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Read the extract and answer the following questions.
Extract:
I had no need to follow her hand. I knew which things she meant. I just looked at the still life over the tea-table. As a child I had always fancied the apple on the pewter plate. ‘We use it for everything,’ she said. ‘Once we even ate off the plates hanging there on the wall. I wanted to so much. But it wasn’t anything special.’ I had found the burn mark on the table-cloth. The girl looked questioningly at me. ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘you get so used to touching all these lovely things in the house, you hardly look at them any more
(The Address)
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Question (i)
List any two sensory details present in this extract.
Answer:
Answer as written by the student:
Two sensory details present in this extract are "the apple on the pewter plate" and "the burn mark on the table-cloth".
Step-by-step explanation: 📝
- Sensory details are words or phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
- To find sensory details in a text, we can look for words that describe how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes, or feels.
- In this extract, one sensory detail is "the apple on the pewter plate", which describes how the narrator saw a piece of fruit on a metal dish. This appeals to the sense of sight and taste.
- Another sensory detail is "the burn mark on the table-cloth", which describes how the narrator found a stain or damage on the fabric. This appeals to the sense of sight and touch.
Question (ii)
Complete the sentence appropriately.
The phrase "We use it for everything" suggests that ____________.
Answer:
Answer as written by the student:
The phrase "We use it for everything" suggests that the woman and the girl did not value or appreciate the narrator's mother's things as much as she did.
Step-by-step explanation: 📝
- To complete a sentence with an appropriate word or phrase, we need to understand the meaning and context of the sentence.
- In this case, the sentence is about the woman's remark about using the still life over the tea-table for various purposes.
- The phrase "We use it for everything" means that they did not have any specific or special use for it, but rather used it for any occasion or need.
- Therefore, we need to fill in the blank with something that explains what this implies or reveals about their attitude or perspective towards it.
- Based on the extract, we can infer that they did not value or appreciate it as much as the narrator did, because she had always fancied it as a child and considered it a lovely thing in her mother's house.
- So, we can complete the sentence with "the woman and the girl did not value or appreciate the narrator's mother's things as much as she did".
Question (iii)
Explain any one possible inference that can be drawn from the line "you get so used to touching all these lovely things in the house, you hardly look at them any more".
Answer:
Answer as written by the student:
One possible inference that can be drawn from this line is that the narrator felt nostalgic and sentimental about her mother's things, and that she wished she could see them again in their original state and place.
Step-by-step explanation: 📝
- An inference is a logical conclusion based on evidence and reasoning from a text.
- To explain an inference, we need to provide both the evidence from the text and our reasoning behind it.
- In this case, the line "you get so used to touching all these lovely things in the house, you hardly look at them any more" is a statement made by the narrator to the girl who lived in the house where her mother's things had been taken and changed by another woman.
- The evidence from this line is that the narrator says that she had become accustomed to touching her mother's things in her house, but that she had stopped paying attention to them over time.
- Our reasoning behind this inference is that this statement implies that she felt nostalgic and sentimental about her mother's things, and that she wished she could see them again in their original state and place, because she contrasted her past experience with her present situation where she saw them in a different and unpleasant way.
- Therefore, we can explain our inference by saying that this line shows that the narrator felt nostalgic and sentimental about her mother's things, and that she wished she could see them again in their original state and place.
Question (iv)
Identify the line from the text that bears evidence to the fact that the woman and the girl had a different taste or style from the narrator's mother.
Answer:
Answer as written by the student:
The line from the text that bears evidence to the fact that the woman and the girl had a different taste or style from the narrator's mother is "But it wasn’t anything special".
Step-by-step explanation: 📝
- To identify a line from the text that supports a fact, we need to look for words or phrases that show or imply the fact.
- In this case, the fact is that the woman and the girl had a different taste or style from the narrator's mother, which means that they liked or preferred different things or ways of decorating or arranging their house.
- The line that shows this fact is "But it wasn’t anything special".
- This line implies that the woman and the girl did not find anything special or remarkable about using the plates that hung on the wall, which were part of the narrator's mother's things.
- This suggests that they had a different taste or style from the narrator's mother, who might have considered them as valuable or beautiful items that deserved more care or respect.
- Therefore, we can identify this line as the evidence for the fact.
Question (v)
What does the term 'fancied' indicate about the narrator's attitude or feeling towards the still life over the tea-table?
Answer:
Answer as written by the student:
The term 'fancied' indicates that the narrator's attitude or feeling towards the still life over the tea-table was positive and admiring.
Step-by-step explanation: 📝
- To explain what a term indicates about something, we need to define the term and relate it to the context of the text.
- In this case, the term is 'fancied', which means to have a liking or preference for something or someone.
- The term is used to describe how the narrator felt about the still life over the tea-table when she was a child, which was part of her mother's things.
- This indicates that the narrator's attitude or feeling towards it was positive and admiring, because she liked it and wanted it for herself.
- Therefore, we can explain what the term indicates by saying that it shows that the narrator's attitude or feeling towards the still life over the tea-table was positive and admiring.
Question (vi)
Which of the following headlines best suggests the central idea of the extract?
- A Woman's Surprising Encounter with Her Mother's Things
- A Woman's Disgusted Reaction to a Tasteless Room
- A Woman's Awkward Conversation with a Strange Girl
- A Woman's Disturbing Discovery of a Burn Mark
Answer:
Answer as written by the student:
The best headline that suggests the central idea of the extract is (a) . A Woman's Surprising Encounter with Her Mother's Things.
Step-by-step explanation: 📝
- To choose the best headline for an extract, we need to consider which one captures the main theme or message of the text.
- In this case, the extract is about a woman who enters a living-room where she sees some of her mother's things that have been taken and changed by another woman who lives there, and how she interacts with her daughter who invites her in.
- The central idea of this extract is how the woman feels surprised and oppressed by seeing her mother's things in a different and unpleasant way, and how she tries to cope with her emotions and memories.
- The headline that best reflects this idea is A. A Woman's Surprising Encounter with Her Mother's Things, because it summarizes the main event and emotion in the extract.
- The other headlines are either too specific (D), too general (B), or too irrelevant (C) to convey the central idea of the extract.
