II. Texts for reading and discussing

Text 1 ADDRESSING PEOPLE

There are several ways of addressing people in English. The most universal ones that can be used when speaking to strangers as well as to people you know are:

Mr— to a man, Mr Brown

Mrs— to a married woman, Mrs Brown;

Miss— to an unmarried woman, Miss Brown;

Ms[miz] — to a woman whose marital status is unknown (mostly used in the written form, Ms Brown).

Mr, Miss,etc. are never used without the person's second name.

Other forms of address are:

Sir— used to a man who is clearly older or more senior than oneself.

Sir is also used:

1. By shop assistants, waiters, etc. to their male customers;

2. By schoolchildren to men-teachers;

3. In the armed forces, to an (a superior) officer;

4. As a title (for knights and baronets), followed by the first name, for example, Sir William.

5. Sometimes as a polite form of address to a stranger, even if not older or more senior. However, this is not common nowadays in Britain, where the usual way of addressing a stranger (either a man or a woman) is Excuse me, please.

Madam— used by shop assistants, waiters, etc. to their female customers. Except for this type of situation, however, madam is less widely used than sir. It is not used when addressing women-teachers (here Mrs/Miss with the surname is used), nor when addressing an older or more senior woman. It is only rarely used to address a stranger, "Excuse me, please" being the usual form.

People who have a scientific degree — PhD, ScD — are to be addressed Dr, doctor Brown, whereas medical practitioners, i. е., doctors who cure people are simply Doctors(no name is necessary). Professorscan also be addressed by the title only.

You'd better use officer— addressing a policeman. If one knows his rank, one may also address him as, for example, Constable, or Inspector. In practice, however, most people approaching a policeman for information or help use Excuse me, (please), without any form of address.

People in certain occupations can be called Waiter/Waitress/Porter/Nurse,etc. Commercial and administrative titles such as director, manager are never used as forms of address.

When addressing a King or a Queen you say Your Majesty.Addressing a group of people or audience you use Ladies and Gentlemen.In fact people in the English-speaking countries prefer calling each other by the first name: Peter, Ann, etc.

Forms of address within the Family

Small children address their parents as Mummyand Daddy.When they are older (about 10—11) they often change to Mumand Dad.As adults they usually continue to use these forms, although some people (mainly members of the upper and middle classes) use the formal Motherand Father.

Grandparents are usually addressed as Granny(sometimes Granor Nunny)and Grandad. Grandmotherand Grandfatherare used by some adults (those who use Mother and Father — see above).

Aunts and uncles are addressed as Auntieand Uncleusually with the first name, for example, Auntie Mary, Uncle Richard. Auntis often used instead of Auntie by older children and adults, particularly in formal situation.

Text 2 Read the text. Answer the questions below.