CU-SEM-III-BA-English-III-Second Draft-converted

BACHELOR OF ARTS ENGLISH SEMESTER-III ENGLISH-III BAQ201

CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY Institute of Distance and Online Learning Course Development Committee Prof. (Dr.) R.S.Bawa Pro Chancellor, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Punjab Advisors Prof. (Dr.) Bharat Bhushan, Director – IGNOU Prof. (Dr.) Majulika Srivastava, Director – CIQA, IGNOU Programme Coordinators & Editing Team Master of Business Administration (MBA) Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Coordinator – Dr. Rupali Arora Coordinator – Dr. Simran Jewandah Master of Computer Applications (MCA) Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) Coordinator – Dr. Raju Kumar Coordinator – Dr. Manisha Malhotra Master of Commerce (M.Com.) Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) Coordinator – Dr. Aman Jindal Coordinator – Dr. Minakshi Garg Master of Arts (Psychology) Bachelor of Science (Travel &Tourism Management) Coordinator – Dr. Samerjeet Kaur Coordinator – Dr. Shikha Sharma Master of Arts (English) Bachelor of Arts (General) Coordinator – Dr. Ashita Chadha Coordinator – Ms. Neeraj Gohlan Academic and Administrative Management Prof. (Dr.) R. M. Bhagat Prof. (Dr.) S.S. Sehgal Executive Director – Sciences Registrar Prof. (Dr.) Manaswini Acharya Prof. (Dr.) Gurpreet Singh Executive Director – Liberal Arts Director – IDOL © No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without the prior written permission of the authors and the publisher. SLM SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR CU IDOL STUDENTS Printed and Published by: TeamLease Edtech Limited www.teamleaseedtech.com CONTACT NO:- 01133002345 For: CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY 2 Institute of Distance and Online Learning CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

First Published in 2021 All rights reserved. No Part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from Chandigarh University. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this book may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. This book is meant for educational and learning purpose. The authors of the book has/have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the contents of the book do not violate any existing copyright or other intellectual property rights of any person in any manner whatsoever. In the event the Authors has/ have been unable to track any source and if any copyright has been inadvertently infringed, please notify the publisher in writing for corrective action. 3 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

CONTENT Unit - 1: Literary Text..............................................................................................................5 Unit - 2: Writing: Reference To The Context From The Text, Essay Writing ......................31 Unit – 3: Grammar: Using Words As Different Parts Of Speech, Correction Of Sentences 43 Unit – 4: Vocabulary..............................................................................................................72 Unit – 5: Literary Text- Poetry: Selected College Poems......................................................84 Unit – 6: Writing: Reference To The Context From The Text, Official Letters .................105 Unit – 7: Grammar: Transformation Of Sentences, Sentence Rearrangement ....................115 Unit – 8: Vocabulary: Common Idioms And Phrases-Contextual Usage............................143 Unit-9: Writing: Comprehension From Unseen Passage, Notice Writing, Newspaper Advertisement ......................................................................................................................175 Unit – 10: Grammar: Subject Verb Agreement, Sentence Completion...............................188 Unit – 11: Vocabulary: Analogies .......................................................................................201 4 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT - 1: LITERARY TEXT Structure 1.0 Learning Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Bet 1.3 The Gift of the Magi 1.4 The Postmaster 1.5 Three Questions 1.6 The Refugees 1.7 Summary 1.8 Key words 1.9 Learning Activities 1.10 Unit End Questions 1.11 References 1.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to: • Understand the writing styles of various writers • Summarize the story ‘The bet”, The gift of the magi, the post master, Three questions, The refugees analyze social issues in Tagore's short stories. Identify issues that have become antiquated as well as issues that are similar to those experienced by U.S. society and the global community today. • Read the stories with special attention and Study writers use of language, Nature imagery, symbolism, tone, and voice. • Study writer’s life and beliefs and develop an understanding of the works and actions that established them as a prominent figure in history and in literature. 1.1 INTRODUCTION The Bet\" is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov about a banker and a young lawyer who make a bet with each other following a conversation about whether the death penalty is better or worse than life in prison. The banker wagers that the lawyer cannot remain in solitary confinement voluntarily for a period of fifteen years. \"The Gift of the Magi\" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. 5 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The plot and its twist ending are well-known, and the ending is generally considered an example of comic irony. It was allegedly written at Pete's Tavern on Irving Place in New York City. “The Postmaster” is one of Rabindra Nath Tagore’s bleaker stories, spun around two immensely lonely characters whose only chance to end their loneliness is squandered. \"The Three Questions\" is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy) first published in 1as part of the collection What Men Live By, and Other Tales. The story takes the form of a parable, and it concerns a king who wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life. He consults wise men, promising a large sum to anyone who could answer those questions, but their answers were too diverse and did not satisfy the king. So, he goes to a hermit in search of his help. The Refugees” by Pearl S. Buck is a pathetic tale of those unfortunate people who became victims of a natural calamity of an unexpected flood. They were farmers who had to abandon their village when the river broke its dikes. They tried to stick to their place till the very last moment. 1.2 THE BET About the writer Anton Chekhov: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. He is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. By the time he completed medical school (1884), Chekhov had been writing fiction for several years—mainly anecdotes for humour magazines. His first work in a leading literary review, “Steppe” (1888), depicted a journey in the Ukraine as seen through a child's eyes. This work, along with the play Ivanov (1887– 89), brought Chekhov acclaim. Born: 29 January 1860, Taganrog, Russia Died: 15 July 1904, Badenweiler, Germany Plays: The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull, MORE Books: Stories of Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Dog, MORE The Bet: The story It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was pacing from corner to corner of his study, recalling to his mind the party he gave in the autumn fifteen years before. There were many clever people at the party and much interesting conversation. They talked among other things of capital punishment. The guests, among them not a few scholars and journalists, for the most part disapproved of capital punishment. They found it obsolete as a means of punishment, unfitted to a Christian State and immoral. Some of them thought that capital punishment should be replaced universally by life-imprisonment. 6 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

\"I don't agree with you,\" said the host. \"I myself have experienced neither capital punishment nor life-imprisonment, but if one may judge a priori, then in my opinion capital punishment is more moral and more humane than imprisonment. Execution kills instantly, life-imprisonment kills by degrees. Who is the more humane executioner, one who kills you in a few seconds or one who draws the life out of you incessantly, for years?\" \"They're both equally immoral,\" remarked one of the guests, \"because their purpose is the same, to take away life. The State is not God. It has no right to take away that which it cannot give back, if it should so desire. “Among the company was a lawyer, a young man of about twenty-five. On being asked his opinion, he said: \"Capital punishment and life-imprisonment are equally immoral; but if I were offered the choice between them, I would certainly choose the second. It's better to live somehow than not to live at all. \"There ensued a lively discussion. The banker who was then younger and more nervous suddenly lost his temper, banged his fist on the table, and turning to the young lawyer, cried out: “It’s a lie. I bet you two million you wouldn't stick in a cell even for five years. “If you mean it seriously,\" replied the lawyer, \"then I bet I'll stay not five but fifteen. “Fifteen! Done!\" cried the banker. \"Gentlemen, I stake two million.\" \"Agreed. You stake two million, I my freedom,\" said the lawyer. So, this wild, ridiculous bet came to pass. The banker, who at that time had too many millions to count, spoiled and capricious, was beside himself with rapture. During supper he said to the lawyer jokingly: “Come to your senses, young roan, before it's too late. Two million are nothing to me, but you stand to lose three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you'll never stick it out any longer. Don't forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary is much heavier than enforced imprisonment. The idea that you have the right to free yourself at any moment will poison the whole of your life in the cell. I pity you. “And now the banker, pacing from corner to corner, recalled all this and asked himself: \"Why did I make this bet? What's the good? The lawyer loses fifteen years of his life and I throw away two million. Will it convince people that capital punishment is worse or better than imprisonment for life? No, no! all stuff and rubbish. On my part, it was the caprice of a well-fed man; on the lawyer's pure greed of gold. “He recollected further what happened after the evening party. It was decided that the lawyer must undergo his imprisonment under the strictest observation, in a garden wing of the banker's house. It was agreed that during the period he would be deprived of the right to cross the threshold, to see living people, to hear human voices, and to receive letters and newspapers. He was permitted to have a musical instrument, to read books, to write letters, to drink wine and smoke tobacco. By the agreement he could communicate, but only in silence, with the outside world through a little window specially constructed for this purpose. Everything necessary, books, music, wine, he could receive in any quantity by sending a note through the window. The agreement provided for all the minutest details, which made the confinement strictly solitary, and it obliged the lawyer to remain exactly fifteen years from twelve o'clock of November 14th, 1870, to twelve o'clock of November 14th, 1885. The least attempt on his part to violate the conditions, to escape if only for two minutes before the time freed the banker from the obligation to pay him the two million. 7 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

During the first year of imprisonment, the lawyer, as far as it was possible to judge from his short notes, suffered terribly from loneliness and boredom. From his wing day and night came the sound of the piano. He rejected wine and tobacco. \"Wine,\" he wrote, \"excites desires, and desires are the chief foes of a prisoner; besides, nothing is more boring than to drink good wine alone,\" and tobacco spoils the air in his room. During the first year the lawyer was sent books of a light character; novels with a complicated love interest, stories of crime and fantasy, comedies, and so on. In the second year the piano was heard no longer and the lawyer asked only for classics. In the fifth year, music was heard again, and the prisoner asked for wine. Those who watched him said that during the whole of that year he was only eating, drinking, and lying on his bed. He yawned often and talked angrily to himself. Books he did not read. Sometimes at nights he would sit down to write. He would write for a long time and tear it all up in the morning. More than once he was heard to weep. In the second half of the sixth year, the prisoner began zealously to study languages, philosophy, and history. He fell on these subjects so hungrily that the banker hardly had time to get books enough for him. In the space of four years about six hundred volumes were bought at his request. It was while that passion lasted that the banker received the following letter from the prisoner: \"My dear gaoler, I am writing these lines in six languages. Show them to experts. Let them read them. If they do not find one single mistake, I beg you to give orders to have a gun fired off in the garden. By the noise I shall know that my efforts have not been in vain. The geniuses of all ages and countries speak in different languages; but in them all burns the same flame. Oh, if you knew my heavenly happiness now that I can understand them!\" The prisoner's desire was fulfilled. Two shots were fired in the garden by the banker's order. Later on, after the tenth year, the lawyer sat immovable before his table and read only the New Testament. The banker found it strange that a man who in four years had mastered six hundred erudite volumes, should have spent nearly a year in reading one book, easy to understand and by no means thick. The New Testament was then replaced by the history of religions and theology. During the last two years of his confinement the prisoner read an extraordinary amount, quite haphazard. Now he would apply himself to the natural sciences, then he would read Byron or Shakespeare. Notes used to come from him in which he asked to be sent at the same time a book on chemistry, a text-book of medicine, a novel, and some treatise on philosophy or theology. He read as though he were swimming in the sea among broken pieces of wreckage, and in his desire to save his life was eagerly grasping one piece after another. II The banker recalled all this, and thought: “Tomorrow at twelve o'clock he receives his freedom. Under the agreement, I shall have to pay him two million. If I pay, it's all over with me. I am ruined for ever …\" 8 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Fifteen years before he had too many millions to count, but now he was afraid to ask himself which he had more of, money or debts. Gambling on the Stock-Exchange, risky speculation, and the recklessness of which he could not rid himself even in old age, had gradually brought his business to decay; and the fearless, self-confident, proud man of business had become an ordinary banker, trembling at every rise and fall in the market. \"That cursed bet,\" murmured the old man clutching his head in despair… \"Why didn't the man die? He's only forty years old. He will take away my last farthing, marry, enjoy life, gamble on the Exchange, and I will look on like an envious beggar and hear the same words from him every day: 'I'm obliged to you for the happiness of my life. Let me help you.' No, it's too much! The only escape from bankruptcy and disgrace—is that the man should die.\" The clock had just struck three. The banker was listening. In the house everyone was asleep, and one could hear only the frozen trees whining outside the windows. Trying to make no sound, he took out of his safe the key of the door which had not been opened for fifteen years, put on his overcoat, and went out of the house. The garden was dark and cold. It was raining. A damp, penetrating wind howled in the garden and gave the trees no rest. Though he strained his eyes, the banker could see neither the ground, nor the white statues, nor the garden wing, nor the trees. Approaching the garden wing, he called the watchman twice. There was no answer. Evidently the watchman had taken shelter from the bad weather and was now asleep somewhere in the kitchen or the greenhouse. \"If I have the courage to fulfil my intention,\" thought the old man, \"the suspicion will fall on the watchman first of all.\" In the darkness he groped for the steps and the door and entered the hall of the garden-wing, then poked his way into a narrow passage and struck a match. Not a soul was there. Someone's bed, with no bedclothes on it, stood there, and an iron stove loomed dark in the corner. The seals on the door that led into the prisoner's room were unbroken. When the match went out, the old man, trembling from agitation, peeped into the little window. In the prisoner's room a candle was burning dimly. The prisoner himself sat by the table. Only his back, the hair on his head and his hands were visible. Open books were strewn about on the table, the two chairs, and on the carpet near the table. Five minutes passed and the prisoner never once stirred. Fifteen years' confinement had taught him to sit motionless. The banker tapped on the window with his finger, but the prisoner made no movement in reply. Then the banker cautiously tore the seals from the door and put the key into the lock. The rusty lock gave a hoarse groan and the door creaked. The banker expected instantly to hear a cry of surprise and the sound of steps. Three minutes passed and it was as quiet inside as it had been before. He made up his mind to enter. Before the table saw a man, unlike an ordinary human being. It was a skeleton, with tight- drawn skin, with long curly hair like a woman's, and a shaggy beard. The colour of his face was yellow, of an earthy shade; the cheeks were sunken, the back long and narrow, and the 9 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

hand upon which he leaned his hairy head was so lean and skinny that it was painful to look upon. His hair was already silvering with grey, and no one who glanced at the senile emaciation of the face would have believed that he was only forty years old. On the table, before his bended head, lay a sheet of paper on which something was written in a tiny hand. \"Poor devil,\" thought the banker, \"he's asleep and probably seeing millions in his dreams. I have only to take and throw this half-dead thing on the bed, smother him a moment with the pillow, and the most careful examination will find no trace of unnatural death. But, first, let us read what he has written here.\" The banker took the sheet from the table and read: \"To-morrow at twelve o'clock midnight, I shall obtain my freedom and the right to mix with people. But before I leave this room and see the sun, I think it necessary to say a few words to you. On my own clear conscience and before God who sees me, I declare to you that I despise freedom, life, health, and all that your books call the blessings of the world. \"For fifteen years I have diligently studied earthly life. True, I saw neither the earth nor the people, but in your books, I drank fragrant wine, sang songs, hunted deer and wild boar in the forests, loved women… And beautiful women, like clouds ethereal, created by the magic of your poets' genius, visited me by night and whispered to me wonderful tales, which made my head drunken. In your books I climbed the summits of Elbruz and Mont Blanc and saw from there how the sun rose in the morning, and in the evening suffused the sky, the ocean and lie mountain ridges with a purple gold. I saw from there how above me lightnings glimmered cleaving the clouds; I saw green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, cities; I heard syrens singing, and the playing of the pipes of Pan; I touched the wings of beautiful devils who came flying to me to speak of God… In your books I cast myself into bottomless abysses, worked miracles, burned cities to the ground, preach new religions, conquered whole countries… \"Your books gave me wisdom. All that unwearyingly human thought created in the centuries is compressed to a little lump in my skull. I know that I am cleverer than you all. \"And I despise your books; despise all worldly blessings and wisdom. Everything is void, frail, visionary and delusive as a mirage. Though you be proud and wise and beautiful, yet will death wipe you from the face of the earth like the mice underground; and your posterity, your history, and the immortality of your men of genius will be as frozen slag, burnt down together with the terrestrial globe. \"You are mad and gone the wrong way. You take falsehood for truth and ugliness for beauty. You would marvel if suddenly apple and orange trees should bear frogs and lizards instead of fruit, and if roses should begin to breathe the odour of a sweating horse. So do I marvel at you, who have bartered heaven for earth. I do not want to understand you. 10 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

\"That I may show you in deed my contempt for that by which you live, I waive the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise, and which I now despise. That I may deprive myself of my right to them; I shall come out from here five minutes before the stipulated term, and thus shall violate the agreement.\" When he had read, the banker put the sheet on the table, kissed the head of the strange man, and began to weep. He went out of the wing. Never at any other time, not even after his terrible losses on the Exchange, had he felt such contempt for himself as now. Coming home, he lay down on his bed, but agitation and tears kept him a long time from sleeping… The next morning the poor watchman came running to him and told him that they had seen the man who lived in the wing climb through the window into the garden. He had gone to the gate and disappeared. The banker instantly went with his servants to the wing and established the escape of his prisoner. To avoid unnecessary rumours, he took the paper with the renunciation from the table and, on his return, locked it in his safe. THE END 1.3 THE GIFT OF THE MAGI One dollar and eighty–seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty–seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So, Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter–box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name “Mr. James Dillingham Young.” The “Dillingham” had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called “Jim” and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good. Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a 11 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim. There was a pier–glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art. Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window someday to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy. So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet. On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street. Where she stopped the sign read: “Mne. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” One flight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the “Sofronie.” “Will you buy my hair?” asked Della. “I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take your hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.” Down rippled the brown cascade. “Twenty dollars,” said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand. “Give it to me quick,” said Della. Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present. She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain 12 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it, she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him. Quietness and value—the description applied to both. Twenty–one dollar they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain. When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends—a mammoth task. within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close–lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically. “If Jim doesn’t kill me,” she said to herself, “before he takes a second look at me, he’ll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do—oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty–seven cents?” At 7 o’clock the coffee was made and the frying–pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops. Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: “Please God, make him think I am still pretty.” The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty–two—and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves. Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face. Della wriggled off the table and went for him. “Jim, darling,” she cried, “don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again— you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.” 13 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

“You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labour. “Cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Don’t you like me just as well, anyhow? I’m me without my hair, ain’t I?” Jim looked about the room curiously. “You say your hair is gone?” he said, with an air almost of idiocy. “You needn’t look for it,” said Della. “It’s sold, I tell you—sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,” she went on with sudden serious sweetness, “but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?” Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year— what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on. Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table. “Don’t make any mistake, Dell,” he said, “about me. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you’ll unwrap that package, you may see why you had me going a while at first.” White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat. For their lay The Combs—the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims—just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone. But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: “My hair grows so fast, Jim!” And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, “Oh, oh!” Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit. “Isn’t it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it.” 14 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled. “Dell,” said he, “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ‘em a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on.” The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise one possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. 1.4 THE POSTMASTER The Postmaster About the writer Rabindranath Tagore: Rabindranath Tagore popularly called \"Kabiguru\", was born on 7 May 1861. His name is written as Rabindranath Thakur in many languages of India. He was a poet, philosopher, and artist. He wrote many stories, novels, poems, and dramas. He is also very well known for composing music. His writings greatly influenced Bengali culture during the late 19th century and early 20th century. In 1913, he became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His major works include Gitanjali (Song Offerings), a world-famous poetry book; Gora (Fair-Faced); Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World); and many other works of literature and art. Tagore was also a cultural reformer and modernized Bengali art. He made it possible to make art using different forms and styles. Tagore died on August 7, 1941 (\"Baishey Shrabon\" in Bengali, 22nd Shrabon). THE POSTMASTER: Story The postmaster first took up his duties in the village of Ulapur. Though the village was a small one, there was an indigo factory nearby, and the proprietor, an Englishman, had managed to get a post office established. Our postmaster belonged to Calcutta. He felt like a fish out of water in this remote village. His office and living-room were in a dark thatched shed, not far from a green, slimy pond, surrounded on all sides by a dense growth. The men employed in the indigo factory had no leisure; moreover, they were hardly desirable companions for decent folk. Nor is a Calcutta boy an adept in the art of associating with others. Among strangers he appears either proud or ill at ease. At any rate, the postmaster had but little company; nor had he much to do. At times he tried his hand at writing a verse or two. That the movement of the leaves and the clouds of the sky were enough to fill life with joy--such were the sentiments to which he sought to give expression. But God knows 15 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

that the poor fellow would have felt it as the gift of a new life, if some genie of the _Arabian Nights_ had in one night swept away the trees, leaves and all, and replaced them with a macadamised road, hiding the clouds from view with rows of tall houses. The postmaster's salary was small. He had to cook his own meals, which he used to share with Ratan, an orphan girl of the village, who did odd jobs for him. When in the evening the smoke began to curl up from the village cowsheds, and the cicalas chirped in every bush; when the mendicants of the Baül sect sang their shrill songs in their daily meeting-place, when any poet, who had attempted to watch the movement of the leaves in the dense bamboo thickets, would have felt a ghostly shiver run down his back, the postmaster would light his little lamp, and call out \"Ratan.\" Ratan would sit outside waiting for this call, and, instead of coming in at once, would reply, \"Did you call me, sir?\" \"What are you doing?\" the postmaster would ask. \"I must be going to light the kitchen fire,\" would be the answer. And the postmaster would say: \"Oh, let the kitchen fire be for a while; light me my pipe first.\" At last, Ratan would enter, with puffed-out cheeks, vigorously blowing into a flame a live coal to light the tobacco. This would give the postmaster an opportunity of conversing. \"Well, Ratan,\" perhaps he would begin, \"do you remember anything of your mother?\" That was a fertile subject. Ratan partly remembered, and partly didn't. Her father had been fonder of her than her mother; him she recollected more vividly. He used to come home in the evening after his work, and one or two evenings stood out more clearly than others, like pictures in her memory. Ratan would sit on the floor near the postmaster's feet, as memories crowded in upon her. She called to mind a little brother that she had--and how on some bygone cloudy day she had played at fishing with him on the edge of the pond, with a twig for a make-believe fishing-rod. Such little incidents would drive out greater events from her mind. Thus, as they talked, it would often get very late, and the postmaster would feel too lazy to do any cooking at all. Ratan would then hastily light the fire, and toast some unleavened bread, which, with the cold remnants of the morning meal, was enough for their supper. On some evenings, seated at his desk in the corner of the big empty shed, the postmaster too would call up memories of his own home, of his mother and his sister, of those for whom in his exile his heart was sad, --memories which were always haunting him, but which he could not talk about with the men of the factory, though he found himself naturally recalling them aloud in the presence of the simple little girl. And so, it came about that the girl would allude to his people as mother, brother, and sister, as if she had known 16 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

them all her life. In fact, she had a complete picture of each one of them painted in her little heart. One noon, during a break in the rains, there was a cool soft breeze blowing; the smell of the damp grass and leaves in the hot sun felt like the warm breathing of the tired earth on one's body. A persistent bird went on all the afternoon repeating the burden of its one complaint in Nature's audience chamber. The postmaster had nothing to do. The shimmer of the freshly washed leaves, and the banked-up remnants of the retreating rain-clouds were sights to see; and the postmaster was watching them and thinking to himself: \"Oh, if only some kindred souls were near--just one loving human being whom I could hold near my heart!\" This was exactly, he went on to think, what that bird was trying to say, and it was the same feeling which the murmuring leaves were striving to express. But no one knows, or would believe, that such an idea might also take possession of an ill-paid village postmaster in the deep, silent mid-day interval of his work. The postmaster sighed, and called out \"Ratan.\" Ratan was then sprawling beneath the guava- tree, busily engaged in eating unripe guavas. At the voice of her master, she ran up breathlessly, saying: \"Were you calling me, Dada?\" \"I was thinking,\" said the postmaster, \"of teaching you to read.\" And then for the rest of the afternoon he taught her the alphabet. Thus, in a very short time, Ratan had got as far as the double consonants. It seemed as though the showers of the season would never end. Canals, ditches, and hollows were all overflowing with water. Day and night the patter of rain was heard, and the croaking of frogs. The village roads became impassable, and marketing had to be done in punts. One heavily clouded morning, the postmaster's little pupil had been long waiting outside the door for her call, but not hearing it as usual, she took up her dog-eared book, and slowly entered the room. She found her master stretched out on his bed, and, thinking that he was resting, she was about to retire on tip-toe, when she suddenly heard her name--\"Ratan!\" She turned at once and asked: \"Were you sleeping, Dada?\" The postmaster in a plaintive voice said: \"I am not well. Feel my head; is it very hot?\" In the loneliness of his exile, and in the gloom of the rains, his ailing body needed a little tender nursing. He longed to remember the touch on the forehead of soft hands with tinkling bracelets, to imagine the presence of loving womanhood, the nearness of mother and sister. And the exile was not disappointed. Ratan ceased to be a little girl. She at once stepped into the post of mother, called in the village doctor, gave the patient his pills at the proper intervals, sat up all night by his pillow, cooked his gruel for him, and every now and then asked: \"Are you feeling a little better, Dada?\" It was some time before the postmaster, with weakened body, was able to leave his sick-bed. \"No more of this,\" said he with decision. \"I must get a transfer.\" He at once wrote off to Calcutta an application for a transfer, on the ground of the un-healthiness of the place. Relieved from her duties as nurse, Ratan again took up her old place outside the door. But she no longer heard the same old call. She would sometimes peep inside furtively to find the postmaster sitting on his chair, or stretched on his bed, and staring absent-mindedly into the air. 17 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

While Ratan was awaiting her call, the postmaster was awaiting a reply to his application. The girl read her old lessons over and over again, --her great fear was lest, when the call came, she might be found wanting in the double consonants. At last, after a week, the call did come one evening. With an overflowing heart Ratan rushed into the room with her-- \"Were you calling me, Dada?\" The postmaster said: \"I am going away to-morrow, Ratan.\" \"Where are you going, Dada?\" \"I am going home.\" \"When will you come back?\" \"I am not coming back.\" Ratan asked no other question. The postmaster, of his own accord, went on to tell her that his application for a transfer had been rejected, so he had resigned his post and was going home. For a long time neither of them spokes another word. The lamp went on dimly burning, and from a leak in one corner of the thatch water dripped steadily into an earthen vessel on the floor beneath it. After a while Ratan rose, and went off to the kitchen to prepare the meal; but she was not so quick about it as on other days. Many new things to think of had entered her little brain. When the postmaster had finished his supper, the girl suddenly asked him: \"Dada, will you take me to your home?\" The postmaster laughed. \"What an idea!\" said he; but he did not think it necessary to explain to the girl wherein lay the absurdity. That whole night, in her waking and in her dreams, the postmaster's laughing reply haunted her--\"What an idea!\" On getting up in the morning, the postmaster found his bath ready. He had stuck to his Calcutta habit of bathing in water drawn and kept in pitchers, instead of taking a plunge in the river as was the custom of the village. For some reason or other, the girl could not ask him about the time of his departure, so she had fetched the water from the river long before sunrise that it should be ready as early as he might want it. After the bath came a call for Ratan. She entered noiselessly, and looked silently into her master's face for orders. The master said: \"You need not be anxious about my going away, Ratan; I shall tell my successor to look after you.\" These words were kindly meant, no doubt: but inscrutable are the ways of a woman's heart! Ratan had borne many a scolding from her master without complaint, but these kind words she could not bear. She burst out weeping, and said: \"No, no, you need not tell anybody anything at all about me; I don't want to stay on here.\" 18 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The postmaster was dumbfounded. He had never seen Ratan like this before. The new incumbent duly arrived, and the postmaster, having given over charge, prepared to depart. Just before starting he called Ratan and said: \"Here is something for you; I hope it will keep you for some little time.\" He brought out from his pocket the whole of his month's salary, retaining only a trifle for his travelling expenses. Then Ratan fell at his feet and cried: \"Oh, Dada, I pray you, don't give me anything, don't in any way trouble about me,\" and then she ran away out of sight. The postmaster heaved a sigh, took up his carpet bag, put his umbrella over his shoulder, and, accompanied by a man carrying his many coloured tin trunks, he slowly made for the boat. When he got in and the boat was under way, and the rain-swollen river, like a stream of tears welling up from the earth, swirled and sobbed at her bows, then he felt a pain at heart; the grief-stricken face of a village girl seemed to represent for him the great unspoken pervading grief of Mother Earth herself. At one time he had an impulse to go back, and bring away along with him that lonesome waif, forsaken of the world. But the wind had just filled the sails, the boat had got well into the middle of the turbulent current, and already the village was left behind, and its outlying burning-ground came in sight. So, the traveller, borne on the breast of the swift-flowing river, consoled himself with philosophical reflections on the numberless meetings and partings going on in the world--on death, the great parting, from which none returns. But Ratan had no philosophy. She was wandering about the post office in a flood of tears. It may be that she had still a lurking hope in some corner of her heart that her Dada would return, and that is why she could not tear herself away. Alas for our foolish human nature! Its fond mistakes are persistent. The dictates of reason take a long time to assert their own sway. The surest proofs meanwhile are disbelieved. False hope is clung to with all one's might and main, till a day comes when it has sucked the heart dry and it forcibly breaks through its bonds and departs. After that comes the misery of awakening, and then once again the longing to get back into the maze of the same mistakes. 1.5 THREE QUESTIONS Leo Tolstoy About the author: Leo Tolstoy, Tolstoy also spelled Tolstoy, Russian in full Lev Nikolayevich, Graf (count) Tolstoy, (born August 28 [September 9, New Style], 1828, Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, Russian Empire—died November 7 [November 20], 1910, Astapovo, Ryazan province), Russian author, a master of realistic fiction and one of the world’s greatest novelists. Tolstoy is best known for his two longest works, War and Peace (1865–69) and Anna Karenina (1875–77), which are commonly regarded as among the finest novels ever written. War and Peace in particular seems virtually to define this form for many readers and critics. 19 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Among Tolstoy’s shorter works, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) is usually classed among the best examples of the novella. Especially during his last three decades Tolstoy also achieved world renown as a moral and religious teacher. His doctrine of non-resistance to evil had an important influence on Gandhi. Although Tolstoy’s religious ideas no longer command the respect they once did, interest in his life and personality has, if anything, increased over the years. Three Questions: The story It once occurred to a certain king, that if he always knew the right time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to listen to, and whom to avoid, and, above all, if he always knew what was the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything he might undertake. And this thought having occurred to him, he had it proclaimed throughout his kingdom that he would give a great reward to anyone who would teach him what was the right time for every action, and who were the most necessary people, and how he might know what was the most important thing to do. And learned men came to the King, but they all answered his questions differently. In reply to the first question, some said that to know the right time for every action, one must draw up in advance, a table of days, months and years, and must live strictly according to it. Only thus, said they, could everything be done at its proper time. Others declared that it was impossible to decide beforehand the right time for every action; but that, not letting oneself be absorbed in idle pastimes, one should always attend to all that was going on, and then do what was most needful. Others, again, said that however attentive the King might be to what was going on, it was impossible for one man to decide correctly the right time for every action, but that he should have a Council of Wise Men, who would help him to fix the proper time for everything. But then again others said there were some things which could not wait to be laid before a Council, but about which one had at once to decide whether to undertake them or not. But in order to decide that, one must know beforehand what was going to happen. It is only magicians who know that; and, therefore, in order to know the right time for every action, one must consult magicians. Equally various were the answers to the second question. Some said, the people the King most needed were his councillors; others, the priests; others, the doctors; while some said the warriors were the most necessary. To the third question, as to what was the most important occupation: some replied that the most important thing in the world was science. Others said it was skill in warfare; and others, again, that it was religious worship. All the answers being different, the King agreed with none of them, and gave the reward to none. But still wishing to find the right answers to his questions, he decided to consult a hermit, widely renowned for his wisdom. 20 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The hermit lived in a wood which he never quitted, and he received none but common folk. So, the King put on simple clothes, and before reaching the hermit's cell dismounted from his horse, and, leaving his bodyguard behind, went on alone. When the King approached, the hermit was digging the ground in front of his hut. Seeing the King, he greeted him and went on digging. The hermit was frail and weak, and each time he stuck his spade into the ground and turned a little earth, he breathed heavily. The King went up to him and said: \"I have come to you, wise hermit, to ask you to answer three questions: How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time? Who are the people I most need, and to whom should I, therefore, pay more attention than to the rest? And, what affairs are the most important and need my first attention?\" The hermit listened to the King, but answered nothing. He just spat on his hand and recommenced digging. \"You are tired,\" said the King, \"let me take the spade and work awhile for you.\" \"Thanks!\" said the hermit, and, giving the spade to the King, he sat down on the ground. When he had dug two beds, the King stopped and repeated his questions. The hermit again gave no answer, but rose, stretched out his hand for the spade, and said, \"Now rest awhile-- and let me work a bit.\" But the King did not give him the spade, and continued to dig. One hour passed, and another. The sun began to sink behind the trees, and the King at last stuck the spade into the ground, and said, \"I came to you, wise man, for an answer to my questions. If you can give me none, tell me so, and I will return home.\" \"Here comes someone running,\" said the hermit, \"let us see who it is.\" The King turned round, and saw a bearded man come running out of the wood. The man held his hands pressed against his stomach, and blood was flowing from under them. When he reached the King, he fell fainting on the ground moaning feebly. The King and the hermit unfastened the man's clothing. There was a large wound in his stomach. The King washed it as best he could, and bandaged it with his handkerchief and with a towel the hermit had. Again, and again the King washed and rebandaged the wound. At last, the man revived and asked for something to drink. The King brought fresh water and gave it to him. Meanwhile the sun had set, and it had become cool. So, the King, with the hermit's help, carried the wounded man into the hut and laid him on the bed. Lying on the bed the man closed his eyes and was quiet; but the King was so tired with his walk and with the work he had done, that he crouched down on the threshold, and also fell asleep--so soundly that he slept all through the short summer night. When he awoke in the morning, it was long before he could remember where he was, or who was the strange bearded man lying on the bed and gazing intently at him with shining eyes. \"Forgive me!\" said the bearded man in a weak voice, when he saw that the King was awake and was looking at him. \"I do not know you, and have nothing to forgive you for,\" said the King. \"You do not know me, but I know you. I am that enemy of yours who swore to revenge himself on you, because you executed his brother and seized his property. I knew you had 21 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

gone alone to see the hermit, and I resolved to kill you on your way back. But the day passed and you did not return. So, I came out from my ambush to find you, and I came upon your bodyguard, and they recognized me, and wounded me. I escaped from them, but should have bled to death had you not dressed my wound. I wished to kill you, and you have saved my life. Now, if I live, and if you wish it, I will serve you as your most faithful slave, and will bid my sons do the same. Forgive me!\" The King was very glad to have made peace with his enemy so easily, and to have gained him for a friend, and he not only forgave him, but said he would send his servants and his own physician to attend him, and promised to restore his property. Having taken leave of the wounded man, the King went out into the porch and looked around for the hermit. Before going away, he wished once more to beg an answer to the questions he had put. The hermit was outside, on his knees, sowing seeds in the beds that had been dug the day before. The King approached him, and said, \"For the last time, I pray you to answer my questions, wise man.\" \"You have already been answered!\" said the hermit still crouching on his thin legs, and looking up at the King, who stood before him. \"How answered? What do you mean?\" asked the King. \"Do you not see,\" replied the hermit. \"If you had not pitied my weakness yesterday, and had not dug these beds for me, but had gone your way, that man would have attacked you, and you would have repented of not having stayed with me. So, the most important time was when you were digging the beds; and I was the most important man; and to do me good was your most important business. Afterwards, when that man ran to us, the most important time was when you were attending to him, for if you had not bound up his wounds, he would have died without having made peace with you. So, he was the most important man, and what you did for him was your most important business. Remember then: there is only one time that is important -- and that is now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else. And the most important thing to do is, to do good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!\" 1.6 THE REFUGEES About the writer: Pearl Buck was an American novelist, story writer, dramatist and biographer. She was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, in 1892, the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries. She went to China with her parents and grew up there. After spending some time at a Shanghai boarding school, she returned to the USA to go to college and university. 22 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

She taught psychology for a while in Virginia, then returned in 1921 to Nanking, to work as an English teacher. Pearl S. Buck started writing relatively early, but did not achieve success until 1931 with her second novel The Good Earth. The novel made a deep impression because of its powerful and sympathetic understanding of working people in China. In 1938 she became the first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pearl S. Buck was involved in many different humanitarian organizations and also worked to encourage Chinese-American understanding. She was married twice and adopted eight children. She died in 1973. Story They walked through the new capital, alien and from a far country, yes, although their own lands were only a few hundred miles perhaps from this very street upon which they now walked. But to them it was very far. Their eyes were the eyes of those who have been taken suddenly and by some unaccountable force from the world they have always known and always thought safe until this time. They who had been accustomed only to country roads and fields, walked now along the proud street of the new capital, their feet treading upon the new concrete side-walk, and although the street was full of things they had never seen before, so that there were even automobiles and such things of which they had never even heard, still they looked at nothing, but passed as in a dream, seeing nothing. There were several hundred of them passing at this moment. If they did not look at anything no rat anyone, neither did any look at them. The city was full of refugees, many thousands of them, fed after a fashion, clothed somehow, sheltered in mats in great camps outside the city wall. At any hour of the day lines of ragged men and women and a few children could be seen making their way towards the camps, and if any city dweller noticed them, it was to think with increased bitterness: \"More refugees - will there never be an end to them? We will all starve trying to feed them even a little!\" This bitterness, which is the bitterness of fear, made small shopkeepers bawl out rudely to the many beggars who came hourly to beg at the doors, and it made men ruthless in paying small fares to the rickshaw pullers, of which there were ten times as many as could be used, because the refugees were trying to earn something thus. Even the usual pullers of rickshaws who thus in this way followed this as their profession cursed the refugees because, being starving, they would pull for anything given them, and so fares were low for all, and all suffered. With the city full of refugees, then, begging at every door, swarming into every unskilled trade and service, lying dead on the streets at every frozen dawn, why should one look at this fresh horde coming in now at twilight of a winter's day? But these were no common men and women, no riff-raff from some community always poor and easily starving in a flood time. No, these were men and women of which any nation might have been proud. It could be seen they were all from one region, for they wore garments woven out of the same dark blue cotton stuff, plain and cut in an old-fashioned 23 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

way, the sleeves long and the coats long and full. The men wore smocked aprons, the smocking done in curious, intricate, beautiful designs. The women had bands of the same plain blue stuff wrapped like kerchiefs about their heads. Both men and women were tall and strong in frame, although the women's feet were bound. There were a few lads in the throng, a few children sitting in baskets slung upon a pole across the shoulders of their fathers, but there were no young girls, no young infants. Every man and every lad bore a burden on his shoulder. This burden was always bedding, quilts made of the blue cotton stuff and padded. Clothing and bedding were clean and strongly made. On top of every folded quilt, with a bit of mat between, was an iron cauldron. These cauldrons had doubtless been taken from the earthen ovens of the village when the people saw the time had come when they must move. But in no basket was there a vestige of food, nor was there a trace of food having been cooked in them recently. This lack of food was confirmed when one looked closely into the faces of the people. In the first glance in the twilight, they seemed well enough, but when one looked more closely one saw they were the faces of people starving and moving now in despair to a last hope. They saw nothing of the strange sights of a new city because they were too near death to see anything. No new sight could move their curiosity. They were men and women who had stayed by their land until starvation drove them forth. Thus, they passed unseeing, silent, alien, as those who know themselves dying are alien to the living. The last one of this long procession of silent men and women was a little wizened old man. Even he carried a load of two baskets, slung on a pole on his shoulder, the same load of a folded quilt, a cauldron. But there was only one cauldron. In the other basket it seemed there was but a quilt, extremely ragged and patched, but clean still. Although the load was light it was too much for the old man. It was evident that in usual times he would be beyond the age of work, and was perhaps unaccustomed to such labour in recent years. His breath whistled as he staggered along, and he strained his eyes to watch those who were ahead of him lest he be left behind, and his old wrinkled face was set in a sort of gasping agony. Suddenly he could go no more. He set his burden down with great gentleness and sank upon the ground, his head sunk between his knees, his eyes closed, panting desperately. Starved as he was, a little blood rose in dark patches on his cheeks. A ragged vendor selling hot noodles set his stand near, and shouted his trade cry, and the light from the stand fell on the old man's drooping figure. A man passing stopped and muttered, looking at him: \"I swear I can give no more this day if I am to feed my own even nothing but noodles -- but here is this old man. Well, I will give him the bit of silver I earned today against tomorrow and trust to tomorrow again. If my own old father had been alive, I would have given it to him.\" He fumbled in himself and brought out of his ragged girdle a bit of a silver coin, and after a moment's hesitation and muttering, he added to it a copper penny. \"There, old father,\" he said with a sort of bitter heartiness, \"let me see you eat noodles!\" The old man lifted his head slowly. When he saw the silver, he would not put out his hand. He said: 24 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

\"Sir, I did not beg of you. Sir, we have good land and we have never been starving like this before, having such good land. But this year the river rose drove them forth drove them away and men starve even on good land at such times. Sir, we have no seed left, even. We have eaten our seed. I told them; we cannot eat the seed. But they were young and hungry and they ate it.\" \"Take it,\" said the man, and he dropped the money into the old man's smocked apron and went on his way, sighing. The vendor prepared his bowl of noodles and called out: \"How many will you eat, old man?\" Then was the old man stirred. He felt eagerly in his apron and when he saw the two coins there, the one copper and the other silver, he said: \"One small bowl is enough.\" \"Can you eat only one small bowl, then?\" asked the vendor, astonished. \"It is not for me,\" the old man answered. The vendor stared astonished, but being a simple man, he said no more but prepared the bowl, and when it was finished, he called out, \"Here it is!\" And he waited to see who would eat it. Then the old man rose with a great effort and took the bowl between his shaking hands and he went to the other basket. There, while the vendor watched, the old man pulled aside the quilt until one could see the shrunken face of a small boy lying with his eyes fast closed. One would have said the child was dead except that when the old man lifted his head so his mouth could touch the edge of the little bowl he began to swallow feebly until the hot mixture was finished. The old man kept murmuring to him: \"There, my heart -- there, my child -\" \"Your grandson?\" said the vendor. \"Yes,\" said the old man. \"The son of my only son. Both my son and his wife were drowned as they worked on our land when the dikes broke.\" He covered the child tenderly and then, squatting on his haunches, he ran his tongue carefully around the little bowl and removed the last trace of food. Then, as though he had been fed, he handed the bowl back to the vendor. \"But you have the silver bit!\" cried the ragged vendor, yet more astonished when he saw the old man ordered no more. The old man shook his head. \"That is for seed,\" he replied. \"As soon as I saw it, I knew I would buy seed with it. They ate up all the seed, and with what shall the land be sown again?\" \"If I were not so poor myself,\" said the vendor, \"I might even have given you a bowl. But to give something to a man who has a bit of silver -\" He shook his head, puzzled. 25 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

\"I do not ask you, brother,\" said the old man. \"Well, I know you cannot understand. But if you had land, you would know it must be put to seed again or there will be starvation yet another year. The best I can do for this grandson of mine is to buy a little seed for the land - yes, even though I die, and others must plant it, the land must be put to seed.\" He took up his load again, his old legs trembling, and straining his eyes down the long straight street, he staggered on puzzled perplexed, unable to understand 1.7 SUMMARY • The main moral of the \"The Bet\" concerns the shallowness of material wealth, as one who is internally rich is not wishing for anything. A secondary theme is about the death penalty. Life imprisonment is portrayed as the better option to death, as the person has the time to develop character. • The moral lesson in the story \"The Gift of the Magi\" is that people are willing to give up what means the most to them for the person they love. In the story, the couple acts on impulse as each strives to please their spouse. • The moral of \"The Postmaster\" is that despite the various social strata in which people find themselves by birth, loneliness and the need for companionship and love are common to all. ... The postmaster, for instance, is far away from his native Calcutta, where his family lives. • The moral of the story is to live in the present moment, rather than grumbling about the past and being anxious about tomorrow. We ought to consider every person we meet in the moment as significant beings, whether it is a poor or a rich man. • The main themes in The Refugees include communism, death, and immigration. Death: Death, and fear of death, haunts the stories' characters, many of whom have lost loved ones or narrowly escaped an untimely death themselves. 1.8 KEYWORDS • Unsuitable: not conducive to good moral development • Humane: marked by concern with the alleviation of suffering • Confinement: the state of being enclosed • Earnest: characterized by a firm, humourless belief in one's opinions • Frivolous: not serious in content, attitude, or behaviour • Trifle: something of small importance • Compulsory: required by rule • Caprice: a sudden desire • Threshold: the entrance for passing through a room or building 26 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• Obligation: a legal agreement specifying a payment or action • Dreary: lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise • Procure: get by special effort • Indiscriminately: in a random manner • Speculation: an investment that is risky but could yield great profits • Despair: a state in which all hope is lost or absent • Intact: undamaged in any way • Astonishment: the feeling that accompanies something extremely surprising • Emaciated: very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold • Macadamised: covered with macadam. • Refugee-one who flees to safety as in times of war, natural catastrophes, etc • Alien: foreign, from another place • Unaccountable: which cannot be explained or understood • To be accustomed: to be used to • To tread: to walk 1.9 LEARNING ACITIVITY 1. Perform some research work about the writers of the stories and their works. __________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. Study the difference in the techniques of writing of the writers mentioned in the lesson. __________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 1.10 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. How does the lawyer spend his 15 years of imprisonment? 2. In the short story \"The Bet,\" how does the banker feel about himself at the end of the fifteen years? 3. In the short story \"The Bet,\" what lessons do the banker and the lawyer learn? 27 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

4. Who wins the bet? 5. What is the conflict in the short story \"The Bet\" by Anton Chekhov? 6. What was the Banker's reaction after reading the letter? 7. How much money had Della managed to save for Jim's present? 8. Who did Della go to, to get money for Jim's present? 9. What was Jim's gift for Della? 10. Who were the Magi? 11. What did Jim do to get a gift for Della? 12. What memories did Ratan have about her past? 13. Why did the postmaster stop teaching Ratan? Long Questions 1. What is the moral of the story \"The Bet\" by Anton Chekhov? 2. What happens to the lawyer at the end of the story \"The Bet\"? 3. Why did the lawyer leave five hours early in \"The Bet\" by Anton Chekhov? 4. Justify the title of the story 'The Bet'? 5. What is the rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution of the story \"The Bet\"? 6. What was Della's treasured possession? 7. Why was Della worried? 8. What did Della do after reaching home? 9. What was Jim's reaction when he returned home? 10. Bring out the relation between Della and the Queen of Sheba. 11. Show how the 'twist in the tale' makes the story of Jim and Della a moral lesson. 12. Examine the significance and appropriateness of the title of the story. 13. What did Ratan do when the postmaster fell sick? 14. What would the postmaster and Ratan eat when it got very late? 15. What happened when the postmaster fell sick? 16. What provisions did the postmaster make for Ratan when he was leaving? B. Multiple Choice Questions 28 1. Who are the characters in the short story \"The Bet\" by Anton Chekhov? CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

a. a party guest and a watchman b. a lawyer, and a banker c. A monk d. Option a and b 2. What is Jim's full name? a. James Dillingham Young b. James Dillingham c. James Young d. James Willingham Young 3. Which of the following was the court language during Mughals? a. Urdu b. Hindi c. Persian d. Arabic 4. What is the correct translation of the Hindi idiom ‘Aankhen dikhana’? a. Show temper b. To control anger c. Having problems in eyes d. None of the above 5. In a perfect translation the text retains the same …. a. Meaning b. Emotions c. Idea d. Both a and b Answers 1-d, 2- a, 3- c, 4-a, 5-d 1.11 REFERENCES Primary Resources: • Wren and Martin • Hewing, Martin, Advanced Grammar in Use, Cambridge University Press, 3rd Edition (2013), UK. 29 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Reference’s book • Ambika S. Gupta, Selected College Poems, Ed., Orient Black swan, Hyderabad • Dr Usha Bande, Krishan Gopal, The Pointed Vision - An anthology of Short stories, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. • Murphy, R., English Grammar in Use -Reference and Practice Book for Intermediate Learners of English, Cambridge University Press (2013), UK. Web-Resources • https://libguides.southernct.edu › c.php • http://www.literature-study-online.com › resources • https://instr.iastate.libguides.com/c.php?g=176765&p=1171775 30 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT - 2: WRITING: REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT FROM THE TEXT, ESSAY WRITING Structure 2.0 Learning Objectives 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Essay writing-characteristics and classification 2.3 Summary 2.4 Key words 2.5 Learning Activities 2.6 Unit End Questions 2.7 References 2.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able: • To describe an essay • To understand the different type of essay • Write essays with proper structure. 2.1 INTRODUCTION Essay- The word Essay is defined in \"The Concise Oxford Dictionary\" as \"a literary composition (usually prose and short) on any subject. “It is a written composition giving expression to one's own personal ideas or opinions on some topic; but the term usually covers also any written composition, whether it expresses personal opinions, or gives information on any given subject, or details of a narrative or description. 2.2 ESSAY WRITING-CHARACTERISTICS AND CLASSIFICATION A good essay must contain the following characteristics: • Unity • Order • Brevity • Style • Personal Touch 31 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

An essay must be a unity, treating in an orderly manner of one subject; it should be concisely written and not too long, and the style should by simple, direct and clear; and it should have individuality, or show the personal touch of the writer. Classification of Essay Writing Essays may be classified as: • Narrative • Descriptive • Expository • Reflective • Imaginative 1. Narrative: In a narrative essay, the writer tells a story about a real-life experience. While telling a story may sound easy to do, the narrative essay challenges students to think and write about themselves. When writing a narrative essay, writers should try to involve the reader by making the story as vivid as possible. 2. Descriptive: A descriptive essay paints a picture with words. A writer might describe a person, place, object, or even memory of special significance. The descriptive essay strives to communicate a deeper meaning through the description. In a descriptive essay, the writer should show through the use of colourful words and sensory details. 3. Expository: In an expository essay, the writer explains or defines a topic, using facts, statistics, and examples. Expository writing encompasses a wide range of essay variations, such as the comparison and contrast essay, the cause-and-effect essay, and the “how to” or process essay. 4. Reflective: A reflective essay consists of reflections or thoughts on some topic, which is generally of an abstract nature; for example; (a) habits, qualities, (b) social, political and domestic topics (c) philosophical subjects, (d) religious and theological topics. 5. Essays on subjects such as the feelings and experiences of the sailor wrecked on a desert island may be called imaginative Essays. In such the writer is called to place himself in imagination in a position of which he has had no actual experience. Such subjects as \"If I were a king,\" or \"The autobiography of a horse,\" would call for imaginative essays. Every essay has a beginning, middle and an end. In a 5-paragraph essay, the first paragraph is called the introduction. The next three paragraphs consist of the body of the essay. The fifth and final paragraph is the conclusion. 32 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Introduction: The introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of your essay. Here you show the main idea of your essay. It must be interesting to your reader and must say why your topic is important. First of all, write the thesis. The main idea of the essay is stated in a single sentence called the thesis statement. Provide some background information about your topic. You can use interesting facts that you will use later in the essay. The introduction usually has three parts: • The hook (or dramatic opener) consists of several sentences that pull the reader into the essay. • The transitional sentence connects the hook to the thesis statement. • The thesis statement is one or two sentences that states the idea of the essay. Hooks (dramatic openers) are used to grab your reader’s attention at the beginning of a paragraph or in a report or essay. The hook is often a short sentence and is placed before the topic sentence. Transitional sentence Transition sentences are vital devices for essays, papers or other literary compositions. They improve the connections and transitions between sentences and paragraphs. They thus give the text a logical organization and structure. Thesis statement: A very basic thesis statement is one or two sentences at the end of the first paragraph that tells the reader the main idea of your essay. A thesis statement should do these three things: • It should clearly express what the essay is about. • It should make a discussible point. • It should indicate the structure of the essay. Body of the Essay (Supporting Paragraphs): They make the body of your work. They develop the main idea of your essay. To connect your supporting paragraphs, you should use special transition words. Transition words link your paragraphs together and make your essay easier to read. Use them at the beginning and end of your paragraphs. Each paragraph in the body of the essay contains the following sentences: • TOPIC SENTENCE: This sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is going to be about. 33 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• DETAIL SENTENCE: Your paragraph can have many detail sentences. The detail sentence tells your reader a little more about your topic. Each detail sentence must include an EXAMPLE. • CONCLUDING/TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE: This sentence wraps up what you have already told the readers and gets them ready for the next paragraph. Conclusion (The End): This part contains the conclusions and findings. Proves that the theme announced at the beginning of the essay is fully disclosed. Necessarily express your personal opinion about the work done. The concluding paragraph typically has two parts: i. The summary statement is one or two sentences which restate the thesis in a fresh way to reinforce the essay's main idea. ii. The clincher is a final thought which should create a lasting impression on the reader. It is also referred to as the closer, is your last opportunity to connect with the reader. Revision: Revision is actually something a good writer does throughout the writing process. Revision does not mean \"recopying\" what you've already written. Revision means making changes to the content of the paper so that every word, sentence, and paragraph makes sense to the reader. Three areas in particular to examine as you consider how to improve the content and style of your essay are as follows: • Clarity: Is the essay clearly and logically written? • Unity: Do all the paragraphs relate to the central idea? • Coherence: Do the ideas flow smoothly? Proofreading Proof reading is different from revision. Whereas revision focuses on improving the content of the essay, proofreading deals with recognizing and correcting errors or punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar. PROOF READING CHECKLIST • Have all fragments and run-on sentences been eliminated? • Does the essay use correct paragraphing and indentation? 34 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• Is there agreement between subjects and verbs? • Are pronoun references clear? • Has correct verb tense been used correctly and consistently? • Have commas, apostrophes, and semicolons been used correctly? • Have words been capitalized correctly? • Are there any sentences that could be combined to provide sentence variety? • Does the essay show interesting and accurate word choice? • Has a dictionary or spellchecker been used to correct spelling errors? Essay type Skills tested Example prompt Argumentative • Forming an opinion via Has the rise of the internet Expository Narrative research had a positive or negative Descriptive • Building an evidence- impact on education? based argument • Knowledge of a topic Explain how the invention • Communicating of the printing press information clearly changed European society in the 15th century. • Creative language use Write about an experience • Presenting a where you learned compelling narrative something about yourself. • Creative language use Describe an object that has • Describing sensory sentimental value for you. details Guidelines for Essay Writing Writing essays is incomparably the most effective way for you to develop the skills essential to the study of politics: the skills of rigorous argument, conceptual clarity, sensitive interpretation and effective marshalling of evidence. The essay itself is the tip of the iceberg, the visible results of considerable preparation. 1. PRE-WRITING 35 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The planning stage is the most important stage in the production of essays. If you cut corners at this stage, you will produce an essay that does not do justice to your ability. Planning an essay involves the following tasks: a) Research and finding sources of information • Put aside time to read enough material to enable you to fully understand the nature of the question and the major arguments that should be included in your answer. • The obvious sources to start with are those on the course reading list. • Consult the bibliographies in these sources to find additional relevant sources. • If you need additional sources, use the library catalogue, searching under ‘key word’ and for authors whose work you have already found useful. b) Reading and taking notes • Be selective in what you read. You don’t necessarily have to read the whole book to extract the information you need! Use the table of contents and the index to help you focus on the sections most relevant to the essay title. This will provide you with a good overview of the main points made by the book and help you prepare for reading a wider range of sources. • Read actively. When you are reading, look out for the key ideas and arguments made by authors and the evidence they provide in support of them. Note the ways in which they contradict or support those of other authors you have read. Don’t be afraid to be critical. To write a rounded essay, you must engage with points you disagree with as well as those that support your argument. • Take good notes. Summarise the main arguments or ideas in your own words. Note the page number on which you find each piece of information, in order to reference it accurately in your essay. If you plan to cite a particular phrase, sentence or section from a text in your essay, copy it out accurately and place it in quotation marks. c) Preparing an outline Your plan need not be elaborate. Its main purpose is to enable you to structure your main points in the best possible order for your argument. The plan should outline what is to be covered in each section of your essay. • When working out your plan, keep re-reading the essay question, to make sure you have understood it and are heading in the right direction. • Concentrate primarily on identifying your key arguments. • Remember that your time and space are limited. You cannot cover every aspect of the subject so make sure to concentrate on the points you consider most important. • Once you have a plan, break down the total word limit and assign a general word limit to each point. This will help you give equal attention to each section. 36 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

2. WRITING The School uses six key criteria for assessing essays: i) Your essay must be relevant to the question asked. ii) It should be well-organised and under your control. iii) It should show accurate and adequate knowledge of the topic being discussed. iv)It should demonstrate that you understand the topic by expressing your views clearly. v) It should have an overall argument involving analysis of the issues and a critical evaluation of different points of view. vi) It should be well presented: the right length, legible (preferably typed), carefully proof- read, well-referenced, and have a good bibliography. The guidelines below are designed to help you meet these criteria. a) Introduction The introductory paragraph should set out why the subject is important, where the focus of the essay question lies, what your argument in response to this is and how you will answer the question/expound your argument, thereby clearly laying out the structure of the essay. It is the point at which you try to capture the reader’s attention. Therefore, it is not advisable to fill the first paragraph with long ‘background’ narratives, gross overstatements or irrelevant information. One way of starting an essay is with a general statement concerning the subject in question and then narrow this down to set out your argument. A brief outline of the main points supporting this argument should then follow. The introduction may be the final section that you complete. You could re-write it last to be sure that it introduces your essay well and complements your conclusion. b) Body • An essay is the exposition of a reasoned argument to support a point. It is not a recitation of facts nor is it a summary of events. Analysis should be the driving force behind the narrative, not the other way around: why rather than what. • It is in the body of your essay that you should use the factual details and sources you discovered in your research to give your points weight and strength. • The golden rule: 1 idea = 1 paragraph. • The beginning of a paragraph has two main functions: to introduce a new idea for discussion and to indicate the role this topic plays in your overall argument. The rest of the paragraph is devoted to elaborating and substantiating its central idea. • Your points need to flow logically on from one another and you need to create a sense of progression through the way that each paragraph is linked. 37 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

If the essay involves a critique of a particular thesis or text, don’t waste valuable space on long summaries of this thesis. Instead, give a brief and accurate exposition and concentrate for the most part on analysing its strengths and weaknesses. • However, in some theoretical essays the primary task might be to explain the thesis of an author, rather than to debate the plausibility of those ideas. • Make sure you have made it clear why you think a piece of evidence supports your argument, or raises questions about an author’s assumptions etc. • After you have written each paragraph, ask yourself if it relates to the essay question and how it supports your argument. If it doesn’t do this clearly, amend it straight away before you get stuck on a diversion. c) Conclusion • The whole of the final paragraph needs to be dedicated to making a strong conclusion, which pulls all your points together. • Restate your argument in different words and allude to the main points you used in the body of the essay to support it. You may then move away from this narrow focus to the wider implications of your argument. • The conclusion is not the place to introduce new evidence. This is a sure sign of poor planning. d) Referencing and Bibliography • Plagiarism – the presentation of someone else’s work as your own – is completely contrary to good academic work and is severely penalised. To avoid any suspicion of plagiarism you should offer clear references for any quotations or substantial borrowings of ideas or facts from other authors. If you are quoting directly, you must also put the words in quotation marks. Even if you are not quoting an author’s words directly, if you write about an idea, an example or a point that you have found in another source, this must be referenced. • You must list all the books and articles, audio-visual, internet or other material that you have used in writing the essay in a bibliography at the end of your essay. You should list them in alphabetical order (based on the surname of the author). • A proper bibliography will have Author (Surname, Initials), Date, Book Title (underlined or in italics, whichever you prefer but you must be consistent), Place of publication and Publisher. 3. RE-WRITING • Doing a good job of proof-reading and re-writing can make all the difference to the final result of your essay. 38 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• The best way to begin is to read the essay out loud to yourself. This not only helps you to spot spelling and grammatical errors, it also highlights the areas in which your point is unclear or poorly expressed. • Make sure that the points you are trying to make are not implied but explicitly stated and supported with evidence. Remember that it is your job to communicate accurately and clearly –the reader shouldn’t struggle to work out what you are trying to say. • Check that your referencing is correct. • Edit the essay in such a way as to clarify your argument. This may include re- structuring your paragraphs or tidying up your introduction. 4. FORMAT • Number the pages • Leave margins wide enough for comments • Stick to the word limit • If you hand-write the essay, write on one side of the page only - in legible writing! • Footnotes are the place for including information that supports your point but is additional to the main body of your essay. However, the information included in footnotes must be absolutely relevant to your argument. • If you are quoting directly from a source in your essay, it should be placed in single ‘quotation marks’. If the excerpt is a long one, of more than a sentence: The quotation should be separated from the main body of the text and indented, without quotation marks. It should not be italicised. In both cases, the quotation must be referenced. • Include in the following information on the cover sheet of the essay: Name; Tutorial group number; Tutor's name; Essay title; Date of submission; Word count. 5. BASIC WRITING TIPS • Remember that most essay titles are questions and that questions expect answers. • The person marking your essay is familiar with the core texts and theories in question – s/he is most interested in hearing your analytical response to these. • Use a relatively formal style of writing, e.g., avoid slang. Prioritise clarity and conciseness. Yet do try to cultivate a lively writing style. Using a thesaurus can make a valuable contribution. • Check words, spelling or grammar that you are not sure about either by using the language tools on the computer or a dictionary. • Correct punctuation is essential to convey your message clearly. 39 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• Using an apostrophe: apostrophes indicate the possessive case, i.e., belonging to. For singular nouns, use apostrophes, e.g., Rousseau’s account. For plural nouns, use an apostrophe alone, e.g., voters’ concerns. Because ‘its’ (i.e., belonging to ‘it’) is a possessive pronoun (like ‘his’ or ‘her’) it needs no apostrophe. An apostrophe with ‘it’, i.e., it’s, is a contraction of ‘its is’. It’s = it is. Its = belonging to it. 2.3 SUMMARY • Make a copy of your essay before submitting it, so that you have one for your own records. • Submit the essay on time! • When your essay is returned, read the comments carefully and take note of them for your next essay. These are as important as the mark given, for they will enable you to learn from your successes and your mistakes for the future. If you do not understand the reader's comments, arrange a meeting to talk about them. 2.4 KEYWORDS • Narrative: the process or skill of telling a story • Descriptive: that describes somebody/something, especially in a skilful or interesting way • Expository: intended to explain or describe something. • Reflective: thinking deeply about things • Imaginative: having or showing imagination • Footnotes: Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of a page 2.5 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Write essays on different topics. __________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Question 1. What is Narrative essay? 2. What is Descriptive essay? 40 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

3. What is Expository essay? 41 4. What is Reflective essay? 5. What is Imaginative essay? Long Questions 1. What is an essay? 2. What are the characteristics of an essay? 3. Explain the classification of essay? 4. Explain the structure of an essay? 5. What are the parts of the introduction of an essay? B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. An essay is a. a song with a story b. poem that has many stanzas c. a type of writing that has organized paragraphs d. a type of writing that requires research 2. The introductory paragraph of an essay requires a. The topic, thesis, and main ideas b. The topic, thesis, and supporting details c. The reason for the essay, the topic, and thesis d. a and b 3. Essays are a. Easier to write because you can put your opinion b. Harder to write because they require a lot of research c. Flexible because you can use a narrative style or structured paragraphs d. a and c 4. When writing the main idea paragraphs a. Include the thesis to remind the reader CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

b. Include supporting details with examples and specific details c. Make sure the supporting details are clearly shown through the main idea d. Use opinion to show why your thesis is right 5. The conclusion of an essay should a. Include last minute ideas and thoughts for the future b. Have a restatement of the thesis and thoughts for the future c. Be a recap of the whole essay d. Be only two sentences Answers 1-c),2-a),3-d),4-b),5-b) 2.7 REFERENCES Reference’s book • Wren and martin • Ambika S. Gupta, Selected College Poems, Ed., Orient Black swan, Hyderabad • Dr Usha Bande, Krishan Gopal, The Pointed Vision - An anthology of Short stories, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. • Murphy, R., English Grammar in Use -Reference and Practice Book for Intermediate Learners of English, Cambridge University Press (2013), UK. WEBSITES • http://paperhelper.org/essay-writing-help/ • http://www.time4writing.com/writing- resources/types-of-essays/ • http://www.gallaudet.edu/tip/english- center/writing/essays/different-kinds-of- essays.html http://www.slideshare.net/dbbbanjo/essay-writing- powerpoint- 1?qid=31671bff-3cd3-4006-9af1- 62194851af31&v=&b=&from_search=4 • http://www.slideshare.net/guestb9454e5/how-to- write-a-good-essay 42 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT – 3: GRAMMAR: USING WORDS AS DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH, CORRECTION OF SENTENCES Structure 3.0 Learning Objectives 3.1 Introduction 3.2. Noun 3.3 Pronoun 3.4 Verb 3.5 Adverb 3.6 Adjective 3.7 Preposition 3.8 Conjunctions 3.9 Interjections 3.10 Correction of sentences 3.11 Summary 3.12 Keywords 3.13 Learning Activity 3.14 Unit End Questions 3.15 References 3.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to: • Learn the work and learning of U.R Ananthamurthy • Analyze and understand narrative style and structure of novel “Samskara” • Answer the exam-oriented questions 3.1 INTRODUCTION The parts of speech explain how a word is used in a sentence. There are eight main parts of speech (also known as word classes): nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. 43 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

3.2 NOUN 44 What is a noun? CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective. Types of nouns Nouns form a large proportion of English vocabulary and they come in a wide variety of types. Nouns can name a person: e.g.: Mahatma Gandhi, the president, my mother, a boy Nouns can also name a place: e.g., Mount Everest, Disneyland, my kitchen. Nouns can also name things, although sometimes they might be intangible things, such as concepts, activities, or processes. Some might even be hypothetical or imaginary things. e.g.: Pen, faucet, freedom, The Elder Wand, football Proper nouns vs. common nouns One important distinction to be made is whether a noun is a proper noun or a common noun. A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing, and is always capitalized. e.g.: Does Reena have much cleaning to do this evening? Reena is the name of a specific person. e.g.: I would like to visit North Pole. North Pole is the specific name of a place. The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun, sometimes known as a generic noun. A common noun is the generic name of an item in a class or group and is not capitalized unless appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title. e.g.: The girl crossed the road. Girl is a common noun; we do not learn the identity of the girl by reading this sentence, though we know the action she takes. Road is also a common noun in this sentence. Types of common nouns Common or generic nouns can be broken down into three subtypes: concrete nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is something that is perceived by the senses; something that is physical or real. e.g.: I heard the doorbell. My keyboard is sticky. 45 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Doorbell and keyboard are real things that can be sensed. Conversely, an abstract noun is something that cannot be perceived by the senses. We can’t imagine the courage it took to do that. Courage is an abstract noun. Courage can’t be seen, heard, or sensed in any other way, but we know it exists. A collective noun denotes a group or collection of people or things. That pack of lies is disgraceful. Pack of lies as used here is a collective noun. Collective nouns take a singular verb as if they are one entity – in this case, the singular verb is. A pride of lions roamed the savanna. Pride of lions is also a collective noun. Nouns as subjects Every sentence must have a subject, and that subject will always be a noun. The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is doing or being the verb in that sentence. Geeta is happy. Maria is the subject of this sentence and the corresponding verb is a form of to be (is). Nouns as objects Nouns can also be objects of a verb in a sentence. An object can be either a direct object (a noun that receives the action performed by the subject) or an indirect object (a noun that is the recipient of a direct object). Give the books to her. Books is a direct object (what is being given) and her is the indirect object (who the books are being given to). Nouns as subject and object complements Another type of noun use is called a subject complement. In this example, the noun teacher is used as a subject complement. Maria is a teacher. 46 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Subject complements normally follow linking verbs like to be, become, or seem. A teacher is what Maria is. A related usage of nouns is called an object complement. I now pronounce you husband and wife. Husband and wife are nouns used as object complements in this sentence. Verbs that denote making, naming, or creating are often followed by object complements. Appositive nouns and nouns as modifiers An appositive noun is a noun that immediately follows another noun in order to further define or identify it. My brother, Michael, is six years old. Michael is an appositive here, further identifying the subject of the sentence, my brother. Sometimes, nouns can be used adjectivally as well. He is a speed demon. Speed is a normally a noun, but here it is acting as an adjective to modify demon. Plural nouns Plural nouns, unlike collective nouns, require plural verbs. Many English plural nouns can be formed by adding -s or -es to the singular form, although there are many exceptions. cat—cats These two cats are both black. Note the plural verb is. tax—taxes house—houses Countable nouns vs. uncountable nouns Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted, even if the number might be extraordinarily high (like counting all the people in the world). Countable nouns can be used with a/an, the, some, any, a few, and many. 47 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Here is a cat. Cat is singular and—obviously—countable. Here are a few cats. Here are some cats. Uncountable nouns are nouns that come in a state or quantity which is impossible to count; liquids are uncountable, as are things that act like liquids (sand, air). They are always considered to be singular, and can be used with some, any, a little, and much. An I.Q. test measures intelligence. Intelligence is an uncountable noun. Students don’t seem to have much homework these days. This example refers to an unspecified, unquantifiable amount of homework, so homework is an uncountable noun. Possessive nouns Possessive nouns are nouns which possess something; i.e., they have something. You can identify a possessive noun by the apostrophe; most nouns show the possessive with an apostrophe and an s. The cat’s toy was missing. The cat possesses the toy, and we denote this by use of ‑’s at the end of cat. When a singular noun ends in the letter s or z, the same format often applies. This is a matter of style, however, and some style guides suggest leaving off the extra s. I have been invited to the boss’s house for dinner. Mrs. Sanchez’s coat is still hanging on the back of her chair. Plural nouns ending in s take only an apostrophe to form a possessive. My nieces’ prom dresses were exquisite. 3.3 PRONOUN A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. 48 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Types of Pronoun • Personal pronouns – refers to specific people, places, or things • I, you, be, she, it we, they • I want to go home. • Indefinite pronouns – do not substitute for specifics • everybody, some • Everybody speaks. • Relative pronouns – relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns who, whoever, which, that? The book that won is a novel. • Interrogative pronouns – introduce questions who, which, what? Who will contribute? • Demonstrative pronouns – identify or point to nouns this, that, such This is a problem. Intensive pronouns – a personal pronoun + self/selves himself, ourselves He himself asked that question. Reflexive pronouns – same form as intensive but indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb themselves They injured themselves. 3.4 VERB A verb shows an action or state of being. A verb shows what someone or something is doing. Examples: go, speak, run, eat, play, live, walk, have, like, are, is 49 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Example sentences: I like Woodward English. I study their charts and play their games. • Janie (verb)__ five miles. • You/He/She/They/We __(intransitive verb)__ often. • I/You/It (linking verb) happy. • Let’s (transitive verb) it. • Transitive verbs pass the action on to a receiver (person, place, or thing)/object The receiver is the object I threw the pen. HINT: if there are questions left (who, where, what), it’s probably transitive Intransitive verbs don’t pass the action on to a receiver Linking verbs link subjects to word(s) that describe the subject Any form of the be verb (am, is, are, were, was, be, being, been) The answer is three. Verb Phrases consist of a main verb and a helping verb Helping verbs = can, could, did, do, does, had, has, have, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would She had always been thinking of her future. All verbs are one of three types: • Action verbs • Linking verbs • Helping verbs Action verbs In a sentence, an action verb tells what the subject does. Action verbs express physical or mental actions: think, eat, collide, realize, dance. Admittedly, some of these seem more active than others. Nevertheless, realize is still as much a verb as collide: I finally realized my mistake. The outfielder collided with the second-baseman. She dances every Friday night. 50 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)