When you read a text, there are always words you don't know or you have never seen. It doesn't mean
that you can't understand what they mean.
1. a. You are going to try to deduce the meaning of the following words with the context. Don't hesitate
to replace them possible synonyms you know to help you. Are these words verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
nouns, prepositions...?
WORD
Ordeal (l.13)
Cat
N
FRENCH
ENGLISH SYNONYM
épreuve
Sear (l.15)
Drain (l.18)
Glare (l.45)
Merchant (l.54)
Smother (l.58)
Dread (l.62)
Raptor (l.65)
Shepherded (l.68)
Cave (l.73)
Cramped (l.78)
Betray (l.88)
Lull (l.91)
Wheat (l.96)
corn (US) maize (UK) (l.96)
Walnut tree (l.96-7)
a stream spills down (l.97)
Drought (l98)
running water (l.98)
Fetch (l.101)
slight in build (l.107)
Gleam (l.108)
Curse (l.126)
harbor (US) harbour (UK)
(l.137)
Possibly (l.141)
knife-thin odds (l.152)
in the face of (l.154)
fear
b. Do the same with the following expressions :
EXPRESSION
FRENCH
The portrait turned out to be one of those images
that sear the heart.(l.14)
A man got wind of the search. (l.27)
Her eyes burn with ferocity. (l.40)
Stories shift like sand. (l.41-42)
Her brother filled in the narrative of her life. (l.64)
She scratched out an existence (l.95)
2. You can also deduce the meaning of a word from its structure : stem+suffix.
WORD
STUCTURE
FRENCH
Shyness
shy-ness
timid-ité
haunted
haunting
warlike
hardship
bitterness
countless
3. Look at the following noun groups.
a six-hour drive
a plum-coloured burka
If you expanded the noun group, you would obtain « a drive that takes six hours » and « a burka that has
the colour of a plum ». If you want to create a more compact noun group, you can put the elements that
describe the main noun before it, linked together by hyphens (X-Y).
Why is there no plural -s in « a six-hour drive »? Because « six-hour » is used as an adjective before a
noun. An adjective being invariable, you should never have plural -s in the describing elements of a
compact noun group.
Now turn the following noun groups into more compact ones :
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mountains that are covered in snow
a village that has the colour of the earth
a burka that has the colour of a plum
a woman wearing a black veil
a picture that sears the heart
a walk that takes four hours
an Afghan girl who is ten years old
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