EnglishClub

Pre-listening vocabulary

• derive: to come from something else
• alphabet: a system of letters used in written language
• scribe: someone whose job was to handwrite copies of books
• emperor: someone who rules over many countries
• store: to keep something in a certain place
• vary: to change over time
• universal: used by everyone

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

The English alphabet derives from the Latin alphabet, which was first used in ancient Rome. The original Latin alphabet only had capital . Lowercase letters evolved as scribes found faster ways to write by hand. Around 800 A.D., the emperor Charlemagne created a standard lowercase Latin alphabet. The two types of letters gained the names “uppercase” and “lowercase” after the of the Gutenberg press. Early newspaper offices stored letters in wooden cases. They kept the letters in the lower cases because they used them more often. English capitalization rules varied throughout history. From the 16th to the 18th century, it was popular to capitalize all words in a sentence, including most nouns. This ended around the beginning of the 19th century, when English developed more universal rules.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. The original Latin alphabet had
   a. capital letters only
   b. lowercase letters only
   c. both capital and lowercase letters
   
2. The word “lowercase” comes from
   a. the emperor Charlemagne
   b. medieval English scribes
   c. early newspaper offices
   
3. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, it was popular to capitalize
   a. words at the end of a sentence as well as the beginning
   b. all important words, including most nouns
   c. all verbs and adjectives

Discussion/essay questions

1. In German, the capitalization of nouns is still a common practice. In some alphabets, like Arabic, there are no capital letters. Does your native language have capital and lowercase letters? What are the basic rules for using them?
2. Can you write a comment using 16th-century English capitalization?

Transcript

The English alphabet derives from the Latin alphabet, which was first used in ancient Rome. The original Latin alphabet only had capital letters. Lowercase letters evolved as scribes found faster ways to write by hand. Around 800 A.D., the emperor Charlemagne created a standard lowercase Latin alphabet. The two types of letters gained the names “uppercase” and “lowercase” after the invention of the Gutenberg press. Early newspaper offices stored letters in wooden cases. They kept the smaller letters in the lower cases because they used them more often. English capitalization rules varied throughout history. From the 16th to the 18th century, it was popular to capitalize all important words in a sentence, including most nouns. This ended around the beginning of the 19th century, when English grammar developed more universal rules.

Answers to comprehension questions

1a 2c 3b

See also:

• Uppercase and lowercase

Pre-listening vocabulary

• lipogram: a text that excludes a certain letter
• challenge: a difficult task
• introduction: a beginning section in a book that gives information about the story or the author
• typewriter: a device that types letters directly on paper
• self-publish: to publish a book without the help of a publishing company

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17 — 1.2MB)

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Gapfill exercise

Gadsby is a 1939 by American writer Ernest Vincent Wright. It is a lipogram, which means it does not include a specific letter of the alphabet. In Gadsby, there are no that contain the letter “e”. This was a challenge, because “e” is the most letter in English. In the introduction to the book, Wright says that he tied down the “e” key on his typewriter to stop himself from using it. Wright self-published his book, and he died before it became famous. However, it later other novel-length lipograms. One of these was a French novel called La Disparition, or A Void in English. This novel excluded the letter “e” in both the French original and the English .

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. A text that excludes a specific letter is called
   a. an epigram
   b. a lipogram
   c. an anagram
   
2. The most common letter in English is
   a. e
   b. a
   c. i
   
3. To stop himself from using the “e” key on his typewriter, Wright
   a. tied it down
   b. removed it
   c. painted it black

Discussion/essay questions

1. Can you make a comment without using the letter “e”?

Transcript

Gadsby is a 1939 novel by American writer Ernest Vincent Wright. It is a lipogram, which means it does not include a specific letter of the alphabet. In Gadsby, there are no words that contain the letter “e”. This was a challenge, because “e” is the most common letter in English. In the introduction to the book, Wright says that he tied down the “e” key on his typewriter to stop himself from using it. Wright self-published his book, and he died before it became famous. However, it later inspired other novel-length lipograms. One of these was a French novel called La Disparition, or A Void in English. This novel successfully avoided the letter “e” in both the French original and the English translation.

Answers to comprehension questions

1b 2a 3a