- •Contents
- •Preface
- •Part I. Print media Unit 1 mass media: general notion
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •It’s wrong to portray fathers as domestic incompetents – but women still
- •Unit 2 newspaper headlines and their linguistic peculiarities
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Unit 3 lexical features of newspaper articles
- •Names of some organisations, establishments, parties
- •Abbreviations
- •Acronyms
- •Neologisms
- •Colloquial words
- •Shortened words
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Former Mandela Fund Official Says Model Gave Him Diamonds
- •The International Herald Tribune, August 6, 2010
- •A. Too many clichés, at the end of the day
- •B. Social class affects white pupils’ exam results more than those of ethnic minorities – study
- •C. Blair’s job was done by 1997: to numb Labour, and to enshrine Thatcherism
- •In Downing Street, Blair never fulfilled his early promise and let Brown in.
- •Question time in Oldham Data profiling is helping Oldham police analyse the work of its community support officers
- •Airport and station get walk-in nhs centres
- •People's peers take back seat in the Lords
- •Not off to uni? What an excellent idea...
- •VIII Welsh Assembly launches £44m learning grants
- •4. Three men jailed for rape in Oxford after victim sees film on mobile.
- •Unit 4 grammatical and syntactical properties of newspaper articles
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Cronyism alert on plan for more people’s peers
- •Revealed: Queen’s dismay at Blair legacy
- •Victim / radiation / in £50m drugs / cancer / is denied
- •Unit 5 feature articles: essence, structure, lexical means, stylictic properties
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks Task 1. Read Article a and comment on its genre. What sphere of public life does it reflect? a. After 40 years, the terrorists turn to politics
- •In the East Belfast Mission hall, the uvf, uda and Red Hand Commando announced they had put weapons “beyond use”
- •С. A slice of Middle England Ruaridh Nicoll journeys in search of the perfect pork pie and finds himself seduced by the olde worlde charms of... Leicestershire
- •D. Gordon Brown: There is life after No 10
- •In his first major interview since losing the election, the former Prime Minister tells Christina Patterson why he’s thriving as a constituency mp – and happily living without the trappings of power
- •Unit 6 analytical genres of print media: editorial, op-ed, column, lte
- •I. Editorial
- •III. Сolumn
- •IV. Letters to the editor
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •How Not to Fight Colds
- •The New York Times, October 4, 2010
- •Clean and Open American Elections
- •It’s our class, not our colour, that screws us up
- •Task 12. Read the two ltEs below. What motive was behind writing those letters?
- •I. Giving an Edge to Children of Alumni
- •The New York Times, October 4, 2010
- •II. Childhood misery
- •Task 13. Read the two letters again, and observe the difference between them. What arguments does the author of first letter put forward to drive his message across?
- •Unit 7 print media: revision
- •Task 3. Read the article below and define its genre. What are the constituent parts of the text? House prices: Heading south
- •I was a terrible teenage drinker – I couldn't get hold of alcohol How do young people drink so much today? And how do they get served, asks Michael Deacon
- •Task 7. Read the article below and say what genre it is. Translate the italicised words and word combinations, analyse them. Twitter: Bad sports
- •Test 1. Print media
- •Variants 1-16.
- •Part II. Broadcast media Unit 8 learning to understand broadcast media texts
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Unit 9 learning to differentiate broadcast media news and analytical genres
- •The press conference and the statement are an integral part of the live reporting and are not accompanied by the news presenter’s comments.
- •Fragments of the press-conference, the statement, as well as the parliamentary debate could be quoted in the video brief news, the report and the commentary that are part of the news bulletin.
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Audio Track 6
- •Audio Track 7
- •Bonfire of the quangos? It’s more like a barbecue: Despite all the fanfare, just 29 will be completely abolished
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •A shot in the arm – поиск наркотика; стимул (перен.) a soft touch – обходительный человек; pie in the sky – журавль в небе, пустые посулы
- •He wants the Scottish government to give a shot in the arm to the tourist industry (Sky News)
- •A flop – unsuccessful film or play gazumping – cheating a potential buyer of a house
- •Nifty – very good or attractive (nifty fifties – «золотой возраст»)
- •Some examples of former slang words to booze – to drink alcohol
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Unit 12 stylistic and syntactical peculiarities of broadcast media discourse
- •Control Questions
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Hungarians battle to hold back toxic sludge spill from Danube
- •Vessel mishap
- •Test 2. Lexical and syntactical propertires of broadcast media discourse
- •Variants 1-16.
- •In class:
- •In class:
- •Unit 13 grammatical properties of broadcast media discourse
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Uk’s official economic growth estimates revised down
- •Austerity won’t trigger double-dip recession, economists say
- •Ireland’s economic outlook worsens
- •Ireland’s economic outlook worsened on Monday as the country’s central bank
- •Unit 14 learning to work with broadcast media texts
- •Sun turns its back on Labour after 12 years of support
- •General election 2010: did it really happen?
- •The coalition government: Sweetening the pill
- •Test 3. Morphological properties of broadcast media discourse
- •Variants 1-16.
- •In class:
- •Unit 15 regional accents of british broadcast media (scottish, welsh, irish)
- •Control Questions
- •Practical Tasks
- •Unit 16 broadcast media: revision
- •Murder rate at lowest for 20 years
- •Rogue Trader at Société Générale Gets Jail Term
- •The Guardian, October 5, 2010 Task 9. Find special terms in the second half of the material (they are not marked). Read the piece again, find clichés and idioms in it.
- •Task 38. Read the article below and say what crime is reflected in it. What are its underlying reasons?
- •Sham marriages on “unprecedented scale”
- •Final test on mass media discourse
- •Variants 1-16.
- •In class:
- •In class:
- •References
- •Учимся понимать и интерпретировать медийные тексты на английском языке
Test 2. Lexical and syntactical propertires of broadcast media discourse
Variants 1-16.
Task 1
At home:
1.1. Watch Video file TV and transcribe it. Define the genre of the text you have got.
1.2. Print the transcript. Get ready to work with it in class.
Task 2
In class:
2.1. Make lexical analysis of the transcript. In the piece identify:
- clichés,
- idioms,
- realia (including abbreviations),
- phrasal verbs,
- colloquialisms (including words with reduced stem and intensifying words),
- bookish words,
- special terms.
2.2. Indicate the required words and word combinations in the script, translate them into Russian.
2.3. Make syntactical analysis of the script. Find a complex and a compound sentence in the material, write them down.
2.4. Find sentences beginning with conjunction and or but, underline them.
2.5. Find a stylistic device in the piece, underline it. Indicate in English what trope it is. Translate the sentence (s) into Russian.
2.6. Translate the title and the lead of the news into Russian.
Task 3
In class:
Get the material from your teacher, translate it into Russian and English, paying special attention to the underlined words and word combinations.
Unit 13 grammatical properties of broadcast media discourse
The morphological peculiarities of broadcast media discourse, as well as its lexical and syntactical features, are subdivided into standardising and expressive (emotive) ones. The following grammatical means make up the first group:
1. Constructions with the introductory It (It is alleged; believed; estimated; said; known; thought; understood; reported; revealed, etc.) to do something:
It’s understood the 45 year old suffered severe abdominal pains after a party at his house. He was reportedly taken by ambulance from his home on a stretcher (Sky News);
It’s estimated 240,000 people in Britain are suitable for surgery under those guidelines (Sky News);
It has been revealed that a team of detectives will lead the investigation in Jill Dando`s killing (BBC World News).
2. Constructions with the introductory There is; There are; This is (and their equivalents in the past tense forms):
This is a strange time for the Liberal Democrats and indeed, for British politics in general (BBC Radio 4 LW);
There’s only one paper you will not find anyone reading at the Labour Party conference (Sky News).
3. Complex Subject:
The vote is expected to pick up a bit (Channel 5);
None would appear to have found a key to take a peace out of danger (BBC World News).
4. Complex Object and its variant – causative construction to have something done:
The charity wants the government to initiate a process of positive action though it stopped short of demanding quotas (Sky News);
The people who work in social care and charities for the elderly are desperate for the government to accept these proposals (Sky News);
The last Queen of Scots had her head chopped off (Channel 5);
He’s trying to put on more weight so he can qualify for an operation to have a gastric band fitted (Sky News).
5. Absolute Nominative Prepositional Construction:
With the temperatures firmly below zero, and the snow coming down yet again, most of the villagers here in Four Elms are doing what sensible people would do under these conditions – they are staying in and staying warm (Sky News).
6. Verbs to see / to witness in the Active Voice with an inanimate subject in the meaning “to eyewitness the event”:
Throughout Europe almost 13 cities witnessed spontaneous protests (BBC World News);
The day saw new Muslim riots on the streets of London (BBC World News).
7. The Infinitive as an attribute, object and adverbial modifier of purpose:
In Brussels NATO Secretary General J. Solana is looking at where it will be safe for troops to enter the region (EuroNews);
The plans to close coast guard centres around the UK could raise serious safety concerns, according to a cross party group of MPs (BBC News);
“The Invincible” was diverted to the Adriatic to strengthen NATO forces lining up against Yougoslavia (Sky News).
8. Wide use of progressive tenses to denote an ongoing action or event. One of the most frequently used verbal forms is the -ing form of the verb to be as part of the Passive Voice (to be being done) and as part of the participial construction:
And passengers say they are already being charged over the odds (Sky News);
Opponents of the Welsh Assembly being given more law-making powers have begun their campaign for “No Vote” in the referendum on the issue being held in March (BBC Radio 4 LW);
London is being found to release the lowest rush hour carbon emissions of any region in the UK (BBC Radio 4 LW).
Such an extensive use of a significant amount of verbs in the progressive tense in media discourse is determined by the specific nature of news, i.e. to report events which just took place, continue to happen or will happen in the near future.
9. The infinitive without particle to after the verb to help and its derivatives:
Australia’s PM is being urged to raise the minimum price of alcohol to help __tackle addiction amongst the country’s aboriginal population (Sky News);
In his hay day he was a national hero, helping Manchester United__ become the first England club to win the European Cup in 1968 (Sky News).
10. The omission of the auxiliary verb should in subordinate clauses of condition after the verbs expressing obligation, request, order, etc. (Subjunctive Mood):
NATO demanded that the withdrawal … begin in 24 hours (EuroNews);
Tonight they are not buying “the sorry, Sophie”, instead insisting that the Press Complaints Commission… investigate this whole matter (Sky News).
11. Grammatical means to express a premeditated action or event (the Infinitive as part of a compound verbal predicate): to be (about) to do something; to look set (to be set) to do something; to be bound to do something; to be to do something; to be due to do something, etc.:
Military presence in Kosovo is to scale down (EuroNews);
The 26 year old was to set off from Teleri this morning on her 100-day trip (Sky News);
The government looks set to carry on raising prices (Sky News);
The Territorial Army is likely to be trimmed from 56,000 force to 40,000 (Sky News);
Farm ministers are due to meet in Brussels today to try to get to grips with the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (BBC World News).
It should be noted that the future action is also reported in broadcast media texts by the following grammatical means:
- Future Continuous Tense (will / shall be doing something):
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said today that NATO will not be stopping its campaign any time soon (Sky News);
– When we return we’ll be bringing you the very latest on the situation in south Omagh where they fear the worst on the foot and mouth (Sky News);
Then we’ll be starting to collect physical evidence from the scene (Sky News);
- the construction to be going to:
The main battle ground are going to be tax, education and the health service (Sky News);
– Well, in an hour’s time we’re going to be speaking to Mark Lewis who is the lawyer to Milly Dowler’s family (Sky News);
- the modal verb could, expressing a remote or problematic action:
This alarming survey could put crime high on the agenda on the next election,
revealing that England and Wales are at or near the top of the crime league table among developed countries (Sky News);
- the modal verb will to report a less problematic or remote event:
– We will find out about job losses at this factory in about an hour’s time, we’re told (BBC News).
But tonight there are reports the former News of the World editor Andy Colson will be arrested tomorrow under suspicion of knowing about or directing phone hacking while working at the paper (Sky News).
12. The Genitive Case with the names of countries, cities, regions, institutions, firms to indicate time, distance, etc. instead of the use of corresponding adjectives or the of-Genitive prepositional form:
British Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg is due to address his party’s annual conference (BBC Radio 4 LW);
Today’s figures show the UK economy grew by 0.8 per cent from July to September (Sky News);
– Good morning! Another fine, warm summer’s day today (BBC News).
The Genitive is so widely used in media discourse that sometimes it acquires the form of the so called group genitive:
That’s going to be a so-called crime plan unveiled by Jack Straw in a week or so’s time (Sky News).
13. Specific means to depersonalise and make neutral the source of the news, to distance it from the news studio, to make the report sound impartial. Such means include phrases: The BBC / Sky News learned / has learned / understands (that) … Sky sources say (that) …
Sky News learns the boss of Barclays is to receive a massive payout on top of his 1.3 m salary (Sky News);
Sky News understands that Britain’s biggest banks are poised to agree a deal which will see them reveal the pay and bonus packages of the most highly paid employers below the board level (Sky News).
The group of expressive grammatical features
The emotively charged group of grammatical peculiarities used by broadcast media tends to make it resemble colloquial discourse, as such means list some colloquial style grammatical features.
1. The use of was instead of were in conditional clauses:
If hunting with dogs was stopped it would actually cause more cruelty to foxes (Sky News);
It would be a tragedy if peace Treaty was abandoned (Channel 5).
2. The use of to get instead of to be as an auxiliary verb in the Passive Voice and in combinations to get something done and to get +Ving:
So, to get nominated with that kind of competition is very special, anyway (Sky News);
Isn`t that the job for the government, though, the NATO got this campaign going? (EuroNews).
3. The use to get instead of to become:
It’s getting a bit lonely in our virtual shopping centre (Sky News);
As the voting age gets lower, the stakes get higher (BBC News).
4. Grammatical reduction – the omission of auxiliary words in a sentence (relative pronouns, auxiliary verbs in interrogative sentences, verbs in a compound nominal predicate, prepositions, articles, conjunctions) as well as some notional words (or ellipsis, if we talk about the syntactical peculiarities of broadcast media discourse):
The Prime Minister has been to the north east but could offer little more than sympathy to a group of workers [who are] about to lose their jobs (Sky News);
– [Do you] Fancy a cup of tea? (Sky News);
The next morning some of the Serbs [are] dead. There were no prisoners (Sky News).
5. The use of some stative verbs (to see, hear)1 to express the action unfolding at the moment of speech:
– We are hearing of small quakes here (BBC World News);
– So, we’ll be seeing how they are reporting this story at 10.30 (Sky News).
6. The use of the colloquial form to be gonna to instead of to be going to (predominantly in the spontaneous discourse):
– We can confirm that on Tuesday they’re gonna talk to Andy Heiman and former police chief Peter Clark (Sky News);
– What I am concerned about is how this system, which has been facing another direction for 10 years, is gonna turn itself and catch up (BBC Radio 4 LW).
7. The use of the colloquial form to have got in the meaning ‘to have or to possess’ instead of to have, as well as the colloquial expression to have got to do in place of to have to in the spontaneous discourse:
– You’ve got the feeling that the Chancellor gives a very plausible explanation as to why he feels he’s on a right track for digging Britain out of the mire of the economic crisis (Sky News);
– And you’ve got to help people out there but [you’re] unable to get into the country (Sky News);
The country is so divided that they’ve got to sort out their international affairs first (Channel 5).