21 March 2013

II - MOVIE SPEECH Lord of the ring, The two towers




                                     FRODO
                         [Slowly and with despair] I can’t do
                         this, Sam.

                                     SAM
                         [Getting up slowly] I know. It’s all
                         wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be
                         here. But we are. [He stands and leans
                         against a wall, looking out into the
                         distance.] It’s like in the great stories,
                         Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered.
                         Full of darkness and danger they were.
                         And sometimes you didn’t want to know
                         the end. Because how could the end be
                         happy? [Images of the riders winning
                         the battle against the Uruk-hai at Helm’s
                         Deep] How could the world go back to
                         the way it was when so much bad had
                         happened?

                                     THÉODEN
                         Victory! We have victory! [He raises
                         his sword with a victorious cry]

                                     SAM
                         But in the end, it’s only a passing
                         thing, this shadow. [The women and children
                         welcome the men as they return. Éowyn
                         runs up to Aragorn and embraces him,
                         crying tears of relief.] Even darkness
                         must pass. A new day will come. [Isengard
                         is flooded. Merry and Pippin looks on
                         from their perch on Treebeard. On the
                         balcony, Saruman stumbles back into
                         his chamber] And when the sun shines
                         it will shine out the clearer. Those
                         were the stories that stayed with you.
                         That meant something, even if you were
                         too small to understand why. But I think,
                         Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now.
                         Folk in those stories had lots of chances
                         of turning back only they didn’t. They
                         kept going because they were holding
                         on to something.

                                     FRODO
                         What are we holding on to, Sam?

                                     SAM
                         There’s some good in this world, Mr.
                         Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

                        
                         [Standing in a corner, even Gollum seems
                         moved.]

18 March 2013

X - A BIT CONFUSED Another, other & others II




Another, other & the others

Another + singular nonspecific countable noun

Examples:
  • "Let's meet another day."
  • "I'd like another piece of cake."
The nouns ("day" and "piece") in both sentences are countable and singular (e.g. not with an 's') nouns.
The nouns in both sentences are also not specific. This means that the speaker doesn't care which day or piece of cake he gets; he just wants a different one. He wants another one, but he hasn't said (or it isn't clear or important) which one.

Hint: If you understand English articles a / an / the, then think of "another" as "an + other." You can use "another" before a noun whenever you can use "a (n)" before a noun. The rules are the same. Another = an other.

Other + plural or uncountable nonspecific noun

Examples:
  • "Other people have problems, too." [people = plural noun]
  • "This book has other information." [information = uncountable noun]
The nouns in both sentences are not specific, just like with "another". The speaker doesn't specify which other people have problems, or what other information the book has. The rules are the same as "another" except that "other" is used before plural or uncountable nouns.

Hint: If we think about articles a / an / the again, then remember that we use "other" before a noun that would NOT need an article.

The other + specific noun (singular, plural, countable or uncountable)

Examples:
  1. "I have two brothers. One of them lives in Canada. The other brother lives in Japan."
  2. "I go to school on Monday and Thursday. I work on the other days of the week."
The nouns ("brother" & "days") in both sentences are specific.

Re: Example #1: What brother lives in Japan? The other brother. The speaker said he has two brothers. He told you where the first brother lives, so the other brother must be his second brother. This is a specific brother (not general). You know what brother he is talking about.

Re: Example #2: What days of the week does he work on? Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The speaker said he goes to school on Monday and Thursday. You know that the other days of the week are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. So the speaker says “the other” because it is clear what other days of the week he works on. Specifically, they are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Hint: Thinking about articles again, the rules for "the other" are the same as the rules for "the" + noun.

14 March 2013

XIII - WHAT'S THE STORY - Led Zeppelin "Going to California"



Going to California

Spent my days with a woman unkind, Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start, Going To California with an aching in my heart.
Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.
Took my chances on a big jet plane, never let them tell you that we're all the same.
The sea was red and the sky was grey; I wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today.
The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
as the children of the sun began to awake.

Seems that the wrath of the Gods
Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow;
I think I might be sinking.
Throw me a line if I reach it in time
I'll meet you up there where the path
Runs straight and high.

To find a queen without a king,
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings... la la la la
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born.
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,
Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.