Questões de Concurso Sobre inglês

Text 02

British Accents and Dialects: A Rough Guide 

Have you ever tried to put on a British accent? The chances are the accent you’re trying to copy is ‘Received Pronunciation’, or standard English – also known as the Queen’s English. Received Pronunciation, or RP, is what most non-Brits are used to hearing as a British accent, often when you switch on the BBC or World Service.

But it’s called the Queen’s English for a reason – hardly anyone in the UK apart from the Queen speaks this way.

The truth is, although it may be called Standard English, it is anything but standard. The British Isles is made up many, many different accents and dialects – more than 37 dialects at the last count. A dialect is a Variety of a language that differs from the standard language, in this case RP. Dialects can vary regionally – depending on where in the country a person is from, as well as socially.

[…]

Types of British Accents – Cockney

This is one of the UK’s most famous dialects, and it goes hand in hand with London. It came about as the dialect of the London working classes, especially in the poorer East End of the city. The Cockney dialect also gave us Rhyming Slang, and you can still hear plenty of market traders round the East End shouting out in Cockney from their stalls. With the Cockney accent, there are lots of ‘glottal stops’, and the ‘th’ sound frequently changes to an ‘f’ sound. There have also been some famously terrible attempts at the Cockney dialect – here’s Dick Van Dyke to show you how not to do it! 

Text adapted from: <https:englishlive.ef.com/en/blog/English-in-the-real-world/rough-guide-british-dialects/>

Text 02

British Accents and Dialects: A Rough Guide 

Have you ever tried to put on a British accent? The chances are the accent you’re trying to copy is ‘Received Pronunciation’, or standard English – also known as the Queen’s English. Received Pronunciation, or RP, is what most non-Brits are used to hearing as a British accent, often when you switch on the BBC or World Service.

But it’s called the Queen’s English for a reason – hardly anyone in the UK apart from the Queen speaks this way.

The truth is, although it may be called Standard English, it is anything but standard. The British Isles is made up many, many different accents and dialects – more than 37 dialects at the last count. A dialect is a Variety of a language that differs from the standard language, in this case RP. Dialects can vary regionally – depending on where in the country a person is from, as well as socially.

[…]

Types of British Accents – Cockney

This is one of the UK’s most famous dialects, and it goes hand in hand with London. It came about as the dialect of the London working classes, especially in the poorer East End of the city. The Cockney dialect also gave us Rhyming Slang, and you can still hear plenty of market traders round the East End shouting out in Cockney from their stalls. With the Cockney accent, there are lots of ‘glottal stops’, and the ‘th’ sound frequently changes to an ‘f’ sound. There have also been some famously terrible attempts at the Cockney dialect – here’s Dick Van Dyke to show you how not to do it! 

Text adapted from: <https:englishlive.ef.com/en/blog/English-in-the-real-world/rough-guide-british-dialects/>

Text 02

British Accents and Dialects: A Rough Guide 

Have you ever tried to put on a British accent? The chances are the accent you’re trying to copy is ‘Received Pronunciation’, or standard English – also known as the Queen’s English. Received Pronunciation, or RP, is what most non-Brits are used to hearing as a British accent, often when you switch on the BBC or World Service.

But it’s called the Queen’s English for a reason – hardly anyone in the UK apart from the Queen speaks this way.

The truth is, although it may be called Standard English, it is anything but standard. The British Isles is made up many, many different accents and dialects – more than 37 dialects at the last count. A dialect is a Variety of a language that differs from the standard language, in this case RP. Dialects can vary regionally – depending on where in the country a person is from, as well as socially.

[…]

Types of British Accents – Cockney

This is one of the UK’s most famous dialects, and it goes hand in hand with London. It came about as the dialect of the London working classes, especially in the poorer East End of the city. The Cockney dialect also gave us Rhyming Slang, and you can still hear plenty of market traders round the East End shouting out in Cockney from their stalls. With the Cockney accent, there are lots of ‘glottal stops’, and the ‘th’ sound frequently changes to an ‘f’ sound. There have also been some famously terrible attempts at the Cockney dialect – here’s Dick Van Dyke to show you how not to do it! 

Text adapted from: <https:englishlive.ef.com/en/blog/English-in-the-real-world/rough-guide-british-dialects/>

For question, consider the following collocation: “Congratulations on” and choose the best-suited alternatives.

Read text 1 and answer question.

The Times They Are A-Changin' - By Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round, people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters around you have

grown

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the

bone

If your time to you is worth saving

Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like

a stone

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics who prophesize with

your pen

And keep your eyes wide, the chance won't

come again

And don't speak too soon, for the wheel's still in

spin 

And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'

For the loser now will be later to win

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen, please heed the

call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin'

Will soon shake your windows and rattle your

walls 

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly aging

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend

your hand

The line, it is drawn

The curse, it is cast

The slow one now will later be fast

As the present now will later be past

The order is rapidly fading

And the first one now will later be last

For the times, they are a-changin'

For the times, they are a-changin'

Read text 1 and answer question.

The Times They Are A-Changin' - By Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round, people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters around you have

grown

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the

bone

If your time to you is worth saving

Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like

a stone

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics who prophesize with

your pen

And keep your eyes wide, the chance won't

come again

And don't speak too soon, for the wheel's still in

spin 

And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'

For the loser now will be later to win

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen, please heed the

call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin'

Will soon shake your windows and rattle your

walls 

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly aging

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend

your hand

The line, it is drawn

The curse, it is cast

The slow one now will later be fast

As the present now will later be past

The order is rapidly fading

And the first one now will later be last

For the times, they are a-changin'

For the times, they are a-changin'

Read text 1 and answer question.

The Times They Are A-Changin' - By Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round, people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters around you have

grown

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the

bone

If your time to you is worth saving

Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like

a stone

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics who prophesize with

your pen

And keep your eyes wide, the chance won't

come again

And don't speak too soon, for the wheel's still in

spin 

And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'

For the loser now will be later to win

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen, please heed the

call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled

The battle outside ragin'

Will soon shake your windows and rattle your

walls 

For the times, they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly aging

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend

your hand

The line, it is drawn

The curse, it is cast

The slow one now will later be fast

As the present now will later be past

The order is rapidly fading

And the first one now will later be last

For the times, they are a-changin'

For the times, they are a-changin'

Text 3

Digital habits across generations 

Today’s grandparents are joining their grandchildren on social media, but the different generations’ online habits couldn’t be more different. In the UK the over55s are joining Facebook in increasing numbers, meaning that they will soon be the site’s second biggest user group, with 3.5 million users aged 55-64 and 2.9 million over-65s.

Sheila, aged 59, says, ‘I joined to see what my grandchildren are doing, as my daughter posts videos and photos of them. It’s a much better way to see what they’re doing than waiting for letters and photos in the post. That’s how we did it when I was a child, but I think I’m lucky I get to see so much more of their lives than my grandparents did.’ Ironically, Sheila’s grandchildren are less likely to use Facebook themselves. Children under 17 in the UK are leaving the site – only 2.2 million users are under 17 – but they’re not going far from their smartphones.

Chloe, aged 15, even sleeps with her phone. ‘It’s my alarm clock so I have to,’ she says. ‘I look at it before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up.’ Unlike her grandmother’s generation, Chloe’s age group is spending so much time on their phones at home that they are missing out on spending time with their friends in real life. Sheila, on the other hand, has made contact with old friends from school she hasn’t heard from in forty years. ‘We use Facebook to arrange to meet all over the country,’ she says. ‘It’s changed my social life completely.’ Teenagers might have their parents to thank for their smartphone and social media addiction as their parents were the early adopters of the smartphone. Peter, 38 and father of two teenagers, reports that he used to be on his phone or laptop constantly. ‘I was always connected and I felt like I was always working,’ he says. ‘How could I tell my kids to get off their phones if I was always in front of a screen myself?’ So, in the evenings and at weekends, he takes his SIM card out of his smartphone and puts it into an old-style mobile phone that can only make calls and send text messages. ‘I’m not completely cut off from the world in case of emergencies, but the important thing is I’m setting a better example to my kids and spending more quality time with them.’ Is it only a matter of time until the generation above and below Peter catches up with the new trend for a less digital life?

Source: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org