Surveys!

Hello everyone,

Following the reading about "Truth and Statistics", here's the British comedy Yes, Minister showing us how to obtain opposite results in a survey. Wonder how? Through the use of so-called "leading questions", that is, the questions that lead or introduce one more important question in the poll.

The one piece of vocabulary you whould know in advance is National Service, which was the obligatory military service in the UK (although this could be easily guessed by the nature of the questions.

I propose two activities with different degrees of difficulty: either transcribing the poll questions (ready for some British accent!), or completing this gap-filling.

You can check your answers here.

Enjoy!

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Agatha Christie Sketch: sentence order

A really really funny Monty Python sketch. Apart from the absurd, there are some interesting language features in this little piece. I suggest trying to decipher inspector Tiger's crazy variations of the first sentence. Can you transcribe some of them?

Enjoy! By the way: Who do you think is the murderer?

Answers, as usual, in the comments.

A Bit of Fry and Laurie

A little video in which the meaning of the verb "to claim" is very clear. Let's remember what the dictionary says:

1 [transitive] to say that something is true although it has not been proved and other people may not believe it

claim (that)… He claims (that) he was not given a fair hearing.claim (somebody/something) to be/do something I don't claim to be an expert.claim something Scientists are claiming a major breakthrough in the fight against cancer.it is claimed that… It was claimed that some doctors were working 80 hours a week.

In this video,

1. What did the psychic claim?

2. What did he not claim?

So, I continue with my vindication of British humour. And a good opportunity to see Hugh Laurie outside his role of Dr.House (and a lot younger, too!)

Enjoy!

Miranda's Best Friend: Tim the Toastman

Second installment of this hilarious programme: did Miranda Hart have a friend made of toast? Try to guess if it's true or just a lie, both with and without subtitles.

There are some words you may want to look up in the dictionary on your right before watching the video:

mould

rotting (to rot)

a toaster

grounds for

committal

Enjoy!

Subtitled: