List of top English Questions

What is Dr Margolin’s view of the kind of life the American Jewish community leads?
What were the personality traits that endeared Dr Margolin to others in his community?
Why do you think Dr Margolin had the curious experience at the wedding hall?
Underline the parts that are parallel in the following sentences • She had consented to go away, to leave her home. • Strange that it should come that very night to remind her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could. • She prayed to God to direct her, to show her what was her duty. • Frank would take her in his arms, fold her in his arms. • Her time was running out but she continued to sit by the window, leaning her head against the window curtain, inhaling the odour of dusty cretonne. • Not long before, when she had been laid up for a day, he had read her out a ghost story and made toast for her at the fire.
Mark the stressed syllables in the following words chosen from the lesson. Consult the dictionary or ask the teacher if necessary. photograph , escape , changes , threaten , excitement , farewell , illumined , sailor , sacrifice , invariable.
Where was Eveline planning to go?
Who was Frank? Why did Eveline’s father quarrel with him?
What significance does Eveline find in the organplayer’s appearance on the day she had decided to leave?
Who were the Senciminers?
Why did Dr Margolin not particularly want his wife to accompany him to the wedding?
Describe the conflict of emotions felt by Eveline on the day she had decided to elope with Frank.
What are the signs of Eveline’s indecision that we see as the hour of her departure with Frank neared?
Deciding between filial duty and the right to personal happiness is problematic. Discuss
Share with your partner any instance of your personal experience where you, or somebody you know, had to make a difficult choice.
The description in this story has symbolic touches. What do you think the ‘window’, the ‘gathering dusk’, the ‘dusty cretonne and its odour’ symbolise?
Note how the narrative proceeds through the consciousness of Eveline
In the last section of the story, notice these expressions (i) A bell clanged upon her heart. (ii) AlI the seas of the world tumbled upon her heart. (iii) Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy. (iv) She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. What are the emotions that these images evoke?
Do you think the author indicates his judgement of Eveline in the story?
The craft of a master story-teller lies in the ability to interweave imagination and reality. Do you think that this story illustrates this?
Bring out the contradiction in the last exchange between the author and the Portuguese ambassador ‘In concrete terms,’ I asked at last, ‘what did she do?’ ‘Nothing,’ he said, with a certain disenchantment. ‘She dreamed.’
Comment on the ironical element in the story.
Study the following sentences and underline the part which receives emphasis.
1. I never saw her again or even wondered about her until I heard about the snake ring on the woman who died in the Havana Riviera disaster.
2. That did not surprise me, however, because I had always thought her dreams were no more than a stratagem for surviving.
3. Although she did not say so, her conversation made it clear that, dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her ineffable patrons in Vienna.
4. Three tables away sat an intrepid woman in an old-fashioned felt hat and a purple scarf, eating without haste and staring at him.
5. I stayed in Vienna for more than a month, sharing the straitened circumstances of the other students while I waited for money that never arrived.
How did the author recognise the lady who was extricated from the car encrusted in the wall of Havana Riviera Hotel after the storm?
Why did the author leave Vienna never to return again?
How did Pablo Neruda counter Frau Frieda’s claims to clairvoyance?