PTE summarize written text samples 70

PTE summarize written text samples

Read the passages below and summarize them using one sentence in not more than 75 words(30-35 words). Type your response in the comment section at the bottom of the screen. You have 10 minutes to finish each passage. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points in the passage.

1.

At the roots of much of our cultural thinking is our actual experience of speech. In Britain the question of good speech is deeply confused, and is in itself a major source of many of the divisions in our culture. It is inevitable, in modern society, that our regional speech-forms should move closer to each other, and that many extreme forms should disappear. But this should be a natural process, as people move and travel and meet more freely, and as they hear different speakers in films, television, and broadcasting. The mistake is to assume that there is already a ‘correct’ form of modern English speech, which can serve as a standard to condemn all others. In fact ‘public-school English’, in the form in which many have tried to fix it, cannot now become a common speech-form in the country as a whole: both because of the social distinctions now associated with its use, and because of the powerful influence of American speech-forms. Yet many good forms of modified regional speech are in practice emerging and extending. The barriers imposed by dialect are reduced, in these forms, without the artificiality of imitating a form remote from most people’s natural speaking. This is the path of growth. Yet in much speech training, in schools, we go on assuming that there is already one ‘correct’ form over the country as a whole. Thousands of us are made to listen to our natural speaking with the implication from tile beginning that it is wrong.

This sets up such deep tensions, such active feelings of shame and resentment, that it should be no surprise that we cannot discuss culture in Britain without at once encountering tensions and prejudices deriving from this situation. If we experience speech training as an aspect of our social inferiority, a fundamental cultural division gets built in, very near the powerful emotions of self-respect, family affection, and local loyalty. This does not mean that we should stop speech training. But we shall not get near a common culture in Britain unless we make it a real social process – listening to ourselves and to others with no prior assumption of correctness – rather than the process of imitating a social class which is remote from most of us, leaving us stranded at the end with the ‘two-language’ problem. Nothing is more urgent than to get rid of this arbitrary association between general excellence and the habits of a limited social group. It is not only that there is much that is good elsewhere. It is also that, if you associate the idea of quality with the idea of class, you may find both rejected as people increasingly refuse to feel inferior on arbitrary social grounds.

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PTE summarize written text samples

2.

Most of us have an image of such a normal or standard English in pronunciation, and very commonly in Great Britain this is ‘Received Pronunciation’, often associated with the public schools, Oxford, and the BBC. Indeed, a pronunciation within this range has great prestige throughout the world, and for English taught as a foreign language it is more usually the ideal than any other pronunciation. At the same time, it must be remembered that, so far as the English-speaking countries are concerned, this ‘Received Pronunciation’ approaches the status of a ‘standard’ almost only in England: educated Scots, Irishmen, Americans, Australians, and others have their own, different images of a standard form of English.
Even in England it is difficult to speak oaf standard in pronunciation. For one thing, pronunciation is infinitely variable, so that even given the will to adopt a single pronunciation, it would be difficult to achieve. The word dance may be pronounced in a dozen ways even by people who do not think of themselves as dialect speakers: there is no sure way of any two people saying the same word with precisely the same sound. In this respect, pronunciation much more closely resembles handwriting than spelling. In spelling, there are absolute distinctions which can be learnt and imitated with complete precision: one can know at once whether a word is spelt in a ‘standard ’way or not. But two persons’ handwriting and pronunciation may both be perfectly intelligible, yet have obvious differences without our being able to say which is ‘better’ or more ‘standard.’
Moreover, while the easy and quick communications of modern times have mixed up and levelled dialectal distinctions to a great extent, and encouraged the spread of ‘neutral’, ‘normal’ pronunciation, the accompanying sociological changes have reduced the prestige of Received Pronunciation. When Mr Robert Graves returned to Oxford in October 1961 to take up the Professorship of Poetry, The Times reported him as saying, ‘Only the ordinary accent of the undergraduate has changed. In my day you very seldom heard anything but Oxford English; now there is a lot of north country and so on. In 1920 it was prophesied that the Oxford accent would overcome all others. But the regional speech proved stronger. A good thing.’

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7 thoughts on “PTE summarize written text samples 70

  1. 1. Even though, many types of dialects are used and developed in Britain, we have to ignore the correlation give by the obvious language complications and their association with different social groups and therefore to reject the belief that social class will provide the quality of speech.

    2. Regardless, most of us have an idea of what standard English pronunciation sounds, pronunciation is in fact a more particular an personal attribute, so that the issue to accept and develop a single type of pronunciation is like improbable.

  2. 1. Actual experience of speech is deep tension of Britain because of the reason that a good speech is a natural process to identify different dialects, and that reject the belief of providing the quality of speech by social groups.

  3. Hi Admin,
    Can you please rate our answers ?

    “Although England pronunciation considered to be ideal one there also exist distinctions as how one perceived, however contemporary usage has declined the worth of this “Received Pronunciation” but regional speech remain unaffected. “

  4. There is no correct form of modern English as there is a significant difference between ‘Public-school english’ and common form of english, in fact, we should listen to others without prior assumption of correctness on the basis of culture and social class.

  5. Though ‘Received Pronunciation’ is often associated with public schools, Oxford, yet sociological changes have reduced the prestige of received Pronunciation or standard form of English because pronunciation more closely resembles handwriting than spelling, even in 1920, it was prophesied that oxford accent would overcome all others but regional speech proved stronger which is a good thing.

  6. though ‘Received Pronunciation’ is often associated with public schools, Oxford, yet sociological changes have reduced the prestige of received Pronunciation or standard form of English because pronunciation more closely resembles handwriting than spelling, even in 1920, it was prophesied that oxford accent would overcome all others but regional speech proved stronger which is a good thing.
    .

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