Comprehension check

1. Work with a partner. Match the verbs in A with the nouns in B.

Some verbs may go with more than one noun.

A	B
to lead to	a method
to make(3)	a paper
to lay	the foundations
to conduct	principles
to patent(2)	a discovery
to develop	an experiment
to write	a contribution
to determine	an invention
	the probability of something

Focus on Language

Translate these sentences into your native language. Do you need a dictionary to translate them correctly?

• I’m sure she will make a good physician.

• The climate model developed by climatologists forecasts dramatic changes in Europe as well as US.

International words vs “False friends” The words mostly of Greek and Latin origin that are used in many other languages especially in different areas of science and technology are called international words, e.g. geometry, atom, mathematics, radio, integral, theorem, structure, etc. Knowledge of such words helps a lot in reading and translation. However, there are so called ‘false friends”. These are words that look like international but have different meanings in English and in Russian, e.g. to reclaim (to take back something that was yours), actual (real, existing in fact, etc), spectacles (a pair of eyeglasses), etc.

Practice

1. In the texts above find examples of international and ‘false friends’ words and translate them into your native language.

2. Sort out the words below into categories. Use a dictionary if necessary.

International words	“False Friends”

Lecture, battery, detail, form, control, accurate, technology, massive, magazine,

fact, logic, pioneer, mixture, nature, repetition, general, argument, prospect, affect, problem, actual, technique, intelligent, example, original, paragraph, transparent, focus, lamp, list, test, category, primitive, cyberspace, combination, activity, priority, sodium, application, fabric, metal, guarantee, industry, type, location, material, vibration, phenomenon, physician, data, encyclopedia, menu, clay, system, correspondent, probe, familiar, unique, scheme, lava, to speculate, cabinet.

3. Read the sentence from the text. What other adjectives can go with the noun contribution?

• Lomonosov made a significant contribution to the development of natural sciences.

Collocation Collocation is the way words combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing. E.g., in English you say strong wind and heavy rain. It would be not normal to say *heavy wind or *strong rain. Collocation runs through the whole of the English language. No piece of natural spoken or written English is totally free of collocation. For the student, choosing the right collocation will make his speech and writing more natural, more native-speaker-like.