Solution of Chapter 4. From the Diary of Anne Frank (First Flight - English Book)

What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?

Why does Anne want to keep a diary?

Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?

Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?

What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?

Why was Mr. Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?

How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?

Do you think Mr. Keesing was a strict teacher?

What made Mr. Keesing allow Anne to talk in the class?

Was Anne right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old girl?

There are some examples of diary or journal entries in the ‘Before You Read’ Section. Compare these with what Anne writes in her diary. What language was the diary originally written in? In what way is Anne’s diary different?

Why does Anne need to give a brief sketch of her family? Does she treat ‘Kitty’ as an insider or an outsider?

How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs. Kuperus and Mr. Keesing? What do these tell you about her?

What does Anne write in her first essay?

Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr. Keesing unpredictable? How?

What do these statements tell you about Anne Frank as a person?

(i) We don’t seem to be able to get any closer, and that’s the problem. Maybe it’s my fault that we don’t confine in each other.

(ii) I don’t want to jot down the facts in a diary the way most people would, but I want the diary to be my friend.

(iii) Margot went to Holland In December; I followed in February When I was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot.

(iv) If you ask me, there are so many dummies that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth.

(v) Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking.

Look at the following words.

These words are compound words. They are made up of two or more words.

Compound words can be:

•Nouns (a word that identifies a person, a place, an animal or a thing): headmistress, homework, notebook, outbursts

•Adjectives (a word that gives the description of a noun or a pronoun): long-awaited, stiff-backed

•Verbs( Verbs can be described as words that describe actions): sleep-walk, baby-sit

(Compound word)

Match the compound words under ‘A’ with their meanings under ‘B’. Use each in a sentence.

Phrasal verbs

A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb. Its meaning is often different from the meaning of its parts.

Compare the meanings of the verbs gets on and run away in (a) and (b) below. You can easily guess their meanings in (a) but in (b) they have special meanings.

(a) She got on at Agra when the bus stopped for breakfast.

Dev Anand ran away from home when he was a teenager.

In (a) i.e. the first sentence, she got on refers to the movement of a person

Whereas

In the second sentence, it says that Dev Anand ran away i.e. left his house

(b) She’s eager to get on in life. (Succeed)

The visitors ran away with the match. (Won easily)

In (b) i.e. the first sentence, it refers to climbing the ladder of success

Whereas

In the second sentence, it refers to winning the match (ran away with the match)

Some phrasal verbs have three parts: a verb followed by an adverb and a preposition. For Example:

(c) Our car ran out of petrol just outside the city limits.

(d) The government wants to reach out to the people with this new campaign.

A. Look up the following in a dictionary for their meanings (under the entry for the italicized word).

(i) Plunge (right) in (ii) Kept back

(iii) Ramble on

(iv) Get along with

Phrasal verbs

A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb. Its meaning is often different from the meaning of its parts.

Compare the meanings of the verbs gets on and run away in (a) and (b) below. You can easily guess their meanings in (a) but in (b) they have special meanings.

(a) She got on at Agra when the bus stopped for breakfast.

Dev Anand ran away from home when he was a teenager.

In (a) i.e. the first sentence, she got on refers to the movement of a person

Whereas

In the second sentence, it says that Dev Anand ran away i.e. left his house

(b) She’s eager to get on in life. (Succeed)

The visitors ran away with the match. (Won easily)

In (b) i.e. the first sentence, it refers to climbing the ladder of success

Whereas

In the second sentence, it refers to winning the match (ran away with the match)

Some phrasal verbs have three parts: a verb followed by an adverb and a preposition. For Example:

(c) Our car ran out of petrol just outside the city limits.

(d) The government wants to reach out to the people with this new campaign.

B. Now find the sentences in the lesson that have the phrasal verbs given below. Match them with their meanings. (you have already found out the meanings of some of them.) Are their meanings the same as that of their parts? (Note that two parts of the phrasal verb may occur separated in the text.)

Idioms

Idioms are groups of words with a fixed order, and a particular meaning different from the meanings of each of their words put together. (Phrasal verbs can also be idioms; they are said to be ‘idiomatic’ when their meanings are unpredictable). For example, do you know what it means to meet one’s match in English? It makes to meet someone who is as good as oneself, or even better, in some skill or quality. Do you know what it means to let the cat out of the bag? Can you guess?

A. Here are a few sentences from the text which have idiomatic expressions. Can you say what each means? (You might want to consult a dictionary first.)

(i) Our entire class is quaking in its boots.

…………………………………………………………..

(ii) Until then, we keep telling each other not to lose heart.

…………………………………………………………….

(iii) Mr. Keesing was annoyed with me for ages because I talked so much.

…………………………………………………………………..

(iv) Mr. Keesing was trying to play a joke on me with this ridiculous subject, but I’d make sure the joke was on him.

…………………………………………………………………..

Here are a few more idiomatic expressions that occur in the text. Try to use them in sentences of your own.

(i) Caught my eye

(ii) He’d had enough

(iii) Laugh ourselves silly

(iv) Can’t bring myself to

Do you know how to use a dictionary to find out the meanings or idiomatic expressions? Take, for example, the expressions caught my eye in the story. Where-under which word-would you look for it in the dictionary?

Look for it under the first word. But if the first word is a ‘grammatically’ word like a, the, for, etc., then take the next word. That is, look for the first ‘meaningful’ word in the expression. In our example, it is the word caught.

But you wouldn’t find caught in the dictionary because it is the past tense of catch. You’ll find caught listed under catch. So you must look catch for the expressions caught my eye. Which other expressions with catch are listed below in your dictionary?

Note that a dictionary entry usually first give the meanings of the word itself, and then gives a list of idiomatic expressions using that word. For example, study this partial entry for the noun ‘eye’ from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005.

Eye

•Noun

•Part of the body, either of the two organs of the face that you see with: The suspect has dark hair and green eyes.

•Ability to see: A surgeon needs a good eye and a steady hand.

•The way of seeing -a particular way of seeing: He looked at the design with the eye of an engineer.

You have read the expressions ‘not to lose heart’ in this text. Now find out the meanings of the following expressions using the word ‘heart’. Use each of them in a sentence of your own.

1. Break somebody’s heart

2. Close/dear to heart

3. From the (bottom of your) heart.

4. Have a heart

5. Have a heart of stone

6. Your heart goes out to somebody.

Contracted forms

When we speak, we use ‘contracted forms’ or short forms such as these:

Can’t (for can not or cannot)

I’d (for I would or I had)

She’s (for she is)

Notice that contracted forms are also written with an apostrophe to show a shortening of a spelling of not, would, or is as in the above example. Writing a diary is like speaking to oneself. Plays (often novels) also have speech in written form. So, we usually come across contracted forms in diaries, plays, and novels.

1. Make a list of the contracted forms in the text. Rewrite them in full forms of two words. For Example, I’ve = I have

2. We have seen that some contracted forms can stand for two different full forms:

For Example, I’d = I had or I would

There can be many such shorts forms i.e. contracted forms to shorten sentences. We often use such contractions in our daily life as well.

Find in the text the contracted forms that stand for two different full forms, and say what these are.

Here is an extract adapted from a one-act play. In this extract, angry neighbors who think Joe the Inventor’s new spinning machine will make them lose their jobs come to destroy Joe’s model of the machine.

You’ve just seen how contracted forms can make a written text sound like actual speech. Try to make this extract sound more like a real conversation by changing some of the verbs back into the contracted forms. Then speak out the lines.

[The door is flung open, and several men tramp in. They carry sticks, and one of them, HOB, has a hammer.]

Now you know what a diary is and how to keep one. Can you keep a diary for a week recording the events that occur? You may share your diary with your class if you wish to. Use the following hints to write your diary.

Though your diary is very private, write as if you are writing for someone else.

Present your thoughts in a convincing manner.

Use words that convey your feelings, and words that ‘paint pictures’ for the reader. Be brief.

‘Diary language’ has some typical features such as subjectless sentences (Got up late in the morning), sentence fragments without subjects or verbs (…… too bad, boring, not good), contracted forms (they’re, I’ve, can’t, didn’t, etc.) and everyday expressions which people use in speech. Remember not to use such language in more formal kinds of writing.

Your teacher will read out an extract from The Diary of Samuel Pepys (see textbook page 60) about the great fire of London. As you listen complete this summary of the happenings.

Summary

This entry in the diary has been made on …. (i)…. By …..(ii) The person who told Pepys about the fire was called….(iii)….She called at….(iv)….in the morning. Pepys went back to sleep because…..(v)…..Pepys rose again at….(vi)…..in the morning. By then about….(vii)…..houses had been burned down. The fire had spread to…..(viii)…..by London Bridge. Pepys then walked to the….(ix)…..along with sir J. Robinson’s….(x)……

How old do you think Amanda is? How do you know this?

Who do you think is speaking to her?

Why are the stanzas 2, 4 and 6 given in the parenthesis?

Who is the speaker in stanza 2, 4 and 6? Do you think this speaker is listening to the speaker in stanzas 1, 3, 5 and 7?

What could Amanda do if she were a mermaid?

If Amanda is orphan? Why does she say so?

Do you know the story of Rapunzel? Why does she want to be Rapunzel?

What does the girl Yearn for? What does this poem tell you about Amanda?

Read the last stanza. Do you think Amanda is sulking* and is moody?