Speech and writing.
Read the following account of an incident that took place in Hull:
Transcript of speech:
I was - this was last night - um -I was at home not doing much when there was - I
heard this, like - er - like a car coming down the road like a bat out of hell - engine
revving, tyres squealing - stupid prat I thought - there's kids live down here - then I
thought oh no, my car's out in the street, I'd better - then there was - I heard this - I
thought he'd wrapped it round the lamp-post so I leap up and I'm through the door
and I see this Granada up on the kerb - and there's three kids legging it down the
main road - car door hanging open with the wheel -well, I couldn't make it out at
first, looked like the wheel - offside - no, must've been the nearside front up on the
kerb and twisted right round - don't really see how it got like that, but it had - and
these three - couldn't have been more than sixteen, seventeen - no chance of - you
know - holding the - a car that size that speed - don't know if they ever caught them.
Hang on, If it was the nearside it must've crossed - been on the wrong - facing the
wrong way. Yeah - that's right - he must've - couldn't've taken the corner properly.
Glad my car wasn't nearer the corner or he'd've got that too.
TASK 1. Turn the transcript into a written report such as a statement to the police.
TASK 2. Look at the changes you have made and identify features of the original which you would expect to find in a spoken account but not a written one. From this, draw
up a list of features which you would say are characteristic of speech.
© CD Selwyn-Jones