UNIT 13: TALKING ABOUT THE PAST (I): NARRATING PAST EVENTS

SUMMARY:

The speaker of the poem is a small boy who was sold into the chimney-sweeping business when his mother died. He recounts the story of a fellow chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, who cried when his hair was shaved to prevent vermin and soot from infesting it. The speaker comforts Tom, who falls asleep and has a dream or vision of several chimney sweepers all locked in black coffins. An angel arrives with a special key that opens the locks on the coffins and sets the children free. The newly freed children run through a green field and wash themselves in a river, coming out clean and white in the bright sun. The angel tells Tom that if he is a good boy, he will have this paradise for his own. When Tom awakens, he and the speaker gather their tools and head out to work, thinking that one day they would have a better life.

VOCABULARY IN USE

scarcely: hardly, none

chimney: smoke tract, pipe

soot: dirt, stain

shaved: cut off, clear

locked up: confined, caged

coffin: tomb, box to keep a dead body

awoke: wakened, not sleeping

weep: cry, tear down

sweep: clean, clear

curled: bend, twist

bare: empty, vacant

angel: a spiritual being

naked: nude, exposed

Find out the single words in bold from the poem for the following definitions. (p.147)

a pipe or structure through which smoke or steam is carried away from a fire furnace = chimney
black powder in the smoke of wood, coal = soot
make (a house, etc.) secure by locking the doors and windows = lock up
naked, uncovered = bare
box in which dead body is buried or cremated = coffin
a divine or supernatural messenger from deity = angel

TIME FOR GRAMMAR

Read the following paragraph, and observe how past tense is used. Then underline the verbs which are in the past simple and the past continuous form.

Mangali woke up at 6 a.m. in the morning yesterday. When she looked at the clock she said, “I am going to be late for my coaching class.” It wasn’t her first time to be late for the class. She thought her teacher would get angry with her for the same reason: coming late to the class. Anyway, she became fresh and had a cup of tea and hurried to school. When she reached school, she saw no one. While she was moving around the schoolyard, she thought to look at the notice board to see if there was any notice. When she looked at the notice board, she saw that there was a notice about a school holiday. She cursed herself when she remembered that her teacher had read out the notice in the class the day before. Feeling ashamed, she returned home.

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate verbs from the box. (p.149)

Once upon a time, there was a king who lived in a palace. He had three beautiful daughters but no sons. He wanted his daughters to get married before he died. He found three princes. But his daughters didn’t like them. They refused to marry the princes, so the king became very angry. He said they had to get married when they were twenty years old. The three daughters ran away during the night and found work on a farm. They fell in love with the farmer’s sons while they were working there. They married the farmer’s sons as soon as they were twenty.

WRITING (p. 152)

Follow-up Activity (p.152)

https://www.subodhbhattarai.com/2013/12/the-brave-little-parrot.html

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