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A) Complete the sentences with the words and word combinations from the box. Learn the words and word combinations from the box.

1. It has become difficult to decide what factors ______________(1) a person’s class in Britain. For some people it is money (or lack of it), for others it is family __________________ (2) or the job a person does. Class, however, is not simply a matter of wealth. People may have very little money, yet still belong to the ____________________ (3), or be very rich and still think of themselves as ______________________ (4). Members of the upper class are sometimes accused of ____________ (5) (being too concerned with social status and showing contempt for people of lower status).

2. The upper class was traditionally composed of ________________(6) and owners of country houses and estates. These people passed on their wealth and __________________ (7) to their children. Today, when some landowners have had to sell their estates, they still keep their upper class status because of their family history and the ____________________ (8) they move in. Judges, who were formerly always members of the aristocracy, still have upper class status although they now come from a wider_______________________ (9). Today, the upper class also includes many top __________________________ (10) and wealthy business people.

3. The middle class is the newest and the largest of the three main classes and is sometimes divided into the upper middle class and the lower middle class _________________ (11) income and seniority. The middle class grew rapidly in the 20^th century with the spread of education, giving more people ____________ (12) to colleges and universities. These people became doctors, teachers, etc. or __________ ________________ (13), and formed a professional middle class based on education and money rather than on birth.

4. The lower class (the working class) is generally understood to include factory workers, builders, cleaners and other _____________________ ___________ (14). Because of increased_________________________ (15), most ‘working-class’ people enjoy what might have been regarded as a middle class consumer lifestyle only a few years ago. It is still true, however, that _________________ (16) is highest among ‘working-class’ people who often leave school at sixteen and do not have the educational qualifications to enable them to get skilled work.

5. People who are very poor, ________________ (17), often without a home and unable to live without money and other help from the state are described as ________________ (18).

b) Economists and sociologists use an alphabetical grading system to describe the layers of British society. Study the table below and describe the modern class structure in Great Britain. Use the words and word combinations from exercises 55-a, 8-c.

(From Oxford Guide to British and American Culture, Oxford University Press, 2004.)

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