Over to you [antikvár]

To the studentThe aim of this book is to help you to become an active participant in conversation and discussion in Enghsh. At the stage you have reached, you probably feel that you have quite a sound knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary, and you are probably beginning to take part in classroom and real life conversation with a certain amount of ease. However, you might have difficulties of the following kinds.a)There are features of English speech, and characteristics of the kind of interaction that goes on between English speakers, which make it difficult for you to interpret what lies behind the words. The problem for you is not just one of understanding, but of how and when to participate in the conversation. Have you ever spent an evening with a group of English speakers, had a general understanding of what was said, but been left with the sensation that there was more to it and that really you were able to say little that was directly related to the real topic of conversation ?b)Everything that is spoken in a language has a special function to fulfil : the speaker may give or request information, offer advice, prohibit, express an opinion, etc. Although you have a good knowledge of the grammatical forms of English, you may find it difficult to use a wide range of appropriate communicative functions.c)Foreign students ofEnglish generally have difficulty with the subtleties of stressand intonation patterns because these are more direcdy related to the communicative functions mentioned above than to grammatical forms ; but as you have not had systematic practice in using the functions, this relationship has never been made clear to you.d)At this stage of language learning you are probably rapidly building up your vocabulary and reading in English on a wide range of topics. There is a danger that you will ignore the necessity to use this new knowledge orally in appropriate contexts.This book is organised to help you overcome these difficulties. It consists of twenty units, each based on a topic providing the general subject content of the unit.1 ListeningBoth the subject content and the linguistic content of the unit are first presented in a dialogue which you will listen to several times, at first without seeing the printed text.2 Comprehension A : Speech featuresYour attention will be directed to one particular speech feature which often causes students ofEnglish listening and interpretation problems; for example, in unit 2 Comprehension A gives you practice in interpreting incomplete sentences.