Read this article and then do the exercises below:

Don't be 404, know the tech slang

A study of new slang terms entering English finds

that technology is driving and perpetuating them.
For instance, "404" - the error message given when a
browser cannot find a webpage - has come to mean
"clueless".
Slang lexicographer Jonathon Green says that some
such terms and abbreviations come about because of
the limited speed and space afforded by text
messaging.
However, an Australian study found that reading
"textese" takes more time and results in more mistakes.
"What we're seeing is the influence of technology Quicker to compose the slang may be, but it
takes longer to read
coupled with current events and, inevitably of the
young, who in many cases drive language," says Mr It's just another form of the
Green. Queen's English - not better, not

Such labour-saving is nothing new; as another fairly worse

fiddly mode of communication, the telegraph had its Jonathon Green, slang lexicographer
own rich collection of abbreviations.
Hrd 2 rd
According to a study by psychologist Nenagh Kemp at the University of Tasmania, however,
such shortcuts benefit only the sender, not the recipient.
A group of 55 students was asked to send and read out text messages either in standard
English or its vowel-impoverished cousin "textese".
While writing in textese was significantly faster across the board, nearly half the students took
twice as long to read messages aloud as compared to standard English versions.
The development of this technologically savvy (or lazy) branch of language is a natural part of
our language's evolution, argues Mr Green.
"It's just another form of the Queen's English - not better, not worse," he says.

1. Write true (T) or false (F) in these sentences:

a) Text messages are the first fairly fiddly mode of communication.

b) Mr Grenn thinks that texting is a bad form of English.

c) An Australian study found that reading text messages bring more and more mistakes

d) Doctor Kempt thinks that text messages benefit not only the writer but also the reader.

2. Answer the questions:

a) What does 404 mean in text messages? Why?

b) According to Jonathon Green, why are we using such terms and abbreviations in text
messing?

c)Why does doctor Kempt say that text messages benefit only the sender, but not the recipient?

3. Math each definition with a word highlighted on the text.

a) shortening something by omitting parts of it: _______________________

b) totally uninformed about what is going on: ____________

c) someone who transmits a message: ____________________

d) apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire (usually in Morse code):_________

e) a compiler or writer of a dictionary; a student of the lexical component of language:________