Article for November 16th

Van Rompuy Declares National Sovereignty Dead

The age of the nation state is over and the idea that countries can stand alone is an ‘illusion’ and a ‘lie’, the EU president believes.

In one of the most open proclamations of the goal of a European superstate since the heyday of Jacques Delors, Herman Van Rompuy went on to denounce Eurosceptism as the greatest threat to peace.

Tory backbenchers condemned the inflammatory comments in the speech made by Mr Van Rompuy to mark the 21st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Grammar Tip!

Get as become

"Become" is a formal version of "get", which is colloquial. Formal English is usually written, that is, we use it in business letters, essays at university and reports. Colloquial English is chatty - the way we speak to friends.

This means that, when we are speaking to our friends, we say, "He got very cross." But when we WRITE a police report, we say: "He became very angry."

"Get" should not be used in formal texts, and teachers sometimes give exercises to their classes with instructions to find a "better" word to replace "get", for example:

1. Yesterday I got a letter from my boyfriend. (received)

2. He will get angry if you say that. (become)

3. When we got there, the show had already started. (arrived)

These are not "better" words, they are more formal words, for writing, not speaking.

Video #1 For Nov. 16th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ceg6NQKHd70