English Olympiad Question Semi Final

Theme: New Trends and Shifts of Language in Digital Era

I. Directions: In questions below, each sentence has four underlined words or phrases.
The four underlined parts of the sentence are marked (A), (B), (C), and (D). Identify
the one underlined word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be
correct.

1. We are going to attend the seminar on tourism industry next week and they do too.
A B C D

2. Serving several term in Congress, Wanda. H. became an important Indonesia

A B C D
politician.
3. Electrical disturbances on Earth are frequently caused with storms on the sun’s
A B C D

surface.
4. Inventor of Analytical Engine received him first vision and produced a functioning
A B
prototype of his table making machine on 1832.
C D
5. I have told the new clerk he should ask his coordinator before do his task in order to
A B C

avoid mistake.
D

6. The gopher digs with the big strong claws of its two front foot and with its
A B C
overhanging front teeth.
D
7. An internationally famous ballerina, Maria Tallchief demonstrated that the quality of
A B C
ballet in North America could equal those of the ballet in Europe.
D
8. Fewest than half of all the adults fully understand the kinds and amounts of exercise
A B C
 necessary for an effective physical fitness program.
D
9. How many people know that the Brooklyn Bridge, built in 1883, were the world’s first
A B C
suspension bridge?
D
10. Anna Maxwell’s gift for organization was exemplified by her service while the
A B C D
Spanish-American War in 1898.

11. When a severe ankle injury forced herself to give up reporting in 1926, Margaret
A B C
Mitchell began writing her novel, Gone with the Wind.
D
12. Anne Elizabeth McDowell is best remembered for a weekly journal, Woman’s
A B C
Advocate, who she launched in January 1855.
D
13. A ray of light passing through the center of a thin lens keep its original direction.
A B C D
14. Their house was renovate after the earthquake had happened last year.
A B C D
15. Most of her money are used up for her daughter’s wedding party.
A B C D
16. Had they been rich, they would be very generous.
A B C D
17. The hand-out never been revised before the man suggested to renew the material.
A B C D
18. The man entered station after the train was leaving for about fifteen minutes.
A B C D
19. A number of refugees of the disaster is lacking of food and daily needs.
A B C D
20. Although she has already known the consequence that her travel agency has to
A B
be closed, however she keeps continuing her plan to study abroad.
C D
21. Stanka wishes she could marry Marek and live together in Czech Republic.
A B C D
22. Because the price of petroleum rises so significant that accommodation fare is very
A B C D
expensive.
23. In order to compete with other companies, the quality of our product must
A B C
be improving.
D
24. I believe that this market is quite prospective and reliable, and I know you didn’t
A B C
either.
D
25. Jenny asked her director if she can have one day off on the following Thursday.
A B C D

26. It is very important that ________ belongs to every individual of a country.

A. Nationalism

B. A nationalism

C. Nationalism that

D. The nationalism

27. During the early period of ocean navigation, _________ any need for sophisticated
instruments and technique.
A. so that hardly
B. where there hardly was
C. hardly was
D. there was hardly
28. Refrigerating meats _________ the spread of bacteria.
A. retards
B. retarding
C. to retard
D. is retarded
29. Throughout the animal kingdom, _________ bigger than the elephant.
A. whale is only the
B. only the whale is
C. is the whale only
D. only whale is the
30. The fact ________ money orders can usually be easily cashed has made them a
popular form of payment.
A. of
B. that
C. is that
D. which is
31. The first article of the United States Constitution gives Congress ________ to pass
laws.
A. the power
B. has the power
C. the power is
D. of the power
32. Samsul Bahri didn’t want anything for dinner last night, and __________

A. Nana did not either

B. Nana did too

C. So did Nana

D. Neither didn’t Nana

33. _________ most important event in San Fransisco’s history was the disastrous
earthquake and fire of 1906.
A. The
B. It was the
C. That the
D. There was a
34. Vegetables are an excellent source ________ vitamins.
A. of
B. has
C. where
D. that
35. Microscopes make small things appear larger than ________.
A. really are
B. are really
C. are they really
D. they really are
36. The city of Malang ________ over 70 square miles.
A. covers
B. that covers
C. covering
D. is covered
37. Janet Collins’s struggle to make a place for herself in ballet is the kind of a life story
________ a fascinating novel might be written.
A. of
B. by
C. for whom
D. about which
38. If the price _________ so high, I would buy it for you as well.
A. has not been
B. were not
 C. was not
D. will not have been
39. My motorbike is not working. I will get someone _________ it.
A. fixed
B. to fix
C. has fixed
D. has to fix
40. Ana Nurul Amalia ____ for this company for 4 years by this end of this year.
A. has been working
B. will have been working
C. has worked
D. will be working

II. In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by several questions
about it. You are to choose the one best answer (A), (B), (C), or (D) to each question.

Reading, rumor has it, is under threat - and not just from TV and computer games. The
supposed risk comes from the nature of digital text, which has links and distractions. Each
requires you to make a split-second decision - to follow or not to follow? - Thereby kicking
your brain out of the smooth function of reading and into a judgmental mode which is
cognitively different. Reading in this environment, you allegedly lose the ability - it's an
acquired skill, which needs to be practiced - to read properly at all.

And it's not just reading which is in jeopardy; so too is family, society, even thinking. The
digital age, we are told, is corrupting everything from interpersonal contact and child
development to public order and the human brain. There's a panicky feel to our relationship
with technology today, even though quite often it's just the bearer of bad news, rather than the
cause.

Recently, researchers established a connection between a particular pattern of Facebook

behavior and socially aggressive narcissism. The study very specifically does not say that
Facebook causes narcissism. It would seem equally possible that the site is the canary in our
social coalmine, flagging the rise of a dysfunction in the children of the 1980s: the inheritors
of that decade-long festival of self-indulgence. But that idea was buried; the scare story was
irresistible. The dog whistle subtext: Your child is being infected with narcissism by the evil
internet! O, Albion! To Arms!
 These are old, old fears in a new form. In ancient Greece, Socrates reportedly didn't fancy
a literate society. He felt that people would lose the capacity to think for themselves, simply
adopting the perspective of a handy written opinion, and that they would cease to remember
what could be written down. To an extent, he was right. We do indeed take on and regurgitate
information, sometimes without sufficient analysis, and we do use notes as an aide memoire -
though even now, when our brains have begun to assume the ability to Google information,
studies show we can still memorize facts perfectly well if we know we will need to. But
Socrates was also wrong: literacy isn't a catastrophe for knowledge, but a huge boon. It
allows us to gain an understanding of the work of lifetimes in short order, preparing the way
for research into topics we might otherwise never reach. It also creates a record of our
thinking which we can trace and examine.

Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, coined the term "information overload" in the
1970s. In the 1990s, Anthony Giddens described how we all felt the world was spinning out
of control. Giddens - still writing in the pre-email age - was kind enough to explain the origin
of the sensation: the unraveling of our traditional way of living, the slow decline of the
church, family and the nation-state as points of reference holding our map of the self in place.
Meanwhile, the rise of mass transit meant that we no longer live our entire lives within a
short distance from where we were born.

In the 20th century we also saw the demise of the job-for-life and the demolition of
conventional gender roles (though the rubble is still razor-sharp in places). Finally, we were
made aware of the somewhat bitter truths of empire and its commercial successors: our
consumer goods come at a price to other nations which are in some cases appalling. It has
become a commonplace now to talk of blood diamonds, but in fact there are hundreds of
items which match that description, from the laptop on which I'm typing this article to the
wedding ring on my finger.

A large part of this so-called overload is information we'd rather not hear, but which our
minds will not let us completely ignore. It isn't that digital technology is ruining the time we
spend by the hearth; it's that the world we inhabit is increasingly calling time on our
delusions. Our comfy hearth depends in some measure on bad things far away. The way to
deal with that isn't to complain that the medium through which we learn it is ruining the
mood, but to do something about the way we live.

In a social context, digital technology introduces you to neighbors of the mind - people
who are separated by distance, but close to you in thought and interest. Just as Margaret
Thatcher was announcing that there was no such thing as society, communications media
were being developed which allow us to reconnect with others.

The text taken from: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-

essay-will-reading-in-the-digital-era-erode-our-ability-to-understand-the-world-
7734221.html

41. What is the primary purpose of the text?

A. To teach a lesson

B. To sell a product
 C. To support a theory

D. To provide information

42. The things below are in jeopardy due to today’s digital era, except?

A. reading

B. family

C. society

D. relationship

43. In a social context, digital technology introduces you to neighbors of the

mind - people who are separated by distance, but close to you in thought and interest.

What is the closest meaning to the underlined word above?

A. Impossible

B. Faraway

C. Observable

D. Fearful

44. What is the researchers study about Facebook?

A. Facebook causes narcissism

B. A connection between a particular pattern of Facebook behavior and socially

aggressive narcissism

C. Facebook is the neighbors of the mind

D. Festival of self-indulgence is on Facebook

45. What people will see in the 20th century according to the text above, except?

A. The death of job-for-life

B. Equality of the human gender role

C. Technology digital will distract human

D. Conventional reading habit will be popular across nations

 English in the Internet age is creating a constantly changing English language. The way
languages used to evolve was through people speaking it. English in the internet age has
changed because people are communicating in the language by conversing with type in real
time. Communication is abbreviated by use of new words, acronyms, emoticons and other
ways of shortening sentences. Many of these new abbreviations have become a part of
written English. Some have become new words in spoken English. The internet, the digital
era and the most active members of the digital age have introduced thousands of new words,
from ‘download’ to LOL.

The huge role that is played by English in the internet age is because even for millions of
non-native English speakers, English is the language of choice for communication online, the
chosen language for online communication. One of the reasons for this is that non-native
speakers are often forced to write in English because there is no code for the script needed to
write their native language on the internet.

For people whose language of communication is not their native language, the result will
be that the language undergoes all sorts of changes as misspellings, grammar rules and usages
are set aside for the sake of easy communication.

Thus while English as we know it dominates the internet now, as it is adopted by non-
native speakers in numbers that exceed native English speakers, the English we see on the
internet, especially in chat rooms, and social media, may become very different English.

Dependence on English for non-native speakers may change if Unicode, a computer

technology which makes it easier to write in other languages than English, is added to more
computers and thus becomes more widespread.

Meanwhile, the story of English in the internet age is one in which people are creating
their own type of English online to communicate. Languages speakers of Spanish, Hindi and
Korean have created a very usable version of English, which they use in chat rooms and other
social media platforms. Linguists are already interested in these new variations of English in
the internet age, and there may be a time when they are adopted in a formal way as part of a
new English vocabulary and language.

The text taken from: https://blog.talk.edu/grammar/english-in-the-internet-age/

46. What does LOL stands for?

A. lemon or lime

B. loving or liking

C. lucky or lose

D. laughing out loud

47. Why non-native speakers are forced to write in English in the internet?

A. because English is an international language

B. because many people in the works know English

C. because there is Unicode

D. because there is no code for the script needed to write their native language on the
internet

48. What is the primary purpose of the text?

A. To teach a lesson

B. To sell a product

C. To support a theory

D. To provide information

49. What is the topic of the text above?

A. English is the language of choice for communication online

B. Languages speakers of Spanish, Hindi and Korean have created a very usable version
of English

C. English in the Internet age

D. English dominates the internet

50. What is Unicode?

A. a computer technology which makes it easier to write in other languages than English,
is added to more computers and thus becomes more widespread.

B. a chosen language for online communication

C. a very usable version of English which people use in chat rooms and other social
media platforms

D. a new variations of English in the internet age

 Technology is very much part of language learning throughout the world at all
different levels. We are as likely to find it in the primary sector as much as in adult education.

I no longer need to make the case for computers to be provided in education, because
computers are there in abundance in all their modern forms. We may see traditional
computers in labs, teachers and students walking around with laptops or tablet PCs, and many
people will have a mobile phone in their pocket that is capable of doing rather more than the
mainframe computers that started computer-assisted language learning in the 1960s. I do
recognize that there are many kinds of digital divide, and that this is not true everywhere.

What is still sometimes an issue is the reliability of these technologies for classroom
use. This can discourage teachers from making use of technology as often as they would want
to. It's compounded by the fact that, if these teachers are working in schools, they are faced
with classes of learners who may, on the surface at least, appear to be more digitally
competent than their teachers are. Learners can therefore challenge their teachers, in ways
that put the latter off using the technologies that could potentially make such a difference to
what happens in the classroom.

In my recent book for the British Council, Innovations in learning technologies for
English language teaching, I argue that digital technologies are ideally placed to help
teachers working with learners, and learners working independently, to do the necessary
‘languaging’ (M. Swain) that makes their language development possible. We are talking
here about doing things with language rather than just learning about language. Swain argues
that learners can’t simply develop based on input. We must engage with other people using
that language, and try to make meaning together. Whenever I speak or write something, if I
don’t produce language with someone else in mind, I have no way of knowing whether others
can understand what I say or write. Of course, I need to read and listen as well, but unless I
progress to this further stage, I can’t complete the process.

If we take writing as a starting point, technology in the form of word processors (and
the many other ways we now have of producing text) allows us to work at the language. We
go through a process of creating and re-creating text until it is fully comprehensible to others
and is accurate. We can create a draft, show it to others and, based on feedback, can make
changes to improve the text. The tools can also help us by showing that our spelling or
grammar needs work, too. Technology makes this much easier, and makes it more likely that
learners will engage with the editing process to produce the highest-quality text that they can.
This writing can then be displayed for others to look at and comment on.

Trying to find ways for people to do meaningful spoken language practice in a class
can be very challenging, particularly if, as a teacher, you lack confidence in your own spoken
language skills. Linking your class to other classes around the world, using tools such as
video conferencing, can give a reason for a learner to ask a question and then try to
understand the response. It might also provide support for the teacher, too. The technology
mediates the process, getting language out there and giving feedback that shows whether
someone has or hasn’t understood what you have said.
 Another area that technology supports very effectively is project work. We have
always tried to encourage learners to learn about things through language. Getting learners to
do work about topics that are of interest to them, or topics that are taught in other parts of the
curriculum (sometimes called Content and Language Integrated Learning or CLIL) is a great
way to improve their skills. Technology makes this possible wherever you are in the world.
Teachers and learners can go online to read or listen to material about different areas of
interest, and can then write or speak about what they have discovered, telling others in the
class or other classes elsewhere in the world.

The text taken from: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/the-benefits-new-

technology-language-learning

51. We may see traditional computers in labs, teachers and students walking around with
laptops or tablet PCs, and many people will have a mobile phone in their pocket that
is capable of doing rather more than the mainframe computers that started computer-
assisted language learning in the 1960s.

What is the closest meaning to the underlined word above?

A. Modern

B. Classic

C. Sophisticated

D. Nowadays

52. What is the topic of the text above?

A. teachers can be put off using technology

B. technology can help learners to test their skills

C. the benefit of new technology in language learning

D. technology is integrated with project work

53. The word “it” in this sentence below refers to?

“We are as likely to find it in the primary sector as much as in adult education”.

A. English language

B. teacher

C. technology
 D. education

54. I no longer need to make the case for computers to be provided in education, because

computers are there in abundance in all their modern forms.

What is the synonym of the underlined word?

A. Enough

B. Little

C. Lack

D. Myriad

55. What is the writer of the text trying to deliver?

A. Technology is very much part of language learning throughout the world at all
different levels

B. The benefits of new technology in language learning

C. Technology supports project work

D. Digital technologies are ideally placed to help teachers working with learners

English has always evolved – that’s what it means to be a living language – and now
the internet plays a pivotal role in driving this evolution. It’s where we talk most freely and
naturally, and where we generally pay little heed to whether or not our grammar is “correct”.
Should we be concerned that, as a consequence, English is deteriorating? Is it changing at
such a fast pace that older generations can’t keep up? Not quite. At a talk in 2013,
linguist David Crystal, author of Internet Linguistics, said: “The vast majority of English is
exactly the same today as it was 20 years ago.” And his collected data indicated that even e-
communication isn’t wildly different: “Ninety percent or so of the language you use in a text
is standard English, or at least your local dialect.”

It’s why we can still read an 18th-century transcript of a speech George Washington
gave to his troops and understands it in its entirety, and why grandparents don’t need a
translator when sending an email to their grandchildren.

However, the way we communicate – the punctuation (or lack thereof), the syntax, the
abbreviations we use – is dependent on context and the medium with which we are
communicating. We don’t need to reconcile the casual way we talk in a text or on social
media with, say, the way we string together sentences in a piece of journalism, because
they’re different animals.

On Twitter, emojis and new-fangled uses of punctuation, for instance, open doors to
more nuanced casual expression. For example, the ~quirky tilde pair~ or full. stops. in.
between. words. for. emphasis. While you are unlikely to find a breezy caption written in all
lowercase and without punctuation in the New York Times, you may well find one in a
humorous post published on BuzzFeed.

As the author of the BuzzFeed Style Guide, I crafted a set of guidelines that were
flexible and applicable to hard news stories as well as the more lighthearted posts our
platform publishes, such as comical lists and takes on celebrity goings-on, as well as to our
social media posts. For instance, I decided, along with my team of copy editors, to include a
rule that we should put emojis outside end punctuation not inside, because the consensus was
that it simply looks cleaner to end a sentence as you normally would and then use an emoji.
Our style guide also has comprehensive sections on how to write appropriately about serious
topics, such as sexual assault and suicide.

Language shifts and proliferates due to chance and external factors, such as the
influence the internet has on slang and commonplace abbreviations. (I believe that “due to”
and “because of” can be used interchangeably, because it’s the way we use those phrases in
speech; using one rather than the other has no impact on clarity.) So while some of Strunk
and White’s famous grammar and usage rules – for example, avoiding the passive voice,
never ending a sentence with a preposition – are no longer valuable, it doesn’t mean we’re
putting clarity at stake. Sure, there’s no need to hyphenate a modifying phrase that includes
an adverb – as in, for example, “a successfully executed plan” – because adverbs by
definition modify the words they precede, but putting a hyphen after “successfully” would be
no cause for alarm. It’s still a perfectly understandable expression.

Writers and editors, after consulting their house style guide, should rely on their own
judgment when faced with a grammar conundrum. Prescriptivism has the potential to make a
piece of writing seem dated or stodgy. That doesn’t mean we need to pepper our prose with
emojis or every slang word of the moment. It means that by observing the way we’re using
words and applying those observations methodically, we increase our chances of connecting
with our readers – prepositions at the end of sentences and all.

The text taken from:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/booksblog/2017/dec/07/internet-online-news-
social-media-changes-language

56. English has always evolved – that’s what it means to be a living language – and now the
internet plays a pivotal role in driving this evolution.

What is the antonym of the underlined word?

 A. Crucial

B. Vital

C. Great importance

D. Unimportant

57. Who is David Crystal in the text above, except?

A. linguist

B. author of Internet Linguistics

C. writer of the BuzzFeed Style Guide

D. language scholar

58. Who is the writer of the text above?

A. David Crystal

B. I

C. He

D. writer of the BuzzFeed Style Guide

59. What is the primary purpose of the text?

A. To teach a lesson

B. To sell a product

C. To support a theory

D. To provide information
60. What is always evolving in the text above?

A. English

B. language shifts

C. emojis

D. slang word

~~THE END~~