I. Active vocabulary

Fitzgerald F. Scott

Chapter I

I. ACTIVE VOCABULARY

to reserve judgement

tolerance n

drift vi

supercilious adj

irrelevant adj

sophisticated adj

to give smb a heart-to-heart talk

peremptory adj

II. EXERCISES

1. 1. Make a word map of the following words:

to feign, conduct, desolate, exhibition, precede, imperceptibly.

Example:

detector

2. Fill in the blanks with prepositions where necessary:

to be founded..., to prey..., to savor..., to overlook..., to stare..., to approve..., the opinion..., to make a shadow..., to send love..., to go... pieces, to remind..., to refer..., to be exempt..., to confer..., to occur..., to be engaged..., to accuse....

3. Find the definitions of the following words in the English-English dictionary or explain them in your own words:

1) plagiarist, pathfinder, settler, butler;

2) credit, investment, mint;

3) eyesore, specimen, silhouette.

4. Recall the situations in which these sentences were used:

1.... I am inclined to reserve all judgements...

2. And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the conclusion that it has a limit.

3. They... drifted here and there.

4. Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man with... a supercilious manner.

5....an irrelevant criticism... made it no less charming.

6. “Sophisticated – God, I'm sophisticated!”

7. “Did you give Nick a heart-to-heart talk on the veranda?”

8....Daisy peremptorily called: “Wait!”

5. Paraphrase or explain:

1. Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.

2. Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes...

3....one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax.

4. Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart.

6. Find sentences which may serve as answers to the following questions:

1. When is the scene laid?

2. Did Nick take part in World War I?

3. What was Tom’s social background?

4. Was Jordan Baker’s fame nation-wide?

5. Did Nick think fascist ideas new or old?

6. What disappointed Nick in the Buchanans after seeing them?

III. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Dwell on the narrator – his age and vocation, his background, mode of life, environment.
2. Give a summary of Nick’s visit to the Buchanans. Comment on the behaviour of those present before and after the telephone call.

IV. QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR ANALYSIS

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of first-person narration?

2. Is Nick Carraway trustworthy as narrator?

3. Discuss the elements of direct and indirect char­acterization in the portrayal of Tom and Daisy.

4. Give a character sketch of Tom. Find the passage: “He had changed… who had hated his guts”. Point out nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs which reveal a general tendency in the passage. Find instances of Tom’s indirect characterization in the chapters you have read.

5. Give a character sketch of Daisy. Why does indirect characterization prevail in Daisy’s portrayal? Dwell on Daisy’s manner of speech.

6. Sum up all the references to Gatsby.

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