Worksheets for Communication Skill Practical - N Scheme

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Clauses - Noun Clause, Adjective Clause and Adverb Clause

 

Essay on The Night the Ghost Got in (by James Thurber)

Introduction:

                “The Night the Ghost Got in” is a short-story from “My Life and Hard Times” written by James Thurber.  The author is one of the most famous humourists and cartoonists in America. Like Milton, he grew blind in course of his lifetime and spent his last eleven years of life in utter blindness. The humour in his story arises mainly from the odd characters in his story and their inappropriate understanding of what happens around them. In this story, the author’s over imaginative mother, eccentric grandfather, fussing police officers, the dining hall ghost and the helpless author all contribute to the humour of the story.

The Visit of the Dining Hall Ghost in Midnight:

                After taking bath upstairs at 1.15 a.m, the author hears the footsteps of the ghost in the dining hall downstairs. The author knows very well that there is a ghost in his house which entered on the night of November 17, 1915. The ghost now makes a rhythmic walking around the dining table again and again. The author wakes up his brother Herman and comes with him downstairs. The sound of the footsteps now starts running around the table and moves towards them. Herman flees upstairs and slams his door to fall asleep. The author’s mother is awakened by the sound and she imagines that it may be burglars. The phone is downstairs. So she throws a shoe that breaks through the window of the neighbour’s bedroom and informs the angry neighbour Mr.Bodwell to call the police. The mother again tries to throw another shoe out of fancy but is controlled by the author.

The Cops and Their Much Ado About Nothing:

                A Ford saloon with full of cops, two cops on motorcycles, a patrol wagon with eight policemen and a few reporters all arrive at the spot. Flashlights are shot everywhere and the police brake in the glass front door. They make a shot all around and pull down the windows, doors, shelves, the front stairs and the back stairs. Finally they find nobody and think that the burglars would have escaped.  The mother there stops the author from doing anything and he is helplessly standing with just a towel around his waist. He looks ‘hot’ to the police but really ‘cold’ with fear. The way the police make a fuss produces humour in the story.

Grandfather’s Peculiar Treatment of the Police:

                Suddenly all police hear a creaking sound in the attic. During the American Civil War, General Meade’s army made a retreat against the Confederate Army headed by Stonewall Jackson. The grandfather sleeping in the attic sees the police coming to him and thinks that they are the deserters from Meade’s army, now coming to hide away in his attic. He roars “ye, cowardly dogs!” and slapps a policeman to the ground. He takes the gun from a policeman and starts shooting on his shoulder. Usually people will be afraid of police but here the police are afraid of the grandfather and do not dare to go near him. Finally the author informs the reporters that there is a ghost in their house that is the reason for all these.

Conclusion:

                The way the next day the grandfather asks what happened yesterday amuses everyone and the author thus ends the story in a lighthearted manner. The author doesn’t say what happened to the hungry ghost. He rather says, there is a ghost within everyone that makes noise and terrifies others. The writer also plays the comic role by unknowingly putting on one of his mother’s blouses. The way the reporters and cops look at him adds further humour. Thus the story does not care for any results or solution and just makes fun of human eccentricities.

Essay on After Twenty Years – a Short Story Written by O Henry

Introduction:

            O Henry is a remarkable famous short story writer of America though he had short-lived and died at the age of 47. He has written over 300 short stories and “After Twenty Years” is one of the best short stories from him. It deals with Fate, Friendship and Duty and combines them all into a single thread as an interesting short story. If fate plays a game with your life, which one would you like to be loyal to – Friendship or Duty? The short story answers by unfolding the suspense in the climax.

Two Faithful Friends and Their Pledge:

            Eighteen-year-old Bob and twenty-year-old Jimmy Wells are two faithful friends in New York. Bob wants to leave for the West to find his fortune but Jimmy Wells is not ready to leave New York. Hence both make an agreement to live on their own way but to meet again after twenty years in the same restaurant where there are having a dinner right now at 10 p.m. They promise to meet again wherever they are and in whatever condition they are after 20 years. They part with each other. For sometimes, they keep correspondence between them but after a year or two, they don’t have any contact with each other and fate drags them apart and changes their character and life totally.

Bob’s Loyalty Even After 20 Years:

            Bob has grown very rich but by wrong means. He has now become an outlaw searched by the police. Anyhow after 20 years, he comes to the same restaurant to keep up his promise to his friend. He is very loyal to his friendship and is patiently waiting in the same place in darkness where there is no such restaurant now. A sincere patrolman on night duty comes to him to know why he is standing there.  Bob lights on his cigar and tells him everything about his promise with Jimmy Wells. The patrolman is surprised to see the friendship between them and his loyalty.  He wishes him that his friend Jimmy Wells would come alright and leaves the place continuing his duty.

Bob’s Meeting with Jimmy Wells:

            After 20 minutes, a tall man with overcoat crosses the street in the darkness and comes to Bob. “Is that you, Bob” he asked, doubtfully. “Is that you, Jimmy Wells?” cries the other excitedly.  He is so happy to see his friend again keeping the promise. The tall man holds both the hands of Bob in his own and takes him to a nearby drug store which has enough lights. Bob talks a lot about his career and how fate has changed his life overtime. When they come near the lighted drug store, Bob snaps his hand from the tall man and realizes by seeing the flat nose that he is not his friend Jimmy Wells who had Roman nose. The tall man reveals the fact that he is a police officer and has arrested him 10 minutes before. He also hands him over a note written by the Patrolman Jimmy Wells. The note reveals the truth that the patrol man is his friend who is loyal to law and anyhow he could not arrest his own friend.

Conclusion:

            This story from O Henry does not have just two characters. Darkness that hides the identity of the patrolman is a character. The rain that keeps the street less crowded and creates a pleasant moment for memories is also a character. Moreover, fate itself is a character that changes the character of Bob in course of twenty years and again locks him with the chains of loyalty and friendship. Both the friends are loyal to each other that is why they come to the same spot after 20 years. But for Jimmy Wells, being loyal to law is more important than being loyal to his friendship. He doesn’t want his friend to escape, though he is his best friend and long missed one.

 

The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden

 

W.H. Auden

Annotation – 1

“He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be

One against whom there was no official complaint,

And all the reports on his conduct agree

That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint”

Context: These are the beginning lines from “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden.

Explanation:

                Bureaucratic government treats citizens as machines and monitors continuously whether they function perfectly. Machines should not have feelings, so the govt. thinks of people.  It collects data about their behavior not about their well-being. Here the data reported by Bureau of Statistics says that there is no complaint against the unknown citizen. His conduct is good. He is perfectly right like a saint in all his activities. The old sense of the word saint is a person who has renounced all desires for spiritual reason like Buddha. But the modern meaning of the word here is a person who is always disciplined and right in the purview of government. Here the saint, the unknown citizen has sacrificed his own likes and dislikes for the wellbeing of the government.

Criticism:

                 The citizen does not make a complaint, not because he has no grievances but because he knows the consequences of making a complaint. He may have mouth and tongue to speak but he should not. Then only, he will be certified that his conduct is good. Bureaucratic government is not elected by people, so it is not for the people. Rather, the citizen is for the government. He is domesticated like cats and dogs by the government. Here his conduct certificate from the government is more valuable than his freedom and happiness.

Annotation -2

“For in everything he did he served the Great Community.

Except for the War till the he retired

He worked in a factory and never got fired,

But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.

Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,

For his Union reports that he paid his dues

(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)”

Context:

                This is an extract taken from “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden.

Explanation:

                Auden describes here the exploitation of the citizens by the Bureaucratic government in the name of obedience and loyalty. The speaker of the poem is a govt. official. He reports that the recently died citizen is a model individual because he does not do what he likes but what will be good for the Great Community, the government. He is very faithful to his employer and has followed with great sincerity the rules and regulations without any question. He is faithful to the Union because he has paid the dues without fail. It is not the question whether he fought for his rights. What matters is whether he is a conformist.

Criticism:

                The term “fudge” means to cheat by not telling the exact truth. The company where the citizen of the poem worked may not have given wages fairly, so Auden rightly names the company Fudge Motors Inc. It also shows the impact of industrialization on man who almost became a machine without feelings. The duty of the Union is to fight for the employees’ rights. But here the citizen is loyal both to the employer and to the Union. Such a great selfless conformist he is!

Annotation -3

“And our Social Psychology workers found

That he was popular with his mates and likes a drink.

The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day

And that his reactions to advertisement were normal in every way.

Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,

And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.

Both Producers Research and High-Grade living declare

He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan

And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,

A phonograph, a radio, a car and frigidaire.”

 Context:

                W.H. Auden has written these lines for his poem “The Unknown Citizen”. He is satirizing the overreaching surveillance of bureaucratic government into an individual’s privacy and the modern men’s way of living in such a society.

Explanation:

                A bureaucratic government monitors each and every activity of the individual –1) whether he is popular with his mates, 2) what he likes or does not like, 3) whether he buys newspaper everyday, 4) whether he has taken an insurance policy, 5) when he was admitted in a hospital and discharged, 6)whether he has bought like others on installment the necessary things such as a phonograph, radio, car and fridge. Through one Id Number (such as Aadhaar) the govt. watches everything and has found that the citizen is a typical example for how to be a conformist. The citizen cannot do anything without the knowledge of the government. Thus the individual’s freedom and privacy are put at stake.  

Criticism:

                How a modern man suffers by buying the so-called necessary things on installment is vividly portrayed by Auden here. He also satirises the government’s trespass into an individual’s privacy. What is the necessity to the govt to watch whether an individual likes a drink or not? Rousseau has rightly said- “Man is born free but he is everywhere in chains.”

 Annotation -4

“Our researchers into Public Opinion are content

That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;

When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went.

He was married and added five children to the population,

Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.

And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.

Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:

Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.”

Context:

                This is an extract taken from “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden.

Explanation:

                The speaker of the poem says that the citizen has offered ‘proper opinions’. Opinions need not be proper.  It means that he has no opinions of his own and he has to give his opinions as expected by the govt. Whether he supports war or peace is a million dollar question. Because the  govt wants peace, then he also wants peace. When the govt decides the war, he is ready for war. The govt also decides how many children he should have and here it is five children. Whatever is taught in school, he will blindly accept and will never raise any question or doubt. The readers may doubt whether he was happy and free in his life. But there is no ground for asking such a question. He must have been happy and free. Otherwise he would have made a complaint - the report says that he hasn’t.

Comment:

                The poem begins with the note that there is no complaint from the recently died citizen. The poem ends with the note that the citizen would have complained if he had not been free and happy. This is the diplomacy of the bureaucratic government. It dictates the citizens and puts their freedom at stake. But It awards them for not making any complaint against the govt and for not receiving any complaint from the govt. It also justifies its rule that the people must be happy because there is no complaint.

Voice of the Unwanted Girl by Sujata Bhatt

Female Feticide

Annotation – 1

“Mother, I am the one

you sent away

when the doctor told you

I would be

a girl – In the end”

 

Context: This is an extract taken from “Voice of the Unwanted Girl” written by Sujata Bhatt. The same line is repeated in the middle of the poem to stress the female feticide.

Explanation:

            The speaker of the poem is a dead unwanted girl. She is introducing herself to her mother that she is the girl whom the mother doesn’t permit to live on the earth. As soon as the doctor informed the mother that she would give birth to a female child, the mother decided to kill the child in the womb itself. The voice of the dead girl is asking for justice in this beginning line of the poem. In the 20^th Century, Indian society, especially rural poor families did not like a girl child because the parents had to save a lot of money to sell her in the marriage market. This is reflected here.

Comment:

            First of all, a mother is known for her love towards her children. The dead girl seems to ask - “how dare you mother to kill me, being a woman?” Secondly, the duty of a doctor is to save the life. But here he gives an injection to kill the girl child at the earliest stage in the womb. Sujata Bhatt, being herself a woman, vividly describes the helpless state of such a female child.

Annotation – 2

“I could have clutched the neon blue

                                    no one wanted –

No one wanted

To touch me – except  later in the autopsy room

when they knew my mouth would not search

for anything – and my head could be measured

and bent cut apart.

I looked like a sliced pomegranate.

The fruit you never touched.”

 

Context:

            These lines are from the poem “Voice of the Unwanted Girl” by Sujata Bhatt. The speaker of the poem expresses how she was not liked by anyone even at the time of her death.

Explanation:

            A mother kills her child by taking an injection as soon as she comes to know about the presence of a girl child in her womb. The child compares herself to neon blue colour. Construction workers would wear neon blue pants as the warning message to the viewers. A female child in those days is a warning message to the poor parents who couldn’t afford dowry. Before she grows up, the girl embryo is here wantonly killed in the womb itself. When it is taken out, the head is measured and cut just like a pomegranate. Then it is preserved in autopsy room for medical examination. The voice of the dead girl child says that no one wanted to touch me except examiners in the autopsy room.

Comment:

            Untouchability is a crime. But here the girl’s voice says, “No one wanted to touch me.” The girl is a second girl child in the family. So she is not wanted any more. Her self-respect is reduced to an object for examination in the autopsy room.  How helpless the girl child is! She is bleeding like the red colour juice of the pomegranate when it is cut. These lines also reveal the colour psychology of the poet who rightly compares the girl to neon blue colour, the unwanted colour by many people.

Annotation – 3

 

Parijatak Flowers

            Afterwards, as soon as you could

            you put on your grass-green sari –

            the orange stems of the parijatak blossoms

            glistened in your hair –

                                                            Afterwards

            everyone smiled.

Context:

            Sujata Bhatt has written these lines in her poem “ Voice of the Unwanted Girl”. This is said by the speaker of the poem, the dead unwanted girl when she finds fault with her mother’s lack of care for her.

Explanation:

            After abortion of the child, the mother gets ready for home from the hospital. She puts on her grass-green sari. She has also worn the Parijatak flower whose stems are shining in her hair. As if a big task is over, everyone smile at each other. The line is here so ironic. The mother likes grass-green sari but she roots out the new grass about to be born from her. The mother likes parijatak flower but she crushes to death her own flower, the girl child about to blossom from her. What they have done in the hospital is a murder. But all of them smile at each other as if they have won a great battle.

Comment:

            The girl child can endure if others don’t like her. How can it endure if her mother herself doesn’t care for her? The images of the grass and parijatak are efficiently used by the poet to express the helpless feelings of the affected girl child.

Annotation -4

 

            “I won’t come to you in your dreams.

             Look for me, mother, look

             because I won’t become a flower

             I won’t turn into a butterfly

             And I am not a part of anyone’s song…

             That is not ‘God’s will’

             Look for me, mother

             because I smell of formaldehyde-”

Context:

            These lines, taken from Sujata Bhatt’s “Voice of the Unwanted Girl” bring out the feelings and expectations of a killed girl child towards her mother.

Explanation:

            Any mother would usually have dreams about what her daughter would become in future. But here the dead girl child says pathetically that she would not come in her mother’s dream. Flowering here is attaining puberty. Girls become so beautiful like butterflies after they come of age. Then great poets would write songs in praise of their beauty. But the dead girl here says that she would not become a flower or butterfly. She would not appear in anybody’s song. Her death is not God’s decision but the mother’s decision. The girl would actually spread the fragrance of a flower but now her dead embryo is kept in a bottle in lab and is preserved with formaldehyde.

Comment:

            No poet can express the cruelty of female infanticide better than Sujata Bhatt as expressed here. The poet simply says that the mother doesn’t merely kill the child. She has killed the dreams of the child. Uneducated villagers would often use the terms ‘fate’ or God’s Will after such female feticide but the poet clearly says here that it is not God’s Will. God who sends a child to this world would never like to kill her. We are shocked to see how the unfavourable circumstances challenged the survival of girl children in those days.

The Poet: Sujata Bhatt

Use of Prepositions (PPT)

 

Word Conversion (Communicative English 1-Unit 2)

 

Experiment 13 (M Scheme)

Prepare an Outline of a Project to Obtain Loan

Click here to view the Outline Of a Project

Experiment 12 (M Scheme) - Resume Writing

Click to View the Resume 

Experiment 11: Making Sentences from the given patterns

Date:

Box 1

The workers	are	on strike.
There	is	a branch	in Chennai.
There	are	25 clients	here.
Sheela	works	in the first shift.
We	manufacture	dying machines.

 Framed New Sentences:

1. The bank employees are on strike.

2. There is a canteen here.

3. There are 10 products here.

4. Ravi works in the night shift.

5. We manufacture programming softwares.

Box 2

He	was	promoted	as a project manager	yesterday
Many employees	come	to office	by car.
The industry	is shut	for May Day.
She	had	a discussion	with his manager.
He	tried	at his best	to get	the order.

 Framed New Sentences:

1. Mr. Ganesh was promoted as a Union Leader Yesterday.

2. Many employees come to office by staff bus.

3. The industry is closed on Sundays.

4. She had a discussion with the committee members.

5. She tried at her best to get the order.

********* 

Experiment 10: Framing New Questions from the Given Pattern (M Scheme)

1. Box – 1

Where	is	my report?
What	do	you	know about	this problem?
Why	is	it	important?
How much	did	you	pay	for this work?
Who	asked	you	to send	this mail?

 

Framed Questions:

1. Where is my room?

2. How do you know about this problem?

3. Why is it expensive?

4. How much did you spend for this project?

5. Who asked you to install this software?

 

1. Box -2

How many	clients	attended	the meeting	Yesterday?
How	will	you	solve	this problem?
Who	is	the manager	of this factory?
When	will	you	go	to Mumbai?
Which software	would	you	like to	order?

 

Framed Questions:

1.  How many officials attended the meeting yesterday?

2.  How will you complete this project?

3. Who is the organizer of this programme?

4. When will you go to Chennai?

5. Which device would you like to buy?