Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:Discourse Strategies in Use. Учебное пособие
.pdf
21
So, don’t forget to use epithets and descriptive attributes to make your description
more vivid and emotional.
2) The principle of using similes and means of logical comparison.
While describing something we often compare the thing being characterized with
other objects or phenomena. In these cases we use such a stylistic device as simile.
Simile is an explicit statement concerning the similarity, the affinity of two different
notions. The purpose of this confrontation of the names of two different objects is to
characterize vividly one of the two. One of the two co-occurring denominations is the
name of the object really spoken about; the other denomination is that of an object not
connected with the first in reality but having certain features in common with the first
object.
Ex: That fellow (first object) is LIKE an old fox (second object).
Logical comparison deals with two objects of the same semantic sphere:
Ex: She sings like a nightingale (simile).
She sings like a professional singer (logical comparison).
3) “Using synonyms” principle. In order to avoid monotony of your speech, try to
use various synonyms while describing something or somebody.
4) “Showing Versus Telling” principle. Try “to show” the sensory image of the
things you are describing. Don’t simply state the facts connected with the phenomena,
objects or people you are going to talk about.
Ex: Telling
Each morning I ride the bus to school. I wait along with the other people who ride
my bus. Sometimes the bus is late and we get angry. Some guys start fights and stuff just
to have something to do. I'm always glad when the bus finally comes.
Showing
The bus arrived. It discharged its passengers, closed its doors with a hiss and
disappeared over the crest of a hill. Not one of the people waiting at the bus stop had
22
attempted to board. One woman wore a sweater that was too small, a long skirt, socks, and
house slippers. One man was in his undershirt. Another man wore shoes with the toes cut
out, a soiled blue serge jacket and brown pants. There was something wrong with these
people. They made faces. A mouth smiled at nothing and unsmiled, smiled and unsmiled.
A head shook in vehement denial. Most of them carried brown paper bags rolled tight
against their stomachs.
Telling
The room was vacant.
Showing
The door opened with a resounding echo that seemed to fill the house. Cob webs
once attached flowed freely in the air as the open door brought light to a well worn floor.
The light gave notice to the peeling paint on the walls and to the silhouettes once covered
by pictures. The new air gave life to a stuffiness that entrapped the room. Faded and torn
white sheets covered once new furniture now drowning in dust.
5) “Using metaphors” principle. Metaphors help the speaker to create a vivid
image of what is being described. Metaphor denotes transference of meaning based on the
associated likeness between two objects (hidden comparison).
Ex: He is not a man, he is just a machine!
If metaphors involve likeness between inanimate and animate objects, we deal with
personification.
Ex: The houses squat in the dusk.
2.2 Practical assignments
1) Give all the possible epithets to the following objects and phenomena:
- love
- child
- friendship
23
- character
- landscape
- sea
- palace
- garbage
- tree
- fury
2) TASK 1: Think over the comparison for the following objects and phenomena
using the pattern:
She is as beautiful as the rising sun.
- this jelly is as sweet as …
- this girl is as young and fresh as …
- this dress is as dirty as …
- this swimming-pool is as deep as …
- this man is as arrogant as …
- this student is as lazy as …
- this book is as dull as …
- this story is as unbelievable as …
- this feeling is as overwhelming as …
- this cloud is as fluffy as …
TASK 2: Think over 5 unfinished comparisons for your fellow-students to complete
them on the pattern given above.
3) TASK 1: Think over the comparison for the following objects and phenomena
using the pattern:
My heart is like a singing bird.
- his car is like …
- my anger is like …
24
- your hair is like …
- her eyes are like …
- this holiday is like …
- this room is like …
- your poem is like …
- this forest is like …
- the sky is like …
- her dog is like …
- his smile is like …
TASK 2: Think over 5 unfinished comparisons for your fellow-students to complete
them on the pattern given above.
4) TASK 1: Describe your emotional state using the following pattern of
comparison:
I felt as if I were given a prize (joy).
I felt as if I got into some medieval mystery (surprise).
- I felt as if … (happiness)
- I felt as if … (astonishment)
- I felt as if … (disappointment)
- I felt as if … (gladness)
- I felt as if … (elation)
- I felt as if … (rage)
- I felt as if … (risk)
- I felt as if … (hope)
- I felt as if … (fear)
- I felt as if … (uncertainty)
TASK 2: Think over 5 unfinished comparisons for your fellow-students to complete
them on the pattern given above.
25
5) Find all possible synonyms to complete the synonymic rows:
good: …
bad: …
red: …
frightening: …
kind: …
beautiful: …
cozy: …
fascinating: …
monotonous:…
clear:…
disgusting:…
arrogant:…
soft:…
6) Read the description given below. Think over your own description of some room
which you
a) liked very much;
b) disliked very much.
In the living-room, which was the first room I looked at, there was a modern
three-piece suite with wooden arms, upholstered in a bright shade of peacock
blue. In my opinion, peacock is a colour that suits peacocks and nothing else.
There was also, occupying the whole of one wall, a large brown sideboard with
curly wooden appendages: not carvings, just brown useless twists of nasty
varnished wood. The carpet was bright red with brown flowers, and looked as
though it were new. So, on inspection, did the three-piece suite. Apart from two
flower vases with iridescent finish, there was little else in the room. Having taken
this in, I moved on, a little dazed, to the dining-room, which contained a shiny,
26
apparently unused table of such a strange, yellowy-white tint that I thought at first it
must be made of some kind of synthetic material.
It was surrounded by four chairs with high curved backs and upholstered red
seats. There was also a tall yellow cupboard which looked as though it contained
crockery. I did not have the courage to open it.
7) Read the following poem by Eve Merriam. Find all the similes. What images does
the author create with the help of this device? What does the poet compare the willow and
the gingko with? Why? Draw the images of the trees as shown in the poem in pencils or in
water colours.
Willow and Ginkgo
The willow is like an etching,
Fine-lined against the sky.
The ginkgo is like a crude sketch,
Hardly worthy to be signed.
The willow’s music is like a soprano,
Delicate and thin.
The ginkgo’s tune is like a chorus
With everyone joining in.
The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf;
The ginkgo is leathery as an old bull.
by Eve Merriam
The willow’s branches are like silken thread;
The ginkgo’s like stubby rough wool.
The willow is like a nymph with streaming hair;
Wherever it grows, there is green and gold and fair.
27
with:
The willow dips to the water,
Protected and precious, like the king’s favorite daughter.
The ginkgo forces its way through gray concrete;
Like a city child, it grows up in the street.
Thrust against the metal sky,
Somehow it survives and even thrives.
My eyes feast upon the willow,
But my heart goes to the ginkgo.
8) Think what you can compare the following objects of nature and phenomena
Sunflower, rain, oak, moss, desert, butterfly, sea wave, forest, iceberg.
9) Read the following examples from fiction and poetry. What is the ground for
metaphor and personification in each of the extracts?
Ex: Your cheeks are tulips.
Cheeks are compared with tulips (ground for metaphor – colour/ beauty/ health/
freshness).
1) Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks in the night in her silvery shoon,
This way and that she peers and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees…
De la Mare
2) Love, free as air, at sight of human ties,
Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies.
Pope
3) I love plants. I don’t like cut flowers. Only the ones that grow in the ground.
And these water lilies… Each white petal is a great tear of milk. Each slender stalk is a
green life rope. (Erdrich)
28
4) But he, too, knew the necessity of keeping as clear as possible from that
poisonous many-headed serpent, the tongue of the people. (Lawrence)
5) The green tumour of hate burst inside her. (Lawrence)
6) And the skirts! What a sight were those skirts! They were nothing but vast
decorated pyramids; on the summit of each was stuck the upper half of a princess.
(Bennett)
7) They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to
communicate. (Gilbert)
8) She was handsome in a rather leonine way. Where this girl was a lioness, the
other was a panther – lithe and quick. (Christie)
9) The average New Yorker is caught in a machine. He whirls along, he is dizzy,
he is helpless. If he resists, the machine will crush him to pieces. (Frank)
10) His voice was a dagger of corroded brass. (Lewis)
10) What metaphors and personifications can you create for describing the following
objects and phenomena?
Autumn leaves, joy, city streets, toy-shop, windows, loneliness, bus, grass, sky,
paper, summer.
11) All the words given below will help you to create “sensory” images of things
you are going to describe. Add 3-5 words of your own to every vocabulary group.
SIGHT
Oval, wavy, shapely, irregular, domed, tapered, jutting, triangular, rectangular,
square, spherical, ball-shaped, diamond, rotund, swollen, angular, proportioned, shapeless,
prominent, concave, oblong, scalloped, crescent, curved, lop-sided, conical, round, motley,
monochromatic, transparent, huge, tiny, shiny, lusterless, solid, flat.
MATERIAL
Wooden, metallic, plastic, rubber, elastic, tissue, paper, plasticine, clay, glass, iron,
copper, bronze, polyethylene, woolen, silk, cotton, nylon, marble, crystal, stone, plywood,
synthetic.
29
COLOUR
Black, white, red, blue, grey, brown, yellow, pink, orange, purple, violet, rose,
cardinal, citron, sapphire, ebony, emerald, turquoise, beige, vermilion, aquamarine, silver,
navy-blue, cinnamon, hazel, maroon, carroty, mahogany, raven, straw, canary, sulphur,
lime, jet, mauve, ruby, burgundy, ochre, dun, puce, tawny, scarlet, fawn, bronze, azure,
crimson, cherry, milky, ivory, pearl, bleached, pistachio, cobalt, grizzly, indigo, saffron.
HEARING
Speech:
Yell, bellow, bawl, holler, drawl, giggle, stutter, sing, snort, chatter, growl, laugh,
scream, whimper, stammer, babble, prattle, guffaw, whisper.
Sounds:
Zoom, yowl, blare, screech, boom, rasp, shriek, piercing, roar, grate, caterwaul,
bray, whine, sizzle, whistle, deafening, bizarre, importunate, thunderous, harsh, sonorous,
hum, mute, sigh, murmur, chime, tinkle, hiss, rustle, clink, silent, buzz, gnash, patter,
gurgle, creak, yawn, bubble, distinct, inaudible, thud, raucous, monotonous, muffled.
TOUCH
Icy, waxy, fuzzy, rubbery, cool, damp, satiny, sandy, sticky, fragile, oily, silky,
spongy, velvety, steamy, slippery, rough, spiny, prickly, sharp, blunt, fluffy, uneven,
elastic, smooth, harsh.
TASTE
Sour, tart, sweet, lemony, salty, fruity, oily, spicy, tangy, mellow, sugary, buttery,
ripe, burnt, bitter, gingery, bitter-sweet, mawkish, refined, pungent, palatable, rotten,
insipid, astringent, savoury, succulent, luscious, juicy, rancid, pickled, sickly, disgusting,
chocolate-flavoured, mouth-watering.
SMELL
Spoiled, acidic, sweet, minty, acrid, fragrant, scented, fresh, musk, flowery,
aromatic, spicy, stench, reeking, odorous, sharp, musty, dank, stale, fetid, obnoxious,
balmy, delicate, harsh.
MOVEMENT
30
Fly, bolt, hurl, whisk, scamper, scramble, dart, gallop, frisk, creep, slouch, tiptoe,
amble, plod, lumber, slink, lope, saunter, loiter, waddle, slosh, roam, jostle, stagger,
ramble, rove, wander, stroll, trot, grope.
12) Say it in one word and use in the descriptive sentences of your own:
1) pale greyish-brown;
2) a low soft voice;
3) able to be broken or damaged easily;
4) a sudden quick movement;
5) juicy and delicious;
6) greater in weight, height, or size on one side;
7) made of thin layers of wood glued together under pressure, with the grain of one
layer at right angles to the grain of the next;
8) very deep black;
9) able to be seen through; clear;
10) a quick succession of light tapping sounds, such as by feet;
11) having an even surface with no roughness, bumps, or holes;
12) to move or act in a quiet and secretive way from fear or guilt;
13) bright green;
14) a dull heavy sound;
15) capable of returning to its original shape after stretching, compression, or other
distortion;
16) pleasant to taste;
17) a very fine-grained earth, soft when moist and hardening when baked, used to
make bricks and pottery;
18) a flexible material made in sheets from wood pulp or other fibres and used for
writing on, decorating walls, or wrapping parcels;
19) to walk quietly with the heels off the ground.
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]