SOME OBSERVATIONSENGLISH AS FIRST LANGUAGEAccording to a National Geographic.com study of 2004, the percentage of the global population that grew up speaking English as its
first language is declining. Reasons may be many.
On the other hand, I understand that those who control the Internet, propose to make English as a
compulsory language, for placing any text on the Net. It appears that they are going make some Code/guidelines insisting upon translation of all material written in other languages. There also seems to be a threat of removing Non-English texts from the Net, if not translated into English within a stipulated time. This is somewhat arbitrary, though such arbitrariness may be justified on the ground of 'Net security and protection from terrorism.
The combined result of decline of English as first language and raise of English as the sole monarch lingo of the Netizens, will be: there is going to be an increase in number of those who use
English as their Second Language.
Why this distinction between those who use '
English as first language' and those who use '
English as Second Language'. The native English speakers whether in England or in USA who have English as their mother tongue, but have little formal education, may still be weak in their vocabulary because they are not exposed to a wide spectrum of diction which is a concomitant of higher education. They may have an edge over those who use English as their second language, with little formal education --- in the areas of grammar, use of prepositions and idioms. This weakness of those who use English as their second language may stem from their tendency to carry the grammatical structures and the idioms of their mother tongue into English. Though this may in short run may expose English to appear a hybrid tongue, will in fact enrich English. Today, English is strong, owing to this toning up by borrowing from other languages. Those who use English as their Second language have an advantage in the sense that they are not burdened with colloquial, informal, slang expressions found dime a dozen in native usages. Anyway, I do not want to create or strengthen a controversy about 'First language or Second language'. The object of a language is to facilitate communication oral, verbal, written, personal, social, Corporate or group. As long as this object is served without sacrificing clarity and courtesy, we can go ahead learning and using the language.
TODAY'S MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS QUIZ #54
QUESTIONS 531 TO 540
BASED ON TEN ASSORTED WORDS
1. Laconic: Not talking often, using few words
2. Medley: Mixture of different things
3. Incongruous: A sort of disagreement, inappropriateness, incompatibility, unsuitaility.
4. Fabulous: Extremely pleasing to the extent of near-unbelievability
5. Mumble (v): Utter words indistinctly, speak words indistinctly, chew slowly
6. Cantankerous: Disagreeable, ill tempered, quarrelsome, difficult to handle
7. Grouch: Complaint, grudge, grumbling and sulky mood, grumbling and sulky person
8. Fastidious: Careful, exacting to the extent of 'difficult to please', meticulous
9. Knobby: Unshapely; having rounded knobs and handles
10. Simian: Ape, monkey, monkey-like
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words, writing down your answers on a slip of paper. If you please necessary, you can check with the key, clicking: Click to see: McQuestAnsYb. Your answers need not agree with the key. Selecting a word is always a question of personal choice. But, pl. ponder over, how far your word and the word chosen by the authors fit in the context.531. The tragic is, like the comic, simply the ___________. The great Tragedy of Nature, which is called the Struggle for Existence, results simply from a greater or less incongruousness between
any form of life and its surroundings....The comic is found in an incongruous relation considered merely as to its FORM, while the tragic is found in an incongruous relation taken as to its reality [Ethel D. Puffer in his 'The Psychology of Beauty'].
532. The evolution theory, stretching from matter to man, is impossible,
because of many impassable gulfs. Some of these impassable gulfs are:-- .... 8. . Between mammals and the human body; 9. Between soulless _______ and the soul of man, bearing the image of God. There is not a scrap of evidence that these gulfs have ever been crossed. [William A Williams in his 'The Evolution Of Man Scientifically Disproved'].
533. "Have you seen that stately hill of the dead, the Necropolis, from Cathedral Square? It is itself a quaint and beautiful ______ of architecture past and present." [Israel Zangwill in his 'Without Prejudice'].
534. "... I learned that they were all engineers. At meals they discuss engineering problems in the most awe-inspiring German. After supper they smoke impossible German pipes and dozens of cigarettes. They have bulging, ______ foreheads and bristling pompadours, and some of the rawest of them wear wild-looking beards, and thick spectacles, and cravats and trousers that Lew Fields never even dreamed of. [Edna Ferber in her 'Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed].
535. These vast grey dwellings are all of a fashion denoting more generous social needs than any they serve nowadays. They speak of better days and of a ________ time when Italy was either not shabby or could at least "carry off" her shabbiness. [Henry James in his 'Italian Hours'].
536. But more interesting still, perhaps, are the glimpses we get of Dr. Galbraith himself in the narrative, throughout which it is easy to decipher the simple earnestness of the man, the cautious professionalism and integrity, the touches of tender sentiment held in check, the dash of egotism, the healthy-minded
human nature, the capacity for enjoyment and sorrow, the love of life, and, above all, the perfect unconsciousness with which he shows himself to have been a man of __________ refinement and exemplary moral strength and delicacy; of the highest possible character; and most lovable in spite of a somewhat irascible temper and manner which were apt to be abrupt at times. [Madame Sarah Grand in her book 'The Heavenly Twins'].
537. Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany,
Some ______-news, some trencher-knight, some Dick,
That smiles his cheek in years, and knows the trick
To make my lady laugh when she's dispos'd. [Shakespeare in his play 'Love's labor is lost].
538. Does the _______ get richer quicker than the friendly sort of man? Can the grumbler labor better than the cheerful fellow can? Is the mean and churlish neighbor any cleverer than the one Who shouts a glad "good morning," and then smiling passes on? [Edgar A. Guest, in his poem 'It is n't costly].
539. The old folks look on and get very talkative over their cups; the children are allowed a little extra indulgence in sitting up; the dull, reserved fellows become loquacious, shake one another by the hand or slap each other on the back, discovering, all at once, what capital friends they are. The ____________ individual gets quarrelsome, and the amorous unusually loving. [Henry Walter Bates in his book 'The Naturalist on the River Amazons'].
540. Claude Anet was of an uncommon temper. I never encountered a similar disposition: he was slow, deliberate, and circumspect in his conduct; cold in his manner; _______ and sententious in his discourse; yet of an impetuosity in his passions, which (though careful to conceal) preyed upon him inwardly, and urged him to the only folly he ever committed; that folly, indeed was terrible, it was poisoning himself. [J.J. Rousseau in 'The Confessions of J.J. Rousseau'].
