|
Méthodologie : du vocabulaire pour le
commentaire de texte en civilisation
Cette liste n•est aucunement limitative.
Les barres obliques
indiquent que les mots peuvent être substitués les uns aux autres grammaticalement. Ce qui n•implique rien
quand au sens de ces mots
ou expressions.
I . Introduction
a . Origin, date, title, author, addressee
- This text is an extract from
- This is a passage from
- This extract is taken from
- ÁÁÁÁÁÁÁ is part
of
- The extract we are commenting upon / on is
taken from
- a book / a history book
- an essay / a pamphlet
- a poem
- an Act of Parliament
- a newspaper article
- a letter, etcö
- which was published in (date), that is to say
at a time when / [X] was King of England / [Y] had been King of England for 10 years
/ England had been at war with France for 12 yearsö
OR:
- In ÿ[title of the text]´, which is an extract from
[Title of the Book], a [ö] published in [ö], that is to say [ö], [X] deals
withö
- It is entitled ÿ[ö]´
- It is contemporary account ofö / a primary source,
since the writer witnesses (took part in) the events he relates here / lived in England
during the period referred to in the document.
- His view can be expected to be biased as, at the
time, he wasö
OR:
- In spite of the author•s position this a rather
objective account ofö
OR:
- It is a secondary source.
- The writer gives us his view with the benefit of
hindsight.
- He can be expected to have / an objective / an
impartial / a global view / of the events.
OR:
- in spite of the fact that is a rather biased approach
ofö, since itö
- It was written by [X], who was ö at the time of
the events related / mentioned / here. We can therefore expect his view to be rather
objective / subjective / biased / prejudicedö, all the more so since at that timeö
- The English reformation was written by A.G. Dickens,
a famous historian of the period who is mainly concerned with the religious aspect
of the question. It is therefore a secondary source, soö
- This letter was addressed to ö who wasö
- As this book had been banned, it was circulated
in secret in England and therefore was not widely read.
- This sermon / speech was delivered to an audience
ofö, hence the style, which isö
b . Main subject
- This passage deals with / is about / concerns /
is concerned with / + GN
- The point in question in this text is + GN
- The main topic / subject / of this passage is +
GN
- Be careful! The subject is not the same as the
theme. e.g. (you read ÿfor example´): the theme of Dickens•s text is ÿHenri VIII•s
divorce´. Its subject is ÿthe assessment of the religious and political consequences
for England of Henri VIII•s divorce´.
c. Approach
- This passage is a general approach / a description
/ a detailed description / a descriptive approach / an analysis / an objective analysis
/ an impartial relation / a polemical account / an impassioned narrative / a eulogy
/ a (violent) criticism / a parody / a revaluation / an assessment of + GN.
d . Main point and structure of the text
- In / through this document the author aims at putting
across the view thatö / conveying / expressing the idea thatö / convincing the reader
thatö
- The structure of this text is very clear / quite
straightforward.
OR:
- The structure of this passage is rather confused.
- The author starts by stating his main point, which
isö
- Then, he gives a demonstration of it which he backs
up with examples.
OR:
- After an introductory passage in which the author
gives his opinion onö, he goes on to dismiss the view held / put forward / by [X].
- Then he attempts to prove his point by giving a
demonstration illustrated with examples.
- He bases his demonstration on statistics.
- He backs up / supports / his thesis with convincing
quotations fromö
e . Structure of your commentary
- We shall first examine / consider / discuss / assess
/ concentrate on / focus our attention on + GN
- Then we shallö
- Having discussed / After discussing / the writer•s
description ofö, we shall concentrate onöand finally move on to the question ofö
II . The body of your commentary
a . Locating the references in the text
- In line 7, the author says thatö
- In the first paragraph, the writer assesses the
importance ofö
- In the very first line of the text, we learn thatö
- From line 8 (down) to line 11, Mr. X develops the
point he made at the beginning of the second paragraph.
- Throughout / all through / the text, the writer
keeps reminding us thatö
- As the writer puts it in line 9, ÿö´
b . Describing what the writer does
- The author writes / says / claims / asserts / maintains
/ declares / states thatö
- He gives an account of events / of a situation.
- He describes / depicts / portrays + GN
- He raises the issue of + GN
- He takes up / tackles / the subject ofö
- He concentrates / focuses his attention / dwells
on + GN
- He draws attention to + GN
- He insists onö, he lays stress / emphasis on +
GN
- He underlines + GN OR that + sentence
- He devotes 3 lines to + GN. He alludes to + GN
- He quotes (from) the Bible to support his claim
- He examines / considers / discusses / studies /
analyses + GN
- He illustrates / demonstrates / proves his point
by saying thatö
- He presents / provides the reader with examples
- He expresses / gives / utters his opinion on +
GN
- He considers the arguments for or against
- He indicates / points out the reasons
- The reasons whyö
- why / when / how /where / that + sentence
- He puts forward / develops the idea thatö
- He concludes thatö
- He summarizes / sums up his view by saying thatö
c . Commenting on the writer•s words and arguments
· Explaining
- What the author really means is thatö
- By using the word ÿö´, the author refers toö
- At that time, the term ÿpuritan´ was a word of
abuse.
- It was a derogatory / pejorative word
- This is a clear reference to + GN
- In line 8 the word ÿship´ is used metaphorically
/ in a figurative language / metaphorical sense. It means / it stands for / represents
the church, whereas the phrase ÿcrossing the ocean´ (line 10) is used in the literal
sense. (sens propre)
- He mentions ÿthe heretics´, that is (to say)/
namely / i.e. (id est)the Protestants whoö
- In other words, one could say thatö
- In short / in brief / in a nutshell the author
is aiming at convincing the reader thatö
· Confirming and illustrating the
writer•s point
- In line 10, the author says that most people were
dissatisfied with the King•s policy. Indeed, many petitions were signed and riots
took place inö
- The writer•s point is confirmed / borne out by
+ GN
- The author is (perfectly) justified in asserting
that the Queen was worried in so far as + information
- Moreover / what is more / in addition / besides
+ information
- All the more so asö
- We must bear in mind that, at that time, the British
economy wasö
- This example must be set against the background
of religious intolerance that prevailed at the time
- We must study the economic background of these
events
- To illustrate this point, a few examples could
be added/ adduced
- This reminds one of + GN / that + phrase
- This calls to mind + GN
· Drawing conclusions, putting forward
hypotheses
- It reveals / shows / proves / indicates / implies
thatö
- From this, we can infer / conclude / derive / gather
thatö
- Use modal verbs expressing conjecture: may
/ might / must
- I presume / suppose / imagine
· Challenging the author•s view
- Although the author is right to say thatö
- However justified the author may be in claiming
thatö
- The author is perfectly right when he says thatö,
yet / however we must add /bear in mind / make the point that
-
- The writer•s analysis / reasoning / demonstration
is faulty / flawed / inaccurate
- He is prejudiced / biased / in favour of / againstö
- His account is partial / incomplete / partisan
- He misjudges / misunderstands + GN
- He overestimates / overrates / overvalues / exaggerates
the importance ofö
- He minimizes / undervalues / underestimated / plays
down + GN
- He seems to have a lot of preconceived ideas on
+ GN
- He totally ignores the fact thatö (il ne tient
absolument pas compte du fait que..)
- He fails to mention + GN OR + thatö
- His criticism is (totally) irrelevant / unfounded
/ off the point / becauseö
III
. Conclusion
- In conclusion / to conclude we can say thatö
(pas ÿas a conclusion´)
- In this commentary, we have shown / demonstrated
thatö
- In view of the historical context, we can conclude
thatö
- We shall sum up by saying thatö
· Assessing the historical value
of the document
- It is a valuable / reliable / historical
document since itö
- It can be trusted becauseö
- It has no great historical value. It is unreliable
since itö
- It sheds new light on the debated question of +
GN
- It allows the modern reader to understandö
- With the benefit of hindsight (=´rétrospectivement´)/
retrospectively we can say that this document had a tremendous influence on + GN
- [X]•s opinion was confirmed / disproved by what
happened later, that isö
IV . Additional remarks
a . Tense
- Most of the time, you will have to use the present
to describe what the author does : e.g. The author underlines the fact thatö
- Use the simple past and not the present
tense to refer to historical events e.g. Henri VIII came to the throne
in 1509
- Do not use ÿwill´ or ÿshall´ to refer
to past events in English! ÿJacques 1er succédera à Elisabeth en 1603´ :
James I succeeded / was to succeed her in 1603´.
b . Capital letters
- Remember that the English system is different from
the French one. e.g. Then English (les Anglais), the English constitution (la constitution
anglaise), the English language (la langue anglaise). In English both nouns and adjectives
of nationality have a capital letter.
c . Link words
Enumeration
- Pour commencer: First / to begin with / to start
withö
- Ne pas dire *at first ni *at last.
- Pour ajouter des arguments par ordre croissant
d•importance, utilisez:
- Secondly, and far more importantly / above all
/ on top of it all / last but not least / most important of all
- Par ordre décroissant, commencez par : First
and foremost / First and most important(ly)ö
Transition
- We have discussed Wolsey•s part in the divorce
suit. Now, let us examineö
- As for / As to the Pope•s attitude, ö
- With reference to / with respect to / with regard
to / as regards / regarding the reaction of the bishopsö
- Let us now turn toö
Contrast
- Henri VIII did not favour Protestant ideas. On
the contrary, he remained faithful to traditional Catholic dogmas.
- On the one hand, he severed all links with Rome.
On the other hand, he retained the traditional Catholic hierarchy.
- He never promoted Protestantism. Instead,
he persecuted protestants.
Concession
- Phrase + Yet / however / still / nevertheless
+ phrase
- Although / even though + proposition + phrase
V
. Additional vocabulary (synonyms)
- Admit : acknowledge, concede, disclose,
reveal; recognize
- Confirm : establish, reinforce; endorse,
verify
- Deny : contradict, disagree with, disprove,
oppose, refute; discard, disclaim, reject
- Describe : define, detail, explain, express,
illustrate, report, specify
- Explain : define, demonstrate, illustrate,
make clear / plain; give an explanation for, give a reason for, justify
- Imply : give (someone) to understand, insinuate,
suggest; indicate, mean, presuppose
- Indicate : add up to, denote, imply, manifest,
point to, reveal, signify, suggest; designate, specify; express
- Justify : confirm, defend, establish, support
- Show : indicate, present, reveal; demonstrate,
explain, point out, present, prove
- Specify : be specific about, designate, mention.
- ...send us more such voc !
OPUS MARKET
La
dissertation de civilisation
par Bernard Gilbert, format
PDF, 30 pages.
|
2003
: et patati, et... patatras!
