The text under analysis is an excerpt from the short story The Fun They Had by Isaac

Asimov, an American author best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science
books.
The story takes place in the future, where teaching is performed by computer-like robots
with vast information stores. Two young friends, Tommy and Margie, find an old book about
school. They are surprised to learn that centuries ago there were human teachers and a special
building dedicated to teaching where children from all over would gather to learn. Hating her robot-
teacher, Margie starts thinking about all the fun they had there.
This short story belongs to the emotive prose and as such represents the belles-lettres
functional style, the main aim of which is to give readers aesthetic pleasure, to make them think and
to entertain by appealing to their emotions.
One of the peculiarities of the given text is that it starts with implication of precedence and
the usage of the protagonist’s name and pronoun it in the first sentence is suggestive of it. The main
aim of implication of fore-knowledge is to grab the reader’s attention from the very beginning.
The time of action is stated directly: May 17, 2157, which refers the action of the story to
the future. Spatial markers are also direct: in my house; attic.
Two types of narration prevail in the analyzed text – author’s narrative which is
anonymous, 3rd person singular, and dialogue which imitates oral spontaneous speech with the help
of such Stylistic Devices as ellipsis (e.g. “Same with mine. In the attic. School.”); italics which
shows the logical stress the speaker made on the word (e.g. “Centuries ago. ); graphon (I betcha.).
As for the narrative compositional forms, narrative proper is prevailing in the text with
some insertions of description. The author uses detachment and epithets to show Margie’s negative
attitude to her computer teacher (“there it was again, large and black and ugly,..). Antithesis
stresses the difference between two types of school: Because it's not our kind of school, stupid. This is
the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The author uses epithets to
describe Tommy’s typical boyish behavior: Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes. He added
loftily
The thematic vocabulary concentrates on the school procedures common to the main
heroes and includes such words and word combinations as “mechanical teacher, screen, slot, punch
code, geography sector, proper fractions”. The contemporary school and Margie’s negative attitude
to it is opposed to the “old-time schools” where teachers were human, children were taught together
and learned the same things. Thus they create antithesis on which the whole story is based.
The title words are repeated at the end of the story when Margie is thinking about the fun
children had at schools in the old days, thus creating framing of the text. They also reveal the
author’s message – if people go on creating and living in the world of machines, one day our
children will forget how to communicate and will live in the dead programmed world.

The text under analysis is a short story The Cricket War by a well-known American
humorous writer and cartoonist of the 20th century Bob Thurber.
 The short story is about one family who tried to get rid of crickets that invaded their cellar.
The farther tried to poison them several times but all was in vain. The mother insisted on getting rid
of them while the children enjoyed the process. Finally the farther took out all the junk from the
cellar and started burning it. Accidentally the house caught fire and as a result the cricket war was
lost.

This short story belongs to the emotive prose and as such represents the belles-lettres functional style,
the main aim of which is to give readers aesthetic pleasure, to make them think and to entertain by appealing
to their emotions.
One of the peculiarities of the given text is that it starts with implication of precedence and the
usage of the pronouns “that, my” in the 1st sentence is suggestive of it. Such SDs as anaphoric
repetition and parallel constructions are used to present the culmination of the story: “He wouldn't
leave it even when Mamma sent me out to fetch him for supper. He wouldn't leave the fire, and she
wouldn't put supper on the table”. The results of the fire are the denouement of the story, so it has a
closed plot structure.
The time of action is stated directly “that summer” while the mentioning that the mother was
“a city girl” and that “every farm house had them (insects)” implies that the scene is laid in the
country.
As for the types of narration, author’s narrative and represented speech are used in this text.
The narration is carried out from the 1st person singular, i.e. entrusted narrative is employed here
which creates the effect of authenticity of the described events. The narrator is the eldest son in the
family. The sentence “I often think back to that summer” where Present Simple is used while the rest
of the story is presented in Past Simple suggests that the narrator tells us about his childhood
experience. Represented uttered speech is used to render the conversation between the main
characters, e.g. “Now that were living out here, you can’t be jerking your head and swallowing your
gum over what's plain natural, Ellen... She said a cricket was just a noisy cockroach, just a dumb
horny bug that wouldn't shut up. She said in the city there were blocks of buildings overrun with
cockroaches with no way for people to get rid of them. No sir, no way could she sleep with all that
chirping going on”. The usage of represented uttered speech creates the effect of authenticity
because the events of the story are presented from the boy’s point of view. This effect is also created
by using colloquial words and phrases, such as “dumb horny bug, stop them son of a bitches right in
their tracks”.
As for narrative compositional forms, narrative proper and insertions of description can be
found in the text. The author resorts to different language means to describe the events in the story.
Such SDs as polysyndeton and parallel constructions stress the thoroughness with which the father
tried to get rid of the crickets: “He fetched his jug of poison and sprayed beneath the sink and
behind the toilet and all along the baseboard until the whole house smelled of poison, and then he
sprayed the cellar again, and then he went outside and sprayed all around the foundation leaving a
foot-wide moat of poison”. Antithesis and catch repetition in the following sentences help to convey
the seriousness of the problem the family faced: “When he was finished he told us that was the end
of it. But what he should have said was: This is the beginning. The beginning of our war, the
beginning of our destruction”. Another antithesis is used at the very end of the story: “all around
the roar of crickets magnified our silence”. It stresses the victory of insects over men.
The thematic words of the text are “cricket, cellar, farm, Dad, Mamma, poison, fire”. The title
words The Cricket War are at the same time the key ones, realizing the main idea of the text – the
main characters lost their house and their war.
 The text under analysis is a short story “Then in Triumph” by a well-known American
writer of the 20th century Frank Parke.
The short story is about the ambiguity of literary career and success in it as well as the
relationships between a wife and a husband. The protagonist, Clifford Oslow, is a writer whose
books have never been published. He gave up trying to publish them. Some years later his wife
wrote a book which became a best seller. When Clifford started reading it he realized that Julia had
stolen his book, changed the title and published it under her name.
The given text belongs to the emotive prose and as such represents the belles-lettres
functional style, the main aim of which is to give readers aesthetic pleasure, to make them think and
to entertain by appealing to their emotions.
One of the peculiarities of the given text is that it starts with implication of precedence and
the usage of the definite article in the 1 st sentence is suggestive of it. The main aim of implication of
fore-knowledge is to grab the reader’s attention from the very beginning. Since the denouement of
the story is only implied it can be regarded as one having an open plot structure.
As for the place of action it is stated directly (the house), while the fact that Clifford came
back from work implies that the action of the story takes place in the evening.
Another peculiarity of this story is the usage of different types of narration such as author’s
narrative, dialogue and represented speech. Author’s narrative is anonymous 3 rd person singular. The
author uses represented uttered speech to render Clifford’s interview, e.g. “How did it seem … No,
he wasn’t”. Represented inner speech shows Clifford’s thoughts and emotions, e.g. “Yes, Clifford
was a writer then. Large W. ….. the defeat was definite.”. It should be also mentioned that one of the
most frequently used SDs in this story is attachment, e.g. (There were cars in front of the house.
Four of them. Clifford Oslow cut across the lawn and headed for the back steps. But not soon
enough; And ask him more questions. Which he couldn’t answer.) Since it is often used in
represented speech, we can draw the conclusion that all the events in the story are presented from
Clifford’s point of view.
As for the narrative compositional forms, narrative proper and description are used in this
text. Description is presented in two forms – portrait and interior. The author uses such SDs as
antithesis, detachment, catch repetition to describe Clifford’s study: “The room was familiar
enough. There hadn't been many changes. All along the bookcase were the manuscripts of his
novels. His rejected novels. On top was his latest one, the one that had stopped going the rounds six
months before. On the bottom was his earliest one. The one he wrote when Julia and he were first
married.” The author uses different artistic details to describe and characterize the personages. E.g.
such descriptive detail as “she was a little person… himself” reveals not only Clifford’s height, but
his feeling of being insignificant. He is opposed to his wife, whose voice “clear, kind, and very
sure” (epithets) is a characterological detail, describing her as a self-confident woman. Unlike
Clifford who feels little and insignificant, she is sitting in “a big chair” and seems “plumper than
usual” to him. Her “distant” smile is another implying detail showing the change in her attitude to
her husband because of her success. Clifford’s uneasiness is stressed by his short answers to the
reporters and the way he speaks (mumble – sound imitation). But after realizing the whole truth his
mood changes radically. Having found out that Julia simply stole his novel and published it under a
different title and her own name, Clifford regained his self-esteem, his self-confidence. He came
down smiling, pressed her shoulders firmly, now he didn’t mumble, he “announced proudly” and
“instructed her”. Now it was her turn to speak “uneasily” and to “stare at him, quite terrified”
(detachment, which is at the same time an implying detail that reveals her understanding of his
knowing the truth).
As for the title words, they are not used in the text itself, but after reading it we realize that
they can be attributed to Clifford’s feelings after his finding out the truth. On the one hand he gained
success as a writer no matter under what name. On the other hand, he got rid of that inferior feeling
towards his wife and could instruct her and dictate his will upon her. The title of the novel
“Welcome Tomorrow” has a symbolic meaning. Clifford’s novel had to wait for many years to be
finally appreciated, and at the same time these words imply his big and optimistic plans for the
future.

The text under analysis is an excerpt from the short story Man from the South by a
famous British writer of the 20th century Roald Dahl whose works are known for their black humour
and twist at the end of the story.
The given short story tells us how dangerous accidental acquaintances may be. The narrator is
staying at a hotel where he meets an old rich man with a southern accent and a young American
sailor. The man offers a strange bet to the sailor and the story takes a rather unexpected turn.

This short story belongs to the emotive prose and as such represents the belles-lettres
functional style, the main aim of which is to give readers aesthetic pleasure, to make them think and
to entertain by appealing to their emotions.
One of the peculiarities of the given text is that it starts with implication of precedence and
the usage of the personal pronoun “I” and the definite article in the 1 st sentence is suggestive of it.
The main aim of implication of fore-knowledge is to grab the reader’s attention from the very
beginning.
The time of action is stated directly “It was getting on toward six o'clock; have a little
evening sun” as well as the place of action “They are all evenings fine here in Jamaica; around the
swimming pool; English girls from the hotel”. Thus both temporal and spatial markers are direct.
As for the types of narration, author’s narrative and dialogue are used in this text. The
narration is carried out from the 1st person singular, i.e. entrusted narrative is employed here which
creates the effect of authenticity of the described events as the narrator is the personage of the short
story who actually takes part in these events. Dialogue imitates oral spontaneous speech by means
of graphon, e.g. “And who, might I ask are all dese? Dese is no hotel people”. Another function of
graphon here is self-characterization of the personage: the man speaks with an accent and obviously
comes from South America.
Two narrative compositional forms, namely narrative proper and description can be found in
the text. The author resorts to different language means to describe the events in the story. The SDs
of polysyndeton, parallel constructions and anaphoric repetition stress the monotonous evening and
relaxed mood of the narrator: “I went to the bar and got the beer and carried it outside and
wandered down the garden toward the pool”; “It was very pleasant sitting there in the sunshine
with beer and a cigarette. It was pleasant to sit and watch the bathers splashing about in the green
water”. Sound imitation in the following sentence creates the vivid picture of the garden: “the wind
was blowing strongly through the tops of the palm trees making the leaves hiss and crackle as
though they were on fire”. The author uses epithets to describe the old man: “a small, oldish man
walking briskly; immaculately dressed”. Thus description here is presented in the two forms –
exterior (landscape) and portrait.
The title words Man from the South belong to the thematic vocabulary of the given short
story referring to one of the main characters.
The text under consideration is the short story “Appointment with Love” by a well-known
American writer Sulamith Kishor.

It is a romantic story about a young lieutenant and a lady who fall in love writing letters to each
other while he was at war. After the war they agreed to meet, but the girl checks the young man,
sending a middle-aged lady instead of her. The lieutenant proves his love.

This short story belongs to the emotive prose and as such represents the belles-lettres
functional style the main aim of which is to give the reader aesthetic pleasure by appealing to his
emotions.
One of the peculiarities of the given text is that it starts with implication of precedence, and the
usage of the definite article in the first sentences is suggestive of it. Another peculiarity of the story
is that it has an open plot structure, since the denouement is only implied.
The place of action is stated indirectly. Such indirect spatial markers as “tracks, information booth,
Grand Central station” imply that the action takes place in New York. As for the time of action it is
stated directly. Moreover, the action of the story takes place within several minutes. The mentioning
of exact time creates climax “six minutes to six, four minutes to six, one minute to six” and
underlines the impatience of the protagonist and the importance of this meeting to him.

The predominant types of narration is author’s narrative, which is anonymous 3 rd person singular,
represented inner speech of the protagonist and insertions of dialogue in which such SDs as ellipsis
“Going my way, soldier?” and aposiopesis “may – may I take you for dinner?” are used.

As for the narrative compositional forms, narrative proper and description are used in the text. To
describe the place of action and the characters more vividly, the author resorts to such SDs as
epithets and simile “her figure was long and slim….come alive”.
Of great importance is the biblical allusion used in the text. On the one hand, this comparison
encouraged the young man, on the other hand it characterizes the personages as well-educated
people.
All mentioned above SDs help to reveal the message of the story. The author shows that true love is
possible between two people who have never met if they are able to trust their true inner feelings
and instincts.