LANGUAGE PRACTICE potx

SUPPLEMENTARY READING SCHOOLS Schools in Britain are of two types: state or maintained schools, which charge no fees, and independent or private schools, which are fee-paying... are far

LANGUAGE PRACTICE

MỤC LỤC

LANGUAGE PRACTICE 1

MỤC LỤC 2

UNIT ONE 6

WINSTON CHURCHILL’S PREP SCHOOL 6

THE IDEA OF SUMMERHILL 8

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 9

SCHOOLS 9

POST-SCHOOL EDUCATION 13

UNIT 2 20

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH 20

MUSCLE BINDS 20

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 24

HEALTH AND ILLNESS 24

UNIT 3 27

LANGUAGE, GENDER AND SOCIAL LIFE 27

THE MORALS OF GOSSIP 27

DON’T TALK, LISTEN! 30

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 38

GENDER AND LANGUAGE 38

UNIT 4 51

SOCIETY 51

THE UPPER CLASS 51

JOBS AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES 53

SOCIAL SECURITY 55

UNIT 5 61

LAW 61

LAW AND ORDER 61

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 64

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 67

CIVIL LAW AND PROCEDURE 67

CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS 69

CODE OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE 72

UNIT 6 96

ECONOMY 96

TAXATION AND TAX SYSTEMS 96

TAX EVASION BRIBERY CORRUPTION 98

UNIT 7 106

POLITICS 106

THE GOVERNMENT 106

THE PARLIAMENT 108

TABLE OF CONTENTS 118

LANGUAGE PRACTICE

TEXTBOOK

FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

UNIT ONE

WINSTON CHURCHILL’S PREP SCHOOL

The school my parents have selected for my education was one of the most fashionable and expensive in the country It modeled itself upon Eton and aimed at being preparatory for that Public School above all others It was supposed to be the very last thing in schools Only ten boys in a class; electric light (then a wonder); a swimming pond; spacious football and cricket grounds; two or three school treats, or “expeditions” as they were called, every term; the masters all M.A.’s in gowns and mortarboards; a chapel of its own; no hampers allowed; everything provided by the authorities It was a dark November afternoon when we arrived at this establishment We had tea with the Headmaster, with whom my mother conversed in the most easy manner I was preoccupied with the fear of spilling my cup and so making “a bad start” I was also miserable at the idea of being left alone among all these strangers in this great, fierce, formidable place After all I was only seven, and I had been so happy in my nursery with all my toys I had such wonderful toys: a real steam engine, a magic lantern, and a collection of soldiers already nearly a thousand strong Now it was to be all lessons Seven or eight hours of lessons every day except half-holidays, and football or cricket in addition

When the last sound of my mother’s departing wheels had died away, the Headmaster invited me to hand over any money I had in my possession I produced my three half-crowns, which were duly entered in a book, and I was told that from time to time there would be a

“shop” at the school with all sorts of things which one would like to have, and that I could choose what I liked up to the limit of the seven and sixpence Then we quitted the Headmaster’s parlour and the comfortable private side of the house, and entered the more bleak apartments reserved for the instruction and accommodation of the pupils I was taken into a Form Room and told to sit at a desk

All the other boys were out of doors, and I was alone with the Form Master He produced a thin greeny-brown covered book filled with words in different types of print

‘You have never done any Latin before, have you?’ he said

‘No, sir.’

‘This is a Latin grammar.’ He opened it at a well-thumbed page ‘You must learn this,’

he said, pointing to a number of words in a frame of lines ‘I will come back in half an hour and see what you know.’

Behold me then on a gloomy evening, with an aching heart, seated in front of the First Declension

Mensa a tableMensa O tableMensam a tableMensae of a tableMensae to or for a tableMensa by, with or from a tableWhat on earth did it mean? Where was the sense in it? It seemed absolute rigmarole to

me However, there was one thing I could always do: I could learn by heart And I thereupon proceeded, as far as my private sorrows would allow, to memorize the task which had been set me

In due course the Master returned

‘Have you learnt it?’ he asked

‘I think I can say it, sir,’ I replied; and I gabbled it off

He seemed so satisfied with this that I was emboldened to ask a question

‘What does it mean, sir?’

‘It means what it says Mensa, a table Mensa is a noun of the First Declension There are five declensions You have learnt the singular of the First Declension.’

‘But,’ I repeated, ‘what does it mean?’

‘Mensa means a table,’ he answered

‘Then why does mensa also mean O table,’ I enquired, ‘and what does O table mean?’

‘Mensa, O table, is the vocative case,’ he replied

‘But why O table?’ I persisted in genuine curiosity

‘O table – you would use that in addressing a table, in invoking a table.’ And then seeing he was not carrying me with him, ‘You would use it in speaking to a table.’

‘But I never do,’ I blurted out in honest amazement

‘If you are impertinent, you will be punished, and punished, let me tell you, very severely,’ was his conclusive rejoinder

Such was my first introduction to the classics from which, I have been told, many of our cleverest men have derived so much solace and profit

THE IDEA OF SUMMERHILL

This is a story of a modern school – Summerhill Summerhill began as an experimental school It is no longer such; it is now a demonstration school, for it demonstrates that freedom works

When my first wife and I began the school, we had one main idea: to make

the school fit the child – instead of making the child fit the school.

Obviously, a school that makes active children sit at desks studying mostly useless subjects is a bad school It is a good school only for those who believe in such a school, for those uncreative citizens who want docile, uncreative children who will fit into a civilization whose standard of success is money

I had taught in ordinary schools for many years I knew the other way well I knew it was all wrong It was wrong because it was based on an adult conception of what a child should be and of how a child should learn

Well, we set out to make a school in which we should allow children freedom to be themselves In order to do this, we had to renounce all discipline, all direction, all suggestion, all moral training, all religious instruction We have been called brave, but it did not require courage All it required was what we had – a complete belief in the child as a good, not an evil, being

My view is that a child is innately wise and realistic If left to himself without adult suggestion of any kind, he will develop as far as he is capable of developing Logically, Summerhill is a place in which people who have the innate ability and wish to be scholars will be scholars; while those who are only fit to sweep the streets will sweep the streets But we have not produced a street cleaner

so far Nor do I write this snobbishly, for I would rather see a school produce a happy street cleaner than a neurotic scholar

What is Summerhill like? …

… Well, for one thing, lessons are optional Children can go to them or stay away from them – for years if they want too There is a timetable – but only for the teachers

The children have classes usually according to their age, but sometimes according to their interests We have no new methods of teaching, because we do not consider that teaching in itself matters very much Whether a school has or has

not a special method for teaching long division is fo no importance except to those who want to learn it And the child who wants to learn long division will learn it

no matter how it is taught

Summerhill is possibly that happiest school in the world We have no truants and seldom a case of homesickness We rarely have fights – quarrels, of course, but seldom have I seen a stand-up fight like the ones we used to have as boys I seldom hear a child cry, because children when free have much less hate to express than children who are downtrodden Hate breeds hate, and love breeds love Love means approving of children, and that is essential in any school You can’t be on the side of children if you punish them and storm at them Summerhill

is a school in which the child knows that he is approved of

The function of the child is to live his own life – not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, nor a life according to the purpose of the educator who thinks he knows what is best All this interference and guidance on the part of adults only produces a generation of robots

In Summerhill, everyone has equal rights No one is allowed to walk on

my great piano, and I am not allowed to borrow a boy’s cycle without his permission At a General School Meeting, the vote of a child of six counts for as much as my vote does

But, says the knowing one, in practice of course the voices of the grownups count Doesn’t the child of six wait to see how you vote before he raises his hand? I wish he sometimes would, for too many of my proposals are beaten Free children are not easily influenced; the absence of fear accounts for this phenomenon Indeed, the absence of fear is the finest thing that can happen to a child

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

SCHOOLS

Schools in Britain are of two types: state (or maintained) schools, which charge no fees, and independent (or private) schools, which are fee-paying There

are far more state schools than independent schools, but some independent schools, especially the older public schools, have retained considerable academic and social prestige.

The school year usually runs from early September to mid-July and is divided into three terms of about 12 weeks each

State schools, which are funded by the government by the local education authority (LEA), are primary, for children aged 5 to 11, and secondary, for pupils aged 11 to 16 or 18, although in some areas there are first schools for children of 5

to 9, middle schools for ages 9 to 13, and secondary or upper schools All children must receive a full-time education from the age of 5 until the age of 16 Below primary schools are nursery schools, for children under 5 Schools in the state system can be county schools, owned as well as funded by the LEA, or voluntary schools, founded by a voluntary body such as the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church

In secondary education most schools (over eight out of ten) are comprehensive schools, offering a general education to all children There are also

a small number of secondary modern schools, offering a more practical education, grammar schools, providing a more academic education, and technical schools, offering a combination of academic and practical teaching Children who go to a secondary modern, grammar or technical school do so as a result of an examination called the 11-plus or after some other selection procedure There are also special schools for children with a physical or mental disability

In the independent sector, the main division is into preparatory schools, for pupils aged 7 to 13, and public schools, for pupils aged 13 to 18 (The name

“public school” is historic, and refers to the fact that such schools were originally opened to “the public”, taking pupils from any area, not just locally.) Almost all independent schools are boarding schools, and unlike state schools are usually for one sex only About half the public schools, especially the oldest and best-known ones, such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester, are for boys only However, many boys’ public schools take girls in the senior classes, and some are now fully co-educational

The fees in independent schools are usually several thousand pounds per year It is possible for a child to win an “assisted place” so that parents who cannot afford the fees receive financial help from the government

State schools mostly have larger classes than independent schools, but all schools share the same school-leaving examinations The main exam is the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), normally taken at the age of

16, in which pupils sit papers in different subjects (usually five or more) and are awarded a grade in each subject on a seven-point scale, A to G A further examination, normally taken two years after GCSE, is the A level (“A” meaning

“Advanced”) This is usually done in two or three subjects only There are also S and A/S-levels S-level (“S” for “Special” or “Scholarship”) provides additional, harder papers for A-level students A/S level (“Advanced Supplementary”) is an alternative to A level, with subjects studied on a broader, less specialized basis

GCSE and A level exams are marked by one of the regional examining boards A level boards are mostly organized by a particular university, such as the Cambridge University Local Examinations Syndicate or the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations Schools are free to choose a board in area

Subjects taught in state schools are determined by the National Curriculum The Curriculum prescribes a course of central (“core”) subjects, namely English, mathematics and science, and includes seven basic (“foundation”) subjects, which are history, geography, technology, music, art, physical education and (in secondary schools) a modern foreign language There are attainment targets for what children should be capable of doing and knowing

at the ages of 7, 11, 14 and 16 The National Curriculum was introduced by the Education Reform Act of 1988, and this same Act enabled secondary schools to opt out of the control of the LEA and to manage their own budget under a new

“local management of schools” (LMS) scheme

All state schools are required to include religious education in their syllabus, and they must also hold a daily act of worship Parents have the right, however, to withdraw their children from the latter In practice most independent schools also include religious education in their timetable, and many public schools begin the day with a short religious service in the school chapel

Preparatory schools (colloquially, “prep schools”) are so named because they prepare pupils for entrance to public school The examination which admits them is the Common Entrance (so called because it is shared in common by most public schools) It is taken at the age of 13 by boys but usually younger by girls The exam itself is set by the Common Entrance Examination Board but is marked

by the public school, in which case they usually sit that school’s own special exam as well.

Classes in a school are often designated as “year” (especially in state schools) or “form” (more in independent schools) The fifth form is the one at which GCSE is taken, while the sixth form is normally the one preparing for A level, and so the senior class (It is often divided into “lower sixth” and “upper sixth” for the two years.)

Public schools are sometimes accused of being snobbish and “elitist” They are normally very well equipped, classes are smaller, teachers’ salaries are higher, and many have a sustained record of academic excellence Unlike state schools, they often attach considerable importance to prowess at sport as well as class work

In the USA, there are state schools, known as “public schools”, which are free, and private schools, which charge fees Most children (at least eight out of ten) attend public schools The majority of private schools are sponsored by a religious organization such as a church, and are often known as “parochial schools” One type of private school is the “preparatory school” or “prep school”,

so called as it prepares for university entrance (“Preppy” is a colloquial term for the fashionable style of dress of students at these schools.)

The school year runs from early-September to mid-June, with continuous weekly attendance of five hours a day, five days a week, apart from seasonal holidays The main types of schools are elementary school, for children aged 6-12

or 6-14 and high school for students aged 14 or 15 to 18 There are also junior high schools for 12-15-year olds There is no fixed school-leaving age, but all states require a child to attend school between prescribed ages, typically from 6 to

16 Classes are organized in “grades”, with grades 1 to 6 for elementary school pupils, 7 to 9 for junior high school students, and 10 to 12 for senior high school students Pre-school education for children under 6 is in kindergarten classes (often designated as grade K) or nursery schools

There is no national curriculum, but basic subjects in elementary schools are “language arts” (reading, grammar, composition and literature), “penmanship” (writing), science, social studies (incorporating history and geography), music, art, and physical education, while in high school they are English, science and

mathematics, social studies and physical education Religious instruction is part of the curriculum in private schools, but is not given in public schools.

There are no national examinations As pupils progress upwards from grade to grade, they are assessed on the basis of performance in tests throughout the year, participation in class discussions, and completion of written and oral assignments Some schools give their own end-of-year examinations, while a few states, such as New York, give state examinations, which are set by the State Department of Education

The criterion for a particular student’s high school graduation (leaving school with a diploma to show satisfactory completion of all courses) in the number of “units” he has amassed A high school unit equals about 120 hours (three hours a week) of classes in one subject The average state requirement is 17.5 units, but students planning to go on to college (university) might take over

20 units

The normal pattern in high school is for a student to amass the required number of units in basic subjects called “requirements”, then move on for the last two years to specialist subjects, called “electives”, which vary from school to school A typical choice of electives might be European history for the first year and world politics for the second

Students are given “report cards” at least twice a year indicating the grades they have been given in each subject High schools keep a “transcript” or summary of the courses taken and grades obtained, and then submit this to the college to which the student has applied for admission

POST-SCHOOL EDUCATION

In Britain, there are a number of ways to continue one’s education after leaving secondary school at 16 or 18 Most post-school education is provided at universities, polytechnics, colleges of further or higher education, adult education centres, or various specialized colleges

Degree-level courses are offered by universities, polytechnics and other institutions of higher education, with about half the total number of students at this level in universities

Entrance to such courses normally depends on satisfactory GCSE and A level results, and acceptance, usually after an interview, by the university or college concerned Students do not normally apply to the university they wish to apply, but apply through the Universities’ Central Council on Admissions (UCCA) Oxford and Cambridge Universities take part in UCCA but also have a system of entrance examinations and interviews by individual colleges.

All students on a university “first degree” course are automatically eligible for a grant, awarded by a student’s local education authority (LEA) The amount

of the grant depends on the level of income of the student’s family Because entrance to higher education is selective, the majority of students successfully complete their course, which usually lasts three years Most first degrees are for Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) A “higher degree” is a postgraduate degree taken after a first degree, for example Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Science (MSc) Students may then proceed to research degrees such as Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil or, at some universities, PhD) For historical reasons, Oxford and Cambridge Universities award MA degrees to all first-degree graduates without requiring them to take a further examination

There are just under 50 universities in Britain, of which one, Buckingham,

is private, and one, the Open University (OU), is open to students of any age including those without formal qualifications (The OU is not a resident university, but provides tuition by radio and television, in classes at local centres and at summer schools.) It has almost 100,000 students studying on first-degree and postgraduate courses, as well as on shorter courses Most of them are employed people who study in their leisure time

There are about 120 polytechnics and other institutions of higher education funded by central government through the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (Universities are also funded by central government through the Universities Funding Council.) Polytechnics and colleges offer not only first or higher degrees, but also other qualifications, such as a Diploma in Higher Education (DipHE), Higher National Diploma (HND) or Higher National Certificate (HNC) Polytechnics offer a wide range of subjects and many have close links with industry and commerce in their local area In recent years, many

specialist colleges (teacher training colleges, and colleges of art, architecture, music, etc.) have been incorporated into polytechnics.

Teachers in Britain either do a first degree and then a one-year course leading to a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE), or do a four-year course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Education (BEd) at a polytechnic or similar college

Colleges of further education (CFEs), which are funded, like schools, by local authorities, offer academic and vocational courses for students from the age

of 16 It is possible to study for GCSEs and A levels at a CFE In the private sector, there are many secretarial colleges offering business courses and language schools, which specialize in teaching English as a foreign language

Adult education centres offer a wide range of part-time courses, both academic and practical, including subjects like computer studies, foreign languages, cookery and sports skills They may be funded by local education authorities or by voluntary bodies Universities also offer part-time courses in their “extra-mural” or “continuing education” departments

In the USA, most post-school education takes place in colleges and universities Colleges offer a four-year course to students aged between 18 and 22 and award bachelor’s degrees in arts and sciences The first two years (for

“freshmen” and “sophomores” respectively) cover a broad range of subjects Students specialize in a major subject area in their third (“junior”) and fourth (“senior”) years

Colleges may be independent and privately controlled, or may operate as the undergraduate division of a university There are also junior colleges, or

“community colleges” as they are increasingly called, offering two-year courses at the end of which they award “associate in arts” degrees as their highest qualification

Students do not gain a degree through a “finals” examination, as they do in British Universities, but through the number of “credits” or hours of study they accumulate Their work is regularly assessed, with all the credits and grades systematically recorded At the end of the course, a student’s overall record is examined to see if he or she deserves to be awarded a degree Credits for work done like this can sometimes be transferred between universities, so that a student

may gain credits in one university, move to a second, and receive a degree from a third.

American universities are of two kinds, state and private, most being private Harvard was the first of these to be founded, in 1636, and was originally a college for the education of Puritan ministers It is now one of the most prestigious in the country The first state university was that of North Carolina, founded in 1795 Vassar, one of the leading women’s colleges, was founded in

1861 Most private universities founded in the 19th century were founded by gifts from rich men They include the well-known Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Chicago Universities

Once they have completed high school, students can apply to any college

or university they wish Acceptance depends on high school grades, on the students’ performances in a Standard Aptitude Test (SAT), which tests mathematical, verbal and analytical skills, and on the number of places available All universities, even state ones, are fee-paying The fees may be paid by a student’s parents, but most students have to support themselves by “working their way to college”, that is, by taking part-time jobs and working all through the long summer vacation The average annual cost of tuition, fees, and college room and board at a private university is about $11,000, although some of the more prestigious universities, such as Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, charge almost twice this At a state university it is around $4,500 for state residents, and over $7,000 for non-state residents At a two-year college, tuition and fees are about $4,700

For much of the present century, the state universities were regarded as inferior to private ones They have now improved their standards, however, and increased in academic status Each US state now has one or more state universities The State University of New York is essentially a “multiversity”, with over 20 individual colleges and about 150,000 students California State University is similarly diverse, and although it has fewer colleges, it has at least 200,000 students (Oxford and Cambridge, in Britain, have only about 13,000 students each.)

In the USA, as in Britain, some universities are regarded as socially and academically superior to others Although most colleges are now coeducational, colleges that were once exclusively for male students are known as the “Ivy League”, while those that were at one time solely for female students are called

the “Heavenly Seven” Ivy League colleges (so called because they belong to a sports league of this name) are Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell Heavenly Seven colleges (named for their number, and sometimes known as the “Seven Sisters”) are Barnard (part of Columbia University), Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe (part of Harvard), Smith, Vassar and Wellesley.

American universities differ from British in their “fraternities” and

“sororities” These are basically social clubs for men and women students respectively The name of each is made up of three Greek letters, for example

“Sigma Beta Chi”, and the letters are worn on small badges called “pins” If a boy gives his “fraternity pin” to a girl this is regarded as step on the way to an engagement or a proposal of marriage

Both fraternities and sororities run private halls of residence known as

“fraternity houses” or “sorority houses”, and these are used for entertaining Both fraternities and sororities exist independently of the university, and are usually organized on a national basis

Reading comprehension

1 What is the child’s attitude in Winston Churchill’s Prep School? What

is the teacher’s method? What is the teacher’s attitude towards the school?

2 What attitude and philosophy does Summerhill propose?

3 Compare Winston Churchill’s school with Summerhill

4 Make a comparison between the Romanian educational system and the Anglo-Saxon one

Vocabulary practice

I Choose the most suitable word underlined

1 As there is little hope of being rescued, I have abandoned/decided/resigned myself to the worst

2 Tom didn’t believe us, and it took a long time to convince/establish/persuade him.

3 I define/regard/suppose this project as the most important in my career

4 In my point of view/viewpoint/view, this plan will not work

5 Are you aware/conscious/knowledgeable that $10000 has gone missing?

6 I haven’t really the faintest sense/notion/opinion of what you are talking about

7 Mr Smith has appointed his best friend as the new director! It’s a clear case of favouritism/prejudice/subjectivity

8 Your new boyfriend recollects/remembers/reminds me of a cousin of mine

9 Sue just can’t stop thinking about football! She is biased/concerned/obsessed with her local team!

10 I just can’t understand the attitude/manners/mentality of people who are cruel to animals

II Complete each sentence with one of the words given Do not use a word more than once

conceited envious naughty unscrupulous

conscientious lenient rash

considerate loyal sentimental

1 John’s children used to be well-behaved but now they are quite ………

2 When my brother managed to buy a sports car, I was really ………

3 Steve thinks too much of himself He’s very ……… in fact

4 Helen now realises that suddenly giving up her job was rather ………

5 My new assistant couldn’t care less about his work I need someone who is much more ………

6 Thank you for all your help You have been very ………

7 Mary talks about the past all the time, as if everything in her life was better then She does tend to be rather ………

8 I suppose I should punish you, but instead I’m going to be ………

9 Janet doesn’t care about right and wrong when she wants to make a sale She is totally ………

10 Thank you all for standing by the company during this difficult time You have all been very ……….

III Replace the words underlined with one of the words or phrases given

Do not use a word or phrase more than once

cherished loathed regretted stressed

deplored mourned reproached

dreaded offended resented

1 Peter was very sorry about leaving his old job

2 The Prime Minister strongly disapproved of the behaviour of the demonstrators

3 Lily felt bitter about the fact that everyone had been promoted except her

4 David felt extremely worried about visiting the dentist

5 Sally held very dear the memory of her childhood in the country

6 Neil grieved for the death of his mother and father for many weeks

7 I am sorry if I hurt the feelings of your sister

8 Brenda really felt a strong dislike for her new boss

9 Our teacher laid emphasis on the importance of regular study

10 Jim strongly criticised me for not doing my fair share of the work

Think about the things in life that give you most pleasure Watching

television, perhaps, while sipping chilled lager? How about eating lasagne verde

by candlelight in a favourite Italian restaurant? What do they all have in common? They all involve nothing more strenuous than sitting or lying down

Why, then, this present mania for doing things that necessitate remaining vertical or running around? I hate exercise and all forms of sport and I abhor the smugness and self-righteousness of those who think developing rippling muscles and flat stomachs superior to the cultivation of personality, manners, good taste in art, music, literature and food I hate the multi-million propaganda that accompanies the body beautiful, with its lure of glamour and eternal youth

I was brought up to believe that physical exercise was bad for one, and experience seems to support my parents’ philosophy that pain, suffering and ill-health result from anything more strenuous than walking to the pillar box on the corner or digging the allotment This has been reinforced over the years by reports

of footballers with torn ligaments, athletes crippled by arthritis, or joggers dropping dead with heart attacks

Most people’s early experiences of exercise – after crawling into furniture – come from school, and I suppose their future attitude to it is shaped then The present decline in PE in schools only shows up the failings of a system that flourishes on the brutality of competition, the fallacies of team spirit and character building, and the general humiliation of young and sensitive beings

Don’t let all the youngsters – and let’s face it most of the oldsters, dressed

up in their snazzy sports suits – fool you with their high-tech trainers and pump attachments to inflate their insoles and their egos Apart from the odd football

fanatic, muscle-man pumping iron and aerobic freak, wouldn’t they rather be eating a hamburger with their mates in town?

We are all followers of fashion in some way, and exercising is a fashion,

an ephemeral fad It saves a lot of trouble if early on in life you put your cards on the table and announce to the world that exercise and sport are a bore, a real drag and you have better things to do It certainly save you from requests to join in marathons for charity and fun games with colleagues

But people who take exercise don’t see it like that They are full of their own importance and rightness It’s all so serous, like religion And you are one of the pagans It’s difficult talking to sporty people: they get a far-off look in their eyes and their feet keep moving on the spot

Exercising makes people think that they can live forever It puts off the moment of realisation that we are mortal If you don’t stay still long enough you don’t have to think about such things Coming to terms with oneself, finding out who one is and where one is going, come from within, not from running round a park with 2,000 other people

Exercise is repetitive and unending: once you stop, your shape is gone and the pulse slows down again It is isolationist All you get is an obsession with your body And it’s expensive: in terms of time, effort and material things like club fees, equipment and special outfits

But take heart, for the best club to join is free, has no age limit, requires no previous experience or special outfits It’s right their in your front room Welcome, Couch Potatoes, to your rightful place beside the fire

Reading comprehension

A Read this advice:

‘It’s high time you hung up your trainers and exercised your mind and not your body.’

Explain what this advice means Who might it be given to? Is it sensible advice?

B Decide whether the statements below are true or false, according to what you have read in the above text.

1 The things that give us the most pleasure in life involve us

in very little physical activity

2 The writer is a great believer in regular physical exercise

3 Physical exercise is apparently a very dangerous thing to

6 By declaring yourself anti-sports you are spared

participation in undesirable sporting activities

7 Sports enthusiasts are sympathetic towards those who do

not share their interests

8 Exercise gives one a false sense of security

9 Once you start exercising you have to continue with it

10 The true path to contentment lies in becoming a couch

potato

C The passage above is written in a very chatty, informal style Which of the following devices does the writer use to create this informality?rhetorical questions abbreviations imperatives repetition slangdirect address

Vocabulary practice

I In the article we have the expression come to terms with Look at

the following diagram of this and other uses of the verb come and choose one in its correct form to complete the sentences below

come

in for something out with something

(be exposed to something unpleasant) (say something surprising)

down (heavily) on somebody up with something

(criticize or punish) (produce an idea)

down with something to the point

(catch an illness) (reach a conclusion)

to terms with something round

(accept a situation as it is) (regain consciousness)

1 His wife died last year and he still cannot ……… her death

2 The new law ……… those driving with no proper tax and insurance

3 My little girl ……… some strange expressions Goodness knows where she hears them

4 Although he’s an entertaining speaker, it takes him ages to ………

5 After deliberating for several hours we finally ……… a possible solution to the problem

6 Soon after their arrival at the holiday resort they all ……… flu

7 When he ……… after the operation, he had absolutely no idea where he was

8 I’m afraid we have ……… a lot of criticism over our discussion to close the hospital

II There are many colourful idioms like couch potato in English Can

you match the explanations a – h to the idiomatic expressions 1 – 8? They are all connected with different kinds of people

a someone who expresses opinions about things he/she knows very little about

b someone who has no fixed roots

c a pompous, self-opinionated person

d a gossip who wants to know everything that happens

to other people

e someone who stands by you only when things are going well

f someone who likes to sit in comfort and do nothing

g a new person in charge who makes changes

h someone who does not want to join in and spoils the fun for everybody else

In pairs, choose one of the expressions above Write a short dialogue or a

context using the expression you have chosen, illustrating what the idiom means in

a humorous way

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

HEALTH AND ILLNESS

1 Study the ‘case history’ below

‘You’re in perfect health … as fit as a fiddle … there’s nothing wrong with you.’

‘I feel a bit off-colour … rather under the weather … I do feel funny … I really

don’t feel well … I think I’m sickening for something … I feel feverish … like death warmed up.’

‘He’s been taken ill … he’s in a coma … fighting for his life … still critically ill

… in a very critical condition … no change … still seriously ill … still hasn’t regained

consciousness … is responding to treatment … off the danger list … showing signs of coming round … making progress … his condition is satisfactory … he’s out of the coma … he’s as well as can be expected … comfortable … no change … he’s turned the corner … he’s on the mend.’

‘We all wish you a speedy recovery … get well soon … we’re glad you’re over it.’

‘The worst is over … he’s almost completely recovered … he’s practically

cured … he’s convalescing … coming along nicely … he’ll be on his feet again soon …

he’ll be out and about again in a few days.’

‘He’s had a relapse … he’s no better … he’s getting worse … his condition is

deteriorating … he’s getting weaker … he’s slipping away … fading fast … his life is hanging by a thread … it’s just a matter of time … he could go at any second!’

‘He’s made a miraculous recovery … he’s as good as new … as right as rain … he’ll live till he’s a hundred.’

2 After all that, do you feel well enough to read on? Note the ways that illnesses can be spoken of and reported in the text below

spreading from improved attendance at lessons.

An even more serious outbreak was that of the very infectious ‘I don’t know a thing’ two weeks before At about the same time everyone seemed to catch ‘You’re no good!’ from the teachers Then there was a bout of ‘I don’t really care’ followed by a few

chronic cases of ‘My parents will kill me’ This again proved very catching; half the class was down with it in the week leading up to the exam itself, and it had reached epidemic proportions by the Friday before.

By this time, those who had been suffering from ‘It’ll be easy for me’ had made a

Afterwards there were a couple of complaints of ‘I know I’ve failed’, but generally the worst seemed to be over Such diseases are rarely terminal And after all, we had a

convalescence and recuperation period of six and a half weeks to follow.

3 Complete the conversation with the correct idioms in the correct form

1 run a temperature

2 on top of the world

3 come down with (an illness)

Health, illness, death

‘Do you know that Mr Sykes has ………? The funeral’s on Friday He was only fifty-five.’

‘Yes, I heard It was a sudden heart attack Very sad I saw him only last week and

he said that apart from having a lot of work he was feeling ……… But I thought he looked tired, ………, in fact But tell me, how’s your husband?’

‘Well, he ……… a week ago and he doesn’t seem able to ……… (it) Several of his office colleagues have ……… flu He’s ……… as well, just over a hundred, so I called the doctor this morning After all, I don’t want him to be ……… for Christmas.’

‘No, of course not My husband hasn’t been feeling ……… recently, either Stomach trouble But he must be ……… Now because he was shouting at the neighbour’s cat again this morning as usual.’

UNIT 3

LANGUAGE, GENDER AND SOCIAL LIFE

THE MORALS OF GOSSIP

Gossip has always had a terrible reputation A sin against charity, they said, quoting St Paul The odd, vivid term sometimes used for it was backbiting The word suggested a sudden, predatory leap from behind – as if gossip’s hairy maniacal figure landed on the back of the victim’s neck and sank its teeth into the spine, killing with vicious little calumnies: venoms and buzzes

Gossip is rarely that wild From the morning of the first individual folly of the race, gossip has been the normal nattering background noise of civilization To say that gossip has been much condemned is like saying that sex has sometimes been held in low esteem It is true, but it misses some of the fun of the thing

Gossip has always been one of the evil pleasures It is unworthy, nosy, hypocritical and moralistic, a sort of participatory nastiness But does it play a heroic moral role hitherto unnoticed? Is gossip merely a swamp that breeds mosquitoes and disease? (“Each man walks with his head in a cloud of poisonous flies,” wrote Tennyson.) Or does it have higher functions in the ecosystem?

Large claims have often been made for homely old salacious gossip – the sort of assertions, one might think, that sweating pornographers used to make in court about the “redeeming social value” of their work All storytelling, hence most of literature from Homer onward, rises from gossip’s fertile lowlands What

we hear in Tolstoy or Flaubert or Dickens or Proust, wrote novelist Mary McCarthy, ‘is the voice of a neighbour relating the latest gossip.’

The highly vulnerable Oscar Wilde went so far as to say that all history is gossip Such gossip, unlike history, tends to evaporate Gossip is certainly an instrument of power; Lyndon Johnson understood the magic leverage to be gained from intimate personal details, artfully dispensed He made it a point to know the predilections of friends, the predicaments of enemies, orchestrating whole symphonies of power upon his own ego Conversely, gossip seems to cherish a democratic, even subversive impulse: it likes to knock down authority a little

That is why royal families make their servants sign oaths not to write (gossip) about what goes on in the private quarters.

In the late 20th century, technology has immeasurably complicated the business of gossip Television, radio, the people pages of newspapers and magazines have all conspired to create international class gossip This macrogossip detaches the usual human taletelling from its local roots The result

is sometimes a resonant emptiness, the feeling of futility that might overcome the soul after watching Bob Hope and Brooke Shields host a television special Macrogossip tends to be exemplary, cautionary, ceremonial and merely entertaining – like public hangings

But microgossip – the myriad back-nipping, back-fence, kitchen-table, men’s room exchanges all over the world, the low animated buzz of dirt-dishing that emanates from the globe – is the kind of gossip that may perform a kind of social mission Microgossip keeps tumbling in like the surf: routines about Sylvia, about to be fired, and Karl, who can’t get a divorce, and Dorothy’s Valium

Perhaps most of the world’s gossip – both macro and micro – is done for the interest and entertainment of it At certain dinner parties in Georgetown and Beverly Hills and East Hampton (cannibals’ picnics, nights of the long knives), the gossip is a combination of dispassionate vivisection and blood sport: reputations are expertly filleted and the small brown pits of egos are spit out decorously into spoons and laid at the edge of the plate

Gossip goes in for the negative, not the positive It is no doubt spirited Gossip favours, even enjoys, dirt (the failings of the character) Yet, oddly, people do not seem to object to being gossiped about as much as they once did After all, as macrogossip has instructed, any gossip is a form of attention, a sort of evanescent celebrity Even gossip works to keep away what Saul Bellow called “the wolf of insignificance” Privacy is not the highest priority; on the contrary, a certain emotional exhibitionism has been gaining ground Of course, it can get out of hand: a man happy enough to be gossiped about as the office philanderer might grow queasy at learning that gossip is calling him a sadomasochist

mean-If much gossip is retailed for the enjoyment of the exchange, the simple human interest in the passing pageant of follies, it also has subtler purposes

Gossip – which concerns people, while rumour concerns events – is usually an instrument with which people unconsciously evaluate moral contexts.

‘Did you see that Glen and Carolyn got out of the same cab at work this morning? And Carolyn was wearing the same dress she had on yesterday?’ In gossiping about, say, an office adultery, gossipers will weigh and sift and test the morals involved Gossip is intimate news (perhaps even false ones), but it is also a procession of ethical problems In gossiping, people try to discover their own attitudes towards such behaviour – and the reactions of others It is also a medium

of self-disclosure, a way of dramatizing one’s own feelings about someone else’s behaviour, a way of asserting what we think acceptable or unacceptable In a book

called The Moralities of Everyday Life, psychologists John Sabini and Maury

Silver write that ‘gossip brings ethics home by introducing abstract morality to the mundane Moral norms are abstract To decide whether some particular, concrete unanalysed action is forbidden, tolerated, encouraged, or required, principles must

be applied to the case.’

If that is so, then gossip (whatever its individual destructiveness, which can be awesome – ask Othello) also serves as a profound act of community Through the great daily bazaar of bitchiness (men can be just as bitchy as women) passes a dense and bewildering parade of follies They involve sex and money and alcohol and children and jobs and cruelty and treachery: mostly variations on the seven deadly sins Gossip is a safe way of sorting out this amoral brawl It is a form of improvisational daydreaming ‘Both the virtue and vice of gossip,’ write Sabini and Silver, ‘ is that one doesn’t confront accusers, or demand proof… Gossip is transitional between things merely said, or even half said, and positions taken in the public domain Gossip is a training ground for both self-clarification and public moral action.’ Gossip is the layman’s mythmaker and moralist, the small, idle interior puppet-theatre in which he tries out new plays, new parts for himself

DON’T TALK, LISTEN!

‘In mixed-sex classrooms, it is often extremely difficult for females to talk, and even more difficult for teachers to provide them with the opportunity’ Dale Spender looks at some myths about language and sex differences

Ours is a society that tries to keep the world sharply divided into masculine and feminine, not because that is the way the world is, but because that

is the way we believe it should be It takes unwavering belief and considerable

effort to keep this division It also leads us to make some fairly foolish judgements, particularly about language

Because we think that language also should be divided into masculine and

feminine we have become very skilled at ignoring anything that will not fit our preconceptions We would rather change what we hear than change our ideas about the gender division of the world We will call assertive girls unfeminine, and supportive boys effeminate, and try to change them while still retaining our stereotypes of masculine and feminine talk

This is why some research on sex differences and language has been so interesting It is an illustration of how wrong we can be Of the many investigators who set out to find the stereotyped differences in language, few have had any positive results It seems that our images of serious taciturn male speakers and gossipy garrulous female speakers are just that: images

Many myths associated with masculine and feminine talk have had to be discarded as more research has been undertaken If females do use more trivial words than males, stop talking in mid-sentence, or talk about the same things over and over again, they do not do it when investigators are around

None of these characteristics of female speech have been found And even when sex differences have been found, the question arises as to whether the difference is in the eye – or ear – of the beholder, rather than in the language

Pitch provides one example We believe that males were meant to talk in low pitched voices We also believe that low pitch is more desirable Well, it has been found that males tend to have lower pitched voices than females But it has also been found that this difference cannot be explained by anatomy

If males do not speak in high pitched voices, it is not usually because they are unable to do so The reason is more likely to be that there are penalties Males with high pitched voices are often the object of ridicule But pitch is not an

absolute, for what is considered the right pitch for males varies from country to

country

Some people have suggested that gender differentiation in America is more extreme than in Britain This perhaps helps to explain why American males have deeper voices (Although no study has been done, I would rather suspect that the voices of Australian males are even lower.) This makes it difficult to classify pitch as a sex difference

It is also becoming increasingly difficult to classify low pitch as more

desirable It is less than 20 years since the BBC Handbook declared that females

should not read the news, because their voices were unsuitable for serious topics Presumably women’s voices have been lowered in that 20 years, or high pitch is not as bad as it used to be

Research into sex differences and language may not be telling us much about language, but it is telling us a great deal about gender, and the way human beings strive to meet the expectations of the stereotype Although as a general rule many of the believed sex differences in language have not been found (and some

of the differences which have been found by gender-blind investigators cannot be believed) there is one area where this is an exception It is the area of language and power

When it comes to power, some very interesting sex differences have been found Although we may have been able to predict some of them, there are others which completely contradict our beliefs about masculine and feminine talk

The first one, which was to be expected, is that females are more polite Most people who are without power and find themselves in a vulnerable position are more polite The shop assistant is more polite than the customer; the student is more polite than the teacher; the female is more polite than the male But this has little to do with their sex, and a great deal to do with their position in society

Females are required to be polite, and this makes them responsible with accommodating male talk This is where some of the research on sex differences

in language has been surprising Contrary to our beliefs, it has been found repeatedly that males talk more

When it comes to husbands and wives, males not only use longer sentences, they use more of them Phylis Chesler has also found that it is difficult for women to talk when men are present – particularly if the men are their husbands.

Although we might all be familiar with the sight of a group of women sitting silently listening to a male speaker, we have rarely encountered a group of men sitting quietly listening to a female speaker Even a study of television programmes has revealed the way that males talk, and females accommodate male talk; men are the talkers, women the polite, supportive and encouraging listeners

If females want to talk, they must talk to each other, for they have little opportunity to talk in the presence of men Even when they do talk, they are likely

to be interrupted Studies by Don Zimmerman and Candace West have found that

98 per cent of interruptions in mixed sex talk were performed by males The politeness of females ensures not only that they do not interrupt, but that they do not protest when males interrupt them

The greater amount of man-talk and the greater frequency of interruptions

is probably something that few of us are conscious of: we believe so strongly in the stereotype which insists that it is the other way around However, it is not difficult to check this It can be an interesting classroom exercise

It was an exercise I set myself at a recent conference of teachers in London From the beginning the men talked more because although there were eight official male speakers, there were no female ones This was seen as a problem, so the organizing committee decided to exercise positive discrimination

in favour of female speakers from the floor

At the first session – with positive discrimination – there were 14 male speakers and nine female: at the second session there were 10 male speakers and four female There was almost twice as much man talk as woman talk However, what was interesting was the impression people were left with about talk The stereotypes were still holding firm Of the 30 people consulted after the sessions,

27 were of the opinion that there had been more female than male speakers

This helps to explain some of the contradictions behind sex differences in language On the one hand we believe that females talk too much; on the other hand we have ample evidence that they do not talk as much as males But the contradiction only remains when we use the same standard for both sexes; it

disappears when we use a double standard, with one rule for females and another for males.

A talkative female is one who talks about as much as a man When females are seen to talk about half as much as males they are judged to be dominating the talk This is what happened at the conference Although females were less than half of the speakers, most people thought they had dominated the talk

This double standard was not confined to the general session; it was also present in the workshop on sexism and education At the first workshop session there were 32 females and five males When the tape was played afterwards, it was surprising to find that of the 58 minutes of talk 32 were taken up by males

It was surprising because no one realized, myself included, just how much the males were talking Most people were aware that the males had talked disproportionately but no one had even guessed at the extent We all, male and female alike, use the double standard Males have to talk almost all the time before they are seen to be dominating the talk

There are numerous examples of the ways in which males can assume the right to talk in mixed-sex groups Not only can they use their power to ensure that they talk more, but that they choose the topic The polite female is always at a disadvantage

It is not polite to be the centre of conversation and to talk a lot – if one is female It is not polite to interrupt – if one is female It is not polite to talk about

things which interest you – if one is female It is polite to accommodate, to listen,

to be supportive and encouraging to male speakers – if one is female

So females are kept in their place They enjoy less rights to talk Because they have less power and because politeness is part of the repertoire of successful feminine behaviour, it is not even necessary to force women to be quiet The penalties are so great if they break the rule, they will obligingly monitor themselves

In the past few years, a lot of attention has been paid to the role of language and learning, but the assumption has been that the sexes have enjoyed equal rights to talk Yet it is quite obvious that females do not have equal access

to talk outside the classroom, so it would be surprising if this was reversed in the school

However, if talking for learning is as important as Douglas Barnes maintains it is, then any teacher in a mixed-sex class who upholds the social rules for talk could well be practising educational discrimination Such teachers would

be allowing boys to engage in talk more frequently than girls

In looking at talk, it becomes clear that there are differences in girls’ single-sex and mixed-sex schools In single-sex schools (providing, of course, that the teacher is female), females are not obliged to defer to male authority, to support male topics, to agree to interruptions, or to practise silence; or to make the tea while the males make the public speeches

‘Free speech’ is available to females in a way which is not available in mixed-sex schools This could be the explanation for the frequently claimed superior achievement of females in single-sex schools; free to use language to learn, they learn more

In mixed-sex classrooms it is often extremely difficult for females to talk, and even more difficult for teachers to provide them with the opportunity This is not because teachers are supremely sexist beings, but because they are governed

by the same social rules as everyone else

It is appropriate for normal boys to demand more of the teachers’ time, and they cannot always modify this situation Male students in the classroom conform to expectations when they are boisterous, noisy and even disruptive; female students conform when they are quiet and docile; teachers conform when they see such behaviour as gender appropriate

When questioned, some teachers have stated, in fairly hostile terms, that the girls in the classrooms talk all the time – to each other! This of course is a logical outcome under the present rules for talk: females do not get the same opportunity to talk when males are around If females want to talk, they experience difficulties if they try to talk with males

In visiting classrooms, I have often observed the teacher engaged in a class discussion with the boys, while the girls chat unobtrusively to one another I have seen girls ignored for the whole lesson, while the teacher copes with the demands

of the boys I have heard boys praised for volunteering their answers, while girls have been rebuked for calling out

Angela Parker has found that not only do males talk more in class, but that both sexes believe that ‘intellectual argumentation’ in the classroom is a

masculine activity If girls believe that it is unfeminine for them to speak up in class, they will probably take silence in preference to a loss of femininity – particularly during adolescence.

I asked a group of girls at an Inner London secondary school whether they thought it was unfeminine to speak up in class They all agreed The girls thought

it natural that male students should ask questions, make protests, challenge the teacher and demand explanations Females on the other hand should ‘just get on with it’ – even when they, too, thought the work was silly, or plain boring

Although it is unlikely that teachers deliberately practise discrimination against their students on the grounds of sex, by enforcing the rules for talk they are unwittingly penalizing females But this situation is not inevitable There is no physical reason, no sex difference, which is responsible for the relative silence of females As John Stuart Mill stated, this asymmetry depends upon females willingly conceding the rights to males

Perhaps teachers can help females to be a little less willing to be silent in mixed-sex classrooms Perhaps they can help females to enjoy the same rights to talk as males But we would have to change our stereotypes

Reading Comprehension

I Answer these questions in groups Make sure that you are

able to justify your answers

1 Which of the following would make the best title for the passage?

a How men discriminate against women in talk

b Changing our stereotypes of males and females

c Recent research into sex differences in language

d Sex inequalities in classroom talk

2 What may have been the writer’s main purpose?

a To report

b To persuade

c To inform

d To instruct

3 a Find the places in the first section of the passage where the following words are used:

preconceptions myths stereotypes

b These words all refer to the same idea What is it?

c These words have been chosen to suggest the writer’s viewpoint What is her viewpoint?

d Make a list of the myths associated with masculine and feminine language which the writer mentions in the text

4 The diagram below represents the traditional approach to male/female language differences which Spender describes.Basic beliefs about male/female language differences: Preconceptions about male/female language differences: Ignore conflicting evidence

a Use the information in the diagram to summarize what his traditional approach consists of

b What is Spender’s opinion about this traditional approach?

5 The third and fourth paragraphs describe what has led to the preconceptions being challenged

a State what this is

b Explain why the preconceptions have had to be discarded

6 ‘Pitch provides one example’

a What does ‘pitch’ provide an example of?

b What is the preconception about pitch which Spender challenges?

c What is the true explanation for male/female pitch differences?

d What evidence does Spender give for this explanation?

7 Paragraph ten has two main discourse functions One is to summarize the writer’s argument up to this point Can you say what the other function is?

8 Study this diagram which shows how the topic is organized in the first section of the passage

Traditional approach to male/female language differences – Challenging the preconceptions – An example (Pitch) – Summarizing and preparing for the next section

Read through the first section again, concentrating on how the topic

a Whereas section one deals with some common fallacies regarding male/female language differences, section two deals with some real differences

b Section one explains some fallacies regarding male/female language differences and section two illustrates these fallacies

c In section one arguments relating to sex differences in language use are considered; in section two these arguments are rejected

d In section one the writer’s general position regarding sex differences in language is outlined; in section two this position is illustrated

2 Which of the following statements are true and which are false? Rewrite the false ones to make them an accurate record of what the writer says

a Women are more polite than men simply because they are women

b The common belief that women talk more than men has been found to be incorrect.

c Women find it easier to talk when men are present if the men are their husbands

d Women do not interrupt as much as men in mixed-sex talk

e We perceive men as dominating talk because they talk more than women

f Men are responsible for keeping women in their place by the way they dominate talk

The distinction between gender and sex is important because although all documented societies find the basic differences between the male body and the female body important, there remains a great deal of variation over what is deemed appropriate behaviour for women and men from one society to another and from one historical period to another These changing patterns of difference between male and female are, in effect, gender differences – social and cultural impositions on the ‘natural’ categories of sex In recognizing this additional level

of gender, we allow for the possibility of change – even of a deliberate kind, and

perhaps, to some extent, of choice, and these gender differences include not just features of observable behaviour but extend to our whole way of regarding ourselves as male and female: i.e they include questions both of gender role (ways of behaving) and also of gender identity (ways of relating to ourselves and others).

Accordingly, when the new born child is identified on the basis of anatomy as either a girl or a boy, it is only the beginning of a long process in which it will learn contrasting kinds of gender role and identity In this process language has an important part to play For language comprises not only a significant element in behaviour, signalling a great deal about our social origins; it also helps us to formulate concepts and ways of meaning that are crucial to the construction of our identity If obvious gender differences are signalled in part by surface contrasts in dress and demeanour, it is likely that even more profound differences of gender role and identity are carried by language

Do men and women talk differently? – the claims and the evidence

One important way in which language interacts with aspects of gender role and identity is through the commonsense beliefs and stereotypes that are held about the basic differences between the language of men and women Women, it

is said, are less assertive (more tentative) in their speech then men; it is said that they use fewer taboo forms and more euphemisms than men; that they talk than men or, conversely, that they talk less than men; that they are inclined to gossip; that they are more conservative in their speech and, at the same time, more sensitive to matters of correctness; that their speech is more polite; and so on These may be described as folk-linguistic beliefs – widely held, grounded in anecdote and cursory observation, but not necessarily supported by systematic research

It is only in the last decade or so – and primarily due to the impact of the women’s movement – that these claims have been subjected to close scrutiny Until then most socio-linguistic research was carried out by men, who tended to focus upon male speakers – especially when studying marginal or subordinate groups Male linguistic behaviour was often assumed implicitly to be the norm; and when the linguistic behaviour of women was noted this was often treated as a

departure from a norm centred on male behaviour In some ways, then, until women researchers began to reshape the field of study and to pay more attention

to the speech of women, socio-linguistics was prone to confirm gender stereotypes rather than to question them

Gender is now generally recognized as a salient dimension of social difference, and has become the focus for a great deal of recent discussion within socio-linguistics as a result of the burgeoning of feminist scholarship In the light

of the accumulating evidence, it has become easier to distinguish between fact and stereotype

Do women tend to speak ‘more correctly’ than men?

A wide range of studies has shown that on social class measurements of pronunciation, women generally score higher for prestige forms than men do right

up and down the social scale But the detailed picture turns out to be much more complicated For example, a study by Milroy (1980) of two working-class communities in Belfast in Northern Ireland highlights the importance of other factors besides gender In the particular communities she studied, it was clear that changes in vernacular speech were the result not so much of gender as of conditions of employment and unemployment, in particular, whether men and women were employed locally or had to go outside their own community and locality to find work

In her analysis she made use of the concept of the social network This allows comparisons to be made between groups based on the density or looseness

of group ties An open network is one in which the number of reciprocal ties in the network is low: not everyone knows everyone else A closed network is one in which each member of the network has several ties with other members of the network

In addition to the numbers of ties within a network it is also possible to take account of the nature of the ties that obtain between members and whether these are ties of work, kinship, friendship, recreation and so on A closed network, for instance, may be of two types – uniplex or multiplex – so that in the latter the ties are not only many and reciprocal, but also of multiple types The workplace, for example, may give rise to closed networks but these will not necessarily be of