Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: 

I just figured out that if ever there were a valid suit for alienation of affection, it would be that lousy lawn. There is something about the ability of a man to grow a few blades of grass that contributes to his masculinity. He is either a grass grower or he is not a grass grower. A lawn enthusiast has two moods: irritable and irritable. These are interchangeable depending on whether the grass is growing or whether the grass is not growing. When the grass is not growing, my husband goes to the library to see what could be missing, has his soil analyzed, waters, soaks, fertilizes, and has the nurseryman who sold him the seed make a house call. When the grass is growing, he runs the mower back to the store to make sure the blade is cutting, trims, rakes, rolls and makes an absence phone call to the dog next door who over-fertilized it in the first place. There is no pleasing a lawn freak. Some say it is normal for a man to want a pretty lawn. I don’t know what is normal any more. I sent the kids to Mother’s blew an entire food budget on steaks and wine, put a dab of garlic on the light bulb and slipped into something that had not been paid for. “What are you thinking?” I teased, turning off the TV set. “Did you turn the hose off?” he asked. Is it normal for a man to call the police and report a flock of birds that are eating our grass seed? Is it normal for a grown man to mourn a brown spot for three years? (From Erma Bombeck: ‘There’s no pleasing a lawn freak’: from her column ‘At Wit’s End’).

1. Do you find an element of humor in this passage? What is it that contributes to humor?

2. Give examples of hyperbole in the passage.

3. Explain the lines ‘There is something about the ability of a man to grow a few blades of grass…They’re just not one of the boys.’

Give the meanings of the phrasal verbs used in the following sentences:

i) The meeting was put off.

ii) I couldn’t make out what he was driving at.

iii) The manager wanted to kick him out but the staff backed him up.

iv) The plane took off at 7:00 am exactly.

v) The manager turned down his request for a day off

Make four words by adding suffix –ate

Read the following stanza from John Masefield’s poem ‘Laugh and Be Merry’ and answer the questions given below.

Laugh and be merry: remember, better the world with a song, Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong. Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span. Laugh, and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.

i) Give the number of beats (stressed syllables) in each line, and mark the stressed syllables.

ii) What is the pattern of rhyme in the stanza?

iii) Give examples of the use of alliteration in the stanza. 

iv) Give examples of the use of assonance in the stanza.

Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions. 

i) The man was standing ____________ me.

ii) The book is ______________ the table.

iii) He was telling us _______ what he saw last night.

iv) They will leave ________ lunch.

v) I met him the day _____ you arrived

Rewrite the following sentences in correct form:

i) I have seen him yesterday.

ii) The hen has lain six eggs.

iii) They discussed about the whole matter.

iv) He is sleeping for two hours.

v) Neither of the boys have returned.

Discuss the characteristics of structure words in use.