Reinforcing Vocabulary

Ex. 1.

They are partners and have a good relation ship.

Language Functions File Addressing People

There are several ways of addressing people in English. The most universal ones that can be used when speaking to strangers as well as to people you know are:

Mr. – to a man, Mr. Brown; Mrs. – to a married woman, Mrs. Brown;

Miss – to an unmarried woman, Miss Brown;

Ms. – to a woman whose marital status in unknown, Ms. Brown.

Mr. and Miss are never used without the person's second name. Other forms of address are:

Sir – used to a man who is clearly older or more senior than oneself. Sir is also used:

1. By shop assistants, waiters, etc. to their male customers;

2. By schoolchildren to men-teachers;

3. In the armed forces, to an (a superior) officer;

4. As a title (for knights and baronets), followed by the first name, Sir William.

5. Sometimes as a polite form of address to a stranger, even if not older or more senior. However, this is not common nowadays in Britain, where the usual way of addressing a stranger (either a man or a woman) is Excuse me, please.

Madam – used by shop assistants, waiters, etc. to their female customers. Except for this type of situation, however, madam is less widely used than sir. It is not used when addressing women-teachers (here Mrs/Miss with the surname is used), nor when addressing an older or more senior woman. It is only rarely used to address a stranger, "Excuse me, please" be­ing the usual form.

People who have a scientific degree – PhD, ScD – are to be addressed Dr., doctor Brown, whereas medical practitioners, i. e., doctors who cure people are simply Doctors (no name is necessary). Professors can also be addressed by the title only.

You'd better use officer – addressing a policeman. If one knows his rank, one may also address him as, for example, Constable, or Inspector. In practice, however, most people approaching a policeman for information or help use Excuse me, (please), without any form of address.

People in certain occupations can be called Waiter/Waitress/Porter/Nurse, etc. Commercial and administrative titles such as director, manager are never used as forms of address.

When addressing a King or a Queen you say Your Majesty. Address­ing a group of people or audience you use Ladies and Gentlemen. In fact people in the English-speaking countries prefer calling each other by the first name: Peter, Ann, etc.

Greeting People and Responding

Greetings		Responses
Formal
– – –	How do you do, Mr. Brown. Good morning, Dr. Sampson. How are you? Good evening, sir (madam).	– – –	How do you do, Mr. White. Good morning. I'm fine, thank you. And how are you? Good evening.
Neutral
– –	Hello, Paul. How are you doing? Hello. It's a nice evening, isn't it?	– –	Hello, Ted. I'm doing well, thank you. Fine, how are you? (What about you?)
Informal
– – – –	Morning, Jean. Are you doing okay? Hi, Freddie. What are you up to these days? Hey, Jack. How's it going? Cheerio!	– – – – – –	Not bad. You? Great, thanks. What about you? Couldn't be better! Yourself? Can't complain. How about you? Fantastic! Lousy!

Most greetings and responses are rather automatic and mechanical. When someone says "Hi! How are you doing?" the greeting sounds ex­pected. It doesn't convey a genuine interest in knowing the person's state of health or being. And just as the greeting may seem rather automatic, often so is the response. Of course, there are many variations to these greetings and replies. In less mechanical greetings, we show concern for a person by ask­ing about something specific, and we usually have some prior knowledge to help us form these questions. For example, "Hi, Mary. How's your new job working out?"

The reply given to your greeting may depend on how much the person wants to reveal.

Tone of voice (the way our voice goes up and down to show different meanings or feelings), gestures and facial expression sometimes reveal more than words do. It's important to know that people in Britain and America greet each other every time they meet.

Formulas that are frequently used when leaving or parting:

Good-bye

See you tomorrow

bye-bye/bye (very familiar)

So long! (very familiar)

See you later! (very familiar)

Ex. 1. Choose the best words to address people to the following situations.

1	– Do you understand the question,... Smith? a Sir b Madam с Miss – Yes, I do, my ... . a master b lord с majesty
2	– Excuse me,..., can I see your driving licence? a Mr b sir c mate – I'm sorry, ..., I didn't seem to have it on me. a sir b policeman с constable
3	– ...! Can I have a menu, please? a Sir b Mister с Waiter – Here you are, ... . a madam b Ms с Mrs

***

1	You address your groupmate. You say: a Hellen, could you…? b Miss Tompson, could you…? c Could you…?
2	You address your lecturer Dr. Ivanov. You say: a Mr. Ivanov, may I ask…? b Dr. Ivanov, may I ask…? c Professor, may I ask…?
3	When someone says How do you do? you reply: a How do you do? b Very well, thank you. с The same to you.

Ex. 2. Address the following people, adding an opening sentence to your greeting address.

1. Rector; your English teacher; students.

2. An audience of mixed people (of different status, age, sex) at the British-Belarusian Friendship Society, stating the purpose of your visit.

3. An audience of professors and students at a University College where you have arrived on an exchange scheme.

4. A traffic policeman, asking him for direction.

5. A girl-friend, inviting her to the concert.

Ex. 3. There is a range of responses to the question: "How are you doing?". The answers may vary from the very positive (+) to neutral (0) and very negative (-). Place the words in the correct position on the scale.

(0)

(+) . . . . . . . . . . . . (–)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Great! Not bad. Pretty bad! Fine. Okay. Rotten. Fantastic! All right. Like a million dollars! Awful! Couldn't be worse! Out of this world!