Exercises and Assignments. I. How can you identify the genre of the text?

I. How can you identify the genre of the text? List other features you know of the given genre.

II. What is the general atmosphere of the text? Give examples from the text to show how the author creates this kind of atmosphere, what words and stylistic devices help him to do it.

III. Point out the verbs expressing movement and explain how they contribute to the description of the atmosphere.

IV. How do the colors – greenish, white and gold – contribute to the description of the atmosphere?

V. Analyze the semantic space of the extract. What is the basic concept of the text? Make a list of keywords dealing with the basic concept.

VI. Identify the role of the rhymes in the text. Which of them are sacred formulas? Comment on the imagery, stylistic devices, and rhythmic organization of the rhymes.

VII. Which sacred formula – the spell of the evil or the incantation of the good – sounds more convincing and effective? What stylistic devices make it expressive? Prove your point.

VIII. Read the translation of the first rhyme and comment on its equivalence.

Застывает в жилах кровь,

Крепнет каменный покров.

Долог будет могильный сон

До падения Солнца, до края времен.

В тусклое золото жизнь уйдет,

Черные ветры скроют восход,

И Властелин воцарится во мгле

Над высохшим морем, на мертвой земле.

IX. Give the equivalents for the archaisms wight, harken, and barrow. Explain Tolkien’s choice of these words.

X. How do you understand the compound noun Barrow-wights?
Offer your own translation for the proper names Barrow-wights and Shire.

XI. Find the symbols of death in the text. What effect do these words produce?

XII. The most frequently used word in the text is cold. What effect does this word produce in the following word combinations? Supply the context from the passage if necessary.

– cold stone

– cold glow

– cold murmur; cold words

– the cold; …Merry’s face felt cold

XIII. Explain the frequent use of the word light. Give examples from the text.

XIV. Speak on the sentence structure and punctuation. Do long sentences give a heavy ponderous effect?

XV. Translate the following set expressions and give the context:

a final spring, to get a hold of oneself, to be chilled to the marrow.

XVI. Match each word from the first column with a synonym from the second column and use them in the sentences of your own.

1) limp	a) cruel
2) wail	b) weak
3) grim	c) determination
4) incantation	d) handle
5) hilt	e) spell
6) resolve	f) howl

XVII. Find antonymous and synonymous verbs in the text including contextual synonyms and comment on their functions.

XVIII. Match each of the words in the first column with a suitable definition from the second column and give their translation.

1) shield	a) a band, typically one made of precious metal, worn on the head as an ornament
2) grope	b) chop or cut (something, esp. wood) with an ax, pick, or other tool
3) hew	c) a person or thing easily injured or taken advantage of
4) prey	d) a tree or shrub of temperate climates that typically has narrow leaves, bears catkins, and grows near water
5) willow	e) feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands
6) circlet	f) a broad piece of metal or another suitable material, held by straps or a handle attached on one side, used as a protection against blows or missiles
7) bereave	g) make a loud, penetrating sound
8) trumpet	h) deprive of something

XIX. Paraphrase the following sentences from the passage.

1. As he lay there, thinking and getting a hold of himself, he noticed all at once that the darkness was slowly giving way: a pale greenish light was growing round him.

2. The night was railing against the morning of which it was bereaved, and the cold was cursing the warmth for which it hungered. Frodo was chilled to the marrow.

3. When he came to himself again, for a moment he could recall nothing except a sense of dread. Then suddenly he knew that he was imprisoned, caught hopelessly; he was in a barrow.

4. Suddenly resolve hardened in him, and he seized a short sword that lay beside him, and kneeling he stooped low over the bodies of his companions.

XX. Fill in the gaps using a suitable word from the synonymic row. Change the grammatical form of a word where necessary.