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Question
Answer the following question briefly.
Does the narrator like writing ghost stories? Support your answer with evidence
from the story.
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Solution
The narrator likes writing ghosts stories because a ghost story has been his first fiction. It has changed the narrator with the idea. The idea comes to the narrator out of nowhere when Jenkins wants the narrator to write, the story comes by itself and the narrator is always be able to dig one story.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Read the extract given below and answer briefly the questions that follow:
"I hadn't the shade of an idea, but at the time that didn't worry me in the least. You see, I had often been like that before...."
(i) Who is 'I' ? What did he not have an idea about?
(ii) Why was he not worried?
(iii) What had actually happened earlier to make things right for him?
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 |
Based on your reading of the story answer the following question by ticking the correct option.
The narrator earns his living by ………………………….
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 ghost wanted John to …………………………………………..
Based on your reading of the story answer the following question by ticking the correct option.
John wants the ghost to disappear before his wife enters the room and waves his arms
at the ghost with something of the motion of a beginner when learning to swim. His
movement shows his ………………………
Based on your reading of the story answer the following question by ticking the correct option.
When the narrator says his wife is never so pretty as when she's doing something she
knows he disapproves of, his tone is …………………….
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.
Which genre of stories does Jenkins want the narrator to write? Why?
Answer the following question briefly.
Why had Helen, the ghost, been helping the narrator write ghost stories? Why was she going on strike? What condition did she place for providing continued help?
Answer the following question briefly.
Why does John want the ghost to disappear before his wife appears on the scene? What impression of his wife's character do you form from his words?
Answer the following question briefly.
Do you agree with the narrator calling the assembly of women "manipulators?" Give reasons.
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.
Read and understand the following ghost phrases and expressions:
a) To give up the ghost-- to die or to stop trying
b) Aghost of a chance-- a poor chance, not likely to happen
c) The ghost at the feast-- something or someone that spoils your enjoyment by
reminding you of something unpleasant
d) Ghost town-- a town which most people have left, abandoned and deserted
e) Ghost-write- to write for someone else
f) Lay the ghost of something/somebody (to rest)-- to finally stop being worried
or upset by something or someone that has worried or upset you for a long time
g) Ghost image -- secondary image, especially. one appearing on a television
screen as a white shadow, caused by poor or double reception or by a defect in the
receiver
h) the ghost of a smile - faint trace of a smile
i) As white as a ghost- very pale or white in the face
Now complete the following story by using the appropriate phrases in the blanks
given below:
I was alone in a place that bore a deserted look like that of a ________________. I increased
the pace of my footsteps as I walked through the dark forest. I felt someone walking behind
me. I turned immediately and spotted the contour of a figure in the form of a ___________________ .It smiled at me wickedly .I started shaking with fear and perspiring
profusely when I felt its skeletal hand upon my neck. I woke up with a start, relieved that it was only a nightmare. This was not the first time I had had one. It had all started when I had watched the horrendous horror film with a eerie ghost character that had a scary ghost of a smile on its face.It had been almost a month. The strange thing was that I saw a similar face at the station the next morning. That was uncanny. I was to attend a dinner at my friend's at Northanger Abbey that night. I had decided to narrate my experience to the group that would assemble there. Although I knew, there was _________________________ that they would be convinced. After everyone had finished pouring their drinks to themselves, I cleared my throat and started narrating my spooky experience. However, every one of the group started accusing me of being _______________________ and held me responsible for spoiling the spirit of revelry. I gave up the ghost and sat quietly waiting for the party to be over. Back at home, the fears returned .I knew I had to talk about my experience to somebody to feel better. I have now decided to ______________ and publish my experience under a pseudonym. Only then can I ____________________.
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 ?
