DISCOURSE GRAMMAR Karina Uzeltinger

Have you got a cat? Do you like cats? What do you associate a black cat
with?

The following text is taken from a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It's called
THE BLACK CAT. What do you think the story will be about?

THE BLACK CAT

Every time I sat down, it used to jump onto my knees. When I

went out of a room, it used to run out in front of me and get
between my feet, or climb up my legs. At these times, I wanted to
kill it. But I didn't, because I was too afraid of the white mark on
its chest.

I have already mentioned this mark. At first there was nothing

strange about it. It was just a white mark. But slowly this mark
grew and changed until it had a clear shape of a terrible, a
horrible thing I find it difficult, here in my prison, to write the
word. It was the shape of the GALLOWS! Yes, those horrible
wooden posts from which they hang men by a rope around the
neck!

As each day passed, my fear grew and grew. I, a man, a strong

man, had become afraid of a cat! Why was I so frightened, so
worried by a stupid animal? Day and night I could get no rest. I
had the most terrible dreams, and my mind turned to dark, evil
thoughts. I hated everything, everybody - and life itself.

Taken from:Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe, Oxford Bookworms
Library, level 3, Spain, 2000, pp 21-22

Activities
1) What is it in the first paragraph? And in the second?
2) Read again the first paragraph. The things the cat did, were they
unusual?
3) In the second paragraph there is repetition of the word mark. Why do
you think the author repeated that word?
4) The story is told in the past. Underline all the verbs in the past. Are
they regular or irregular?
5) In paragraph 2 he says he is in prison. Is it a real prison? Why is he
there or why does he think he is in one?
DISCOURSE GRAMMAR Karina Uzeltinger

6) In the third paragraph, the author uses words similar to afraid.

Underline them.
7) What words in the text set the mood for a horror story?

Order the sentences taken from the following paragraph in the story.

a) But my wife caught my arm to stop me, and then anger exploded in my
mind.
b) I turned and drove the axe deep into her head.
c) One day my wife and I needed to get something from the cellar underneath
the house.
d) I almost fell on my face and, mad with anger, I took hold of an axe and
tried to kill the animal.
e) She fell dead on the floor, whithout a sound.
f) The cat followed us down the steps and threw itself in front of me.

Why, do you think, the author hated the cat?

What will he do next? Will he call the police? What will he do with the cat?

Draw a picture for this last paragraph.

Write down what he told his lawyer. Use phrases from the story.

How will the story end? Make a cartoon strip telling the end of the story.
DISCOURSE GRAMMAR Karina Uzeltinger

ANSWERS

THE BLACK CAT

Every time I sat down, it used to jump onto my knees. When I went out of a
room, it used to run out in front of me and get between my feet, or climb up
my legs. At these times, I wanted to kill it. But I didn't, because I was too
afraid of the white mark on its chest.

I have already mentioned this mark. At first there was nothing strange about
it. It was just a white mark. But slowly this mark grew and changed until it
had a clear shape of a terrible, a horrible thing I find it difficult, here in my
prison, to write the word. It was the shape of the GALLOWS! Yes, those
horrible wooden posts from which they hang men by a rope around the neck!

As each day passed, my fear grew and grew. I, a man, a strong man, had
become afraid of a cat! Why was I so frightened, so worried by a stupid
animal? Day and night I could get no rest. I had the most terrible dreams,
and my mind turned to dark, evil thoughts. I hated everything, everybody
- and life itself.

Lexico-grammatical topics for discussion according to the level of students:

* used to
* lexical repetition in the third paragraph (grew, man, cat-animal); contrast
man-animal
* tense shift (past, present, present perfect, past perfect)

Possible answers:

Activities
1) In the first paragraph it refers to the cat, in the second to the mark
2) No. They were the usual things cats do
3) For emphasis. The narrator is obsessed with the mark
4) done in the text
5) free answers
6) done in the text (highlighted in green)

Order the following paragraph:

CFDABE

Contact information: uzeltingerkar@gmail.com