Social Orientating Names

No article is used with the majority of social orientating names. They denote notions connected with various activities aimed at meeting requirements, desires and needs of people.

Social orientating names may denote places (names of colleges, hospitals etc.), agents (names of teams etc.) and components (names of academic subjects, drugs etc.) of activity.

The social names are subdivided into three groups:

- local orientating names which are connected with daily activities of people in the area where they live (§ 1);

- national orientating names which denote orientating points in the structure of society (§ 2);

- derivative orientating names which are derived from orientating names of basic groups (§ 3).

§ 1. Local orientating names

No article is used with local orientating names which denote places, agents and components in the following spheres of daily activity of a person.

1. Education.

a) No article is found with names of places of education:

- names of private schools {Harrow);

- names of colleges {King's College);

- names of universities, e.g. Cambridge University, but 'the University of Cambridge' is the usual written form;

- names of polyteehnics {Hong Kong Polytechnic).

Note: Names of institutes usually have the definite article, e.g. Chancy had a rough anuscript which he showed to the US Naval Institute (RD).

b) no article is used with names of academic subjects (Arithmetic).

2. Medicine.

No article is used with

a) names of places of the activity - hospitals, which have a strong tendency to drop the definite article (Alexandra Hospital);

b)names of the components of the activity - drugs (aspirin) and diseases (pneumonia) - have no article in the general sense, though the definite article is used to denote their concrete
instances or manifestations:

e.g. Cancer is another of my ills. But the cancer that strikes me is among the better-behaved ones (RD).

3. Sports.

No article is used with a) names of places of activity:

- stadiums (Wembly);

- horse riding tracks (Rotten Row);

- cricket grounds (Trout Bridge);

- shooting ranges (Bisley);

- race courses (Glorious Goodwood);

b) names of collective agents of activity:

- clubs (Celtic);

- teams (Chicago Bulls).

c) names of components of activity in certain patterns - to play football, to go in for swimming, etc.

4. Religion.

No article is used with

a) names of places of activity:

- cathedrals (Westminster Cathedral);

- churches (St. Martin-in-the-Fields).

b)name of the agent of activity (God, Allah, etc.);

c) names of activity -religious teachings (Islam, Christianity).

5. Daily activities.
No article is used with

a) names of places of daily activities in prepositional phrases - to be
in (to go to) school, college, university, hospital, church, town,etc.;

b)means of daily activity - to go by plane, train, boat; by post; on TV (radio).

The definite article is used with

1. Names of places of entertainment because they are not connected with regular activity of the majority of people:

- names of theatres (the Globe);

- names of concert halls (the Albert Hall);

- names of picture galleries (the Tate).

2. Orientating names used in 'of-phrases',

e.g. the University of Oxford, the London School of Economics.

3. Orientating names expressed by common nouns with unique reference,

e.g. the London Business School, the Round Church (Cambridge), the Ovals (cricket ground), the Hebrew University (Jerusalem), the Middlesex Hospital, etc.

EXERCISES

Exercise 25. a) What institutions _of further education (specialize secondary and higher schools) are available in this region ?

b) Where do you expect to find a greater choice of places in further education: in your region or in Atlanta (USA)?

c) Read the passage and compare the opportunities for further education in your region and in Atlanta (USA).

In Atlanta, Georgia, for instance, a city of half a million people, there are twenty institutions from which students can get a degree, including Atlanta University and Marehouse College, both of which were founded i_n the 19th century especially for black students (B-USA).

d)Discuss what new institutions of further education should be set up in your region.

Exercise 26. a) Ask your friends if the old-aged method of getting medicine from plants should be developed. b) Read the following passage and decide what medicine you may produce at home.

Plants such as willow were used to cure aches and pains and cinchona was used to treat malaria. These had their place in folk remedies long before their active ingredients were known aspirin from willow and quinine from cinchona. In the 1940s and 50s naturally occurring antibiotics such as penicillin were discovered, but by the 70s fewer natural products were proving useful (LC).

Exercise 27. a) Do you know what factors influence the development _of pneumonia and cancer? Discuss it with your partner, b) Read the following passage and decide if the explanati­ons given in it are convincing.

Strong genetic influences seem to prevail for infectious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and bronchitis - commonly thought of as being 'caught' instead of inherited.

In contrast, family environment, not genetics seems to be the predominant factor with cancer: adoptees were five times more likely to die of cancer if one of their parents died before the age of 50. Life-style plays an important role in determining risks for heart diseases and cancer (RD).

c) Make up a list of factors which cause AIDS.

d) Decide which disease is more dangerous - cancer or AIDS.

Exercise 28. Make up stories about tennis and basketball choosing the necessary sentences from below. Use the suggested beginnings.

a)Tennis was first heard of in Europe in 1873.

b)Basketball began in November 1891 in Springfield College, Massachusetts.

1. It was a ball game with 13 basic rules. 2. A Lutheran pastor who taught philosophy and loved sport thought about it for a few days and showed the idea to the director. 3. The English major Clapton Wingfield returned from a trip to China and invited his friends to play a new game: court tennis. 4. Every time a student succeeded in getting the ball in the basket he earned two points for his team. 5. After only two years the court became rectangular and the net was lowered. 6. The teacher formed two teams with nine students each and hung two fruit baskets at the end of the gymnasium. 7. The caretaker came with a ladder to get the ball out. 8. So court tennis became lawn tennis. 9. The director was satisfied and a new sport was born. 10. Since then tennis has spread all over the world.

Exercise 29. a) How were you encouraged to behave at school. Decide if there may be any difference in the way school-children in this country and in America behave at school and at home.

c)Read the following passage and say if you approve of the way young Americans are brought up at school and athome.

Americans are encouraged to be independent at school. It is a tradition dating back to the 18th century, when American pioneers pushed the frontier further and further west, upheld by their courage. Young Americans are expected to discuss and even argue at home (B-USA).

d)Speak on how you will encourage your own children tobehave at school and at home.

Exercise 30. a) Make up a list of various ways of getting into college. Point out those which are difficult and easy.

c) Read the following passage and comment on your atti­tude to this way of getting into college.

A coach in the USA picks promising football players from the high school and recommends that they be given scholarships. This is the only way some boys from poor families with no intellectual background can get to college (B-USA).

d)Decide how you would change the rules of getting to college in this country.

Exercise 31. a) Do you think it will be interesting for your friends to visit the Tate Gallery in London?

c)Read the passage and decide how much time each of your friends is likely to spend in the Tate Gallery.

The National Gallery of British Art, better-known as the Tate Gallery, was given to the nation by a rich sugar merchant, Sir Henry Tate, who had a taste for the fine arts. It overlooks the Thames, not far from the Houses of Parliament. English artists are naturally well represented here, and the Tate has a range of modern works, including sculptures by foreign artists. This, of all London galleries, is the young people's gallery. It has been stated that three quarters of its visitors are under twenty-five (ABC-K).

d)Decide what galleries or other places of entertainment can draw young people in this countiy.

Exercise 32. a) Many people are eager to visit the Royal National Theatre in London. Do you know why?

c) Read the following passage and decide why the Royal National Theatre attracts so many people.

The Royal National Theatre stands on the South Bank of the Thames, next to Waterloo Bridge, commanding some of the best views of London. It contains three theatres - the Olivier (named after Laurence Olivier, its first director), the Syttelton, and the Cottesloe - its own restaurant (Ovations), some of the country's leading bookshops, bars, buffets, spacious foyers and a car park. The Royal National Theatre gives audiences a choice of at least six different productions at any one time. It always presents a wide repertoire, embracing the whole of world drama: classics, new and neglected plays (ABC-K).

d)Decide if there is any theatre like this in this country.

Exercise 33. Speak on the following situations paying attention to the local orientating names.

1. Select the most prestigious universities and colleges of this country. Decide what your college is lacking to be among them.

2. Decide which is the most popular academic subject with the students of your group.

3.Decide what kinds of sports your teacher should go in for.

4.Decide what diseases can be prevented by going in for sports.

5.Make up a list of diseases 'popular' with students.

6.Stage a contest 'Who knows the cathedrals and churches of the city (capital) well?'.

Exercise 34. Speak on the following situations paying attention to the use of articles with names of places of entertainment.

1. Point out the most famous place of entertainment in your city (the capital of this country). Justify your choice.

2. You are going to have a wedding-party. Choose the most suitable restaurant for it.

3. Your fellow-students are eager to go to the theatre. Decide which theatre in the capital of this country will be the best for the purpose.

4.You are sure to have visited some picture galleries. Decide which of them has the most valuable collection.

5. Compare the places of entertainment in London and in the capital of this country.

§ 2. National orientating names

The use of articles with national orientating names is extremely varied though the general tendency is towards dropping the definite article, especially with popular orientating names, i.e. which denote orientating points connected with the activity of the general public, its tastes and educational level. This tendency reveals itself in different ways with various groups of national orientating names:

- names of social systems (1);

- names in the sphere of business (2);

- names in the sphere of government (3);

- names in the sphere of mass media (4).

1. Names of social systems.

a) No article is used with names of languages (systems of sound symbols) and dialects when they have no common noun, e.g. English, cockney, Welsh, American English. The definite article is used in the pattern with common nouns, e.g. the English language.

Note: 1. The definite article is used with names of languages to denote concrete stretches of speech:

E.g. I showed them my US permit, which they examined quizzically unable to read the English (RD). 2. The indefinite article is used to show how the system of a language is realized by individuals: e.g. He had learned to speak a halting English (Conan Doyle).

b) No article is found with names of social, economic, religious teachings when they are used in a general sense, e.g. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism; Communism, Capitalism. 2. Orientating names in the sphere of business:

a) no article is used with popular names of agents of activity;

- companies (Sealink, Mitsubishi, Petroleum)

- film companies and studios {Columbia Pictures).

The definite article is kept in the official names of corporations having a common noun - the National Bus Company.

Note: No article is found with names of hotels if they are used to denote companies, i.e. agents of activity:

e.g. Savoy Hotel yesterday firmly denied a newspaper report that a secret agreement has been reached with Forte, the rival hotel group (FT).

The same rule is applied to the noun 'underground': e.g. Immediately _t.after the fire, London Underground rigorously banned smoking throughout the network (RD).

b) No article is used with names of the, components of business activity:

- trade marks (Scrable);

- brand names (Guinness);

- makes of cars (Jaguar).

Note: The indefinite article is found with trade marks to denote one item:

e.g. I wanted an Aston Martin (B-Today).

3. Orientating names in the sphere of government.

a) The definite article is usually found with the names of official state organisations (The National Council for Children, the Public Record Office, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Bank of England, etc.).

b)No article is used with names of separate bodies in the sphere of government:

- with the names of Congress (USA) and Parliament (UK);

Note: Occasionally no article is found with names of parliaments of other countries, e.g. Grachev is himself under criticism from parliament, accused of failing to improve conditions (RD).

- with names of parties in the pattern 'to vote Conservative' and with the popular name of the Labour Party - Labour:

e.g. She feels that most people who vote SLD do so as a protest against the two main parties (B-Today).

- with the name 'police' either definite or no article is used:

e.g. Throughout that afternoon police evacuated 250 people from houses and danger zone (RD).

- no article is used with the orientating names 'Scotland Yard' and 'Interpol':

e.g. Meanwhile Interpol. is investigating the application of the carabineri's computer system (RD).

- no article is found with names of components of activity - names of operations,

e.g. In 1984 the parks department set up Operation Stronghold to defend the rhino (RD).

4. Orientating names in the sphere of mass media.

a)No article is found with names of popular TV and radio channels (companies) - BBC I, Granada Television, Television South, BBC World Service, etc., though the definite article is kept in the official name of the BBC.

b)No article is used with names of popular magazines,
e.g. Vogue, Time, New Society, Punch, Private Eye, etc.

c)The definite article is kept with names of quantity newspapers (The Times) and specialized periodicals (The Field, The Lancet,The Motor, The Listener, The Economist) where it is used in the generic function.

Note: The indefinite article denotes a copy of a newspaper or magazine, e.g. She drank a glass of wine and read a Newsweek (J.Grisham).

d) Names of foreign newspapers keep the article of the original language if any:

e.g. The semi-official Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram ... The Roman newspaper II Messengero ... The French newspaper Le Monde... Consequently the names of Ukrainian and Russian newspapers have no article in English because these languages have no articles, e.g. A poll in Den, a newspaper in Kiev... (The Economist)

EXERCISES

Exercise 35. a) Do you know much about the difference between British and American English? Try to point out at least 5 differences.

b) Read tha-passage about two differences between British and American English and decide if they are essential.

The basic meaning of 'dumb' in both British and American English is 'unable to speak'. In the USA it acquired a second meaning 'stupid¹, straight from the German 'dumm' (stupid), and the second meaning has now crossed the Atlantic to Britain.

To those who speak or learn American English 'wash up' means 'to wash one's hands' but in British English it means 'to wash the dishes' (B-USA).

c) Decide which words from the following list belong either to American or British English.

Elevator, lift; sidewalk-pavement; pavement-roadway; hire a car, rent a car; to line up, to queue; President, Managing Director; Hudson River, River Thames.

Exercise 36. a) Wliat is the relation between English and Welsh?

b) Read the following passage 'and determine if Welsh be­longs to the group of Germanic languages.

Welsh is not a dialect of English. It is a completely separate language as different from English as Greek or Italian. It is related to Scots and Irish Gaelic and to Briton spoken in the North-West of Wales. Compare the following numerals - five - pump: seven - saith; eight - wyth; nine - naw; ten - deg (ABC-K).

c) Decide which languages are more closely related -English and French, or English and Ukrainian (Russian).

Exercise 37. a) Do you know what is the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world?

b) Read the following passage and decide what aircraft are likely to appear in this country soon.

The largest aircraft manufacturer in the world is Boeing of Seattle, in the state of Washington. But of equal importance to American aviation are Douglas and Lockhead. William Boeing founded his corporation as far back as 1916. In World War II he built the Flying Fortress bomber, and it was largely as a result of war experience that he was able to construct such successful commercial aircraft after the war (B-USA).

Exercise 38. a) Ask your fellow-students if they know what Detroit is famous for. b) Read the passage and decide what cities of the world have a similar destiny.

General Motors, an amalgamation of Chevrolet, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Buick, built factories in Detroit as did Chrysler. In the 1960s one in three people who lived in Detroit worked in the automobile industry. Now many plants have been dispersed to other parts of the States, and unemployment, particularly among blacks, has become a serious problem (B-USA).

Exercise 39. a) Which drink do you prefer - Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola? Which of them do you expect to be best-selling in the world?

b) Read the following passage and make up a list of dif­ferences between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.

Coca-Cola is the best-selling soft drink in the world. 165 million 'Cokes' are sold every day from the equator to the Arctic. But whereas outside the USA Coke tends to be a young person's drink, inside the USA anybody of any age or income can drink it without embarrassment on any

occasion.

'Coke' is not the only 'cola' drink. Pepsi Cola is a well-known rival, for it is not as sweet as Coke. Cola drinks contain caffeine from kola nut and are the only soft drinks which are stimulating as well as refreshing (B-USA).

c) Select the best-selling drinks in this country.

Exercise 40. a) Is Hollywood a film studio or a city?

b) Read the passage and speak on the present-day life of Hollywood.

Hollywood's fame and fortune reached its peak in the 1930s and 1940s, the golden days of the black and white movies. Most of the famous motion picture corporations of those days, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia and Warner Brothers are still very much in business and great stars like Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, Gary Cooper, and many others have become immortal.

Hollywood is no longer the heart of world's motion picture industry. Most movies today are filmed on location, that is to say, in the cities, in the countryside, and in any part of the world that the script demands. The Hollywood studios are still standing, but most of them have been leased to television networks. About 80% of all American TV entertainment comes from Hollywood (B-USA).

c) Make up a list of famous studios of the world. Speak about one of them.

Exercise 41. a) Do you know much about radio in the UK?

b) Read the following passage and point out the advantages and disadvantages of various radio channels in Britain.

Radio One is the oldest national pop station. It started in 1969. It broadcasts a mixture of music (mostly top 40 records), news and information from 5.30 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. There are no commercials on Radio 1. Besides there are more than 200 local and community Radio Stations. The majority of them broadcast to just one part of the country. Some broadcast in languages other than English - Greek, Hindi or Turkish, for example. The best-known commercial local station is 'Capital Radio' in London (ELD).

c)Decide what features of British radio are being taken over-by the broadcasters in this country.

Exercise 42. a) Do you know what pastimes can make a person old before lime? Try to make up a list of them, b) Read the following passage and decide what pastimes your fellow-students should give up.

Scientists studying the secrets of long life believe that playing bingo and watching television can make you old before your time.

'Bingo kills the mind', said Dr. Warner Schaie, of Pennsylvania State University. 'To keep healthy and alert into the 70s, 80s and beyond it would be much better to play bridge or do crossword puzzles. The worst thing is to sit and watch television. He said that a study of a long-lived population in Hawaii showed three elements common to people active beyond their 80s - physical activity such as gardening, good nutrition, and living at home instead of in an institution (DM).

c) Discuss what pastimes are recommended for young people.

Exercise 43. a) Who is the connoisseur of Jazz among your friends? Ask him to tell you something about the history of Jazz, b) Read the following passage and see what new information about Jazz you can learn.

Jazz is a gift to the world from the American blacks. In the 1790a the Methodists, a Protestant sect, began to convert the slaves to Christianity, so that during the 19th century most of blacks became of one denomination or another. Music played an essential part in their services. Before long they had Africanized the music of the Christian hymn-books. In New Orleans black bands as well as white bands still play in the jazz halls of the old quarter. New Orleans is devoted to the preservation of jazz. One of favourite haunts of jazz lovers in New Orleans is called Preservation Hall, a little room whose walls are decorated with faded prints and photos of the great players of the past (B-USA).

Exercise 44. a) Do you know what relations between the President and Congress in the USA are maintained? b) Read the passage and point out who has more power in the USA - the President or Congress.

The President of the USA has more power than any other president in the democratic world, except the French President. He is leader of the nation and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Actually a great deal of the President's power is controlled by Congress, the American name for Parliament. Unlike the Prime Minister of Great Britain or Germany he can make a treaty with a foreign power. But this treaty must be debated and agreed by Congress before it comes into power. Congress has on several occasions refused to ratify treaties or give approval to laws prepared by the President (B-USA).

c) Comment on the relations between the President and Parliament in this country.

Exercise 45. Speak on the following situations.

1.Make up a list of leading business companies of this country. Decide which of them is likely to prosper in future.

2.Give recommendations to your teacher about the newspapers and magazines s/he should subscribe to.

3.Decide what company each of your fellow-students may set up and what name s/he is likely to choose for it.

4.Decide what kind of product is labelled by the trade mark 'Ensure'.

5.Decide what national and local newspapers in this country meet the requirements of population.

6.Decide what languages you will teach to your own children. Justify your opinion.

§ 3. Derivative Orientating Names

No article is used with the derivative orientating names which are derived from basic groups of orientating names (address names etc.).

J. Orientating names derived from address names:

a) denote places of activity:

- names of prisons, e.g. Dartmoor (from the name of a region), Wandsworth (from the name of a village), but: the Maze Prison:

- names of military bases, e.g. Greenham Common — an RAF base at the village of Greenham Common.

b) denote events:

- names of annual events, e.g. Cowes (week) - an annual sailing and yachting regatta at Cowes;

- names of disasters, e.g. the effect of Chernobyl on British agriculture.

2. Orientating names derived from personal names:

a) denote places of activity named by possessive nouns:

- names of hotels (Brown's);

- names of shops (Foyle's);

- names of museums (Madam Tussaud's);

- names of restaurants (Leoni's).

Note: In some cases the possessive suffix is developing into special orientating marker without apostrophe, e.g. Selfriges (department store), Bairclays (bank). This tendency is especially evident if we compare the form of some orientating names at different stages of the development of English: e.g. Outside Harrod's it was (A.Christie; 1947). Thousands of British shops now stock Swarovski -from designer jewellery at Harrods to the tiny crystals that decorate Mark and Spencer belts and brooches (RD, 1989).

b) denote objects of activity when an orientating name coincides with the personal name:

- names of bells, e.g. Great Paul;

- names of hurricanes, e.g. Then along came Hurricane Hugo (RD);

- names of reference books, e.g. Wisden - a cricket reference book.

Exercise 46. Fill in the blanks.

1. I watched the big planes take off from ... Cointrin, Geneva Airport. 2. He had become an expert on equipment at a departure desk at ... Kennedy. 3. ... Corpses of Jews (cemetery) lie about me rotting in the mould of their holy field. 4. Lieutenant Mike Phillips and John Connors sat in the humid darkness of the beach at ... Howard Air Base on December 19, 1989. 5. Mrs. C. had rung my office at ... Columbia Broadcasting to say hello. 6. He was now a tuberculosis patient in ... hospital. 7. He had married and grown into a responsible member of the community, a pillar of ... Baptist Church. 8. Casualities were taken to two hospitals, ... Bartholomew's and ... University College Hospital. 9. Robert immediately took her to the casualty department at ... Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. 10. It was delayed until the days after completion of ... Desert Storm Operation. 11. The French tanker, Betelgense, caught fire at ... Banty Bay. 12. ... Operation Woodpecker is a summer play-scheme for children. 13. ... Hong Kong, part of Jardin Matheson, already controls about 15%. 14. ... NASA was proposing a space shuttle employing the highest technology. 15. "How many people are there at ... Congress", my six-year-old wanted to know the night before we went to visit ... Capitol Hill.

Part 4

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 1693