Exercise 4. Explain the difference between these pairs of sentences

1. Ms. Johnson is going to be your guide for the day.

Our guide was a Ms. O’Brien, a lively lady with a voice of an ocean liner.

 

2. The Lannisters were a wealthy family of Castle Rock, and their wealth came from gold mines.   

“A Lannister always pays his debts,” the folk said.

 

3. Do you know Ching Shih?

Do you know the notorious Ching Shih, the Chinese pirate leader who terrorized the China Seas in the early 19th-century, commanded a fleet of over three hundred ships manned by thousands of pirates, defeated three empires and died peacefully in her bed at the age of seventy?

5. Achilles, Hercules and Theseus are three well-known heroes of Greek mythology.

The sculptor stared at the young boxer’s bruises and fractured bone and split lips and was mesmerized. Here was the masterpiece that he had been aching to create. Here was an Achilles, a Hercules, a Theseus – not the mighty heroes at their peak, but the realistic person in pain, the image this cruel century called for.    

 

6. Hideo Kojima will attend the conference in Ohio as well.

There is a certain Kojima on the phone. He says you are waiting for his call.

 

7. Marie Curie was a Polish scientist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity.

The polish scientist Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win the Nobel prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.

 

8. Vienna is the capital of classical music; the gracious Mozart, the spiritual Beethoven, and the passionate Brahms walked these streets.

Young Mozart composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.

 

9. Poor Sam could not imagine half the things that were mentioned.

The two namesakes, the two childhood friends grew apart. The poor Sam and the rich Sam, that’s what people called them. What friendship could stand this pressure.

 

10. Officer Gordon was slightly injured in the shooting. I will call his family and give them the name of the hospital he was taken to.

I was informed that an officer Gordon was slightly injured in the shooting. How old is he? Does he have a family?

     

 

EXERCISE 5. Explain the reasons for the articles in these sets of contrasted examples.

1. Do you know Mary Brown?

Do you know the Mary Brown who got into a fight with my son during lunch break?

Do you know a certain Mary Brown? It looks like we must talk to this student.

 

2. The early art of Pablo Picasso is divided into Blue and Rose periods.

The famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso spent most of his adult life in France.

If I had to choose the best painting in the world, I would choose a Picasso. Guernica, perhaps.

Oh, now you are a Picasso. I have lost count of your numerous hobbies.

 

3. Colonel Stark was very proud of his surname, which is typical of people who are not very intelligent.

Is that the Colonel Stark who was killed in India, or the Colonel Stark who retired last year?

The elderly general wiped sweat off his forehead and tried to remember the name again; it was a Colonel Stark, or a Colonel Strong, or something like that.

 

4. Judy was patient. If she had to attend the meeting, she would attend the meeting.

This is the amazing Judy I have wanted to introduce you. She’s a diamond in the company’s crown of industrious assistants.

Old Judy would sit in her rocker chair on the porch and remember the troubles of her youth with a sad smile.

   

 5. The Richardsons were perfectly content with their little whitewashed house and the manicured lawn in front of it.

Richardson laughed. Women always gave a nervous laugh when they were embarrassed.

Alice was a Richardson, and as a Richardson she knew that the sun set in the evening and rose in the morning no matter how many dramatic teenagers thought their life was over.