Муниципальное бюджетное образовательное учреждение средняя общеобразовательная школа № 41 Special features of the Queen’s English Научное общество учащихся Выполнила: Щепалина Анастасия Ученица 10 А класса Научный руководитель: Алексеева И.В Учитель английского языка

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and arts will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. Confucius Language is the highest form of thought expression, the basic means of knowing reality and knowing oneself and existence of culture. Language, on the other hand, is a specific vocabulary and grammar, expressed in rules and sentence patterns which have been evolved historically are national in character. 1 1 A.Spirkin Dialectical Materialism 1983 by Progress Publishers

What does it mean to speak the Queen's English? - Choose words carefully- Avoid ugly expressions - Pay attention to historical origin of vocabulary -Learn and follow rules of grammar

References

“U and non U English usage, with “U” standing for "upper class", and "non-U" representing the aspiring middle classes, was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects in Britain in the 1950-s thanks to a professor of linguistics Alan Ross” Some examples of U and non-U vocabulary: Lunch is the U term for the meal eaten in the middle of the day. Napkin or table napkin is U; serviette is not. Professor Ross describes this as ’perhaps the best known of all the linguistic class-indicators’. Sofa is U; couches are confined to the offices of psychoanalysts. Lavatory and therefore lavatory paper are U; toilet and toilet paper are not, Loo also belongs to polite vocabulary. In anyone over the age four, discussion of what one does in this part of the house is entirely unacceptable. U and non-U words Lunch Sofa Napkin Lavatory Spectacles Looking glass Wireless

Historical origin of vocabulary and grammar structures The plural follows Greek or Latin rules rather than English ones. For example: In early times, it was wrong to put any word or words between the to and the verb itself. To happily potter about in the garden- was wrong To potter about* happily- was right * Spend time in a pleasant, relaxed way, doing small jobs in the house singularplural phenomenonphenomena criterioncriteria

It used to be considered correct to say an hotel, an historical novel without the h, because these words were direved from French. But in modern English the h in these words is clearly pronounced. In such words as honest, hour, honour – h is silent. Déjavu (French) (”day-zha voo”) – уже видели Force majeure (French) (“force ma-zherr”) - непреодалимая сила Nouveau riche (French) (noo-vo reesh) - новые богачи, получившие богатства незаконным путем. Historical origin of vocabulary and grammar structures

The most common mistakes For example, words that sound similar, but mean completely different things: Bright – 1) full of light- светлый, яркий 2)intelligent- способный, сообразительный 3) happy or full of hope- веселый, живой To/too/two – the most common words in the English language, they are often confused and misspeld. You shall go to the bed- preposition If he is going, I want to go too- also, indicative of excess Two- is the number between one and three Minute [‘minit ] – a period of time equal to 60 seconds Minute [ mai’nju:t] – extremely small- ничтожный in great details- тщательно

Social Intercourse

“If doubt about the familiarity, remember it is always better to err on the side of formality.” -“ How do you do, Your Majesty?” - “I am very well. Thank you. Pleased to meet you.”