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ICSE Sample paper
Biology
(One hour and a half)
Answer to this paper must be written in the paper provided separately. You will not be
allowed to write during the first two 15 minutes. This time is to be spent in reading the
question paper.
The time given at the head of this paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
Section I is compulsory. Attempt any four questions from Section-II. The intended marks
are given in brackets [ ].
Section I (40 Marks)
All questions are Compulsory
Question 1
(a) Name the following:
(i) The living parts of the cell
(ii) Specialised tissue or cells that are sensitive to taste
(iii) The process by which several glucose molecules are transformed to
produce one molecule of starch.
(iv) It promotes glucose utilisation in the body in the body cells.
(v) The ratio obtained by crossing for a single trait. [5]
(b) Select one suitable word from the three alternatives given to fill in the blanks in the
following sentences.
(i) The loss of water from the aerial parts of the plant is known as ________.
(transportation, vaporisation, transpiration)
(ii) _________ solution contains a low concentration of solute relative to
another solution. (hypertonic, hypotonic, isotonic)
(iii) The main function of __________ is to control the activities of the internal
organs and other involuntary actions. (cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla
oblongata)
(iv) Exophthalmic goitre is a form of _____________. (hyperthyroidism,
hypothyroidism, hyperglycemia)
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(v) _____________ is a technique that is used to diagnose foetal
abnormalities. (artificial insemination, amniocentesis, tubectomy)
[5]
(c) State whether the following statements are true or false. Rewrite the wrong
statements in the correct form by changing only the first or the last word.
(i) Population grows by arithmetic progression.
(ii) Vasopressin increases reabsorption of water from the ureter.
(iii) Byssinosis is caused due to cotton fibre flax.
(iv) Cellulose is a complex polysaccharide which is the principal constituent of
the cell membrane.
(v) Anabolism is the building up of complex substances from simpler ones.
[5]
(d) Name the respective organs in which the following are found:
(i) Corpus callosum
(ii) Choroid
(iii) Islets of Langerhans
(iv) Sacculus
(v) Interstitial cells [5]
(e) Write the odd one out and give a reason for your answer.
(i) Adrenalgland, thyroid gland, pituitary gland, Brunner’s gland.
(ii) Organ of Corti, utriculus, suspensory ligament, cochlea.
(iii) Cuticle, chlorophyll, chloroplast, Calvin Cycle.
(iv) Prophase, telophase, interphase, metaphase.
(v) Vasectomy, tubectomy, Lippe’s Loop, inoculation. [5]
(f) State one main function of the following.
(i) Antibiotic
(ii) Yolk sac in human embryo
(iii) Dendrite
(iv) Endoplasmic reticulum
(v) Root nodules [5]
(g) Match the items in Column I with those in Column II
Column I Column II
(i) Nucleus (1) Gives turgidity to cell
(ii) Vacoules (2) Synthesis of respiratory enzyme
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(iii) Ribosome (3) Regulates cell division
(iv) Mitochondria (4) Synthesis of protein
(v) Centrosome (5) Regulates cell functions
[5]
(h) State where the following are produced in the human body.
(i) Cortisone
(ii) Somatostatin
(iii) Prolactin
(iv) Testosterone
(v) B-lymphocytes [5]
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Section II (40 Marks)
(Answer any four questions from this section)
Question 2
(a) The figure given alongside represents the set-up used
to perform an experiment to check one of the basic
results of a certain plant activity.
(i) The above statement is referring to which
‘plant activity’?
(ii) What is the aim of the experiment?
(iii) Why is the leaf boiled in methylated spirit?
(iv) Mention the next two steps that will complete
the experiment.
[5]
(b) (i) Name any three characteristics of roots that enhance their ability to draw
water from the soil.
(ii) Define Imbibition. Mention two important effects of imbibitional forces.
[5]
Question 3
(a) The figure given alongside
describes certain physiological
phenomenon in plants. Study the
set-up and carefully answer the
following questions.
(i) What is the purpose of the
experiment?
(ii) Name the tissue that
conducts water upwards in
plants.
(iii) Why are the leaves turgid?
(iv) Define turgidity. What are
the two uses of turgidity in
plants? [5]
(b) (i) What is sex-linked inheritance? Mention the two types of sex-linked
inheritance and give an example of each.
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(ii) What is mutation? Give an example. [5]
Question 4
(a) (i) Differentiate between asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction. Give
four points of difference.
(ii) What is fertilisation? Where does fertilisation take place in the female
reproductive system?
(iii) Mention two functions performed by the placenta. [5]
(b) (i) Name the labelled parts of the figure given
alongside.
(ii) Mention the functions of the hormone
secreted from the part labelled as B in this
figure.
(iii) Name the gland which activates ‘B’ to
secrete the hormone.
[5]
Question 5
(a) (i) State four main reasons behind the sharp rise in Indian population.
(ii) What are the six main resources that come under pressure with the rise in
population?
(iii) What is the symbol of family welfare in India? [5]
(b) Study the following figure and answer the questions that follow.
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(i) What is the aim of the experiment and who had first set it up?
(ii) In this experiment what is the stimulus and the reflex action?
(iii) Differentiate simple reflex from conditioned reflex. [5]
Question 6
(a) (i) What is immunity?
(ii) Name the two kinds of innate immunity.
(iii) What are the merits of local defence mechanism? [5]
(b) (i) Name the labelled parts of the figure given alongside.
(ii) A, B and C are collectively referred to by which term?
(iii) The sensory cells in the semicircular canal are associated
with what kind of equilibrium?
(iv) Name the fluid that fills the semicircular canals.
[5]
Question 7
(a) Write brief notes on the following.
(i) Flavour
(ii) Disinfectant
(iii) Fraternal twins
(iv) WHO
(v) Smog [5]
(b) Give scientific reasons for the following statements:
(i) Raisins swell when they are kept in water for sometime.
(ii) White blood cells are amoeboid in nature.
(iii) Most of the leaves possess a shiny upper surface.
(iv) We move our eyes while we read the newspaper.
(v) The new born baby lets out a sharp cry soon after leaving the womb. [5]
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE-Xth Standard
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ICSE Sample paper
MATHEMATICS
(Two hours and a half)
Answer to this paper must be written in the paper provided separately. You will not be allowed to write
during the first 15 minutes. This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
Section I is compulsory. Attempt any four questions from Section-II. The intended marks are given in
brackets [ ].
Question 1.
(a) Sachin borrows an amount of Rs.50,000.00 as personal loan at the rate of 10%
interest compounded annually from ICICI bank in the year 2002. He has to repay
it in 36 equal monthly instalments. Calculate his monthly installments. [3]
(b) A disc is thrown once,
(i) What is the probability that the number is odd? [3]
(ii) Number is greater than 2?
(c) Find the roots of the equation: [4]
5x2-6x-7=0 to two decimal places.
Question 2.
(a) Find a and b for the matrix: [3]
a b 3 6
=
2a b 8 8
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(b) In the figure below, calculate the area of the triangle OCD. AB is the diameter of
8cm and angle DAO is equal to angle DCO. [4]
D
C
A B
A
(c) Solve the inequation and represent the solution set on the number line. [3]
-2+x≤ 6x/3+2 ≤ 14/3+x
Question 3.
(a) Find the value of ‘m’ for the lines to be parallel to each other. [3]
3x+4y-7=0 and 4y+mx+8=0.
(b) In a graph, a line meets X axis at X and y-axis at Y. M is the point which
divides XY in the ratio 3:2. Find the co-ordinates of X and Y. The co-ordinate of
M is (-2,2). [4]
(c) Solve the equation for θ (0o <θ< 90o) [3]
2 cosec θ= 3 sec2θ
Question 4.
(a) Find the mean and median of the following distribution: [4]
Class Interval Frequency
O
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0-10 12
10-20 8
20-30 13
30-40 16
40-50 15
(b) Calculate the area of the shaded portion. The circle of diameter 4cm is
embedded in an equilateral triangle. The point of tangency to the circle
bisects the side of the triangle. [3]
(c) Without using tables, evaluate: [3]
Sin 33o/Sec 57o +Cos 430/Cosec 470
SECTION B (40 Marks)
Question 5
(a) A function in x is defined as: [4]
F(θ)= 1/(Sin θ +Cos θ )+1/(Sin θ -Cos θ )-2Sin θ /(1-2Cos2 θ )
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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(i) Find the vale of f(300)
(ii) For F(θ)=0, prove that
2Sin θ /(1-2Cos2 θ )- 1/(Sin θ -Cos θ )= 1/(Sin θ +Cos θ )
(b) A shopkeeper bought a DVD player for Rs.2,000. He sells it at a profit of
20%. If the applicable VAT is 12.5% then calculate the following. [3]
(i) Amount paid by the customer.
(ii) VAT to be paid by the shopkeeper.
(c) A sphere and cube of equal volume have equal s volume. What is the rat
in the ratio of their surface areas. (The sphere has radius ‘r’ and the cube
has the side as ‘a’). [2]
Question 6
(a) Solve the following quadratic equation: [4]
6x2-2x-4=0
(b) A company with 3500 shares of nominal value of Rs.110 each declares an
annual dividend of 15%. Calculate: [3]
(i) The total amount of dividend paid by the company.
(ii) The annual income of a shareholder holding 90 shares in the company.
(iii) If the share holder has received 5% on his investment. Calculate the price
he had paid for each share.
(c) Given that in the following matrices : [3]
A= p 3 B = 4 m
5 2 1 0
AB=A2 find the value of p and m.
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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Question 7
(a) Mr.Roy deposits Rs.1500.00 every month in a recurring deposit account for
four years at 8% per annum. Find the matured value. [3]
(b) Find the area of a triangle formed by the following equations: [4]
3x+4y-12=0 , 3x+15-5y=0 and y=0
(c) In the given figure, ABC and CEF are two triangles where BA is parallel to CE
and AF:AC=2:4. [3]
(i) Prove that triangle ADF is similar to triangle CEF.
(ii) Find AD if CE = 3 cm.
(iii) If DF is parallel to BC, then find the area of ADF : ABC.
A
D E F
B C
Question 8
(a) A man of height 2.2 mts is standing 20mts away from a flagstaff which is
mounted on a pillar of height 1.2 mt on the same plane ground. The angle of
depression at the base of the flagstaff is 30 degree and the angle of
elevation with the top of the flagstaff is 20 degrees. Calculate the height of
the top of the flagstaff from the plane ground. [3]
(b) Draw an ogive for the following distribution: [4]
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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House hold expenses (in thousand Rs) Number of families
5-10 250
10-15 210
15-20 180
20-25 150
25-30 130
30-35 100
35-40 40
(i) The median expenses.
(ii) The number of families whose expenses exceeds 25,000 rupees.
(iii) The lower and the upper quartiles.
(iv) The interquartile range.
(c) Mr.Rajesh has a basic salary of Rs. 22,000 per month and his benefits are 1.2
times of his basic salary. Calculate the income tax paid by Mr.Rajesh per year
in the year 2009-2010. [3]
Question 9
(a) Draw a triangle ABC with AB=6cm and BC=7cm and angle ABC = 105
degrees. Construct a triangle ZBC such that Z is equidistant from the points B
and C and equal in area to triangle ABC. [3]
(b) Construct a histogram with the following distribution. Find the mode and draw
the frequency polygon in the same graph. [4]
Monthly Income in Rs. No of employees
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10,000-18,000 20
18,000-26,000 25
26,000-34,000 20
34,000-42,000 18
42,000-50,000 10
50,000-58,000 6
58,000-66,000 3
(c) Prove that if two tangents are drawn from an external point to a circle, then:
(i) The tangents are equal in length.
(ii) The tangents subtend equal angles at the centre of the circle.
(iii) The tangents are equally inclined to the line joining the point and the
centre of the circle. [3]
Question 10.
(a) Prove the following identity: [3]
Sec4A(1-Sin4a)-2tan2A=1
(b) The height of a cylinder is four times the radius of its base. The cylinder is melt
into ten cubes . What is the ratio of the height of the cylinder to the side of
the cube. Keep your answer in the cube root format only. [4]
(c) Given that , f(x)= 7x2-5x+2 where x={-1,0,1,2,3}. Find [3]
(i) The values of f in roaster form.
(ii) Find x such that f=0
ICSE Sample paper
MATHEMATICS
(Two hours and a half)
Answer to this paper must be written in the paper provided separately. You will not be allowed to write
during the first 15 minutes. This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
Section I is compulsory. Attempt any four questions from Section-II. The intended marks are given in
brackets [ ].
Question 1.
(a) Sachin borrows an amount of Rs.50,000.00 as personal loan at the rate of 10%
interest compounded annually from ICICI bank in the year 2002. He has to repay
it in 36 equal monthly instalments. Calculate his monthly installments. [3]
(b) A disc is thrown once,
(i) What is the probability that the number is odd? [3]
(ii) Number is greater than 2?
(c) Find the roots of the equation: [4]
5x2-6x-7=0 to two decimal places.
Question 2.
(a) Find a and b for the matrix: [3]
a b 3 6
=
2a b 8 8
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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(b) In the figure below, calculate the area of the triangle OCD. AB is the diameter of
8cm and angle DAO is equal to angle DCO. [4]
D
C
A B
A
(c) Solve the inequation and represent the solution set on the number line. [3]
-2+x≤ 6x/3+2 ≤ 14/3+x
Question 3.
(a) Find the value of ‘m’ for the lines to be parallel to each other. [3]
3x+4y-7=0 and 4y+mx+8=0.
(b) In a graph, a line meets X axis at X and y-axis at Y. M is the point which
divides XY in the ratio 3:2. Find the co-ordinates of X and Y. The co-ordinate of
M is (-2,2). [4]
(c) Solve the equation for θ (0o <θ< 90o) [3]
2 cosec θ= 3 sec2θ
Question 4.
(a) Find the mean and median of the following distribution: [4]
Class Interval Frequency
O
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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0-10 12
10-20 8
20-30 13
30-40 16
40-50 15
(b) Calculate the area of the shaded portion. The circle of diameter 4cm is
embedded in an equilateral triangle. The point of tangency to the circle
bisects the side of the triangle. [3]
(c) Without using tables, evaluate: [3]
Sin 33o/Sec 57o +Cos 430/Cosec 470
SECTION B (40 Marks)
Question 5
(a) A function in x is defined as: [4]
F(θ)= 1/(Sin θ +Cos θ )+1/(Sin θ -Cos θ )-2Sin θ /(1-2Cos2 θ )
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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(i) Find the vale of f(300)
(ii) For F(θ)=0, prove that
2Sin θ /(1-2Cos2 θ )- 1/(Sin θ -Cos θ )= 1/(Sin θ +Cos θ )
(b) A shopkeeper bought a DVD player for Rs.2,000. He sells it at a profit of
20%. If the applicable VAT is 12.5% then calculate the following. [3]
(i) Amount paid by the customer.
(ii) VAT to be paid by the shopkeeper.
(c) A sphere and cube of equal volume have equal s volume. What is the rat
in the ratio of their surface areas. (The sphere has radius ‘r’ and the cube
has the side as ‘a’). [2]
Question 6
(a) Solve the following quadratic equation: [4]
6x2-2x-4=0
(b) A company with 3500 shares of nominal value of Rs.110 each declares an
annual dividend of 15%. Calculate: [3]
(i) The total amount of dividend paid by the company.
(ii) The annual income of a shareholder holding 90 shares in the company.
(iii) If the share holder has received 5% on his investment. Calculate the price
he had paid for each share.
(c) Given that in the following matrices : [3]
A= p 3 B = 4 m
5 2 1 0
AB=A2 find the value of p and m.
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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Question 7
(a) Mr.Roy deposits Rs.1500.00 every month in a recurring deposit account for
four years at 8% per annum. Find the matured value. [3]
(b) Find the area of a triangle formed by the following equations: [4]
3x+4y-12=0 , 3x+15-5y=0 and y=0
(c) In the given figure, ABC and CEF are two triangles where BA is parallel to CE
and AF:AC=2:4. [3]
(i) Prove that triangle ADF is similar to triangle CEF.
(ii) Find AD if CE = 3 cm.
(iii) If DF is parallel to BC, then find the area of ADF : ABC.
A
D E F
B C
Question 8
(a) A man of height 2.2 mts is standing 20mts away from a flagstaff which is
mounted on a pillar of height 1.2 mt on the same plane ground. The angle of
depression at the base of the flagstaff is 30 degree and the angle of
elevation with the top of the flagstaff is 20 degrees. Calculate the height of
the top of the flagstaff from the plane ground. [3]
(b) Draw an ogive for the following distribution: [4]
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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House hold expenses (in thousand Rs) Number of families
5-10 250
10-15 210
15-20 180
20-25 150
25-30 130
30-35 100
35-40 40
(i) The median expenses.
(ii) The number of families whose expenses exceeds 25,000 rupees.
(iii) The lower and the upper quartiles.
(iv) The interquartile range.
(c) Mr.Rajesh has a basic salary of Rs. 22,000 per month and his benefits are 1.2
times of his basic salary. Calculate the income tax paid by Mr.Rajesh per year
in the year 2009-2010. [3]
Question 9
(a) Draw a triangle ABC with AB=6cm and BC=7cm and angle ABC = 105
degrees. Construct a triangle ZBC such that Z is equidistant from the points B
and C and equal in area to triangle ABC. [3]
(b) Construct a histogram with the following distribution. Find the mode and draw
the frequency polygon in the same graph. [4]
Monthly Income in Rs. No of employees
Mathematics Model question Papers for ICSE
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10,000-18,000 20
18,000-26,000 25
26,000-34,000 20
34,000-42,000 18
42,000-50,000 10
50,000-58,000 6
58,000-66,000 3
(c) Prove that if two tangents are drawn from an external point to a circle, then:
(i) The tangents are equal in length.
(ii) The tangents subtend equal angles at the centre of the circle.
(iii) The tangents are equally inclined to the line joining the point and the
centre of the circle. [3]
Question 10.
(a) Prove the following identity: [3]
Sec4A(1-Sin4a)-2tan2A=1
(b) The height of a cylinder is four times the radius of its base. The cylinder is melt
into ten cubes . What is the ratio of the height of the cylinder to the side of
the cube. Keep your answer in the cube root format only. [4]
(c) Given that , f(x)= 7x2-5x+2 where x={-1,0,1,2,3}. Find [3]
(i) The values of f in roaster form.
(ii) Find x such that f=0
Chemistry Model question Papers for ICSE Xth standard
Chemistry Model question Papers for ICSE
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ICSE Sample paper
Chemistry.
(One hour and a half)
Answer to this paper must be written in the paper provided separately. You will not be allowed to write
during the first two 15 minutes. This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
Section I is compulsory. Attempt any four questions from Section-II. The intended marks are given in
brackets [ ].
SECTION- I (40 marks)
All questions are Compulsory.
1. Write balanced equation for the reactions: [5]
(a) Laboratory preparation of ammonia from ammonium chloride.
(b) Nitric acid from potassium nitrate.
(c) Hydrogen chloride is passed into cold water.
(d)Heated CuO reacts with ammonia.
(e) Propane gas burns in Chlorine.
2. State the following: [5]
(a) Avogardo’s law.
(b) Gay Lussac’s law.
(c) Boyle’s law.
3. State the following: [5]
(a) A gas with atomicity one.
(b) A hygroscopic acid.
(c) A gas with a pungent smell which decolorizes.
(d) Two ores of iron.
(e) Chemical name of alum.
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4. A gas in a container of volume 10cm3 under pressure 2 bar is allowed to expand
under a pressure of 4 bar. What will be the volume of the gas after expansion?
[4]
5. (i) What is an alloy? [4]
(ii) What is the special property of Duralumin, Type Metal.
6. How many valence electrons are present in metals and non-metals? [2]
7. Give the formula of Bauxite, Cryolite, Haematite and Calamine. [2]
8. (i) Name the metal which is liquid at room temperature. [2]
(ii) An allotrope of carbon which conducts electricity.
9. How will you distinguish between: [3]
(i) Ethane and Ethene.
(ii) Ethene and Ethyne.
(iii) Ethane and Ethyne.
10. The element M has the electronic configuration 2,8,8,1. Answer the following: [2]
(i) The sign and charge of on the simple ion M.
(ii) What is the color of flame test on M.
11. The compound X is a Hydrocarbon containing 20% hydrogen. What is the
empirical formula of X. [3].
12. (i) Name a nitrate which on heating gives oxygen as the only gaseous product.
[3]
(ii) An organic liquid which bursts into flames on addition of concentrated
Nitric acid.
(iii) A drying agent which forms addition compound with ammonia.
SECTION-II (40 marks)
(Attempt and FOUR questions)
13. (a)Why the color of Copper Sulphate solution slowly disappears using Platinum
electrodes, but the color of the solution does not change if Copper electrodes
are used? [4]
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(b) What do you observe when (i) Lead Nitrate is heated. (ii) Sulphur dioxide gas
is passed through lime water in excess. Explain with chemical equation. [4]
(c) Calculate the percentage of Chlorine in Ammoniym Chloroplatinate. [2]
[ H=1,N=14, O=16, Pt=195, Cl=35.5,]
14. (a) Define the term ionization energy? Explain how it varies in a group along a
period? [4]
(b) Name the principal ore from which (i) iron and (ii) Aluminum are obtained.[2]
(c) Explain how the impurities in iron and aluminium ores are removed ? [4]
15. (a)Explain with equations, manufacturing of Nitric acid by Ostwald process. [4]
(b)Calculate the percentage of Calcium in Ca(H2PO4)2 [2]
(c) Explain with equation, the manufacture of sulphuric acid by contact process.
[4]
16. (a) Complete the following ionic equation and state which one is
oxidation/reduction. [4]
(i) Fe++ ------------- Fe+++
(ii) Pb+4--------- Pb+2
(iii) 4OH- --------- 2H2 + O2.
(iv) Cl2 -------------- 2Cl-
(b) During electroplating, explain why [6]
(i) A direct current is used.
(ii) Anode is the material which will electroplate
(ii) The article to be electroplated should always be the cathode.
17. (a) The pressure of one mole of gas at S.T.P. is doubled and the temperature is
raised to 600 K. What is the final volume of the gas? [3]
(b) The atoms X and Y have electronic configuration 2,8,18,2 and 2,6
respectively. [2]
(i) To which periods X and Y belong?
(ii) To which groups X and Y belong?
( c) Why the pink colored solution of KMnO4 decolorizes when SO2 gas is passed
through it? Explain with equations.
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[4]
(d) Mention one use of oxy acetylene flame. [1]
18. (a) Explain why moist blue litmus paper first turns red and then colorless when
comes in contact with chlorine gas? [3]
(b) Why rain water contains traces of Nitric acid? [3]
(c) Explain with a suitable sketch, the extraction of Aluminum by the process of
Electrolysis. [4]
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ICSE Sample paper
Chemistry.
(One hour and a half)
Answer to this paper must be written in the paper provided separately. You will not be allowed to write
during the first two 15 minutes. This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
Section I is compulsory. Attempt any four questions from Section-II. The intended marks are given in
brackets [ ].
SECTION- I (40 marks)
All questions are Compulsory.
1. Write balanced equation for the reactions: [5]
(a) Laboratory preparation of ammonia from ammonium chloride.
(b) Nitric acid from potassium nitrate.
(c) Hydrogen chloride is passed into cold water.
(d)Heated CuO reacts with ammonia.
(e) Propane gas burns in Chlorine.
2. State the following: [5]
(a) Avogardo’s law.
(b) Gay Lussac’s law.
(c) Boyle’s law.
3. State the following: [5]
(a) A gas with atomicity one.
(b) A hygroscopic acid.
(c) A gas with a pungent smell which decolorizes.
(d) Two ores of iron.
(e) Chemical name of alum.
Chemistry Model question Papers for ICSE
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4. A gas in a container of volume 10cm3 under pressure 2 bar is allowed to expand
under a pressure of 4 bar. What will be the volume of the gas after expansion?
[4]
5. (i) What is an alloy? [4]
(ii) What is the special property of Duralumin, Type Metal.
6. How many valence electrons are present in metals and non-metals? [2]
7. Give the formula of Bauxite, Cryolite, Haematite and Calamine. [2]
8. (i) Name the metal which is liquid at room temperature. [2]
(ii) An allotrope of carbon which conducts electricity.
9. How will you distinguish between: [3]
(i) Ethane and Ethene.
(ii) Ethene and Ethyne.
(iii) Ethane and Ethyne.
10. The element M has the electronic configuration 2,8,8,1. Answer the following: [2]
(i) The sign and charge of on the simple ion M.
(ii) What is the color of flame test on M.
11. The compound X is a Hydrocarbon containing 20% hydrogen. What is the
empirical formula of X. [3].
12. (i) Name a nitrate which on heating gives oxygen as the only gaseous product.
[3]
(ii) An organic liquid which bursts into flames on addition of concentrated
Nitric acid.
(iii) A drying agent which forms addition compound with ammonia.
SECTION-II (40 marks)
(Attempt and FOUR questions)
13. (a)Why the color of Copper Sulphate solution slowly disappears using Platinum
electrodes, but the color of the solution does not change if Copper electrodes
are used? [4]
Chemistry Model question Papers for ICSE
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(b) What do you observe when (i) Lead Nitrate is heated. (ii) Sulphur dioxide gas
is passed through lime water in excess. Explain with chemical equation. [4]
(c) Calculate the percentage of Chlorine in Ammoniym Chloroplatinate. [2]
[ H=1,N=14, O=16, Pt=195, Cl=35.5,]
14. (a) Define the term ionization energy? Explain how it varies in a group along a
period? [4]
(b) Name the principal ore from which (i) iron and (ii) Aluminum are obtained.[2]
(c) Explain how the impurities in iron and aluminium ores are removed ? [4]
15. (a)Explain with equations, manufacturing of Nitric acid by Ostwald process. [4]
(b)Calculate the percentage of Calcium in Ca(H2PO4)2 [2]
(c) Explain with equation, the manufacture of sulphuric acid by contact process.
[4]
16. (a) Complete the following ionic equation and state which one is
oxidation/reduction. [4]
(i) Fe++ ------------- Fe+++
(ii) Pb+4--------- Pb+2
(iii) 4OH- --------- 2H2 + O2.
(iv) Cl2 -------------- 2Cl-
(b) During electroplating, explain why [6]
(i) A direct current is used.
(ii) Anode is the material which will electroplate
(ii) The article to be electroplated should always be the cathode.
17. (a) The pressure of one mole of gas at S.T.P. is doubled and the temperature is
raised to 600 K. What is the final volume of the gas? [3]
(b) The atoms X and Y have electronic configuration 2,8,18,2 and 2,6
respectively. [2]
(i) To which periods X and Y belong?
(ii) To which groups X and Y belong?
( c) Why the pink colored solution of KMnO4 decolorizes when SO2 gas is passed
through it? Explain with equations.
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[4]
(d) Mention one use of oxy acetylene flame. [1]
18. (a) Explain why moist blue litmus paper first turns red and then colorless when
comes in contact with chlorine gas? [3]
(b) Why rain water contains traces of Nitric acid? [3]
(c) Explain with a suitable sketch, the extraction of Aluminum by the process of
Electrolysis. [4]
Friday, July 16, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
ICSE English Grammar Asides #6 Most commonly used Verbs with Prepositions
Most commonly used Verbs with Prepositions
Part One
Preposition Meaning/Usage
absorbed in --lost in something, immersed in
adapt to-- to adjust
adverse to --unfavourable , not in the interest of
afraid of ----scared
agree to--- agree to (something) We agreed to their proposal.
agree with ---(someone) We agreed with them.
alert to-- quick to perceive, wary of
ask for --to enquire
apart from ---In addition to, separate
attentive of ---giving attention to
aware of-- know, to have prior knowledge
back out--- withdraw, unable to keep a word
back up-- to give support, assist
blind to-- Ignorant of. He is blind to his friend’s flaws.
bound for travelling to. The ship is bound for Karachi.
bound to certain to, probable, likely to
-
break in To enter forcefully( as in burglary)
-
break into Weep, break into tears
break off to stop, to discontinue
break out start suddenly. Cholera broke out in the village. The war broke out.
bring out to reveal , bring before the public for the first time
bring up to bring up the children, raise a topic
burn down burn completely particularly buildings or establishments.
call for demand
call off cancel
capitalize on to take advantage of
carry on continue
carry out to execute , perform
clear up to solve a mystery/problem
compare to comparison between two things
compare with find similarity or difference from
congratulate on express congratulation
concentrate on to fix attention
conducive to helpful, favourable
confidence in have confidence in somebody
confine to confined
contrary to opposite/ as against something
contribute to add to
conversant with Familiar with
convert into change the form , transform
count on rely/depend upon
cut down to reduce
deal in to do business. My father deals in antiques.
deal with handles, manages
Part One
Preposition Meaning/Usage
absorbed in --lost in something, immersed in
adapt to-- to adjust
adverse to --unfavourable , not in the interest of
afraid of ----scared
agree to--- agree to (something) We agreed to their proposal.
agree with ---(someone) We agreed with them.
alert to-- quick to perceive, wary of
ask for --to enquire
apart from ---In addition to, separate
attentive of ---giving attention to
aware of-- know, to have prior knowledge
back out--- withdraw, unable to keep a word
back up-- to give support, assist
blind to-- Ignorant of. He is blind to his friend’s flaws.
bound for travelling to. The ship is bound for Karachi.
bound to certain to, probable, likely to
-
break in To enter forcefully( as in burglary)
-
break into Weep, break into tears
break off to stop, to discontinue
break out start suddenly. Cholera broke out in the village. The war broke out.
bring out to reveal , bring before the public for the first time
bring up to bring up the children, raise a topic
burn down burn completely particularly buildings or establishments.
call for demand
call off cancel
capitalize on to take advantage of
carry on continue
carry out to execute , perform
clear up to solve a mystery/problem
compare to comparison between two things
compare with find similarity or difference from
congratulate on express congratulation
concentrate on to fix attention
conducive to helpful, favourable
confidence in have confidence in somebody
confine to confined
contrary to opposite/ as against something
contribute to add to
conversant with Familiar with
convert into change the form , transform
count on rely/depend upon
cut down to reduce
deal in to do business. My father deals in antiques.
deal with handles, manages
English Grammar Model Paper English Paper I Model ICSE March 2010 Answers
ENGLISH Paper 1 Answer Key/Marking Scheme
Question 2
Select any one of the following: [Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question] [10]
(a) Your brother had passed the Class X examinations with 85% marks. However he is unable to decide which stream of course he should pursue in Class XI; Maths, Science or English. He had written a letter to you regarding this. Reply to his letter suggesting the stream. Give reasons for your suggestion.
-1- Format Personal Letter
-2- Reference to the brother’s letter.
-3- brother had passed the Class X examinations with 85% marks.
-4- unable to decide which stream of course he should pursue in Class XI.
-5- Suggestion of the stream.
-6- Reason for the suggestion of the stream.
-7- Informal Style
(b) Your village lacks good health services and the people are facing a lot of difficulty due to this. Write a letter to the Chief Medical Officer of your district requesting him to open a Primary Health Center (PHC) in the village.
-1- Format Official Letter
-2- Lack of good health service in the village (name of the village)
-3- Difficulties faced by the villagers
-4- Instances of difficulties.
-5- Need for good health services.
-6- Benefits for the villagers.
-7- Request to the Chief Medical Officer of your district. To open a PRC.
-8- Formal Style.
Question 3
(a) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. One word answers as well as short phrases are accepted. [3]
1. Supportive = helpful
2. Reflect = to give out; to express; to mirror
3. Compassion = pity, sympathy, fellow feeing.
(c) Answer the following questions as briefly as possible in your own words.
The children should write in their own words. If they simply lift from the passage only 50% of the marks should awarded. Relevant points in the answers are more important than grammatical correctness or spelling mistakes. Penalise the mistake but not very severely.
1. When did God create teachers? Why is this creation a tremendous responsibility? [2]
-1- His sixth day of 'overtime'.
-2- teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionable young children.
2. What are the specifications for teacher? [3]
TEACHER:
-1- …must stand above all students, yet be on their level
-2- ... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught
-3- ... must run on coffee and leftovers,
-4- ... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time
-5- ... must have more time for others than for herself/himself
-6- ... must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents
-7- ... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive
-8- ... must have 6 pair of hands.
-9- Must have three pairs of eyes.
-10- compassionate
3. What is presenting the most difficulty to God? Why does a teacher want three eyes? [2]
-1- three pairs of eyes
-2- “One pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labeled him as.
-3- Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher's head to see what should not be seen, but what must be known.
-4- The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as he/she 'acts out' in order to reflect, “I understand and I still believe in you", without so much as saying a word to the child."
4. What is the teacher’s tear for? [3]
-1- for the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even the smallest task.
-2- for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in
-3- for compassion for the feelings of their parents
-4- comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feel in themselves.
-5- comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say good-bye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class."
(c) In not more than 60 words summarise the passage given. [10]
-1- God and His angel on Creation of the teacher.
-2- Teacher’s importance- influence over the children.
-3- Specifications;
-a- must stand above all students, yet be on their level
-b- ... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught
-c- ... must run on coffee and leftovers,
-d- ... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time
-e- ... must have more time for others than for herself/himself
-f- ... must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents
-g- ... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive
-h- ... must have 6 pair of hands.
-i- Must have three pairs of eyes.
-j- Compassionate
-4- The use of the three pairs of eyes.
-5- How and why the tears.
All the points mentioned above need not be; use your discretion in this regard.
-a- If the summary is between 58 and 62 words, value it a 10 marks.
-b- If the summary is between 55 and 65 words, value it at 8 marks.
-c- If the summary is below 55 and above 65 words, awards only zero marks.
-d- The children should write in their own words. Relevant points in the answers are more important than grammatical correctness or spelling mistakes. Penalise the mistake but not very severely
A Model Summary
God and His angel discuss the importance of the teacher’s creation. Teachers influence children. A teacher should simultaneously be with the children and above them; he should survive on meager resources, do multitasking, a good communicator, selfless, compassionate, hardworking, and able to understand and support students and their parents.. He is delighted at a student’s success and helpful in failure.
(d) Give a fitting title for your summary and justify the choice of the title. [2]
-1- Any suitable title 1 mark
-2- Justification 1 mark.
Question 4
(a) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes necessary; do not change the meaning of any of the sentence. [10]
1. Why did Renuka skip the test?
(Change the voice)
Why was the test skipped by Renuka?
2. “Did you understand the poem well yesterday?” the teacher asks.
(Begin: The teacher asked….)
The teacher asked whether/if I/we had understood the poem the previous day.
3. He snatched the ball from him and scored a goal.
(Begin: Not only…..)
Not only did he snatch the ball from him but also scored a goal.
4. The Kotla grounds were too damaged to conduct the match.
(Use: so….that)
The Kotla grounds were so damaged that it was not possible conduct the match.
5. Though skilled in painting, he was not admitted to the competition.
(Begin: Despite…)
-1- Despite being skilled in painting, he was not admitted to the competition.
-2- Despite his skill in painting, he was not admitted to the competition.
6. As soon as the match started, the crowd turned violent.
(Begin: No sooner….)
-1- No sooner did the match start than the crowd turned violent.
-2- No sooner had the match started than the crowd turned violent.
7. Ajay is very popular in the class as he is intelligent.
Ajay’s intelligence makes him very popular in the class.
(Use the noun form of ‘intelligent’)
8. ‘The Hurt Locker’ is one of the best films released this year.
(Use: good)
9. He saw the car rushing towards him and leapt aside.
(Begin: Having……)
Having seen the car rushing towards him, he leapt aside.
10.The police are looking into the matter.
(Provide a suitable question tag)
The police are looking into the matter, aren’t they?
(b) Complete the following paragraph with the suitable form of the verb given in the brackets. Do not copy the paragraph. Write only your answers with the correct number of the blank [5]
Example: ……0…….; 0 = answering
Once you get the question paper, evaluate the entire paper. Do not rush into……0……. (answer). Select questions you are very sure of marks; the ones you want to answer. ……1……. (answer) questions that you find easy because that gives you confidence and also time to take the rest of the exams. ……2……. (peace). When you have a choice, make sure that you select problems because they can be. ……3……. (solve) in a shorter span of time and you can be sure of full marks. But if you are not sure of problems then select paragraph answers.
. ……4……. (time) your paper and. ……5……. (sure) that you complete at least 10 minutes before the due time. After. ……6……. (answer) every question take a minute to revise the answer. This would be useful in case you don’t find time to review your answer sheet ……7……. (late). After. ……8……. (complete) the answers revise. Revision is. ……9……. (extreme) critical because it can help you identify mistakes and. ……10…. (correct) them.
And finally after the exam, please understand that you cannot do anything about the way you have answered, just relax and wait for the results
1. Answer
2. peacefully
3. solved
4. Time
5. ensure
6. answering
7. later
8. completing
9. extremely
10. correct
(c) Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions. [5]
a. Aurangzeb was the descendant of Shajahan.
b. The rescuers ran short of adequate assistance.
c. We should attribute our success to our teachers and parents.
d. The Minister resigned from.the cabinet due to ill health.
e. The flood victims were resigned to their fate.
f. The Gazette is available for reference in the library.
g. We should avail of every opportunity to succeed.
h. When the car broke down, we had to walk home.
i. The curfew was imposed on all areas of the city
j. We should try our best to be true to our principles.
Question 2
Select any one of the following: [Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question] [10]
(a) Your brother had passed the Class X examinations with 85% marks. However he is unable to decide which stream of course he should pursue in Class XI; Maths, Science or English. He had written a letter to you regarding this. Reply to his letter suggesting the stream. Give reasons for your suggestion.
-1- Format Personal Letter
-2- Reference to the brother’s letter.
-3- brother had passed the Class X examinations with 85% marks.
-4- unable to decide which stream of course he should pursue in Class XI.
-5- Suggestion of the stream.
-6- Reason for the suggestion of the stream.
-7- Informal Style
(b) Your village lacks good health services and the people are facing a lot of difficulty due to this. Write a letter to the Chief Medical Officer of your district requesting him to open a Primary Health Center (PHC) in the village.
-1- Format Official Letter
-2- Lack of good health service in the village (name of the village)
-3- Difficulties faced by the villagers
-4- Instances of difficulties.
-5- Need for good health services.
-6- Benefits for the villagers.
-7- Request to the Chief Medical Officer of your district. To open a PRC.
-8- Formal Style.
Question 3
(a) Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. One word answers as well as short phrases are accepted. [3]
1. Supportive = helpful
2. Reflect = to give out; to express; to mirror
3. Compassion = pity, sympathy, fellow feeing.
(c) Answer the following questions as briefly as possible in your own words.
The children should write in their own words. If they simply lift from the passage only 50% of the marks should awarded. Relevant points in the answers are more important than grammatical correctness or spelling mistakes. Penalise the mistake but not very severely.
1. When did God create teachers? Why is this creation a tremendous responsibility? [2]
-1- His sixth day of 'overtime'.
-2- teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionable young children.
2. What are the specifications for teacher? [3]
TEACHER:
-1- …must stand above all students, yet be on their level
-2- ... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught
-3- ... must run on coffee and leftovers,
-4- ... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time
-5- ... must have more time for others than for herself/himself
-6- ... must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents
-7- ... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive
-8- ... must have 6 pair of hands.
-9- Must have three pairs of eyes.
-10- compassionate
3. What is presenting the most difficulty to God? Why does a teacher want three eyes? [2]
-1- three pairs of eyes
-2- “One pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labeled him as.
-3- Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher's head to see what should not be seen, but what must be known.
-4- The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as he/she 'acts out' in order to reflect, “I understand and I still believe in you", without so much as saying a word to the child."
4. What is the teacher’s tear for? [3]
-1- for the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even the smallest task.
-2- for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in
-3- for compassion for the feelings of their parents
-4- comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feel in themselves.
-5- comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say good-bye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class."
(c) In not more than 60 words summarise the passage given. [10]
-1- God and His angel on Creation of the teacher.
-2- Teacher’s importance- influence over the children.
-3- Specifications;
-a- must stand above all students, yet be on their level
-b- ... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught
-c- ... must run on coffee and leftovers,
-d- ... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time
-e- ... must have more time for others than for herself/himself
-f- ... must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents
-g- ... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive
-h- ... must have 6 pair of hands.
-i- Must have three pairs of eyes.
-j- Compassionate
-4- The use of the three pairs of eyes.
-5- How and why the tears.
All the points mentioned above need not be; use your discretion in this regard.
-a- If the summary is between 58 and 62 words, value it a 10 marks.
-b- If the summary is between 55 and 65 words, value it at 8 marks.
-c- If the summary is below 55 and above 65 words, awards only zero marks.
-d- The children should write in their own words. Relevant points in the answers are more important than grammatical correctness or spelling mistakes. Penalise the mistake but not very severely
A Model Summary
God and His angel discuss the importance of the teacher’s creation. Teachers influence children. A teacher should simultaneously be with the children and above them; he should survive on meager resources, do multitasking, a good communicator, selfless, compassionate, hardworking, and able to understand and support students and their parents.. He is delighted at a student’s success and helpful in failure.
(d) Give a fitting title for your summary and justify the choice of the title. [2]
-1- Any suitable title 1 mark
-2- Justification 1 mark.
Question 4
(a) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes necessary; do not change the meaning of any of the sentence. [10]
1. Why did Renuka skip the test?
(Change the voice)
Why was the test skipped by Renuka?
2. “Did you understand the poem well yesterday?” the teacher asks.
(Begin: The teacher asked….)
The teacher asked whether/if I/we had understood the poem the previous day.
3. He snatched the ball from him and scored a goal.
(Begin: Not only…..)
Not only did he snatch the ball from him but also scored a goal.
4. The Kotla grounds were too damaged to conduct the match.
(Use: so….that)
The Kotla grounds were so damaged that it was not possible conduct the match.
5. Though skilled in painting, he was not admitted to the competition.
(Begin: Despite…)
-1- Despite being skilled in painting, he was not admitted to the competition.
-2- Despite his skill in painting, he was not admitted to the competition.
6. As soon as the match started, the crowd turned violent.
(Begin: No sooner….)
-1- No sooner did the match start than the crowd turned violent.
-2- No sooner had the match started than the crowd turned violent.
7. Ajay is very popular in the class as he is intelligent.
Ajay’s intelligence makes him very popular in the class.
(Use the noun form of ‘intelligent’)
8. ‘The Hurt Locker’ is one of the best films released this year.
(Use: good)
9. He saw the car rushing towards him and leapt aside.
(Begin: Having……)
Having seen the car rushing towards him, he leapt aside.
10.The police are looking into the matter.
(Provide a suitable question tag)
The police are looking into the matter, aren’t they?
(b) Complete the following paragraph with the suitable form of the verb given in the brackets. Do not copy the paragraph. Write only your answers with the correct number of the blank [5]
Example: ……0…….; 0 = answering
Once you get the question paper, evaluate the entire paper. Do not rush into……0……. (answer). Select questions you are very sure of marks; the ones you want to answer. ……1……. (answer) questions that you find easy because that gives you confidence and also time to take the rest of the exams. ……2……. (peace). When you have a choice, make sure that you select problems because they can be. ……3……. (solve) in a shorter span of time and you can be sure of full marks. But if you are not sure of problems then select paragraph answers.
. ……4……. (time) your paper and. ……5……. (sure) that you complete at least 10 minutes before the due time. After. ……6……. (answer) every question take a minute to revise the answer. This would be useful in case you don’t find time to review your answer sheet ……7……. (late). After. ……8……. (complete) the answers revise. Revision is. ……9……. (extreme) critical because it can help you identify mistakes and. ……10…. (correct) them.
And finally after the exam, please understand that you cannot do anything about the way you have answered, just relax and wait for the results
1. Answer
2. peacefully
3. solved
4. Time
5. ensure
6. answering
7. later
8. completing
9. extremely
10. correct
(c) Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions. [5]
a. Aurangzeb was the descendant of Shajahan.
b. The rescuers ran short of adequate assistance.
c. We should attribute our success to our teachers and parents.
d. The Minister resigned from.the cabinet due to ill health.
e. The flood victims were resigned to their fate.
f. The Gazette is available for reference in the library.
g. We should avail of every opportunity to succeed.
h. When the car broke down, we had to walk home.
i. The curfew was imposed on all areas of the city
j. We should try our best to be true to our principles.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Hello everyone,
Recently while listening to the summaries of students from the 8th Standard,I was amused to see that most students thought that Shelley was a female.I thought it would be a good idea to put something about Shelley in here.So here goes.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
(4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822; was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron. The novelist Mary Shelley was his second wife.
He is most famous for such classic anthology verse works as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, and The Masque of Anarchy, which are among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language. His major works, however, are long visionary poems which included Alastor, Adonaïs, The Revolt of Islam, and the unfinished work The Triumph of Life. The Cenci (1819) and Prometheus Unbound (1820) were dramatic plays in five and four acts respectively. He wrote the Gothic novels Zastrozzi (1810) and St. Irvyne (1811) and the short works The Assassins (1814) and The Coliseum (1817).
Shelley's unconventional life and uncompromising idealism, combined with his strong disapproving voice, made him an authoritative and much-denigrated figure during his life and afterward. Shelley never lived to see the extent of his success and influence. Some of his works were published, but they were often suppressed upon publication. Up until his death, with approximately 50 readers as his audience, it is said he made no more than 40 pounds from his writings.
He became an idol of the next three or even four generations of poets, including the important Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets. He was admired by Karl Marx, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Upton Sinclair, Isadora DuncanHYPERLINK \l "cite_note-Isadora_Duncan_1996.2C_pp._15.2C_134-2"[3], and Jiddu Krishnamurti ("Shelley is as sacred as the Bible.")[4] Henry David Thoreau's civil disobedience and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's passive resistance were influenced and inspired by Shelley's nonviolence in protest and political action.[5]
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
A Pair Of Mustachios
A Pair of Mustachios
- Mulk Raj Anand
mustachiou / / queer / / striped / /
laundered / / bankruptcy / /
mJ'st&SiJu kwIJ straIpt
'lO;ndJd 'b&NkrVptsi
22
Mulk Raj Anand, (1905-2004) is one of the best known Indian writers of fiction in
English. This prominent Indian author of novels, short stories, and critical essays in English,
is known for his realistic and sympathetic portrayal of the poor in India. He is considered a
founder of the English-language Indian novel. His first main novel, Untouchable, published
in 1935, was a chilling description of the day-to-day life of a member of India's untouchable
caste. In Anand's second novel, Coolie (1936), he continues to describe the plight of India's
poor by telling of a 15-year-old boy, trapped in servitude as a child labourer, who eventually
dies of tuberculosis. He wrote 19 novels. 12 collections of short stories and 30 other library
works. His well known short stories are 'the lost child,' 'A pair of mustachios, 'Old Bapu',
'Lajwanti The Barber'sTrade union' and 'TheTrader and the Corn Goddess'
The story 'A pair of mustacheos' is a light, humorous but thought provoking
representation of how people attach false motives to the things which they do not
belong to. The story may be divided in two parts. The first relates the author's own
statement of the types of mustachios popular in India, while the second narrates a
satirical story of a person who claims himself of a feudal descent. Victim of false
pride of his descent, the person loses all he had to get lowered down the mustachios of
a grocerwhomhe considers not entitled to wear the upright mustachios like his.
There are various kinds of mustachios worn in my country to make the boundries
between the various classes of people. Outsiders may think it stupid to lay down, or rather to
raise, lines of demarcationof this kind, but we are notorious in the whole world for sticking to
our queer old conventions, prides and prejudices, even as the Chinese or the Americans, or,
for that matter, the English… And, at any rate, some people may think it easier and more
convenient to wear permanent boundary-lines like mustachios, which only need a smear of
grease to keep them bright and shiny, rather than to wear frock coats, striped trousers and top
hats, which constantly need to be laundered and drycleaned, and the maintenance of which is
already leading to the bankruptcyof the European ruling classes.With them clothes make the
man, but to us mustachios make the man. So we prefer the various styles of mustachios to
make the differences between the classes …..
And very unique and poetical symbols they are too. For instance, there is the famous
lion mustache, the fearsome upstanding symbol of that great order of resplendent Rajas,
Maharajas, Nababs and English army generals who are so well known for their devotion to
the King Emperor. Then there is the tiger mustache, the uncanny, several-pointed mustache
1
185
worn by the unbending, unchanging survivals from the ranks of the feudal gentry who have
nothing left but the pride in their greatness and a few mementos of past glory, scrolls of
honour, granted by the former Emperors, a few gold trinkets, heirlooms and bits of land. Next
there is the goat mustache a rather unsure brand, worn by the nouveau riche, the new
commercial bourgeoisie and the shopkeeper class somehow don't belong an indifferent, thin
little line of a mustache, worn so that its tips can be turned up or down as the occasion demands
a show of power to some coolie or humility to a prosperous client. There is the Charlie Chaplin
mustache worn by the lower middle class, by clerks and professional men, a kind of half-andhalf
affair, deliberately designed as a compromise between the traditional full mustache and
the cleanshaven Curzon cut of the Sahibs and the Barristers, because the Babus are not sure
whether the Sahibs like them to keep mustachios at all. There is the sheep mustache of the
coolie and the lower orders, the mouse mustache of the peasants, and so on.
In fact, there are endless styles of mustachios, all appropriate to the wearers and
indicative of the various orders, as rigorously adhered to as if they had all been patented by the
Government of India or sanctioned by special appointment with His Majesty the King or Her
Majesty the Queen. And any poaching on the style of one class by members of another is
interpreted by certain authorities as being indicative of the increasing jealousy with which
each class is guarding its rights and privileges in regard to the mark of the mustachio.
Of course, the analysis of the expert is rather too abstract, and not all the murders can
be traced to this cause, but certainly it is true that the preferences of the people in regard to their
mustachios are causing a lot of trouble in our parts. For instance, there was a rumpus in my
own village the other day about a pair of mustachios.
It so happened that Seth Ramanand, the grocer and money-lender, who had been doing
well out of the recent fall on the price of wheat by buying up whole crops cheap from the hardpresse peasants and then selling grain at higher prices, took it into his head to twist the goat
mustache, integral to his order and position in society, at the tips, so that it looked nearly like a
tiger mustache.
Nobody seemed to mind very much, because most of the mouse mustached peasants in
our village are beholden of the grocer, either because they owe him interest on a loan, or an
instalment on a mortgage of jewellery or land. Besides, the Seth had been careful enough to
twist his mustache so that it seemed nearly though not quite like a tiger mustache.
But there lives in the vicinity of our village, in an old, dilapidated Moghul style house,
a Mussulman named Khan Azam Khan, who claims descent from an ancient Afgham family
whose heads were noblemen and councilors in the Court of the Great Moghuls. Khan Azam
Khan, a tall, middle-aged man is a handsome and dignified person, and he wears a tiger
mustache and remains adorned with the faded remanants of a gold-brocaded waistcoat,
though he hasn't even a patch of land left.
Some people, notably the landlord of our village and the moneylender,
is merely the bluff of a
rascal. Others like the priest of the temple, concede that his ancestors were certainly attached
to the court of the Great Moghuls, but as menial workers. The landlord, the money-lender and
the priest are manifestly jealous of anyone's long ancestry, however, because they have all
maliciously
say that he is an impostor, and that all his talk about his blue blood
mementos / / nouveau riche / / bourgeoisie / /
rigorously / / dilapidated / /
mJ'mentJU nu;vJU 'ri;S bUJZwA;'zi;
'rIgJrJs dI'l&pIdeItId
186
risen form nothing, and it is obvious from the stately ruins around KhanAzam Khan's pride is
greatly in excess of his present possessions, and he is inordinately jealous of his old
privileges and rather foolish and headstrong in safeguarding every sacred brick of his
tottering house against vandalism.
Khan Azam Khan happened to go to the moneylender's shop to pawn his wife's gold
nose-ring one morning and he noticed the upturning tendency of the hair on Ramanand's
upper lip which made the grocer's goat mustache look almost like his own tiger mustache.
'Since when have the lentil-eating shopkeepers become noblemen?' he asked surlily,
even before he had shown the nose-ring to the grocer.
'I don't know what you mean, Khan,' Ramanand answered.
'You Know what I mean', said the Khan 'Look at the way you have turned the tips of
your mustache upwards. It almost looks like my tiger mustache. Turn the tips down to the
style proper to the goat that you are! Fancy the airs of the traders now a days!'
'Oh, Khan, don't get so excited,' said the money lender, who was nothing if he was not
amenable, having built up his business on the maxim that the customer is always right.
'I tell you, turn the tip of your mustache down if you value your life!' raged Khan
Azam Khan.
'If that is all the trouble, here you are,' said Ramanand, brushing one end of his
mustache with his oily hand so that it dropped like a deadfly. 'Come, show me the trinkets.
Howmuch do you want for them?'
Now that Khan Azam Khan's pride was appeased, he was like soft wax in the
merchant's sure hand. His need, and the need of his family for food, was great, and he humbly
accepted the value which the grocer put on his wife's nose-ring.
But as he was departing, after negotiating his business, he noticed that though one end
of the grocer's mustache had come down at his behest, the other end was stil up.
'A, strange trick you have played on me,' the Khan said.
'I have paid you the best value for your trinket, Khan, that any money-lender will pay
in these parts,' the grocer said, 'especially, in these days when the Sarkars of the whole world
are threatening to go off the gold standard.
'It has nothing to do with the trinket,' saidAzam Khan, 'but one end of your mustache
is still up like my tiger mustache though you have brought down the other 'as your proper
goat's style. Bring that other end down also, so that there is no apeing by your mustache of
mine.
'Now, Khan,' said the grocer 'I humbled myself because you are doing business with
me.You can't expect me to become a mere worm just because you have pawned a trinket with
me. If you were pledging some more expensive jewellery, I might consider obliging you a
little more. Anyhow, my humble milk-skimmer doesn't look a bit like your valiant tiger
mustache,'
4
1
maliciously / / menial / / ruins / /
vandalism / / surlily / /
mJ'lISJs 'mi;niJl 'ru;In
'v&ndJlIzJm 's3;rli
187
'Bring that tip down!' Khan Azam Khan roared, for the more he had looked at the
grocer's mustache the more the still upturned tip seemed to him like an effort at an initiation
of his own.
'Now, be sensible, Khan,' the money-lender said waving his hand with an
imperturbable calm.
'I tell you, turn that tip down or I shall wring your neek,' said the Khan.
'All right, the next time you come to do business with me I shall bring that tip down,'
answered the money-lender cunningly.
'That is fair,' said Chaudhri Chottu Ram, the landlord of the village, who was sitting
under the tree opposite.
'To be sure!To be sure!' some peasants chimed in sheepishly.
KhanAzam Khan managed to control his murderous impulses and walked away. But
he could not quell his pride, the pride of the generations of his ancestors who had worn the
tiger mustache as a mark of their position. To see the symbol of his honour imitated by a
grocer this was too much for him. He went home and fetched a necklace which had come
down to his family through seven generations and, placing it before the grocer said:
'Now will you bring that tip of your mustache down?'
'By all means, Khan' said the grocer 'But let us see about this necklace. How much do
you want for it?'
'Any price will do, so long as you bring the tip of your mustache down,' answered
Azam Khan.
After they had settled the business the money-lender said: 'Now Khan, I shall carry
out your will.'And he ceremoniously brushed the upturned tip of his mustache down.
As Azam Khan was walking away, however, he noticed that the other tip of the
grocer's mustache had now gone up and stooddubiously like the upturned end of his own
exalted tiger mustache. He turned on his feet and shouted:
'I shall kill you if you don't brush that mustache into the shape appropriate to your
position as a lentil-eating grocer!'
'Now, now, Khan, come to your senses. You know it is only the illusion of a tiger's
mustache and nowhere like your brave and wonderful adornment,'said the greasy moneylender.
'I tell you I won't have you insulting the insignia of my order!' shouted Azam Khan.
'You bring that tip down!'
'I wouldn't do it, Khan, even if you pawned all the jewellery you possess to me,' said
the money-lender.
'I would rather I lost all my remaining worldly possessions, my pots and pans, my
clothes, even my houses, than see the tip of your mustache turned up like that!' spluttered
2
jewellery / / fetched / / insignia / /
imperturbable / / exalted / /
'dZu;Jlri fetSed In'sIgniJ
%ImpJ't3;bJbl Ig'zO;ltId
188
Azam Khan.
'Acha, if you care so little for all your goods and chattels you sell them to me and then I
shall turn that tip of my mustache down,' said the money-lender.' And, what is more, I shall
keep it flat.Now, is that a bargain?'
'That seems fair enough,' said the landlord from under the trees where he was
preparing for a siesta.
'But, what proof have I that you will keep your word?' said Azam Khan. 'You oily
lentil-eaters, never keep your promises.'
'We shall draw up a deed, here and now,' said the money-lender. 'And we shall have it
signed by the five elders of the village who are seated under that tree. What more do you
want?'
'Now, there is no catch in that,' put in the landlord. 'I and four other elders will come to
court as witnesses on your behalf if the grocer doesn't keep his mustache to the goat style ever
afterwards,'
'I shall excommunicate him from religion if he doesn't keep his word,' added the
priest, who had arrived on the scene on hearing the hubub.
'Acha,' agreedAzam Khan.
And he forthwith had a deed prepared by the petition writer of the village, who sat
smoking his hubble-bubble under the tree.And this document, transferring all his household
goods and chattels, was signed in the presence of the five elders of the village and sealed.And
the money-lender forthwith brought both tips of his mustache down and kept them glued in
the goat style appropriate to his order.
Only, as soon as Khan Azam Khan's back was turned he muttered, to the peasants
seated near by: 'My father was a sultan.
And they laughed to see the Khan give a special twist to his mustache, as he walked
away maintaining the valiant uprightness of the symbol of his ancient and noble family.
Though he had become a pauper.
worn - (present wear) to have a beard or mustache
demarcation - a border or line that separates two things.
notorious - known in bad sense
bankruptacy - the state when a man has less money to pay than what he owes.
order - class or group of society
resplendent - bright and colorful in an impressive way.
survivals - successors
feudal gentry - people connected with the social system that existed during the
MiddleAges
Glossary
clothes / / chattels / /
siesta / / pauper / /
klJUDz 'tS&tl
si'estJ 'pO;pJ
189
memento - a thing that you keep or give to somebody to remind you or them of a
person or place
scroll - a long roll of paper for writing on.
trinket - a piece of jewellery or small ornament that is no worth much money.
heirloom - a valuable object that has belonged to the same family for many
years.
nouveau rich - a person who has recently become rich and likes to show how rich he
is in a very obvious way.
bourgeoisie - the capitalist (pronounced as 'bozwazi' )
Charlie Chaplin - British comic actor
curzon cut - like that of lord Curzon, viceroy in British India
rumpus - a lot of noise that is made especially by people who are complaining
about something; commotion.
twist - give a curve to
beholden - owing something to somebody because of something that he has
done for him
mortgage - the sum of money that you borrow.
dilapidated - old and in a bad condition
descent - ancestry.
remnants - remaining
malicious - having or showing hatred for somebody that causes a desire to harm
him
impostor - a person who pretends to be somebody else in order to deceive
people.
blue blood - from a royal or noble family:
the bluff of a rascal - an abusive expression
inordinately - excessively.
headstrong - persons determined to do things their own way and refuse to listen to
advice.
vandalism - the crime of destroying or damaging.
surly - bad tempered and rude.
amenable - easy to control, willing to be influenced by somebody,
maxim - well known phrase that expresses some thing that is usually true or
that people think is rule for sensible behaviour.
appease - to make somebody calmer or less angry by giving what he wants
gold standard - an economic system in which the value of money is based on the
value of gold.
greasy - friendly in a way that does not seem sincere.
insignia - the symbol, badge or sign that shows somebody's rank or that he a is
member of a group or an organization.
splutter - speak quickly and with difficulty, making soft spitting sounds
because you are angry.
chattel - something that belongs to you.
Siesta - early afternoon rest or sleep especially in hot countries.
excommunicate - to punish somebody by officially stating that he can no longer be a
member of a religion.
pauper - a very poor person
- Mulk Raj Anand
mustachiou / / queer / / striped / /
laundered / / bankruptcy / /
mJ'st&SiJu kwIJ straIpt
'lO;ndJd 'b&NkrVptsi
22
Mulk Raj Anand, (1905-2004) is one of the best known Indian writers of fiction in
English. This prominent Indian author of novels, short stories, and critical essays in English,
is known for his realistic and sympathetic portrayal of the poor in India. He is considered a
founder of the English-language Indian novel. His first main novel, Untouchable, published
in 1935, was a chilling description of the day-to-day life of a member of India's untouchable
caste. In Anand's second novel, Coolie (1936), he continues to describe the plight of India's
poor by telling of a 15-year-old boy, trapped in servitude as a child labourer, who eventually
dies of tuberculosis. He wrote 19 novels. 12 collections of short stories and 30 other library
works. His well known short stories are 'the lost child,' 'A pair of mustachios, 'Old Bapu',
'Lajwanti The Barber'sTrade union' and 'TheTrader and the Corn Goddess'
The story 'A pair of mustacheos' is a light, humorous but thought provoking
representation of how people attach false motives to the things which they do not
belong to. The story may be divided in two parts. The first relates the author's own
statement of the types of mustachios popular in India, while the second narrates a
satirical story of a person who claims himself of a feudal descent. Victim of false
pride of his descent, the person loses all he had to get lowered down the mustachios of
a grocerwhomhe considers not entitled to wear the upright mustachios like his.
There are various kinds of mustachios worn in my country to make the boundries
between the various classes of people. Outsiders may think it stupid to lay down, or rather to
raise, lines of demarcationof this kind, but we are notorious in the whole world for sticking to
our queer old conventions, prides and prejudices, even as the Chinese or the Americans, or,
for that matter, the English… And, at any rate, some people may think it easier and more
convenient to wear permanent boundary-lines like mustachios, which only need a smear of
grease to keep them bright and shiny, rather than to wear frock coats, striped trousers and top
hats, which constantly need to be laundered and drycleaned, and the maintenance of which is
already leading to the bankruptcyof the European ruling classes.With them clothes make the
man, but to us mustachios make the man. So we prefer the various styles of mustachios to
make the differences between the classes …..
And very unique and poetical symbols they are too. For instance, there is the famous
lion mustache, the fearsome upstanding symbol of that great order of resplendent Rajas,
Maharajas, Nababs and English army generals who are so well known for their devotion to
the King Emperor. Then there is the tiger mustache, the uncanny, several-pointed mustache
1
185
worn by the unbending, unchanging survivals from the ranks of the feudal gentry who have
nothing left but the pride in their greatness and a few mementos of past glory, scrolls of
honour, granted by the former Emperors, a few gold trinkets, heirlooms and bits of land. Next
there is the goat mustache a rather unsure brand, worn by the nouveau riche, the new
commercial bourgeoisie and the shopkeeper class somehow don't belong an indifferent, thin
little line of a mustache, worn so that its tips can be turned up or down as the occasion demands
a show of power to some coolie or humility to a prosperous client. There is the Charlie Chaplin
mustache worn by the lower middle class, by clerks and professional men, a kind of half-andhalf
affair, deliberately designed as a compromise between the traditional full mustache and
the cleanshaven Curzon cut of the Sahibs and the Barristers, because the Babus are not sure
whether the Sahibs like them to keep mustachios at all. There is the sheep mustache of the
coolie and the lower orders, the mouse mustache of the peasants, and so on.
In fact, there are endless styles of mustachios, all appropriate to the wearers and
indicative of the various orders, as rigorously adhered to as if they had all been patented by the
Government of India or sanctioned by special appointment with His Majesty the King or Her
Majesty the Queen. And any poaching on the style of one class by members of another is
interpreted by certain authorities as being indicative of the increasing jealousy with which
each class is guarding its rights and privileges in regard to the mark of the mustachio.
Of course, the analysis of the expert is rather too abstract, and not all the murders can
be traced to this cause, but certainly it is true that the preferences of the people in regard to their
mustachios are causing a lot of trouble in our parts. For instance, there was a rumpus in my
own village the other day about a pair of mustachios.
It so happened that Seth Ramanand, the grocer and money-lender, who had been doing
well out of the recent fall on the price of wheat by buying up whole crops cheap from the hardpresse peasants and then selling grain at higher prices, took it into his head to twist the goat
mustache, integral to his order and position in society, at the tips, so that it looked nearly like a
tiger mustache.
Nobody seemed to mind very much, because most of the mouse mustached peasants in
our village are beholden of the grocer, either because they owe him interest on a loan, or an
instalment on a mortgage of jewellery or land. Besides, the Seth had been careful enough to
twist his mustache so that it seemed nearly though not quite like a tiger mustache.
But there lives in the vicinity of our village, in an old, dilapidated Moghul style house,
a Mussulman named Khan Azam Khan, who claims descent from an ancient Afgham family
whose heads were noblemen and councilors in the Court of the Great Moghuls. Khan Azam
Khan, a tall, middle-aged man is a handsome and dignified person, and he wears a tiger
mustache and remains adorned with the faded remanants of a gold-brocaded waistcoat,
though he hasn't even a patch of land left.
Some people, notably the landlord of our village and the moneylender,
is merely the bluff of a
rascal. Others like the priest of the temple, concede that his ancestors were certainly attached
to the court of the Great Moghuls, but as menial workers. The landlord, the money-lender and
the priest are manifestly jealous of anyone's long ancestry, however, because they have all
maliciously
say that he is an impostor, and that all his talk about his blue blood
mementos / / nouveau riche / / bourgeoisie / /
rigorously / / dilapidated / /
mJ'mentJU nu;vJU 'ri;S bUJZwA;'zi;
'rIgJrJs dI'l&pIdeItId
186
risen form nothing, and it is obvious from the stately ruins around KhanAzam Khan's pride is
greatly in excess of his present possessions, and he is inordinately jealous of his old
privileges and rather foolish and headstrong in safeguarding every sacred brick of his
tottering house against vandalism.
Khan Azam Khan happened to go to the moneylender's shop to pawn his wife's gold
nose-ring one morning and he noticed the upturning tendency of the hair on Ramanand's
upper lip which made the grocer's goat mustache look almost like his own tiger mustache.
'Since when have the lentil-eating shopkeepers become noblemen?' he asked surlily,
even before he had shown the nose-ring to the grocer.
'I don't know what you mean, Khan,' Ramanand answered.
'You Know what I mean', said the Khan 'Look at the way you have turned the tips of
your mustache upwards. It almost looks like my tiger mustache. Turn the tips down to the
style proper to the goat that you are! Fancy the airs of the traders now a days!'
'Oh, Khan, don't get so excited,' said the money lender, who was nothing if he was not
amenable, having built up his business on the maxim that the customer is always right.
'I tell you, turn the tip of your mustache down if you value your life!' raged Khan
Azam Khan.
'If that is all the trouble, here you are,' said Ramanand, brushing one end of his
mustache with his oily hand so that it dropped like a deadfly. 'Come, show me the trinkets.
Howmuch do you want for them?'
Now that Khan Azam Khan's pride was appeased, he was like soft wax in the
merchant's sure hand. His need, and the need of his family for food, was great, and he humbly
accepted the value which the grocer put on his wife's nose-ring.
But as he was departing, after negotiating his business, he noticed that though one end
of the grocer's mustache had come down at his behest, the other end was stil up.
'A, strange trick you have played on me,' the Khan said.
'I have paid you the best value for your trinket, Khan, that any money-lender will pay
in these parts,' the grocer said, 'especially, in these days when the Sarkars of the whole world
are threatening to go off the gold standard.
'It has nothing to do with the trinket,' saidAzam Khan, 'but one end of your mustache
is still up like my tiger mustache though you have brought down the other 'as your proper
goat's style. Bring that other end down also, so that there is no apeing by your mustache of
mine.
'Now, Khan,' said the grocer 'I humbled myself because you are doing business with
me.You can't expect me to become a mere worm just because you have pawned a trinket with
me. If you were pledging some more expensive jewellery, I might consider obliging you a
little more. Anyhow, my humble milk-skimmer doesn't look a bit like your valiant tiger
mustache,'
4
1
maliciously / / menial / / ruins / /
vandalism / / surlily / /
mJ'lISJs 'mi;niJl 'ru;In
'v&ndJlIzJm 's3;rli
187
'Bring that tip down!' Khan Azam Khan roared, for the more he had looked at the
grocer's mustache the more the still upturned tip seemed to him like an effort at an initiation
of his own.
'Now, be sensible, Khan,' the money-lender said waving his hand with an
imperturbable calm.
'I tell you, turn that tip down or I shall wring your neek,' said the Khan.
'All right, the next time you come to do business with me I shall bring that tip down,'
answered the money-lender cunningly.
'That is fair,' said Chaudhri Chottu Ram, the landlord of the village, who was sitting
under the tree opposite.
'To be sure!To be sure!' some peasants chimed in sheepishly.
KhanAzam Khan managed to control his murderous impulses and walked away. But
he could not quell his pride, the pride of the generations of his ancestors who had worn the
tiger mustache as a mark of their position. To see the symbol of his honour imitated by a
grocer this was too much for him. He went home and fetched a necklace which had come
down to his family through seven generations and, placing it before the grocer said:
'Now will you bring that tip of your mustache down?'
'By all means, Khan' said the grocer 'But let us see about this necklace. How much do
you want for it?'
'Any price will do, so long as you bring the tip of your mustache down,' answered
Azam Khan.
After they had settled the business the money-lender said: 'Now Khan, I shall carry
out your will.'And he ceremoniously brushed the upturned tip of his mustache down.
As Azam Khan was walking away, however, he noticed that the other tip of the
grocer's mustache had now gone up and stooddubiously like the upturned end of his own
exalted tiger mustache. He turned on his feet and shouted:
'I shall kill you if you don't brush that mustache into the shape appropriate to your
position as a lentil-eating grocer!'
'Now, now, Khan, come to your senses. You know it is only the illusion of a tiger's
mustache and nowhere like your brave and wonderful adornment,'said the greasy moneylender.
'I tell you I won't have you insulting the insignia of my order!' shouted Azam Khan.
'You bring that tip down!'
'I wouldn't do it, Khan, even if you pawned all the jewellery you possess to me,' said
the money-lender.
'I would rather I lost all my remaining worldly possessions, my pots and pans, my
clothes, even my houses, than see the tip of your mustache turned up like that!' spluttered
2
jewellery / / fetched / / insignia / /
imperturbable / / exalted / /
'dZu;Jlri fetSed In'sIgniJ
%ImpJ't3;bJbl Ig'zO;ltId
188
Azam Khan.
'Acha, if you care so little for all your goods and chattels you sell them to me and then I
shall turn that tip of my mustache down,' said the money-lender.' And, what is more, I shall
keep it flat.Now, is that a bargain?'
'That seems fair enough,' said the landlord from under the trees where he was
preparing for a siesta.
'But, what proof have I that you will keep your word?' said Azam Khan. 'You oily
lentil-eaters, never keep your promises.'
'We shall draw up a deed, here and now,' said the money-lender. 'And we shall have it
signed by the five elders of the village who are seated under that tree. What more do you
want?'
'Now, there is no catch in that,' put in the landlord. 'I and four other elders will come to
court as witnesses on your behalf if the grocer doesn't keep his mustache to the goat style ever
afterwards,'
'I shall excommunicate him from religion if he doesn't keep his word,' added the
priest, who had arrived on the scene on hearing the hubub.
'Acha,' agreedAzam Khan.
And he forthwith had a deed prepared by the petition writer of the village, who sat
smoking his hubble-bubble under the tree.And this document, transferring all his household
goods and chattels, was signed in the presence of the five elders of the village and sealed.And
the money-lender forthwith brought both tips of his mustache down and kept them glued in
the goat style appropriate to his order.
Only, as soon as Khan Azam Khan's back was turned he muttered, to the peasants
seated near by: 'My father was a sultan.
And they laughed to see the Khan give a special twist to his mustache, as he walked
away maintaining the valiant uprightness of the symbol of his ancient and noble family.
Though he had become a pauper.
worn - (present wear) to have a beard or mustache
demarcation - a border or line that separates two things.
notorious - known in bad sense
bankruptacy - the state when a man has less money to pay than what he owes.
order - class or group of society
resplendent - bright and colorful in an impressive way.
survivals - successors
feudal gentry - people connected with the social system that existed during the
MiddleAges
Glossary
clothes / / chattels / /
siesta / / pauper / /
klJUDz 'tS&tl
si'estJ 'pO;pJ
189
memento - a thing that you keep or give to somebody to remind you or them of a
person or place
scroll - a long roll of paper for writing on.
trinket - a piece of jewellery or small ornament that is no worth much money.
heirloom - a valuable object that has belonged to the same family for many
years.
nouveau rich - a person who has recently become rich and likes to show how rich he
is in a very obvious way.
bourgeoisie - the capitalist (pronounced as 'bozwazi' )
Charlie Chaplin - British comic actor
curzon cut - like that of lord Curzon, viceroy in British India
rumpus - a lot of noise that is made especially by people who are complaining
about something; commotion.
twist - give a curve to
beholden - owing something to somebody because of something that he has
done for him
mortgage - the sum of money that you borrow.
dilapidated - old and in a bad condition
descent - ancestry.
remnants - remaining
malicious - having or showing hatred for somebody that causes a desire to harm
him
impostor - a person who pretends to be somebody else in order to deceive
people.
blue blood - from a royal or noble family:
the bluff of a rascal - an abusive expression
inordinately - excessively.
headstrong - persons determined to do things their own way and refuse to listen to
advice.
vandalism - the crime of destroying or damaging.
surly - bad tempered and rude.
amenable - easy to control, willing to be influenced by somebody,
maxim - well known phrase that expresses some thing that is usually true or
that people think is rule for sensible behaviour.
appease - to make somebody calmer or less angry by giving what he wants
gold standard - an economic system in which the value of money is based on the
value of gold.
greasy - friendly in a way that does not seem sincere.
insignia - the symbol, badge or sign that shows somebody's rank or that he a is
member of a group or an organization.
splutter - speak quickly and with difficulty, making soft spitting sounds
because you are angry.
chattel - something that belongs to you.
Siesta - early afternoon rest or sleep especially in hot countries.
excommunicate - to punish somebody by officially stating that he can no longer be a
member of a religion.
pauper - a very poor person
informal Letter Format--ISCE
ICSE letter writing is usually made up of two types:
Letters written to parents and siblings.
Letters written to friends.
Format of personal letters in ICSE
Your address should be written in the right handed corner on top of the page. Write your full address followed by the date.
45, Bullworth Complex,
Cinderella Avenue,
403001
10th January, 2010.
After you complete writing your address and the date, follow up with the salutation or greeting. In case of the personal and informal letters, the most commonly used salutation is ‘dear’. For example a letter addressed to your friend can begin with ‘Dear’ followed by his/her name.
Since there are no such rule to write the subject in a separate column, you can start the letter having a reference to the subject. For example, if you want to write a letter to your friend, describing a recent football match which you played in your school, you can start by briefing him about this match.
The body is the main part of the letter and this part ought to be comprised of the subject matter. For example, this part may contain the details about the football match which you played recently.
You may conclude the letter conveying love or respect not only to the friend or the one to whom you are writing the letter, but also his or her family and other near and dear ones.
Do not end the letter all of a sudden, but end with phrases like ‘yours lovingly’ or ‘yours affectionately’.
End the letter with your first name.
Last but not the least, do remember that the letter being a personal letter with no such strict rule as is the case with formal letters, be yourself and express yourself without any constrain!
Letters written to parents and siblings.
Letters written to friends.
Format of personal letters in ICSE
Your address should be written in the right handed corner on top of the page. Write your full address followed by the date.
45, Bullworth Complex,
Cinderella Avenue,
403001
10th January, 2010.
After you complete writing your address and the date, follow up with the salutation or greeting. In case of the personal and informal letters, the most commonly used salutation is ‘dear’. For example a letter addressed to your friend can begin with ‘Dear’ followed by his/her name.
Since there are no such rule to write the subject in a separate column, you can start the letter having a reference to the subject. For example, if you want to write a letter to your friend, describing a recent football match which you played in your school, you can start by briefing him about this match.
The body is the main part of the letter and this part ought to be comprised of the subject matter. For example, this part may contain the details about the football match which you played recently.
You may conclude the letter conveying love or respect not only to the friend or the one to whom you are writing the letter, but also his or her family and other near and dear ones.
Do not end the letter all of a sudden, but end with phrases like ‘yours lovingly’ or ‘yours affectionately’.
End the letter with your first name.
Last but not the least, do remember that the letter being a personal letter with no such strict rule as is the case with formal letters, be yourself and express yourself without any constrain!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
What's The Good Word?
Vespertine
\VES-per-tin\ , adjective;
1.Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the evening.
2.Botany. Opening or expanding in the evening, as certain flowers.
3.Zoology. Becoming active in the evening, as bats and owls.
\VES-per-tin\ , adjective;
1.Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the evening.
2.Botany. Opening or expanding in the evening, as certain flowers.
3.Zoology. Becoming active in the evening, as bats and owls.
Origin:
Vespertine derives from Latin vespertīnus, "evening."
Usage
To my own ear, I sound hyperpoetic, and I don't mean to exaggerate these vespertine moods; I think that this restlessness that I am describing was really quite ordinary.
-- Peter Gadol, The Long Rain
Vespertine derives from Latin vespertīnus, "evening."
Usage
To my own ear, I sound hyperpoetic, and I don't mean to exaggerate these vespertine moods; I think that this restlessness that I am describing was really quite ordinary.
-- Peter Gadol, The Long Rain
QUOTE ON EXCELLENCE !!!
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle
Aristotle
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Word for the time being!!!!
a·poc·ry·phal
adj.
Of questionable authorship or authenticity.
Erroneous; fictitious: "Wildly apocryphal rumors about starvation in Petrograd . . . raced through Russia's trenches" (W. Bruce Lincoln).
Grammar Exercises-----------Please solve
Question 4
a) Rewrite the following sentences correctly according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary without changing the meaning of any sentence. [5]
1. The teacher could not understand the reason for his absence.
[Use absent in stead of absence.]
2. One should keep one’s promises.
[Begin: Promises…]
3. In the heavy rain, I had no company other than from a wet cat
[Begin: Apart…]
4. The mother asked, “Are you the hero who saved my child?”
[Change into reported speech]
5. Sheila wrote a letter of apology to Stephen, but not even that removed his anger.
[Begin: Not even …]
b) Fill in the blanks with the appropriate prepositions. [5]
I have reconciled myself …my fate.
Lana is too miserly to part…. her money.
It is advantageous … study regularly.
There is always a demand …. good books.
Please contact me ….. 9.00. a.m. and 12.00.noon.
c) In the following passage fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets. [5]
The flight, after …..1…. [check] all the things,….2…… [take]off. It had hardly ......3… [go] a little far, when there ….4….[be] a big blast and the airplane ……5…..[break] into pieces. All the passengers and the crew …..6……[be] killed. Later on we ……7……[come] to know that the new passenger …..8…[be] a living bomb and the remote was with the man ….9…...[stand] away from that pace. He was arrested by the police and through him the entire story…….10….. [come] to light.
d) Rewrite each of the following sentences given below using the correct form of the word given in brackets. [5]
The sudden noise …….. him [fright]
Life in a slum ….. his heart. [hard]
He suffered a ….. of fortune. [reverse]
The boxer received a …… blow on the face. [pain]
The boy saw a ………….scene. [beauty]
a) Rewrite the following sentences correctly according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary without changing the meaning of any sentence. [5]
1. The teacher could not understand the reason for his absence.
[Use absent in stead of absence.]
2. One should keep one’s promises.
[Begin: Promises…]
3. In the heavy rain, I had no company other than from a wet cat
[Begin: Apart…]
4. The mother asked, “Are you the hero who saved my child?”
[Change into reported speech]
5. Sheila wrote a letter of apology to Stephen, but not even that removed his anger.
[Begin: Not even …]
b) Fill in the blanks with the appropriate prepositions. [5]
I have reconciled myself …my fate.
Lana is too miserly to part…. her money.
It is advantageous … study regularly.
There is always a demand …. good books.
Please contact me ….. 9.00. a.m. and 12.00.noon.
c) In the following passage fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets. [5]
The flight, after …..1…. [check] all the things,….2…… [take]off. It had hardly ......3… [go] a little far, when there ….4….[be] a big blast and the airplane ……5…..[break] into pieces. All the passengers and the crew …..6……[be] killed. Later on we ……7……[come] to know that the new passenger …..8…[be] a living bomb and the remote was with the man ….9…...[stand] away from that pace. He was arrested by the police and through him the entire story…….10….. [come] to light.
d) Rewrite each of the following sentences given below using the correct form of the word given in brackets. [5]
The sudden noise …….. him [fright]
Life in a slum ….. his heart. [hard]
He suffered a ….. of fortune. [reverse]
The boxer received a …… blow on the face. [pain]
The boy saw a ………….scene. [beauty]
QUIZ-AS YOU LIKE IT!!!!
Quiz
Scroll through the page to review your answers. The correct answer is highlighted in green. Your incorrect answers (if any) are highlighted in red. If you'd like to take the test over again, click the reset button at the end of the test.
1. According to Oliver, what would Orlando bring to a wrestling match with Charles?
(A) A strong competitive edge
(B) A lust for prize money
(C) Poison, or some other deceitful means of securing victory
(D) An comprehensive knowledge of strategic physical combat
2. Why does Oliver inherit the bulk of his father’s estate?
(A) Oliver was the son least able to make his own way in the world.
(B) Oliver is the oldest son, and therefore guaranteed the inheritance by law.
(C) Oliver is the more loving than his brothers.
(D) Oliver doctors his father’s will.
3. At what event do Orlando and Rosalind meet?
(A) The wedding of Duke Frederick
(B) A wrestling match
(C) A public execution
(D) A traveling circus
4. What name does Rosalind assume for her disguised self?
(A) Ganymede
(B) Jove
(C) Harry
(D) Icarus
5. Why does Duke Frederick dislike Orlando?
(A) Orlando finds Rosalind more beautiful than the duke’s own daughter, Celia.
(B) Orlando’s brother, Oliver, owes the duke a considerable sum of money.
(C) Orlando beat the duke’s prized wrestler, Charles.
(D) The duke and Orlando’s father were enemies.
6. Upon his introduction in Act II, scene i, Duke Senior gathers his loyal followers in the Forest of Ardenne for what purpose?
(A) To hunt deer
(B) To mount an army against Duke Frederick
(C) To swim in the brook
(D) To tease the melancholy Jaques
7. How does Duke Frederick plan to find Celia and Rosalind after their departure from court?
(A) He will interview every person in his castle until someone confesses information as to his daughter’s whereabouts
(B) He will recruit Oliver to help find Orlando, whom he suspects has teamed up with the women
(C) He will assume a disguise and go looking for them himself in the Forest of Ardenne
(D) He has no plans to find them, and is glad they are gone
8. On what topic does Corin attempt to council the young shepherd, Silvius?
(A) The maintenance of the flock
(B) The politics of court life
(C) Love
(D) Friendship
9. Upon arriving in the Forest of Ardenne, Adam claims that he will soon die. What does he assume the cause of his death will be?
(A) Old age
(B) Hunger
(C) Lovesickness
(D) Gout
10. After an eye-opening stroll around the Forest of Ardenne, what profession does Jaques intend to pursue?
(A) A shepherd
(B) A highwayman
(C) A fool
(D) A butler
11. How much time does Duke Frederick allow Oliver to find Orlando?
(A) One year
(B) One month
(C) One week
(D) A fortnight
12. What does the disguised Rosalind promise to do for Orlando?
(A) Woo Rosalind on his behalf
(B) Help him to overthrow his brother, Oliver
(C) Help him to overcome his lovesickness
(D) Provide him and Adam with shelter
13. Why does Rosalind doubt that Orlando is truly in love?
(A) Love is a madness, and he does not look like a madman.
(B) His poems are poorly rhymed and measured.
(C) She has heard him claim to be in love with countless girls.
(D) He is too young to know what love is.
14. What does Silvius say of Phoebe’s eyes?
(A) They are so amorous that they embarrass him.
(B) They are so dull that they bore him.
(C) They are so beautiful that they intimidate him.
(D) They are so scornful that they will murder him.
15. Why does Rosalind believe that Phoebe should feel lucky?
(A) Her father has willed her a fortune, allowing her to marry whomever she chooses.
(B) A man like Silvius loves her, despite her lack of beauty.
(C) She has no lover and therefore her heart will never be broken.
(D) By living in the forest, she is spared the cruel politics of life at court.
16. How does Phoebe respond to Ganymede’s harsh criticism of her?
(A) She poisons his wine.
(B) She disguises herself as royalty in hopes of putting him in his place.
(C) She writes him a love letter.
(D) She employs Charles the wrestler to beat him up.
17. Whom does Orlando save from the attack of a hungry lioness?
(A) His brother, Oliver
(B) Duke Senior
(C) Silvius, the shepherd
(D) His long-lost father, Sir Rowland de Bois
18. What does Rosalind do after learning of Orlando’s injury?
(A) She faints.
(B) She pens him an angry but concerned letter, telling him to be more careful.
(C) She weeps at the thought of losing him.
(D) She delivers a cutting speech about the ridiculousness of bravery.
19. How does Rosalind respond to Orlando when he contends that he will die unless she returns his love?
(A) She favorably compares him to the great lovers of classical literature.
(B) She vows to kill herself before his dying body hits the ground.
(C) She suggests that she is not worthy of such devotion.
(D) She assures him that no man has ever died for love.
20. What animal do Jaques and the lords of the forest kill?
(A) A deer
(B) An antelope
(C) A bear
(D) A squirrel
21. Which inhabitant of the forest and admirer of Audrey does Touchstone rudely dismiss?
(A) Jaques
(B) William
(C) Oliver Martext
(D) Corin
22. With whom does Oliver fall in love?
(A) Rosalind
(B) Phoebe
(C) Aliena
(D) Audrey
23. To what does Rosalind compare the declarations of love from Orlando, Silvius, and Phoebe?
(A) The music of the spheres
(B) The howling of Irish wolves
(C) The greatest poetry of Ovid
(D) The sound of mourners following a hearse
24. Why does Duke Frederick abandon his plan to mount an army and attack Duke Senior?
(A) His followers abandon him, and he lacks the strength to wage a successful campaign.
(B) He finds a carving of his brother’s image and is overcome by sentimental memories of their childhood together.
(C) He marries a beautiful woman who convinces him not to be such an angry person.
(D) He meets a religious man on his way to the forest who converts him to a peaceful life.
25. Who decides not to return to court?
(A) Jaques
(B) Celia
(C) Duke Frederick
(D) Oliver
Scroll through the page to review your answers. The correct answer is highlighted in green. Your incorrect answers (if any) are highlighted in red. If you'd like to take the test over again, click the reset button at the end of the test.
1. According to Oliver, what would Orlando bring to a wrestling match with Charles?
(A) A strong competitive edge
(B) A lust for prize money
(C) Poison, or some other deceitful means of securing victory
(D) An comprehensive knowledge of strategic physical combat
2. Why does Oliver inherit the bulk of his father’s estate?
(A) Oliver was the son least able to make his own way in the world.
(B) Oliver is the oldest son, and therefore guaranteed the inheritance by law.
(C) Oliver is the more loving than his brothers.
(D) Oliver doctors his father’s will.
3. At what event do Orlando and Rosalind meet?
(A) The wedding of Duke Frederick
(B) A wrestling match
(C) A public execution
(D) A traveling circus
4. What name does Rosalind assume for her disguised self?
(A) Ganymede
(B) Jove
(C) Harry
(D) Icarus
5. Why does Duke Frederick dislike Orlando?
(A) Orlando finds Rosalind more beautiful than the duke’s own daughter, Celia.
(B) Orlando’s brother, Oliver, owes the duke a considerable sum of money.
(C) Orlando beat the duke’s prized wrestler, Charles.
(D) The duke and Orlando’s father were enemies.
6. Upon his introduction in Act II, scene i, Duke Senior gathers his loyal followers in the Forest of Ardenne for what purpose?
(A) To hunt deer
(B) To mount an army against Duke Frederick
(C) To swim in the brook
(D) To tease the melancholy Jaques
7. How does Duke Frederick plan to find Celia and Rosalind after their departure from court?
(A) He will interview every person in his castle until someone confesses information as to his daughter’s whereabouts
(B) He will recruit Oliver to help find Orlando, whom he suspects has teamed up with the women
(C) He will assume a disguise and go looking for them himself in the Forest of Ardenne
(D) He has no plans to find them, and is glad they are gone
8. On what topic does Corin attempt to council the young shepherd, Silvius?
(A) The maintenance of the flock
(B) The politics of court life
(C) Love
(D) Friendship
9. Upon arriving in the Forest of Ardenne, Adam claims that he will soon die. What does he assume the cause of his death will be?
(A) Old age
(B) Hunger
(C) Lovesickness
(D) Gout
10. After an eye-opening stroll around the Forest of Ardenne, what profession does Jaques intend to pursue?
(A) A shepherd
(B) A highwayman
(C) A fool
(D) A butler
11. How much time does Duke Frederick allow Oliver to find Orlando?
(A) One year
(B) One month
(C) One week
(D) A fortnight
12. What does the disguised Rosalind promise to do for Orlando?
(A) Woo Rosalind on his behalf
(B) Help him to overthrow his brother, Oliver
(C) Help him to overcome his lovesickness
(D) Provide him and Adam with shelter
13. Why does Rosalind doubt that Orlando is truly in love?
(A) Love is a madness, and he does not look like a madman.
(B) His poems are poorly rhymed and measured.
(C) She has heard him claim to be in love with countless girls.
(D) He is too young to know what love is.
14. What does Silvius say of Phoebe’s eyes?
(A) They are so amorous that they embarrass him.
(B) They are so dull that they bore him.
(C) They are so beautiful that they intimidate him.
(D) They are so scornful that they will murder him.
15. Why does Rosalind believe that Phoebe should feel lucky?
(A) Her father has willed her a fortune, allowing her to marry whomever she chooses.
(B) A man like Silvius loves her, despite her lack of beauty.
(C) She has no lover and therefore her heart will never be broken.
(D) By living in the forest, she is spared the cruel politics of life at court.
16. How does Phoebe respond to Ganymede’s harsh criticism of her?
(A) She poisons his wine.
(B) She disguises herself as royalty in hopes of putting him in his place.
(C) She writes him a love letter.
(D) She employs Charles the wrestler to beat him up.
17. Whom does Orlando save from the attack of a hungry lioness?
(A) His brother, Oliver
(B) Duke Senior
(C) Silvius, the shepherd
(D) His long-lost father, Sir Rowland de Bois
18. What does Rosalind do after learning of Orlando’s injury?
(A) She faints.
(B) She pens him an angry but concerned letter, telling him to be more careful.
(C) She weeps at the thought of losing him.
(D) She delivers a cutting speech about the ridiculousness of bravery.
19. How does Rosalind respond to Orlando when he contends that he will die unless she returns his love?
(A) She favorably compares him to the great lovers of classical literature.
(B) She vows to kill herself before his dying body hits the ground.
(C) She suggests that she is not worthy of such devotion.
(D) She assures him that no man has ever died for love.
20. What animal do Jaques and the lords of the forest kill?
(A) A deer
(B) An antelope
(C) A bear
(D) A squirrel
21. Which inhabitant of the forest and admirer of Audrey does Touchstone rudely dismiss?
(A) Jaques
(B) William
(C) Oliver Martext
(D) Corin
22. With whom does Oliver fall in love?
(A) Rosalind
(B) Phoebe
(C) Aliena
(D) Audrey
23. To what does Rosalind compare the declarations of love from Orlando, Silvius, and Phoebe?
(A) The music of the spheres
(B) The howling of Irish wolves
(C) The greatest poetry of Ovid
(D) The sound of mourners following a hearse
24. Why does Duke Frederick abandon his plan to mount an army and attack Duke Senior?
(A) His followers abandon him, and he lacks the strength to wage a successful campaign.
(B) He finds a carving of his brother’s image and is overcome by sentimental memories of their childhood together.
(C) He marries a beautiful woman who convinces him not to be such an angry person.
(D) He meets a religious man on his way to the forest who converts him to a peaceful life.
25. Who decides not to return to court?
(A) Jaques
(B) Celia
(C) Duke Frederick
(D) Oliver
AS YOU LIKE IT---IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS EXPLAINED
Important Quotations Explained
1. Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,Hath not old custom made this life more sweetThan that of painted pomp? Are not these woodsMore free from peril than the envious court?Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,The seasons’ difference, as the icy fangAnd churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,Which when it bites and blows upon my bodyEven till I shrink with cold, I smile, and say’This is no flattery. These are counsellorsThat feelingly persuade me what I am.’Sweet are the uses of adversityWhich, like the toad, ugly and venomous,Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;And this our life, exempt from public haunt,Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones, and good in everything. (II.i.1–17)
Explanation for Quotation 1 >>
These lines, spoken by Duke Senior upon his introduction in Act II, scene i, establish the pastoral mode of the play. With great economy, Shakespeare draws a dividing line between the “painted pomp” of court—with perils great enough to drive the duke and his followers into exile—and the safe and restorative Forest of Ardenne (II.i.3). The woods are romanticized, as they typically are in pastoral literature, and the mood is set for the remainder of the play. Although perils may present themselves, they remain distant, and, in the end, there truly is “good in everything” (II.i.17). This passage, more than any other in the play, presents the conceits of the pastoral mode. Here, the corruptions of life at court are left behind in order to learn the simple and valuable lessons of the country. Shakespeare highlights the educational, edifying, and enlightening nature of this foray into the woods by employing language that invokes the classroom, the library, and the church: in the trees, brooks, and stones surrounding him, the duke finds tongues, books, and sermons. As is his wont, Shakespeare goes on to complicate the literary conventions upon which he depends. His shepherds and shepherdesses, for instance, ultimately prove too lovesick or dim-witted to dole out the kind of wisdom the pastoral form demands of them, but for now Shakespeare merely sets up the opposition between city and country that provides the necessary tension to drive his story forward.
Close
2. As I do live by food, I met a fool,Who laid him down and basked him in the sun,And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms,In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.’Good morrow, fool,’ quoth I. ‘No, sir,’ quoth he,’Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune.’And then he drew a dial from his poke,And looking on it with lack-lustre eyeSays very wisely ‘It is ten o’clock.’’Thus we may see’, quoth he, ‘how the world wags.’Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,And after one hour more ‘twill be eleven.And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,And then from hour to hour we rot and rot;And thereby hangs a tale.’ (II.vii.14–28)
Explanation for Quotation 2 >>
In Act II, scene vii, melancholy Jaques displays an uncharacteristic burst of delight. While wandering through the forest, he relates, he met a fool, who entertained him with rather nihilistic musings on the passage of time and man’s life. According to Touchstone, time ensures nothing other than man’s own decay: “from hour to hour we rot and rot” (II.vii.27). That this speech appeals to Jaques says much about his character: he delights not only in the depressing, but also in the rancid. Practically all of Touchstone’s lines contain some bawdy innuendo, and these are no exception. Here, by punning the word “hour” with “whore,” he transforms the general notion of man’s decay into the unpleasant specifics of a man dying from venereal disease. Touchstone appropriately, if distastefully, confirms this hidden meaning by ending his speech with the words “thereby hangs a tale,” for tale was Elizabethan slang for penis (II.vii.28).
Close
3. No, faith; die by attorney. The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet, in a love-cause. Troilus had his brains dashed out with a Grecian club, yet he did what he could to die before, and he is one of the patterns of love. Leander, he would have lived many a fair year though Hero had turned nun if it had not been for a hot midsummer night, for, good youth, he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont and, being taken with the cramp, was drowned; and the foolish chroniclers of that age found it was Hero of Sestos. But these are all lies. Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love. (IV.i.81–92)
Explanation for Quotation 3 >>
In Act IV, scene i, Rosalind rejects Orlando’s claim that he would die if Rosalind should fail to return his love. Rosalind’s insistence that “[m]en have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love” is one of the most recognizable lines from the play and perhaps the wisest (IV.i.91–92). Here, Rosalind takes on one of the most dominant interpretations of romantic love, an understanding that is sustained by mythology and praised in literature, and insists on its unreality. She holds to the light the stories of Troilus and Leander, both immortal lovers, in order to expose their falsity. Men are, according to Rosalind, much more likely to die by being hit with a club or drowning than in a fatal case of heartbreak. Rosalind does not mean to deny the existence of love. On the contrary, she delights in loving Orlando. Instead, her criticism comes from an unwillingness to let affection cloud or warp her sense of reality. By casting aside the conventions of the standard—and usually tragic—romance, Rosalind advocates a kind of love that belongs and can survive in the real world that she inhabits.
CLOSE
4. O sir, we quarrel in print, by the book, as you have books for good manners. I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct. All these you may avoid but the Lie Direct; and you may avoid that, too, with an ‘if’. I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel, but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an ‘if’, as ‘If you said so, then I said so’, and they shook hands and swore brothers. Your ‘if’ is the only peacemaker; much virtue in ‘if’. (V.iv.81–92)
Explanation for Quotation 4 >>
In Act V, scene iv, Touchstone delivers an account of a recent argument he has had. His anatomy of the quarrel, as this speech might be called, is a deftly comic moment that skewers all behavior that is “by the book,” whether it be rules for engaging an enemy or a lover (V.iv.81). The end of the speech, in which Touchstone turns his attentions to the powers of the word “if,” is particularly fine and fitting. “If” points to the potential of events in possible worlds. “If” allows slights to be forgiven, wounds to be salved, and promising opportunities to be taken. Notably, within a dozen lines of this speech, Duke Senior, Orlando, and Phoebe each usher in a new stage of life with a simple sentence that begins with that simple word.
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5. It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue; but it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the prologue. If it be true that good wine needs no bush, ‘tis true that a good play needs no epilogue. Yet to good wine they do use good bushes, and good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. What a case am I in then, that am neither a good epilogue nor cannot insinuate with you in the behalf of a good play! I am not furnished like a beggar, therefore to beg will not become me. My way is to conjure you; and I’ll begin with the women. I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you. And I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women—as I perceive by your simpering none of you hates them— that between you and the women the play may please. If I were a woman I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I defied not. And I am sure, as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet breaths will for my kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell. (Epilogue, 1–19).
Explanation for Quotation 5 >>
The Epilogue was a standard component of Elizabethan drama. One actor remains onstage after the play has ended to ask the audience for applause. As Rosalind herself notes, it is odd that she has been chosen to deliver the Epilogue, as that task is usually assigned to a male character. By the time she addresses the audience directly, Rosalind has discarded her Ganymede disguise. She is again a woman and has married a man. Although we may think the play of gender has come to an end with the fall of the curtain, we must remember that women were forbidden to perform onstage in Shakespeare’s England. Rosalind would have been played by a man, which further obscures the boundaries of gender. Rosalind emerges as a man who pretends to be a woman who pretends to be a man who pretends to be a woman to win the love of a man. When the actor solicits the approval of the men in the audience, he says, “If I were a woman I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me”— returning us to the dizzying intermingling of homosexual and heterosexual affections that govern life in the Forest of Ardenne (Epilogue, 14–16). The theater, like Ardenne, is an escape from reality where the wonderful, sometimes overwhelmingcomplexities of human life can be witnessed, contemplated, enjoyed, and studied.
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OZYMANDIAS- for the 8th standard
“Ozymandias”
Summary
The speaker recalls having met a traveler “from an antique land,” who told him a story about the ruins of a statue in the desert of his native country. Two vast legs of stone stand without a body, and near them a massive, crumbling stone head lies “half sunk” in the sand. The traveler told the speaker that the frown and “sneer of cold command” on the statue’s face indicate that the sculptor understood well the passions of the statue’s subject, a man who sneered with contempt for those weaker than himself, yet fed his people because of something in his heart (“The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed”). On the pedestal of the statue appear the words: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” But around the decaying ruin of the statue, nothing remains, only the “lone and level sands,” which stretch out around it, far away.
Form
“Ozymandias” is a sonnet, a fourteen-line poem metered in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is somewhat unusual for a sonnet of this era; it does not fit a conventional Petrarchan pattern, but instead interlinks the octave (a term for the first eight lines of a sonnet) with the sestet (a term for the last six lines), by gradually replacing old rhymes with new ones in the form ABABACDCEDEFEF.
Commentary
This sonnet from 1817 is probably Shelley’s most famous and most anthologized poem—which is somewhat strange, considering that it is in many ways an atypical poem for Shelley, and that it touches little upon the most important themes in his oeuvre at large (beauty, expression, love, imagination). Still, “Ozymandias” is a masterful sonnet. Essentially it is devoted to a single metaphor: the shattered, ruined statue in the desert wasteland, with its arrogant, passionate face and monomaniacal inscription (“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”). The once-great king’s proud boast has been ironically disproved; Ozymandias’s works have crumbled and disappeared, his civilization is gone, all has been turned to dust by the impersonal, indiscriminate, destructive power of history. The ruined statue is now merely a monument to one man’s hubris, and a powerful statement about the insignificance of human beings to the passage of time. Ozymandias is first and foremost a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of political power, and in that sense the poem is Shelley’s most outstanding political sonnet, trading the specific rage of a poem like “England in 1819” for the crushing impersonal metaphor of the statue. But Ozymandias symbolizes not only political power—the statue can be a metaphor for the pride and hubris of all of humanity, in any of its manifestations. It is significant that all that remains of Ozymandias is a work of art and a group of words; as Shakespeare does in the sonnets, Shelley demonstrates that art and language long outlast the other legacies of power.
Of course, it is Shelley’s brilliant poetic rendering of the story, and not the subject of the story itself, which makes the poem so memorable. Framing the sonnet as a story told to the speaker by “a traveller from an antique land” enables Shelley to add another level of obscurity to Ozymandias’s position with regard to the reader—rather than seeing the statue with our own eyes, so to speak, we hear about it from someone who heard about it from someone who has seen it. Thus the ancient king is rendered even less commanding; the distancing of the narrative serves to undermine his power over us just as completely as has the passage of time. Shelley’s description of the statue works to reconstruct, gradually, the figure of the “king of kings”: first we see merely the “shattered visage,” then the face itself, with its “frown / And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command”; then we are introduced to the figure of the sculptor, and are able to imagine the living man sculpting the living king, whose face wore the expression of the passions now inferable; then we are introduced to the king’s people in the line, “the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.” The kingdom is now imaginatively complete, and we are introduced to the extraordinary, prideful boast of the king: “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” With that, the poet demolishes our imaginary picture of the king, and interposes centuries of ruin between it and us: “ ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ / Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, / The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Summary
The speaker recalls having met a traveler “from an antique land,” who told him a story about the ruins of a statue in the desert of his native country. Two vast legs of stone stand without a body, and near them a massive, crumbling stone head lies “half sunk” in the sand. The traveler told the speaker that the frown and “sneer of cold command” on the statue’s face indicate that the sculptor understood well the passions of the statue’s subject, a man who sneered with contempt for those weaker than himself, yet fed his people because of something in his heart (“The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed”). On the pedestal of the statue appear the words: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” But around the decaying ruin of the statue, nothing remains, only the “lone and level sands,” which stretch out around it, far away.
Form
“Ozymandias” is a sonnet, a fourteen-line poem metered in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is somewhat unusual for a sonnet of this era; it does not fit a conventional Petrarchan pattern, but instead interlinks the octave (a term for the first eight lines of a sonnet) with the sestet (a term for the last six lines), by gradually replacing old rhymes with new ones in the form ABABACDCEDEFEF.
Commentary
This sonnet from 1817 is probably Shelley’s most famous and most anthologized poem—which is somewhat strange, considering that it is in many ways an atypical poem for Shelley, and that it touches little upon the most important themes in his oeuvre at large (beauty, expression, love, imagination). Still, “Ozymandias” is a masterful sonnet. Essentially it is devoted to a single metaphor: the shattered, ruined statue in the desert wasteland, with its arrogant, passionate face and monomaniacal inscription (“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”). The once-great king’s proud boast has been ironically disproved; Ozymandias’s works have crumbled and disappeared, his civilization is gone, all has been turned to dust by the impersonal, indiscriminate, destructive power of history. The ruined statue is now merely a monument to one man’s hubris, and a powerful statement about the insignificance of human beings to the passage of time. Ozymandias is first and foremost a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of political power, and in that sense the poem is Shelley’s most outstanding political sonnet, trading the specific rage of a poem like “England in 1819” for the crushing impersonal metaphor of the statue. But Ozymandias symbolizes not only political power—the statue can be a metaphor for the pride and hubris of all of humanity, in any of its manifestations. It is significant that all that remains of Ozymandias is a work of art and a group of words; as Shakespeare does in the sonnets, Shelley demonstrates that art and language long outlast the other legacies of power.
Of course, it is Shelley’s brilliant poetic rendering of the story, and not the subject of the story itself, which makes the poem so memorable. Framing the sonnet as a story told to the speaker by “a traveller from an antique land” enables Shelley to add another level of obscurity to Ozymandias’s position with regard to the reader—rather than seeing the statue with our own eyes, so to speak, we hear about it from someone who heard about it from someone who has seen it. Thus the ancient king is rendered even less commanding; the distancing of the narrative serves to undermine his power over us just as completely as has the passage of time. Shelley’s description of the statue works to reconstruct, gradually, the figure of the “king of kings”: first we see merely the “shattered visage,” then the face itself, with its “frown / And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command”; then we are introduced to the figure of the sculptor, and are able to imagine the living man sculpting the living king, whose face wore the expression of the passions now inferable; then we are introduced to the king’s people in the line, “the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.” The kingdom is now imaginatively complete, and we are introduced to the extraordinary, prideful boast of the king: “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” With that, the poet demolishes our imaginary picture of the king, and interposes centuries of ruin between it and us: “ ‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ / Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, / The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
AS YOU LIKE IT:Summary
(Read this summary a few times to get an idea of the whole play)
As You Like It:
William Shakespeare:
Summary
The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the action takes place in a location called the 'Forest of Arden.'
Frederick has usurped the Duchy and exiled his older brother, Duke Senior. The Duke's daughter Rosalind has been permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend and cousin of Frederick's only child, Celia. Orlando, a young gentleman of the kingdom who has fallen in love at first sight of Rosalind, is forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court. Celia and Rosalind decide to flee together accompanied by the jester Touchstone, with Rosalind disguised as a young man.Rosalind, now disguised as Ganymede ("Jove's own page"), and Celia, now disguised as Aliena (Latin for "stranger"), arrive in the Arcadian Forest of Arden, where the exiled Duke now lives with some supporters, including "the melancholy Jaques," who is introduced to us weeping over the slaughter of a deer. "Ganymede" and "Aliena" do not immediately encounter the Duke and his companions, as they meet up with Corin, an impoverished tenant, and offer to buy his master's rude cottage.Orlando and his servant Adam (a role possibly played by Shakespeare himself, though this story is apocryphal), meanwhile, find the Duke and his men and are soon living with them and posting simplistic love poems for Rosalind on the trees. Rosalind, also in love with Orlando, meets him as Ganymede and pretends to counsel him to cure him of being in love. Ganymede says "he" will take Rosalind's place and "he" and Orlando can act out their relationship.
Meanwhile, the shepherdess Phebe, with whom Silvius is in love, has fallen in love with Ganymede (actually Rosalind), though "Ganymede" continually shows that "he" is not interested in Phebe. The cynical Touchstone has also made amorous advances towards the dull-witted goat-herd girl Audrey, and attempts to marry her before his plans are thwarted by the intrusive Jaques.
Finally, Silvius, Phebe, Ganymede, and Orlando are brought together in an argument with each other over who will get whom. Ganymede says he will solve the problem, having Orlando promise to marry Rosalind, and Phebe promise to marry Silvius if she cannot marry Ganymede. The next day, Ganymede reveals himself to be Rosalind, and since Phebe has found her love to be false, she ends up with Silvius.
Orlando sees Oliver in the forest and rescues him from a lioness, causing Oliver to repent for mistreating Orlando (some directors treat this as a tale, rather than reality). Oliver meets Aliena (Celia's false identity) and falls in love with her, and they agree to marry. Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, Silvius and Phebe, and Touchstone and Audrey all are married in the final scene, after which they discover that Frederick has also repented his faults, deciding to restore his legitimate brother to the dukedom and adopt a religious life. Jaques, ever melancholy, declines their invitation to return to the court preferring to stay in the forest and to adopt a religious life.
The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the action takes place in a location called the 'Forest of Arden.'
Frederick has usurped the Duchy and exiled his older brother, Duke Senior. The Duke's daughter Rosalind has been permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend and cousin of Frederick's only child, Celia. Orlando, a young gentleman of the kingdom who has fallen in love at first sight of Rosalind, is forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court. Celia and Rosalind decide to flee together accompanied by the jester Touchstone, with Rosalind disguised as a young man.Rosalind, now disguised as Ganymede ("Jove's own page"), and Celia, now disguised as Aliena (Latin for "stranger"), arrive in the Arcadian Forest of Arden, where the exiled Duke now lives with some supporters, including "the melancholy Jaques," who is introduced to us weeping over the slaughter of a deer. "Ganymede" and "Aliena" do not immediately encounter the Duke and his companions, as they meet up with Corin, an impoverished tenant, and offer to buy his master's rude cottage.Orlando and his servant Adam (a role possibly played by Shakespeare himself, though this story is apocryphal), meanwhile, find the Duke and his men and are soon living with them and posting simplistic love poems for Rosalind on the trees. Rosalind, also in love with Orlando, meets him as Ganymede and pretends to counsel him to cure him of being in love. Ganymede says "he" will take Rosalind's place and "he" and Orlando can act out their relationship.
Meanwhile, the shepherdess Phebe, with whom Silvius is in love, has fallen in love with Ganymede (actually Rosalind), though "Ganymede" continually shows that "he" is not interested in Phebe. The cynical Touchstone has also made amorous advances towards the dull-witted goat-herd girl Audrey, and attempts to marry her before his plans are thwarted by the intrusive Jaques.
Finally, Silvius, Phebe, Ganymede, and Orlando are brought together in an argument with each other over who will get whom. Ganymede says he will solve the problem, having Orlando promise to marry Rosalind, and Phebe promise to marry Silvius if she cannot marry Ganymede. The next day, Ganymede reveals himself to be Rosalind, and since Phebe has found her love to be false, she ends up with Silvius.
Orlando sees Oliver in the forest and rescues him from a lioness, causing Oliver to repent for mistreating Orlando (some directors treat this as a tale, rather than reality). Oliver meets Aliena (Celia's false identity) and falls in love with her, and they agree to marry. Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, Silvius and Phebe, and Touchstone and Audrey all are married in the final scene, after which they discover that Frederick has also repented his faults, deciding to restore his legitimate brother to the dukedom and adopt a religious life. Jaques, ever melancholy, declines their invitation to return to the court preferring to stay in the forest and to adopt a religious life.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Act 1, Scene 1
Original Text
Modern Text
Enter ORLANDO and ADAM
ORLANDO and ADAM enter.
ORLANDO
As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother on his blessing to breed me well. And there begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit. For my part, he keeps me rustically at home or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call you that “keeping” for a gentleman of my birth that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better, for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they are taught their manage and, to that end, riders dearly hired. But I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth, for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave me his countenance seems to take from me. He lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a brother, and, as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education. This is it, Adam, that grieves me, and the spirit of my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny against this servitude. I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it.
ORLANDO
I remember, Adam, that’s exactly why my father only left me a thousand crowns in his will. And as you know, my father commanded my brother, Oliver, to make sure that I was brought up well—and that’s where my sadness begins. Oliver keeps my brother Jaques away at school, and everyone says he’s doing extremely well there. But he keeps me at home in the country—to be precise, he keeps me stuck at home but doesn’t support me. I ask you, is this any way to treat a gentleman as nobly born as I am, to pen me in like an ox? His horses get treated better than I do—at least he feeds them and trains them properly, and spends a lot of money on trainers for them. All I’ve gained from his care is weight, which makes me as indebted to him as his animals on the manure pile are. He gives me plenty of nothing, and takes away everything else, letting me eat with his servants, refusing me what’s owed me as his brother, and ruining my good birth with a poor education. This is what angers me, Adam. My father’s temper and spirit, which I think I share, makes me want to mutiny against my brother’s tyranny. I won’t stand for it any longer, though I haven’t yet figured out how to revolt.
Enter OLIVER
OLIVER enters.
ADAM
Yonder comes my master, your brother.
ADAM
Here comes my master, your brother.
ORLANDO
Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will shake me up.
ORLANDO
Go hide, Adam, and you’ll hear how he abuses me.
OLIVER
Now, sir, what make you here?
OLIVER
Hey, you! What are you making here?
ORLANDO
Nothing. I am not taught to make anything.
ORLANDO
Nothing. I’ve never been taught how to make anything.
OLIVER
What mar you then, sir?
OLIVER
Well, then, what are you messing up?
ORLANDO
Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God made, a poor unworthy brother of yours, with idleness.
ORLANDO
I’m helping you mess up one of God’s creations—your poor, unworthy brother—by having him do nothing.
OLIVER
Marry, sir, be better employed, and be naught awhile.
OLIVER
Indeed, sir, find something better to do and get lost for a while.
ORLANDO
Shall I keep your hogs and eat husks with them? What prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such penury?
ORLANDO
Should I tend your pigs and eat husks with them? When did I waste so much money that I ended up this poor?
OLIVER
Know you where you are, sir?
OLIVER
Do you know where you are, sir?
ORLANDO
O sir, very well: here in your orchard.
ORLANDO
Yes, sir, very well—I’m here in your orchard.
OLIVER
Know you before whom, sir?
OLIVER
Do you know whom you’re talking to?
ORLANDO
Ay, better than him I am before knows me. I know you are my eldest brother, and in the gentle condition of blood you should so know me. The courtesy of nations allows you my better, in that you are the first-born, but the same tradition takes not away my blood, were there twenty brothers betwixt us. I have as much of my father in me as you, albeit, I confess, your coming before me is nearer to his reverence.
ORLANDO
Yes, better than you know me. I know you’re my oldest brother, and deserve more respect. But we’re in the same family, so you should acknowledge that I am a gentleman too. According to custom, as the first-born you are my superior. But it’s not customary to treat me like I’m not even a gentleman, even if there were twenty brothers between you and me. I have as much of our father in me as you do, though I admit you’re closer to him and matter more because you’re older.
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