3.1 IF - Rudyard Kipling (Explanation of the poem) standard 10th English

IF

By Rudyard Kipling

Explanation/ Summary of the poem

      If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

      If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

      If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don’t give way to hating,

      And yet don’t look too good, not talk too wise:

In this poem, a father is addressing to his son and telling him the qualities of a good man. He is setting a guideline for his son to achieve a goal. The poem tells how to deal with the troubles in life and how to be a good human being.

Here the speaker says that while doing your duties or tasks and making decisions you must be firm and calm. Other people around you may fail in their responsibilities or tasks and react negatively to you. At that time also you have to be patient and calm.

The speaker asks to be confident and keep faith in yourself; even though all others doubt your abilities. He further asks to have thoughtful consideration about the doubts of those people. Don’t let them go easily and try to find positive aspects through it.

The speaker tells you to be patient and not lose the temper, which is the quality of the noble. The waiting (the patience) must be there forever.

People may speak false things about you, but you must not do the same (to lie to revenge them). This may be the test of your real patience.

You may face hatred from those people. It may disturb you and your attention from your goal, but don’t react to them with anger or hatred and don’t allow hatred to take control of your virtues. Don’t reduce yourself to their level. Be virtuous.

And by doing all this good work, don’t think you are so superior or great. Don’t show off your knowledge and don’t think you are above anyone else.

If you can dream and not make dreams your master;

If you can think and not make thoughts, your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth, you’ve spoken,

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

The speaker says that it is really good to have dreams but don’t let dreaming control your life and senses(Means if you just dream and take no action it will become  daydream only)

Thinking or planning is good, but just don’t waste time in thinking, bring the thought into action, and let the things to happen.

In your life, you will get many victories and a lot of success and you will face defeats and failures also…

Don’t get too excited by the victories and don’t get upset by the failures.

Be calm and composed in both the conditions, because both these things are there for short time and the TIME changes.

Sometimes things said by you (the truth said)may be misused by others or the things you have done may be destructed by them.  In this situation, you must have the patience to hear and experience those things and stand again strongly and rebuild it with whatever you have left with you.

This tells us that you must not get frustrated by the actions of your enemy or fate and lose everything, you must take risks and try to reconstruct all from the beginning.

    

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings, nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds, worth of distance run;

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And which is more you’ll be a Man my son!  

Here the speaker tells how we should react to the people.

You may come across a large number of the group that may influence you but don’t let them influence your belief of moral or immoral and right or wrong. You and your beliefs may stand still.

Many times you may come across powerful and influential people. Still, you need to have a touch with common people and should be aware of the needs of common people.

You must know yourself and your beliefs so well that your enemies and friends could not hurt you because you know who you are and what you stand for ( what your significance is).  

People may depend upon you for many things but don’t let them too dependent on you. Because time is precious and it never waits for anyone, so try to live your life to its fullest.

And if you do all these things, the whole world is yours and you will be a good human being.

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English Workshop 2.2 The Boy Who Broke The Bank, by Ruskin Bond, (with questions and answers) Std 10th, English

English Workshop

2.2 The Boy Who Broke The Bank 

 by Ruskin Bond

1.   Who am I? (Identify the character from the extract) 

a)             I am the washerman’s son. Who am I?

Sitaram.

b)            I am the owner of the bank. Who am I?

Govind Ram.

c)             I am the sweeper. Who am I?

Nathu.

d)            I am the friend of Mrs. Shrivastava. Who am I?

Mrs.Bhushan

e)             I am the hairdresser. Who am I?

Deep Chand.

f)               I have a crooked Lego am I?

Ganpat (the beggar).                                                                                 

2.   Make a list of customers of Pipalnagar Bank, from the extract.

• Nathu,
•  Mrs. Shrivastva,
•  Mrs.Bhushan,
• Deep Chand (the barber)       and his Customer,
• Ganpat, the beggar.

3.    Match the following and write the complete meaningful sentences.

	Group  A		Group B
i.	Sitaram was looking out for any job	A	holidaying in Kashmir
ii.	According to Mrs. Bhushan	B	to go home and come back the next day
iii.	Govindram was......	C	that might suit Nathu
iv.	the manager told the customers	D	it was the hottest summer in the history of Pipalnagar

Answers-

	Group  A		Group B
i.	Sitaram was looking out for any job	C	that might suit Nathu
ii.	According to Mrs. Bhushan	D	it was the hottest summer in the history of Pipalnagar
iii.	Govindram was......	A	holidaying in Kashmir
iv.	the manager told the customers	B	to go home and come back the next day

4.    Write who said to whom

(a)        “Don't raise such dust!”

               Sitaram said to Nathu.

(b)       “Who would have thought the bank would collapse!”

                Nathu said to himself.

(c)         “Where did you disappear?”

                Mrs. Bhushan said to Mr. Bhushan.

(d)        “The bird has flown!”

                An elderly gentleman said to Deep Chand.

5. Why does the manager of the bank in dilemma? Write down in 5 to 6 lines in your notebook.

• Answer- The small bank was flooded with the people of Pipalnagar. They wanted their money back immediately, they harassed the manager with many questions. the manager was in a dilemma because all the cash was given to all the people and emergency funds could not be obtained easily. And he could not persuade the crowd.

6. Cross out the odd.

a)    sweeper, hooligan, beggar, declare, locker

Explanation-declare is a verb and all other words are nouns.

b) hurriedly, carelessly, salary, definitely, suddenly

Explanation-salary is a noun and all other words are adverbs.

c)   imminent, latest, payment, awful, shocking

Explanation-payment is a noun and all other words are adjectives.

d) morning, scattering, raising, collecting, shouting

 Explanation-morning is a noun  and all other words are verbs

7. Find the describing words for the following from the text.

• customary  tour
• broken window
•  crooked leg

 8 Complete the following table.

Verb	Noun	Adjective	Adverb
pay	payment	payable	x
x	sudden	sudden	suddenly
declare	declaration	declarable	x
cheer	cheer	cheerful	cheerfully

9. Write in your own words of few sentences about each of the following:

·         Nathu-

Nathu is a sweeper boy, who used to sweep the Pipalnagar Bank every day. He is an important character in the story. Actually, he is the reason for the bank to break or fall.

         As Nathu has not got any payment for more than one and half months, he is discontented. He shows this dissatisfaction to his friend and the confusion begins there. Though he is the reason for this huge problem, he is the last to know about it.

·         Mrs Shrivastava

Mrs. Shrivastava is one of the customers of  Sitaram, the washer man’s boy, who suggests Nathu for her work.

Mrs. Shrivastava tells her friend, Mrs. Bhushan about the bad economic condition of the bank and its employees. She tells this without any wise thought, which creates many difficulties for the Pipalnagar bank. And the fall to the bank.

·         Seth Govind Ram

Unaware of the things at Pipalnagar, Seth Govind Ram is enjoying holidays in Kashmir. He is the owner of the bank. He is not seen directly in the story but has a lot of importance.

When he is not found at home, in the town, everybody thinks he and his bank became bankrupt.

·         Sitaram

Sitaram was washer man’s boy and friend to Nathu. He casually asks his friends farewell and wants to help him. But his words about the bank are taken differently by Mrs. Shrivastva and the rumour about the bankruptcy spreads like a forest fire in the town.

• 10. Expand the theme in a write-up of about 20 lines.

 a) ‘Rumours are spread by fools and accepted by greater fools’.

b) ‘Books are our real friends '.

English Workshop. 1.5 His First Flight, Liam O' Flaherty ( SSC NEW SYLLABUS 2018-19)

English Workshop

1.5 His First Flight

Click here for 2.1 You Start Dying Slowly Explanation

Click here for 2.3 The Twins, Explanation of the poem

ENGLISH WORKSHOP 2.5 THE BOY WHO BROKE THE BANK

1. State whether the following statements are true or false.

(a) The young seagull was not confident about the ability of his wings.

• True.

(b) Young seagull’s parents guided and improved his siblings in the art of flying.

• True.

(c) When the young seagull pretended to be falling asleep, his parents noticed him.

• True.

(d) Flying across the young seagull mother dropped a piece of fish into his beak.

• False.

2. Complete the following statements.

(a) The seagull is afraid to fly because...... 

      he was certain that his wings would never support him, against the vast sea beneath.

(b) Young birds are afraid to make their first flight because.....

     they don't have enough strength in their wings and it is a new experience for them to come out of the nest and to try and fly high in the sky.

(c) Human beings find it difficult to face challenges because.....

•       they experience difficulties for the first time in their life so they could not cope up with them all of sudden.

3. Read the following words carefully and make meaningful sentences of your own, and write it in your notebook.

• plaintively: Mrs. Smith sang so plaintively that the audience could not stop their tears.

• monstrous: The monstrous windmill was looking like a giant to Don Quixote.

• beckon:  Mt Everest beckons the mountaineers all over the world.

• curveting:  When the loud noise of chimneys disturbed, the birds were curveting towards the forest.

• whet:  She was whetting her knife against a stone.  

• soar: Recently, the prices of gold have soared so high. 

4 Read the following words carefully and fill in the blanks by choosing the appropriate words given in the brackets.
(afraid, plunged, appeared, shrilly, skimmed, devoured, cowardice)

(a)  Arun is full of cowardice.
(b) The violin played very shrilly and merrily.
(c)  Ravi said, "Are you really afraid of the dark?"
(d) The whole village plunged into darkness.
(e) The lions devoured their prey, hungrily.
(f)  If he skimmed through the report.
(g) One by one, the stars appeared in the sky.

5. Read about the space mission of Sunita Williams imagine you are going to interview her. Fram 10 to 12 interview relevant questions regarding-

1.  her early life, training
2.  education
3.  her actual flight into space
4.  future plans
5.  for her message to viewers

Questions to Sunita Williams

1. Tell us something about your early life
2. Where did you complete your education?
3. What inspired you to become an astronaut?
4. How was the experience of your first flight into space?
5. Was there any difficult situation in your journey to space?
6. What are your future plans?
7. What are your thoughts about our country in relation to space research?
8. What message would you like to give to viewers, especially girls?

6. Describe in your notebook the challenges you faced while learning to ride a bicycle/ swimming or any skill. Take hints from the web to complete your write-up.

Students should use the following points(Questions) to write description of challenges while learning to ride or swimming.

• How did you feel while riding a bicycle for the first time?
• Were you afraid, nervous, or confident that time?
• Who encouraged or discouraged you while learning to ride or swimming?
• What was your confidence level while learning it? 
• Did you think about the risks of falling down while learning to ride or drowning while learning to swim?
• How did you overpower your fear during that time?
• And tell how was the joy or happiness when you learnt to ride or learn to swim?