B. TASKS

Read the following ways of describing an event (a-e). Then match them with the five points of view listed below (1-5).

a) Mary Evans was driving home. There had been problems at the office again that day. And at home, the behavior of her husband, Nick, had changed recently. Suddenly a man stepped out in front of the car. Mary braked, but the car hit the man and he fell to the ground. The blood drained from Mary’s face, and she sat motionless behind the steering-wheel. A woman ran over and shouted to her through the window, but she didn’t reply.

b) I was walking home along Seymour Road. The evening was fine, and I was looking forward to dinner at my local restaurant. Suddenly I heard a screech of brakes and looked around. I recognized Mary Evans’s car, and saw a man in front of it, and then heard the horrible thud of body against car. I ran over Mary had gone completely white. I shouted “Mary! Mary!” through the window, but she was obviously in a state of shock, and didn’t seem to recognize me at all.

c) Mary Evans was driving home after yet another difficult day. Doubts and fears about her job and her marriage tormented her. Her worries were all founded: her boss was increasingly dissatisfied with her work, and more importantly, her husband, Nick, was thinking of leaving her. Suddenly a man on the pavement, lost in worries of his own, stepped into the road without looking. Mary braked hard, but too late. The man was knocked to the ground. Mary’s friend, Anna, who was passing, ran over to her, but Mary was too shocked to speak or even think.

d) Mary Evans was driving home, wondering what to do about the problems that had come up at the office that day, and her boss’s obvious displeasure. And Nick, her husband, how would he behave when she got home? If only she knew why he was behaving so strangely! Suddenly there was a man in front of the car. Instinctively, her foot pushed hard on the brake. The man’s terrified face appeared in front of her for an instant, then disappeared again. Everything seemed to go blank. From what seemed a million miles away, someone was calling her name.

e) It had been another awful day at the office, one problem after another, and my boss criticizing me all the time. And I was looking forward to my evening very much either. My husband, Nick, had been acting strangely all week – I really worry about losing him. I just wasn’t thinking about my driving, and the next thing I knew there was a man right in front of me. I remember braking, but it was too late – there was nothing I could do. I can’t remember any more.

1. First-person narrator: a minor character in the story.

2. First-person narrator: a main character in the story.

3. Third-person narrator: omniscient.

4. Third-person narrator: objective.

5. Third-person narrator: limited.

Date: 2014-12-28; view: 1251