. Why hasn’t the English alphabet been changed in the last two
centuries?
7. What is the I.T.A?
8. How are children taught to read in some British schools nowadays?
9. Do all teachers approve of this way of teaching reading?
10. Why are the Simplified Spelling Society of Britain and the
Simplified Spelling Association of the USA now working on the
developing of a new English alphabet?
‘Thee Inglish Alfabet’
How do you pronounce in English the word «ghoti»? Go-tea,
g-hotty or jotty? Well, if «gh» is as in «rough», «o» is as in «women», «ti»
is as in «station», then «ghoti» is «fish». Of course there isn't really a word
«ghoti» in English, but it does show how ridiculous English spelling is,
doesn't it? Are you one of those unfortunate people who speak English very
well but at once become worried when your teacher asks you to write?
Don't be worried. Remember that a lot of English people have the same
problem. Near my home there are at least two notices wrongly spelt and a
lot of English people who, are otherwise quite clever have to use
dictionaries.
Why isn't English spelling logical? The answer is that it isn't really
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spelling that is «wrong». Hundreds of years ago the English pronounced
words as they spelt them. In many cases it is the pronunciation that has
changed. Why not change the spelling to fit the new pronunciation? Of
course we have thought of that too. In 1843 Isaac Pitman who invented
shorthand, proposed a new alphabet of forty symbols. To make spelling fit
pronunciation you need a different symbol for each sound. But you can use
the same alphabet with just a few new symbols. Then leaving out silent letters like the «k» in knife, you just write the words as they sound. «Kat» for
«cat», etc. This is what Pitman wanted to do.
Another idea is to use a completely different alphabet – a phonetic
alphabet. That is what George Bernard Shaw wanted. When he died he left
money to pay for this, and in 1962 «Androcles and the Lion» came out in a
phonetic alphabet using forty-eight symbols. But a hundred years after Isaac
Pitman the English alphabet hasn't changed. It would need a lot of money to
change it. Think of all the books in schools and libraries and the printing
machines. Then too there are those who really like our ridiculous spelling.
There is in fact one new alphabet in use, the I.T.A or Initial Teaching Alphabet. The idea behind this is that children learn to read more quickly
without the problems of English spelling. Reading early is important
because by reading we can learn about other things. In many of our schools
children learn to read with this new alphabet and learn the old alphabet
later.
Some teachers don't like it. They say that the children will never
learn to spell «properly». Meanwhile the latest news is that the Simplified
Spelling Society of Britain and the Simplified Spelling Association of the
USA have put their heads together. They think that English is becoming the
most important language in the world and so we need logical spelling. They
hope to publish a book explaining their ideas and proposing another new
alphabet of forty-four symbols. The name of the book? Wurld Inglish.
(By John Atkinson)
Questions for discussion:
1. Does Russian spelling seem logical to you?
2. Do you know anything about the attempts to change it?
3. Think about the advantages and disadvantages of changing the
existing system of orthography.
Text 6
PRE-READING
Answer the questions.
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1. Why do you think the author called English “a crazy language”?
2. What makes the English language difficult to learn?
Read the text and translate it into Russian. Consult your
dictionary if necessary.
English is a crazy language
Let's face it — English is a crazy language,
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple
nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries and
French keys in France.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we
find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea
pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write
but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If
teachers taught us, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats
vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, two geese. So one moose, two meese? Doesn't it seem
crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of
odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and
a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which
your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by
filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the
creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is
why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out,
they are invisible.
(Author Unknown)
1. Find in the text the following words and phrases:
1. Картофель фри
2. Принимать как само сабой разумеющееся
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3. Загладить вину за что-л. перед кем-л.; компенсировать
что-л. кому-л.
4. Всякая всячина
5. Избавляться от чего-л.
6. Хороший шанс (2 выражения)
7. Заполнять (бланк и т.п.) (2 выражения)
8. Звенеть (о будильнике)
2. Think of your own sentences with these words.
Text 7
Read the text and say why the misunderstanding between the
Frenchmen and the English took place.
What a language!
FIRST FRENCHMAN: I once heard someone shout: «Look out!» I
put my head out of the window and a bucketful of water fell on me. It
seems that «look out» may mean «don't look out».
SECOND FRENCHMAN: I was once on a ship and heard the
captain shout: «All hands on deck!» I put my hands on the deck and
someone walked on them.
THIRD FRENCHMAN: I once called early on an English friend
and the maid who came to the door said, «He's not up yet. Come back in
half an hour.» When I went again for him, she said, «He's not down yet.»
I said, «If he is not up and he's not down, where is he?» She said,
«He's still in bed. When I say «He's not up», I mean he has not yet got up,
so he has not yet come downstairs.»
What is the Russian for:
1. Look out!
2. All hands on deck!
3. He’s not up yet.
4. He’s not down yet.
Text 8
PRE-READING
Quiz-time
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1. How many words are there in the English language? At least:
10, 000
100, 000
250, 000
500,000
2. Whinston Churchill was famous for his particularly large
vocabulary. How many words did he use in his writing?
10, 000
60, 000
100, 000
120,000
3. How many words does the average native English speaker use in
his/her everyday speech?
2, 500
5, 000
1, 000
10,000
4. How many words make up 45% of everything written in English?
50
25000
1,000
2,500
(From M. McCarthy and F. O’Dell “English Vocabulary in Use”)
Scan the text to find out if the following statements are true or
not. Correct the false ones.
1. The author belives that only native speakers can speak English
perfectly.
2. George Mike’s argues that an average Englishman uses five
thousand words.
3. Nice is the most frequently used adjective in everyday English.
4. The Oxford accent is the easiest for foreigners to imitate.
5. There are a lot of Greek and Latin words in the English language.
6. Greengrocers, porters and insurance agents are impossible to
impress by long words.
7. In Curzon Street society everyone approves of street language.
8. The author finds it much easier to speak English than write it.
The language
When I arrived in England I thought I knew English. After I'd been
here an hour I realised that I did not understand one word. In the first week
I picked up a tolerable working knowledge of the language and the next
seven years convinced me gradually but thoroughly that I would never
know it really well, let alone perfectly. This is sad. My only consolation
being that nobody speaks English perfectly.
Remember that those five hundred words an average Englishman
uses are far from being the whole vocabulary of the language. You may
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learn another five hundred and another five thousand and yet another fifty
thousand and still you may come across a further fifty thousand you have
never heard of before, and nobody else either.
If you live here long enough you will find out to your greatest
amazement that the adjective nice is not the only adjective the language
possesses, in spite of the fact that in the first three years you do not need to
learn or use any other adjectives. You can say that the weather is nice, a
restaurant is nice, Mr. Soandso is nice, Mrs. Soandso's clothes are nice, you
had a nice time, and all this will be very nice.
Then you have to decide on your accent. You will have your
foreign accent all right, but many people like to mix it with something else.
I knew a Polish Jew who had a strong Yiddish-Irish accent. People found it
fascinating though slightly exaggerated. The easiest way to give the
impression of having a good accent or no foreign accent at all is to hold an
unlit pipe in your mouth, to mutter between your teeth and finish all your
sentences with the question: "isn't it?" People will not understand much, but
they are accustomed to that and they will get a most excellent impression.
I have known quite a number of foreigners who tried hard to
acquire an Oxford accent. The advantage of this is that you give the idea of
being permanently in the company of Oxford dons and lecturers on
medieval numismatics; the disadvantage is that the permanent singing is
rather a strain on your throat and that it is a type of affection that even many
English people find hard to keep up incessantly. You may fall out of it,
speak naturally, and then where are you?
The Mayfair accent can be highly recommended, too. The
advantages of Mayfair English are that it unites the affected air of the
Oxford accent with the uncultured flavour of a half-educated professional
hotel-dancer.
The most successful attempts, however, to put on a highly cultured
air have been made on the polysyllabic lines. Many foreigners who have
learnt Latin and Greek in school discover with amazement and satisfaction
that the English language has absorbed a huge amount of ancient Latin and
Greek expressions, and they realise that (a) it is much easier to learn these
expressions than the much simpler English words; (b) that these words as a
rule are interminably long and make a simply superb impression when
talking to the greengrocer, the porter and the insurance agent.
Imagine, for instance, that the porter of the block of flats where you
live remarks sharply that you must not put your dustbin out in front of your
door before 7.30 A. M. Should you answer "Please don't bully me," a loud
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and tiresome argument may follow, and certainly the porter will be
proved right, because you are sure to find a clause in your contract (small
print, bottom of last page) that the porter is always right and you owe
absolute allegiance and unconditional obedience to him. Should you
answer, however, with these words: "I repudiate your petulant
expostulations," the argument will be closed at once, the porter will be
proud of having such a highly cultured man in the block, and from that day
onwards you may, if you please, get up at four o'clock in the morning and
hang your dustbin out of the window.
But even in Curzon Street society, if you say, for instance, that you
are a tough guy they will consider you a vulgar, irritating and objectionable
person. Should you declare, however, that you are an inquisitorial and
peremptory homo sapiens, they will have no idea what you mean, but they
will feel in their bones that you must be something wonderful.
When you know all the long words it is advisable to start learning
some of the short ones, too.
You should be careful when using these endless words. An
acquaintance of mine once was fortunate enough to discover the most
impressive word nostalgia for back-ache. Mistakenly, however, he declared
in a large company:
"I have such a nostalgia."
"Oh, you want to go home to Nizhne-Novgorod?" asked his most
sympathetic hostess.
"Not at all," he answered. "I just cannot sit down." Finally, there are
two important points to remember:
1. Do not forget that it is much easier to write in English than to
speak English, because you can write without a foreign accent.
2. In a bus and in other public places it is more advisable to speak
softly in good German than to shout in abominable English.
Anyway, this whole language business is not at all easy. After
spending eight years in this country, the other day I was told by a very kind
lady: "But why do you complain? You really speak a most excellent accent
without the slightest English."
(From “How to be an Alien” by George Mikes)
Comments
Mayfair - the most expensive part of London, in the area directly east
of Hyde Park. Mayfair has many large and well-known hotels, and it was
once a very fashionable place to live, but many of the houses have now
been made into offices.
Curzon Street – the street where at the beginning of the 20th century
a lot of British aristocrats lived.
18
1. Can you prove that ‘nice’ is not the only adjective the English
language possesses? Try to use more exact words or expressions for
each ‘nice’. The words in the table can help you.
Attractive, pleasant, exciting, sunny, fashionable, comfortable, kind,
terrific, considerate, delicious, interesting, modern, fine, lovely, grand,
great, pretty, splendid, wonderful.
"It's nice to be home," sighed Gloria. "But I did have such a nice
time at Ann's. Friday was nice and warm. I wore my nice blue suit and that
nice white blouse I got for my birthday. I had a nice seat in the train, and
the conductor was very nice about warning me before we came to West
Lake. Ann and her mother met me in their nice new BMW."
"Wasn't that nice of them?"
"What comes next is even nicer. We drove to their place, a nice
brick house, and had the nicest supper. After supper Joe and Tommy, two
nice boys, took us to see a very nice movie, and after that we all had nice
big sundaes at the Sugar Bowl.
"On Saturday we had a nice game of tennis on those nice new high
school courts, and Saturday night we went to a nice barn dance. Ann looked
very nice in her nice light-blue print dress. On Sunday she and her mother
drove me to the train, and I thanked them for the nicest weekend I've ever
had."
2. George Mikes advises us to finish all our sentences with the tag
"isn't it?" However, not all disjunctive questions take this tag. Can
you put the right tag to each of the following sentences?
1) Let's go to the park,_______________________
2) Nobody phoned,__________________________
3) I'm beautiful,_____________________________
4) They never quarrel, _______________________
5) It's no good,______________________________
6) He has to get up early,______________________
19
7) It's hardly rained this summer,________________
Text 9
Read the text and say why the author found it much easier to
speak English in Budapest than in England.
On not knowing English
I think it is vital that I give some instructions concerning the
English language. I cannot do better than to repeat - with slight alterations what I have said on this subject before.
When I was sent to England in 1938 I thought I knew English fairly
well. In Budapest my English proved quite fluent. I could get along with it.
On arrival in this country, I found that Budapest English was quite
different from London English. I should not like to seem biased, but I found
Budapest English much better in many ways.
In England I found two difficulties. First: I did not understand
people, and secondly: they did not understand me. It was easier with written
texts. Whenever I read a leading article in The Times, I understood
everything perfectly well, except that I could never make out whether The
Times was for or against something. In those days I put this down to my
poor knowledge of English.
The first step in my progress was when people started
understanding me while I still could not understand them. This was the
most talkative period of my life. Trying to hide my problems I went on
talking, keeping the conversation as unilateral as possible. I reached the
stage of intelligibility fairly quickly, thanks to a friend of mine who
discovered an important linguistic secret, namely that the English mutter
and mumble. Once we noticed a sausage-like thing in a shop window
marked pork brawn. We decided to buy some for supper. We entered the
shop and I said: 'А quarter of pork brawn, please.' 'What was that?' asked
the shopkeeper. 'A quarter of pork brawn, please,' I repeated. I repeated it
again. I repeated it a dozen times with no success. I talked slowly and
softly; I shouted; I talked as one talks to the deaf and finally I tried baby
talk. The shopkeeper still had no idea whether we wanted to buy or sell
something. Then my friend had a brain-wave. Leave it to me', he said in
Hungarian and started mumbling under his nose in a hardly audible and
quite unintelligible manner. The shopkeeper's eyes lit up: 'I see,' he said
20
happily, 'you want a quarter of pork brawn. Why didn't you say so?'
The next stage was that I began to understand foreigners, but not
the English or the Americans. The more terrible a foreign accent someone
had, the clearer he sounded to me.
But time passed and my knowledge and understanding of English
grew slowly. Until the time came when I began to be very proud of my
knowledge of English.. Luckily, every now and then one goes through a
sobering experience which teaches one to be more humble. Some years ago
my mother came here from Hungary on a visit. She expressed her wish to
take English lessons, which some of her friends attended. I accompanied
her to the school and we were received by a clerk. I asked about the various
classes and said that we were interested in the class for beginners. I
received all the necessary information and conducted a lengthy
conversation with the woman, in the belief that my English sounded
vigorous and idiomatic. Finally, I paid the fees for my mother. She looked
at me with astonishment and asked: 'Only for one? And what about you?'
(By George Mikes)
Scan the text and tick the statement which corresponds to
George Mikes' story (there might be more than one correct answer).
I.
a.
b.
c
d.
When the author came to England, he found there some difficulties:
He didn't understand people speaking to him.
He didn't understand English when reading.
People didn't understand his written English.
People didn't understand him when he spoke English.
II.
a.
b.
c.
d.
The shopkeeper was puzzled because:
He didn't have the product the customers wanted to buy.
They looked and sounded aggressive.
They spoke in a mumble.
He didn't understand them.
III.
a.
b.
c.
d.
According to the author it's easier to understand:
The British.
Foreigners speaking good English.
Foreigners speaking English with a terrible accent.
The Americans.
21
IV.
a.
b.
c.
d.
The clerk in the language school was astonished because:
The author paid the fee for two people.
The author paid the fee for one person.
The author didn't pay at all.
The author paid more than the clerk had expected.
Text 10
Scan the text to find the answers to the questions:
1. What is slang?
2. Why does slang appear?
3. When does a great increase in the number of slang coinages
usually take place?
4. What do you understand by transitoriness of slang?
5. Why do some words which used to be slang can later become an
essential part of the vocabulary of the language? Give some
examples of such words in English.
6. Which group of words, although having remained slang for many
years and even centuries, has very little chance to become part of
Standard English vocabulary?
7. What examples does the author provide to show that slang “has its
appropriate and inappropriate occasions”?
What advice does the author give foreigners about the use of
slang?
Slang
Slang has several distinguishing characteristics. It is
often coined by groups of people discontented with the
traditional words and expressions. For this reason it often has a
particular race and vivid quality which the ordinary expressions
lack. Slang is a mark of group identity. It is noticeable that much
coinage of new words at the moment is going on among the
teenagers, who feel it necessary to mark out their separateness
from the adult world. They use special expressions as they wear
special clothes, or distinctive hairstyles. Slang develops when
people encounter a new set of circumstances for which they do
not feel the current vocabulary is adequate. Thus, during periods
of disturbance or war there is often a great increase in the num -
22
ber of slang coinages. Many such words occur in the English
language from the slang of the soldiers during the First World
War and the air force during the Second.
Another feature of slang is its transitoriness. Slang words
tend to be fashionable and when the fashion has gone the words
disappear. This does not always happen, however. Many words that
were coined as slang in the first place have remained and become a
necessary part of the language. Thus, words like bus, dodge, fun
and snob began life as slang, but because they expressed a
meaning which no other word quite expressed, they survived. Slang
can be regarded as a kind of proving ground for words where they
go through tests of their suitability for permanent employment.
An interesting group of words is those, which have remained
slang for many years, sometimes centuries, and have never quite
been admitted to the respectability of Standard English. These tend
to be words connected with subjects which people consider not quite
respectable: crime, drink, sex, drugs, insanity, for example. Like other
forms of language, slang has its appropriate and inappropriate occasions. It would be quite inappropriate in a court of law for the
judge to use slang to the witness and say, for example, nark it or
turn it in, meaning, roughly, "Please stop that particular line of
argument." On the other hand, the language of the law court would be
quite inappropriate in, for example, a public house where one was
having a drink with a friend. For someone whose native language is
not English, slang is a thing to understand and appreciate, rather than
to use oneself, because it is so closely identified with the nation of
its origin.
1. Make a list of the key words and phrases from the text.
2. Find and write down 5-7 key sentences.
3. Retell the text using the key words and sentences.
4. Discuss the following questions:
1) Do you use slang? Why or why not?
2) Which slang words are now in fashion among Russian
teenagers and MIPT students?
5. Write an essay “Slang: to use or not to use?” (250-300
words).
23
Text 11
PRE-READING
Answer the questions:
1. Have you ever heard the word “cockney”? Do you know what it
means?
2. What characters of British authors spoke cockney?
3.
Read the text and say what you have learnt about the origin of
cockney slang.
Cockney of London
A cockney traditionally is a person born within hearing distance of
the sound of Bow bells, meaning within the sound of the bells of the Church
of St Mary Le Bow in Cheapside, London, EC2 and refers to an East
London accent, however to most people living outside London the term
Cockney means a Londoner.
The origin of the word has been the subject of many guesses, but
the historical examination of the various uses of "cockney" shows that the
earliest form of the word is cokenay or cokeney, that is, the eye or egg and
coken, genitive plural of "cock", "cock's eggs" being the name given to the
small and malformed eggs sometimes laid by young hens. The word then
applied to a child overlong nursed by its mother, hence to a simpleton. The
application of the term by country folk to town-bred people with their
ignorance of country ways is easy. It was not till the beginning of the 17th
century that "cockney" appears to have been confined to the inhabitants of
London. The so-called accent was chiefly characterised in the first part of
the 19th century of substitution of a [v] for a [w], or vice versa. The chief
consonantal variation, which now exists, is perhaps the change of [th]
to [f] or [v] as in "fing" for thing, or "farver" for farther. The most
marked change of vowel sound is that of [ai] for [ei], so that "daily"
becomes "dyly".
Cockney is thought to have originated from the seamen and
soldiers who used the London docks, from the gypsies who arrived in
the 1500’s, and from the Irish residents, the Jewish faction and all the
other ethnic minorities which have made up the population of the
24
East
End.
It is also said to have originated as a secret way of communicating by
coster mongers when carrying out illegal street trade in the midnineteenth century and has evolved into a complex and often very
confusing “language”.
The jargon derives from two main sources. By far the most predominant is rhyming slang. For example, Boat race - face. The golden rule
of rhyming slang is that it is the word that does not rhyme that becomes the
word used. A person's physiognomy is therefore their boat. The second and
more graphic source of cockney slang is descriptive, i.e.: twirl for key and
shooter for gun. To complete the picture there is also a smattering of Jewish
words like: schwartze, and schtook which translated mean – black and
trouble respectively. A few Romany words like gaff for a room, house or
flat and chavy for child have crept in for good measure.
But it would be far from the truth to suggest that the cockney dialect is made up of a collection of slang words and nothing more. It relies as
much upon phraseology as it does on words that a visitor to London may
not understand. Indeed there are some phrases which contain no slang
words at all, but still take some fathoming. A favourite of mine goes as
follows: "Bung'im a load of old moody and stick'im in the land of promise."
Which means: "Throw him a phoney line and promise him anything."
Places in London where cockney slang can be most commonly
heard, apart from the East End of course, are the Covent Garden flower and
fruit market, local pubs and betting shops. A snatch of conversation
overheard in one of the latter establishments might run something like the
following: "Put us in for a cows. I've done me poppy and the linens reckon
the favourite'll walk it." Translated this would be: "Lend me ten shillings, I
have lost my money and the newspapers say the favourite will win it."
Linen drapers are newspapers. Cows calf is half a note, 50p. Poppy is
descriptive slang for money. Whatever confusion decimalisation of the
British currency may have brought to the nation, there can be no doubt that
it has been of great help to the tourist and not solely because most countries
now share the same system. New slang terms for the lower denominations
of British money, the coinage effected by the changeover, have not so far
come into existence. The tanner - sixpence - has survived, however, and the
larger notes remain unchanged, facks alive - five (pounds), cock and hen ten (pounds) and a score - twenty pound note. The greatest enemy of the
students of London slang, however, is time. It changes so often that even
the most adept aficionado will have his work cut out keeping up with it.
25
(Based on the article from www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk )
Scan the text to find the answers to the questions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What or who is a Cockney?
What is the origin of the word?
What are the peculiarities of cockney accent?
Where did Cockney Rhyming slang come from?
From what two main sources does the jargon derive?
What is said to be the golden rule of cockney rhyming slang?
Is the cockney dialect made up of slang words only?
Where can cockney slang be most commonly heard nowadays?
Why is it so difficult for foreigners to understand cockney?
Examples of Cockney Rhyming Slang
Cockney
Adam and
Eve
Apples and
Pears
Bacon and
Eggs
Bread and
Honey
Christian
Slater
Cream
Crackered
Meaning
Example
to believe
I don't Adam and Eve it!
Dicky Bird
word
Dog and Bone
Lemon
Squeezy
phone
He hasn't said a Dicky
bird in hours.
She's always on the Dog.
easy
It was Lemon, mate.
Get yer Bacons up the
Apples and Pears.
You have got a lovely set
of Bacons.
I wish I had loads of
Bread.
stairs
legs
money
later
See ya Slater.
knackered
(tired/broken)
I'm Cream Crackered!
(From www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk)
Text 12
A joke
26
Read this joke and do the exercise below. Consult your
dictionary if necessary.
'I was down the boozer the other night having a chat and a fag with
my mates when this gorilla walked in. Everyone was absolutely
gobsmacked. The gorilla went up to the bar, and went to the bloke behind
the bar, "Wotcha! I'll have a pint of Guinness and something to eat... do you
do nosh?" "Yeah," said the amazed barman; "Bangers and mash, or cheese
butties." "Hang on a sec... Let me think about it," said the gorilla, and he
nipped off to the loo for a pee. While the gorilla was in the loo, the barman,
who was a bit of a plonker, went into the kitchen to find the guv'nor. "Here,
guv," he said, "There's a gorilla at the bar who's just ordered a pint of
Guinness. What shall I do?" "Get off!" said the landlord, "You're having me
on, you daft prat." "I'm not having you on," said the barman "See for
yourself." The landlord took a butcher's out of the kitchen door and saw the
gorilla standing at the bar, chatting up a couple of girls, who were quite
sozzled.
"Well," said the landlord, "I'm not having that! We can't refuse to
serve him, but I don't want this to become the in place for gorillas round
here. Tell you what, overcharge him for the Guinness, and perhaps he'll
push off." So, the barman went back to the bar and handed over the
Guinness. "That'll be a tenner, " said the barman. "That's a bit steep, said
the gorilla, "It's usually a couple of quid." But he didn't want any hassle so
he handed the barman the dosh. The barman, who hadn't seen a gorilla in
the pub before, couldn't help staring. The gorilla noticed and said "What are
you
looking
at?"
The barman said "I don't want to give you any hassle, it's just that we don't
get many gorillas in here." "I'm not surprised," said the gorilla, "given the
prices you charge."'
1. Find a word or expression in the text which means the same
as the words and expressions below:
a pub
a man
a boss
money
a cigarette
expensive
ten pounds
a problem
hello
said
27
a friend
food
a toilet
to look
drunk
sausages
to go away
a pound
surprised
a stupid person
(2 expressions)
I’ve got an idea
went quickly
You’re talking
nonsense
a fashionable
place
to urinate
You’re joking!
in this area
sandwiches
2. Writing
Rewrite the story in a neutral language.
Text 13
PRE-READING
Here is a collection of quotations referring to American English
(AE) and British English (BE). Look through the quotations very fast
and answer the questions. Choose any quotation to comment on it.
1. “Several circumstances render a future separation of the American tongue
from the English necessary and unavoidable."
Noah Webster, 1789
2. "In another century, the dialect of the Americans will become utterly
unintelligible to an Englishman."
Thomas Hamilton, 1833
3. “English and American are separate languages… When I speak my native
tongue in its utmost purity, an Englishman can't understand me at all."
Mark Twain, 1882
4. "The English used in the United States and that used in England are so
overwhelmingly alike that such differences as do exist hardly justify anyone
in advancing a claim of superior excellence for either the so-called American
language or the English language. The really surprising thing about the
English of England and that of the United States is not that they differ
slightly, but that their difference is as slight as it is."
28
M.Mathews, 1931
5. "The two varieties of English have never been so different as people have
imagined, and the dominant tendency, for several decades now, has clearly
been that of convergence and even greater similarity.’
Randolph Quirk, 1964
Look through the quotations very fast and answer the questions:
1. As time went on, it became clear that AE and BE are:
a) quite identical
b) rather similar
c) very different
2. What Thomas Hamilton said about AE in our century:
a) has not come true b) has come true c) is coming true
3. Which is the most common term used in quotations?
a) American language b) American dialect
c) American variety
4. Which term do you find most adequate?
Read the text and say what you have learnt about most striking
differences between British and American English.
American English
The English language in America (AE) has been influenced by
American Indian languages and by all the ethnic groups that have emigrated to
the United States over the years.
The term 'americanism' was first used by John Witherspoon,
president of Princeton University, in 1781. It designates (a) any word or
combination of words which, taken into the English language in the United
States, has not gained acceptance in England, or, if accepted, has retained its
sense of foreignness; and (b) any word or combination of words which,
becoming archaic in England, has continued in good usage in the United
States.
The first class is the larger and has the longer history. The earliest
settlers in Virginia and New England, confronted by plants and animals that
were unfamiliar to them, either borrowed the Indian names or invented
names of their own. Examples are afforded by raccoon (енот), opossum
(опоссум, сумчатая крыса), squash (кабачок, тыква) among Indian words and
by bullfrog (лягушка-бык, лягушка-вол) and liveoak (дуб
виргинский) among inventions. Many other words came in as the pioneers
gained familiarity with the Indian life. Such words as moccasin (мокасин),
pone (кукурузная лепешка) and tapioca (крупа из крахмала) remain
29
everyday Americanisms.
The archaisms, of course, showed themselves more slowly. They had to
go out of use in England before their survival in America was noticeable. But
by the beginning of the 18th century there was already a considerable body of
them, and all through that century they increased. The English language in
Great Britain (BE), was changing rapidly, but in America it was holding to its
old forms. There was very little fresh emigration to the colonies, and their own
people seldom visited England. Thus by the end of the century "I guess" was
already an Americanism, though it had been in almost universal use in England
in Shakespeare's day.
American English borrowed words from the non-English settlers, and
developed many new words of its own. To this period belong, for example,
backwoods (глушь, необжитое место, захолустье), half-breed (метис,
полукровка), hired-girl (амер. работница на ферме). These words were all
made of the common materials of English, but there was something in them
that was redolent of a pioneer people and a new world. A number of important
words, in daily use, began to show different meanings in England and America.
Some familiar examples are store, rock and corn. What Englishmen call a shop
was called a store by Americans as early as 1770, and long before that time
corn in American had come to signify not grains in general, but only maize.
The use of rock to designate any stone, however small, goes back still further.
Many of these differences were produced by changes in English usage. Thus
cracker, in England, once meant precisely what it now means in the United
States. When the English abandoned it for biscuit the Americans stuck to
cracker, and used biscuit to designate something else. Also, shoe came to be
substituted in America for the English boot.
The American dialect of English was firmly established by the time the
Republic was well started, and in the half-century following it departed more
and more from standard English. During the two decades before the Civil
War everyday American became almost unintelligible to an Englishman;
every English visitor marked and denounced its vagaries.
After the Civil War there was an increase of national self-consciousness, and efforts were made to police the language. Professional
grammarians got help from certain of the literati. The campaign went to great
lengths. But the spirit of the language, and of the American people no less, was
against reforms, and they were reduced to vanity by the unconquerable
speech habits of the folk. Under the very noses of the purists a new and
vigorous American slang came into being, and simultaneously the common
speech began to run amok..
In the face of a new situation the American shows a far greater
30
linguistic resourcefulness and daring than the Englishman. The visiting
Englishman finds them very difficult. They puzzle him even more than do
American peculiarities of pronunciation. Of late the increase of travel and
other inter-communication between England and America has tended to halt
the differentiation of the two dialects. It was more marked, perhaps, before the
World War than since. Today, urbanization, quick transport, and television
have tended to level out some dialectal differences in the United States,
Most easily BE accepted the word groups indicating: 1) notions
not having any strict definition in BE (e.g. commuter - житель
пригородного района, который работает в городе, trailer - прицеп,
know-how - производственный опыт, технологии, baby-sit —
присматривать за ребенком за плату); 2) cultural borrowings (e.g. milk
shake - молочный коктейль, sundae - мороженое с фруктовым
сиропом); 3) names of American realia (rodeo - соревнования ковбоев,
sheriff - шериф, Secretary of State - государственный секретарь,
министр иностранных дел, congressman - член конгресса (в
особенности член палаты представителей), administration - управление,
правительство, министерство); 4) emotionally coloured equivalents of
stylistically neutral words in BE (brainwashing = indoctrination).
The dialect regions of the United States are most clearly marked
along the Atlantic littoral, where the earlier settlements were made. Three
dialects can be defined: Northern, Midland, and Southern. Each has its
subdialects. The speech of the Atlantic Seaboard shows far greater
differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary than that of any
area in the North Central States, the Upper Midwest, the Rocky
Mountains, or the Pacific Coast. In some areas of South Carolina and
Georgia the American Negroes who had been imported to work on the
rice and cotton plantations developed a contact language called Gullah, or
Geechee, that made use of many structural and lexical features of their
native languages.
The chief differences between British Received Pronunciation and
a variety of American English, such as Inland Northern (the speech form
of western New England and its derivatives, often popularly referred to
as General American), are in the pronunciation of certain individual
vowels and diphthongs. It is next to impossible to dwell here upon
divergences of both variants in phonetics — sounds, stress, accent,
intonation. Examples are numerous, here are only two, to illustrate the
fact: clerk is pronounced in BE as [kle:k], and in AE as [kla:rk];
advertisement in BE is [ed've:tisment], and in AE – [aedver'taizment].
AE could more easily than BE form nouns ending with -ette (-et) with
31
the diminunative meaning (luncheonette/ dinette/ dinerette - небольшое
кафе), or to show gender (such as conductorette). Similarly, AE more
extensively uses the suffix - wise in the meaning of 'with regard to' or 'in
terms of’ (instructionwise, taxwise, pricewise, weatherwise). Also popular
among americanisms is the prefix super- (superhighway, superfilm,
superweapon), and also the verb suffix -ize. Equally registered tendency of AE
is to use the morphological forms of the type got: gotten.
Numerous are examples when the ranges of meanings of the same
word in both variants differ (e.g., AE gun, means not only 'cannon' and
'rifle', as is the case with BE gun, but also 'pistol' and 'revolver'; the
meaning of pie in BE is narrower than that of AE pie, as it implies the
meaning 'meat pie', if not preceded by some specification as in 'apple
pie').
There are numerous cases of different phrases with verb-adverb
combinations (AE look out the window: BE look out of the window; AE
to fill out a blank: BE to fill in a form; AE to be filled up (about a hotel):
BE to be full up; AE wash up: BE wash your hands), as well as of
divergencies in phrase structures (e.g., AE go get it: BE go and get it).
(From Письменная О.А. «Окна в англоязычный мир. История,
георграфия, социальные аспекты, языковая ситуация». М., 2005)
Read the text again and answer the questions:
1. What influences did the English language in America fall under?
2. What is the general definition of americanisms!
3. What most general groups of americanisms are usually distinguished?
(Illustrate the answer with some examples).
4. What was characteristic of the process of word formation in AE?
5. What does the comparative analysis of ranges of meanings of the same
words in AE and BE (e.g. store, cracker, gun) show?
6. What is the backward influence of AE on BE?
Text 14
Read the two texts from the Club magazine describing the routine actions in
British English (1-A) and American English (1-B).
A Little Bit of Comprehension Practice
Text l-A
32
I got up at half past seven. I put on my dressing gown, went into the
bathroom and turned on the bath taps. After my bath I had breakfast with my
parents on the terrace. Our flat's on the fifteenth floor, so the view's terrific.
At eight o'clock my mum and I took the lift to the car park under our
block of flats. First we stopped for petrol, then she drove me to school.
School was OK except that we had a maths exam before break. I think I
failed it. Anyway, after school I took a bus to the city centre to meet my
sister, Susan. She became a primary school teacher after she left university
last year.
We went out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant. Personally I don't like
rice, so I ordered chips instead. Susan disapproved.
After sweet and coffee we paid the bill and left. It had stopped raining,
but the pavements were still wet. Susan gave me a lift home, then I did some history
homework for the next day, watched a film on the TV and went to bed at about half
past eleven. I was really tired!
Text 1-B
I got up at seven-thirty. I put on my bath-robe, went into the bathroom
and turned on the bath-tub faucets. After my bath I ate breakfast with my parents
on the deck. Our apartment's on the fifteenth floor, so the view's terrific.
At eight o'clock my mom and I took the elevator to the parking lot
underneath our apartment block. First we stopped for gas, then she drove me to
school.
School was OK except that we had a math test before recess. I think I
flunked it. Anyway, after school I took a bus downtown to meet my sister, Susan.
She became a grade school teacher after she left college last year.
We ate out at a Chinese restaurant. Personally I don't like rice, so I
ordered french fries instead. Susan disapproved.
After dessert and coffee we paid the check and left. It had stopped
raining, but the sidewalks were still wet. Susan gave me a ride home, then I
did a history assignment for the next day, watched a movie on TV and went
to bed around 11.30. I was pooped!
Scanning. Read the texts again and fill in the table:
Russian
Половина восьмого
Халат (банный)
British
English
American
English
33
Кран (в ванной, раковине)
Позавтракать
Терраса
Квартира
Мама
Лифт
Стоянка для машин
Под (предлог)
Многоквартирный дом
Бензин
Контрольная
работа
по
математике
Перемена (в школе)
«Завалить», не справиться с
контрольной
Центр города
Учитель начальной школы
Пообедать кде-л (в кафе,
ресторане и т.п.)
Картофель-фри
Десерт, сладкое
Счет (в ресторане)
Тротуар
Подвезти куда-л
Домашнее задание
Фильм
Уставший
Text 15
Read the text and say what problems the American traveller in
Britain had because of the differences between the two variants of the
language.
An American in England
…But very soon you notice that you and your English fellowpassengers don’t speak the same language after all.
At dinner the very first night you find that ‘dessert’ doesn’t mean the
34
whole last course but includes fruits only and is served after the course
referred to as the ‘sweets’. As for the ‘sweets’ course, it includes all the
puddings, pastries and cakes you have always called ‘dessert’.
At breakfast, the biscuits turned out to be merely our crackers; yet
should you ask for ‘crackers’ the waiter would be horrified, for crackers’ to
him mean only ‘fire crackers’.
As you retire that evening the stewardess reminds you to put out your
‘boots’ to be cleaned. You thank her kindly, remarking, however, that you have
only ‘shoes’ with you. But soon you realize that you are both talking about the
same thing. Oddly enough, in England a ‘shoeblack’ polishes your ‘boots’,
while in America a ‘bootblack’ polishes our ‘shoes’.
Two days later you confide to one of your fellow-passengers how ‘ill’
you were as a result of the storm the day before. “Ill!” she exclaims
sympathetically, “what was the trouble – stomachache, headache?” “Why, no,
I meant ‘seasick’”. Now it is her turn to be surprised – for in England one
never refers to seasickness as ‘illness’. Should you have the flu, the grippe,
or even a cold, you may be ‘ill’. But when you experience that disturbing
condition resulting from sea motion, then you are ‘sick’.
Shortly after landing you start from your hotel to visit the places of
interest. By the way, if you should go to see friends, you should not say
‘visit’, for in England that word is applied to a much longer stay – at least
overnight. A shorter stay is merely a ‘call’.
Your first shopping experiences are especially annoying. You don’t
go to a ‘store’ to buy things but to a ‘shop’. The saleswoman is called
‘shop-assistant’, never a ‘clerk’. In England ‘clerks’ are book-keepers and
office workers. In search for a tie, you ask for the ‘haberdashery department’.
Once there, you stop short in surprise. “What’s this?” you ask. To the right
and left of you are buttons, pins, thread, in fact all the items known in
America as ‘notions’. As it turns out, English ‘haberdashery departments’ are
American ‘notion counters’. If you ask for a ‘wall plug’ the shopkeeper
would say: “Oh, you mean a ‘multiple outlet adapter”. Our ‘dry goods
stores’ become in England ‘drapers’ shops’, ‘drug stores’ are ‘chemist’s
shops’, a woman’s ‘tailor-made suit’ is called a ‘costume’. If you want ‘bacon’, it’s ‘gammon’. But if you want the kind of bacon we’re accustomed to –
a mixture of fat and lean – you should ask for ‘streaky’.
Exhausted from the shopping, you stop for tea. You order ‘pie’ and
tea with a ‘pitcher’ of cream. The waitress looks at you in astonishment.
Realizing that again you’ve made a mistake, you patiently explain, and to
your surprise discover that ‘pie’ refers only to meat pies – in other words, a
main dish, never, never served at tea; while tea itself is served with a ‘jug ‘of
35
milk or cream. There are no ‘pitchers’ in England, only ‘jugs’ (for water,
cream, or milk) which serve the same purpose. A steak is a ‘sirloin roast’.
‘Hamburger’ is ‘mince meat’. An American ‘chop’ is a ‘cutlet’. What we
call ‘cracker’ is a ‘biscuit’ to the English. And what we think is a ‘cookie’
they call a ‘biscuit’. Wild! …
(From “English for You “)
Read the text again and answer the questions.
1. What does the word dessert mean in British English?
2. Why would an English waiter be horrified if you asked him for ‘crackers’?
3. What do the British call ‘shoes’?
4. Is being ‘ill’ the same as being ‘sick’ in British English?
5. What is the difference between ‘to visit’ and ‘to call’?
6. Why was the American visitor surprised when he found in an English
‘haberdashery department’ buttons, pins and thread, but not ties he had been
looking for?
7. What is the British English for a ‘wall plug’?
8. Why did the waitress look at the American in astonishment when he
asked her to bring him ‘pie’ and tea with a ‘pitcher’ of cream?
Questions for discussion:
1. Are the two variants of the English language nowadays growing even
more different or becoming closer to each other?
2. Will the time come when there is only one variant of the English
language again?
Text 16
Read the text and say which story from your point of view is the
funniest.
One more joke
ENGLISHMAN: I'll never forget my feelings the first time I had
breakfast in America, when the waitress leaned over my shoulder, and
whispered in my ear: «Are you through with the cereal?» It was some time
before I discovered that she meant: «Have you finished your porridge?»
AMERICAN: Well, shortly after I landed in England a waiter came
up to me at luncheon and said:
36
«How did you find your chop, sir?»
I replied: «Oh!» I looked behind the potato and there it was, before
I understood that he was asking me how I liked it.
SCOTSMAN: That's nothing to what happened to me once. I was in
lodgings in a small town in the west of Ireland. Half an hour after I had
finished my supper an exceedingly pretty girl came into my room and said:
«Will I strip now, sir?» I fled into my bedroom and locked the door, but I
found afterwards that Irish girls always talk about «stripping the table»,
when they meant «clearing away the dishes.»
Text 17
PRE-READING
Answer the question:
Are all the languages equally good from your point of view or are some of
them better then others? Give your reasons.
Read the text and say what you have learnt about the predjudices some
British people have against foreign languages.
Languages
A language is a system of communication used within a particular
social group. Inevitably, the emotions created by group loyalty get in the
way of objective judgements; we are often merely making a statement about
our prejudices. It is highly instructive to examine these occasionally. I
myself have very strong prejudices about what I call Americanisms.
I see red whenever I read a certain popular woman columnist in a
certain popular daily paper. I wait with a kind of fascinated horror for her to
use the locution "I guess", as in "I guess he really loves you after all" or "I
guess you'd better get yourself a new boyfriend". I see in this form the
essence of Americanism, a threat to the British Way of Life. But this is
obviously nonsense, and I know it. I know, that "I guess" is at least as old as
Chauser, pure British English, something sent over in the "Mayflower".
But, like most of us, I do not really like submitting to reason; I
much prefer blind prejudice. And so I stoutly condemn "I guess" is an
American importation and its use by a British writer as a betrayal of the
traditions of my national group.
Such condemnation can seem virtuous, because patriotism - which
means loyalty to the national group - is a noble word. While virtue burns in
37
the mind, adrenaline courses round the body and makes us feel good.
Reason never has this exhilarating chemical effect. And so patriotic
euphoria justifies our contempt of foreign languages and makes us
unwilling to learn them properly.
Chinese is still regarded in the West as a huge joke - despite what
T.S. Eliot calls its "greatly intellectual dignity" - and radio comedians can
even raise a snigger by speaking mock-Chinese. Russian is, of course,
nothing more than a deep vodka-rich rumble bristling with "-vich" and "ski".
As for German - that is an ugly language, aggressively guttural. We
rarely admit that it seems ugly because of the painful wars, that it is all a
matter of association.
Sometimes our automatic sneers at foreign languages are mitigated
by pleasant memories - warm holidays abroad, trips to the opera. Italian can
then seem beautiful, full of blue skies, "vino", sexy tenors. Trippers to
Paris, on the other hand, furtively visiting the "Folies Bergere", project their
own guilt on to the French language and see it as a "naughty", even
"immoral".
We are normally quick to observe regional variations in the use of
the national language, but we feel less strongly about these than we do
about class divisions in speech. If we speak with a Lancashire accent, we
will often be good-humoured and only slightly derisive when we hear the
accent of Wolverhampton or Tyneside. Sometimes we will even express a
strong admiration of alien forms of English - the speech of the Scottish
Highlands, for instance, or Canadian, as opposed to American. But we feel
very differently about English speech when it seems to be a badge or banner
of class.
The dialect known variously as the Queen's English or BBC
English or Standard English was, originally, a pure regional form - socalled East Midland English, with no claim to any special intristic merit.
But it was spoken in an area that was, and still is, socially and economically
pre-eminent - the area which contains London, Oxford and Cambridge.
Thus it gained a special glamour as the language of the Court and the
language of learning. It has ever since - often falsely - been associated with
wealth, position, and education - the supra-regional dialect of the masters,
while the regional dialects remain the property of the men. In certain
industrial areas it can still excite resentment, despite the fact that it is no
longer necessarily goes along with power and privilege.
(By Anthony Burgess)
38
Read the text again and answer the following questions.
1. What is a language?
2. Do the English learn foreign languages willingly?
3. Is the writer amused by his own prejudices about languages?
4. Is it bad to use American expressions in British English?
5. Does the author consider "the British Way of Life" to be superior
to other cultures?
6. How does the author describe foreign languages?
7. What is meant by "Queen's English"?
8. What is it associated with?
Text 18
PRE-READING
1. Answer the questions:
1. Have you ever read English newspapers or magazines?
2. Was the language there different from the language used in English
textbooks for students?
2. Before you read the text look at the following statements and
try to guess if they are correct or not.
1. Newspaper headlines are usually provided by the authors of the
articles.
2. Long words in headlines are more preferable than short ones
because they sound more impressive and interesting.
3. In order to make headlines shorter the names of well-known
people are usually cut down.
4. In Headline English adjectives are tend to be replaced by
corresponding nouns because the latter are shorter.
5. Abbreviations are never used in headlines because they are very
misleading.
6. It is relatively easy for foreigners to interpret English headlines.
Read the text and find out if your predictions were correct or
not.
Those Strange Headlines
39
When a newspaper gets material from its own reporting staff or
from outside contributors, the copy, as it is called, is passed to subeditors.
Their duty is to look it over, go through it, check it for mistakes or possible
libellous remarks, and shape it for available space. They have also to
provide headlines, which will give the reader in the shortest possible way a
good idea of what the report or article contains.
These headlines have to be fitted into very narrow columns, so the
sub-editors have a difficult task. Long words are only a nuisance, therefore
quite small ones have to be used; and this has caused the creation of a
journalistic language of its own, which we can call "Headline English".
How does a sub-editor set about his work of composing short,
snappy headlines, which are, at the same time, immediately comprehensive
to the readers of the newspaper? One obvious way is to cut down the names
of well-known people; so in Headline English, Sir Alec Douglas-Home may
become Alec or Home. Another feature of Headline English is the
replacement of adjectives by nouns, because the latter are shorter. One may
also meet a headline, which contains several nouns jammed together; for
example, "Smoking Report Outcry Clash". This would refer to the report
made by a medical commission of inquiry into the dangers for health
caused by smoking, especially of cigarettes. The verdict of the doctors has
caused alarm and protest among smokers; and the tobacco trade is
challenging the verdict and disputing with the doctors. The whole thing is
thus confined in the four words in the headline.
Another habit of sub-editors is to use abbreviated names of organisations and institutions, and this is frequently the case in reports about
crimes. You have certainly heard of the Criminal Investigation Department,
which is housed at Scotland Yard. In describing police action the makers of
headlines drop the word "Scotland" and simply say "Yard": so you may
read: "Blonde dead in luxury flat, Yard moves". Notice, by the way, that in
such a headline the word "moves" can be taken either as a verb, in the
sense: "The Yard moves", that is, the Yard takes action; or as a noun, in the
sense: These are the moves, the actions of the Yard. The news-vendors' bills
announcing the contents of papers use the same headline language, and this
can be very baffling to strangers. One who saw the brief statement
"England's Collapse" might think that the nation was financially ruined. But
it would probably mean that the English batsmen had been doing badly in a
cricket match!
(From «Причудливый английский: Занимательное пособие для
40
совершенствования языковых навыков». Сост.: Балк Е.А., Леменев
М.М., М., 2002.)
Try to rewrite the following headlines in Standard English and
make a guess what the corresponding articles might be about:
1. Theft of Valuable Jewels from Sotheby’s.
2. Missing Boy Alive
3. Huge Pay Rise for Euro MPs.
4. Monsoon Kills 260 in India.
5. Ancient Tomb Discovery in Egypt.
6. Ferrari Shock – 2,000 Redundancies.
Text 19
Read the text and say what you have learnt about the
peculiarities of the language of telegrams.
Language of Telegrams
Since telegrams are paid by the word, every word costs money and
people always try and use as few words as possible. "Little words" like "a"
and "the" disappear. So do all those auxiliary verbs that English students
hate: do, does, are, is... So, a journalist who wanted to know how old the
film star Gary Grant was, sent a telegram saying:
"How old Gary Grant?"
Unfortunately, although the "little words" have gone, nobody
knows exactly where they have gone from. So, the journalist received a
reply from Gary Grant, which said: "Old Gary Grant fine. How you?"
The newspapers have always been one of the biggest users of telegrams. And since newspapers, at least in Britain, are famous for trying not
to spend money, they tried to use as few words as possible. Words like "no"
were put in front of other words as "un-".
So, "No money" became "unmoney". The most famous of such
messages is from an editor who called a journalist:
"Why unnews?"
The journalist cabled back:
"Unnews. Good news." (From the English proverb, "No news is
good news.")
The editor wasn't happy. He sent another telegram saying:
41
"Unnews: Unjob."
But perhaps the shortest telegram in the English language was from
the Irish writer Oscar Wilde. He was living in Paris and he cabled his
publisher in Britain to see how his new book was doing. The message read:
«?»
The publisher cabled back:
"!"
(From «Причудливый английский: Занимательное пособие для
совершенствования языковых навыков». Сост.: Балк Е.А., Леменев
М.М., М., 2002.)
Read the text again and answer the questions.
1. Why do people always try and use as few words as possible in
telegrams?
2. Which words usually disappear in telegrams?
3. What problems may arise due to leaving out auxiliary verbs in these
texts?
4. Which word does prefix “un” replace in telegram languge?
5. What writer sent the shortest telegram in the English language?
What was it?
6. What did his publisher cable back to him?
Questions for discusson.
1. Are telegrams still as popular nowadays as they used to be?
2. Will the Internet and SMS be able to replace telegrams completly in
the nearest 10-20 years? Why or why not?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these means of
communication?
Text 20
PRE-READING
Answer the questions.
1. Do you send emails? If so who to and when? What emails have you
received or sent recently?
2. Is the language of emails the same as the language of ordinary
letters?
42
Read the text and say whether these statements are true or
false. Correct the false ones.
1. Nowadays computers are used as a writing medium as often as
paper.
2. The speakers of Netspeak do not follow traditional linguistic
rules, but create their own.
3. Some of the linguistic features of Netspeak resemble those of
speech.
4. Smiley icons are enjoyed by all users of the Net.
5. Most of the abbreviations used in emails were invented before
the advent of computers.
6. The practice of citing large parts of the letter to which one is
replying is a unique feature of email writing.
7. Over the last three centuries all genres of writing have been
becoming closer to the spoken language.
8. Nowadays it is highly recommended one should omit openings
and closings even in formal business email letters.
E-mail and its Language
Nowadays when computers are as indispensable in our life as TV
sets and refrigerators, we use them as a writing medium more often than
paper. And since most of the computers are connected to the Internet, we
write and send e-mail messages much more frequently than ordinary letters
by ordinary mail. No wonder a special language called Netspeak appeared
as the language used to communicate on the Internet. The speakers (or
rather writers) of Netspeak are creative and active. They defy traditional
linguistic rules and create their own. They use never before seen
compounds, never thought possible affixes, multiple punctuation (!!!),
acronyms (ASAP), asterisks (***) and some forms of eccentric spelling.
Although text-based online communication is written, it resembles
oral communication. Many people have commented that composing an email message feels like talking; others have noted that at least in some
respects it even looks like talking — some of its linguistic features resemble
those of speech. E-mail writers sometimes use all caps (capital letters as in "I
REALLY LIKE THAT!") to show their emotional involvement. But writing
in all caps has recently been discouraged because it is understood as the
43
visual equivalent of shouting. Smiley icons and descriptions of action like
*grins* (surrounded by ‘asterisks) supply missing information about nonverbal aspects of communication. Detested by some and enjoyed by others,
smiley icons are composed of clusters of ordinary typographic symbols
such as commas, periods (.) and parentheses (). When viewed with the head
tilted toward the left shoulder they form "faces". Besides smiling, the faces
may wink and frown. Even private email are often sprinkled with
abbreviations, some of which were already in use before the advent of
computers (PC), others, like "LOL" for "laughing out loud" are new.
Among the speech-like features are contractions and slang, as in
"I'm gonna read the book", "How are ya doin' today?" and colloquial
expressions such as "How about?" or "OK." Messages also contain many
first and second person pronouns, reflecting high personal involvement.
Often, email messages also have many writing-specific characteristics.
Syntactically, sentences may be complex rather than simple or compound.
Other writing-linked features are the use of lists, paragraphing--organizing
material into chunks separated by white space, and so on. One of the most
notable of the features unique to digital letter-writing is the practice of citing
fairly large portions of the letter to which one is replying.
Although the new medium invites informality even in business or
official contexts, it would be a great mistake to attribute too much to the
effect of technology. Rather the new technology is strengthening a general
cultural trend, which was already in place. Linguists found that over the last
three centuries all genres of writing have been moving in an "oral"
direction. The electronic media are also having an impact. Long years of
exposure to films and television have played their role in the “oral shift”.
It’s now acceptable, even in a formal business email letter to use informal
openings and closings, or even to omit them in some cases. In the light of
these trends, it is not surprising that some authors in business letter writing
encourage their readers to write in a somewhat more informal style. What
will be the fate of syntactic and typographic requirements, as we
increasingly use email even for our most important letters? Only time will
tell.
Read the text again and find there the words which mean the
following:
1. So important or useful that it is impossible to manage without it.
44
2. To refuse to obey a law or rule, or refuse to do what someone
in authority tells you to do.
3. To persuade someone not to do something, especially by making
it seem difficult or bad.
4. To hate something or someone very much
5. To close and open one eye quickly to communicate something or
show that something is a secret or a joke
6. To not include someone or something, either deliberately or
because you forget to do it
Fill in the gaps with these words:
1. Helen and Sue ___________ each other.
2. I do not understand people who openly ___________ the law.
3. Please, do not ______ any details, no matter how trivial they may
seem.
4. He smiled and ____________ an eye at his companion.
5. Mobile phones have become an ___________________ part of our
life.
6. You should not let one failure ____________ you.
Writing
Write an abstract “E-mail today”.
Text 21
PRE-READING
Answer the following questions.
1. What is SMS?
2. Is SMS language different from the Standard English? What are its
characteristic features?
3. What is the objective of SMS language?
4. Is it as common nowadays as it used to be several years ago? Why
or why not?
Read the text and check your answers.
The language of SMS
45
SMS language (also known as chatspeak, txt, txtspk, texting
language or txt talk) is the English language slang used in mobile phone
SMS. It is an abbreviated form of English known as a rebus. It is similar to
Telex speak, and it evolved from the shorthand used in Internet chartrooms
to accommodate the small number of characters allowed (early SMS
permitted only 160 characters), and as a convenient language for the small
keyboards on mobile phones.
The objective of txt is to use the fewest number of characters
needed to put across a comprehensible message. Hence, punctuation and
grammar are largely ignored. With predictive text input increasingly being
used, it is becoming less common.
(From Wikipedia, free encyclopedia)
Compare the two variants of the same text: an SMS (A) and an
informal letter (B).
A
My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his
GF& thr 3 :- kds Bt my Ps wr so {:/ BC o 9/11 tht they dcdd 2 stay in SCO
& spnd 2 wks up N. Up N, WUCIWUG – O. I ws vvv brd in MON. O bt
baas & ^ ^ ^ ^ ^. AAR8, my Ps wr :) – they sd ICBW, & tht they wr ha-p 4
the pc&qt… IDTS!! I wntd 2 go hm ASAP, 2C my M8s again. 2day, I cam
bk 2 skool. I feel v O:) BC I hv dn all my hm wrk. Now its BAU…
B
My summer holidays were complete waste of time. Before, we used
to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three
screaming kids. But my parents were so worried because of September, 11
that they decided to stay in Scotland and spend two weeks up North. Up
North what you see is what you get – nothing. I was very bored in the
middle of nowhere. Nothing but sheep and mountains. At any rate my
parents were happy – they said it could be worse and that they were happy
for the peace and quiet… I don’t think so!! I want to go home as soon as
possible to see my mates again. Today I came back to school. I feel very
saintly because I have done my homework. Now it’s business as usual.
Scanning. Read the two texts again and match the numbers,
icons and abbreviations used in the phone message to the
corresponding words and expressions from the letter:
1. wr
a. girlfriend
46
2. CWOT
3. B4
4. 2go2
5. 2C
6. bro
7. GF
8. bt
9. BC o
10. dcdd
11. WUCIWUG
12. O
13. vvv brd
14. in MON
15. AAAR8
16. ICBW
17. wr ha-p 4 the pc&qt
18. IDTS!!
19. ASAP
20. 2C
21. my M8s
22. 2day
23. BAU
b. today
c. what you see is what you get
d. before
e. but
f. to see
g. my mates
h. decided
i. at any rate
j. it could be worse
k. were
l. because of
m. were happy for the peace and
quiet
n. I don’t think so!!
o. complete waste of time
p. as soon as possible
q. to see
r. to go to
s. business as usual
t. brother
u. nothing
v. very bored
w. in the middle of nowhere
Text 22
Read the following extract from a London restaurant guide, in
which much of the information is given in a sort of "shorthand". See if
you can understand it and using the information, answer the questions:
1. What is the name of the restaurant?
2. From what country does the style of cooking come?
3. Should I reserve a table before I go?
4. How much can I expect to pay for lunch?
5. Is there a set menu for lunch?
6. I just want a cup of tea, costing 25p. Is that possible?
7. Is service included in the prices on the menu?
8. What is the name of the nearest underground station?
47
9. Can I get there on a 73 bus?
10. Is the restaurant open every day?
11. Can I have my Christmas dinner here?
12. Do we know the name of the restaurant's owner?
13. Is it a five-star restaurant?
14. There's a cinema next door. The film finishes at ten past ten.
Can we eat at the restaurant afterwards?
15. Does the restaurant sell alcohol?
16. Is VAT extra?
17. Is the fruit salad recommended?
18. Is the restaurant in North London?
Understanding Abbreviations
Chez Armande (Fr) 45 Turner St SW18. Tube Putney Bridge.
Buses 19, 73. Closed Mons & Xmas Day. Open 11.00 - 15.00 18.00 -23.30
(last orders 22.00). Licensed. Table d'hote av pr. L £4.50+wine D
£6.00+wine, A la carte D only £5.00 wine inc. Serv. ch 10% extra. VAT
inc. in all prices. Min. ch. 50p. Spec, onion soup, smoken salmon, fruit
salad. Prop: A. Durbin. Tel: 334 5678. Bkng advisable. Rating***
Text 21
PRE-READING
Answer the following question.
Have you ever heard the term “political correctness”? What does it mean?
Read the text and say why it is so important nowadays to speak
PC English.
Bias-free English: From Wimmin to Minorities
“I know this isn't very PC of me, but...” So start a thousand of
sentences a day when one wishes to express an opinion that is based on a
stereotype. “Political correctness” or “PC” has solidly entered the American
lexicon. Being “politically correct” means “adopting a policy of speaking
correctly” about people that is, speaking about them respectfully, without
bias and stereotypes.
Starting in the 1960s America was swept by a number of major
48
movements for social change: the civil rights movements, the women's
liberation movement, the movement for independent living among people
with disabilities, the Native American movement, the “sexual revolution”.
At the same time, divorce and non-traditional families (including single
mothers) became more acceptable, and many women joined the workforce,
very often out of economic necessity. When American women in the 1960s
and 1970s began to look for jobs, they came up against a hard fact:
traditionally women's professions paid much less than traditionally men's
professions. So a divorced woman with children to feed and clothe looked
at the job market and thought: “Well, if I can double my income by doing a
man’s job, I'll do a man’s job.”
But when people began to take on these new jobs and roles, they
discovered very quickly that the English language didn't have the right
words to describe “a woman janitor” or “a stay-at-home husband.”
Psychological research on the power of the word to shape behavior
suggested that the old words were not only inadequate, they were holding
back change. “If there's no word for it, it doesn't exist.” But if it did exist —
it was time to invent some new words.
The first sign of change was the word Ms. (plural: Mses. or Mss.),
which was invented to provide parity with Mr.: “Mr.” didn't indicate marital
status, why should women announce theirs with Miss and Mrs.? There were
heated media discussions about this – “it sounds awful, it's not natural” –
but Ms. held its ground and now seems natural to most Americans. Then the
pronouns “he” and “his”, traditionally used to cover both males and
females, were replaced with he/she, s/he, and his/hers, or with the plural
they/their, as in “Each student must hand in his/her (or their) essay on
time”.
Some women got so sensitive to the biases built in the English
language that they now prefer the spelling womyn or wimmin because such
words do not contain –men. To eradicate gender distinctions many
individuals and institutions dropped such terms as “chairman” or
“chairwoman” on the grounds that they emphasize the person’s sex rather
than the position itself (the PC term is “chairperson” or “chair”). Most of
the -ess, -ette words for women (sculptress, stewardess, etc.) disappeared
with time. “Housewife” has become “homemaker”, “stewardess” has given
way to “flight attendant”, “waitress” has been substituted by “server” or just
“waiter”. When referring to or introducing professionals, it is considered
proper to use parallel constructions: Dr. John Smith, Dr. Susan Jones (not
Susan or Susan Jones). When writing a letter to an unknown person, either
49
write “Dear Sir/Madam” or “Dear Mr./Ms”. You can also use the job
title: Dear (or To) Manager, Editor, Colleague(s). If someone has written
you and you can’t tell if the person is male or female from the name, it’s
appropriate to write “Dear Okan Erener”.
If at first women headed the movement to change the language to
fit their new roles other groups soon joined in. It became very rude to use
epithets and nicknames for racial and ethnic groups, such as “wop”
(Italian), “chink” (Chinese), “mick” (Irish person).To be PC one should
speak of nationalities, religious and ethnic groups as they wish to be
spoken of. The PC word for Indians is Native Americans. Black people
prefer to be called African Americans, and an acceptable option for
Oriental (yellow) is Asian American. Instead of Spanish-speaking one
may use either Latino / Latina or Hispanic. Note that it is considered
inappropriate to say “Americans, Irish Americans and Cuban Americans”;
the implication is that there is one group of “real Americans” and the rest
are something else.
The words “elderly”, “old lady”, “old man”, “oldster”are
considered patronizing and demeaning. Apparently, few people view
themselves as truly “old” – so “older” is a safe word to use for anyone
past middle age.
The disability rights movement in the US developed the concept
of “people first”: people see themselves as people first and only then as
“people with a disease”. They do not wish to be identified as their disease
or disability. So the phrase “a people with disabilities” is preferable to
“the disabled”/“invalids”. Don’t say “He is diabetic”, but rather “He has
diabetes”. “The blind” may be replaced with “visually impaired
people”and “the deaf” with “hearing-impaired”.
What do you do if you make a slip and someone got offended?
You apologize, say you hadn’t known or intended to be insulting, and
thank him / her for letting you know so that you won’t do it again.
Some of this may seem like a “tempest in a teapot” or “going too
far” to Russian readers. Of course, it is not Law, and no one will bring out
the language police if you make a misstatement. After all, it’s your
choice.
(After Michele A. Berdy)
Read the text again and answer the following questions.
1. What does the term “PC” mean?
50
2. What changes in American social life took place in the 60s of the
last century?
3. How did the social situation of that time influence the English
language?
4. Which word is said to be the first sign of change of the whole
system of the English language?
5. Why do some women nowadays prefer the spelling womyn or
wimmin instead of the traditional one?
6. Why did most of the -ess, -ette words for women (sculptress,
stewardess, etc.) disappeare with time?
7. What constructions are considered proper to use when referring to
or introducing professionals?
8. How are you supposed to start your letter when writing to an
unknown person?
9. How should one speak of nationalities, religious and ethnic
groups to be PC?
10. Why is it considered inappropriate to say “Americans, Irish
Americans and Cuban Americans”?
11. What do you understand by the concept “people first”?
12. What are you supposed to do if you make a slip and someone got
offended?
Find in the text the PC equivalents of the following non-PC
words and expressions:
1. Chairman / chairwoman
2. Housewife
3. Stewardess
4. Waitress
5. Indian
6. Black
7. Oriental (yellow)
8. Spanish-speaking
9. Old lady /old man
10. Disabled person / invalid
11. Blind
12. Deaf
Text 24
51
Read the text and point out the difference between the
traditional, "non-PC" version of the story and this new and improved one.
Little Red Riding Hood
There once was a young person named Red Riding Hood who
lived with her mother on the edge of a large wood. One day her mother
asked her to take a basket of fresh fruit and mineral water to her
grandmother's house – not because this was womyn's work, mind you,
but because the deed was generous and helped create a feeling of
community. Furthermore, her grandmother was not sick, but rather was in
full physical and mental health and was fully capable of taking care of
herself as a mature adult.
So Red Riding Hood set off with her basket through the woods. On
the way to Grandma's house, Red Riding Hood met a wolf, who asked her
what was in her basket. She replied, "Some healthful snacks for my
grandmother, who is certainly capable of taking care of herself as a mature
adult." The wolf said, "You know, my dear, it isn't safe for a little girl to
walk through these woods alone." Red Riding Hood said, "I find your
sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of
your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has
caused you to develop your own, entirely valid, world view. Now, if
you'll excuse me, I must be on my way."
Red Riding Hood walked on along the main path. But, because his
status outside society had freed him from slavish adherence to linear,
Western-style thought, the wolf knew a quicker route to Grandma's house.
He burst into the house and ate Grandma, an entirely valid course of action
for a carnivore such as himself. Then, unhampered by rigid, traditionalist
notions of what was masculine or feminine, he put on Grandma's
nightclothes and crawled into bed.
Red Riding Hood entered the cottage and said, "Grandma, I
have brought you some fat free snacks to salute you in your role of a
wise matriarch." From the bed, the wolf said softly, "Come closer, child, so
that I might see you." Red Riding Hood said, "Oh, I forgot you are as
visually impaired as a bat. Grandma, what big eyes you have!"
"They have seen much, and forgiven much, my dear."
"Grandma, what a big nose you have, only relatively, of course, and
certainly attractive in its own way."
"It has smelled much, and forgiven much, my dear."
"Grandma, what big teeth you have!"
52
The wolf said, "I am happy with who I am and what I am," and
leaped out of bed. He grabbed Red Riding Hood in his claws, intent on
eating her. Red Riding Hood screamed, not out of alarm at the wolf's
apparent tendency toward crossdressing, but because of his invasion of her
personal space. Her screams were heard by a passing woodchopper-person
(or log-fuel technician, as he preferred to be called). When he burst into the
cottage, he saw the fight and tried to intervene. But as he raised his axe,
Red Riding Hood and the wolf both stopped.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" asked Red Riding Hood.
The woodchopper-person blinked and tried to answer, but no words
came to him.
"Bursting in here, trusting your weapon to do your thinking for
you!" she exclaimed. "Sexist! Speciesist! How dare you assume that
womyn and wolves can't solve their own problems without a man's help!"
When she heard Red Riding Hood's highly emotional speech,
Grandma jumped out of the wolf's mouth, seized the woodchopper-person's
ax, and cut his head off. After this, Red Riding Hood, Grandma, and the
wolf felt a certain commonality of purpose. They decided to set up an
alternative household based on mutual respect and cooperation, and they
lived together in the woods happily ever after.
(From “Politically Correct Bedtime Stories” by James Finn Garner)
Text 25
PRE-READING
1. Look at the title of the text and guess what issues are going to be
discussed in the article.
2. Read the text and say what interesting facts about the way men and
women use the language you have learnt.
Do men and women speak the same languages?
Do men and women understand the same things from the spoken
word? Judging by the misinterpretation, misunderstanding and general
mystification that can arise from a single simple sentence, there are grave
reasons for doubt. In fact, I would put it even stronger. Do we even speak
the same language?
First - and contrary to the general impression - men use language
more. "Like everyone else, I used to believe that women were the talkative
sex," says Dale Spender, a sociolinguist. "But when I analysed the results of
53
over one hundred and forty recorded conversations between men and
women, the result was quite the opposite. Whether we're talking about
social gatherings or business meetings, one element never changes: in any
conversation with a man, a woman who talks more than a third of the time
is seen as talking too much.
Nowhere is this more obvious than on radio or TV talk shows. One
host, Robert Robinson, once said, "It's difficult to find the right kind of
woman to participate in my programme. Most of them can't stand up to me
and so stay silent. They also find interrupting a bit tricky." On one occasion,
a well-known female thinker became so cross and unhappy at being what
she regarded as "shouted down" that she remained silent for the last fifteen
minutes of the programme. Even those women who are perfectly capable of
holding their own are notably less talkative than their male counterparts.
Another female characteristic is the belief that conversation should
be a reciprocal exchange rather than an attempt to dominate the other
person. According to sociologist Jennifer Coates, "When a woman in a
group raises a topic, the others will encourage, sympathise or elaborate. The
next female speaker may enlarge on some point, add a personal anecdote, or
simply make 'Go on' interjections. But one thing she won't do is flatly
contradict the previous speaker and abruptly change the subject. But men in
a group with women often get bored with what they see as the slow buildup of a topic." The tried and tested method of avoiding this hazard is by
doing what most women hate: interrupting.
"The effect constant interruption has on women is that they become
silent," says Dr. Coates. It isn't solely that men regard conversation as a
contest, there is also a clash of styles. "We all think we know what a question is. But with men and women it triggers different reactions. Men think
questions are requests for information, whereas women think they are part
of the way in which a cooperative conversation works. If a woman asks a
man a question, she's trying to keep the conversation going, while the man
thinks this is a request for information, so he gives her a lecture." In social
situations, this different view of the polite enquiry can often cause bad
feelings. "The woman thinks, What is he on about? I didn't want a rundown
on company accountancy’ and the man thinks, ‘Why is she looking so
cross? If she didn't want to know, why did she ask?'"
Although women have much greater sensitivity to what the other
person is feeling, it is equally true that, in situations where power is
concerned, the male cut-and-thrust style is the norm. "Male language allows
them to have clear goals, stick to decisions, answer directly, says Natasha
54
Josefowitz, author of Paths to Power. "Women say 'I think I can', where
men say, 'I can'. And though the woman may be right - who knows if she
can carry out a particular task until she is doing it? - what employers go for
is confidence." In female conversation, this general tentativeness emerges in
the use of 'soft' phrases such as 'I wonder if I might ...?', and 'Perhaps this
isn't the moment to disturb you but...' instead of the simpler expressions
'Please may I...?' or 'Can I come in?'.
Dr. Coates believes female politeness involves other factors as well.
"Partly it is a recognition that other" people may not be imposed on. If I go
next door, I say, 'I hope you don't mind, but could you possibly lend me a
pint of milk, please?' not 'Can I have some milk?', which allows my
neighbour the freedom to say 'Yes, of course' or 'I'm sorry, I haven't got
one.' What it is doing is giving the other person a chance to get out of an
obligation without losing face. Partly, too, it is a question of giving what
Dr. Coates calls 'positive face', which means reassuring others about their
own value.
The reason for such discrepancies is something that frequently
makes male English a rather different language from the female version of
English: most men use language to conceal their feelings whereas women
see it as means of revealing their emotions.
(By Charles Dann)
Read the text again and answer the questions.
1. What is the popular notion of who uses language more - men or women?
2. Does Dale Spender's research confirm it?
3. What does Robert Robinson say about women's talkativeness?
4. What is another well-known female characteristic?
5. How do women feel and behave when being interrupted?
6. How do men and women react when asked a question?
7. What is the difference between male and female communication styles?
Which is more appropriate in situations where power is concerned?
8. What factors does female politeness involve?
Text 26
PRE-READING
Answer the questions.
1. What do you understand by the term “competence in English”?
55
2. How competent are you in English?
Read the text. Check all unknown words in your dictionary.
Competence in English?
(Some practical advice for very advanced students)
Over-Use of Idiomatic Expressions
The first piece of advice is straightforward. Avoid using any socalled idioms. Unfortunately, English textbooks often give lists of such
expressions for students to learn. Consequently, in an attempt to sound
«English», students try to include at least one of these expressions in every
utterance. It is quite untrue that English speakers say «She is my bosom
friend. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She is a real busy bee. She and
her sister are as like as two peas in a pot». If such phrases are used, it is
likely to be for some ironic or humorous effect. Phrases like these, like
slang expressions, quickly pass out of fashion and are best avoided.
A similar tendency among foreigners is the over-use of stalling
expressions which are supposed to be typical of English. For example too
many students begin any utterance with «Well», and insert «You know»,
«You see», «Actually» at every opportunity or at least when they pause to
think out how their sentence is to continue. Of course, English speakers use
these expressions, but less frequently than is generally assumed. It is the
mark of the foreigner to try too hard to say what he thinks is authentic. If
you are not sure of your next few words in English, it is better to say
nothing at all while formulating the utterance, or at the most an «er» or an
«em».
English in Non-English Contexts
The ability to talk in English about one's own situation, for
example, one's course of study, career, home-town, etc, is often not
acquired by foreign learners. They can use English convincingly in a
simulated English context, yet stumble when asked to talk about
themselves. English speakers who know little or no Russian will be
confused if they hear, for example, that you have classes in the «Chair» of
Grammar or if you talk of the Pedagogical Interpreters «Faculty». Such
confusion can arise because the terminology used in Russian institutions is
56
used to a large extent in British ones, only the same words can refer to
different things in each country. In order to avoid misunderstandings of this
kind, make sure that you can use appropriate English to describe your
course, your institution, how you are assessed, the qualifications you hope
to gain, etc. Because it is not always possible to find exact equivalents in
English, such description can prove problematic, but if you familiarize
yourself with the differences between, say, your training and that of your
British (American, Australian or whatever) counterparts, then you will be in
a better position to use English in a Russian context.
Rhythm, Rhythm, Rhythm
The purity of the foreigner's sounds impresses the native speaker
because they are so good; they also impress him because they are so
prominent, too prominent if fact. In English, as in any other languages,
there is a great redundancy in the information conveyed by speech: the
native listener may make use of only half the speech signals he receives. He
is predisposed, for instance, by the linguistic context and the general
situation to hear and understand certain utterances. Clearly, any gross error
in pronunciation will interfere with the communication process. However,
nothing is more confusing to the native listener than mistakes of
accentuation, i.e. rhythm and the associated obscuration of certain syllables.
The accentuation of unimportant syllables slows the speech down, one's
utterances sound pompous and overcorrect, and the meaning one wishes to
convey can be lost or obscured. Words pronounced individually with
perfect pronunciation have little to do with communication. Even good
intonation cannot rescue an utterance whose accentuation is faulty. Russian
students are very aware of pronunciation and intonation problems and
devote a high percentage of their learning hours to this area. The energy
poured into pronunciation and intonation will only bear fruit if it is coupled
with training in rhythm.
Under-Use of Simple English
An obvious clue to a speaker's foreign background is his preference
for those words in English which are of classical rather than Anglo-Saxon
origin. For example, a foreigner might say: «Let's postpone our visit to
Moscow till next weekend because Jane hasn't fully recovered from the flu
yet. If the hotels are full, I've got some friends who can accommodate us.
57
We can depart after classes on Friday. I'll collect you from our Institute.
This is perfectly correct English, only a native speaker is more
likely to use different verbs, for example: «Let's put off our visit to Moscow
till next weekend because Jane hasn't got over the flu yet. If the hotels are
full, I've got some friends who can put us up. We can set off after classes on
Friday. I’ll pick you up from Institute”.
Advanced learners should make an effort to use the latter sort of
verb activity. In general foreigners tend to use clumsy constructions which
are strictly speaking correct, but where a native speaker would prefer a
shorter, more direct utterance.
Foreign learners should not despair if they feel that mastery of good
English is difficult; they should console themselves with the fact that native
speakers constantly have to ask themselves if what they are saying is
acceptable. Randolph Quirk describes three categories of English speakers:
at the one extreme those people of position and status whose education and
occupation make them confident of speaking unimpeachable English, at the
other end, those who are quite indifferent to whether they speak well or not.
The group in the middle is most comforting for the foreigner: «In between,
according to this view, we have a far less fortunate group, the anxious.
These actively try to suppress what they believe to be bad English and
assiduously cultivate what they hope to be good English. They live their
lives in some degree of nervousness over their grammar, their pronunciation
and their choice of words; sensitive and fearing of betraying themselves.
Keeping up with the Joneses is measured not only in houses, furniture,
refrigerators, cars and clothes, but also in speech».
It is to be regarded as a healthy sign in the foreigner if he is
constantly «anxious» about his English: he is merely keeping company with
most of the native speakers in the world.
(From «English Language Yesterday and Today». Цитируется по:
Вовшин Я.М., Панова И.И. «Английский с улыбкой». Минск, 2001.)
Read the text again and answer the questions.
1. In what way do foreigners often impress British people when they speak
English?
2. What reasons are given for the fact that comparatively few foreigners
manage to sound like native speakers?
3. Why do you think students find it easier to talk about the Englishspeaking world rather than their own surroundings when using English?
58
4. What difficulties are there in finding appropriate English for a nonEnglish context?
5. What are the consequences of badly stressed English?
6.Why do you think foreign learners tend to use constructions which are too
complicated?
7. What advice is given to students who feel anxious about their English?
8. Why do you think it is so difficult to be totally confident about the
English one uses?
Give your opinion on the following ideas:
1. Do you agree with the professor's conclusion on the significance of the
factors predicting the achievement of good English?
2. What makes in your opinion a good foreign language speaker?
3. What kind of people do you think learn more easily and efficiently?
4. What kind of students achieves better results in learning?
5. Why don't most technical students speak good English?
6. What do you think of the traditional procedure of language learning in
higher education?
7. What is more important in language learning: personal enjoyment or
serious academic work?
Keys to some exercises
Pre-reading quiz. 1-c; 2-c; 3-b; 4-c; 5-c; 6-c; 7-b; 8-a; 9-a; 10-b; 11-c; 12c; 13-a; 14-b; 15-c; 16-c; 17-a; 18-a.
Text 1. Pre-reading: d; g; e; b; f; a; c.
Text 3. Pre-reading. 1) 44 sounds; 2) 26 letters.
Text 4. 1– d; 2-e; 3-c; 4-a; 5-b; 6-g; 7-f.
Text 6. 1.French fries. 2. To take smth for granted 3. To make amends 4.A
bunch of odds and ends 5. To get rid of smth 6.A slim chance / a fat chance
7. To fill in /to fill out 8. To go off.
Text 8. Pre-reading: 1 d; 2 b; 3 b; 4 a.
Ex.2
1) Let's go to the park, shall we?
2) Nobody phoned, did they?
3) I'm beautiful, aren’t I?
4) They never quarrel, do they?
5) It's no good, is it?
59
6) He has to get up early, doesn’t he?
7) It's hardly rained this summer, has it?
Text 12.
a pub
a man
a boss
money
a cigarette
a friend
food
a toilet
to look
drunk
sausages
to go away
a pound
surprised
boozer
bloke
gov(ernor)
dosh
fag
mate
expensive
ten pounds
a problem
hello
said
a stupid person
(2 expressions)
nosh
I’ve got an
idea
loo
went quickly
take a butcher’s You’re talking
nonsense
sozzled
a fashionable
place
bangers
to urinate
push off
You’re joking!
quid
in this area
gob smacked
sandwiches
Text 14.
Russian
Половина восьмого
Халат (банный)
Кран
(в
ванной,
раковине)
Позавтракать
Терраса
Квартира
Мама
Лифт
Стоянка для машин
Под
Многоквартирный дом
British English
steep
tenner
hassle
wotcha
went to
plonker; daft
prat
Tell you what
nipped off to
Get off
the in place
pee
have on
round here
cheese butties
Half past seven
A dressing gown
A bath tap
American
English
Seven thirty
A bath robe
A bath-tub faucet
To have breakfast
A terrace
A flat
Mum
A lift
A car park
Under
A block of flats
To eat breakfast
A deck
An appartment
Mom
An elevator
A parking lot
Underneath
An
apartment
60
Бензин
Контрольная работа по
математике
Перемена (в школе)
«Завалить»,
не
справиться
с
контрольной
Центр города
Учитель
начальной
школы
Petrol
A maths exam
block
Gas
A math test
A break (C)
To fail
Recess (U)
To funk
Пообедать кде-л (в
кафе, ресторане и т.п.)
Картофель-фри
Десерт, сладкое
Счет (в ресторане)
Тротуар
Подвезти куда-л
Домашнее задание
Фильм
Уставший
To go out for dinner
To eat out
Chips
Sweet
A bill
A pavement
To give sb a lift
Homework
A film
Tired
French fries
Dessert
A check
A sidewalk
To give sb a ride
An assignment
A movie
Pooped
A city centre
A primary
teacher
school
Downtown
A grade school
teacher
Text 18. Pre-reading.
1. Valuable jewels have been stolen from Sotheby’s.
2. A missing boy has been found alive.
3. Euro MPs have been given a huge pay rise.
4. 260 people have been killed by a hurricane in India.
5. An ancient tomb has been discovered in Egipt.
6. 2,000 people have been made redundant in a shock announcement by
Ferrari.
Text 20. Pre-reading 1. F; 2. T; 3. T; 4. F. 5. F. 6. T; 7. T; 8. F;
Ex. 1: 1 indispensable; 2 to defy. 3 to discourage 4. to detest 5. to wink 6.
to omit
Ex. 2 1 detest 2 defy 3 omit 4 winked 5 indispensable 6 discourage.
Text 21. Pre-reading: SMS means: short message system or short message
service. It is a feature on a mobile phone that allows a user to send or
receive written messages.
1. wr (k)
were
61
2. CWOT (o)
3. B4 (d)
4. 2go2 (r)
5. 2C (q)
6. bro (t)
7. GF (a)
8. bt (e)
9. BC o (l)
10. dcdd (h)
11. WUCIWUG (c)
12. O (u)
13. vvv brd (v)
14. in MON (w)
15. AAAR8 (i)
16. ICBW (j)
17. wr ha-p 4 the pc&qt (m)
18. IDTS!! (n)
19. ASAP (p)
20. 2C (f)
21. my M8s (g)
22. 2day (b)
23. BAU (s)
complete waste of time
before
to go to
to see
brother
girlfriend
but
because of
decided
what you see is what you get
nothing
very bored
in the middle of nowhere
at any rate
it could be worse
were happy for the piece and
quiet
I don’t think so!!
as soon as possible
to see
my mates
today
business as usual
Text 22. 1. Chez Armande. 2. France. 3. Yes. 4. 4.50 pounds plus the cost
of the wine. 5. Yes 6. No – unless you pay 50p for it. 7. No. 8. Putney
Bridge.9. Yes. 10. No – it’s shut on Mondays. 11. No – it’s shut on
Christmas day.12. Yes – A.Durbin. 13. No – a three -star restaurant. 14. No
– ast orders end at 22.00. 15. Yes. 16. No. 17. Yes – it’s speciality.18. No –
in South West London.
Text 23.
1. Chairman / chairwoman
Chairperson
2. Housewife
Homemaker
3. Stewardess
Flight attendant
4. Waitress
Server / waiter
5. Indian
Native American
6. Black
African American
7. Oriental (yellow)
Asian American
62
8. Spanish-speaking
9. Old lady /old man
10. Disabled person / invalid
11. Blind
12. Deaf
Latino / Latina or Hispanic
Older lady /older man
Person with disabilities
Visually impaired
Hearing-impaired