22 Unit I

expand, expansion

1. of the British Empire fell on the 19th century:

2. TheEU its borders to the East.

3. The English vocabulary due to borrowings and productive

word-building.

4. There are opponents to the of the free-trading regime.

5. The speaker on the subject of free market.

Imply, implied, implication

1. The meaning of his words is quite clear.

2. What could be the of this strange statement?

3. This fact that there is still a way out of the difficulty.

4. The in his political speech could confuse anyone.

5. Reading between the lines and seeing the meaning needs spe

cial training.

6. The to be drawn from Britain's military weakness was that she

must seek diplomatic support.

Vary, varying, variety, various, variable, invariably

1. of new words may go in ways.

2. As a living organism language develops independently.

3. In degrees, all four conceptions influenced the reform.

4. In many other languages there is a 'high' and 'low' .

5. People's views are influenced in degrees by the economic,

political and religious developments.

6. A comfortable mixture of English period furniture in his office impressed visitors.

7. The other man's classical quotation annoyed him.

8. The 16th century produced a remarkable of saints.

9. Opinion on the matter under consideration considerably.

The English Language and its Peculiarities 25

Exercise 3

Before you read the text below, answer the questions:

1. In what countries is English spoken as the first language?

2. How much is English spread in other countries? Why?

3. When did you begin learning English?

4. How long have you been learning it?

5. Why are you learning English?

6. Is English difficult for you to learn? What is most difficult?

7. How popular is English in your country? Why?

Exercise 4

Now read the text, study the note and do the tasks

that follow.

English Invasion No-One Can Stop

by Jeremy Geelan

The English language is now the first or the second language of more sovereign states than any other language in the world. In terms of exports and investments, in terms of technological development, one had to learn English to join the 20th century.

In this context it is not difficult to see why Toyota provides six-month in-service English courses to 1,000 of its employees. In Italy, English is a must for many technical jobs. In Brazil job-hunters are investing their last savings in English lessons because so many employers recruit only work­ers with some knowledge of English. In China English is the top priority foreign language to be learned at school

Today's search for information and need for global communication have already promoted English to being the international language. Eng­lish is considered to be spoken now by 400 million people as the native language in twelve nations and approximately by 800 million people as an official or semi-official language of forty-four countries more.

46 Unit I

Exercise 28

Find in the text equivalents to the following.

to be created or intended for; to understand the reason for creating words; a great number of; to have common interests; to be dissatisfied; to be (un)suitable; to be in doubt / uncertain; confusing; delicate; not clearly seen; to be necessary in every-day speech; to come across, to meet; exact / accurate construction; to become an expert in a language

Exercise 29

Here are some examples of slang used in various spheres of life.

Try to match the slang expressions or words with their explanations.

General:
1 all ears	a. cause for extreme mental effort
2. big shot	b. fuss or scandal
3. big stink	с completely attentive
4. brain drain	d. important person
Computerspeak:
1. data bus	a. to start
2. bug	b. computer that is controlled by other electronic elements of a computer
3. MIPS	с data movement from one place to another
4. slave	d. software error
5. boot	e. Millions of Instructions Per Second |

Government and politics:
1. grassroots	a. purposefully complicated, and often redundant language, usually applied to government and similar bureaucracies; (from George Orwell's novel, 1984)

The English Language and its Peculiarities 47

2. lame duck	b. a term for taking a position, political or otherwise, which is offensive to no one, i.e. politically correct
3. P.C.	c. important government position
4. doublespeak	d. local constituents, or common people, whose collective impressions form what is I known as public opinion
5. plum	e. a politician who has failed to be reelected but still in office
Military:
1. Fourth area	a. MX missile of the US|
2. jam	b. shortened version of Secretary of Defence
3. peacekeeper	с cause interference to the enemy's electronic communications
4.Secdef	d. space, the fourth arena where war might be waged
Press, News:
1. Couch potato	a. Well-Off Older person, a person who s over sixty-five and financially independent
2. Yuppie (acronym)	b. spokesperson or commentator
3. spin doctor	c. Young Urban Professional
4. wag	d. addicted TV viewer
5. Woopie (acronym)	e. individual charged with attempting to control the way an issue or event I is regarded