CSEC ENGLISH
People who are still working regular hours—those employed in the category of ‘essential services’—are probably less affected by the disruption caused by Covid-19 than those whose routines have been completely upended. A few of you are doing online classes, and so there is some structure to your day, but others have no official classes at all, and the absence of structure can be difficult to deal with. If we are not careful, day after day slides by without our accomplishing very much. And that’s not a good thing! Holidays are great—but only when they come as a brief respite from work; no one wants to be on holiday all the time! Prince Hal, in one of Shakespeare’s plays, makes that point very eloquently. This is what he says:
If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work;
If you are feeling a bit bored by this new lifestyle of doing nothing all day long, you probably agree with Prince Hal!
So, what is the remedy? We simply have to take control of our time. Make a ‘to do’ list, and try to fill up your day with useful activities. Read, read, read!! Anything you can lay your hands on! Even sharpening your skills at some craftwork, playing sudoku or chess, or discovering your artistic talent is far better than doing nothing and feeling bored!
Check out your options and try to fill up your day with constructive activities. Each moment of life is precious, so let’s not allow idleness to take over!
We hope you enjoy today’s CSEC English page, and that the exercises will help to keep your English skills from going rusty!! Stay safe! Stay well!
ENGLISH B—DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES—props and costumes.
Last week we studied ways in which playwrights use lighting and sound to make their stage presentations more effective. Today we look at two other devices employed by the dramatist: props and costumes.
What fun it would be to put on Walcott’s play, Ti-Jean, for a school performance! Think about the props and costumes that would be needed! You’d need to get some really creative individuals to make the costumes for each of the animals: the frog, the cricket, the firefly and the bird! And what costume would you design for the Bolom? You could really have fun sewing suitable costumes for the Devil and his companions and for the Old Man with his devil’s forked tail and his cloven cow-foot.
And when it comes to props, you would need a great deal of help from your support team. Think of all the props you would need: crosses for the graves of Gros-Jean and Mi-Jean, a limb of one of the brothers for the Devil to munch on, a book and fishing rod for Mi-Jean, a mask for the Planter, ‘something wrapped in a banana leaf’ to serve as the goat seed TiJean triumphantly presents to the Old Man.
These are just a few examples of costumes and props; we challenge you to check through the play and complete the lists.
Now we need to think about the EFFECTIVENESS of the costumes and props. Clearly the costumes of the Mother and her three sons will show their simple humanity and their poverty., calling on our compassion. The costumes of the Devil and his companions suggest supernatural power, and will create fear. The mask worn by the Old Man and the Planter reveals the deviousness and trickery of those two characters; they are both ‘two-faced’ and ready to deceive the foolish.
Go through the play, identifying the costumes and props that would be needed for a production, and for each costume, each prop, ask yourself TWO questions: What will the audience THINK, when they see this? What will the audience FEEL when they see this? If you can answer those two questions, you will have identified the EFFECTIVENESS of that dramatic technique.
DANGLING MODIFIERS
If you begin your sentence with a participial phrase (a phrase using a participle—cooking, cooked, taking, taken), then you should have as the subject of your main clause the same person as the one referred to in the participle.
Here are some examples:
• When questioned about the incident, the prisoner broke down and confessed.
• Seeing the cat about to run off with the fish, the cook chased the animal out of the kitchen.
Notice that the prisoner who broke down was also the person who was questioned.
Similarly, the cook who chased was also the person seeing the cat.
In these sentences, someone has forgotten this rule. Please correct the sentences, ensuring that the person referred to in the participle is the subject of the main clause. (You will have to change the second part of the sentence a little.)
1. When questioned about the incident, the police officer managed to get the prisoner to break down and confess.
2. Seeing the cat about to run off with the fish, the animal was chased out of the kitchen by the cook.
3. Bundled into the police vehicle, the officers drove the suspect to the nearest police station.
4. Eating snacks between meals, Elsa’s weight increased dramatically. 5. Orphaned at the age of three, an aunt looked after me until I left her home at sixteen.
6. Taking shorter lunch breaks, the job was finished by the painters in record time.
7. Fully air-conditioned, your stay in this apartment will be very comfortable.
8. Spending every evening revising for the exam, necessary healthy exercise is neglected.
9. When opened, the customs officer found only books in the parcel. 10. Finding a wallet stuffed with money, a spending spree was the first thought in Desiree’s mind.
BUILDING YOUR VOCABULARY
Choose the word or phrase from the brackets that is nearest in meaning to the underlined word.
1. His religious beliefs are considered unorthodox by some people. (aggravating, contrary to accepted opinions, atheistic, provocative)
2. It would be premature to make a decision at this point in our discussions. (foolish, stupid, sensible, too hasty)
3. She is inclined to be impetuous at times. (discourteous, unthoughtful, rash in her actions, aloof)
4. Bibi was complacent about her grades in the exams. (self-satisfied, com plaining, self-critical, upset)
5. When my uncle went to Brazil, he brought me back an authentic
Amerindian hammock. (genuine, realistic, exact, hand-made)