Section III

Practical assignments:

Exercise 1. Analyse the given cases of metaphor from all sides mentioned above – semantics, originality, expressiveness, syntactic function, vividness and elaboration of the created image. Pay attention to the manner in which two objects (actions) are identified: with both named or only one – the metaphorized one – presented explicitly:

1. She looked down on Gopher Prairie. The snow stretching without break from street to devouring prairie beyond, wiped out the town's pretence of being a shelter. The houses were black specks on a white sheet.

2. 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.

3. I was staring directly in front of me, at the back of the driver's neck, which was a relief map of boil scars.

4. She was handsome in a rather leonine way. Where this girl was a lioness, the other was a panther – lithe and quick.

5. His voice was a dagger of corroded brass.

6. Wisdom has reference only to the past. The future remains for ever an infinite field for mistakes. You can't know beforehand.

7. He felt the first watery eggs of sweat moistening the palms of his hands.

8. At the last moment before the windy collapse of the day, 1 myself took the road down.

9. The man stood there in the middle of the street with the deserted dawnlit boulevard telescoping out behind him.

10. Leaving Daniel to his fate, she was conscious of joy springing in her heart.

11. He smelled the ever-beautiful smell of coffee imprisoned in the can.

12. We talked and talked and talked, easily, sympathetically, wedding her experience with my articulation.

13. "We need you so much here. It's a dear old town, but it's a rough diamond, and we need you for the polishing, and we're ever so humble...".

14. They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate.

15. Geneva, mother of the Red Cross, hostess of humanitarian congresses for the civilizing of warfare!

16. She and the kids have filled his sister's house and their welcome is wearing thinner and thinner.

17. Notre Dame squats in the dusk.

18. I am the new year. I am an unspoiled page in your book of time. I am your next chance at the art of living.

I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned during the last twelve months about life.

All that you sought the past year and failed to find is hidden in me; I urn waiting for you to search it out again and with more determination.

All the good that you tried to do for others and didn't achieve last year is mine to grant – providing you have fewer selfish and conflicting desires.

In me lies the potential of all that you dreamed but didn't dare to do, ail that you hoped but did not perform, all you prayed for but did not yet experience. These dreams slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by the touch of an enduring purpose. I am your opportunity.

19. Autumn comes

And trees are shedding their leaves,

And Mother Nature blushes

Before disrobing.

20. He had hoped that Sally would laugh at this, and she did, and in a sudden mutual gush they cashed into the silver of laughter all the sad secrets they could find in their pockets.

21. All across the Union audiences clamour for her arrival, which will coincide with that of the new century. For we are at the fag-end, the smouldering cigar-butt, of a nineteenth century which is just about to be ground out in the ashtray of history.

Exercise 2. Indicate metonymies, state the type of relations between the object named and the object implied, which they represent, also pay attention to the degree of their originality, and to their syntactical function:

1. He went about her room, after his introduction, looking at her pictures, her bronzes and clays, asking after the creator of this, the painter of that, where a third thing came from.

2. She wanted to have a lot of children, and she was glad that things were that way, that the Church approved. Then the little girl died. Nancy broke with Rome the day her baby died. It was a secret break, but no Catholic breaks with Rome casually.

3. "Evelyn Glasgow, get up out of that chair this minute." The girl looked up from her book.

"What's the matter?"

"Your satin. The skirt'll be a mass of wrinkles in the back."

4. Except for a lack of youth, the guests had no common theme, they seemed strangers among strangers; indeed, each face, on entering, had struggled to conceal dismay at seeing others there.

5. She saw around her, clustered about the white tables, multitudes of violently red lips, powdered cheeks, cold, hard eyes, self-possessed arrogant faces, and insolent bosoms.

6. Dinah, a slim, fresh, pale eighteen, was pliant and yet fragile.

7. The man looked a rather old forty-five, for he was already going grey.

8. The delicatessen owner was a spry and jolly fifty.

9. "It was easier to assume a character without having to tell too many lies and you brought a fresh eye and mind to the job."

10. "Some remarkable pictures in this room, gentlemen. A Holbein, two Van Dycks and if I am not mistaken, a Velasquez. I am interested in pictures."

11. You have nobody to blame but yourself.

The saddest words of tongue or pen.

12. For several days he took an hour after his work to make inquiry taking with him some examples of his pen and inks.

13. There you are at your tricks again. The rest of them do earn their bread; you live on my charity.

14. I crossed a high toll bridge and negotiated a no man's land and came to the place where the Stars and Stripes stood shoulder to shoulder with the Union Jack.

15. The praise was enthusiastic enough to have delighted any common writer who earns his living by his pen.

16. He made his way through the perfume and conversation.

17. His mind was alert and people asked him to dinner not for old times' sake, but because he was worth his salt.

18. Up the Square, from the corner of King Street, passed a woman in a new bonnet with pink strings, and a new blue dress that sloped at the shoulders and grew to a vast circumference at the hem. Through the silent sunlit solitude of the Square this bonnet and this dress floated northwards in search of romance.

19. Two men in uniforms were running heavily to the Administration building. As they ran, Christian saw them throw away their rifles. They were portly men who looked like advertisements for Munich beer, and running came hard to them. The first prisoner stopped and picked up one of the discarded rifles. He did not fire it but carried it, as he chased the guards. He swung the rifle like a club, and one of the beer advertisements went down.

Exercise 3. In the following excerpts you will find mainly examples of verbal irony. Explain what conditions made the realization of the opposite evaluation possible. Pay attention to the part of speech which is used in irony, also its syntactical function:

1. The book was entitled Murder at Milbury Manor and was a whodunit of the more abstruse type, in which everything turns on whether a certain character, by catching the three-forty-three train at Hilbury and changing into the four-sixteen at Milbury, could have reached Silbury by five-twenty-seven, which would have given him just time to disguise himself and be sticking knives into people at Bilbury by six-thirty-eight.

2. When the, war broke out she took down the signed photograph of the Kaiser and, with some solemnity, hung it in the men-servants' lavatory; it was her one combative action.

3. "I had a plot, a scheme, a little quiet piece of enjoyment afoot, of which the very cream and essence was that this old man and grandchild should be as poor as frozen rats," and Mr. Brass revealed the whole story, making himself out to be rather a saintlike holy character.

4. The lift held two people and rose slowly, groaning with diffidence.

5. England has been in a dreadful state for some weeks. Lord Goodie would go out. Sir Thomas Doodle wouldn't come in, and there being nobody in Great Britain (to speak of) except Goodie and Doodle, there has been no Government.

6. From her earliest infancy Gertrude was brought up by her aunt. Her aunt had carefully instructed her to Christian principles. She had also taught her Mohammedanism, to make sure.

7. She's a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud and if she has washed her hair since Coolidge's second term, I'll eat my spare tire, rim and all.

8. With all the expressiveness of a stone Welsh stared at him another twenty seconds apparently hoping to see him gag.

9. "Well. It's shaping up into a lovely evening, isn't it?"

"Great," he said.

"And if I may say so, you're doing everything to make it harder, you little sweet."

10. Mr. Vholes is a very respectable man. He has not a large business, I but he is a very respectable man. He is allowed, by the greater attorneys to be a most respectable man. He never misses a chance in his practice which is a mark of respectability, he never takes any pleasure, which is another mark of respectability, he is reserved and serious which is another mark of respectability. His digestion is impaired which is highly respectable.

11. Several months ago a magazine named Playboy which concentrates editorially on girls, books, girls, art, girls, music, fashion, girls and girls, published an article about old-time science-fiction.

12. Apart from splits based on politics, racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds and specific personality differences, we're just one cohesive team.

13. A local busybody, unable to contain her curiosity any longer, asked an expectant mother point-blank whether she was going to have a baby. "Oh, goodness, no," the young woman said pleasantly. "I'm just carrying this for a friend."

14. Sonny Grosso was a worrier who looked for and frequently managed to find, the dark side of most situations.

15. Bookcases covering one wall boasted a half-shelf of literature.

16. I had been admitted as a partner in the firm of Andrews and Bishop, and throughout 1927 and 1928 I enriched myself and the firm at the rate of perhaps forty dollars a month.

17. Last time it was a nice, simple, European-style war.

18. He could walk and run, was full of exact knowledge about God, and entertained no doubt concerning the special partiality of a minor deity called Jesus towards himself.

19. But every Englishman is born with a certain miraculous power that makes him master of the world. As the great champion of freedom and national independence he conquers and annexes half the world and calls it Colonization.

20. All this blood and fire business tonight was probably part of the graft to get the Socialists chucked out and leave honest businessmen safe to make their fortunes out of murder.

21. He spent two years in prison, making a number of valuable contacts among other upstanding embezzlers, frauds and confidence men whilst inside.

Exercise 4. Analyse the following cases of antonomasia. State the type of meaning employed and implied; indicate what additional information is created by the use of antonomasia; pay attention to the morphological and semantic characteristics of common nouns used as proper names:

1. "You cheat, you no-good cheat – you tricked our son. Took our son with a scheming trick, Miss Tomboy, Miss Sarcastic, Miss Sneerface.

2. A stout middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was sitting on the edge of a great table. I turned to him.

"Don't ask me," said Mr. Owl Eyes washing his hands of the whole matter.

3. To attend major sports event most parents have arrived. A Colonel Sidebotharn was standing next to Prendergast, firmly holding the tape with "FINISH". "Capital," said Mr. Prendergast, and dropping his end of the tape, he sauntered to the Colonel. "I can see you are a fine judge of the race, sir. So was I once. So's Grimes. A capital fellow, Grimes; a bounder, you know, but a capital fellow. Bounders can be capital fellows; don't you agree. Colonel Slidebottom... I wish you'd stop pulling at my arm, Pennyfeather. Colonel Shybottom and I are just having a most interesting conversation."

4. I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I know);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

I send them over land and sea,

I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me

I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,

For I am busy then,

As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

For they are hungry men.

But different folk have different views.

I know a person small -

She keeps ten million serving-men,

Who get no rest at all.

She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,

From the second she opens her eyes -

One million Hows, two million Wheres,

And seven million Whys.

5. "Her mother is perfectly unbearable. Never met such a Gorgon."

"I don't really know what a Gorgon is like, but I am quite sure, that Lady Bracknell is one. In any case, she is a monster without being a myth."

6. Our secretary is Esther D'Eath. Her name is pronounced by vulgar relatives as Dearth, some of us pronounce it Deeth.

7. When Omar P. Quill died, his solicitors referred to him always as O.P.Q. Each reference to O.P.Q. made Roger think of his grandfather as the middle of the alphabet.

8. "Your fur and his Caddy are a perfect match. I respect history: don't you know that Detroit was founded by Sir Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, French fur trader.''

9. Now let me introduce you – that's Mr. What's-his-name, you remember him, don't you? And over there in the corner, that's the Major, and there's Mr. What-d'you-call-him, and that's an American.

10. Cats and canaries had added to the already stale house an entirely new dimension of defeat. As I stepped down, an evil-looking Tom slid by us into the house.

11. Kate kept him because she knew he would do anything in the world if he were paid to do it or was afraid not to do it. She had no illusions about him. In her business Joes were necessary.

12. In the moon-landing year what choice is there for Mr. and Mrs. Average – the programme against poverty or the ambitious NASA project?

13. The next speaker was a tall gloomy man. Sir Something Somebody.

14. We sat down at a table with two girls in yellow and three men, each one introduced to us as Mr. Mumble.

15. She's been in a bedroom with one of the young Italians, Count Something.

Exercise 5. Discuss the structure and semantics of epithets in the following examples. Define the type and function of epithets:

1. He has that unmistakable tall lanky "rangy" loose-jointed graceful closecropped formidably clean American look.

2. Across the ditch Doll was having an entirely different reaction. With all his heart and soul, furiously, jealously, vindictively, he was hoping Queen would not win.

3. During the past few weeks she had become most sharply conscious of the smiling interest of Hauptwanger. His straight lithe body – his quick, aggressive manner – his assertive, seeking eyes.

4. He's a proud, haughty, consequential, turned-nosed peacock.

5. The Fascisti, or extreme Nationalists, which means black-shirted, knife-carrying, club-swinging, quick-stepping, nineteen-year-old-pot-shot patriots, have worn out their welcome in Italy.

6. Where the devil was heaven? Was it up? Down? There was no up or down in a finite but expanding universe in which even the vast, burning, dazzling, majestic sun was in a state of progressive decay that would eventually destroy the earth too.

7. She has taken to wearing heavy blue bulky shapeless quilted People's Volunteers trousers rather than the tight tremendous how-the-West-was-won trousers she formerly wore.

8. Harrison – a fine, muscular, sun-bronzed, gentle-eyed, patrician- nosed, steak-fed, Oilman-Schooled, soft-spoken, well-tailored aristocrat was an out-and-out leaflet-writing revolutionary at the time.

9. In the cold, gray, street-washing, milk-delivering, shutters-coming-off-the-shops early morning, the midnight train from Paris arrived in Strasbourg.

10. Her painful shoes slipped off.

11. She was a faded white rabbit of a woman.

12. And she still has that look, that don't-you-touch-me look, that women who were beautiful carry with them to the grave.

13. Ten-thirty is a dark hour in a town where respectable doors are locked at nine.

14. He loved the afterswim salt-and-sunshine smell of her hair.

15. I was to secretly record, with the help of a powerful long-range movie-camera lens, the walking-along-the-Battery-in-the-sunshine meeting between Ken and Jerry.

16. "Thief." Pilon shouted. "Dirty pig of an untrue friend!"

17. She spent hausfrau afternoons hopping about in the sweatbox of her midget kitchen.

18. He acknowledged an early-afternoon customer with a be-with-you-in-a-minute nod.

19. He thoroughly disliked this never-far-from-tragic look of a ham Shakespearian actor.

20. "What a picture!" cried the ladies. "Oh! The lambs! Oh, the sweets! Oh, the ducks! Oh, the pets!"

21. A branch, cracking under his weight sent through the tree a sad cruel thunder.

22. There was none of the Old-fashioned Five-Four-Three-Two-One-Zero business, so tough on the human nervous system.

23. His shrivelled head bobbed like a dried pod on his frail stick of a body.

24. The children were very brown and filthily dirty.

25. Liza Hamilton was a very different kettle of Irish. Her head was small and round and it held small and round convictions.

26. He sat with Daisy in his arms for a long silent time.

27. From the Splendide Hotel guests and servants were pouring in chattering bright streams.

Exercise 6. In the following sentences pay attention to the structure and semantics of oxymorons. Also indicate which of their members conveys the individually viewed feature of the object and which one reflects its generally accepted characteristic:

1. He caught a ride home to the crowded loneliness of the barracks.

2. Sprinting towards the elevator he felt amazed at his own cowardly courage.

3. They were a bloody miserable lot – the miserablest lot of men I ever saw. But they were good to me. Bloody good.

4. He behaved pretty lousily to Jan.

5. Well might he perceive the hanging of her hair in fairest quantity in locks, some curled and some as if it were forgotten, with such a careless care and an art so hiding art that it seemed she would lay them for a pattern.

6. There were some bookcases of superbly unreadable books.

7. Absorbed as we were in the pleasures of travel – and I in my modest pride at being the only examinee to cause a commotion – we were over the old Bridge.

8. "Heaven must be the hell of a place. Nothing but repentant sinners up there, isn't it?"

9. Harriet turned back across the dim garden. The lightless light looked down from the night sky.

10. Sara was a menace and a tonic, my best enemy; Rozzie was a disease, my worst friend.

11. It was an open secret that Ray had been ripping his father-in-law off.

12. A neon sign reads "Welcome to Reno – the biggest little town in the world."

13. Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield are Good Bad Boys of American literature.

14. Haven't we here the young middle-aged woman who cannot quite compete with the paid models in the fashion magazine but who yet catches our eye?

15. Their bitter-sweet union did not last long.

16. He was sure the whites could detect his adoring hatred of them.

17. You have got two beautiful bad examples for parents.

18. He opened up a wooden garage. The doors creaked. The garage was full of nothing.

19. She was a damned nice woman, too.

20. A very likeable young man with a pleasantly ugly face.

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 4562