How we kept mother s day analysis

NOTES ON STYLE

1. In Leacock’s story «How We Kept Mother’s Day» you will find numerous words and phrases of informal functional style (See Note A on p. 52), е.g. all that kind of thing (cf. the Russian «и все такое»), awfully (in «awfully becoming», cf. the Russian «ужас как идет; потрясающе к лицу»), a little bit («чуть-чуть»), have a big day («здорово провести время»), get messed up («перемазаться, вывозиться в грязи»), the dinner. was great fun («весело было за обедом»), etc.

Note also the interjection well introducing some of the passages (which normally occurs in oral speech), the omission of the conjunction that and the syntax imitating that of oral communication by its free and careless structures.

2. The story presents an interesting example of the indirect method of characterization. The author does not say directly that the members of the family were selfish, callous and hard-hearted people (that would be the direct method of characterization) but makes them act and lets the reader draw his own conclusion.

3. «How We Kept Mother’s Day» is a humorous story. Humour in fiction may be of two principal types. It may be humour of situation when the author makes us laugh at certain funny or absurd facts, е.g. the members of the family buying presents for themselves on Mother’s Day, but buying nothing for their mother. There is also humour of words when the reader does not laugh at what is happening in the story but at how it is put by the author. E. g. But of course we all felt that it would never do to let Father stay at home, especially as we knew he would make trouble if he did.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY (I)

Words

afford υ funny adj repay υ effort n

get υ sacrifice υ, n enjoy υ guess υ

treat υ, n especially adv hire υ treatment n

occur υ turn υ purpose n unfortunately adv

Word Combinations

for smb.’s sake to get over smth.

to stay (at) home from college (classes, school) to take smb. for a drive

to dress in one’s best (worst) in case

just as well to stand (be) in smb.’s way

for such an occasion to make trouble

to turn out to be no use

in the end to get on smb.’s nerves

to care for smb. (or smth.) to turn inside out

Английский язык ENJOY ENGLISH Английский с удовольствием 8 класс Биболетова. SECTION 4. Why Are Festivals Important. Номер №65

Read the text and say who actually had the holiday.
HOW WE KEPT MOTHER’S DAY
(retold from Stephen Leacock)
So we decided to have a special celebration of Mother’s Day.
We wanted to make it a great day and do everything we could to make Mother happy. Father decided to take a holiday from his office, so as to help in celebrating the day, and my sister Anne and I stayed home from college classes, and Mary and my brother Will stayed home from High School.
According to our plan to make a holiday for our mother just like Christmas, we decided to decorate the house with flowers and all that kind of thing. So we got mother to arrange the decorations, because she always does it during the holidays.
We have only one maid, and mother is busy in the house nearly all the time. So to give mother a surprise, father hired a motor car to take her for a beautiful drive away into the country.
But on the very morning of the day, we changed our plan a little bit. Father said that it would be better to take mother fishing and that he had just got a new rod the day before. So we got everything arranged for the trip, and we asked mother to cut up some sandwiches in case we got hungry. However, we planned to come back home again to a big dinner in the middle of the day, just like at Christmas or on New Year’s Day.
When the car came to the door, it turned out that there is a room only for five people. Father said that he could stay at home. But of course we understood that it would be unfair to let father stay at home. The two girls, Anne and Mary, could stay and help the maid cook dinner. But the day was lovely and they were wearing new hats. Will and I could stay at home too, but unfortunately we were useless at making dinner.
So in the end it was decided that mother would stay home and just have a lovely restful day round the house, and cook the dinner. Mother didn’t care for fishing anyway, and though it was lovely and sunny, Father was rather afraid that mother might catch cold if she came.
So we all, except for mother, drove away and we had a lovely day up among the hills.
It was quite late when we got back, nearly seven o’clock in the evening, but mother kept back the dinner to have it ready and hot for us.
We sat down to the grandest kind of dinner − roast turkey and all sorts of things like on Christmas Day. Mother had to get up and down a good bit during the meal fetching things back and forward. The dinner lasted a long while, and was great fun. When it was over, all of us wanted to help clear up and wash the dishes. But then we let mother do it.
It was quite late when it was all over. When we all kissed mother before going to bed, she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life, and I think there were tears in her eyes. So we all felt proud of all that we had done.

Английский язык ENJOY ENGLISH Английский с удовольствием 8 класс Биболетова. SECTION 4. Why Are Festivals Important. Номер №65

Решение

ОТВЕТ
So, actually everyone except the mother had the holiday on Mother’s Day.

Перевод ответа
Таким образом, в общем−то у всех, кроме мамы, был праздник в День матери.

«How We Kept Mother’s Day» by Stephen Leacock

Автор: Пользователь скрыл имя, 27 Ноября 2011 в 19:51, реферат

Описание работы

Of all the different ideas that have been started lately, I think that the very best is the notion of celebrating once a year “Mother’s Day”.
We decided to have a special celebration of Mother’s Day. We thought it was a fine idea. It made us realize how much Mother had done for us for years, and all the efforts and sacrifices that she had made for our sake

Работа содержит 1 файл

How We Kept Mother.doc

«How We Kept Mother’s Day» by Stephen Leacock

Of all the different ideas that have been started lately, I think that the very best is the notion of celebrating once a year “Mother’s Day”.

We decided to have a special celebration of Mother’s Day. We thought it was a fine idea. It made us realize how much Mother had done for us for years, and all the efforts and sacrifices that she had made for our sake…

… It was our plan to make it a day like Christmas, and so we decided to decorate the house with flowers. We asked Mother to do it, because she always does it.

The two girls thought it would be a nice thing to dress on our best for such a big occasion, and so they both got new hats. Father had bought silk ties for himself and for us, boys. We were going to get Mother a new hat too, but it turned out that she liked her old hat better than a new one.

After breakfast we decided that we would hire a motor car and take Mother for a beautiful drive away into the country. Mother is hardly ever able to have a treat like that, because she is busy in the house nearly all the time.

But we changed the plan a little bit. We all felt that it would be nicer to have a definite purpose. It turned out that Father had just got a new rod the day before, and he said that Mother could use it if she wanted to: in fact, he said it was practically for her, only Mother said she would rather watch him fish than fish herself.

So we got everything arranged for the trip. Mother cut up some sandwiches and packed all up in a basket for us.

When the car came to the door, it turned out that we couldn’t all get in. Father said that he could stay at home and work in the garden. There was a lot of dirty work that he could do. He said that he wanted us to be happy and have a big day. The girls said that Mother had only to say the word and they’d gladly stay at home and work.

At the end it was decided that Mother would stay at home and have a lovely restful day round the house. It turned out anyway that Mother didn’t care for fishing and also it was just a little bit cold and fresh out-of-doors, though it was lovely and sunny, and Father was afraid that Mother might take cold if she came.

So we all drove away and Mother stood and watched us as long as she could see us.

We had the loveliest day. Father and the boys fished, the girls met quite a lot of people. We all had a splendid time.

It was quite late when we got back. The dinner was ready. It was grand. Mother had to get up and down during the meal fetching things back and forward, but at the end Father noticed it and said she simply mustn’t do it, that he wanted her to spare herself.

When the dinner was over all of us wanted to help to clear the things up and wash the dishes, only Mother said that she would really much rather do it.

It was quite late when it was all over, and when we all kissed Mother before going to bed, she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life and I think there were tears in her eyes.

How We Kept Mother’s Day

Filed Under: Essays Tagged With: Family

The text under analysis is entitled “How we kept Mother’s Day”. It is written by Stephen Leacock, a famous Canadian writer of the 20th century. This is the first story of this author I have read. The story describes one day of author’s family life. The subject of the story is the celebration of Mother’s Day. The passage deals with problems of family life. It is the author’s narration. The story is told from the point of view of one of the characters. The text can be divided into several parts. All of them are logically connected.

The first part of the text introduces the main characters and gives some details concerning their lives. There are 6 main characters: mother, father, the narrator, his sister Anne, his sister Mary and his brother Will. The author mentioned that father works in office, Ann and the narrator are study in college, Mary and Will study in High School. The story opens with a description of planning the celebration of Mother’s Day. The plan was to express the entire gratitude to mother and to make a great holiday like Xmas.

All the members of the family decided to stay at home that day, decorate the house with different stuff, buy new hat for girls and silk ties for boys, and as a surprise to hire a motor car and take mother for a beautiful drive away into the country, so that she could have a rest from her housework. From this paragraph we understand how thoughtful of mother her family is. The next part is devoted just to that day from the every morning. The author adds some information about the realization of their great plans.

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First of all, father suggested making a purpose of their drive, e. g. fishing, because fortunately he had just bought a new rod the day before. Further on the author goes on to say that in the car they had rented hardly seemed as much room as they had supposed. So they thought of the best way out of the situation – to leave mother at home to cook dinner, all the same she wasn’t fond of fishing. The last part tells us about the returning the whole family home late in the evening. The narrator describes how mother takes carry of all the family and of each of them.

She prepared the grandest kind of dinner like on Xmas Day, and in addition she kept it hot for them guessing they would be late; she cleaned father and his clothes to put on because he got messed up with fishing. After the long dinner she washed the dishes herself and her children didn’t prevent her from it as they thought she really enjoyed it. Before going to bed mother said it had been the most wonderful day in her life and shed a tear. So the author comes to the conclusion that they could feel themselves awfully repaid for all that they had done.

The story is written in informal functional style. We can find numerous words and phases proving it: all that kind of thing, awfully becoming, a little bit, have a big day, get messed up, the dinner… was great fun, etc. Also there is the interjection well introducing some of the passages, the omission of the conjunction that and the syntax imitating that of oral communication by its free and careless structures. The story presents an interesting example of the indirect method of characterization.

The author does not say directly that the members of the family were selfish, callous and hard-hearted people, but makes them act and lets the reader draw his own conclusion. The tone and colouring of the story “How We Kept Mother’s Day” is emotional,humorous and ironic. The author is an expert in humour of situation. He makes the readers laugh at certain funny or absurd facts, е. g. the members of the family buying presents for themselves on Mother’s Day, but buying nothing for their mother. There is also humour of words when the reader does not laugh at what is happening in the story but at how it is put by the author.

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E. g. But of course we all felt that it would never do to let Father stay at home, especially as we knew he would make trouble if he did. The author’s manner of writting is very vivid and colourful. I do enjoy reading it. The text is fairly interesting. It is a broad panorama of contemporary life written with brilliance and power. The text portrays typical family life as it is. Apparently the author describes the situation from his own life. The story is full of irony and amusing situations. It is sure to evoke an emotional response in readers.

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Урок внеклассного чтения в 10-м классе «How we kept Mother’s day»

Предлагаемый текст: How We Kept Mother’s Day. (after Stephen Leacock).

Of all the different ideas that have been started lately, I think that the very best is the notion of celebrating once a year “Mother’s Day”.

We decided to have a special celebration of Mother’s Day. We thought it was a fine idea. It made us realize how much Mother had done for us for years, and all the efforts and sacrifices that she had made for our sake…

… It was our plan to make it a day like Christmas, and so we decided to decorate the house with flowers. We asked Mother to do it, because she always does it.

The two girls thought it would be a nice thing to dress on our best for such a big occasion, and so they both got new hats. Father had bought silk ties for himself and for us, boys. We were going to get Mother a new hat too, but it turned out that she liked her old hat better than a new one.

After breakfast we decided that we would hire a motor car and take Mother for a beautiful drive away into the country. Mother is hardly ever able to have a treat like that, because she is busy in the house nearly all the time.

But we changed the plan a little bit. We all felt that it would be nicer to have a definite purpose. It turned out that Father had just got a new rod the day before, and he said that Mother could use it if she wanted to: in fact, he said it was practically for her, only Mother said she would rather watch him fish than fish herself.

So we got everything arranged for the trip. Mother cut up some sandwiches and packed all up in a basket for us.

When the car came to the door, it turned out that we couldn’t all get in. Father said that he could stay at home and work in the garden. There was a lot of dirty work that he could do. He said that he wanted us to be happy and have a big day. The girls said that Mother had only to say the word and they’d gladly stay at home and work.

At the end it was decided that Mother would stay at home and have a lovely restful day round the house. It turned out anyway that Mother didn’t care for fishing and also it was just a little bit cold and fresh out-of-doors, though it was lovely and sunny, and Father was afraid that Mother might take cold if she came.

So we all drove away and Mother stood and watched us as long as she could see us.

We had the loveliest day. Father and the boys fished, the girls met quite a lot of people. We all had a splendid time.

It was quite late when we got back. The dinner was ready. It was grand. Mother had to get up and down during the meal fetching things back and forward, but at the end Father noticed it and said she simply mustn’t do it, that he wanted her to spare herself.

When the dinner was over all of us wanted to help to clear the things up and wash the dishes, only Mother said that she would really much rather do it.

It was quite late when it was all over, and when we all kissed Mother before going to bed, she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life and I think there were tears in her eyes.

Ход урока

Тест на понимание содержания текста (прилагается). После выполнения теста – взаимоконтроль (правильные ответы на доске), оценивание учащихся.

Students, would you do the test? Find the right answer to each question. You have 4’. Start it, please.

Please, look at the key- list & correct your mistakes. How many right answers do you have? (Правильные ответы: 1-A, 2-c, 3-B, 4-D, 5-C).

Учащиеся отвечают на вопросы по тексту.

Let’s start with the text.

Would you answer the WHO-questions, please?

2.1. Look through the text and divide it into logical parts. How many parts do you have? What parts? Read the 1st and the last sentence of each part.
2.2. Look through the 1st part and find the key-words and word-combinations.

(Ученики называют – учитель записывает на доске). Retell the 1-st part, please.

(То же проделывают со второй, третьей и четвертой частями текста).

the notion of celebrating
once a year
“Mother’s Day”
to have a special celebration
a fine idea
had done for us for years
all the efforts and sacrifices
had made for a sake.
do everything
to make Mother happy
to take a holiday from one’s office
stayed home from

like Christmas
to decorate the house
to dress on our best
for such a big occasion
had bought silk ties
a new hat
liked her old hat

hire a motor car
a beautiful drive away
hardly ever able
to have a treat like that,
changed the plan
to have a definite purpose
watch smb fish than fish oneself
arranged for the trip
packed all up in a basket
would stay at home
have a lovely restful day

had the loveliest day
had a splendid time.
got back
was ready
had to get up and down
wanted to help to clear the things up
wash the dishes
much rather do it.
kissed Mother
the most wonderful day
tears in her eyes.

2.3. …,…,…, please, look through the 1st part of the text and find the main sentences to retell it. (То же и с другими частями текста, можно распределить учащихся по группам, каждая группа работает с одной частью текста).

What are the main sentences in the 1st part of the text. Listen to each other, please & look through the text.

(По 1 человеку из каждой группы пересказывают текст, при наличии времени в завершении – один из класса пересказывает весь текст.)