unit 5 guns and roses 05.pdf · unit v guns and roses war & peace peace and coexistence...

117ENGLISH STD IX HANDBOOK

This unit deals with the issue of lack of a cohesive universal vision. The sub issue takenup in this unit is lack of a vision of the brotherhood of humanity which leads to war,divisional movements, separatism, secessionism and their consequences. This unit alsofocuses on the need for promoting international and intranational peace,understanding, co-operation and prosperity.

Though wars and struggles happen in a global, national, regional or even local level,their consequences like destruction, loss, amputation or even death happen in a highlypersonal level. The opening story in this unit ‘An Occurrence at the Owl Creek Bridge’portrays the consequences of war on a personal level. War is the product of humanchoice. It is neither a play of fate nor an outcome of uncontrollable circumstance.Hence no man-made weapon can substitute the human power of thinking. This messageis driven home by Bertolt Brecht’s poem ‘General, Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle’.

In the Extended Reading section of this unit, the story ‘The Colonel’s Ideas’ by therenowned French author Guy de Maupassant is included. The story portrays howtender human passions of love, compassion and romanticism can motivate, encourageand guide the most stone hearted people (like soldiers) even in an in human situationlike war. The poem in the Extended Reading section is ‘Mass’ by the Latin Americanpoet, Caesar Vallejo. The poem highlights how humanity’s cry for pacifism can reclaimlife on earth.

The transaction of this unit aims at developing the following values and attitudes.

• The realisation that war is not a solution to all problems. On the contrary, it is a Pandora’s Box of problems.

• War pushes humanity into misery, loss, denial and destruction.

• Peace leads to prosperity.

• War involves conflict, segregation, secession and inhuman activities whereas peaceand pacifism ensures co-operation, construction and progress.

Through this unit the learners develop the ability to:

• Think critically about divisional and segregation forces and develop their ownviewpoint against war.

• To create and promote the awareness on the miseries of war and the sufferings tohumanity.

• To inculcate values of humanitarianism, pacifism and equanimity.

• To develop a positive outlook on all classes, races, sections, and nations with theirvarious cultures.

Unit 5GUNS AND ROSES

118HANDBOOK ENGLISH STD IX

Issue: Lack of a cohesive universal vision

Sub-issue: War and Peace

Learning objectives:

• To read and analyse literary texts and identify the themes

• To read and enjoy poems

• To construct discourses like diary, dialogue, screen play, essays etc.

• To think critically about war and its consequences and develop a viewpoint on war

• To create an awareness on the importance of cooperation, understanding and peace

• To inculcate values of humanism, pacifism and equanimity


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Entry Activity

Display the painting ‘Guernica’ by PabloPicasso given as the entry activity in theReader. Ask the learners to analyse andinterpret the painting. Help them analyseby interacting with them using theinteraction questions given in the course.The interaction should proceed in such amanner that the learners get sensitized tothe issue of war and peace and theconsequences of war on the lines ofinnocent people.

A Little about Pablo Picasso’s Guernica

Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso,depicting the bombing of Guernica, BasqueCountry, Spain, by German and Italianwarplanes at the behest of the SpanishNationalist forces, on April 26, 1937, duringthe Spanish Civil War. The SpanishRepublican government commissionedPablo Picasso to create a large mural forthe Spanish display at the ParisInternational Exposition in the 1937 WorldFair in Paris.

Guernica, the Village

Guernica was a quiet village. The nearestmilitary target of any consequence was afactory on the outskirts of the town, whichmanufactured various war products. Thefactory went through the attack unscathed.Thus, the motivation of the bombing wasclearly one of intimidation. Furthermore, amajority of the town’s men were away asthey were fighting on behalf of theRepublicans. Thus, the town at the time ofthe bombing was populated mostly bywomen and children.

Picasso’s ‘Guernica’

Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ shows thetragedies of war and the suffering it inflictsupon individuals, particularly innocentcivilians. This work has gained amonumental status, becoming a perpetualreminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-

war symbol, and an embodiment of peace.On completion, Guernica was displayedaround the world in a brief tour, making itfamous and widely acclaimed. This tourhelped bring the Spanish Civil War to theworld’s attention.

Guernica is blue, black and white in colour,3.5 metre (11 ft.) tall and 7.8 metre (25.6ft.) wide, a mural-size canvas painted inoil. It shows suffering people, animals andbuildings wrenched by violence and chaos.The overall scene is within a room where,at an open end on the left, a wide-eyed bullstands over a woman grieving over a deadchild in her arms.

The centre is occupied by a horse falling inagony as it had just been run through by aspear or javelin. It is important to note thatthe large gaping wound on the horse’s sideis a major focus of the painting. Two‘hidden’ images formed by the horse appearin Guernica:

A human skull overlays the horse’s body.A bull appears to gore the horse fromunderneath. The bull’s head is formedmainly by the horse’s entire front leg whichhas the knee on the ground. The leg’s kneecap forms the head’s nose. A horn appearswithin the horse’s breast.

The bull’s tail forms the image of a flamewith smoke rising from it, seeminglyappearing in a window created by thelighter shade of grey surrounding it. Underthe horse is a dead, apparentlydismembered soldier; his hand on a severedarm still grasps a shattered sword fromwhich a flower grows. On the open palmof the dead soldier is a stigma, a symbol ofmartyrdom derived from the stigmata ofChrist. A light bulb blazes in the shape ofan evil eye over the suffering horse’s head(the bare bulb of the torturer’s cell.)Picasso’s intended symbolism with regardto this object is related to the Spanish wordfor lightbulb; ‘bombilla’, which makes an


allusion to ‘bomb’ and therefore signifiesthe destructive effect which technology canhave on society. To the upper right of thehorse, a frightened female figure, whoseems to be witnessing the scenes before her,appears to have floated into the roomthrough a window. Her arm, also floatingin, carries a flame-lit lamp. The lamp ispositioned very close to the bulb, and is asymbol of hope, clashing with the lightbulb.From the right, an awestruck womanstaggers towards the center below thefloating female figure. She looks up blanklyinto the blazing light bulb. Daggers thatsuggest screaming replace the tongues ofthe bull, grieving woman, and horse. A bird,possibly a dove, stand on a shelf behind thebull in panic. On the far right, a figure witharms raised in terror is entrapped by firefrom above and below. A dark wall withan open door defines the right end of themural.

Symbolism and interpretations

Interpretations of Guernica vary widelyand contradict one another. This extends,for example, to the mural’s two dominantelements: the bull and the horse. Arthistorian Patricia Failing said, “The bulland the horse are important characters inSpanish culture. Picasso himself certainlyused these characters to play manydifferent roles over time. This has made thetask of interpreting the specific meaning ofthe bull and the horse very tough. Theirrelationship is a kind of ballet that wasconceived in a variety of ways throughoutPicasso’s career. When pressed to explainthem in Guernica, Picasso said, ‘...this bullis a bull and this horse is a horse... If yougive a meaning to certain things in mypaintings it may be very true, but it is notmy idea to give this meaning. What ideasand conclusions you have got I obtainedtoo, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make

the painting for the painting. I paint theobjects for what they are.’

Alternate entry activities

1. Any other world famous photographsdepicting the horrors of war can be used toinitiate a discussion on war.

E.g.: (a) Kim Phuc’s photograph duringAmerican – Vietnam War

(b) Dropping of atom bombs ‘Little Boy’ or‘Fatman’ on Japanese cities.

2. Read out simple poems related to warlike Wilfred Owen’s ‘Strange Meeting’ inthe class. Initiate a discussion on the themeof war depicted in the poem.

3. Make a collage of news items related towar (for e.g.: Kargil war). Display it on achart paper in the class room. Initiate adiscussion on the consequences of war onhuman lives using simple questions.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

The Author

Ambrose Gwinnet Bierce (1842 – 1914)Ambrose Bierce was an Americaneditorialist, journalist, short story writer,fabulist and satirist. Today, he is bestknown for his short story, ‘An Occurrenceat Owl Creek Bridge’ and his satiricallexicon, The Devil’s Dictionary. Thesardonic view of human nature thatinformed his work — along with hisvehemence as a critic — earned him thenickname ‘Bitter Bierce’. Bierce employeda distinctive style of writing, especially inhis stories. This style often includes a coldopen, dark imagery, vague references totime, limited descriptions, the theme of war,and impossible events. In 1913, Biercetravelled to Mexico to gain a firsthandperspective on that country’s ongoingrevolution. While traveling with rebel


troops, the elderly writer disappearedwithout a trace.

Bierce was born in Ohio to Marcus AureliusBierce and Laura Sherwood Bierce. Hisparents were a poor but literate couple whoinstilled in him a deep love for books andwriting. He was the tenth of 13 childrenwhose father gave all of them namesbeginning with the letter “A”. In order ofbirth, the Bierce siblings were Abigail,Amelia, Ann, Addison, Aurelius,Augustus, Almeda, Andrew, Albert,Ambrose, Arthur, Adelia, and Aurelia.Bierce married Mary Ellen on ChristmasDay 1871.

At the outset of the American Civil War,Bierce enlisted in the Union Army’s 9thIndiana Infantry Regiment. In February1862 he was commissioned FirstLieutenant, and served as a topographicalengineer, making maps of likely battlefields.

Bierce was considered a master of ‘Pure’English by his contemporaries, andvirtually everything that came from his penwas notable for its judicious wording andeconomy of style. He wrote in a variety ofliterary genres. His short stories are heldamong the best of the 19th century,providing a popular following based on hisroots. He wrote realistically of the terriblethings he had seen in war in such stories as‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’, ‘TheBoarded Window’, ‘Killed at Resaca’, and‘Chickamauga’. In addition to his ghost andwar stories, he also published severalvolumes of poetry and verse. His FantasticFables anticipated the ironic style ofgrotesquery that turned into a genre in the20th century.

At least three films have been made ofBierce’s story An Occurrence at Owl CreekBridge. A silent film version, The Bridgewas made in 1929. A French version calledLa Rivière du Hibou, directed by RobertEnrico, was released in 1962. This black-

and-white film faithfully recounts theoriginal narrative using voice-over. Anotherversion, directed by Brian James Egen, wasreleased in 2005.

Biographer Richard O’Conner wrote thatwar unleashed the howling demons lurkingin the pit of Bierce’s soul:

“War was the making of Bierce as a manand a writer [from his grim experience, hebecame] truly capable of transferring thebloody, headless bodies and boar-eatencorpses of the battlefield onto paper.

Noted essayist Clifton Fadiman observedabout Bierce:

‘Bierce was never a great writer. He haspainful faults of vulgarity and cheapnessof imagination. But...his style, for one thing,will preserve him; and the purity of hismisanthropy, too, will help to keep himalive.’

The Story

The classical short story ‘An Occurrence atOwl Creek Bridge’ portrays the agonies ofan innocent civilian condemned to behanged to death. Peyton Farquhar was awell-to-do planter from the Southern Stateof Alabama. During the American CivilWar he was taken as a prisoner by theNorthern forces alleging that he interferedwith the construction of the bridge. Thearmy decides to hang Farquhar to death atthe notorious Owl Creek Bridge. We meetFarquhar at the moment of death, whenhe is about to be hanged. This is a momentlonger than the whole span of his life. Thedesperate man desires to cling to life andall the pleasures that it offers. As the processof hanging him to death proceeds, he fallsinto a hallucinatory experience. Heimagines to have escaped miraculouslyfrom the point of death. His rope breaksand he struggles to free his hands. He swimsunder water down the river and finallyreaches the shore from where he manages


to reach his own home. But when he wasabout to embrace his wife in the thrill ofhomecoming, the hallucinatory experienceends. Shortly before he could realise thereality, he is hanged to death. AmbroseBierce portrays the pathetic end ofFarquhar after this romantic trip throughthe inner landscape of the dying person’sheart. Through this he drives home thestark reality of death – what it denies, whatleaves unfulfilled etc. All these areportrayed in the backdrop of war and thestory is a sharp criticism of war’s denial ofthe right to life.

The story progresses through a series ofverbal visuals. The first picture that we seeis that of Farquhar at the Owl Creek Bridgeas a captive about to be hanged. The secondvisual is the miraculous escape of Farquharand his struggles to save himself. The thirdvisual offers his jubilation at the rescue andhis flight to safety. The fourth visualportrays his happy homestead thrilled athis home coming. The fifth visual takes usback to the first visual and the reality ofFarquhar’s death. The mental picturesformed take the plot forward to its stunningclimax.

A little about ‘American Civil War’

The American Civil War (1861–1865),also known as the War between theStates, was a civil war in the United Statesof America. Eleven Southern slave statesdeclared their withdrawal from theUnited States and formed the ConfederateStates. Led by Jefferson Davis, they foughtagainst the United States, which wassupported by all the free states and thefive border slave states. In the presidentialelection of 1860, the Republican Party, ledby Abraham Lincoln, had campaignedagainst the expansion of slavery beyondthe states in which it already existed. TheRepublican victory in that electionresulted in seven southern states declaring

their withdrawal from the Union evenbefore Lincoln took office on March 4,1861. Hostilities began on April 12, 1861,when Confederate forces attacked a USmilitary installation at Fort Sumter inSouth Carolina. Lincoln responded bycalling for a volunteer army from eachstate, leading to declarations of secessionby four more southern slave states. Bothsides raised armies as the Union assumedcontrol of the Border States early in thewar and established a naval blockade. InSeptember 1862, Lincoln’s EmancipationProclamation made ‘ending slavery in theSouth’ a war goal, and dissuaded theBritish from intervening.The American Civil War was one of theearliest true industrial wars in humanhistory. The practices of total war,developed by Sherman in Georgia, andof trench warfare around Petersburgforeshadowed World War I. It remainsthe deadliest war in American history,resulting in the deaths of 6, 20,000 soldiers


and an undetermined number of civiliancasualties. Victory, for the North, meantthe end of the Confederacy and of slaveryin the United States, and strengthened therole of the federal government. The social,political, economic and racial issues of thewar decisively shaped the reconstructionera that lasted up to 1877.Abraham Lincoln said, ‘This question ofslavery was more important than anyother; indeed, so much more importanthas it become that no other nationalquestion can even get a hearing just atpresent.’ Northern leaders agreed thatvictory would require more than the endof fighting. It had to encompass the twowar goals: secession had to be repudiatedand all forms of slavery had to beeliminated. They disagreed sharply on thecriteria for these goals. They alsodisagreed on the degree of federal controlthat should be imposed on the South, andthe process by which southern statesshould be reintegrated into the Union.Reconstruction involved a complex andrapidly changing series of federal andstate policies. The long-term result camein the three Reconstruction Amendmentsto the Constitution: the ThirteenthAmendment, which abolished slavery;the Fourteenth Amendment, whichextended federal legal protections equallyto citizens regardless of race; and theFifteenth Amendment, which abolishedracial restrictions on voting.Reconstruction ended in different statesat different times, the last three by theCompromise of 1877.

Module 1

• You may use the entry activities suggestedat the beginning of this unit for entering thisunit.

• Consolidate your interaction with thelearners and link them with the story.

• Here is the story of an innocent man whowas condemned to death by hanging. What has

caused his death? Had he done somethingwrong? Let’s read the story and find out.

• Ask the learners to read the first part of thestory silently. (Para 1-6)

Process of reading:

• Individual reading (5-10 mts)

• Learners mark ü, ? and ! while they read,in order to keep track of their reading.

• Let them sit in groups (5-8 members).

• Let each member in a group share whathe/she understood, what he/she didn’tunderstand and what he/she foundinteresting/surprising.

• If there are words/expressions theydidn’t understand, let them refer to theready reference or to the glossary given atthe end of the Reader.

• If still a group can’t understand an area,let them tell you about it.

• Megaphone their doubt to other groups.

• If no group can clarify it you can scaffoldthem by asking simple questions based onthat area.

• After reading let them assess themselveswith the self-assessment on reading.

• Remind the learners to identify the wordfrom this section to be recorded in thepersonal word list.

• Now, ask them to answer the scaffoldingquestions given along with paragraphs 1to 6, individually.

Hints for scaffolding questions

1. The story opens in silence and stillness.We see an almost motionless picture of aman who is going to be hanged. His handsare bound and a rope encircles his neck.Other stills in this scene are of the captainand the sentinels. The captain stands withfolded arms, silent. The author commentsthat since death is a dignitary he should beshown respect using silence and fixity.


2. We get the impression of a younginnocent farmer from the description given.The picture created here is that of anordinary well to do civilian and not that ofa convict or a criminal.

3. The swirling water of the stream is infact moving very fast. But it appears to thecondemned man as moving slowly. This isbecause the time he is experiencing is notthe real time. For the man who is going todie each moment is longer than hours!

4. The ticking of the condemned man’swatch. The silence at the scene of executionis deep and maddening. There ticking ofthe watch is heard much slower. It isdescribed as the ‘stroke of a blacksmith’shammer’ and ‘as the tolling of the deathknell’. They represent the condemnedman’s agonizing wait to be hanged.

5. The condemned man in the state ofstillness is in sharp contrast to the flowingcurrent. The flow of water represents theflow of life and it reminds him of his family.But for the dying man his flow of life isarrested and he is a picture of stillness.

Pause and Reflect

The narrative is set against a lonely andsilent Owl Creek Bridge with its fast flowingstream and executioners and thecondemned man offering a still picture.Thus the author creates a contrast betweenlife on one hand and death on the other.

Ask the learners to complete the vocabularyactivity 3 given on Page 142. Let the leanersdo it individually first and then they can shareit in groups.

Activity 3

Hints:

Plant : PlanterSwim : SwimmerCommand : CommanderIdle : Idler

Wander : WandererOwn : OwnerShoot : ShooterWatch : WatcherDive : DiverHear : HearerModule 2

Discussion:

Ø Who was the man condemned to death?

Ø What is he?

Ø Do you think he has committed any crime?

Ø What was his crime?

Ask the learners to read Section II of the story(paragraphs 7 and 8)

After reading let them assess themselves withthe self-assessment on reading (Page 135).


6. The soldier wore grey clothes and spokein support of the Southerners. Thus hetricked Farquhar into revealing hissecessionist zeal.

7. The Northerners wanted to advancesouthwards.

8. He might have interfered with the OwlCreek Bridge in some way or the other orhe was caught and condemned for hissympathy for the southern cause.

Pause and Reflect

Section II of the story is in the form of aflashback. It describes the background ofthe doomed man and what led to hiscondemnation. We get glimpses of hisbeliefs and also his support for the southerncause. We are also informed how trivialmatters like personal likes and dislikesbecome a very serious issue in times of war.

Module 3

• Lead the learners to the reading of PartIII of the story.


• Ask the learners to recollect the events ofthe story till now.

• For this purpose they may be asked to fillup the first column of Activity 1 of textualactivities partially.

Alternate strategies

1. Provide the life-sketch of PeytonFarquhar as shown in the model below.Ask the learners to fill up this format eitherrecollecting or referring to the story till now.

Name of the doomed person :

Place of residence :

Occupation :

Marital Status :

Political belief :

Who did he support? :

Who came to his house? :

What happened to the doomed person? :

2. Interact with the learners about the storytill now. The following questions might helpyou.

ØWhat happened at the Owl Creek Bridge?ØWho all were at the place of execution?ØWhat were they doing?ØWho was the doomed man?ØWhy was he condemned to death?Elicit free responses from the learners.Consolidate their responses to remind them ofthe story till then.

• Ask the learners to read Section III of thestory. (Paragraphs 9-17).

• You may follow the process of readingsuggested in module 1.

• Remind the learners to identify the wordfrom this section to be included in thepersonal wordlist (Page 138).

• Now ask the learners to attempt thescaffolding questions given along withparagraphs 9 to 17, individually.

• Ask the learners to share their responsesin groups.

• Let the groups present their groupproducts.


9. There is a suggestion that PeytonFarquhar has only lost his consciousness.This awakens him into a hallucinatoryexperience and experience resulting in thestrong pull of life on a dying man.

10. This suggests the doomed man’s ardentwish to escape his destiny and embrace lifeonce again. He considers falling into theflowing stream below as a miraculouschance for escaping from death. Thereforehe doesn’t wish to be shot dead. Besides, ifhe gets shot he will die at the hands of hisenemies. He prefers death by drowning tothat.

11. The efforts of the doomed man to undothe knots and free his arms are describedas:

• a splendid effort• an act of magnificent, super human strength• pounces upon the noose• thrusts (the noose) fiercely aside• beat the water vigorously• floats upward

12. The firing of the soldiers makes thedoomed man a hunted person. The soldiersare hunters bent on killing the poorinnocent farmer. This picture of huntingevokes pathos in us.

13. (a) Farquhar dived as deeply as hecould.

(b) The soldiers continued to fireineffectually.

The mad man continued to runineffectually after the speeding car.

14. The sand in the river bank appearedlike diamonds, rubies and emeralds to


Farquhar. He considered the sand preciousbecause it represented life in this worldwhich he had got back miraculously.

15. Farquhar’s homecoming is described inthe form of a running commentary (Para 16)

Refer to the lines ‘he stands at the gate ofhis own home.... He springs forward withextended arms’ (Para 16).

Pause and Reflect

The story begins in darkness and silence andends in darkness and silence. This isbecause at first we find Farquhar facing thegrim irony of life–death by hanging. In theend of the story we find him in the actualmoment of death. In between, he revisitsthe glory and greatness of life which is goingto miss and through a hallucinatoryexperience regains the delight andjubilation of returning to life.

Module 4

Lead the learners to vocabulary activity 4.Ask them to refer to a dictionary and findout one word substitutes beginning withsuper – for the meanings given. Let themdo it individually first and share in groups.

Hints

• Supersonic• Super computer• Super star• Super power• Super natural

Ask the learners to do vocabulary activity1.

Here 15 words belonging to 5 differentclasses are given. Words in each class arerelated to each other in the sense that theyhave similar meaning. Let the learnersidentify the related words.

Hints

I Group: rope, cord, stringII Group: stroke, thrust, beat

III Group: ache, agony, anguishIV Group: whirl, spin, swirlV Group: gleam, glimmer, rayAfter this ask them to do Activity 3. Let the learners identify the sentences fromthe lesson at home and use the phrases insentences on their own. After coming to theclass the next day let them share theirsentences in groups and refine them.

Textual Activities 1

Now ask the learners to attempt Activity 1of Textual activities. If this activity hasalready been taken up as part ofintroduction to section III, ask them tocomplete the work left. Or else, ask themto attempt the activity fully.

Let the learners sequence the events as theyare given in the story in the left column. Inthe right column they have to list down theevents as what happened first, whathappened next... etc.

Tell the learners that chronological ordermeans the order of time. Authors need notalways follow the chronological orderwhile writing their plots. They will go backin time using techniques like flash backmemories etc. They will also go forward intime using dreams, hallucinations etc...

Textual Activity 2

• Ask the learners to write the likely diaryentry of the captain on the day of theincident at the Owl Creek Bridge.

• Before making them write, interact withthe learners in order to change theirperspective from the point of view of thecaptain.

Ø Who is the captain in the story?Ø What was he doing?Ø How would he have he felt while witnessing the execution?Ø What all might he have seen there?Ø Would he have thought about the uselessness of war? In what respect?


• Elicit free responses from the class so thatthe learners empathize with the captain.

• Then ask them to attempt the diary entry.

Process of diary writing

• Individual attempt• Presenting in groups• Group refinement• Presentation by the groups• Selection of the best diary entry• Self-assessment using the indicatorsfor self-assessing diary writing given onPage 140.

Module 5

This module comprises of Activity 3 andActivity 4 of textual activities. Activity 3 isat once a self-contained activity ofpreparing a sensory details chart based onPart III of the story. This activity can beattempted as a whole-class activity.

Divide the class into 5 groups. Ask eachgroup to select one sense each.

Let the groups read Part III of the story onceagain. While reading let them identify andwrite the details of the sense organ theyhave selected from the passage.

• Let them discuss and finalise their columnin the chart.

• Ask the learners to note down the detailsof other sense organs too which they noticein the passage. (This task may be assignedto one or two students of a group. The senseorgans that they should note should be thoseother than the one assigned to them).

• Presentation by the groups.

• While each group presents let the othergroups supplement the missing details ofthat particular sense.

Hints for filling the chart:1. Sight

- the breaking of the rope- falling into the stream

- the noose about the neck- gleam of light- hands beat the water vigorously- soldiers up on the bridge- flutter of female garments

2. Sound

- the breaking of the rope- falling into the stream- hands beat the water vigorously- sharp report

3. Touch

- pain of sharp pressure upon his chest- hands bear the water vigorously- dig his figures into the sand- pushes open the gate

Activity 4

Lead the learners to the writing of the screenplay.

Ask the learners to prepare a list of the actionsdone by Farquhar in Section III of the story.

Help them recollect the events in the sequenceby interacting with them. You may interactwith them using the following questions.

ØWhat happened to Farquhar as he fellfrom the bridge?

ØWhat were his struggles as he fell into thewaters of the stream?

ØHow did he free himself from the ropes?ØWhat did he see as he came up from water?ØWhat did the captain and the sergeants

do on seeing he had escaped?ØHow did he reach safely?ØWhat were his feelings on reaching the

shore?ØHow did Farquhar return home?ØWho did he see at his home?ØWhat was the wife’s reaction on seeing him?ØWhat happened to Farquhar in themoment of his homecoming?


Elicit free responses from the class andconsolidate them by writing on a chart paperor the blackboard.

The actions thus listed should be approximatelyas follows:

• The breaking of the rope and Farquharfalling into water.

• His struggles to free his arms and loosenthe noose around his neck.

• The reaction of the Captain and thesergeants to Farquhar’s escape.

• Farquhar’s struggles to reach to safety.

• How Farquhar reaches the shore?

• His home coming and its imagineddelight.

• The reality of death by hanging he faces.

Ask the learners to decide on the number ofvisual pictures (scenes) they would include ifthey want to make a film on this section.

Ask them to decide on the actions of Farquharthat they will include in each scene to be shoot,how they will sequence them in order to getcontinuity and for what duration should eachshot last.

Now, ask them to discuss in groups the detailsto be included in each scene.

You may provide the following questions toaid them in their interactions.

ØWhat is the background scenery of thisscene? What all things should be therein the scene?

ØWho are the characters appearing? Whenand how do they appear?

ØWhat are the movements and gestures ofthe characters?

ØDo they talk? If so what might theirdialogue be?

ØWhat special effects would you like to addto the scene?

ØWhat could be the time of the day whenthis action happens? How much light

should be there in the scene? Should itvary during the scene?

ØShould there by music in the scene? If so,of what type?

Ask the learners to consolidate their responsesto the questions above? These responses willprovide them with the framework of thescreenplay they are going to write.

Ask the learners to write the screen play of eachscene they have decided upon and sequencethem.

Process of Writing

• Individual attempt• Sharing in groups• Refining in groups• Preparation of the group product• Presentation by the groups• Selection of the best product

Ask the learners to assess their product usingthe self-assessment on screenplay given onPage 141.

You may show the film ‘An Occurrence at OwlCreek Bridge’

Ask the learners to read the story ‘TheColonel’s Ideas’ from the Extended Readingsection.

The Colonel’s Ideas

The Author

Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassantwas born on August 5, 1850. He was thefirst son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustavede Maupassant, both from prosperousbourgeois families. When Maupassant waseleven and his brother Hervé was five, hismother, an independent-minded woman,risked social disgrace to obtain a legalseparation from her husband. With thefather’s absence, Maupassant’s motherbecame the most influential figure in theyoung boy’s life. She was a woman of nocommon literary accomplishments, but wasvery fond of classic literature, especially


Shakespeare. Until the age of thirteen, Guyhappily lived with his mother, to whom hewas deeply devoted. At age thirteen, he wassent to a small seminary near Rouen forclassical studies. In October 1868, at the ageof 18, he saved the famous poet AlgernonCharles Swinburne from drowning off thecoast of Étretat at Normandy. He firstentered a seminary at Yvetot, butdeliberately got himself expelled. From hisearly education he retained a markedhostility to religion. Then he was sent to theRouen Lycée, where he proved a goodscholar indulging in poetry and taking aprominent part in theatricals.The Franco-Prussian War broke out soonafter his graduation from college in 1870;he enlisted as a volunteer and foughtbravely. Afterwards, in 1871, he leftNormandy and moved to Paris where hespent ten years as a clerk in the NavyDepartment. During these ten tedious yearshis only recreation and relaxation wascanoeing on the Seine on Sundays andholidays. Gustave Flaubert took him underhis protection and acted as a kind of literaryguardian to him, guiding his debut injournalism and literature. At Flaubert’shome he met Émile Zola and the Russiannovelist Ivan Turgenev, as well as many ofthe protagonists of the realist and naturalistschools.

In 1878 he was transferred to the Ministryof Public Instruction and became acontributing editor of several leadingnewspapers such as Le Figaro, Gil Blas, LeGaulois and l’Echo de Paris. He devoted hisspare time to writing novels and shortstories. In 1880 he published what isconsidered his first masterpiece, “Boule deSuif”, which met with an instant andtremendous success. Flaubert characterizedit as ‘a masterpiece that will endure’. Thiswas Maupassant’s first piece of short fictionset during the Franco-Prussian War, andwas followed by short stories such as ‘Deux

Amis,’ ‘Mother Savage,’ and ‘MademoiselleFifi.’

The decade from 1880 to 1891 was the mostfertile period of Maupassant’s life. Madefamous by his first short story, he workedmethodically and produced two orsometimes four volumes annually. Hecombined talent and practical businesssense, which made him wealthy.

In 1881 he published his first volume ofshort stories under the title of La MaisonTellier; it reached its twelfth edition withintwo years. With a natural aversion tosociety, he loved retirement, solitude, andmeditation. He travelled extensively inAlgeria, Italy, England, Brittany, Sicily,Auvergne, and from each voyage hebrought back a new volume. He cruised onhis private yacht ‘Bel-Ami,’ named after hisearlier novel. This feverish life did notprevent him from making friends amongthe literary celebrities of his day: AlexandreDumas, had a paternal affection for him;at Aix-les-Bains he met Hippolyte Taine andfell under the spell of the philosopher-historian.

Maupassant is considered one of the fathersof modern short story. He delighted inclever plotting, and served as a model forSomerset Maugham and O. Henry in thisrespect.

Maupassant is notable as the subject of oneof Leo Tolstoy’s essays on art: ‘The Worksof Guy de Maupassant.’ FriedrichNietzsche’s autobiography mentions him inthe following text:

‘I cannot at all conceive in which centuryof history one could haul together suchinquisitive and at the same time delicatepsychologists as one can in contemporaryParis: I can name as a sample - for theirnumber is by no means small, or to pickout one of the stronger race, a genuine Latinto whom I am particularly attached, Guyde Maupassant.’


The Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871)was a conflict between the Second FrenchEmpire and the Kingdom of Prussia.Prussia was aided by the North GermanConfederation, of which it was a member,and the South German states of Baden,Württemberg and Bavaria. The completePrussian and German victory broughtabout the final unification of Germanyunder King Wilhelm I of Prussia. It alsomarked the downfall of Napoleon III andthe end of the Second French Empire,which was replaced by the French ThirdRepublic. As part of the settlement, theterritory of Alsace-Lorraine was taken byPrussia to become a part of Germany,which it would retain until the end of WorldWar I when it was given back to France inthe Treaty of Versailles.

The causes of the Franco-Prussian War aredeeply rooted in the events surrounding thebalance of power in Europe after theNapoleonic Wars. France and Germanyhad been combatants, with France on thelosing side and Napoleon I exiled to St.Helena. Upon the ascension of NapoleonIII, events soon brought them to war fouryears after the Austro-Prussian War of1866. It is regarded that Otto von Bismarckwas keen to bring about the war, and hisintentions were seemingly proved in hisbook, after he was forced to resign from therole of Chancellor, saying “I knew that aFranco-Prussian War must take placebefore a united Germany was formed.”

Over a five-month campaign, the Germanarmies defeated the newly recruited Frencharmies in a series of battles fought acrossnorthern France. Following a prolongedsiege, Paris fell on January 28, 1871. Thesiege is also notable for the first use ofantiaircraft artillery, a Krupp piece builtspecifically to shoot down the hot airballoons being used by the French as

couriers. Ten days earlier, the German stateshad proclaimed their union under thePrussian king, uniting Germany as a nation-state, the German Empire. The final Treatyof Frankfurt was signed on May 10, 1871,during the time of the Paris Communeuprising of 1871.

The Story

The short story ‘The Colonel’s Ideas’narrates how a group of soldiers, half deadwith fatigue and hunger get reinvigoratedwith a new sense of duty and devotion inthe presence of a girl whose life is in danger.The girl’s charming presence in thewilderness of the woods brings out theirtender passions such as love and chivalry.

The background of this story is the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. We see adetachment of French scouts on theirretreat from Prussian soldiers. They haveto retreat to Bar-Sur-Tain overnight failingwhich they are sure to face death at thehands of Prussian soldiers. However theyare tired and hungry. They are physicallyweak to undertake that task. Butfortunately for the French soldiers, they getthe company of a father and daughterfleeing from the Prussians. The presence ofthe beautiful maiden inspires them. Theyforget their physical weaknesses and startwalking. On the way the little girl grewweak and the soldiers readily offer to carryher on their soldiers. At three o’clock in themorning the soldiers come across a dozenPrussian soldiers on horseback. Thepresence of the pretty girl makes themlaunch a brave fight and get rid of thePrussians.

Through the story, Maupassant points outthat the fundamental human instincts,responses and feelings do not change evenin times of war.

Module 6

• Introduce the story to the learners byinteracting with them on the basis of ‘AnOccurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.


Ø What type of a story was ‘An Occurrenceat Owl Creek Bridge’? – Was it a tragedy?Ø What happened to the central character,Peyton Farquhar?Ø Do you think that war destroys all humanvalues?ØAre there people / volunteers / societieswhich help war victims?ØCan you name some such agencies?ØWhat help do they often give to thewounded, the homeless and the refugees?Here is the story of a group of soldiers whodid such a help to a beautiful little lady.What kind of help did they give? How didthe little girl help them in turn? Read andfind out.

• Ask the learners to read the first 9paragraphs

• The process of reading is the same asgiven in Module 1

• Ask them to attempt the scaffoldingquestions given along wit the story.


1. The French soldiers were surrounded bythe advancing Prussian army. They werelikely to be killed if they didn’t retreat.Therefore they were forced to retreat to theplace called Bar-Sur-Tain.

2. They were surrounded. They didn’t getanything to eat or drink. They were tiredand worn out. They had to walk a longdistance overnight to reach the place ofsafety.

3. When the colonel asked the soldiers tomove on they were stiff with cold andhunger. Before them lay a flat, barelandscape heavily filled up with snow.Therefore they might have thought that itwas the end of the world.

4. The colonel is a very strict leader whowants to execute his ideas even at gun point.

5. The colonel was perplexed as to what heshould do when the girl was unable to

walk. He couldn’t leave her behind. At thesame time he knew that they had to moveforward quickly.

6. One of the soldiers named Pratiquesuggested that they should carry the lady.If they didn’t do so, they were not Frenchmen. This brought about a sea change inthe attitude of the soldiers.

7. The colonel stamped his foot inperplexity.

He was unwilling to abandon the girl likethat.

When the soldiers offered to carry her, heswore with pleasure. He said that it wasvery nice of them. He called his soldiers‘children’. He offered that he would take‘his share of the burden’.

8. The presence of the beautiful girl amongthem inspired the French soldiers to launcha brave fight against the Prussians. Eventhough they were tired the French mencould get rid of the Prussians in no time.

9. This suggests that they have completedtheir journey successfully. Their night ofuncertainty is over and they are seeing thenew dawn of safety.

10. The French soldiers fighting against thePrussians to defend the beautiful lady theywere carrying is described as a simple andpatriotic act.

11. Madonna is Virgin Mary who is anemblem of virtue, purity and immaculateinnocence. It was believed that if Madonnawas on the side of an army in war, theywould surely win. The beautiful little girlwas a great inspiration to the Frenchsoldiers. Her presence led them to successagainst the Prussians.

Ask the learners to identify the words from thelesson which they would like to add to theirpersonal word list.

Module 7

Lead the learners to the preparation of a ClassMagazine on ‘War: Causes and Consequences’.


The class magazine is to be constructed infour stages.

• Collection• Discussion• Writing of articles• Compilation and publication of themagazine

The work of the Class Magazine is to becompleted as a product of the whole unit. Butthe collection and discussion can be begun atthis stage.

Divide the class into groups of five or sixmembers.

Ask each group to collect pictures, photographsand news items / articles related to war. Assigncollection of one item to one member from eachgroup. They can collect these materials fromnewspapers, magazines, internet etc.

After the collection ask the learners to classifythe materials collected into those celebratingthe heroic acts of war and those opposing war.The classification should be done in the group.

Ask the groups to discuss the various creativearticles they wish to include in the magazine.

Ask each member to write at least one articlefor the magazine.

Each group should also contribute anargumentative essay on war. This can be doneas a group product.

For writing the essay, ask the members of agroup to adopt a point of view about war. Theyhave to either support war or oppose it.

Let the learners discuss in groups thearguments they would like to raise in supportof their point of view. Let them write down 6or 7 points of argument.

Ask the learners to blow up each of thesearguments into a paragraph. Let them decidein groups the supporting details, facts,explanation that they would add to eachparagraph.

Let each group decide on how to sequence thearguments.

- how to introduce the essay- how to conclude the essay

After that ask the learners to go into the actualwriting of the essay.

Process of writing:

• Individual attempt• Presentation in group• Refinement in group• Presentation of the group product.

Let each group compile their collectioncontaining creative articles and the essayon war and publish the Class Magazine.

Module 8General Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle(Poem)The Author

Bertolt Brecht (February 10, 1898– August14, 1956) was a German poet, playwright,and theatre director. He developed thecombined theory and practice of his ‘epictheatre’ to explore the theatre as a forumfor political ideas and the creation of acritical aesthetics of dialectical materialism.Brecht was born in Augsburg, Bavaria to aconventionally-devout Protestant motherand a Catholic father. His father workedfor a paper mill, becoming its ManagingDirector in 1914. When he was sixteen, theFirst World War broke out. Initiallyenthusiastic in joining army, Brecht soonchanged his mind on seeing his classmates‘swallowed by the army’. On his father’srecommendation, Brecht sought a loopholeby registering for an additional medicalcourse at Munich University, where heenrolled in 1917. From July 1916, Brecht’snewspaper articles began appearing underthe new name ‘Bert Brecht’

In 1927 Brecht became part of the‘dramaturgical collective’ of ErwinPiscator’s first company, which wasdesigned to tackle the problem of findingnew plays for its ‘epic, political,confrontational, documentary theatre’.


Brecht’s most significant contribution wasto the adaptation of the unfinished episodiccomic novel Schweik, which he laterdescribed as a ‘montage from the novel’.

In 1930 Brecht married Weigel. Theirdaughter Barbara Brecht became an actressand currently holds the copyrights to all ofBrecht’s work. Brecht formed a writingcollective which became prolific and veryinfluential. Elisabeth Hauptmann,Margarete Steffin, Emil Burri, Ruth Berlauand others worked with Brecht andproduced the multiple teaching plays,which attempted to create a newdramaturgy for participants rather thanpassive audiences.

Brecht died on 14 August 1956 of a heartattack at the age of 58.

The poem:

Bertolt Brecht is perhaps one among themost remarkable poets in the last century.His poetry is noted for its political contentand pungent satire and the poem, ‘General,Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle’ is noexception. It is a poem which is fuelled bynothing other than the power of irony.Irony is the poetic device which sayssomething and means the opposite of whatis being said. Each and every line in Brecht’spoem is such an ironic statement by whichhe undermines the indomitable strengthand might of despotic power. Being astaunch socialist he has firm faith in man’spotentiality to change the course of historyby being able to think. Man, the thinkingbeing, is much more powerful than anymachine or tool which is designed by thevery same thinking human being. But, quiteparadoxically enough, the thinking man isunder the disposal of the powerful. Powercan control and dominate the world for abrief period but the thinking makers ofhistory will, sooner or later, break the chainsand will emerge as the supreme force thatdecides the course of history. The general

and his weapons are mere puppets in thehands of history which, in course of timewill, be thrown away into the dusty heapof forgetfulness and the thinking man willonce again take up the reins of history.

In short, Brecht’s poem is a most powerfulexample of political poetry which hasirony, the sharpest weapon of a politicalpoet, at its disposal.

Process

• You may display the pictures of a tank, afighter plane and a soldier or pilot in theclass room.

• Interact with the learners using thefollowing questions:

ØWhat do you see in the picture?ØWho controls these vehicles?ØThen who is more powerful – the machineor the man who controls it?Read the following poem by Bertolt Brechtwhich compares the power of machineswith the real power of man.

• Ask the learners to read the poemindividually twice or thrice.

• Let them share their ideas about the poemin groups.

• Ask the learners to complete thescaffolding questions given along with thepoem.


Make sure that you are not supplying thereideas but eliciting these ideas by askingprobing questions if necessary.

1. Smashes forests, crushes a hundred men.

2. The destruction that the vehicle can causedepends on man’s choice to use it.

3. A bomb can fly faster than storm andcarry more than an elephant. Its defect isthat it needs a mechanic.

4. Man can fly and kill. Therefore he isuseful. The tone of the poem is one of irony.


5. The thinking power of man is a defectbecause he can fly or kill only at his ownchoice, not mechanically as a machinewould do.

Module 9

Ask the learners to attempt the textualactivities given on Page 145.

Activity 1

Before going into the writing part of thisactivity, interact with the learners so that theyunderstand the real significance of thisstatement.

ØWho decides to fight a war-machine or man?ØWhat do machines do in a war?ØWho controls these machines?ØThen who really fights the far – is it man or the machine?ØHow does the poem highlight this theme?• Ask the learners to write their analysis ofthe poem in the light of the statement.

Process

• Individual writing• Sharing in groups• Refinement in groups• Presentation of group product

Activity 2

Ask the learners to identify the lines repeatedin the poem.

Ask them to identify the wards repeated in thepoem.

Interact with them using the followingquestions.

ØWhere does the poet use these repeated lines and words?ØWhy does the poet use them?ØWhat effect do they create?ØAre they ironic or mocking?On the basis of this interaction ask them toprepare a write-up on the tone of the poem.

Process writing

• Individual writing• Sharing in groups• Refinement in groups• Presentation of group product

Module 10

Mass (Poem)

The AuthorCésar Vallejo (César Abraham VallejoMendoza) (March 16, 1892 – April 15,1938) was a Peruvian poet, writer andjournalist. Although he published only threebooks of poetry during his lifetime, he isconsidered one of the great poeticinnovators of the 20th century in anylanguage. Always a step ahead of theliterary currents, each of his books wasdistinct from the others and, in its ownsense, revolutionary. Clayton Eshlemanand José Rubia Barcia’s translation of TheComplete Posthumous Poetry of CésarVallejo won the National Book Award fortranslation in 1979. He died on April 15,1938.

Vallejo’s works take language to radicalextreme, inventing words, stretchingsyntax, using automatic writing and othertechniques now known as ‘surrealist’.

Vallejo takes the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as a living representation of astruggle between good and evil forces,where he advocates for the triumph ofmankind symbolised in the salvation of theSecond Spanish Republic (1931 – 1939) thatwas being attacked by fascist allied forcesled by General Franco. In 1994 HaroldBloom included España, Aparta de Mí EsteCáliz in his list of influential works of theWestern Canon.

‘Poemas Humanos’ (Human Poems),published by the poet’s wife after his death,is a work of political, socially orientedpoetry. Although a few of these poemsappeared in magazines during Vallejo’s


lifetime, almost all of them were publishedposthumously. The poet never specified atitle for this grouping, but while reading hisbody of work his widow found that he hadplanned a book of ‘human poems’, whichis why his editors decided on this title.

Vallejo wrote five plays, none of which werestaged or published during his lifetime.

The Poem

Ceasar Vallejo is the second greatest poetof Latin America who lived in the lastcentury, the first being Pablo Neruda. Hehas also been an exponent of the socialistcause in the continent. His poem, Mass isone of the most ardent declarations of whathumanity and humanitarian spirit means.

It is a somewhat prosaic poem but anexcellent example of poetic craft and formalperfection.

At first, we see a dead soldier whose causeis deliberately kept hidden from the reader.A man approaches the dead man andmakes an ardent appeal to him to comeback to life and to rejoin the company ofthe living multitudes. But the corpse kepton dying. Gradually the number of thosegathered around the corpse multiplies andat last, the whole inhabitants of the earthassemble there with a common desire anddemand. Their collective plea for bringingthe dead man back to life succeeds at last,and the resurrected man rises up hugs thefirst man who approached him with ahumanitarian request and follows himback to life. The meaning and the messagethat the poem convey are so obvious that itneeds no further explanation. Only love,fellowship and human solidarity canresurrect dead humanity and it is not amiracle at all in the sense that the greatestmiracle on earth is the camaraderiebetween man and man.

Discussion:

We have read the poem ‘General YourTank is a Powerful Vehicle’ by BertoltBrecht.

ØWho, according to Brecht, is the creator of war?ØWho do you think can stop all wars?ØDo people have the power to bring even the dead people back to life?• Read the poem by Caesar Vallejo whichtells us how the wake-up call of humanitycan bring the dead combatants back to life.

Ask the learners to read the poem individuallytwice or thrice.

Let them share their ideas about the poem ingroups.

Ask the learners to attempt the scaffoldingquestions given along with the poem.


Elicit responses from the learners to thesequestions using probing questions.

1. This line creates a sense of irrecoverableloss. We get the feeling that nothing canstop the corpse from dying.

2. The number of people who approach thedead man goes on increasing from the firststanza to the last. From one man it increasesto two, hundreds, millions and the wholehumanity.

3. The first man is the representative figureof the whole humanity who has come tocall the dying corpse.

4. Great pacifists, like Gandhiji andAbraham Lincoln have initiated massmovements to save humanity.

Module 11

Lead the learners to the language activities atthe end of the unit.

Activity 1

Ask the children to read the given sentencesfrom ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.Ask them to identify the italicised wordsand discuss the points raised.

1. The first question is with regard to theform of these words. They are the ‘–ing’


(continuous) form of the verbs look, dive andpoint. Look+ing, dive+ing, point+ing.

2. They don’t act as the verbs proper inthese sentences. The actual verbs, the finiteverbs, in these sentences are stood, couldevade and shouted respectively.

The words ‘looking’, ‘diving’, ‘pointing’ andsuch other words are non-finite forms. Theyare the present participle (-ing participle)forms. They present actions that are goingon and often, incomplete. The ‘–ing’participle can be used with all the tenses.The time of action is shown by the finiteverbs in the sentences and not by theparticiple.

3. In each of the given sentences, the ‘–ing’constructions are participial phrases havingtemporal (a, c) and causal (b) relations. Inthe first sentence it is used to show that theman, as he stood there, was at the sametime looking down into the water below.So also, in the third sentence, the ‘–ing’participle (pointing) is used to show thatthe subject ‘they’, as ‘they shouted’, weresimultaneously ‘pointing at him’. In thesecond sentence both the finite and the non-finite verbs have a causal relation, oneresulting from the other. (He could evadethe bullets because he dived).

You may consolidate the discussion withthe points given as ‘Let’s sum up’ in Page152 of the Reader.

Activity 2

We are asked to combine the givensentences using the Present Participle.

E.g.: Crossing the river, he entered theforest.

1. Looking down for a moment, he let hisgaze wander to the swirling water of thestream.

2. Closing his eyes, he fixed his last thoughtsupon his wife and children.

3. Opening his eyes, he saw again the waterbelow him.

4. Opening his eyes in the darkness he sawa gleam of light above him.

5. The sun shining above the waters,blinded him when he came out.

Activity 3

Ask the learners to read the given sentencesfrom ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’.

Let them split each of these sentences intotwo meaningful sentences. And, let themidentify the words that link the two partsof each of the sentences.

You may write down the sentences on theblackboard as follows and mark the linkers.

a) He looked down for a moment.

He let his gaze wander to the swirlingwater of the stream.

(And)

b) The man’s hands were behind his back.

His wrists were bound with a cord.

(And)

c) She was fetching the water.

Her husband approached the dustyhorseman

(While)

d) Peyton Farquhar fell straight downwardthrough the bridge.

He lost consciousness.

(As)

Activity 4

You may help the learners to conduct adiscussion on the points raised.

Ask them the given questions one after theother and lead them to the discussion. Helpthem arrive at the following conclusions:

1. The sentences can be split into twomeaningful clauses or sentences.

2. There are main clauses or principalclauses which stand independently.


3. There are dependent clauses which arejoined together using some words like‘while’ and ‘as’.

4. Words like ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘while’ and ‘as’are used to combine clauses and are knownas conjunctions.

5. Coordinating conjunctions like ‘and’,‘but’ and ‘or’ are used to combine mainclauses, or clauses of equal rank.

6. Subordinating conjunctions like ‘when’,‘that’, ‘which’, ‘as’ etc. are used to combineindependent clauses with the main clauses.A conjunction that combines clauses ofunequal rank is called a subordinatingconjunction.

Note

The following is a list of coordinatingconjunctions.

and, but, or, nor, yet, so, for, either… or,neither…nor, not only… but also, so… as,such… ass, no sooner… than, scarcely…when, both… and, As well as, Not only…but also

Whereas, while, nevertheless

Otherwise, else

Some of the subordinating conjunctions are:

whether, if, when, where, how, why since,before, till, while, often, as, soon as, that,lest, if, unless, provided, though, although,than

Activity 5

Now, you may ask the learners to identifythe independent clauses (main clauses) inthe given sentences.

1. The U.N. was formed (main clause)

2. This is the place.

3. She is not employed.

4. She must study hard.

5. She will not pass the examination.

6. He talks like an old man.

Note

1. A complex sentence has a principalclause (independent clause) and one ormore subordinate (dependent) clauses. Thesubordinate clause may be a noun clause,an adjective clause or an adverb clause.

2. A compound sentence has two or morecoordinate clauses (independent clauses).

Activity 6

Make the following corrections in the passagegiven for editing:

During the war, extensive damage wasdone to the environment. Many people sufferhealth problems from weapons applied todestroy enemy targets. Destructing theenvironment, war goes on and on. Denyingdrinking water, it torments people. Theavailable water resources are contaminated.The forest areas in the border are also beingdestructed. Bombs threaten the wildlife too.Killing thousands of birds, bombs explodein the wilderness. Soldiers and war refugeescapture leopards and other large animalsand trade them for safe passage across theborder. Polluting air, soil and water,explosives cause illness to millions. Causingdeaths of men, women and childrennumerous landmines still burst out.

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