Slang of the twentieth century on the basis of the novel “The Hot Rock” by Donald E. Westlake

The process of learning English consists of many different aspects, including vocabulary, listening, writing, grammar and of course reading. If we want to speak English fluently we should have a large stock of words so that we are able to express our thoughts in a proper way. At school and university we study Standard English, which comprise basic knowledge. But ordinary people do not speak this kind of English. In their speech they often use different kinds of colloquial expressions and words, phrasal verbs, idioms and slang. Not only young people but also elder ones use it. It is used by people of all ages and social groups. Sometimes slang can cause great problems in communication between non-native and native speakers of English. You may not understand your companion which may be very embarrassing. But we can solve this problem by reading books and watching films in English. Donald Westlake’s novel “The Hot Rock” is a good example of such kind of books.

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………. 3

Part I. The author…………………………………………………………………...4

Part II. Slang……………………………………………………………………….8

2.1 Defining slang………………………………………………………………….8

2.2 History of slang………………………………………………………………...9

2.3 Why People Use Slang………………………………………………………10

Part III. Slang in the book ………………………………………………………...14

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………..17

Appendix 1……………………………………………………………………….18

Appendix 2………………………………………………………………………..19

List of references …………………………………………………………………21