Pandit, Usha (2014), Writing with Ease – Writing Skills, Creative Writing In English, Mumbai, MindSpring’s Publishing LLP. Textbooks Sen Nayar; Anderson, Marilyn (2010), Critical Thinking Academic Writing and Presentation Skills by Marilyn Anderson and Nayar Sen, New Delhi, Pearson India. Williams, Phil (2018), Advanced Writing Skills for Students of English, London, Romian Publications. Agarwal, Swati; Choudhary, Kama; Malik, Madhulica (2014), Modern Essays, New Delhi, Arihant Publications Oswal (2020), A Handbook of Essays, New Delhi, Oswal Publications. Websites https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/strategies-essay-writing https://www.vcestudyguides.com/blog/the-importance-of-context-in-literature https://www.easybib.com/guides/writing-guides/tips/how-to-brainstorm-for-essay/ https://www.gsbe.co.uk/style-essays.html https://www.internationalstudent.com/essay_writing/essay_tips/ 51 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
UNIT 3: GRAMMAR: SENTENCE COMPLETION, COMMON STRUCTURE 3.0 Learning Objective 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Sentence Completion 3.3 Strategies for Sentence Completion 3.4 Techniques for Sentence Completion 3.5 Summary 3.6 Keywords 3.7 Learning Activity 3.8 Unit End Questions 3.9 References 3.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVE After studying this unit, you will be able to: Comprehend the importance of sentence completion. Illustrate the strategies for sentence completion. Explain the importance of vocabulary and grammar in sentence completion. Illustrate the techniques of sentence completion. 3.1 INTRODUCTION Sentence completion questions under the English language, are an important part of Competitive exams for various categories. These questions test the candidate’s vocabulary and knowledge of the finer distinctions among words. There are some strategies that will greatly help to score on these questions. Commonly these sentences are long and difficult to follow, but with a little bit practice, one can learn to master them. Let us discuss it in detail. Sentence completions test the skill to use the information observed in complex and incomplete sentences in order to correctly complete them. It tests a candidate’s vocabulary power and skill to follow the logic of sentences. These sentences are often quite complex. 52 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the \"rules\" of a language; but in fact, no language has rules*. If we use the word \"rules\", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call \"grammar\" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time. So, think of grammar as something good, something positive, something that you can use to find your way - like a signpost or a map. Grammar is a pre-requisite to acing the verbal section of all competitive exams. You are required to learn about the various parts of speech, their types, and important rules of grammar. The knowledge of English grammar goes a long way in enhancing your communication skills. Additionally, you will be able to handle different kinds of questions that feature in several entrance exams. 3.2 SENTENCE COMPLETION Sentence completions test the skill to use the information observed in complex and incomplete sentences in order to correctly complete them. It tests a candidate’s vocabulary power and skill to follow the logic of sentences. These sentences are often quite complex. Types: There are possibly four types of sentence completions: 1.Restatement:Containing words such as namely, in other words, in fact, that is, etc. Example: The pickpocket was a trickster, in other words, a ______.Here answer will be knave or scoundrel, which restates “trickster,” 2. Comparison: Containing the words such as likewise, similarly, and just as, as like as, etc. Example:Jack was cleared of all charges; similarly, Jill was ______. Here we have to compare ‘cleared of all charges’ with the suitable word, and hence vindicated is the answer. 3.Contrast: Containing the words such as though, although, however, despite, but, yet, on the other hand, but, however, despite, or, on the contrary, etc. Example: Although the tiger is a solitary beast, its cousin the lion is a ______ wild animal. Here answer should be in contrast with “solitary”. Therefore, gregarious, or sociable are possible answers. 4.Cause and Effect: Containing words such as this, therefore, consequently, because of, etc. Also contains phrases such as due to, as a result, leads to, etc. Example: A truck stole her parking spot; consequently, Rocky’s ______ look showed her displeasure. 53 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Read the Sentence Use the sentence clues by reading thoroughly. The question may be difficult due to difficult words and the structure of the sentence. One has to dissect the sentence to figure out what fits best, otherwise one cannot crack the question though knowing the word meanings. Hints The hints given may indicate what should go into the blank for the meaningful sentence. Here’s a test to locate the right hint. If we change the hint, then the choice in the blank must change. We can check the hint by putting that word or phrase into the blank itself. Pluses and Minuses Once we find the word clues, indicate the kind of word we are now looking for with positive meaning or negative meaning. Also, to indicate synonyms or antonyms, we can use these symbols. Structure Words See and try for words like but, rather, although, however, and, while, but, therefore, etc. These may reveal the sentence organization and the relationship between hint and blank. They tell about kinds of words to look for as they change the thought process in the sentence. Visualize Before going for the choices, think of the possible words for the blanks.It will save us from wrong choices.If we know roughly the type of words required, the process of elimination becomes much easier. The word we see doesn’t have to be fancy and a general idea is fine. Elimination Ruling out the wrong choices is now easy.But remember that words have to fit in the given order for the correct answer. If one word is a perfect choice without making sense, then the answer is incorrect.Don’t rule out choices if don’t know their meanings. If doubts are there, leave it and return to other choices. Working Backwards The two-blank questions can be easier as we have more opportunities to eliminate wrong choices. If we can eliminate a choice based on one word, we don’t need to know the other word. Often, working I backtracking way works better. Nouns Everything is in name only. Be it a specific name, name of a group or name in general. In this article, we help you learn about noun and its various types. This will go a long way in helping you understand the rules of Grammar. Use these articles as a revision tool in your spare time. 54 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Nouns are naming words. Everything we see or talk about is a noun. If you remember your school days, then you should be able to recall the definition of nouns that was taught to us: nouns are the names of person, places, animals, things, or qualities. Let's take a few examples for each of these: Persons, places, animals: Tom, India, Cat Objects and substances: chair, water, table Qualities: beauty, kindness, arrogance Actions (as nouns): cooking, dancing, sleeping Types of Nouns 1. Common and Proper Nouns I. A common noun is the word used for a class of person, place, or thing. Example: car, man, city, iron, liquid, company, etc. II. A proper noun is the name of a particular or specific person, place, or thing. A proper noun always starts with a capital letter. Example: Alfred, Asia, Brazil 2. Countable and Non-countable Nouns I. A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. Example: John painted the table red and the chairs blue. II. A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun that does not have a plural form and that refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. Example: Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen. 3. Collective Nouns A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as one unit. Example: The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight. Nouns as Adjectives Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun acts as an adjective. Example: Racehorse. Verb 55 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Verbs describe what a person or thing does or what is happening. Verbs are words that give the idea of action, of doing; something. For example, words like run, fight, do and work, all convey action. But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of existence, of state, of ‘being’ For example, verbs like be, exist, seem, and belong all convey state. Example: Action: Jack plays football. State: Jack seems angry. Types of Verbs Helping Verbs and Main Verbs:Helping verbs or auxiliary verbs are verbs that have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of the sentence, but they do not tell us much alone. Example: People must start donating in charity. Main verbs are verbs that have a meaning of their own. They tell us something. Example: I teach. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs: A transitive verb is one which must have an object to complete its meaning, and to receive the action expressed. For example: John kicked the ball. An intransitive verb is one which is complete in itself, or which is completed by other words without requiring an object. Example: John talked. Active and Passive Verbs: The Active voice is the normal voice that we speak in most of the time. In this voice the object receives the action of the verb performed by the subject. Example: Dogs eat bones. The Passive voice is less usual. In this voice the subject receives the action of the verb being performed by the object. Example: Bones are eaten by the dogs. Modal Verbs: These verbs tell us whether something is probable or about the skills of a noun etc. There are 10 modal verbs in total and each have an important part in sentence formation. Can, Could, May, Might, Will, Would, Must, Shall, Should, Ought to Dynamic and Static Verbs: These verbs denote an actual action or expression, or process done by the subject. They mean an action which can be seen or physically felt or the result of which is seen or physically felt by the object or an indirect object. 56 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Example: She buys new clothes every week. These verbs refer to the state of the subject or the situation of the subject. Stative Verbs tell us about the state of mind of the subject, or the relation between the subject and the object. Adverb An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause. An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions such as \"how,\" \"when,\" \"where,\" \"how much\", etc. Adverb Examples: The midwives waited patiently through a long labor. He literally wrecked his car. Types of Adverbs: Definition and examples Adverb of Time An adverb of time tells us when something is done or happens. Example: Last week, we were stuck in the lift for an hour. Adverb of place An adverb of place tells us where something is done or happens. Example: We can stop here for lunch. Adverb of Manner An adverb of manner tells us how something is done or happens. Example: The brothers were badly injured in the fight. Adverb of Degree An adverb of degree tells us the level or extent that something is done or happens. Example: Her daughter is quite fat for her age. Adverb of Frequency An adverb of frequency tells us how often something is done or happens. Example: They were almost fifty when they got married. The adverbs enough and not enough usually take a post-modifier position: Examples: Is that music loud enough? These shoes are not big enough. Relative Adverbs 57 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where, when, and why. Although the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself fulfils an adverbial function (modifying a verb within its own clause). The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place: My entire family now worships in the Church where my great grandfather used to be minister. The relative pronoun “where” modifies the verb “used to be” (which makes it adverbial), but the entire clause (“where my great grandfather used to be minister”) modifies the word “church”. Conjunction Conjunctions (a part of speech) are words used to link words, phrases, and clauses. For example: I ate the pizza and the pasta. In this case, 'and' is a conjunction that joins two parts of the sentence. There are three types of conjunctions, and these are discussed below: Type 1: Coordinating Conjunctions You use a co-coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) to join individual words, phrases, and independent clauses that are grammatically equal. Example: Lilacs and violets are usually purple There are seven main coordinating conjunctions:- For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, Soon Type 2: Subordinating Conjunctions A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause and indicates the nature of the relationship among the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s). The subordinating conjunction always comes before the dependent clause but the dependent clause itself can be placed either ahead of or following the independent clause. Example: Since they had misbehaved, the boys were given one week suspension from the school. Other subordinating conjunctions are - Although, As, Before, Once, Though, Until, Whether, etc. Type 3: Correlative Conjunctions Correlative Conjunctions are simply pairs of conjunctions used in a sentence to join different words or groups of words in a sentence together. Correlative Conjunctions are generally not used to link sentences themselves, instead they link two or more words of equal importance within the sentence itself. Examples: Both the shoes and the dress were completely overpriced. 58 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Just as she loves hiking, so she enjoys travelling as well. Interjection An interjection is one or more words or a phrase which comes at the beginning of a sentence and generally expresses emotions. Interjections such as short exclamations - Oh! Um or Ah!have no real grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing. When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written. Some interjections are used to stall for time or indicate that the speaker is thinking of something. General use of interjection is in certain situations when someone doesn't know what to say. 3.3STRATEGIES FOR SENTENCE COMPLETION 1. Read the Sentence Use the sentence clues by reading the sentence thoroughly. Two things make a question difficult: difficult words and sentence structure. If you cannot dissect a sentence to figure out what fits best, you CANNOT crack the question though you know the word meanings. We need to properly take apart the sentences and improve our vocabulary. 2. Hints The hints indicate what should go into the blank for the sentence to make sense. Here’s a test to locate the right hint: if you change the hint, the choice in the blank MUST be changed. Often, you can use the hint by putting that word or phrase into the blank itself. 3. Pluses and Minuses Once you find the word clues, indicate the kind of word you’re looking for with a + (positive meaning) or – (negative) sign.Also, to indicate synonyms or antonyms, you can use these symbols. 4. Structure Words Look for words like but, rather, although, however, and, while, but, therefore They reveal the sentence organization and the hint-blank relationship. They tell you what kinds of words to look for as they change the thought process in the sentence. 5. Visualize 59 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Before you go to the choices, think of the possible words for the blanks.It will save you from wrong choices.If you know roughly the KIND of words needed, the elimination is much easier. The word you visualize doesn’t have to be fancy – a general idea is fine. This is better than trying out the choices to find out “what sounds good.” It is faster and less prone to errors. Examples A. Neem has _______qualities and in many clinical trials, doctors have saved countless lives by using raw Neem leaves on serious wounds. remedial flavouring inferior doubtful notorious We need a positive word with a “lifesaving”-like meaning.Choices C, D, and E are negative and are ruled out.You may be unaware of remedial, but you know that “flavouring” doesn’t mean anything like lifesaving. Therefore, the answer is remedial. B. The much-hated bill sparked off a wave of public ________which could not_________by the concessions the British announced. enthusiasm…dampened clamour…misled curiosity…complemented adoration…channelized discontent…abated Much hated indicates a negative choice for the first blank indicating anger or protest here.The second one needs harder thinking; even the British concessions did not “lessen” the public anger.Once you are clear about the word SHADES needed, find the words similar to the ones you had visualized. 6. Elimination Ruling out the wrong choices should be easy now. But remember, BOTH the words have to fit in the given ORDER for the right answer. If one word is a perfect choice but the other one doesn’t make sense, the answer is WRONG.DO NOT rule out choices if you don’t know their meanings and unless you are sure they do not work. If you have doubts, leave and return after checking the other choices. 7. Improve Your Vocabulary 60 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Improving your vocabulary and usage can help you do better as the words meaning help you find the right answer. 8. Working Backwards The two-blank questions can be easier as you have more opportunities to eliminate wrong choices. If you can eliminate a choice based on one word, you don’t need to know the other word. Often, working BACKWARDS i.e., picking the second blank choice first works better. 3.4 TECHNIQUES OF SENTENCE COMPLETION What is Subject Verb Agreement? A simple subject-verb agreement definition implies that the subject of the sentence and the verb of the sentence must agree in number. Let’s take an example to understand this concept. Example 1: The dog is playing with his ball. In this case, the subject of the sentence is ‘dog’ and the verb used is singular in nature, ‘is playing’. Subject-Verb Agreement Rules Let’s explore a series of subject-verb agreement rules required to ace questions based on Sentence Correction. RULE 1: When two subjects are joined by ‘and’, the verb is plural. For example: My friend and his mother are in town. RULE 2: When two singular nouns joined by ‘and’ refer to the same person or thing, the verb is singular. For example: The captain and coach of the team has been sacked. In case these were two different individuals, two articles need to be used: The captain and the coach of the team have been sacked. RULE 3: Indefinite pronouns (everyone, each one, someone, somebody, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody etc.) are always singular. For example:Everyone is selfish. We do not use 'are' in this sentence. This rule does not apply to few, many, several, both, all, some. RULE 4: When the percentage or a part of something is mentioned with plural meaning the plural verb is used. For example: 40 of every 100 children are malnourished. 61 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
RULE 5: When the subjects joined by ‘either or’ or ‘neither nor’ are of different persons, the verb will agree in person and number with the noun nearest to it. For example: Neither you nor your dog’s know how to behave. Either of the books is fine for MAT preparation. Always remember that, when either and neither are used as pronouns, they are treated as singular and always take the singular verb. RULE 6: If connectives/appositives like along with, together with, as well as, accompanied by etc. are used to combine two subjects, the verb agrees with the subject mentioned first. For example: Mr. Ram, accompanied by his wife Sita and his brother, was banished to the forest. RULE 7: A number of/ the number or ‘A number of (some countable noun)’ is always plural. ‘The number of (some countable noun)’ is always singular. For example: A number of students are going on the trip. RULE 8: The singular verb form is usually used for units of measurement or time. For example: Five gallons of oil was required to get the engine running. RULE 9: When any of ‘few, many, several, both, all, some’ is used with a countable noun, the verb is plural. For example: Some men are needed for the battle. RULE 10: When any of ‘few, many, several, both, all, some’ is used with an uncountable noun, the verb is singular. For example: Some milk is spoilt. Subject-Verb agreement is essential to make sure that a sentence is grammatically correct. Thus, the above ten basic rules can help you to master subject-verb agreement Basic Rule of Subject Verb Agreement Trick 1: Some indefinite pronouns are considered singular and require singular verb forms. The following is the list of indefinite pronouns: anyone, anybody, anything, No one, nobody, nothing, someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything, whatever and whoever. Example: Everyone wants to watch the movie. (Notice the singular verb 'wants' in this case). A sentence which uses 'want' in the plural form is Ram and Sham want to the movie. Trick 2: Five indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural, depending on the usage. 62 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Which are these pronouns? These are the SANAM pronouns: Some, Any, None, All, More / Most. You can use this handy mnemonic, SANAM, to keep this in mind. Now the important thing is the basis on which we decide whether the noun is singular or plural. There is one simple rule that is followed here: If the noun is a countable noun (nouns for which the plural form exists), then the verb is plural. If the noun is an uncountable noun (nouns for which only the singular forms exists), then the verb is singular. Let's take up some example sentences to understand how this works. Examples using Countable Nouns: Sentence 1: Some of the girls are going out. Sentence 2: Most of the glasses were broken. We can see in both these cases that the nouns are plural in nature (girls and glasses) and therefore the verb is plural in nature (are and were). Now let's take up the example of uncountable nouns. Examples using Uncountable Nouns: Sentence 1: Some water is needed. Sentence 2: Most of the money was lost. In this case, we can see that water and money are uncountable nouns (these cannot be counted, and the plural form does not exist for these words). Considering this, the verbs are singular in nature. Trick 3: After many/a great many/a good many, etc., the noun is always plural, which is followed by a plural verb. Example: A great many girls are following fashion trends these days. (Here the plural noun 'girls' is followed by the plural verb are.) Trick 4: After 'a number of/a large number', the noun and verb in the sentence are always plural. Example: A number of soldiers have lost their lives on the border. (Here the noun 'soldiers' is used in the plural form and the verb 'have lost' is also plural in nature.) Trick 5: After 'the number', the noun is plural, but the verb is singular. Example: The number of soldiers at the border is large. This time, even though the noun soldiers is plural, the verb in the sentence, ‘is', is singular in nature. The reason for this is that we are referring to a singular number in this case. 63 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Trick 6: Collective nouns may take either a singular or a plural verb, depending on their use in the sentence. If collective nouns are acting as a unit, use a singular verb. If the sentence implies that the individual members are taking up different actions, we use a plural verb. Before we understand this rule, let's understand what collective nouns are. Collective noun is the name we give to a group of nouns to refer to them as one entity. Some examples for collective nouns are: A class of students. An army of soldiers. Now that you know what collective nouns are, let's take two sentences to understand how they operate. Sentence 1: The committee is discussing the issue of safety in the neighbourhood. Sentence 2: The committee are disagreeing on the issue on the installing streetlamps. We can see from the above examples that even though we have used the same collective noun, we end up using a different verb. The reason for this is very simple. In the first sentence, the collective action of the collective noun is the same; there is no division among the members of the collective noun. In the second case, this is not so. There is agreement and the members of the collective noun have different actions. Trick 7: Some words, such as news, measles, mumps, physics, etc. are extremely deceptive. They end in -s and appear to be plural but are really singular and require singular verbs. Examples: The news from across the border is not encouraging. Physics is a fascinating subject. We can see that each of these uses a singular verb. Trick 8: The verb in the subjunctive mood always takes the plural verb, even if the subject is singular in nature. The plural verb 'were' replacing 'was' in sentences that express an unfulfilled wish, desire or condition. These sentences are build using if, as if, as though, I wish, etc. 3.5 SUMMARY Sentence completions test the skill to use the information observed in complex and incomplete sentences in order to correctly complete them. It tests a candidate’s vocabulary power and skill to follow the logic of sentences. These sentences are often quite complex. 64 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
A good vocabulary can be a great help for such sentence completion. Use the sentence clues by reading thoroughly. The question may be difficult due to difficult words and the structure of the sentence. The hints given may indicate what should go into the blank for the meaningful sentence. Once we find the word clues, indicate the kind of word we are now looking for with positive meaning or negative meaning. See and try for words like but, rather, although, however, and, while, but, therefore, etc. Before going for the choices, think of the possible words for the blanks.It will save us from wrong choices. Ruling out the wrong choices is now easy.But remember that words have to fit in the given order for the correct answer. If one word is a perfect choice without making sense, then the answer is incorrect. The two-blank questions can be easier as we have more opportunities to eliminate wrong choices. 3.6 KEYWORDS Eliminate- The act, process, or an instance of eliminating or discharging such as. a: the act of discharging or excreting waste products from the body. Ruling out- to stop considering something as a possibility. Desire- A strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. Subjunctive- relating to or denoting a mood of verbs expressing what is imagined or wished or possible. Sacked- tackle (a quarterback) behind the line of scrimmage before they can throw a pass. Mnemonic- a system such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations which assists in remembering something. Gallons- a unit of liquid or dry capacity equal to eight pints or 4.55 litres. Scowling- frown in an angry or bad-tempered way. Sullen- bad-tempered and sulky. 65 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Clause- A unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank and in traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate. 3.7LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Describe sentence completion and its importance. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 2. Describe techniques used in sentence completion. ___________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 3.8 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. Describe sentence completion. 2. Why sentence completion is important? 3. Describe the strategies used for sentence completion. 4. Describe conjunctions and its uses. 5. Illustrate subject verb agreement. Long Questions 1. Describe noun and its uses. 2. Describe sentence completion techniques. 3. Illustrate adverbs with examples. 4. Explain verb with examples. 5. Illustrate the use of hints in sentence completion. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. What is the difference between two brothers because of which it is difficult to differentiate them? a. Same b. Similar c. Identical d. Alike 66 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
2. Which one is the synonym of Lead? a. Authority b. Command c. Expertise d. Hold 3. Select the right option: Every week, in the office, one hour is __________ to games and sports. a. Conferred b. Dedicated c. Conceded d. Devoted 4. Select the right option:Some people __________ themselves into believing that, they are the only honest and hardworking employees in the company. a. Keep b. Fool c. Delude d. Force 5. Select the right option: The bus met with an accident and was _____ the traffic, so he had a hard time driving through the downtown. a. Obstructing b. Obviating c. Hiding d. Disturbing Answers 1-d, 2-b, 3-d, 4-c, 5-a 3.9 REFERENCES Reference Books Murphy, Raymond (2009), Grammar in Use, London, Cambridge University Press. Redman, Stuart (2010), Vocabulary in Use, London, Cambridge University Press. 67 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Singh, Lalit; Anand, P.A (2016), Wiley's Verbal Ability and Reasoning for Competitive Examinations, New Jersey, Wiley Publications. Bakshi, S.P. (2014), Objective General English, New Delhi, Arhant Publications. Textbooks Aggarwal, R.S. (2018), A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning, New Delhi, S. Chand Publications. Sijwali, B.S; Sijwali, Indu (2014), A New Approach to REASONING Verbal & Non- Verbal, New Delhi, Arihant Publications. Rao, Prasada (2017), Wren and Martin, New Delhi, S. Chand Publishing. Websites https://www.tutorialride.com/sentence-completion/sentence-completion-verbal- ability-questions-and-answers.htm https://www.toppr.com/guides/english-language/vocabulary/sentence-completion/ https://www.hitbullseye.com/Sentence-Completion-Tricks.php https://englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Sentence-Completion.html https://www.toppr.com/guides/english-language/vocabulary/sentence-completion/ 68 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
UNIT 4: VOCABULARY: COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS: SPELLING CORRECTION STRUCTURE 4.0 Learning Objective 4.1 Vocabulary 4.2 Commonly Misspelled Words 4.3 Spelling Correction 4.4 Why English Spelling is Important? 4.5 Techniques to Improve English Spelling 4.6 Summary 4.7 Keywords 4.8 Learning Activity 4.9 Unit End Questions 4.10 References 4.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVE After studying this unit, you will be able to: Comprehend the use of vocabulary in English language. Comprehend the spelling correction. Explain different techniques to enhance English spelling. Illustrate the significance of English spelling. 4.1 VOCABULARY A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language. The first major change distinction that must be made when evaluating word knowledge is whether the knowledge is productive (also called achieve) or receptive (also called receive); even within those opposing categories, there is often no clear distinction. Words that are 69 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
generally understood when heard or read or seen constitute a person's receptive vocabulary. These words may range from well-known to barely known (see degree of knowledge below). Productive vocabulary, therefore, generally refers to words that can be produced within an appropriate context and match the intended meaning of the speaker or signer. As with receptive vocabulary, however, there are many degrees at which a particular word may be considered part of an active vocabulary. Knowing how to pronounce, sign, or write a word does not necessarily mean that the word that has been used correctly or accurately reflects the intended message; but it does reflect a minimal amount of productive knowledge. Degree of knowledge Within the receptive–productive distinction lies a range of abilities that are often referred to as degree of knowledge. This simply indicates that a word gradually enters a person's vocabulary over a period of time as more aspects of word knowledge are learnt. Roughly, these stages could be described as: 1. Never encountered the word. 2. Heard the word but cannot define it. 3. Recognizes the word due to context or tone of voice. 4. Able to use the word and understand the general and/or intended meaning but cannot clearly explain it. 5. Fluent with the word – its use and definition. 6. Depth of knowledge. The differing degrees of word knowledge imply a greater depth of knowledge, but the process is more complex than that. There are many facets to knowing a word, some of which are not hierarchical, so their acquisition does not necessarily follow a linear progression suggested by degree of knowledge. Several frameworks of word knowledge have been proposed to better operationalize this concept. One such framework includes nine facets: 1. Orthography – written form 2. Phonology – spoken form 3. Reference – meaning 4. Semantics – concept and reference 5. Register – appropriacy of use or register 6. Collocation – lexical neighbours 7. Word associations 8. Syntax – grammatical function 9. Morphology – word parts 70 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Definition of Word Words can be defined in various ways and estimates of vocabulary size differ depending on the definition used. The most common definition is that of a lemma. Most of the time lemmas do not include proper nouns. Another definition often used in research of vocabulary size is that of word family. These are all the words that can be derived from a ground word. Estimates of vocabulary size range from as high as 200 thousand to as low as 10 thousand, depending on the definition used. Types of Vocabulary Listed in order of most ample to most limited: Reading Vocabulary A person's reading vocabulary is all the words recognized when reading. This class of vocabulary is generally the amplest, as new words are more commonly encountered when reading than when listening. Listening Vocabulary A person's listening vocabulary comprises the words recognized when listening to speech. Cues such as the speaker's tone and gestures, the topic of discussion, and the conversation's social context may convey the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Speaking Vocabulary A person's speaking vocabulary comprises the words used in speech and is generally a subset of the listening vocabulary. Due to the spontaneous nature of speech, words are often misused slightly and unintentionally, but facial expressions and tone of voice can compensate for this misuse. Writing Vocabulary The written word appears in registers as different as formal essays and social media feeds. While many written words rarely appear in speech, a person's written vocabulary is generally limited by preference and context: a writer may prefer one synonym over another, and they will be unlikely to use technical vocabulary relating to a subject in which they have no interest or knowledge. Final Vocabulary The American philosopher Richard Rorty characterized a person's \"final vocabulary\" as follows: All human beings carry about a set of words which they employ to justify their actions, their beliefs, and their lives. These are the words in which we formulate praise of our friends and contempt for our enemies, our long-term projects, our deepest self-doubts, and our highest hopes… I shall call these words a person's “final vocabulary”. Those words are as far as he 71 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
can go with language; beyond them is only helpless passivity or a resort to force. (Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Focal Vocabulary Focal vocabulary is a specialized set of terms and distinctions that is particularly important to a certain group: those with a particular focus of experience or activity. A lexicon, or vocabulary, is a language's dictionary: it’s set of names for things, events, and ideas. Some linguists believe that lexicon influences people's perception of things, the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. For example, the Nuer of Sudan have an elaborate vocabulary to describe cattle. Vocabulary Growth Main article: Vocabulary development During its infancy, a child instinctively builds a vocabulary. Infants imitate words that they hear and then associate those words with objects and actions. This is the listening vocabulary. The speaking vocabulary follows, as a child's thoughts become more reliant on his/her ability to self-express without relying on gestures or babbling. Once the reading and writing vocabularies start to develop, through questions and education, the child starts to discover the anomalies and irregularities of language. Native-language Vocabulary Estimating average vocabulary size poses various difficulties and limitations due to the different definitions and methods employed such as what is the word, what is to know a word, what sample dictionaries were used, how tests were conducted, and so on. Native speakers' vocabularies also vary widely within a language and are dependent on the level of the speaker's education. As a result, estimates vary from as little as 10,000 to as many as over 50,000 for young adult native speakers of English. Foreign-Language Vocabulary The effects of vocabulary size on language comprehension The knowledge of the 3000 most frequent English word families or the 5000 most frequent words provides 95% vocabulary coverage of spoken discourse. For minimal reading comprehension a threshold of 3,000-word families (5,000 lexical items) was suggested and for reading for pleasure 5,000-word families (8,000 lexical items) are required. An \"optimal\" threshold of 8,000-word families yields the coverage of 98% (including proper nouns). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition Learning vocabulary is one of the first steps in learning a second language, but a learner never finishes vocabulary acquisition. Whether in one's native language or a second language, the acquisition of new vocabulary is an ongoing process. There are many techniques that help one acquire new vocabulary. 72 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Memorization Although memorization can be seen as tedious or boring, associating one word in the native language with the corresponding word in the second language until memorized is considered one of the best methods of vocabulary acquisition. By the time students reach adulthood, they generally have gathered a number of personalized memorization methods. Although many argue that memorization does not typically require the complex cognitive processing that increases retention (Sagarra and Alba, 2006), it does typically require a large amount of repetition, and spaced repetition with flashcards is an established method for memorization, particularly used for vocabulary acquisition in computer-assisted language learning. Other methods typically require more time and longer to recall. The Keyword Method One useful method of building vocabulary in a second language is the keyword method. If time is available or one wants to emphasize a few key words, one can create mnemonic devices or word associations. Although these strategies tend to take longer to implement and may take longer in recollection, they create new or unusual connections that can increase retention. The keyword method requires deeper cognitive processing, thus increasing the likelihood of retention (Sagarra and Alba, 2006).This method uses fits within Paivio's (1986) dual coding theory because it uses both verbal and image memory systems. However, this method is best for words that represent concrete and imageable things. Abstract concepts or words that do not bring a distinct image to mind are difficult to associate. In addition, studies have shown that associative vocabulary learning is more successful with younger students (Sagarra and Alba, 2006). Older students tend to rely less on creating word associations to remember vocabulary. 4.2 COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS Spelling seems like such a minor thing. And don’t we all have the spell-check feature in our computers?But it’s actually one of the most problematic issues we deal with in the business world. Bad spelling can put a dent in your professional reputation. According to one survey, 43% of hiring managers automatically chuck a candidate’s resume if it has spelling errors. Another showed that 79% of recruiters and human resource managers said spelling and grammatical mistakes were the biggest “deal breakers” in job hunting. Here are some of the most commonly misspelled words in American English, along their common misspellings, and tips on how to get them right the first time: 1. accommodate Common misspellings: accommodate, accommodate To spell this correctly, just remember that there are two sets of double letters — “cc” and “mm.” 73 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
2. acknowledgment Common misspelling: acknowledgement Even though you might be corrected if you slap that “e” in between the “g” and the “m,” the spelling is still right! With the “e” is the typical British spelling, without the “e” is American. So, unless you’re looking for a job across the pond, stick with “acknowledgment.” 3. acquire Common misspelling: acquire People often forget to include the “c,” but there’s an old memory trick to get around that oversight: “I c that you want to acquire that.” 4. apparent Common misspellings: aparent, aparent, apparrent, aparrent Apparently, a lot of people find this tough to spell. One tip is to think of an app (spelled with two “p” letters) to help you become a better parent. 5. calendar Common misspelling: calender To most people, that “ar” as an ending looks weird, so they naturally want to write it as “er.” The reason for the “ar”? Calendar comes from the Latin word kalendarium, and we English speakers chopped off the “ium.” 6. colleague Common misspellings: colleague, collegue, coleague Just think that you’ll become a major league speller when you spell “colleague” correctly — and remember, it’s with two “l’s.” 7. conscientious Common misspelling: consciencious This one has a “t” and not a “c” near the end, even though it comes from the word conscience. One mnemonic: If you’re conscientious, you don’t only dot your “i’s,” you also cross your “t’s” (so put a “t” in this word)! 8. consensus Common misspelling: concensus It’s tempting to spell this with a “c” because we know the word “census.” But census has nothing to do with consensus. In fact, it actually comes straight from the Latin word consensus (meaning agreement or common feeling). 9. entrepreneur 74 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Common misspellings: entrepeneur , entreprenur , entreperneur Entrepreneur consistently appears on lists of the most commonly misspelled business words. The problem? It’s a French word, so its spelling doesn’t fit standard English rules. Most people drop the “r” in the “pre” or transpose it, so it’s “perneur.” Your best bet is just to memorize the spelling. 10. experience Common misspelling: experiance The problem here is that the “ance” and “ence” endings both usually mean the same thing and can sound similar. The differences in spelling usually depend on the original Latin root word and how it came into English. We say skip the rules and just memorize the difference (or seek assistance). Other “ance” and “ence” words that are commonly misspelled: guidance (not guidence) occurrence (not occurrance perseverance (not perseverence) reference (not referance) perseverance (not perseverence) 11. fulfil Common misspelling: fulfill Fulfil is used a lot if you’re in sales, so it pays to spell it correctly. Technically, both spellings — “fulfill” and “fulfil” — are correct. Here in the U.K., though, it’s best to go with the first. In the U.S., it’s the other way around. (But wherever you are, never forget that first “l.”) 12. indispensable Common misspelling: indispensible This is an “able” — and not an “ible” — ending word. There are some general rules about when to use which, but the problem with those rules is that there’s a lot of overlap. For example, one rule says that if the root word ends in “e,” you usually drop the “e” and add “able” … but there are a number of “ible” ending words where you do the same thing! Your best bet? Memorize the correct spelling! 13. led Common misspelling: lead This consistently ranks at the top for most misspelled words on resumes. So, let’s get it straight: the past tense of “to lead” is written and pronounced “led.” But a lot of people instead write “lead,” probably because they’re thinking of the mineral lead. 75 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
14. laid off Common misspelling: layed off The past tense is “laid.”There is no such word (at least nowadays) as “layed.” 15. liaison Common misspelling: liasion This word often trips people up because the spelling is so non-standard for English — which makes sense, since it’s a French word. It’s easy to put the vowels in the wrong order to make it look “right” to our eyes (or to completely miss that second “i”)! 16. license Common misspellings: licence, lisence The “c” and the “s” are what can make license tough to spell. People often switch them around or replace one with the other. In American English, it’s always “license.” But in British English, it’s spelled “licence” when it’s a noun, and “license” when it’s a verb. 17. maintenance Common misspellings: maintainance, maintnance It’s tempting take “maintain” and just attach the suffix “ance.” There’s a “ten” in there instead of a “tain.” Just memorize this sentence: “I have to do it ten times for proper maintenance.” 18. necessary Common misspellings: neccessary, necessery A word we all see and use frequently, but that throws many of us off when it comes to spelling. Typically, the dilemma is which consonant is doubled — the “s”?” The “c”? Or both? The right answer is just the “s.” 19. occasion Common misspelling: occassion Let’s take this occasion to say that there’s only one “s” in this word. The reason is that the “sion” is actually a form of a “tion” ending, as in action. There’s no double “t” there, no double “s” here. 20. occurred Common misspelling: occured Always two “r” letters! According to English pronunciation rules, with one “r,” it would be pronounced as “oh-cured” which means … nothing! 21. pastime 76 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Common misspelling: pasttime Unlike some other compound words consisting of two words ending and beginning with the same letter (see “underrate” below), pastime doesn’t have two “t’s.” 22. privilege Common misspellings: privelege, priviledge Only one “e” and no “d,” even though it sounds like it needs it. For this spelling, blame the Romans. That last part “lege” is a form of the word lex, or law (with no “d” either). 23. publicly Common misspelling: publically The most commonly misspelled word, according to the Oxford Dictionary. One reason is that this word violates a general spelling rule in English: for words ending in “ic,” you should add “ally” (e.g., logically). There’s one only major exception to this rule — and yep, you guessed it: “Public,” which adds an “ly.” 24. receive Common misspelling: recieve This is also on Oxford Dictionary’s top 10 most misspelled words, but it really shouldn’t be. We all learned “i before e, except after c” when we were kids — and that’s definitely a “c” in there! 25. recommend Common misspellings: recomend, reccommend Here’s another case where double letters confuse people. They often think there are two sets of double letters instead of just one, or none at all. Just keep in mind that this word combines “commend” with the prefix “re” — and it’ll spell itself. 26. referred Common misspelling: refered Remember this general rule: When adding an “ed” at the end, if you stress the last syllable of a word with a vowel and a consonant (in this case, an “e” and an “r”), the consonant should be doubled. If not, then don’t (e.g., offer and offered). 27. relevant Common misspellings: relevent, revelant Many people put an “e” in instead of the (correct) “a,” or they transpose the “v” and the “l,” coming up with a new — and incorrect — word. 28. separate 77 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Common misspelling: seperate Even spelling nerds sometimes have to stop for a second with this one. In fact, a study done in Great Britain found it was the number one most commonly misspelled word (it also ranks as the top misspelled word in Google searches). But you’ll always get it right if you remember that the “r” separates two “a’s.” 29. successful Common misspellings: succesful, successfull, sucessful It’s the combos of repeated consonants that can make spelling successful, well, unsuccessful. Just know that it has the doubles in the middle (two “s’s” and two “c’s”), but only one consonant at the beginning and one at the end. 30. underrate Common misspelling: underate Yet another compound word in which you should double the consonants that end the first word and start the second. If you spell it with only one “r,” you’ve come up with a neologism (a new word) that could mean having eaten less than expected. 31. until Common misspelling: untill Even though we know the word “till” is a word and “til” isn’t, there is only one “l” in until. 32. withhold Common misspelling: withold Here we are with the compound word/double consonants issue again. But it’s “with” and “hold” combined, not “with” and “old” or “wit” and “hold,” so you need the two “h’s” in there. The English language is full of linguistic pitfalls and exceptions to the rules when it comes to spelling. But memorizing this list will help you recover from your spelling woes. 4.3 SPELLING CORRECTION Word-processing programs usually have a spell-checker, but you should still carefully check for correct changes in your words. This is because automatic spell-checkers may not always understand the context of a word. Misspelling a word might seem like a minor mistake, but it can reflect very poorly on a writer. It suggests one of two things: either the writer does not care enough about his work to proofread it, or he does not know his topic well enough to properly spell words related to it. Either way, spelling errors will make a reader less likely to trust a writer’s authority. 78 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Sometimes, a writer just doesn’t know how to spell the word she wants to use. This may be because the word is technical jargon or comes from a language other than her own. Other times, it may be a proper name that she has not encountered before. Anytime you want to use a word but are unsure of how to spell it, do not guess. Instead, check a dictionary or other reference work to find its proper spelling. Common Spelling Errors Phonetic Errors Phonetics is a field that studies the sounds of a language. However, English phonetics can be tricky: In English, the pronunciation of a word does not always relate to the way it is spelled. This can make spelling a challenge. Here are some common phonetic irregularities: A word can sound like it could be spelled multiple ways. For example: “concede” and “conceed” are the same phonetically, but only “concede” is the proper spelling. A word has silent letters that the writer may forget to include. You cannot hear the “a” in “realize,” but you need it to spell the word correctly. A word has double letters that the writer may forget to include. “Accommodate,” for example, is frequently misspelled as “acommodate” or “accomodate.” The writer may use double letters when they are not needed. The word “amend” has only one “m,” but it is commonly misspelled with two. Homophones “Bread” and “bred” sound the same, but they are spelled differently, and they mean completely different things. Two words with different meanings but the same pronunciation are homophones. If you don’t know which homophone is the right one to use, look both up in the dictionary to see which meaning (and spelling) you want. Common homophones include: right, rite, wright, and write read (most tenses of the verb) and reed read (past, past participle) and red rose (flower) and rose (past tense of rise) carat, caret, and carrot to, two, and too there, their, and they’re its and it’s Typographical Errors Some spelling errors are caused by the writer accidentally typing the wrong thing. Common typos include: 79 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Omitting letters from a word (typing “brthday” instead of “birthday,” for example) Adding extra letters (typing “birthdayy”) Transposing two letters in a word (typing “brithday”) Spacing words improperly (such as “myb irthday” instead of “my birthday”) Being aware of these common mistakes when writing will help you avoid spelling errors. 4.4 WHY ENGLISH SPELLING IS IMPORTANT? Spelling is important for three reasons: Communication: Spelling is a critical component of communication Literacy: Spelling and reading skills are closely related and help develop overall literacy Employment: Spelling quality has a direct impact on employment opportunities While autocorrect and spelling software has become a given in our lives, the importance of spelling hasn’t lessened – it’s actually never been more important. Why Is Spelling Still So Important? As spelling and literacy have reached their apogee across all of human history, so too has the demands on the quality of delivery. Poor spelling can interfere with: Our Basic Ability to Communicate 85% of people around the world are connected online and receive email, while 62% of them communicate through social media. The spectrum of risk can be negligible, like sending someone to the wrong address, to lethal, if sending someone instructions on prescriptions. Employment Opportunities It doesn’t end at professional documents either – employers are increasingly to surveying applicants personal social media to check for suitability. Perceived Trustworthiness Tolerance for typos is low. On printed materials, it makes the producer look careless or cheap, while online it’s become a signal of a phishing or scamming attempt. Spelling and the Development of Communication Skills Communication skills are essential for children to grow and interact successfully with the world. Communication usually begins with simple body language, gestures and vocalisations. As children progress to verbal communication, they naturally develop an early understanding of their native language. 80 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Spelling and its Role in Literacy Development Spelling, the art of correctly assembling words from their letters, is one of the essential components of successful writing. Being confident at spelling leads to confidence in all aspects of literacy. The ability to recognise the links between word of the same origin and understanding word relationships has been proven to aid comprehension skills. Teaching young spellers, the strategies, rules and concepts to grow their spelling and vocabulary knowledge benefits them in all aspects of their learning, as well as in their everyday life. The relationship between written words and sounds can seem arbitrary and difficult for many learners. But building a strong foundational knowledge of the links between forms, letters, sounds, and meaning is essential for students to become confident communicators. 4.5 TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPELLING It’s a familiar pattern for anyone who’s ever taught spelling. On Friday, your students are acing it – rattling off complex vocab from the week’s word lists without so much as a stutter. But by Monday an entire week’s worth of spelling progress has evaporated over the weekend – just like the permission slips you also sent home. So how do we make spelling stick in the long term? Rote learning by itself isn’t the answer. In fact, there are five elements of spelling we need to address to make sure our students’ knowledge follows the upward trend we want to see. We’ll unpack each of those five elements in detail later in the article, but first let’s dispel one major myth about the teaching of spelling… Memorisation alone doesn’t make spelling stick Here’s why. It’s a short-term solution Memorisation might get students over the line in a test, but unless words are regularly revised, they won’t make the transition to long-term memory. Words need to be used in context To find patterns, attempt more challenging spellings, and figure out the spelling of related words independently, students need to practise using words in authentic contexts. Drilling word lists time after time won’t help. Generalised visual memory doesn’t equal spelling success 81 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Remembering the appearance of a single word is less important than remembering rules and patterns that are applicable to larger sets of vocabulary. So how do we make spelling stick? For our students’ spelling skills to last in the long term, we need to develop five distinct branches of spelling knowledge. These are: Orthographic knowledge: an awareness of which letter combinations are common patterns, and which are unacceptable (e.g., “go” is instantly familiar, but one look confirms “tg” doesn’t work). Phonological knowledge: an awareness of the individual sounds in words, and how these translate to common letter patterns. Morphological knowledge: understanding how different words relate to each other via suffixes, stems, and root words. Etymological knowledge: an understanding of how complex words originate from root words with common spellings (e.g., “photo” signifies light, “graph” signifies drawing). Lexical store: a memory of individual spellings, spelling patterns, and word relationships that can be drawn from to spell new words. Sounds like a lot to juggle, doesn’t it? But there’s an instructional framework that addresses all these areas at once. Namely… Learn the standard pronunciations for frequently misspelled words. Some common misspellings derive not from difficult combinations of letters but from pronunciations that do not reflect the word’s spelling. The word mischievous, for example, is often misspelled because of the common pronunciation “miss CHEEVY us.” Learning the standard pronunciation “MISS chiv us” will aid you in properly spelling the word. Watch out for homophones, near-homophones, and other easily confusable words. Many English words have identical or similar pronunciations but different spellings. Using the wrong word of a homophone pair is one of the most common spelling pitfalls for all writers. Learn to check these types of commonly misspelled words carefully during your proofreading. accept/except discreet/discrete oral/aural adverse/averse elude/allude palette/palate affect/effect eminent/imminent populace/populous altar/alter ensure/insure precede/proceed 82 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
boarder/border elicit/illicit prescribe/proscribe broach/brooch hanger/hangar principle/principal callous/callus illusion/allusion right/write/rite casual/causal incidents/incidence stationary/stationery censor/censure isle/aisle tenet/tenant cite/site/sight its/it’s there/their/they’re climactic/climatic led/lead tortuous/torturous compliment/complement liquor/liqueur waver/waiver conscience/conscious lose/loose whose/who’s desert/dessert naval/navel your/you’re Use your computer spellchecker, but with caution. A spellchecker can be your first proofreading tool for spelling, as it will catch any combinations of letters that do not form a known English word. But you should never rely exclusively on your spellchecker because it will miss many incorrectly spelled words that form another English word: a spellchecker will not record who’s as a misspelling of whose, for example. Over-relying on spellcheckers is another danger. You may become less conscious of spelling as you write and revise, and you may consequently lose confidence in your ability to recognize correct spellings. Students who over-rely on spell-checkers suffer particularly during exams, when they do not have access to electronic aids. You can develop your intuition for correct spelling by turning the spellchecker off and devoting at least one revision to spelling. If you sense that a word may be used incorrectly, look it up. This activity will encourage you to become actively engaged in the process of spelling, which is the only reliable way to improve your spelling skills. You can turn the spellchecker back on at the very end of the process, just to be sure that a spelling error didn’t get by you unnoticed. If it did, study the word so that you are less likely to make the same error again. Become familiar with English spelling rules. Contrary to common perception, English spelling does often follow certain rules. Becoming aware of these rules can help you avoid some common spelling errors. Many writing 83 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
handbooks and style guides contain a complete list of spelling rules. Below are four of the most helpful. Rule 1: i before e except after c, or when sounded like /ay/ as in neighbour or weigh. This simple rhyme helps explain the difference between the spellings of believe (i before e) and receive (except after c). In general, when the long /e/ sound (ee) is spelled with the letters i and e, the order is i.e.: shield, field, fiend. Common exceptions are leisure, seizure, and weird. When the letters i and we are used in words with a long /a/ sound, they are usually spelled ei: sleigh, feint, heinous. When the sound is neither long /e/ nor long /a/, the spelling is usually ei: there, seismic, foreign. Some exceptions to this rule are friend, sieve, and mischief. Rule 2:When adding suffixes that begin with a vowel (-able, –ible, –ous, etc.) to words ending in silent e, drop the final e. This rule explains why a word like desire contains an e and a word like desirable does not. Other examples include response → responsible, continue → continuous, argue → arguing. We do, however, retain the final e when a word ends in –ce or –ge in order to maintain the distinctive “soft” pronunciation of those consonants: notice → noticeable, courage → courageous, advantage → advantageous. For reasons of pronunciation, the final e is also retained in words ending in a double e, e.g., agree → agreeable, flee → fleeing. Rule 3: When adding suffixes to words ending in y, change the y to an i. This rule explains the spelling shift that occurs in the following word pairs: happy → happier, plenty → plentiful, body → bodily. As English spelling does not generally allow an i to follow another i, the y is retained when the suffix itself begins with an i: carry → carrying, baby → babyish. Rule 4: When adding suffixes, double the final consonant of a word only if any of the following conditions apply. The final consonant is preceded by a single vowel: bar → barred. When there is more than one vowel before the final consonant, the consonant is not doubled: fail → failed. When the final consonant is preceded by another consonant, the consonant is not doubled: bark → barking. The word has only one syllable or has the stress on the last syllable: fit → fitted, commit → committed, prefer → preferred. For words with more than one syllable where the stress does not fall on the last syllable, the final consonant is not doubled: benefit → benefited, offer → offered. 84 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
The suffix begins with a vowel: prefer → preferred. But if the syllable stress changes because of the addition of the suffix, then the consonant is not doubled: prefer → preference. Final consonants are also not doubled if the suffix begins with a consonant: prefer → preferment. If the word ends in l or p, then the consonant is usually doubled in Canadian spelling: travel → travelled; worship → worshipped. Note: American spelling does not follow this rule. 4.6 SUMMARY English spelling is notoriously difficult to master for native speakers and language learners alike. Because English developed from several different language families, and because it so easily absorbs new words from other languages even today, the English language has many different ways to spell the same sound and many different ways to pronounce the same spelling. But improving your English spelling is not impossible: with some patience, you will see a noticeable improvement in your spelling by using some techniques that good spellers use. Word-processing programs usually have a spell-checker, but you should still carefully check for correct changes in your words. This is because automatic spell-checkers may not always understand the context of a word. Misspelling a word might seem like a minor mistake, but it can reflect very poorly on a writer. It suggests one of two things: either the writer does not care enough about his work to proofread it, or he does not know his topic well enough to properly spell words related to it. Either way, spelling errors will make a reader less likely to trust a writer’s authority. A list of misspelled words from the dictionary. The best way to ensure that a paper has no spelling errors is to look for them during the proofreading stage of the writing process. Being familiar with the most common errors will help you find (and fix) them during the writing and proofreading stage. Sometimes, a writer just doesn’t know how to spell the word she wants to use. This may be because the word is technical jargon or comes from a language other than her own. Other times, it may be a proper name that she has not encountered before. Anytime you want to use a word but are unsure of how to spell it, do not guess. Instead, check a dictionary or other reference work to find its proper spelling. 85 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
4.7 KEYWORDS Proofreading- Proofreading means carefully checking for errors in a text before it is published or shared. It is the very last stage of the writing process, when you fix minor spelling and punctuation mistakes, typos, formatting issues and inconsistencies. Technical- Relating to a particular subject, art, or craft, or its techniques. Encounter- Unexpectedly be faced with or experience (something hostile or difficult). Familiar- If someone or something is familiar to you, you recognize them or know them well. If you are familiar with something, you know or understand it well. Jargon- Special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand. Phonetic- Phonetics is defined as the study of the sounds of human speech using the mouth, throat, nasal and sinus cavities, and lungs. An example of phonetics is how the letter \"b\" in the word \"bed\" is spoken - you start out with your lips together. Concede- Admit or agree that something is true after first denying or resisting it. Resemble- Have a similar appearance to or qualities in common with (someone or something); look or seem like. Homophones- Each of two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling, for example new and knew. Transposing- Transfer to a different place or context. 4.8 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Describe the importance of spelling. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. Illustrate the common misspelled words. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 4.9 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What is vocabulary? 86 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
2. Describe the use of vocabulary in English language. 87 3. Illustrate the importance of spellings. 4. Discuss the commonly misspelled words. 5. What is spelling correction means? Long Questions 1. Describe the significance of spellings in English language. 3. Illustrate the importance of vocabulary in detail. 4. Define Vocabulary with examples. 5. What is spelling and its correction? Explain in detail. 6. Describe the techniques to improve spellings in English language. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which one is the correctly spelt word? a. Adulation b. Adlation c. Aduletion d. Addulation 2. Which one is the correctly spelt word? a. Adulterate b. Adultarate c. Adulatarrate d. Adulterete 3. Which one is the correctly spelt word? a. Adventitious b. Adventitous c. Adventitus d. Adventituous 4. Which one is the correctly spelt word? a. Adverisity b. Adversity c. Adveresity CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
d. Advirisity 5. Which one is the correctly spelt word? a. Affidavit b. Affidevit c. Afedevit d. Affidivit Answers 1-a, 2-a, 3-a, 4-b, 5-a 4.10 REFERENCES Reference Books Lele, Chris (2018), Vocabulary Builder Workbook, Indonesia, Zephyros Pr. Lewis, Norman (2011), Word Power Made Easy, New York, Goyal Publications. McCarthy, Michael; O'Dell, Felicity (2017), English Vocabulary in Use, London, Cambridge University Press. Lewis, Norman (2011), Instant Word Power, New Delhi, Goyal Publishers. Textbooks Nurnberg, Maxwell; Rosenblum, Morris (2011), All about Words, New Delhi, Goyal Publications. Aggarwal, R.S. (2018), A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning, New Delhi, S. Chand Publications. Sijwali, B.S; Sijwali, Indu (2014), A New Approach to REASONING Verbal & Non- Verbal, New Delhi, Arihant Publications. Rao, Prasada (2017), Wren and Martin, New Delhi, S. Chand Publishing. Websites https://www.3plearning.com/blog/make-spelling-stick/ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/styleguide/chapter/the-importance-of-spelling/ https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/spelling/ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/spelling-and-word-lists/misspelled.html 88 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
UNIT 5: LITERARY TEXT: TOBA TEK SINGH, SQUIRREL STRUCTURE 5.0Learning Objective 5.1Introduction 5.2About Authors and Their Lives 5.3Analysis of Texts 5.4Literary Elements in Texts 5.5Critical Analysis 5.6Summary 5.7Keywords 5.8Learning Activity 5.9Unit End Questions 5.10References 5.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVE After studying this unit, you will be able to, Comprehend the Saadat Hasan Manto, Esparlee Khamgrah, Ismat Chugtai, Salman Rushdie as the authors. Analyze the texts as the literary form of English literature. Appreciate the texts from readers' perspective. Explain India through association of ideas in the texts and the external contexts. 5.1 INTRODUCTION Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was among the most celebrated, provocative, and questionable Urdu authors of the 20th century. Even though he was a productive author of papers, plays, film scripts, and a novel, he was most popular for his short stories. Brought into the world in Punjab, his composing vocation truly took off in Bombay; he then, at that point moved to Lahore in Pakistan in January 1948, a few months after parcel (Hasan 1984). His ensuing stories to a great extent zeroed in about partition, investigating its human results from a scope of various points. Manto's accounts are known for his practice of authenticity, verbal economy, dependence on interior components, and particularly his abrupt, some of the 89 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
time shockingly dubious endings (Akhtar and Flemming 1985). Esparlee Khamgrah's Boundless Boon tries to show us that even with all the hardships in life a person can expect well in the end. Even though all hope is lost, life doesn’t lose hope in use, we must have faith and go on about our life without hesitation. The story also points out the outlook on women in the Indian Society which are pretty evident. Many Western readers, ignorant of Islam and Hinduism, the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent and the creation of Pakistan, the India-Pakistan war of 1965, and the Pakistani civil war of 1974, may tend to read Salman Rushdie’s (born 19 June 1947) novels as bizarre entertainments. Introduction to Toba Tek Singh “Toba Tek Singh,” written in 1954, is perhaps Manto’s most famous short story (Jalal 2013). Describing the exchange of inmates of a Lahore mental asylum after partition, “Toba Tek Singh” uses the madness of the inmates as a mirror for the madness of the outside world. As the story progresses, the reader comes to realize that the asylum inmates are in fact much saner than the politicians controlling their destiny. The main character, Bishan Singh, in his painful struggle for identity, is symbolic of the displacement suffered by millions of partition refugees. Although the story is fictional, an actual exchange of psychiatric patients between mental hospitals in Lahore and Amritsar took place in 1950 (Jain and Sarin 2012). Despite extensive studies of Manto’s life and work, as well as selected articles on his psychology and mental health, few attempts have been made to integrate both aspects. C.S. Lakshmi C.S. Lakshmi who writes in English and Tamil under the pseudonym Ambai, is a scion of post-revolutionary Indian feminism and women’s studies researcher who was raised and educated in Mumbai, Bangalore, and New Delhi. Of her work, the most recent to appear in English is A Kitchen in the Corner of the House, a mellifluous and courageous work translated by Lakshmi Holström, a dedicated scholar who passed away in 2016. She will be missed, and her efforts, evident in the enduring legacy and themes of A Kitchen in the Corner of the House, may inform the concerns of Indian feminism in the English-speaking world for generations. Introduction to Squirrels ‘The Squirrel’ is a famous short story by Ambai.It was written in Tamil Language titled ‘Anil’ by Ambai and was translated into English by Vasanth Kannabiran and Chudamani Ragavan in 1992.The author is known for writing about women.This story also brings out the problems faced by women.Through this story she makes us understand how women’s writings were not taken care of in those days.The short story “Squirrel” voices about feminism and male domination. 5.2 ABOUT AUTHORS AND THEIR LIVES About Saadat Hasan Manto 90 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was among the most famous, provocative, and controversial Urdu writers of the twentieth century. Although he was a prolific writer of essays, plays, film scripts, and a novel, he was best known for his short stories. Born in Punjab, his writing career really took off in Bombay; he then moved to Lahore in Pakistan in January 1948, some months after partition (Hasan 1984). His subsequent stories largely focused on the theme of partition, exploring its human consequences from a range of different angles. Manto’s stories are known for his tradition of realism, verbal economy, reliance on internal elements, and especially his sudden, sometimes disturbingly uncertain endings (Akhtar and Flemming 1985). Saadat Hasan Manto was born into a middle-class Muslim family in the predominantly Sikh city of Ludhiana in 1912. In his early 20s he translated Russian, French, and English short stories into Urdu, and through studying the work of western writers he learned the art of short story writing. He usually wrote an entire story in one sitting, with very few corrections, and his subjects tended to be those on the fringes of society. The historian Ayesha Jalal, (who is Manto’s grandniece) wrote in her book about him, The Pity of Partition: “Whether he was writing about prostitutes, pimps or criminals, Manto wanted to impress upon his readers that these disreputable people were also human, much more than those who cloaked their failings in a thick veil of hypocrisy.” Ambai C.S. Lakshmi, who writes in English and Tamil under the pseudonym Ambai, is a scion of post-revolutionary Indian feminism and women’s studies researcher who was raised and educated in Mumbai, Bangalore, and New Delhi. Of her work, the most recent to appear in English is A Kitchen in the Corner of the House, a mellifluous and courageous work translated by Lakshmi Holström, a dedicated scholar who passed away in 2016. She will be missed, and her efforts, evident in the enduring legacy and themes of A Kitchen in the Corner of the House, may inform the concerns of Indian feminism in the English-speaking world for generations. The book is a collection of stories, told from multiple voices and perspectives, which centers on the travails and aspirations of women across a broad socio-economic and linguistic spectrum. The voices in A Kitchen in the Corner of the House reflect the varied cultural expectations and norms that simultaneously thrive and jostle for distinction within the Indian nation, which can be too easily regarded as a seamless whole by outside observers. What unites the characters in the stories, though, is a keen sense of subjective solidarity amongst women who are draped in desperation—and hope. The deeply religious framework of Indian storytelling is brought to the surface and woven with contemporary concerns. In “Forest,” the narrator weaves her present with memory and story, noting that, “The time has come to re-write the epics.” And Ambai does just that; in “Trinsanku,” a story that takes its name from a legend about an ancient king being denied 91 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
from transcendence and then heaven itself, the protagonist is a beleaguered scholar constantly butting up against the glass ceiling of Indian academia. These stories excel in their wide knowledge of history and potential relevance as modern allegory, interrogating contemporary legends as well. The protagonist in “Wheelchair” deals with the exclusions and contradictions of Indian Marxism: “There is no difference whatsoever between a revolutionary and any other man when it comes to treading upon women.” However, the male characters in Ambai’s stories are not one-dimensional. Their psyches, too, are probed. “Once Again” scatters fragments of thoughts across the pages, showing the repressed, yearning trajectories of two lovers and their descendants, who, despite all odds, thrive together in love. Generations are pitted against each other, split apart by misunderstanding and the breakneck pace of culture. A Kitchen in the Corner of the House, in depicting “journeys which broke all decisions,” illustrates in intimate detail the lives in a half century of Indian existence, from Tamil Nadu to Himachal Pradesh, as Ambai spreads her lyrical arms from the daughters of the revolution to the children of the diaspora. This is a book to hold close, re-read, and give bountiful attention to. 5.3 ANALYSIS OF TEXTS Analysis of “Toba Tek Singh” “Toba Tek Singh,” written in 1954, is perhaps Manto’s most famous short story (Jalal 2013). Describing the exchange of inmates of a Lahore mental asylum after partition, “Toba Tek Singh” uses the madness of the inmates as a mirror for the madness of the outside world. As the story progresses, the reader comes to realized that the asylum inmates are in fact much saner than the politicians controlling their destiny. The main character, Bishan Singh, in his painful struggle for identity, is symbolic of the displacement suffered by millions of partition refugees. Although the story is fictional, an actual exchange of psychiatric patients between mental hospitals in Lahore and Amritsar took place in 1950 (Jain and Sarin 2012). Manto and Mental Illness It has been established that Manto suffered mental health problems, which would undoubtedly have coloured his work. Manto’s childhood was characterized by a difficult relationship with his father who died when Manto was eighteen years old. Authoritarian and frequently belittling, Manto was afraid of his father, even on occasion jumping from the rooftop to escape him (Hashmi 2012). Manto’s father’s first wife was ‘prone to fits of mental instability’ (Jalal 2013). It is conceivable that this might have been in part a consequence of the stress caused by living with his father, and Manto would have also been exposed to similar stress. Alternatively, this mental instability may have caused disruption in the domestic environment, which would itself have been a source of stress for Manto growing up. 92 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
His mother, who was the second wife, was shown contempt by Manto’s paternal family, which, according to Ayesha Jalal, left a deep emotional scar (2013). Alcohol addiction stands out as perhaps the most significant of Manto’s mental health difficulties. Although he always drank heavily, Manto’s drinking escalated after his move to Lahore. His family became so concerned that they twice admitted him to the anti-alcoholic ward of the Punjab Mental Hospital for treatment between 1951 and 1952 (Jalal 2013). This was not successful; Manto progressed to binge drinking and started to experience hallucinations (Jalal 2013), a symptom of alcohol-induced psychosis (Hashmi and Aftab 2013). Noting the high rates of comorbidity of alcohol addiction and mood disorders, Hashmi and Aftab have suggested that Manto used alcohol for self-medication, arguing that he ‘sought refuge in substance abuse to ease his psychological pain’ (2013, 1096). This was a time when Manto was at his lowest, struggling financially and finding it difficult to situate his sense of identity in Pakistan. Therefore, it does not seem unreasonable to associate his alcohol use with a potential depressive disorder. Ultimately, it was liver cirrhosis due to alcoholism that killed Manto at the premature age of forty-four. Hashmi has argued that Manto’s burst of creative output was a sign that he was preparing for impending death (2012). Jalal, on the contrary, has noted that almost all his stories were written when he was sober and therefore credits this prolific output with the period of sobriety that lasted for some months after his first hospital admission (2013). Regardless, it is clear that Manto knew his drinking was killing him. He wrote in 1954 that ‘anyone drinking this dreadful stuff ends up in the netherworld in less than a year’ (Jalal 2013, 191). According to his nephew Hamid Jalal, Manto might have been ‘toying with the idea of suicide, either because it was the easiest way out or because he wanted to fill the family with remorse for having given him up as hopeless case’ (192). Whether or not his drinking amounted to a form of “extended suicide” it is clear that Manto’s battle with addiction would have influenced his work. Mental Illness as a Theme in “Toba Tek Singh” Mental illness is an important and enduring, perhaps even defining, theme in “Toba Tek Singh.” Indeed, the choice to write about partition through the lens of a mental asylum is itself highly significant. Manto’s use of the patients to reflect the “madness” of what was happening outside was poignant. The asylum in a sense represents the whole subcontinent (Ispahani 1988); the madness of its inhabitants symbolizing the madness of the partition violence. Bishan Singh’s nonsense phrases, as Tarun K. Saint has explained, reflect the arbitrariness and opacity of the governmental machinery (2012). Increasingly, it becomes clear that the “lunatics” in the asylum are saner than the government figures making decisions about their exchange. Astute comments by the asylum inmates demonstrate the absurdity of partition: 93 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
“Toba Tek Singh” was written after Manto’s time in hospital and was clearly influenced by his experience; perhaps even the choice to write about a mental asylum was a consequence of his hospitalization. In a context where mental illness was commonly regarded as abhorrent and shameful, Manto’s explicit engagement with the theme would have been unusual but powerful, emphatically drawing attention to the madness of partition. The character of Bishan Singh represents a symbolic commentary on the trauma of displacement. His intense suffering reflects that of partition refugees. The constant questioning and demands to know about his homeland are evocative of fractured identities and loss of sense of belonging. Perhaps his character is also a reflection of Manto’s own suffering and confusion about identity in the wake of his move to Lahore. Manto wrote: ‘I found my thoughts scattered. Though I tried hard, I could not separate India from Pakistan and Pakistan from India’ (Hasan 1984, 89). Elsewhere he added: ‘I found it impossible to decide which of the two countries was now my homeland’ (Ispahani 1988,192). In this way, Bishan Singh’s character can be read both as a mirror to the general displacement suffered by so many as well as a more specific portrayal of Manto’s own personal experience. From both perspectives, the pain and emotional trauma of displacement is significant, often contributing to psychopathology whether implicitly or explicitly. Context and Implications It is crucial to consider the specific historical and geographical context in which Manto wrote, within which the underlying influences and subsequent implications of his work should be situated. The exchange of psychiatric inpatients between India and Pakistan happened, as described by Sanjeev Jain and Alok Sarin. After 1947, the partition of the Punjab Mental Hospital in Lahore dragged out over several years as there was nowhere to transfer patients. In 1949, the Amritsar asylum was hastily constructed, which although inadequate, was able to receive four hundred fifty non-Muslim patients in 1950. Of those, two hundred eighty-two were kept there with the remainder being sent on to Ranchi. Two hundred thirty-three Muslim patients, meanwhile, were sent to Lahore from various Indian hospitals. Patients were largely classified based on who would pay the bills (Jain and Sarin 2012). This almost complete disregard for identity and individuality, where the mentally ill were treated as merely an administrative burden, was typical of the time. Manto’s work was never moralizing; he left it up to his readers to form judgements, preferring instead to record events bluntly without comment (Jalal 2013). However, an engagement with, and indeed challenge towards, popular attitudes is implicit in “Toba Tek Singh.” Manto’s blunt and matter-of-fact descriptive style presents mental illness as a fact of life; it is neither dramatized nor evaded, nor is it trivialized as cheap comedy. It is just there. This was a normalizing approach. Significantly there is a conspicuous absence of psychiatrists in “Toba Tek Singh”; the target of Manto’s criticism, as Saint has argued, was not mental health professionals or the practice of psychiatry but rather the bureaucratic procedures and those according to whose whims they were implemented (2012). The 94 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
publication of the story may itself have had some impact on the exclusionist popular attitudes towards the mentally ill that were so prevalent at the time. Jain and Sarin have described how the Amritsar asylum psychiatrist, Dr. Vidysagar, by accommodating patients and their families together in tents due to the inadequacy of facilities, pioneered a model for greater family engagement in the care of the mentally ill (2012). It is conceivable that Manto’s normalizing writings may have contributed, if only in a limited way, to the beginnings of a shift in popular opinion. Analysis of Squirrel Ambai’s (b.1944) “Squirrel” falls under the category of “non-conformists” when speaking of women writing in Modern Indian Literature. Ambai’s “Squirrel” (translated from Tamil by Lakshmi) rebels in their own way against the existing system. Ambai voices strongly about Feminism, through a completely different style of narrative. Women, who refuse to accept the prevalent codes, question the injustice, assert their individuality, and demand the right to seek fulfillment, are grouped under the title of “Non-Conformists. And hence, Ambai falls into “non conformists”. A study of the women characters in this story establishes the point that the writer has shown admirable psychological insight while creating her women character. The novelistic concern is to probe, analyse and develop deeper into the secret recesses of her as women and present her in flesh and blood. She has been successfully able to strike a sympathetic cord with their women characters and with their psychological reactions and responses, broodings and frustrations. Ambai’s “Squirrel”, the rebellion is more in narration and content than in plot. A writer will have his own vision which may be peculiar and unique. Her perspective changes according to her experiences of the world in which she lives. A writer is apt to be more sensitive to the disturbing day-to-day happenings and changes around him/her and tends to react and respond intensely. The works, more often than not, contain and reflect the experience and vision of their creator. As Joseph Conrad puts it, “in truth every novelist must begin by creating for himself a world great or little in which he can honestly believe. This world cannot be made otherwise than in his own image”. This is exactly what happens in Ambai’s “Squirrel”. The protagonist, in the story, is a feminist sympathizer. The story is based on her one expedition to a library, which is full of feminist writing. And how she feels and perceives it. The terrible condition of the books, and one final declaration at the end, that because of not being able to maintain them, they would be burnt. The books here, as much a character themselves as is the protagonist. There’s a squirrel, which serves as a bridge between the “transcendental and the real”, or rather the “dream and real” for the protagonist. The character of the squirrel is highly suggestive. The squirrel stands for the inner world of the narrator. The transition between dream and reality and vice versa is made through the symbolism of the squirrel. 95 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Ambai’s “Squirrel” is the style of narration which makes the books and authors in the “Squirrel” are the lively, fleshy characters themselves. “Squirrel” is hardly over until one analyses the narrative style. “A story conveys what the author perceives and comprehends of the world around. In other words, a story represents the writer’s vision of life as it faces him. Though the story gets its sustenance from the story it intends to tell, its success depends on how it is narrated and also what else it conveys.The calibre of the story is judged as much bywhat it conveys as by how it is conveyed. And as she continues- “At the same time, it need not be a vehicle to carry on the propaganda or criticism of dogmas and ideologies. It should be a living thing that has, what E.M. Forster calls, “the intense stiflingly human quality”.” Hence in this story, we can see the importance and significance of the narrative style. It’s the narration “Squirrel” that transcendental place between dream and reality, enlivens up each book and author into a character of its own, and also heightens the sensation. In conclusion, summing up that the “women voice” has secured a place of its own, and this had been achieved through their characters. When England was in the throes of feminist movement, English feminists expressed their resentment at the treatment meted out to women. Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist, declares in her spirited work “A vindication of the Rights of Woman”, “I here throw my gauntlet, and deny the existence of sexual virtues not excepting modesty. For men and women, truth, if I understand the meaning of the word must be the same … women, I allow, may have differed duties, but the principles that regulate the discharge of them, I sturdily maintain, must be the same.” This strong wave of sexual consciousness thrashed the shores of Indian Women Writing, and the outcome is one and many Ambais and Chughtais. Sitaram Jayaswal says- “The role of the writer is to feel the pulse of the society, know its sickness and suggest such cures as are in consonance with his culture.” This is exactly what has been done by Ambai. And, lastly, as again story reveals the variegated facets of women in modern India and as such reflect the fully awakened feminine sensibility. And this exactly has been made possible through the character Ambai’s “Squirrel”. 5.4 LITERARY ELEMENTS IN TEXTS A 1955 publication by twentieth century colonial Indian-Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto, Toba Tek Singh is an engrossing and profound short story about the relationship between India and Pakistan, a satire on the idea of partition. Manto, known for his daring representation of distressed state of Indian partition in his stories has set the stories amid the time of partition between India and Pakistan. Originally written in Urdu language, the story deals with the inmates of the “lunatic asylum at Lahore.” The characters and the setting are tools of reflective reality of the contemporary time of distress and chaos. With a tinge of autobiographical memory, Manto uses the mental asylum as a picture of miniature of the world where people of different caste and religion dwell and face the psychological trauma 96 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
and imbalance. The main character of the story, Bishan Singh, is symbolic of the pain and trauma of displacement. In addition to him, the fellow inmates of the asylum are the partition refugees who suffer from mental illness but are seen to appear saner than the outer world of political chaos and governmental rift. The first two paragraphs of the story give an introduction about the time when the story is set and the plot that follows. The two paragraphs foreground the time of exchange and the circumstances under which the “governments of India and Pakistan” came upon a pact of exchanging the lunatics of the counter religion of the respective countries, i.e., India and Pakistan. It is in the third paragraph that Manto brings into the story the dilemma of the time of exchange and the theme of mental illness. The asylum is the representative symbol of the whole continent and madness a metaphor for trauma that people and refugees went through. The forceful movement of people is evident of the “tough job” and the “pure bedlam” when the people were reluctant to migrate from their native places for the mere reason of their religion of birth. The border lines are arbitrary and artificial. The lunatics show a more humanistic aspect of the society where the governmental aids are nothing but pure politics. While the story is a piece of fiction, it is imbibed with light of the real exchange in the year of 1950 when the Hindu and Sikh patients from Pakistani asylum were moved to India and the Muslim counterparts moved to Pakistan. Thus, the Asylum of Lahore showcases the big picture in small confinement. The madness of these inmates of the asylum is more about the madness of partition violence than their personal impairment. The trauma of partition appears to be so absurd that it has a profound psychological impact on these inmates and the sufferers of the partition, in general. The ruthlessness prevailing in the humankind is the cause of the uncertainty and loss of sense of belonging and disturbed identities. The character of a Sikh lunatic interrogating about the exchange with a fellow Sikh offers a speculative insight on the insignificance of demarcation on basis of caste and religion. Manto’s use of easy style and language with words like “zamindar,” “bloody Indians,” “Sardarji” keeps the reader involved, and the use of omniscient narrator keeps the story intact. However, the main conflict is shown with the character of Bishan Singh who utters “gibberish” words and is interrogative about his town Toba Tek Singh. While his attachment of Toba Tek Singh implies his identity and belongingness, his mutterings represent the amalgamation of varied religions, languages, and thoughts, all mixed without balanced proportion. “It was all so confusing!” However, the coming of Fasal Din gives an idea of hopeful humanity. The division of Gods, separation of love, the inability of communities to take the decisions et al is all represented by Manto with his own suffering and confusion. The action reaches the peak when Bishan Singh gets mad over the situation of his Toba Tek Singh and refuses to go to any place but sit stiff between the two borders and claim this nameless land his place of belonging as “no power on earth could dislodge him.” The last paragraph of the story evokes pity and despair to the humanity criticizing the insignificant border lines made by humans to separate the people who belong to no religion but to religion 97 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
of humanity and their birth. The psychological trauma of such partitions tears the belongingness of people apart and disturb their identities which Manto was always against off and thus criticized in his works. The narrator ultimately refers to Bishan Singh as Toba Tek Singh. It is the place that belongs to him and not him who suffers for psychological T Tragedy The story is set in the background of the biggest tragedy and episode of violence in the history of independent India. The communal venom and bloodshed marred the whole event and had consequences for the entire populations of the two countries. The tragedy and its note are loud and clear all through the text of the story. We recapitulate the event through the perspectives of different people, be it the authority or the prisoner. Separation Partition brought separation of families and nationalities. People became stranger in their won houses and land overnight. This was particularly true for Bishen Singh who could not even find his town of Toba Tek Singh because no one knew in which country it would end up. He had his house in Pakistan, but his home was in India as his entire family had relocated to India. This conundrum and conflict is something that generations after Independence had to counter and heal from. Identity Bishen Singh was a Sikh who was born in Pakistan belonged to India. This was an example of the crisis of identity that resulted from the 1947 partition. There were millions like Bishen Singh who either lost their land, their families, their religion, or their life, just in the name of political independence and declaration. The partition itself was based on religious identity but it was never justified by religion itself. The political war demolished the natural identities of millions of people and made them refugees in their own countries in matter of seconds. Sanity Manto plays cleverly with the idea of sanity in this story. The world outside the asylum is represented as chaotic and insane whereas the world inside it is made out to be calm and rational. Hence, to a mental patient like Bishen Singh the blazing worlds of India and Pakistan seemed illogical and insane against the simple idea of peaceful home in Toba Tek Singh. Story of Partition The story is set in the background of India-Pakistan partition of 1947. In the aftermath of political separation, many people had to relocate and uproot their lives. 98 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Once the two countries had held talks regarding the situation of mental patients, it was decided that the Muslim patients would stay or move to Pakistan whereas the Hindu and Sikh counterparts will move to India. Deportation Began Even though India’s move was slightly undecided, authorities in Lahore started the proceedings of deportation of Hindu and Sikh patients to India thorough Wagah-Attari land border. The patients were a riotous bunch and were even more confused about partition as there was any coherent information or news available at the asylum. Some pretended to create their own piece of home in the asylum and did not want to leave. Some climbed up a tree and made it their dwelling whole. One person claimed himself to be God and decided that both India and Pakistan belonged to him. Bishen Singh Among these, there was a Sikh named Bishen Singh. He once had a huge property in Toba Tek Singh (place in Pakistan). He had been in the asylum for nearly two decades and never spoke to anyone save some jumbled mumblings. He was often visited by his family and his daughter who grew up to become a young woman while he remained locked inside. However, since the violence post-Partition, they had not come. Bishen Singh kept asking everyone at the asylum as to which country gained Toba Tek Singh, but no one had any clear answer. Visit by a Muslims Friend One day, he was visited by his old Muslim friend from Toba Tek Singh. He informed him that Bishen’s family was safe in India, and they were waiting for him to arrive in India. He also reassured him that Toba Tek Singh was still in Pakistan. The day of the exchange came, and the patients were taken to the border. There was a lot of clamor and noise. When it came to Bishen Singh’s turn, popularly called as Toba Tek Singh, he did not move beyond the buffer zone between the two borders. The Squirrel ‘The Squirrel’ is a famous short story by Ambai.It was written in Tamil Language titled ‘Anil’ by Ambai and was translated into English by Vasanth Kannabiran and Chudamani Ragavan in 1992.The author is known for writing about women.This story also brings out the problems faced by women.Through this story she makes us understand how women’s writings were not taken care of in those days.The short story “Squirrel” voices about feminism and male domination. The story “Squirrel” is based on the narrator’s visit to a library, which is full of feminist writing.She asked the librarian what was there on the top floor of the library. The librarian 99 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
said that there was nothing but only dust.The narrator asked about the books there.The librarian replied that those were the books written by women.The narrator asked him to allow her to look at those books.There was a squirrel which has come there to eat the glue found on the covers of the books.The character of the squirrel in the story stood for the inner world of the narrator.The transition between dream and reality and vice versa is made through the representation of the squirrel.The narrator found volumes of Penmadhi Bodhini and Jaganmohini and many other books on the third floor of the library.The narrator touched the spine of a mended, nineteenth-century book and felt as though a shock rose from the sole of her foot. The narrator says that the books on the third floor of the library were not mere books.They talked about the whole generations agonizing with life. Our Indian women wore nine-yard saris and played badminton with the white women.They were addressed as “my girl” trying to sound.Women were taught the dharma to be followed by them.Nallathangal pushed her son into a well and jumped herself into it.An unshaven dead widow was denied the performance of the last rites.The devadasis dedicated to the temple underwent a lot of suffering.Mahatma Gandhi addressed women spinning at the charka. The narrator found the Library a dark and dusty place where the library staff was trying to restore the books that were falling apart. At lunch time the staff indulged in idle conversation and exhibited no interest in the work assigned to them. The librarian used string and mended the books in the library.He wrote letters to the higher authorities to reimburse the amount he spent for the string but was in vain.The librarian told the narrator that the books and magazines were waste, and they should be burnt one day.This made the narrator leave the library with a heavy heart.Thus, the story reveals the sufferings of women and women writers in the past. 5.5 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF TEXTS \"Toba Tek Singh\" is surely the most famous story about Partition, and very possibly the best one. I'd argue that it is in fact the best, and that most of the other good candidates are also by Manto. This story was one of his last ones; it was published in \"Phundne\" (Lahore: Maktabah-e Jadid) in 1955, the year of his death. Every reader at once realizes that it's a powerful satire, and also a bitter indictment of the political processes and behavior patterns that produced Partition. But the author's brilliant craftsmanship lies partly in the fact that there's not a single word in the story that tells us so. The story presents itself as a deadpan, factual, non-judgmental chronicle of the behavior of certain lunatics in an insane asylum in Lahore. It thus shares the conspicuously effective technique of Jonathan Swift's *\"A Modest Proposal\"*. The story is told by a reliable but not omniscient narrator who speaks as a Pakistani and seems to be a Lahori. The narration is for the most part so straightforward that the narrator's 100 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Search
Read the Text Version
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- 116
- 117
- 118
- 119
- 120
- 121
- 122
- 123
- 124
- 125
- 126
- 127
- 128
- 129
- 130
- 131
- 132
- 133
- 134
- 135
- 136
- 137
- 138
- 139
- 140
- 141
- 142
- 143
- 144
- 145
- 146
- 147
- 148
- 149
- 150
- 151
- 152
- 153
- 154
- 155
- 156
- 157
- 158
- 159
- 160
- 161
- 162
- 163
- 164
- 165
- 166
- 167
- 168
- 169
- 170
- 171
- 172
- 173
- 174
- 175
- 176
- 177
- 178
- 179
- 180
- 181
- 182
- 183
- 184
- 185
- 186
- 187
- 188
- 189
- 190
- 191
- 192
- 193
- 194
- 195
- 196
- 197
- 198
- 199
- 200
- 201
- 202
- 203
- 204
- 205
- 206
- 207
- 208
- 209
- 210
- 211
- 212
- 213
- 214
- 215
- 216
- 217
- 218
- 219
- 220
- 221
- 222
- 223
- 224
- 225
- 226
- 227
- 228
- 229
- 230
- 231
- 232
- 233
- 234
- 235
- 236
- 237
- 238
- 239
- 240
