ARTICLES
A Common Language
Review of 'The Adventure of English', Melvyn Bragg, Hodder & Stoughton
For a good, highly readable overview of how English developed and where it may be going, Melvyn Bragg's book, based on the TV series of the same name, does the job. Bragg traces the roots of English back to the Frisian and other Germanic languages of those who invaded Britain from the 5th century onwards - the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. He follows the growth of what have become the varied forms of modern English, not only through the familiar paths of the Norman invasion, Chaucer, Shakespeare and so on, but also through looking at other influences on English - the words of the Wild West in America, the Creole languages of the Caribbean, or the vocabulary the British brought from India. Indeed, the lists of words can become overwhelming at times.
His view of English is in some ways very democratic: the role of the ordinary people and particularly the oppressed is stressed, whether through the survival and transformation into Middle English of Anglo-Saxon under Norman French rule or the advance of Australian English. His account of Wycliffe...
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IELTS level for entry to academic study
IELTS minimum levels required by institutions depend sometimes on particular college or school and country. As a rule, institutions from English spoken countries require a higher level of IELTS than those from non English spoken countries. According to IELTS official site the highest IELTS level required by a University is 8.5, only two institutions are included here, both from the U.S.: the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University. In addition, the higher IELTS level required by institutions from the United Kingdom, where the IELTS had been originated, is 7.50....
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