You will apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts,
Directions
Read the instructions for this self-checked activity. Type in your response to each question, and check your answers. At the
end of the activity, write a brief evaluation of your work,
Activity
In this activity, you'll read a sentence from the Old Testament's Ecclesiastes. You will also read George Orwell's
revision of the sentence, which he designed to illustrate bad habits he found in the written work of his time. Carefully
compare the two versions of the sentence. Describe what Orwell changed, in terms of word choice and sentence
structure, as well as tone and implied purpose or audience. Before you formulate your answer in paragraph form,
you might want to take notes (below or elsewhere) comparing the two versions of the sentence in terms of word
choice, sentence structure, tone, and implied audience and purpose
Sentence from Ecclesiastes:
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to
the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth.
Orwell's revision in "modern English of the worst sort":
Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive
activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the
unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.