| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: lately?" he inquired. "That's getting to be quite a while ago."
I assented. I should have liked to say something natural and
kind, but words stuck against my will, and I stood awkward and
ill at ease, noticing idly that the silent one wore a gray
flannel shirt like mine. Steve looked me over, and saw in my
pocket the newspaper which I had brought from the railroad and on
which I had pencilled a few expenses. He asked me, Would I mind
letting him have it for a while? And I gave it to him eagerly,
begging him to keep it as long as he wanted. I was overeager in
my embarrassment. "You need not return it at all," I said; "those
notes are nothing. Do keep it." He gave me a short glance and a
The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: just expressed your regard. I had the pleasure of being his tutor
for several years, and have naturally had opportunities of knowing
him intimately which cannot have occurred to any one else who is
present; and I have some pride as well as pleasure in assuring you
that I share your high hopes concerning him, and your confidence
in his possession of those qualities which will make him an
excellent landlord when the time shall come for him to take that
important position among you. We feel alike on most matters on
which a man who is getting towards fifty can feel in common with a
young man of one-and-twenty, and he has just been expressing a
feeling which I share very heartily, and I would not willingly
Adam Bede |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: made it necessary to think very carefully, and they found it
unexpectedly difficult to do the simple but practical things that
were required of them, as if they, being very tall, were asked
to stoop down and arrange minute grains of sand in a pattern on the ground.
It was St. John's duty to fetch what was needed from the town,
so that Terence would sit all through the long hot hours alone in the
drawing-room, near the open door, listening for any movement upstairs,
or call from Helen. He always forgot to pull down the blinds,
so that he sat in bright sunshine, which worried him without his
knowing what was the cause of it. The room was terribly stiff
and uncomfortable. There were hats in the chairs, and medicine bottles
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