The Goodest Blog

The text, an extract of an article by the BBC World Service website highlighted some of the more important issues raised in the present and future status of English in an international context. One of which was the showcase of the expansion in other languages around the world. We most clearly see this in the text which states, “...about 1.5 billion people around the world speak it- but fewer than 400 million have it as their first language.” This shows that the expanding circle of English is getting bigger. In this increasing bubble of language, eventually, it will pop. This is further supported in the article in the discussions of translations by the internet and computers around the world. This is an important issue in English’s longevity because, with more global enabling of translation and support for other languages to be used without disadvantages, English will die. This global enabling includes the use of new technologies that can translate even easier than ever before. We see t...

  The text written is a letter to a “Stranger” which makes the audience quite unspecific and very broad. The letter's purpose is to give the audience advice on how to live a happier life. To achieve this, the letter gives advice to the reader throughout the entirety of it and makes good use of personal anecdotes which summarize where most of the advice the writer Richard Branson is giving comes from. Beyond the personal anecdotes he gives like saying, “I’ve cheated death on many adventures, seen loved ones pass away…” He also gives advice that isn’t exactly derived from him. An example of this is in his writing saying, “Be healthy.” This simplistic advice although not very personal, still would speak volumes, especially in the contextual sense in which it’s presented.      As for the form in which this letter is written. Richard Branson makes use of the common components a letter would have, following suit using an address to the readers saying, “Dear Stranger” and a...

  4/19/22 Dear, Mr. Macron It should be immediately brought to your attention that the single most important lung for oxygen on this planet is dying as we speak. Right now, the Amazon rainforest is being burned down at a rapid rate and isn’t stopping anytime soon, we need you to take action as president and assure that this catastrophe doesn’t continue. The fire has been burning for over three weeks, now consuming more than one-and-a-half soccer fields of forest being destroyed every passing minute. With your own people's backing of the #PrayforAmazoanas, you have more than the green light to commence help for this forest immediately! `The rainforest is over 5.5 million square kilometers and produces 20% of the world’s oxygen. With over 16,000 tree species and 390 billion trees in the Amazon, we cannot stand to waste any single one of them. So we ask you to step in now, as there is no time to waste on this essential habitat that is being torn apart, especially in the times of...

  In this discourse, which contains a mother and her child Raina. Raina, the child, is five years old. Throughout the discourse, it is evident that Raina is in the late post-telegraphic stage of child language acquisition. This became firstly evident when taking into account the recognition of homophones that their mother uses. This was their mother saying “i can see the sea” and the child’s response “mm hmm.” This recognition of homophones is quite significant in the stage that Raina is in.      It should also be noted that Raina is able to use intonation and stress in speaking. These prosodic features can be heard when listening to Raina say, “lets go this way mum (.) this way.” This use of prosodic stress also represents Raina’s ability to understand conversational importance of paralinguistic features such as body language, but without use of body language, Raina is still able to show emphasis using this stress in speaking. More examples include the intonation s...

    Text A, an excerpt from Advice to a Young Man upon First Going to Oxford: In Ten Letters, From an Uncle to His Nephew by Edward Berens, was written in 1832, which means it is written in late modern English. Over time, English has had quite a few significant changes that are theorized and studied by people all over the world. One of those theories that closely relates to the change we see in Text A is the cultural transmission theory. Developed by many, the cultural transmission theory suggests that the passing on of information through one another occurs through the actions and imitations of the language/idea that the teacher would like to put forward. Through this learning of new information by socialized and engaged interactions, you are cultural learning. For instance, Text A is all about the advice that an uncle is giving to his nephew who’s going to Oxford. This downward communication of an uncle talking to his nephew and giving advice is the base of the cultural...

Beneath the midnight moon lies the campfire shared amongst three teal-tinted tents. The light of the campfire bled onto the surrounding grass only an arms reach past the tents. The moon was bright but its shine was restricted by the damp forestry surrounding the dirt-floored campgrounds. Only two of the tents were occupied by campers since the last tent’s occupants were occupied by the path they discovered hiking earlier in the day. The two occupants, a young fellow named Tanner and his Border Collie named Spike. The path they discovered had symbols carved into trees that Tanner hadn’t ever seen before. Like stick figures digging a hole or something along those lines, he had thought. As they walked along the trail following its loose bends and roughly sloped hills they began seeing more and more trees. Not uncommon for a forest necessarily, but a more frequent amount than usual. The trees, still and tall looked down upon the two venturers. The branch scars were like cyclops eyes starin...