ACT English Practice Test 28

The following paragraphs may or may not be in the most logical order. You may be asked questions about the logical order of the paragraphs, as well as where to place sentences logically within any given paragraph.

Adventures in Australian English

“Have a gander! Some mozzies landed in the barbie, right on the chook! We’ll have to get take-away!” Translation: “Look! Some mosquitoes have been landed Q1 in the barbecue, right on the chicken! We’ll have to get carry-out!”

Such is the colorful lilt of Australian English, which is as unique and distinctive as Australia itself. From Australia’s beginnings Q2 as an English penal colony in the late 1700s to its later incarnation as a land of opportunity, the country continues to be influenced by Q3 outside forces, which included the American military during World War II. As a result, the Australian language is a rather clever, often humorous blend of both British and American versions of English. American television also played a major role in the Americanization of Australian English, often causing Australian’s Q4 to replace British words with their American counterparts, such as the American word truck replacing the British word lorry.

There are three main principal Q5 types of Australian English, although they overlap quite a bit. “General Australian English” is spoken by the majority of native Australians, Q6 and emphasizes shorter vowel sounds and have Q7 fewer variations in diction. “Broad Australian” is more prevalent outside of the island’s major cities. The lesser common Q8 dialect of Australian English is the “cultivated” form, which is spoken by about 10 percent of the Australian population. Many Australians consider the cultivated form to be too Q9 haughty and snobbish.

Vast majority of Australians Q10 reject that particular variety. Australian English vocabulary also varies from one region to another. For example, in New South Wales, a bathing suit may be called a swimmer or a tog, while in other areas it is referred to as a bather. A ten-ounce drinking glass may be called a pot, handle, middy, ten, or schooner, depending on the region of the country. Additionally, the word footy can refer Q11 to Australian football or rugby.

Australian English has other distinctive traits, such as a propensity toward more vivid expressions like mangy maggot or bloody grub used to signify unlikable people. Australians also frequently shorten English words, then add an “o” or “ie” to the end, thus producing a diminutive form. Q12 Examples are servo, which means service station, and ambo, which means ambulance or the person who drives one.

[1] In 1981, the Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English had been published Q13 by Macquarie Library Pty, Ltd., in association with the Linguistics Department of Macquarie University in Sydney. [2] Subsequent editions have included encyclopedic entries and more extensive word and phrase origins. [3] Over time, Australian schools, businesses, and legal systems have adopted the Macquarie Dictionary, although it is difficult to keep up with the country’s ever-changing adaptations caused by outside (particularly American) influences. [4] As some Australians would say, the Macquarie Dictionary has Buckley’s of keeping up with modern times! Q14

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