TEXT ANALYSIS

I. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
 
1) Title: “Airport”
Author: Arthur Hailey + p. 37 information  
2) Genre: narration
3) Place: airport
Time: -
Dialogue + 3rd type narration 
4) Main characters: Mrs. Ada Quonsett, Tanya, District Transportation Manager
Minor characters: Mrs. Quonsett’s husband, Peter Coakley (The Trans American
agent), clerks, stewardesses, gate agents 
5) Problems: 
• Dishonesty – acceptance of limits for deceivers;
• Lie and bad attitudes because of it – to tell truth;
6) Theme: it is a dialogue between the airport worker and the woman who wasn't
fare in her charge.
Idea: to show that every lie will be exposed sooner or laterand there is no way to
hide it forever.
II. LOGICAL PARTS
1. Introduction about the author
2. Confession of Mrs. Quonsett
3. Tanya’s conversation with D.T.M
4. Continuation of confession of Mrs. Quonsett
5. Peter Coakley – a person in charge of Mrs. Quonsett
 

Morphological features
Verbs: Present and Past tenses prevail
Present Simple:”I try to be at the airport early,””They always give me one”,”I keep a big
black pencil””..she says she wants  some tea”,
Past Simple:”the old lady smiled”.”Tanya said.”,“Tanya thought”,”Mrs Quonsett  opened
her black beaded purse.”,”..a telephone rang”
Modal verbs:”I can get myself,”...the least you can do”,”may I have..”,”You can pick it
up”,”If I can go now”,’she can have  it”,”I can read it” 
Infinitives:try to be, try to use,difficult to do , tries to stop you,young enough to be,I want
you to know
Gerunds:getting a boarding pass,
Participles:

Nouns:
Countable: agent, pencil, airplane, man.
Uncountable: tea (She says she wants some tea), information.
Plural: people, information. 
Collective: crew, passengers.
Common: teacher, daughter, stewardesses.
Proper: Mrs. Qounsett, Tanya.
Concrete: Ticket, telephone, wallet
Abstract: travel, lie, trust”

   Adjectives: harmful,useful ( condition); busy, resentful, impassive, good-natured,

irascible (personality); fresh (sense); young, old (appearance )
Degree of comparison: 
comparative degree: more useful; more harmful; harder.
superlative degree: the slightest .
Pronouns: 
Personal: “She knew perfectly well…”, “since you’ve had so much free travel…”, “I
imagine you heard…”.
Reflective: “I can get myself a boarding pass.”
Possessive: “My late husband”, “ but he dropped his wallet”, “Was her leg being gently
pulled?”
Indefinite: “Get anything useful out of her?”
Reciprocal: “They’re talking to each other”.
Definite: “If the plane has come in from somewhere else…”, “Sometimes I say I’m
going aboard…”.
Negative: -
Demonstrative: “If I let you loose in this terminal...”, “Except that, unlike Mrs.
Quonsett, most people wanted a fresh ticket..,”.
Relative: “he always is when a lot of people come together.”
Numerals:
Cardinal: ten minutes,
Ordinal:Flight 103

Functional parts of speech

Prepositions: o the theory,at the airport,walk past him,interested in,look at,of geometry,in
my hand,on the opposite side, from the airline, get useful out of her,send for
Conjunctions”
Particles:
Interjections

Articles:
Indefinite: a boarding pass; a gate pass; a wallet; a bulletin; a thin.
Definite: the theory; the airport; the ladies’ room; the crayon pencil; the tickets; the
airplane; the face.

Word formation:
Simple: plane; chance; line; capital.
Derived: to requisite - a requisition; elder- elderly; to arrange - am arrangement; to
reserve- a reservation.
Compound: handkerchief; airplane; endless; grandson; something;
Conversion: He was very mean. (adj.) Faintly resentful. (adj.) Very carefully. (adv.)
A momentary silence. (noun)
Abbreviation: D.T.M. ( Development Team Manager)
Shortenings: Mrs.
 Syntax
Simple: The little old lady smiled. So now you have a boarding pass.
Compound: I always have some old passes with me, so I know what to write. You can
have a cup of tea, but an agent will be with you. 
Complex: I pick a counter where the clerks are busy, with a lot of people waiting.
Deposing the lace handkerchief in her lap, Mrs. Quonset opened her black beaded purse. 
Mixed: She knew perfectly well, and so apparently did Mrs. Quonset, that airlines never
prosecuted stowaways, on this theory that publicity would be more harmful than
otherwise. 
Or, if the plane has come in from somewhere else, I say I’m going back to my seat, but I
left my ticket on board. 

LEXICAL CHARACTERISTICS

colloquial: get out, pass on to you, come back 

literary: to prosecute, a requisition, a memo, arrangements
 neutral: useful, room, people, girl, hen
synonyms: wallet - purse, boarding pass - ticket, pointed out - mentioned, gleam - glare
antonyms: harmful - useful, calm - irascible, day - night
homonyms: mean - average/ not nice; 
polysemantic words: muse: 1) each of nine goddesses, 2) a person or personified force
who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist; 3) be absorbed in thought. 
gleam: 1) shine brightly, especially with reflected light; 2) a faint or brief light, especially
one reflected from something.
passage: 1) the action or process of moving forward; 2) a journey by sea or by air; 3) a
short extract from a book or other printed material.
phraseological units: a little white lie, get someone out of one's hair - to cause
someone to stop annoying oneself; cabin boy ?
phrasal verbs: point out, pass  on, send smn back, get off, hand over
lexical-semantic groups: 
thematic groups: airport - boarding pass, a counter, gate pass, flight, stewardess,
airline. 

STYLISTIC PECULIARITIES
phonological stylistic devices: onomatopoeia- “Oh”; 
alliteration- “on the theory that”, “little old lady smiled”; 
assonance- “give people seat”; “if she needs” ;
euphony- “you can have your cup of tea”, “no one does, if I have a pass” ;
cacophony-  “suppose someone tries to stop”.
graphical stylistic devices: hyphenation- “honest-to-goodness fare-paying”; 
emphatic punctuation marks- “and you tell me what time to come back…”, “Yes, sir.”,
“Sorry, Tanya!”
Lexical stylistic devices: metonymy - “that airlines never prosecuted stowaways”,
“airlines use their ticket folders”
metaphor - “make it clear” , “a memo was going to the crew”; “to think of every angle”
epithet - “a calm, good-natured boss”, “black beaded purse”, “unhappy passengers”
euphemism - “ladies` room”
simile - “like the cabin boy, kicking  the ship's cat”
allusion - “like the cabin boy, kicking  the ship's cat, but you are no cat”
irony - “Sorry, Tanya!”
Syntactic Stylistic devices: detachment -1) “she knew perfectly well, and so did Mrs.
Quonsett, that airlines never ...” 2) “There was a chance, though, that some more
questions ...” 
3) “Except that, unlike Mrs. Quonett, most people wanted a fresh ticket...”
4) “Then, I am afraid, I have to tell a little white lie ...”
rhetorical question: “- Is that difficult to do? - Getting a boarding pass? Oh, no.”
asyndeton - “a calm, good-natured boss”; 
represented speech - “Go on,” Tanya said; 
The D.T.M. said sourly, “I suppose, a company charge.”
parallel construction - “If the plane has come, I say I`m going back...”