Unit 7 Learning about English

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Unit 7 Learning about English

• Text A
• The Glorious Messiness of English

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Objectives

• To grasp the main idea and structure of the text
• To understand some idiomatic English usages
  mentioned in the unit
• To know about the history of English
• To master key languages points and grammatical
  structures in the text

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Pre-reading tasks

• Listen to the recorded passage and
• answer the following questions
• What is the passage about?
• What examples are given to illustrate the
  messiness of the English language?
• Are you sure of all the idiomatic usages listed
  below?

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Pre-reading tasks---do you know these idiomatic
usages?

• ship by truck / send cargo by ship
• noses that run / feet that smell
• a slim/fat chance
• a wise guy / a wise man
• overlook / oversee
• hot / cold as hell
• burn up / burn down
• fill in a form / fill out a form
• go off / go on

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Pre-reading tasks

• Suggested answers
• English is a great language, but it is a crazy
  language.
• There is no egg in eggplant, neither pine or
  apple in pineapple and no ham in a hamburger.
• 3. Omitted. (Refer to page 307 or consult
  dictionaries for better understanding of the
  idioms mentioned in the passage.)

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Messiness of English

• English muffin
• French fries

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Messiness of English

• Sweetmeats are __________.
• Sweetbreads are __________.
• People drive on a ___________.
• People ________ on a driveway.

candy
meat
parkway
park
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Messiness of English

• When stars are out they are ________.
• When lights are out they are _________.
• I wind up my watch to ________ it.
• I wind up my speech to ________it.

visible
invisible
start
end
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Messiness of English

• For example, a group of letters that is
  pronounced one way in one word cannot be depended
  on to be pronounced the same way in other words.
• "-ough-"
• "thought," "though," "through," and "enough"

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Introductory remarks

• As we discover from the previous exercise, an
• English word may have multiple meanings.
• Likewise, several different words may be
• pronounced in the same way. For example, I
• knew a student who, upon hearing the title of
• Helen Kellers famous essay Three Days to See,
• translated it into ????. Considered in
• this perspective, English is really messy.
• However, according to Text A, this is also a
• major merit of English.

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Text organization ---switch in tense

• Scan the first sentence of each paragraph in the
  text to find out where the present tense is
  switched to the past tense and where the present
  tense is resumed.
• Para 4 How did the language of a small island
  off the coast of Europe become the language of
  the planet?
• Para 17 That tolerance for change also
  represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom.

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Text organization --- grasping the main
idea(Ex.1, P.214)

• Paras1-3 Massive borrowing from other
  languages is a major feature of the
  English language.
• Paras4-16 Tells about the history of the
  English language from the Indo- European
  parent language to modern English.
• Paras17- Tolerance, love of freedom,
• 19 and respect for the rights of others
  --- these qualities in the English-speaking
  people explain the richness of their
  language.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• The roots of English
• English began as a
• west Germanic language
• which was brought to
• England by the Saxons
• around 400 A.D. Old
• English was the spoken
• and written language of
• England between 400 and
• 1100 A.D.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• Many words used today come from Old
• English, including man, woman, king,
• mother, etc. But Old English was very
• different from modern English and only a
• few words can be easily recognized.
• In the 9th and 10th centuries, when
• Vikings invaded England, Old Norse words,
• e.g. sky, take and get and many place
• names, entered the language.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• From the Norman Conquest (1066) until the late
  12th century English was replaced as the
  official language by Norman French,
  though English was still used by the
  lower classes.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• English from about 1300 to 1500 is
• known as Middle English. It was influenced
• by French and also Latin in vocabulary and
• pronunciation. French brought many words
• connected with government, e.g. sovereign,
• royal, court, legal and government itself.
• Latin was the language of religion and
• learning and gave to English words such as
• minister, angel, master, school and grammar.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• Literature began
• again to be written
• in English during
• this period. One of
• the most famous
• Middle English
• works is Chaucers
• The Canterbury
• Tales.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• The development of Modern English
• Modern English developed from the Middle
• English dialect of the East Midlands and was
• influenced by the English used in London, where a
  
• printing press was set up by William Caxton in
  1476.
• English changed a great deal from this time until
  the
• end of the 18th century.
• During the Renaissance, many words were
• introduced from Greek and Latin to express new
  ideas,
• especially in science, medicine and philosophy.
  They
• include physics, species, encyclopedia and
  hypothesis.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• In the 16th century
• several versions of the Bible
• helped bring written English
• to ordinary people. The
• Elizabethan period is also
• famous for its drama, and
• Shakespeares plays were
• seen by many people.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• By the 18th century American English
• was established and developing
• independently from British English. After
• colonists arrived in the US new words began
• to be added from Native American
• languages, and from French and Spanish.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• 20th century English
• During the 19th and early 20th century
• many dictionaries and books about language
• were published. New words are still being
• added to English from other languages,
• including Chinese (fengshui) and Japanese
• (karaoke). Existing words gain new senses,
• and new expressions spread quickly through
• television and the Internet.

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Cultural Notes--- History of English

• English is now an international language
• and is used as a means of communication
• between people from many countries. As a
• result the influences on the English
• language are wider than ever and it is
• possible that World English will move away
• from using a British or American standard
• and establish its own international identity.

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Cultural Notes---Viking

• Viking A member of a people from
• Scandinavia who attacked parts of northern and
• western Europe, including Britain and Ireland, in
  
• the 8th to 11th centuries. In Britain they were
  also
• known as Norsemen. They settled on the Scottish
• islands and in areas of eastern England, and the
• Danish king Canute ruled England from 1016.
  
• The Vikings were feared as violent and cruel,
• but they were also noted for their skill in
  building
• ships and as sailors. They had an important
• influence on English culture and the English
• language.

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Cultural Notes---Norse

• Norse the official language of
• Norway. Old Norse was the Germanic
• language of Norway and its colonies
• down to the 14th century. It is the
• ancestor of the Scandinavian
• languages and is most clearly
• preserved in the saga literature
• of Iceland.

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Cultural Notes---Norman

• Norman any of the people from Normandy
• in northern France who settled in England after
• their leader William defeated the English king at
  
• the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Normans took
• control of the country, a process known as the
• Norman Conquest. They used many of the
• existing Anglo-Saxon methods of government of
• the state and the church, but added important
• aspects of their own and made government much
• more effective. The language of government
• became first Latin, and then Norman French, and
• this caused many new words to be added to the
• existing English language.

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Cultural Notes--- Julius Caesar

• Julius Caesar (100-44BC)
• the best-known of all the
• ancient Roman leaders,
• and the first one to land in
• Britain with an army. He did this
• twice, in 55 and 54 BC,
• although Britain did not become
• part of the Roman Empire until
• nearly a hundred years later.

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Cultural Notes--- William Caxton

• William Caxton (c.1422-1491) the
• man who set up the first printing firm in
• Britain. He printed his first book in 1474. By
• printing books in English, Caxton had a
• strong influence on the spelling and
• development of the language. Many of the
• books he published were French stories
• which he translated himself.

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Cultural Notes--- Winston Churchill

• Winston Churchill (1874-
• 1965) a politician who is
• remembered as one of
• Britains greatest statesman.
• He was the son of the
• Conservative politician Lord
• Randolph Churchill and his
• American wife Jennie. As a
• young man he served as a
• soldier in India and Egypt,

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Cultural Notes--- Winston Churchill

• and as a journalist in South Africa, before
• entering politics.
• Churchill became Prime Minister and
• Minister of Defence in 1940. His radio
• speeches during World War II gave the
• British people a strong determination to win
• the war, especially at times of great crisis.
• Examples of Churchills phrases still often
• quoted today are I have nothing to offer
• but blood, toil, tears and sweat, and This

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Cultural Notes--- Winston Churchill

• was their finest hour.
• The Conservative Party led by Churchill
• lost the election of 1945, but he became
• Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955
• when he retired, aged 80. When he died in
• Jan.1965 he was given a state funeral.

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Cultural Notes--- Otto Jesperson

• Otto Jespersen (1860-1943) Danish
• philologist, grammarian, and educationist.
• He promoted the used of the direct method
• in language teaching with the publication of
• his theoretical work How to Teach a Foreign
• Language (1904). Other books include his
• seven-volume Modern English Grammar
• (1909-1949).

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Language study

• corrupt (L7)
• cause errors to appear in
• -- The Academy ruled that such foreign
  expressions were not permitted, as they ed the
  language.
• cause to act dishonestly in return for personal
  gains
• -- To gain more profits, the businessman tried
  every means to the officials in the local
  government.
• -- _________________ ed Hu Changqing.

Power and wealth
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Language study

• ban (L8)
• vt. forbid (sth.) officially
• sth.
• sb. from sth. / doing sth.
• -- Spitting/Smoking is banned in all public
  places.
• -- Tom was banned from driving for six months
  after being caught speeding again.
• n.
• on sth.
• -- There is a ban on spitting/smoking in all
  public
• -- Tom received a ban on driving

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Language study

• invent (L9)
• make or design (sth. that has not existed
  before) create (sth.)
• -- Linus Torvalds invented Linux at the age of
  twenty one.
• give (a name, reason, etc. that doesnt exist or
  is not true)
• ????????????????
• All the characters in the novel are ed.
• Cf. invent, discover

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Language study

• tolerance (15) (followed by of/for)
• the quality of allowing other people to say and
  do as they like, even if you dont agree or
  approve of it
• ???????????????,??????????????
• --I think between students is extremely
  necessary since they live and study together.
• ??????????
• -- He is a man of great tolerance.

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Language study

• the ability to bear sth. painful or unpleasant
• --Human beings have limited to/of noise.
• -- People have no for _______.
• (social injustice, terrorism)
• zero-tolerance
• -- People have zero-tolerance for spitting.
• (violence/corruption)

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Language study

• establish (L49)
• cause to be, set up
• -- The bank helps people wanting to their
  business.
• place or settle sb./oneself in a position, an
  office, etc.
• sb./oneself as
• -- They are rapidly ing themselves as the market
  leader.

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Grammatical structures

• so they invent a word, balladeur, which French
  kids are supposed to say instead (L9-10)
• be supposed to
• If something is supposed to be done, it should
  be done because of a rule, instruction, or
  custom.
• --You are supposed to report it to the police as
  soon as possible.
• ??????????
• --Im not supposed to talk to you about this.
• ( Refer to pp. 222-223 for more practice.)

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Post-reading tasks ---
identifying important historical events in the
development of English

• Scan paras 4 16 and find out events that
• have had a great impact on the formation of
• todays English.
• Paras 4-9
• The introduction of the Indo-European language
  --- ________ language of English
• Paras 10-11
• ____________ came to settle in Britain and
  brought Anglo-Saxon words --- Old English

the parent
Germanic tribes
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Post-reading tasks ---
identifying important historical events in the
development of English

• Para 12
• The Christian religion enriched English with
  words from _____________
• Para 13
• __________ from Scandinavia came with words from
  ____________
• Para 14
• __________________ French influence

Greek and Latin
The Vikings
Old Norse
The Norman Conquest
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Post-reading tasks ---
identifying important historical events in the
development of English

• Para 15
• The European __________________ and
  ________________ brought many new words from
  Latin and Greek
• Para 16
• ____________________ --- the emergence of a new
  variety --- American English

Renaissance
the printing press
The American revolution
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Post-reading tasks--- Rhetorical devices

• Oxymoron(?????)
• An oxymoron puts two contradictory terms
  together to puzzle the reader, luring him/her to
  pause and explore why. The title The Glorious
  Messiness of English is one good example.
• Can you think of another example?
• a living death / tearful joy

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Post-reading tasks --- interpretation of the
title

• How do you understand the title The Glorious
  Messiness of English? How does the author define
  it in the text?
• Hint (Para 3)
• That happy tolerance, that willingness to
  accept words from anywhere, explains the
  richness of English and why it has become, to a
  very real extent, the first truly global
  language. (L15-17)

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Post-reading tasks---essay questions

• What do you think has made English the first
  truly global language?
• How do you understand Jespersens remark The
  English language would not have been what it is
  if the English had not been for centuries great
  respecters of the liberties of each individual?
  Give reasons.

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Remember to ---

• review the text
• bring your listening book for class next week
• get prepared for your quiz on extensive reading.
• SEE YOU!