PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT

I. Comment upon the style and substyle of the following abstract.

II. Comment on style-forming features which helped you in the process of
identification.
III. Identify stylistic devices and expressive means of the following abstract that
define the given style.
I have always believed that if a woman made up her mind to marry a man
nothing could save him. I have only once known a man who in such circumstances
managed to save himself. His name was Roger Charing. He was no longer young
when he fell in love with Ruth Barlow and he had had enough experience to make
him careful; but Ruth Barlow had a gift that makes most men defenseless. This
was the gift of pathos. Mrs. Barlow was twice a widow'. She had splendid dark
eyes and they were the most moving I ever saw. They seemed to be always on the
point of filling with tears and you felt that her sufferings had been impossible to
bear. If you were a strong fellow with plenty of money, like Roger Charing, you
should say to yourself: I must stand between the troubles of life and this helpless
little thing. Mrs. Barlow was one of those unfortunate persons with whom nothing
goes right. If she married the husband beat her; if she employed a broker he
cheated her; if she took a cook she drank.

When Roger told me that he was going to marry her, I wished him joy. As for
me I thought she was stupid and as hard as nails.

1. The style of this text is the belles-lettres functional style, the substyle is
the language of the emotive prose.
2. -One of style-forming features which helped me to identify the style is
genuine, not trite, imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices. The
author in this passage shows us the true image of one woman Ruth
Barlow, tells the story of her life, using linguistic devices.
-Another distinctive feature is a vocabulary which reflects the author’s
personal evaluation of this situation. The author uses words «I have
always believed» «I have only once known» «I thought» to make us
understand his attitude to this story.
-The main function of belles-lettres style is to impress the reader
aesthetically. This paragraph make exciting reading and give food for
reflection.
-In this passage, the author uses a combination of literary and colloquial
language to more clearly describe the main character, her life, etc.
- The characterization given to Roger and Ruth is direct and emotional.
- The emotional atmosphere is tense and permeated with expectation.
-The individual selection of syntax (Its syntax is complicated; there are
compound sentences with many subjects and verbs of action not to lose the
thought.)

3. The epithet “defenseless”. “helpless little thing”,

The metaphor “the gift of pathos”, “splendid dark eyes”,
The repetition of the word “eyes”
The simile “as hard as nails”
ANAPHORA -If she married the husband beat her; if she employed a
broker he cheated her; if she took a cook she drank.

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