How the English language works - Plotkin V.Ya. How an English fireplace works How an English fireplace works
Name: How the English language works.
This book is not an English textbook. It has a different task - to show and explain to those who teach and study it, the main features of the internal structure of this language and its most significant differences from Russian, in order to help them develop an optimal strategy for teaching and learning on this basis and consciously choose a methodology suitable for them.
The focus on the basic, essential distinguishes this book from textbooks, where the language is described more fully, in more detail, more precisely. The degree of completeness and detail of the description depends, of course, on the level of education - elementary or advanced, but at all levels it is customary to strive for the highest accuracy of description. However, if the main, most important features of the language are brought to the fore, then some of its aspects will obviously recede into the background as secondary, less essential both for its structure and for mastering it. How is the degree of materiality of one or another feature of the language determined?
Language acquisition, whether it is the infant's natural introduction to the first (native) language, the acquisition of a new language under the guidance of a teacher, or in everyday direct communication with its native speakers, passes through two stages, at which different goals are achieved.
The goal of the initial stage is limited - it is necessary to achieve an elementary understanding with native speakers, to begin to communicate with them, that is, to understand at least a little their speech and send them simple messages. To do this, you need to learn how to pronounce and distinguish the sounds of the language by ear, build and perceive simple sentences, master a certain vocabulary. However, a limited goal allows you to minimize the amount of material learned at this stage, and reduce the requirements for the quality of its assimilation. So, out of tens of thousands of words in the vocabulary of the language, you can get by with several hundred. It is not necessary to use all grammatical structures, but most of them should be learned, although some deviations in their use are tolerable (broken speech). The sounds of the language must be pronounced and recognized to the last, but rather noticeable deviations from the standard in their pronunciation are allowed, which are considered speech defects in a child, and an accent in a foreigner.
Having successfully passed the initial stage, a child mastering his native language or an adult acquiring a new language has overcome the main barrier and entered the corresponding language community - English-speaking, Russian-speaking, etc. But he is not yet a full member of it, and achieving full rights is the goal of the second stage. To do this, it is necessary to master the language, as they say, to perfection, that is, to use it freely, without restrictions, differing as little as possible in your speech from those for whom it is native. It is necessary, therefore, to get rid of the accent and broken speech, to bring the number of actively used words to several thousand.
The goals of the two stages are different not only in content, but also in the criteria for their achievement. The initial goal is assessed quite clearly on a two-point scale - "yes" or "no". And the second goal is the peak, the path to which, both in the native and in the foreign language, never ends, and achievements on it are evaluated on a multi-point, smooth scale.
Content
From the author
Chapter first
Sounds
1. Sound units
2. Consonants
3. Vowels
4. The main patterns of the transmission of vowel sounds by letters
5. Sounds in a word
Chapter Two
Grammar
1. Word as a grammatical unit
2. Grammar categories of words - parts of speech
3. Designations of objects - nouns
4. Designations of properties - adjectives and adverbs
5. Substitutive and demonstrative words - pronouns
6. Action designations - verbs
7. How a simple sentence is built
8. Rules for changing word order
9. Negative statements
10. Statements with a question
11. Collapsed sentences
12. Place of a preposition in a sentence
13. Noun with explanatory words
14. The verb as a subordinate component of the sentence
Chapter Three
Words
1. Types of English words
2. Replenishment of the vocabulary
3. Words with a broad meaning
Conclusion
Appendix: About the English Language Community
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When I was invited to sing in the church choir, and that was a long time ago, the priest asked me if I knew the "Symbol of Faith" by heart.
I didn't know him. But I was surprised by the word by heart. Now I know the creed by heart, but not because I "learned" it, but because it was reborn in me after long vigils.
I was recently asked which of the people, in my opinion, is not able to master the English language. And I unexpectedly answered: "These are the people who were forced to learn the multiplication table as children".
To a dumb question, I answer with a question, do you agree that the multiplication table is very simple. Yes, they agree. “Then why learn it by heart, if a person who knows how it works can create it himself, give birth again, so as not to forget it ever again.
This is a fascinating creative process of "mind-bending".
The same with English.
Ask - what, and we can re-create the English language ourselves?
Yes, if we really want to learn this language, we will have to follow the same path.
Learning a language is like learning math or playing music. These are also languages.
We can easily understand how the multiplication table works, even if we only know how to count on our fingers. We can just as easily understand, already knowing how to speak our native language, how the English language works, if the teacher is not a bore.
The teacher must be an artist.
Better, listen and have fun:
The American nursery rhyme:
Row, row, row your boat,
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
alternative version:
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
If you see an alligator
Don't forget to scream.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
And listen to her scream.
If at the beginning of a phrase we can guess its continuation and end, then this phrase carries zero information.
The outstanding mathematician Academician A.N. Kolmogorov was convinced that children are taught from childhood to deal with zero information.
If everything that the teacher will say and do is predictable, if the teacher himself is dying of boredom in his lessons,
Throw your teacher overboard
And listen to her scream.
Now many teachers are trying to find or invent new approaches to teaching in our "information" age. And some of them may really know or strive to know everything, but they do not know the main thing. There is no new information in the world, no mechanisms for creating new information. It can only be extracted from what is around us. That is why it is said about having eyes and ears.
"Really to live means to live with the right information". Norbert Wiener
All information already exists, and existed initially.
And in the Creed of our Savior it is said:
"Begotten of the Father before all ages".
Even in church people listen and sing this almost every day, but, alas, they do not hear and do not understand.
All over the world, there is a trend towards simplification of educational systems. This is a requirement of life, no matter how indignant the intellectuals are.
The load on students increases precisely because of the forced stuffing into them of information with zero information (that is, material that is obviously indigestible or completely unnecessary for these students).
Can something be done about it? Life itself does everything it needs.
For example, a university student is asked what is six multiplied by seven, and she calmly replies: "I'm not a mathematician." She probably learned the multiplication table as a child, but forgot it as unnecessary.
But even here it is not so simple.
Parents are indignant, why does a child from the second grade need French?
And many outstanding teachers, Comenius, for example, considered the study of a second language a very important part of the education of children, because the outstanding teachers themselves, having systems thinking, saw education as a system, not chaos.
Is it possible to wish that everyone had systems thinking? You can wish.
Since the cart stands still, it means that the well-known characters of grandfather Krylov are pulling it.
We are preparing a new program, which will be called "English in a Month".
And you will be able to make sure how much you can do in a month, if you don’t rush anywhere.
In the meantime, I say goodbye to you, our dear readers,
AndI recommend, Dear Friends!
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We read Chesterton - we study English.
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Because reading aloud is a completely different perception of speech, language.
The student can speak, formulate correctly even simple sentences poorly,
- and the language base needs to be replenished!
- and to speak beautifully - I want to!
And practice is a must!
The basis of the foundations - the Holy Trinity - for mastering a foreign language:
Hearing, Voice and Hand:
"Listen to English, Speak or Read aloud in English, Write in English."
And the result will be BRILLIANT!
Even a child, learning a language, hears his native speech every day, and every day makes attempts to speak.
And the results are not long in coming!
"WE NEED A LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT", - many will say, and they are absolutely right, - "BUT WHERE TO GET IT?"
Not everyone can afford to go to a native country to study a language in a specialized school.
- WHERE IS THE EXIT?
– Read, Read and Read!
- EASY TO SAY! YES IT'S HARD TO DO... - you will think, and again you will be right.
It is not easy for a person who does not fully speak English to read books - and even aloud!
The text is full of unfamiliar words, they merge into incomprehensible sentences, phrases. And read aloud! – Even the English themselves laugh at their language: “Write Manchester, read Liverpool”, the sound of words is so far from being written.
Reading with a dictionary, observing the transcription - an unusual person will feel dizzy and the hunt will disappear after the very first page.
By the way, watching films without dubbing is also unrealistic without a sufficiently strong language base.
From textbooks since school, it turns back from the soul.
So what to do?
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- Volumetric Text: the entire text is accented using the unique technology of our teacher N.A. Zaitsev - without straining, instead of wandering your eyes through the text, you immediately see well and distinguish all the semantic accents of even the most complex sentences. All grammatical constructions themselves get used, built into your speech apparatus.
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and thirdly, you accustom yourself to treat the word thoughtfully, calm and deepen your mind. You stop living in the past and learn to learn in a new way.
I divided the entire text into small fragments, processed it using the unique technology of N.A. Zaitsev and read it aloud to you.
The tasks - how to work with each passage - are simple, clearly formulated and understandable.
You are reading aloud with me a good, witty text with a detective story - one of the stories of G.K. Chesterton about Father Brown.
Easily understand the meaning of each fragment with the help of our efficient technology.
Of course, at first, if you do not have the habit of reading English, it will not be easy for you. But with each passage, it will become easier and easier for you to read, understand, tell, remember.
And most importantly - this skill will be transferred in the future to independent reading!
– You just listen to English speech and practice listening comprehension.
After reading the text aloud with me several times, writing out unfamiliar words and expressions, you will listen to a familiar fragment as if I were reading Russian for you. Resolutely understanding everything.
- You are expanding your vocabulary. All words from the text are often used in everyday life.
– You learn the language in a Simple, Original and Effective System.
You've probably thought this too:
"If everything is so simple, why did they torture us with the texts of textbooks, incomprehensible rules at school and convince us with all our might that the English language is so difficult that we will never be able to master it?"
| Scott Adams and his witty book Dilbert's Future (21st Century Stupidity Thrives):
“I didn’t grow up in a place that can be called an “intellectually stimulating city”. |
It was always incomprehensible to me - how can teachers put deuces? -
After all, they actually sign their pedagogical illiteracy!
This is really some kind of "witch dance of victory."
You can continue to "sit in your room" and be convinced that English is difficult.
Can (and should)
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Great English"
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– You will train your English Listening Comprehension
– Deepen your Knowledge and Understanding of the English Language
– Improve the skill of Conversational Speech – you will learn by doing, the Master will express your thoughts beautifully and correctly
- Significantly replenish your vocabulary
Difficulty level - ABOVE the initial
BONUS is offered to the program:
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This mini-course is not part of any of our offerings.
Having got acquainted with it, you will forever get rid of the confusion with the temporary forms of English verbs and their use!
It consists of:
- systematized tables that you will create yourself using a simple example and make sure that this task is simple;
- a fascinating explanation of each temporary form with interesting examples, having analyzed which, you will get rid of shyness before using them in speech;
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"Fascinating English: Raven":
We listen, we read, we understand, we remember.
we read in the original the mysterious poem by Edgar Allan Poe "The Raven", which brought him worldwide fame.
"Attractive English: The Raven"
Here is what our readers write about the program "Reading E. Po in the original":
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Started classes on your course Poem "The Raven" by E.Po.
I regularly receive your interesting lessons and study with pleasure.
Very interesting and helpful. Thank you very much!!!
The thing is extraordinary! Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to join the beautiful, and even get a lot of benefits.
Words are remembered much faster, easier, and most importantly with pleasure.
Sincerely,
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"Hello Irina.
Thanks for the surprise.
I'm finishing The Raven. An excellent poem, if I may say so.
Most importantly, thanks to your detailed recommendations, words are easy to learn because of the rhyme.
Then, when reading a completely different text, they are easily remembered.
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Best regards.
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“I take my work very seriously. Part of the work that lies with
me now, has been in my office for many years, and there is not a single
speck. I am very proud of my work. Sometimes I take it off the shelf and sweep it away
dust off it. I, like no one else, care about its safety.
(Jerome K. Jerome "Three men in a boat, not counting the dog")
The so-called British humor is perceived as humor only outside the UK, for its inhabitants it is rather a state of mind or part of a way of life. An important detail - many associate British humor with the era of tuxedos and top hats, but in fact, it originated much earlier. Which is obvious, since any national trait is not formed overnight, only the environment and conditions change.
Speaking briefly about the history of humor in British literature, they began to joke from the very beginning of its development. For example, at Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales, subtle intelligent irony, vulgar unambiguous vulgarity, and a good-natured joke coexist on the pages. The book was incredibly popular in the Middle Ages, and still its humor remains relevant, since in fact the person and his weaknesses have not changed. Went down the same path swift, ridiculing in "Gulliver's Travels" all the same human vices. However, his satire often becomes really dark, as the author wanted to make the reader think about the evil that a person often personifies. Artworks Jane Austen are also imbued with subtle humor: the author laughs at the stupid social order, and endows his heroes with hilarious features.
The 19th century was the heyday of satirical weeklies such as the popular Fun and Punch, which cost next to nothing and whose content was purely entertainment. At the turn of the century, well-known O. Henry, Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, who gave us an inexhaustible amount of laughter and incredibly colorful characters. One of the key British humorous works of the 20th century can be called the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Douglas Adams where the usual sarcasm is combined with a futuristic setting. Those who want to study history in detail, rejoice! Project Gutenberg has released a two-volume essay by Alfred Lestrange (volume 1, volume 2) into the public domain. It is not exhaustive, since it was published in 1877, but it is very detailed and interesting.
The main features of typical British jokes and anecdotes:
- abundance of polite designs
- brevity - a good joke is always concise
- cold-blooded attitude even to the most absurd situations
One of the hallmarks of British humor is considered to be its intellectuality and sophistication. It is not intended to cause an attack of hysterical laughter, but rather an approving grin. This is self-irony over one's own national (and class, since it is most often about the aristocracy) features. The British tend to joke in self-deprecating ways and make fun of their own (and others') shortcomings. And although there are almost no taboo topics, it is very important that the joke be subtle, otherwise it will be considered simply rude and tasteless. For this reason, at one time, British humor was called flat, because often the translation could not convey the fullness of meanings, and the essence of the joke often eluded the unaccustomed reader.
“Tell me, Jeeves, have you always been like this, or did it come unexpectedly?”
- What, Sir?
- Your mind. Gray matter. Were you an outstanding child?
- My mother thought I was smart, Sir.
- It doesn't mean anything. Mine thought so too
P.G. Wodehouse "Jeeves and Wooster"
British humorous literature is a triumph of absurdity and sarcasm. Although it was said above that the classic joke is not designed for a violent reaction from the audience, when it comes to books, there is sometimes such an abundance of absurdities that you want to cry with laughter. For example, the episode about spending the night outdoors in "Three Men in a Boat, Not Counting the Dog." A very important feature of British humorous literature is the image of the character. As a rule, his character has several very pronounced features, which throughout the story are the main engines of plot development. These are all the main characters of Woodhouse's works: Jeeves, Worcester, Ukridge, Psmith. They are so bright that it is absolutely impossible to imagine that they can have a quiet life without adventures and adventures.
Why does the reader love British humor so much? Because it's hard to find someone who doesn't like a good joke. And also because it is about everyone and everyone, because the characters are not afraid to be stupid, funny and absurd. They are not just not afraid, they don’t even think about it, just remaining themselves. It is this sincerity that attracts, and at the same time the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others, because not all the adventures that fall to the lot of the heroes of the books, you want to get yourself.
What to read?- J. Chaucer "The Canterbury Tales"
- J. Swift "Gulliver's Travels"
- J. Osten "Lady Susan"
- P.G. Woodhouse "Love with Chickens"
- P.G. Wodehouse "The Wooster Family Honor", "Keep it up, Jeeves!", "Mating Season"
- P.G. Woodhouse "Psmith the Journalist"
- Jerome K. Jerome "Three men in a boat, not counting the dog"
- O. Henry "Stories"
- D. Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
- "The Fry and Laurie Show"
- "Black's Bookstore"
- "Monty Python"
Go to and start writing a book right now or upload a finished manuscript to publish it in our catalog!
SIBERIAN INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY
New edition, 2004
(1st edition: Novosibirsk, 1999. ISBN -7)
Chapter first
Sounds
1. Sound units
2. Consonants
3. Vowels
4. The main patterns of the transmission of vowel sounds by letters
5. Sounds in a word
Chapter Two
Grammar
1. Word as a grammatical unit
2. Grammar categories of words - parts of speech
3. Designations of objects - nouns
4. Designations of properties - adjectives and adverbs
5. Substitutive and demonstrative words - pronouns
6. Action designations - verbs
7. How a simple sentence is built
8. Rules for changing word order
9. Negative statements
10. Statements with a question
11. Collapsed sentences
12. Place of a preposition in a sentence
13. Noun with explanatory words
14. The verb as a subordinate component of the sentence
Chapter Three
Words
1. Types of English words
2. Replenishment of the vocabulary
3. Words with a broad meaning
Conclusion
Appendix: About the English Language Community
This book is not an English textbook. It has a different task - to show and explain to those who teach and study it, the main features of the internal structure of this language and its most significant differences from Russian, in order to help them develop an optimal strategy for teaching and learning on this basis and consciously choose a methodology suitable for them.
The focus on the basic, essential distinguishes this book from textbooks, where the language is described more fully, in more detail, more precisely. The degree of completeness and detail of the description depends, of course, on the level of education - elementary or advanced, but at all levels it is customary to strive for the highest accuracy of description. However, if the main, most important features of the language are brought to the fore, then some of its aspects will obviously recede into the background as secondary, less essential both for its structure and for mastering it. How is the degree of materiality of one or another feature of the language determined?
Language acquisition, whether it is the infant's natural introduction to the first (native) language, the acquisition of a new language under the guidance of a teacher, or in everyday direct communication with its native speakers, passes through two stages, at which different goals are achieved.
The goal of the initial stage is limited - it is necessary to achieve an elementary understanding with native speakers, to begin to communicate with them, that is, to understand at least a little their speech and to convey to them the simplest messages. To do this, you need to learn how to pronounce and distinguish the sounds of the language by ear, build and perceive simple sentences, master a certain vocabulary. However, a limited goal allows you to minimize the amount of material learned at this stage, and reduce the requirements for the quality of its assimilation. So, out of tens of thousands of words in the vocabulary of the language, you can get by with several hundred. It is not necessary to use all grammatical structures, but most of them should be learned, although some deviations in their use are tolerable (broken speech). It is necessary to pronounce and recognize every single sound of the language, but quite noticeable deviations from the standard in their pronunciation are allowed, which in a child are considered speech defects, and in a foreigner - an accent.
Having successfully passed the initial stage, a child mastering his native language or an adult acquiring a new language has overcome the main barrier and entered the corresponding language community - English-speaking, Russian-speaking, etc. But he is not yet a full member of it, and achieving full rights is the goal of the second stage. To do this, it is necessary to master the language, as they say, to perfection, that is, to use it freely, without restrictions, differing as little as possible in your speech from those for whom it is native. It is necessary, therefore, to get rid of the accent and broken speech, to bring the number of actively used words to several thousand.
The goals of the two stages are different not only in content, but also in the criteria for their achievement. The initial goal is assessed quite clearly on a two-point scale - "yes" or "no". And the second goal is the peak, the path to which, both in the native and in the foreign language, never ends, and achievements on it are evaluated on a multi-point, smooth scale.
The relationship between the two levels is different depending on whether the teacher directs the acquisition of the language, or whether it is acquired directly among native speakers. In the latter case, the initial stage cannot be extended, since the baby or foreigner needs to join the language community as soon as possible. And then the foundation laid on it allows you to move on to the second stage - usually a slow, long process of language improvement. There are no clear milestones and boundaries here, and the achieved individual levels of language proficiency form a continuous spectrum from the minimum acquired at the initial stage to the full and free use of all the riches of the language. It should be noted that for some adults, the acquisition of a new language after completing its initial stage practically stops for various reasons, especially due to insufficient personal motivation or old age.
Figuratively speaking, at the initial stage, one has to be content with a draft version of the language, and at the second stage, the draft gradually turns into a clean copy, being refined, replenished and cleared of the flaws that had to be put up with in order to complete the initial stage as soon as possible.
When a language is studied under the guidance of a teacher, not in the environment of its native speakers, the line between the two stages is not so sharply delineated. In this case, there is usually no urgent need to start communicating in a new language as soon as possible, sacrificing the quality of speech for this. Therefore, training from the very beginning is aimed at strict adherence to all language standards, although it is almost impossible to immediately achieve high quality speech in the target language. In quantitative terms, training is based on a gradual increase in the vocabulary and arsenal of grammatical structures used. However, even with guided language acquisition, a turning point occurs when the student begins to more or less freely communicate in a new language, which indicates the completion of the initial stage and the transition to the second.
With any method of language acquisition, a lot of effort is required to form a complex speech control mechanism in the brain, which should fully take into account the main features of the device of this language. It is wrong to believe that the mechanism that develops in the child's brain when mastering the native language can subsequently take over the control of speech in any new language; but it is also not true that for each newly acquired language a completely special mechanism is rebuilt. With the knowledge of several languages, certain universal aspects of speech in each of them are controlled by a single mechanism, however, within its framework, for each language, its own mechanism is formed, correlated with the specifics of this language. In the brain, interconnections are formed between the corresponding mechanisms, which allow taking into account the peculiarities of the structure of each language in comparison with other languages.
The speech control mechanism in a new language is formed mainly at the initial stage of its assimilation, and at the second stage it is only debugged and improved. The ability of the brain to create new language mechanisms, called language plasticity, depends on individual factors, among which age is especially important. Infants are naturally endowed with the highest linguistic plasticity by nature. It is still very high in adolescents and usually remains at a fairly high level in youth, but gradually decreases with age.
The level of language plasticity plays a decisive role in choosing a strategy for learning a new language. The higher the plasticity, the more successfully the language is acquired in direct communication with its native speakers, by imitating them. Therefore, for children and youth, the best way to learn a language is to live where it is spoken, in which case they do not need to understand its structure. But with a decrease in plasticity, the effectiveness of imitation decreases, and conscious penetration into its device, comparing it with the device of the native language, becomes more and more important for the formation of the speech control mechanism in the language being acquired.
This book is addressed primarily to those who begin to learn English without relying on the linguistic plasticity of the brain, and therefore feel the need to understand how this language works, what are its significant differences from their native language, what exactly will present special difficulties in it, in short, what kind of barrier is to be overcome. The focus of the book is on the most significant features of the internal structure of the English language, without understanding which it is impossible to consciously form the mechanism for managing English speech and successfully complete the initial stage of language acquisition. But the book will be useful for those who continue to improve in English.
The book may also be of interest to those who are generally attracted to languages and their structure. After all, the analysis of the internal structure of any language in comparison with other languages is a serious scientific problem that is far from being solved by linguistics. The book presents an unconventional view of it, which proceeds primarily from the unity and internal coherence of all elements of the language structure. It is this approach that makes it possible to explain the structure of the English language to a wide range of those who study it and teach it in an accessible way. However, this book is not a scientific work, it does not require the reader to have any linguistic knowledge, except for the most elementary grammatical concepts, and special terms are hardly used in it. And for those who are more deeply interested in the views expressed in the book, I recommend my book "The Structure of the English Language", published in 1989 by the Moscow publishing house "Vysshaya Shkola".
V. Plotkin.
Chapter first
Sounds
1. Sound units
Everyone has heard about the incredible difficulties of English pronunciation. However, some of the difficulties attributed to him actually do not relate to the English sounds themselves, but to complex and not very consistent reading rules that establish relationships between pronounced sounds and their letter notation, and according to which the same letter is often read differently, and the same sound is conveyed by different letters. The reason for this is the conservatism of English spelling, which took shape several centuries ago, has not been updated since then and has long been torn away from the sound of words that has changed a lot during this time. Therefore, in textbooks and dictionaries, the so-called transcription is widely used, the signs of which, unlike letters, correspond to sounds unambiguously. This auxiliary tool is a kind of intermediary between English writing and sounds. But transcription, no doubt useful for learning English sounds accurately, complicates learning by having to learn two different ways of writing words, and it is not used in this book.
As for the sounds themselves, the difficulties in pronouncing them are often exaggerated due to the understandable desire for impeccable pronunciation. However, the practical achievement of such a high level requires considerable time and money and is not available to everyone. And if you do not strive to pass for a British or American, you can do without excellent pronunciation. After all, many millions of people around the world successfully communicate in a non-native English language, not at all embarrassed by a very noticeable accent in their speech. And those for whom it is native do not follow a single pattern that English, used by the peoples of several dozen countries, simply does not know: the British and Americans, Australians and South Africans pronounce sounds differently and hear each other's speech foreign accent.
Each language has its own sound system. This means that from the huge wealth of sounds used in human speech, each language selects relatively few sound units - usually a few dozen, and builds a strictly organized, unique system from them. The main thing in it is not the sounds themselves, but the clear differences between them. After all, sound as a unit of the language system is not a point, but a more or less spacious field within which it can change. Its variants, including the one taken as exemplary, are points on this field. From the one who enters the language community, they do not at all immediately expect the exact pronunciation of sounds, and at first it is enough for him only to distinguish them in his own speech and by ear in the speech of his interlocutors. If the field of each sound is represented as a target, then the beginner is not obliged, figuratively speaking, to hit the bull's-eye, that is, to pronounce the sound flawlessly. Hitting any other point of the desired target will also be successful, that is, pronouncing a sound with an accent, and failure will only be a complete miss, which will deprive the speech of any meaning or, if it hits a neighboring target, distort the meaning.
Consequently, when describing the sound structure of a language, it is necessary not only to present its sounds in exemplary pronunciation, but also to outline the limits of deviation from it without prejudice to the meaning of speech. This will allow the learner of the language to consciously, in accordance with his needs and capabilities, determine the level of mastery of the sound structure of the language he needs - the highest, good, or simply tolerable.
The number of sound units in English and Russian is approximately the same - over forty. However, in terms of the ratio of vowels and consonants, these two languages are significantly different: in Russian, consonants predominate (there are more than thirty of them) and very few vowels (five or six - the opinions of experts differ), and in English, both are approximately equal, that is, twenty more than. Thus, there are fewer consonants in English than in Russian, but there are several times more vowels. It is clear that the distinctions between the numerous English vowels must be much more subtle and strictly observed than between Russian vowels. Not characteristic of their native language and therefore unaccustomed, these differences present a serious difficulty for Russians who are learning English.
2. Consonants
The English consonants /p/, /t/, /k/ are pronounced more energetically than the corresponding Russian ones /p/, /t/, /k/ and are accompanied by noticeable aspiration, but these properties are not essential for distinguishing them, and therefore they, as well as /b /, /d/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, /zh/, /ch/, /y/ can pronounce as their Russian equivalents /b/, /d/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, /zh/, /h/, /th/.
The consonant denoted by the letter combination NG does not have a Russian counterpart, but it is quite tolerably conveyed by the combination of consonants /ng/ (as in the borrowed word gong from English gong), which, in order to approach the English model, you need to learn how to merge into one sound.
Two sounds, which are always denoted by the same combination of letters TH and therefore never differ in writing, are different in sound in the same way as other pairs of consonants - voiceless /f/, /s/, /sh/ and voiced /v/ , /z/, /zh/. In Russian, there are no correspondences to these two consonants, but they are close to the sounds that occur in Russian speech as a defect - a lisping pronunciation /s/, /з/. Therefore, in order to master these specific English consonants, it is advisable to single out the lisping /s/, /s/ as special sounds and learn to clearly distinguish them from the usual /s/, /s/.
English does not have a sound similar to Russian /х/, which cannot be pronounced instead of English /h/. The standard pronunciation /h/ is similar to a sound familiar to Russians that they do not perceive as speech - it is heard when blowing on a candle to extinguish it, or thawing a frozen window with breath. Without prejudice to understanding, you can replace /h/ with a consonant that is not included in the Russian pronunciation standard, but is widespread throughout southern Russia as a local pronunciation of the sound /g/, and in Ukrainian and Belarusian languages it acts as a standard pronunciation of this sound. /h/ occurs only before vowels.
The English sound /j/ is a voiced correspondence to the sound /ch/. It can be replaced by a combination of sounds /j/ (as in a loan word jazz from English jazz), which, in order to approach the standard, should be pronounced together, as a single sound.
There is no correspondence to the English consonant /w/ in the Russian standard pronunciation, but a similar sound is a Russian sign. In the Belarusian alphabet, there is a special letter for it?, similar to the letter Y. It is widespread in southern Russia as a local pronunciation of the sound /v/, when it is not followed by a vowel sound ( ?ce instead of All, ro? instead of moat), and in Ukrainian this pronunciation is standard. This sound is also found in Russian speech as a defective pronunciation of solid /l/ ( ? instead of skis). It is necessary, therefore, to separate these non-standard variants from the sounds /v/ and /l/ and turn them into a special sound /w/.
Since the English language, in principle, does not know softening of consonants, the distinction between hard and soft consonants is alien to it, and the sound /l/ can be replaced without loss of meaning by both Russian hard /l/ and soft /l/. So, the word look can sound like onion, And How Luke- An English-speaking listener is unlikely to distinguish between these two pronunciations. However, those who pronounce Russian hard /l/ with the defect noted above as /?/ are advised to always pronounce /l/ as soft /l/, which is more distinct from /w/.
The standard pronunciations of English /r/ and Russian /r/ are very different. Both are pronounced with the movement of the tongue, which in Russian speech trembles when it touches the palate, but in English it does not tremble and does not touch the palate. However, both languages also know other pronunciations of these sounds. So, in Russian speech, a speech defect is known, called burr, in which it is not the tongue that trembles. Different English-speaking peoples, in particular, the British and Americans, have different standard pronunciations /r/. With this in mind, in English speech that does not claim to be of high quality, it is quite acceptable to use the usual Russian pronunciation /r/, both standard and burr.
Thus, approximately three-quarters of the consonant sounds of both languages are generally similar, and this makes it possible to transfer the pronunciation of Russian consonants into English speech without much damage. Relying on non-standard (local or defective) variants of the pronunciation of Russian consonants can help to master quite tolerable pronunciation of the rest, specifically English consonants.
3. Vowels
English vowels are much more varied than Russian ones, and therefore much more difficult than consonants. There are only five Russian vowels: /а/, /е/, /о/, /у/, /ы/; if the preceding consonant is soft or /й/, they are indicated in writing by special letters - respectively I, E, E, Yu, I. Since there are several times more English vowels, and there are only five vowels in the Latin alphabet - A, E, I , O, U, in English writing, very complex ways of designating vowels have been developed. Therefore, we will present here English vowels not as isolated letters, but as part of words with a typical spelling for each vowel.
English vowels are divided into several types. One of them is the six short vowels represented in the words: (1) bit, (2) bet, (3) bot, (4) but, (5) put, (6) bat. They are immediately followed by a consonant sound, which necessarily follows them, so that they cannot complete words. The sounds presented in the first four words above can, observing the requirement of brevity, be pronounced respectively as Russian vowels /ы/, /е/, /о/, /а/, and the vowel in the fifth word - as /у/. The vowels from the fourth and fifth words are usually written with the same letter U. Thus, these five short vowels generally correspond to five Russian vowels.
However, the English short vowel in the sixth of the given words does not fit, however, is bat. It sounds closest to the vowel in the second word, bet, and that's why it's so important to learn to clearly distinguish between vowels in numerous word pairs like these two. The most important difference is that for the vowel in bat, the mouth opens noticeably wider. In order to somehow reflect this difference, in Russian transmission it is customary to designate one vowel of this pair with the letter E (for example, in a borrowed tennis term set from the English set), and the other with the letter E (for example, in the name Sam - Sam). But distinguishing bet - bat by contrasting the letters E - E can be mistaken for distinguishing between softness and hardness of the preceding consonant, which is not characteristic of the English language. For the same reason, the designation of this difficult vowel sound with the Russian letter Ya ( byat), which reflects its characteristic wide mouth opening. However, the very indication of the Russian letters E and Ya, as very inaccurate reflections of the sound of this English short vowel, can be used to establish its acceptable pronunciation. Let's conditionally designate this vowel as /e*/.
Another English short vowel stands apart, which differs from all other vowels in that it is never stressed. In Russian speech, the unclear, weakened pronunciation of unstressed vowels /a/, /o/ is very similar to it (for example, in the endings of words soaps O And soaps A ). Therefore, for example, the final vowel in the word Russia and the first vowel in the word collect can be pronounced as unstressed /a/.
Four long vowels are clearly distinguished from short vowels, which are represented in the words (1) see, (2) too, (3) saw, (4) spa and which can be pronounced respectively as /ii/, /uy/, /oo/ , /aa/.
Mutually opposed types of short and long vowels are similar in that their pronunciation begins and ends without changing the sound quality. Two other types of vowels clearly differ from them, which qualitatively change during pronunciation: they begin as full-sounding vowels, and end as somewhat weakened, semi-vowels. In Russian speech, the consonant /y/, if it is not followed by a vowel sound (for example, in the word May), sounds like a weakened vowel /i/, and in the dialects of southern Russia, in Ukrainian and Belarusian, the weakened vowel /u/ sounds similarly (for example, in Belarusian would? = was). But these sounds, pronounced as weakened vowels in a certain position, in principle remain consonants. And in English there are semi-vowels that are close to both the consonants /y/, /w/, and the vowels /i/, /u/, but play a special role - as the final phases of changeable vowels, sounding about the same as Russian /й/ or Belarusian /?/. They end with five changeable English vowels, which are represented in the words (1) lay, (2) lie, (3) toy, (4) low, (5) loud and are pronounced /hey/, /ay/, /oh/ respectively , /o?/, /huh?/.
Finally, in yet another, the most complex and difficult type of English vowels, the final phase contains a specifically English semivowel. By analogy with sounds that are close to the consonants /y/ and /w/, it is close to the consonant /r/. In the standard pronunciation of this English consonant, the tongue is slightly active, does not tremble, does not touch the palate and is in the middle of the mouth, and the position of the tongue is approximately the same, not advanced forward and not pulled back, not raised or lowered, when pronouncing close to /r/ the final phase of changeable vowels, which sounds very similar to the special unstressed vowel described above.
This completes the eight variable vowels that are represented in the words (1) bar, (2) lord, (3) nerve, bird, burn, (4) beer, (5) poor, (6) air, (7) our, ( 8) liar. English and Americans do not pronounce this type of vowel in the same way, and this is one of the most noticeable differences between the two most important varieties of English. In standard English speech, the letter R, which is always present in the written notation for vowels of this type, does not sound like a consonant. In the first five words quoted, /r/ is not heard at all, and its presence is reflected in the lengthened sound of the preceding vowel. In the words bar, lord, /аа/, /оо/ sound respectively, that is, the same long unchanging vowels as in the above words spa, saw. In the words nerve, bird, burn, the same unchanging long vowel sounds, which is very peculiar and has no Russian equivalent. It is similar to the always unstressed short vowel described above, but differs from it in that it is usually stressed and sounds emphasized for a long time. Some idea of its sound can be given by a vowel, which in Russian speech is sometimes filled with pauses during hitches and which is usually transmitted in writing as E-E-E ... There are no satisfactory ways to reflect this English vowel using Russian letters, and you can only try very approximately render it as /ёe/, with the stipulation that the two Russian letters ЁЭ here convey not two sounds and not a changeable sound, but one long sound, which somewhat resembles both Russian sounds, but is not identical with either of them.
The last five English words above (beer, poor, air, our, liar) in British Standard pronunciation contain inflected vowels that end in a semivowel /r/, similar to the unstressed short vowel /a/. They can be pronounced something like /ia/, /ua/, /ea/, /a? a/, /aya/.
An acceptable pronunciation of this difficult type of vowel sounds is easier to develop if you rely not on the British standard, but on the American one. The fact is that the pronunciation of most Americans differs from the British standard by a noticeably clearer /r/ sound in the final phase of these vowels, and therefore the American pronunciation of vowels in the words (1) bar, (2) lord, (3) nerve, bird, burn , (4) beer, (5) poor, (6) air, (7) our, (8) liar can be expressed as (1) /aar/, (2) /oor/, (3) /ёer/, ( 4) /iar/, (5) /uar/, (6) /ear/, (7) /a? ar/, (8) /ayar/. It is noteworthy that a clear sound /r/ is automatically restored in the speech of the British, when /r/ is followed by a vowel sound: our goal with /a? a/, but our aim - with /a? ar/. Therefore, pronouncing /r/ wherever the letter R is present cannot distort the meaning and is quite acceptable as a manifestation of a foreign accent.
4. Main patterns of transmission
vowel sounds in letters
The relationship between letters and sounds in the English language is determined by many complex and not always consistent rules, which, together with numerous exceptions to them, are set out in textbooks and must be learned by heart. Here we restrict ourselves to the most general regularities of these relations.
First of all, we are talking about how the five vowels of the Latin alphabet are reflected in writing a several times larger set of English vowels. As you know, many writing systems make up for the lack of letters by creating new ones with the help of various additional signs that are attached to the main letter from above, below, inside or on the side. But the English language manages with 26 Latin letters without any additions and modifications. The problem is solved by the fact that some letters are used not only as independent signs of sounds, but, according to certain rules, also as additional signs to neighboring letters. These are, first of all, the letters E and R, the presence or absence of which after the vowel makes it possible to distinguish its four readings, basically corresponding to the four types of English vowels:
(1) If a vowel is not followed by either E or R, it sounds like a short vowel: A - like /e*/ (ban), E - like /e/ (met), I - like /ы/ (din ), U - like /a/ (cut), O - like /o/ (tot).
(2) If a vowel is followed by E, but not R, it conveys a long vowel or ending in /й/ or /?/: A - like /hey/ (bane), E - like /ii/ (bee, mete) , I - like /ay/ (die, dine), U - like /yu/ (cue, cute), O - like /o?/ (toe, tote).
(3) If a vowel is followed by R, but not E, it conveys a long vowel with a possible ending in /p/: A - like /aar/ (barn), E, I, U - like /ёer/ (herd, dirt , curt), O - as /oop/ (torn).
(4) If a vowel is followed by an R followed by an E, it conveys a variable vowel with a possible ending in /r/: A - as /ear/ (bare), E - as /iar/ (mere), I - as / ayar/ (dire), O - like /oar/ (tore), U - like /yuar/ (cure).
5. Sounds in a word
At first glance, English words do not differ from Russian ones in their sound structure: they can consist of a different number of syllables - from one to many, the stress in them can fall on different parts. However, there are certain differences between the words typical of the two languages. One of the most important is that in English there are much more short words of one syllable, and in speech they are much more common. It is noteworthy that English books for children are written mainly (sometimes even entirely) in such words, which would hardly be possible in a Russian book. The words that denote the most essential concepts in the most important spheres of life are overwhelmingly short and consist of one, less often two syllables.
It is the brevity of a typical English word that explains the richness of the composition of English vowels in comparison with Russian and the resulting difficulties in mastering their pronunciation. Indeed, in order to distinguish with the help of vowel sounds a certain number of words from one syllable, the same number of vowels is required. But the more syllables in a typical word for a given language, the fewer vowels can be distinguished in each syllable, and the fewer distinct vowels a language needs to create the same number of words. A comparison of the typical word length and the number of vowels in Russian and English confirms this conclusion.
The chains of sounds in the composition of English words are ordered more strictly than in Russian words. So, at the beginning of an English word, such sequences of consonants are excluded, with which Russian words begin bird, me, smack, foreheads, bottom, revenge, poke, glance and many like them. At the beginning of a Russian word, up to four consonants are possible ( look, meeting, take a nap), and if it is preceded by a preposition consisting of a single consonant sound ( to the meeting), then the initial chain of five consonants is obtained. There are no prepositions without a vowel in English, and no more than three consonants are allowed at the beginning of a word, provided that the first of them is /s/, the second is /p/, /t/ or /k/, and the third is /w/, /l/, /r/ or /y/. Initial combinations of two consonants are also strictly limited, there are restrictions on final combinations. Note, however, that the much greater variety of sound combinations in the Russian word compared to the English word does not create any difficulties for Russians who learn English.
So far, they are only threatening to make a foreign language a compulsory subject at the Unified State Examination (according to plans in 2022, eighth graders, hold on). But it's better to prepare in advance. Start with the most popular "foreign" - English. What does the USE in English consist of, how well does it test knowledge and what mistakes should not be made - Mikhail Karavaev.
Knowledge of any language consists of four competencies:
- speaking (Speaking) - answer the questions posed, give a reasoned answer;
- listening (Listening) - understand English speech;
- reading (Reading) - find important information and answer questions on the meaning of what was read;
- writing (Writing) - write business letters and reasoning texts, formulate your own thoughts, answer questions in writing and prove your point of view.
Any language exam, if it claims to be objective, must test the level of each of these competencies. And the USE is no exception.
How is the exam in English
Once there was no Speaking at the Unified State Examination in English. Now there is an oral task, and it is quite voluminous: you need to tell about yourself, make questions based on the picture and give detailed answers. Usually "speaking" surrenders on a separate day. In Listening, you need to establish a correspondence between statements and statements and choose the correct option. In the Writing part, you need to write a letter and a reasoning text with a total volume of at least 300 words. Reading checks how you understand what you read: you have three texts, you need to answer questions on them and choose headings for fragments. There is also a section "Grammar and Vocabulary", which can be attributed to Reading.
In general, the USE in English almost corresponds (and for the tasks of Speaking and Writing - without “almost”) the level of the international exams TOEFL or FCE. Getting a high score in these exams is possible only if you are really good at all the components of the language.
We will hardly talk about the advice “surround yourself as much as possible with a foreign language”, sing songs and watch TV shows (and also translate your phone and laptop into English). You know. This also includes the advice to "do as many tasks as possible." But sometimes not knowing how to "don't" can lead to the so-called survivor's fallacy, which occurs when knowing what leads to success is not enough to win. And in order not to lose, you need to study the mistakes. And they make mistakes more often in Writing and Speaking.
How to Prepare for the Writing Part
count the words
Pay attention to the number of words: there is an upper and lower threshold. Here is what is written in the task: "Texts of insufficient volume, as well as a part of the text that exceeds the required volume, are not evaluated."
Let's open Appendix 5 to the USE-2018 demo (from the FIPI website) in English, which is called "The order of counting words in the tasks of the "Letter" section". It says:
“The permissible deviation from the specified volume is 10%. If the completed task 39 has less than 90 words or task 40 has less than 180 words, then the task is not subject to verification and is evaluated at 0 points.
Everything is clear with the lower threshold, but with the upper one it is ambiguous. Any controversial and ambiguous points can be interpreted not in your favor. Therefore, learn to write an essay with an average number of words: in task No. 39 - 120 words, in task No. 40 - 230 words. Practice on the exam papers to get an idea of how long the required number of words will take. And read in the same "Appendix 5" how the words count. For example, twenty-four or 1259 counts as one word, while "one thousand two hundred fifty-nine" counts as five words.
Do not forget about the structure of the text (here you need to read the criteria)
Task 39. Here you need to use politeness formulas at the beginning and end of the letter. And also answer all the questions of an imaginary friend and ask your own on the topic.
Task 40. There are many components here, the main thing is not to lose anything. I recommend building the text in the sequence indicated in the task: rephrase the problem, emphasizing its importance and ambiguity; express your opinion with three arguments and the opposite with two counterarguments; explain why they do not work and, finally, draw a conclusion in which you repeat your opinion.
Both texts should be written logically and consistently, with the correct division into paragraphs.
Don't think you can write off
This is not about preparation, but the exam itself, but still. Yes, graduates admit that writing off is real. In addition to the fact that cheating is bad and risky, task No. 40 has a special criterion against cheating. Appendix 4 says that if more than 30% of the text "is of an unproductive nature (that is, it textually matches the published source)", then all tasks are rated at 0 points. “A textual match is a verbatim match of a segment of written speech ten words or more in length,” while the matches are summed up. So it’s better not to write off, it’s more expensive for yourself.
What mistakes are often made in Speaking
In total, you can get 20 points for oral tasks, they are distributed as follows:
- Task 1 (reading aloud) - 1 point,
- Task 2 (compose five questions on the picture) - 5 points,
- Task 3 (description of one photo to choose from) - 7 points,
- Task 4 (comparison of two photos) - 7 points.
Obviously, you need to spend a minimum of time on task 1 - even if you don’t do it at all, you will lose only 1 point. But the rest of the tasks are more profitable. In task 2, you need to ask five questions, and not just “where, when, how much”, but taking into account the features of the picture and description. In task 3, it is important to speak non-stop. To get started, choose a photo so you know all the words: for example, you shouldn't choose a picture of a well if you don't know how to say "well" in English. Read the monologue for 1.5-2 minutes (and 12-15 phrases) according to the plan that is proposed. Here it is very important to train in advance to speak for a while, record yourself and be sure to listen. In task 4, you need to compare two photographs. Here you don’t have to choose anything, otherwise the requirements are the same as in the previous task
