Question 2
Read the speech segment given below and fill in the blanks with the appropriate discourse markers. Observe the tone and the punctuation of the passage and choose only the most fitting answer for every blank.
Roald Dahl Interviewed by Mavis Nicholson
Mavis Nicholson: Is it easier to write for adults than it is to write for children? Because you’ve done both successfully.
Roald Dahl: [i] _____, it’s much harder to write for children. If we’re talking about high quality– top grade– the equivalent of Graham Greene’s quality in children’s books, it’s harder to do it for children.
MN: Why?
RD: I don’t know why. The obvious answer, [ii] _____, is that children have less concentration. It’s harder to hold them to the page. They’re easily distracted. But, the other, real reason it’s hard is that by the time you’re old enough to be skillful enough to write a book– adult or children’s– you’re an adult, and you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a child, and that’s the real problem, and if a seven year old had the skill of being able to write beautifully, superbly, and conjure up a plot, that would be the one to do it, because they know exactly…
MN: [iii] _____, how do you reckon you’ve kept in touch with a child’s mind?
RD: Oh it’s some sort of pure luck, you know, to be able to throw yourself back into this. I think you’ve got to be a bit of an ass in a way, you’ve got to be a giggler. . . . There’s not many fellows of 66 who rock with laughter at knock-knock jokes and things like that and other childish things. [iv] _____, most people, male or female, by that age, or even by 40 or 50, become pretty serious and moderately pompous. And that’s no good, is it?
MN: Well, saddened…saddened by life, maybe? You could have been, but you [v] _____ don’t seem to be.
Transcribed from: “Roald Dahl interview | Children's Author | A plus 4 | 1984.”
Fill in blank [ii] with the most fitting discourse marker among the options given below.
oh really
literally
of course
in the end