CXC ENGLISH

Hello there! Since the end of last term we’ve been looking at the short stories on the English B syllabus. Some of you may decide to write on two short stories in your exam instead of responding to the questions on either Frangipani House or Things Fall Apart. Even if you don’t, the stories make for great reading, and you should make a resolution to look at them during these holidays. We have some exercises to help you with English A skills too, so there’s something for everyone. Read on, and enjoy!

ENGLISH B—SHORT STORIES

Frank O’Connor’s story The Man of the House is about a ten-year-old lad in Ireland. Young Flurry Sullivan faces a tough challenge when his mother becomes ill. A neighbour hints that the condition could develop into pneumonia, and Flurry is terrified at the thought of his mother dying and leaving him an orphan. Although he is only ten, he tries hard to be the “man of the house”—lighting the fire and making tea, purchasing whiskey and lemon for his mother’s cough, fetching the doctor and then making the long trip to get medicine from the dispensary.

His efforts to help are not very successful: he uses up too much firewood and wastes the precious tea. But worst of all he tries a sip of the cough medicine with a little girl he meets at the dispensary, and the two of them end up finishing the whole bottle. The sickly substance makes him feel unwell, and his conscience troubles him terribly. He prays fervently for a miracle—that his mother would get well again.

By the time Flurry gets home, he is crying and feverish—aware that he has failed miserably. But to his amazement and relief, he discovers that there has indeed been a miracle: his mother is much better, and she is able to take charge so that he can lay down the burden of responsibility and be a little boy again. He falls asleep, conscious of being loved despite not having handled the situation in a manly way.

For you to do as you read:

Make a note of all the things Flurry does that are what “the man of the house” is supposed to do. How successful is each effort?

● Make a list of the moments in the story when we are strongly reminded that Flurry is, after all, only a little boy, and quite unable to shoulder adult responsibility.

● Consider Flurry’s mother. What evidence would you bring to prove she is a good, loving mother?

● Look in turn at each of the other characters in the story: the doctor, Minnie Ryan, the people in the public house (rum shop) and the dispenser. Say whether each person was kind to Flurry or mean and frightening. How did each person behave?

● Do you think that Flurry’s reaction to the little girl and his boastful behaviour are realistic? Would a small boy behave like that?

● Think about the landscape. Flurry tells us that the countryside around his home is “the Rockies, the Himalayas, or the Highlands, according to your mood.” What does this tell us about him? After drinking his mother’s medicine, Flurry prays in the church. What does this time in the church tell us about his feelings? The landscape seems quite vast; does this fact help us to understand that Flurry has been given a task that is too big for him?

● At the end of the story, Mrs. Sullivan is well enough to take care of Flurry again, and he can return to being a little boy. What is the connection between this ending and the title of the story?

● Compare Flurry’s situation with that of Dory in Emma. What similarities can you find? What differences? Which child has a harder burden to bear?

SUBORDINATION

All sentences contain a MAIN CLAUSE—that is, a clause that makes sense on its own and could therefore stand alone. Here are some examples:

● The teacher came late. ● Jim found a baby bird. ● Simone invited me to her party.

Another type of clause is called a SUBORDINATE CLAUSE—that is, a clause that does not make sense on its own, and so cannot stand alone. Here are some examples:

● Whereas avocados contain fat. ● Because we did not understand. ● While they were waiting.

Because those subordinate clauses do not make sense on their own, we need to combine them with a MAIN CLAUSE. Look—

1. Cherries will not make you put on weight whereas avocados contain fat. 2. Because we did not understand, we asked the lecturer to go over the point again.

3. They had lunch in the airport restaurant while they were waiting.

Notice that our subordinate clauses now make sense! Notice, too, that if the subordinate clause comes BEFORE the main clause, it has to be followed by a comma as in (2). For you to do a) Look at these two lists (A) and (B). Take a main clause and a suitably matching subordinate clause and make a sentence. Remember that if you put the subordinate clause first, you will need to insert a comma.

MAIN CLAUSES (A)

Sam preferred wearing long pants Sam loves to play chess Sam came first in Maths Sam let the doctor extract his tooth Sam gave her roses

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES (B) when Marcia passed her driving test because he had skinny legs whereas Carl topped the class in Spanish although he seldom wins before the pain became unbearable

THE SIMPLE FORM OF THE VERB

An important use of the simple form of the verb is in combination with DO, DOES, DID as the auxiliary (helping) verb.

Look at these sentences: ● The student looks at the picture. ● Does the student look at the picture? ● The student does not look at the picture.

Did you notice that we added the –s to the verb looks? That’s because the student is “third person singular”. But did you notice, too, that as soon as we put does into the sentence, the verb look went back to the simple form?

So we have a useful rule here: If you use DO, DOES, DID as the auxiliary verb, then use the SIMPLE form for the main verb.

Let’s see how it works in the past tenses:

● Tom worked in the market. ● Tom did not work in the market. ● Did Tom work in the market?

● Althea passed her driving test. ● Althea did not pass her driving test. ● Did Althea pass her driving test?

Can you see that we have been following the same rule? For the past tense we added –ed, but as soon as we used the auxiliary DID, the verb went back to the simple form.

Many students struggle with this particular problem, so if you can master the rule, you will improve your writing considerably.

We also use the SIMPLE FORM of the verb with these helping verbs: ought to, can/could, will/would, shall/should.

Look at these examples: ● You ought to offer her some help. ● You should press those pants. ● I could assist on Saturday. ● Would you like this book?

Do you see that we used the simple form of the verb coming after could, would? There’s another rule for you to learn!

CAUGHT IN THE SLIPS

ought, should, The student was telling us about her holiday in Trinidad, and this is what she said:

“We went to see the turtles at Togo, but we didn’t went to Tobago because we didn’t had enough time. What mistake was she making?

She forgot that when we use DID as the auxiliary, the main verb is in the simple form:

We didn’t go to Tobago because we didn’t have time.

b) When you have combined the clauses into FIVE sentences, try to make another FIVE sentences of your own, using the conjunctions when, because, whereas, although, before to start your subordinate clauses.

C) Check the editorial in this newspaper. Identify the MAIN CLAUSES and then identify the SUBORDINATE CLAUSES. Notice the subordinating conjunctions: since, when, before, after, because, while, although, whereas, etc.