ENGLISH-IN-LAW. Textbook

TASK 4 Match the words on the left with the words on the right and make up your own sentences with them to speak on the history of state:

TASK 5 a) Look up the word criterion. Find this word in the text. What is its origin?

b) Study the meanings of the following words, give their plural forms:

academy, analysis, antibiotic, aristocracy, autopsy, crisis, democracy, dogma, hierarchy, idiom, myriad, strategy, trauma, thesaurus

181

TASK 6 Look up the words domination, jurisdiction, formation. Use the suffix -ion to form nouns from the following verbs:

to act, to connect, to create, to decide, to explain, to posses, to produce, to realise, to reduce, to situate

TASK 7 a) Find the words respectively, eventually in the text.

b) Open the brackets to form one adverb instead of the underlined words:

1.People who educate their children at home rather than sending

them to school say they against having to register every year with local authorities. (= a...ly)

2.In the old days, people just sent their scripts in and if anyone

could be bothered to read them, sometimes someone got through. (= o…ly)

3.Police just wanted to know the true details. (= m...ly)

4.Speak in a normal manner and use your voice to show your emotions. (= n…ly)

5.Three in exactly the same way dressed men robbed a south Devon shop. (= i...ly)

6.But the idea of a soundtrack as you listen to an audio book has in a scanty way been explored – until now. (= b...ly)

7.A two-storey house in a Surrey town has been altogether destroyed by fire. (= c...ly)

8.Actress Linda Marlowe explores the enduring appeal of Greek mythology, videlicet the tale of Ulysses and Penelope. (= n… ly)

9.I can in a hazy manner remember reading what you’re talking about. (= v...ly)

10.He and his father criticised the mere on the exterior legal ritual practice that was being promoted at the time. (= o…ly)

11.She always liked playing around with words and writing stories

at school, and would write massive absurdly long letters to people and things like that. (= r…ly)

12.Thousands of shops in England and Wales open according

to common law but not equity for the first time following a change in the Sunday trading laws. (= l…ly)

182

TASK 8 Find passive structures in the text. Rewrite the sentences in passive:

1.They think well of this boy.

2.People will talk much about this film.

3.Does anybody live in this house?

4.They didn’t commit that crime! They were looking after the baby at 10 yesterday.

5.I must go. She is waiting for me at the cinema.

6.Will they listen to this lecture?

7.We have just looked through these magazines.

8.I don’t like when people laugh at me.

9.Who have they sent for?

10.They take care of a little dog.

11.Yesterday they finally arrived at the agreement.

12.Are the police looking for him even now?

TASK 9 Study the following and find gerunds in the text:

The most useful words and phrases which require gerund: I. The gerund as an object is used after the following verbs:

183

II. The gerund as an attribute is used after the following nouns:

III. The gerund as an adverbial modifier is used after the following prepositions:

We learned a lot about Wales by reading this magazine. Besides teaching, she writes scientific works.

Instead of going to school, Tom stayed at home. On seeing Mrs. Black John bowed.

You may come without warning me.

NOTE:

1.We can use both gerund and infinitive + to after the verbs begin, continue, intend, like, start, try: We start translating – We are starting to translate.

After the verbs remember and try we usually use gerund to speak about the past events and infinitive to speak about present and future events:

I clearly remember swimming in the sea that summer. I must remember to call my mum tonight.

Have you already tried asking the man next door? Just try to forget about it! (in the future)

2.If we use gerund after the verb stop we usually want to emphasise that the action in gerund is stopped: She stopped reading (= she didn’t read any more).

While using the infinitive form we mean that the action is stopped to begin some other process: She stopped to read an advertisement.

184

TASK 10 Use the following word combinations to complete the sentences:

to accuse of, to be afraid of, to get used to, to suspect of, to thank for, to approve of, to insist on, to be worth, to be busy

1.I … going to the swimming pool twice a week.

2.This man … committing a crime.

3.We are not sure, but we heard, he … stealing the purse.

4.I … talking to him immediately!

5.We’ll … helping us this week.

6.A director … my making this task.

7.It … talking about it so much.

8.She is only four years old, she … staying at home alone.

9.I … doing my home work.

TASK 11 a) Study the following idioms. Which of them are familiar to you?

185

186

187

b) The word “hand” has several meanings and two of them are interesting for the legal profession:

hand 1) Formerly the hand was considered as the symbol of good faith, and some contracts derive their names from the fact that the hand was used in making them; as handsale, mandatum, which comes from mandare. The hand is still used for various legal or forensic purposes. When a person is accused of a crime and he is arraigned, and he is asked to hold up his right hand; and when one is sworn as a witness, he is required to lay his right hand on the Bible (in the UK), or to hold it up.

2) In a figurative sense, by hand is understood a particular form of writing: Mr Jones writes a good hand.

Various kinds of hand have been used, e.g., the secretary hand, the Roman hand, the court hand (in old English practice, the peculiar style and form of writing in which court records were transcribed from the earliest period to the reign of George II, circa 1760). Wills and contracts may be written in any of these, or any other which is intelligible.

TASK 12 a) Study the definitions:

take the law into your own hands – to do something illegal in order to punish someone because you know that the law or the authorities will not punish that person: Her mother took the law into her own hands when she heard that her child had been abused. She decided to take the law into her own hands and rescue the dog from its owner, who beat it.

take your life in/into your hands – to do something (very) dangerous: I think you take your life in your hands every time you get on a plane.

take something (matters) into your own hands (AmE) – to deal with something yourself: The police haven’t done anything about the vandalism, so local residents have taken matters (or: this problem) into their own hands.

an old hand (often + at) – someone who has done a particular job or activity for a long time and who can do it very well: She’s an old hand at magazines, having trained on Cosmopolitan before editing Company.

188

at first hand/first hand (first-hand — always before noun) – if you experience something first hand, you experience it yourself:

Many reporters based in the capital are experiencing the war first hand. For Carter, the visit was a chance to see at first hand the life and work of someone he admired.

hat in hand – with an attitude of respect for someone powerful:

The Secretary of Defense must go to Congress, hat in hand, to get approval to close military bases.

win (something) hands down – to win easily: She won the debate hands down.

can count something on the fingers of one hand – emphasizes that something is very rare: I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she’s actually offered to buy me a drink.

the dead hand of something – something that stops progress from being made: Economic development has been held back by the dead hand of bureaucracy.

rule (someone) with a rod of iron/with an iron hand (BrE, AmE, AuE) – to control a group of people very firmly, having complete power over everything that they do: For 17 years she ruled the country with a rod of iron. My uncle rules the family business with an iron hand.

sit on your hands – to do nothing about a problem or a situation that needs dealing with: Many companies are sitting on their hands, unable to decide which of the new technologies for linking computers is the smartest choice.

a safe pair of hands (BrE, AuE) – someone who you can trust to do an important job well without making mistakes: He’s what this troubled club needs, a good, solid manager, a safe pair of hands.

throw in your hand (BrE) – to stop doing something because you know you cannot succeed or win: I know it’s unlikely that I’ll get the job but I’m not going to throw in my hand just yet.

throw up your hands (AmE) – to stop trying to do something because it is too difficult: Instead of throwing up our hands, we found a way to fix this thing.

turn your hand to something – someone could do something well although he/she has no experience of it: Stella’s very talented and she could turn her hand to anything.

wait on someone hand and foot – to do everything for someone so that they do not have to do anything for themselves: You should

189

do some of the work around here instead of being waited on hand and foot all the time.

b) Answer the questions:

1.What can you do hands down?

2.What can be counted on the fingers of one hand when you speak about legal profession?

3.What could be called the dead hand in your national legal system?

4.What have you experienced first hand? What would you like to experience at first hand?

5.Who would you speak with hat in hand?

6.What person can be called an old hand in legal profession?

7.Who/what can be a safe pair of hands for a lawyer?

8.Do you agree that police never sit on their hands?

9.When do you have to throw in your hand? Do you think we should never throw up our hands?

10.What do you think you could turn your hand to?

11.Would you prefer to wait on someone’s hand and foot or to be waited on hand and foot? Why?

12.Whaen do people take the law into their own hands? What historical examples can you give?

13.Do you take your life in your hands when you choose legal profession? Why/Why not?

14.When can presidents take power into their hands?

15.Can people be ruled with an iron hand nowadays?

TASK 13 Use these idioms to make up a detective story:

have your fingers/hand in the till – to steal money from the place where you work, usually from a shop, but not always. Usage notes: also catch someone with their fingers/hand in the till or have your fingers/hand in the till: Senior officials who get caught with their fingers in the till must expect to be punished very severely. (usually passive)

change hands – to be sold by someone and bought by another person: The hotel has changed hands twice since 1975.

could do something with one arm/hand tied behind their back (informal) – to do something very easily: Her part in the film wasn’t

190