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Questão FC277101

What can be stated about the passage?

Interpretação de Textos (Understanding)

IDECAN · 2019

Question based on the following passage:

 

Why 'Run' Is The Most Complex Word in the English Language

 

BY EMILY PETSKO

 

English can be hard for other language speakers to learn. To use just one example, there are at least eight different ways of expressing events in the future, and conditional tenses are another matter entirely. For evidence of the many nuances and inconsistencies of the English tongue, look no further than this tricky poem penned in 1920. (For a sample: “Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!”)

 

As author Simon Winchester wrote for The New York Times, there’s one English word in particular that’s deceptively simple: run. As a verb, it boasts a record-setting 645 definitions. Peter Gilliver, a lexicographer and associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, spent nine months sussing out its many shades of meaning.

 

“You might think this word simply means ‘to go with quick steps on alternate feet, never having both or (in the case of many animals) all feet on the ground at the same time,’” Winchester writes. “But no such luck: that is merely sense, and there are miles to go before the reader of this particular entry may sleep.”

 

This wasn’t always the case, though. When the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1928, the word with the most definitions was set. However, the word put later outpaced it, and run eventually overtook them both as the English language's most complex word. Winchester thinks this evolution is partly due to advancements in technology (for instance, “a train runs on tracks” and “an iPad runs apps”).

 

This wasn’t always the case, though. When the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1928, the word with the most definitions was set. However, the word put later outpaced it, and run eventually overtook them both as the English language's most complex word. Winchester thinks this evolution is partly due to advancements in technology (for instance, “a train runs on tracks” and “an iPad runs apps”).

 

He believes the widespread use of run—and its intricate web of meanings—is also a reflection of our times. “It is a feature of our more sort of energetic and frantic times that set and put seem, in a peculiar way, sort of rather stodgy, rather conservative,” Gilliver told NPR in an interview.

 

So the next time you tell your boss you "want to run an idea" by them, know that you’re unconsciously expressing your enthusiasm— as well as all the other subtleties wrapped up in run that previous words like set failed to capture.

 

(Available in: http://mentalfloss.com/article/582820/run-most-complex-word-inenglish- language. Accessed on May 17th, 2019. Adapted.)

 

What can be stated about the passage?

  1. The English language can be difficult to be understood by foreign students due to some of its peculiarities. The variety of verb tenses that the verb “run” indicates exemplifies one of this difficult peculiarities.
  2. The author Simon Winchester, a columnist at New York Times, finds that the English language can be particularly difficult. The verb “run”, for example, contains more than 645 definitions.
  3. The word “run” became the English word with the greatest number of meanings in 1928 . This can be explained due to the advancement in technology that provided diverse contexts for the use of the word.
  4. The great number of meanings the word “run” has can be understood by the current moment we live, given the amount of information and the emergence of new technologies.
  5. The main meaning of the word run is related to the practice of physical activity. Yet, it contains 644 other definitions which demonstrates how English can be difficult for foreign students.
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Comentário do professor

A alternativa aponta que a multiplicidade de sentidos de run reflete o momento atual — marcado pelo excesso de informação e pelo surgimento de novas tecnologias. No texto, isso aparece explicitamente nas ilustrações dadas: um trem “runs on tracks” e um iPad “runs apps”, mostrando como o verbo se adapta a realidades técnicas e digitais.

Além disso, o comentário de especialistas (como o trabalho de lexicógrafos do Oxford English Dictionary) e a observação sobre nossos tempos “energéticos e frenéticos” sustentam a ideia de que o aumento de usos é consequência histórica e cultural, não apenas linguística.

Assim, a explicação aceita relaciona diretamente a expansão semântica de run ao contexto contemporâneo de informação abundante e inovações tecnológicas, que demanda novas aplicações para palavras já existentes.

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