Negative words or words of exclusion at the beginning of a sentence
Sometimes when we are writing or speaking very formally, we use a negative word or a word of exclusion at the beginning of a sentence to express emphasis. When this happens, there is an inversion of subject and verb or auxiliary as if it were a question.
E.g.:
Never does Carina stay in her seat during the whole class.
Not only does she stand up every time she can, but she also speaks a lot in class
Only for John will Meche kneel
Inversion refers to an irregular verb placement form:
Use of Question Form
In this case, the question form (auxiliary + subject + main verb) takes the place of the standard positive sentence structure (subject + verb + complement):
Examples
Not only do I enjoy classical music, but I also have a season ticket to the symphony.
Seldom has the boss been so upset!
In this case, the question form is substituted for standard sentence structure in a statement. Generally, an inversion is used to stress the uniqueness of an event and begins with a negative.
Negative Adverbials
Time expressions: never, rarely, and seldom
These time expressions are used with a perfect form or with modals and often include comparatives:
Examples
Never have I been more insulted!
Seldom has he seen anything stranger.
Time expressions: hardly, barely, no sooner, or scarcely
These time expressions are used when there is a succession of events in the past.
Examples
Scarcely had I got out of bed when the doorbell rang.
No sooner had he finished dinner, when she walked in the door.
After 'Only' Expressions such as 'only after', 'only when', 'only then', etc.
'Only' is used with a time expression.
Examples
Only then did I understand the problem.
Only after understanding the situation does the teacher make a comment.
After 'Little'
'Little' is used in a negative sense.
Examples
Little did he understand the situation.
Little have I read concerning nanotechnology.
Inversion after 'So', 'Such', and 'That'
'So'
'So + adjective ... that' combines with the verb 'to be'.
Examples
So strange was the situation that I couldn't sleep.
So difficult is the test that students need three months to prepare.
'Such'
'Such +be + noun ... (that)':
Examples
Such is the moment in which everything falls apart.
Such is the core of the problem.
Inverted Conditional Forms
Sometimes conditional forms are inverted as a means of sounding more formal. In this case, the conditional 'if' is dropped and the inverted forms takes the place of the 'if clause'.
Examples
Had he understood the problem, he wouldn't have committed those mistakes.
Should he decide to come, please telephone.
MSR/mbs
viernes, 18 de noviembre de 2011
domingo, 4 de septiembre de 2011
ALP FOR I 06
Man From the South
by Roald Dahl (1916-1990)
Word Count: 4625
It was getting on toward six o’clock so I thought I’d buy myself a beer and go out and sit in a deck chair by the swimming pool and have a little evening sun.
I went to the bar and got the beer and carried it outside and wandered down the garden toward the pool.
It was a fine garden with lawns and beds of azaleas and tall coconut palms, and the wind was blowing strongly through the tops of the palm trees making the leaves hiss and crackle as though they were on fire. I could see the clusters of big brown nuts handing down underneath the leaves.
There were plenty of deck chairs around the swimming pool and there were white tables and huge brightly colored umbrellas and sunburned men and women sitting around in bathing suits. In the pool itself there were three or four girls and about a dozen boys, all splashing about and making a lot of noise and throwing a large rubber ball at one another.
I stood watching them. The girls were English girls from the hotel. The boys I didn’t know about, but they sounded American and I thought they were probably naval cadets who’d come ashore from the U.S. naval training vessel which had arrived in the harbor that morning.
I went over and sat down under a yellow umbrella where there were four empty seats, and I poured my beer and settled back comfortably with a cigarette.
It was very pleasant sitting there in the sunshine with beer and a cigarette. It was pleasant to sit and watch the bathers splashing about in the green water.
The American sailors were getting on nicely with the English girls. They’d reached the stage where they were diving under the water and tipping them up by their legs.
Just then I noticed a small, oldish man walking briskly around the edge of the pool. He was immaculately dressed in a white suit and he walked very quickly with little bouncing strides, pushing himself high up onto his toes with each step. He had on a large creamy Panama hat, and he came bouncing along the side of the pool, looking at the people and the chairs.
He stopped beside me and smiled, showing two rows of very small, uneven teeth, slightly tarnished. I smiled back.
“Excuse pleess, but may I sit here?”
“Certainly,” I said. “Go ahead.”
He bobbed around to the back of the chair and inspected it for safety, then he sat down and crossed his legs. His white buckskin shows had little holes punched all over them for ventilation.
“A fine evening,” he said. “They are all evenings fine here in Jamaica.” I couldn’t tell if the accent were Italian or Spanish, but I felt fairly sure he was some sort of a South American. And old too, when you saw him close. Probably around sixty-eight or seventy.
“Yes,” I said. “It is wonderful here, isn’t it.”
“And who, might I ask are all dese? Dese is no hotel people.” He was pointing at the bathers in the pool.
“I think they’re American sailors,” I told him. “They’re Americans who are learning to be sailors.”
“Of course dey are Americans. Who else in de world is going to make as much noise as dat? You are not American, no?”
“No,” I said. “I am not.”
Suddenly one of the American cadets was standing in front of us. He was dripping wet from the pool and one of the English girls was standing there with him.
“Are these chairs taken?” he said.
“No,” I answered.
“Mind if I sit down?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks,” he said. He had a towel in his hand and when he sat down he unrolled it and produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He offered the cigarettes to the girl and she refused; then he offered them to me and I took one. The little man said, “Tank you, no, but I tink I have a cigar.” He pulled out a crocodile case and got himself a cigar, then he produced a knife which had a small scissors in it and he snipped the end off the cigar.
“Here, let me give you a light.” The American boy held up his lighter.
“Dat will not work in dis wind.”
“Sure, it’ll work. It always works.”
by Roald Dahl (1916-1990)
Word Count: 4625
It was getting on toward six o’clock so I thought I’d buy myself a beer and go out and sit in a deck chair by the swimming pool and have a little evening sun.
I went to the bar and got the beer and carried it outside and wandered down the garden toward the pool.
It was a fine garden with lawns and beds of azaleas and tall coconut palms, and the wind was blowing strongly through the tops of the palm trees making the leaves hiss and crackle as though they were on fire. I could see the clusters of big brown nuts handing down underneath the leaves.
There were plenty of deck chairs around the swimming pool and there were white tables and huge brightly colored umbrellas and sunburned men and women sitting around in bathing suits. In the pool itself there were three or four girls and about a dozen boys, all splashing about and making a lot of noise and throwing a large rubber ball at one another.
I stood watching them. The girls were English girls from the hotel. The boys I didn’t know about, but they sounded American and I thought they were probably naval cadets who’d come ashore from the U.S. naval training vessel which had arrived in the harbor that morning.
I went over and sat down under a yellow umbrella where there were four empty seats, and I poured my beer and settled back comfortably with a cigarette.
It was very pleasant sitting there in the sunshine with beer and a cigarette. It was pleasant to sit and watch the bathers splashing about in the green water.
The American sailors were getting on nicely with the English girls. They’d reached the stage where they were diving under the water and tipping them up by their legs.
Just then I noticed a small, oldish man walking briskly around the edge of the pool. He was immaculately dressed in a white suit and he walked very quickly with little bouncing strides, pushing himself high up onto his toes with each step. He had on a large creamy Panama hat, and he came bouncing along the side of the pool, looking at the people and the chairs.
He stopped beside me and smiled, showing two rows of very small, uneven teeth, slightly tarnished. I smiled back.
“Excuse pleess, but may I sit here?”
“Certainly,” I said. “Go ahead.”
He bobbed around to the back of the chair and inspected it for safety, then he sat down and crossed his legs. His white buckskin shows had little holes punched all over them for ventilation.
“A fine evening,” he said. “They are all evenings fine here in Jamaica.” I couldn’t tell if the accent were Italian or Spanish, but I felt fairly sure he was some sort of a South American. And old too, when you saw him close. Probably around sixty-eight or seventy.
“Yes,” I said. “It is wonderful here, isn’t it.”
“And who, might I ask are all dese? Dese is no hotel people.” He was pointing at the bathers in the pool.
“I think they’re American sailors,” I told him. “They’re Americans who are learning to be sailors.”
“Of course dey are Americans. Who else in de world is going to make as much noise as dat? You are not American, no?”
“No,” I said. “I am not.”
Suddenly one of the American cadets was standing in front of us. He was dripping wet from the pool and one of the English girls was standing there with him.
“Are these chairs taken?” he said.
“No,” I answered.
“Mind if I sit down?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks,” he said. He had a towel in his hand and when he sat down he unrolled it and produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He offered the cigarettes to the girl and she refused; then he offered them to me and I took one. The little man said, “Tank you, no, but I tink I have a cigar.” He pulled out a crocodile case and got himself a cigar, then he produced a knife which had a small scissors in it and he snipped the end off the cigar.
“Here, let me give you a light.” The American boy held up his lighter.
“Dat will not work in dis wind.”
“Sure, it’ll work. It always works.”
The little man removed his unlighted cigar from his mouth, cocked his head on one side and looked at the boy.
“All-ways?” he said softly.
“Sure, it never fails. Not with me anyway.”
The little man’s head was still cocked over on one side and he was still watching the boy. “Well, well. So you say dis famous lighter it never fails. Iss dat you say?”
“Sure,” the boy said. “That’s right.” He was about nineteen or twenty with a long freckled face and a rather sharp birdlike nose. His chest was not very sunburned and there were freckles there too, and a few wisps of pale-reddish hair. He was holding the lighter in his right hand, ready to flip the wheel. “It never fails,” he said, smiling now because he was purposely exaggerating his little boast. “I promise you it never fails.”
“One momint, pleess.” The hand that held the cigar came up high, palm outward, as though it were stopping traffic. “Now juss one momint.” He had a curiously soft, toneless voice and he kept looking at the boy all the time.
“All-ways?” he said softly.
“Sure, it never fails. Not with me anyway.”
The little man’s head was still cocked over on one side and he was still watching the boy. “Well, well. So you say dis famous lighter it never fails. Iss dat you say?”
“Sure,” the boy said. “That’s right.” He was about nineteen or twenty with a long freckled face and a rather sharp birdlike nose. His chest was not very sunburned and there were freckles there too, and a few wisps of pale-reddish hair. He was holding the lighter in his right hand, ready to flip the wheel. “It never fails,” he said, smiling now because he was purposely exaggerating his little boast. “I promise you it never fails.”
“One momint, pleess.” The hand that held the cigar came up high, palm outward, as though it were stopping traffic. “Now juss one momint.” He had a curiously soft, toneless voice and he kept looking at the boy all the time.
“Shall we not perhaps make a little bet on dat?” He smiled at the boy. “Shall we not make a little bet on whether your lighter lights?”
“Sure, I’ll bet,” the boy said. “Why not?”
“You like to bet?”
“Sure, I’ll always bet.”
The man paused and examined his cigar, and I must say I didn’t much like the way he was behaving. It seemed he was already trying to make something out of this, and to embarrass the boy, and at the same time I had the feeling he was relishing a private little secret all his own.
He looked up again at the boy and said slowly, “I like to bet, too. Why we don’t have a good bet on dis ting? A good big bet?
“Now wait a minute,” the boy said. “I can’t do that. But I’ll bet you a dollar, or whatever it is over here-some shillings, I guess.”
The little man waved his hand again. “Listen to me. Now we have some fun. We make a bet. Den we go up to my room here in de hotel where iss no wind and I bet you you cannot light dis famous lighter of yours ten times running without missing once.”
“I’ll bet I can,” the boy said.
“All right. Good. We make a bet, yes?”
“Sure. I’ll bet you a buck.”
“No, no. I make you very good bet. I am rich man and I am sporting man also. Listen to me. Outside de hotel iss my car. Iss very fine car. American car from your country. Cadillac-”
“Hey, now. Wait a minute.” The boy leaned back in his deck chair and he laughed. “I can’t put up that sort of property. This is crazy.”
“Not crazy at all. You strike lighter successfully ten times running and Cadillac is yours. You like to have dis Cadillac, yes?”
“Sure, I’d like to have a Cadillac.” The boy was still grinning.
“All right. Fine. We make a bet and I put up my Cadillac.”
“And what do I put up?”
“The little man carefully removed the red band from his still unlighted cigar. “I never ask you, my friend, to bet something you cannot afford. You understand?”
“Then what do I bet?”
“I make it very easy for you, yes?”
“Okay. You make it easy.”
“Some small ting you can afford to give away, and if you did happen to lose it you would not feel too bad. Right?”
“Such as what?”
“Such as, perhaps, de little finger of your left hand.”
“My what! The boy stopped grinning.
“Yes. Why not? You win, you take de car. You looss, I take de finger.”
“I don’t get it. How d’you mean, you take the finger?”
“I chop it off.”
“Jumping jeepers! That’s a crazy bet. I think I’ll just make it a dollar.”
The man leaned back, spread out his hands palms upward and gave a tiny contemptuous shrug of the shoulders. “Well, well, well,” he said. “I do not understand. You say it lights but you will not bet. Den we forget it, yes?”
The boy sat quite still, staring at the bathers in the pool. Then he remembered suddenly he hadn’t lighted his cigarette. He put it between his lips, cupped his hands around the lighter and flipped the wheel. The wick lighted and burned with a small, steady, yellow flame and the way he held his hands the wind didn’t get to it at all.
“Could I have a light, too?” I said.
“Gee, I’m sorry. I forgot you didn’t have one.”
I held out my hand for the lighter, but he stood up and came over to do it for me.
“Thank you,” I said, and he returned to his seat.
“You having a good time?” I asked.
“Fine,” he answered. “It’s pretty nice here.”
There was a silence then, and I could see that the little man has succeeded in disturbing the boy with his absurd proposal. He was sitting there very still, and it was obvious that a small tension was beginning to build up inside him. Then he started shifting about in his seat, and rubbing his chest, and stroking the back of his neck, and finally he placed both hands on his knees and began tapping his fingers against his knee-caps. Soon he was tapping with one of his feet as well.
“Now just let me check up on this bet of yours,” he said at last. “You say we go up to your room and if I make this lighter light ten times running I win a Cadillac. If it misses just once then I forfeit the little finger of my left hand. Is that right?”
“Certainly. Dat is de bet. But I tink you are afraid.”
“What do we do if I lose? Do I have to hold my finger out while you chop it off?”
“Oh, no! Dat would be no good. And you might be tempted to refuse to hold it out. What I should do I should tie one of your hands to de table before we started and I should stand dere with a knife ready to go chop de momint your lighter missed.”
“What year is the Cadillac?” the boy asked.
“Excuse. I not understand.”
“What year-how old is the Cadillac?”
“Ah! How old? Yes. It is last year. Quite now car. But I see you are not betting man. Americans never are.”
The boy paused for just a moment and he glanced first at the English girl, then at me. “Yes,” he said sharply. “I’ll bet you.”
“Good!” The little man clapped his hands together quietly, once. “Fine,” he said. “We do it now. And you, sir,” he turned to me, “you would perhaps be good enough to, what you call it, to-to referee.” He had pale, almost colorless eyes with tiny bright black pupils.
“Well,” I said. “I think it’s a crazy bet. I don’t think I like it very much.”
“Nor do I,” said the English girl. It was the first time she’d spoken. “I think it’s a stupid, ridiculous bet.”
“Are you serious about cutting off this boy’s finger if he loses?” I said.
“Sure, I’ll bet,” the boy said. “Why not?”
“You like to bet?”
“Sure, I’ll always bet.”
The man paused and examined his cigar, and I must say I didn’t much like the way he was behaving. It seemed he was already trying to make something out of this, and to embarrass the boy, and at the same time I had the feeling he was relishing a private little secret all his own.
He looked up again at the boy and said slowly, “I like to bet, too. Why we don’t have a good bet on dis ting? A good big bet?
“Now wait a minute,” the boy said. “I can’t do that. But I’ll bet you a dollar, or whatever it is over here-some shillings, I guess.”
The little man waved his hand again. “Listen to me. Now we have some fun. We make a bet. Den we go up to my room here in de hotel where iss no wind and I bet you you cannot light dis famous lighter of yours ten times running without missing once.”
“I’ll bet I can,” the boy said.
“All right. Good. We make a bet, yes?”
“Sure. I’ll bet you a buck.”
“No, no. I make you very good bet. I am rich man and I am sporting man also. Listen to me. Outside de hotel iss my car. Iss very fine car. American car from your country. Cadillac-”
“Hey, now. Wait a minute.” The boy leaned back in his deck chair and he laughed. “I can’t put up that sort of property. This is crazy.”
“Not crazy at all. You strike lighter successfully ten times running and Cadillac is yours. You like to have dis Cadillac, yes?”
“Sure, I’d like to have a Cadillac.” The boy was still grinning.
“All right. Fine. We make a bet and I put up my Cadillac.”
“And what do I put up?”
“The little man carefully removed the red band from his still unlighted cigar. “I never ask you, my friend, to bet something you cannot afford. You understand?”
“Then what do I bet?”
“I make it very easy for you, yes?”
“Okay. You make it easy.”
“Some small ting you can afford to give away, and if you did happen to lose it you would not feel too bad. Right?”
“Such as what?”
“Such as, perhaps, de little finger of your left hand.”
“My what! The boy stopped grinning.
“Yes. Why not? You win, you take de car. You looss, I take de finger.”
“I don’t get it. How d’you mean, you take the finger?”
“I chop it off.”
“Jumping jeepers! That’s a crazy bet. I think I’ll just make it a dollar.”
The man leaned back, spread out his hands palms upward and gave a tiny contemptuous shrug of the shoulders. “Well, well, well,” he said. “I do not understand. You say it lights but you will not bet. Den we forget it, yes?”
The boy sat quite still, staring at the bathers in the pool. Then he remembered suddenly he hadn’t lighted his cigarette. He put it between his lips, cupped his hands around the lighter and flipped the wheel. The wick lighted and burned with a small, steady, yellow flame and the way he held his hands the wind didn’t get to it at all.
“Could I have a light, too?” I said.
“Gee, I’m sorry. I forgot you didn’t have one.”
I held out my hand for the lighter, but he stood up and came over to do it for me.
“Thank you,” I said, and he returned to his seat.
“You having a good time?” I asked.
“Fine,” he answered. “It’s pretty nice here.”
There was a silence then, and I could see that the little man has succeeded in disturbing the boy with his absurd proposal. He was sitting there very still, and it was obvious that a small tension was beginning to build up inside him. Then he started shifting about in his seat, and rubbing his chest, and stroking the back of his neck, and finally he placed both hands on his knees and began tapping his fingers against his knee-caps. Soon he was tapping with one of his feet as well.
“Now just let me check up on this bet of yours,” he said at last. “You say we go up to your room and if I make this lighter light ten times running I win a Cadillac. If it misses just once then I forfeit the little finger of my left hand. Is that right?”
“Certainly. Dat is de bet. But I tink you are afraid.”
“What do we do if I lose? Do I have to hold my finger out while you chop it off?”
“Oh, no! Dat would be no good. And you might be tempted to refuse to hold it out. What I should do I should tie one of your hands to de table before we started and I should stand dere with a knife ready to go chop de momint your lighter missed.”
“What year is the Cadillac?” the boy asked.
“Excuse. I not understand.”
“What year-how old is the Cadillac?”
“Ah! How old? Yes. It is last year. Quite now car. But I see you are not betting man. Americans never are.”
The boy paused for just a moment and he glanced first at the English girl, then at me. “Yes,” he said sharply. “I’ll bet you.”
“Good!” The little man clapped his hands together quietly, once. “Fine,” he said. “We do it now. And you, sir,” he turned to me, “you would perhaps be good enough to, what you call it, to-to referee.” He had pale, almost colorless eyes with tiny bright black pupils.
“Well,” I said. “I think it’s a crazy bet. I don’t think I like it very much.”
“Nor do I,” said the English girl. It was the first time she’d spoken. “I think it’s a stupid, ridiculous bet.”
“Are you serious about cutting off this boy’s finger if he loses?” I said.
“Certainly I am. Also about cutting off this boy’s finger if he loses?” I said.
“Certainly I am. Also about giving him Cadillac if he win. Come now. We go to my room.”
He stood up. “You like to put on some clothes first?” he said.
“No,” the boy answered. “I’ll come like this.” Then he turned to me. “I’d consider it a favor if you’d come along and referee.”
“All right,” I said. “I’ll come along, but I don’t like the bet.”
“You come too,” he said to the girl. “You come and watch.
The little man led the way back through the garden to the hotel. He was animated now, and excited, and that seemed to make him bounce up higher than ever on his toes as he walked along.
“I live in annex,” he said. “You like to see car first? Iss just here.”
He took us to where we could see the front driveway of the hotel and he stopped and pointed to a sleek pale-green Cadillac parked close by.
“Dere she iss. De green one. You like?”
“Say, that’s a nice car,” the boy said.
“All right. Now we go up and see if you can win her.”
“Certainly I am. Also about giving him Cadillac if he win. Come now. We go to my room.”
He stood up. “You like to put on some clothes first?” he said.
“No,” the boy answered. “I’ll come like this.” Then he turned to me. “I’d consider it a favor if you’d come along and referee.”
“All right,” I said. “I’ll come along, but I don’t like the bet.”
“You come too,” he said to the girl. “You come and watch.
The little man led the way back through the garden to the hotel. He was animated now, and excited, and that seemed to make him bounce up higher than ever on his toes as he walked along.
“I live in annex,” he said. “You like to see car first? Iss just here.”
He took us to where we could see the front driveway of the hotel and he stopped and pointed to a sleek pale-green Cadillac parked close by.
“Dere she iss. De green one. You like?”
“Say, that’s a nice car,” the boy said.
“All right. Now we go up and see if you can win her.”
We followed him into the annex and up one flight of stairs. He unlocked his door and we all trooped into what was a large pleasant double bedroom. There was a woman’s dressing gown lying across the bottom of one of the beds.
“First,” he said, “we’ave a little Martini.”
The drinks were on a small table in the far corner, all ready to be mixed, and there was a shaker and ice and plenty of glasses. He began to make the Martini, but meanwhile he’d rung the bell and now there was a knock on the door and a colored maid came in.
“Ah!” he said, putting down the bottle of gin, taking a wallet from his pocket and pulling out a pound note. “You will do something for me now, pleess.” He gave the maid the pound.
“You keep dat,” he said. “And now we are going to play a little game in here and I want you to go off and find for me two-no three tings. I want some nails; I want a hammer, and I want a chopping knife, a butcher’s chipping knife which you can borrow from de kitchen. You can get, yes?”
“A chopping knife!” The maid opened her eyes wide and clasped her hands in front of her. “You mean a real chopping knife?”
“Yes, yes, of course. Come on now, pleess. You can find dose tings surely for me.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll try, sir. Surely I’ll try to get them.” And she went.
The little man handed round the Martinis. We stood there and sipped them, the boy with the long freckled face and the pointed nose, bare-bodied except for a pair of faded brown bathing shorts; the English girl, a large-boned, fair-haired girl wearing a pale blue bathing suit, who watched the boy over the top of her glass all the time; the little man with the colorless eyes standing there in his immaculate white suit drinking his Martini and looking at the girl in her pale blue bathing dress. I didn’t know what to make of it all. The man seemed serious about the bet and he seemed serious about the business of cutting off the finger. But hell, what if the boy lost? Then we’d have to rush him to the hospital in the Cadillac that he hadn’t won. That would be a fine thing. Now wouldn’t that be a really find thing? It would be a damn silly unnecessary thing so far as I could see.
“Don’t you think this is rather a silly bet?” I said.
“I think it’s a fine bet,” the boy answered. He had already downed one large Martini.
“I think it’s a stupid, ridiculous bet,” the girl said. “What’ll happen if you lose?”
“It won’t matter. Come to think of it, I can’t remember ever in my life having had any use for the little finger on my left hand. Here he is.” The boy took hold of the finger. “Here he is and he hasn’t ever done a thing for me yet. So why shouldn’t I bet him. I think it’s a fine bet.”
The little man smiled and picked up the shaker and refilled our glasses.
“Before we begin,” he said, “I will present to de-to de referee de key of de car.” He produced a car key from his pocket and gave it to me. “De papers,” he said, “de owning papers and insurance are in de pocket of de car.”
Then the colored maid came in again. In one hand she carried a small chopper, the kind used by butchers for chopping meat bones, and in the other a hammer and a bag of nails.
“Good! You get dem all. Tank you, tank you. Now you can go.” He waited until the maid had closed the door, then he put the implements on one of the beds and said, “Now we prepare ourselves, yes?” And to the boy “Help me, pleess, with dis table. We carry it out a little.”
It was the usual kind of hotel writing desk, just a plain rectangular table about four feet by three with a blotting pad, ink, pens and paper. They carried it out into the room away from the wall, and removed the writing things.
“And now,” he said, “a chair.” He picked up a chair and placed it beside the table. He was very brisk and very animated, like a person organizing games at a children’s party. “And now de nails. I must put in de nails.” He fetched the nails and he began to hammer them into the top of the table.
We stood there, the boy, the girl, and I, holding Martinis in out hands, watching the little man at work. We watched him hammer two nails into the table, about six inches apart. He didn’t hammer them right home; he allowed a small part of each one to stick up. Then he tested them for firmness with his fingers.
Anyone would think the son of a bitch had done this before, I told myself. He never hesitates. Table, nails, hammer, kitchen chopper. He knows exactly what he needs and how to arrange it.
“And now,” he said, “all we want is some string.” He found some string. “All right, at last we are ready. Will you pleess to sit here at de table,” he said to the boy.
The boy put his glass away and sat down.
“Now place de left hand between dese two nails. De nails are only so I can tie your hand in place. All right, good. Now I tie your hand secure to de table-so,”
He wound the string around the boy’s wrist, then several times around the wide part of the hand, then he fastened it tight to the nails. He made a good job of it and when he’d finished there wasn’t any question about the boy being able to draw his hand away. But he could move his fingers.
“Now pleess, clench de fist, all except for de little finger. You must leave de little finger sticking out, lying on de table.”
“Ex-cellent! Ex-cellent! Now we are ready. Wid your right hand you manipulate de lighter. But one momint, pleess.”
He skipped over to the bed and picked up the chopper. He came back and stood beside the table with the chopper in his hand.
“We are all ready?” he said. “Mister referee, you must say to begin.”
The English girl was standing there in her pale blue bathing costume right behind the boy’s chair. She was just standing there, not saying anything. The boy was sitting quite still, holding the lighter in his right hand, looking at the chopper. The little man was looking at me.
“Are you ready?” I asked the boy.
“I’m ready.”
“And you?” to the little man.
“Quite ready,” he said and he lifted the chopper up in the air and held it there about two feet above the boy’s finger, ready to chop. The boy watched it, but he didn’t flinch and his mouth didn’t move at all. He merely raised his eyebrows and frowned.
“All right,” I said. “Go ahead.”
The boy said, “Will you please count aloud the number of times I light it.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll do that.”
With his thumb he raised the top of the lighter, and again with the thumb he gave the wheel a sharp flick. The flint sparked and the wick caught fire and burned with a small yellow flame.
“One!” I called.
He didn’t blow the flame out; he closed the top of the lighter on it and he waited for perhaps five seconds before opening it again.
He flicked the wheel very strongly and once more there was a small flame burning on the wick.
“Two!”
No one else said anything. The boy kept his eyes on the lighter. The little man held the chipper up in the air and he too was watching the lighter.
“Three!”
“Four!”
“Five!”
“Six!”
“Seven!” Obviously it was one of those lighters that worked. The fling gave a big spark and the wick was the right length. I watched the thumb snapping the top down onto the flame. Then a pause. Then the thumb raising the top once more. This was an all-thumb operation. The thumb did everything. I took a breath, ready to say eight. The thumb flicked the wheel. The flint sparked. The little flame appeared.
“Eight!” I said, and as I said it the door opened. We all turned and we saw a woman standing in the doorway, a small, black-haired woman, rather old, who stood there for about two seconds then rushed forward shouting, “Carlos! Carlos!” She grabbed his wrist, took the chopper from him, threw it on the bed, took hold of the little man by the lapels of his white suit and began shaking him very vigorously, talking to him fast and loud and fiercely all the time in some Spanish-sounding language. She shook him so fast you couldn’t see him any more. He became a faint, misty, quickly moving outline, like the spokes of a turning wheel.
Then she slowed down and the little man came into view again and she hauled him across the room and pushed him backward onto one of the beds. He sat on the edge of it blinking his eyes and testing his head to see if it would still turn on his neck.
“I am so sorry,” the woman said. “I am so terribly sorry that this should happen.” She spoke almost perfect English.
“It is too bad,” she went on. “I suppose it is really my fault. For ten minutes I leave him alone to go and have my hair washed and I come back and he is at it again.” She looked sorry and deeply concerned.
The boy was untying his hand from the table. The English girl and I stood there and said nothing.
“He is a menace,” the woman said. “Down where we live at home he has taken altogether forty-seven fingers from different people, and he has lost eleven cars. In the end they threatened to have him put away somewhere. That’s why I brought him up here.”
“We were only having a little bet,” mumbled the little man from the bed.
“I suppose he bet you a car,” the woman said.
“Yes,” the boy answered. “A Cadillac.”
“He has no car. It’s mine. And that makes it worse,” she said, “that he should bet you when he has nothing to bet with. I am ashamed and very sorry about it all.” She seemed an awfully nice woman.
“Well,” I said, “then here’s the key of your car.” I put it on the table.
“We were only having a little bet,” mumbled the little man.
“He hasn’t anything left to bet with,” the woman said. “He hasn’t a thing in the world. Not a thing. As a matter of fact I myself won it all from him a long while ago. It took time, a lot of time, and it was hard work, but I won it all in the end.” She looked up at the boy and she smiled, a slow sad smile, and she came over and put out a hand to take the key from the table.
I can see it now, that hand of hers; it had only one finger on it, and a thumb.
“First,” he said, “we’ave a little Martini.”
The drinks were on a small table in the far corner, all ready to be mixed, and there was a shaker and ice and plenty of glasses. He began to make the Martini, but meanwhile he’d rung the bell and now there was a knock on the door and a colored maid came in.
“Ah!” he said, putting down the bottle of gin, taking a wallet from his pocket and pulling out a pound note. “You will do something for me now, pleess.” He gave the maid the pound.
“You keep dat,” he said. “And now we are going to play a little game in here and I want you to go off and find for me two-no three tings. I want some nails; I want a hammer, and I want a chopping knife, a butcher’s chipping knife which you can borrow from de kitchen. You can get, yes?”
“A chopping knife!” The maid opened her eyes wide and clasped her hands in front of her. “You mean a real chopping knife?”
“Yes, yes, of course. Come on now, pleess. You can find dose tings surely for me.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll try, sir. Surely I’ll try to get them.” And she went.
The little man handed round the Martinis. We stood there and sipped them, the boy with the long freckled face and the pointed nose, bare-bodied except for a pair of faded brown bathing shorts; the English girl, a large-boned, fair-haired girl wearing a pale blue bathing suit, who watched the boy over the top of her glass all the time; the little man with the colorless eyes standing there in his immaculate white suit drinking his Martini and looking at the girl in her pale blue bathing dress. I didn’t know what to make of it all. The man seemed serious about the bet and he seemed serious about the business of cutting off the finger. But hell, what if the boy lost? Then we’d have to rush him to the hospital in the Cadillac that he hadn’t won. That would be a fine thing. Now wouldn’t that be a really find thing? It would be a damn silly unnecessary thing so far as I could see.
“Don’t you think this is rather a silly bet?” I said.
“I think it’s a fine bet,” the boy answered. He had already downed one large Martini.
“I think it’s a stupid, ridiculous bet,” the girl said. “What’ll happen if you lose?”
“It won’t matter. Come to think of it, I can’t remember ever in my life having had any use for the little finger on my left hand. Here he is.” The boy took hold of the finger. “Here he is and he hasn’t ever done a thing for me yet. So why shouldn’t I bet him. I think it’s a fine bet.”
The little man smiled and picked up the shaker and refilled our glasses.
“Before we begin,” he said, “I will present to de-to de referee de key of de car.” He produced a car key from his pocket and gave it to me. “De papers,” he said, “de owning papers and insurance are in de pocket of de car.”
Then the colored maid came in again. In one hand she carried a small chopper, the kind used by butchers for chopping meat bones, and in the other a hammer and a bag of nails.
“Good! You get dem all. Tank you, tank you. Now you can go.” He waited until the maid had closed the door, then he put the implements on one of the beds and said, “Now we prepare ourselves, yes?” And to the boy “Help me, pleess, with dis table. We carry it out a little.”
It was the usual kind of hotel writing desk, just a plain rectangular table about four feet by three with a blotting pad, ink, pens and paper. They carried it out into the room away from the wall, and removed the writing things.
“And now,” he said, “a chair.” He picked up a chair and placed it beside the table. He was very brisk and very animated, like a person organizing games at a children’s party. “And now de nails. I must put in de nails.” He fetched the nails and he began to hammer them into the top of the table.
We stood there, the boy, the girl, and I, holding Martinis in out hands, watching the little man at work. We watched him hammer two nails into the table, about six inches apart. He didn’t hammer them right home; he allowed a small part of each one to stick up. Then he tested them for firmness with his fingers.
Anyone would think the son of a bitch had done this before, I told myself. He never hesitates. Table, nails, hammer, kitchen chopper. He knows exactly what he needs and how to arrange it.
“And now,” he said, “all we want is some string.” He found some string. “All right, at last we are ready. Will you pleess to sit here at de table,” he said to the boy.
The boy put his glass away and sat down.
“Now place de left hand between dese two nails. De nails are only so I can tie your hand in place. All right, good. Now I tie your hand secure to de table-so,”
He wound the string around the boy’s wrist, then several times around the wide part of the hand, then he fastened it tight to the nails. He made a good job of it and when he’d finished there wasn’t any question about the boy being able to draw his hand away. But he could move his fingers.
“Now pleess, clench de fist, all except for de little finger. You must leave de little finger sticking out, lying on de table.”
“Ex-cellent! Ex-cellent! Now we are ready. Wid your right hand you manipulate de lighter. But one momint, pleess.”
He skipped over to the bed and picked up the chopper. He came back and stood beside the table with the chopper in his hand.
“We are all ready?” he said. “Mister referee, you must say to begin.”
The English girl was standing there in her pale blue bathing costume right behind the boy’s chair. She was just standing there, not saying anything. The boy was sitting quite still, holding the lighter in his right hand, looking at the chopper. The little man was looking at me.
“Are you ready?” I asked the boy.
“I’m ready.”
“And you?” to the little man.
“Quite ready,” he said and he lifted the chopper up in the air and held it there about two feet above the boy’s finger, ready to chop. The boy watched it, but he didn’t flinch and his mouth didn’t move at all. He merely raised his eyebrows and frowned.
“All right,” I said. “Go ahead.”
The boy said, “Will you please count aloud the number of times I light it.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll do that.”
With his thumb he raised the top of the lighter, and again with the thumb he gave the wheel a sharp flick. The flint sparked and the wick caught fire and burned with a small yellow flame.
“One!” I called.
He didn’t blow the flame out; he closed the top of the lighter on it and he waited for perhaps five seconds before opening it again.
He flicked the wheel very strongly and once more there was a small flame burning on the wick.
“Two!”
No one else said anything. The boy kept his eyes on the lighter. The little man held the chipper up in the air and he too was watching the lighter.
“Three!”
“Four!”
“Five!”
“Six!”
“Seven!” Obviously it was one of those lighters that worked. The fling gave a big spark and the wick was the right length. I watched the thumb snapping the top down onto the flame. Then a pause. Then the thumb raising the top once more. This was an all-thumb operation. The thumb did everything. I took a breath, ready to say eight. The thumb flicked the wheel. The flint sparked. The little flame appeared.
“Eight!” I said, and as I said it the door opened. We all turned and we saw a woman standing in the doorway, a small, black-haired woman, rather old, who stood there for about two seconds then rushed forward shouting, “Carlos! Carlos!” She grabbed his wrist, took the chopper from him, threw it on the bed, took hold of the little man by the lapels of his white suit and began shaking him very vigorously, talking to him fast and loud and fiercely all the time in some Spanish-sounding language. She shook him so fast you couldn’t see him any more. He became a faint, misty, quickly moving outline, like the spokes of a turning wheel.
Then she slowed down and the little man came into view again and she hauled him across the room and pushed him backward onto one of the beds. He sat on the edge of it blinking his eyes and testing his head to see if it would still turn on his neck.
“I am so sorry,” the woman said. “I am so terribly sorry that this should happen.” She spoke almost perfect English.
“It is too bad,” she went on. “I suppose it is really my fault. For ten minutes I leave him alone to go and have my hair washed and I come back and he is at it again.” She looked sorry and deeply concerned.
The boy was untying his hand from the table. The English girl and I stood there and said nothing.
“He is a menace,” the woman said. “Down where we live at home he has taken altogether forty-seven fingers from different people, and he has lost eleven cars. In the end they threatened to have him put away somewhere. That’s why I brought him up here.”
“We were only having a little bet,” mumbled the little man from the bed.
“I suppose he bet you a car,” the woman said.
“Yes,” the boy answered. “A Cadillac.”
“He has no car. It’s mine. And that makes it worse,” she said, “that he should bet you when he has nothing to bet with. I am ashamed and very sorry about it all.” She seemed an awfully nice woman.
“Well,” I said, “then here’s the key of your car.” I put it on the table.
“We were only having a little bet,” mumbled the little man.
“He hasn’t anything left to bet with,” the woman said. “He hasn’t a thing in the world. Not a thing. As a matter of fact I myself won it all from him a long while ago. It took time, a lot of time, and it was hard work, but I won it all in the end.” She looked up at the boy and she smiled, a slow sad smile, and she came over and put out a hand to take the key from the table.
I can see it now, that hand of hers; it had only one finger on it, and a thumb.
To watch a video about the story click in the following link,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9pQqKef4OI
viernes, 2 de septiembre de 2011
countable and uncountable nouns
What are countable nouns?
Countable nouns are individual objects, people, places, etc. which can be counted.
books, Italians, pictures, stations, men, etc.
A countable noun can be both:
Singular- a friend, a house, etc. –
or plural - a few apples, lots of trees, etc.
Use the singular form of the verb with a singular countable noun:
Singular
There is a book on the table.
That student is excellent!
Use the plural form of the verb with a countable noun in the plural
Plural
There are some students in the classroom.
Those houses are very big, aren't they?
What are uncountable nouns?
Uncountable nouns are materials, concepts, information, etc. which are not individual objects and cannot be counted.
information, water, understanding, wood, cheese, etc.
Uncountable nouns are always singular.
Use the singular form of the verb with uncountable nouns:
There is some water in that pitcher.
That is the equipment we use for the project.
Adjectives with Countable and Uncountable Nouns.
Use a/an with countable nouns preceded by an adjective(s):
Tom is a very intelligent young man.
I have a beautiful grey cat.
Do not use a/an with uncountable nouns preceded by an adjective(s):
That is very useful information.
There is some cold beer in the fridge.
Some uncountable nouns in English are countable in other languages. This can be confusing!
Here is a list of some of the most common, easy to confuse uncountable nouns.
accommodation
advice
baggage
bread
equipment
furniture
garbage
information
knowledge
luggage
money
news
pasta
progress
research
travel
work
Obviously, uncountable nouns (especially different types of food) have forms that express plural concepts. These measurements or containers are countable:
water - a glass of water
equipment - a piece of equipment
cheese - a slice of cheese
Here are some of the most common containers / quantity expressions for these uncountable nouns:
accommodation - a place to stay
advice - a piece of advice
baggage - a piece of baggage
bread - a slice of bread, a loaf of bread
equipment - a piece of equipment
furniture - a piece of furniture
garbage - a piece of garbage
information - a piece of information
knowledge - a fact
luggage - a piece of luggage, a bag, a suitcase
money - a note, a coin
news - a piece of news
pasta - a plate of pasta, a serving of pasta
research - a piece of research, a research project
travel - a journey, a trip
work - a job, a position
Here are some more common uncountable food types with their container / quantity expressions:
liquids (water, beer, wine, etc.) - a glass, a bottle, a jug of water, etc.
cheese - a slice, a chunk, a piece of cheese
meat - a piece, a slice, a pound of meat
butter - a bar of butter
ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard - a bottle of, a tube of ketchup, etc. What are countable nouns?
MSR/mbs
Countable nouns are individual objects, people, places, etc. which can be counted.
books, Italians, pictures, stations, men, etc.
A countable noun can be both:
Singular- a friend, a house, etc. –
or plural - a few apples, lots of trees, etc.
Use the singular form of the verb with a singular countable noun:
Singular
There is a book on the table.
That student is excellent!
Use the plural form of the verb with a countable noun in the plural
Plural
There are some students in the classroom.
Those houses are very big, aren't they?
What are uncountable nouns?
Uncountable nouns are materials, concepts, information, etc. which are not individual objects and cannot be counted.
information, water, understanding, wood, cheese, etc.
Uncountable nouns are always singular.
Use the singular form of the verb with uncountable nouns:
There is some water in that pitcher.
That is the equipment we use for the project.
Adjectives with Countable and Uncountable Nouns.
Use a/an with countable nouns preceded by an adjective(s):
Tom is a very intelligent young man.
I have a beautiful grey cat.
Do not use a/an with uncountable nouns preceded by an adjective(s):
That is very useful information.
There is some cold beer in the fridge.
Some uncountable nouns in English are countable in other languages. This can be confusing!
Here is a list of some of the most common, easy to confuse uncountable nouns.
accommodation
advice
baggage
bread
equipment
furniture
garbage
information
knowledge
luggage
money
news
pasta
progress
research
travel
work
Obviously, uncountable nouns (especially different types of food) have forms that express plural concepts. These measurements or containers are countable:
water - a glass of water
equipment - a piece of equipment
cheese - a slice of cheese
Here are some of the most common containers / quantity expressions for these uncountable nouns:
accommodation - a place to stay
advice - a piece of advice
baggage - a piece of baggage
bread - a slice of bread, a loaf of bread
equipment - a piece of equipment
furniture - a piece of furniture
garbage - a piece of garbage
information - a piece of information
knowledge - a fact
luggage - a piece of luggage, a bag, a suitcase
money - a note, a coin
news - a piece of news
pasta - a plate of pasta, a serving of pasta
research - a piece of research, a research project
travel - a journey, a trip
work - a job, a position
Here are some more common uncountable food types with their container / quantity expressions:
liquids (water, beer, wine, etc.) - a glass, a bottle, a jug of water, etc.
cheese - a slice, a chunk, a piece of cheese
meat - a piece, a slice, a pound of meat
butter - a bar of butter
ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard - a bottle of, a tube of ketchup, etc. What are countable nouns?
MSR/mbs
viernes, 19 de agosto de 2011
Grammar - negative words at the beginning of a sentence
Negative words or words of exclusion at the
beginning of a sentence
In writing or very formal speaking sometimes we use negative words or words of exclusion at the beginning of a sentence. When this happens, the sentence changes its structure and adopts a structure similar to that of a question.
E.G.:
This is an affirmative sentence, not a question, and it is used to emphasize that Gabriel will do that action only for one person in this world.
When the sentence is in a simple tense where there isn’t an auxiliary we have to add an auxiliary:
E.g.:
MSR/mbs
beginning of a sentence
In writing or very formal speaking sometimes we use negative words or words of exclusion at the beginning of a sentence. When this happens, the sentence changes its structure and adopts a structure similar to that of a question.
E.G.:
- Only for Valeria will Gabriel kneel
This is an affirmative sentence, not a question, and it is used to emphasize that Gabriel will do that action only for one person in this world.
When the sentence is in a simple tense where there isn’t an auxiliary we have to add an auxiliary:
E.g.:
- No sooner did Carina arrive that she called diego.
- Not only did Juan Carlos hold Maria Elena’s hand but he also kissed her.
- Never has Lizbeth had such a dreadful experience as when she fell down dancing and twisted her ankle.
- Hardly had Meche and John gotten to the station that the train departed and their honeymoon started.
- Seldom do Diego and Carina go out with other couples. They prefer their privacy.
MSR/mbs
grammar - adverbs
ADVERBS
Definition
Adverbs are words that modify almost anything in a sentence. They can modify:
a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)
sometimes adverbs modify complete sentences, in which case they are called viewpoint adverbs
Adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs of manner frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:
E.g.:
That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.
Adverbs of place and time that are only one word are very scarce.
In the case of adverbs of place there are: here, there, somewhere everywhere, nowhere, anywhere and some similar ones.
In the case of adverbs of time there are: now yesterday today tomorrow later, and not many more.
It is much more common to have adverbial phrases (groups of words without a verb that act as an adverb in a sentence) or adverbial clauses ( a part of a sentence that must have a subject and a verb) that give us ideas such as time, place, condition, result, cause, reason, etc.
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause:
E.g.:
When this class is over, we're going to the movies.
When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):
E.g.:
He went to the stadium.
She works on weekends.
They lived in Switzerland during the crisis.
And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):
E.g.:
E.g.:
He calls his mother as often as possible.
This one is an adverbial phrase of frequency, because it tells with what frequency he calls his mother
Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."
Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.
E.g.:
Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.
The student who reads fastest will finish first.
We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:
E.g.:
With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.
She worked less confidently after her accident.
That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.
The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality:
A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn't. In certain cases, the two forms have different meanings:
E.g.:
He arrived late.
Lately, he couldn't seem to be on time for anything.
In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations:
E.g.:
She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.
He did wrong by her.
He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.
Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples:
Emphasizers:
He literally wrecked his mother's car.
She simply ignored me.
They're going to be late, for sure.
Amplifiers:
I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.
They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.
I so wanted to go with them.
We know this city well.
Downtoners:
John sort of felt betrayed by Meche.
His mother mildly disapproved his actions.
We can improve on this to some extent.
The boss almost quit after that.
The school was all but ruined by the storm.
Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be accompanied by premodifiers:
E.g.:
She runs very fast.
We're going to run out of material all the faster
This issue is addressed in the section on degrees in adjectives.
For this section on intensifiers, we are indebted to A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. Longman Group: London. 1978. pages 438 to 457. Examples our own.
Using Adverbs in a Numbered List
Within the normal flow of text, it's nearly always a bad idea to number items beyond three or four, at the most. Anything beyond that, you're better off with a vertical list that uses numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Also, in such a list, don't use adverbs (with an -ly ending); use instead the uninflected ordinal number (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.). First (not firstly), it's unclear what the adverb is modifying. Second (not secondly), it's unnecessary. Third (not thirdly), after you get beyond "secondly," it starts to sound silly. Adverbs that number in this manner are treated as disjuncts (see below.)
Adverbs We Can Do Without
Review the section on Being Concise for some advice on adverbs that we can eliminate to the benefit of our prose: intensifiers such as very, extremely, and really that don't intensify anything and expletive constructions ("There are several books that address this issue.")
Kinds of Adverbs
Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of Place
She has lived on the island all her life.
She still lives there now.
Adverbs of Frequency
She often goes by herself.
Adverbs of Time
E.g.:
She tries to get back before dark.
It's starting to get dark now.
She finished her tea first.
She left early.
Adverbs of Purpose
She shops in several stores to get the best buys.
Positions of Adverbs
One of the hallmarks of adverbs is their ability to move around in a sentence. Adverbs of manner are particularly flexible in this regard.
• The minister solemnly addressed her congregation.
• The minister addressed her congregation solemnly.
The following adverbs of frequency appear in various points in these sentences:
• Before the main verb:
E.g.:
I never get up before nine o'clock.
• Between the auxiliary verb and the main verb:
E.g.:
I have rarely written to my brother without a good reason.
• Before the verb used to:
E.g.:
I always used to see him at his summer home.
Indefinite adverbs of time can appear either before the verb or between the auxiliary and the main verb:
E.g.:
• He finally showed up for batting practice.
• She has recently retired.
Order of Adverbs
There is a basic order in which adverbs will appear when there is more than one. It is similar to The Royal Order of Adjectives, but it is even more flexible.
THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS
Verb 1.- Manner 2.- Place 3.- Frequency 4.- Time 5.- Purpose
Meche swims 1.- enthusiastically2.- in the pool3.- every morning4.- before dawn5.- to keep in shape.
Diego walks1.- impatiently2.- into town3.- every afternoon4.- before supper5.- to get a newspaper.
Carina naps1.- peacefully2.- in her room3.- every morning4.- before lunch.
In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the sentence: "Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks into town to get a newspaper." When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a comma.
More Notes on Adverb Order
As a general principle, shorter adverbial phrases precede longer adverbial phrases, regardless of content. In the following sentence, an adverb of time precedes an adverb of frequency because it is shorter (and simpler):
E.g.:
• Dad takes a brisk walk before breakfast every day of his life.
A second principle: among similar adverbial phrases of kind (manner, place, frequency, etc.), the more specific adverbial phrase comes first:
E.g.:
• My grandmother was born in a sod house on the plains of northern Nebraska.
• She promised to meet him for lunch next Tuesday.
Bringing an adverbial modifier to the beginning of the sentence can place special emphasis on that modifier. This is particularly useful with adverbs of manner:
• Slowly, ever so carefully, Jesse filled the coffee cup up to the brim, even above the brim.
• Occasionally, but only occasionally, one of these lemons will get by the inspectors.
Inappropriate Adverb Order
Review the section on Misplaced Modifiers for some additional ideas on placement. Modifiers can sometimes attach themselves to and thus modify words that they ought not to modify.
E.g.:
• They reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died on the six o'clock news.
Clearly, it would be better to move the underlined modifier to a position immediately after "they reported" or even to the beginning of the sentence — so the poor man doesn't die on television.
E.g.:
They reported on the six o'clock news that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died .
On the six o'clock news, they reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died
Misplacement can also occur with very simple modifiers, such as only and barely:
It would be better if "She grew to be only four feet tall."
Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts
Regardless of its position, an adverb is often neatly integrated into the flow of a sentence. When this is true, as it almost always is, the adverb is called an adjunct. (Notice the underlined adjuncts or adjunctive adverbs in the first two sentences of this paragraph.) When the adverb does not fit into the flow of the clause, it is called a disjunct or a conjunct and is often set off by a comma or set of commas. A disjunct frequently acts as a kind of evaluation of the rest of the sentence. Although it usually modifies the verb, we could say that it modifies the entire clause, too. Notice how "too" is a disjunct in the sentence immediately before this one; that same word can also serve as an adjunct adverbial modifier: It's too hot to play outside. Here are two more disjunctive adverbs:
• Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Conjuncts, on the other hand, serve a connector function within the flow of the text, signaling a transition between ideas.
E.g.:
• If they start smoking those awful cigars, then I'm not staying.
• We've told the landlord about this ceiling again and again, and yet he's done nothing to fix it.
At the extreme edge of this category, we have the purely conjunctive device known as the conjunctive adverb (often called the adverbial conjunction):
E.g.:
• Jose has spent years preparing for this event; nevertheless, he's the most nervous person here.
• I love this school; however, I don't think I can afford the tuition.
Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. 126. Used with permission. Examples our own.
Some Special Cases
The adverbs enough and not enough usually take a postmodifier position:
• These shoes are not big enough.
• In a roomful of elderly people, you must remember to speak loudly enough.
(Notice, though, that when enough functions as an adjective, it can come before the noun:
The adverb enough is often followed by an infinitive:
E.g.:
• She didn't run fast enough to win.
The adverb too comes before adjectives and other adverbs:
• She ran too fast.
• She works too quickly.
If too comes after the adverb it is probably a disjunct (meaning also) and is usually set off with a comma:
E.g.:
• Yasmin works hard. She works quickly, too.
The adverb too is often followed by an infinitive:
Another common construction with the adverb too is too followed by a prepositional phrase — for + the object of the preposition — followed by an infinitive:
Relative Adverbs
Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where, when, and why. Although the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself fulfills an adverbial function (modifying a verb within its own clause).
The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place:
The relative pronoun "where" modifies the verb "used to be" (which makes it adverbial), but the entire clause ("where my great grandfather used to be minister") modifies the word "church."
A when clause will modify nouns of time:
My favorite month is always February, when we celebrate Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day.
And a why clause will modify the noun reason:
Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?
We sometimes leave out the relative adverb in such clauses, and many writers prefer "that" to "why" in a clause referring to "reason":
• Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?
• I always look forward to the day when we begin our summer vacation.
• I know the reason that men like motorcycles.
Authority for this section: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994.
Viewpoint, Focus, and Negative Adverbs
A viewpoint adverb generally comes after a noun and is related to an adjective that precedes that noun:
• Investing all our money in snowmobiles was probably not a sound idea financially.
You will sometimes hear a phrase like "scholastically speaking" or "financially speaking" in these circumstances, but the word "speaking" is seldom necessary.
A focus adverb indicates that what is being communicated is limited to the part that is focused; a focus adverb will tend either to limit the sense of the sentence ("He got an A just for attending the class.") or to act as an additive ("He got an A in addition to being published."
Although negative constructions like the words "not" and "never" are usually found embedded within a verb string — "He has never been much help to his mother." — they are technically not part of the verb; they are, indeed, adverbs. However, a so-called negative adverb creates a negative meaning in a sentence without the use of the usual no/not/neither/nor/never constructions:
• He seldom visits.
• She hardly eats anything since the accident.
• After her long and tedious lectures, rarely was anyone awake.
Take a quiz on adverbs. Click on the following link:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/adverbs_quiz.htm
Also you can take a quiz on the order of adverbs. Click on the link below:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/magnets/adv_magnets.htm
Source : http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adverbs.htm
Visited: August 19, 2011 am.
Adapted by: Miguel Sierra Rivera
Definition
Adverbs are words that modify almost anything in a sentence. They can modify:
a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)
sometimes adverbs modify complete sentences, in which case they are called viewpoint adverbs
Adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs of manner frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:
E.g.:
That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.
Adverbs of place and time that are only one word are very scarce.
In the case of adverbs of place there are: here, there, somewhere everywhere, nowhere, anywhere and some similar ones.
In the case of adverbs of time there are: now yesterday today tomorrow later, and not many more.
It is much more common to have adverbial phrases (groups of words without a verb that act as an adverb in a sentence) or adverbial clauses ( a part of a sentence that must have a subject and a verb) that give us ideas such as time, place, condition, result, cause, reason, etc.
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause:
E.g.:
When this class is over, we're going to the movies.
When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):
E.g.:
He went to the stadium.
She works on weekends.
They lived in Switzerland during the crisis.
And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):
E.g.:
- She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.
- The principal ran to catch the bus.
E.g.:
He calls his mother as often as possible.
This one is an adverbial phrase of frequency, because it tells with what frequency he calls his mother
Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."
Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.
E.g.:
Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.
The student who reads fastest will finish first.
We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:
E.g.:
With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.
She worked less confidently after her accident.
That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.
The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality:
E.g.:
"He can't run as fast as his sister."A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn't. In certain cases, the two forms have different meanings:
E.g.:
He arrived late.
Lately, he couldn't seem to be on time for anything.
In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations:
E.g.:
She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.
He did wrong by her.
He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.
Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples:
Emphasizers:
E.g.:
I really don't believe him. He literally wrecked his mother's car.
She simply ignored me.
They're going to be late, for sure.
Amplifiers:
E.g.:
The teacher completely rejected her proposal. I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.
They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.
I so wanted to go with them.
We know this city well.
Downtoners:
E.g.:
I kind of like this school. John sort of felt betrayed by Meche.
His mother mildly disapproved his actions.
We can improve on this to some extent.
The boss almost quit after that.
The school was all but ruined by the storm.
Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be accompanied by premodifiers:
E.g.:
She runs very fast.
We're going to run out of material all the faster
This issue is addressed in the section on degrees in adjectives.
For this section on intensifiers, we are indebted to A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. Longman Group: London. 1978. pages 438 to 457. Examples our own.
Using Adverbs in a Numbered List
Within the normal flow of text, it's nearly always a bad idea to number items beyond three or four, at the most. Anything beyond that, you're better off with a vertical list that uses numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Also, in such a list, don't use adverbs (with an -ly ending); use instead the uninflected ordinal number (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.). First (not firstly), it's unclear what the adverb is modifying. Second (not secondly), it's unnecessary. Third (not thirdly), after you get beyond "secondly," it starts to sound silly. Adverbs that number in this manner are treated as disjuncts (see below.)
Adverbs We Can Do Without
Review the section on Being Concise for some advice on adverbs that we can eliminate to the benefit of our prose: intensifiers such as very, extremely, and really that don't intensify anything and expletive constructions ("There are several books that address this issue.")
Kinds of Adverbs
Adverbs of Manner
E.g.:
She moved slowly and spoke quietly.Adverbs of Place
She has lived on the island all her life.
She still lives there now.
Adverbs of Frequency
E.g.:
She takes the boat to the mainland every day.She often goes by herself.
Adverbs of Time
E.g.:
She tries to get back before dark.
It's starting to get dark now.
She finished her tea first.
She left early.
Adverbs of Purpose
E.g.:
She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.She shops in several stores to get the best buys.
Positions of Adverbs
One of the hallmarks of adverbs is their ability to move around in a sentence. Adverbs of manner are particularly flexible in this regard.
E.g.:
• Solemnly the minister addressed her congregation. • The minister solemnly addressed her congregation.
• The minister addressed her congregation solemnly.
The following adverbs of frequency appear in various points in these sentences:
• Before the main verb:
E.g.:
I never get up before nine o'clock.
• Between the auxiliary verb and the main verb:
E.g.:
I have rarely written to my brother without a good reason.
• Before the verb used to:
E.g.:
I always used to see him at his summer home.
Indefinite adverbs of time can appear either before the verb or between the auxiliary and the main verb:
E.g.:
• He finally showed up for batting practice.
• She has recently retired.
Order of Adverbs
There is a basic order in which adverbs will appear when there is more than one. It is similar to The Royal Order of Adjectives, but it is even more flexible.
THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS
Verb 1.- Manner 2.- Place 3.- Frequency 4.- Time 5.- Purpose
Meche swims 1.- enthusiastically2.- in the pool3.- every morning4.- before dawn5.- to keep in shape.
Diego walks1.- impatiently2.- into town3.- every afternoon4.- before supper5.- to get a newspaper.
Carina naps1.- peacefully2.- in her room3.- every morning4.- before lunch.
In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the sentence: "Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks into town to get a newspaper." When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a comma.
More Notes on Adverb Order
As a general principle, shorter adverbial phrases precede longer adverbial phrases, regardless of content. In the following sentence, an adverb of time precedes an adverb of frequency because it is shorter (and simpler):
E.g.:
• Dad takes a brisk walk before breakfast every day of his life.
A second principle: among similar adverbial phrases of kind (manner, place, frequency, etc.), the more specific adverbial phrase comes first:
E.g.:
• My grandmother was born in a sod house on the plains of northern Nebraska.
• She promised to meet him for lunch next Tuesday.
Bringing an adverbial modifier to the beginning of the sentence can place special emphasis on that modifier. This is particularly useful with adverbs of manner:
• Slowly, ever so carefully, Jesse filled the coffee cup up to the brim, even above the brim.
• Occasionally, but only occasionally, one of these lemons will get by the inspectors.
Inappropriate Adverb Order
Review the section on Misplaced Modifiers for some additional ideas on placement. Modifiers can sometimes attach themselves to and thus modify words that they ought not to modify.
E.g.:
• They reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died on the six o'clock news.
Clearly, it would be better to move the underlined modifier to a position immediately after "they reported" or even to the beginning of the sentence — so the poor man doesn't die on television.
E.g.:
They reported on the six o'clock news that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died .
On the six o'clock news, they reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died
Misplacement can also occur with very simple modifiers, such as only and barely:
E.g.:
• She only grew to be four feet tall.It would be better if "She grew to be only four feet tall."
Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts
Regardless of its position, an adverb is often neatly integrated into the flow of a sentence. When this is true, as it almost always is, the adverb is called an adjunct. (Notice the underlined adjuncts or adjunctive adverbs in the first two sentences of this paragraph.) When the adverb does not fit into the flow of the clause, it is called a disjunct or a conjunct and is often set off by a comma or set of commas. A disjunct frequently acts as a kind of evaluation of the rest of the sentence. Although it usually modifies the verb, we could say that it modifies the entire clause, too. Notice how "too" is a disjunct in the sentence immediately before this one; that same word can also serve as an adjunct adverbial modifier: It's too hot to play outside. Here are two more disjunctive adverbs:
E.g.:
• Frankly, Martha, I don't give a hoot. • Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Conjuncts, on the other hand, serve a connector function within the flow of the text, signaling a transition between ideas.
E.g.:
• If they start smoking those awful cigars, then I'm not staying.
• We've told the landlord about this ceiling again and again, and yet he's done nothing to fix it.
At the extreme edge of this category, we have the purely conjunctive device known as the conjunctive adverb (often called the adverbial conjunction):
E.g.:
• Jose has spent years preparing for this event; nevertheless, he's the most nervous person here.
• I love this school; however, I don't think I can afford the tuition.
Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. 126. Used with permission. Examples our own.
Some Special Cases
The adverbs enough and not enough usually take a postmodifier position:
E.g.:
• Is that music loud enough? • These shoes are not big enough.
• In a roomful of elderly people, you must remember to speak loudly enough.
(Notice, though, that when enough functions as an adjective, it can come before the noun:
E.g.:
• Did she give us enough time?The adverb enough is often followed by an infinitive:
E.g.:
• She didn't run fast enough to win.
The adverb too comes before adjectives and other adverbs:
• She ran too fast.
• She works too quickly.
If too comes after the adverb it is probably a disjunct (meaning also) and is usually set off with a comma:
E.g.:
• Yasmin works hard. She works quickly, too.
The adverb too is often followed by an infinitive:
E.g.:
• She runs too slowly to enter this race.Another common construction with the adverb too is too followed by a prepositional phrase — for + the object of the preposition — followed by an infinitive:
E.g.:
• This milk is too hot for a baby to drink.Relative Adverbs
Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where, when, and why. Although the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself fulfills an adverbial function (modifying a verb within its own clause).
The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place:
E.g.:
My entire family now worships in the church where my great grandfather used to be minister.The relative pronoun "where" modifies the verb "used to be" (which makes it adverbial), but the entire clause ("where my great grandfather used to be minister") modifies the word "church."
A when clause will modify nouns of time:
My favorite month is always February, when we celebrate Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day.
And a why clause will modify the noun reason:
Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?
We sometimes leave out the relative adverb in such clauses, and many writers prefer "that" to "why" in a clause referring to "reason":
• Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?
• I always look forward to the day when we begin our summer vacation.
• I know the reason that men like motorcycles.
Authority for this section: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994.
Viewpoint, Focus, and Negative Adverbs
A viewpoint adverb generally comes after a noun and is related to an adjective that precedes that noun:
E.g.:
• A successful athletic team is often a good team scholastically. • Investing all our money in snowmobiles was probably not a sound idea financially.
You will sometimes hear a phrase like "scholastically speaking" or "financially speaking" in these circumstances, but the word "speaking" is seldom necessary.
A focus adverb indicates that what is being communicated is limited to the part that is focused; a focus adverb will tend either to limit the sense of the sentence ("He got an A just for attending the class.") or to act as an additive ("He got an A in addition to being published."
Although negative constructions like the words "not" and "never" are usually found embedded within a verb string — "He has never been much help to his mother." — they are technically not part of the verb; they are, indeed, adverbs. However, a so-called negative adverb creates a negative meaning in a sentence without the use of the usual no/not/neither/nor/never constructions:
E.g.:
• He seldom visits.
• She hardly eats anything since the accident.
• After her long and tedious lectures, rarely was anyone awake.
Take a quiz on adverbs. Click on the following link:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/adverbs_quiz.htm
Also you can take a quiz on the order of adverbs. Click on the link below:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/magnets/adv_magnets.htm
Source : http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adverbs.htm
Visited: August 19, 2011 am.
Adapted by: Miguel Sierra Rivera
miércoles, 17 de agosto de 2011
AO4 MT EXAM
ADVANCED GRAMMAR ONE
Midterm exam
CHOOSE THE CORRECT ALTERNATIVE AND MARK IT WITH AN “X” ON
YOUR ANSWER SHEET
01. - The salad dressing ___________________ salty.
a.- taste b.- is tasting c.- is taste d.- tastes
02. - Mr. Pérez __________________out of the country for ten years when the police tries
to arrest him.
a.- will be b.- has been c.- have been d.- will have been
03. - What ________________________________________________?
a.- make that nasty noise c.- makes that nasty noise
b.- make that nasty noise d.- make noisy that nasty
04. - Lots of food ____________________ to Kosovo.
a. - are sent b.- is been sent c.- should be sent d.- should send
05. - José ______________________________
a. - never is late for class c. - is late never for class
b. - is never late for class d. - never is late at class
06. - I went to the post office _____________________________ I had written the letter
a. - before b.- until c.- as soon as d.- till
07. - John was scared because he ________ never _____________ that before.
a. - had / done b.- have / done c.- has / done d.- have / did
08. - Lisbeth _____________ to open that box for ten minutes but she can't get it open yet.
a. - had been trying b.- have tried c.- has been trying d.- had tried
09. - That prisoner _________________________ by the time his sentence is over.
a. - will have been dying c. - will had died
b. - will have died d. - will have dyed
10. - Clothes ________________________dry quickly ________ summer
a. - gets/in b. - get/on c. - get/in d . - is getting/in
11.- They had left ____________________ I got there.
a. - When b. - after c. - until d. - till
12. - I _________________________ there many times.
a. - run b. - have run c.-have ran d. - had run
13. – astrid ________ in that organization for three years when she married José.
a.- worked b.- has worked c.- have worked d.- had worked
14. - Diana ______________________ a pottery course this month.
a..- take b.- is taking c.- takes d.- are taking
15. - Janella _________________ a new fashion collection every winter
a.- is designing b.- is design c.- designs d.- designing
16. - Those soccer players.....................in that field every morning this summer.
a.- had played b.- played c.- have being played d.- have been playing
17. - Planes leaving for home always _____________ at night.
a.- depart b.- departs c.- are departing d.- is departing
18. - She used _____________________ to bed early
a.- go b.- to go c.- to going d.- going
19. – It is 1:30; Cinthia ______________________lunch.
a. - have b.- has c.- is hasing d.- is having
20. - Juan Carlos didn't ________________________ at the party on Saturday.
a.- appeared b.- took off c.- show up d.- looked up
21. - Last week, Mrs. Meche de Estremadoyro __________________ to abandon his diet.
a.- decide b.- used to decide c.- use to decide d.- decided
22. - He set his alarm clock so he _______________________ early
a.- would get up b.- can get up c.- will get up d.- get up
23. - While he ___________ English, he ________________ Annie at the beach.
a.- was studing - remembering c.- study - remembered
b.- studied - remember d.- was studying-remembered
24. - Carina was trying to impress Ivan, so she had _____ his shirt button very neatly.
a. - saw b. - sewn c. - sew d. - sewd
25. - He _______________________________ president, won't he?
a. - will be chosen c. - won't choose
b. - won't be chosen d. - won't be chose
26. - _____________________ you ___________________?
a. - Are/smoke b. - Do/smoking c.- Do/smoke d.- Do/smokes
27. - Carlos: Do you want to go to New York with me?
Betsy: I don´t know yet. ___________________________
a. - I think about it c. - I´m think about it
b. - I´m thinking about it d. - I thinking about it
28. - The report must _________________________________ yesterday.
a. - be sent b. - being sent c. - have been sent d. - sent
29. - Dennis: Do you dance?
Andrea: Yes, but I _________________________
a. - dance b. - don´t dance c. - ´m not dancing d. - ‘m dancing
30.- Clauses must have __________________________________
a.- a subject and a verb c.- a subject and a complement
b.- a verb and a complement d.- a verb and an adjective
31. - Watercolor provides a brilliant transparency and freshness, _____________ allows
extraordinary free brushwork
a. - during b. - which c. - that d. - and
32. - Cinthia was so weak that she _______________________________
a. - passed out b. - faint c. - pass out d. - came to
33. - 18 per cent I.G.V tax __________________________ in the bill.
a. - is include b. - includes c. - is included d.- are included
34. - The Pyramids _____________________________ by the Egyptians.
a. - were build b. - were built c. - was build d. - were builded
35. - She had been at home ____________________________she went to the zoo.
a. - while b. - before c. - after d. - as soon as
36. - Bacteria, ________________ are neither plants nor animals, are single celled organisms.
a.- whose b.- that c.- who d.- which
37. - Victor Delfin,__________________ I met last year, is a noted sculptor.
a. - which b. - who's c. - that d. - whom
38. - _________________________they had solved the problem, he called me.
a.- While b.- When c.- Already d.- Yet
39. - Janet discovered the place ________________the treasure had been buried.
a. - which b. - where c. - that d. - whom
40. - That clothing store ____________ by the same man since 1960.
a. - is own c.- has being owned
b.-. has been owned d.- has owned
IDENTIFY THE ONE UNDERLINED WORD OR PHRASE (A, B, C, D)THAT MUST BE
CHANGED IN ORDER FOR THE SENTENCE TO BE CORRECT.
41. - Guppies are (a)sometimes (b)call Rainbow Fish (c)because of the (d) males' bright colors.
42. - (a) Serving several (b)term in Congress, Mr. Suarez became an (c) important Peru (d)politician
43. - (a)Sculptor Victor Delfin is (b)noted for his many life-sized (c) and realistic (d) figure.
44.- The (a)discovery of gold in Puerto Maldonado in 1990 (b)brought (c) more than 50,000
prospectors there (d)by two years.
45. - Bacteria are (a)either plants (b)nor animals, but are single celled organisms (c)that reproduce
most (d)commonly through binary fision.
46.- (a)Fine (b)handmade lace is (c)traditionally (d)making of linen thread.
47.- W.A. Burpee (a)was one of (b)the first (c)merchants to establish a (d)successfully mail order
business.
48.- Hammers are (a)made in different shapes (b)and sizes to do a (c)various of (d)jobs.
49.- The (a)hardness (b)of mineral often (c)gives a clue to (d)its identity.
50.- A liquid (a) does not (b)have reach its (c)boiling point to evaporate (d)completely
MSR/mbs
Midterm exam
CHOOSE THE CORRECT ALTERNATIVE AND MARK IT WITH AN “X” ON
YOUR ANSWER SHEET
01. - The salad dressing ___________________ salty.
a.- taste b.- is tasting c.- is taste d.- tastes
02. - Mr. Pérez __________________out of the country for ten years when the police tries
to arrest him.
a.- will be b.- has been c.- have been d.- will have been
03. - What ________________________________________________?
a.- make that nasty noise c.- makes that nasty noise
b.- make that nasty noise d.- make noisy that nasty
04. - Lots of food ____________________ to Kosovo.
a. - are sent b.- is been sent c.- should be sent d.- should send
05. - José ______________________________
a. - never is late for class c. - is late never for class
b. - is never late for class d. - never is late at class
06. - I went to the post office _____________________________ I had written the letter
a. - before b.- until c.- as soon as d.- till
07. - John was scared because he ________ never _____________ that before.
a. - had / done b.- have / done c.- has / done d.- have / did
08. - Lisbeth _____________ to open that box for ten minutes but she can't get it open yet.
a. - had been trying b.- have tried c.- has been trying d.- had tried
09. - That prisoner _________________________ by the time his sentence is over.
a. - will have been dying c. - will had died
b. - will have died d. - will have dyed
10. - Clothes ________________________dry quickly ________ summer
a. - gets/in b. - get/on c. - get/in d . - is getting/in
11.- They had left ____________________ I got there.
a. - When b. - after c. - until d. - till
12. - I _________________________ there many times.
a. - run b. - have run c.-have ran d. - had run
13. – astrid ________ in that organization for three years when she married José.
a.- worked b.- has worked c.- have worked d.- had worked
14. - Diana ______________________ a pottery course this month.
a..- take b.- is taking c.- takes d.- are taking
15. - Janella _________________ a new fashion collection every winter
a.- is designing b.- is design c.- designs d.- designing
16. - Those soccer players.....................in that field every morning this summer.
a.- had played b.- played c.- have being played d.- have been playing
17. - Planes leaving for home always _____________ at night.
a.- depart b.- departs c.- are departing d.- is departing
18. - She used _____________________ to bed early
a.- go b.- to go c.- to going d.- going
19. – It is 1:30; Cinthia ______________________lunch.
a. - have b.- has c.- is hasing d.- is having
20. - Juan Carlos didn't ________________________ at the party on Saturday.
a.- appeared b.- took off c.- show up d.- looked up
21. - Last week, Mrs. Meche de Estremadoyro __________________ to abandon his diet.
a.- decide b.- used to decide c.- use to decide d.- decided
22. - He set his alarm clock so he _______________________ early
a.- would get up b.- can get up c.- will get up d.- get up
23. - While he ___________ English, he ________________ Annie at the beach.
a.- was studing - remembering c.- study - remembered
b.- studied - remember d.- was studying-remembered
24. - Carina was trying to impress Ivan, so she had _____ his shirt button very neatly.
a. - saw b. - sewn c. - sew d. - sewd
25. - He _______________________________ president, won't he?
a. - will be chosen c. - won't choose
b. - won't be chosen d. - won't be chose
26. - _____________________ you ___________________?
a. - Are/smoke b. - Do/smoking c.- Do/smoke d.- Do/smokes
27. - Carlos: Do you want to go to New York with me?
Betsy: I don´t know yet. ___________________________
a. - I think about it c. - I´m think about it
b. - I´m thinking about it d. - I thinking about it
28. - The report must _________________________________ yesterday.
a. - be sent b. - being sent c. - have been sent d. - sent
29. - Dennis: Do you dance?
Andrea: Yes, but I _________________________
a. - dance b. - don´t dance c. - ´m not dancing d. - ‘m dancing
30.- Clauses must have __________________________________
a.- a subject and a verb c.- a subject and a complement
b.- a verb and a complement d.- a verb and an adjective
31. - Watercolor provides a brilliant transparency and freshness, _____________ allows
extraordinary free brushwork
a. - during b. - which c. - that d. - and
32. - Cinthia was so weak that she _______________________________
a. - passed out b. - faint c. - pass out d. - came to
33. - 18 per cent I.G.V tax __________________________ in the bill.
a. - is include b. - includes c. - is included d.- are included
34. - The Pyramids _____________________________ by the Egyptians.
a. - were build b. - were built c. - was build d. - were builded
35. - She had been at home ____________________________she went to the zoo.
a. - while b. - before c. - after d. - as soon as
36. - Bacteria, ________________ are neither plants nor animals, are single celled organisms.
a.- whose b.- that c.- who d.- which
37. - Victor Delfin,__________________ I met last year, is a noted sculptor.
a. - which b. - who's c. - that d. - whom
38. - _________________________they had solved the problem, he called me.
a.- While b.- When c.- Already d.- Yet
39. - Janet discovered the place ________________the treasure had been buried.
a. - which b. - where c. - that d. - whom
40. - That clothing store ____________ by the same man since 1960.
a. - is own c.- has being owned
b.-. has been owned d.- has owned
IDENTIFY THE ONE UNDERLINED WORD OR PHRASE (A, B, C, D)THAT MUST BE
CHANGED IN ORDER FOR THE SENTENCE TO BE CORRECT.
41. - Guppies are (a)sometimes (b)call Rainbow Fish (c)because of the (d) males' bright colors.
42. - (a) Serving several (b)term in Congress, Mr. Suarez became an (c) important Peru (d)politician
43. - (a)Sculptor Victor Delfin is (b)noted for his many life-sized (c) and realistic (d) figure.
44.- The (a)discovery of gold in Puerto Maldonado in 1990 (b)brought (c) more than 50,000
prospectors there (d)by two years.
45. - Bacteria are (a)either plants (b)nor animals, but are single celled organisms (c)that reproduce
most (d)commonly through binary fision.
46.- (a)Fine (b)handmade lace is (c)traditionally (d)making of linen thread.
47.- W.A. Burpee (a)was one of (b)the first (c)merchants to establish a (d)successfully mail order
business.
48.- Hammers are (a)made in different shapes (b)and sizes to do a (c)various of (d)jobs.
49.- The (a)hardness (b)of mineral often (c)gives a clue to (d)its identity.
50.- A liquid (a) does not (b)have reach its (c)boiling point to evaporate (d)completely
MSR/mbs
domingo, 10 de julio de 2011
Alp for I07
Dear students,
this month you will have the chance to read one of the works of Rudyard Kipling.
The name of the story is Rikki Tikki Tavi.
Please read the story two time without a dictionary, and the third time use a dictionary for the most difficult words.
after you finish reading write 20 new words with their meaning, and then write a composition between 120-180 words expressing your opinion about the story. You will present this paper the day of the project presentation, and then orally explain your point of view.
This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought single-handed, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment. Darzee, the tailor-bird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice; but Rikki-tikki did the real fighting.
He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits. His eyes and the end of his restless nose were pink; he could scratch himself anywhere he pleased, with any leg, front or back, that he chose to use; he could fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottle-brush, and his war-cry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was: ``Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!''
One day, a high summer flood washed him out of the burrow where he lived with his father and mother, and carried him, kicking and clucking, down a roadside ditch. He found a little wisp of grass floating there, and clung to it till he lost his senses. When he revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, very draggled indeed, and a small boy was saying: ``Here's a dead mongoose. Let's have a funeral.''
They took him into the house, and a big man picked him up between his finger and thumb, and said he was not dead but half choked; so they wrapped him in cotton-wool, and warmed him, and he opened his eyes and sneezed.
``Don't be frightened, Teddy,'' said his father. ``That's his way of making friends.''
``Ouch! He's tickling under my chin,'' said Teddy.
`Good gracious,'' said Teddy's mother, ``and that's a wild creature! I suppose he's so tame because we've been kind to him.''
``All mongooses are like that,'' said her husband. ``If Teddy doesn't pick him up by the tail, or try to put him in a cage, he'll run in and out of the house all day long. Let's give him something to eat.''
They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki-tikki liked it immensely, and when it was finished he went out into the verandah and sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make it dry to the roots. Then he felt better.
``There are more things to find out about in this house,'' he said to himself, ``than all my family could find out in all their lives. I shall certainly stay and find out.''
But Teddy's mother wouldn't think of anything so awful.
Early in the morning Rikki-tikki came to early breakfast in the verandah riding on Teddy's shoulder, and they gave him banana and some boiled egg; and he sat on all their laps one after the other, because every well-brought-up mongoose always hopes to be a house-mongoose some day and have rooms to run about in, and Rikki-tikki's mother (she used to live in the General's house at Segowlee) had carefully told Rikki what to do if ever he came across white men.
Then Rikki-tikki went out into the garden to see what was to be seen. It was a large garden, only half cultivated, with bushes as big as summer-houses of Marshal Niel roses, lime and orange trees, clumps of bamboos, and thickets of high grass. Rikki-tikki licked his lips. ``This is a splendid hunting-ground,'' he said, and his tail grew bottle-brushy at the thought of it, and he scuttled up and down the garden, snuffing here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices in a thorn-bush.
It was Darzee, the tailor-bird, and his wife. They had made a beautiful nest by pulling two big leaves together and stitching them up the edges with fibres, and had filled the hollow with cotton and downy fluff. The nest swayed to and fro, as they sat on the rim and cried.
``What is the matter?'' asked Rikki-tikki.
``We are very miserable,'' said Darzee. ``One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday, and Nag ate him.''
``Who is Nag?'' said he. ''I am Nag. The great god Brahm put his mark upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept. Look, and be afraid!''
He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening. He was afraid for the minute; but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose's business in life was to fight and eat snakes. Nag knew that too, and at the bottom of his cold heart he was afraid.
``Well,'' said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, ``marks or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest?''
Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot (when a mongoose's eyes grow red, he is angry), and he sat back on his tail and hind legs like a little kangaroo, and looked all round him, and chattered with rage. But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass. When a snake misses its stroke, it never says anything or gives any sign of what it means to do next. Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them, for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once. So he trotted off to the gravel path near the house, and sat down to think. It was a serious matter for him.
But just as Teddy was stooping, something flinched a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: ``Be careful. I am death!'' It was Karait, the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; and his bite is as dangerous as the cobra's. But he is so small that nobody thinks of him, and so he does the more harm to people.
He went away for a dust-bath under the castor-oil bushes, while Teddy's father beat the dead Karait. ``What is the use of that?'' thought Rikki-tikki. ``I have settled it all''; and then Teddy's mother picked him up from the dust and hugged him, crying that he had saved Teddy from death, and Teddy's father said that he was a providence, and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes. Rikki-tikki was rather amused at all the fuss, which, of course, he did not understand. Teddy's mother might just as well have petted Teddy for playing in the dust. Rikki was thoroughly enjoying himself.
That night, at dinner, walking to and fro among the wine-glasses on the table, he could have stuffed himself three times over with nice things; but he remembered Nag and Nagaina, and though it was very pleasant to be patted and petted by Teddy's mother, and to sit on Teddy's shoulder, his eyes would get red from time to time, and he would go off into his long war-cry of ``Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!''
Teddy carried him off to bed, and insisted on Rikki-tikki sleeping under his chin. Rikki-tikki was too well bred to bite or scratch, but as soon as Teddy was asleep he went off for his nightly walk round the house, and in the dark he ran up against Chuchundra, the muskrat, creeping round by the wall. Chuchundra is a broken-hearted little beast. He whimpers and cheeps all the night, trying to make up his mind to run into the middle of the room, but he never gets there.
``Do you think a snake-killer kills musk-rats?'' said Rikki-tikki scornfully.
``Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes,'' said Chuchundra, more sorrowfully than ever. ``And how am I to be sure that Nag won't mistake me for you some dark night?''
``There's not the least danger,'' said Rikki-tikki; ``but Nag is in the garden, and I know you don't go there.''
``My cousin Chua, the rat, told me --'' said Chuchundra, and then he stopped.
``Told you what?''
``H'sh! Nag is everywhere, Rikki-tikki. You should have talked to Chua in the garden.''
``I didn't -- so you must tell me. Quick Chuchundra, or I'll bite you!''
Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his whiskers. ``I am a very poor man,'' he sobbed. ``I never had spirit enough to run out into the middle of the room. H'sh! I musn't tell you anything. Can't you hear, Rikki-tikki?''
Rikki-tikki listened. The house was as still as still, but he thought he could just catch the faintest scratch-scratch in the world, -- a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane, -- the dry scratch of a snake's scales on brick-work.
``That's Nag or Nagaina,'' he said to himself; ``and he is crawling into the bath-room sluice. You're right Chuchundra; I should have talked to Chua.''
He stole off to Teddy's bath-room, but there was nothing there, and then to Teddy's mother's bathroom. At the bottom of the smooth plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a sluice for the bath-water, and as Rikki-tikki stole in by the masonry curb where the bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in the moonlight.
``When the house is emptied of people,'' said Nagaina to her husband, ``he will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt for Rikki-tikki together.''
``But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the people?'' said Nag.
``I had not thought of that,'' said Nag. ``I will go, but there is no need that we should hunt for Rikki-tikki afterward. I will kill the big man and his wife, and the child if I can, and come away quietly. The bungalow will be empty, and Rikki-tikki will go.''
Rikki-tikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this, and then Nag's head came through the sluice, and his five feet of cold body followed it. Angry as he was, Rikki-tikki was very frightened as he saw the size of the big cobra. Nag coiled himself up, raised his head, and looked into the bath-room in the dark, and Rikki could see his eyes glitter.
``Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him on the open floor, the odds are in his favour. What am I to do?'' said Rikki-tikki-tavi.
There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had gone away. Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil, round the bulge at the bottom of the water-jar, and Rikki-tikki stayed still as death. After an hour he began to move, muscle by muscle, toward the jar. Nag was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked at his big back, wondering which would be the best place for a good hold. ``If I don't break his back at the first jump,'' said Rikki, ``he can still fight; and if he fights -- O Rikki!'' He looked at the thickness of the neck below the hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage.
Then he jumped. The head was lying a little clear of the water-jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the head. This gave him just one second's purchase, and he made the most of it. Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken by a dog -- to and fro on the floor, up and down, and round in great circles; but his eyes were red, and he held on as the body cart-whipped over the floor, upsetting the tin dipper and the soap-dish and the flesh-brush, and banged against the tin side of the bath. As he held he closed his jaws tighter and tighter, for he made sure he would be banged to death, and, for the honor of his family, he preferred to be found with his teeth locked. He was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him; a hot wind knocked him senseless, and red fire singed his fur. The big man had been wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a shot-gun into Nag just behind the hood.
Rikki-tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now he was quite sure he was dead; but the head did not move, and the big man picked him up and said: ``It's the mongoose again, Alice; the little chap has saved our lives now.'' Then Teddy's mother came in with a very white face, and saw what was left of Nag, and Rikki-tikki dragged himself to Teddy's bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself tenderly to find out whether he was really broken into forty pieces, as he fancied.
When morning came he was very stiff, but well pleased with his doings. ``Now I have Nagaina to settle with, and she will be worse than five Nags, and there's no knowing when the eggs she spoke of will hatch. Goodness! I must go and see Darzee,'' he said.
Without waiting for breakfast, Rikki-tikki ran to the thorn-bush where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his voice. The news of Nag's death was all over the garden, for the sweeper had thrown the body on the rubbish-heap.
``Oh, you stupid tuft of feathers!'' said Rikki-tikki angrily. ``Is this the time to sing?''
``Nag is dead -- is dead -- is dead!'' sang Darzee. ``The valiant Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast. The big man brought the bang-stick, and Nag fell in two pieces! He will never eat my babies again.''
``Nagaina came to the bath-room sluice and called for Nag,'' Darzee went on; ``and Nag came out on the end of a stick -- the sweeper picked him up on the end of a stick and threw him upon the rubbish-heap. Let us sing about the great, the red-eyed Rikki-tikki!'' and Darzee filled his throat and sang.
``If I could get up to your nest, I'd roll all your babies out!'' said Rikki-tikki. ``You don't know when to do the right thing at the right time. You're safe enough in your nest there, but it's war for me down here. Stop singing a minute, Darzee.''
``Where is Nagaina, for the third time?''
``On the rubbish-heap by the stables, mourning for Nag. Great is Rikki-tikki with the white teeth.''
``Bother my white teeth! Have you ever heard where she deeps her eggs?''
``In the melon-bed, on the end nearest the wall, where the sun strikes nearly all day. She hid them there weeks ago.''
``And you never thought it worth while to tell me? The end nearest the wall, you said?''
``Rikki-tikki, you are not going to eat her eggs?''
``Not eat exactly; no. Darzee, if you have a grain of sense you will fly off to the stables and pretend that your wing is broken, and let Nagaina chase you away to this bush. I must get to the melon-bed, and if I went there now she'd see me.''
Darzee was a feather-brained little fellow who could never hold more than one idea at a time in his head; and just because he knew that Nagaina's children were born in eggs like his own, he didn't think at first that it was fair to kill them. But his wife was a sensible bird, and she knew that cobra's eggs meant young cobras later on; so she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, and continue his song about the death of Nag. Darzee was very like a man in some ways.
Nagaina lifted up her head and hissed, ``You warned Rikki-tikki when I would have killed him. Indeed and truly, you've chosen a bad place to be lame in.'' And she moved toward Darzee's wife, slipping along over the dust.
``Well! It may be some consolation to you when you're dead to know that I shall settle accounts with the boy. My husband lies on the rubbish-heap this morning, but before the night the boy in the house will lie very still. What is the use of running away? I am sure to catch you. Little fool, look at me!''
Darzee's wife knew better than to do that, for a bird who looks at a snake's eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move. Darzee's wife fluttered on, piping sorrowfully, and never leaving the ground, and Nagaina quickened her pace.
Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables, and he raced for the end of the melon-patch near the wall. There, in the warm litter about the melons, very cunningly hidden, he found twenty-five eggs, about the size of a bantam's eggs, but with whitish skin instead of shell.
``I was not a day too soon,'' he said; for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose. He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could, taking care to crush the young cobras, and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether he had missed any. At last there were only three eggs left, and Rikki-tikki began to chuckle to himself, when he heard Darzee's wife screaming:
``Rikki-tikki, I led Nagaina toward the house, and she has gone into the verandah, and -- oh, come quickly -- she means killing!''
ikki-tikki smashed two eggs, and tumbled backward down the melon-bed with the third egg in his mouth, and scuttled to the verandah as hard as he could put foot to the ground. Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast; but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not eating anything. They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy striking-distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro singing a song of triumph.
Teddy's eyes were fixed on his father, and all his father could do was to whisper, ``Sit still, Teddy. You mustn't move. Teddy, keep still.''
Then Rikki-tikki came up and cried: ``Turn round Nagaina; turn and fight!''
``Look at your eggs,'' said Rikki-tikki, ``in the melon-bed near the wall. Go and look, Nagaina.''
The big snake turned half round, and saw the egg on the verandah. ``Ah-h! Give it to me,'' she said.
Rikki-tikki put his paws one on each side of the egg, and his eyes were blood-red. ``What price for a snake's egg? For a young cobra? For a young king-cobra? For the last -- the very last of the brood? The ants are eating all the others down by the melon-bed.''
``Tricked! Tricked! Tricked! Rikk-tchk-tchk!'' chuckled Rikki-tikki. ``The boy is safe, and it was I -- I -- I that caught Nag by the hood last night in the bathroom.'' Then he began to jump up and down, all four feet together, his head close to the floor. ``He threw me to and fro, but he could not shake me off. He was dead before the big man blew him in two. I did it. Rikki-tikki-tchk-tchk! Come then, Nagaina, Come and fight with me. You shall not be a widow long.''
Nagaina saw that she had lost her chance of killing Teddy, and the egg lay between Rikki-tikki's paws. ``Give me the egg, Rikki-tikki. Give me the last of my eggs, and I will go away and never come back,'' she said, lowering her hood.
Rikki-tikki was bounding all round Nagaina, keeping just out of reach of her stroke, his little eyes like hot coals. Nagaina gathered herself together, and flung out at him. Rikki-tikki jumped up and backward. Again and again and again she struck, and each time her head came with a whack on the matting of the verandah, and she gathered herself together like a watch-spring. Then Rikki-tikki danced in a circle to get behind her, and Nagaina spun round to keep her head to his head, so that the rustle of her tail on the matting sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind.
He had forgotten the egg. It still lay on the verandah, and Nagaina came nearer and nearer to it, till at last, while Rikki-tikki was drawing breath, she caught it in her mouth, turned to the verandah steps, and flew like an arrow down the path, with Rikki-tikki behind her. When the cobra runs for her life, she goes like a whip-lash flicked across as horse's neck.
Rikki-tikki knew that he must catch her, or all the trouble would begin again. She headed straight for the long grass by the thorn-bush, and as he was running Rikki-tikki heard Darzee still singing his foolish little song of triumph. But Darzee's wife was wiser. She flew off her nest as Nagaina came along, and flapped her wings about Nagaina's head. If Darzee had helped they might have turned her; but Nagaina only lowered her hood and went on. Still, the instant's delay brought Rikki-tikki up to her, and as she plunged into the rat-hole where she and Nag used to live, his little white teeth were clenched on her tail, and he went down with her -- and very few mongooses, however wise and old they may be, care to follow a cobra into its hole. It was dark in the hole; and Rikki-tikki never knew when it might open out and give Nagaina room to turn and strike at him. He held on savagely, and struck out his feet to act as brakes on the dark slope of the hot, moist earth.
Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving, and Darzee said: ``It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing his death song. Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him underground.''
So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute, and just as he got to the most touching part the grass quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers. Darzee stopped with a little shout. Rikki-tikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and sneezed. ``It is all over,'' he said. ``The widow will never come out again.'' And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him, and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the truth.
Rikki-tikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he was -- slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon, for he had done a hard day's work.
``Now,'' he said, when he awoke, ``I will go back to the house. Tell the Coppersmith, Darzee, and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is dead.''
The Coppersmith is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating of a little hammer on a copper pot; and the reason he is always making it is because he is the town-crier to every Indian garden, and tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen. As Rikki-tikki went up the path, he heard his ``attention'' notes like a tiny dinner-gong; and then the steady ``Ding-dong-tock! Nag is dead -- dong! Nagaina is dead! Ding-dong-tock!'' That set all the birds in the garden singing, and frogs croaking; for Nag and Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds.
``He saved our lives and Teddy's life,'' she said to her husband. ``Just think, he saved all our lives!''
Rikki-tikki woke up with a jump, for all the mongooses are light sleepers.
``Oh, it's you,'' said he. ``What are you bothering for? All the cobras are dead; and if they weren't, I'm here.''
Rikki-tikki had a right to be proud of himself; but he did not grow too proud, and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it, with tooth and jump and spring and bit, till never a cobra dared show its head inside the walls.
Doubled the joys that I know --
Proud of my lilt through the sky,
Proud of the house that I sew --
Over and under, so weave I my music -- so weave I the
house that I sew.
Sing to your fledglings again,
Mother, oh lift up your head!
Evil that plagued us is slain,
Death in the garden lies dead.
Terror that hid in the roses is impotent -- flung on the
dung-hill and dead!
Rikki, the valiant, the true,
Tikki, with eyeballs of flame,
Rink-tikki-tikki, the ivory-fanged, the hunger with eye-
balls of flame.
Give him the Thanks of the birds,
Praise him with nightingale-words --
Nay, I will praise him instead.
Hear! I will sing you the praise of the bottle-tailed
Rikki, with eyeballs of red!
(Here Rikki-tikki interrupted, and the rest of the song is lost.)
this month you will have the chance to read one of the works of Rudyard Kipling.
The name of the story is Rikki Tikki Tavi.
Please read the story two time without a dictionary, and the third time use a dictionary for the most difficult words.
after you finish reading write 20 new words with their meaning, and then write a composition between 120-180 words expressing your opinion about the story. You will present this paper the day of the project presentation, and then orally explain your point of view.
RIKKI TIKKI TAVI
Rudyard Kipling
At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
``Nag, come up and dance with death!''
Eye to eye and head to head,
(Keep the measure, Nag.)
This shall end when one is dead;
(At thy pleasure, Nag.)
Turn for turn and twist for twist-
(Run and hide thee, Nag.)
Hah! The hooded Death has missed!
(Woe betide thee, Nag!)
``No,'' said his mother; ``let's take him in and dry him. Perhaps he isn't really dead.''
``Now,'' said the big man (he was an Englishman who had just moved into the bungalow); ``don't frighten him, and we'll see what he'll do.''
It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the mongoose family is ``Run and find out''; and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose. He looked at the cotton-wool, decided that it was not good to eat, ran all around the table, sat up and put his fur in order, scratched himself, and jumped on the small boy's shoulder.
Rikki-tikki looked down between the boy's collar and neck, snuffed at his ear, and climbed down to the floor, where he sat rubbing his nose.
He spent all that day roaming over the house. He nearly drowned himself in the bath-tubs, put his nose into the ink on a writing table, and burnt it on the end of the big man's cigar, for he climbed up in the big man's lap to see how writing was done. At nightfall he ran into Teddy's nursery to watch how kerosene-lamps were lighted, and when Teddy went to bed Rikki-tikki climbed up too; but he was a restless companion, because he had to get up and attend to every noise all through the night, and find out what made it. Teddy's mother and father came in, the last thing, to look at their boy, and Rikki-tikki was awake on the pillow. ``I don't like that,'' said Teddy's mother; ``he may bite the child.'' ``He'll do no such thing,'' said the father. ``Teddy's safer with that little beast than if he had a bloodhound to watch him. If a snake came into the nursery now --- ''
``H'm!'' said Rikki-tikki, ``that is very sad --- but I am a stranger here. Who is Nag?''
Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss --- a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from tongue to tail. When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion-tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake's eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of.
Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard. So he dropped his head a little, and put it on one side.
``Let us talk,'' he said. ``You eat eggs. Why should not I eat birds?''
``Behind you! Look behind you!'' sang Darzee.
Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring. He jumped up in the air as high as he could go, and just under him whizzed by the head of Nagaina, Nag's wicked wife. She had crept up behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him; and he heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed. He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have know that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return-stroke of the cobra. He bit, indeed, but did not bite long enough, and he jumped clear of the whisking tail, leaving Nagaina torn and angry.
``Wicked, wicked Darzee!'' said Nag, lashing up as high as he could reach toward the nest in the thornbush; but Darzee had built it out of reach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro.
If you read the old books of natural history, you will find they say that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten, he runs off and eats some herb that cures him. That is not true. The victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of foot, -- snake's blow against mongoose's jump, -- and as no eye can follow the motion of a snake's head when it strikes, that makes things much more wonderful than any magic herb. Rikki-tikki knew he was a young mongoose, and it made him all the more pleased to think that he had managed to escape a blow from behind. It gave him confidence in himself, and when Teddy came running down the path, Rikki-tikki was ready to be petted.
Rikki-tikki's eyes grew red again, and he danced up to Karait with the peculiar rocking, swaying motion that he had inherited from his family. It looks very funny, but it is so perfectly balanced a gait that you can fly off from it at any angle you please; and in dealing with snakes this is an advantage. If Rikki-tikki had only known, he was doing a much more dangerous thing that fighting Nag, for Karait is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close to the back of the head, he would get the return-stroke in his eye or lip. But Rikki did not know: his eyes were all red, and he rocked back and forth, looking for a good place to hold. Karait struck out. Rikki jumped sideways and tried to run in, but the wicked little dusty gray head lashed within a fraction of his shoulder, and he had to jump over the body, and the head followed his heels close.
Teddy shouted to the house: ``Oh, look here! Our mongoose is killing a snake''; and Rikki-tikki heard a scream from Teddy's mother. His father ran out with a stick, but by the time he came up, Karait had lunged out once too far, and Rikki-tikki- had sprung, jumped on the snake's back, dropped his head far between his fore-legs, bitten as high up the back as he could get hold, and rolled away. That bite paralysed Karait, and Rikki-tikki was just going to eat him up from the tail, after the custom of his family at dinner, when he remembered that a full meal makes a slow mongoose, and if wanted all his strength and quickness ready, he must keep himself thin.
``Don't kill me,'' said Chuichundra, almost weeping. ``Rikki-tikki, don't kill me.''
``Everything. When there were no people in the bungalow, did we have any mongoose in the garden? So long as the bungalow is empty, we are king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs in the melon-bed hatch (as they may to-morrow), our children will need room and quiet.''
Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking from the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath. ``That is good,'' said the snake. ``Now, when Karait was killed, the big man had a stick. He may have that stick still, but when he comes in to bathe in the morning he will not have a stick. I shall wait here till he comes. Nagaina -- do you hear me? -- I shall wait here in the cool till daytime.''
``It must be the head,'' he said at last; ``the head above the hood; and when I am once there, I must not let go.''
``All that's true enough; but where's Nagaina?'' said Rikki-tikki, looking carefully round him.
``For the great, the beautiful Rikki-tikki's sake I will stop,'' said Darzee. ``What is it, O Killer of the terrible Nag?''
She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbish heap, and cried out, ``Oh, my wing is broken! The boy in the house threw a stone at me and broke it.'' Then she fluttered more desperately than ever.
``The boy broke it with a stone! shrieked Darzee's wife.
``Son of the big man that killed Nag,'' she hissed, ``stay still. I am not ready yet. Wait a little. Keep very still, all you three. If you move I strike, and if you do not move I strike. Oh, foolish people, who killed my Nag!''
``All in good time,'' said she, without moving her eyes. ``I will settle my account with you presently. Look at your friends, Rikki-tikki. They are still and white; they are afraid. They dare not move, and if you come a step nearer I strike.''
Nagaina spun clear round, forgetting everything for the sake of the one egg; and Rikki-tikki saw Teddy's father shoot out a big hand, catch Teddy by the shoulder, and drag him across the little table with the teacups, safe and out of reach of Nagaina.
``Yes, you will go away, and you will never come back; for you will go to the rubbish-heap with Nag. Fight, widow! The big man has gone for his gun! Fight!''
When Rikki got to the house, Teddy and Teddy's mother (she still looked very white, for she had been fainting) and Teddy's father came out and almost cried over him; and that night he ate all that was givn him till he could eat no more, and went to bed on Teddy's shoulder, where Teddy's mother saw him when she came to look late at night.
Darzee's Chant
(Sung in honour of Rikki-tikki-tavi)
Singer and tailor am I --Doubled the joys that I know --
Proud of my lilt through the sky,
Proud of the house that I sew --
Over and under, so weave I my music -- so weave I the
house that I sew.
Sing to your fledglings again,
Mother, oh lift up your head!
Evil that plagued us is slain,
Death in the garden lies dead.
Terror that hid in the roses is impotent -- flung on the
dung-hill and dead!
Who hath delivered us, who?
Tell me his nest and his name.Rikki, the valiant, the true,
Tikki, with eyeballs of flame,
Rink-tikki-tikki, the ivory-fanged, the hunger with eye-
balls of flame.
Praise him with nightingale-words --
Nay, I will praise him instead.
Hear! I will sing you the praise of the bottle-tailed
Rikki, with eyeballs of red!
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