Corrigé texte littéraire : exercices d’anglais première

1. a novel : b
2. a short story : e
3. a character : g
4. the setting : a
5. the narrator : h
6. a play : c
7. the tone : f
8. an excerpt : d

1. 1st (I)
2. 3rd (Tom)
3. 1st (We, our)
4. 3rd (she)
5. 1st (My, I)
6. 3rd (The old man, his)

1. O : le narrateur connaît les pensées des deux personnages.
2. E : seulement des actions visibles, aucune pensée.
3. I : on est dans la tête de Ben (discours indirect libre : Would she ever come back?).
4. E : description extérieure, comme une caméra.
5. O : le narrateur entre dans tous les esprits à la fois.

1. personification (la maison « gémit »)
2. simile (as fast as)
3. metaphor (son cœur est une boîte fermée à clé)
4. hyperbole
5. oxymoron (sweet sorrow)
6. alliteration (répétition du son /f/)

1. V : il dit le contraire de ce qu’il pense.
2. D : le public sait ce que le roi ignore.
3. S : l’inverse de ce qu’on attendrait d’un inspecteur de sécurité.
4. V
5. D

1. Indirect: the narrator never says what she is like; we deduce it from her actions and words.
2. She arrives twenty minutes late without apologising; she sighs loudly when the speaker hesitates (ou : she keeps a seat for her handbag).
3. It suggests that she judges people by their appearance and looks down on the woman.
4. No, it is only taken by her handbag: her polite « I’m afraid » hides a lie, which reveals her snobbery and selfishness.
5. arrogant, rude, snobbish (ou selfish, cold, contemptuous)
6. It shows the consequence of her attitude: she ends up isolated, which is ironic, since she wanted to keep others away.

1. The narrator is the son, looking back on his childhood; it is a first-person narrator.
2. « The factory swallowed my father… and spat him out »: the factory becomes a monster that devours the father, which conveys the violence of work.
3. « like tired soldiers »: the workers seem exhausted and defeated, as if they had fought a battle. (autre comparaison : heavy as a stone, pour la main du père)
4. It implies that factory work is a hidden, unfair fight that destroys men without anyone recognising it.
5. He is unhappy and resigned: he is « grey and silent », never talks about it, and hopes his son will « do better than this ».
6. The short sentences create a shock: the adult narrator reveals the child’s innocence and suggests, with some irony, that the promise may never have come true.

1. The narrator is a little boy who waits for his father. (auteur ≠ narrateur)
2. The narrator describes the factory as a monster. (présent de l’analyse)
3. In line 3, there is a metaphor which suggests that… (toujours donner l’effet)
4. This sentence shows the personality of the father. (character = personnage)
5. The writer uses a simile to describe the men.
6. In my opinion, the text is moving / poignant. (according to me est incorrect ; un adjectif plus précis vaut mieux que sad)

1. The narrator is a character in the story.
2. The excerpt is told in the first person.
3. This metaphor suggests that the character feels trapped.
4. The reader knows more than the hero: this is dramatic irony.
5. The tone of the ending is nostalgic.
6. The author highlights the contrast between the two characters.

Ordre : 2 – 4 – 1 – 5 – 3.

1. The narrator presents work as destructive. (Point)
2. Indeed, he writes that the factory « swallowed my father every morning » (l. 1). (Evidence)
3. This metaphor turns the factory into a monster that devours people. (Explanation)
4. Its victims come out « grey and silent », as if their life had been drained away. (Explanation, suite)
5. The text therefore criticises the dehumanising effect of industrial labour. (conclusion)

Exemple de réponse :