1. How is the setting in the text under discussion specified? When and where is the action take place? What particular words (place names) describe the setting?
2. What is the central idea of the passage? How is it brought to the reader - explicitly or implicitly? Turn to the text to motivate your answer.
3. Who is the main character? In what way is his portrayal delineated? What method - direct or indirect prevails? Do we hear his voice? Are there instances of his inner reported speech?
4. What narrative method is employed in the text? To what extent is the author in this third-person narrative omniscient? Does he remain impartial? Is his attitude to the theme of the outbreak of war revealed?
5. What logically completed parts does the text fall into? Find the key idea in each of the parts. Entitle them.
6. How does the author create the atmosphere of excitement and feverishness in pre-war London? What syntactical and lexical means does he resort to? Comment upon the specific quality of the vocabulary of the description (formal and literary words, negative prefixes) and syntax (the use of -ing forms, complex and compound sentences with several homogeneous members). What is the effect of prefixed words and epithets?
7. The second part of the selection presents the talk of the characters anxious about the possibility of war. Render the main idea of the talk. How does the speech reveal their anxiety? Speak about the effect of italicized words, suspension points, exclamation marks. Do they help describe the agitation and worry of the people?
8. Speak about the specific mixture of formal and colloquial vocabulary in the talk. Give examples from the text, comment on the effect produced.
9. What is the expressive value of the cases of simile (``like a plaque or an earthquake''), numerous epithets, antonomasia, hyperbole and other imagery stylistic means?
10. Note the difference in the syntactical structure of the talk and the previous description of the agitated atmosphere in London? What clauses prevail in each part - subordinate or independent? How is syntax consistent with the content of the passage?
11. How is the incident with a young Austrian waiter related to the theme? How does it help reveal George's state of mind? What makes the exclamation ``How absurd! How utterly absurd!..'' so expressive?
12. What is the narrative method in the final part of the selection? What lexical and syntactical peculiarities emphasize the central idea of the passage? What language means are employed to convey George's trying to reassure himself that war could be averted?
13. What is the general tone of the selection? How does R. Aldington succeed in conveying this tone? Are there any key-words (phrases, sentences) that serve to render the message?
14. What emotions does the text arouse in you?