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.’

1. Yes, there is an element of humor in this passage. The author uses humor to describe the obsession of her husband with growing a lawn, and how it affects his mood and behavior. The use of irony, sarcasm, and hyperbole contributes to the humor in the passage. For example, the author describes the husband's _______ _____ ___ _________ ____ ____ _______ ____.
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