Vocabulary

Definition

acceptable level of quality,

normal

pronunciation that is common to

a group of people from a certain

area

certain place that is separate from

other places in some way

who a person is

act of remaining against

something

power to affect something or

somebody

a certain general characteristic

about a group of people thought

to apply to all individuals of that

group

to have an opinion after careful

thought

standard for something acceptable

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

A standard brand is good enough for our needs.

Smart phones have more features than standard

cell phones.

Different regions have different accents even when

speaking the same language.

She spoke with a French accent.

The regional director is a good person.

The regional newspaper had personal stories.

Her card showed her identity.

His identity is unknown.

His body developed a resistance to the medicine.

She sensed some resistance from the group.

Many different influences changed the style of her

writing.

You can see some European influence in the

architecture.

Racial and cultural stereotypes usually annoy

individuals.

A stereotype of a nerd is a person wearing thick

glasses and suspenders.

She judged that it was rotten by the smell.

He judged the performance and announced his

score.

Social norms are always changing.

His score was under the norm.

Grammar Points

The Focus of This Lesson Is Different English Accents.

In the last four lessons, you learned about English vowels, consonants, stress, and intonation. In this

last lesson, we would like to concentrate on different versions of English that exist within the United

States.

In its written form, English is standard across different accents, but as you may know, many accents

exist when spoken. General American is the name given to the version of English that does not have a

recognizable regional accent. (However, since all language has an origin, it's based on the version of

English spoken in the Midwest.) This is known as the English spoken on the news, used in business,

and used in government matters.

Along with the different types of English that exist comes a sense of identity among its speakers.

People with the same regional accent may identify themselves through certain words or sounds that are

distinct to that area. If they live outside their hometowns for a long time, they might find themselves

adapting to another regional accent. This could be because they like the area they live in and are

slowly growing an identity there. On the other hand, they might also find that they never adopt the

accent because they have some resistance to it.