Pronoun Referents 2
Task
1: read the passage below and fill-in the following table
In 1965, Frank Herbert, a 45
year old American, completed a science fiction novel set on a desert
planet in a futuristic universe. (1)
He called his novel Dune.
The novel was rejected by more than twenty publishers before a minor
publishing house in Philadelphia decided to take a chance with (2)
it. (3)
It was the right decision. Dune
turned into the best-selling science fiction novel ever, and the five
books in the Dune saga became
the most popular science fiction series
of all time. In the year of (4)
its publication Dune
won the prestigious Nebula Award, which is
voted and presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America for the
best science fiction novel of the year. In 1966, Dune shared first
place to win the Hugo Award. (5)
This is given by the World Science Fiction Society and is even
more prestigious than the Nebula.
Dune is similar to Robert
Heinlein's 1961 novel Stranger in a
Strange Land, in that (6)
its characterizations and the intricacy of the plot show a more
literary approach to the writing of science fiction novels. (7)
These were often dismissed by serious writers as having no
literary value and (8)
it was a widely held belief that the only thing a science
fiction novel needed to succeed was a compelling and original
technological idea. The characters in a pre-1960’s science fiction
novel were usually less important than the technology: (9)
they served only as users or victims of the technology. Dune helped change all that and
bring science fiction writing closer to the mainstream.
Pronoun-type
word
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refers
to.....
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1)
He
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2)
it
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3)
It
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4)
its
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5)
This
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6)
its
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7)
These
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8)
it
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9)
they
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Task
2: look at (8)
it in the passage above. How is it different from the other
pronouns?
Task
3: read the passage below and fill-in the following table
Dune is also regarded as the first
important science fiction novel with an ecological theme running
through (1)
it. A not widely known term in the 1960’s, Herbert undoubtedly
helped popularize the term ‘ecology’ and many of (2)
its basic concepts. The theme of environmental change on a
planetary scale which is central to Dune
helped impart a sense of planetary awareness to its readers. The
analogies between the changing ecology of Arrakis (the desert planet in
Dune) and (3)
our own planet have become much more obvious as time has passed.
The New York Times Book Review emphasized this theme when (4)
it stated, “"So completely did Mr. Herbert work out the
interactions of man and beast and geography and climate that [Dune] became the standard for a new
subgenre of `ecological' science fiction."
A further attraction of
this
novel is that the future created by Herbert in Dune is laid out in
terms that can only be described as monumental or epic. The sheer scale
of the world portrayed in Dune
is often compared to (5)
that in Tolkien’s
Lord of the Rings. Herbert’s imagination encompasses every possible
aspect of (6)
his creation. (7)
He devises histories, language, quotes,
economic realities and social systems to give life to the world of Dune
and (8)
this enables readers to envisage his characters and (9)
their
settings in a way previously never available in the genre of science
fiction writing.
Pronoun-type
word
|
refers
to.....
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1)
it
|
|
2)
its
|
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3)
our
|
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4)
it
|
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5)
that
|
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6)
his
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7)
he
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8)
this
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9)
their
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