CXC ENGLISH

Hello there. For a few weeks now we have been looking at Shakespeare’s The Tempest—one of the plays on the new English B syllabus. Next week we will take a break from drama and look at the new poems that you will be studying. From this week, and over the holidays, we’ll be doing some revision of basic grammar rules to help all of you with English A. Stay with us and you will see the improvement in your work!

SPELLING

Here are 15 words that are frequently spelt incorrectly. Can you spell them? Ask someone to test you!

Curiosity, customary, deceive, deceitful, definitely, hypocrisy, portray, divine, dilapidated, disappear, disappoint, dissatisfied, doubtful, eczema, eighth.

PUNCTUATION RULES

Some sentences begin with an introductory clause or phrase. That means that there is a clause or phrase coming before the main clause. Look at these sentences. We have italicized the main clause so that you can see the introductory clause or phrase easily.

Mr

1. Rubbing his hands together in delight at the plan he had hatched, Goldsmythe switched off the light and left the office.

2. Although Sheila and Karen were the best of friends, see eye to eye.

3. In order to ensure that the icing on your cake will have a professional appearance, you should use only the very best quality icing sugar.

4. Despite having been warned about his habitual lateness, employee made no effort to get to work on time.

Get hold of a good book and see if you can find six sentences that begin with an introductory clause or phrase followed by a comma and then the main clause. Now make up six sentences of your own, following the same pattern: introductory clause/phrase + comma + main clause.

REMEMBER THE –ED PLEASE! How do I know whether to put the –ED on the end? One way to check is like this:

● StewED fish is fish that has been stewed. ● ParchED nuts are nuts that have been parched. they did not always ● BarbecuED chicken is chicken that has been barbecued. ● PeelED shrimps are shrimps that have been peeled. the sloppy ● An honourED colleague, is a colleague who has been honoured.

But don’t stick on the –Ed where it doesn’t belong!!! You do not need to put –ED when you are using the following auxiliary verbs: COULD, WOULD, SHOULD, DO, DID. These are followed by the simple form of the verb, not the past participle:

e.g. He could not clean. She could not mend. They should not park the car near the hydrant. I did not mind waiting.

So when do we use that –ED form (the past participle)? We use the past participle with the verbs HAS/HAVE and IS/ARE:

e.g. We have mendED. The boy has repairED. The dogs are carriED to the vet. The drain is blockED with plastic bottles. The lawyer has completED her cross examination.

So what about after COULD HAVE, WOULD HAVE, SHOULD HAVE? Good question! In those cases too we use the past participle:

e.g. You should have walked to school. I would have spoken if I’d had the chance. We could not have repaired the wall without damaging the floor.

YOUR TURN NOW. In the following sentences, identify the words that need –ED to be added.

Months earlier we had agree to go out of town for a picnic on Caricom Day. Dad had rent a minibus to carry us up to the creek, and Mum told us that a delicious meal had been prepare by my twin sisters. Cricket bats and fishing rods were pile up in the back of the vehicle, and the space under our feet was occupy by crates and boxes of drink. An ice box was stuff onto the one empty seat. We couldn’t have squeeze in anything more!

Mum reminded Dad about the tire that had been puncture, but he assured her that it had been fix, along with the rear view mirror that had been crack the previous week.

“Let’s go,” he roared. “I can’t wait to get my teeth into that bake ham and fry chicken!” ENGLISH B— Episode 6: Caliban’s claim to ownership. The Tempest was inspired by the experiences of European explorers who brought home accounts of the New World they had ‘discovered’. They wrote of ‘monstrous’ animals and of peoples with strange customs. And naturally they often exaggerated!

In true explorer fashion, Trinculo and Stephano discuss the possibility of capturing Caliban and taking him back to Europe as a kind of circus exhibit or perhaps offering him as a gift to some emperor. (Act 2: ii)

Prospero (and Shakespeare too) assumes that the Europeans have every right to claim ownership of the island, but now it’s time for us now to take a look at Caliban’s claim.

● Caliban claims that the island is his, bequeathed to him by Sycorax, his mother, and that Prospero has stolen it.

● As a gracious host, he offers to show the Europeans the delights of the island—water with berries and so forth—but is then ill-treated and enslaved.

● He is required to learn the language of the Europeans and then is criticized for not speaking well.

● He is made a servant/slave to Prospero, and subjected to vicious punishments. ● He is denied access to Miranda (who is deemed superior to him). ● His mother is named a witch, and he himself is called a monster, subhuman and incapable of behaving in a cultured way.

Does Caliban’s story sound familiar? For a couple of centuries after the play was written, audiences tended to agree that Caliban was unfit to rule, and that the island would only ‘prosper’ under the governance of the European, Prospero. More recently, and especially among Third World audiences, people have started to see Caliban’s situation as that of the colonized subject: he is ‘named’ and silenced and controlled by the colonizer, and his rights are systematically stripped away.

For you to do ● Make a list of the negative things Prospero and others say about Caliban. ● Make a list of ways in which Caliban is abused and his labour exploited. ● Find evidence of Caliban’s rebellious nature. ● Ask yourself if his rebellious attitude is justified or not. ● Ask yourself if Caliban’s behaviour is worse than that of the Europeans on

the island. You might find it fun to have a class debate on whether Prospero or Caliban should be king, using the information you have listed.

THE TEMPEST. Dramatic devices are the tools that the dramatist can use, which are not available to the novelist. Here’s a partial list, but you should ransack to play in order to provide more examples:

DRAMATIC DEVICES IN

Sound effects: the noises of the storm and the ship creaking as the play opens; the music accompanying Ariel’s magical activities.

Costumes: The courtly Europeans would be dressed grandly, in contrast to the Boatswain and his mariners—showing their class difference. Caliban would wear some rough garb, depicting his slave status, while Miranda’s dress would suggest her beauty and innocence. The director of the play would have to decide on suitable costumes for the strange creatures that bring in the banquet for Alonso and company, and for the ‘nymphs’ and ‘reapers’ who dance at the union of Miranda and Ferdinand.

Scenery: One important spot is the ‘cell’ where Prospero lives, and where Miranda and Ferdinand are seen playing chess.

Props: Your list should include Prospero’s book and staff, the logs that Caliban and Ferdinand are forced to carry, the table and food for the magical banquet, swords for Antonio and Sebastian, Stephano’s bottle, and the colourful garments hung out to distract Trinculo and Stephano from their assassination plot.

Stage machinery: In his newly-built indoor theatre, Shakespeare would have had some kind of winch to lower the three goddesses onto the stage, as if they are descending from heaven.

One important symbolic contrast is between the noises of the storm at the beginning of the play (symbolizing social disorder) and the sounds of music and dancing presided over by goddesses (symbolizing social harmony under Prospero’s wise governance).

ANSWERS

Your Turn Now had agreed, had rented, had been prepared, were piled up, was occupied, was stuffed, couldn’t have squeezed in, had been punctured, had been fixed, had been cracked, baked ham and fried chicken. Did you find all twelve?