- •English For Philology Students
- •Introduction (предисловие)
- •Acknowledgement
- •Introductory Course. (Вводный курс) The Noun. Personal, Possessive and Demonstrative Pronouns
- •Personal, Possessive and Demonstrative Pronouns
- •The Verbs Be, Have
- •I was a student last year.
- •I shall be a student next year.
- •The Indefinite Pronouns Some, Any, No
- •Sentences, introduced by there is/are. Few, little, much, many
- •The Adjective. Degrees of Comparison
- •Great Britain
- •Present, Past and Future Simple Tense
- •Vote want win become get be promote
- •The Importance of Learning Languages
- •The United States of America
- •Conversational formulas Meeting people
- •Main Course Unit 1 Languages. The English Language
- •Emphatic construction
- •It is (was) … that (who, which, where, etc.) …
- •It is (was) not until (till) … that …
- •English as a World Language
- •Agreement
- •Disagreement
- •The Germanic and French Influence
- •What is Good English?
- •Varieties of English
- •Some Specific Features of American English
- •Dialects of English
- •Conversational formulas Opinion
- •Word Formation
- •Verb Noun
- •Grammar Simple Tenses
- •It’s Interesting to Know Dying Languages
- •Map of uk Accents
- •Independent Reading
- •The English language
- •Standard English
- •The Origins of English
- •Britain’s Languages
- •English The World’s Biggest Brand
- •Imagine a brand bigger than Nike, bigger than Gap, bigger than Coca-Cola. Imagine a brand used by 1.5 billion people the world over.
- •Tireless Champion of American English
- •Translation Practice
- •Key Vocabulary
- •Unit 2 Universities. Kemerovo State University
- •What Are Universities For?
- •The Indefinite Pronoun “one” as a Subject
- •Needs of Universities
- •Kemerovo State University
- •St. Petersburg University
- •The Faculty of Philology and Journalism
- •Believe It You Can Achieve It Welcome to Your Future
- •Study High World Technologies in Russia
- •Conversational Formulas Requests
- •Possible replies
- •Word Formation
- •Grammar Progressive Tenses
- •It’s Interesting to Know Campus Fashion
- •Independent Reading
- •The First Universities
- •Cambridge
- •British Universities
- •Would you Like to Be a Teacher?
- •Alcot University
- •Translation Practice
- •Международный день студента
- •Тульские студенты получат потанинскую стипендию
- •Key Vocabulary
- •Unit 3. Higher Education in the English-speaking Countries
- •Is Higher Education Right For You?
- •Correlative Conjunctions
- •Higher Education in Great Britain
- •Further Education in Great Britain
- •Higher Educational Institutions of Great Britain
- •Further Education Colleges
- •Conversational Formulas Discussion
- •Word Formation
- •Grammar Perfect Tenses
- •It’s Interesting to Know Degrees
- •Independent Reading
- •What Is Higher Education All About?
- •Studying and Social Life
- •Universities in Transition
- •Translation Practice
- •Дистанционное образование
- •Key Vocabulary
- •Grammar Support
- •Существительное (The Noun)
- •Правила образования множественного числа английских исчисляемых существительных.
- •Притяжательный падеж существительных
- •Местоимение (The Pronoun)
- •Прилагательное (The Adjective)
- •Правила образования степеней сравнения прилагательных.
- •Глагол (The Verb)
- •Спряжение глаголов be, have
- •Система времен английского глагола Настоящее простое время. (The Present Simple Tense).
- •Правила правописания и произношения глаголов в 3-м лице единственного числа.
- •Простое прошедшее время (The Past Simple Tense)
- •Будущее простое время (The Future Simple Tense)
- •Настоящее продолженное время (The Present Progressive Tense)
- •Правила правописания Причастия 1
- •Прошедшее продолженное время (The Past Progressive Tense)
- •Будущее продолженное время (The Future Progressive Tense)
- •Настоящее совершенное время (The Present Perfect Tense)
- •Прошедшее совершенное время (The Past Perfect Tense)
- •Будущее совершенное время (The Future Perfect Tense)
- •Страдательный залог (The Passive Voice)
- •Примеры преобразования действительного залога в страдательный
- •References
Tireless Champion of American English
The most famous of all American dictionary-makers, Noah Webster was as influential in the history of American English as George Washington in the American Revolution. From his Dissertations on the English Language in 1789 to his great monument of 1828, an American Dictionary of the English language (referred to simply as “Webster’s”), his work is a real landmark in American history.
Webster was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and, like many of the American revolutionaries, turned from law to teaching as a means of making his living. It was one of those career changes that transforms a man’s life. Britain was at war with the colonies, and schoolbooks, traditionally imported from London, were in short supply. Besides, in Webster’s view, they were unsatisfactory. So, very much in the spirit of the New World, he set about filling the gap. Between 1783 and 1785 while still in his twenties, Webster published three elementary books in English, a speller, a grammar and a reader. The American Speller turned out to be a runaway bestseller, selling over 80 million copies in Webster’s lifetime (second only to the Bible).
The success of the American Speller gave Webster more than enough to live on, and he now devoted the rest of his life to the championing of the cause of the American language, its spelling, its grammar and its pronunciation. He wrote: “Our honor requires us to have a system of our own, in language as well as in government.” An old printer, recalling his apprenticeship, told the story of the day when a little pale-faced man came into the office and handed him a printed slip, saying, “My lad, when you use these words, please oblige me by spelling them as here: theater, center, etc.” It was Noah Webster travelling about the printing offices and persuading people to follow his “improved” conventions.
In 1806, Webster published his first Dictionary, the next step in his program to standardize the American language, and continued to call for the “detachment” from English literary models. From 1812 to 1822 Webster lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he helped to found Amherst College. In 1825, having devoted more than twenty years to the study of the English language and having travelled in both England and France, Webster returned to new Haven to complete the work of his life.
The culmination of Webster’s efforts came with the publication of his American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828, larger than Samuel Johnson’s by about a third and containing much American usage. But Webster’s importance does not rest only upon the size of his book. His precise definitions are models of lexicography style. Also, by the inclusion of thousands of technical and scientific terms, Webster laid the groundwork for the modern comprehensive dictionary. Despite its now honored place in the history of American English, the first Webster’s sold only 2,500 copies and he was forced to mortgage his home to bring out a second edition. The rest of his life was dogged by debt and he died in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1848 with much of his effort unrecognized and unapplauded.