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प्रश्न
Answer the following question in detail:
John Hallock reflects upon his experience with Helen's ghost and in retrospect he finds it quite amusing. All the same he is relieved that he is no longer plagued by it. Ironically, the same ghost inspires his creativity and he writes a diary entry reflecting upon the comical aspect of his experience. Write his diary entry
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उत्तर
Tuesday 15th may, –
20XX, 10.30 p.m.
Dear Diary
I was thinking of writing a ghost story when suddenly I saw an apparition taking shape in front of me. It named itself as Helen. The ghost told me that these ghosts helped people like us with ideas to write their stories. I imagined it to be something very funny that the ghost and his co-mates were coming up. But it suddenly appeared before me and Lavinia and it had also appeared by the Ouija boards surprising all the women. But the most interesting part that I realised was that the same ghosts inspired my creativity to write a ghost story.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
I only waved denial and gurgled in my throat. She went on “It’s bad enough to have you flirt over the Ouija board with that hussy ----.”
(a) What was John denying?
(b) What does the word ‘hussy’ mean?
(c) Why did Lavinia think that John was flirting?
John Hallock could never displease Jenkins. Why?
How does the lesson, 'A Shady Plot' remind us that man has no right to invoke supernatural powers through Ouija boards, Tarot cards etc to solve his problems and that one should face life boldly and overcome difficulties using wit and intelligence. Write in 80−100 words.
Given below is a list of words related to ghosts and ghost stories with their jumbled up meanings against them. Match the words/expressions with their correct meanings:
| Apparition | a feeling of anticipation or anxiety over a future event |
| Poltergeist | a reanimated corpse that is believed to rise from the grave at night to suck the blood of sleeping people |
| Clairvoyance | a conjurer who expels evil spirits by conjuration |
| Crystal Ball | a spelling board device intended to communicate with and through the spirit world, obtaining answers to questions |
| Eerie | beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation |
| Medium | any of a set of 22 playing cards bearing allegorical representations, used for fortune telling |
| Transmigration | a supernatural appearance of a person or thing, a ghost, spectre or phantom |
| Psychic | so mysterious, strange or unexpected as to send a chill up the spine |
| Ouija Board | the supposed power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses |
| Exorcist | a person through whom the spirits of the dead are alleged to be able to contact the living |
| Premonition | a globe of quartz crystal in which images, believed to portend the future, are supposedly visible to fortune tellers |
| Paranormal | to pass into another body after death: going from one state of existence or place to another |
| Tarot Card | capable of extraordinary mental processes, such as extrasensory perception and mental telepathy |
| Vampire | German word, meaning "noisy ghost"-a troublesome spirit that announces its presence with unexplainable sounds and the creation of disorder |
The title of the story is A Shady Plot. The dictionary defines the words as:
plot noun.
Based on your reading of the story answer the following question by ticking the correct option.
The writer was overconfident about his ability to write ghost stories because ……
Based on your reading of the story answer the following question by ticking the correct option.
The sight of the ghost materialising in his room filled the narrator with ………
Based on your reading of the story answer the following question by ticking the correct option.
The ghost wanted John to …………………………………………..
Based on your reading of the story answer the following question by ticking the correct option.
Gladolia wishes to leave the narrator's house as ………………….
Answer the following question briefly.
Does the narrator like writing ghost stories? Support your answer with evidence
from the story.
Answer the following question briefly.
Why does the narrator hesitate to be a partner to Laura Hinkle during the Ouija Board Party?
Answer the following question briefly.
Do you agree with the narrator calling the assembly of women "manipulators?" Give reasons.
Answer the following question briefly.
Why is John's wife angry? What does she decide to do?
Answer the following question briefly.
When confronted by Lavinia about his flirtations over the Ouija Board, John insists that 'the affair was quite above-board, I assure you, my love'. Bring out the pun in John's statement.
Answer the following question in detail:
After her reconciliation with her husband, John Hallock, Lavinia writes a letter to
her friend expressing how her relationship with him has almost been on the verge
of breaking and what has saved it. Write her a letter.
Now that you have shared a ghost story/anecdote as well as completed a guided story in the class, create your own ghost story on the basis of the starters given below:
a) Stephen knew he would never sleep. The noises, those horrid sounds, would keep him awake...
b) Tap, tap, tap. Was it the branches of the nearby tree, or fingernails against the window?
c) People often say, 'There's no such thing as ghosts....
You are familiar with the key elements of a short story viz setting, plot, conflict, character and point of view. Given below are specifics to be kept in mind while writing a ghost story. Also make use of the vocabulary that you have learnt from the story ‘A
Shady Plot’.
• Colours, sounds, feeling words
• Strong definite characters
• Creating suspense
• Setting the scene and the atmosphere
• Describing the weather
• Clear opening line
• Personal feelings
• Clear ending
• Describing the sounds
• Adding a dramatic element
• Mystery
Answer the following question:
The Ghost was particularly angry with Washington and wished to frighten him
because…. ...................................................................(Complete the statement)
Write two striking qualities of the Ghost as revealed in this extract.
a) _____________________
b) _____________________
Why did Lavinia decide to leave her husband, John ?
