99 204 ET Erm ce Gender awareness and vocabulary In professional contexts and elsewhere, we often take care to use gender-neutral language in English David Crystal, in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, writes: ‘Attention has been focused on the replacement of ‘male’ words with a generic meaning by neutral items - chairman, for example, becoming chair or chairperson (though not without controversy) or salesman becoming sales assistant. In certain cases, such as job descriptions, the use of sexually neutral language has become a legal requirement. There is continuing debate between extremists and moderates as to how far such revisions should go - whether they should affect traditional idioms such as man in the street’ and Neanderthal Man?, or apply to parts of words where the male meaning of man is no longer dominant, such as manhandle' and woman. The vocabulary of marital status has also been affected, notably in the introduction of Ms as a neutral alternative to Miss or Mrs. “a typical person (could be replaced by person in the street) present-day humans *handle roughly, using force Here are some examples of gender-neutral variations of vocabulary. *anow-extinct species that were the ancestors of spokesman spokesperson fireman, policeman firefighter, police officer air hostess, flight attendant leaning lady cleaner foreman supervisor man-made | artificial mankind the human race / human beings ‘to man (a machine or place of work) to staff Words referring to men and women [or Sea example ‘male, female | used for gender classification in biology male and female bees ‘masculine, | having qualities traditionally elt to be typically male or ‘masculine pride, feminine feminine | female charm guy, bloke | informal words for aman Jack's @ really nice guy. uys ‘an informal word for men and women, especially in the Do any of you guys fancy phrase you guys, as a way of addressing people directly going out for a pizza tonight? girlfriend | used by women to refer to a female friend Tm meeting up with a few girlfriends this evening, irlie/girly | used to describe things that girs and young women often | They'rehavinga girlie enjoy without men, especialy invalving clothes, make-up, etc. | evening at home, ad informal word for a boy or young man He's having a night out with some of the lads tonight. laddish used to describe unpleasant behaviour thought to be typical | I can't stand that kind of cof young men ina group, especially drinking alcohol laddish behaviour! ‘macho used to describe a man who likes to appear strong and He refuses to cry ~it would doesn’t show his feelings spoil his macho image! English Vocabulary in Use Advancedpelea kaa eee uns BF eatures of headline language Ifa story hits the headlines it suddenly receives a lot of attention in the news. Here are two typical examples of headlines from tabloid newspapers with comments on their use of language. [popular papers with small pages and short simple reports] -XPERT REVEALS NEW CLOUD DANGERS + Articles, prepositions and auxiliary verbs are often omitted from headlines. This use of the present simple instead of the past tense makes the story sound more immediate. + The use of language is often ambiguous. Itis not entirely clear, for example, what cloud refers to here, Itis actually about the dangers of storing electronic information on a ‘cloud’ [hosted services ‘on the internet for storing personal datal, but it could have referred to dangers relating to the weather. Readers have to look at the story in order to find out. + Words with dramatic associations such as danger are often used. VEU Rar ag ta tees TY This story is about how a well-known television actor was shot by a mentally unstable killer. + In order to attract readers’ attention, tabloid newspapers often feature celebrities, e.g. film/pop stars and sports personalities. + Alliteration such as TV Star Tragic Target is often used to attract the eye in headlines and to make them sound more memorable. + Newspapers tend to use strong, simple words such as ‘gunman’ in order to express an idea or image as briefly and as vividly as possible. Strongly emotional words like erazed are often used to attract attention. [behaving in a wild or strange way, especially because of strong emotion] ET) Viotent words Violent and militaristic words are often used in headlines, especially in tabloid newspapers, in order to make stories seem more dramatic. For example, people who cause trouble may be referred to as thugs, yobs or louts, EU acts to crush’ terror of thugs Cerra Palace besieged’ by journalists lees Dn ae cos The kind of language thatis common in headlines may sound strange in other “destroy ® taking serious measures to deal with a problem > surrounded, as ifby army “moves in a destructive way BE Playing with words Many newspaper headlines attract readers’ attention by playing on words in an entertaining way. For ‘example, a story about a very heavy rainstorm which caused a landslide on a narrow mountain road was headlined Rain of terror. This headline was a play on words based on the expression reign of terror, an expression used about a period in which a country's ruler controls people in a particularly cruel way. Another example is the use of the headline Moon becomes shooting star to describe a football match where a player called John Moon shot [scored] the winning goal. Shooting star is an informal expression for a meteor. Here itis used to play on the expression shoot a geal, and also to link to the player's name, Moon (another astronomical body), The headline is particularly effective because of the association between star and moon in the sky. contexts. So the vocabulary in this unit is more likely to be useful to you when you are reading rather than when you are speaking or writing. 206 English Vocabulary in Use Advanced101 Red Le) T WE, characteristics of bureaucratic language [ASTUDENT SHALL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR A LOAN IN RELATION TO AN ACADEMIC YEAR, (a) has atta (0) tas reeived another Ioan in relation tothe same academic yr E/SHE the ae of 0 years before the Birt dy ofthe course: (©. bas recived another loan in relation to another academic yar which began during the same period 1st August to the following gst July during which the seademic year Degas: @ is eligible in respect ofthat yar to recive (© any payment under a bursary or award of similar description bestowed on: him/ber under setion 63 ofthe Health Services and Public Health Act 19682) the amout of which is aot ealulated by reference to his/her incase. reached given to eee Your request to demlish' the garage adjoining: your property ishereby rejected. Any and all appeals regarding this decision mnustbe submitte tothe undersigned? by Jan 31 2018. No exceptions to the aforementioned! procedure willbe considered “knockdown next to "the person who wrote this etter ‘mentioned earlier Some publications produced by companies or government departments are difficult to understand because they use language that is very different from everyday English. + They frequently use words that are longer and ‘grander’ than their ordinary equivalents. + They often use a passive form instead of an active one, e.g. ‘Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible’ instead of ‘We will resume normal service as soon as possible’ + They use nouns as the subject of the sentence when they are not necessary, e.g. ‘Achievement of this module is dependent upon candidates meeting the assessment outcomes’ instead of ‘To achieve this module, candidates must meet the assessment outcomes, + They use a noun instead of You, e.g. Customers will be informed of ..’ instead of ‘You will be informed of...” or even ‘We wil tell you about ‘These words are more frequent in a bureaucratic context: Work will commence in May. [start] (noun = commencement) ‘The company ceased operations last year. [stopped functioning] (nou Property belonging to the deceased will be returned to the next of kin. (dead person! [closest relative) In the event of an emergency, call 121. [ifthere is] In the event of fire, the building must be evacuated immediately. [people must leave] Tenants must endeavour to keep communal areas tidy at all times. tr] The developments will facilitate movement of traffic in the area, [make possible, easier] Residents will be instructed what to do in the event of an emergency. [will be told] The project will proceed to the next phase in June. [move] We are currently attempting to rectify the situation. [put right] Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, [start again] SE) Ne trentcraticcarrerroncence ‘There is some specific vocabulary that characterises bureaucratic letters: Please acknowledge receipt of payment. inform us that you have received] With the compliments of Smith and Co. written ona slip of paper sent with an item from a company] Please notify us immediately of any change of address. inform] would be grateful for a reply at your earliest convenience. (as soon as possible] Contact us if further clarification is required, [you need more of an explanation] | enclose payment in respect of your invoice. [relating to, for) |lam writing with regard te your advertisement, [about] 208 English Vocabulary in Use Advanced