Etude de textes (2)

Proposez une analyse linguistique des expressions soulignées.

• Extract 1: Muriel SPARK, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1961 (GB)
(Monica has seen her teacher Mrs Brodie kissing Mr Lloyd but Monica's schoolmates find
that difficult to believe.)
“I don’t believe all this,” Sandy said squeakily […]. “You must have been dreaming1,” she
said. […] “How did you know they didn’t see you?” Sandy said. “I got away before they
turned round. They were standing at the far end of the room beside the still-life curtain.” She
went to the classroom door and demonstrated her quick get-away. […] She seemed satisfied
by her experimental reenactment but it so delighted her friends that she repeated it. Miss
Brodie came up behind her on her fourth performance which had reached a state of extreme
flourish. “What are you doing, Sandy?” said Miss Brodie. “Only playing,” said Sandy,
photographing this new Miss Brodie with her little eyes. The question of whether Miss Brodie
was actually capable of being kissed and of kissing occupied the Brodie set2 till Christmas.
For the war-time romance of her life had presented to their minds a3 Miss Brodie of hardly
flesh and blood, since that younger Miss Brodie belonged to the prehistory of before their
birth. […] The Brodie set decided to keep the incident to themselves lest, if it should4 spread
to the rest of the class, it should spread wider still and eventually to someone’s ears who
would get Monica Douglas into trouble.

• Extract 2: P.D. JAMES, Innocent Blood, 1980 (GB)

At the trial she had sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She had
nearly added ‘So help me God’ but that wasn’t written on the card. Only in fiction,
apparently, did witnesses speak5 those words. There6 had been a little pile of holy books on
the ledge of the box. The clerk, who was gowned like a verger, had handed her the bible. She
wondered what would happen if he gave her the wrong one, the Koran perhaps. Would she
have to give her evidence all over again? The bible was black and she took it with distaste
because it was contaminated with the sweat of murderers’ hands7 and she knew that they
hadn’t bothered to disinfect it. That was almost all she remembered of the trial. These facts
are the truth.
She remembered coming home a little later that evening […]. As soon as she opened the
front door she heard the child crying8. It was a high desolate wailing, not loud but desolate
and piercing. At first she thought that it was a cat. But that was ridiculous. She was the last
woman to mistake the cry of a child9. And then she saw her husband. He was standing half
way up the stairs looking down at her.

• Extract 3: Richard FORD, Leaving for Kenosha, 2008 (US)

It was the anniversary of the disaster. Walter Hobbes was on his way up town to pick up his
daughter, Louise, at Trinity. She had the dentist at four. Then the two of them were going10
for a hilariously early dinner at the place Louise liked – Papa Andre’s11 – out on the Chef
Highway, a roadhouse on stilts that the flood had missed. Then they were going back to his
condo for her homework and a Bill Murray movie. This was New Orleans. […]
Louise liked the dentist […]. He always complimented her on her beautiful teeth, which
she liked to hear12. “Ginny’s family’s taking her out of school - after one week - and moving
away. It’s today. I want to take her a sympathy card or whatever, and say goodbye. She'll be
gone tomorrow.”
“That’s very considerate of you,” Walter said. School had, in fact, been going for only a
week, and already this was happening. Louise said nothing about his saying her being
considerate was a nice feature13. She had her hands deep in her knapsack, digging out the
green plastic case that held her night guard.