Thinking About the Language
(Page 157)
Question I.
1. This play has been translated in English from the Russian original. Are there any expressions or ways of speaking that strike you as more – Russian than English?
For example would an adult man be addressed by an older man as my darling or my treasure in an English play?
Answer:
Expressions not used in contemporary English are- my angel, my beloved, my beauty (Here these expressions, are used for an adult man) and ‘all that sort of thing’ (not explaining what it is just leaving it as it is) and ‘how may you be getting on’? reported speech
2. You must have noticed that when we report someone’s exact words, we have to make some changes in the sentence structure. In the following sentences fill in the blanks to list the changes that have occurred in the above pairs of sentences. One has been done for you.
Questions.
- To report a question, we use the reporting verb asked (as in sentence set 1).
- To report a declaration, we use the reporting verb
- The adverb of place here changes to _____
- When the verb in the direct speech is in the present tense, the verb in reported speech is in the tense (as in sentence set 3).
- If the Verb in direct speech is in the present continuous tense, the verb in reported speech changes to ____ tense. For example, ____ changes to was getting.
- When the sentence in direct speech contains a word denoting respect, we add the adverb ____ in the reporting clause (as in sentence set 1)
- The pronouns I, me, our and mine, which are used in the first person in direct speech, change to third person pronouns to such as _____ or ____ in reported speech.
Answer:
2. declared
3. there
4. past
5. past continuous, is getting
6. respectfully
7. he, him, their or his