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Question
Read the following dialogue
Raghu : I think one of my snakes has escaped.
Sheela : Isn’t it dangerous? You really must stop collecting snakes, Raghu.
Raghu : But I like snakes – they are unusual pets.
Sheela : But I think it’s a dangerous thing to keep such pets.
Raghu : No, they’re not dangerous; they are really… .er… .quite friendly.
Sheela : Huh, snakes require a great deal of careful handling and are still a risk.
Raghu : i don’t mind. What matters is that I like them.
Sheela : Well, quite frankly, I hate them. They are awfully frightening to look at.
Raghu : Look, I am very careful and I handle them very gently. In fact, I don’t have many.
Sheela : Have you ever been bitten?
Raghu : Well, it’s true I’ve been bitten once or twice, but…
You are a friend who has overheard this conversation between Raghu and Sheela. Write to your sister reporting it. Give the conversation an interesting, unexpected or humorous ending. (The first part has been done for you.)
Janpath
5 January 2016
Dear Varsha
As you’re very interested in Raghu and his snakes, I thought I’d tell you about a conversation I heard between him and Sheela.
He told her he thought one of his snakes had escaped and, as usual, she told him to stop collecting them because they were dangerous. (Typical of Sheela, don’t you think?)
Pronouns
Direct speech indirect speech
| masculine | feminine | plural | |
| i | he | she | they |
| you | he | she | they |
| you | him | her | them |
| your | his | her | their |
| me | him | her | them |
| my | his | her | their |
| myself | himself | herself | themselves |
| we | they | ||
| use | them, their |
WORDS DENOTING TIME AND POSITION
When the reporting verb is in the past tense, certain words denoting nearness of
time and place are changed into words denoting distance.
It is treated necessary to change the words denoting nearness to words denoting
distance because, when we report the words of a person to somebody, the place
and time of the reporting is changed.
So the reported speech must be in line with the modified time and place.
| DIRECT SPEECH | INDIRECT SPEECH |
| this | that |
| these | those |
| now | then |
| ago | before |
| last night |
the previous night the night before |
| next day |
the following day the day after |
| today | the day |
| tonight | that night |
| yesterday |
the previous day the day before |
| tomorrow |
the next day the following day the day after |
| day before yesterday | the day before the previous day or two days before |
| day after tomorrow | the day after the next day ot in two days |
| week | the following week |
| now | then |
| here | there |
Solution
But Raghu insisted that despite that they were unusual pets and quite friendly. Sheela cautioned him that they required a great deal of careful handling and still they were at risk. Raghu told her that he did not mind because what mattered was that he liked them. Sheela (You know how frank she is !) told Raghu frankly that she hated them as they were awfully frightening to look at. Raghu reminded Sheela that he was very careful and handled them very gently. He added further that he didn’t have many. Sheela asked him if he had ever been bitten. Raghu admitted that he had been bitten once or twice. But he had taken medicines immediately.
I now tell you an interesting feature of their conversation. Once a thief had entered his house. When he had been ransacking the house, the big snake (cobra) had woke him up through wriggling over him. Sheela exclaimed with wonder that it was very strange. Raghu told her that it was not complete yet. He added further that another snake had begun hissing near the thief. (You can imagine how Sheela was wonderstruck at this !) Raghu told her that the thief had frozen with fear. A cry had escaped his throat. By then, all at home had woken up. The thief had been caught and handed over to the Police.
Pay my regards to uncle and aunt.
Yours affectionately
Minu
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Answer the following questions:
Bicker’ means ‘to quarrel’. Why does the poet use this word here?
The term irony refers to a discrepancy, or disagreement, of some sort. The
discrepancy can be between what someone says and what he or she really
means. on verbal irony. The discrepancy can be between a situation that one
would logically anticipate or that would seem appropriate and the situation that
actually develops or situational irony. The discrepancy can even be between the
facts known to a character and the facts known to us, the readers or audience or
dramatic irony.
Working in groups of four complete the following table. Find instances of irony from the play
and justify them.
| Extract | Justification |
| I believe you want to convert me; save my soul, don’t you call it? Well, it’s no good………. see? I don’t want any damned religion. ● ________________________________ ●_________________________________ |
Later, the convict says, “its a queer thing to ask, but-could you, would you bless me before I go.” ●______________________________ ●______________________________ |
| ● Why the devil do you leave the window unshuttered and the door unbarred so that anyone can come in? ’ ●__________________________________ ●__________________________________ |
If the door had been barred the convict couldn’t have entered the house. ______________________________ ●______________________________ |
| ● My mother gave them to me on………………………. on her death bed just after you were bom, and…………….. and she asked me to keep them in remembrance of her, so I would like to keep them. ● _______________________________ ● _______________________________ |
Later he hands the convict the candlesticks and tells him to start a new life. ● _________________________ ● __________________________ |
(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.
Read through the poem and quickly make a note of any thoughts that come to you, while you are reading it.
Dispute
A man and a tiger once had a dispute,
Which was reckoned greater, the man or the brute.
The tiger discoursed on his side at some length,
And greatly enlarged on his courage and strength,
Said the man, 'Don't be prating; look yonder, I pray,
At that sculpture of marble: now what will you say?
The tiger is vanquished; but as for the man,
He is striding upon him: deny if you can.'
'But pray,' said the tiger, 'Who sculptured that stone?
'One of us,' said the man. 'I must candidly own.'
'But when we are sculptors,' the other replied,
'You will then on the man see the tiger astride.'
Anonymous
Future Perfect and Future Continuous
Look at the following sentences.
Match words from the different columns to make reasonable predictions. Then write them down in the space below. One has been done as an example.
While you were away on holiday, your house was burgled. Write a letter to
your friend to tell him or her about it.
Use the underlined expressions in Column A above to help you. Include ...
1. how the burglar could have got in,
2. how he knew you had gone away, and
3. what you could have done to prevent the burglary.
What would you do if you became invisible? Would you use your invisibility to play tricks on people or for the good of people?
Write a short paragraph on 'If I was invisible'.
Thinking about changes in Reported Speech.
Look at the cartoon and read the dialogue.
Now read the following paragraph, which reports what happened in the cartoon.
A customer walked into a bakery and complained that the bread he had bought the previous day had too much baking powder in it. The man at the counter told him that that was because they only served those people who wished to rise and shine.
Note the choice of tense in reported speech.
bought (simple past) → had bought (past perfect)
In the box below list the words that have been changed
List the two verbs of speaking that have been added.
- __________ that …..
- __________ that ….
Read the following sentences. Each sentence has four words underlined. Select one underlined word that is incorrect and write it in the space provided. The first one has been done as an example:
1. The statue of liberty is designed by Fedreric Auguste Barthold.
| is |
2. Is was completely in france in july 1884.
3. The statue was shipped to New York with 350 pieces.
4. She arrieved there on 17 june 1885.
5. The pieces were put together but the opening ceremony took place on 28 Oct 1886.
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 |
