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Файл:The English Language in Use. Everyday Life Communication. Учебное пособие для студентов 1 курса, обучающихся по направлению 45.03.02 Лингвистика
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Try to divide comparative elements into following groups:
1) Show the similarity of two objects.
2) Show the difference of two objects.
3) Showing the prominent character of an object against others.
4) Other constructions with comparative elements.
- Learn some more idioms. Use them in micro-contexts:
As sly as a fox, as quiet as a mouse, as strong as an ox, as hungry as a wolf
(hunter), as proud as a peacock, as fat as a pig, as stubborn as a mule, as free
as a bird, as brave as a lion, as playful as a kitten, as eager as a beaver, as
gentle as a lamb, as poor as a church mouse, as fast as a hare, as slow as a
snail, as wise as an owl, as blind as a bat, as ugly as a toad.
Like father like son. They are as like as two peas; like a bat out of hell, like
flies to honey, like an elephant in a china shop
1. Ее глаза сияли, как бриллианты. 2. Хотя он – пожилой человек, его
ровные зубы белы, как сахар. 3. Глаза девушки были темны, как ночь. 4.
Он силен, как тигр. 5. Она такая же длинноногая, как и ее сестра. 6.
Мэри такая же светловолосая и голубоглазая, как ее мама. 7. Подобно
звездам Голливуда 30-х годов она носит гладкую прическу с большим
узлом сзади. 8. Ее кожа мягкая и гладкая, как шелк. 9. У нее были густые,
черные, как уголь, брови. 10. У нее такой же свежий цвет лица, как и у ее
подруги. 11. У девочки такие же кудрявые волосы, как и у ее мамы. 12.
Его голос был подобен грому. 13. В отличии от одноклассниц, Элли
всегда была небрежно одета. 14. Ее помада – как кровь на губах. Это
безвкусно и вульгарно. 15. Энди не такой широкоплечий и мускулистый,
как его старший брат. 16. Она стройна, как молодое деревце.
Mind the topical vocabulary: to compare, to contrast, to liken, to equate, to
juxtapose, to collate, comparable, to correlate, to associate with, to match, in
comparison with, as compared to/with, in (sharp) contrast to/with, contrary to,
to resemble, resemblance, to bear a resemblance, akin, cognate, to differ from,
to be distinct from, to stand in marked contrast, to be notable, to deviate.
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THE PECULIAR CASES OF ENGLISH TENSES
The Present Simple Tense
1) In instructions and advice (instead of the Imperative Mood, instructive
phrases sound confident or patronizing but without the strict, imperious shade:
First you turn right and then go to the nearest crossing. You take a cup of
milk and two spoonfuls of sugar. You listen to what he is saying without
showing any emotion, and he is sure to calm down.
2) In newspaper headings to introduce the actions which took place in the past.
It is a peculiar feature of mass-media style. The use of the present tense here
is determined by the intention to emphasize the relevance of the topic in the
present, the news sounds “fresh”: A Boeing crashes in Indonesia.
3) In conversations when the speaker tells about someone’s actions which
took place in the past. The story obtains a sort of a narrative but at the same
time emphatic shade: Yesterday I bumped into Steven, my former class-mate.
We haven’t seen each other for more than twenty years. Can you imagine, a
tall bulky man approaches me and calls me my old school nickname! I was
really shocked.
Note: The auxiliary verb DO, which is typically used in the Present Simple
Tense to form questions and negative forms, can be also used in imperative
and affirmative sentences as an intensifier, it can be translated into Russian in
different ways to strengthen the meaning of the phrase: He does need money.
Do help me.
The Present Progressive Tense
1) Saying “now” we sometimes mean not precisely the present moment but
the present period of time which is dedicated to the particular activity: Now I
am collecting documents to go abroad.
2) The gradual (often difficult to notice) transition from one state to another –
mostly with the verbs to get (cтановиться), change (меняться), grow
(расти, становиться), improve (улучшаться) etc: The situation is slowly
improving/getting better.
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3) To describe a well prepared action in the future (everything is timed and
designated): Next week we are moving from the hostel to the rented flat.
4) The action is going to happen in the nearest seconds/minutes: I have told
you everything I wanted and I’m leaving. I’m dog tired, I’m going to bed.
5) To express discontent, irritation and criticism, here the element of
exaggeration is observed: Why are you constantly taking my towel?! My
mother is always asking me what my husband’s name is. It drives me crazy!
6) To emphasize someone’s unusual behaviour: She is wearing dark clothes
(she used to dress some other way before). The dog is scratching its right ear,
I’m afraid we’ll have to take it to the vet.
Note: the following verbs tend not to be used in the Continuous Tense: 1)
verbs denoting people’s inner perception of the reality: to want, to like, to
envy, to believe, to hope, to regret, to fear etc; 2) verbs denoting different
kinds of mental activity: to compare, to think (in the meaning “to stick to
some opinion”); 3) verbs denoting various properties of objects (mostly
inanimate) which can’t be characterized as a continual process: to seem, to
look, to taste, to cost, to weight, to belong etc 4) verbs denoting possession: to
have, to own, to possess; 5) verbs of sense perception: to see, to hear (to
watch, to listen, to look at, to observe are out of this list)
If the above-mentioned verbs are used in other meanings they can take
continuous forms. Compare: What do you think? – I think It looks like a
complete failure (Что ты думаешь? Какое у тебя мнение?) – Now he is
thinking how to cope with all this (обдумывает, мыслительный процесс);
What do you see? – I see many people collecting woods for a huge bonfire
(Что ты видишь?) – Where is Margaret? -I think she is seeing her friends
(видится, общается, встречается); What is this funny green liquid like? – It
tastes like kiwi (какой на вкус?) – Where is Mark? – He is tasting the local
food in the nearest trattoria (пробует, дегустирует – процесс).
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The Present Perfect Tense
The peculiar feature of this tense is that it reveals the connection
between the past and the present. The most evident “sign” of this connection
is so to say the “result” in the present which is caused by the previous action.
The “result” can be in the form of some changes (something new appeared);
new emotions, impressions and information can also indicate the Present
Perfect Resultative: I have watched an awesome chick flick (now I know what
the movie is about, It caused new positive emotions). Usually Present Perfect
is used to show the actions which have taken place in the nearest past with the
indicators “just”, “recently”, “lately”, “of late” (We have just returned from
Simon’s grandparents’). Occasionally Present Perfect is used to speak of the
actions which took place long ago but the result of these actions is still actual
(without mentioning the particular date): Yuri Dolgorukiy has founded
Moscow.
The other cases of the Present Perfect for students to know are the
following:
1) To emphasize how many times the action has been performed: It is the
second time I’ve driven this tramp away, but he has come back.
2) To show that some situation started in the past, has been taking place up to
the present moment ant at the present moment is still taking place. Speaking
briefly this case can be called “a period”. Present Perfect in this case is mostly
used with the verbs which are not used in Continuous: I have been your
friend since childhood, you must trust me. The Present Perfect is often used in
the meaning “period” when the verb denoting a real action (to eat, to sleep, to
rain etc) is in the negative form: It hasn’t rained for many weeks, the plants
have died. She hasn’t eaten such pan-cakes since childhood.
3) To depict someone’s personal experience (or its absence): She is the most
charming lady I have ever met; I have never bought clothes on sale. Have
you ever cooked this dish? Compare: I have never eaten oysters. I wonder
what their taste is like. They are said to be eaten raw with lemon juice (a
person didn’t eat oysters in the previous experience and now doesn’t know
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their taste too) – The oysters are really delicious! I really don’t know why I
never ate oysters before (here the connection between the present and the past
is broken: the person didn’t eat oysters in the past, but now he knows what
they taste like).
4) In adverbial clauses to reveal an action in the future (after conjunctions
when, as soon as, after etc). The reasonable question could be: how to
distinguish between the Present Perfect and the Present Simple in complex
sentences with adverbial clauses. Actually, the Present Perfect tends to be
used when the situation implies something needful and required; such phrases
sound more emphatic than those with the present simple which sound neutral.
Compare: We shall discuss the issue when he returns. They will accept my
application only when I have provided the original documents.
Spelling rules relevant for correct writing of grammatical forms
I. Adding the suffixes -ed, -ing, -er, -ous to English verbs.
1. Doubling the final consonant.
“The final consonant is doubled when adding the suffix -ed, -ing, -er, – ous to
verbs if it is preceded by a short stressed vowel. For ex.: plan – planned –
planning, stop – stopped – stopping” (1), rob – robbed – robbing – robber,
regret – regretted – regretting, begin – beginning – beginner, permit –
permitted – permitting, trek – trekked – trekking. If the final consonant is
preceded by an unstressed vowel, the final consonant is not doubled. For ex.:
open – opened – opening, visit – visited – visiting, happen – happened –
happening. But here there are several exceptions: worship – worshipped –
worshipping (Am.Eng. worshiped – worshiping), kidnap – kidnapped –
kidnapping – kidnapper, handicap – handicapped – handicapping. If the vowel
which precedes the final consonant is long or it is a diphthong, no matter
whether it is stressed or unstressed, the consonant is not doubled. For ex.:
group – grouped – grouping, break – breaking – breaker, treat – treated –
treating, crawl – crawled – crawling. The final letter x is never doubled when
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it is preceded by a short stressed vowel. For ex.: fix – fixed – fixing – fixer,
mix – mixed – mixing – mixer.
2. The final consonant R.
“The final consonant r is doubled when adding the suffixes -ed, -ing when it
is preceded by a long stressed vowel” (10). For ex.: star – starred – starring,
stir – stirred – stirring, refer – referred – referring, prefer – preferred –
preferring, occur – occurred – occurring. If the vowel which precedes the
final r is a diphthong or it is unstressed, the final r is not doubled. For ex.:
appear – appeared – appearing, fear – feared – fearing, differ – differed –
differing, remember – remembered – remembering, recover – recovered –
recovering, chatter – chattered – chattering.
3. The final consonant L.
“The final consonant l is doubled when adding the suffix -ed, -ing, -er, -ous if
it is preceded by a short vowel regardless of whether it is stressed or
unstressed” (32). For ex.: travel – travelled – travelling – traveller, control –
controlled – controlling – controller, signal – signalled – signalling, compel –
compelled – compelling, cancel – cancelled – cancelling. The final consonant
l is not doubled when it is preceded by a long vowel or a diphthong. For ex.:
heal – healed – healing – healer, curl – curled – curling – curler, peel – peeled
– peeling. In American English the final consonant l which is preceded by a
short vowel is not doubled. For ex.: travel – traveled – traveling – traveler.
4. The final consonant C.
The final consonant c when adding the suffixes -ed, -ing to verbs changes to
ck. For ex.: panic – panicked – panicking, picnic – picnicked – picnicking,
traffic – trafficked – trafficking, mimic – mimicked – mimicking.
5. The final E in verbs.
If the verb ends in mute e, it is dropped before adding the suffixes -ed, -ing, er, -ous. For ex.: live – lived – living – liver, note – noted – noting, care –
cared – caring – carer, notice – noticed – noticing, name – named – naming.
Exceptions: singe – singed – singeing, dye – dyed – dyeing, toe – toed –
toeing. Verbs like tie drop the e when adding the suffix -ed and change e to y
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when adding the suffix -ing. For ex.: lie – lied – lying, die – died – dying, vie
– vied – vying, tie – tied – tying. Verbs that end in double ee have the
following spelling. For ex.: agree – agreed – agreeing, see – seeing, free –
freed – freeing.
6. The final Y in verbs.
If the final y forms a syllable (it is preceded by a consonant), y changes to i
when adding -ed but does not change when adding -ing. For ex.: cry – cried –
crying, try – tried – trying, copy – copied – copying, study – studied –
studying, reply – replied – replying, carry – carried – carrying, worry –
worried – worrying. If the final y does not form a syllable (it is preceded by a
vowel), y does not change when adding the suffixes -ed and -ing. For ex.: play
– played – playing, stay – stayed – staying, employ – employed – employing,
buy – buying, destroy – destroyed – destroying, key – keyed – keying.
The other final vowels and such final combinations as ow, aw, ew do not
change when adding the suffixes -ed and -ing. For ex.: taxi – taxied – taxiing,
ski – skied – skiing, radio – radioed – radioing, show – showed – showing,
allow – allowed – allowing, moo – mooed – mooing.
II. Adding the suffixes -er, -est to English adjectives.
1. Doubling the final consonant.
The final consonant of the adjective is doubled when adding the suffix of the
comparative degree -er and the suffix of the superlative degree -est if it is
preceded by a short stressed vowel. For ex.: big – bigger – the biggest, thin –
thinner – the thinnest, slim – slimmer – the slimmest, fat – fatter – the fattest.
2. The final E in adjectives.
The final mute e in adjectives is dropped when adding the suffixes -er, -est.
For ex.: large – larger – the largest.
3. The final Y in adjectives.
If the final y is preceded by a consonant, y changes to i when adding to the
adjectives the suffixes -er, -est. For ex.: skinny – skinnier – the skinniest,
pretty – prettier – the prettiest, ugly – uglier – the ugliest, wavy – wavier – the
waviest. If the final y is preceded by a vowel, y does not change when adding
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to the adjectives the suffixes -er, -est. For ex.: gay – gayer – the gayest.
III. Adding the suffixes of the plural form to English nouns.
1. The ending -ES with nouns in plural.
Nouns which end in -s, -z, -ss, – zz, -x, -sh, -ch form their plural form with the
help of the ending -es. For ex.: glass – glasses, wish – wishes, match –
matches, bus – buses, fox – foxes, buzz – buzzes.
Nouns which end in -o also form their plural form with the help of the ending
-es. For ex.: potato – potatoes, tomato – tomatoes, hero – heroes, echo –
echoes, tornado – tornadoes. Exceptions: piano – pianos, photo – photos,
radio – radios, zoo – zoos, casino – casinos, solo – solos.
2. The final Y in nouns.
If the final y is preceded by a consonant, y changes to i and the suffix -es is
added to the noun to form the plural. For ex.: study – studies, family –
families. If the final y is preceded by a vowel, y does not change and the
suffix -s is added to the noun to form the plural. For ex.: day – days, way –
ways.
3. The final -F, -FE in nouns.
Nouns which end in -f, -fe take the endings -es and f changes to v. For ex.: life
– lives, elf – elves, leaf – leaves, thief – thieves, knife – knives, loaf – loaves.
Exceptions: giraffe – giraffes, roof – roofs, chief – chiefs, handkerchief –
handkerchiefs
4. Plural form of English nouns borrowed from Latin or Greek.
The suffixes changes this way -us – -i, -is – -es, -x – -ces
For ex.: cactus – cacti, nucleus – nuclei, radius – radii, analysis – analyses,
crisis – crises, diagnosis – diagnoses, thesis – theses, appendix – appendices,
matrix – matrices, index – indices
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II. PHONETICAL MATTERS
WORK WITH TEXTS. PHONETIC READING
The Main Reading Rules
The two main English tones are Low-Fall and Low-Rise. Low-Fall
reveals the completeness of the idea and is often used at the end of
phrases. It marks the last stressed words (in English the stressed
elements generally are nouns, verbs, adjectives, numerals, adverbs).
Low Rise shows that the thought is semantically incomplete. A phrase
obtains emotional colouring if it takes High-Fall.
Logical stress is moving of the tone from the last stressed word to some
other word to emphasize it logically.
Adverbial groups at the beginning of phrases take Low-Rise or Mid-
Level (the voice doesn’t change its pitch level). In final position
adverbial phrases are unstressed unless the speaker wants to emphasize
it logically.
Enumeration can consist of a few elements. Each element is separated
from a previous one by a pause. In neutral speech all non-final elements
of enumeration take Low-Rise, the final element takes Low-Fall. In
emphatic speech each element of enumeration may take Low-fall or
High-Fall.
Apposition (when you want to specify some element in a phrase by
giving some additional information) forms a separate group (is
separated by pauses) and takes the tone if the preceding part of the
phrase. In this case we deal with so called detached apposition. The
words Mr., Mrs., Miss, Doctor etc when followed by proper names are
regarded as close appositions, they are unstressed.
While choosing the tones in complex sentences mind the criterion of
semantic completeness/incompleteness of parts.
In compound sentences the intonation of the non-final part(s) depend(s)
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on the degree of its(their) logical connection with the following part. If
this link is quite evident the non-final part takes Low-Rise (for example,
we can speak about logical connection if the parts are related as cause
and effect, or represent some juxtaposition); if there is no evident
logical connection the non-final part takes Low-Fall.
In normal neutral speech the intonation pattern of English speech is
typically represented by Stepping Head (a succession of stressed and
unstressed syllables which fall gradually from the high pitch level like
steps). In emphatic speech this gradual succession may be broken – one
of the elements between the first and the last stressed syllables is
pronounced on the high pitch level to sound prominent, this emphatic
device is called Accidental Rise.
In the flow of speech some form words (articles, prepositions, pronouns
etc) are reduced (pronounced not as they are presented in dictionaries
but in their weak form). This phenomenon of English speech is called
reduction.
Prepare the following text for test reading.
Methodical directions:
Write the text in transcription. Pay attention to the cases of reduction.
Look through the text thoroughly and find the phenomena which form
separate intonation groups, draw the graphical symbols of pauses
(within a phrase – one vertical line, between phrases – two vertical
lines).
Think over the tones in each intonation group, draw the graphical
symbols of tones. Mind the cases of logical stress if there are some.
Mark other stressed words.
The Evil Beauty
The girl lived in the family of the fisherman but everybody knew that
she was not his daughter. Long ago he found on the shore a boat with a dead
woman and a crying baby-girl. The fisherman brought it home and asked his
wife if she didn’t mind the baby staying in their poor hut. The woman was
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