Text Analysis Book

O.N. Grishina

Text Analysis

Guide for 5th Year Students

Moscow 2000

Text Analysis Guide (for 5th Year Students)

© 2000 by O.N. Grishina. All rights reserved.
Preface
Until quite recently linguists treated language as a fixed code - a more or less rigid system of interrelated elements. These elements were traditionally classified as phonological (the level of sounds), morphological (the level of word parts), lexical (the level of words) and syntactic (the level of sentences). About forty years ago the focus of linguists ' attention shifted to the problem of verbal communication. The obvious fact that we do not communicate in sounds, words or even sentences brought about a new wave of research. The notion of TEXT came to the forefront of linguistic analysis. Text was defined as a string of utterances (sentences, phrases) arranged according to some definite rules - semantic, syntactic and pragmatic. Another term widely used to define a similar notion was DISCOURSE. For many Western scholars these terms are interchangeable. They use them more or less indiscriminately applying to both, written and spoken texts. In the Russian school of thought (namely, in the theory of text worked out by Professor Iliah R. Galperin) the notion of text is confined to a written speech performance which communicates specific types of information and has the categories of cohesion, modality, continuum, completeness and others. This textbook offers a collection of texts from various spheres of communication: Chapter 1: ESSAYS (Journalistic Style), Chapter 2: SHORT STORIES (Belles-lettres Style) and Chapter 3: Popular SCIENTIFIC (ACADEMIC) ARTICLES (Scientific Prose Style). Each type of text is studied in the corresponding chapter along the lines of 1) comprehension and vocabulary, 2) analysis, 3) discussion and
4) writing. The greatest emphasis is given to the analysis part, which focuses on the semantic, compositional, logical, emotional, pragmatic and other aspects of the text. This part gives short surveys of relevant theoretical issues and refers the students to their prior experience in the theory of the language. It also offers questions that help to apply theory to practical analysis. Each section contains seven texts: the initial texts are intended for thorough study; the main points of analysis are then summed up in the list of Guidelines. Texts given after the Guidelines can be studied independently. The textbook is supplemented by an Appendix (texts for oral Russian-English translation), a Glossary of Literary and Stylistic Terms and a list of References. This manual has grown out of graduate courses in Text Analysis that I have been teaching in Moscow State Linguistic University for many years. My first debt of gratitude is therefore to my students – for their insight, enthusiasm and support. A special thank-you goes to my friends and colleagues who helped in the preparation of this manual: to professor K.M.Iriskhanova who talked me into the project, to professor E.G.Belyayevskaya and associate professor N.A.Zmiyevskaya who provided valuable suggestions and comments, to Helen McEvansoneya who reviewed parts of the manuscript, and to all faculty members who share the task of teaching Text Analysis.
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Essay
Text # 1 Comprehension and Vocabulary Analysis: Focus on Composition Focus on Coherence Logical Focus Discussion
Text #2 Emotional Focus Pragmatic Focus Discussion Writing
Guidelines for Analysing an Essay
Text #3
Text #4
Text #5
Text #6
Text #7

Chapter 2: Short Story
Text #1 Comprehension and Vocabulary Analysis: Focus on Composition Focus on Discourse Types (Description, Narration, Commentary, Dialogue) Discussion
Text #2 Comprehension and Vocabulary Analysis: Focus on Characterisation Focus on the Narrator Discussion Text #3 Comprehension and Vocabulary Analysis: Emotional Focus Discussion Writing
Text #4 Comprehension and Vocabulary Analysis: Focus on Discourse Types (Interior Monologue)
Guidelines for Analysing a Short Story
Text #5
Text #6
Text #7

Chapter 3: Popular Scientific (Academic) Article
Text #1 Comprehension and Vocabulary Analysis Focus on Composition Focus on Exposition Focus on Objectivity Discussion Writing
Guidelines for Analysing a Popular Scientific (Academic) Article
Text #2
Text #3
Text #4
Text #5
Text #6
Text #7
Appendix: Texts for Translation
Glossary of Stylistic Devices and Literary Terms
References
Chapter 1: Essay

An Essay is a short literary composition, which clearly expresses the author 's personal opinion about a definite subject of general interest with the aim of shaping the reader 's opinion. From this definition it is easy to infer that the basic distinctive features of the essay are -brevity; - the clarity of the message; - subjectivity; - appeal to a wide audience; - strong impact (logical and emotional). There are several types of essays: - narrative essays (e.g. autobiographies, memoirs, character sketches); - descriptive essays (e.g. travelling notes, feature portraits); - critical essays (e.g. book reviews, film reviews); - interpretative essays (e.g. offering interpretations of a proverb, saying, quotation); - argumentative essays (e.g. supporting a disputable point, as "Too Much Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing"); - analytical essays, and so on. All essays belong to expository prose, which is designed to "expose", i.e. to set forth facts, ideas and opinions in an orderly fashion.
Text #1
Knowledge
G. N. M. Tyrrell Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest. Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge. Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech. With the invention of writing, a greater advance was made, for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound-interest law, which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing. All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised. Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent. Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account. What is called 'modern civilisation ' is not the result of a balanced development of all man 's nature, but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life. The problem now facing humanity is: what is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon, which can be used equally for good or evil. It is now being used indifferently for both. Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical than that of gunners using science to shatter men 's bodies while, close at hand, surgeons use it to restore them? We have to ask ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, with its ever-increasing power, continues.

Comprehension and Vocabulary
1. How does the author define the word 'progress '?
2. What does 'compound-interest law ' mean?
3. How was the spread of knowledge affected by the coming of science?
4. What problem has the spread of knowledge given rise to?
5. Translate the text into Russian in writing.
6. Explain the meaning of the following words as they are used in the text: a) loom so large, b) manifest, c) accumulation, d) communicated, e) enhanced, f) trickle, g) two-edged, h) indifferently, i) spectacle, j) grimly whimsical, k) gunners, l) shatter, m) twofold.
7. Make a list of idioms and set phrases with know and its derivatives.
8. Explain the difference between knowing and knowledgeable. Give examples.

Analysis

Semantic Focus

1. What is the message of the text? Is it expressed in a topic sentence?
2. Read about exposition: Exposition means explanation, an exposing of information or ideas. Written exposition is used throughout our working lives - in research papers, business and professional reports, scientific articles, letters, memoranda, and so on. It is also used throughout college and university - in term and graduation papers, reviews, essay examinations. In essay writing there can be distinguished at least three types of exposition: 1) informational, 2) analytical and 3) persuasive. Informational exposition implies setting forth orderly arranged facts; analytical exposition implies delving into ideas stimulated by facts; persuasive exposition implies defending opinions, feelings and judgements aroused by those ideas. On the whole, expository style focuses the reader 's attention on the objective world rather than on the world created by the writer.
3. What type of exposition is used in the text?

FOCUS ON COMPOSITION

1. Read about composition: An essay centres round the message which is communicated in the way that facilitates its comprehension. One of such ways is a clearly conceivable structure of the text. Traditionally, an essay has beginning (introduction, opening), middle (main body) and end (conclusion, closing). Introductions may vary in length from one sentence in a short composition to several paragraphs. Good introductions in expository writing have the following functions: 1) They identify the subject and set its limitations, thus building a solid foundation for unity. This function usually includes some indication of a central theme, letting the reader know what point is to be made of the subject. Sometimes, the introduction lays out the message of the essay. 2) They interest the readers, and thus ensure their attention. The opening lines of an article are sometimes called the lead: each sentence of the lead must induce the reader to proceed to the next sentence. The lead needs to capture the readers ' attention and force them to keep on reading. This can be done with a fresh, novel, paradoxical, humorous or surprising idea, or with an interesting fact or question. 3) They set the tone of the rest of the writing. Tone varies greatly in writing, just as the tone of a person ' voice varies with the person 's mood. It can be indignant, solemn, playful, enthusiastic, belligerent, sarcastic, involved, detached, judgmental, amused, sympathetic - the list could be as long as a list of "tones of voice". One function of the introduction is to let the reader know the author 's attitude since it may have a subtle but important bearing on the communication (for more information see Chapter 3).

The middle part, or body, presents a detailed discussion where the message is developed and its validity is made clear. The order of arranging body paragraphs can be highly varied. For narrative essays the most natural order is a historical or chronological one (first to last); descriptive essays might use a spatial order - front to back, top to bottom or right to left. In other types of essays there is no "natural" order, but usually the writer gives background information first and then supports it with current examples. Or, one might start with examples and follow with various explanations and definitions. But whatever the order, every paragraph amplifies the one that preceded it. Thus, the last sentence of the paragraph is a crucial springboard to the next paragraph. The final part, or closing, summarises the main paragraphs and echoes the central idea, or contains a specific conclusion, which urges acceptance of the writer 's point of view. The general function of closings is to tie the entire writing into a neat package, giving the final sense of unity to the whole endeavour. There is no standard length for closings. A short composition may be effectively completed with one sentence - or even without any real closing at all. A long piece of writing, however, may end more slowly perhaps through several paragraphs. There are several closing techniques available to writers and often used in combination: 1) Using word signals - e.g. finally, at last, thus, and so, in conclusion - as well as more original devices 2) Changing the tempo - e.g. sentence length 3) Restating the central idea 4) Using climax - a natural culmination of preceding points 5) Making suggestions 6) Showing the topic 's significance 7) Echoing the introduction 8) Using some rhetorical device - e.g. pertinent quotations, anecdotes, brief dialogues, metaphors, allusions, and various kinds of witty or memorable remarks.
2. Comment on the composition of the essay "Knowledge"?
3. What functions does the introduction have?
4. What can you say about the lead of the essay?
5. What language techniques are used to set the tone of the essay?
6. Which closing techniques are used in the essay?

focus on coherence

1. Read about coherence: Coherence results from the presentation of all parts of the text in logical and clear relations. It is usually studied together with unity, but whereas unity refers to the relations of parts to the central theme, coherence refers to their relation with each other. In a coherent piece of writing, each sentence, each paragraph, each major division seems to grow out of those preceding it. This is basically ensured by clear and logical development of ideas. A. Patterns of cohesion. The basic principle of building cohesion is the information structure of the text. Old (or given) and new information run through the text in certain patterns. These patterns can have the form of a chain, e.g. "We measure temperatures with thermometers. A thermometer consists of a tube partially filled with mercury and a scale. The scale is divided into degrees". The cohesive chain here consists of "thermometers – a thermometer" and "a scale – the scale". This pattern may be called theme progression. Information dynamics can also have a ray pattern, e.g. "E-mail is rapidly becoming the dominant form of business communication. It eliminates phone-tag. It shortens the cycle of written communication. It improves productivity in interactive activities. It creates flexibility in the workday by reducing telephone interruptions". This pattern of cohesion can be called theme iteration. B. MARKERS OF COHESION. Cohesion can have overt markers, such as transitional expressions, repetition or "echoing", co-reference, cross-reference and parallelism. Transitional expressions are familiar landmarks that help to link the ideas and assist the basic organisation by pointing out their relationship. Expository writing often makes use of such expressions to bridge paragraph changes and improve transitional flow within paragraphs. Standard transitional expressions indicate the following relationship of ideas: a) time: soon, immediately, afterward, later, meanwhile, etc.; b) place: nearby, here, opposite, beyond, etc.; c) result: as a result, therefore, thus, consequently, hence, etc.; d) comparison: likewise, similarly, in such a manner, etc.; e) contrast: however, nevertheless, still, but, yet, on the other hand, after all, otherwise, etc.; f) addition: also, too, and, and then, furthermore, moreover, finally, first, second, third, etc.; g) miscellaneous: for example, for instance, in fact, indeed, on the whole, in other words. etc Repetition is a marker of cohesion which provides an "echo" from the preceding context. This may be the repetition of a key phrase or word, or a casual reference to an idea. Co-reference establishes identity between things that we talk about (otherwise known as 'propositions '). Pronouns, pronominal adverbs and the "pro-verb" DO (as in "Jack went home. So did I"); other referential expressions (such as "at that time", "in the same place", etc.); periphrasis, synonymy and ellipsis are among the explicit signals of co-reference. Cross-reference is based on referential relations other that identity. It signals semantic relations such as hyponyny ("rose" – "flower"), paronymy ("tulip – rose" are both hyponyms of "flower"), inalienable possession or "have-relation" ("car – engine", "finger – nail"), and implication established by inference ("hot weather – ice cream", "fire – smoke"). Such cross-references presuppose a knowledge of the world that permits inference by association. Parallelism is a syntactic device of using similar (parallel) structures in two or more sentences to provide a certain rhythm and thus to convey the feeling of unity. Parallelism between the last sentence of one paragraph and the first sentence of the next, is a subtle means to make the reader feel at ease in the new surroundings.

2. Comment on the patterns of cohesion used in the essay "Knowledge"
3. Speak on the overt markers of cohesion; give examples of transitional expressions, repetition, co-referential and cross-referential markers and parallelism.

Logical Focus

1. What makes the text logical?
2. Read about logic and types of reasoning (argumentation): Logic is a system of reasoning and argumentation associated with the intellect and opposed to emotions, feelings, or intuitions. Being logical means "showing consistency of reasoning". In the process of reasoning we draw conclusions or inferences from observations, facts or statements. This can be done in various ways and accordingly there can be distinguished the following types of reasoning which serve the purpose of argumentation: 1) deductive, 2) inductive, 3) causative, and 4) comparative. Deduction is a process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises; the inference is drawn from the general to the specific. Induction is a principle of reasoning to a conclusion about all the members of a class from examination of only a few members; broadly, reasoning from the concrete to the general. Causation is establishing relationships between cause and effect. Comparison is bringing together two or more objects (facts, notions) and stating whether they are A) identical; B) similar; C) different, or D) contrasting. Note that logical comparison is different from the stylistic device of SIMILE. The former deals with objects (facts, notions) belonging to the same class. Simile, in its turn, operates through an image, comparing two or more "incompatible" things, for example: "children are like their parents" (logical comparison); "children are like flowers" (simile) (for more information on logical patterns of exposition see Chapter 3).
3. Which types of reasoning (argumentation) are used in the text? What are their verbal signals?

Discussion

1. Do you agree that knowledge is a two-edged weapon? Give your own definition of knowledge.
2. Do you think there are any channels of getting knowledge other than intellectual? What is intuition?
3. Comment on the words of Tao Te Ching: "The more you know the less you understand".
4. "I 'm astounded by people who want to "know" the universe when it 's hard to find your way around Chinatown," - a quotation from Woody Allen. What did he mean? Do you agree with him?
5. Explain the following words by William Blake: "To see a World in a grain of sand, And a Heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour."
6. For Francis Bacon the human mind has several inherent and inevitable defects. First, the mind has "a tendency to fly up too quickly to generalisations"; second, the mind has "a tendency to identify its own sense of order with the cosmic order"; third, the mind has "a tendency to ignore or suppress whatever does not accord with its notions"; and fourth, the mind shows "a tendency to assent to forms - logical, rhythmical, syntactical - rather than empirical evidence." Do you agree with Francis Bacon? How are these "defects of nature" exploited by an essay writer?
Text # 2

Examinations Exert a Pernicious Influence on education

L.G. Alexander We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person 's knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to devise anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person 's true ability and aptitude. As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided on one fateful day. It doesn 't matter that you weren 't feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don 't count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of 'drop-outs ': young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students? A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learned is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memorise. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teachers of all freedom. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress. The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge 's decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner 's. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person 's true abilities. Is it cynical to suggest that examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate message recently scrawled on a wall: "I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire."
Comprehension and Vocabulary

1. Paraphrase the following: "for all the pious claims that...", "the knack of working under extreme pressure", "anxiety-makers", "second to none", "a fateful day", "no one can give of his best", "drop-outs", "written off as utter failures", "to embark on a career", "to be laid down by a syllabus", "to induce cramming", "to work under duress", "stacks of hastily scrawled scripts", "to boil down to".
2. Make a list of words referring to academic sphere; add your own to those you find in the text.

Analysis

1. Analyse the essay in terms of composition. Speak about the opening and closing techniques used by L.G.Alexander.
2. Analyse the essay in terms of coherence. Note the patterns of coherence and the overt markers of cohesion (transition expressions, repetition, co-reference, cross-reference, parallelism).
3. Analyse the essay in terms of logical arrangement.

Emotional Focus
A. Imagery
1. Read about imagery: An image can be defined as a mental picture of something not real or present. Imagery is the production of mental pictures. In writing or speaking this effect is achieved either by metaphorical representations or by illustrative descriptions based on sensory details. Images built on metaphor, epithet, metonymy and simile create visual, tactile, aural and other associations producing similar reactions in our mind, e.g. "She gave you the curious impression of having no bones in her body and you felt that if you pinched her shin your fingers would meet. When you took her hand it was like taking a fillet of sole. When she sat it was as though she were stuffed, like an expensive cushion, with swansdown. Everything was soft about her, her voice, her smile, her laugh; her eyes had the softness of flowers; her manner was as soft as the summer rain" (S. Maugham, "Cakes and Ale"). More abstract metaphorical images can appeal to our imagination, establishing the most unusual connections between the facts of reality, e.g. " people, ..bred ...to sit up while others lie in bed and look down on the universe with pity"(Byron, "Don Juan"). Imagery can be also created by vivid descriptions that do not employ any metaphors or similes. The effect of building a mental picture is achieved through the use of clear sharp sensory details and certain syntactic devices (e.g. repetition) that help to bring them forward, e.g. "Harris and I started to peel the potatoes. We began cheerfully, but our lightheartedness was gone by the time the first potato was finished. The more we peeled, the more peel there seemed to be left on; by the time we had got all the peel off and all the eyes out, there was no potato left - at least none worth speaking of. George came and had a look at it - it was about the size of a peanut. He said: 'Oh, that won 't do! You 're wasting them. You must scrape them. ' So we scraped them, and that was harder work that peeling. They are such an extraordinary shape, potatoes - all bumps and warts and hollows. We worked steadily for five-and-twenty minutes, and did four potatoes" (Jerome K. Jerome, "Three Men in a Boat"). Descriptive details call upon the reader 's imagination by references to the immediate reality created in the text. A bright and vivid detail is a snapshot of the fictional world; it easily forms a credible mental picture which calls forth a whole range of feelings. Descriptive sensory details can sometimes have a stronger emotional appeal than metaphorical images. In the broader context of a story, descriptive details can acquire a symbolic meaning. Wind, rain, fire, water, pictures of nature can correlate with the mood of the characters and add to their portrayal; or contribute to the building of suspense, or help to perceive the author 's idea. Apart from these conventional symbols a writer of fiction can resort to more specific details that absorb in themselves some pertinent features of a character or a situation, e.g. "She was knitting a scarf, the only thing I had ever known her to knit, a long strip of red, brown, green, yellow, black in sections of random sizes according to the amount of wool she could find or unravel from some previous scarf that none of us could bring ourselves to wear" (Philip Smith, "The Wedding Jug"). If mentioned repeatedly, a descriptive detail can become a "trade mark" of a character: remember, for instance, the famous moustaches of Agatha Christie 's Hercule Poirot.

2. What images are used in the text? Group them according to the suggested classification. What effect do they produce?

B. Subjective modality

1. Read about objective and subjective writing: Objective and subjective writing are distinguishable by the extent to which they reflect the author 's personal attitudes or emotions. The difference is usually one of degree, as few writing endeavours can be completely objective or subjective. Objective writing, seldom used in its pure form except in business and scientific reports, is impersonal and concerned almost entirely with straight narration, with logical analysis, or with the description of external appearances. Subjective writing is more personalised, more expressive of the beliefs, ideals, or impressions of the author. Whereas in objective writing the emphasis is on the object being written about, in subjective writing the emphasis is on the way the author sees and interprets the object. Subjective modality can be expressed in various ways; the simplest way is by giving evaluative definitions, such as "surprising", "unbelievable", "the best" and so on. To sound less categorical, the author may resort to hedging expressions, such as "I think", "rather", "perhaps" which can make him sound unwilling to commit himself. On the other hand, such expressions as "obviously", "crucial", "as everyone would agree" can make him sound arrogant or dogmatic.

2. How does his author 's personal attitude come through in the essay "Examinations..."?
3. How does the text sound, subjective or objective? Give your reasons to support both points.
C. Level of Formality

1. Read about stylistic stratification of language: Language exits in two basic variants, SPEECH and WRITING. Speech is spontaneous, relatively transient, and implies personal contact of some kind; writing is deliberate, relatively permanent and does not imply any immediate contact. Linguistic differences associated with these distinctions allow for the stylistic classification of language according to the level of its formality. Written (formal) language associates with the neutral or literary vocabulary, well-formed sentences and normative syntax. Spoken (informal) language associates with colloquial vocabulary, disrupted syntax and elements suggesting social or idiolectal features. These distinct, yet overlapping varieties can be exploited for stylistic purposes, for example, when a specimen of written language shows a number of features that would usually be associated only with informal speech, or when a specimen of spoken language is found to contain words or constructions typical of writing. Such "unfitting" elements will become devices by contrast.

2. Describe the analysed text in terms of formality.
3. Are there any "unfitting" elements in the essay?

D. Expressive Syntax

1. Read about syntax: Syntax is a very broad term referring to the arrangement of words in a sentence. Good syntax implies the use not only of correct grammar but also of effective patterns. Among them are patterns that provide for the unity, coherence and emphasis; patterns of subordination and co-ordination; numerous syntactical stylistic devices, i.e detached constructions, parallelism, repetition, enumeration, gradation, climax, antithesis, asyndeton, ellipsis, breaks-in-the-narrative, questions-in-the-narrative, rhetorical questions, exclamations, etc.
2. Give definitions to the syntactical stylistic devices mentioned above.
3. Give examples of the expressive syntactical patterns used in the essay.

E. Expressive Diction

1. Read about diction: Diction refers to "choice of words" and involves many problems of usage, such as stylistic stratification (formal diction / colloquial diction); language imagery; connotation/denotation; cliches and many more - anything, in fact, that pertains to word choices. For expository writing, expressive diction may imply the following:
1) choosing fresh, strong, expressive words, and 2) making original, witty or clever statements ingenious in wording.
2. Comment on the interplay of formal and colloquial diction in the essay.
3. Which words in the essay will you classify as expressive?
4. Which statements in the essay seem most emphatic? Why?

Pragmatic Focus

1. Read about pragmatics: Pragmatics is the branch of semiotics concerned with the relations between signs and their users. Since language is a system of signs it can be interpreted in terms of pragmatics, that is with respect to the members of communication and in interaction with their system of knowledge. Pragmatics, thus, is concerned with the study of meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader). This type of study necessarily involves the interpretation of what people mean in a particular context and how the context influences what is said. It requires a consideration of how speakers organise their utterances in accordance with who they are talking to, where, when, and under what circumstances. This approach necessarily explores how listeners can make inferences about what is said, and how a great deal of what is unsaid is recognised as part of what is communicated. We might say that it is the investigation of "invisible meaning". This perspective then raises the question of what determines the choice between the said and the unsaid. The basic answer is tired to the notion of distance. Closeness, whether it is physical, social, or conceptual, implies shared experience. On the assumption of how close or distant the listener is, speakers determine how much needs to be said. The most basic form of referring to the shared experience is deixis. The term deixis comes from Greek, and it means 'pointing ' via language. Any linguistic form used to accomplish this 'pointing ' is called a deictic expression. In written texts reference to shared experiences can take different forms. Firstly, the writer may refer to the reader 's background knowledge on certain topics. This can be accompanied by such deictic phrases as "it is common knowledge that...", "as you know", and so forth. Quite often there is no direct indication to shared knowledge, yet this knowledge is implied by the reference to the reality of which both, the writer and the reader, are well aware. Thus, it is taken for granted that in the students ' audience, for example, there will be no need to explain such words as "syllabus", "cramming", "test", and so forth. Moreover, anyone who has ever been a student will easily form an adequate picture of a "sleepless night before the exam" or the "mortal terror" one can feel for the examiner because this is part of their personal experience. Such references can have a strong emotional appeal since they call forth a whole range of feelings and memories and call upon the reader 's imagination. Another type of reference is concerned with the immediate context of the written document. In other words, the writer is sending us back to what was said previously. This is most often done by deictic expressions such as pronouns, adverbs, the definite article, ellipsis and so forth. These expressions can indicate people via person deixis ( 'he ', 'they '), or location via spatial deixis ( 'here ', 'there '), or time via temporal deixis ( 'now ', 'then '). All these expressions depend, for their interpretation, on the speaker and hearer sharing the same context.
2. Which parts of the text point at the experience shared between the writer and the reader?
3. Give examples of deictic expressions of various types, i.e. person deixis, spatial deixis and temporal deixis.

Guidelines for Analysing an Essay
Before starting your analysis: - make sure you know the text well: faults in the understanding may lead to logical flaws in your reasoning; - decide on the most conspicuous features of the text: humour, satire, persuasion, insights into human character, philosophy of life, etc. – any of these (either alone or in combination) and many more, can come into focus in communicating the message, and suggest an effective approach to the analysis.
As you go on: - build your analysis around the salient features of the text choosing between the points given below; do not try to cover all the points, yet do not ignore those that might show significance.
Your analysis should be: - logical: each statement you make must be backed up with examples, and examples, in their turn, must be commented on; any commentary must be grounded by language facts; - concrete: avoid general statements: always look for their concrete realisation in the text; for example, if you speak about the emotional colouring of an utterance, do not fail to specify the type of emotion: admiration, frustration, surprise, joy, bitter sarcasm, etc.; - coherent: make smooth transitions from one point to another; avoid transitions of "as-for-the-composition..." type: they suggest a commitment to some universal scheme of analysis and rule out improvisation. Careful paragraphing (or pauses, in oral presentation) can be a sufficient means of moving from one idea to another; - complete: give a short conclusion to sum up the pertinent observations you made in the process of the analysis.

SEMANTIC FOCUS: - message - type of exposition
FOCUS ON COMPOSITION: - elements of composition (introduction, main body, conclusion) - opening and closing techniques; techniques of development focus on coherence - patterns of coherence (theme progression, theme iteration) - coherence markers (co-reference, cross-reference, transition devices)
LOGICAL FOCUS: - types of reasoning / argumentation (deductive, inductive, causative, comparative)
EMOTIONAL FOCUS: - imagery (metaphorical; descriptive) - subjective modality - level of formality - expressive syntax - expressive diction
PRAGMATIC FOCUS: - references to shared experience - deictic expressions

- Writing
1. Read the requirements for essay writing: An informal essay may be defined as a natural instinctive flow of ideas, rather conversational in tone and personal in spirit. It is built around some central idea, which should be well formulated. This is the first rule for writing essays. To write a good essay it is advisable to make up an outline first. The outline usually has three traditional parts: beginning, middle and end. Do not forget about the opening and closing lines, for they act as a frame that may either enhance the text or detract from it. Pay attention to the logical arrangement of the essay. To sound logical, make sure that you have formed your own opinion about the point in question. So, before starting the essay it is advisable to do the following: divide the page into two parts (vertically) and write down all the pros and all the cons. Then see which list is weightier and think how you can generalise. This makes sense as people quite often do not know their own mind and upon closer thinking turn out to have the opposite opinion from the one they thought they had. Having established an opinion, turn the valid reasons into topical sentences for paragraphs. It goes without saying that the emotional involvement of the readers is vital for understanding and enjoying what they are reading. If you leave the emotional side out, even the most logical and well-grounded work will lack merit and interest. Do not forget about metaphor, simile and other image forming means. Remember that a sample without any imagery is utterly unreadable for it sounds primitive and disinterested. Yet, stylistic devices should only be used to clarify your ideas - and not to blur them. Remember that brevity is "the soul of wit '. In case of essays this is a chief formal requirement. Preserve the stylistic unity of the essay. Words should belong to the same stylistic layer and bathos is allowed only when it serves a concrete purpose. Don 't try to stuff your writing with the latest colloquialisms and never use slang. And - as a final recommendation - remember that it is good sense that makes your essay clever, witty and convincing. Good sense is, in a way, more important than anything else about an essay for if it is present even faults of the form may be forgotten.
2. Write an essay on one of the following topics. You may support or oppose the idea: i. Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing. ii. Teaching machines can never replace teachers. iii. It is foolish to give money to beggars. iv. Better non-taught that ill-taught. v. No one would like to live to be a hundred.

Text # 3
The Sporting Spirit
George Orwell I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn 't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one would deduce it from general principles. Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe - at any rate for short periods - that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.

Text # 4

Taking the Shame out of the Word 'Idleness '
Bob Wynn Workers on strike or locked out, hate those headlines about so many thousands being "idle". There is an equal distaste for TV announcers who lovingly loll the word around their tongues. Great grief! What is wrong with any man being idle? What has an idler to be ashamed of? Especially a well-occupied idler, whether he be digging the garden, or diligently sitting in a café drinking tea, watching the world hurry by. Idleness is a truly happy state. In this age of technological abundance, what a healthier, wiser, and more economically sound nation we should be if only more of us were a damned sight idler. Lord Chesterfield may once have said: "Idleness is only the refuge of the weak minds, and the holiday of fools," but what can you expect of a man of his class? His lordship never made the mistake of being too busy himself. He found time to live, unlike the many more-dead-than-alive folk around today, who are hardly conscious of living except in the exercise of some soul-destroying job. Robert Louis Stevenson was right when he declared: "Extreme business, whether at school or college, kirk or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a strong sense of personal identity". It is during the hours of truancy that you really do something worthwhile, like learning to think, play the clarinet, cook and eat a good meal or repair a puncture in the bike. Like a good husbandman, I know the value of leaving the land to lie fallow. I know the value of a rest by a roadside hedge, in a meadow amid the browsing sheep or a drowse beneath the willows on the riverbank... I hope that more people will join me in idleness, especially in the idleness of the senses of the eye, ear and lips. I hope too that for a long time after the first man has landed on the moon, and the moon has become a mere stop to all stations beyond, we shall all have time to loaf and dream, and enjoy life, the eating, drinking and loving of it.*

____________________________________________________________ * Here are some more opinions related to the point in question: • "Absence of occupation is no rest. A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed," A. Pope. • "Life is what happens to you while you 're busy making other plans," John Lennon.

Text # 5
On Not Knowing English
George Mikes In England I found two difficulties. First: I did not understand people and secondly: they did not understand me. It was easier with written texts. Whenever I read a leading article in The Times, I understood everything perfectly well except that I could never make out whether The Times was for or against something. In those days I put it down to my lack of knowledge of English. The first step in my progress was when people started understanding me while I still could not understand them. This was the most talkative period of my life. Trying to hide my shortcomings, I kept on talking, keeping the conversation as unilateral as possible. The next stage was that I began to understand foreigners but not the English or the Americans. The more atrocious a foreign accent one had, the cleverer it sounded to me. Once sitting in a news cinema, I was particularly irritated by not understanding a single word of the commentator. Not that I did not know the words: I was sure that I knew quite a number of them, but I could not spot any familiar words at all. I sighed to myself: "Good Heavens! Will there be, can there be, a time when I shall understand all this?" Good old days! Today I sit in the news cinema, listening to an American commentator, thinking of the past days with longing and sighing to myself: "Good Heavens! Was there, could there be, a time when I did not understand all this?" Yet, I shall never regret that I learned English as a grownup. Of course, there are gaps in my knowledge but I have one consolation. I am much more aware of the beauties of the English language than quite a few Englishmen. I should like to mention only one characteristic of the English language which exasperated me at first but which I now find delightful. In English, the order of words follows very strict rules from which you cannot depart. If you do, your sentence loses not only its beauty and grace but also its sense. The result is that, in acceptable English, you can be stupid but you cannot be obscure. In German - to mention one Continental language - you can write ponderous sentences, each two yards long, with a string of verbs at the end. It may sound impressive, profound and pregnant with ideas. Translate it into English and it is unmasked. If it has something to say, it will say it; if it has nothing to say it will resemble that pompous and conceited King of the fable who rode through the capital, thinking that he was wearing magnificent regal robes while he was, in fact, stark naked. The English, it is said, are not prone to become dogmatic. How could they? Most dogmas and theories when translated into English lose their mythical haze and enigmatic charm and sound plain silly.

Text # 6
On Silence
Aldous Huxley The twentieth century is, among other things, the Age of Noise. Physical noise, mental noise, and noise of desire - we hold history 's record for all of them. And no wonder; for all the resources of our almost miraculous technology have been thrown into the current assault against silence. That most popular and influential of all recent inventions, the radio is nothing but a conduit through which pre-fabricated din can flow into our homes. And this din goes far deeper, of course, than the eardrums. It penetrates the mind, filling it with a babble of distractions, blasts of corybantic or sentimental music, continually repeated doses of drama that bring no catharsis, but usually create a craving for daily or even hourly emotional enemas. And where, as in most countries, the broadcasting stations support themselves by selling time to advertisers, the noise is carried from the ear, through the realms of fantasy, knowledge and feeling to the ego 's core of wish and desire. Spoken or printed, broadcast over the ether or on wood-pulp, all advertising copy has but one purpose - to prevent the will from ever achieving silence. Desirelessness is the condition of deliverance and illumination. The condition of an expanding and technologically progressive system of mass production is universal craving. Advertising is the organized effort to extend and intensify the workings of that force, which (as all the saints and teachers of all the higher religions have always taught) is the principal cause of suffering and wrong-doing and the greatest obstacle between the human soul and its Divine Ground. (1946)

Text # 7
Nobel Lecture by Joseph Brodsky Language and, presumably, literature are things that are more ancient and inevitable, more durable than any form of social organization. The revulsion, irony, or indifference often expressed by literature towards the state is essentially a reaction of the permanent - better yet, the infinite -against the temporary, against the finite. The philosophy of the state, its ethics - not to mention its aesthetics - are always "yesterday". Language and literature are always "today", and often - particularly in the case where a political system is orthodox - they may even constitute "tomorrow". One of literature 's merits is precisely that it helps a person to make the time of his existence more specific, to distinguish himself from the crowd of his predecessors as well as his like numbers, to avoid tautology - that is, the fate otherwise known by the honorific term, "victim of history". What makes art in general, and literature in particular, remarkable, what distinguishes them from life, is precisely that they abhor repetition. In everyday life you can tell the same joke thrice and, thrice getting a laugh, become the life of the party. In art, though, this sort of conduct is called "cliché". Nowadays, there exists a rather widely held view, postulating that in his work a writer, in particular a poet, should make use of the language of the street, the language of the crowd. For all its democratic appearance, and its palpable advantages for a writer, this assertion is quite absurd and represents an attempt to subordinate art, in this case, literature, to history. It is only if we have resolved that it is time for Homo sapiens to come to a halt in his development that literature should speak the language of the people. Otherwise, it is the people who should speak the language of literature. On the whole, every new aesthetic reality makes man 's ethical reality more precise. For aesthetics is the mother of ethics. The tender babe who cries and rejects the stranger or who, on the contrary, reaches out to him, does so instinctively, making an aesthetic choice, not a moral one. Aesthetic choice is a highly individual matter, and aesthetic experience is always a private one. Every new aesthetic reality makes one 's experience even more private; and this kind of privacy, assuming at times the guise of literary (or some other) taste, can in itself turn out to be, if not a guarantee, then a form of defense against enslavement. For a man with taste, particularly literary taste, is less susceptible to the refrains and the rhythmical incantations peculiar to any version of political demagogy. The point is that evil, especially political evil, is always a bad stylist. The more substantial an individual 's aesthetic experience is, the sounder his taste, the sharper his moral focus, the freer (though not necessarily the happier) he is. It is precisely in this applied, rather than Platonic, sense that we should understand Dostoevsky 's remark that beauty will save the world, or Matthew Arnold 's belief that we shall be saved by poetry. It is probably too late for the world, but for the individual man there always remains a chance. An aesthetic instinct develops in man rather rapidly, for, even without fully realizing who he is and what he actually requires, a person instinctively knows what he doesn 't like and what doesn 't suit him. In an anthropological respect, let me reiterate, a human being is an aesthetic creature before he is an ethical one. Therefore, it is not that art, particularly literature, is a by-product of our species ' development, but just the reverse. If what distinguishes us from other members of the animal kingdom is speech, then literature - and poetry in particular, being the highest form of locution - is, to put it bluntly, the goal of our species. In the history of our species, in the history of Homo sapiens, the book is anthropological development, similar essentially to the invention of the wheel. Having emerged in order to give us some idea not so much of our origins as of what that sapiens is capable of, a book constitutes a means of transportation through the space of experience, at the speed of a turning page. This movement, like every movement, becomes a flight from the common denominator, from an attempt to elevate this denominator 's line, previously never reaching higher than the groin, to our heart, to our consciousness, to our imagination. This flight is the flight in the direction of "uncommon visage", in the direction of the numerator, in the direction of autonomy, in the direction of privacy. Regardless of whose image we are created in, there are already five billion of us, and for a human being there is no other future save that outlined by art. Otherwise, what lies ahead is the past - the political one, first of all, with all its mass police entertainments.
December 8, 1987
(Extract)
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1981 - 1990 (translated by Barry Rubin)

Chapter 2: Short Story

A short story is a genre of emotive prose that belongs to belles-lettres style. The term "emotive" originated by A. Marty in 1908 is used to define "everything that transcends referential". Emotive prose - as well as poetry and drama - concerns itself primarily with the communication of feeling and not with the communication of facts (as the language of science would). It does not mean, however, that a writer of fiction should ignore the factual side of life: he inevitably finds an objectively describable situation to represent his feelings, the carrier which Thomas S. Eliot has called the 'objective correlative ', selected to invoke and organise appropriate feelings. The emotional aspect of fiction can find manifestation in the mere composition of the story line, in the contextual arrangement of prose systems (or types of discourse), in the peculiar pattern of imagery, in specific diction and syntax, and, on the whole, in a wide range of expressive means and stylistic devices. Looking at the works of fiction from the perspective of their story line, one can distinguish between those that have a clearly discernible plot - a sequence of coherent events, and those that have practically no "external" action. Stories that heavily depend on the plot can be called suspense stories. They are charged with physical action that does not have to proceed chronologically. Many works of fiction begin in the middle of things (critics say "in medias res") or even at the end, and many show earlier events in flashbacks. Here belong all kinds of action stories - mysteries, for example. Comedies too can gain their effects by the twists and turns of an intricately plotted story line. Plot here is a means to the creation of suspense or the provocation of laughter. A lot of stories, however, have almost no plot, in that there are no events, no occurrences, and no happenings of any consequence. We find the characters of such stories in a situation and attend not to what they do but to what they feel as a result of the situation. These can be called situation stories and they lead primarily to the revelation of a character 's internal state, to the nuances of personality and mood Apart from this classification, short stories exist in an infinite variety of form and content. And yet they all have a common set of features, which makes it possible to speak about genre and style distinctions of this form of literature. It seems effective to analyse these features along the following lines: 1) semantic structure (composition), 2) discourse structure (arrangement of prose systems), 3) modes of characterisation (direct and indirect), 4) modes of narration (first- and third person narration), and 6) modes of communicating emotional appeal (imagery, diction and syntax). A short story displays a collection of distinctive features, which taken together, produce a cumulative effect on the reader by creating a picture of a fictional world before his mind 's eye and providing for a strong cognitive impact of a short story.

Text # 1
Up-Ladle at Three
William Glynne-Jones Squint, the foreman moulder, stood with his arms folded on the wooden planks covering the heavy-castings ' pit. He peered at the men as they bustled around in the casting bay, getting the moulds ready. "Get a move on," he rasped. "It 's up-ladle at three. You 've got ten minutes left. Hey, you - Owen and Ritchie! Close that spindle." He pointed to a mould, its top and bottom half contained in two steel boxes, approximately seven feet long by three wide and three deep. "Make sure the joints match," he muttered. "We don 't want any more complaints from the main office." The young moulder named Owen eyed the foreman quizzically. "You don 't intend casting that spindle, do you?" Squint frowned. "What d 'you mean? What 's wrong with it?" "Have a decko* at this." Qwen drew a finger over a deep crack in the box. "This moulding-box isn 't safe." "You can 't tell me what to damn well do!" Squint shouted. "That spindle 's got to be cast today, so get it closed ... Ritchie Bevan!" Ritchie, sandy-haired, with a candid face, looked at the foreman. "Yes?" "Close that mould. The furnace 's waiting." "I tell you this box isn 't safe," Owen insisted. "Ritchie and I won 't be responsible if anything happens. So to hell with you!" The foreman looked wildly around. "Evan! Bill!" Evan-Small-Coal and Bill Tailor hurried across. "Yes, Mr Brewer?" "Get that spindle ready. I want it for the afternoon 's cast." The two moulders jumped promptly to obey his orders, and Squint spun around to face Owen once more. "You 'll answer for this, both of you." He raised his hand threateningly. Owen pulled Ritchie aside. "Aw, come on. Let 's get out of this," he snapped. "I 'm fed up to the teeth." They crossed the heavy-castings ' pit and stood near a water bosh**. Squint shook his fist at them. "I 'll see you 'll suffer for this," he shouted. "You know damn well there 's not the slightest risk." He swung around to the two moulders who were closing the spindle mould. "Put a jerk into it, you fellers, " he bellowed. Meanwhile, the furnace had been tapped. The ladle, with its fifty tons of molten steel, swung above the spindle mould. The crane-man, Dai Jones, shielded his eyes from the fierce glare as he peered over the edge of his steel cage and waited for his instructions. "Swing her over an inch to furnace, Dai!" Squint called. The crane 's control levers clicked. "Okay. Let her go!" The teemer*** pulled downwards: the white-hot steel rushed in a circular stream from beneath the ladle and dropped into the spindle with a hollow thud. A red tongue of flame shot into the air, and the gurgling, boiling metal rose slowly to the brim of the mould. The cast was over, and the empty ladle was swung back to its bed beneath the furnace landing. Shoulders drooped, head bowed, the perspiring teemer walked to the water bosh where Owen stood. He glanced sideways at the young moulder. "What 's eating Brewer?" he asked. "Had a bit of rumpus with him, didn 't you?" Owen did not reply. "Okay, if that 's how you feel." The teemer shuffled back towards the empty ladle. All at once he wheeled sharply around, his eyes wild with fear. He rushed to the bosh and grasped Owen 's shoulder. "Look, man ... the spindle. It 's - it 's running out! Ritchie 's down there ... trapped, like a bloody rabbit." A wild piercing scream cleaved the air. Bill Tailor leaped headlong from the wooden staging. "Help! For God 's sake ... Help!" he shouted frantically. "Give us a hand, quickly... The spindle 's burst!" Owen pushed the agitated teemer violently aside and raced over the pit. He stumbled into the casting bay. Suddenly he stopped. Before him, his eyes dilated with terror, stood Ritchie on one foot, precariously balanced on a single brick near the centre of a rapidly filling pull of white-hot metal. Momentarily his foot slipped from the brick, and he screamed. "Mam! Oh! Jesus Christ, Christ! Mam! Mam!" Ritchie 's agonising cries shrieked above the thunder of the cranes as they grated to a standstill on the quivering girders. A pungent smell of roasted flesh hung in the fetid air. The yellow flames bit into his hands and face. Paralysed with fear and pain he shrieked continuously, loudly and terrifyingly. "Do something, one of you!" Qwen yelled to the horror-stricken moulders in the bay. He caught Bill Tailor by the arm. "Phone the doctor! Hurry, for God 's sake!" Without further hesitation he threw a board over the space, tore off his jacket and darted forward. Throwing it around the tortured Ritchie 's body, he grasped him in his arms and dragged him to safety. Gently, he laid him on the ground. The crowd of men, whispering and gesticulating, closed in around the prostrate figure. "Give him air!" Owen cried. He threw out his arms and braced his shoulders against the crowd. He glanced apprehensively around. "Where 's Bill? Has the doctor come?" "Make way there, " someone called authoritatively. The crowd parted. The foundry 's first-aid man, followed by two others carrying a stretcher, pushed his way to the front. From a small box he took out a bottle of greenish liquid, pads of cotton wool and rolls of bandage. He called the stretcher-bearers to his side. "Easy now." One of the men placed his hands under Ritchie 's legs. A charred boot crumbled at his touch, pieces of brown, roasted flesh adhering to it. The man retched. His face turned a sickly green. His hands slipped down Ritchie 's trousers and came in contact with the raw, shining heel bone. Ritchie whimpered with pain. His fingers clawed wildly at Owen 's shoulders. The skin of his closed eyelids was blistered, the eyelashes singed. His face, a dirty yellow, drawn and haggard, glistened with cold sweat. Now and again he shivered convulsively. Owen tenderly raised his injured friend to a sitting position. "Ritchie... Ritchie," he choked. He looked into the first-aid man 's face. "It 's too late, too late," he sobbed. "Nothing can be done." Ritchie stared at him vacantly. His fingers and lips moved. He coughed weakly. "A fag," he whispered. "A ... fag." A cigarette was placed between his lips; it fell from his mouth and rolled to the ground. Owen pillowed Ritchie 's head on his knees and stared wild-eyed at the gaping crowd. "He 's dead! Dead - d 'you hear me?" he shouted. "Ritchie 's dead ... murdered by a butcher of a foreman ... D 'you hear me, fellers? My pal Ritchie 's been murdered!" One of the men stooped down and pattered Owen 's hand. "Calm down, Owen. You don 't realise what you 're saying," he whispered nervously. "It was an accident, as you can see. All the men here can testify that it couldn 't be helped, and..." Owen rose slowly to his feet. His teeth were clenched. His eyes burned. He grasped the speaker by the shoulder and shook him fiercely. "Accident!" he shouted. "Accident!" The man spluttered. "Such things happen, don 't they?" He pulled away, his eyes full of fear. Presently Squint shouldered his way into the ring. "Get that box out into the scrap yard," he ordered. "Smash the damn thing!" "Oh, no you don 't." Owen wheeled round to face the foreman. "There 's a hell of a lot of questions to be asked before this affair is cleared. And that box will answer all of them." Squint pretended not to have heard. "How - how 's Ritchie?" he asked. "He 's dead!" The words were cold and harsh. The foreman paled. "Dead? But I - I thought he was saved?" "Saved?" Owen mocked. "Saved?" He stepped up to the foreman, his fists clenching and unclenching. "You damned murderer!" he raged. "You killed him!" Squint edged back. "Keep him away," he appealed to the men. "He 's out of his mind." Owen leapt forward and clutched him by the throat. "I 'll strangle you ... you swine," he hissed between his bared teeth. He glared at the men. "You saw what happened? You heard me warn him, didn 't you?" No one answered. "God! Isn 't there a man amongst you? Are you going to stand by and see your mate murdered, without a word in protest?" Bill Taylor dashed into the casting bay. "The - the doctor... he 'll be here any minute..." He paused. "Owen, for God 's sake, man - what are you doing?" He threw himself at Owen and caught him round the waist. "Let him go, man alive ... Let him go! D 'you want to kill him?" Two of the moulders sensed the danger. They tore Owen 's hands away from the foreman 's throat. "Hey, man ... What 's come over you?" Bill Taylor panted. Owen pointed to the body of his friend. "Ritchie 's a goner," he said slowly. "And that swine 's responsible." He stared accusingly at the foreman. Squint shuffled backwards into the safety of the crowd. "Be - be careful what you say," he stammered. He beckoned to the crane-man. "Dai! Lower the chain," he called urgently. Then to Bill Taylor he shouted desperately: "Take that box out to the yard, Bill. Break it up. We don 't want no more trouble here after this accident." The crane rumbled forward. The chain was lowered and Bill Taylor and another moulder prepared to hitch the box. "Just a minute, there!" Qwen jumped to the box. He stood poised in front of it, his fists clenched. "Take the crane away!" he shouted over his shoulder without glancing at the crane-man. "But Owen," Bill Taylor protested. "You 'll not touch this box." Owen 's face was grim. His eyes flashed and the knuckles of his hands showed white beneath the grime. "Stand back!" he cried. "My pal 's been murdered. This box is the only evidence we have, and I 'll see that a full report is made to doctor and police." Squint trembled like a man afflicted with ague, "The police!" he gasped. "The police!" He made an effort to regain his authority. "You heard me, Bill Taylor!" he cried. "Get that box out." Bill looked at Owen. One of the moulders approached him. "I 'll give you a hand, Bill." "Stand back!" Owen grabbed a heavy steel cramp and raised it shoulder high. "I 'll brain the first man that lays a hand on this box!" The men glanced nervously at one another. Squint, desperate with fear, broke through to the front once more. "Owen, for heaven 's sake, be reasonable, man," he pleaded. "Think what this 'll mean to me ... My job ... my livelihood! Hell, man - let 's forget what I 've said to you. Forget what I 've said to Ritchie ... I 'll do anything ... to compensate him." His words were unheeded. Qwen stood guard between the smouldering box and the dead body of his friend. The men stood by as if transfixed. And at that moment the doctor came.
__________________________________________________________

* have a decko: have a look. Dekko is a Hindi word brought back by British soldiers from India. There are many English words from this source
** bosh: an old term in iron making. It is a trough for cooling the hot steel
*** teemer: the man who empties the molten steel into the moulds

Comprehension and Vocabulary

1. How do you understand the expression "up-ladle"?
2. What is meant by the phrase "to cast the spindle"?
3. Find the terms related to iron making; give their Russian equivalents.
4. Explain the meaning of the following colloquialisms: - get a move on, - put a jerk into it, - what 's eating Brewer? - ...had a bit of rumpus, - easy now, - what 's come over you?
5. Make sure that you know the meaning of the following verbs: bellow, yell, splutter, rasp, pant, spin, droop, bow, rumble, click, cleave, quiver, grate, brace, crumble, retch, singe, blister, clench, hitch, beckon, clutch, shuffle, edge, dart, snap. Classify them into A) verbs of sound, and B) verbs of action; point out the verbs that can belong to both groups. In case of polysemy, explain which of the meanings used to be a metaphor.
6. Explain the difference between to peer, to stare and to gape. Add other verbs of seeing to this list and define their meanings.

Analysis

FOCUS ON COMPOSITION

1. Is "Up-Ladle at Three" a suspense or a situational story? Why?
2. Read about composition: The nineteenth-century German critic Gustav Freitag came up with a diagram of composition, or story form, that has come to be known as the Freitag Pyramid. The story begins, he said, with an exposition, followed by complications (or "nouement", the "knotting up" of the situation), leading to a crisis, which is followed by a "falling action" (or anticlimax) resulting in a resolution (or "denouement", "unknotting")

The trouble with this useful diagram is that it visually suggests that a crisis comes in the middle of the "pyramid", whereas in a compact short-story form, it is usually saved to the end; the falling action is likely to be brief or non-existent. Often the crisis action itself implies the resolution, which is not stated but exists as an idea established in the reader 's mind. In these cases it is probably more useful to think of a story shape as an inverted checkmark:

Exposition is the opening part of a story that introduces the theme and chief characters (NOTE that the term "exposition" can also mean a precise explication or elucidation, as in "expository prose": see Chapter I). The exposition of a story can be long and discursive; in this case the background information can be given in the form of a foreword containing abstractions and author 's commentary. In the opposite case, exposition can take us straight into the action: the reader is plunged into the authentic reality of the fiction world and only finds his bearings as the story goes on. In either case, though, there would be indications of when, where, what and who - the landmarks of fiction world which provide for the reader 's orientation. Conflict is usually established with the first mention of trouble (let 's mention in passing that in fiction only trouble is interesting, which - happily! - is not so in life). Possible conflicts can be divided into several basic categories: man against man, man against nature, man against society, man against machine, man against God, man against himself. Each conflict is fraught with complications - there can be as many of them in a story as the author chooses. Yet, the character of these complications tends to get more and more serious as the story unfolds. This leads the reader to the state of uncertainty and expectation, generally known as suspense. Suspense can be defined as a cognitive model equally applied to various situations. Its basic feature is withholding the most important thing to the end, thus keeping up the interest of the reader or listener. As a stylistic device, suspense is confined to a sentence pattern, its expressive power, however, can be extrapolated on much larger patterns of communication where tension is created by keeping the reader in the state of anxious waiting. The peak of tension, known as climax, is usually manifested or externalised in an action, although sometimes, when the conflict takes place in a character 's mind, it can be difficult to grasp. In this case a crisis action can be confined to a moment when a person, an event, or a thing is seen in a completely new light. James Joyce called this moment of mental reversal, or recognition, "epiphany", which originally means "a manifestation of a supernatural being". The important thing in text analysis is to show the means of building up tension. One of the chief means is the use of gradation leading to climax. Gradation may be manifested by a gradual increase in the emotional charge of otherwise homogeneous characteristics, e.g. in a description of a person 's reaction to some funny episode, the following lexical sequence can serve as a marker of gradation: "... smiled, ...giggled, ...laughed heartily, ...was rolling on the floor with laughter". Each successive unit in this sequence has a stronger emotive charge than the preceding one. This kind of gradation leads to the emotional climax. There are less obvious cases, however, when a sequence of statements is marked by the increase of importance that the author (or the social milieu) is attaching to the described facts. An account of a successful academic career, for example, will point out such steps of the social ladder as "showing good results at school", "getting a university degree", "taking a post-graduate course", "receiving a Ph.D.", and - at the peak of achievement - "winning an academic award". Since this succession of events falls under a logically conceived pattern, the gradation here would lead to the logical climax. Logical and emotional climaxes often go together, as in a love scene, for example, which can start with a tentative look followed by a tender touch followed by a passionate kiss... Though gradation alone does not necessarily build up suspense, it is a definite lexical marker of the rising tension. Other lexical markers of tension can be observed at the level of diction; here will belong all kinds of expressively coloured words and phrases, slang, colloquialisms and so on. Markers of gradation can also have syntactic nature: as the action proceeds to the climax, sentences tend to get shorter and more emotional; clipped phrases with parallel structure, staccato speech tempo - create a certain rhythm which heightens the emotive effect of the narration. For example, the feeling of impending danger can be enhanced if phrases move as fast as people or things. A long sentence with a number of prepositional clauses, on the other hand, would reinforce the sense of slow or leisurely movement. On the whole, the rhythm of plot development can be imitated by alterations in sentence structure in a rich variety of ways. Exclamations, ellipsis, aposiopesis, inversion, asyndeton, polysyndeton and other stylistic devices all add to the ebbs and flows of the story line. The arrangement of discourse types, or prose systems, within a short story can serve as yet another means of building up suspense. The interplay of description, narration and dialogue can speed the action up or slow it down - creating the needed effect. The general tendency in moving towards climax would be a change from descriptive passages to a more dynamic narrative discourse mingled with dialogues. Yet, before the approach of climax, there can be a certain lull in the movement of action - a calm before a storm, achieved through description, which reinforces the effect of the final stroke. The denouement of the story is getting a rather ambiguous treatment in modern fiction which tends to echo life in its suggestion that there are no clear or permanent solutions, and the conflicts of character or relationship can never be completely resolved. Few stories end with "they lived happily ever after" or even "they lived unhappily ever after". Yet, the story form demands resolution. It can appear as a reversal of an opening scene - seen from a totally different perspective; it can take the shape of a no-resolution denouement; it can even leave the reader hanging in mid-air.

3. Comment on the exposition the story "Up-Ladle at Three".
4. Trace the development of the conflict through complications to suspense and climax (climaxes). Point out lexical, syntactic and discourse means of building up tension.
5. Define the type of the climax.
6. Account for the form of the denouement.

FOCUS ON DISCOURSE TYPES

1. Read about discourse types: The discourse structure of a story can fall under various classifications. One of them is the segmentation of the text into the types of discourse otherwise known as prose systems or speech forms, i.e. description, narration, commentary dialogue and interior monologue* Description is a "picture in words". As such, it is usually static in that there is no movement of fictitious time within a descriptive passage. In case a process is being described, however, we would deal with a specific form of "dynamic description". Yet, its function is similar to that of a simple description: it serves as a means of portrayal and does not accelerate the movement of the plot. Narration, or narrative, unlike description is always dynamic in character. It tells a story by giving an account of happenings, and is a major tool of plot development. Mind that the tem "narration" can have a more general meaning synonymous to "story-telling". Commentary (speculation, argumentation) is making induction, drawing conclusions and applying them to the case under discussion. Dialogue is the speech of characters in a story or play, which covers some passages of talk. It consists of remarks, which can be introduced by the words of the author, or reporting clause.
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* Interior monologue will be discussed in the commentary to Text # 4.

2. Speak on the functions of description in the story. "Up-Ladle at Three".
3. Comment on the use of descriptive (sensory) details and metaphorical images (see Chapter 1). Which of them are prevailing and why?
4. What information conveyed through the speech of characters is relevant to: 1) the plot development? 2) the description of the atmosphere? 3) the portrayal of characters?
5. Comment on the extensive use of verbs denoting sounds and actions. What function do they perform?
Discussion

1. What messages can be drawn from the story "Up-Ladle at Three"?
2. Do you think that social vice is inevitable? What are its roots?
3. Have you ever been confronted with any kind of social vice? Did you fight it?
4. Whose role is more important in the modern world, that of fighters or that of peacemakers? What do you think of Pacifism?
5. Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) was one of the greatest political leaders of the twentieth century, whose methods of non-violent protest (known as civil disobedience) led India to independence and influenced thousands of people throughout the world. Do you think these methods can be applied in any social environment?

Text # 2
The Wedding Jug
Philip Smith I stood at the back door and looked up at the moon. Its brightness from over the dark hump of the hillside made clear the pale drifting smoke from somebody 's garden. The wood-smoke and the moon made me restless, eager to be moving in the sharp October night. I had been standing оn the door-step for several minutes, staring, wondering how on earth I was going to get through the evening. Saturday. Saturday night and I was stuck with my grandmother. The others had gone – my mother and my sister, both courting. Neither of ' them seemed to care about my grandmother. Nothing much was ever said, they just went out, leaving her alone, or most often with me to sit at home because I just could not see that she should be left on her own on а Saturday night, with no one to talk to and everybody else out at the pictures or dancing. Of course, I would have gone if I had been able to get away first. Then I would not have had to think about the old woman, plodding about the routines that she would fill her evening with. I would have slipped away and left my mother and Ena to argue, not with each other but with my grandmother, each separately conducting а running battle as they prepared for the night out. One of them would lose and the loser would stay at home, angry and frustrated at being in on а Saturday night, the one night of all the week for pleasure. Well, anticipation of pleasure. There was hardly ever any real fulfillment of hopes but at least the ritual of going out to the Queen 's Ballroom or the Plaza or the Regal brought with it а possibility and that was something to fight for. 'Where are you going? ' my grandmother would demand of her daughter, forty-six and а widow for fifteen years. 'I 'm going out. ' My mother 's reply would be even and she would look defiant as I imagine she had done at sixteen, and always would do. 'You 're not going with that man are you? ' 'What do you mean "that man"? You know who I 'm going with and you know his name. ' 'You should be ashamed of yourself, а woman of your age. ' She was ready for а long session of baiting. 'I 'm not а girl and I know what I 'm doing. I deserve а bit of pleasure and I 'm going to take it while I can. Damn it, I 've been at it all week skivvying, and you sit there like а queen, waiting for Annie to come in, and Annie to get your food, and Annie to do this, and Annie to do that. ' 'A queen? Sitting on my own in this house all night and nobody to say а word to? You don 't care about anybody but yourself. ' And so it would go on until my mother would explode in а rage of swearing and tears and storm out through the front gate, running down to the corner of the street where Sid would be waiting. Sometimes it would be my sister’s preparations that my grandmother would notice first, 'You 're not leaving me on my own, are you? ' 'It 's all right, Gran, I 'm only going to the pictures. ' 'What time will you be back? ' 'Oh I won 't be long. I 'll be back just after ten. ' 'But what am I going to do? Неre on my own. ' At this point I would melt. 'It’s all right, Gran. I 'll be in. I 'm not doing anything tonight. I’m going to be in. ' My sister would have slipped away. As far as I knew both she and my mother would spend their evening without а care. It was not like that for me, though. I just couldn 't go if there was а chance that the old woman would be left alone. Sometimes my sister would decide to have а Saturday night at home if there 'd been а tiff with а boyfriend or if her girlfriend had а cold, and I could go off with Ted and Ronnie and the others and feel contented. But, if there was any doubt, the thoughts of my grandmother would cloud my pleasure. In the middle of а film or on the bus home I would want to rush back quickly out of guilt and pity, anxious to find her happy and peaceful, hating the bickering that would last well into Sunday. But tonight I had no worries about that at least. Whatever it was like, it would be а peaceful evening for both of us: for her, because she had me to talk to, and for me because my conscience would be clear and Sunday, at least, would be calm. А double-decker bus, filled with people, and bright with yellow lights went by between the houses beyond the back gardens. А girl ran past the front gate, her high heels clopping on the pavement. She was followed by another, calling out to her to wait. А dog barked briefly and was answered by another in the distance. Then it became quiet. I turned on the doorstep and went into the back-kitchen. My grandmother was coming out of the living room. 'I 'll put some coal on and then we can have а nice fire. ' 'It 's ОК, Gran. I 'll get it. ' She took hold of my arm, her grasp tight and strong, and pushed me out of the way, gently, 'You sit down. Leave the fire to me. ' I knew there would be no winning of that argument. The rituals of building and replenishing fires were part of the rhythm of her life, and not to be disturbed. She would bend her arthritic legs painfully in the gloom of the coal-shed and swing the seven-pound hammer to break the lumps into just the sizes she needed. I went into the living room and got my book off the dresser. Thomas Hardy – "The Return of the Native". I 'd heard about Thomas Hardy at school: somebody had said he was as famous as Dickens, so that was good. I sat down in the 'basket-chair ', а wicker chair that someone had given my mother because it had а few woodworm holes. On the other side of the fireplace was our other arm-chair, high-backed, with here and there а small split in the covering and а few horse hairs showing through. My grandmother put the shovelful of coal down on to the fender and, with а slight grunt, picked up the iron poker and started to stir the fire. 'Where 's your pipe tonight? ' she asked. 'It 's over there. ' 'Well, have а smoke. I like the smell. It shows there 's а man in the house. I used to say that to Edward when he was alive. ' She now walked to her drawer, took out her knitting and sat down opposite me. I became absorbed by my reading, and а quietness settled in the room. The tapping of knitting needles and the occasional rustle of the now-glowing fire were sounds that touched only the outer edge of my mind. Occasionally I would look up as I turned а page, and note my grandmother in that repetitive and only half-conscious way in which а mother will check а sleeping child with а single there-and-back motion of the eyes. She was knitting а scarf, the only thing I had ever known her to knit, а long strip of red, brown, green, yellow, black in sections of random sizes according to the amount of wool she could find or unravel from some previous scarf that none of us could bring ourselves to wear. She bent forward now to pick up the poker and one of her needles clattered on to the steel fender. 'I 'll do the fire, Gran. ' 'No, no. It only needs а bit of а poke. You just pass me the tape-measure out of that jug. ' 'Which jug? ' 'That jug there by your hand. Yes, that 's it. Give it to me; I 'll find it. ' I handed her the glass jug, heavily patterned with embossed squares, and settled back into my chair. The wind seemed to be rising: the draught in the chimney was drawing the fire into а paler, hotter red. I rested both feet on the bars of the iron door of the oven next to the open fire. 'This was my wedding jug, ' she said. 'Sorry. What did you say, Gran? ' 'It was on the table on my wedding day. Full of rum. ' 'Full of rum? ' I had never tasted rum, nor even smelt it, but the thought of my grandmother being near а whole jug full of alcohol was deeply surprising. 'Yes, my mother had it filled with rum. We had it on the table in the village hall, in а big white, starched table-cloth. Edward and I – Edward, that was your grandfather – sat at the top end of the table. It was lovely. We had а jug of rum and а jug of sherry and а jug of whisky and а jug of port wine. ' 'Did you drink all that? ' 'Course we did! It was а hot day. We had а table full of things and а lovely white cloth that my mother had. We had boiled ham and pickled onions and tomatoes and plates of bread and butter, and currant bread and currant cake. ' 'Did you have а wedding cake, Gran? ' She seemed not to hear this. 'Do you know - in the middle of all that I saw а little boy standing at the door of the hall. He stood there with his cap in his hand, looking, and then he saw me and came up to where I was sitting. He had been running and he was sweating. I always remember that - he had little drops of sweat across here (she ran а forefinger along her upper lip). He was holding something in his right hand. It was а clean, white handkerchief, folded. He said, "I 've brought а present for you," and he gave me the handkerchief. It had something wrapped in it. I took it in my hand like that (she opened her left hand, palm uppermost, and made delicate gestures of unfolding with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand) and I opened it. Do you know what was in it? А gold watch. Very thin. А very, very thin gold watch. Very delicate. I knew whose it was. It was Tommy 's. He was very proud of it. It had belonged to his father – and he 'd sent it to me on my wedding day. ' 'Who was Tommy? ' 'Tommy? He was my lover. ' I had been staring into the fire, grasping every word with my head down. Now I looked up and met my grandmother 's eyes. They were calm and, I noticed for the first time, bright blue in the withered skin. 'You see, I had two of them – him and Edward. I had to choose, didn 't I? I couldn 't go on with the two of them. It had to be the one or the other. I couldn 't go on messing about with two. ' I nodded as though I knew, but my stomach trembled at the thought of а woman 'messing about '. My chest was pounding at the picture of а woman with two men – and two men with one woman. 'He was such а tender boy – Tommy – so gentle... ' She smiled, as though recalling а child. ' – but – I married your grandfather. ' I tried to make my voice casual with the question. 'Why did you choose Edward, Gran? ' 'Who knows? ' I noticed that she had breathed in deeply, and was almost sighing as the breath came out. There was suddenly а tiredness about her. 'Who knows? ' she said again. 'Anyway – on the day of my wedding Tommy sent me а present. He sent me his lovely, thin watch. And then – do you know what he did? I could feel my head lowering, and had to lift my chin and raise my eyes to meet hers. She held my look, as though I were leaving for а long journey. Her voice was even and clear. She said: 'He went out into his mother 's garden – to the big apple tree there and then he hanged himself. ' The old woman sat upright, looking now into the darkening glow of the fire, the glass jug cradled in her hands on her lap. There was а rustle as the embers settled on to the bottom of the grate and one or two flecks of ash were carried by the smoke up into the chimney.

Comprehension and Vocabulary
1. Make sure you know the meaning of the words: hump, plodding, anticipation, defiant, baiting, skiving, tiff, bickering, clop, replenish, emboss, starched, unravel, rustle, fleck
2. Choose the right variant: a) I had been standing on the doorstep, wondering how on earth I was going to … the evening (get through / get over). b) I could not see that she should be left…on a Saturday night (by her own/on her own). c) - the one night of all the week for pleasure. Well, … of pleasure (anticipation / premonition). d) ‘I’m going out.’ My mother’s reply would be even and she would look … as I imagine she had done at sixteen, and always would do (defunct / defiant). e) I would want to rush back quickly out of guilt and pity, anxious to find her happy, hating the … that would last well into Sunday (jabbering / bickering). f) A girl ran past, her high heels … on the pavement (clopping / plodding). g) The rituals of building and … fires were part of the rhythm of her life, and not to be disturbed (blemishing / replenishing). h) I handed her the glass jug, heavily patterned with … squares, and settled back into my chair (engrossed / embossed). i) We had it on the table in a big white ... tablecloth (stretched / starched). j) The old woman sat upright, looking now into the darkening … of the fire, the glass jug cradled on her lap (glee / glow).
Analysis

1. What is the theme of the story? What messages can be drawn from it?
2. Define the type of story; say, whether this is a suspense story, a situational story or a combination of both.
3. Speak about the composition of the story: into which parts does it fall? Discuss the peculiarities of the exposition, conflict, complication, suspense, climax and denouement.
4. Find the language markers of suspense and climax.
5. Speak about the structure of the discourse: what is peculiar about the arrangement of the prose systems in the story?
6. Discuss the functions of descriptions and dialogue.

FOCUS ON CHARACTERIZATION

1. Read about modes of characterisation: Almost anything in a story can serve to establish and delineate its characters. In turn, like other elements of fiction, characterisation helps lead to theme, and in some stories what is revealed about characters is the theme. In real life our insights into people 's behaviour are fragmentary and incomplete. Fictional characters offer a unique opportunity to penetrate into human complexity, to hold life in crystal, so to speak. This effect can be achieved by various modes of characterisation. One way, known as direct characterisation, is for the narrator simply to tell everything an author wants us to know about a character, for example: "Miss Jones was a vain young woman, always primping and fussing, little concerned with the feelings of others". The experienced reader, however, understands that the narrators are not always to be trusted. Besides, it is more interesting to be involved in the game of exploring rather than just get a ready-made literary sketch. Indirect modes of characterisation allow us to make inferences about fictional people in much the same way as we do in everyday life. The plot or situation itself can expose some aspects of the nature of a character, which we observe and at least in part base our judgement on. We also infer much about literary characters from the description of their appearance, manners, habits, possessions, and background. These descriptions can become symbolic and tell us about the qualities of personality as revealed by some tangible manifestations. Setting, too - the time and place in which we find characters - can suggest something about them. Also important is how they speak - not just what they say, but how they say it. A person 's conversation can immediately reveal his or her social status (age, education, origin, even sex); psychological type (temperament, attitudes, values); the emotional state the one is in at the moment of speech. An author might have a character speak in short, incomplete sentences to convey the character 's excitement; a character who speaks in long, complex sentences, in contrast, will convey something quite different. In some stories, though, we learn everything about the story 's characters from interaction alone: we are told nothing directly. Such stories are very similar to plays, with descriptions and author 's commentaries reduced to stage directions and minimum remarks. A few words should be added about types of characters. In analysing fiction we can divide characters into two broad categories: round and flat. Round characters are treated in some depth, constructed by the reader by way of inference from narration, description, setting, speech, and so on. As we watch them acting and speaking, and observe them undergoing internal change, we come to know them well. In contrast, we know flat characters only by a few prevailing characteristics, which most often remain constant over the course of a work. This is not to say that flat characters are unrealistic. In a sense, they are probably more true to life than round ones in that most people we come in contact with every day are flat to us, seen in one limited role only. In some stories, though, characters are not really significant. These stories have their focus elsewhere, so it would be erroneous to look for any developed characters.
2. There are four characters in the story "The Wedding Jug". What modes of characterisation are used to describe each of them? Whose character is best revealed? Why?

FOCUS ON THE NARRATOR

1. Read about the modes of narration: There are many ways in which a story can be told; in most cases it is the narrator who tells the story. The narrator should not be confused with the author: authors are like puppeteers, invisibly pulling the strings of characters and narrators alike. A narrator presents a story in the perspective devised by the author. This perspective is sometimes called "narrative point of view". Almost always, fiction is written either from the perspective of a character in the story telling it in the first person ("I") or from the perspective of someone not involved in the story and telling it in the third person (he, she, it, they). Whichever the case, there is always a narrative voice to be heard and consequently a tone of voice, which can be intimate, harsh, ironical, naïve, and so forth. First-person narrators are always characters in the stories they narrate: they might be protagonists, minor characters, or merely bystanders. Sometimes we can accept what they say; sometimes we can 't. Third-person narrators are not characters of the story; they can be used by authors in several ways and grouped accordingly, into the following types: 1) third-person omniscient (or all-knowing), 2) third-person subjective and 3) third-person objective. An omniscient narrator can tell us what characters are thinking, show their past and future, make judgements about characters and events even tell us how to respond. By convention, any attitude that such a narrator expresses, is prime information meant to be accepted. Some omniscient narrators give us much less information that others, and some even tell us things that might be misleading. A third-person subjective narrator is omniscient, but only with respect to certain characters rather than to all. Usually the subjective narrator conveys the view of a major character; but this kind of narrator can tell a story from the vantage point of a minor character or even of one and then of another character in turn. A third-person objective narrator is impartial; he expresses no attitudes and does not predispose the reader toward any attitude. He tells the story form the outside, noting external details, but not telling us anything about what characters are thinking or feeling. This type of story telling demands maximum attention on the readers ' part and offers as reward maximum involvement: we must judge entirely for ourselves. It is possible to write a story without a narrator by confining it to dialogue between the characters. Small bits of narration and description given in author 's words, amount to something like stage directions and the story thus acquires the form of a play. The advantage of this technique is that it lends the story a sense of immediacy.
2. Speak on the modes of narration used in "The Wedding Jug". What type of narrator is telling the story? What is gained by this perspective? Compare the modes of narration used in "The Wedding Jug" and in "Up-Ladle at Three".

Discussion
1. What is the story about?
2. How do we come to change our attitude to Granny? Why does her story impress the narrator so much?
3. What did she want to convey by holding the boy 's look "as though he were leaving for a long journey"?
4. Do you believe that the power of love can be destructive?
5. Do you think that the people whose life lacks love, are hard to deal with?
6. Have you ever made any tough choices in your life? Do you go by any rules when you have to make a choice or do you rely on your intuition?
7. Comment on the following proverbs: - All is fair in love and war. - Hot love is soon cold. - Love begets love. - Love will find a way. - One must not trifle with love. Add more proverbs connected with love.

Text # 3
You Were Perfectly Fine
Dorothy Parker The pale young man eased himself carefully into the low chair, and rolled his head to the side, so that the cool chintz comforted his cheek and temple. "Oh, dear," he said. "Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear. Oh." The clear-eyed girl, sitting light and erect on the couch, smiled brightly at him. "Not feeling so well today?" she said. "Oh, I 'm great," he said. "Corking, I am. Know what time I got up? Four o 'clock this afternoon, sharp. I kept trying to make it, and every time I took my head off the pillow, it would roll under the bed. This isn 't my head I 've got on now. I think this is something that used to belong to Walt Whitman*. Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear." "Do you think maybe a drink would make you feel better?" she said. "The hair of the mastiff that bit me?" he said. "Oh, no, thank you. Please never speak of anything like that again. I 'm through. I 'm all, all through. Look at that hand: steady as a humming-bird. Tell me, was I very terrible last night?" "Oh, goodness," she said, "everybody was feeling pretty high. You were all right." "Yeah," he said. "I must have been dandy. Is everybody sore at me?" "Good heavens, no," she said. "Everyone thought you were terribly funny. Of course, Jim Pierson was a little stuffy, there for a minute at dinner. But people sort of held him back in his chair, and got him calmed down. I don 't think anybody at the other tables noticed it at all. Hardly anybody." "He was going to sock me? '" he said. "Oh, Lord. What did I do to him?" "Why, you didn 't do a thing," she said. "You were perfectly fine. But you know how silly Jim gets, when he thinks anybody is making too much fuss over Elinor." "Was I making a pass at Elinor?" he said. "Did I do that?" "Of course you didn 't," she said. "You were only fooling, that 's all. She thought you were awfully amusing. She was having a marvelous time. She only got a little tiny bit annoyed just once, when you poured the clam-juice down her back." "My God," he said. "Clam-juice down that back. And every vertebra a little Cabot**. Dear God. What 'll I ever do?" "Oh, she 'll be all right," she said. "Just send her some flowers, or something. Don 't worry about it. It isn 't anything." "No, I won 't worry," he said. "I haven 't got a care in the world. I 'm sitting pretty. Oh, dear, oh, dear. Did I do any other fascinating tricks at dinner?" "You were fine," she said. "Don 't be so foolish about it. Everybody was crazy about you. The maitre d 'hotel was a little worried because you wouldn 't stop singing, but he really didn 't mind. All he said was, he was afraid they 'd close the place again, if there was so much noise. But he didn 't care a bit, himself. I think he loved seeing you have such a good time. Oh, you were just singing away, there, for about an hour. It wasn 't so terribly loud, at all." "So I sang," he said. "That must have been a treat. I sang." "Don 't you remember?" she said. "You just sang one song after another. Everybody in the place was listening. They loved it. Only you kept insisting that you wanted to sing some song about some kind of fusiliers or other, and everybody kept shushing you, and you 'd keep trying to start it again. You were wonderful. We were all trying to make you stop singing for a minute, and eat something, but you wouldn 't hear of it. My, you were funny." "Didn 't I eat any dinner?" he said. "Oh, not a thing," she said. "Every time the waiter would offer you something, you 'd give it right back to him, because you said that he was your long-lost brother, changed in the cradle by a gypsy band, and that anything you had was his. You had him simply roaring at you." "I bet I did," he said. "I bet I was comical. Society 's pet, I must have been. And what happened then, after my overwhelming success with the waiter?" 'Why, nothing much," she said. "You took a sort of dislike to some old man with white hair, sitting across the room, because you didn 't like his necktie and you wanted to tell him about it. But we got you out, before he got really mad." "Oh, we got out," he said. "Did I walk?" "Walk? Of course you did," she said. "You were absolutely all right. There was this nasty stretch of ice on the sidewalk, and you did sit down awfully hard, you poor dear. But good heavens, that might have happened to anybody." "Oh, surely," he said. "Mrs. Hoover*** or anybody. So I fell down on the sidewalk. That would explain what 's the matter with my ... Yes. I see. And then what, if you don 't mind?" "Ah, now, Peter!" she said. "You can 't sit there and say you don 't remember what happened after that! I did think that maybe you were just a little tight at dinner - oh, you were perfectly all right, and all that, but I did know you were feeling pretty gay. But you were so serious, from the time you fell down - I never knew you to be that way. Don 't you know, how you told me I had never seen your real self before? Oh, Peter, I just couldn 't bear it if you didn 't remember that lovely long ride we took together in the taxi! Please, you do remember that, don 't you? I think it would simply kill me, if you didn 't." "Oh, yes," he said. "Riding in the taxi. Oh, yes, sure. Pretty long ride, hmm?" "Round and round and round the park," she said. "Oh, and the trees were shining so in the moonlight. And you said you never knew before that you really had a soul." "Yes," he said. "I said that. That was me." "You said such lovely, lovely things," she said. "And I 'd never known all this time, how you had been feeling about me, and I 'd never dared to let you see how I felt about you. And then last night - oh, Peter dear, I think that taxi ride was the most important thing that ever happened to us in our lives." "Yes," he said. "I guess it must have been." "And we 're going to be so happy," she said. "Oh, I just want to tell everybody! But I don 't know - I think maybe it would be sweeter to keep it all to ourselves." "I think it would be," he said. "Isn 't it lovely?" she said. "Yes," he said. "Great." "Lovely!" she said. "Look here," he said, "do you mind if I have a drink? I mean, just medicinally, you know. I 'm off the stuff for life, so help me. But I think I feel a collapse coming on." "Oh, I think it would do you good," she said. "You poor boy, it 's a shame you feel so awful. I 'll go make you a highball." "Honestly," he said. "I don 't see how you could ever want to speak to me again, after I made such a fool of myself last night. I think I 'd better go join a monastery in Tibet." "You crazy idiot!" she said. "As if I could ever let you go away now! Stop talking like that. You were perfectly fine." She jumped up from the couch, kissed him quickly on the forehead, and ran out of the room. The pale young man looked after her and shook his head long and slowly, then dropped it in his damp and trembling hands. "Oh, dear," he said. "Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh dear."

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* Walt Whitman (1819-1892) - a famous U.S. poet: his "Leaves of Grass" (1855) was written without regard to conventional meter and rhyme.
** presumably Cabot, John (1425-1498) - an Italian navigator and explorer who discovered Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, thinking them to be part of Asia
*** Hoover, Herbert Clark (1874-1964) - 31st president of the USA (1929-1933); Mrs Hoover - his wife.

Comprehension and Vocabulary

1. What is the female up in this story? Why does Peter want a drink toward the end?
2. Explain the meaning of the following phrases: Corking, I am; ... the hair of the mastiff that bit me; I 'm all though; ... feeling pretty high; ... was a little stuffy; ... was going to sock me; ... every vertebra a little Cabot; you were feeling gay; I 'm off the stuff for life.
3. Transcribe the following words: chintz, couch, tiny, fusiliers, cradle, medicinally.

Analysis

1. Discuss the composition of the story. Is there any exposition? What can you say about the conflict and its complications? What language means are used in building the conflict? What type of climax does the story have, if any? Note the techniques that lead the reader to the climax. What is specific about the denouement of the story?
2. Speak about the role of dialogue in the story. Does the author use any other prose systems? Why? How can you account for the repeated use of the same reporting clause "he/she said"? What does it add to the expressive effect of the dialogue?
3. Comment on means of character drawing. What can we learn about the characters from their speech?

EMOTIONAL FOCUS

1. Discuss the imagery of the story. Give examples of metaphorical images and descriptive sensory details. How do they contribute to character drawing?
2. Give examples of hyperbole and understatements. How does their use characterize the protagonists?
3. Comment on the allusions drawn by Peter. What do they add to his portrait?
4. Read about the presentation of speech in fiction:

Within language as a system there exists a strict framework of grammatical rules. These rules are different in spoken and written varieties of the language. Obviously in everyday life we do not speak as we write, unless it is some kind of prepared speech, pronounced publicly. The thing is that sometimes we have to write as we speak. Fiction-writers have to make their readers see the characters, hear their words and feel their emotions. If we compare a conversation between two people in the street and a dialogue from a book, we 'll see that there is a great difference between them. In the first case we have a dialogue for its own sake, and the aim of it is much more explicit than in the second case where in fact we are not presented simply with a dialogue between the personages, but with a conversation between the author and the reader. The writer 's main concern is not to present the conversation as close to reality as possible, but to convey his ideas to the reader. In other words, the aim of conversation in fiction is not the understanding between the two participants, but between the writer and the reader. The information conveyed is something behind the words of the characters, something which is revealed not so much by the meaning of their words, but also by the form, length and order of their utterances. Dialogue in fiction has a special kind of authenticity; it should sound realistic to render the characteristics of spoken conversational language. Among these are hesitation pauses (either unfilled or filled, i.e. plugged by stopgap noises such as "er", "hmm" and the like); false starts (either a needless repetition of a word or a reformulation of what has been said); syntactic anomalies which are not entirely ungrammatical, but nevertheless would be regarded as awkward and unacceptable in written composition. Other features that look redundant against the standard of written communication are tag constructions such as "you know" and initiation signals like "Well" and "Oh". They have an important function, however, in that they signal the «monitoring» role of the speaker in relation to the message, and also to some extent act as pause fillers. More obviously interpersonal in their function are tag questions such as "isn’t it"— an invitation to the listeners to confirm the speaker’s observation. On the syntactic level, conversation tends towards co-ordination rather than subordination of clauses, for co-ordination simplifies the planning of sentence structure. Apart from this, there is a tendency to use cliche expressions which require no linguistic inventiveness: "it’s just terrific", "it’s great fun", etc. These may be called features of normal non-fluency: they are non-fluent in the sense that they fall short of an "ideal" delivery, and yet they are normal in the sense that they occur habitually and can be regarded as an inevitable accompaniment of impromptu speech. Altogether, it may be concluded that the author of a literary fiction does not aim at a completely realistic representation of the features of ordinary conversation. His aim is to portray the character so that it would be easily recognised by the reader and classed as belonging to some particular social group, class, profession, etc. The author does it by means of language—not copying the real speech, but elaborately reconstructing it with the help of means and devices existing within language as a system. Transference of the rules of spoken language into written discourse creates the expressive effect.

5. What features of conversational speech are employed in the story? What effect do they have?
6. Read about repetition:

The simplest and most instinctive pattern of expressing emotion is repetition, the iteration of a word or a phrase, either in moments of strong emotion, as when we reply, "No, no, no", or more deliberately, to give greater stress to a word, as in, "I 'm very, very sorry." Simple repetition like this, used e.g. in an essay, may serve to give a certain immediacy to the style, as though the writer were actually discoursing from his chair, and may even be very effective, if a really conversational tone is maintained. On the whole repetition is mostly employed for occasional, rather special, subsidiary effects, as a means of emphasis. However, it may be used on a much larger scale and can run through a whole chapter, or even through a whole book. In the latter case, of course, the unit repeated will as a rule have to be comparatively long, if it is to attract attention, though in a shorter passage a single word may be used. The effect will naturally be very different from that of repetition within the sentence, indeed it is often akin to that of the leitmotif in opera, drawing the whole together and serving as a recurrent symbol for a whole train of ideas. With each new appearance the symbol gathers into itself more and more associations, reminding one not only of the single idea it stands for, but also of the various situations and contexts in which it has already been used. These repeated phrases may be of various kinds. One frequent use is in character drawing - the repetition of some favourite expression, a tag, a proverb, an oath, to individualise a character. Generally it is a comic character that is marked in this way; for more serious or detailed portraiture the trick is mostly too obvious. With uncomplicated characters - and comic types generally are not complicated - the phrase comes in time to sum up for us the whole picture of the man. And also, through the variety of situations in which it occurs, appropriate and inappropriate, it easily acquires a definite comic value in itself, so that one begins to laugh at the mere repetition.

7. What role does repetition play in the story "You Were Perfectly Fine"? What other syntactic stylistic devices are used there? How do they contribute to the emotional appeal of the story?
8. What makes the story funny? Read out the passages that seem most humorous.

Discussion

1. The story "You Were Perfectly Fine" by Dorothy Parker was written in 1929. Has it aged well, or does it now seem a period piece? Why do some works endure and others become dated?
2. What is actually happening in the story? Describe both characters: what kind of people are they? How do they feel? What do they want? What is going to happen to them in the future?
3. Do you believe that most people try to be funny when they speak? How about yourself?

Writing

1. John Braine in his book "Writing a Novel" speculates on the power of dialogue and lays down the following rules of dialogue writing for the beginning novelists. Dialogue must always be speakable. The working-rule is this: if you can 't speak it aloud, it 's no good. It goes without saying that you should do more than indicate the repetitiousness, incoherences and unfinished sentences of actual speech. You must of course learn how to listen. As far as it is consistent with your temperament, apply the techniques of the professional interviewer in daily life. What this boils down to is learning to ask questions which cannot be answered by a simple yes or no, and learning how to convey the impression of all-consuming interest in the speaker. It 's also necessary to learn how to merge into the background, how sometimes to appear as if you are not listening at all. The basic purpose of the dialogue is to show character. It 's only when people speak that we know them. But it 's not only by what they say and how they say that we know them. Along with their speech we must detail their mannerisms, facial expressions, their gestures, their physical state if relevant. Narrative and dialogue cannot be considered in separation. A novel isn 't a play with detailed stage directions. Line by line your dialogue should be as speakable as stage dialogue; but it has to flow out of the narrative. Every line of dialogue must advance the story, have conflict within it. Even when dialogue must be used to convey essential information, the information must have within it some element of surprise. Otherwise there is nothing to make us read on. Avoid fake drama and the use of monosyllables. There are, of course, times when a monosyllable can have shocking power, but only on condition that the ground is prepared beforehand. For you really can 't put very much expression into a monosyllable; expression depends upon timing, speed, rhythm and emphasis, and no one can put these into a three-letter word. There is no need to put down everything which your characters would say in real life. Only put it down if it 's essential for the story. Once you 've established the speaker, once you 've heard his authentic voice, then that 's enough. Move to another speaker. But the new voice has to be worth listening to, the new incident just as surprising as a man coming into the room with a gun in his hand. How to portray a boring person is a different matter. What you must do is to convey the essence of the bore 's character - which is an overweening sense of his own importance and an almost complete lack of humour. (There are bores who imagine that they possess a sense of humour and they are the worst bores of all.) And this is the heart of the matter. The bore is essentially comic; he is always unaware that he 's lost his trousers and someone 's painted his nose red. A general note here about humour: no formula exists for the proportion of humour in your dialogue. But dialogue that is entirely serious, which doesn 't contain at least some attempts at humour, is not only ultimately depressing, but also false. Not very many people are genuinely funny all the time, but the majority try to be funny some of the time.
2. Conduct an interview with someone of your own choice and write it down. The conversation may be either real or imaginary: in any case, make your partner speak about his or her problems, ambitions, fears, beliefs and so fourth. As you write it down, render the characteristics of spoken conversational language.

Text # 4
Shopping for One
Anne Cassidy 'So what did you say?’ Jean heard the blonde woman in front of her talking to her friend. ‘Well,’ the darker woman began, ‘I said I’m not having that woman there. I don’t see why I should. I mean I’m not being old-fashioned hut I don’t see why I should have to put up with her at family occasions. After all...’ Jean noticed the other woman giving an accompaniment of nods and headshaking at the appropriate parts. They fell into silence and the queue moved forward a couple of steps. Jean felt her patience beginning to itch. Looking into her wire basket she counted ten items. That meant she couldn’t go through the quick till but simply had to wait behind elephantine shopping loads; giant bottles of coke crammed in beside twenty-pound bags of potatoes and "special offer" drums of bleach. Somewhere at the bottom, Jean thought, there was always a plastic carton of eggs or a see-through tray of ' tomatoes which fell casualty to the rest. There was nothing else for it – she’d just have to wait. ‘After all,’ the dark woman resumed her conversation, ‘how would it look if she was there when I turned up? ' Her friend shook her head slowly from side to side and ended with a quick nod. Should she have got such a small size salad cream? Jean wasn’t sure. She was sick of throwing away half-used bottles of stuff. ‘He came back to you after all, ' the blonde woman suddenly said. Jean looked up quickly and immediately felt her cheeks flush. She bent over and began to rearrange the items in her shopping basket. ‘On his hands and knees,’ the dark woman spoke in a triumphant voice. ‘Begged me take him back. ' She gritted her teeth together. Should she go and change it for a larger size? Jean looked behind and saw that she was hemmed in by three large trollies. She’d lose her place in the queue. There was something so pitiful about buying small sizes of everything. It was as though everyone knew. ‘You can always tell a person by their shopping,’ was one of her mother’s favorite maxims. She looked into her shopping basket: individual fruit pies, small salad cream, yoghurt, tomatoes, cat food and a chicken quarter. ‘It was only for sex you know. He admitted as much to me when he came back,’ the dark woman informed her friend. Her friend began to load her shopping on to the conveyor belt. The cashier, doing what looked like an in-depth study of a biro, suddenly said, ‘Make it out to J. Sainsbury PLC*.’ She was addressing a man who had been poised and waiting to write out a cheque for a few moments. His wife was loading what looked like a gross of fish fingers into a cardboard box marked ‘Whiskas’. It was called a division of labour. Jean looked again at her basket and began to feel the familiar feeling of regret that visited her from time to time. Hemmed in between family-size cartons of cornflakes and giant packets of washing-powder, her individual yoghurt seemed to say it all. She looked up towards a plastic bookstand which stood beside the till. A slim glossy hardback caught her eye. The words Cooking for One screamed out from the front cover. Think of all the oriental foods you can get into, her friend had said. He was so traditional after all. Nodding in agreement with her thoughts Jean found herself eye to eye with the blonde woman, who, obviously nor prepared to tolerate nodding at anyone else, gave her a blank, hard look and handed her what looked like a black plastic ruler with the words ‘Next customer please’ printed on it in bold letters. She turned back to her friend. Jean put the ruler down on the conveyor belt. She thought about their shopping trips, before, when they were together, which for some reason seemed to assume massive proportions considering there were only two of them. All that rushing round, he pushing the trolley dejectedly, she firing questions at him. Salmon? Toilet rolls? Coffee? Peas? She remembered he only liked the processed kind. It was all such a performance. Standing there holding her wire basket, embarrassed by its very emptiness, was like something out of a soap opera. ‘Of course, we’ve had our ups and downs,’ the dark woman continued, lazily passing a few items down to her friend who was now on to what looked like her fourth Marks and Spencer** carrier bag. Jean began to load her food on to the conveyor belt. She picked up the cookery book and felt the frustrations of indecision. It was only ninety pence but it seemed to define everything, to pinpoint her aloneness, to prescribe an empty future. She put it back in its place. ‘So that’s why I couldn’t have her there you see,’ the dark woman was summing up. She lowered her voice to a loud whisper which immediately alerted a larger audience. 'And anyway, when he settles back in, I’m sure we’ll sort out the other business then. ' The friends exchanged knowing expressions and the blonde woman got her purse out of a neat leather bag. She peeled off three ten pound notes and handed them to the cashier. Jean opened her carrier bag ready for her shopping. She turned to watch the two women as they walked off, the blonde pushing the trolley and the other seemingly carrying on with her story. The cashier was looking expectantly at her and Jean realized that she had totalled up. It was four pounds and eighty-seven pence. She had the right money, it just meant sorting her change out. She had an inclination that the people behind her were becoming impatient. She noticed their stacks of items all lined and waiting, it seemed, for starters orders. Brown bread and peppers, olive oil and lentils and, in the centre, a stray packet of beefburgers. She gave over her money and picked up her carrier bag. She felt a sense of relief to be away from the mass of people. She felt out of place, a non conformer, half a consumer unit. Walking out of the door she wandered what she might have for tea. Possibly chicken, she thought, with salad. Walking towards her car she thought that she should have bought the cookery book after all. She suddenly felt much better in the fresh air. She’d buy it next week. And in future she’d buy a large salad cream. After all, what if people came round unexpectedly?
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*Sainsbury 's - a chain of supermarkets in Great Britain
**Marks and Spencer - a chain of department stores

Comprehension and Vocabulary
1. Explain or paraphrase: to go through the quick till; "special offer" drums of bleach; a see-through tray; there was nothing else for it; individual fruit pies; a chicken quarter; an in-depth study of a biro; a gross of fish fingers; family-size cartons of cornflakes; a slim glossy hardback; toilet rolls; the processed kind (of peas); to sort out change; waiting for starters orders; a non conformer.
2. Describe in detail what is going on at the check-out points; use the words: queue, a wire basket, shopping basket, items, consumer units, shopping loads, go through the till, trollies, to load the shopping on to the conveyor belt, the cashier, a plastic ruler, to get the purse out, to total up, to sort out change, to pick up a carrier bag.
3. Insert an appropriate word denoting a container or quantity; in some cases more than one word can be used (you 'll find the key at the end of the section): 1) A _______________ of bread. 2) A _______________ of ketchup. 3) A _______________ of foil. 4. 4) A _______________ of hot dogs. 5. 5) A _______________ of chocolate. 6) A _______________ of lemon. 7) A _______________ of chewing gum. 8) A _______________ of strawberry jam. 9) A _______________ of tuna fish. 10) A _______________ of matches. 11) A _______________ of liquid soap. 12) A _______________ of milk. 13) A _______________ of margarine. 14) A _______________ of Ritz Crackers. 15) A _______________ of hair spray. 16) A _______________ of toothpaste. 17) A _______________ of beer. 18) A _______________ of yogurt. 19) A ______________ of flour.

Words for reference: A) spray can, B) slice, C) piece, D) box, E) bag, F) roll, G) loaf, H) tub, I) jar, J) can (tin), K) stick, L) package, M) carton, N) container, O) pump, P) tube, Q) pack, R) book, S) bottle, T) bar.

4. The following attributes are built according to different pattens. Try to classify them into groups: a fast-forming society, an in-depth study, a check-out point, a beach-and-booze party, peace-loving forces, a slow-forming world, a throw-away container, a speed-reading school, a low-paid worker, a twist-and-turn waist, a deep-going change, a non-returnable bottle, a bikini-clad girl, an ill-mannered child, a trade-in allowance, non-local friends, a tailor-made suit, a dress-uppable doll, slow-paced people, a self-renewing organization, a see-through curtain, an un-put-downable book, an easily-led man, a stand-offish lady, a put-up job, a high-risk investment, a well-earned rest, a weak-willed person.
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Key to exercise 3: 1-G,C; 2-S; 3-F; 4-L; 5-T; 6-B; 7-K,Q; 8-I, 9-J; 10-D,R; 11-O, 12-M,S; 13-H; 14-D; 15-A; 16-P,Q; 17-J,S; 18-N; 19-E

Analysis
1. Discuss the composition of the story.
2. Discuss the means of character drawing used in the story.
3. Comment on the type of the narrator.
4. What are the means of creating emotional appeal?
5. Single out various types of discourse (prose systems) used by the author.

Focus on DISCOURSE TYPES (CONTINUED)

1. Read about the presentation of thought and the interior monologue: Many leading novelists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been deeply concerned with the portrayal of "internal speech" to present vividly the flow of thought through a character 's mind. The categories available to the writer in presenting the thoughts of his characters are the same as those for the presentation of speech: /1/ Does she still love me? (Free Direct Thought) /2/ He wondered, "Does she still love me?" (Direct Thought) /3/ Did she still love him? (Free Indirect Thought) /4/ He wondered if she still loved him. (Indirect Thought) /5/ He wondered about her love for him. (Narrative Report of a Thought Act). It should be apparent from the examples that the thought presentation modes can be distinguished by features from any of the levels of grammar or lexis. Free Direct Thought differs from Direct and Indirect Thought in that the introductory reporting clause is removed. Free Indirect Thought is characterised by the back-shift of the tense, by the conversion of the first person pronoun to the third person (indirect feature), by the absence of a reporting clause and by the retention of the interrogative form and question mark (direct feature). This mode of thought presentation is often referred to as interior monologue. As the writer invites us to see things from the character 's point of view, he moves along the scale towards the "free" end of the thought presentation continuum, giving the "verbatim" thoughts of the characters with less and less intervention on his part. This can be illustrated with the example from "The Princess" by D.H.Lawrence: "He stood arrested, looking back at her, with many emotions conflicting in his face – wonder, surprise, a touch of horror ... If only, only she could be alone again, cool and intact! If only she could recover herself again, cool and intact! Would she ever, ever, ever be able to bear herself again? Even now she could not hate him. It was beyond that. Like some racking, hot doom." This extract contains the interior monologue of the protagonist where the author interferes as an intermediary between the character and the reader using the 3d person narration when the personage is thinking to herself. It is apparent, for example, that in I-narrator novels (where the author makes us view everything from that character 's stance) the first person pronoun can occur in the interior monologue because it is appropriate to both the primary and the reported discourse situation. This can be seen in Dickens 's "David Copperfield": "Three years. Long in the aggregate, though short as they went by. And home was very dear to me, and Agnes too—but she was not mine—she was never to be mine. She might have been, but that was past!" The interior monologue allows an author to slip from narrative statement to interior portrayal without the reader noticing what has occurred. When character and narrator are merged in this way, the reader tends to take over the view of the character too. The unobtrusive change from one mode to another can occur more than once even inside one sentence.

2. Give examples of the interior monologue in the story "Shopping for One". Point out its lexical and syntactic markers.
3. What are the functions of the interior monologue in the story?
Guidelines for Analysing a Short Story

FOCUS ON COMPOSITION - exposition (orientation) - conflict (complications) - suspense - climax - denouement
FOCUS ON DISCOURSE TYPES - description - narration - commentary - dialogue - interior monologue
FOCUS ON CHARACTERISATION - direct - indirect - types of characters (round, flat)
FOCUS ON THE NARRATOR - first person - third person
EMOTIONAL FOCUS - imagery - level of formality - expressive diction - expressive syntax

Text # 5
Reginald in Russia
Hector H. Munro (Saki) Reginald sat in a corner of the Princess’s salon and tried to forgive the furniture, which started out with an obvious intention of being Louise Quinze, but relapsed at frequent intervals into Wilhelm II. He classified the Princess with that distinct type of woman that looks as if it habitually went out to feed hens in the rain. Her name was Olga; she kept what she hoped and believed to be a fox-terrier, and professed what she thought were socialist opinions. It is not necessary to be called Olga if you are a Russian Princess; in fact, Reginald knew quite a number who were called Vera; but the fox-terrier and the socialism were essential. ‘The Countess Lomshen keeps a bull-dog,’ said the Princess suddenly. ‘In England is it more chic to have a bull-dog than a fox-terrier?’ Reginald threw his mind back over the canine fashions of the last ten years and gave an evasive answer. ‘Do you think her handsome, the Countess Lomshen?’ asked the Princess. Reginald thought the Coutess’s complexion suggested an exclusive diet of macaroons and pale sherry. He said so. ‘But that cannot be possible,’ said the Princess triumphantly, ‘I’ve seen her eating fish-soup at Donon’s.’ The Princess always defended a friend’s complexion if it was really bad. With her, as with a great many of her sex, charity began at homeliness and did not generally progress much farther. Reginald withdrew his macaroons and sherry theory, and became interested in a case of miniatures. ‘You English are always so frivolous,’ said the Princess. ‘In Russia we have too many troubles to permit of our being light-hearted.’ Reginald gave a delicate shiver, and resigned himself to the inevitable political discussion. ‘Nothing that you hear about us in England is true,’ was the Princess’s hopeful beginning. ‘I always refused to learn Russian geography at school,’ observed Reginal; ‘I was sure some of the names must be wrong.’ ‘Everything is wrong with the system of government,’ continued the Princess placidly. ‘The Bureaucrats think only of their pockets, and the people are exploited and plundered in every direction, and everything is mismanaged..’ ‘With us,’ said Reginald, ‘a Cabinet usually gets the credit of being depraved and worthless beyond the bounds of human conception by the time it had been in office about four years.’ ‘But if it is a bad Government you can turn it out at the election,’ argued the Princess. ‘As far as I remember, we generally do,’ said Reginald. ‘But here it is dreadful, everyone goes to such extremes. In England you never go to extremes.’ ‘We go to Albert Hall,’ explained Reginald. ‘There is always a see-saw with us between repression and violence,’ continued the Princess; ‘and the pity of it is the people are really not inclined to be anything but peaceable. Nowhere will you find people more good-natured, or family circles where there is more affection.’ ‘There I agree with you,’ said Reginald. ‘I know a boy who is a case in point. He plays bridge well, even for a Russian, which is saying much. I don’t think he has any other accomplishments, but his family affection is really of a very high order. When his maternal grandmother died he didn’t go as far as to give up bridge altogether but he declared on nothing but black suits for the next three months. That, I think, was really beautiful.’ The Princess was not impressed. ‘I think you must be very self-indulgent to live only for amusement,’ she said. ‘A life of pleasure-seeking and card-playing and dissipation brings only dissatisfaction. You will find that out some day.’ ‘Oh, I know it turns out that way sometimes,’ assented Reginald. ‘Forbidden fizz is often the sweetest.’ But the remark was wasted on the Princess, who preferred champagne that had at least a suggestion of the dissolved barley-sugar. ‘I hope you will come and see me again,’ she said in a tone that prevented the hope from becoming too infectious; adding as a happy after-thought, ‘you must come and stay with us in the country.’ Her particular part of the country was a few hundred versts the other side of Tamboff, with some fifteen miles of agrarian disturbance between her and the nearest neighbour. Reginald felt that there is some privacy which should be sacred from intrusion.

Text # 6

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
Denis Norden When it finally became apparent that the entertainment business was the only career for which I was suited, I went to a large cinema in Leicester Square and begged them to take me on in any capacity. ‘You want to start at the very bottom of the ladder?’ asked the manager. I nodded. He pointed to something leaning against the wall. ‘That’s the ladder.’ The new job was rather grandly titled ‘Head of Display’. All it really involved was climbing up the ladder and fixing, high on the front wall of the cinema, those large metal letters which spell out the name of the film on that week. I can’t say it was a glamorous task. In a high wind, it was often difficult and – artistically – it was something less than fulfilling. Unlike a painter or a sculptor, I was in no position to step back and survey my finished work. This led, in the first few weeks, to certain errors of judgement, among which I can remember WEST SIDE SORTY, THE SNOUD OF MUSIC and SANE CONNERY IN GOLDFINGER. Nevertheless, the work did make me feel that little bit nearer to the great throbbing heart of show business. But it is only the moment of emergency which really proves our worth. My moment came when the telephone rang at three o’clock in the morning. It was the manager. ‘I have just passed the cinema on my way home,’ he said. ‘Your Y has dropped off.’ Fuddled with sleep as I was, I immediately understood why he was so concerned. The film we were showing that week was My Fair Lady. Although the movement towards free thinking was gathering strength, it was still not acceptable for a Leicester Square cinema to appear to be showing a film called My Fair Lad. When I reached the cinema, I found the letter Y lying broken on the pavement. Obviously, it was ruined beyond repair. I hurried to the store-room where the spare letters were kept. There was no spare Y! Perhaps I can construct one, I thought. Perhaps I could take an X and change it into Y by sawing off the – as it were – south-east leg? No luck. I did it all right, but it wouldn’t stay up on the wall. Where, in London, at four o’clock in the morning, can one lay hands on a 1.25 meter-tall letter Y? To my good luck the cinema on the opposite side of Leicester Square was showing a film whose title contained the letter I wanted. As at that time of the morning people get up to all sorts of strange things in the West End, nobody even paused to stare when I climbed up and removed the enormous Y. The only nasty moment came when I was carrying it across Coventry Street. A policeman stopped me. ‘Excuse me, sir. What might you be doing walking along at 4.30 a.m. carrying a four-foot letter Y?’ Fortunately, I kept my presence of mind. ‘This is not a letter Y, officer,’ I said. ‘It’s a water-divining rod.*’ He even touched his helmet to me as he went on his way. By 5.00 a.m. the fair name of My Fair Lady had been restored. True, the cinema opposite, which had been packing them in with a magnificent film starring Gregory Peck and Orson Welles, now appeared to be showing a film called MOB DICK**. But that’s show business. I’ve had warm feelings towards the screen version of Herman Melville’s great novel ever since. Indeed, I recommend that any other Head of Display who finds himself in a similar predicament to mine should look around for a cinema showing it. You’ll find what I found: Where there’s a whale, there’s a Y.

* Water-divining rod – a branch shaped like Y, used for discovering underground water
** Mob Dick – from " Moby Dick", Melville’s novel about a great white whale

Text # 7
Knitting
David Dillon Mrs. Waley sat on a plain brown coach knitting her brow and a sweater. Her knees were clasped together and both her arms were tight at her sides as she concentrated on her work. Occasionally she peered over her glasses to the old clock whose ticking resonated about the room, making the passing of time seem even longer. She let out a sigh, tolled her shoulders and continued knitting, the sounds of the needles striking against one another every so often. Chesire, the cat, sauntered nonchalantly into the room, stopped, looked at Mrs. Waley, and then continued on to the rug in front of the fireplace. It lay itself down and stretched its paws as if in order to capture the heat better from the glowing log that lay on the heath. "Where could he be?" said Mrs. Waley to the cat, stopping her knitting and again looking at the clock. "It 's almost ten o 'clock.... He should be home by now, don 't you think?" The cat closed its eyes slowly and then opened them again as if in quiet agreement. Mrs. Waley set the knitting aside and stood up. She was a small diminutive woman, not used to excitement or anything outside the routine, and her husband 's lateness disturbed her greatly. She walked across the room to the window that overlooked the front yard and driveway, turned on the outside lights and peered out. "Oh dear, and now it 's raining," she said, raising her right hand to her mouth, watching the reflection of the lights off the thousands of droplets that flew past the window. She stood like that for some minutes deliberating what to do. With it being so cold outside, she knew that some of the rain would probably be forming ice on the roads, and with them living so far out in the country she doubted whether the salt trucks had made it out their way. "We 're lucky not to be out tonight," she said. "I wish he would call." She looked over to the clock, shook her head, and moved to the living room where she sat down to her knitting once more. "Hello, Gladis." Mrs. Waley looked up. Her husband stood before her. His hands were at his side and he was wearing his favorite grey suit. His hair was combed back as usual. "Walter, I ... I didn 't hear you come in," said Mrs. Waley, setting her knitting to her side and standing up. "Where have you been? It 's so late. I was worried." She walked over to him, gave him a hug, and then stretched her arms out with her hands still at his waist. "Are you okay? You feel cold." Mr. Waley took both of her hands in his and smiled. "No, it 's all right, Gladis. I just wanted to talk with you." Mrs. Waley tilted her head slightly. "Why? What about?" she said softly. Mr. Waley pressed her hands. "I wanted to tell you I love you." Mrs. Waley 's face flushed. "Oh, Walter..," she said, smiling. "...I love you too, but where have you been?" Mrs. Waley 's face became more serious, though he continued to smile. "Oh," he began, "I had some problems getting home, but I 'm alright now." He stopped a moment and stood gazing at Mrs. Waley. "You have been a wonderful wife and I 'm glad that you 've been with me all this time," he said not taking his eyes away. Mrs. Waley became flustered. "That 's very nice of you to say, Walter." She looked toward the kitchen and then back at her husband. "Would you like something to eat? I can make you up something..." Mr. Waley touched her cheek with his hand. "No, no. That won 't be necessary. I just wanted you to know that I love you." Mrs. Waley looked at her husband curiously, "I love you too." "Yes, I know that," he said, his hands back at his side. "And I appreciate it." Mrs. Waley shook her head once more in humoured confusion, "Well, it 's so late, Walter." She turned and began putting her knitting materials away. "I 'll go upstairs and make up the bed. Why don 't you take a shower?" She looked at him again and rubbed her hands against her dress. "I 'll lay out the towels for you in the bathroom." She smiled and walked out of the living room and went up the stairs, from where she saw her husband still standing in the same spot. She set out a few clean towels on the counter of the bathroom and then walked over to their bedroom. She giggled to herself quietly, thinking how strange her husband was acting. She bent herself over the bed and pulled back the covers, tucking the sides under the mattress as she went around. She had just changed into her nightgown when the telephone on the bedstand rang. "Who would be calling at this time of night?" she thought to herself and let it ring a second time. "Do you want to get that?" she called out, listening for her husband 's reply. When she didn 't hear anything she answered the phone. "Hello," she said pleasantly, "Waley residence." "Mrs. Waley?" said the deep voice on the other end of the line. "This is Sergeant Patterson." "Yes?" said Mrs. Waley, somewhat hesitantly. "What can I do for you, Sergeant?" "Well, Mrs. Waley... I 'm down at the hospital." Mrs. Waley knit her brow together, listening. "There was an accident involving your husband." Mrs. Waley 's hand holding the receiver began to shake. "An accident?" she said. "He... he didn 't mention it." There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Mrs. Waley, I 'm sorry I 'm the one to bring you the news. I would have done it personally if it weren 't for the weather." The voice continued. "They did everything they could to save him." Mrs. Waley 's brow became a batch of tight lines as she tried to make sense of what the young man was saying. "I 'm afraid I don 't understand what you are talking about, Sergeant," she said. "My husband is downstairs." There came the sounds of a hurried conversation over the receiver. Finally the Sergeant 's voice came on the line again. "Is this the Waley residence at 38 Enon Road?" Mrs. Waley 's voice caugh, "Y.. yes." She looked around the room feeling a dizziness spreading in her head. "One moment, Sergeant," she managed to say, and then set the receiver down. "Walter?" she called, moving out of the bedroom and down the stairs. "Walter?" There came no response. She went into the living room and stood for a moment with a shaking hand at her mouth. "Walter?" she said one more time softly. Then, almost as if she were in a trance, she moved to the plain brown coach, took the needles and sweater in her hands, and began to knit fast and furiously.

Chapter 3: Popular Scientific (Academic) Article

The main purpose of scientific or academic writing is to inform the reader about a certain research project that has either been launched by the author(s) or other specialists in the given field of study. Scientific and academic articles claim to give objective information on the subject; they aim at precision in presenting data and they unfold according to rather rigid logical schemes - a demand necessary for any reliable source of information. These articles are usually intended for a limited group of readers who are professionally related to the given area of research. Articles that are published in journals and magazines are addressed to a wide range of non-professional readers. They present a simplified version of research data and have a stronger emotional appeal to the audience, since their aim is to make people interested in the subject.

Text # 1
A Quick Fix for Strokes Heart experts advise doctors on how to make better use of a powerful clot-busting agent

Of all medical catastrophes that can befall a person, suffering a stroke is one of the most terrifying. Suddenly, your arm goes numb. You can 't speak. Half your body becomes useless. Until recently, doctors could do little more than watch as their stroke patients either recovered on their own or became permanently paralysed. Then researchers determined that a drug called tissue plasminogen activator, or TPA, which has been used for years to treat heart attacks, can also alter the course of a stroke. But many physicians wouldn 't try the new treatment because there is also a chance that it can make a stroke patient 's position worse. That reluctance may begin to fade now. The American Heart Association, having reviewed the data, last week issued new guidelines that should help doctors in the U.S. use the drug safely and effectively. Four times out of five, the cause of a stroke is a wayward clot that blocks an artery and robs the brain of oxygen-rich blood. Nerve cells start to die, depriving key parts of the body of cerebral instructions they need to function. TPA can change all that by dissolving the clot and restoring blood flow before any damage is done to the brain. "It 's the first bright sign that we 've had that something we 're doing actually works," says Dr. Cathy Helgason, a professor of neurology at the University of Illinois who helped to write the A.H.A. guidelines. "Our research is paying off." As the guidelines make clear, the key to successful treatment is two-fold. Doctors must first determine, by performing a CAT scan*, that the stroke is indeed being caused by a clot and not by a leaky artery. (In such cases, called hemorrhagic stroke, clotting is actually beneficial because it stops the loss of blood.) Then the physicians must ensure that less than three hours have elapsed since the stroke 's onset. Otherwise the risk of bleeding into the brain is too great. Even if patients can 't be given TPA, it 's important for them to get to the hospital - and, if possible, to a specialized stroke-treatment center - as fast as they can. Neurologists have developed several other treatments to minimize stroke damage. For example, many patients become dehydra-ted, which slows down blood flow to the brain. By giving these patients intravenous liquids, doctors can correct the balance in the blood and prevent further damage.

Beat the Clock

For stroke victims who are treated quickly enough, however, TPA can literally give them back their life. Four weeks ago, Dr. Virendra Bisla, 49, was in a hospital outside Chicago, making rounds, when he suddenly found himself leaning against the wall. "The nurses kept asking me if I was all right," the cardiologist recalls. But even though Bisla could understand everything they said, he couldn 't respond. They wheeled him to the emergency room, where doctors determined that he was suffering a stroke. Soon after, they transferred him to the specialised stroke centre at the University of Illinois, where he was given TPA. "Just three hours after receiving the medication, I was able to talk again," Bisla marvels. His walk is almost normal now, and he is seeing his own patients part time. "It feels so good to be able to smile and talk," he says. "Truly, this is a miracle drug."
Christine Gorman
_________________________________________________
CAT - computerised axial tomography; computer assisted tomography

Comprehension and Vocabulary
1. Translate the text into Russian.
2. Translate the text back into English orally (see Appendix).

Analysis

FOCUS ON COMPOSITION

1. Read about the composition of a popular scientific article (research report): Writing on science and technology involves the presentation of a research project, which calls for a somewhat standardised format of arranging information. Generally, the elements of composition echo those of an essay (see Chapter 1). However, for more serious reports there exist a number of requirements listed in the Author 's Handbooks for Scientific Journals. An article, for example, must contain an Abstract of about 150 words summarising and highlighting the most important points; the main text must be divided by headings, in an order that best suits the article, and so forth. Many papers use a brief Introduction, Materials, Method, Results and Discussion. They are supplied with Acknowledgements and a Reference List, or Bibliography. Articles can contain Tables with short descriptive headings. Articles published in more popular journals do not have any rigid standard of compositional arrangement. They do, however, use certain expository techniques to present their information. These are especially noticeable in introductions, which perform the following functions: 1) stating the central theme, which is sometimes fully enough explained in the introduction to become almost a preview-summary of the exposition to come; 2) showing the significance of the subject, or stressing its importance; 3) giving the background of the subject, usually in brief form, in order to bring the reader up to date as early as possible for a better understanding of the matter in hand; 4) "focusing down" to one aspect of the subject, showing first a broad scope of subject area and then progressively narrowing views until the focus is on one specific thing; 5) using a pertinent rhetorical device that will attract interest as it leads to the main exposition - e.g. an anecdote, analogy, allusion, quotation, paradox, vivid comparison; 6) posing a challenging question, the answering of which the reader will assume to be the purpose of the writing; 7) referring to the writer 's experience with the subject; 8) presenting a startling statistics or other facts that will indicate the nature of the subject to be discussed; 9) making a commonplace remark that can draw interest because of its very commonness in sound or meaning.

2. Comment on the introduction of the article "A Quick Fix for Strokes" and the functions it performs.

Focus on Exposition

1. Read about patterns of exposition: The basic principles of arranging explanation are known as patterns of exposition. These are illustration by example, deduction and induction, process analysis, causal analysis, logical comparison, classification and definition. The use of examples to illustrate an idea under discussion is the most common, and frequently the most efficient, pattern of exposition. Good examples put into clear form explain what otherwise might remain vague and abstract, they make the writing more interesting, with a better chance of holding the reader 's attention. With something specific to be visualized, a statement also becomes more convincing. A well-developed example with full background information and descriptive details is frequently assisted by other patterns of exposition. But sometimes citing several shorter examples is best, particularly when the authors are attempting to show a trend or a prevalence. Induction and Deduction, important as they are in argumentation, may also be useful methods of exposition. They are often used simply to explain a stand or conclusion. Induction is the process by which we accumulate evidence until, at some point, we can make an "inductive leap" and thus reach a useful generalization. The science laboratory employs this technique; hundreds of tests, experiments and analyses may be required before the scientist will generalize, for instance, that polio is caused by a certain virus. The commonplace "process of elimination" may also be considered a form of induction. Deduction is the method of using a generality that is accepted as a fact. Working from a generalization already formulated - by ourselves, by someone else, or by tradition - we may deduce that a specific thing or circumstance that fits into the generality will act the same. The deductive process in its simplified form is also called a "syllogism" with the beginning generality known as the "major premise" and the specific that fits into the generality known as the "minor premise". For example: Major premise: Orange-colored food is not fit to eat. Minor premise: Pumpkin pie is orange-colored. Conclusion: Pumpkin pie is not fit to eat. As you see from the example, deductive reasoning is only as sound as both its premises. Frequently, however, the validity of one or both premises may be questionable, and here is one of the functions of induction: to give needed support to the deductive syllogism, whether stated or implied. This is done with the help of evidence such as references to reliable sources of information, opinions of experts, statistics, results of experiments or surveys. Process Analysis explains how the steps of an operation lead to its completion. Although in one narrow sense it may be considered a kind of narration, process analysis has an important difference in purpose, and hence in approach. Other narration is mostly concerned with the story itself, but process tells of methods that end in specified results. There are two main kinds of process: the directional which explains how to do something; and the informational, which explains how something is or was done. The directional process can range from the instructions on a shampoo bottle to a detailed plan showing how to make the United Nations more effective. The informational process, on the other hand, might explain steps of a wide variety of operations or actions, of mental or evolutionary processes, with no how-to-do-it purpose at all. Most process analyses are explained in simple chronological steps. Indeed, the exact order is sometimes of greatest importance, as in a recipe. This step-by-step format may need to be interrupted by descriptions, definitions, and other explanatory asides. Some processes, however, defy a strict chronological treatment, because several things occur simultaneously. The material is then presented in general stages, organized as subdivisions, so that the reader can see the step-by-step process through the confusion of interacting relationships. Unlike process analysis, which merely tells how, causal analysis seeks to explain why. The two may be combined, but they need not be - many people have driven a car successfully after being told how to do it, never knowing or caring why the thing moved when they turned a key and pressed the gas pedal. Some causes and effects are not very complicated; others need a thorough analysis, which can become the basic pattern of exposition. There can be distinguished immediate causes (the ones encountered first) and ultimate causes (the basic, underlying factors that help to explain the more apparent ones). Similarly, both the immediate and ultimate effects of an action or situation may, or may not, need to be fully explored. Ordinarily the method of causal analysis is either to work logically from the immediate cause (or effect) down toward the most basic, or to start with the basic and work up toward the immediate. Logical comparison is noticing similarities and differences between objects, qualities or actions belonging to the same general type (note the difference between logical comparison and analogy, often expressed by simile, where the compared objects belong to different semantic classes). In the result of logical comparison we come to see the identity, similarity, difference, or contrast of the units in question. Logical comparison can be used for a variety of purposes. Sometimes the purpose is merely to point out what the likenesses or differences are, sometimes it is to show the superiority of one thing over another - or possibly to convince the reader of the superiority, as this is also a technique of argumentation (see Chapter 1). The purpose may be to explain the unfamiliar by comparing it to the familiar, or to emphasize a certain point (as in all other matters of expository arrangement, the last subject discussed is in the most emphatic position). There are two basic methods of comparison: one is to present complete information on the first subject and then summarize it point by point within the complete information on the second subject. The other method might be preferable if there are several points for comparison to be considered; in this case alteration of the material would be a better arrangement. Sometimes it is best to present all similarities first, then all differences - or vice versa, depending on the emphasis desired. Classification is a structural pattern of the expository writing which deals with dividing and grouping objects, actions and notions. A single system of classification is best for all purposes. In other words, there must be a logical system that follows a consistent principle throughout. The process of classification frequently organizes the ideas under discussion. In this case the resulting pattern is an outline, with major divisions being further subdivided for more detailed treatment. Classification, thus, is one of the most useful patterns of exposition, especially when dealing with a jumble of information that must be explained. Definition is used to clarify the meaning of a term. This may be done in a simple way used most in dictionaries: either by providing a synonym, or placing the word in a class and then showing how it differs from others in the same class. Extended definition, unlike the simple, dictionary type, follows no set and formal pattern. Often readers are not even aware of the process. Because it is an integral part of the overall subject, extended definition is written in the same tone as the rest of the exposition, usually with an attempt to interest the readers, as well as to inform them. There are some expository techniques peculiar to definition alone. The purpose may be served by giving the background of the term. Or the definition may be clarified by negation, sometimes called "exclusion" or "differentiation", by showing what is not meant by the term. Still another way is to enumerate the characteristics of what is defined, sometimes isolating an essential one for special treatment. But perhaps the most dependable techniques for defining are the basic expository patterns studied above. Writers could illustrate their meanings by giving examples; they could analyze the subject by classification of its types; they could use process or causal analysis, they could resort to logical comparison. Few extended definitions would use all these methods; the extent of their use always depends on three factors: 1) the term itself, since some are more elusive and subject to misunderstanding than others; 2) the function the term is to serve in the writing, since it would be foolish to devote several pages to defining a term that serves only a casual or unimportant purpose; and 3) the prospective reader-audience, since writers want to avoid insulting the intelligence or background of their readers, yet want to go far enough to be sure of their understanding.
2. Which patterns of exposition are used in "A Quick Fix for Strokes"?
3. Comment on the markers of cohesion and the use of transitional devices (see Chapter 1).

focus on objectivity

1. Read about objective writing: All scientific and academic writing aims at the objective presentation of facts and events. The degree of objectivity may vary according to the communicative functions of the discourse, yet the basic techniques of winning the readers ' trust remain more or less unchangeable throughout various genres of scientific prose. These techniques can be roughly grouped into external, or extra-linguistic and internal, or purely linguistic. Among the extra-linguistic techniques providing objectivity to the narration are precision and appeal to authority. Precision is a powerful vehicle of intellectual pressure: our mind has the tendency to relate to exact figures, neat diagrams, demonstrable tables and statistic data. Therefore, the author of a scientific article or research report needs to rely upon figures and refer to more or less precise data, which serves not merely as an illustration, but as a way to give the narration an additional weight of objectivity. The layout of a scientific or academic article most often includes figures, tables, graphs, diagrams and other aids that pin the material down to a clear and precise form. Appealing to authority is another way to add objectivity to the statements made in the text. Authority comes from many sources; for research reports these are mainly documents, manuals, and other reference materials. An authority can be an individual who is well known and well respected for a certain expertise in a given field. The writer can quote this person or refer to his or her opinions to support a particular point in the argument. Direct references can be given parenthetically, in footnotes or in endnotes in case of larger texts. Linguistic techniques that contribute to the objectivity of the material, are shown in the mere choice of words: scientific prose is basically characterised by the use of neutral and formal diction, terms and cliches. Informal diction is only used in popular articles and then mostly in quotations to add spontaneity to the style. In more serious texts words, as a rule, are used in their denotation meaning; personal connotations are generally overruled. Lexis, on the whole, sounds "impersonal", which is to show that there is no intervention of the author into the matter in question. A further implication, of course, is that subjective interpretation gives way to an objective reality. Syntactically, the same idea is rendered through the use of passive constructions (compare "Language can be seen as distinctive" and "We can see language as distinctive"), or through the use of "non-human" grammatical subjects ("Language figures centrally in our lives" sounds slightly more objective than "We figure language as a centre of our life"). "Human" subjects are often used in the plural form to render the idea of ubiquity, or with the indefinite article in the meaning of "any", or with the generic article "the", for that matter. Pronouns "we", "they" and "one" are preferable to "I".
2. Comment on the references to authority used in "A Quick Fix for Strokes".
3. Which parts of the analysed text aim at precision?
4. What language means are used in the text to make it sound more objective ("impersonal")?
5. Note that research reports published in popular journals are addressed to a wide range of lay readers. They have a stronger emotional appeal and are characterised by a simplified manner of presentation adapted to a non-professional audience. How is this done in "A Quick Fix for Strokes"?

Discussion

1. Do you think that journal articles are a reliable source of information? Do you trust the magazines you read? Why?
2. What were the most important achievements made by medicine in the 20th century? Which avenue of medical research would you choose as top priority for the nearest future?
3. Do you favour traditional or non-traditional methods of health care?

Writing:

1. Read the following extract from "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser: Take a class of writing students in a liberal arts college, tell them that their next assignment is to write about some aspect of science, and a pitiful moan will go around the room. "No! Not science!" the moan says. "Don 't make us dive into those terrifying waters!" I used to be such a student myself. But as a writer I 've learned that scientific and technological subjects can be made as accessible to the layman as any other subject. Nowhere else you must work so hard to write sentences that form a linear sequence. This is no place for fanciful leaps or implied truths. Fact and deduction are the ruling family. The science assignment that I give to students is a simple one. I just ask them to describe how something works. I don 't care about style or any other graces. I only want them to tell me, say, how a sewing machine does what it does, or how a pump operates, or why an apple falls down, or how the eye tells the brain what it sees. Any process will do, and "science" can be defined loosely to include technology, medicine and nature. Describing how a process works is valuable for two reasons. First, it forces you to make sure you know how it works. Then it forces you to take the reader through the same sequence of ideas and deductions that made the process clear to you. I 've found it to be a breakthrough assignment for many students who couldn 't disentangle themselves from disorderly thinking. The principle of science writing applies to all non-fiction writing. It 's the principle of leading readers who know nothing, step by step, to a grasp of subjects they didn 't think they had an aptitude for or were afraid they were too dumb to understand. Imagine science writing as an upside-down pyramid. Start at the bottom with the one fact that a reader must know before he can learn any more. The second sentence broadens what was stated first, making the pyramid wider, and the third sentence broadens the second, so that gradually you can move beyond mere fact into significance and speculation - how a new discovery alters what was known, what new avenues of research it might open, where the research might be applied. There 's no limit to how wide the inverted pyramid can become, but the reader will understand the broad implications only if he starts with a narrow fact. One of the ways to help your reader understand unfamiliar facts is to relate them to sights they are familiar with. Reduce the abstract principle to an image they can visualise. Another way to make science accessible is to write like a person and not like a scientist. Write clearly and without pretence, using the vocabulary of everyday life and seldom taking refuge in the jargon of the field. These principles apply to every field where the reader must be led across new and bewildering terrain. In the life sciences alone, think of all the issues - drugs, AIDS, abortion, health delivery, care of the old, toxic waste, pollution, global warming, gene splicing, surrogate motherhood - where biology and chemistry are entangled with ethics, religion, politics and economics. Only through clear writing can the rest of us make educated choices in these urgent areas where we have little or no education.

2. Write an instruction on how to use an appliance or a device.
3. Write an article on life sciences: choose any topic suggested in the extract above.
Guidelines for Analysing a Popular Scientific (Academic) Article

focus ON COMPOSITION: - abstract; preface (foreword), introduction; main body; conclusions; discussion

FOCUS ON exposition - patterns of exposition - markers of cohesion

FOCUS ON Objectivity - appeal to authority (references, footnotes, endnotes, quotations) - precision (figures, graphs, diagrams, tables, pictures) - "impersonal" diction and syntax

Emotional FOCUS - imagery (metaphorical and descriptive) - simplification (colloquialisms, explanatory periphrasis, semantic repetitions, references to everyday life) - expressive diction - expressive syntax.

Text # 2

MAKING SENSE OF SCENTS

Understanding the biological basis of smell is not, unfortunately, as plain as the nose on your face. How do humans distinguish the tens of thousands of odours which assault them? And why do some substances smell floral or fruity at low doses, but distinctly goat-like at higher concentrations? Eight years ago, Linda Buck and Richard Axel, then in Columbia University, explained part of the mystery by describing a class of proteins, called olfactory receptors, which are the body 's frontline odour detectors. Now, in the March 5th issue of Cell, Dr Buck and her colleagues at Harvard Medical School have gone on to explain how these receptors act together to distinguish different scents. Olfactory receptors are found on millions of nerve cells lining the nose. Dr Buck 's earlier research with mice showed that they have roughly 1,000 different kinds of these receptors, but that each olfactory nerve cell has just a single kind on its surface. (Human noses are similar.) Receptors are thought to sense scents by binding to particular atomic structures on specific odorants - small yet smelly carbon-containing molecules. But how can a thousand receptors, each dedicated to recognising only a single structure, distinguish many thousands of different odours? The answer, according to Dr Buck, is combinatorial coding. She likens olfactory receptors to letters of the alphabet, a limited set used over and over in different patterns to compose a vast vocabulary of odours. To uncover such patterns, Dr Buck, Bettina Malnic and their colleagues at the Life Electronics Research Centre in Amagasaki, Japan, wafted 30 different odorants over 600-odd olfactory nerve cells taken from the noses of mice. The cells contained a special sort of dye to indicate when a receptor had been triggered. Each responding cell had its RNA analysed to identify which of the thousand or so olfactory proteins it produced, enabling the researches to work out which receptors had been triggered by which odorants. The Harvard team found that a simple odour molecule, like nonanol (which has a floral smell) triggered not one but five different olfactory receptors, while its structurally similar - but more pungent - relative, the cheesy-smelling nonanoic acid, activated the same five receptors plus three extra ones. This shows that a single receptor can be triggered at high concentrations of odorant but not at lower levels, which may explain why odorous molecules can have very different smells at different doses. So it would seem to be the combination of receptors, recognising different bits of various odour molecules, that enables humans to distinguish roses from goats, at least at nose level. But how the brain interprets olfactory signals and distinguishes bad smells from sweeter ones is still unknown. Dr Buck and other researchers are trying to piece together the path of neural connections from the olfactory receptors to the areas of the brain involved in emotion, memory and other higher functions. Though they are still far from the end of the trail, they are hot on the scent.

Japan Times, May 1999

Text # 3

Needles in giant haystacks

How many handshakes, or phone calls, or acquaintances are you away from Bill Clinton? According to a common urban myth, probably no more than six. Testing such a proposition, however, is difficult. But new mathematical techniques being developed to handle "massive data sets" - collections of information whose size is measured in millions of gigabytes - might soon provide an answer, by combing through billions of telephone records. The records in question are held by AT&T, which keeps track of the billing information for roughly 250m phone calls each day. Every record includes a caller 's number, the number of the person called, the time of day, the duration of the call and so on, resulting in 18m gigabytes of billing data a year. Although individually meaningless, these records fit together to form a huge mathematical structure called a directed multigraph, which represents the interconnectedness of the 300m phone numbers known to AT&T 's computers. Careful analysis of this information could help with infrastructure planning, customer classification and marketing. Do all area codes call each other equally? Which pairs of codes call each other most often? Joan Feigenbaum, a researcher at AT&T 's Florham Park laboratory in New Jersey, says she and her team will get round to answering these questions eventually. At the moment, though, they are more interested in using the data to investigate patterns of social behaviour. For example, how big is the largest "clique" of phone numbers all of which call each other on the same day? Dr Feigenbaum 's colleague, Mauricio Resende, analysed the records from a 12-hour period with a 20-processor supercomputer in order to find out. The resulting multigraph involved 123m connections among 53m numbers, and the largest clique was found to contain at least 30 numbers. This result is, however, necessarily imprecise, because the mathematical recipes normally used in these sorts of cases break down when faced with such a large quantity of data. So Dr Feigenbaum and her colleagues are working on new algorithms that will, they hope, be of general use in grappling with the world 's growing data mountains. And, sometime later this year, they plan to run a calculation to determine the "diameter" of one of their multigraphs - in other words, the maximum number of intermediate acquaintances required to link any two phone numbers. Will it be six?
Anaheim, The Economist, January 1999

Text # 4

The Arithmetic of Mutual Help

M. Nowak, R. May and K. Sigmund The principle of give and take pervades our society. It is older than commerce and trade. All members of a household, for example, are engaged in a ceaseless, mostly unconscious bartering of services and goods. Economists have become increasingly fascinated by these exchanges. So have biologists. Charles Darwin himself was well aware of the role of co-operation in human evolution. In Descent of Man he wrote that “the small strength and speed of man, his want of natural weapons, etc., are more than counterbalanced by his … social qualities, which lead him to give and receive aid from his fellow-men”. Textbooks on animal behaviour are filled with examples of mutual aid: grooming, feeding, teaching, warning, helping in fights and joint hunting. In ecology symbiotic associations are increasingly seen as fundamental. But at the same time, the ubiquity of co-operation seems to have become ever more paradoxical. What prevents mutualists from turning into parasites? Why should anyone share in a common effort rather than cheat the others? Natural selection puts a premium on individual success. How can this mechanism shape behaviour that is altruistic in the sense that it benefits others at the expense of one’s own progeny?

Kin Selection and Reciprocal Aid

There are two main approaches to this question that go under the headings of kin selection and reciprocal aid. These concepts are not mutually exclusive, but they are sharply distinct. Kin selection is rooted in genetics [“Kin Recognition” by D.W. Pfennig and P.W. Sherman, p. 68]. If a gene helps in promoting the reproductive success of close relatives of its bearer, it helps in promoting copies of itself. Within a family, a good turn is its own reward. But a good turn to an unrelated fellow being has to be returned in order to pay off. Reciprocal aid - the trading of altruistic acts - is essentially an economic exchange. It works less directly than kin selection and is therefore more vulnerable to abuse. Two parties can strike a mutually profitable bargain, but each could gain still more by withholding its contribution. In modern society an enormous apparatus of law and enforcement makes the temptation to cheat resistible. But how can reciprocal altruism work in the absence of those authoritarian institutions?

Prisoner 's Dilemma

To demonstrate the conundrum, Robert L. Trivers, a sociobiologist (and, fittingly, a former lawyer), now at the University of California in Santa Cruz, borrowed a metaphor from game theory known as the Prisoner’s Dilemma. As originally conceived in the early 1950-s, each of two prisoners is asked whether the other committed a crime; their level of punishment depends on whether one, both or neither indicates the other’s guilt. This situation can be viewed as a simple game. The two players engaged in it have only to decide whether they wish to co-operate with each other or not. If they both want to co-operate, they get a reward of three points each. If both defect (by not co-operating), they get only one point each. But if one player defects and the other co-operates, the defector receives five points, whereas the player who chose to co-operate receives nothing. Will they co-operate? The reward for mutual co-operation is higher than the punishment for mutual defection, but a one-sided defection yields a greater reward. This temptation endangers almost every form of co-operation, including trade and mutual aid, and implies that the best move is always to defect, irrespective of the opposing player’s move. The logic leads inexorably to mutual defection. Most people feel uneasy with this conclusion. They do often co-operate, in fact, motivated by feelings of solidarity or selflessness. In business dealings, defection is also relatively rare, perhaps from the pressure of society. Co-operative populations are sometimes dominated by a strategy called Generous Tit-for-Tat, a strategy named Pavlov by the mathematicians David and Vivien Kraines. After experiencing a reward for mutual co-operation, a Pavlov player repeats the former co-operative move. After getting away with unilateral defection, it similarly repeats its last move. But after being punished for mutual defection, Pavlov switches to co-operation. This principle of “win-stay, lose-shift” seems to work well in many situations. In animal psychology it is viewed as fundamental: a rat is ready to repeat an action that brings reward, whereas it will tend to drop behaviour that has painful consequences. The same crude application of carrot-and-stick underlies most attempts of bringing up children.

Fixed in Flatland

It should come as no surprise that co-operation is easier to maintain in a sedentary population: defectors can thrive in an anonymous crowd, but mutual aid is frequent among neighbours. Consider a spatially constrained version of the tournament, with each member of the population sitting on a square of an extended chessboard. Each player is either a pure co-operator or a pure defector and interacts only with eight immediate neighbours, playing one round of the Prisoner 's Dilemma with each. A lone co-operator will be exploited by the surrounding defectors and succumb. But four co-operators in a block can conceivably hold their own, because each interacts with three co-operators. Conversely, lone defectors will always do well, because they will be surrounded by exploitable co-operators. But by spreading, defectors surround themselves with their like and so diminish their own returns. It is certainly possible that co-operators are wiped off the board. But we frequently find various shifting mosaics, with both strategies being maintained. Mixtures of pure co-operators and pure defectors can coexist indefinitely. The important requirement is that each player should not interact with too many neighbours.

That 's Life Throughout the evolutionary history of life, co-operation among smaller units led to the emergence of multicellular creatures from single-celled organisms. In this sense, co-operation becomes as essential for evolution as competition. Sophisticated creatures may be drawn to follow strategies that encourage co-operation because of repeated interactions among individuals who can recognise and remember one another. In the course of evolution, there appears to have been ample opportunity for co-operation to have assisted everything from humans to molecules. In a sense, co-operation could be older than life itself.

Text # 5
Language, Mind, and Social Life
H.G. Widdowson Linguistics is the name given to the discipline which studies human language. Two questions come immediately to mind. Firstly, what is human language? How, in general terms, can it be characterised? Secondly, what does its study involve? What is it that defines linguistics as a discipline? According to the Bible: 'In the beginning was the Word '. According to the Talmud: 'God created the world by a Word, instantaneously, without toil or pains '. Whatever more mystical meaning these pieces of scripture might have, they both point to the primacy of language in the way human beings conceive of the world. Language certainly figures centrally in our lives. We discover our identity as individuals and social beings when we acquire it during childhood. It serves as a means of cognition and communication: it enables us to think for ourselves and to co-operate with other people in our community. It provides for present needs and future plans, and at the same time carries with it the impression of the things past. Language seems to be a feature of our essential humanity which enables us to rise above the condition of mere brutish beings, real or imagined. But is it specifically and uniquely human? Is it species-specific? And if yes, does it mean that it is something we are born with, part of our genetic make-up, an innate endowment? The argument for the genetic uniqueness of language is that it provides an explanation for a number of facts which would otherwise be inexplicable. One of these is the ease with which children learn their own language. They rapidly acquire a complex grammar which goes well beyond imitation of any utterances they might hear. So, the idea is that as human beings we are 'wired up ' for language: that is to say, for language in general, of course, not for any particular language. We are born with a cognitive learning capability which is wired genetically into our brain. From this perspective, the essential nature of language is cognitive: it is seen as a psychological phenomenon. But this is not the only perspective, and not the only aspect of language, that warrants attention as being pre-eminently human. For although language may indeed be, in one sense, a kind of cognitive construct, it is not only that. It also functions as a means of communication and social control. True, it is internalised in the mind as abstract knowledge, but in order for this to happen it must also be experienced in the external world as actual behaviour. Another way of looking at language, therefore, would see it in terms of the social functions it serves. What is particularly striking about language from this point of view is the way it is fashioned as systems of signs to meet the elaborate cultural and communal needs of human societies. The focus of attention in this case is on what Michael Halliday calls 'language as social semiotic ', that is to say, on language as a system of signs which are socially motivated or informed in that they have been developed to express social meanings. With this social view of language, as with the cognitive one outlined earlier, there is a concern for explanation. Why is human language as it is? The answer this time, however, is that it has evolved not with the biological evolution of the species but with the socio-cultural evolution of human communities. Thus, one requirement of language is that it should provide the means for people to act upon their environment, for the first person (ego) to cope with the third person reality of events and entities 'out there ', to classify and organise it and so bring it under control by a process of what we might call conceptual projection. In other words (Halliday 's words) language has to have an ideational function. Another necessity is for language to provide a means for people to interact with each other, for the first person to cope with the second person, to establish a basis for co-operative action social relations: so language needs to discharge in interpersonal function as well. And both of these functions, and perhaps others, will be reflected within the abstract systems of the linguistic code itself. So language can be seen as distinctive because of its intricate association with the human mind and with human society. It is related to both, cognition and communication; it is both, abstract knowledge and actual behaviour. We can attempt to define its essential character by specifying a whole range of design features: its arbitrariness and duality, the fact that it is context-independent, operates across different media (speech and writing) and at different levels of organisation (sounds, words, sentences), and so on. The phenomenon as a whole is both pervasive and elusive. How then can it be pinned down and systematically studied? This question moves us from the properties of language to the principles of the discipline which studies them, from the design features of language to the design features of linguistics.

Text # 6
Write right for e-mail medium
David Angel and Brent Heslop Faster than a speeding letter, cheaper than a phone call, electronic mail is rapidly becoming the dominant form of business communication. The Electronic Mail Association estimates 30 to 50 million people use e-mail, and the number of users is growing at more than 25 percent per year. Individuals from all walks of life are recognising the benefits of e-mail and connecting to the electronic postal system via the Internet and online services. It is true that e-mail is often written on the fly without time for leisurely editing and proofing. Conventional paper-based communications, such as letters and memos, take hours or days from the first draft to the final delivery. This simply doesn 't work with messages in the fast-paced e-mail environment, where turnaround times are often measured in minutes. The instantaneous, spontaneous nature of e-mail has inherent dangers. The computer screen is impersonal and makes it easy to be blunt. People feel freer when communicating through e-mail than they do face to face. This lack of inhibition is a double-edged sword; it can be useful for collaboration, but it can also be destructive. The e-mail medium is fertile ground for misunderstandings and unintended hurt feelings. Etiquette and politics are important factors to keep in mind as you write your e-mail messages. Sending messages that contain insensitive language or impetuous negative responses is called flaming. Emotions and tempers can flare in e-mail communication just as quickly as a flame ignites. You disagree with someone, so you fire back a quick retort. The person at the other end takes offense and sends back an angry message. The result is a flame war, two or more people firing angry messages back and forth. Flaming is even more common in public forums such as newsgroups on the Internet, where messages are subject to little accountability. Here are guidelines to help you keep flaming under control. • Before you send an e-mail message, ask yourself, Would I say this to the person 's face? • Wait until you have a chance to calm down before responding to an offensive message. Like slipping a letter through the mail slot in a post office box, once you send an e-mail message, you are committed to it. • Read your message twice before you send it and check to make sure you didn 't write anything that might be misinterpreted. • Don 't use abusive or obscene language in e-mail. • Don 't assume every outrageous message is a flame. Flaming isn 't always a fighting match. If you think that a message is totally outrageous, it might be a joke waiting for you to add the punch line. • Indicate to the recipient that you are knowingly blowing off steam when you flame by constructing your message as follows: Flame On. message text Flame Off. You must always remember that e-mail medium has inherent characteristics that make it a tinderbox for explosive, emotional e-mail exchanges. Well-worded, tactful responses can douse the flames and win back your reader 's goodwill.

Text # 7
The Relevance of Linguistics
H.G. Widdowson What is linguistics for? What good is it to anybody? What practical uses can it be put to? One response to such question is, of course, to deny the presupposition that it needs any practical justification at all. Like other disciplines, linguistics is an intellectual enquiry, a quest for explanation, and that is sufficient justification in itself. Understanding does not have to be accountable to practical utility, particularly when it concerns the nature of language, which is so essential and distinctive a feature of the human species. Whether or nor linguistics should be accountable, it has been turned to practical account. Indeed, one important impetus for the development of linguistics in the first part of this century was the dedicated work done in translating the Bible into languages hitherto unwritten and undescribed. This practical task implied a prior exercise in descriptive linguistics, since it involved the analysis of the languages (through elicitation and observation) into which the scriptures were to be rendered. The practical tasks of description and translation inevitably raised issues of wider theoretical import. They raise other issues as well about the relationship between theory and practice and the role of the linguist, issues which are of current relevance in other areas of enquiry, and which bear upon the relationship between descriptive and applied linguistics. The process of translation involves the interpretation of a text encoded in one language and the rendering of it into another text which is, as far as possible, equivalent in meaning. In so far as it raised questions about the differences between language codes it can be seen as an exercise in contrastive analysis. In so far as it raises questions about the meaning of particular texts, it can be seen as an exercise in discourse analysis. Both of these areas of enquiry have laid claim to practical relevance and so to the business of applied linguistics. With regard to contrastive analysis, one obvious area of application is language teaching. After all, second language learning, like translation, has to do with working out relationships between one language and another. One possibility is that learners conform to a pre-programmed cognitive agenda and so acquire features of language in a particular order of acquisition. In this way they proceed through different interim stages of interlanguage which is unique to the acquisition process itself. Enquiry into this possibility in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research has been extensive. Discourse analysis is potentially relevant to the problems of language pedagogy in two ways. Firstly, it can provide a means of describing the eventual goal of learning, the ability to communicate, and so to cope with the conventions of use associated with certain discourses, written or spoken. Secondly, it can provide the means of describing the contexts which are set up in classrooms to induce the process of learning. In this case it can provide a basis for classroom research. But the relevance of discourse analysis is not confined to language teaching. It can be used to investigate how language is used to sustain social institutions and manipulate opinion; how it is used in the expression of ideology and the exercise of power. Such investigations in critical discourse analysis seek to raise awareness of the social significance of linguistic features in the interpretation of literary texts, the particular concern of stylistics. In these and other cases, descriptive linguistics becomes applied linguistics, in that it can be relevant to an understanding of practical concerns associated with language use and learning. These concerns may take the form of quite specific problems: how to design a literacy programme, for example, or how to interpret linguistic evidence in a court of law (the concern of the growing field of forensic linguistics). But other concerns for relevance are more general and more broadly educational. Control of language is, to a considerable degree, control of power. Language is too important a human resource for its understanding to be kept confined to linguistics. Language it so implicated in human life that we need to be as fully aware of it as possible, for otherwise we remain in ignorance of what constitutes our essential humanity.

Appendix: Texts for Translation

Инсульт - не проблема! Эксперты в области кардиологии советуют врачам, как извлечь большую пользу из препарата, растворяющего тромбы.

Из всех бедствий медицинского характера, которые могут обрушиться на человека, самым пугающим является инсульт. Ваша рука неожиданно немеет. Вы не можете говорить. Половина тела теряет подвижность. До недавних пор доктора мало чем могли помочь пациентам, перенесшим инсульт: они лишь наблюдали за их самостоятельным выздоровлением или за постепенно прогрессирующим параличом. Позже ученые определили, что лекарственный препарат под названием активатор плазминогена тканей (АПТ), который годами применялся при лечении сердечных заболеваний, может помогать и при инсульте. Многие врачи старались не прибегать к новому препарату, поскольку существовала вероятность, что он вызвет ухудшение состояния больного, перенесшего инсульт. Однако теперь это недоверие может исчезнуть. Американская Ассоциация Кардиологов (ААК), проведя анализ данных, выпустила на прошлой неделе новый справочник, который должен помочь докторам в США успешно и без риска использовать этот препарат. В четырех случаях из пяти причиной инсульта является тромб, блокирующий артерию и препятствующий обогащенной кислородом крови поступать в мозг. Нервные клетки начинают отмирать, в результате чего основные части тела лишаются поступающих из мозга указаний к функционированию. АПТ может изменить ситуацию, растворив тромб и возобновив приток крови до того, как мозгу будет нанесен серьезный ущерб. "Это наш первый сигнал удачи," - говорит доктор Кэти Хелгасон, профессор неврологии в Университете штата Иллиноиз, которая помогала в написании справочника. "Наши научные исследования начинают приносить плоды." Как ясно из справочника, предлагаемое лечение имеет как плюсы так и минусы. Доктора должны прежде всего определить с помощью компьютерной осевой томографии, что инсульт действительно вызван тромбом, а не разрывом артерии. (В последнем случае, называемом инсультом с кровоизлиянием, появление тромбов как раз идет на пользу, так как останавливает потерю крови.) После этого врачи должны установить, что с момента инсульта прошло не менее трех часов. В противном случае, риск кровотечения в мозг слишком велик. Даже в тех случаях, когда пациенты не могут получить АПТ, их необходимо как можно скорее доставить в больницу, а если возможно, то в специализированный центр по лечению инсульта. Неврологами разработано несколько других методов лечения, минимизирующих последствия инсульта. Например, многие пациенты страдают от обезвоживания, в результате чего замедляется приток крови в мозг. При помощи внутривенных вливаний врачи могут скорректировать нарушенный в крови боланс и предотвратить дальнейшее поражение мозга. Жертвам инсульта, достаточно быстро получившим АПТ, практически была возвращена жизнь. Месяц тому назад 49-летний доктор Вирендра Бисла из больницы в пригороде Чикаго, во время обхода больных вдруг почувствовал такую слабость, что прислонился к стене, чтобы не упасть. "Медсестры стали спрашивать у меня, что случилось," - вспоминает кардиолог. Но хотя Бисла и понимал все, что ему говорили, он не мог ничего ответить. Его отвезли на каталке в реанимационное отделение, где доктора определили, что у него инсульт. Вскоре после этого его перевели в специальный центр по лечению инсульта при университете штата Иллиноиз, где он получил АПТ. "Буквально через три часа после приема препарата я снова мог говорить," - удивляется доктор Бисла. Его походка сейчас почти нормализовалась, и он понемного возобновляет прием больных. "Как это здорово - снова обрести способность улыбаться и разговаривать! Это и вправду волшебное средство," - говорит доктор Бисла.

Арифметика взаимопомощи.

Принцип "ты - мне, я - тебе" пронизывает наше общество. Он возник раньше, чем коммерция и торговля. К примеру, все члены семьи вовлечены в постоянный и зачастую неосознанный обмен товарами и услугами. Экономисты все больше и больше интересуются этими процессами. Биологи также не составляют исключения. Сам Чарлз Дарвин хорошо осознавал роль сотрудничества и взаимопомощи в эволюции человека. В своей книге "Происхождение человека" он писал, что "слабость человека, его недостаточно быстрая скорость передвижения, потребность в естественных средствах защиты уравновешиваются его социальными качествами, которые обуславливают оказание помощи своим собратьям, а также получение ответной поддержки с их стороны." В учебниках, описывающих жизнь животных, мы можем найти множество примеров взаимопомощи в животной среде: груминг, кормление, обучение, предупреждение об опасности, помощь в схватках, совместная охота. В экологии симбиотические сообщества рассматриваются как основополагающие. Но в то же время, повсеместный характер взаимопомощи кажется парадоксальным. Что мешает сотрудничающим сторонам превратиться в паразитов? Почему кто-то должен трудиться на общее благо, когда можно обмануть и не выполнить своих обязательств? Естественный отбор делает ставку на индивидуальный успех. Как же этот механизм может сформировать мотивы альтруистического поведения, побуждающие приносить пользу другим засчет собственного потомства?
Отбор по принципу родства и взаимная помощь. Существует два основных подхода к этому вопросу, которые можно обозначить как отбор пр принципу родства и взаимная помощь. Эти понятия не являются взаимоисключающими, но они резко отличаются друг от друга. Отбор по принципу родства берет свое начало в генетике. Если какой-либо ген помогает в воспроизведении близких родственников своего носителя, он помогает размножению самого себя. Услуга, оказанная в пределах семьи, сама по себе является наградой. Но услуга, оказанная кому-либо вне семьи, требует оплаты. Взаимная помощь - обмен альтруистическими поступками - является по сути своей экономическим обменом. Он работает не так прямо, как отбор по принципу родства, и поэтому им легче злоупотреблять. Две стороны могут заключить взаимовыгодную сделку, но каждая из них может выиграть больше, удержав свою долю. В современном обществе гигантский механизм закона и провопорядка помогает удерживаться от обмана. Но как может взаимный альтруизм работать в отсутствии этих институтов власти?
ФУНКЦИОНАЛЬНАЯ АСИММЕТРИЯ МОЗГА О симметрии в строении мозга и распределении его функций знали уже давно. Каждое полушарие представляет собой почти точное зеркальное отражение другого. Управление основными движениями тела человека и его сенсорными функциями равномерно распределено между двумя полушариями мозга, при этом левое полушарие контролирует правую сторону тела, а правое полушарие - левую сторону. Физическая симметрия мозга и тела не означает, однако, что правая и левая стороны равноценны во всех отношениях. Достаточно обратить внимание на действия наших двух рук, чтобы увидеть начальные признаки функциональной асимметрии. Лишь очень немногие люди одинаково владеют обеими руками, большинство имеют ведущую руку. Возможно, функциональная асимметрия мозга - самая важная особенность, которая отличает мозг человека от мозга животных. Концепция доминантности полушарий была сформулирована в 1861 г. английским неврологом Х. Джексоном, но только в нашем столетии удалось относительно хорошо разобраться, какое полушарие контролирует какие психические процессы. Было выяснено, что правое полушарие не обладает равными с левым способностями к чтению и практически не воспринимает глаголов. При этом правое полушарие воспринимает и распознает сигналы быстрее, чем левое. Таким образом, обработка информации начинается именно в правом полушарии. Н.Н. Брагина и Т.А. Доброхотова выдвинули идею о том, что правое полушарие отражает события прошлого и настоящего времени, а левое - настоящего и будущего. Считается также, что левое полушарие специализируется на обработке положительных эмоций, а правое - отрицательных. Выключение правого полушария приводит к тому, что больные перестают различать мужские и женские голоса, речь становится монотонной, появляется безразличие к внешнему окружению. При этом, однако, может наблюдаться эйфория, усиление положительных эмоциональных переживаний, неконтролируемые взрывы смеха. При выключении левого полушария обнаруживаются депрессия, плач, тоска, тревога, страх, отчаяние. Левое полушарие, как известно, упорядочивает информацию, придает ей логическую структуру. Поэтому при выключении правого полушария мир выглядит бесконфликтным и упорядоченным, что и вызывает появление эйфории. Напротив, выключение левого полушария усиливает восприятие мира правым полушарием во всей его противоречивости и, естественно, с усилением негативных компонентов. Известно, что характер эмоций определяется, главным образом, по выражению рта. Однако, выяснилось, что рот играет значительную роль и в специально изображаемых эмоциях. Так улыбка, которую человек производит бессознательно, истинно отражающая его эмоциональное состояние, проявляется симметрично на обеих половинах лица. Улыбка же, рассчитанная “по заказу” разума, проявляется сильнее на левой стороне лица. В то же время такие эмоции, как страх, печаль, гнев и отвращение, более выражены на левой, а не на правой стороне лица. У большинства людей нет абсолютного преобладания активности одного из полушарий, хотя асимметрия есть. Она не обязательно может быть целиком право- или левосторонней по всем функциям. В основном люди имеют смешанное доминирование: например, правостороннее преобладание по двигательной системе и левостороннее по зрительной и т.д.

Glossary of Stylistic Devices and Literary Terms

Alliteration - repetition of consonant sounds, e.g. After life 's fitful fever he sleeps well.
Allusion - mention of a figure, place, or any other entity in our cultural heritage to evoke a certain meaning or set of associations in the mind of the reader
Ambiguity - anything that has two or more possible meanings simultaneously. Purposeful ambiguity can enrich a text by its addition of another level of meaning. Unintentional ambiguity interferes with clarity.
Analytic prose - prose in which a subject is divided into its component parts or elements and examined accordingly
Anticlimax - arrangement of ideas in the descending order of importance, e.g. I feasted like a king, like four kings, like a boy in the fourth form (see climax)
Antithesis - placing together contrasting qualities, e.g. Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.
Assonance - repetition of vowel sounds, e.g. The woes of hopeless lovers
Bathos - a sudden descent from the sublime to the ridiculous
Character - either a personage in a story or the psychological makeup of that personage
Chronological organisation - organisation of a paragraph or a text according to some time sequence. For instance, a paragraph or paper that moves from "at first" to "later" to "still later" to "at last" is organised chronologically (see spatial organisation)
Circumstantial irony - a discrepancy felt by the reader between what seems (or is expected) to be and what actually is, or between what is expected to happen and what does happen (see verbal irony)
Climax - presentation of ideas in the ascending order of importance, e.g. I came; I saw; I conquered (see anticlimax)
Coherence - the sense that the relationship of parts in a piece of writing is logical and clear
Conflict - any struggle, internal or external, on the part of literary characters; if the struggle is external, it usually gives rise to plot
Connotation - what the word suggests or implies (through the associations it evokes in the mind) in addition to what it denotes (see denotation)
Deictic (dictic, deiktic) - from Greek deixis; in grammar: pointing out, demonstrative (as "that" is a deictic pronoun); in text linguistics: referring to some shared experience or to the previous context; providing text cohesion
Denotation - the literal meaning of a word - simply what it refers to (see connotation)
Denouement - the final outcome of the conflict
Diction - the choice of words in a given passage or utterance; a few possible distinctions are: abstract / concrete; formal / colloquial; general / specific; technical / common
Discourse - verbal expression in speech or writing, often used as synonym to 'text '
Epigram - a clever, witty, concise saying, e.g. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance.
Epithet - a subjectively evaluative attribute (e.g. a heart-curdling shriek) opposed to logical attributes (e.g. a loud shriek)
Exposition - any portion of a piece of writing in which the author explains something
Expository prose - prose designed to explain an idea in a clear, precise manner; the goal is to make the reader grasp fully the point of the writer
Fiction - a category of literature including such prose works as stories and novels - works that, though they may be based on fact, take their shape in the imagination
Figurative language - any use of words not meant to be taken literally. A metaphor "She is a sheep" is an example (see literal language)
Flashback - a passage or episode that breaks the chronology of a work by taking us back to some moment in time earlier than the passage or episode we have been following
Foreshadowing - anything in the text which prepares the reader for something later in the text
Hyperbole - an exaggeration, e.g. He has a thousand lives.
Image, imagery - verbal concretions; words that call up sensations and are used to convey feelings through sense impression
Interior monologue - a passage or story focused solely on a character 's thoughts and feelings as revealed by that character in silent introspection
Literal language - any use of words meant to be taken strictly at face value (see figurative language).
Litotes - an understatement, e.g. She was just a tiny little bit annoyed when you poured clam juice down her back.
Metaphor - a figure of speech (a stylistic device) that entails analogy, e.g. "She is a sheep"; there is no explicit term of comparison as in case of simile (see)
Metonymy - a description of a thing by something closely connected with it, e.g. the policy of Pentagon
Mood - is the feeling or feelings that a story has been designed to arouse in the reader. It can be described by such adjectives as "light-hearted", "nostalgic", "humorous", "sad", "tragic", etc.
Onomatopoeia - matching the meaning of a word to its sound, e.g. chatter, chatter as I flow.
Oxymoron - a condensed antithesis which brings together two contrasting ideas, e.g. bitter-sweet
Paradox - any statement that seems to be self-contradictory, but upon analysis, turns out to be valid, e.g. All great truths begin as blasphemies.
Personage - a character of a story, play, novel
Personification - attributing of human qualities to abstractions or inanimate objects, e.g. the fog came on little cat feet
Protagonist - the central character in a literary work
Pun - a play on a word having several meanings, e.g. Call me a cab! - You 're a cab, sir.
Sarcasm - a type of verbal irony used to show scorn
Satire - writing, usually comic, that holds a subject up to ridicule
Simile - a figure of speech (a stylistic device) which entails an analogy and includes an explicit term of comparison, e.g. "She is as silly as a sheep" (see metaphor)
Setting - the location of the story as to place and time which allows a reader to infer a good deal about characters
Situation stories - stories with little in the way of action; stories that concern the inner lives of characters rather than their lives in the external world
Spatial sequence - the organisation of a paragraph or text according to the spatial relationship of the parts of the subject being considered (providing the subject lends itself to spatial treatment); e.g., one may describe an engine from top to bottom (see chronological organisation)
Stream of consciousness - a narrative technique that renders the thoughts of a character, with all the jumps and inconsistencies that mark actual thought
Symbol - anything in the text that, because of the literary and/or cultural context, conveys meanings different from (though usually related to) its literal meaning. The two broad types of symbol are conventional and created
Synecdoche - a type of metonymy (see) which represents a whole by its part, e.g. All hands on deck.
Theme - the controlling attitude, insight or point of a literary work; should not be confused with a "moral" or a "message" or even a simple idea. It is, rather, what a story in its fullness is about
Thesis - the main point of a piece of expository prose; that which is being demonstrated, exemplified, discussed or argued; e.g. "Dogs are man 's best friends" (see topic)
Topic - what a thesis makes a statement about: "Dogs" is a topic; "Dogs are man 's best friend" is a thesis
Transition - anything in a piece of writing that facilitates the movement from one segment to another
Verbal irony - any statement in which there is a discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. For example, on a rotten day someone might say, "oh, what a beautiful day!" (see circumstantial irony)
Verisimilitude - meaning "trueness of life"; a criterion of judgement of the text against life. Many texts, of course, are not realistic and so are not to be judged on this ground
References

1. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Thesis and Dissertations, Kate L. Turabian - The University of Chicago Press, 1987, 300 p. 2. Alarmus to Desire, Bergman, Charles - Style, vol. 15, 1981, p. 365 – 381. 3. Character Definition through Syntax, Potter, Rosanne - Style, vol. 15, 1981, p. 415 – 434. 4. Contemporary Linguistics. William, O 'Grady, M. Dobrovolsky, M. Aronoff - St.Martin 's Press, New York, 490 p. 5. Craftsways on the Organisation of Scholarly Work, Aaron Wildavsky - Transaction Publishers, New Jersey, 1993, 170 p. 6. How to Become a Convincing Speaker, John Seddon - W.&G. Foyle, Ltd., London, 63 p. 7. Linguistics, H.G. Widdowson - Oxford University Press, 1997, 134 p. 8. Language in Thinking, Ed. by Parveen Adams - Penguin Modern Psychology Readings, 1972, 391 p. 9. On Writing Well, William Zinsser - Harper Perennial, USA, 1990, 288 p.
10. Patterns of Exposition, Randal E. Decker – Little, Brown and Company, USA, 1982, 424 p.
11. Pragmatics, George Yule - Oxford University Press, 1997, 138 p.
12. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, H. Douglas Brown - Prentice Hall Regents, Englewood Cliffs, New York, 285 p.
13. Read, Write, Revise: A Guide to Academic Writing, Mary Jane Schenk - St.Martin 's Press, Inc., 1998, 289 p.
14. Reading and Writing about Short Fiction, Edward Proffitt - Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., Florida, 605 p.
15. Sentences and Thinking, Norman Foerster - The Riverside Press Cambridge, USA, 1919, 330 p.
16. Stylistics, I.R. Galperin -Higher School Publishing House, Moscow, 1981, 343 p.
17. Stylistics, G.W. Turner - Penguin Books, 1973, 256 p.
18. Stylistic Context, Michael Riffaterre - Word, vol. 16, 1960, p.207 – 218.
19. The Chicago Manual of Style - The University of Chicago Press, 1982, 738 p.
20. The Elements of E-mail Style, David Angell & Brent Heslop - Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1997, 146 p.
21. Writing a Research Paper, Anthony C. Winkler, Jo Ray MoCuen - Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1994, 354 p.
22. Writing about Fiction, Janet Burroway - Harper Collins Publishers, USA, 396 p.
23. Writing across Languages: Analysis of L2 Text, Ulla Connor, Robert B. Kaplan-Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, usa, 1987, 202 p.
24. Writing That Works Effective Communication in Business, Walter E. Olin, Charles T Brusaw, Gerald J. Alfred - St.Martin 's Press, N.-Y., 1992, 596 p.
25. Сборник учебных материалов по курсу стилистики английского языка, отв. ред. А.А. Санкин - МГПИИЯ им.М.Тореза, 1975, 119 с.
26. Tекст как объект лигнвистического исследования, И.Р. Гальперин - Наука, Москва, 1981, 182 с.
27. Учебное пособие по составлению информационных сообщений, Н.А. Левковская, А.А.Муравьева МГПИИЯ им.М.Тореза, 1983, 80 с.

----------------------- Crisis

Falling action

Complication (nouement)

Resolution
(denouement)

Exposition

Climax (climax)

Falling action,
(if any)

Suspense
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Conflict (and its complications)

Resolution (denouement)

Exposition (orientation)

1. Stroke occurs

2. TPA is administered

3. Clot dissolves

[pic]

[pic]

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Within three hours, TPA is injected into the bloodstream through a vein in the arm

A clot forms in an artery, depriving the brain of oxygen-rich blood

Within an hour of the injection, the clot dissolves, restoring blood to the brain

References: 1. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Thesis and Dissertations, Kate L. Turabian - The University of Chicago Press, 1987, 300 p. 2. Alarmus to Desire, Bergman, Charles - Style, vol. 15, 1981, p. 365 – 381. 3. Character Definition through Syntax, Potter, Rosanne - Style, vol. 15, 1981, p. 415 – 434. 5. Craftsways on the Organisation of Scholarly Work, Aaron Wildavsky - Transaction Publishers, New Jersey, 1993, 170 p. 7. Linguistics, H.G. Widdowson - Oxford University Press, 1997, 134 p. 8. Language in Thinking, Ed. by Parveen Adams - Penguin Modern Psychology Readings, 1972, 391 p. 9. On Writing Well, William Zinsser - Harper Perennial, USA, 1990, 288 p. 10. Patterns of Exposition, Randal E. Decker – Little, Brown and Company, USA, 1982, 424 p. 11. Pragmatics, George Yule - Oxford University Press, 1997, 138 p. 13. Read, Write, Revise: A Guide to Academic Writing, Mary Jane Schenk - St.Martin 's Press, Inc., 1998, 289 p. 15. Sentences and Thinking, Norman Foerster - The Riverside Press Cambridge, USA, 1919, 330 p. 16. Stylistics, I.R. Galperin -Higher School Publishing House, Moscow, 1981, 343 p. 17. Stylistics, G.W. Turner - Penguin Books, 1973, 256 p. 18. Stylistic Context, Michael Riffaterre - Word, vol. 16, 1960, p.207 – 218. 19. The Chicago Manual of Style - The University of Chicago Press, 1982, 738 p. 20. The Elements of E-mail Style, David Angell & Brent Heslop - Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1997, 146 p. 21. Writing a Research Paper, Anthony C. Winkler, Jo Ray MoCuen - Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1994, 354 p. 23. Writing across Languages: Analysis of L2 Text, Ulla Connor, Robert B. Kaplan-Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, usa, 1987, 202 p. 24. Writing That Works Effective Communication in Business, Walter E. Olin, Charles T Brusaw, Gerald J. Alfred - St.Martin 's Press, N.-Y., 1992, 596 p. 25. Сборник учебных материалов по курсу стилистики английского языка, отв. ред. А.А. Санкин - МГПИИЯ им.М.Тореза, 1975, 119 с. 26. Tекст как объект лигнвистического исследования, И.Р. Гальперин - Наука, Москва, 1981, 182 с. 27. Учебное пособие по составлению информационных сообщений, Н.А. Левковская, А.А.Муравьева МГПИИЯ им.М.Тореза, 1983, 80 с.