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Question
Answer the following question briefly.
Does the speaker seem happy about his decision?
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Solution
The speaker doesn’t seem to be happy about his decision. Whether the choice is right or wrong can’t be decided on the spur of the moment. Only after ‘ages and ages’ he will realise the mistake that he made years ago. He will be ‘telling with a sigh’ to others that it was not a wise decision. Two roads diverged in a wood and he ‘took the one less travelled by’. The roads are fascinating metaphors for life. The choice has made all the difference in his life.
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Here is a story about Swami and his grandmother. After reading the excerpt, change it into a conversation between Swami and his Grandmother.
After the night meal with his head on his granny’s lap, nestling close to her, Swaminathan felt very snug and safe in the faint atmosphere of cardamom and cloves. ‘Oh, Granny !’ he cried ecstatically. ‘You don’t know what a great fellow Rajam is.’ He told her the story of the first enmity between Rajam and Mani and the subsequent friendship.
‘You know, he has a real police dress,’ said Swaminathan. ‘Is it? What does he want a police dress for?’ asked Granny.
‘His father is the Police Superintendent. He is the master of every policeman here.’ Granny was impressed. She said that it must be a tremendous office indeed. She then recounted the days when her husband, Swaminathan’s grandfather, was a powerful sub-magistrate, in which office he made the police force tremble before him and the fiercest dacoits of the place flee. Swaminathan waited impatiently for her to finish the story. But she went on, rambled, confused, mixed up various incidents that took place at different times. ‘That will do, Granny,’ he said ungraciously. ‘Let me tell you something about Rajam. Do you know how many marks he gets in arithmetic?’
‘He gets all the marks, does he, child?’ asked Granny.
‘No silly. He gets ninety marks out of one hundred.’
‘Good. But you must also try and get marks like him…. You know, Swami, your grandfather used to frighten the examiners with his answers sometimes. When he answered a question, he did it in a tenth of the time that others took to do it. And then, his answers would be so powerful that his teachers would give him two hundred marks sometimes.
‘Oh, enough, Granny ! You go on bothering about old unnecessary stories. Won’t you listen to Rajam?’
‘Yes, dear, yes.’
‘Granny, when Rajam was a small boy, he killed a tiger.’
Swaminathan started the story enthusiastically : Rajam’s father was camping in a forest. He had his son with him. Two tigers came upon them suddenly, one knocking down the father from behind. The other began chasing Rajam, who took shelter behind a bush and shot it dead with his gun.
‘Granny, are you asleep?’ Swaminathan asked at the end of the story.
Now read the dialogue and complete the conversation:
Swarni: You don’t know what a great fellow Raj am is! In the beginning I could not get along with him but now he is my good friend. And you know, he has a real police dress.
Grandmother: Is it? What does he want a police dress for?
Swarni: His father is the Police Superintendent. He is the master of every policeman here.
Grandmother: I think, it must be a tremendous office. Do you know, your grandfather was a powerful submagistrate and the Police Force trembled before him? Even the fiercest dacoits of the place fled.
Swarni: That will do, Granny. It’s so boring. Let me tell you something about Raj am. Do you know how many marks he gets in arithmetic?
Grandmother: He gets all the marks, doesn’t he, child?
Listen to an excerpt from a news telecast on a national channel carefully and complete the table given below.
| S. No. | Name of the Brave-heart | Place they belong to | Reason for Award |
| 1 | Saumik Mishra | Uttar Pradesh | foiled theft |
| 2 | Prachi Santosh Sen | saved a child | |
| 3 | Kavita Kanwar | Chhattisgarh | |
| 4 | Jodhpur | dodged marriage to 40 year old | |
| 5 | Rahul-balloon seller | Delhi/ National Capital |
|
| 6 | M. Marudu Pandi | Tamil Nadu | averted rail disaster |
| 7 | Bangalore | saved a baby caught in bull fight | |
| 8 | Silver Kharbani | Meghalaya | |
| 9 | Yumkhaibam Addison Singh | saved an eight year old from drowning | |
| 10 | Uttar Pradesh | saved people from drowning | |
| 11 | Haryana/Jind | helped nab armed miscreants | |
| 12 | Kritika Jhanwar | fought off robbers |
The ‘Professor’ knew too much. How did he prove himself ? Fill up the space with suitable examples from the story, using the given clues :
(a) about muzzle velocity : _____
(b) after a thirty mile walk : _____
(c) his salute on payday : ______
(d) the loud sound of a high flying invisible aeroplane : _______
(e) about hand grenades : _______
(f) during cook house duties :. _______
Many people are of the opinion that violent, physical sports such as boxing, kick boxing and wrestling, to name a few should be banned while others think otherwise. Express your opinion on the topic by either writing in favour of banning these sports or against banning them. While writing, you should also include the rebuttal to your questions. Try not to go beyond 200 words.
Based on your reading of the story, answer the following question by choosing
the correct option.
“Bully”, said Pescud brightening at once.
He means to say that____
Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem.
The poem is full of images that come alive through skilful use of words. Describe
any two images that appeal to you the most, quoting the lines from the poem.
Answer the following question briefly.
Describe the two roads that the poet comes across.
Select words from the box to describe the characters in the play as revealed by the following lines. You may take the words from the box given on the next page.
| Lines from the play | Speaker | Quality revealed |
| One hundred thousand francs if necessary and that’s only twice what it cost me. | greedy | |
| If you don’t want the house, tell me so at once and we ’ll say no more about it. | ||
| No! I am very fond of your family, but not quite so fond as that | Gaston | |
| Quite so. I have, but you haven’t. | ||
| I have never cared such a damned little about anybody’s opinion. | ||
| On the principle of people who like children and haven’t any can always go and live near a school. | ||
| The garden is not very large, but you see, it is surrounded by other gardens. | Juliette | |
| I will be philanthropic and let you have it for two hundred thousand. | ||
| I have been thinking a lot about your Papa and Mamma. You see, I am really unselfish. | clever |
Answer the following question briefly.
The convict says, "I am too old a bird to be caught with chaff." What does he mean
by this statement?
(a) Answer the following questions:
- Where were the characters at the time of narration?
- Who was travelling with the aunt?
- How did the children pass their time?
- How long would they take to reach Templecombe?
- How does the aunt respond to the children’s antics? Why do you say so?
(b) You must have used a variety of articles in your answer. Why did you use them? Discuss the reasons with your teacher.
Study the following pair of sentences from the description. Notice the use of
articles-a, an or the or no article (X).
e.g. The next stop was at X Templecombe.
An aunt belonging to the children sat in one corner.
In the corner sat a stranger.
Hence we conclude
1. No article is used before a proper noun.
2. 'The' is used to refer to a specific place/person/ object.
3. 'A' is used when the person/place is referred to for the first time.
4. 'An' is used before a vowel sound.
Compounds—someone, nothing etc.
| someone | anyone | none | everyone |
| somebody | anybody | nobody | everybody |
| something | anything | nothing | everything |
| somewhere | anywhere | nowhere | everywhere |
(Words ending with one and body mean the same.)
Fill in the gaps with some of the words from the table above:
- He can’t hear _____ . He’s completely deaf.
- _______ is going blurred. I can’t see!
- He’s looked ______ but he can’t find it.
- It must be _________ ! Look carefully.
- ______ must move or the horse will be scared.
- It doesn’t matter what you wear, ______ will do.
- She is very popular. _______ likes her.
- Shh! There is _____________ moving downstairs.
- Don’t worry! It’s _________ frightening. It is only the wind.
- It’s a public holiday, so____________ is open.
Choose the correct answer and fill in the blanks:
(a) Cars enable you to reach any place you want. ____________ , they pose parking problems in the cities.
(b) I prefer writing __________
(c) He fell ___________ the ladder.
(d) John, as well as his younger brothers, _________ going abroad for further studies.
(e) You’d better take a taxi. ___________ , you’ll arrive late.
(f) It’s not a very good job. _____________ it’s something to start with.
| (a) (i) However (ii) Although (iii) Despite (iv) So that |
(b) (i) on (ii) in (iii) by (iv) with |
| (c) (i) on (ii) out (iii) of (iv) off |
(d) (i) is (ii) are (iii) have (iv) been |
| (e) (i) However (ii) Consequently (iii) Furthermore (iv) Otherwise |
(f) (i) Besides (ii) Moreover (iii) On the other hand (iv) But |
Look at the notes below. Then use the information to complete the paragraph by choosing a suitable word or phrase in each space. Do not add any new information. The first one has been done for you as an example.
Galapagos Islands
Visitors to these Pacific Islands – leave – unstamped – mail them – return home – picture post-cards – show up – since 1960s – self perpetuating post office probably set up – to get news from their family, friends – tradition persisted – post office – establish – 1950s – barrel – replace – many times – weather worn plaques remain.
Tradition has it that visitors to these Pacific Islands (a) leave unstamped, addressed postcards and letters in a barrel at Post Office Bay, to await pick up by other tourists who affix postage and (b) __________ when they return home. Picture post-cards (c) __________ in the barrel since the late 1960s, when tourists began visiting the Galapagos Islands. The self- perpetuating post office (d) __________by whalers in the late 1790s as a way to get news to and from friends and family. The tradition persisted even after a post office (e) __________on the island of Floreana in the 1950s. The barrel (f) __________ many times, but weather worn plaques, where sailors long ago and from far away carved their names, remain.
| (a) (i) leaving stamped (ii) leaves unstamped (iii) leave unstamped (iv) left unstamped |
(b) (i) mail them (ii) mails them (iii) mailed this (iv) mailing these |
(c) (i) show up (ii) shown up (iii) are show up (iv) have show up |
| (d) (i) is setting up (ii) was set up (iii) is set up (iv) has been set up |
(e) (i) is established (ii) is being established (iii) was established (iv) has been established |
(f) (i) replacing (ii) has been replaced (iii) is replaced (iv) was replaced |
What are the ten different ways in which you can use a ruler other than its regular use? List your answer below.
e.g. You can use it to dig holes.
Review of passives
Look back on the exercises in this Unit. Discuss why the passive is used in each of these different circumstances.
Can you think of any other times when it is best to use the passive?
Rearrange the jumbled words to form meaningful sentences.
(a) at developing / there have been / a modern / many attempts / snowboard
(a) ______________________________________
(b) ______________________________________
(c) and a rope / at the / two skiis / were bound / was placed / front end / together
(c) ______________________________________
(d) declared / snowboarding / in 1994 / was / event / an Olympic
(d) ______________________________________
(e) across the globe / is a / this recognition / huge victory / snowboarders / to the
(e) ______________________________________
A student from a lower class asks you to help her illustrate for her class, the use of different prepositions.
In groups of four, choose one of the following lists of prepositions and draw simple pictures to illustrate their meaning.
| Time | Place | Movement |
| since | on | through |
| at | in | along |
| until | behind | across |
| for | beside | down |
| after | above | round |
