Third-person narrator

Third-person narrator (absent or impersonal)

- a narrator who stands outside the story and uses the third person voice (“he”, “she” or “they”) to refer to the characters
- the perspective may be that of an omniscient narrator with an unlimited point of view
or
that of a selective omniscient with a limited point of view (view of one of the characters)
- the reader must do most of the understanding, assessing, evaluating as the narrator usually doesn’t identify himself with the character
- the narrator describes, reports and “shows”, but usually limits himself to giving facts and information only as to what the character does, what happens to him, what thoughts are being obvious

Phrases to speak about short stories

Useful phrases to speak about a short story

- The short story is about a decisive event in the life of ….
- The story deals with the theme of….
- It illustrates a typical example of human….
- It is a psychological study of…
- It narrates the conflict between two characters…
- The story concentrates on…
- It presents aspects of characters at a crucial moment of conflict in their
lives.
- It is set in…
- It covers only a short period of time.
- There is a build-up of suspense towards the end of the story.
- It may have an abrupt opening; an open ending; a surprise ending
- The atmosphere in the story is shown in…; is revealed by…

Vocabulary Landscape

Vocabulary: Land/scape

to dread sth (l.8)
to spend time together (l.9)
to have an opinion of sth (l.13)
to have different opinions (l.17)
to expect more of sb (ll. 39-30)
to keep on doing sth (l.34)
actually (l.42)
right on cue (l.126)
defiant (l.167)
possession (l.168)
to be damned (l.172)
to avoid sth (l.185)
to remember sth (l.205)
to lose courage (l.224)
to live up to sth (l.243)
to be fit in sth (l.248)
to guess (l.264)
to tease (l.278)

Learn the given vocabulary.

Assimilation – No!
Integration – Yes!

to pour – gießen;
gratefully – dankbar ;
advanced – fortschrittlich;
survival – Überleben, Fortbestand;
custom – Sitte, Brauch;
attitude – Einstellung;
to judge - beurteilen

Brown Skin Baby

to grieve – trauern;
in vain – umsonst
emphasis – Betonung;
property – Eigentum;
to prevent from - verhindern

Summary Language Skills

Summary

The text is part of a speech about language skills Mr Sebastian Major Blather MP has given to teachers and parents at Beddington Comprehensive school.
Blather speaks about a new survey which has found out that the British are some of the world’s worst linguists. Whereas over half the citizens of the EU now speak at least one foreign language, in Britain only a third do. The speaker goes on to say that it is possibly because the British are lazy ans still do not feel very European at heart. According to him this situation, though is not acceptable when Europe is growing ever closer. Young people must be given the language sklillsfor them to play their role in tomorrow’s Europe.
Moreover, Blather emphasizes that he believes in better education and better language education. For this reason he intends to press the Ministry of Education for higher spending on education in general and on language education in particular.

The Complaint - Vocabulary

The Complaint

Learn the words.

to belong to - if someone belongs to a particular group,
they are a member of that group

superior - if a person is superior to another
the first is better than the second

attitude - your attitude to sth is the way
that you think and feel about it,
especially when it shows in the way you behave

to dare - if you do not dare to do sth you do not have
enough courage to do it

tender - soft

contempt - if you have contempt for sth, you have
no respect for it and think it to be unimportant

to pretend - if you pretend that sth is the case, you act
in a way that is intended to make people
believe that it is the case, although in fact it is not

to make head or tail
- to not understand sth

to insist - if you insist that sth should be done, you say so
very firmly and refuse to give in about it

scorn - to show contempt (s.a.)

to seize - here: to take

Basic Rules of a Summary

Basic Rules of a Summary

- Try to stick to what the text says;
do not go for interpretation or meaning.
- Try to avoid any personal or other comment.
- Include important facts, aspects, events only.
- Exclude everything unimportant­,
meaning all expandable details.
- Try to compress – cut down vocabulary of the text
- Use your own words!!!!
- Do not include direct speech and text quotations.
- A summary is preferably written in present tense
(simple form)


Useful vocabulary (Structural words):

first – in the beginning – right from the start
the author goes on with - … then - afterwards
moreover – second – third - …but –
on the contrary – although –
on the one hand/ on the other hand –
finally – in the end – at last – as a conclusion

the text/ article/ writer
speaks about
claims
says
states
mentions
points out
informs the reader about

Summary Plastic Surgery

Younger Plastic Surgery Patients

The text is about a report which claims that according to surgeons
the patients in plastic surgery get always younger.
The reason for this is thought to be found in the media
as the people want to be the way they see looks presented.
Some parents, as the article says, support their children
in the obsession and pay for the surgeries
which they believe support the chance for success in life.
Moreover it has been proved that men are just as well
concerned with their physical
appearance and surgeries are being performed on them.
Finally the text mentions the different kinds of surgeries
men and women receive.