Дослідницько-проектна робота
на тему:
«Англійська мова – світова мова.»
“English
is a World Language.”
Content
I. Introduction
II. Basic Characteristics of
English
2.1. What is good English
2.2.
Three levels of English (Formal, Informal, Colloquial)
III. The Combinations of Words
3.1. Set Expressions in English
3.2. Free Combinations of Words in English
IV.
Conclusions
V.
References
I. Introduction
Today, when English is one of the major languages in the world, it
requires an effort of the imagination to realise that this is a relatively
recent thing — that in Shakespeare's time,
for example, only a few million people spoke English, and the language
was not thought to be very important by the other nations of Europe, and was
unknown to the rest of the world. English has become a world language because of its establishment
as a mother tongue outside England North America . Above all, it is the great growth of
population in the United
States
People who speak
English fall into one of the three groups: those who have learned it as
their native language; those who have learnt it as the second language in a
society that is mainly bilingual; those who are forced to use it for a practical purpose —
administrative, professional or educational. One person in seven of the world's
entire population belongs to one of these three groups. Incredibly enough, 75%
of the world's mail and 60% of the world's telephone calls are in English.
II. Basic Characteristics of
English
Simplicity of Forms.
Old English, like modern German, French, Russian and Greek, had many inflections to
show singular and plural, tense, person etc., but over the centuries words have been simplified. Verbs now have very few inflections, and adjectives do not change according to the
noun.
Flexibility.
As a result of
the loss of inflections, English has become, over the past five
centuries, a very flexible language. Without inflections, the same word can
operate as many different parts of speech. Many nouns and verbs have the same form, for example swim,
drink, walk, kiss, look, and smile.
We can talk about water to
drink and to water flowers;
time to go and to time a
race;
a paper to
read and to paper a bedroom.
Adjectives can
be used as verbs. We warm our hands in front of
fire; if clothes are dirtied, they need to be cleaned and
dried.
Prepositions
too are flexible. A sixty-year-old man is nearing retirement; we
can talk about a round of golf, cards, or drinks.
Openness
of Vocabulary.
This involves the free admissions of words from other languages and the easy creation
of compounds and derivatives. Most world languages
have contributed some
words to English at some time, and the process is now being reversed. Purists of the French, Russian, and Japanese languages are resisting the arrival
of English in their vocabulary.
The Future of English.
Geographically,
English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to
Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is the language of
business, technology, sport, and aviation. This will no doubt continue,
although the proposition that all other
languages will die out is
absurd.
2.1. What is good English
What is good English? It is a question to which a number of answers can be given. Some of them are:
good English is correct English; it
is economical, clear up to standard... In a word, it is effective
English.
To be effective means to
achieve the writer's or speaker's level of
fluency. The language of the writers must correspond to the purpose of
their work, and they should use appropriate material to describe the time and
place, and appropriate words to help them
create the impression they want to make on the reader. Thus, good
English is that English which corresponds to literary standard English. Every student may achieve a high level of communicative skills if s/he wants to study
thoroughly and become an educated person.
Different degrees of education and different social situations cause a
variety of usage which involves differences in construction, pronunciation and
vocabulary. One might even say that there is no difference in factual meaning
between
'He took his sister to the picture'
and 'He
has taken his sister to the picture'.
However,
we regard the first sentence as the one corresponding to standard English, and
the second one to popular (informal) English. Therefore there is standard and
popular English.
Popular English is nearly always spoken, seldom
written, except in fiction, which reproduces this area of usage. It is characterised by the misuse of words,
use of colloquial expressions and informal words. It is also rich in
casual remarks, contractions and short, choppy sentences.
Another characteristic feature
of popular English is its limited vocabulary.
Slang is an essential part of it. The slang is, however, by its nature
faddish and short-lived.
2.2. Three levels of English (Formal,
Informal, Colloquial)
Within the area of standard English three
levels are generally recognised now: they
are called formal English, informal English and colloquial
English.
Formal English is that
English, which is more often written than spoken, used by highly
educated people in formal situations. One finds examples of formal English in articles on scientific research and theses, in
formal and business letters and public reports, in some technical and
scientific textbooks, essays, novels and, of course, in poetry. Contractions
and colloquial expressions are avoided in
formal style, grammar and usage is generally correct. A wide and exact
vocabulary is frequently specialised or technical. It is an important
characteristic feature of formal English.
Informal English
is English most commonly written or spoken
by educated people. Lectures for unspecialised audiences, informal
essays, business letters and most current novels, short stories and plays are
written in informal English. In vocabulary and sentences, the style of informal English is more personal. It
emphasises the individuality of the speaker or writer. The sentences are
likely to be shorter and simpler.
Colloquial
English is defined in Webster's
Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary as "used in or characteristic of
familiar and informal conversation". Colloquial English is more often spoken than written. It may have short sentences,
casual constructions and vocabulary of
the everyday relaxed speech of educated
people — an abundant use of constructions, choppy sentences and colloquial
expressions. Colloquial English is personal and familiar in
tone.
III. The Combinations of Words
In the process of
communication words are included into
combinations of words and phrases, making up sentences and texts. A lexical unit which consists of more than one word is called a combination of words.
Combinations of words can be free and set. Free combinations of words are groups of words in which each word preserves its
direct meaning, e.g. to go home, to
play the violin, to have a neighbour. In the
language there are also many combinations of words that consist of two or more words and the connection of these
words is the unity with a special meaning of the whole group of the words.
These groups of words are called in different ways: phrasal units, set
expressions, set constructions, set phrases,
idioms. We can say that combinations of
words make up a set expression if the words that are included in it have lost
their own meanings and the new meaning is not
the combination of the meanings of the words,
e.g. to bite off more than one can chew (взятися за непосильну справу),
to have no word to throw at a dog (не бажати говорити),
out of the
frying pan into the fire (з вогню та полум”я).
Speaking about the difference
between free combinations of words
and set expressions it can be said that in free combinations of words linguistic factors are connected with the grammatical structure. Each element in the free
combination of words can be replaced
without any changes in the meaning of
the other elements. In the set expressions we can't replace the elements or we can change only pronouns. All the
elements of set expressions are always the same and they make up the stable context. Replacing the elements of the set expression we destroy the meaning of the whole
unit,
e.g. like a house on fire (швидко та легко),
to have one's finger in the pie (бути замішаним у якійсь справі),
to take heart of grace (зібратися духом).
In these examples we can't
make any changes.
3.1. Set Expressions in English
We should know that the structure of set expressions can't be transformed as the structure of free
combinations of words, for example, the set expression
"Indian summer" (бабине
літо) can't be transformed into a summer of an Indian.
So, we can say that set expressions are formulas which
are prepared to be used in the speech. It should be also mentioned that some set expressions have either direct or indirect meaning,
e.g. to be
fed up with (ситий по горло),
to drag
one's feet (волочити ноги; ліниво щось робити),
to drop a brick (випустити з рук цеглину; повестися
нетактовно).
So, when we know this
information concerning set expressions, we'll be able to recognise them in
speech and to use them properly. We won't
translate set expressions word by
word into Ukrainian and the usage of these word combinations will enrich our vocabulary.
3.2. Free
Combinations of Words in English
In a free
combination of words its elements have semantic and structural independence, but in the set expression its components don't have such independence.
The term "set expression" is an understandable term as its first element shows the most important feature of
the unit — its stability. The words that are included into the set expression function as one unit. That's why we
can't translate set expressions word by
word into the other language,
e.g. to
bring up to date — вводити в курс справи,
to excite great applause — викликати гучні оплески,
to call a spade — називати речі своїми іменами,
bring-and-buy sale —доброчинницький
ярмарок,
to be ace with someone – чемно
поводитись з кимось.
IV. Conclusions
Two thousand years ago English didn't exist. A thousand years ago it was a language used by less than 2 million
people. Now it is the most influential language in the
world, spoken by more than a billion people on the planet, half of
them speak it as a mother tongue. It has become the language of the planet, the
first truly global language.
Why do I
study English? Only because is it so modern and popular?
I learn this amazing
language to read the works by my favourite poets
and writers in the original, to understand their feelings without any translation, because translations can't really express deep emotions and only help me
grasp the main idea of what is going on.
I learn
English because it's a pleasure to realise that 1 can
communicate with people of different nationalities.
I learn
English to understand the lyrics of English songs, though
sometimes they disappoint me: the music is gorgeous, but the words are
disgusting.
Besides,
I would like to know the most common world languages in order to use world libraries for getting more and
more information.
Of
course, learning foreign languages is not an easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot of time
and patience. But it is worth doing. And if you
master one foreign language, don't stop, go
further, and start learning another one.
V. References
1.
Balla M. I.
English-Ukrainian Dictionary (Volume 1,2). Kyiv “Osvita” Publishing House,
1996.
2.
Dictionary of Contemporary English.
Longman. Third Edition, 2001.
3.
Dyka S. English is a World Language.
Газета “English” /
Шкільний світ. – 2005, #19.
4.
Gorokhovs’ka N. Set Expressions in
the English Language. Газета “English” / Шкільний світ. – 2007, #46.
5.
The Internet Resources.
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