Page 262 [262]
HUNGARIAN-ENGLISH LINGUISTIC CONTRASTS. A PRACTICAL APPROACH
CHAPTER 9
Task 5: NEGATE EMPHATICALLY.
No, it was in the 1930s that television was invented.
No, it was Röntgen who/that invented the X-ray machine.
No, it was in Tokyo that the last Olympic Games were held.
No, it is in the spring that most birds mate.
TASK 8: READ THE TEXT AND IDENTIFY THE TWO PLACES WHERE A CLEFT
SENTENCE COULD/WOULD BE USED IF YOU WERE TO TRANSLATE IT INTO
ENGLISH!
1. Az oroszt manapság a szlovákok beszélik leginkább. — It is the Slovaks ...
2. A legrosszabbul a bolgárok és a magyarok végeztek, akik közül a felmérés
szerint csupán kilenc, illetve hét százalék ismeri a legelterjedtebb világnyelvet.
— It is the Bulgarians and Hungarians ...
TASK 12: IN THE FOLLOWING NEWSPAPER ARTICLE WE FIND ELLIPSIS IN
THE FIRST FIVE SENTENCES. DOES IT CONTRIBUTE TO TEXT COHERENCE?
ARE THESE ELLIPSES ANAPHORIC, CATAPHORIC OR EXOPHORIC? BASED
ON THE CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE, WHAT WORD WAS ELLIPTED?
CAN YOU TRANSLATE INTO HUNGARIAN THE FIRST FIVE SENTENCES?
The ellipted element is “prosecuted”, which may be recovered from the context
(“got away with”, “The matter was referred to the attention of both the Direc¬
tor of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney-General”). It can be translated
into Hungarian if the missing element is brought into the first sentence, losing
the stylistic effect.
TASK 13: LOOK AT THIS EXTRACT. WHAT HAS BEEN ELLIPTED IN THE LAST
LINE?
... than butter.
TASK 16: WHERE DOES THIS CONVERSATION TAKE PLACE? WHO ARE THE
PARTICIPANTS? WHAT IS NEEDED FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF THIS
TEXT? DISCUSS THE QUESTIONS BELOW.
This register is called Airspeak, or air traffic control English or Aviation English.
TASK 18: WHAT REGISTERS ARE MIXED TOGETHER IN THE FOLLOWING
EXTRACT TO ACHIEVE A HUMOROUS EFFECT?
The register of romantic stories is mixed with the register of advertising.
+ 260 +