The English We Use [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION FOR THE TEACHER EXPLANATION Purpose How can you master English? By thoroughly assimilating the language habits of people who speak it as their mother-tongue, especially of people with something important to say who succeed in communicating it. After years of struggling with English at school and even at university, many students fall far short of mastery. The remedy is not to be found only in 'structural drills', which, very helpful up to a point, are often without context and real meaning. It is not to be found in lowering examination standards; nor in providing students with specimen examination answers which merely give them the illusion of mastery. What is usually needed is plenty of practice in hearing, reading, speaking and writing authentic, correct and connected English on subjects of interest to an intelligent mind. Those are the assumptions on which this book is based. It is therefore a selection of examples of the English that we, in whose native soil the English language is rooted and flourishes, use today in cultivated speech and composition. The examples are typical but not commonplace. They contain English that is worth communicating, English that people have wanted to listen to and to read. The book is more than a ready-made selection of examples. Instructions are provided on how to use this material for language practice; and there is a variety of exercises which will help the student to speak and write grammatical and idiomatic English in genuine contexts. The whole is the result of practical class-room experience during which many of these texts and exercises have been tried out and found effective. 1