Questions for interpreting a text

1. Speak about the author. What do you know about his world outlook, his philosophical and aesthetic principles?

2. Give the gist of the passage/story. (Summarize the content of the pas- sage/story.) Divide it into logically complete parts and suggest titles to each.

3. Point out the composition parts of the passage/story: exposition, story, climax, denouement. Is there a clear exposition or does the narration start abruptly? Are time, place and background stated or only implied?

Analyze the use of the articles, pronouns and adverbs. Say whether their

specific usage creates the implication of precedence. What is the function of this implication? How does the action move: slowly or fast? What part of speech prevails: verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc.? What is the effect of their use?

4. What is more important: the events that make the plot or the implica- tion? What is implied? How does the passage/story end: in a clear or ambiguous and vague way?

5. What does the passage/story present: narration, description, dialogue, monologue, inner monologue of a character, the author’s argumentation? What is the prevailing narrative form?

6. In whose name is the story narrated? Is it a first-person (a third- person) narration? Outline the character of the narrator, if there is any. What is the function of the narrator?

7. What mood (key, vein, slant) is the passage/story written in? Does the

mood change as the narration proceeds?

8. What is the author’s method of presenting characters? Does the author resort to direct characterization? Point out instances of direct characterization. Is

it ample or sparing? What are the other ways of portraying characters (through their actions and speech, other characters’ perception)? Are the characters repre- sented statically or dynamically? What direction do they change in? What stages

in the development of their personalities can be singled out? What character is the most picturesque and vivid? How does the author achieve the vividness of portraits? Does the main character happen to be in conflict with himself (with

other characters, circumstances of life)? Are there any background characters? What is their role in the story? Can we feel the author’s attitude towards his characters?

9. Speak about the language means employed in the passage/story. What episodes abound in various tropes? What is their effect? Are there any places which are devoid of any imagery? What does this dry manner of writing con- tribute to? Does the author contrast expressiveness of some parts of his story?

Why? What layer words are mainly used in the passage/story: formal, bookish, colloquial? Does the author resort to stylistically coloured vocabulary: terms, archaisms, neologisms, barbarisms, foreign loans, slangy words, jargonisms,

professional and dialectal words, vulgarisms? What is their function? Are there any discrepancies between the plot and the language means used to reproduce it?

10. Analyze the syntactical structures employed in the text. Which places

are written in long, complex sentences? Where do short and simple structures prevail? What effect do these syntactical structures create? Are there abrupt changes in syntax, in style in general? Why does the author resort to such con- trasts?

11. What is the author’s message? Interpret the title of the story. What is your attitude towards the characters, ideas and style of the text? What feelings and thoughts does the text arouse?1

1 For more details see: Практический курс английского языка: 4 курс / Под ред.

В.Д.Аракина.- М., 1998.- С. 272-275.