Britain for learners of English - Summary

Britain
Summary
:
Chapter
1
-­‐2
-­‐
3-­‐

5
–
14
-­‐
16



Britain
chapter
1
Country
and
people



Geographically


On
the
north-­‐west
coast
of
Europe
there
are
two
islands.
The
biggest
one
is
called
Great

Britain
and
the
other
one
is
called
Ireland.
There
is
no
name
for
the
two
together.





Politically
speaking



There
are
two
states:


1. The
Republic
of
Ireland/Eire
(irish
name)
(governs
most
of
the
island
of
Ireland)

2. United
Kingdom
of
Great
Britain
and
Northern
Ireland
(authority
over
the
whole
of

Great
Britain,
northern/eastern
area
of
Ireland
and
most
of
the
smaller
islands.)


Because
United
Kingdom
of
Great
Britain
and
Northern
Ireland
is
too
long
for
practical

purposes,
it
is
often
referred
to
as
United
Kingdom
(UK).
In
other
contexts
it’s
Great
Britain

(Olympic

Games
etc.).
GBP
means
Great
Britain
Pounds.
In
writing
and
speaking
that
isn’t

informal
or
formal
often
Britain
is
used.
The
normal
everyday
adjective
is
British.






Side
stories


• Great
from
Great
Britain
comes
from
when
they
tried
to
distinguish
themselves
from

a
smaller
area
in
France,
which
is
now
called
Brittany.

• During
the
nineteenth
and
twentieth
centuries,
they
were
generally
called
The
British

Isles,
but
it
was
regarded
as
outdated
because
it
reminds
them
of
the
time
when

Ireland
was
politically
dominated
by
Britain.

• They
have
used
the
names
:
“the
north-­‐east
Atlantic
archipelago”,
“the
north-­‐west

European
archipelago”,
IONA
(Islands
of
the
North
Atlantic)
and
simply
;
“The
Isles”

•
Great
Britain
and
Ireland
is
not
correct
as
in
this
way
they
ignore
the
smaller
islands

and
politically
speaking
there
are
also
two
islands
who
have
special
political

arrangements
(Channel
Islands
and
Isle
of
Man).
They
are
crown
dependencies,
not

officially
part
of
UK.
Each
island
has
their
own
complete
internal
self-­‐government

with
parliament
and
tax
system.
They
are
ruled
by
Lieutenant
Governor
(appointed

by
the
British
government).