140 Partn IWritingan"Essay
OriginalPassage 2
Source:Paragraphs1 and2 froma December20,2001,onlinearticleentitled
"Aworldempirebyothermeans."Theauthor'snameisnotgiven.Itwaspub-
lished onEconomist.com,theWeb siteofa Britishmagazine.TheWebsite
address is <http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=S%26%
2BXL%2FRA%5F%24%OA>
It [English]is everywhere.Some 380 millionpeoplespeakitastheirfirst
languageandperhapstwo-thirdsasmanyagainastheirsecond.A billionare
learningit, abouta thirdoftheworld'spopulationareinsomesenseexposedtoit,
andby2050,it is predicted,halftheworldwillbemoreorlessproficientinit.Itis
thelanguageofglobalization-ofint.ernationalbusiness,politics,anddiplomacy.
ItisthelanguageofcomputersandtheInternet.You'llseeit onpostersinCote
d'ivoire,you'llhearitinpopsongsinTokyo,you'llreaditinofficialdocumentsin
PhnomPenh.DeutscheWellebroadcastsinit.Bjork,anIcelander,singsinit.
Frenchbusinessschoolsteachinit.Itisthemediumofexpressionincabinet
meetingsinBolivia.Truly,thetonguespokenbackin the1300sonlybythe"low
people"ofEngland,asRobertofGloucesterputit atthetime,hascomea long
way.It is nowthegloballanguage.
Howcome?NotbecauseEnglishiseasy.True,gendersaresimple,since
Englishrelieson"it"asthepronounforallinanimatenouns,reservingmasculine
forbonafidemalesandfeminineforfemales(andcountriesandships).Butthe
verbstendtobeirregular,thegrammarbizarre,andthematchbetweenspelling
andpronunciationa nightmare.Englishis nowsowidelyspokeninsomanyplaces
thatumpteenversionshaveevolved,somesopeculiarthateven"native"speakers
mayhavetroubleunderstandingeachother.Butif onlyoneversionexisted,that
wouldpresentdifficultiesenough.EveneverydayEnglishis a languageofsubtlety,
nuance,andcomplexity.JohnSimmons,a languageconsultantforInterbrand,likes
tocitetheword"set,"anapparentlysimplewordthattakesondifferentmeanings
ina sporting,cooking,social,ormathematicalcontext-andthatis beforeanylittle
wordsarecombinedwithit. Then,asa verb,it becomes"setaside,""setup,""set
down,""setin,""seton,""setabout,""setagainst,"andsoon,termsthat"leave
evennativespeakersbewilderedabout[its]coremeaning."NotesSummary