Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment [ 25 ]

25- ] Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment .

Politics and public institutions .

A-[ Types of government :

-‘republic’ :a state governed by representatives and usually a president [ e.g. US , France ]

- ‘monarchy’ : a state ruled by a king or queen [ e.g. UK , Sweden ]

- ‘federation’ : a union of political units [ e.g. provinces] under a central government [e.g. USA ]

- ‘democracy’ : government of , by and for the people

- ‘dictatorship’ : system of government run by a dictator

- ‘independence’ : freedom from outside control ; self-governing

B-] Presidential and parliamentary government [ US and UK ] :

United States :

- ‘Presidential government’ : The powers of the President and the legislature                   [ Congress ]are separate . These ‘branches’ of government are elected separately .

- ‘The President’ is ‘elected’ for a four-year ‘term’ and can ‘appoint’ or ‘nominate’ high official in government , including ‘cabinet’ members [ who advise ] and federal ‘judges’ . The President leads a major party , usually , but not always , the ‘majority party’ in Congress .

 - ‘Congress’ consists of two ‘houses’ , the ‘House of Representatives’ and the ‘Senate’.

- ‘Congressmen or women’ and ‘Senators’ are elected for fixed terms .

- The ‘judiciary’ is a separate branch . The ‘Supreme Court’ , the highest court , can ‘overrule’ the President and Congress .

C-] United Kingdom :

- ‘Parliamentary government’ : The government consists of a ‘legislature’ [Parliament] and a ‘Cabinet of Ministers’ from the ‘majority party’ in Parliament .

- The ‘Prime Minister’ is the head of the government and the leader of the majority party in the ‘House of Commons’ , holding office while the party holds a majority . The Prime Minister ‘selects’ high officials and ‘heads’ the Cabinet .

- ‘Parliament’ consists of two ‘chambers’ , the ‘House of Commons’ and the ‘House of Lords’ .

- ‘MPs’ are ‘members of parliament’ elected from each ‘constituency’ [ geographical area ] to the ‘House of Commons’ .

-The ‘judiciary’ is independent but it cannot ‘overrule’ the Prime Minister of Parliament .

The ‘Highest Court’ consists of a group of Lords .

D-] Parliamentary elections :

During a ‘general election’ each ‘constituency’ has to choose which ‘politician’ it wants as its ‘representative’ . Usually there are several ‘candidates’ to choose from . These candidates are all ‘standing’ [ or ‘running’] for Parliament . They present the ‘policies’ that they represent . On ‘polling day’ each citizen goes to the ‘polling station’ and ‘casts a vote’ by marking a cross on their ‘ballot paper’ . The candidate who gets the ‘majority’ of votes wins the ‘seat’ . If the vote is very close , the constituency may be referred to as a ‘marginal seat’ . If an MP dies ‘in office’ , then there has to be a ‘by[e]-election’ to replace him or her . The public can also occasionally vote in a ‘referendum’ – a ‘direct vote’ y the people on an important public issue .

The press and the media .

A-] The term the ‘mass media in English refers basically to TV , radio and newspapers : means of communication which reach very large numbers of people .

B-] Radio and television :

Types of programs : documentaries , news , broadcasts , current affairs programs  , soap operas [ continuing stories about the lives of a set of characters] ,

quizzes sitcoms [ comedies centering around a set of characters in a particular situation] , drama , chat shows , detective stories , sports programs , weather forecasts , music programs , game shows [ where contestants compete for prizes ] , variety shows , commercials [ adverts ]

-  ‘serial’ is a story that continues from one program or ‘episode’ to the next . A series about the same ‘characters’ or has the same format each week but each program is complete in itself .

- ‘Films’ originally made in a different language may have ‘sub-titles’ so you can read a translation of what the characters are saying or be ‘dubbed’ , so you hear what they are saying in your own language .

C-] Newspapers and publishing :

- ‘Parts of the newspaper’ : ‘headlines’ , ‘news reports’ , ‘editorial’ [ an opinion article written by the editor ] , ‘feature articles’ , e.g. about fashion or social trends , ‘horoscope’ , ‘cartoons’ , ‘crossword’ , ‘small ads’ , ‘business news’ , ‘sports reports’

, ‘scandal’ , ‘the letters page’ .

- A ‘popular’ or ‘tabloid newspaper’ focuses more on sensation than real news whereas a ‘quality newspaper’ A ‘tabloid’ usually has a smaller format than a ‘quality paper’ , it has larger ‘headlines’ and shorter stories , and in Britain it prefers stories about film stars , violent crimes and the royal family . A ‘journal’ is the name usually given to an academic ‘magazine’ . A ‘color supplement’ is a ‘magazine’ which comes out once a week [ often on Sundays ] as an addition to a newspaper . A ‘comic’ is a ‘magazine’ , usually for children or teenagers , with lots of picture stories and / or cartoons .

D-] Some verbs connected with the press and the media .

- The BBC World Service ‘broadcasts’ throughout the world .

- I can ‘receive’ / pick up’ broadcasts from Moscow on my radio .

- They’re ‘showing’ a good film on TV tonight .

- This book was ‘published’ by CUP and it was ‘printed’ in Cambridge .

- The film was ‘shot / made on location’ in Spain .

- They ‘cut / censored’ the film before showing it on TV .

- This article / program has been badly ‘edited’ .