ENGLISH PRACTICAL COURSE

ENGLISH PRACTICAL COURSE

2nd year - 1st and 2nd terms

Co-authors and Coordinators: Prof. Dr. DOMNICA SERBAN

Lecturer Drd. DENISA DR GUSIN

SEMESTRUL I

I. Introduction: the Structure of the Course in the First Term

The English Practical Course is designed to help students to reach and consolidate the upper

intermediate level of English. Thus, it has a skill-based approach, tackling all the skills:

reading, writing, speaking, listening and also, grammar in use.

The course consists of four modules as follows:

The Text Module has a complex structure containing three texts that are thematicallyoriented:

Educating Man, Physical and Emotional Life (1), Physical and Emotional Life

(2), each being followed by text analysis and vocabulary practice. The units include a

wide variety of applications (activities and exercises) helping the students increase their

vocabulary, and improve their reading and speaking skills.

The Grammar Module deals with applied Syntax topics. In the first semester the

following issues are to be studied: sentence types with respect to word order peculiarities

and communicative functions; uses of be, copula-like verbs, basic and derived

predicatives, structures with predicative adjuncts; monotransitives and ditransitives, the

cognate object, prop-verbs, causatives and ergatives, reflexive and reciprocal transitives,

transitive phrasal verbs; complex intransitive verbs. Each issue is allocated a range of

activities meant to revise and go thoroughly into the main grammar structures.

The Translation Module contains a corpus of texts focusing on the grammatical and

lexical problems approached. The texts are chosen from contemporary English prose.

Syntactic and stylistic adequacy are checked.

The Composition Module consists of three essays (one of which is obligatory) on topics

related to the text units.

II. Objectives of the English Practical Course

The course aims at securing an important progress in the domain of vocabulary and syntactic

structures (at the level of the syntactic phrase, simple sentences and complex sentences)

acquisition which should allow students to efficiently apply their knowledge in various

varieties, primarily including General English and Academic English.

At the same time it consolidates the upper-intermediate level of English by covering various

lexical areas and grammatical structures. Students' competence of the four skills is refined by

means of a whole range of practical activities.

By the end of the academic year students will have acquired the necessary competence in

translating fictional and non-fictional texts into and from the target language, in essay-writing,

and in conversing.

III. Contents of the Practical Course

I. The Text Module

Unit 1: Educating Man

The Flight from the Enchanter, by Iris Murdoch

Unit 2: Physical and Emotional Life (1)

A Single Man, by Cristopher Isherwood

Unit 3: Physical and Emotional Life (2)

The Betrayed Kingdom, by Richard Brautigam

II. The Grammar Module

1. Sentence Types (word order peculiarities, communicative functions);

2. Copula Predication (uses of be, copula-like verbs, basic and derived predicatives, 19419s186t

structures with predicative adjuncts);

3. Complex Intransitive Verbs (intransitives with particle and/or preposition);

4. Transitive Predication (monotransitives and ditransitives, the cognate object, prop-verbs,

causative and ergatives, reflexive and reciprocal transitives, transitive phrasal verbs);

III. The Translation Module

IV. The Composition Module

V. Self - Evaluation Test

VI. Bibliography

I. THE TEXT MODULE

Unit 1: Educating Man

Pilot text: The Flight from the Enchanter, by Iris Murdoch

Annette put her coat on and was ready to go. But now when she reached the door that

led into the street she paused suddenly. She turned around and looked along the corridor.

Everything seemed the same; the expensive flora, the watery reproductions of famous

paintings, the much admired curve of the white staircase. Annette stared at it all. It looked to

her the same, and yet different. It was as if she had walked through the looking-glass. She

realized that she was free. As Annette pondered, almost with awe, upon the ease with which

she had done it, she felt that Ringenhall had taught her its most important lesson. She began to

walk back, peering through doorways and touching objects with her fingers. She half expected

to find new rooms hidden behind familiar doors. She wandered into the library.

She entered quietly and found that as usual the room was empty. She stood there in the

silence until it began to look to her like a library in a sacked city. No one owned these books

now. No one would come here again; only after a while the wall would crumble down and the

rain would come blowing in. It occurred to Annette that she might as well take away one or

two books as souvenirs. Volumes were not arranged in any particular order, not were they

stamped or catalogued. She examined several shelves. The books were chaotic, but in mint

condition, since reading was not a popular activity at Ringenhall. At length she selected a

leather-bound copy of the Collected Poems of Browning, and left the room with the book

under her arm. She was by now feeling so happy that she would have shouted for joy if it had

not been for the delicious spell which she felt herself to be under and which still enjoined

silence. She looked about her complacently. Ringenhall was at her mercy.

There were two things which Annette had wanted to do ever since she had arrived.

One of these was to carve her name on a wooden bust by Grinling Gibbons which stood in the

common-room. There was something solemn and florid about this work which made Annette

itch for a blade. The wood was soft and inviting. However, she rejected this idea, not because

the name of Grinling Gibbons carried, when it came it, any magic for her, but because she had

mislaid her pocket-knife. The other thing which she had always wanted to do was to swing on

the chandelier in the dining-room. She turned rapidly in the direction of that room and

bounded in. Tables and chairs stood by, silent with disapproval. Annette looked up at the

chandelier and her heart beat violently. The thing seemed enormously high up and far away. It

hung from a stout chain; Annette had noticed this carefully when she had studied it in the

past. She had also remarked a strong metal bar, right in the centre of it, on which she had

always planned to put her hands. All about and above this bar were suspended tiny drops of

crystal, each one glowing with a drop of pure light tinier still, as if a beautiful wave had been

arrested in the act of breaking while the sun was shining upon it. Annette had felt sure that if

she could swing upon the chandelier the music which was hidden in the crystals would break

out into a great peal of bells. But now it seemed to be very hard to get at.

In her imagination Annette had always reached the objective by a flying leap from the

High Table; but she could see now that this was not a practical idea. Grimly she began to pull

one of the tables into the centre of the room. On top of the table she placed one of the chairs.

Then she began to climb up. By the time she was on the table she was already beginning to

feel rather far away from the ground. Annette was afraid of heights. However, she mounted

resolutely on to the chair. Here, by standing on tiptoe, she could get her hands over the metal

bar. She paused breathlessly. Then with a quick movement she kicked the chair away and

hung stiffly in mid-air. The chandelier felt firm, her grip was strong, there was no terrible

rending sound as the chain parted company with the ceiling. "After all", thought Annette, "I

don't weigh much".

She kept her feet neatly together and her toes pointed. Then with an oscillation from

the hips she began to swing very gently to and fro. The chandelier began to ring, not with a

deafening peal but with a very high and sweet tinkling sound; the sort of sound, after all,

which you would expect a wave of the sea to make if it had been immobilized and turned into

glass: a tiny internal rippling, a mixture of sound and light. Annette was completely enchanted

by this noise and by the quiet rhythm of her own movements. She fell into a sort of trance,

and as she swung dreamily to and fro she had a vision of remaining there for the rest of the

afternoon until the boarders of Ringenhall, streaming in for their dinner, would make their

way round on either side of her swinging feet and sit down, paying her no more attention than

if she had been a piece of furniture.

At that moment the door opened and Miss Walpole came in. Annette, who was at the

end of one of her swings, let go abruptly of the chandelier and, missing the table, fell to the

floor with a crash at Miss Walpole's feet. Miss Walpole looked down at her with a slight

frown. This lady was never sure which she disliked most, adolescent girls or small children;

the latter made more noise, it was true, but they were often in the long run easier to handle.

x

x x

APPLICATIONS

I. Reading Comprehension Activity

What would you feel when entering such a corridor and library?

What is the 'important lesson' Annette has been taught?

What sort of person would do the two things Annette wanted to do?

How do you perceive her attitude to the school?

Does the fact that she carries one of them out say anything about her character?

II. Look up the following words and phrases in a dictionary:

Verbs Nouns Adjectives/Adverb

s

Prep. Phrases

to ponder awe complacent(ly) at length

to peer leap violent(ly) at one's mercy

to itch peal (a ~ of bells) breathless(y) on tiptoe

to bound ripple high up in the past

to glow grip far away on to the chair

to arrest height resolute(ly) with a frown

III. Vocabulary Practice

1. Collocate the adjectives below with possible noun heads so as to illustrate the whole

range of meanings (concrete, figurative etc.)

WOODEN; WATERY; NEAT; GRIM; STIFF; SOFT

2. Fill in with a verb indicating cutting and complete the list of synonyms by further

items, such as: carve, trim, clip, hew etc.

a) In spring we always ............ our trees.

b) Let's ............ this interesting article!

c) Her hair is ......... .

d) You'd better ............. this meat rather than ............ it.

e) An unknown artist has ................... the statue of the Happy Prince.

f) A lot of animals have been ............ for food products.

g) We had to .......... our way through the thick jungle.

3. Supply six items (minimally) in the series of synonyms:

a) for light emission (prototype: to shine)

b) for kinds of looking (prototype: to look)

c) for taking hold of something (prototype: to hold)

Provide minimal contexts and explain by short paraphrases the main semantic distinctions.

4. State the contextual meaning of the following words and phrases in the fragment

above and supply more contexts to illustrate the same or a different use.

a) flora

b) watery

c) mint condition

d) complacency

e) florid

f) immobilized

5. Make a list of all the phrasal verbs (with particle and/or preposition) in the text and

supply their contextual meanings.

Unit 2: Physical and Emotional Life (1)

Pilot text: A Single Man, by Cristopher Isherwood

Waking up begins with saying AM and NOW. That which has awoken then lies for a

while staring up at the ceiling and down into himself, until it has recognized I, and there from

deduced I AM, I AM NOW. HERE comes next, and is at least negatively reassuring; because

HERE, this morning is what it had expected to find itself what's called at home. But now isn't

simply now. NOW is also a cold reminder; one whole day later than yesterday, one year later

than last year. Every NOW is labelled with its date, rendering all past NOWS obsolete, until -

later or sooner, perhaps no, not perhaps - quite certainly: It will come. Fear tweaks the vagus

nerve. A sickish shrinking from what waits, somewhere out, dead ahead.

But meanwhile the cortex, that grim disciplinarian, has taken its place at the

central controls and has been testing them one after another - the legs stretch, the lower back

is arched, the fingers clench and relax... And now, over the entire inter-communication

system, is issued the first order of the day: UP.

Obediently, the body levers itself out of bed, wincing from twinges in the

arthritic thumbs and the left knee, mildly nauseated by the pylorus in a state of spasm - and

shambles naked into the bathroom, where its bladder is emptied and it is weighed; still a bit

over 130 pounds, in spite of all toiling at the gym. Then to the mirror.

What it sees there isn't much a face as the expression of a predicament. Here's

what it has done to itself, here's the mess it has somehow managed to get itself into, during its

fifty-eight years; expressed in terms of a dull harassed stare, a coarsened nose, a mouth

dragged down by the corners into a grimace, as if at the sourness of its own toxins, cheeks

sagging from their anchors of muscles, a throat hanging limp in tiny wrinkled folds. The

harassed look is that of a desperately tired swimmer or runner; yet there is no question of

stopping. The creature we are watching will struggle on and on until it drops. Not because it is

heroic: it can imagine no other alternative.

Staring and staring into the mirror, it sees many faces within its face - the face

of a child, the boy, the young man, the not-so-young man - all present still, preserved like

fossils on superimposed layers, and like fossils, dead. Their message to this live dying

creature is: Look at us - we have died - what is there to be afraid of?

It answers them: But that happened so gradually, so easily. I AM AFRAID OF

BEING RUSHED.

It stares and stares. Its lips part. It starts to breathe through its mouth. Until the

cortex orders it impatiently to wash, shave, brush its hair. Its nakedness has to be covered. It

must be dressed up in clothes, because it is going outside, into the world of the other people;

and these others must be able to identify it. Its behaviour must be acceptable to them.

Obediently, it washes, shaves, brushes its hair; for it accepts its responsibilities

to the others. It is even glad it has its place among them. It knows what is expected of it.

It knows its name. It is called George.

By the time it has gotten dressed, it has become HE; has become more or less

George - though still not the whole George they demand and are prepared to recognize. Those

who call him on the phone at this hour of the morning would be bewildered, maybe even

scared, if they could realize what this three-quarters-human thing is they are talking to. But, of

course, they never could - its voice's mimicry of their George is nearly perfect. Even

Charlotte is taken in by it. Only two or three times has she sensed something uncanny, and

asked: 'George, are you ALL RIGHT?'

He crosses the front room, which he calls his study, and comes down the

staircase. The stairs turn a corner; they are narrow and steep. You can touch both handrails

with your elbows and you have to bend your head - even if, like George, you are only five feet

eight. This is a tightly planned little house. He often feels protected by its smallness; there is

hardly enough room here to feel lonely.

Nevertheless -

Think of two people, living together day after day, year after year, in this small

space, standing elbow to elbow cooking at the same stove, squeezing past each other on the

narrow stairs, shaving in front of the same bathroom mirror, constantly jogging, jostling,

bumping against each other's bodies by mistake or on purpose, sensually, aggressively,

awkwardly, impatiently, in rage or in love - think what deep, though invisible tracks they

must leave, everywhere, behind them! The doorway into the kitchen has been built too

narrow. Two people in a hurry, with plates of food in their hands are apt to keep colliding

there. And it is here, nearly every morning, that George, having reached the bottom of the

stairs, has his sensation of suddenly finding himself on an abrupt, brutally broken-off, jagged

edge - as though the track has disappeared down a landslide. It is here that he stops short and

knows with a sick newness, almost as though it were for the first time: Jim is dead. Is dead.

He stands quite still, silent or at most uttering a brief animal grunt, as he waits

for the spasm to pass. Then he walks into the kitchen. These morning spasms are too painful

to be treated sentimentally. After them he feels relief, merely. It is like getting over a bad

attack of cramp.

x

x x

APPLICATIONS

I. Reading Comprehension

Which are the main stages in the character's 'waking' process?

How is the relation between the brain and the parts of the body reflected in the text?

What referential expressions are used to mark the identity of the main character?

What tragedy is evoked by George in the final part of the fragment? Is it a climax or an

anti-climax?

What is the 'role' of the house in the fragment above?

II. Look up the following words in a dictionary:

Verbs Nouns Adjectives

to tweak twinge obsolete

to shrink nausea(+ed) sick(-ish)/ ly

to clench bladder coarse/ ly

to wince predicament limp

to shamble reminder uncanny

to lever vagus nerve awkward

to harass pylorus brutally

to bewilder mimicry sentimentally

to squeeze handrail merely

III. Vocabulary Practice

1. Explain the meaning of the Noun, Adjective and Verb single in the sentences below:

a) The mountaineers were climbing in a single file.

b) She decided to buy herself a single.

c) He had to pay extra for a single room.

d) Yesterday they played women's singles.

e) He asked me to pay in singles.

f) His article starts by singling out the five key goals of US foreign policy (for praise/ blame/

criticism).

g) The peasants were singling the maize.

h) He was wearing a single-breasted coat, as well as a single eyeglass.

i) The single-engined train was puffing along the single track.

j) When I first met him he was a single man.

k) Cigarette smoking is the single most important cause of lung cancer.

l) Have you heard their latest single?

What do you think the compounds single-handed and single-minded might mean?

2. Find out the two contexts in which the verb shamble occurs in the text and explain its

use. Have a look at the items derived from the verb and try to infer their meaning:

a) Our economy is in a shambles.

b) You've made a complete shambles of that speech!

c) This kitchen is a shambles!

d) The way you run this place is shambolic.

3. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate verb in the series of 'verbs of holding tightly':

clasp, clench, clutch, grasp, grip, press, snatch, seize, cling , claw

a) She climbed into the car ...ing her hat so that the wind wouldn't blow it off.

b) The baby monkey ... to its mother's back until it could climb by itself.

c) David suddenly ...ed my arm and pulled me away from the road.

d) The hawk ...ed the fowl by its talons.

e) The kid ... my hand with warm affection.

f) The boxer ...ed his fists and started a new attack.

g) She ..ed the knife in her hand and started carving the turkey.

h) He was ...ed from the claws of death.

i) She ...ed at her husband's sleeve, trying to stop him.

j) The policeman ...ed the thief in the act of escaping.

Unit3: Physical and Emotional Life (2)

Pilot text: The Betrayed Kingdom, by Richard Brautigam

This love story took place during the last spring of the Beat Generation. She must be

in her middle thirties and I wonder what she's doing now and if she still goes to parties.

Her name slips my memory. It has joined all the other names that I have forgotten that

swirl through my head.

She lived in Berkeley and I saw her often at the parties I attended that spring.

She'd come to a party all sexied up and really move it around and drink wine and flirt

until midnight came ant then she'd lay her scene on whomever was trying to get into her

pants, which happened to be a lot of my friends who had cars. One after another they

answered the fate that she had waiting for them.

'Is anyone driving to Berkeley? I need a ride to Berkeley', she would always announce

erotically. She wore a little gold watch to keep track of the midnight.

One of my friends would always say yes behind too much wine and drive her to

Berkeley and she'd let them into her little apartment and tell them that she wouldn't go to bed

with them, that she didn't sleep with anybody, but if they wanted to, they could sleep on her

floor. She had an extra wool blanket.

My friends would always be too drunk to drive back to San Francisco, so they would

sleep on her floor, curled around that green army blanket and wake up in the morning stiff and

grouchy as a coyote with rheumatism. Neither coffee nor breakfast was offered and she had

gotten another ride to Berkeley.

A few weeks later I would see her at another party and come the midnight she'd sing

her little song 'Is anybody driving to Berkeley? I need a drive to Berkeley'. And some poor

son-of-a-bitch, always one of my friends, would fall for it and keep an appointment with that

blanket on her floor.

Obviously, I was never able to understand the attraction that existed for her because

she did nothing to me. Of course, I didn't have a car. That was probably it. You had to have a

car to understand her charms.

I remember one evening when everybody was drinking wine and having a good time,

listening to music. Oh, those Beat Generation days!, talking, wine and jazz!

Miss Berkeley Floor was drifting through the place spreading joy wherever she went,

except among those friends of mine who had already availed themselves of her hospitality.

Then midnight came and 'Is anybody driving to Berkeley?' She always used the same words. I

guess because they worked so well: perfectly.

A friend of mine who had told me of his adventures with her, looked at me and smiled

as another friend, a virgin to the experience and quite aroused behind the evening's wine, took

the hook.

' I'll give you a ride home', he said.

'Wonderful', she said with a sexy smile.

'I hope he enjoys sleeping on the floor', my friend half-whispered to me, loud enough

for me to hear, but not quite loud enough for him to hear because he was kismeted to make an

acquaintance with a Berkeley floor. In other words, this girl's scene had become a very injoke

among the stud and they were always amused to see somebody else take that carnival

ride to Berkeley.

She went and got her coat and out they went, but she had drunk a little too much wine

herself and she got sick when they got to his car and she puked all over his front fender. After

she had emptied her stomach and was feeling a little better my friend drove her to Berkeley

and she made him sleep on the floor wrapped in that God-damn blanket. He came back to San

Francisco the next morning: stiff, grouchy, hungover and so mad at her that he never washed

her puke off that fender. He drove round San Francisco for months with that stuff residing

there like a betrayed kingdom until it wore away.

x

x x

APPLICATIONS

I. Reading Comprehension

Why is the main female character named Mrs. Berkeley Floor?

How would you characterize Mrs. Berkeley Floor?

What does the Betrayed Kingdom stand for?

What would be the conclusion of the text?

II. Look up the following words and phrases in a dictionary:

Verbs Nouns Adjectives/adverbs

to slip curl stiff

to swirl kismet grouchy

to fall for smth. in-joke erotically

to drift fender betrayed

to avail rear wrapped

to take the hook Beat Generation carnival

III. Vocabulary Practice

1. Insert the appropriate word: embrace, clasp, hug, nestle, nuzzle, cuddle.

a) The dog............the sleeping child.

b) He....................the Muslim religion.

c) He had knelt with his hands.................ed in prayer.

d) The treatise.................several different subjects.

e) She.............down among cushions.

f) She gave her mother a big.............. .

g) The children.....................up together under the blankets.

h) This bracelet won't ............ .

2. Which of these characteristics would you like your ideal person to have? Choose the

five most important. Argue for your choice. Show how the italicised words are derived

lexically.

modesty loyalty honesty generosity reliability

style intelligence bravery judgment patience

charm sense of humour faithfulness sociability talent

caution resourcefulness taste common sense beauty

For each of them give the corresponding adjective.

3. Explain the following collocations/expressions. Then use them in sentences of your

own:

a) stiff cardboard

pair of shoes

neck

dough

exam

competition

welcome

breeze

drink

b) a curl of one's hair;

a curl of smoke;

a curl of lip

II. The Grammar module

1. Identify the types or the following sentences from the text (Unit 3: The Betrayed

Kingdom) and make the necessary comments:

"Out they went."

"Is anyone driving to Berkeley?"

"I need a ride to Berkeley."

"Oh, those Beat generation days!"

"Talking, wine and jazz!"

"I'll give you a ride home".

2. Match the two columns A and B:

A B

a) I would be grateful if you could pass me the salad. declarative and interrogative

b) I insist that you come again tomorrow night. interrogative

c) Will you repeat the question? interrogative and declarative

d) Did you know they've married this morning? exclamatory and interrogative

e) How many times have I told you not to do that?

3. Give examples of:

a) simple sentences (one predication-finite verb)

b) compound sentences (coordination)

c) complex sentences (subordination/embedding)

Then using the following box with the most common conjunctions make up sentences of your

own:

a) coordinating

and nor then so

but or yet and also

b) subordinating

time condition purpose reason concession place manner relative

when if in order

to

because although where as which

before unless so that since though whereve

r

like that

while as while the way whose

despite

4. Give the correct succession of the adjectives in the following noun phrases:

a/an (red, washable, cotton) skirt;

(brown, frightened, big) eyes

a/an (fifteen-foot, pale-red, age-old) wall

a/an (Greek, young, bright) student

(volcanic, black, tall) rocks

a/an (little, marble, Egyptian, brownish) statue

a/an (fluffy, pink, narrow, woolen, Turkish) cushion.

Order of Adjectives in front of the Noun

(value) (size) (temp.) (shape) (colour)(origin)(material)

5. Spot the errors (if any) and try to account for the ill-formedness of the sentences in

terms of the rule(s) that should have been applied:

a) I asked him who was the car owner and he told to me it was possessed by his brother-inlaw.

b) Yesterday it took place at the Elisabeta Palace a panel on higher education.

c) He suggested me that there was the thief in the back yard.

d) Green peas he never eats, but he likes very much soya beans.

d) Michael sent Frankfurt a large box.

6. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate preposition:

a) Mary was not at all pleased......... the invitation, on the contrary she was indignant ....it.

b) I have scarcely been satisfied ..... my performance lately.

c) Some people are afraid ...... spiders.

d) All the passengers were impatient .... delay.

e) She was shocked .... the news of his failure.

f) What is he glad ..... ?

g) My brother is eager .... success.

h) We are all surprised ..... your reply.

i) I'm angry ..... myself for having failed the exam.

j) Stunt men's life is fraught ....... danger.

7. Use the verbs below to complete the sentences.

become get grow come go

turn run fall loom lie

make stand

a) The prospect of a strike ..... large in everyone's mind.

b) He withdrew from the competition when it ...... clear that he stood no chance.

c) There's a lot of money ..... idle at the bank.

d) At the President's entry everyone ..... silent.

e) The tennis-player .....to pieces in the second set.

f) The cows are ..... dry.

g) She's ..... to be more and more like her mother.

h) John .... convicted for treason.

i) The snow .... (in)to slush.

j) The seam .... unstitched.

k) The telephone has .... dead.

l) Mike's journal .... open on the table.

m) Susan ... a good wife for Bill.

n) I .... godmother to the child.

o) When her servant left to have a baby, Mrs. Green had to .... cook.

8. Specify the type of the following adjectives, and then put them in contexts of your

own.

a) leaden

b) ajar

c) chief

d) rural

e) old

f) utter

g) heavy

h) criminal

i) asleep

9. Identify the linking verb in the following quotations:

a) "Painting is a blind man's profession".

b) "So are they all, all honourable men".

c) "I've grown accustomed to her face".

d) "It is a terrible thing for a man to find out that all his life he has been speaking nothing but

the truth".

e) "A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car".

10. Fill in with a suitable preposition so as to form a prepositional phrase:

a) She has applied ... a transfer.

b) She has applied the ointment .... the wound.

c) She applied ... the task most diligently.

d) For details you may apply ... the secretary or .... the booking office.

11. Fill in with the appropriate particle or preposition or both and then explain the

meaning of the phrasal verb thus formed:

a) The smoke drifted ......... to reveal the blackened shell of the building.

b) He was excited by novel ideas which came drifting ....... ....... all kinds of sources.

c) His upbringing seems to have left him incapable of sustained effort, he just drifts .... .

d) He and his wife are drifting ............ ............ mutual indifference.

12. Use the following intransitive verbs in contexts of your own so as to illustrate their

syntactic behaviour:

live cost walk go arrive

stretch weigh come dash last

13. Complete the sentences beginning as shown so that the meaning stays the same. Use

the word given and other words to complete each sentence. Do not alter the word given.

a) My brother mended my vacuum cleaner for me.

had

I ........................ mended.

b) Yesterday, I took my car to a garage to be washed.

had

I ..........................yesterday.

c) Someone is coming to repair the broken door.

am

I ..........................repaired.

d) A famous designer made her dress.

had

She ............................ by a famous designer.

e) I'm having my passport photograph taken on Sunday.

is

Someone .................... on Sunday.

f) Her hairdresser has coloured her hair red.

had

She ......................... red.

g) An architect is coming to design my new house.

am

I ......................... designed.

h) The dentist has taken out one of my teeth.

have

I .................... taken out.

i) My friends are painting my bathroom next week.

am

I ........................ next week.

14. Insert the appropriate particle and state its behaviour as to Particle Movement:

a) He rarely managed to get .... (his jokes).

b) The newspaper whipped ..... (sympathy) for them.

c) They attempted to drum .... (support) from the students.

15. Complete the sentences using "themselves" or "each other".

a) They always send ..... a card at New Year's Eve.

b) They really enjoyed ...... on the cruise.

c) Frank and Bruce hadn't met ..... before.

d) Joan and Angelina went shopping together and looked .... out of the house.

e) Neither Patrick nor Robert would take responsibility for the accident. They both blamed f)

Patrick and Robert were dreadfully sorry about the accident. They blamed .... for it.

g) The twin brothers smiled happily at .....

h) A lot of people injure ... doing jobs about the house.

16. Analyse the underlined verb phrases :

a. If you take a breath and feel like a broken window, then you have to tell what's happening.

b. There was nothing that would keep me from taking a walk along the docks.

Give other examples of verbs that behave in a similar way.

III. The Translation module

A. Translate into English:

1. a) Noua opera din Sydney nu are nici un loc de parcare. Profesorii români se plâng ca nu au

salarii decente. Ziaristul nu este în posesia ultimelor date. Tânarul nu are suficiente

documente pentru a dovedi ca s-a specializat în finan e.

b) Stateam de peste doua ore în fa a cladirii, nestiind ce se asteapta de la noi.

I-am sfatuit sa nu-si faca griji. I-a trebuit multa stapânire de sine sa nu-l strânga de gât.

A pierdut orice speranŃa de angajare neluându-si licen a.

c) Colegii pareau sa nu observe ce scriu. Inten ioneaza sa nu sofeze în week-end.

Cred ca tatal tau n-a ajuns înca acasa.

2. Se uita iarasi pe geam. Doar în acest interval, aerul s-a umbrit si s-a racorit, ca si cum s-ar fi

aflat sub invizibili curen i reci de apa. Între aleile cu pietris auriu, pe straturile impecabile cu

trandafiri ale Sophiei, se deschid, din loc în loc, corole înselatoare galben-pai, desigur fara

parfum si cu catifeaua petalei asprita de bruma toamnei. Din bolta compacta de iedera, glicina

si clematite, s-a desprins o creanga si atârna, atragând toate privirile spre frunzele ei de un

rosu copt si luciu.

- Domnul Profesor îmi va ierta de aceasta data lipsa de modestie, începe sovaitor

tânarul, întrucât, pâna în secunda de faŃa, nu prea am pacatuit ... prin vanitate.

Nerevendicându-mi-se mie deloc calitatea de judecator al evenimentelor politice, cu toata

modestia va spun deci ca am fost dezamagit. Nu sunte i de aceeasi parere ca oamenii nostri

politici nu au intuit?...Era de asteptat ca opinia generala sa dezamageasca. Este firesc însa a fi

dezamagit de cei mai clarvazatori? Sau poate, ei erau la curent, gata pregati i...

- Cunosc bine starea, surâde Profesorul. Mi se întâmpla si mie sa fiu dezamagit de ei,

sa-i suspectez: încerc atunci sa-mi amintesc ca tot ce avem sub ochi s-a facut în doar cincizeci

de ani. Si mai ales încerc sa-mi repet proverbul favorit: calomniez, calomniez, il restera

toujours quelque chose...

3. Meditând în continuare la ceea ce mi s-a întâmplat în ultima vreme, constatai ca

despar indu-ma de Matilda nu ramâneam deloc liber. Crezusem ca voi putea scapa de trecut

daca voi reduce totul la o singura idee: ca n-am cunoscut-o niciodata, ca n-am iubit-o, ca n-am

avut nici un copil, ba chiar ca n-am fost închis niciodata! Ce-ar fi sa-mi imaginez , îmi ziceam

deseori, ca timp de cinci-sase ani am suferit de o amnezie si am dormit tot timpul si poate

doar în vis mi s-a parut ca am cunoscut pe un oarecare Petrica si pe so ia lui, cu care am trait

mai apoi o istorie tulbure.

4. Lui Paul îi venea inexplicabil mai usor - nu stia nici el de ce, poate dintr-o defec iune

ciudata a memoriei sale - sa-si traiasca pe loc trecutul, cu o uimire si încântare mult mai mare

decât daca si l-ar fi amintit doar. Si-apoi capul omului e imperfect, memoria e imperfecta, nu

poate re ine chiar totul, ba chiar destul de pu in si pentru acest lucru toate acele frânturi fara

nici o legatura pe care le povesteste cineva din trecutul sau seamana mult mai pu in cu

adevarul decât trecutul lui Paul, atât de curat, întreg, fara nici o scapare, curgând lin, ca o apa

curata de ses în care î i vine mereu sa te arunci si sa te scalzi, cu toate hainele parasite în graba

pe Ńarm.

B. Translate into Romanian:

1. Such precious things had been granted to him, sources of happiness, sources of good. Was

it that he was unworthy of them, since he now conceived of surrendering them out of what

seemed at moments a stupid guilt-ridden petulance? For any good that lay beyond, elsewhere,

his eyes were dim. It seemed unthinkable that he should sacrifice his whole career now

because of some idle nervous intuition. Or because his father thought he was evading the

truth. Or because he imagined this or that about his future self on no evidence at all. And

meanwhile he had given one of the gravest of all promises to a young girl. And he loved her.

And he wanted now more than anything else in the world to be in her arms. He groaned,

darkening his face, hiding it from the golden time-ridden light of the leafy window. If only

delay itself could have no consequences. If only all could stand still and the relentless

procession of the hours be checked so that he could rest quietly in a real interim. Oh was it not

even now somehow possible that everything could be well?

2. It becomes increasingly difficult, I have found, as time goes by, to recall the exact

circumstances in which one first became acquainted with this man or that; for as a general

thing I lay no claim to the possession of those hair-trigger memories which come from

subscribing to the correspondence courses advertised in the magazines. And yet I can state

without doubt or hesitation that the individual afterwards known as Battling Billson entered

my life at half-past four on the afternoon of Saturday, September 10th, two days after my 27th

birthday. For there was that about my first sight of him which has caused the events to remain

photographically lined on the tablets of my mind when a yesterday has faded from its page.

Not only was our meeting dramatic and even startling, but it had in it something from the

quality of the last straw. It seemed to put the lid on the sadness of life.

3. The sea which lies before me, as I write, glows rather than sparkles in the May sunshine.

With the tide turning, it leans quietly against the land, almost unflecked by ripples or by foam.

Near to the horizon it is a luxurious purple, spotted with regular lines of emerald green. At the

horizon it is indigo. Near to the shore, where my view is framed by rising heaps of yellow

rock, there is a band of lighter green, icy and pure, less radiant, opaque however, not

transparent. We are in the north and the bright sunshine cannot penetrate the sea. Where the

gentle water taps the rocks there is still a surface skin of colour. The cloudless sky is very pale

at the indigo horizon which it lightly pencils in with silver. Its blue gains towards the zenith

and vibrates there. But the sky looks cold even the sun looks cold.

4. Elinor could not help smiling at this display of indifference towards the manners of a

person to whom she had often had difficulty in persuading Marianne to behave with tolerable

politeness, and resolved within herself, that if her sister persisted in going, she would go

likewise, as she did not think it proper that Marianne should be left to the sole guidance of her

own judgment, or that Mrs. Jennings should be abandoned to the mercy of Marianne for all

the comfort of her domestic hours. To this determination she was the more easily reconciled,

by recollecting that Edward Ferrars, by Lucy' s account, was not to be in town before

February, and that their visit, without any unreasonable abridgement, might be previously

finished.

IV. The Composition module

SUGGESTIONS FOR ESSAY WRITING

1. make your writing as informative as required (not more informative). If you are given

a word limit you have to distribute the amount of necessary info within the respective space.

2. in case you produce a piece of non-fictional text try to make your contribution one

that is faithful to reality. This implies that you should not introduce any elements that you

believe to be false, or that you lack evidence for.

3. be relevant. This means that you should not include irrelevant details or digressions.

4. avoid obscurity and ambiguity . You have to decide on your Topic (including subtopics)

and express it as clearly and transparently as possible.

Do not include 'dim' elements that might hinder communication.

5. be brief and orderly. Don't write lengthy compositions, 'beating about the bush'. Don't

write loose essays, lacking an internal organization.

Be careful with your division of the text into paragraphs which should correspond to thematic

units imposed by the progression of the major topic.

Supplementary suggestions

1. if you are given a title which is topic-oriented (summing up the topic to be dealt with)

look for the key words/terms. If necessary (re)define them or supply your own interpretation

of these terms (if any).

2. have in mind the distinction between literal and non-literal meaning. Decide on which of

the two types you are going to exploit (e.g. porcupine interpreted as having a /+animal/

reading or a symbolical one).

3. settle what your 'thesis' consists in and plan the stages meant to build it for the reader.

This 'thesis' may be made explicit from the very start or in the conclusive part or else left

implicit, but perceivable as underlying your text.

4. be convincing, by resorting to proofs such as illustrations (situations, occurrences that

confirm your thesis). Be argumentative (use 'for' and 'against' arguments)

5. choose an adequate point of view (narrative perspective)

6. be coherent and use Discourse links wherever necessary, 'hence', 'therefore', etc.

TOPICS FOR ESSAY WRITING:

1. Unit 1: Continue the fragment by imagining the further episode in Annette's relation with

authority.

2. Unit 2: Draw Jim's imaginary portrait.

3. Unit 3. Write a 'parting with a hypothetical Eskimo lover' letter.

V. Self - Evaluation Test

SELF - EVALUATION TEST 1 (1st semester)

1. Paraphrase the following expressions, and use them in contexts of your own so as to

illustrate their meaning: to come in for something, to come down on somebody, to come to

terms with something, to come out with something, to come to the point.

Model: to come in for smth.: to receive smth., to be the object of smth.

The Government's economic policies have come in for a lot of criticism in the newspaper.

2. Define the following idiomatic expressions: a wet blanket, an armchair critic, a stuffed

shirt, a nosy parker, a fair weather friend.

Model: a wet blanket: a person who spoils other people's fun by disapproving of it or refusing

to join in.

3. The following is an extract from a spy story. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct

narrative tense:

Angus Pym (1)....(wake) up on the dot of six o'clock, as he always (2)...(do), no matter

where he (3)...(be) or what he (4)...(do) the previous day. His first thought was the realization

that he (5)...still (wear) shirt and trousers, and when his eyes (6)...(fall) on the reports piled up

around him on the bed, the events of the previous evening (7)...(come) back to him. He (8)...

(go) to his club for supper, (9)...just (finish) his steak tartare and (10)....(look) forward for his

spaghetti when his meal (11)...rudely (interrupt) by a call from M, his controller.

After an ice-cold shower, Pym (12)...(think) carefully about which suit to put on. He

(13)...(see) M at nine o'clock that morning, and he (14)...(want) to make a good impression.

Glancing at himself in the mirror, he (15)...(notice) that he (16)...(put) on weight recently. He

(17)...(have) to pay more attention to his diet in the future.

An hour later, as he (18)....(drive) through the rush-hour traffic on his way to meet M,

Pym (19)...carefully (consider) the contents of the files. So, Zircon, the organization which

sought to control the free western world, was back in business? Its founder, Leon Biarrowitz,

was dead. Pym (20)....(know) this, because he (21)...personally (arrange) his death. But who

(22)...(control) Zircon now? Doubtless M. (23)...(tell) him. (23p)

Answer Key:

1. woke 7. came 13. would see 19. was considering

2. does 8. went 14. wanted 20. knew

3. had been 9. had finished 15. noticed 21. had arranged

4. had done 10. was looking 16. had put 22. was controlling

5. was wearing 11. was interrupted 17. would have 23.would tell

6. fell 12. thought 18. was driving

VI. BIBLIOGRAFIE

A. Obligatory:

Bantas, A., 2003: Limba Engleza în liste si tabele, ed. Teora, Buc.;

Badescu, A., 1963: Gramatica Limbii Engleze, ed. Stiin ifica, Buc.;

Levi chi, L., 1994: Gramatica Limbii Engleze, ed. Teora, Buc.;

GalaŃeanu-Fârnoaga, G., E. Comisel, 1995: Gramatica Limbii Engleze, ed. Omegapress,

Buc.;

Serban, D., Dragusin, D., 2004: English Syntax Workbook, ed. Funda iei România de

Mâine

Vianu, L., 2003: English With a Key, ed. Teora, Buc.;

B. Optional:

Wellman, Guy 1998: Wordbuilder, Heineman

Graver, G.B., 1994: Advanced English Practice, Oxford University Press