Question

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow each of them.

He couldn’t have addressed a more dazed and silent audience. No one knew what he was talking about, and his accent defeated any attempt to understand what he was saying.

1. Identify the chapter. Who is ‘he’? (1)
2. What was ‘he’ in real life? (1)
3. How did the audience react to his speech? (1)
4. Why was his speech not a success? (1)

Answer 1

1. The chapter is ‘Poets and Pancakes’. ‘He’ was Stephen Spender, an Englishman.
2. In real life, he was an author.
3. Everyone was baffled and could not understand the purpose of his visit.
4. His speech was a failure since the Englishman’s unusual accent made it impossible for anyone at the studios to understand him, and they had no idea what he was talking about.