Faith and Reason --

Terry Eagleton

(From Spoken English Example Videos for Language Study)

Prolific author and literary critic Terry Eagleton speaks at Yale University on "Faith and Reason". Professor of English Literature at the University of Lancaster, and Visiting Professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway, Dr. Eagleton is probably best known for his "Literary Theory: An Introduction". Frequent references to "Ditchkins" actually refer to Richad Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens as a comined iconic entity representing outspoken anti-theism.

During this hour, Professor Eagleton demonstrates near perfect diction. Though at least some of his speech is scripted, he does frequently diverge from the script but, as his unscripted speech is nearly indistinguishable from edited prose, it is very hard to tell when this happens.

Difficulty level: 7/10

Dialect: British (Oxbridge) English

Points to look for: This video has subtitles! This can help a great deal in indentifying words and looking them up if necessary.

Synesis error (Number mismatch in an anaphoric reference. ): "I doubt that any scientist who valued their corporate grants would fall over themselves to investigate ..." (Singular noun "scientist" referenced in plural). This is really only an error on the SAT and is quite commonly used by academics in scholarly presentations.

I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained. - Walt Disney

Faith and Reason -- Lecture by Terry Eagleton

Faith and Reason --

Terry Eagleton

(From Spoken English Example Videos for Language Study)