Осознанное чтение тексты и задания = Mindful Reading texts and tasks. Учебное пособие = Textbook

PART 2. FUNCTIONAL STYLISTICS: NON-FICTION

same thing. Secondly, you’ll almost never find a semicolon willingly stationed before coordinating conjunctions: the words “and”, “but”, “for”, “not”, “or”, “so” and “yet”. That’s a comma’s place, in fact. But a semicolon can replace a conjunction to shorten a sentence or to give it some variety. Ultimately, this underappreciated punctuation mark can give writing clarity, force and style, all encompassed in one tiny dot and squiggle that’s just waiting to be put in the right place.

(http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-use-a-semicolon-emma-bryce)

Beyond the text

Name at least 10 punctuation marks you know

Tasks

1.Identify the text: name the text and specify its status and subject-matter.

2.What are the key functions of the text?

3.Compare and contrast Text 2.3 with Text 2.1, what points of difference are noticeable?

4.How does the author establish contact with the reader? Who does ‘we’ in the text refer to?

5.What stylistic devices are employed in the text? Are they typical of academic writing?

6.Comment on the use of such forms as ‘we’re, don’t, that’s why’.

7.In your opinion, does the author succeed in instilling interest in the topic? What makes you think so?

8.What genre of scientific writing does the text represent? How does the function of writing shape the choice of the language?

Text 2.4

Beyond the text: Matching

1)to rub off on smb

2)prudence

3)entrenched

4)to align

5)payoff

41

С. Ю. СТЕПАНОВА. ОСОЗНАННОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ: ТЕКСТЫ И ЗАДАНИЯ ● MINDFUL READING: TEXTS AND TASKS

a)behavior that is careful and avoids risks

b)the result of a set of actions

c)to put two or more things into a straight line

d)to seem to transfer to smb else

e)fixed firmly and securely

Laziness is Contagious, Scientists Find

Other people’s attitudes toward laziness and impatience can rub off on you, a new study from France reveals.

Researchers found that people not only pick up on other’s attitudes toward three personality characteristics – laziness, impatience and prudence – but they may even start to imitate these behaviors suggesting a strong social influence.

Prudence, laziness and impatience are personality traits that guide how people make decisions that involve taking a risk, delaying an action and making an effort, said Jean Daunizeau, a team leader of the motivation, brain and behavior group at the Brain and Spine Institute in Paris. Daunizeau is the lead author of the new study published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.

Prudence is a preference for avoiding risk, such as choosing a sure reward rather than a reward that may be greater but riskier to achieve, according to the study. Impatience is a preference for options that involve little delay and a strong desire for a payoff now rather than later. Lazy people are those who determine that the potential rewards are not worth the effort.

Typically, these three personality traits are thought of as “entrenched” traits, meaning they are difficult to change, Daunizeau told Live Science.

The new study, however, suggest that this is not the case: people may unknowingly align their attitudes toward risk, delay or effort with the attitudes of others, Daunizeau said.

In the study, the researchers recruited 56 healthy people. To measure the participants’ attitudes toward risk, delay and effort, they were given a series of tasks in which they asked to choose between two alternatives. For example, participants were asked to choose between a small payoff in three days or a higher payoff in three months, or

42

PART 2. FUNCTIONAL STYLISTICS: NON-FICTION

to choose between a secure lottery outcome (a 90 percent chance of winning a small payoff) or a riskier lottery outcome (lower odds for a higher payoff).

Next, the participants were asked to guess “someone else’s” decisions on a similar task, and after making a selection; they were then told which choice this “other” participant had made, according to the study. But the “someone else” wasn’t a real person – instead, it was a fake participant based on a computerized model developed by the researchers. This model predicted how people learn about, and learn from, other people’s attitudes toward laziness, impatience and prudence. During the final phase of the experiment, the participants repeated the first task, in which they were asked to make their own decisions.

(if you want to know the results of the experiment, go to https://www.livescience. com/58477-laziness-impatience-prudence-are-contagious.html)

Tasks

1.Identify the text: name the text and specify its status.

2.What are the key functions of the article?

3.Formulate the content of the article.

4.Characterize the style-forming features of the text (at least 5).

5.Specify the linguistic features of the article, its lexical and syntactical characteristics.

6.Can you characterize the figure of the author and the peculiarities of his / her individual style?

7.Do you question the information presented in the text? Why (not)?

Text 2.5

Skaz is a rather appealing Russian word (suggesting “jazz” and “scat”, as in “scat-singing”, to the English ear) used to designate a type of first-person narration that has the characteristics of the spoken rather than the written word. In this kind of novel or story, the narrator is a character who refers to himself (or herself) as “I”, and addresses the reader as “you”. He or she uses vocabulary and syntax characteristic of colloquial speech, and appears to be relating the story spontaneously rather than delivering a carefully constructed and polished written

43

С. Ю. СТЕПАНОВА. ОСОЗНАННОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ: ТЕКСТЫ И ЗАДАНИЯ ● MINDFUL READING: TEXTS AND TASKS

account. We don’t so much read it as listen to it, as to a talkative stranger encountered in a pub or railway carriage. Needless to say, this is an illusion, the product of much calculated effort and painstaking rewriting by the “real” author. A narrative style that faithfully imitated actual speech would be virtually unintelligible, as are transcripts of recorded conversations. But it is an illusion that can create a powerful effect of authenticity and sincerity, of truth-telling.

For American novelists skaz was an obvious way to free themselves from the inherited literary traditions of England and Europe. The crucial impetus was given by Mark Twain. “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn,” said Ernest Hemingway – an overstatement, but an illuminating one. Twain’s masterstroke was to unite a vernacular colloquial style with a naïve, immature narrator, an adolescent boy who is wiser than he knows, whose vision of the adult world has a devastating freshness and honesty.

J.D.Salinger’s Holden Caulfield is a literary descendant of Huck Finn: more educated and sophisticated, the son of affluent New Yorkers, but like Huck a youthful runaway from a world of adult hypocrisy, venality and, to use one of his favourite words, phoniness. …

The features of Holden’s narrative style that make it sound like speech rather than writing, and a teenager’s speech at that, are easy enough to identify. There’s a lot of repetition (because elegant variation in vocabulary requires careful thought) especially of slang expressions like “jerk”, “bored as hell”, “phoney”, “big deal”, “killed me” and “old” (an epithet applied promiscuously to anything familiar, whatever its age). Like many young people, Holden expresses the strength of his feelings by exaggeration, the device rhetoricians call hyperbole: “smoking himself to death”, “You’d have thought they hadn’t seen each other in twenty years”, “slobbering around.” The syntax is simple. Sentences are short and uncomplicated. Many of them aren’t properly formed, lacking a finite verb (“Strictly Ivy League. Big deal.”) There are grammatical mistakes such as speakers often make (“He was the kind of a phoney that have to give themselves room…”). In longer sentences, clauses are strung together as they seem to occur to the speaker, rather than being subordinated to each other in complex structures. …

44

PART 2. FUNCTIONAL STYLISTICS: NON-FICTION

In the last analysis, though, there’s something surprisingly poetic about this prose, a subtle manipulation of the rhythms of colloquial speech which makes it an effortless pleasure to read, and re-read. As jazz musicians say, it swings.

(from The Art of Fiction by David Lodge)

Tasks

1.Identify the text: name the text and specify its status.

2.What are the key functions of the text?

3.What is the text centered on?

4.What means does the author resort to in order to clarify his ideas?

5.Is it a good piece of explanatory writing? Why (not)?

Section 2: The Official Style

Types of Official Documents: Spheres

▪legal documents

▪commercial documents

▪diplomatic documents

▪military documents

Types of Official Letters

▪covering letters

▪complaints

▪applications

▪apology letters

▪notifications

▪inquiries

▪letters of recommendation

▪adjustment letters

45

С. Ю. СТЕПАНОВА. ОСОЗНАННОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ: ТЕКСТЫ И ЗАДАНИЯ ● MINDFUL READING: TEXTS AND TASKS

Functions and aims

▪to state the conditions binding the parties

▪to regulate official relationships

▪to reach an agreement

▪official communication, order and prescription

Style-forming features

▪formal and ‘dry’

▪logical and unemotional

▪objective and impersonal

▪clear-cut and precise

▪fact-based

▪standardized

▪conventional

▪conservative and rigid

Beyond the text: Matching

Match the features of official correspondence to their explanations

1)conventional

2)clear-cut

3)rigid

4)unemotional

5)professional

a)unable to be changed easily

b)relating to a job

c)very certain or obvious

d)standard and traditional

e)not showing any feelings

46

PART 2. FUNCTIONAL STYLISTICS: NON-FICTION

Linguistic features

▪neutral / formal vocabulary

▪‘officialese’

▪terminology

▪set expressions

▪contractions and abbreviations

▪no imagery

▪complete sentences

▪enumeration

▪standard composition / layout

Text 2.6 Dress Code

Appropriate dress and grooming can help to create a positive learning environment. Other attire may be allowed for special school activities with approval of the school administration. Possible consequences for violating the dress code are found on the Discipline Matrix. Changes to clothing trends will not override the dress code policy.

Rights

Students have a right to wear stylish clothes of their choice as long as those clothes are appropriate for school, are not dangerous to health and safety, and do not create a substantial and material disruption of the school.

Responsibilities

Students have a responsibility to dress neatly and appropriately, to be clean and well groomed, whether on campus, participating in a school-sponsored activity, or in the virtual educational environment.

Rule

1.All students are expected to honor their responsibilities and dress in a way that respects the rights of others. Consequences for failure to adhere to the District’s Face Covering policy (Policy 2170) should only be considered for intentional actions on the part of a student, and not those which are accidental,

47

С. Ю. СТЕПАНОВА. ОСОЗНАННОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ: ТЕКСТЫ И ЗАДАНИЯ ● MINDFUL READING: TEXTS AND TASKS

incidental, or related to a student’s disability. This is applicable to students while on school campus, on school transportation or at a school-sponsored event.

2.Footwear must be worn at all times. Parents should ensure that the shoes worn by their children do not impede their safety while at school. For grades K-12, bedroom slippers are not allowed. Students in grades K-8 may not wear backless, sling-back or open-toed footwear.

3.Special clothing, including footwear, maybe required for safety reasons in certain programs and activities such as physical education, home economics, career / technical education, and science.

4.Revealing clothing or clothing that exposes torso is not allowed. Examples include, but not limited to: tank tops or spaghetti straps without overblouses (long shirts) or jackets; see-through garments; mini-skirts or mini-dresses; halters; backless dresses; jackets, shirts, or blouses tied at midriff, and bare midriff outfits.

5.Clothing which is not worn appropriately, is not properly fastened,or has tears that are indecent will not be not permitted. All trousers, including oversized or low-hanging trousers, must be worn and secured at waist-level.

6.Garments including, but not limited to, pajamas, boxer shorts, bloomers, and bustiers, which were traditionally designed as undergarments, sleepwear, or beachwear, may not be worn as outer garments. Other clothing not allowed are: leggings without overblouses (long shirts) that reach mid-thigh, tights, bodysuits or hosiery, including those with lace trims, and bicycle racing attire unless they are worn underneath dresses, skirts, or shorts of appropriate length. Appropriate T-shirts may be worn as outer garments.

7.Clothing that exposes the upper thigh is not allowed. Shorts that are not shorter than mid-thigh, including walking shorts, Bermuda shorts, and split skirts (culottes), are allowed. For Pre-K through 3, shorter shorts may be worn since these are standard attire for these ages.

48

PART 2. FUNCTIONAL STYLISTICS: NON-FICTION

8.Clothing, jewelry, buttons, haircuts, or other items or markings which are, suggestive, revealing, or indecent, associated with gangs or cults, encourage the use of drugs, alcohol, or violence, or support discrimination on the basis of age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, linguistic differences, marital status, national origin, race, religion, socioeconomic background,

sexual orientation, physical appearance, or any other basis are not allowed.

…

(taken from The Code Book for Student Conduct: Broward County Public Schools: 2021-2022 through 2023-2024)

Example of Text Analysis: Step by Step

I.Name the text and specify its status (fiction / non-fiction, its style, its field and its genre)

Non-fiction; style: official, a legal / regulatory act

II.Identify the subject-matter of the text

The text is a fragment taken from the code book for student conduct, it is concerned with the rules and regulations related to the dress code in Broward County public schools.

III.Specify the main functions of the text

As the code aims to establish the usual standard of conduct expected of students, the text is prescriptive. It carries out the functions of official information and regulation.

IV. Identify the type of the text and its form

The text of the code is explanatory since it explains the essence of the rules of the dress code. It is presented in the written form, the monologue has a generalized, abstract character.

V.Characterize the addressee of the text

The text is aimed mainly at the students of public schools in Broward County (Florida, the USA), as well as their parents or caregivers.

VI. Describe the style-forming features of the text

The text of the code is characterized by objectiveness, precision and clarity. It produces an impression of being logical and impersonal. The structure of the text is conventional as the content of the code

49

С. Ю. СТЕПАНОВА. ОСОЗНАННОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ: ТЕКСТЫ И ЗАДАНИЯ ● MINDFUL READING: TEXTS AND TASKS

is organized in a standardized way. Emotiveness, expressiveness and subjective modality are completely banned from the text.

VII. Characterize the linguistic features of the text, its lexical and syntactical peculiarities

The text is rich in official clichés and legal terms (create a substantial disruption, including but not limited to, violate the dress code, applicable to students) and words belonging to the thematic field of clothing, which is a consequence of the presented subject matter (overblouses, split skirts). The words are used in their logical / direct / primary meanings; neutral and bookish vocabulary prevails (appropriately, to ensure, standard attire), which contributes to the formal tone of the text. Lack of emotionally coloured words and neutral or informal synonyms also guarantees the general and abstract tone of the code (the use of ‘garment’, ‘attire’ and ‘clothing’ instead of ‘clothes’). Culturally specific vocabulary (Pre-K, K-12) can be identified, it reflects the relevance of the document for the specific community.

The composition of the text is strictly regulated, enumeration can be identified as a necessary feature of the conventional structure. Lengthy sentences with homogeneous members prevail; the elements of colloquial syntax (ellipsis, inversion) are excluded. Lexical repetitions (clothing, garments) provide cohesion of the text. The use of ‘timeless’ Present Simple, passive constructions and modal verbs ensures the fulfilment of regulatory and prescriptive functions.

VIII. Characterize the figure of the author and identify peculiarities of his / her individual style

By nature the text of the document is abstract and general, hence, the personality of the author / authors is never felt. As the text of the code is devoid of personal, emotive and evaluative components, no conclusion can be made about the specifics of the individual style.

Text 2.7

Teacher Contract

This Teacher Contract (hereinafter referred to as “Contract” is effective from [Date] (hereinafter referred to as the “Effective Date”),

50