Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
The Narrative Present
Notice the incomplete sentences in the following paragraphs. Here the writer is using incomplete sentences in the narration to make the incident more dramatic or immediate. Can you rewrite the paragraph in complete sentences?
(You can begin: The vet and I made a dash back to the car. Bruno was still floundering…)
(i) A dash back to car. Bruno still floundering about on his stumps, but clearly weakening rapidly; some vomiting, heavy breathing, with heaving flanks and gaping mouth. Hold him everybody! In goes the hypodermic – Bruno squeals – 10 c.c. of the antidote enters his system without a drop being wasted. Then minutes later: condition unchanged! Another 10 c.c. injected! Ten minutes later: breathing less stertorous – Bruno can move his arms and legs a little although he cannot stand yet. Thirty minutes later: Bruno gets up and has a great feed! He looks at us disdainfully, as much as to say, ‘What’s barium carbonate to a big black bear like me?’ Bruno is still eating.
(ii) In the paragraphs above from the story the verbs are in the present tense (eg. hold, goes, etc.). This gives the reader an impression of immediacy. The present tense is often used when we give a commentary on a game (cricket, football, etc.), or tell a story as if it is happening now. It is, therefore, called the narrative present. You will read more about the present tense in Unit 10
Advertisements
Solution
The vet and I made a dash back to the car. Bruno was still floundering about on his stumps, but clearly he was weakening rapidly. There was some vomiting and heavy breathing. His flanks were heaving and his mouth was gaping. Everybody was asked to hold him. The hypodermic medicine went into Bruno, who squealed. 10 c.c. of anecdote entered his system without a drop being wasted. Even ten minutes later, the condition was unchanged. Another 10 c.c. was injected into him. Ten minutes later, his breathing became less stertorous. Bruno could move his arms and legs a little although he could not stand yet. Thirty minutes later, Bruno got up and had a great feed. He looked at us disdainfully, as much as to say, ‘What’s barium carbonate to a big black bear like me?’ Bruno was still eating.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Answer these question in a few words or a couple of sentence.
What do you think a telebook is?
Find the words in the text which show Ustad Bismillah Khan’s feelings about the items listed below. Then mark a tick (✓ ) in the correct column. Discuss your answers in class.
| Bismillah Khan’s Feelings about | Positive | Negative | Neutral |
| 1. teaching children music | |||
| 2. the film world | |||
| 3. migrating to the U.S.A | |||
| 4. playing at temples | |||
| 5. getting the Bharat Ratna | |||
| 6. the banks of the Ganga | |||
| 7. leaving Benaras and Dumraon |
Match the meanings with the words/expressions in italic, and write the appropriate
meaning next to the sentence.
I got a fright when I realised how close I was to the cliff edge.
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs;
The first man held his back.
For on the faces around the fire,
He noticed one was black.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
What does the phrase ‘six humans’ signify?
Some are Purple and gold flecked grey
For she who has journeyed through life midway,
Whose hands have cherished , whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,
And serves her household in fruitful pride,
And worship the gods at her husband's side.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
Explain with reference to context.
Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by;
And then the old man shook his head,
And,with a natural sigh,
"Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he,
"Who fell in the great victory.
"I find them in the garden,
For there's many here about;
And often when I go to plough,
The ploughshare turns them out!
For many thousand men,"said he,
"Were slain in that great victory."
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Explain with reference to context.
This woman had been despised, scoffed at, and angrily denounced by nearly every man, woman, and child in the village; but now, as the fact of, her death was passed from lip to lip, in subdued tones, pity took the place of anger, and sorrow of denunciation.
Neighbours went hastily to the old tumble-down hut, in which she had secured little more than a place of shelter from summer heats and winter cold: some with grave-clothes for a decent interment of the body; and some with food for the half-starving children, three in number. Of these, John, the oldest, a boy of twelve, was a stout lad, able to earn his living with any farmer. Kate, between ten and eleven, was bright, active girl, out of whom something clever might be made, if in good hands; but poor little Maggie, the youngest, was hopelessly diseased. Two years before a fall from a window had injured her spine, and she had not been able to leave her bed since, except when lifted in the arms of her mother.
“What is to be done with the children?” That was the chief question now. The dead mother would go underground, and be forever beyond all care or concern of the villagers. But the children must not be left to starve.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What did the neighbours do to help?
Tilloo pressed the red button and “the damage was done”. What was the damage?
Match items in List A with their meanings in List B.
Use any three of the above words in sentences of your own. You may change the form of the word
A B
wounded got up from sleep
awoke give back
forgive small patches of ground for plants
faithful severely injured
pity pardon
beds loyal
return feel sorry for
Which bird directed Golu to go to the Limpopo river and why?
What happens when the winds blow?
Discuss plan A, B and C and the reasons for their respective failures.
Read the newspaper report to find the following facts about Columbia’s ill-fated voyage.
Date and place of lift-off: ____________
Where are rattlesnakes found?
With your partner, complete the following sentence in your own word using the ideas in the poem.
One has to match __________________.
How did uncle explain the ‘game of chance’?
What is meant by a ‘game of chance’? What lesson did the narrator learn from his experience at the fair?
Why does the poet want to peep through the window as he passes it?
Complete the following sentence by providing a reason:
In the short story, The Sound Machine, Dr. Scott thought Klausner was ill when Klausner rang up the doctor because ______.
Complete the following sentence by providing a reason.
In Act V Scene viii of the play Macbeth, Macbeth initially refuses to fight Macduff because ______.
