UNIT 6

English as a National Foreign Language

India has two national languages for central administrative purposes: Hindi and

English. Hindi is the national, official, and main link language of India. English is

an associate official language. The Indian Constitution also officially approves

twenty-two regional languages for official purposes.

Dozens of distinctly different regional languages are spoken in India, which

share many charac teristics such as grammatical structure and vocabulary.

Apart from these languages, Hindi is used for communication in India. The

homeland of Hindi is mainly in the north of India, but it is spoken and widely

understood in all urban centers of India. In the southern states of India, where

people speak many different languages that are not much related to Hindi,

there is more resistance to Hindi, which has allowed English to remain a lingua

franca to a greater degree.

Since the early 1600s, the English language has had a toehold on the Indian

subcontinent, when the East India Company established settlements in Chennai,

Kolkata, and Mumbai, formerly Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay respectively. The

historical background of India is never far away from everyday usage of English.

India has had a longer exposure to English than any other country which uses it

as a second language, its distinctive words, idioms, grammar and rhetoric

spreading gradually to affect all places, habits and culture.

In India, English serves two purposes. First, it provides a linguistic tool for the

administrative cohesiveness of the country, causing people who speak different

languages to become united. Secondly, it serves as a language of wider

area. It overlaps with local languages in certain spheres of influence and in

public domains.

Generally, English is used among Indians as a ‘link’ language and it is the first

language for many well-educated Indians. It is also the second language for

many who speak more than one language in India. The English language is a tie

that helps bind the many segments of our society together. Also, it is a

linguistic bridge between the major countries of the world and India.

English has special national status in India. It has a special place in the

parliament, judiciary, broadcasting, journalism, and in the education system. One

can see a Hindi-speaking teacher giving their students instructions during an

educational tour about where to meet and when their bus would leave, but all in

English. It means that the language permeates daily life. It is unavoidable and is

always expected, especially in the cities.

The importance of the ability to speak or write English has recently increased

significantly because English has become the de facto standard. Learning

English language has become popular for business, commerce and cultural

reasons and especially for internet communications throughout the world.

English is a language that has become a standard not because it has been

approved by any ‘standards’ organization but because it is widely used by many

information and technology industries and recognized as being standard. The

call centre phenomenon has stimulated a huge expansion of internet-related

activity, establishing the future of India as a cyber-technological super-power.

Modern communications, videos, journals and newspapers on the internet use

English and have made ‘knowing English’ indispensable.

work in limited jobs. Those who do not have basic knowledge of English cannot

obtain good quality jobs. They cannot communicate efficiently with others, and

cannot have the benefit of India’s rich social and cultural life. Men and women

who cannot comprehend and interpret instructions in English, even if educated,

are unemployable. They cannot help with their children’s school homework

everyday or decide their revenue options of the future.

A positive attitude to English as a national language is essential to the

integration of people into Indian society. There would appear to be virtually no

disagreement in the community about the importance of English language skills.

Using English you will become a citizen of the world almost naturally. English

plays a dominant role in the media. It has been used as a medium for inter-state

communication and broadcasting both before and since India’s independence.

India is, without a doubt, committed to English as a national language. The

impact of English is not only continuing but increasing.

Q1 - According to the writer, the Indian constitution recognises

a. 22 official languages.

b. Hindi as the national language.

c. 2 national, official languages.

d. 2 national languages.

Q2 - English's status as a lingua franca is helped by

a. its status in northern India.

b. the fact that it is widely understood in urban centres.

c. the fact that people from the south speak languages not much related to

Hindi.
 d. it shares many grammatical similarities with Hindi.

Q3 - In paragraph 3, 'toehold' means that English

a. dominated India.

b. changed the names of some cities in India.

c. has had a presence in India.

d. has been in India longer than any other language.

Q4 - Hindi-speaking teachers

a. might well be heard using English.

b. only use English.

c. only use English for instructions.

d. do not use English.

Q5 - In paragraph eight, it says 'the prevailing view', which suggests that

a. the view is correct.

b. the view is held by the majority.

c. the view is incorrect.

d. the view is held by the minority.

Q6 - English in India

a. is going to decrease.

b. has decreased since independence.

c. causes disagreement.

d. is going to have a greater importance.

UNIT I SENTENCES WITH ONE CLAUSE

Some sentences in english have just one subject and verb, and it is very

important for you to find the subject and verb in these sentences. In some

sentences it is easy to find the subject and verb. However, certain structures,

such as object of prepositions, appositives, and participles, can cause confusion

in locating the subject and verb because each of these structure can look like a

subject and verb. An object of the preposition or an appositive can be mistaken

for a subject, while participle can be mistaken for a verb.

Therefore, you should be able to do the following in sentences with one

subject and verb: (1) be sure the sentence has subject and a verb, (2) be

careful of objects of prepositions and appositives when you are looking for the

subject, and (3) be careful of present participles and past participles when you

are looking the verb.

I.I Be sure the sentence has a subject and a verb

A sentence in English should have a subject and verb. The most common

types of problems that you will encounter in structure questions on the TOEFL

test have to do with subjects and verbs; perhaps the sentence is missing either

the subject or the verb or both, or perhaps the sentence has an extra subject

or verb

Example 1:

................ was backed up for miles on the freeway.

a. Yesterday

b. In the morning
 c. Traffic

d. Cars

In this, example you should notice immediately that there is a verb was,

but there is no subject. Answer (C) is the best answer because it contains the

singular subject traffic that agrees with the singular verb was. Answer (A),

yesterday and answer (B), in the morning, are not the subject, so they are not

correct. Although answer (D), cars could be a subject, it is not correct because

cars is plural and it does not agree with the singular verb was.

Example 2:

Engineers ............... for work on the new space program.

a. Necessary

b. Are needed

c. Hopefully

d. Next month

In this example you should notice immediately that the sentence has a

subject engineers and that there is no verb. Because answer (B), are needed, is

a verb, it is the best answer. Answer (A), (C), and (D) are not verbs, so they are

not correct.

Example 3:

The boy .......... going to the movies with afriend

a. He is

b. He always was

c. Is relaxing

d. Will be
 This sentence has a subject boy and has part of the verb going; to be

correct, some form of the verb be is needed to make the sentence complete.

Answer (A) and (B) are incorrect because the sentence already has a subject

boy and does not need the extra subject he. Answer (C) is incorrect because

relaxing is an extra verb part that is unnecessary because of going. Answer (D)

is the best answer, will be together with going is a complete verb.

Exercise : Use vertical line to separate the complete subject and the

complete predicate in each of the following sentences.

1. This new car is a blue and white four door sedan.

2. It has a sunroof and an automatic transmission.

3. The leather seats feel comfortable.

4. Dual air bags make the car very safe.

5. Our family’s new car is a small one with a big trunk.

6. It gets thirty miles per gallon of gas.

7. Consumers don’t like to spend too much on gasoline.

8. Small cars use less gasoline than large vehicles.

9. Some owners of large cars have traded them for smaller models.

10. Many larger vehicles have an extra tax on them.