Prime Time 7/8, Language in Use, Arbeitsheft

Expressing yourself in the right register a) The text below uses both formal and informal expressions. Complete the table with suitable counter- parts taken from the text and think about the effect the use of the different registers may have on the reader. 5 Passers-by mainly blow me off, a homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk or a bench. The people who do pick my brains are either curious, or they give me useless advice. Many people also assume that the homeless are all drug addicts, criminals or prostitutes and disregard me on purpose. I am none of these things, yet I have seen the stereotypes first-hand. I don’t have recent data, but I know that in 1994, a study of homeless people in Manhattan was published and a summary appeared in many newspapers. The findings said that 30–40% of the street homeless population suffered from a mental illness, including alcoholism and drug addiction. It’s a tragic statistic, but you can also infer from this survey that 60–70% of the street homeless are not mentally ill, drug addicts or alcoholics. People should remember that other factors – such as education, job training, employment, the housing market and how programmes for the poor are administered – also cause people to end up on the streets. I am often asked if I have enough to eat. I will chow down anything that is healthful. People who work with food bring leftovers to me. Soup kitchens are also an alternative. The volunteers work to make it pleasant and serve edible food. I take nourishment thankfully. There are many people with poor table manners, unhygienic habits or looking for a fight. There are hardly any goombahs, sadly. If you want the truth, shelters, soup kitchens and other facilities for the poor are the most unsanitary, unhealthy and dangerous places I have ever been to. I have seen some of the best and worst of humanity since I became homeless a few years before the recession. My belongings have been cabbaged by other residents and workers at the shelters and even church personnel and pedestrians. One time, my purse, which I kept inside a backpack, was taken without permission. It contained a lot of information about confidants and relatives and other personal papers. You cannot replace those. I don’t want to sound like I am whining. I have also met people like a young woman who sawme upset after an attack by a resident of the Park Avenue women’s shelter. She required to know if she could help me. I told her how I had lost my apartment, what the shelters were like, and previous work I had done. She was focused, patient, a good listener and gave me cash. The young woman’s unselfish behaviour, compassionate heart and generous spirit allowed me to walk away fresh. She was exceptional. (Mary, The Guardian , 13 October 2013; adapted and abridged) 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 Informal register Formal register 1. to blow sb. off to ignore sb. 2. to ask sb. sth. 3. to eat 4. a friend 5. to steal sth. b) Which other words and expressions seem formal or informal to you? 83 16 The individual and society Nur zu Prüfzwecke – Eigentum des Verlags öbv