English Guru

Working with words

A. Find the words from the text that match with the following meanings.

a. Shuffle- walking by dragging one's feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground

 b. Doodle- drawing pictures or patterns while thinking about something else

 c. Plaque--a piece of flat metal with writing on it

 d. Precept--a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought

 e. Sneaky--move or go in a furtive or stealthy way

B. Consult your teacher and define the following thinking skills.

a. Cnvergent thinking: Convergent thinking is the type of thinking that focuses on coming up with a single, well-established answer to a problem.

b. Divergent thinking: Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.   

c. Critical thinking: Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgment by the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluations. The application of critical thinking includes self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective habits of the mind, thus Critical Thinking is an acquired skill used to evaluate data    

d. Creative thinking: Creative thinking is the ability to come up with unique, original solutions. Also known as creative problem-solving, creative thinking is a valuable and marketable soft skill in a wide variety of careers. Creative thinking is all about developing innovative solutions to problems. Creative thinkers brainstorm not only a large number of ideas but also a variety and range of them. In the workplace, creative thinking is highly valuable because employers look to hire innovative employees who can help them solve the company’s problems.

Comprehension

Answer the following questions.

a. Who was Jack? How did he make children laugh?

Jack was one of the childhood friends of the writer.  He was liked by most of the students and had many friends. He made children laugh by telling jokes.

b. Why are “Sharks” important to Reid?

Because they keep the ocean clean by eating dead organisms.

c. What does Mr. Browne think about the most important thing?

Mr. Browne thinks that the most important thing is to know oneself.

d. What is that has not been noticed by the student?

The message in the notice board of the school entrance gate that writes "Know Thyself".

e. How did Jack make fun of the English class? 

Jack made fun of the English class by saying that they were there to attend English class to the teacher’s question “Why are you here?”.

f. What were the students going to do at the end of the month?

The students were going to write an essay based on Brownie’s percept at the end of the month.

g. What particular act of students surprised a girl student?

Students used to come up with their very own personal precepts, write them on a postcard, and mail them to Mr. Brownie after their graduation, this thing surprised the girl student.

Writing

Write an email to your friend explaining an interesting class you had.

Write an email to your friend explaining an interesting class you had.

From: abc2080@gmail.com

To: thapasusma048@gmail.com

Subject: Interesting class that I had

Dear Susma,

Thanks a lot for your email. We all are fine here. I feel great watching video clips of your class that you have attached link with your mail. It was a really wonderful class. In your email, you explained that it was your interesting class that you ever had. You also asked me to write about an interesting class that I felt.

In my school life, I had several interesting classes of different teachers. As you know, English is my favorite subject and crazy about it. I love listening to English tones in different accents. We had a class of grade 12 of the literature section last week. The topic was 'A Devoted Son' by Anita Desai. Our English teacher Mr. Lok Raj Neupane handled the lesson. It was a well-prepared lesson. We all were given a task in our previous class to collect the duties and responsibilities of a devoted son and daughter from our own point of view. We were asked to present our task. Our class was divided into four different houses. One member from each house was elected to present their task. After that, videos showing the behavior of many parents and their offspring were displayed. Their real behaviors were clearly shown in the videos. Some of them were so heart-touching. For the sake of the happiness of their children, their parents sacrifice their desires.  They forget to live their own life and devote their whole life to the happiness of their children. But, how do their children behave to their parents in their old age or when they become physically disabled? It is a serious matter of discussion. All the students in our class were engaged in classroom discussions. Why do some of them become rude to their real God? Why do they kick out real God and Goddess from their own temples and rummage around to find artificial God? What can be the reasons behind their rude behaviors? Then, the story 'A Devoted Son' was projected using video clips. It was a really interesting and attractive class. I can't explain within a few lines or pages how I felt.  I am unable to send video clips to you as the class was not recorded. I will request our English teacher to provide videos of the class. I will be waiting for your response.  Thank you.

Sincerely yours

Anjali BC

Grammar

Question tag

A. Study the following examples.

a. You are tired, aren’t you?

b. He left Kathmandu, didn’t he?

c. Your father never touched alcoholic drinks, did he?

B. Rewrite the following sentences adding appropriate question tag.

a. Gill does not know Ann, does he?
b. I’m very patient, aren’t I?
c. They’d never met me before, had they?
d. Listen carefully, will you?
e. Let’s have a break, shall we?
f. Let us invite them, will you?
g. Hari used to live in France as a boy, didn’t he?
h. You’d better not take a hard drink, had you?
i. Sheep eat grass, don’t they?
j. Mr. Pande can speak nine languages, can’t he?
k. She’s finished her classes, hasn’t she?
l. She barely managed to reach the goal, did she?
m. Don’t let him swim in that pond, will you?

n. There are lots of people here, aren’t there? 

Read the following situations. What do you say in these situations? Use question tags.

a. The sky is full of clouds. You can see lightning and hear thunder.

It’s going to rain soon, isn’t it?

b. You want to pay the taxi fare but you are short by 100 rupees.

Shyam, you have to lend me Rs. 100, don’t you?

c. You have met a stranger at a party and you want to have a chat with him/ her.

We will talk later, won’t we?

d. You came out of the film hall with your friend. You enjoyed the film.

The film was very enjoyable, wasn’t it?

e. You and your friend listened to a comedian on the stage and felt spellbound by his/her performance.

He gave an excellent presentation, didn’t he?

f. You think your friend’s father has arrived from the US but you are not sure.

Your father has not arrived from US, has he?

g. You think Susan will join the new job tomorrow but you are not sure.

Susan will go to her new job tomorrow, won’t she?

h. Your friend’s hair looks too short.

You have got too short hair, haven’t you?

i. You want to go for a picnic with your friends in class.

Let’s go to picnic, shall we?

j. You want permission from your father to go for a walk.

Let me go for evening walk, will you?