If i were you class 9

 NOTES PREPARED BY 
W  . M .  BHAT 
TEACHER SCHOOL 
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 
JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Lesson No. 24

IF I WERE YOU

(Douglas James)

THINK ABOUT THE TEXT

Q.1 At last a sympathetic audience

(i) Who says this? 

(ii) Why did he say this? 

(iii) Is he sarcastic or serious? 

Ans. (i) Gerrard says these words.

(ii) He said these words to calm down the volatile situation and win the confidence of the intruder

(iii) He is sarcastic.

Q.2 Why does the intruder choose Gerrard as the man whose identity he wants to take on?

Ans. The intruder was a murderer who had killed a police man. The police were after him. His physical features had a close resemblance with those of Gerrard. He wanted to kill Gerrard and live comfortably as Gerrard. 

Q.3 “I said it with bullets”?

(i) Whose says these words?

(ii)What does it mean?

(iii) It is the truth? Why does the speaker say this?

Ans. (i) Gerrard said these words.

(ii) It means that Gerrard had fired at someone and killed him.

(iii) The statement is not the truth. He only wanted to befool the intruder. He tried to prove him that he too was a criminal.

Q.4 What is Gerrard’s profession? Quote the parts of the play to support your answer?

Ans. He worked for the theatre. The quotation that supports the answer is. “I can’t let you have the props in time for rehearsal”. 

Q.5 You will soon stop being smart.

(i) Who says this?

(ii) Why does the speaker say it?

(iii) What according to the speaker will stop Gerrard from being smart?

Ans. (i) The intruder said these words.

(ii) He said it because Gerrard did not fear him and he turned the difficult situation into a comedy. 

(iii) The intruder warned Gerrard that he would make him crawl. 

Q.6 “They can’t hang me twice”? 

(i) Who says this? 

(ii) Why does he say this?

Ans. (i) The intruder said these words.

(ii) The intruder had killed a police man. Now he planned to kill Gerrard. If he was caught he would have been hanged either for killing one person or two. That is why intruder said that he cannot be hanged twice.

Q.7 “A mystery I propose to explain”? What is the mystery the speaker proposes to explain? 

Ans. Here Gerrard wanted to tell the intruder that he had also killed a man. He explained to him that the police were after him too.

Q.8 “This is your big surprise”?

(i) Where has this been said in the play?

(ii) What is the surprise?

Ans. (i) Gerrard said these words when the intruder was about to shoot him.

(ii) Gerrard surprised the intruder by saying that he was himself a murderer and police were after him. Gerrard explained that he had to change places frequently as the police might have spotted him any time and nabbed him. 

LANGUAGE WORK

I. Choose the correct word from the pairs given in brackets.

1. site, ghastly 

2. Principal

3. Continuously 

4. Effect

5. Artist 

6. College

7. Host 

8. Shape

Verbs / Tense used:

(i) I’m glad ... (Simple present)

(ii) I’ll make you crawl… (Future simple)

(iii) I’ll tell you the story… (Future simple)

(iv) You’ve got enough sense… (Present perfect)

(v) You’re not dealing with a fool… (Present continuous)

(vi) I’ve got brains and I use them… (Present perfect)