CLASS IDENTITY

Both sisters lived in their father’s, really their mother’s, Kensington house, and mixed with the young
Cambridge group, the group that stood for ‘freedom’ and flannel trousers, and flannel shirts open at the neck, and a
well-bred sort of emotional anarchy, and a whispering, murmuring sort of voice, and an ultrasensitive sort of
manner. Hilda, however, suddenly married a man ten years older than herself, an elder member of the same
Cambridge group, a man with a fair amount of money, and a comfortable family job in the government: he also
wrote philosophical essays. She lived with him in a smallish house in Westminster, and moved in that good sort of
society of people in the government who are not tip-toppers, but who are, or would be, the real intelligent power in
the nation: people who know what they’re talking about, or talk as if they did.
Connie did a mild form of war-work, and consorted with the flannel-trousers Cambridge intransigents, who
gently mocked at everything, so far. Her ‘friend’ was a Clifford Chatterley, a young man of twenty-two, who had
hurried home from Bonn, where he had been studying the technicalities of coal-mining. He had previously spent two
years in Cambridge. Now he had become a first lieutenant in a smart regiment, so he could mock at everything more
becomingly in uniform.
Clifford Chatterley was more upper-class than Connie. Connie was well-to-do intelligentsia, but he was
aristocracy. Not the big sort, but still it. His father was a baronet, and his mother had been a viscount’s daughter.
But Clifford, while he was better bred than Connie, and more ‘society’, was in his own way more
provincial and more timid. He was at his ease in the narrow ‘great world’, that is, landed aristocracy society, but he
was shy and nervous of all that other big world which consists of the vast hordes of the middle and lower classes,
and foreigners. If the truth must be told, he was just a little bit frightened of middle- and lower-class humanity, and
of foreigners not of his own class. He was in some paralysing way, conscious of his own defencelessness, though he
had all the defence of privilege. Which is curious, but a phenomenon of our day.
Therefore the peculiar soft assurance of a girl like Constance Reid fascinated him. She was so much more
mistress of herself in that outer world of chaos than he was master of himself.
Nevertheless he too was a rebel: rebelling even against his class. Or perhaps rebel is too strong a word; far
too strong. He was only caught in the general, popular recoil of the young against convention and against any sort of
real authority. Fathers were ridiculous: his own obstinate one supremely so. And governments were ridiculous: our
wait-and-see sort especially so. And armies were ridiculous, and old buffers of generals altogether, the red-faced
Kitchener supremely. Even the war was ridiculous, though it did kill a lot of people.
In fact, everything was a little ridiculous, or very ridiculous: certainly everything connected with authority,
whether it were in the army or the government or the universities, was ridiculous to a degree. And as far as the
governing class made any pretensions to govern, they were ridiculous too. Sir Geoffrey, Clifford’s father, was
intensely ridiculous, chopping down his trees, and weeding men out of his colliery to shove them into the war; and
himself being so safe and patriotic; but also, spending more money on his country than he’d got.
When Miss Chatterley – Emma – came down to London from the Midlands to do some nursing work, she
was very witty in a quiet way about Sir Geoffrey and his determined patriotism. Herbert, the elder brother and heir,
laughed outright, though it was his trees that were falling for trench props. But Clifford only smiled a little uneasily.
Everything was ridiculous, quite true. But when it came too close and oneself became ridiculous too…? At least
people of a different class, like Connie, were earnest about something. They believed in something.
(D. H. Lawrence – Lady Chatterley’s Lover)

Improve your vocabulary:

colliery (British English) - a coal mine together with the buildings and machinery connected
with it
buffer ( as a person) (British English old-fashioned)-an old man who isn’t able to manage things

READING COMPREHENSION

Class in British Society

 Until the Second World War there were very distinct social groups in
British society. There was an upper class that included the aristocracy and
many people who lived on inherited wealth, a middle class that could be
subdivided into upper middle class and lower middle class, and a
working class that included both skilled craftsmen and unskilled industrial
workers and labourers. The divisions between the classes were reflected in
many aspects of life. Working-class children usually left school and went
out to work at the age of 14. Upper-class children were educated in private
schools and formed the majority of students at university. Pubs were
divided into public bars and saloon (or lounge) bars which were more
expensive and more comfortable. Trains had first, second and third class
carriages. Theatres had a dress circle where theatre-goers wore evening
dress, and a gallery where the seats were cheaper and evening dress was
not worn. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1994)

I. Paraphrase the underlined phrases.

II. Answer the following questions.

1. What does the word “freedom”, which is used in connection to the Cambridge group, refer to?
2. Why do you think the author uses the term “good sort of society” when referring to Hilda’s marriage?
3. Comment upon the use of the terms “mock”, “ridiculous” by the author. Do you think that the author
approves of this attitude?
4. The text is interesting from the point of view of the use of perspective. What are the perspectives presented
in the text and what are the elements in the text that help to build these perspectives?
5. In what terms does the author describe the distinction between Clifford’s class and Connie’s class?
6. Comment upon Clifford Chatterly’s awareness that he is part of the “aristocracy”. What is the connection
between this “class awareness” and his fascination for Connie Reid?
7. Why does the author say that the term “rebel” is too strong for a person like Clifford? What does Clifford’s
rebellion consist of?
8. What is Clifford’s attitude to authority? What does the general recoil of the young against convention have
to do with it?
9. In what way is Sir Geoffrey’s image as a figure of “authority” presented in the text and what are the
connotations associated with “Authority” in this case?
10. Comment upon the attitudes on war presented in the text.

B
VOCABULARY

1. Translate into English, making use of expressions from the text above:
a) Candidatul opoziţiei purta o cămaşă verzulie, deschisă la gât, care-i punea tenul măsliniu în valoare. b) Tatăl său,
colonel în armata britanică, îi explicase că singura forţă inteligentă din această naţiune este reprezentată de
intelectuali. c) Banii pe care ţi i-am dat sunt din moştenirea mamei, de fapt a tatălui nostru. d) Dacă vei continua să
fraternizezi cu genul acesta de oameni, te voi exclude din testament. e) Se simţea timid faţă de orice fată care încerca
să îi facă conversaţie. f) Nu pot avea dialog cu oamenii care nu sunt din acelaşi grup social ca al meu. g) Jim admira
foarte tare faptul că soţia sa era propriul ei stăpân şi îi era în acelaşi timp loială lui. h) Face parte din aristocraţie,
ceea ce în cazul ei nu este neapărat un avantaj. i) Bill este parte din familia Jones mai mult decât însuşi moştenitorul
acestei familii. j) Cred că cuvintele pe care le-ai folosit sunt nişte cuvinte prea dure pentru compania în care suntem.
k) Mark face parte din aristocraţie, aşa cum prietenul lui cel mai bun este din pătura de jos a societăţii.

2. Paraphrase the following lexical items:

a social climber/ to be an upstart/ to be a name-dropper/ to pull rank/ a socialite/ to lack in social graces/ to speak
with a posh accent/ to marry into money / to marry below yourself/ heirloom/ the family crest/ coat of arms/ white-
collar workers/ blue-collar workers/ the days of white privilege are over/ social standing/ a titled husband/ to be of
humble origins/ caste system/ move up in the world/ upwardly mobile young woman/ a life of privilege/ blue-
blooded/ to have a classless accent/ a class-conscious person/ class-feeling/ to be comfortably well-off/ to rub
shoulders with / landed gentry.

3. Fill in the blanks with either classic or classical:

a) ‘Pride and Prejudice’ can be easily considered a …. novel. b) Everybody would like to listen to music written by
….. composers such as Mozart or Haydn. c) My friend’s niece has chosen …. studies over more social sciences. d)
He benefited from a … … education. e) The way it looks, I’d say it is a …. case of malnutrition. f) The … treatment
for this disease is a cure of antibiotics. g) I’m afraid your daughter is showing …. symptomps of pneumonia.

4. Translate into Romanian:

a) In his attempt to escape ridicule, Henry found himself in an even more difficult situation. b) Her behaviour is
absolutely ludicrous. c) She was held up to ridicule for the mistakes she had made. d) You look completely
ridiculous in those jeans. e) He is ridiculously rich. f) He’s become an object of ridicule. g) Interrupting an opera on
television for a pet-food commercial is going from the sublime to the ridiculous. h) The opposition made a laughable
attempt to discredit the government. i) His constant blunders made him the laughing-stock of the whole class.

5. COMPLEX VERB: LIVE. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate preposition/particle:
1. They both go out to work and have a nanny living _______.
2. Nobody is averse to living _______ the fat of the land.
3. If you want her good opinion you’ll have to live _____ ______ your own expectations in the first place.
4. There were no plants or pictures to give the place a lived-______ look.
5. Beaten by the worst team in the league? They’ll never live it _______!
6. It’s common knowledge that she only lives ______ home-cooked vegetables, that’s why she’s so trim.
7. I really don’t know how you managed to live ______ so much misery.
8. He was an abandoned child and had to live ______ his wits.
9. Well, whether you like it or not, you’ll have to live _______ it, I’m afraid.
10. They got married and lived _______ happily ever after.

C
GRAMMAR: PAST PERFECT

Consider the Past Perfect forms in the text above:

(1) A young man who had hurried home from Bonn
(2) He had been studying the technicalities of coal-mining
(3) He had previously spent two years in Cambridge
(4) Now he had become a first lieutenant
(5) His mother had been a viscount’s daughter

All these forms are used by the author to establish either anteriority or a link to a past moment, namely to the
time of the story line (i.e. then). This is why grammarians often treat this tense as an extension of Present Perfect
in the Past temporal sphere. Compare the following sentences:

(6) Bill has been in the bathroom for more than an hour. (link to now)
(7) It occurred to Susan that Bill had been in the bathroom for more than an hour. (link to then, the time of the main
clause)

As you can see, the present perfect sentence is paralleled by the past perfect one. From this point of view, it can be
easily said that the two tenses are similar and that the only point that separates them is the fact that while
Present Perfect takes speech time (i.e. now) as point of reference, Past Perfect is linked to a past moment (i.e.
then). Things are however more complex than that.

At this point, the basic question we should ask ourselves is the following: is Past Perfect a ‘perfect’ tense?

Our definition of a ‘perfect’ tense (see unit Three, Section Two, C) has revealed two important points:
a) the fact that a prototypical perfect excludes combination with past adverbials (i.e. the ‘past adverb constraint’)
b) the fact that a perfect is not used in narration due to its stative dimension (in other words we don’t normally
build stories by means of perfect tense forms, just as we don’t tell stories by using state verbs)

The question that imposes itself in this case is obvious: is Past Perfect such a tense form? As we will see, our data
demonstrate that, although there are striking similarities between the semantics of this tense and that of Present
Perfect, Past Perfect does not conform to the two points we have discussed above.

Consider the following examples:

(8) They realized they had been there since five/ morning.
(9) Susan knew John had left at five.

While in the first example our predictions are checked, and Past Perfect is rightfully combined with a [-THEN]
adverbial, things are different in the second sentence, where Past Perfect is combined with a past adverb. Since both
sentences are correct, the only conclusion we can draw is that Past Perfect is not subject to the ‘past-adverb
constraint’.

Consider also the following text, where Past Perfect is used by the narrator to ‘move narration forward’, thus being
the main verbal form that helps the writer build his story:

(10) On the morning when the valley, gloved in a prayer-mat, punched him on the nose, father had been trying,
absurdly, to pretend that nothing had changed. So he had risen in the bitter cold of four-fifteen, washed himself in
the prescribed fashion, dressed and put on his father’s astrakhan cap; after which he had carried the rolled cheroot
of the prayer-mat into the small lakeside garden in front of their old dark house and unrolled it over the waiting
tussock.
The ground felt deceptively soft under his feet and made him simultaneously uncertain and wary. (Salman
Rushdie – Midnight Children)

A conclusion to this discussion reveals that Past Perfect is neither subject to the past-adverb constraint nor banned in
narrative contexts. Thus it can be said that this tense does not fulfill all the conditions that should make it a ‘perfect’
tense.

However, as we will see below, its ‘perfect’ dimension can be perceived in the instances where this tense can
appear with the same three basic shades of meaning that Present Perfect itself has: the continuative, the resultative
and the experiential value.

Below we will discuss the values of Past Perfect from this perspective. We thus make a clear-cut distinction between
those values that parallel the ‘present perfect’ ones and which make this tense a ‘perfect’, and the crucial extra-value
exhibited by Past Perfect, that of showing past anteriority which gives us reason to consider this tense as also
having a preterite dimension:

1. The ‘Perfect’ Values

A noticed by Peter Fenn (1987), Past Perfect can acquire all the three values attributed to Present Perfect:

a) the Resultative Past Perfect

(11) Jimmy could not play on Saturday, as he had dislocated his shoulder.

Compare this example to a Present Perfect one and notice the similarities in meaning. The only difference lies in the
fact that the sentence under (11) does not take speech time as the reference point:

(12) Jimmy cannot play on Saturday, as he has dislocated his shoulder.

b) the Continuative Past Perfect

(13) a. Bill had been in the station for more than two hours before he realized that Susan wasn’t coming any
longer.
 b. I had been working at Longman’s for some time before I was promoted.

A comparison between this example and a Present Perfect one reveals again strong similarities. The only difference
is the point of reference.

c) the Experiential Past Perfect

(14) I had watched United lose twice that season.

Compare this sentence to the one under (15) and look at how the demonstrative pronoun together with the tense
points to the different temporal sphere each sentence belongs to:

(15) I have watched United lose twice this season.

All of the examples above point to the fact that Past Perfect is very similar in meaning to Present Perfect. This is
also supported by the well-known fact that in Indirect Speech Present Perfect is shifted into Past Perfect, as you
can see in the following examples:

(16) a.Direct Speech

Ann: I have laid the table so you can come to dinner!
b. Indirect Speech
Ann told the children that she had laid the table and they could come to dinner.

However, Present Perfect is not the only tense that is shifted into a Past Perfect form in Indirect Speech. This
situation is also valid for Simple Past. Look at the example provided by Quirk (1973) in this respect:

(17) a. Direct Speech

‘The exhibition finished last week,’ explained Ann.
b. Indirect Speech
Ann explained that the exhibition had finished the preceding week.

This example demonstrates that Past Perfect has in fact two dimensions. From one point of view, and as shown here,
it parallels the semantics of Present Perfect. From another point of view, it is seen as a past tense that expresses past
anteriority. This important value of Past Perfect is the so-called pre-preterite (i.e. ‘anterior to past’) one and it will
be treated below.

2. The Pre-preterite Value

As we have already mentioned, Past Perfect is a tense that indicates anteriority to a past moment. From this point of
view, we can easily say that in certain contexts, this tense behaves more like a preterite (a past tense) than like a
perfect tense. Consider the following contexts:

(18) a. I started in the morning, having not seen Jenny again, as she’d driven off the previous evening with Toby at
high speed to Oxford, leaving Charles and me to dine alone.
b. The British had denounced Germany fiercely enough while the war was on; they had insisted without illusion
that this was a struggle for existence. (from Fenn, 1987)

The fact that Past Perfect is seen as a past tense more than as a perfect one is indicated by the presence of
definite time adverbials in combination with this tense (the previous evening, while the war was on).

The fact that Past Perfect can easily combine with this sort of adverbials is a good reason for acknowledging the
preterite-like value of this tense. A second reason is the one we have already discussed under example (17), which
shows that Past Tense is paralleled by Past Perfect in Indirect Speech. More than that, grammarians have repeatedly
drawn attention to the fact that in such contexts and when the eventuality is an event, the rule is optional. In other
words, there are contexts when Past Tense is not necessarily shifted into a Past Perfect form. Consider the following
examples:
(19)a. Ann: Yesterday I went to the market to buy eggs.
b. Ann said that she went to the market to buy eggs the day before.
c. Ann said that she had gone to the market to buy eggs the day before.
(20)a. Ann: We all saw what Bill did.
b. Ann remarked that they all saw what Bill did.
c. Ann remarked that they all had seen what Bill had done.

Notice that both the sentence under (b) and (c) are grammatical and, most important, are similar in meaning. This
means that shifting the Past Tense forms into Past Perfect forms is not obligatory. This also means that the two
tenses are very similar in meaning.

However, it is important to remember that this situation is valid only for those verbal forms that express events. The
shifting is obligatory in those cases when the verbal form used is stative. Compare:

(21) a. Bill: Lily was here.

b. Bill said that Lily was there.
c. Bill said that Lily had been there.

Unlike in the case of the examples under (19) and (20), here only the third sentence is the Indirect Speech
counterpart for the first one. The second sentence (i.e. Bill said that Lily was there) is the counterpart for:

(22) Bill: Lily is here!

Moreover, a comparison between (21b) and (21c) shows a clear difference in meaning: while in the first case Lily’s
being there is simultaneous to Bill’s saying it, in the second case Lily’s being there is anterior to Bill’s remarking
upon it. So the sequence relations between the main clause and its subordinate are completely distinct in the two
cases: in the first case the relation is one of simultaneity, while in the second it is one of precedence.

Consider the following table that sums up this important distinction:

In Indirect Speech Past Perfect is interchangeable with Past Tense when the
verb is eventive:
Susan: I saw Bill yesterday.
Susan said that she saw/ had seen Bill the day before.
In Indirect Speech Past Perfect is NOT interchangeable with Past Tense when
the verb is stative:
Bill: Lily was here.
Bill said that Lily had been there.
Bill said that * Lily was there.

Last but not least, the ‘preterite-like’ value of Past Perfect is demonstrated by the ability of this tense to be used to
‘move narration forward’, to tell stories. To be more precise, Past Perfect is very frequently used in narratives as a
means for telling a ‘story within a story’. This phenomenon is also known under the name of ‘extended flashback’
(Kamp & Reyle, 1993) and appears as a sub-value of the ‘pre-preterite’ one. Consider again the example under (10)
and the one under (22):

(10) On the morning when the valley, gloved in a prayer-mat, punched him on the nose, father had been trying,
absurdly, to pretend that nothing had changed. So he had risen in the bitter cold of four-fifteen, washed himself in
the prescribed fashion, dressed and put on his father’s astrakhan cap; after which he had carried the rolled cheroot
of the prayer-mat into the small lakeside garden in front of their old dark house and unrolled it over the waiting
tussock.
The ground felt deceptively soft under his feet and made him simultaneously uncertain and wary. (Salman
Rushdie – Midnight Children)
(22) She was very tired. She had woken up at five, had gone shopping, had returned home and fixed breakfast for
the kids. Then she had started her other chores. Now she really needed some rest.

In these pieces of text, past tense appears as the scene-setting tense, whereas the past perfect forms under italics are
used to establish a sequence of events further in the past, i.e. a story within a story. Notice the use of the now time
adverbial that functions as a ‘perspective-shifter’ and indicates that the writer tells the story from the perspective of
the main character (the now of the heroine is in fact then for the readers).

Conclusions: we have analysed the uses of Past Perfect and seen that, unlike Present Perfect, this tense appears as
also having a ‘preterite’ dimension. Thus we can roughly divide the uses of this tense between perfect values and
preterite ones.

The most important argument for treating this tense as having a dual nature is due to its behaviour in Indirect
Speech, where it can replace both Present Perfect and Past Tense. This fact clearly indicates that Past Perfect
resembles both these tenses, while adding an extra-flavour of ‘remoteness’.

TIPS FOR TRANSLATION:

Romanian Mai mult ca perfect = English Past Perfect

venise = had come

Nota bene! The reverse is not valid!

had come ± venise

EXERCISES:

1. Consider again the Past Perfect forms in the excerpt from D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Identify their value according to the information provided in this section.

2. Translate the following, paying attention to the grammar problem we discussed:

a)* Lefterică avusese o noapte de chin. Nu trecuse niciodată prin aşa ceva. De când o cunoscuse pe Paulina, totul se
limpezise şi se înfrumuseţase în jurul său. I se părea că lumea vedea ca el şi se bucura cu el. Ba, ceva mai mult, avea
credinţa că atât de mult îl iubesc toţi, încât, dacă el ar fi greşit cu ceva şi ar fi stricat din aşezarea aceasta minunată,
pe care nu o înţelegea prea bine şi nu ştia de unde vine, ar fi sărit unul sau toţi cei care îl iubeau să dreagă şi să-l
dojenească. Aseară a crezut că, deştept cum e, înţelesese ce l-a apropiat de Paulina. Pe urmă însă a văzut că s-a
înşelat, şi nu numai asupra lui, ci şi asupra ei. Altfel îşi închipuia el că o să fie venirea femeii în casa lor. După cele
dintâi şovăieli, între ce ar fi vrut el să fie şi ce era, a simţit cum i se urcă o mână pe piept şi-l pipăie înspre gât să i se
înfigă. Şi abia la loton lumină s-a făcut. Dacă l-ar fi rupt cineva în bucăţi, n-ar fi suferit mai cumplit. (Ion Marin
Sadoveanu – Sfârşit de veac în Bucureşti)
b)Busuioc avusese dreptate. N-avea stăpânirea destulă putere spre a-I opri pe oameni la casele lor. Serile de iarnă ei
îşi petrecuseră timpul povestindu-şi unii altora ce văzuseră peste vară la câmpie. Primăvara îi opreau mereu pe
drumeţi în cale, ca să afle de la dânşii cum stau semănăturile pe şes, iar acum ştiau cu toţii că anul a fost mănos şi
aşteptau cu nerăbdare să le vie vestea că spicul a îngălbenit.
Îndată dar ce le-a venit vestea, ei s-au pornit la vale.
Şi adecă de ce să nu pornească?
Pe la dânşii nu era holeră. Porunca stăpânirii? Stăpânirea nu cerea nimic de la dânşii. Îi oprise numai pentru că
voia să le facă bine, ferindu-I de primejdie, şi treaba lor era, dacă voiesc sau nu să se împărtăşească de această
binefacere.
 Aşa înţelegea toată lumea treaba. Şi de aceea, când oamenii au început să plece, slujbaşii satului, care erau şi ei
oameni ca toată lumea, se făceau că nu ştiu, nici n-aud, nici nu văd, iară după ce drumurile s-au umplut, I s-a trimis
stăpânirii răspuns, precum că n-a fost cu putinţă să-I oprească pe oameni pe la casele lor. (Ion Slavici – Pădureanca)
c)Iorgovan era foarte nenorocit. Plecase cale lungă şi, abia plecat, se simţea la sfârşitul călătoriei. Ştiuse el că vor
găsi pădureni la Şiria, dar că va găsi atât de mulţi, încât să nu mai aibă nevoie de a merge mai departe, la asta nu s-a
gândit. (Ion Slavici – Pădureanca)
d)* Trecuseră luni de zile de când n-o mai văzuse în gândul lui; ştia numai că a văzut-o, ştia cum fusese, dar nu mai
simţise acreala de care i-a fost cuprins tot sufletul în timpul cât a stat dânsa la Curtici; acum, dimpreună cu oamenii
de la Păduri, i se ivi şi chipul Pădurencei şi simţământul de acreală, nu amărăciune, acreală, ca acreala vinului stătut
de fiert şi încă nelimpezit. Cât a stat dânsa la Curtici, zâmbet în faţa lui nu s-a ivit, mâncarea lui n-a fost mâncare, şi
somnul lui n-a fost somn, şi totuşi de câte ori vorbea de plecarea ei, îi venea să răcnească şi-şi înfigea mâinile în
şolduri. (Ion Slavici – Pădureanca)
e)Rămânând apoi singur, el începu să se plimbe prin curtea mare şi deşartă. Avea destul timp până dimineaţă: putea
să meargă şi să se întoarcă, fără ca să ştie Şofron în ce treburi a umblat. Însă caii erau obosiţi, păgubise o dată, şi
Şofron dormea în uşa grajdului. Era o nebunie! De ce să se ducă? De ce s-o vază? Ce avea el cu dânsa? Nimic,
nimic, nimic! Era o mare nenorocire pe capul lui, Pădureanca aceea; dară îi ieşise o dată primejdia în cale, şi nu se
mai putea feri de dânsa, îl apucase o dată gândul de a se pune călare şi nu mai putea; răcoarea nopţii, lumina lunii,
umbrele copacilor, toate-l ademeneau. (Ion Slavici – Pădureanca)
f)O ajunsese blestemul părintesc, pentru că fusese oarbă şi nu ascultase de sfaturile lui, pentru că îl părăsise în
ceasurile morţii, pentru că şi-a bătut joc de slăbiciunea omului la care ţinea atât de mult răposatul ei tată. Şedea,
şedea singură, se gândea la cele petrecute şi cu totul altfel le vedea acum. Îşi aducea aminte de ziua când l-a văzut
întâia dată pe Şofron, când el a luat-o lângă el în căruţă, şi I-a pus cojocul să şază pe el, îşi aducea aminte de vorbele
lui, pe care atunci nici nu le băga în seamă, iar acum şi le reamintea atât de bine, şi cu o sete nespusă. Şi cum a
sărutat-o el, cum fugea să prinză prepeliţele din zbor şi cum l-a lovit ea fără milă atunci, noaptea, în faţa lui Iorgovan
şi a tatălui ei, şi cât de nenorocit era taică-său! (Ion Slavici – Pădureanca)
g)Maria ştia că acuma ar trebui să zică şi ea ceva să-i facă plăcere şi să spună că s-a dus la horă o singură dată, de
curioasă, că n-o să mai meargă niciodată, dar parcă i se încleştase gura, şi nu mai putea să scoată o vorbă… Acolo la
horă, până nu începea jocul, aştepta ca beată pe cel despre care ştia bine că n-o să mai vie niciodată şi aşteptarea asta
era singurul lucru care-i mai aducea aminte de el, ca şi cum ar fi fost viu. (Titus Popovici – Setea)
h) Când era foarte bine dispus, le privea cu milă şi dădea din cap. De când dovedise că nu-i un prăpădit, ci unul care
ştie să se descurce în aceste vremuri întoarse cu dosul în sus, locuitorii uliţei mari începuseră să se uite cu alţi ochi la
el. Mai ales Cloambeş, care înainte vreme râdea de cum putea, îi căuta prietenia, îl poftea să bea la dânsul şi-i cerea
poveţele, cu deosebire de când îl bătuse Mitru Moţ. (Titus Popovici – Setea)
i)La câteva luni dupa aceea, George se schimbase cu desăvârşire. Fără să-şi dea seama. Înainte de război avea o
înfăţişare deosebit de tânără ( care o supăra uneori pe Emilia ) şi începuse să se îngraşe: acum devenise uscat, cu faţa
aproape pergamentoasă, foarte rigid, tăcut şi neprietenos, dar niciodată grosolan: un fel de absenţă, de lipsă de
interes; se silea din răsputeri să n-aibă nici o personalitate, nici o preferinţă, să execute ordinele, şi atâta tot. (Titus
Popovici – Setea)

3. Translate the following, paying attention to the grammar problem we discussed:

a) Frederica was agitated. She remembered her last encounter with Alexander and failed yet again to understand
her own behaviour. She had stalked him with infinite care, she had attacked him frontally, she had thrown
herself at him and teased him, and she had finally reached the point of consummation where she was coming to
dinner, in an empty house, wanting her. And what she had done was to flee to Scarborough on the back of
Wilkie’s motorbike. She loved Alexander. She had an intimation that it had been important to her to have an
impersonal initiation, in her own control, not overwhelming. But how could she ever explain this to Alexander
who anyway no longer wanted to understand? (A.S.Byatt – Still-life)
b) Daniel remembered. It had been a local cause celebre – a young couple, married just in time, accused of
murdering their six-month old child. Jerry and Barbara Butt. The child had been beaten, burnt, starved, and
finally smothered. Crowds of women had howled outside the assize Court in Calverley, as the figures of the
parents were rushed in blindly muffled under blankets. In the public gallery they had hissed and shaken with
rage. A good lawyer had got Barbara Butt to plead guilty of infanticide. Jerry, who had maintained that he was
responsible for none of the sores, welts, burns on his daughter’s body, who had been described as a little slow-
witted by his council, had been gaoled for neglect and was now out. His wife, Danny remembered vaguely, had
been recommended for hospital treatment. (Julian Barnes – A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters)
4. Correct the mistakes in the following sentences:
1) The woman had seen the fire-spitting dragon after she drew her sword.
2) If you would have talked to your son more often, he would have responded to you more warmly.
3) She has been in this place for more than a year, but the place was dead. Tourists weren’t coming any longer, so
she has brought herself in a tomb-like place.
4) A: Had he sang that song so far?
B: No, not as far I know; he didn’t even thought of it.
5) She didn’t used to come here on the beach. But now she did. In the past she was so afraid of the water that even
the mere sight of the beach would turn her stomach.
6) Even though she new the truth, she had never payd no attention to it.
7) I didn’t know what to think about Joe. He was a kind boy and lately he was even kinder, but still, something
was missing. Maybe he did not grow enough yet.
8) A: Had Mary posted the letter?
B: You know she had, had she?
9) If it hadn’t been Mary, I wouldn’t be sitting here crying.
10) Did they come to an agreement so far? Or didn’t they?

5. Translate the following setences using Subject Auxiliary Inversion:

1) Nici un moment nu se gândise că faptele lui vor avea consecinţe tragice.
2) Dacă ar fi ştiut că nimeni n-o să mai voteze cu el, ar fi renunţat la campanie.
3) Nici nu intrase bine în casă, ca telefonul începu să sune.
4) De-abia dacă reuşise să se bărbierească şi să se spele pe dinţi, când auzi bubuituri furioase în uşa băii.
5) Rareori mai văzusem o creatură aşa de închipuită.
6) Numai după ce i-am explicat de ce nu am voie să conduc maşina, a acceptat să conducă el.
7) Daca ar fi fost preot, ar fi desfiinţat toate sarbatorile păgâne.
8) Niciodată nu mai auzise un discurs atât de prost întocmit.
9) Nici n-a apucat să spună că a fost concediat, că soţia l-a şi părăsit.
10) Până nu a mărturisit, nimeni n-a mai vrut să stea de vorbă cu el.
11) Dacă ar fi fost mai multe magazine de legume şi fructe în cartier, n-ar mai fi trebuit să se ducă tocmai până în
Piaţa Amzei, cum fusese nevoită sa faca deunăzi.

6. Translate the following, identifying the underlined phrases:

1) Had she paid any heed whatsoever to my advice, she would have been the winner in this game.
2) Grandfather was so raving mad when he found out about the robbery, that he had the thief hanged in no time
3) Jane had had to get her lover out of the house before her cuckold husband came in.
4) He drank the ale as if he hadn’t had a drop in years.
5) You hadn’t been there for a year at the time.
6) After she had had him whipped for his impudence, she cut his protests with a large sum of money.
7) Hadn’t you better mortgage your house and sell the stuff at an auction?
8) He had no doubt been kicked by his own donkey.
9) Stubborn as a mule as he was, he had still been able to change his mind about the affair.
10) He had however been terribly surprised, not to say dumbfounded when seeing his new grandson.
11) He could not be mistaken, this was his flesh and blood, as he had been told.

7. Turn the following texts into Indirect Speech:

a) ‘Won’t you give me a drink, Charles?’
‘ No. Go away. I don’t like people who break into my house at night and play at ghosts. Just go, will you. I
don’t want to see you!’
‘Don’t you want to know why I’ve come, Charles?’
‘No.’
‘You’re surprised, you’re curious.’
‘I haven’t seen or heard of you for two years, three years, and even then I think I only met you at a party. Now
you suddenly turn up in this perfectly hateful manner. Or is it supposed to be funny? Am I expected to be glad
to see you? You aren’t part of my life. Just clear off, will you.’
b) ‘ So it was you!’
 ‘I broke the vase and the mirror, but I haven’t been creeping round at night, I wouldn’t come here in the pitch
dark. This house is creepy.’
‘But you did, you looked at me through the glass of that inner room.’
‘No, I didn’t. I never did. That must have been some other ghost.’
‘You did, someone did. How did you get in?’
‘You leave your windows open downstairs. You shouldn’t, you know.’
c) ‘I gather you didn’t even know Lizzie was living with Gilbert. Surprise, surprise. Everybody knew that. If you
aren’t interested enough to know who she’s living with you aren’t interested enough in her to marry her.’
‘ I’m not going to marry her.’
‘You’ve said that twice. You’ve always known who I was living with.’
‘You flatter yourself.’ (adapted from The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch)

8. Fill in the blanks, using the correct tense form:

1. She had blood-kin under her roof again and we sat back to watch developments. At first nothing (happen).
Then we (be sure) that they were to be married. We learned that Miss Emily (be) to the jeweller’s and (order)
a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece. Two days later we learned that she (buy) a
complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt, and we (say): “They are married.” We were really
glad. We were glad because the two female cousins were even more Grieson than Miss Emily (ever be).
2. Hartley (look) terrible. She (make up) her face with especial care and this (make) her look particularly older.
3. I put into a plastic bag her make-up and the mottled pink stone with white bars which I (give) her, and which
she apparently (not look at) since. She (say) nothing but she (watch) me put the stone into her bag.
4. Rosina was kneeling on one knee on top of one of the highest rocks and evidently (provide) herself
beforehand with an arsenal of missiles which she (throw) at me.
5. The bizzare violence of the incident (leave) me dazed, and I returned with a sick shock to my acute
consciousness of Hartley, who, during the whole of the episode, (not move), and seemed (not notice) what
had happened.
6. Before I (reach) the car I (realize) that I still (carry) the plastic bag containing Hartley’s make-up and the
stone which I (give) her.
7. As I said this I (recall) something that Toby (say) to me in some context where I was wondering whether
James (be) straight. Toby (tell) me that James (have) a great affection for some soldier servant in India, a
Nepalese sherpa, who (die) somehow on a mountain.
8. I recalled Titus’s voice saying ‘Where your cousin (live)?’ And I remembered what Toby (tell) me about the
sherpa whom James (be fond of) and who (die) on the mountain, and I felt a momentary nervous urge to ask
him about the many ‘attachments’ he (have) so far.

D
WRITING

1. CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS AND POINT OF VIEW. Reread the text and imagine what Clifford Chatterly’s
father’s opinion is about the war and about his son’s engagement to Connie Reid. Write a 300-word monologue
expressing that opinion.
2. WAR AND CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS. Based on the information in the text, imagine Clifford’s conversation to
a young man belonging to the Cambridge group about the war and about class (350 words)