TASK 2: EXERCISE (RUBRIC MODIFIED)

'Best of all, there is the air. Yes. And little by little, I have learned to live inside it. The air and the light, yes, that too, the light that shines on all things and puts them there for my eyes to see. There is the air and the light and this best of all. Excuse me. The air and the light. Yes. When the weather is good, I like to sit by the open window. Sometimes I look out and watch the things below. The street and all the people, the dogs and cars, the bricks of the building across the way. And then there are the times when I close my eyes and just sit there, with the breeze blowing on my face, and the light inside the air, all around me and just beyond my eyes, and the world all red, a beautiful red inside my eyes, with the sun shining on me and my eyes.'

Due Monday 9.

1- TIME CONTINUITY: this extract is narrated in the present simple. Regarding chronology, it can be followed but there are not time adverbs such as then, after that, first... etc. There are no flashbacks.
2- SPACE CONTIGUITY: spacial factors can be followed logically. They seem to surround the protagonist so we, as readers, feel close to him/her and to the space. For instance, when she mentions the street, the people, the car, the weather...etc.
3- CAUSE- EFFECT RELATION: "When the weather is good, I like to seat by the open window", her sitting by the open window is a result of the weather being good. In fact, the good weather is a cause by which she can feel the air, the light, see the streets and the people, etc.
RELIANCE ON BINARY OPPOSITION: "The breeze blowing on my face". She refers to the AIR that surrounds her.
"And the world all red" may be an image of the sun that is setting, so that is why it has turned red.
"...Beautiful red inside my eyes" is an image of the sun setting and reflecting on her eyes, or maybe she was high as a kite and that is why her eyes were red!!
4- REFERENCE: The deictic word "there" is used throughout the text. The personal pronouns "I", "my", "me" make reference to the protagonist, whereas "them" refers to "all the things".
5- SENTENCE STRUCTURE: There is not much coherence at sentence level. There are mainly noun phrases and lots of cases of verbal and nominal elision.
METONYMIC OR METAPHORIC:
The best example of metaphoric use is "with the sun shinning on me and my eyes". Because of the fact that the whole extract seems a monologue or an inner conversation, I can say that it is an example of metonymic use.

How about sentence length?
Your conclusion is somewhat confusing. Can't a monologue be metaphoric? Revise this please.

-Time continuity: Chronology is respected .There are no flashbacks or flashforwards.

See comments in javiers's answer.

-Space contiguity: Spatial factors follow one another logically: from the inside (I have learned to live inside it, I like to sit by the open window) to the outside (Sometimes I look out and watch the things below. The street and all the people, the dogs and cars, the bricks of the building across the way.)

-Cause-effect relations: Effects are explained in terms of causes.

Cause
1) The light shines on all things and puts them there for his eyes to see
There are times that he just sits there, with the breeze blowing on his face
2)When the weather is good

Effect
1)The narrator considers the air and the light best
2)He sits by the open windows


There is no reliance on binary opposites


Reference: Pronouns have a clear reference.
The personal pronoun -->I= the narrator
The possesive pronoun -->my (face), my (eyes)= the narrator’s face and eyes
The objective pronoun --> me (the narrator)

There is also use of cataphoric reference
( all things = them, the air= it).
The reference of the demonstrative pronouns is restricted to the context of utterance(that = the light, this= the light).

-Sentence structure: There is a close and clear relationship between sentences There is also coherence at sentence length. The reader is smoothly lead through the ideas contained in the sentences to an understanding of the whole paragraph.


The passage leans on the metonymic pole because one topic leads to the other through their semantic contiguity.

See comments above.

Time Continuity: Chronology is respected since what is described is a permanent situation, a general state. That is why the Present Simple Tense is used all through the text.

Space Contiguity: Spatial factors follow one another logically. If we consider this text as a description of the place where the writer lives, then we can see that he starts by naming the things he likes inside the house. Then, he continues describing the view from his window.

Cause-effect relations: The writer states that there are some things he considers best, and then he gives reasons for his choices:

The air: because he likes to sit by the open window when the weather is good.
The light: because it shines on all things and puts them there for his eyes to see.

Reliance on binary oppositions: There are no evident binary oppositions. In general, the image the reader gets from the text is related to warmth, light, air, breeze, sun.

Reference: There is only one pronoun that doesn’t have a clear referent inside the text. Let’s consider the following sentence:

“And little by little, I have learned to live inside it”

In this case, ‘it’ may refer to a house, or a flat (in this respect, ‘it’ has exophoric reference, since no house or flat or any other kind of home is mentioned). But it is also possible that it refers to the air (although the air is not a place ‘to live in’) if we consider the air as something that surrounds us permanently and we have to learn how to live in it.

Every other pronoun in the text has a clear referent. In the following sentence, it is clear that ‘them’ refers back to ‘all the things’, i.e. it has endophoric, cataphoric reference.

“…the light that shines on all things and puts them there for my eyes to see.”

Every first person pronoun or possessive adjective (I, my, me) refers to the writer.

Sentence Structure: There is coherence at sentence length, although some sentences seem rather incomplete, one can follow the writer’s trend of thoughts easily, as if he were just thinking aloud. However, short sentences and long sentences alternate.


Taking all these points into account, it can be stated that this passage leans to the metonymic pole. The development of the text takes place along a semantic contiguity line. Every following utterance complements the previous one. The description begins with reference to the air, then to the light, the things below his window, the street, the people, dogs and cars, the bricks of a building and finally the world.

Good on the whole.

Sentence structure : Coherence is achieved by the clear connection among the short sentences . We also have to highlight the use of “and” as a cohesive device which helps to connect ideas between the different sentences. And I am also thinking that as we analyse only a paragraph and not the whole text , it is almost sure that there wiill be coherence and that it is not a big deal.
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Space Contuinity: there is a change in the point of view, first from the inside where the narrador mentions things Such as the the air, the Light, and the weather that are closely related to him and then, he changes to the outside.
For me, he is always talking about the same items but from different points of view (inside- outside).


Time Continuity: As there are no instances of flashback or flashforward, a chronology developmente of facts is used.

Reference: The use of “I” and “me” refers to the author, and the use of “my” to mention the author’s face and eyes.

Cause - Effect: We can clearly see this relationship when he says for example “When the weather is good, I like to sit by the open window” . The Fact that the weather is good, explains why he likes to sit by the window.


Reliance on binary oppositions: I don’t understand what do I have to write here! But I had a look at my classmates’ answers and they all agreed that There is no evidence on binary oppositions, so do I!


See your partners' answers/feedback.

•The author uses pronouns properly and with clear referents.
•As for sentence structures, the writer uses a multiplicity of structures: there are complex, compound and simple sentences, there are instances of elation (some sentences only contain the predicate, others only a phrase and there are some which only have a word) and there are lots of instances of existential sentences.
•Binary oppositions, in my opinion, only appear implicitly. E. g.: when the author writes ‘the light that shines on all things and puts them there for my eyes to see,’ s/he may want to oppose the idea that the ‘light’ helps to see while ‘darkness’ does not. ‘When the weather is good’ may imply that sometimes the weather is not ( or is bad)
•I don’t think the writer analysis effects with respect to causes. In fact, for me, s/he explains events very subjectively, i.e. how s/he feels things and not how they actually happen in terms of causes ( )
•Finally, I do believe time continuity and space contiguity are respected. For me, the former is respected since all the account seems to take place during the morning ‘the sun shining’ and at present time (there are no instances of flashbacks or flash-forwards). As for the latter, I consider the connections the writer does are logical (he moves smoothly from the inside to the outside). I, as reader, could follow what s/he means or what s/he is referring to.
In my opinion, the passage leans to metonymic pole since topics are developed through contiguity and there’s not even an instance of synonymy, which is a characteristic of the metaphoric pole.

I agree with most of your analysis. However, given the evidence you provide there seems to be at least a sort of in between the metonymic and the metaphoric. Don't you think?

1- Time continuity: chronology is respected. There is no use of flashback or flashforward. The tense used through out the text is present simple.
2- Space contiguity: spacial factors follow one another logically. We move, as readers, from the inside to the outside[i][i].("...I have learned to live inside it". "I like to sit by the open window". "The street and all the people, the dogs and cars, the bricks of the building across the way").
3-Cause-effect relations: effects are explained in terms of causes. "The light that shines on all things(cause) and puts them there for my eyes to see"(effect);"...when the weather is good(cause), I like to sit by the open window"(effect).
4-Reliance on binary oppositions: there is no use of binary oppositions. On the contrary, the lexical items correspond to words that denote the same meaning, a positive one. "The light that shines" ( light has a positive effect), "weather is good" (warm weather), "breeze blowing" ( a light wind), "a beautiful red" ( a light red)
5- Reference: the pronouns are properly used; they have clear antecedents. "It" refers to "air"; "them" refers to "all things"; "me", "my" and "I" refers to the protagonist.
6-Sentence structure: there is a combination of sentence lenhg. A sentence such as: " There is the air and the light and this best of all..", followed by a very short one: "Excuse me". In the same way,"The air and the light..." followed by an even shorter sentence: "Yes", and at the end of the fragment there is a very long sentence in which many thing are enumerated to produce a sense of continuity in the reader.
Metaphoric or to the metonymic pole: the passage leans to a metonymic pole, in which topics are developed in a semantic contiguity line.

I don't quite get what you mean by "semantic contiguity line". Rest seems OK.

SORRY...I´VE MADE, AGAIN, SOME MISTAKES! I´LL HAVE TO REVISE MY TYPING MORE CAREFULLY NEXT TIME!

Don't worry, I haven't been checking language for these tasks.

TIME CONTINUITY: Chronology is respected. Throughout the text, the main verb tense used is the present simple. The use of this tense is coherent with the fact that the text is purely a description of something that the writer experiences every day or almost every day.
The text is tímeless (no specific evidence of how long it lasts) and there is no reference to past or future events.
The adjective “red” gives us a clue that the writer may be describing either the dawn or the disk.

SPACE CONTIGUITY: The spatial factors follow one another logically since the narrator describes the scene from the same perspective (physical point) all the time: his/her description moves from inside the house or apartment to outside, and then back inside again:
•“…by the open window…I look out and watch the things below. The streets and all the people, the dogs and cars, the bricks of the building across the way.”
•“…when I close my eyes and just sit there, with the breeze…”

CAUSE-EFFECT RELATIONS: The effects are explained in terms of cause as follows:
1-Cause: the light.
Effect: it shines on all things and puts them there for my eyes to see.

2-Cause: the weather is good.
Effect: I like to sit by the open window. Sometimes I look out and watch the things below.

3-Cause: the air.
Effect: I close my eyes and just sit there, with the breeze blowing on my face.

RELIANCE ON BINARY OPPOSITIONS: There is no evidence of binary oppositions.

REFERENCE: Some pronouns have a clear referent while others do not.
*“And little by little, I have learned to live inside IT.”: “it” does not have an explicit referent. We need to deduce it from the context. It may refer to the apartment or house he/she lives in.
*“The air and the light, yes, THAT too.”: “that” has a clear referent: the light.
*“…the light that shines on all things and puts THEM there for my eyes to see.”: “them” clearly refers to “all things”.
*“There is the air and the light and THIS best of all.”: in this case, we have no clear evidence whether “this” refers to “light” or “air”. Because of its proximity, we may deduce it refers to “light”.
*“…when I close my eyes and just sit THERE…”: “there” does not have a clear referent. We may deduce it is “a place next to the window”.
There is use of pronouns referring to the first person: “I”, “me” and “my” clearly refer to the narrator.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE: * Short sentences are intermingled with long sentences.
* Sentences are speech-like:
1- The writer interrupts and corrects himself/herself, as in “There is the air and the light and this best of all. Excuse me. The air and the light. Yes.”
2- Some sentences are not grammatically complete, as in “The air and the light.”
3- There is also instances of afterthought, as in “There and the light, yes, that too, the light…”


For all this analysis, we can state that the passage leans on the metonymic pole because one topic leads to the other through their semantic contiguity.

Don't quite get what you mean by semantic contiguity. Rest seems OK.