EXERCISES. 1. There are two main characters in this story: Le Ros and the narratоr, i

Word Combinations

Words

NOTES ON STYLE

1. There are two main characters in this story: Le Ros and the narratоr, i. e. the person telling the story (also called "the I of the story"). The narrator is an assumed personality and should by no means be confused with the author of the story. It would be as naive to associate the narrator of this story with Max Beerbohm as to associate the boy on whose behalf "How We Kept Mother's Day" is told with Stephen Leacock. The character of the narrator is frequently intro­duced in fiction. It is a stylistic device, especially favoured by short-story authors (see "A Day's Wait" by Hemingway or "A Friend in Need" by W. S. Maugham), which helps the reader to look at the described events as if "from within".

2. Inversion (change of the usual order of words) may be used for stylistic purposes either to focus the read­er's attention on a certain part of the sentence or to achieve an emotional effect, е.g.... and framed in the window of the railway-carriage, was the face of our friend...

3. Repetition is another stylistic device used for the purposes of emphasis. It may consist in repeating only one word, so that with each repetition the emotional tension increases, e.g.... but it was as the face of a stranger — a stranger anxious to please, an appealing stranger, an awk­ward stranger.

The repetition of the same syntactical pattern twice or several times is called syntactical parallelism, е.g. It prevents them from feeling out of it. It earns them the respect of the guard. It saves them from being despised by their fellow-passengers.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY (I)

banker n final adj obedience n

bureau n guess υ obedient adj

departure n impress υ obey υ

disobedient adj impressive adj platform n

earn υ light υ prevent υ

envy υ move υ serve υ

familiar adj mystery n service n

fellow-passenger n sociable adj

to see smb. off to wave farewell to smb.

to break the silence to shuffle from foot to foot

to pass the time to make (leave, produce)

to be familiar with smth. (to smb.) an impression on smb.

in the old days (in the olden days) to put out the light

a letter of introduction to serve smb. right for...

to earn one's living

1. Bead the text and explain the following points (A. Grammar, B. Word usage, C. Style):

A. 1. Explain the use of tenses in: a) the second sentence of the text; b) the following sentence: "A middle-aged man was talking earnestly to a young lady...".

2. Point out sentences in which oblique moods are used and explain the meaning conveyed by the form of the verb in each case.

3. Comment on the use of the auxiliary did in "he did act".

4. Why is the indefinite article used before the word di­rector in "I am not, alas, a director"?

B. 1. Explain the meaning of "the next window but one". (Make up sentences of your own with the pattern "the next... but one".)

2. Find a pair of antonyms in the passage beginning with "In a flash" and explain their meanings. Use them in sentenc­es of your own.

3. What is the meaning of the word platform in the follow­ing fragment:... "On the platform," he answered. "You mean," said I, "that you recite at concerts?"

4. Comment on the meaning of keep in "Many Americans... cannot afford to keep friends in England" (cf.: to keep dogs, horses, to keep a cat, a canary, etc.). What is the effect achieved by the unusual word combination to keep friends and by the whole sentence ("Many Americans cannot afford to keep friends in England", i. e. some of them can and prob­ably do)?

5. How do you understand the words feeling out of it in "It prevents them from feeling out of it"?

C. 1. a) What is the author's purpose in using inversion in: "framed in the window... was the face of our friend"? b) Why is the word stranger repeated four times in the second part of the same sentence? What is the effect achieved by the repeti­tion?

2. What is the effect achieved by the syntactical parallel­ism in the passage beginning with "Of course it is worth it"? ("It prevents them...", "It earns them...", "It saves them...")

3. Point out passages bearing touches of humour. Does the author present the character of Le Ros seriously or hu­morously? (ironically? satirically? mockingly?) Illustrate your answer by sentences from the story.

II. a) Write the transcribed words in traditional spelling. Explain the rules for reading. Think of some other words spelled in the same way:

1. klRsp, pRs, lRst; 2. 'prPspqrqs, "kPnSI'enSqs, "kPnSqs, 'Pbviqs, ' xNkSqs; 3. saIt, laIt, dI'laIt; 4. E:n, 'E:nINz, 'E:nIstlir; ges, 'veIgI.

b) Mark the stresses and explain the reading rules. Translate the words into Russian:

hospitable — hospitality; prosperous — prosperity; fes­tive — festivity; final — finality.

III. a) Write oat from the story the sentences with the following words:

stiff — awkward; obviously — evidently; earnestly — gravely; to recognize — to identify; prosperous — rich; to force — to pump up.

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