The Proposal Question and Answer |
NCERT | Class 10 | English | First Flight
Page 157 | Thinking about the Play
Question 1 What does Chubukov at first suspect that Lomov has come for? Is he sincere when he later says “And I’ve always loved you, my angel, as if you were my own son”? Find reasons for your answer from the play.
Answer At first Chubukov suspected that Lomov had come to borrow money as he was in his evening dress. He was not sincere when he told Lomov that he had always loved him and that he was like his own son.He was certain that he would not give any money to Lomov. It was only when Lomov asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage that his attitude changed and he rushed out to call his daughter, Natalya.
Question 2 Chubukov says of Natalya: “… as if she won’t consent! She’s in love; egad, she’s like a lovesick cat…” Would you agree? Find reasons for your answer.
Answer Chubukov was waiting for the marriage proposal from Lomov for his daughter.When Lomov expressed his disbelief regarding Natalya’s consent to the proposal, Chubukov immediately told him that she was in love with him. But this was actually not true. Natalya did not seem to be in love with Lomov at any point in the play. It looked as if she was more close to her meadows, land and dogs. The way they kept on arguing about slight matters suggests that neither Lomov nor Natalya was in love with each other.
Question 3 (i) Find all the words and expressions in the play that the characters use to speak about each other, and the accusations and insults they hurl at each other. (For example, Lomov in the end calls Chubukov an intriguer; but earlier, Chubukov has himself called Lomov a “malicious, doublefaced intriguer.” Again, Lomov begins by describing Natalya as “an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking, well-educated.”)
(ii) Then think of five adjectives or adjectival expressions of your own to describe each character in the play.
(iii) Can you now imagine what these characters will quarrel about next?
Answer
(i) The words and expressions that have been used to describe each other by various characters of the play are
Chubukov: intriguer, grabber, old rat Natalya: a lovesick cat, an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking’ well-educated.
Lomov: a good neighbour, impudent, pettifogger, malicious, double faced intriguer, rascal, blind hen, turnip ghost, a villian, scare-crow, stuffed sausage, etc.
(ii) Some of the adjectives can be thought are proud, industrious , treasure , darling, love , decent , well-educated , sensible, lovable etc.
(iii) Natalya got the hand of Lomov. Both embrace and kiss each other. Chubukov blesses them to start a family bless.But like a lie, a quarrel can be done on any issue.In reality matter finishes.
(I) Thinking about Language
Question 1. This play has been translated into English from the Russian original. Are there any expressions or ways of speaking that strike you as more Russian than English? For example, would an adult man be addressed by an older man as my darling or my treasure in an English play?
Read through the play carefully, and find expressions that you think are not used in contemporary English, and contrast these with idiomatic modern English expressions that also occur in the play.
Answer Expressions not used in contemporary English are –
(a) my beauty, my precious, my darling, my beloved ( here an older man is addressing an adult man)
(b) all that sort of thing (not explaining what it is just leaving it as it is)
(c) and so on (here it is used after a sentence in order to complete it)
(d) and all that (again leaving the sentence as it is)
(e) the scarecrow, the stuffed sausage, the wizen – faced frumps (They hurled insults at each other)
Modern English expression
Madam, my heart, honoured Natalya Stepanovna
Honoured Stepan Stepanovitch
I beg your pardon
My dear fellow
malicious, double – faced intriguer, fool
Question 2. Look up the following words in a dictionary and find out how to pronounce them. Pay attention to how many syllables there are in each word, and find out which syllable is stressed, or said more forcefully.
|
palpitations interfere implore thoroughbred pedigree principle evidence misfortune malicious embezzlement architect neighbours accustomed temporary behaviour documents |
Answer
| Word | Pronunciation and Stressing the Syllables |
| Interfere | in-ter- fere |
| Palpitation | pal-pi-ta-tion |
| Implore | im-plore |
| Thoroughbred | thorough-bred |
| pedigree | pee-di-gree |
| principle | princi-ple |
| evidence | evi-dence |
| misfortune | mis-fortune |
| malicious | ma-li-cious |
| embezzlement | embezzle-ment |
| architect | arch-i-tect |
| neighbours | nei-ghbour |
| accustomed | accus-tomed |
| temporary | temp-o-rary |
| behaviour | behavi-our |
| documents | doc-u-ment |
Question 3. Look up the following phrases in a dictionary to find out their meaning, and then use each in a sentence of your own.
(i) You may take it that
(ii) He seems to be coming round
(iii) My foot’s gone to sleep 2020-21
Answer
(i) You may take it that I am lying , but in fact it will help you in long term.
(ii) He seems to be coming round after the trauma of his father’s death.
(iii) After three hours long yoga session My foot’s gone to sleep.
II Reported Speech
A sentence in reported speech consists of two parts: a reporting clause, which contains the reporting verb, and the reported clause. Look at the following sentences.
(a) “I went to visit my grandma last week,” said Mamta.
(b) Mamta said that she had gone to visit her grandma the previous week.
In sentence (a), we have Mamta’s exact words. This is an example of direct speech. In sentence (b), someone is reporting what Mamta said. This is called indirect speech or reported speech. A sentence in reported speech is made up of two parts — a reporting clause and a reported clause.
In sentence (b), Mamta said is the reporting clause containing the reporting verb said. The other clause — that she had gone to visit her grandma last week — is the reported clause.
Notice that in sentence (b) we put the reporting clause first. This is done to show that we are not speaking directly, but reporting someone else’s words. The tense of the verb also changes; past tense (went) becomes past perfect (had gone). Here are some pairs of sentences in direct and reported speech.
Read them carefully, and do the task that follows:
1. (i) LOMOV : Honoured Stepan Stepanovitch, do you think I may count on her consent? (Direct Speech)
(ii) Lomov asked Stepan Stepanovitch respectfully if he thought he might count on her consent. (Reported Speech)
2. (i) LOMOV : I’m getting a noise in my ears from excitement. (Direct Speech)
(ii) Lomov said that he was getting a noise in his ears from excitement. (Reported Speech)
3. (i) NATALYA : Why haven’t you been here for such a long time? (Direct Speech)
(ii) Natalya Stepanovna asked why he hadn’t been there for such a long time. (Reported Speech)
4. (i) CHUBUKOV : What’s the matter? (Direct Speech) (ii) Chubukov asked him what the matter was. (Reported Speech)
5. (i) NATALYA : My mowers will be there this very day! (Direct Speech)
(ii) Natalya Stepanovna declared that her mowers would be there that very day. (Reported Speech)
You must have noticed that when we report someone’s exact words, we have to make some changes in the sentence structure. In the following sentences fill in the blanks to list the changes that have occurred in the above pairs of sentences. One has been done for you.
1. To report a question, we use the reporting verb (as in Sentence Set 1).
2. To report a statement, we use the reporting verb ________
3. The adverb of place here changes to __________
4. When the verb in direct speech is in the present tense, the verb in reported speech is in ________the tense (as in Sentence Set 3).
5. If the verb in direct speech is in the present continuous tense, the verb in reported speech changes to________ tense. For example, ________changes to was getting.
6. When the sentence in direct speech contains a word denoting respect, we add the adverb_______ in the reporting clause (as in Sentence Set 1).
7. The pronouns I, me, our and mine, which are used in the first person in direct speech, change according to the subject or object of the reporting verb such as ______, ______, __________or________ in reported speech.
Answer I
1) To report a question, we use the reporting verb asked.
2) To report a statement, we use the reporting verb declared.
3) The adverb of place here changes to there.
4) When the verb in direct speech is in the present tense, the verb in reported speech is in past tense.
5) If the verb in direct speech is in the present continuous tense, the verb in reported speech changes to past continuous. For example, is getting changes to was getting.
6) When the sentence in direct speech contains a word denoting respect, we add the adverb respectfully in the reporting clause (as in sentence set 1)
7) The pronouns I, me, our and mine, which are used in the first person in direct speech, change according to the subject or object of the reporting verb such as he, him, their or his in reported speech.
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