Language section. Grammar

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 421.

Language section. Vocabulary

Pre-reading instructions

Part 1

Difficult and unfamiliar words and expressions:

Mythical (adj.) – imaginary, existing in fantasy;

my weekly binge at the public library (fig) – my weekly portion of books which never seemed enough to me; (binge – a time in which one eats or drinks a great deal; direct meaning);

dog-eared (adj.), of a book etc.– having the corners of the leaves turned down with use;

fascinate (v) – to interest greatly, to attract, to charm;

mysterious (adj.) – not easily understood;

myth (n) – here: wide-spread but false idea;

carry forward (v) – to go further, to continue;

cling to (v) – to remain loyal, to trust;

dead-end – closed end of the road without exit (dir); hopeless situation (fig);

slip in (v) – to enter secretly;

worthless (adj.) – useless;

frustrating (adj.) – disappointing, discouraging;

prime (adj.) – chief, most important;

spawn (v) – spread out, expand, give rise to, generate;

The silver screen became a prime spawning ground for imagination – The silver screen stimulated my imagination to grow;

pretend (v) – to imagine oneself as; to make believe;

get along (v) – to continue to live in spite of difficulties;

recall (v) – to recollect, to bring back to mind;

cardboard (n) – thick, stiff kind of paper used for making boxes, binding books, etc.;

twinkle (n) – look of amusement in the eyes.

Pay attention to the sentences which contain:

a) Gerunds (prepositional and non-prepositional):

... We cling to the myths in the arena of real living.

I did a lot of pretending when I was growing up.

I recall cutting out pieces of cardboard and slipping them my shoes...

... My mom was good at making us seem rich.

b) Complex Object Construction:

My mom could even make poverty fun!

My mom was good at making us seem rich.

(Mind that after make the infinitive in the COC does not have the particle «to», it is a bare infinitive).

с) Passive verb forms:

All my life I have been fascinated by the mysterious relationship between myth and truth.

...Before we know it, we have been sold a bill of goods...

I was born and raised in San-Diego, California...

d) Attributive phrases in which the head-word is modified by a chain of pre-positive attributes:

my dog-eared orange library card

my slick orange-and-gold MasterCard

worthless, frustrating dead-end road

the post-depression and World War II years

e) Replacive words (word-substitutes):

Like that of most kids of my generation, my fantasy world centered on the radio... («that» replaces (substitutes) fantasy world).

She answered, with a twinkle in her eye, «Why, today you're getting a delicious chicken sandwich ... without the chicken!» And so I did. («did' is used to replace the verb» to get).

Read the text.

Denis Waitley

BEING THE BEST

(from the Prologue)