Vocabulary

Read and translate these sentences into Russian so as to have a better idea of how these words can be used.

phonetics [fa'netiks] n, phonetic adj, phonetician n

1. 'Phonetics' is the study and science of speech sounds and intonation.

2. Phonetic symbols are often different from ordinary letters, representing the actual sounds of speech.

3. These are some of phonetic symbols / characters: as, 9, rj...

4. 'Phonetician' is a person who has a special knowledge of phonetics.

5. Professor Higgins in Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw was a famous phonetician who accepted the challenge of correcting the pronunciation of a poor Cockney flower girl.

innovate v, innovation n, innovative adj

1. To innovate means to make changes, introduce new ideas, inventions etc.

1. His new method is obviously an innovation, and the company is going to introduce it soon.

2. Unfortunately, his innovative techniques were never carried out.

hence adv, henceforth adv, henceforward adv, therefore adv

1. 'Hence' is often used in a phrase without a verb meaning 'for this reason or from this origin'.

2. The town was built near a bridge on the River Cam: hence (отсюда) the name Cambridge.

3. 'Hence' also means 'from here or from now', e.g. 2 miles hence, 3 days hence

4. 'Henceforth' or 'henceforward' (formal) both mean 'from this time on (from now on)', e.g. Following our merger with Brown and Co., the company will henceforth (отныне и впредь) be named Johnson and Brown Inc.

5. 'Therefore' means 'as a result', 'for this reason', 'so'.

e.g. These birds are very rare and therefore (поэтому) are protected by law. 6.1 think, therefore (следовательно) I exist.

furthermore adv, furthermost adj

1. 'Furthermore' means 'in addition to what has been said'.

e.g. The house is too small for the family of four, and furthermore it is in a bad location.

2. 'Furthermost' means 'most distant', 'farthest away'.

e.g. I saw her sitting in the furthermost corner of the room.

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Unit ten

naive adj, naively adv

1. The youngest girl was laughed at for her naive remarks.

2. He told her he was a close friend of a royal family and she was naive enough to believe him.

3. She naively believes everything he says.

3. Here are some other examples of differences in American and British vo­cabulary. Translate the words into Russian. You can add to the table your own examples.

American English

apartment

sneakers

can

candies

cookie

first floor

drugstore

elevator

gas

fall

highway

schedule

movies

pants

sick

subway

truck

vacation

stove

rental car

cell phone

stand in line

sidewalk

elementary school

British English

flat

trainers

tin

sweets

biscuit

ground floor

chemist('s)

lift

petrol

autumn

main road

timetable

cinema

trousers

ill

tube, underground

van, lorry

holiday

cooker

hire car

mobile phone

queue

pavement

primary school

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GRAMMAR

Note!

American English often uses Past Simple where British English uses Pres­ent Perfect.

American. Did you have lunch yet? British. Have you had lunch yet?

Part 2

4 . Here is a table illustrating some of the most common ways in which Ameri­can spelling differs from British spelling. Give more examples of your own.

	American	British
-or instead of -our	color, behavior	colour, behaviour
-er instead of -re	theater, center	theatre, centre
-s instead of -c	defense, offense	defence, offence
-z instead of -s	realize	realise
no ending after g-	dialog, catalog	dialogue, catalogue
one consonant instead of two	traveling, canceled	travelling, cancelled

Roy is an American and he has written this letter to his Mum. Can you rewrite the letter in British English?

Dear Mom,

I know you're worrying about me, so I decided to write you and say that I'm fine and enjoying my vacation in Europe.

We already traveled in the south of France and now we are in Paris. I'm living in a big apartment building in an apartment on the first floor with John and another pal. It looks like the beginning of fall here, though it's only the end of August. The weather is not very pleasant, I'm afraid, so we spend a lot of time in museums - you must be proud of me! Our schedule is rather tough -tomorrow we are going to Brussels by automobile, which we are going to rent in the morning. We'll have to start our journey early in the morning. Though the motorways in Europe are not bad, they are not as wide as in America and we don't want to get into the traffic jams.

I miss you, Dad and my little sister. Hope you're all feeling well.

See you soon. Love, Roy.

6. Read the story. Fill in the gaps with articles (a/an or the) and make up a list of Americanisms and their British equivalents.

A Canadian's Language Problems*

As we know two main variants of ... English language are British and American English. So there are British English speakers and American ones. ... Canadian is neither one thing nor... other. ... British think he is ... American,

* Delaney P. A. Canadian's Language Problems // Modern English, 1976.

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Unit ten

while ... Americans think he is British. He himself is confused and uncertain, and nowhere is this more evident than in his speech. He has been brought up to speak English with ... American accent, but at... same time, he has been taught to admire ... way English is spoken in Britain. In other words, he is torn between ... way he speaks English and ... way he thinks English should be spoken. And this conflict makes him wonder who and what he is. While he fears that his native accent is inferior, he feels that for him ... English pronunciation is unnatural, He always falls between two stools.

It is, moreover, confusing to be repeatedly mistaken for ... American. Is there anything more unpleasant for... Canadian than to be introduced as 'from America' at... English party, or to be asked "What part of... States do you come from?"

... problem is more acute for... Canadian living in Britain. Daily he is faced with decisions that call his speech and his identity into question. Do I buy my groceries in ... 'store' as I would at home or in ... 'shop' as ... English do? Do I ask for... 'package of cookies' or... 'packet of biscuits'? Do I eat 'candies' or 'sweets' when I'm hungry? Even ... simplest act requires ... soul-searching decision. And sometimes he asks himself: "What's ... English for?" and he just can't think of it. It's like trying to speak another language. Of course, ... British often help him out, so that when he asks for ... 'can of corn', they reply: "Oh, you mean ... 'tin of sweet-corn'". "Yes, of course," he says, eyes lowered in embarrassment.

Well, you might say, whether you take ... 'elevator' in New York or... 'lift' in London, or vice versa* , you can still get to ... top floor of... building. Whether you fill your car with 'gas' or 'petrol' it runs just... same. What does it matter which word you use as long as your meaning is clear? Didn't Shakespeare himself say (even though he was English) ... rose by any other name would smell as sweet? I reply that it does matter, that, if you are in London, you have to decide whether you're walking on ... 'sidewalk' on your own or on ... 'pavement' like everybody else.

Such decisions have far-reaching consequences. You have to decide whether to maintain your own accent and vocabulary in ... face of ... way ... British speak, or to abandon your own language, ... words you learned at your mother's knees.

Some Canadians completely collapse under... strain.... Canadian friend of mine, who became fed up with being mistaken for... American, feeling inferior to ... British, and weighing up every word he spoke, decided to learn to speak with ... British accent. He hoped that this would put ... end to his confusion. With fanatical application, he excluded Americanisms from his speech and adopted ... British accent and words. He learned to say "Sorry" for everything and to call ... 'cookie' ... 'biscuit'. But even he was defeated in ... end. Once,

* Vice versa [,vaisiV3:s3] лат. наоборот.

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Part 2

w hen ... old lady asked him to help her across ... street, he uttered ... word "Sure". "Oh," said ... lady, "surely you're from America."

^ 7. Complete the sentences choosing the right word from the box.

o ne, ones, it, he / she, they, (them), some, any

1. T here were both British English speakers and American ... in the delegation.

2. The government has produced a number of reports on violence on television, the most recent... only six months ago.

3. Help yourself to ... apples.

4. Is this your umbrella? - No, mine's the big black .... 5.1 want a stamp for my letter. I must go and buy ....

6. If you haven't got enough money, I can lend you ... .

7. They say his recent films are very successful, but I haven't seen ... yet.

8. You've got an excellent secretary in your office. We've got... too, but... doesn't speak any foreign languages.

9. Your garden is so nice! We've got... too, but... is very small.

10. If you are making a cup of coffee, could you make ... for me?

11. "Look! Isn't that house beautiful!" "Which ... ? The tall... ?" "No, the ... next to the tall

12. "Let's have a snack in a cafe today!" "Good idea! I know ... round the corner. ... is very nice."

13. "We haven't got any milk." "OK! I'll buy ... on the way home."

14. Have you read all the articles in today's paper? There're a few very interesting ....

15. My friend isn't a lawyer. He is a businessman and a very successful... .

16. Have you read his recent publications yet? ... are very interesting.

U se either / neither / both for two things or people.

There are two cinemas nearby. This film is on in both of them. You can go

to either cinema.

Neither of the cinemas is too expensive.

Use any / none / all for more than two things or people.

There are a few cinemas nearby. This film is on in all of them. You can go

to any of the cinemas. None of them is too expensive.

8. Complete the sentences with 'neither' / 'either' / 'none' / 'any'.

1. He was invited to a few parties last month, but he didn't go to ... of them.

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Unit ten

2. He was invited to two parties last week, but he didn't go to ... of them.

2. There were a lot of e-mails this morning but ... of them were (was) important.

4.1 asked two people the way to the station but... of them could help me.

5. ... of her parents is English. Her mother is Welsh and her father is Scottish.

6. We tried to book a room in a few hotels but... of them had any rooms available.

7. We can meet on Tuesday or Thursday. Would ... of these days be convenient for you?

5. I couldn't answer... of the questions they asked me.

9. We took a few photos but... of them were (was) any good. 10. He showed me two photos, but... of them was very good.

Rewrite these sentences using 'both ... and', 'either ... or', 'neither ... nor'.

1. A Canadian is not a British English speaker. He is not an American English speaker either.

2. The library doesn't have the book I need. And the bookshop doesn't have the book I need.

3. A foreign learner of English should keep to British English. Or he should keep to American English.

4. Her husband doesn't speak English. Her children don't speak English either.

5. The word 'fall' is considered archaic in Britain. The past participle of 'get - gotten' is considered archaic in Britain too.

6. Is that girl's name Sally? Or is it Sophie? It's one of the two. That girl's name is ... .

7. I haven't got the money to go on holiday. And I haven't got the time.

8. My daughter could read when she went to school. And she could write too.

^& Complete the text by choosing the correct words from the box.

common, tolerance, originating, influenced, outsiders, referred to, an­cient, frequently, evolved, features, mixture

T he most... form of English used by the British ruling class is that... from southeast England (the area around the capital, London, and the ... English university towns of Oxford and Cambridge). This form of the language is known as 'Received Standard', and its accent is called Received Pronunciation (RP), which is improperly regarded by many people outside the UK as 'the British

260

Part 2

accent'. Earlier it was held as better than other accents and ... as the King's (or Queen's) English, and then 'BBC English'. Originally, this was the form of English used by radio and television. However, there is now much more ... of variation than there was in the past; for several decades other accents have been accepted and are ... heard, although stereotypes about the BBC persist. English spoken with a mild Scottish accent has a reputation for being especially easy to understand. Moreover, only approximately two percent of Britons speak RP, and it has ... quite markedly over the last 40 years.

Even in the south east there are significantly different accents; the local inner east London accent called Cockney is strikingly different from RP and can be difficult for... to understand.

There is a new form of accent called Estuary* English that has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some ... of Received Pronunciation and some of Cockney. In London itself, the broad local accent is still changing, partly ... by Caribbean speech. Londoners speak with a ...of these accents, depending on class, age, upbringing, education and so on.

11. Write down as many questions to the text as you can, beginning with 'What ...?', 'What kind of...?', 'When...?', 'Where...?', 'How many...?', 'Why...?'

What is the most common form of English?

. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, Past Simple or be going to). Read the text and discuss it in class.