G articles: a / an, the, no article Do you think

V collocation: verbs / adjectives + prepositions women ta lk more

P bl, sentence stress, Ids/ or Idil? than men? Yes, in general

3B
I think they
probably do.
Stereotypes - or are they?

1 R E A D IN G & S P E A K IN G
a In pairs, answer the questions.
1 Are you a talkative or a quiet person?
2 Who is...?
a the most talkative person in your family
b the most talkative person you know'

R
3 Do you think that, generally speaking, women are esearch by psychologists at the University of
more talkative than men? Arizona has shown that the stereotype that
4 What topics do...? women talk more than men may not be true. In
a men talk about more than women the study, hundreds of college students were fitted
b women talk about more than men with recorders, and the total number of words they
used during the day was then counted.
b Look at the definition o f stereotype. Then A read the article
The results, published in the New Scientist, showed that
Men talkjust as much as women and B read the article
women speak about 16,000 words a day and men speak
Gossip with the girls? Find answers to questions 1-4.
only slightly fewer. In fact, the four most talkative people
stereotype noun a fixed idea about a particular type in the study were all men.
o f person or thing, which is often not true in reality. > - stereotype Professor Matthias Mehl, who was in charge of the
In advertisem ents, w om en a r e o ften ste re o ty p ed as housew ives.
research, said that he and his colleagues had expected to
1 What was the stereotype that the researchers wanted find that women were more talkative.
to investigate?
2 Where was the research done?
3 How was the research done?

GOSSIP WITH THE

4 What did the research show?
c In pairs, tell each other about your article, using
questions 1 -4 to help you.
GIRLS? JUST PICK ANY
d Now read both articles again and look at the highlighted
words and phrases, which are commonly used in articles ONE OF FORTY SUBJECTS
about research. Match them with definitions 1-10.
omen are experts at gossiping - and they often
1 In fact adverb really talk about trivial things, or at least that's what
2 ________ verb make less men have always thought. However according to
3 ________ usually do it research done by Professor Petra Boynton, a psychologist
4 ________ adverb a little bit at University College London,
5 ________ linking word used to connect or contrast when women talk to women their
two facts conversations are not trivial at all, and
6 ________ verb say that something is true cover many more topics (up to 40) than
7 ________ as said or shown by somebody when men talk to other men.

8 ________ verb include several different things in Women's conversations range from
addition to the ones mentioned health to their houses, from politics to
9 ________ adverb nearly fashion, from movies to family, from
10 not completely believed, doubted education to relationship problems.
Almost everything, in fact, except
e W hich o f the two pieces o f research do you think is ...?
soccer. Men tend to talk about fewer
1 more credible 3 more surprising subjects, the most popular being work,
2 more important sports, jokes, cars, and women.
28

However, they had been skeptical of the
common belief that women use three times as
many words as men. This idea becam e popular
after the publication of a book called The
Fem ale Brain (2006) whose author, Louann
Brizendine, claimed that “a woman uses about
20,000 words per day, whereas a man uses
about 7,000.”
A dapted from the N e w S c ie n tis t
Professor Mehl accepts that many people will
find the results difficult to believe. However, he
thinks that this research is important because
the stereotype, that women talk too much and
men keep quiet, is bad not only for women but
also for men. “It says that to be a good male, it’s
better not to talk - that silence is golden.”
Professor Boynton interviewed over 1,000
women for her study. She also found that women
A dapted from th e Daily M ail website
move quickly from one subject to another in
conversation, whereas men usually stick to one
subject for longer periods of time.
Professor Boynton also says that men and women
talk for different reasons. In social situations,
women use conversation to solve problems and
reduce stress, while men talk to each other to
laugh or to exchange opinions.
2 G R A M M A R articles: a / an, the, no article
a Complete 1 -4 with a / an, the, or - (no article).
1 “Have you heard this joke?____ hamburger and____ French fry
walk into a coffee shop.____ waitress says, “I'm sorry. We don't
serve____ food here.”
2 “I just read____ article o n ____ Internet about how eating____
strawberries makes you look younger..
3 “I’m sure there’s something wrong between us because we never
go out to ____ dinner or to ____ movies anymore.”
4 “Did you watch____ game____ last night? I can’t believe that_____
referee didn’t see that it was____ penalty..
b According to the article Gossip with the girls?, who do you think
would probably say 1 -4 , a man or a woman?
c p.137 Grammar Bank 3B. Learn more about articles and
practice them.
3 P R O N U N C IA T IO N
/ /, sentence stress, /ð / or /di/?
a 2 20))) Listen and repeat the sound and words.
a about anniversary complain credible
problem talkative usually woman
b 2 21))) Listen and repeat the sentences. Then practice saying
them with the / / sound.
ı What are we going to have for lunch to day?
2 i'd like to see a good movie to night.
3 Please stop complaining about the weather.
4 The woman in the kitchen is very talkative.
5 There’s a problem with the computer.
c 2 22)}) Listen and underline five phrases where the is pronounced
/di/ (not /ð /). Why does the pronunciation change?
the movies the end the other day the world the sun
the Internet the kitchen the answer the Earth
4 S P E A K IN G
Prove that the research in Gossip with the girls? is wrong!
Work in pairs or small groups.
If you’re a wom an, try to talk for two minutes about:
soccer cars computers
If you’re a man, try to talk for two minutes about:
fashion shopping your family
Online Practice 3B 29