6. An outstanding character from Kolkata in the world

Finally, in this section we'll deal with the modal verbs will and would,as well as the vowel sounds: /e/, /ə/ and /ɜ:/.

Icono IDevice Curiosity

An outstanding character from Kolkata

Satyajit Ray studied at the University of Calcutta.
By R. Sahoo. GNU license.

Satyajit Ray (2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and letters. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves during a visit to London.

Ray directed thirty-seven films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, graphic designer and film critic. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Document at the Cannes film festival. Alongside Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959), the three films form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, cinematography, art direction, editing and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992.

Adapted from Wikipedia.


Will and would

 

Study this chart and have a look at the examples given to learn the different uses of will and would.

 


Will

I can’t wait for longer so I’ll walk home.

I'll cook for you if you like.

I’ll go to Madrid next Monday.

Taxes will increase next year.

Instant decisions

Offer

Promise

Certain prediction


 

 


Would

Would you mind if I close the window now?

Would you pass the pepper please?

Would three o`clock suit you? It's not too early.

Would you like to come with me to the cinema?

Would you prefer black or white coffee?

Asking for permission

Request

Making arrangements

Invitation

Preferences

 

Icono de iDevice Solved exercise

1) I will take you to Disney World if your marks are good..

2) Would you like to play tennis with Alex next Sunday morning?

3) The weather conditions will get worse tomorrow.

4) Would you mind if I borrow your favourite book?

5) I'll help you with your homework if you switch off the TV.

6) Would you take the rubbish out for me, please?

7) If he's not coming soon we'll start playing without him.

8) Would you prefer the red dress or the blue one?

 

Say which sentence with the modal verbs will and would expresses prediction, promise, offer, instant decision, permission, preferences, invitation and request.

Icono IDevice Important
The letter writer.
By R. Banerji. C. Commons.

General Indian English

Most Indians who learn English learn their own Indian Language before they learn English. In other words, they have in them very strongly formal linguistic habits and these linguistic habits are bound to interfere with their learning of English.

Many Indians use voiced labio-dental approximant [v] in place of /v/ and /w/ which occur in English. Apart from these features, there are strong regional features in the English spoken by Indians and these are a direct influence. A Tamilian often pronounces ‘egg’ as /jeg/ instead of /eg/, a Bihari pronounces ‘school’ as /isku;l/ and stamp as /istemp/. The result is that these and other such gross regional features render the English speech of Indians unintelligible even to fellow Indian. There are indeed, many varieties of English spoken in India, such as Tamil English, Telugu English, Kannada English, Urdu English, Punjabi English etc.
General Indian English is free from regional features.
By S. Banshali. C. Commons.

Are you interested? Would you like to read more about this? Then get to phonetics english. and go to the bottom of the page.

Features of /e/, /ə/ and /ɜ:/

/e/

 

1) Its vowel height is close-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open-mid vowel.

Imagen creada a partir de wikipedia. Creative Commons

 

2) Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.

3) Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

get, said, bed, head, bet, pencil, men, negative, friend

/ə/
1) Its vowel height is close-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open-mid vowel.
2) Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
3) Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
sister, another, today, teenager, again, mother, succeed, parent
/ɜ:/
1) Its vowel height is open-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and mid vowel.
2) Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
3) Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.
furniture, worm, surname, third, journey, perfect, church, dirty, firm
 
To learn more about this go to wikipedia.
Icono de IDevice de pregunta Self-assessment
The following words have been taken from the text about the General Indian English. Choose the appropriate vowel sound for each group of words.
1) other, render, formal, apart, regional.
  
a) Close-mid, front, unrounded sound /e/
b) Close-mid, central, unrounded sound /ə/
c) Open-mid, central, unrounded sound /ɜ:/

2) them, when, attempt, dental, many.
  
a) Close-mid, front, unrounded sound /e/
b) Close-mid, central, unrounded sound /ə/
c) Open-mid, central, unrounded sound /ɜ:/

3) learn, words, emerge, occur, certain.
  
a) Close-mid, front, unrounded sound /e/
b) Close-mid, central, unrounded sound /ə/
c) Open-mid, central, unrounded sound /ɜ:/

Icono de iDevice Reflexión

With phonetic transcriptions, dictionaries tell us about the pronunciation of words. Phonetic transcription is necessary, because the spelling of a word does not tell us how we should pronounce it.

Phonetic transcriptions are usually written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in which each English sound has a special symbol.

Phonetic transcription is usually given between slashes: "/".

Have a look at this video to refresh the pronunciation of vowel sounds,

especially /e/, /ə/ and /ɜ:/.

 

 

Icono IDevice Further knowledge

Here you can see some examples where the sound /e/, /ə/ (schwa) and /ɜ:/ may appear.

If you want to learn more about the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), then click here.

This web page is for people interested in learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols. This is a useful skill for learners of English who may want to check the pronunciation of a word in a dictionary. Use the phonetic chart to learn the sounds of English.

 


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