FOCUS ON LANGUAGE

DO YOU SPEAK MOSCOW ENGLISH?

The test below is based on authentic materials submitted by British teachers. Each sentence, though grammatically correct, contains mistakes, sometimes more than one (mostly pertaining to the spheres of word usage and the appropriate choice of words, collocations and idioms). The mistakes in question are quite common for Russian-English – thus accounting for the name Moscow English. Try to find and correct them.

1. We’d like to invite you to us this evening for a birthday party. We’re having all sorts of Russian dishes: pancakes, borsch, zakuski, caviar and so on and so forth.

2. – Hello Natalia! Are you coming to our party tonight?

– Yes, of course!

3. I’ll meet you at the bus stop at 7 pm.

4. I’m always at a loss when travelling on the Moscow metro. I simply don’t know which station to change at.

5. Within an hour you can be out of the centre of Moscow and find yourself in the beautiful nature of her suburbs.

6. As for me, I’m going to stay at home and wash my head but you go to the party by all means.

7. You know that book on the Great Patriotic War you said you’d lend me, well, if you’ve got it on you I could lend it now.

8. To your mind who is the greatest writer alive today?

9. – Do you go in for any kind of sport?

– Yes, I go in for swimming.

10. I’m very interested in techniques, so I’ll have a go at repairing your cassette recorder.

11. We also do our labworks in the laboratory with modern equipment.

12. After a very tiring journey through Caucuses we decided to take a long rest before we embarked upon the next stage of our expedition.

13. In general, the modern buildings do help us to live and work in comfort. There are all modern conveniences there. There is central heating, gas, electricity, cold and hot water supply and what not.

14. Although both of my grandparents are on pension, they still hold down full time jobs.

15. Yes, it’s all very well to talk about it but what to do?

Answer Keys:

1. invite you to us (wrong use) – invite you to + where/invite you over; so on and so forth (too much) – either so on or so forth

2. of course (wrong use) – yes, thank you/with pleasure/I’d love to

3. pm (obs. or written English) – at 7 (o’clock) in the evening

4. at a loss (obs., like in Alice in Wonderland) – I never know where I am/I can’t cope with the metro-underground is more preferable when speaking about the British station (corresponds to the Rus. вокзал) – stop

5. nature (general term) – countryside her (could be used only for strong emotional emphasis) – its

6. as for me – I think
wash my head – wash my hair
by all means – I’m going to stay home but you go to the party (the idea of necessity could be expressed by adding special emphasis on the personal pronouns)

7. the Great Patriotic War – World War II is more common for the British. I could lend – borrow

8. To your mind – Who do you think ...

9. go in for – a) – Do you play sports? – Yes, tennis;
b) – What sport do you dо? – I swim/play tennis.

10. techniques – technical matters; electronics

11. labworks – experiments in the lab;
modern (no necessity here to emphasise contrast) – up-to-date

12. the Caucuses also, the Crimed, the Baltics, the Urals

13. do help (to a native speaker it sounds as if an uneducated person is learning to speak English) all modern conveniences – many conveniences a hot and cold water supply (the article was missing; besides, the British tend to use – if possible – different sentences instead of long lists of enumerations)

14. on pension – retired

15. What to do? – What can/should we do? /What are we (supposed) to do?

By Julia KUZMENKOVA