Universität Hamburg

Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Seminar II: Cognitive English Grammar: Theory and Practice

Dozent: Prof. Dr. Günter Radden

Untersuchung zur Seminararbeit von Michaela Thomas

Survey

I. These sentences were taken from British and US daily newspapers.

Please fill in the blanks with the tenses you think make sense. Then, briefly, give a reason for your intuitive or logical choice.

1.

BAT boss Adams (1) (to stub out) cigarettes ahead of exit

THE boss of Britain's biggest tobacco firm (2) (to give up) smoking cigarettes,

it (3) (to emerge). / Paul Adams, chief executive of British American Tobacco,

(4) (to kick) the habit after spending 19 years selling millions of packets of Dunhill, Kent and Lucky Strike to smokers.[...]

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

2.

City (1) (to pass) law barring translation

A Minnesota community (2) (to pass) an ordinance that bars the use of city funds for translation of public documents or meetings, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune (3) (to report) (startribune.com).[...]

(1)

(2)

(3)

3.

France (1) (to declare) war on al-Qaeda

France (2) (to declare) war on al-Qaeda after the terror network's North African branch (3) (to kill) a French aid worker it (4) (to take) hostage in April.[...]

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

II. This second section contains parts A and B, both with sentences from two articles of the same topic, taken from US and British daily newspapers.

Please fill in the blanks, explain your choice briefly, and finally, give your opinion about which article is from a US and which from a British daily newspaper.

A 1

Telefónica (1) ( to gain) control of Brazilian telecom Vivo

€7.5 billion deal (2) (to buy out) Portugal Telecom's stake, ending a fierce battle

Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications company, (3) (to win) full control of Vivo, the mobile phone venture it (4) ( to have) with Portugal Telecom in Brazil, to €7.5 billion, thereby overcoming opposition from the Portuguese government. / The deal(5) (to announce) Wednesday by the Spanish stock market regulator.[...]

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

US/British?

A2

Telefónica (1) (to seal) Vivo deal with Portugal Telecom

Telefónica (2) (to take) control of Brazil's largest mobile phone operator, Vivo. The Spanish telecoms group (3) (to pay) €7.5billion for Portugal Telecom's stake in Vivo. Earlier Telefónica (4) (to agree) to pay €7.15billion for PT's share of Vivo, but this deal (5) (to block) by the Portuguese government which wanted PT to maintain a strong position in Brazil. [...]

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

US/British?

B1

Theo Albrecht, who helped build Aldi grocery chain, (1) (to die) at 88

Theo Albrecht, who with his brother Karl (2) ( to use) lessons learned in the lean years of postwar Germany to build an international grocery empire,(3) ( to die) Saturday in Essen, Germany. He (4) (to be) 88.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

US/British?

B2

Reclusive billionaire founder of Aldi (1) ( to die) at 88

Theo Albrecht, the secretive retail tycoon who (2) ( to build) the no-frills Aldi supermarket empire with his elder brother Karl, (3) (to die) at the age of 88. / Albrecht, who (4) ( to be) Germany's second-richest man - after his brother - with a fortune worth nearly €17billion, (5) (to keep) a low profile after being kidnapped at gunpoint in 1971. / The businessman is understood to (6) (to die) on Saturday.[...]

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

US/British?

any further remarks:

Thank you for your participation!