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English Revisited: Tips, Tidbits & Tutorials No. 2/2020 English Revisited: Tips, Tidbits & Tutorials IN THIS ISSUE Editorial 2 Currently on 2 Offer Grammar: 3 Reduced Relative Clauses Intercultural: 4 You Say “To-ma-to“ Vocabulary: 5 On Leave Language Center Contact Us University of Stuttgart [email protected] Breitscheidstraße 2 70174 Stuttgart After an exciting and rewarding three-year leave of absence working for the DAAD at the EDITORIAL German Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology (GMIT) in Ulaanbaatar, I am now back at the helm of the English Department at the Language Center. Having been “on leave” prompted me to explore in the vocabulary section of this issue of our newsletter the use of the noun “leave” in this context. Working at an English-language German university in Mongolia meant dealing with students GLOSSARY and staff who were not native speakers of English and whose mastery of English varied at the helm: depending on whether they had spent time in an English-speaking country or had come into in a leadership position contact with native speakers of English before. Accent was a quick, albeit not always reliable, to prompt s.o. to do sth.: way to assess someone’s language level on the fly. In the intercultural section of our news- to cause s.o. to do sth. letter, we examine the effect that accent has on language level perception. albeit: though Lastly, for our grammar whizzes wishing to test their smarts, we have taken a more in-depth look at relative clauses, in particular the reduced structure used in the first part of this on the fly: sentence. Did you spot it? Read on to find out more about reduced relative clauses. while doing sth. else; without stopping whiz (slang): John Nixon smart person smarts (colloquial): knowledge CURRENTLY If you are interested in any of the following, please click on the links or contact us. ON OFFER Regular Courses Mini Workshops (only with login) Workshops for Master’s and PhD Students Schreibwerkstatt/Writing Centre Englischkurse für Beschäftigte Intercultural Offerings @Comments Do you have any ideas for future issues or would like to give us feedback? Please contact us. @Subscription Page 2 Grammar Reduced Relative Clauses In order to understand how to create reduced Instead of a participle an adjective can be placed relative clauses we need to look at the basics immediately after the noun at the beginning of a first. In English there are two types of relative reduced relative sentence. clauses: defining and non-defining. Defining Peter White is a manager capable of leading a relative clauses give us important information team well. about the person or thing the speaker is refer- ( = Peter White is a manager who is capable of ring to. Without the relative clause it might be leading a team well. ) difficult to understand the meaning of the I don’t know anybody better at drawing up a ques- sentence. We do not use commas with defining tionnaire than him. clauses. The relative pronoun that can be used, ( = I don’t know anybody who is better at drawing and it can be left out when it is the object. up a questionnaire than him. ) Prepositions normally go at the end of the sentence containing a relative clause. You often find a reduced relative clause after My sister works for a company that makes washing machines. there is / are. GLOSSARY Who’s the guy you were talking to? There is a student waiting outside your office. preceding: coming before Non-defining relative clauses give us extra infor- mation. Without this type of relative clause the A relative clause can also be reduced when its to draw up: meaning of the main sentence would still be verb expresses a habitual or a continuous to create (usually with clear. We do use a comma before and after a action or when the verb is to wish, want, hope, plans) non-defining relative clause. The relative pro- or desire (but not like). habitual: noun that cannot be used, and you cannot drop occurring often the relative pronoun either Passengers travelling on the underground My sister works for ABCD, which also makes normally buy their tickets online. to queue (UK): washing machines. ( = Passengers who travel on the underground to line up (US) normally buy their tickets online. ) If we want to refer to the information of the People wishing to go on a sightseeing tour whole preceding sentence, we have to use which around Greenwich must queue this side. (and not what). ( = People who wish to go on a sightseeing tour I couldn’t come to your party, which was a pity. around Greenwich must queue this side. ) By contrast, what means the thing(s) that. And here is where we come across one excep- I went to Harrod’s but they didn’t have what I tion: also non-defining relative clauses featuring was looking for. either a verb expressing a wish or a verb of knowing or thinking can be reduced, i.e. Reduced Relative Clauses replaced by a present participle. They keep the Reduced relative clauses are shortened defining commas, too. relative clauses: instead of a complete relative sentence, a present participle (-ing form) or a Susan, thinking the trip to Glasgow would take past participle (-ed form unless irregular) is much longer, had rented a car. used immediately after the noun it modifies. A ( = Susan, who thought the trip to Glasgow form of to be is part of the defining relative would take much longer, had rented a car.) clause verb. Practice makes perfect! So over to you with a I counted the number of students waiting few exercises. outside the classroom. ( = I counted the number of students who were Exercises waiting outside the classroom. ) Sylvia Grade Our department had to pay for the rooms used in the exam.( = Our department had to pay for the rooms that were used in the exam. ) @ Page 3 Intercultural Communication You Say “To -mah-to”1 The majority of people who learn a foreign experiment from the University of Chicago it language will never achieve a native speaker’s was shown that statements made by speakers level of pronunciation. Nonetheless, speaking with no accent were rated as being significantly without an accent is still widely perceived as the more believable than the same statements made ideal, which is an unreasonable expectation by speakers with mild or heavy accents, which considering the fact that it requires one to have were rated about the same and less believable. extensive exposure to the foreign language, GLOSSARY ideally starting from a young age. So what does this all mean for you, dear reader, to perceive: if you have an accent? For most of us, having an to realize or understand The topic of age is controversial when examin- accent is luckily a non-issue. However, if you extensive: ing the human capacity to learn foreign were to have a job interview and are competing large, considerable languages. The prevailing theory is that children against several native speakers, it could help to are more apt to master a language. However, acknowledge the “elephant in the room” and to prevailing: some researchers, such as the authors of one talk about the fact that you are not a native widespread study from Harvard University, suggest that age speaker. You can focus on the hard work that to be apt to do: is actually less of a deciding factor than one’s you invested in learning the language, and there- to have a tendency situation. The authors contend that the reason fore what the interviewers might have initially many adults do not become proficient in a perceived as a weakness could be turned into a to contend: language is simply due to a lack of time since strength. If having an accent makes you too self- to state an argument they are busy with work, family, and other conscious or shy, you may consider taking a exceedlingly: responsibilities. Children have more time to course in accent reduction. Even adults can excessively devote to learning a language, but an adult who improve their pronunciation. That being said, cognate: is dedicated and motivated may also achieve a the degree to which pronunciation can be im- a word having the same very advanced level. proved depends on the person and how much origin as another foreign time is invested. word, eg. father and However, age does seem to play an important Vater role when it comes to pronunciation. It is For most of us, our accents are here to stay and exceedingly rare to encounter someone that we will just have to embrace them. They are to embrace: began later in life to study a foreign language what make us like pretty much everyone else (here) to accept openly and is able to speak it without an accent. People when it comes to speaking a foreign language. pretty (adverb): who achieve native speaker pronunciation most (here colloquial) very likely spent several years in the target country, Dr. Joseph Michaels they had parents from that country and were raised bilingually, or they attended a dual lan- guage school. Most of us do not meet these Footnote 1 criteria. Besides age, there are additional factors The title is based on a 1937 song by Ira and George that affect our abilities to learn a foreign Gershwin, “Let’s call the whole thing off,” which is language. In some countries, like Japan, reading about how words can be pronounced differently depending on one’s class or country of origin. and writing are more strongly emphasized than speaking.
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