Maxwell in the story speaks for the otter, Mij. He tells us what the otter feels and thinks on different occasions. Given below are some things the otter does. Complete the column on the right to say what Maxwell says about what Mij feels and thinks.
What Mij does | How Mij feels or think |
Plunges, rolls in the water and makes the water splash and splash | |
Screws the tap in the wrong way | |
Nuzzles Maxwell’s face and neck in the aeroplane. |
Describing a Repeated Action in the Past
To talk about something that happened regularly in the past, but does not happen any longer, we use would or used to. Both would and used to can describe repeated actions in the past.
(a) Mij would follow me without a lead and come to me when I called his name.
(b) He would play for hours with a selection of toys.
(c)On his way home... Mij would tug me to this wall.
(d) When I was five years old, I used to follow my brother all over the place.
(e) He used to tease me when mother was not around.
To describe repeated states or situations in the past, however, we use only used to.(We cannot use would for states or situations in the past.) So we do not use would with verbs like be, have, believe, etc. Look at the following sentences.
(a) When we were young, we used to believe there were ghosts in school. (Note: belief shows a state of mind.)
(b) Thirty years ago, more women used to be housewives than now. (Note: be here describes a situation.)
From the table below, make as many correct sentences as you can using would and/ or used to, as appropriate. (Hint: First decide whether the words in italics show an action, or a state or situation, in the past.) Then add two or three sentences of your own to it.
Emperor Akbar | Be fond of musical evening | |
Every evening we | would | Take long walks on the beach |
Fifty years ago, very few people | Own cars | |
Till the 1980s, Shanghai | Used to | Have very dirty streets |
My uncle | Spend his holidays by the sea |
You know that a metaphor compares two things by transferring a feature of one thing to the other.
(i) Find metaphors for the following words and complete the table below. Also, try to say how they are alike. The first is done for you.
|
Storm |
tiger |
Pounces over fields, growls |
|
Train |
||
|
Fire |
||
|
School |
||
|
Home |
(ii) Think about a storm. Try to visualise the force of the storm, hear the sound of the storm, feel the power of the storm and the sudden calm that happens afterwards. Write a poem about the storm comparing it with an animal.