Domande e Risposte Inglese e Comunicazione Multimediale

Grammar

Will vs. Going to

Decisioni prese al momento (planned) / Going to Decisioni già stabilite / intenzione.

Verbs

Tell him / said him (dopo said non può esserci un oggetto). Make (concrete) / do (abstract).

Appunti Comunicazione Multimediale

Phrasal verbs for technology and computers

Tech Vocabulary

Phrasal verb meanings

• Log in v. Connect to a computer using a username and password. Example: To begin, log in to your desktop system.
• Sign-in n. Page or act of registering permission to use a program.
• Hook up v. Connect wires from machines to a power source or other machines. Example: Would you please help hook up the Internet cable?
• Power up v. Provide power to a machine. Example: Press the red button to power up your tablet.
• Boot up v. Begin running a computer system. Example: Wait a second, my computer is booting up.
• Set up v. Install a new computer program or assemble a computer system. Example: This application took a long time to set up.
• Pull down v. Choose from a menu of options in a computer application extending down from the action bar like a window blind. Example: Look for the file menu and pull down to "Save As...".
• Click on v. Move a mouse over an item and press to select. Example: Click on the start menu to begin.
• Scroll up / Scroll down v. Move slowly to the top or bottom of a text. Example: The news story was so long I had to scroll down a lot to read it all.
• Run out of v. Exhaust a supply of something. Example: You will run out of disk space if you save copies of all your emails.
• Back up v. Make an extra copy of a file. Example: Be sure you back up your files before you change systems.
• Print out v. Send an electronic document to a printer. Example: I have to print out the directions before I leave home.
• Hack into v. Enter a computer or network illegally. Example: Someone hacked into my bank and stole millions of dollars.
• Go down v. Stop operating properly. Example: I cannot send any emails because the server went down.
• Wipe out v. Completely erase or delete files. Example: Before you donate your computer, be sure you wipe out the hard drive.
• Pop-up v. To appear suddenly. Example: If you do not want to see the pop-up ads, turn on your blocker.
• Plug in v. Insert a cord into an outlet or port. Example: Plug in your laptop over there.
• Sign up v. Register with a service. Example: She signed up for an online dating service.
• Key in v. Type or enter characters using a keyboard. Example: It takes too much time to key in that long password.
• Opt in / out v. Choose to receive advertising or messages. Example: The company asked me to opt in to get special offers by email.
• Filter out v. Remove unwanted e-mail messages. Example: Can we filter out all the spam on this account?
• Turn off / Shut down v. End a session on the computer by closing an application or removing power. Example: I’m tired, so I’m going to shut down the computer for today.
• Go online / offline v. Use the Internet / not use the Internet. Example: I will send you that information as soon as I go online.

Words in this story

• Grammar. Preposition – a word or group of words that is used with a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object.
• Adverb – a word that describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a sentence and that is often used to show time, manner, place, or degree.
• Adj. Informal – (of language) relaxed in tone; not suited for serious or official speech and writing.
• Cable – a group of wires, glass fibers, etc., covered in plastic or rubber and used to carry electricity or electrical signal.
• Upgrade – an occurrence in which one thing is replaced by something better, newer, more valuable, etc.
• Browser – a computer program that is used to find and look at information on the Internet.
• Specific – having a particular function or effect.
• Opt – to choose to do or be involved in something.
• Filter – to remove (something unwanted) by using a filter.
• Spam – e-mail that is not wanted or e-mail that is sent to large numbers of people and that consists mostly of advertising.

Link to phrasal verbs

Questions & Answers

English dialects

Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. A dialect is a form of the language that is spoken in a particular part of the country or by a particular group of people. For example, standard British English is different from standard American English. Accent is only one part of dialect.

Differences between American English and British English

The most noticeable difference between American and British English is the vocabulary. Example: vacation US, holidays UK.

What is accent (RP and Cockney)

The accent is a type of pronunciation based on geography. RP means Received Pronunciation; this is an accent of standard English spoken in the United Kingdom. Also called BBC accent because this is used by BBC news readers. Cockney is the accent of London, commonly associated with London East.

Standard English (register, genre, media rhetoric)

• Register: Often considered to be the same as style or level of formality; it can be formal, neutral, or informal. Register is the technical term for a variety of linguistic choices (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, layout, and other features of text design) which are appropriate to a given social setting.

Language variation dimensions

• Geographical (dialect)
• Social (accent, standard, non-standard, register)
• Functional (register)
• Genre: text variety with a specific conventional form (register/style) and functions (Examples: tabloids, newspapers, broadsheets, news stories, gossip magazines etc...)

Internet genres are the same as print versions. Classifying genres:

• Formal arrangement
• Theme / topic
• Mode of address
• Attitude

Contemporary media is “mediated” by technology that tends to combine register features of speech and writing. Media (TV / radio) are between traditional writing like newspaper and speech like phone conversation. Media discourse combines written and spoken styles.

Opposition views

1. Writing is objective, stable, planned, highly structured, formal, syntactically complex.
2. Speech is interpersonal, spontaneous, syntactically simple, informal, loosely structured.

Media rhetoric: Two main features of much media language

• Informative (statements of information)
• Persuasive (statements of opinions / evaluation). Often signalled by epistemic markers like ‘I think’, ‘in my view’, ‘it seems/apparently’.

An audience can be persuaded by a speaker’s trustworthiness.