№ 4.

PRACTICE WITH IDEAS

Locating Key Elements for the Idea

Exercise 1. Read the following passages and point out the key elements to suit
the given idea.

1.He called me “ma’am” with respectful courtesy, and I thanked him warmly. In
brusque northern cities one forgot how pleasant consideration and courtesy could
be. /Phyllis A. Whitney The Singing Stones/
Idea: in northern cities people are less courteous.
Key elements: “ma’am”, respectful courtesy, brusque northern cities.

2.“I don't have a lot of years left," he admitted. I suspected Arthur would attend
my funeral. /John Grisham The Street Lawyer/
Idea: Arthur looked healthy enough to live much longer than he claimed.
Key elements: attend my funeral.

3.Mordecai had launched into a detailed account of the last hours of Lontae and
her children. It was a spellbinding performance, given off the cuff with the skill of a
gifted storyteller. As the lone juror, I would have handed him a blank check. /John
Grisham /The Street Lawyer/
Idea: his speech was so convincing that the narrator was ready to hand him any
sum of money.
Key elements: a spellbinding performance.
 4.He put the strand over her head. Sunlight through glass touched a warm glow
into the heart of each bead and Jilly touched the strand as if she drew courage and
strength through her fingers. /Phyllis A. Whitney The Singing Stones/
Idea: probably Jilly believed that the gems of the strand had magic power.
Key elements: she drew courage.

5.He settled into one of the two sturdy folding chairs I'd bought at a flea market
for six bucks. They were quite ugly, but at least I had stopped worrying about my
clients and visitors collapsing in mid-sentence. /John Grisham The Street Lawyer/
Idea: probably there were cases when his clients dropped from the broken chair
he used to have.
Key elements: visitors collapsing in mid-sentence.

6.That was something else that she and Julian had promised each other - never to
be imprisoned by hideous maturity, never to stop finding life amazing and ridiculous,
never to become solemn and incurious. /Charlotte Bingham The Blue Note/
Idea: The two people wanted to remain children as long as possible.
Key elements: finding life amazing and ridiculous, promised each other.

7.I left without a hug, a kiss, a touching of any kind. I simply said good night and
walked through the door. That was precisely what she wanted. /John Grisham The
Street Lawyer/
Idea: The couple had already no feelings nor any other common touch left for
each other.
Key elements: left without, feeling.
 8.She was rich, powerful, and what was more she was Beatrice Harper, and if
Bobbie did not believe her now then she would live to regret it. /Charlotte Bingham
The Blue Note/
Idea: Beatrice Harper intended to harm Bobbie for her doubts about the woman's
influence and opportunities
Key elements: believe her.

9.Sophia knocked and pushed the door open while still tapping. No Hello. No
Excuse me. /John Grisham The Street Lawyer/
Idea: Sophia had bad manners.
Key elements: No Hello.

10. Trying to stay warm in my sleeping bag, I'd slept for three hours. I turned a
few times but further sleep escaped me. There had been too many changes in my life to
rest comfortably. /John Grisham The Street Lawyer/
Idea: he could not sleep well in his new surroundings.
Key elements: too many changes.

Exercise 2. Read the following fragments, taken from the book The Street
Lawyer by John Grisham, and formulate the idea using the key elements in bold type.

1.Judge Kisner was at least seventy, with bushy gray hair and a scraggy gray
beard, and brown eyes that burned holes as he talked.
The idea that he had a lot of experience and had a persistent look, thus did not
give any hope that something could be hidden from him
2.How long would Arthur Jacobs allow his beloved firm to be drugged through
the mud?
 The idea that this is not related to the drugs themselves, but to information that is
unnecessary for the company.
3.I had no sympathy for Braden Chance and Arthur Jacobs and Donald Rafter.
They had chosen to go for jugular. Let them sweat.
The idea that this shows the author's main attitude to these characters and that it
is absolutely indifferent.
4.“So the Drake &Sweeney bridge has been burned?” He asked as we ate.
The idea that here we see the relationship between the two characters, most likely
in a business way.
5.The Burton tragedy was fast becoming a political and social hot potato in the
District.
The idea that this problem has become socially significant in the immediate area.
6.He studied the names with great intensity, but no bells went off.
The idea that nothing helped him, not even his persistence, and there was still no
information.
7.“I think the cops might be waiting,” Mordecai announced solemnly. My first
reaction was to duck under the desk, but, of course, I did not.
The idea that he is hiding from the police, so he had to hide.
8.Seven years in the sweatshop of Drake & Sweeney had not been conductive to
nurturing friendship, or a marriage either, for that matter.
The idea that it was a difficult job that didn't lead to a good relationship.
9.Madam Devier, one of our very resilient receptionists, greeted me with her
typical look of disdain.
The idea that this woman had a suspicious attitude towards the author.
10. She was on the phone, terrorizing someone in Spanish.
The idea that perhaps she was babbling rapidly in her Spanish.
 Selecting the Correct Idea

Exercise 3. Here each passage is followed by three possible variants of idea.

Choose the letter of the variant that would best formulate the author's message

1.“Roberta, I can bring pressure to bear in certain quarter to de-fame you”

/Charlotte Bingham The Blue Note/
a) Someone is going to make Roberta bear pressure in certain quarters
b) Someone threatens Roberta to disgrace her and thus strip of social
position.
c) Roberta has lost fame in certain quarters

2.Rain fell into short soft hair and ran down her face, and mascara tracks that
resembled some kind of weird shorthand message slid across her cheeks. /Campbell
Armstrong Blackout/
a) It rained heavily that day
b) The woman did not like the rain
c) The rain made her look ugly by destroying her makeup

3.Not many men want to marry damaged goods even nowadays, do they?
/Charlotte Bingham The Blue Note/
a) Nowadays only e few men would marry just for the sake of marriage
b) Men, irrespective of their age and looks, prefer to stay single
c) Men, irrespective of their age and looks, prefer to marry young
unblemished girls instead of older or divorced women

4.Sometimes it was difficult, sometimes their faces were mere shadows. /Jackie
Collins Sinners/
a) Sometimes the character saw shadows instead of faces
 b) The character could hardly recollect people from the past
c) The character had sight problem

5.Now she started to run, away from Bobbie, and away from Dick, too, away
from all realities. /Charlotte Bingham The Blue Note/
a) The woman wanted to distract herself from reality, because it was too
painful
b) The woman left her companions for a new lover
c) Bobbie and Dick spoilt the woman’s mood

6.His lightweight summer suit was soaked and clung to him like a second skin.
/Campbell Armstrong Blackout/
a) The suit turned into the man’s skin
b) The wet suit distinctively showed the shape of the man’s body
c) The suit became invisible on the man’s body

7.He bought her presents, jewelry, furs, a new car. She accepted them all in a cold
unthrilled way. /Jackie Collins Sinners/
a) The woman did not like the presents
b) The woman wanted a more expensive present
c) The woman did not love the man

8.And seeing their look, directed straight at her, it seemed to Bobbie that that was
how the Jesuits’ eyes during the Spanish Inquisition must have looked; brown, hard
flints, with not a flicker of humour or humanity. /Charlotte Bingham The Blue Note/
a) The look Bobbie received was harsh and cruel
b) Bobbie witnessed the Spanish Inquisition
c) Bobbie was frightened every time someone looked straight at her
 9.He has a faint Brooklyn accent, but in spite of that he is as brutally correct and
as cuttingly punctilious as a third-generation English butler. /Stephen King The
Breathing Method/ (from Different Seasons by Stephen King/
a) The speaker doesn’t like the man because of his accent
b) The man’s manners gave away his occupation and true social position
c) Although the man’s manner manners were aimed at a higher social
position, his accent revealed his low-class origin

10. Ruby sat on the edge of my brown folding client’s chair, her shoulders
slumped, her entire upper body wrapped around the cup of coffee, as if it might be the
last warm thing in life. /John Grisham The Street Lawyer/
a) Ruby wanted to drink her cup of coffee very much
b) Ruby felt very cold
c) Ruby was tired and hungry

Checking the Idea

Exercise 4. Each of the following passages is followed by a sentence that

formulates its idea. If the stated idea is correct, go to the next passage. If it's not
correct, write your variant of idea.

Example:
Charlie's mother was a bird-like woman. /Jackie Collins Sinners/
Idea: Carlie's mother resemled a bird.
Apparently the suggested idea is wrong. The author means that Charlie's mother was a very
tiny woman.

1.There were voices in the hallway behind me. Someone yelled, "He's got a gun!"
And then the voices disappeared into the background, growing fainter and fainter as
my colleagues hit the back door. I could almost see them jumping out of the
windows. /John Grisham The Street Lawyer/
 Idea: The narrator's colleagues got very frightened of the terrorist's gun and
ran for safety. CORRECT

2."Are you changing jobs?"

"Thinking about it."
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know. It's too early. I haven't been looking for another position."
"Then how do you know the grass is greener if you haven't been looking?" /John
Grisham The Street Lawyer/
Idea: The first speaker suggests that the grass is not yet greener in other places.
INCORRECT. IDEA: You can’t talk about another position, if you haven’t been
tried it.

3.You are all bits of skin and bones, Clay thought. /Jackie Collins Sinners/
Idea: Clay's is large-boned
INCORRECT. IDEA: She has a well - fed body.

4. People that have the idea that when we entered the twentieth century we also
entered an age of medical light and reason have no idea of how utterly crazy medicine
could sometimes be. /Stephen King The Breathing Method/ (from Different Seasons by
Stephen King)
Idea: Medicine can be very dangerous if misused. CORRECT

5.Dave chose one, rolling it lovingly through his fingers. While he had long ago
given up cigarettes, a good cigar was not to be resisted. /J.R. Gardner Vertical Run/
Idea: Because Dave had given up smoking, he simply enjoyed rolling a cigarette
through his fingers.
INCORRECT. IDEA: Dave is a weak character, he couldn't help himself
and lit a cigarette.
 6.One held the corpse of the shark by the gill slits while the other used the knife.
She saw the butchery and turned away. /Jonathan Kellerman The Web/
Idea: The woman did not like sharks
INCORRECT. IDEA: she was afraid of blood and her actions with sharks.
7.The ocean was all-encompassing and the island seemed very small. /Jonathan
Kellerman The Web/
Idea: The fragment reveals the striking contrast between the ocean and the island
CORRECT.

8.She walked over to the girl in the chair and nudged her gently. The girl sat up
like a startled rabbit. /Jackie Collins Sinners/
Idea: The girl looked like a rabbit at the moment
INCORRECT. IDEA: With her actions, she showed who is in charge here.
9.Abe Stein was among them, with a horse-faced wife. /Jackie Collins Sinners/
Idea: Abe Stein's wife was not pretty
CORRECT.

10. "A nice lady?"

Split-second pause. "Yes." /Kellerman The Clinic/
Idea: the speaker was not sure of the positive answer
CORRECT.

Formulating Ideas

Exercise 5. Read the following passages from The Clinic by J. Kellerman.

Formulate the idea of each passage the way you see it, giving the suggestive phrases:

Example:
A laughing couple of students darted across the street, holding hands, wrapped up in each
other. Milo had to brake hard. They kept going, unaware.
"Ah, love," I said.
 "Or too many years on Walkmans and video games." /Kellerman The Clinic/

The idea conveyed in the passage is that the development of science and technology has made
young people less concerned about their security, and, consequently, more exposed to danger.
One of the interlocutors explains the couple's carelessness while crossing the street by their
spending "too many years on Walkmans and video games", which means that teenagers are used to
listening to their Walkmans in the street and to being oblivious of what goes on around them; "video
games" also contribute to danger neglecting, in the speaker's opinion, because they presuppose
multiple life choice and several lives of the character, as well as energy and sometimes even life
restoration during the game.

1.A microdress girl brought out two beers anyway and we drank them
This type of girl can be seen in eateries.
2."Professor Devane?" she said in a husky voice. "It sure took a long time." Her
hands tightened around the handlebars of her bicycle.
She did not expect to see him, so she was afraid and this caused a lot of
problems.
3.I made coffee and toast and ate without tasting, thinking of the crowd at the
women's clinic last night.
She had other thoughts in her head, so what was around her didn't bother
her at all.
4.I used a pay phone in the lobby and called the number. Locking liquid voice
said, "No one home. Speak or forget it." Hanging up I left the building. Then I used a
library phone and gave Casey Locking's home another try. Same tape.
He needed to get in touch with her immediately, because there was
important information there.
5.I made a call to the L.A. Medi-Cal office, was referred to an 800 number in
Sacramento, put on hold for ten minutes, and cut off. Trying again, I endured another
hold, got through, and was transferred to another 800 number, more holds, two shell-
shocked sounding clerks, and finally someone coherent.
 It was difficult to get through to the clinic to report the problem, as the little
man was often redirected to another number.
6.The office was big, walled in oak veneer and carpeted in beige shag. They were
both positioned behind the canoe-shaped blond oak desk. A cigar smell filled the room
but no ashtrays were in sight.
Everything was done in a clear and expensive style, it was an important
conversation with an important person.
7."I'm Mr. Storm's attorney of record. I handle all his business affairs." Bateman
said. Junior rolled his eyes. His father tapped his sleeve with an index finger.
Here you can observe a bad attitude to the attorney.
8.His father quickly turned to Milo: "Are you happy now, detective? Have you
squeezed enough blood out of the rock? Why don't you just leave us alone and go out
and catch some gang members?"
His father is already tired of everything and all these persecutions against
them.
9.I was stretched on a sofa rereading the transcripts. Spike [his dog] had chosen
to stay with me. Now his big head rested in my lap and he snored. Just as I put the
transcripts down, the phone rang. Spike snapped upright, bounded off, and ran to the
offending machine, baying.
The dog lunged at the intruder.
10. The label was a work of art. I'd steamed off an old one for penicillin, whited
out all the specifics but left the pharmacy's name and address and the RX, DATE, and
PRESCRIBING PHYSICIAN blanks. Photocopied it, typed in the new information,
put some glue on the back, stuck it back on the vial. Pretty good job, though I wasn't
ready for 20-dollar bills.
This was an illegal action on the part of the pharmacist.
 Checking Your Progress:

Exercise 6. Using your acquired skills, formulate the ideas of the given passages
and explain how you did it:

1.The center of the house was one-sixty foot stretch of dark-paneled space, filled
with groupings of green and brown couches, ceramic lamps, heavy, carved tabled full
of souvenir-shop porcelain and crystal. Clown paintings and Rodeo Drive oils of rainy
Paris street scenes said all talent should not be encouraged. /Jonathan Kellerman The
Clinic/
Idea: It was a very expensive house, most likely famous people, or those who had
a lot of money.

2.The Judge smiled with great assurance and waved at the chair in the witness
box. Stella shot wild looks in all directions as she sat down. /John Grisham The
Runaway Jury/
Idea: The judge knew in advance that he would win this case, since no one is
immune from false indicators.
3.Her eyes watered, and the poor woman was about to lose control. She bit her lip
and clenched her teeth. /John Grisham The Runaway Jury/
Idea: Playing with feelings shows that this woman wanted to feel sorry for.
4.It was good to get back out in the sunlight. Pretending the warmth could melt
the bitterness I'd absorbed up in his office. /Jonathan Kellerman The Clinic/
Idea: In the office there was a lot of vile information that only the sun gave
strength and new thoughts.
5.Mrs. Gladys Card and Millie were trying their best to disappear into the walls
and would not under any circumstances look the Judge in the eyes. /John Grisham The
Runaway Jury/
Idea: These girls had a skeleton in their closet, and they were afraid that this
information might come out.
 6.Later, they sat in the sand, at the edge of the water, splashing in the foam as the
gentle waves broke across their feet. A few boats with dim lights inched along the
horizon. The hotels and condos stood quiet behind them. They owned the beach for the
moment. /John Grisham The Runaway Jury/
Idea: It was an evening of good time, beautiful scenery, sea and carefree.
7.All humanity drank from the same river of emotion; and by drinking, every
race, religion, and nationality became one indivisible species. /Dean Koontz The Key
to Midnight/
Idea: Here we can see the idea of equality of the people, despite the fact that
no matter what anyone does, everyone is united.
8.I walked halfway down the block to the club, bent over against the whistling
wind, holding my hat on my head with one gloved hand. /Stephen King The Breathing
Method/ (from Different Seasons by Stephen King/
Idea: The idea is related to the subtext. Since we see the hero with a hand in
one glove.
9.I was struck by his diction – a slow methodical rhythm with no hurry and each
syllable getting equal treatment. He as a street bum at the moment, but there had been
better days. /John Grisham Street Lawyer/
Idea: Street bums are not high society and nothing will make their speech
better.
10. Taking the risk that her hands might shake, and her guardian notice it, but
determined on her next course anyway, very deliberately Bobbie opened her chic
leather handbag and took out a cigarette which she fitted slowly, oh so slowly, into a
holder, lit and inhaled. /Charlotte Bingham The Blue Note/
Idea: She didn't want her hands to shake so she lit a cigarette.
REVISION

Exercise 7. Read the following passages from The Deceiver by Frederick

Forsyth. Formulate the idea of each passage the way you see it, giving the suggestive
phrases:
 1.Bruno Morenz knocked on the door and entered in response to the jovial,
“Herein.” His superior was alone in the office, in his important revolving leather chair
behind his important desk. He was delicately stirring his first cup of real coffee of the
day in the bona-china cup, deposited by the attentive Fräulein Keppel, the neat spinster
who waited upon his every legitimate need.
Idea: According to the description of the boss, we understand that this is a
person with a high position.
2.„Could you come to his surgery at six?“
His wife looked up and returned to her absorption in the evening game show on
television. Bruno hoped she had got the message exactly right.
Idea: Here we see the relationship between the wife and husband, since the
woman did not respond to his request.
3.„He really thinks you‘re going to marry him?“
„Head over heels, besotted. Stupid.“
Idea: This shows the attitude of the" future " bride to the guy, as she holds
him for a fool, not telling the truth.
4.When she spoke it was not in the tones he knew, but the speech of a fishwife.
Idea: To him she was like an unpleasant, loud woman.
5.Her face was quite contorted. She spat the words. „You are a fool. A fat old
fool.“
Idea: She had a bad attitude towards this man.
6.„My trip with Herr Direktor has been postponed,“ he said. „Oh, that‘s nice,“
she said.
He sometimes thought he could come in from the office of an evening and say:
„Today I popped down to Bonn and shot Chancellor Kohl,“ and she would still say,
„Oh, that‘s nice.“
Idea: The situation that often occurs in our world is indifference, which we
see in this paragraph.
 7.it was a large brown stain, quite dry and hard. She tut-tutted at the extra work
she would have to scrub it off, and went to get a bucket of water and a brush.
Idea: The girl was not happy that she saw the dirt that needs to be cleaned
again.
8.At two minutes to eleven McCready purred the black BMW forward into the
corridor.
Idea: He went out in an expensive car to show that he was cool.
9.„Enjoy your visit to the German Democratic Republic,“ said the senoir border
guard. He didn‘t look as if he menat it.
Idea: The senior guard said this phrase with irony, to show disrespect for the
work.
10. „Thank you, guv,“ said the newsvendor. He gestured towards his placard.
„All over, then, eh? All them international crises, Things of the past.“
Idea: Newsvendor ranges speaking about the future, thereby showing
uncertainty.