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Task 1. Listen to Audio Track 14. Make use of the word box below.
a motion of no confidence to dissolve parliament Fianna Fáil
What genre is the material?
What aspect of politics does it reflect?
Task 2. Listen to the track again and transcribe it.
Task 3. Analyse the grammatical features of the lead.
a) Find a grammatical construction expressing a planned action.
b) Find an infinitive construction in the brief. What is its function in the sentence?
c) What sentences prevail in the brief – compound or complex?
d) What is the function of the -ing form in the last sentence?
Task 4. What are the Irish political parties, according to the brief?
What caused the political crisis in Éire?
Task 5. Watch Video 39. What new developments in Ireland’s political life it reflects compared with Audio Track 14?
Browse the Internet to see what the Taoiseach [‘ti:Sək] means.
Task 6. What are the English equivalents of the following Russian terms?
Watch Video 39 to find answers.
уйти в отставку (two terms) премьер-министр (ирл.)
партнеры по коалиции правящая партия
руководство страной протестное голосование
(Ирландия) голосует… всеобщие выборы
принять отставку министра вотум доверия
финансовая помощь
партия крайне правых взглядов
перестановка в кабинете министров
выставление кандидатуры на должность
выносить на обсуждение (вотум недоверия)
Task 7. Close the gaps in the sentences below and identify idioms and clichés in them.
Say what lexical and grammatical expressive means are used in the report.
Translate the sentences into Russian.
1. Facing the cameras, and …
2. Brian Cowen went … fighting.
3. He surrendered the …1… of his …2… party but he …3… …4… to the leadership of the country.
4. “I am concerned that …1… …2… criticism of my leadership of …3-4… …5-6… attention from these important debates.”
5. …1…, …2… everything …3…, and …4… discussed the matter with my family, I have decided …5…, to step …6… as leader of Fianna Fáil.
6. Ireland …1-2… to …3-4… on March 11.
7. “We want …1… to this government, …2… to this Taoiseach and …3… to allow the people decide on what formulation of new government.”
8. Opposition parties …1… now …2… he …3… as PM.
9. “If you want to step …1…, you must …3-2…”
10. “Because somebody has to pass that …1-2… “
11. “The country has become a …1-2… of Europe”.
12. …1… need of a multibillion euro …2… left its citizens disillusioned with politics.
13. Independent candidates and …1… parties like Sinn Fein …2… …3… on the protest vote.
14. …1… the election looming, the ruling Fianna Fáil party moved swiftly to …2… its leader…
15. This political sidestep marks the …1… of the …2… for the Taoiseach.
16. Critics say history will record him as the …1… man in the …2-3… at the …4-5…
Task 8. Study the words in the box below and listen to Audio Track 15. What is its idea?
What do you know about the Welsh Assembly (when it came into existence, its composition and legislative powers)?
law-making powers scrutiny / to be scrutinised
grassroots campaign opinion polls
Task 9. Listen to Audio Track 15 again and answer the questions.
1. What is True Wales? What does it campaign for?
2. What is the number of political parties in Wales?
3. What is the agenda of No campaign?
4. What is the common concern for both Yes and No camps?
Task 10. Transcribe the lead of Audio Track 15 and make its grammatical analysis.
Task 11. Make lexical and stylistic analysis of the track. What is the origin of the idiom used in the piece? Why is it used by the journalist?
Task 12. Listen to Audio Track 16. What genre is the piece? What is its idea?What is the link between a local government and a city council?
Task 13. What are the two grammatical constructions used in the brief that are typical of media discourse? Why are they employed in the brief?
Task 14. Listen to Audio Track 16 again and fill in the table below.
| County | Number of job losses |
| Total: |
Task 15. Watch Video 40. What are the two peers accused of? Browse the Internet to see what the expenses scandal is.
Task 16. Transcribe Video 40 and make grammatical analysis of its first three sentences.
What is the prevailing syntactical structure of the sentences in the brief?
What type of sentences makes up the piece?
Task 17. Watch Video 41. What is the idea of the clip?
What is wrong with the party under scrutiny?
Task 18. Watch the clip again. What expressive grammatical and lexical means are used by the member of the panel (Simon Hughes, President of the Liberal Democratic Party, MP).
Find grammatical constructions typical of television discourse in the sentences below.
1. He …1-2… …3-4… till the autumn conference – …5-6… going to be the Labour Party …7…
2. I …1… think, there’s bigger question than G.Brown, …2…
3. Labour for … the second time in their history came behind us in share of the vote.
4. I think the Labour Party …1… beginning to realize …2-8…
5. They were founded for …1-3… a hundred years ago, …4…, to be …5-8….
6. We are in …1-4… …5-8…
7. I thought …1-3… for the poor and …4-6… between …7-11…
8. For 11 years they haven’t done that …1-2…
9. I thought they were going to help …1-3… and not give advantages to the …4-6…
10. It’s the …1… well off who have …2-6…, and the low paid …7… …8… by the 10p.
11. …1… I think the Labour Party are …2… at risk of losing their …3… – Soleford, Hazels – areas used to be …4… Labour, not longer now.
12. I think, in the next 20 years we …1-4… – no longer as the …5-10…
Task 19. Watch Video 41 in class. Make consecutive translation into Russian of the sentences you hear in pauses.
Task 20. Watch the clip again and answer the questions.
1. What is the Labour Party origin?
2. What does the party stand for today?
3. What does the future hold for it?
Task 21. Read the newspaper article below.
Sun turns its back on Labour after 12 years of support
Stephen Brook and Patrick Wintour
The Sun has turned its back on New Labour after more than a decade of support and thrown its weight behind the Conservatives with a front page editorial today with the headline: “Labour’s Lost It.”
The switch to the Conservatives was timed to inflict maximum damage on Labour at its annual conference in Brighton and came hours after Gordon Brown told conference delegates to “never give up” and “fight to win”. The paper said: “After 12 long years in power, this government has lost its way. Now it’s lost “ The Sun ’s support too.”
As Britain’s top-selling daily newspaper, with a circulation of about 3m a day and a readership double that, the paper prides itself on being politically influential. Its famous 1992 headline: “It’s the Sun wot won it,” boasted that the surprise Conservative general election victory was down to its campaign against then Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
“We warned back in 2005 in that election that Labour was on its last chance,” The Sun ’s political editor, George Pascoe-Watson, told Sky News last night. “We feel now after four further years that they have failed the country.”
Downing Street, reluctant to become involved in a slanging match, offered no response to the announcement last night. But Brown was understood to be meeting advisers last night to discuss how best to deal with the news. The move by The Sun will be seen as a blow, overshadowing Brown’s attempt to breathe fresh life into Labour’s flagging poll fortunes.
The endorsement The Sun gave Tony Blair was seen as a key moment in the 1997 general election. Whether The Sun was leading or following public opinion on the eve of a Labour landslide remains a moot point. Nonetheless in 1997 it illustrated starkly the change in Labour’s perceived electability, 15 years after the paper declared that if Neil Kinnock became prime minister, the last person to leave Britain should turn out the lights. The Labour party will wait to see if The Sun ’s switch will be followed by other News International papers. The Times has always been a strong supporter of New Labour, while The Sunday Times has more frequently backed the Conservatives.
The Guardian, September 30, 2009
Task 22. Answer the following questions.
1. What is The Sun? What is its circulation?
2. What does the headline It’s the Sun wot won it mean?
3. Why did the paper turn on Labour?
4. What was Downing Street’s reaction to the news – official and behind the scenes?
5. What is the Sun ’s history of supporting a would be winner of the coming general elections?
Task 23. Watch Video 42 and sayhow it correlates with the article above?
Task 24. Watch the report again and unravel its 5W and H pattern. Use the tips provided below.
1. WHAT is the idea of the report?
2. WHEN (it all happened)?
3. WHERE no one be found reading the unfortunate paper?
4. WHY? (Trevor Cavanagh’s opinion)
5. WHO? (G.Brown’s reaction → Tony Woodley’s behaviour → Peter Mandelson’s comment)
6. HOW (serious is the blow for Labour)?
Task 25. What piece is more informative – broadcast or print? Why?
Task 26. Play Video 42 again. Freeze the frame when it reflects The Sunfront pages on the Polling Day of 1997, 2001 and 2005. Play the file backward, still the picture at the Sun’s front page on the eve of 2010 elections.
Put down all four captions you see in the video, analyse the headlines’ syntactical and lexical structure, translate them into Russian.
Task 27. Close the gaps in the script below. Make its linguistic (morphological) andstylistic analysis. Group the grammatical and lexical means employed into expressive and neutral ones, write them down.
1. …1-2… only one paper you won’t find anyone …3… at the Labour Party conference…
2. In fact, you couldn’t …1… the Sun …2… in Brighton today.
3. The decision of the …1-3… newspaper to …4… G.Brown a …5-6… after his big speech is a cruel blow there.
4. The PM …1-4… on it.
5. In …1…, it’s …2… suggested Peter Mandelson was …3… angry, he used a very …4-5… talking to …6-7…
6. …1…, …2…? …3…, they don’t seem …4… bothered about …5… criticism.
7. …1… are 25 % in the …2…. They are …3…, they are …4…, they can’t …5… around their leader for more than 10 minutes.
8. The paper felt it …1-2… and celebrated by …3… it was the Sun …4-6…
9. The thing is this …1-3… from the paper comes several months before the …4… election day but does mean they’ll be able …5-7… the pro Tory message with what one imagines will be the usual Sun... 8…
10. The …1… election campaign already looked like a bit of a …2… for this party and without the Sun to …3… the Labour …4… it will be …5… much …6…
Task 28. Read the article to dip into the atmosphere of the UK 2010 general election.
General election 2010: did it really happen?
The Observer columnist Andrew Rawnsley looks back on the 2010 general election campaign
When dawn broke on Friday, the Conservatives could not hide their disappointment and the Lib Dems their deflation while Labour was weirdly relieved if only because a poor second resembled a disaster compared with the feared catastrophe of coming third.
Many Tories are recriminatory about their failure to secure a parliamentary majority. They are blaming David Cameron and his strategists. His animating big idea was the “Big Society” (BS, for short). Candidates muttered that it was impossible to sell on the doorstep. The leader himself often seemed to forget it, only remembering to mention BS with just 11 minutes to go before the final whistle of the third televised debate.
The Conservatives were over-dependent on traditional campaign techniques rendered risible or irrelevant in the digital age. Online spoofs of their billboard campaigns by instant satirists were always funnier and sharper than the expensive originals.
Cameron’s big strategic error was agreeing to the leaders’ debates. Many senior Tories believe that giving Nick Clegg the opportunity to shine is what cost them a clear victory. In an interview with the Observer, the Tory leader insisted that he had always expected the debates to give “a leg up” to the Lib Dems. But no one foresaw that the first clash would have such an electric effect.
Clegg was catapulted from anonymity to celebrity, transformed from an also-ran less famous than his number two into the leader of an insurgent revolt against what he called the Labservatives. More fluent and comfortable in the format than an unusually constipated Cameron and a stolid Gordon Brown, Clegg grabbed “change” from the Tory and snatched “fairness” from Labour.
Stunned by its own success, the LibDems struggled to capitalise on new support by translating it into crosses in boxes. It also probably suffered when voters took a closer look at some of the Lib Dems’ policies.
Labour had agreed to the TV debates on the basis that it had nothing to lose. It was wrong. The debates sharpened the presidentialism of the contest, a disadvantage for the party with the least popular leader. By the second clash, Brown was saying “like me or not” in his opening statement, an explicit acknowledgement that many voters couldn’t stand the thought of putting him back in No 10. The polling awarded him the wooden spoon in all three debates. That was probably less a commentary on his performances than the fact that he was never liked in the first place. He had lost the support of every national newspaper except the doggedly loyal Mirror. Good news for the government late in the campaign – an upward revision of growth figures and a positive forecast about Britain’s prospects from the European Commission – received very little coverage.
So was the campaign a wasted month? Not entirely. The TV debates have changed politics for ever. No leader will feel easy about refusing them in future for fear of looking cowardly. No sensible party will elect a leader without reference to whether he or she will perform well in this form of televised combat. The debates, allied with the excitement of this being a very competitive contest, boosted turnout.
Labour averted implosion. There was a basic resilience about both the party and its leader which brought out enough votes to avoid the absolute catastrophe of coming third. Cleggmania petered out, but enough of the surge lasted to boost his reputation and secure Lib Dem seats that originally looked lost. The most important outcome of the campaign was that the Conservatives, who had this election for the taking, fell well short of a parliamentary majority. And that, as we are now seeing, is of very great consequence indeed.
The Observer, May 8, 2010
Task 29. Answers the following questions.
1. What are the two reasons the Tories election results were not as good as they had been expected?
2. For what party were the TV debates a kingmaker?
3. Did Labour lose the electoral battle due to the issue of Iraq?
4. What is the meaning of the expression to be awarded with the wooden spoon? What subcategory of lexical units does it belong to?
Task 30. What is the meaning of the italicised words in the article above? What group of lexical units do they relate to?
Task 31. Watch Video 43. What is its major idea?
Watch the video again to fill in the grid below.
| Person (the party he belongs to) | The post he holds in the government |
| 1. | |
| 2. | |
| 3. | |
| 4. | |
| 13. |
Task 32. Read the newspaper article below.
The coalition government: Sweetening the pill
A coalition is a better alternative for Britain – and for Liberals – than a Conservative minority government
The window of opportunity for the centre-left opened on Monday. The Liberal Democrats stared through it for less than 24 hour. Then the window closed once more, and now – for the first time in 13 years – Britain has a Conservative prime minister, albeit one of moderate temperament who intends to serve at the head of a coalition. By this afternoon it was clear that there would be no Labour-Liberal Democrat alliance. Instead, Nick Clegg and his negotiators threw in their lot with David Cameron and his Tory party.
That decision sealed Labour’s fate and ended Gordon Brown’s prime ministership. Soon, Mr Brown was speaking from No 10 for the final time, giving a touching farewell, before one final journey to Buckingham Palace. His dignified statement included his immediate resignation as Labour leader, a move that shores up his reputation as a party man by preparing the way for Labour to face the future with a new leader as soon as possible.
By the close of the day, however, Labour was very much old news. Within half an hour of Mr Brown’s departure, it was the new man's turn in the spotlight, delivering a measured address which gave a generous nod to Mr Brown's record of public service
After the first hung election in 36 years, the politicians of Britain’s radical centre and centre-right have responded by stretching out across party lines to arrive at the verge of a formal coalition government, the first since the second world war. With Conservatives and Liberal Democrats looking set to sit side by side round the cabinet table, it is possible that party politics will never be quite the same again. Reports that the new government will soon fix parliamentary terms will, we hope, prove to be only the first of many indicators of how the fact of coalition will rewrite the political rules.
Such a coalition is a better alternative for Britain – and for Liberals – than a Conservative minority government, never mind a Tory majority. The presence of Liberal Democrats around the cabinet table and the possibility of direct Liberal Democrat ministerial authority in some policy areas is a cause for hope, not despair. Every concession – whether on tax or civil liberty or the shape of the government – that the negotiators have won from the Tories over the past few days is a small reason to hope that Mr Clegg’s party will make their values and their presence felt, for the better.
All this will be tested in the crucible over the coming months. The new government will take office with the books awash in red ink. Both the yellow and the blue wings of the new alliance were well aware of this, and yet they both campaigned in the recent election on the promise that they could cut taxes related to income. The great test of both parties will be whether the rich can be made to pay their fair share for the debt, or whether instead the burden will fall on the poor and those on lower incomes through service cuts and rises in VAT. Labour, regrouping, will see future opportunity here. Today, though, may still be a liberal moment of a kind. Not the one we, and others, sought. A very fragile one. But not a moment entirely without possibility either.
The Guardian, May 1, 2010
Task 33. What genre is the article above?
Analyse the syntactical structure of its headline. Translate it into Russian.
Transform the lead of the article above into a question. Can you answer it?
Task 34. Analyse the underlined words and expressions in the article. Which of them are emotionally charged? Prove your point.
Make linguistic analysis of the underlined words and expressions in the article.
Task 35. Listen to Audio Track 17. What is its essence?
Task 36. Listen to Audio Track 17 lead and transcribe it. Analyse the grammatical features of the sentences making up the lead.
1) …
2) …
3) … to take ….
Task 37. Listen to the report. Close the sentences with relevant information from the report.
1. LibDems are back in government for the first time in … years.
2. In his speech at the party conference, Nick Clegg is going to …
3. The LibDems formed a coalition because …
4. The coalition is planning …
Task 38. Did you come across any stylistic means (parallel constructions, metaphors) in the piece? Identify them all, write them down.
Task 40. Watch Video 44 and get its idea.What genre is it?
Task 41. Watch the piece again and say who Ed Balls and Lord Sainsbury are.
Task 42. Close the gaps in the script. Make the lexical analysis of sentences No 1-7, 9. Comment on your findings. Make the grammatical analysis of sentences No 8, 10,11.
1) …1…, on to The Sunday Times …
2) We don’t know if this is a …1… quick reaction to Ed Ball …
3) … he doesn’t think he’s going to give …1… …2… at the moment.
4) … he …1… doesn’t want give any money …
5) There’s a …1… of nothing left.
6) It would be difficult for Ed Miliband if there’s very little in the…1…
7) Are they …1… …2… as a party?
8) No, no, the election.
9) They were …1-2… to their last penny.
10) Because nobody wanted G.Brown …1-2… …3-4…
11) Of course, I …1…, if you are in opposition you need more money …2… a better campaign trying …3-6…
Task 43. Recount the video in two sentences, put them down. Be ready to read them out and discuss in class.
Task 44. Revise all new words of the Unit (Tasks 2, 7, 9)and below. Get ready for a quiz.
1) leadership challenge; 2) to cling on to the leadership; 3) Cabinet reshuffle 4) to put a brave face on something; 5) to take sth into account; 6) to step down (to resign); 7) to go to the polls; 8) Welsh Assembly; 9) to be held (in March) 10) Labour landslide; 11) to cut Westminster out of legislation process; 12) to give somebody a kicking; 13) a laughing stock; 14) PM’s successor; 15) to turn one’s back on; 16) to inflict maximum damage on; 17) a key moment in something; 18) a share of the vote; 19) to breathe fresh life into something; 20) to make somebody redundant; 21) to make savings; 22) the scandal rambles on; 23) to tip the balance; 24) the autumn party conference; 25) left of the centre party; 26) Deputy PM; 27) televised debate; 28) to sell something on the doorstep; 29) the window of opportunity; 30) by the close of the day; 31) to shore up; 32) hung election; 33) red ink; 34) to fix parliamentary term; 35) to ram / drive the message home; 36) to take a nosedive in the polls.
Task 45. In the list above indicate the words and word combinations that can be regarded as expressive lexical means of TV and radio discourse. Classify each group into subgroups.
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