2. Change the following into indirect questions beginning with the words given.

1. Can I have some pocket money?

The boy asked………………………………….. .

2. Where were you born?

She asked him………………………………….. .

3. Are you still living in London?

She asked……………………………………… .

4. Are you going to give me the money or not?

She wanted to know…………………………… .

5. Did he bring the book back?

I didn’t know………………………………… .

6. Who bought the Picasso painting?

He wondered………………………………… .

3. Convert into indirect speech paying special attention to the verb must.

1. Dorian shook his head, “You must not ask me about that, Basil”.

2. He said: “They must have missed the train”.

3. Mary said to Tom: ”I must have every chance to win”.

4. Ben said: ”He must be telling the truth. I am absolutely sure he is.”

5. He said: ”I’m sorry. I must have been unconscious of having said the wrong thing. I didn’t mean to hurt you”.

4. Complete the sentences by filling in the correct form of say, tell, or ask.

1. Alison _________ me that she was going on holiday next week.

2. Neil’s going into town, he ________ if we wanted anything from the shops.

3. If you see Carol ______ her that Harry was looking for her earlier.

4. Did Anna or Chris ______ anything about what they are doing tonight?

5. The boss ______ John that we have to finish the report today.

6. Dave ______ that we shouldn’t wait for him because he might be a bit late.

7. He ______ her where she would like to go for dinner.

8. I must remember to ______ someone what time the exam starts. I don’t want to be late.

9. Did she ______ you why she didn’t go to the party last night?

10. Tina always ______ that she is going to quit her job and go back to college, but I don’t know if she ever will.

5. Rewrite each of the sentences in direct speech, as in the example.

1. He said that he would call me the next day.

“I will call you tomorrow”.

2. She said that she could speak Italian.

3. He said that he needed to go to the supermarket later that day.

4. She said that seen that film the previous week.

5. He asked if I would give him a lift to work.

6. Ste said that I should go back there the following morning.

7. When I saw him yesterday, he said that he wasn’t working today.

8. She asked whether I was going away the following weekend.

9. He asked whether we had played football the day before.

10. She asked if she could borrow some money.

6. Read the text. Make the literary translation of the text in writing. The British and American English

The early English colonists in the new world were speaking Elizabethan English, the language of Shakespeare and Marlow, when they came to America. This is important and necessary for our understanding of some of the features which American English was to develop later on.

There are very few pure languages. English has been known as a word borrower. In the formation of the American English the English-speaking colonists were brought into contact with the different peoples who spoke different languages. Many words, derived from these languages, were added to the seventeenth-century form of English. First in importance come the words derived from the speech of various Indian tribes. This was caused by the necessity of talking about new things, qualities, operations, concepts, and ideas. The movement of a people to a new and different environment not only creates a problem of communication but makes it urgent.

Besides the various Indian influences, American English reflects the other non-English cultures which the colonists met in their conquest of the continent. In the westward expansion of their territory, the English-speaking colonists soon came into contact with the casual French settlements in the Middle West. From the French a considerable number of words were derived, e.g. rapids, prairies, etc. More substantial borrowings were made from the Spanish colonization and culture as the English-speaking settlers moved southward and westward toward the Pacific Ocean. Spanish words were adopted at two different periods. In the early colonial days, American English received Creole, mulatto. Then, after the Mexican war (1846 – 1848) contact with the Spanish-speaking inhabitants of Texas and the Spanish west resulted in borrowing of such words as canyon, ranch, sombrero. The Dutch settlers of New York contributed to American English the following words: boss, cookie, Santa Claus.

The increasing influence of the mass media has caused a steady infiltration of American words and expressions into British English. The word “okay”, for example, once exclusively American, is today normal British usage.

Americans are constantly inventing new words, many of which have found a permanent place first in American and then in British usage. In this category we have formations like ”to televise” from “television”.

Foreign students with a knowledge of English often experience considerable difficulty in their first contacts with American speakers. The problem here, however, usually has more to do with pronunciation than with the language itself. Apart from the typically nasal quality of American speech, there are a number of basic differences between British and American pronunciation.

There are, however, a number of cases in which British and American people continue to use different words to mean the same thing. These words are still in constant use and have retained their national character. Here are a few examples illustrating certain variations in the two languages.

British English autumn bill biscuits boiled sweets booking office ground floor holiday ill lift mad railway underground, tube high tea cinema pavement post ring up shop timetable taxi

American English fall check cracker hard candy ticket window first floor vacation sick elevator crazy railroad subway supper movie theatre sidewalk mail call up store Schedule Cab