English Test-10th Form - The Importance of English

ESCOLA BÁSICA 2,3/SEC DE ALCAINS

English Formative Test Name: ________________________________ Nr: ___ Class: _____ Date: _______________________________ 10th Form - Classes A/B

Activity A Listen to the text “2 700 languages spoken in the world” and decide whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE. (http://webenglish.moodlehub.com/mod/resource/view.php?id=937) 1. The invention of language is documented in History books. 2. The Sumerians of Mesopotamia invented the writing in the 4th millennium BC. 3. Today there are more than 2700 dialects in the world. 4. There are 365 different spoken languages in Indonesia alone. 5. Afrikaans has developed from Dutch and Spanish. 6. The internet and mobile phone texting are changing languages all over the world.

_____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________

Activity B Match the capital cities with the countries above using the vocabulary from the box below. Some cities do not match.

UNITED KINGDOM 1.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2.

3.

NEW ZEALAND

AUSTRALIA 5.

6.

CANADA

SOUTH AFRICA 4.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

INDIA 7.

8.

a) Wellington

f) Sidney

k) Pretoria

b) Washington DC

g) Johannesburg

l) Canberra

c) London

h) New Delhi

m) Belfast

d) Ottawa

i) New York

n) Toronto

e) Mumbai

j) Dublin

o) Liverpool

Activity C Read the following text carefully.

The importance of English

5

10

15

20

25

30

English is not the most widely spoken language in the world in terms of the number of native speakers. There are many more Chinese speakers than native English speakers, but Chinese is spoken little outside of Chinese communities, so English is the most widespread language in the world. It is difficult to estimate exactly how many English speakers there are, but according to one estimate there are more than 350,000,000 native English speakers and more than 400,000,000 speakers of English as a second language (a language used in everyday life, even though it is the native language) or foreign language (a language studied but not used much in everyday life). The importance of English lies not just in how many people speak it but in what it is used for. English is the major language of news and information in the world. It is the language of business and government even in some countries where it is a minority language. It is the language of maritime communication and international air traffic control, and it is used even for internal air traffic control in countries where it is not a native language. American popular culture — primarily movies and music — carries the English language throughout the world. English is commonly used as a medium for the communication of information and news. Three quarters of all telex messages and telegrams are sent in English. Eighty percent of computer data are processed and stored in English. Much satellite communication is carried in English. Five thousand newspapers, more than half of the newspapers published in the world, are published in English. Even in many countries where English is a minority language, there is at least one newspaper in English. In India alone, there are three thousand magazines published in English. In many countries, television news is broadcast in English. Because of the power of television, demonstrators in every country use signs printed in English for the benefit of the international press. They know it has a stronger impact. English is a major language of international business, diplomacy, science and the professions. It is the language that an Iranian businessman and a Japanese businessman are likely to use to communicate. Important commodities such as silver, tin and hard currency are traded in English. English is also an official language, or the official language, of many international organizations, including the United Nations and many professional organizations. It is frequently the language of international conferences, and it is the language of international athletics. Throughout the world, many professional papers are published in English. Even papers that are published in other languages often have abstracts in English. http://www.englishfirst.org/eff/kitao.wh.htm

A. All these statements about the text you’ve just read are false. Correct them. 1. The number of people who speak English as a second language is lower than native language speakers. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. A minority of telex messages and telegrams are sent in English. ___________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Two thirds of the newspapers printed in the world are published in English. ___________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ B. Say who/what the words refer to in the text. 1. it (line 10) ____________________________ 2. they (line 23) __________________________

C. Match the words (in column A) with their equivalents (in column B). 1. widespread a) habitually 2. primarily b) information 3. commonly c) something advantageous 4. data d) essentially 5. benefit e) everywhere 6. frequently f) commonly found 7. throughout g) abridgement 8. abstracts h) often 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

D. Answer these questions on the text. Use your own words as much as possible. 1. How many people in the world speak English? _________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Why is English so important nowadays? _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ E. Go back to the text and identify the parts of speech of these words. 1. foreign (line 7) ___________________________ 2. some (line 11) ___________________________ 3. carries (line 14) ___________________________ 4. diplomacy (line 24) ___________________________ 5. or (line 27) ___________________________ 6. often (31) ___________________________

F- Read the sentence below taken from the text and answer the questions. “Even papers that are published in other languages often have abstracts in English.” 1. Identify the underlined verb tense. ___________________________________________________ 2. Explain its use in this context. ______________________________________________________ 3. Refer to other uses of this verb tense. ________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Say how it is formed in the affirmative, negative and interrogative forms. _____________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Mention the time expressions that can be used with this verb tense. ________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ G. Match the British words on the right with their American equivalents on the left.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

BRITISH ENGLISH chemist trousers lorry shop form inverted commas 1

2

a. b. c. d. e. f. 3

4

AMERICAN ENGLISH store quotation marks grade druggist pants truck 5

6

H. Which sentences would a Briton or an American say? Tick the appropriate box. Briton American 1. She began modeling at the age of 14. 2. We love to play in a team. 3. Has he heard the news yet?

Activity D English is also studied as a foreign language in countries where it is not generally used as a medium of communication. In China, English language lessons are popular TV programs. Two hundred and fifty million Chinese are learning English from TV. English is usually the most commonly taught foreign language in many countries, and people understand it a little at least. Write about the importance of learning English. (120-110 words)