II. 1. Have you ever had to make a difficult choice (or do you... - Beehive

I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
4. What things about the book did she find strange?
5. What do you think a telebook is?
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

II. Answer the following with reference to the story.
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
(iii) What is it contrasted with?

III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
3. What did he do?
4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?
5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
6. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?

IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 –150 words).

1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?

2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?

3. Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story? Give reasons for your answer.

I. Adverbs

Read this sentence taken from the story:

They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely.
The word complete is an adjective. When you add –ly to it, it becomes an adverb.

1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs given in the box below.

awfully, sorrowfully, completely, loftily, carefully, differently, quickly, nonchalantly

2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
(i) The report must be read _____ so that performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions _____ , shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave ____ when we are tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook her head ____ when Ravi lied to her.
(v) I ____ forgot about it.
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled ____ and turned away.
(vii) The President of the Company is _____ busy and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my work ____ so that I could go out to play.

3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.
(i) angry ______ (ii) happy ______
(iii) merry _____ (iv) sleepy ____
(v) easy ______ (vi) noisy ______
(vii) tidy ______ (viii) gloomy _____

II. If Not and Unless
• Imagine that Margie’s mother told her, “You’ll feel awful if you don’t finish your history lesson.”
• She could also say: “You’ll feel awful unless you finish your history lesson.”

Unless means if not. Sentences with unless or if not are negative conditional sentences.

Notice that these sentences have two parts. The part that begins with if not or
unless tells us the condition. This part has a verb in the present tense (look at
the verbs don’t finish, finish in the sentences above).

The other part of the sentence tells us about a possible result. It tells us what
will happen (if something else doesn’t happen). The verb in this part of the
sentence is in the future tense (you’ll feel/you will feel).

Notice these two tenses again in the following examples.

Future Tense    Present Tense
• There won’t be any books left unless we preserve them.
• You won’t learn your lessons if you don’t study regularly.
• Tommy will have an accident unless he drives more slowly.
Complete the following conditional sentences. Use the correct form of the verb.
1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, ________
2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, ________
3. Unless you promise to write back, I _______
4. If she doesn’t play any games, ________
5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat ______

I. 1. Where does the traveller find himself? What problem does he face?
2. Discuss what these phrases mean to you.
(i) a yellow wood
(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear
(iii) the passing there
(iv) leaves no step had trodden black
(v) how way leads on to way
3. Is there any difference between the two roads as the poet describes them
(i) in stanzas two and three?
(ii) in the last two lines of the poem?
4. What do you think the last two lines of the poem mean? (Looking back, does the poet regret his choice or accept it?)