Ces exercices compréhension écrite s’appuient sur de courts textes littéraires et d’opinion écrits pour l’entraînement. Ils vous font passer du repérage simple à l’analyse du ton, de l’ironie et du point de vue, avec des justifications par citation.
Les exercices
Les lignes sont numérotées entre parenthèses pour vous permettre de citer. Corrigé sur une page à part.
Dix exercices compréhension écrite
Exercice 1 : Le vocabulaire de l’analyseAssociez chaque terme (1 à 7) à sa définition (a à g).
- skimming
- scanning
- understatement
- unreliable narrator
- rhetorical question
- biased
- to infer
a. question qui n’attend pas de réponse – b. lecture rapide pour l’idée générale – c. déduire – d. partial – e. recherche d’informations précises – f. narrateur peu fiable – g. euphémisme, atténuation
Indiquez F (fait) ou O (opinion).
- The bridge was opened in 1894.
- It is a disgrace that the council has ignored residents for so long.
- About 40% of the town’s shops are now empty.
- The government should be ashamed of these figures.
- The new stadium is, quite frankly, an eyesore.
- The survey questioned 2,000 adults across the country.
Dites si chaque phrase est ironique (I) ou à prendre au premier degré (P), et relevez l’indice.
- “Great, another Monday,” she sighed, staring at the pile of files.
- The view from the summit was breathtaking, and we stayed there for an hour.
- The train was only three hours late, which was a nice change.
- Losing his wallet, his keys and his phone in one afternoon was, he admitted, “not ideal”.
- Thank you so much for telling everyone my secret. You’re a true friend.
- She thanked the nurse warmly for staying with her all night.
(1) Daniel checked his phone for the tenth time. (2) Still nothing. (3) He straightened his tie, glanced at the restaurant door, and asked the waiter for more water. (4) The second chair at his table remained empty. (5) At nine o’clock, he paid for one glass of wine and left, leaving the red rose on the tablecloth.
Répondez en justifiant par une citation et un numéro de phrase.
- Daniel attend-il quelqu’un ?
- Quelle est la nature probable du rendez-vous ?
- Est-il nerveux ?
- La personne est-elle venue ?
- Que ressent probablement Daniel à la fin ?
Choisissez l’adjectif qui décrit le mieux le ton : nostalgic, scathing, humorous, detached, bitter, sarcastic.
- Back then, we used to spend whole summers by the lake, and nobody ever owned a watch.
- This film is two and a half hours of my life I will never get back.
- The patient was admitted at 10.42 and discharged at 14.15.
- My dog has a strict policy: anything on the floor belongs to him, and anything on the table will soon be on the floor.
- They promised me the job, then gave it to the boss’s nephew. So much for loyalty.
- Oh yes, wonderful idea, let’s close the only hospital in town.
Pour chaque extrait, indiquez le type de narration : first-person, third-person omniscient, third-person limited.
- I never told my father about the letter, and I still regret it.
- Anna walked in. She could not see who was behind the curtain, but she heard someone breathing.
- While Tom believed the house was empty, his sister was hiding upstairs, and the old neighbour across the street knew everything.
- We had been friends for years, or so I thought.
- Mr Lee smiled at the customer, secretly wondering how much longer he could keep the shop open; the customer, meanwhile, was planning to buy the building.
(1) Picture this: a teenager in Manchester spends seven hours a day staring at a screen. (2) Is anyone surprised that she struggles to sleep? (3) Tech companies insist that their apps are “designed for wellbeing”. (4) Admittedly, some platforms now offer screen-time reminders. (5) But a reminder is hardly a solution when the whole business model depends on keeping users hooked. (6) It is time for Parliament to act, and to act now.
- Quel procédé ouvre l’article (phrase 1) ?
- Quelle est la fonction de la phrase 2 ?
- Pourquoi l’auteur met-il des guillemets en phrase 3 ?
- Quelle phrase est une concession ? Laquelle la réfute ?
- Quelle est la thèse de l’auteur ? Citez-la.
- Quel est le ton général ? Justifiez par deux indices.
À partir du texte de l’exercice 7, dites si l’affirmation est vraie (V) ou fausse (F) et justifiez par une citation et le numéro de phrase.
- The teenager mentioned in the article lives in London.
- The author thinks screen-time reminders are enough.
- Tech companies present their apps positively.
- The author wants the government to wait and see.
- According to the author, tech companies profit from addiction.
(1) My aunt Margaret was, everyone agreed, a generous woman. (2) She gave advice generously, criticism even more generously, and money not at all. (3) Every Christmas she sent us the same card, recycled from the year before, with the previous sender’s name carefully crossed out. (4) “It’s the thought that counts,” she would say. (5) I have often wondered what that thought was.
- Qui est le narrateur et quel type de narration est-ce ?
- La phrase 1 est-elle à prendre au premier degré ? Justifiez avec la phrase 2.
- Quel détail de la phrase 3 révèle un trait de caractère de la tante ? Lequel ?
- Expliquez l’ironie de la phrase 5.
- Quel est le ton du passage ? Choisissez entre humorous, nostalgic et detached, et justifiez.
Rédigez en anglais des réponses complètes (affirmation + citation + ligne), à partir du texte de l’exercice 9.
- What is the aunt’s main flaw?
- How does the narrator feel about her?
- Find an example of repetition and explain its effect.
- Why does the aunt say “It’s the thought that counts”?
- Is the narrator a child or an adult at the time of writing? Justify.
