Approximate Scheme of the Analysis of a Fiction Text

1. The text (extract, excerpt, episode, passage, piece, paragraph) under consideration (analysis) comes from

- (indefinite) a work of literature (novel, story, short story, tale, play, fable, poem) written by … name of the author,

- (definite) the book (novel, story, short story, tale, play, fable, poem) … name of the work… written by… name of the author.

1. The author of the extract under analysis. The author of the extract under analysis / review is a famous / well-known / outstanding / celebrated/ prominent American / British writer / poet / dramatist / essay-writer... (his name, some biographical fact about the writer, especially his ethical, esthetical, political etc. views, his belonging to a certain literary and cultural tradition) (4-5 sentences)

- The extract concerns (is devoted to, deals with) …

- The basic theme is …

- The central idea finds it’s particularization in …/is disclosed through the following collision (internal/external conflict) …

1. The choice of the point of view. The extract / story is told from the point of view of the author / the chief character / the onlooker. (It is important to distinguish between the author, the person who wrote the story, and the narrator, the person or voice telling the story. The author may select a first-person narrative, when one character tells of things that only he or she saw and felt. In a third-person narrative, the omniscient author moves in and out of people’s thoughts and comments freely on what the characters think, say and do.)

From the point of view of presentation the text is:

- the 1^st, 3^rd person narrative

- rather a description than a narration

- rather a narration than a description

- a mixture of narration and description

With some a) insertions of direct/ interior/ represented speech; b) lyrical/ critical/ philosophical digression/ retardation/ foreshadowing/ flashbacks to the past.

1. The form of speech. The extract is told in: a) direct speech;

b) indirect speech;

c) mixture type of speech.

(The form of speech of the text under analysis is prevailingly indirect. The author employs also the samples of direct speech.... ( examples ...))

1. The plot of the extract under analysis. The scene of the extract is laid / takes place in... The extract deals with.../ touches upon.../ dwells or describes... / shows... / depicts... / gives coverage to... (What is the text about? What is the focus of author’s attention? What aspects of the topic are touched upon in the text? Does the text have a simple, or complex, or intricate plot? Is the setting of events realistic/historical/fantastic/exotic/rural?) (Point out the exposition, the development, the climax and the denouement of the action (8-10 sentences))(The exposition usually contains the setting of the scene (i.e. the time and place of the action) and some preliminary information about the topic and subject of the story, its main characters etc. By nature it is a static part of the story and contains no action. The plot consists of a series of episodes relating to the development of the central conflict of the story. It usually starts with the so-called narrative hook, which introduces the conflict and begins the dynamic action aiming at the ultimate resolution of the conflict. The highest point in the development of the plot is called the climax. The post-climax events that are falling action coming to a resolution are called denouement.)
2. The plot is simple/ complex/ intricate. It centres around ….

7. Character drawing. The character drawing is indirect / direct / of a mixture type. Direct character drawing is such a type when the author describes his characters, appearances directly through words. Indirect character drawing - through their actions, attitudes to other personages, their gestures and pantomime their speech and deeds, his attitude to them (examples...) (Traditionally, all characters are divided into principal (or main) and secondary ones. Those, who form the focus of the author’s (and, hence, the reader’s) attention, and take an active part in the central conflict of the story are the main characters; others serve as the background for the portrayal of the main characters and their conflict (secondary ones). The analysis of the characters should include their physical description, social background, some distinctive trains of the character, their typical ideas, attitudes, manner of speech, actions, relations with other characters and their role in the central conflict, and, finally, the author’s attitude them.)

1. The setting of the events is realistic/ historical/ fantastic/ exotic/ rural.
2. The span of time the extract covers is (obviously) …
3. The narrative flow is straight/ complex/ circular/ frame-like.
4. The climax of the plot development is presented in …
5. The denouement is shown in …

13. Functional style of speech. Since the text under consideration presents a story it belongs to belles-lettres style, emotive prose substyle. Belles-lettres style includes poetry (the genres of short poem or verse or big poem), emotive prose (a piece of science fiction, a detective story, a love story, a psychological story) and drama

(drama proper and poetical drama, comedy, tragedy). Besides belles-lettre style there are such functional styles as publicistic, newspaper, scientific and the style of the official documents.

1. Morphology: The extract under analysis is characterized by the use of … sentences. The spoken type of speech is characterized by the wide use of present and future tense-forms, while the written type of speech – by the wide use of past tense-forms. Past tense-forms are mostly used in author’s narrations or descriptions and present or future tense-forms are mostly used in conversations or dialogues; repetition of the root …/the prefix …/the suffix … /the inflexion … is used to denote; the morphological transposition of … characterizes;

( Exemplify your answers)

The student is supposed to analyze the use of articles as to their meaning, non-finite forms of the verb as to their form and function in the sentence, modals as to their usage and moods.

Grammar materials

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