Semester 5th General English--- Prescribed for B.A./B.Com./B.Sc. (Home Science) & B.Sc.IT (General)

Unit 1: Grammar in Use

Transformation of sentences Transformation is changing the form of a sentence without changing its meaning. In doing transformation a student should have a fairly well knowledge about the kinds of sentence and their formation. A brief direction about doing transformation is given below:

Affirmative to Negative Rule 1: Only/ alone/ merely → Replaced by → None but(person)/ nothing but(things)/ not more than or not less than(number) Example: Affirmative: Only Allah can help us. Neg: None but Allah can help us. Affirmative: He has only a ball. Neg: He has nothing but a ball. Affirmative: He has only ten taka. Neg: He has not more than ten taka.

Rule 2: Must → Replaced by → Cannot but/ Cannot help+ (v+ing). Ex: Affirmative: We must obey our parents. Neg: we cannot but obey our parents/ we cannot help obeying our parents.

Rule 3: Both----and → Replaced by → not only ---- but also. Ex: Affirmative: Both Dolon and Dola were excited. Neg: Not only dolon but also Dola were present.

Rule 4: and (if join two words) → Replaced by → Not only ----- but also. Ex: Affirmative: He was obedient and gentle. Neg: He was not only obedient but also gentle.

Rule 5: Everyone/ everybody/every person/ (every + common noun)/all → Replaced by → There is no + attached word + but. Ex: Affirmative: Every mother loves her child. Neg: There is no mother but loves her child.

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Rule 6: As soon as → Replaced by → No sooner had ----- Than. Ex: Affirmative: As soon as the thief saw the police, he ran away. Neg: No sooner had the thief saw the police he ran away.

Rule 7: Absolute Superlative degree → Replaced by → No other+ attached word+so+ positive form+ as+subject. Ex: Affirmative: Dhaka is the biggest city in Bangladesh. Neg: No other city is as big as Dhaka in Bangladesh.

Rule 8: Sometimes affirmative sentences are changed into negative by using opposite words. Before the word, off course ‘not’ is used. Ex: Affirmative: I shall remember you. Neg: I shall not forget you.

Rule 9: Always → Replaced by → Never. Ex: Affirmative : Raven always attends the class. Neg: Raven never misses the class.

Rule 10: Too ---- to → Replaced by → so ---that+ cannot/could not(in past). Ex: Affirmative: He is too weak to walk. Neg: He is so weak that he cannot walk.

Rule 11: As – as → Replaced by → Not less – than. Ex: Affirmative: Simi was as wise as Rimi. Neg: Simi was not less wise than Rimi.

Rule 12: Universal truth are change by making them negative interrogative. Ex: Affirmative: The Sun sets in the west. Neg: Doesn’t the Sun set in the west.

Rule 13: Sometimes → Replaced by → Not + always. Ex: Affirmative: Raven sometimes visits me. Neg: Raven doesn’t always visit me.

Rule 14: Many → Replaced by → Not a few. Ex: Affirmative: I have many friends. Neg: I do not have few friends.

Rule 15: A few → Replaced by → not many. Ex: Affirmative: Bangladesh has a few scholars. Neg: Bangladesh doesn’t have many scholars.

Rule 16: Much → Replaced by → A little. Ex: Affirmative: He belongs much money. Neg: He doesn’t belong a little money.

Rule 17: A little → Replaced by → not much. Ex: Affirmative: Dolon has a little riches. Neg: Dolon doesn’t have much riches.

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ASSERTIVE TO INTERROGATIVE Rule 1: If the sentence is in the affirmative you have to change it into negative interrogative. If it is in negative then you have to change it into bare interrogative. Example: Assertive: He was very gentle. Int: was n’t he very gentle? Negative: He is not a good person. Int: Is he a good person?

Rule 2: No auxiliary verb in sentence →→ Change it by using →→ Do/does/did Or Don’t/doesn’t/didn’t. Ex: Assertive :He plays Football. Int: Does he play football? Ass: They did not play football yesterday. Int: Did they play football yesterday?

Rule3: Never → Replaced by → Ever. Ass: I never drink tea. Int: Do I ever drink tea?

Rule 4: Everybody/everyone/ All → Replaced by → Who + Don’t/ Doesn’t/ Didn’t Ex: Everybody wishes to be happy. Int : Who doesn’t wish to be happy?

Rule 5: Every + noun → Replaced by → Is there any + noun+ Who don’t/doesn’t/didn’t. Ex: Ass: Every man wishes to be happy. Int: Is there any man who doesn’t wish to be happy?

Rule 6: No body/ no one / None → Replaced by → Who. Ex: Nobody could count my love for you. Int: Who could ever count my love for you?

Rule 7 : There is no → Replaced by → Is there any/ Who(person)/ What( thing). Ex: Ass: There is no use of this law. Int: What is the use of this law? Ass: There is no man happier than Jamil. Int: Who is Happier than jamil?

Rule 8: It Is no → Replaced by → Is there any/Why. Ex: Ass: It is no use of taking unfair means in the exam. Int: Why take unfair means in the exam? Or, Is there any use of this law?

Rule 9: It Doesn’t matter → Replaced by → what though/ Does it matter. Ex: Ass: It does not matter if you fail in the exam.

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Int: What though if you fail in the exam?

Interrogative to Assertive is to be done doing Vice versa.

Exclamatory sentence to Assertive sentence

Rule1: Subject and Verb of exclamatory sentence are to be used as the subject and verb of assertive sentence at the outset of the sentence. How/what → Replace by → Very(before adjective)/ Great(before noun) Exclamatory: How fortunate you are! Ass: You are very fortunate. Exc : What a fool you are! Ass: You are a great fool.

Rule 2: Sometimes the subject and verb may be eclipsed. Ex: What a beautiful scenery! Ass: It is a very beautiful scenery. Ex: What a pity! Ass: It is a great pity.

Rule 3: Hurrah/ Bravo → Replace by → I/we rejoice that/ It is a matter of joy that. Ex: Hurrah! We have won the game. Ass: It is a matter of joy that we have won the game.

Rule 4: Alas → Replace by → I/we Mourn that/ It is a matter of sorrow or grief that. Ex: Alas! He has failed. Ass: We mourn that he has failed.

Rule 5: Had/were/If /Would that(at the outset) → Replaced by → I wish + subject again + were/ had+ rest part. Ex: Had I the wings of a bird! Ass: I wish I had the wings of a bird. Ex: Were I a bird! Ass: I wish I were a bird. Ex: If I were young again! Ass: I wish I were young again. Ex: would that I could be a child! Ass: I wish I could be a child.

Assertive to Exclamatory is to be done doing Vice versa.

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Imperative to Assertive

Rule 1: Add subject + should in doing assertive. Ex: Do the work. Ass: you should do the work.

Rule 2: Please/kindly → Replaced by → you are requested to. Ex: Please, help me. Ass: You are requested to help me.

Rule 3: Do not → Replaced by → You should not. Ex: Do not run in the sun. Ass: you should not run in the sun.

Rule 4: Never → Replaced by → you should never. Ex: Never tell a lie. Ass: You should never tell a lie.

Rule 5: Let us → Replaced by → We should. Ex: Let us go out for a walk. Ass: We should go out for a walk.

Rule 6: Let + noun/pronoun → Replaced by → Subject + might. Ex: Let him play football. Ass: He might play football.

Transformation of Sentences by changing Degree of Comparison

Rule1: If the superlative degree says about the best thing then the rule is:- For comparative, use – subject +verb + adjective/adverb(comp. form) + Than any other + rest part For positive, use- No other + rest part after supr. Degree + verb + so/as + positive form of adj/adv + as + sub.

Ex: Su: Suman is the tallest boy in the class. Com: Suman is taller than any other boy in the class. Pos: No other boy in the class is as tall as Suman.

Rule 2: If In superlative degree ‘One of the’ is transformed in this way: Comparative: Sub+ verb +comp. form +than most other+ Rest part. Positive: Very few+ rest part after supr. Degree + verb + so/as + positive form of adj /adv + as + sub.

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Ex: Nazrul was one of the greatest poets in Bangladesh. Comp.: Nazrul was greater than most other poets in Bangladesh. Positive: Very few poets in Bangladesh were so great as Nazrul.

Note: Superlative: Of all/ of any Comparative: Than all other/than any other. Positive: It does not exist.

Ex: Sup: Mr. khan is the oldest of all men in the village. Com: Mr. Khan is older than all other men in the village. Positive: No other man is as old as Mr. Khan.

Rule 3: Simple comparative is transformed into positive by using (not so + adj/adv+as)/ (so+adj/adv+as)if negative. Second noun or pronoun is used first. Ex: 1. com: Rina is wiser than Mina. Positive: Mina is not so wise as Rina. 2. Com: Mina is not wiser than Rina.’ Pos: Rina is as wise as Mina.

Rule 4: No/not less --- than is transformed into positive by using as +adj/adv+ as Ex: com: Karim is not less meritorious than Suman. Pos: Karim is so meritorious as Suman.

Complex →→→ Simple →→→ compound

There are three types of Transformation of sentences. Those are – o Simple Sentences o Complex Sentences and o Compound Sentences

What is Clause? The clause is where there will be a subject and a predicate as a group of words, but that will not be considered as a full sentence. The clause can be of two types. Those are –

1. Independent Clause A Clause that – o contains both a subject and a predicate. o can stand alone as a sentence or

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o can be a part of a multi-clause sentence. o uses conjunctions such as – or, for, nor, so, yet, and, but. Example: We visited Agra, but we did not go to Taj Mahal.

2. Dependent Clause A Clause that is – o that have a subject and a predicate o cannot stand alone as a sentence o always be a part of a sentence, on which it depends for meaning. To understand the types of transformation of sentences we need to know the definition of the Simple Sentences, Complex Sentences, and Compound Sentences.

Simple Sentence

When in a sentence that has one independent clause it is called simple sentence. Example: He confessed his illegal act.

Complex Sentence When in a sentence that has one clause and one or more subordinate clauses it is called a complex sentence. Example: He confessed that he was guilty of his illegal act.

Compound Sentence When in a sentence that has more than one main clause it is called the compound sentence. Example: I went to watch a movie named Justice League, but the movie was already houseful.

Transforming Simple Sentences into Complex Sentences Converting Simple Sentences into Complex Sentences can be done easily. And this can be done by simply expanding a word or a phrase into a clause. Moreover, we can do the same thing when we want to change the Complex Sentences into Simple Sentences. And this can be done by eliminating a clause into a word or a phrase. Few examples are given below to understand the concept and conventional rules of transforming between Simple Sentence and Complex Sentences

Rule: 1 “Present participle” in a simple sentence, to convert into complex sentences by adding “since/as/when” at the first half of the sentence. o Simple Sentence: Closing the door, I went back to school. o Complex Sentence: When I closed the door, I went back to school.

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Rule: 2 “Being/ Verb+ ing” in a simple sentence, to convert into a complex sentence by adding “as/when/since” at the first half of the sentence. o Simple Sentence: After winning a beauty contest she cried. o Complex Sentence: As she won the beauty contest, she cried. Rule: 3 “Too…to” in a simple sentence, to convert into a complex sentence by adding “so…that (negative)”. o Simple Sentence: He is too weak to carry the box. o Complex Sentence: He is so weak that he cannot carry the box. Rule: 4 “To” in the simple sentence, to convert into a complex sentence by adding “so that” in the sentence. o Simple sentence: We eat to live. o Complex Sentence: We eat so that we can live. Rule: 5 In the simple sentence “in spite of/ despite”, to convert into the complex sentence by adding “though/ although” in the sentence. o Simple Sentence: In spite of being rich, she is hard working. o Complex Sentence: Though she is rich, she is hard working.

Rule: 6 “Because of” in the simple sentence, to convert it to the complex sentence by adding “since” at the beginning of the sentence. o Simple Sentence: Because of his illness, he could not join the meeting. o Complex Sentence: Since he was ill, he could not join the meeting.

Rule: 7 “Subject + verb + object + present participle” type of simple sentence, to convert it to the complex sentence by “subject + verb + object + relative pronoun of the object + be verb according to relative pronoun and tense + rest of the sentence”. o Simple Sentence: I saw a bird flying. o Complex Sentence: I saw a bird which was flying.

Rule: 8 In the simple sentence starts with “without”, by adding “if/ in case” is converted into the complex sentence. o Simple Sentence: Without adding the sugar the dish will taste bad. o Complex Sentence: If you do not add sugar the dish will taste bad.

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Rule: 9 In the simple sentence “at the time” will be converted into “when” in the complex sentence. o Simple Sentence: She woke up at the time of load shedding. o Complex Sentence: She woke up when it was load shedding.

Rule: 10: In the simple sentence, “adjective” will be converted into “that/which” in the complex sentence. o Simple Sentence: It was a blue shirt. o Complex Sentence: It was a shirt which was blue.

Transformation of Sentences by Removing ‘Too’ The adverb too means ‘more than is necessary’ or ‘more than was expected’. It has a negative meaning. The structure too…to has a similar meaning. Read the example sentences given below. It was very late. We couldn’t start a new lesson. We can combine these two sentences using too…to. It was too late to start a new lesson. OR It was so late that we couldn’t start a new lesson. Exercise Rewrite the following sentences using the structure too…to. 1. He is so short that he cannot be a police officer. 2. He was so tired that he could not walk. 3. His theories are so difficult that I cannot comprehend them. 4. He is so young that he cannot understand a complex theory like this. 5. Your story is so ridiculous that I cannot believe it. 6. Those people are so selfish that they do not deserve any pity. 7. He was so shocked that he could not speak. 8. There are so many boys in the class that one teacher cannot control them. Answers 1. He is too short to be a police officer. 2. He was too tired to walk. 3. His theories are too difficult for me to comprehend. 4. He is too young to understand a complex theory like this. 5. Your story is too ridiculous for me to believe.

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6. Those people are too selfish to deserve any pity. 7. He was too shocked to speak. 8. There are too many boys in the class for one teacher to control.

Transformation of Sentences by changing Voice Active and Passive voice: Words come together to form a sentence and these sentences can be formed in more than one way. The way these sentences are made make a lot of difference in writing. One thing to note here is that no matter what the structure of the sentence is, the meaning of the sentence does not change. That’s actually a very important point to remember throughout this chapter. Let’s dive straight into the realm of Active and Passive voice. You know that every subject has a subject, a verb, and an object. A subject is an agent who performs the verb on the object. Let’s understand this with the help of an example:

 I swim in the ocean. – I is the subject, swim is the verb, and ocean is the object.

 My mom plays violin. – My mom is the subject, plays is the verb, and violin is the object. Active voice: When a subject is directly acting on the object, the sentence is written in Active voice.

Passive voice: When the object is acted upon by the subject, the sentence is written in Passive voice. In both the above sentences, the meaning remains the same and only the structure is what that changes. Usually, the structure or sequence of the subject, verb, and object expressed in the active voice sentence gets reversed in the passive voice of the same sentence. To understand the difference, just focus on how the subject and object change the structure of the sentences in the table below:

Active Voice Passive Voice

I ate the strawberry pie The strawberry pie was eaten by me

I bought a Honda car A Honda car was bought by me

The sun rises from the east East is where the sun rises from

Reema can do skydiving Skydiving can be done by Reema

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Structure of Active and Passive voice:

Active voice: Subject + Verb + Object

Passive voice: Object + Verb + Subject

We must have seen that the verb form changes when you switch from active to passive voice. Now verbs used are of two kinds: the main and the auxiliary verbs. Usually, an auxiliary verb is accompanied by the main verb. The auxiliary verb like be, do or have show the tense or mood of the verb. For example, in the sentence “I have finished my scuba diving course in the Havelock Islands”, finished is the main verb and have is the auxiliary verb.

Rules for changing Active voice to Passive voice:

1. Simply exchange the places of the subject and the object. The subject should become the object and vice-e-versa while changing a sentence from Active to Passive voice or reverse.

 Active voice: She bought a new car. (She is the subject and a new car is an object.) Passive voice: A new car was bought by her. (A new car is a subject and her is the object.)

2. Always convert the main verb into its past participle or third form while converting from active to passive voice. To remind what the third form of a verb looks like, let’s look at a few examples:

First form Second form Third form

Buy Bought Bought

Sing sang sung

Grow grew grown

 Active voice: Bhaanu wrote a book on gun violence.

 Passive voice: A book on gun violence was written by Bhaanu.

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3. Use the word “by” before the subject in the passive sentence. For example:

 Active voice: My brother sang a song.

 Passive voice: A song was sung by my brother. 4. Change of tense of the auxiliary word: Now when you change the verb form of the main verb, the tense of the auxiliary also changes accordingly. Let’s see this with the help of a few examples:

Present tense–

 Active voice: Sun rises from the east.

 Passive voice: East is where the sun rises from.

Past tense–

 Active voice: She walked my dog home.

 Passive voice: My dog was walked home by her.

Future tense–

 Active voice: Sheena will do the craft work.

 Passive voice: Craft work will be done by Sheena. 5. Sometimes you may completely omit the subject from the passive voice if the idea you are trying to convey is clear. You just have to take a judgement call for that. For example:

 Active voice: Distance is measured in kilometres.

 Passive voice: Kilometres is a measurement unit for distance. 6. Words like “with” or “to” are also used in passive voice. You may recall that we use “by” quite frequently in an active voice to passive voice conversion.

 Active voice: I know her.

Passive voice: She is known to me.

 Active voice: Love fills my heart.

Passive voice: My heart is filled with love.

Transformation of Sentences by changing parts of Speech

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The same word or the basic idea can exist in several different forms. For example, the word success is a noun. It has two other forms: successful (adjective), succeed (verb). By using different forms of the same word, we can express the same idea in several different ways.

Study the following sentence.

 He succeeded in his attempt. (Succeeded – verb)

 We can express this idea using the other two forms of success.

 His attempt was met with success. (Success – noun)

 His attempt was successful. (Successful – adjective)

If you know how to transform sentences like this, you will be able to add a great deal of variety to your writing.

More examples are given below.

 Respect your parents and teachers.

We can transform this sentence using the different forms of the word respect.

 Be respectful to your parents and teachers. (Respectful – adjective)

 Show respect to your parents and teachers. (Respect – noun)

 She works diligently. (Diligently – adverb)

 She works with diligence. (Diligence – noun)

 It is obvious that he hides something from us. (Obvious – adjective)

 He obviously hides something from us. (Obviously – adverb)

 The man was shot in the head and died in an instant. (Instant – noun)

 The man was shot in the head and died instantly. (Instantly – adverb)

 She was seemingly convinced. (Seemingly – adverb)

 She seemed to be convinced. (Seemed – verb)

 The farmer was apparently a fool. (Apparently – adverb)

 The farmer appeared to be a fool. (Appeared – verb)

Transformation of Sentences by changing Reported speech

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Reported Speech: Whenever we are quoting someone else’s words, you use two kinds of speeches – Direct or Indirect speech. In this chapter, we will learn all about Direct and Indirect speech and how to convert one into another. Whenever you report a speech there’s a reporting verb used like “say” or “tell”. For example:

Direct speech: I love to play football.

Reported speech: She said that she loves to play football. (Note 1 : Assume a gender if not mentioned already.

Note 2: Using “that” is optional. This sentence could also have been written as “She said she loves to play football.”)

The tense doesn’t have to be changed in this case of reported speech. But of the reporting verb is in the past tense, we do change the tense of the sentence. Reported speech- Play of the tenses:

Direct speech tense Indirect/Reported speech tense

Simple present simple past

present continuous past continuous

simple past past perfect

past continuous past perfect continuous

present perfect tense past perfect tense

past perfect tense past perfect tense

This is a summary table that will be crystal clear to Just come back to this table after this section and use this as a summary table:

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Direct Changed Tense Reported speech speech tense

I like to swim in She said she liked to swim in the Simple present Simple past the ocean ocean

I live in New Simple present He said he lived in New Orleans Simple past Orleans

I went to school She said she had gone to school Past simple Past perfect in the morning that morning

Present I was going to He said he was going to the Past continuous continuous the Himalayas Himalayas

I was walking She said that she had been walking past perfect Past continuous near the beach near the beach continuous

I have caught a She said she had caught a few Present perfect past perfect few fishes fishes

I had trekked the He said he had trekked the Past perfect Himalayas this Past perfect Himalayas this time last year time last year

Some word transitions from direct to reported speech that will come in handy:

 Will becomes would

 Can becomes could

 would stays would

 should stays should

 must stays must or had to (matter of choice)

 shall becomes should Exception: A present tense in direct speech may not become a past tense in the reported speech if it’s a fact or something generic we are talking about in the sentence. For example-

Direct speech: The sun rises from the East.

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Reported speech: She said that the sun rises/rose from the East.

Modals

An auxiliary is a helping verb and a modal is a type of auxiliary (helping) verb that is used to express: ability, possibility, permission or obligation. Modal phrases (or semi- modals) are used to express the same thing as modals, but are a combination of auxiliary verbs and the preposition to. In otherwords, modal auxiliary is a verb that is used with another verb to express a mood or tense. Examples of a modal auxiliary include can, may, must, ought, shall, should, will and would. An example of a modal auxiliary is the word "must" in the sentence "she must attend the party."

Modal verbs are a kind of auxiliary verbs. They facilitate the main verb for suggesting potential, expectation, permission, ability, possibility, and obligation. When used with the main verb, modal verbs do not end with -s for the third-person singular. Modal auxiliary verbs never change form, but they have a different form for past tense. The modal auxiliaries include:

Present Tense Past Tense

Will Would (used to) Can Could(Had to) Must (have to) May Might Should (ought to) (had better) Should (ought to)

NB: The words in parentheses ( ) are semi-modals. They have the same meaning, but they are different grammatically.

Will – Would Will indicates a ‘willingness’ to do something in the future. The negative form of will – will not (won’t) indicates an ‘unwillingness’ (refusal, reluctance) to do something. Example: o I will give you another opportunity. o I will play tomorrow. o They will arrive at 10 AM. o She won’t come today.

Would indicates general or repeated willingness in the past. It also indicates preference in the present. Example: o If you did not leave, I would still be taking care of you.

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o Whenever I had to go there, they would throw a party. o We thought that people would buy this book. o If I were you, I would not do it. o I would like to make a toast.

Used to sometimes replaces would but sometimes it would be grammatically incorrect if we use used to in place of would. Example: o When I was in school, I used to make sketches. o He often used to cry at night without reason. o I used to take a break at this time of the year. Can – Could - May – Might These modals express possibility and ability. Can indicates ability. Could indicates ability with an option. Example: o I can do it. (The subject ‘I’ is sure about his/her ability) o I could do it. (The subject ‘I’ is not sure about his/her ability) o They cannot do it. (present) o They could not do it. (past)

Can & could also indicate possibility. Example: o The temperature can rise this month. o They can’t go too far by now. o It could rain later.

May and might both indicate possibility but might can suggest that there is less possibility than may. Example: o It may rain later. o It might rain later. o They may come back. o They might come back.

Must Must indicates necessity. Example: o I must leave now. o He must study hard. o Alex must go home by 6.00 pm.

Have to has the similar meaning to must but implies less urgency.

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Example: o I have to leave now. o He has to study hard. o Alex has to go by 6.00 pm. o I had to leave then. (past) o He had to study hard to pass the exam. (past) Should Should indicates obligation and probability. Example: o You should come home early. o You should not smoke at all. o I should visit my parents more often. o There should be an extra key for the lock in the drawer. (probability) o He should have reached by now. (probability) o I should have done that. (obligation in the past)

Ought to and had better sometimes replaces should. Example: o You ought to come home early. o We ought to have taken a taxi. (Past) o We had better leave. (Had better is generally used in spoken English.) o I think parents ought to give children more freedom. (Had better won’t be appropriate here.

Uses of Shall and Will and Should o In England, shall is used to express the simple future for first person I and we, as in "Shall we meet by the river?" Will would be used in the simple future for all other persons. Using will in the first person would express determination on the part of the speaker, as in "We will finish this project by tonight, by golly!" Using shall in second and third persons would indicate some kind of promise about the subject, as in "This shall be revealed to you in good time." This usage is certainly acceptable in the U.S., although shall is used far less frequently. The distinction between the two is often obscured by the contraction 'll, which is the same for both verbs. o In the United States, we seldom use shall for anything other than polite questions (suggesting an element of permission) in the first-person: o "Shall we go now?" o "Shall I call a doctor for you?" o (In the second sentence, many writers would use should instead, although should is somewhat more

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tentative than shall.) In the U.S., to express the future tense, the verb will is used in all other cases. o Shall is often used in formal situations (legal or legalistic documents, minutes to meetings, etc.) to express obligation, even with third-person and second- person constructions: o The board of directors shall be responsible for payment to stockholders. o The college president shall report financial shortfalls to the executive director each semester." o Should is usually replaced, nowadays, by would. It is still used, however, to mean "ought to" as in o You really shouldn't do that. o If you think that was amazing, you should have seen it last night. o In British English and very formal American English, one is apt to hear or read should with the first-person pronouns in expressions of liking such as "I should prefer iced tea" and in tentative expressions of opinion such as o I should imagine they'll vote Conservative. o I should have thought so. o (The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. Used with the permission of Oxford University Press. Examples our own.)

Uses of Do, Does and Did o In the simple present tense, do will function as an auxiliary to express the negative and to ask questions. (Does, however, is substituted for third-person, singular subjects in the present tense. The past tense did works with all persons, singular and plural.) o I don't study at night. o She doesn't work here anymore. o Do you attend this school? o Does he work here? o These verbs also work as "short answers," with the main verb omitted. o Does she work here? No, she doesn't work here. o With "yes-no" questions, the form of do goes in front of the subject and the main verb comes after the subject: o Did your grandmother know Truman? o Do wildflowers grow in your back yard?

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o Forms of do are useful in expressing similarity and differences in conjunction with so and neither. o My wife hates spinach and so does my son. o My wife doesn't like spinach; neither do I. o Do is also helpful because it means you don't have to repeat the verb: o Larry excelled in language studies; so did his brother. o Raoul studies as hard as his sister does. o The so-called emphatic do has many uses in English. o To add emphasis to an entire sentence: "He does like spinach. He really does!" o To add emphasis to an imperative: "Do come in." (actually softens the command) o To add emphasis to a frequency adverb: "He never did understand his father." "She always does manage to hurt her mother's feelings." o To contradict a negative statement: "You didn't do your homework, did you?" "Oh, but I did finish it." o To ask a clarifying question about a previous negative statement: "Ridwell didn't take the tools." "Then who did take the tools?" o To indicate a strong concession: "Although the Clintons denied any wrong-doing, they did return some of the gifts." o In the absence of other modal auxiliaries, a form of do is used in question and negative constructions known as the get passive: o Did Rinaldo get selected by the committee? o The audience didn't get riled up by the politician.

Uses of Have, Has and Had

Forms of the verb to have are used to create tenses known as the present perfect and past perfect. The perfect tenses indicate that something has happened in the past; the present perfect indicating that something happened and might be continuing to happen, the past perfect indicating that something happened prior to something else happening.

To have is also in combination with other modal verbs to express probability and possibility in the past.

 As an affirmative statement, to have can express how certain you are that something happened (when combined with an appropriate modal + have + a past participle): "Georgia must have left already." "Clinton might have known about the gifts." "They may have voted already."

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 As a negative statement, a modal is combined with not + have + a past participle to express how certain you are that something did not happen: "Clinton might not have known about the gifts." "I may not have been there at the time of the crime."  To ask about possibility or probability in the past, a modal is combined with the subject + have + past participle: "Could Clinton have known about the gifts?"  For short answers, a modal is combined with have: "Did Clinton know about this?" "I don't know. He may have." "The evidence is pretty positive. He must have."

To have (sometimes combined with to get) is used to express a logical inference:

 It's been raining all week; the basement has to be flooded by now.  He hit his head on the doorway. He has got to be over seven feet tall!

Have is often combined with an infinitive to form an auxiliary whose meaning is similar to "must."

 I have to have a car like that!  She has to pay her own tuition at college.  He has to have been the first student to try that.

Semi Modals

Semi-modal auxiliary verbs, often simply called semi-modal verbs, are verbs that sometimes behave like modal auxiliary verbs. (They are also sometimes known as marginal modal verbs.) Like the “proper” modal verbs, they are used with the base form of verbs (the infinitive without to) to create a unique meaning.

Dare, need, used to, and ought to Not all sources agree on the complete list of semi-modal verbs, but there are four that are widely considered as the standard set: dare, need, used to, and ought to. Dare and need are considered semi-modal because they can also function as main verbs, able to take nouns and infinitives as objects and to conjugate for person, tense, and number. Ought to and used to, while unable to be main verbs, are considered semi-modals because they are always followed by infinitives (compared to “true” modals, which can never be followed by infinitives). As semi-modal verbs, these verbs are used in conjunction with “main” verbs to create a complete verb expression; they do not conjugate for third-person singular subjects; they do not have a simple past tense; and they cannot form infinitives, present participles, or past participles.

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We’ll look at each of these verbs individually, examining when and how they function as semi-modal verbs. Dare When dare is used as a semi-modal verb, it means “to be brave, reckless, or rude enough to do or try something.” Remember, when functioning modally, it does not conjugate for person or tense. For example:

 “If he dares cross me again, I’ll make sure he pays dearly for it.”

As a semi-modal verb, dare more often takes not to form a negative statement (very rarely contracted as daren’t), or is inverted with the subject to form an interrogative sentence. For example:

 “I dare not press the issue any further.”  “How dare she talk to me like that?”  “Dare he meddle with the laws of nature?”  “They daren’t give him a reason to be angry.”

However, with the exception of the now idiomatic phrase “How dare (someone),” the use of dare as a modal verb has become rare in modern English.

As a main verb Dare can also be used as an intransitive main verb with the same meaning as the modal version. When it functions as a main verb, however, it is able to conjugate for person and tense, and it can be followed by a verb in either its base or infinitive form (the to becomes optional). For example:

 “I can’t believe he dared (to) stand up to the boss.”  “No one dares (to) question my authority!”

When dare is used as a main verb, it must take the auxiliary verb do to form questions or be made negative. As we saw in the section on primary auxiliary verbs, it is do, rather than the main verb, that conjugates for tense, person, and number in this case. For example:

 “Did they dare (to) go through with it?”  “He doesn’t dare (to) argue with the principal.”

Dare can also mean “to challenge someone to (do) something that requires courage, boldness, or recklessness,” in which case it must take a noun, pronoun, or infinitive as a direct object. It cannot be used modally with this meaning. For example:

 “I dare you to ask Suzy on a date.”  “I’ve never been dared to race someone before.”

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Need Need as a semi-modal verb is almost always used in negative sentences to express a lack of obligation or necessity, either taking the adverb not (usually contracted as needn’t) or paired with a negative word or phrase, such as never, no one, nothing, etc. For example:

 “No one needs know about this.”  “He needn’t have called; I told him I would be late.”  “You needn’t worry about my grades.”  “Nothing need change simply because my father is no longer here.”

It can also be used to form interrogative sentences by inverting with the subject, as in:

 “Need we be concerned?”  “Need I go to the market later?”

Like dare, though, the modal use of need has become quite uncommon in modern English, except in very formal speech or writing.

As a main verb Need is much more common as a main verb. This means it conjugates for person (becoming needs in the third-person singular) or tense (becoming needed), and it uses auxiliary did to form negatives and questions. As a main verb, need can be followed by nouns, noun phrases, pronouns, gerunds, or infinitives. For example:

 “He needs that report by tomorrow.”  “Does she need to know where the house is?”  “You have plenty of time, so you don’t need to rush.”  “He needed a place to stay, so I offered him one.”

Used to When we speak about a past habit, condition, or fact that is no longer the case, we can use the semi-modal used to with the base form of the verb. For example:

 “I used to get up early when I lived in New York.”  “She used to live in Ireland.”  “We used to be in a band together.”  “This watch used to belong to my father.”

Uniquely among the modal and semi-modal verbs, we form the question and negative of used to the same way as for main verbs in the past tense—that is, by using the auxiliary did for the question and did not for the negative. Example:

 “Did you use to live in Manchester?”

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 “I didn’t use to like coffee.”  “She didn’t used* to go to the gym every day.”

(*Technically speaking, we should remove the “-d” from used to when forming questions and negatives, as the auxiliary verb did takes the past tense. Because of to immediately following use, however, the pronunciation stays the same, and many writers include the “-d” regardless. It is common to see it written both ways in modern English.)

As a main verb A large source of confusion arises around the difference between the semi-modal verb used to and two similarly structured main verbs — be used to and get used to. Be used to When we use be used to with a noun, noun phrase, or the gerund of a verb, it means “to be accustomed to something.” For example:

 “I am used to getting up at 7 AM every morning.”  “She was used to the stress by that point.”

To form the negative of be used to, we add not after the auxiliary verb be, which can be contracted to isn’t, aren’t, wasn’t, or weren’t. To form interrogative sentences, we invert be with the subject. For example:

 “I am not used to living in the city.”  “He wasn’t used to so much work.”  “Are you used to living with roommates?”

Get used to Get used to has a slightly different meaning from be used to; get here means become. In fact, in more formal English, it is considered preferable to say become used to instead. In everyday speech and writing, however, get used to is perfectly acceptable. We often use get used to in the present continuous tense. For example:

 “I am getting used to living in the city.” (I am becoming accustomed to living in the city.)  “He is getting used to public speaking. (He is becoming accustomed to the act of public speaking.)

We can also use get used to in the past simple tense, but usually in negative constructions with the word never, as in:

 “She never got used to the silence of the countryside.”

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Often, we use get used to with the modal verbs could, will, and cannot (or can’t). Could is used to create a hypothetical scenario, will creates the future tense (often paired with never), and cannot is used to mean “unable.” For example:

 “I can’t get used to working so many hours. I am so tired.” (I am unable to become accustomed to this.)  “I could get used to doing nothing all day.” (This is something that I could find easy to do.)  “I will never get used to these cramped conditions.” (At no point in the future will I become accustomed to this.)

Ought to Ought to is considered semi-modal because, like used to, it ends in to and so makes verbs infinitive. It is commonly compared to should because it expresses that something is viewed as correct, preferable, or necessary—or as probable, likely, or expected. It can also be used to ask for or offer advice about something. For example:

 “With the cost of airfares so high, in-flight meals ought to be free.” (It is correct or preferable that the meals be free.)  “We ought to arrive in the evening.” (It is probable or expected that we’ll arrive in the evening.)  “I think we ought to turn back.” (Turning back is the necessary or best course of action—worded as advice.)  “You ought to see the Grand Canyon someday.” (It is my advice or recommendation for you to visit the Grand Canyon.)

When ought to is made negative, not comes between ought (sometimes contracted as oughtn’t) and to; it is common to omit to when ought to is used with not. For example:

 “You ought not to read in such dim light.”  “We oughtn’t leave the house; it isn’t safe.”

We can also form questions by inverting ought with the subject; this is not very common, though. Again, to is sometimes omitted in this form. For example:

 “Ought we find someplace to eat?”  “Oughtn’t she study for her exam?”  “Ought they to be more worried about the storm?”  “Ought not he to finish his homework first?”

Ought to is becoming far less common than should in modern English, especially in American English.

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Unit 2: Poetry

Biography of Agha Shahid Ali Agha Shahid Ali (4 February 1949 – 8 December 2001) was an Indian-American Kashmiri poet. His collections include A Walk Through the Yellow Pages, The Half- Inch Himalayas, A Nostalgist's Map of America, The Country Without a Post Office, Rooms Are Never Finished, the latter a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001. The University of Utah Press awards the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize annually "in memory of a celebrated poet and beloved teacher.” Early life and Education Agha Shahid Ali was born in the illustrious and highly educated Agha family of Srinagar, Kashmir. He was raised in Kashmir but left for the United States in 1976. Shahid's father Agha Ashraf Ali was a renowned educationist of Jammu and Kashmir. Shahid's grandmother Begum Zaffar Ali, an educationist, was the first woman matriculate of Kashmir. Shahid was educated at the Burn Hall School, later University of Kashmir and the Hindu College, University of Delhi. He earned a Ph.D. in English from Pennsylvania State University in 1984, and an M.F.A. from the University of Arizona in 1985. He held teaching positions at nine universities and colleges in India and the United States. Shahid's upbringing was absolutely secular. He loved the painting of St Veronica's Handkerchief, that Zakir Hussain had gifted to his father, Agha Ashraf Ali. In fact, the first poem that he had written was at the age of 12 about Christ. Shahid, and his brother Iqbal, both studied at an Irish Catholic school and in an interview, he recalled that: "There was never a hint of any kind of parochialism in the home."

Literary work Ali expressed his love and concern for his people in In Memory of Begum Akhtar and The Country Without a Post Office, which was written with the Kashmir conflict as backdrop. He was a translator of the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz (The Rebel's Silhouette; Selected Poems), and the editor for the Middle East and Central Asia segment of Jeffery Paine's Poetry of Our World. He further compiled the volume Ravishing Disunities: Real Ghazals in English. His last book was Call Me Ishmael Tonight, a collection of English ghazals, and his poems are featured in American Alphabets: 25 Contemporary Poets (2006) and other anthologies. Ali taught at the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at University of Massachusetts Amherst, at the MFA Writing Seminars at Bennington College as well as at creative writing programs at University of Utah, Baruch College, Warren Wilson College, Hamilton College and New York University. He died of brain cancer in

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December 2001 and was buried in Northampton, in the vicinity of Amherst, a town sacred to his beloved poet Emily Dickinson.

Bibliography This list represents the published output of Ali, arranged in chronological order and sorted by the manner in which he contributed to the work in question.

Poetry

 Bone Sculpture (1972),  In Memory of Begum Akhtar and Other Poems (1979),  The Half-Inch Himalayas (1987),  A Walk Through the Yellow Pages (1987),  A Nostalgist's Map of America (1991),  The Beloved Witness: Selected Poems (1992),  The Country Without a Post Office (1997),  Rooms Are Never Finished (2001),  Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals (2003).

Translations and edited volumes

 Translator, The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1992),  Editor, Ravishing Disunities: Real Ghazals in English (2000).

Influences Ali was deeply moved by the music of Begum Akhtar. Several niches in his apartment had photos of the people who had deeply influenced his work - Akhtar's photo occupied one of these spaces. The two had met through a friend of Akhtar's when Ali was a teenager and her music became a lasting presence in his life. Features of her ghazal rendition—such as wit, wordplay and nakhra (affectation)—were present in Ali's poetry as well. However, Amitav Ghosh suspects that the strongest connection between the two rose from the idea that "sorrow has no finer mask than a studied lightness of manner"—traces of which were seen in Ali's and Akhtar's demeanor in their respective lives.

Awards

 Pushcart Prize  Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996  Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Fellowship  Ingram-Merrill Foundation Fellowship  New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship

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“Postcard from Kashmir” by Agha Shahid Ali

Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox, my home a neat four by six inches. I always loved neatness. Now I hold the half-inch Himalayas in my hand.

This is home. And this the closest I'll ever be to home. When I return, the colors won't be so brilliant, the Jhelum's waters so clean, so ultramarine. My love so overexposed.

And my memory will be a little out of focus, in it a giant negative, black and white, still undeveloped

SUMMARY OF THE POEM In Agha Shahid Ali’s poem titled “Postcard from Kashmir,” the speaker describes receiving a postcard from his native land, “Kashmir,” a region of the Indian subcontinent. Parts of Kashmir are controlled by India, Pakistan, and China, and in fact disputes between India and Pakistan about the territory are long-standing and have often led to armed conflict. In the opening two lines of the poem, the speaker indicates that the postcard contains a photograph of (part of) Kashmir, a place the speaker still considers his “home” (2). Apparently he is very geographically distant from Kashmir, a fact that makes his use of the word “home” ironic. He may have been born in Kashmir and may have lived there for much of his life, but now he is apparently living somewhere else, perhaps even in some Western country such as the United Kingdom or the United States. In any case, the speaker next mentions that he “always loved neatness” – a trait that emphasizes the irony that he can now hold “the half-inch Himalayas in my hand” (4). The massive mountain range has been reduced to a small, tidy picture, which is surely not the kind of neatness the speaker truly desires. One of the most impressive aspects of his homeland has thus been shrunken and made to seem far less impressive and significant. Although the speaker holds the postcard, he has in more literal ways lost touch with the land he loves. Perhaps the most intriguing and puzzling lines of the poem are these: This is home. And this the closest I'll ever be to home. . . . (5-6)

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Does the speaker mean that Kashmir is home? If so, why does he say that “this” is the closest he will ever be to home? One might assume that he means that he is unable to return to Kashmir, and so the postcard must suffice as a poor substitute for an actual visit. In the very next phrase, however, the speaker seems to contemplate an inevitable “return” (6). Therefore, when he says “This is home,” does he mean the unnamed place where he currently resides, which seems a poor substitute for his actual home of Kashmir? The phrasing of lines 5-6 is not entirely clear and contributes an interesting ambiguity to the poem. The speaker assumes that when he does actually return to Kashmir (in real life and not simply in his imagination), the real sights of the place will not live up neither to the picture of them presented in the postcard nor to the idealized memory of them in the speaker’s mind. In the poem’s closing lines, the speaker suggests that his memory of Kashmir is unreliable and that Kashmir itself may be like . . . a giant negative, black and white, still undeveloped. (13-14) These lines – and especially the last word – are suggestive. They may imply that Kashmir is still in the process of development as a place, that it is at present still too polarized to live up either to the speaker’s idealized memory of it or to the postcard’s idealized presentation of its beauty.

Critical Analysis of the poem

“Home is where the heart is.” It is glaringly clear that the speaker’s (the poet’s) heart belongs to Kashmir, his homeland as well as a region in South Asia that suffers from on-going territorial disputes among China, India and Pakistan.

 The word ‘Shrinks’ in “Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox” (line 1) suggests that the real, grandeur Kashmir diminishes to the tiny delicate picture printed on the postcard.

 Home (line 2), normal speaking, refers to a place where people are currently living in. Postcards are usually sent from a place people spend their holiday on. Yet, interestingly, for this time, the poet receives a postcard from his home, Kashmir. Apparently, the speaker has lost touch with his homeland. The ‘four-by-six-inch’ postcard simply evokes his memories towards his birthplace.

 The poet highlights that he always loved neatness (3). The adjective ‘neat’ refers not only to the regular shape of the postcard but also the neat and harmonious Kashmir in the poet’s memory.

 In line 3, the use of the past tense for the first and only time in the poem reveals that war-torn Kashmir is no longer as calm and peaceful as it used to be.

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 The speaker then switches his focus to the mere ‘half-inch’ Himalayas, which is, in reality, the most gigantic and iconic mountain range in the world. The poet deliberately uses the same kind of contrast to express the wide distance between Kashmir and where the speaker is.

 Internal rhyme: “inches”, “neatness” and “Himalayas”

 Alliteration: ‘hold’, ‘half-inch’, ‘Himalayas’ and ‘hand’

 The tone of the poem is getting increasingly serious and emotional from line 5. “This is home. And this is the closest I’ll ever be to home.” (line5-6) What a powerful rhetorical repetition that emphasises poet’s deep affection towards the land he loves!

 Irony: the word “closest”. It is saddening to know that the poet yearns to be home but the chance to do so is thin.

 The poet continues to build up a bitter mood by imagining what Kashmir will be like when he returns. Torn by wars, Kashmir would not be so colourful. Bloodshed Jhelum’s water would not be so clean and ultramarine anymore.

 The repeated use of “so” in line 7-10 intensifies the poet’s pity and lament for the destruction of Kashmir.

 His emotion reaches the climax at “my love so overexposed” (line 9-10). The poet intentionally separates “so overexposed” from “my love” in order to achieve a rhetorical emphasis on his patriotic sentiment.

 “overexposed”: show how overwhelming the poet’s nostalgic love to Kashmir is in a somehow distorted and explicit manner, just like a piece of photography that are overexposed (too much light).

 “giant and negative”: the two adjectives help contrast the shrunken, idealized Kashmir in the postcard with the giant, grim one in reality.

 “Black and white”: a metonymy for things happened in the past. It contrasts the stark colour on the postcard.

 The last sentence of the poem is filled with quite a number of commas. This structure reflects that memories are just pieces of flashbacks and feelings that tangle together.

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However, enchanting his memories are, they are indeed messy and will gradually fade. On a final note, one should pay attention to the number of lines in this free verse poem. Surprisingly, there are actually 14 lines, which are identical to that in Shakespearean sonnets, a traditional format for love poems. It is glaringly clear that the ultimate aim of the poem is to channel the poet’s unbounded patriotic love to Kashmir, the place he is proud to call it home.

Kashmir is the most inflammable part between the India and Pakistan. Due to the dispute many native people of the region migrated from there, Kashmir is the heaven of the earth still they are away from their homeland. Through this poem poet tries to focus on the sentiment of the people of the Kashmir. Nostalgia for the motherland is the central theme of the poem. Poet is seeking the quest for identity. Agha Shahid Ali writes in "Postcard from Kashmir" that the postcard "is home, and this is the closest / Ill ever be to home." The imagery he employs in the poem expresses his loss; his home rendered intangible by time and memory. W.J.T. Mitchell says in "Ekphrasis and the Other" that "Words can "cite," but never "sight," their objects." This idea is especially clear in "Postcard from Kashmir" as Ali expresses his frustration that the home he describes can never again be made tangible, that he will never truly see it again. Similar ekphrastic imagery appears in "A Lost Memory of Delhi" as Ali describes his childhood home, creating a narrative in which he attempts to place himself in the memory captured in the photograph but cannot make his voice heard. Ali uses ekphrastic imagery in these poems in order to portray his frustration at the impossibility of bridging the gap between past and present.

Theme of loss and longing in poem-Postcard from Kashmir, by Agha Shahid Ali Loss and longing are two universal emotions that are predominantly active in our human souls especially when we find ourselves away from the places we naturally call home. While migration has significantly contributed to the richness and diversity of cultures, ethnicities and races, it has also impacted the well-being of individuals involved including the general loss of cultural norms, and religious customs. Another issue immigrant have to deal with is the changes in identity and self-concept as they try to cope to the new culture they have been introduced to. Poetry serves as a great medium to address these cultural issues, through poetry we see the concepts of cultural identity and cultural bereavement being explored. A comparison of the literature poems, ?Postcard from Kashmir," by Agha Shahid Ali, and ?Elena? by Pat Mora will reveal to us how poets use the power of language and poetic techniques to lament this loss of culture.

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In ?Postcard from Kashmir," the speaker of the poem yearns to go back to Kashmir, a place he once called home. When he says? Now I hold the half inch city of Himalayas in my hand, this is home? (Lines 3-5), we see that the postcard has done nothing but further intensified his longing. The speaker also expresses sadness due to the realization that memories and pictures cannot compensate for being in your homeland. A postcard can also be said to refer to the fact that his understanding of his home has become shallow and incomplete, and his sadness is increased further when he realizes that it will be long before he returns back to his homeland. The use of the first person point of view in both poems intensifies the emotional effect these poems will have on the reader. First person narrative is the storytelling through the sound of the character, at a given moment, and referring to themselves (diverse Poets). It is effective since it allows us to experience what the speaker is experiencing in real time and therefore develop more empathy towards him or her as it creates and intimate connection between the reader and the speaker.

The general tone expressed all through the two poems is that of sorrow and nostalgia. Both speakers miss their homes, where they once lived, and are torn apart with the longing for these places. However , there is a shift in tone as the actual places are described for example, in ?Elena when the mother described her life in Mexico, it is with delight and fondness as seen when she says remember how I'd smile, Listening my little ones, Their jokes , their songs, their plots? (Lines 2-5).

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The Wolf's Postscript to 'Little Red Riding Hood'

Agha Shahid Ali - 1949-2001 First, grant me my sense of history: I did it for posterity, for kindergarten teachers and a clear moral: Little girls shouldn't wander off in search of strange flowers, and they mustn't speak to strangers.

And then grant me my generous sense of plot: Couldn't I have gobbled her up right there in the jungle? Why did I ask her where her grandma lived? As if I, a forest-dweller, didn't know of the cottage under the three oak trees and the old woman lived there all alone? As if I couldn't have swallowed her years before?

And you may call me the Big Bad Wolf, now my only reputation. But I was no child-molester though you'll agree she was pretty.

And the huntsman: Was I sleeping while he snipped my thick black fur and filled me with garbage and stones? I ran with that weight and fell down, simply so children could laugh at the noise of the stones cutting through my belly, at the garbage spilling out with a perfect sense of timing, just when the tale should have come to an end.

Summary Once upon a time, there was a little girl. Her grandmother gave her a red riding hood, and the girl loved it so much she wore it all the time—so everybody started to call her Little Red Riding Hood.

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One day, her mother told the girl her grandmother had fallen ill. Because she lived alone, deep in the woods, she would probably be happy to get some food and a visit from her granddaughter. Mother gave a basket with food and a bottle of wine to Little Red Riding Hood and told her: "Don't stray from the path!" The girl promised but soon forgot about her mother's warning. After a while, she met a wolf in the woods. He asked her where she was going, and she told him about her granny's bad health and where she lived. The wolf tricked her into stopping and picking some flowers. She did that, and in the meantime, the wolf ran to the granny's house. source: archive.org, author unknown (1860) The wolf, pretending to be the granddaughter, entered the grandmother's house and ate the lady. Then he dressed in her nightgown and waited for Little Red Riding Hood. When she came in, the famous dialogue about great arms, great ears, and great teeth followed. After that, the wolf ate the girl and took a nap. Soon after, a huntsman came by the house and heard snoring. He entered cautiously, saw the sleeping monster in granny's bed and guessed what happened. Then he opened the sleeping wolf's stomach with a knife. Granny and Red Riding Hood came out and helped the huntsman fill the wolf's stomach with stones. When the wolf woke up, he tried to run away, but the stones were too heavy. He fell down and died. Grandmother, granddaughter, and huntsman lived happily ever after.

AN ANALYSIS OF AGHA SHAHID ALI’S THE WOLF’S POSTSCRIPT TO ‘LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD’

We’re very much accustomed to the nature of fairy tales and how their plots unfold. There is an innocent main character with a large heart. An evil figure comes to his life and ruins everything and he has to put things back the way they were. It’s quite black and white but these days, fairy tales are being adapted in a way that make the colors blur creating this gray area whether the antagonist was truly and simply evil or if he had another side to the story. Popular examples include the film Maleficent and many of George Maguire’s works. One such example is the poem tackled in this paper, The Wolf’s Postscript to (Little Red Riding Hood) where the wolf is the persona and he reasons out why he did what he did using logic. The tone of the poem is casual and defensive at the same time. His tone is very matter- of-fact. The persona is defending himself but not to such an extent that the reader would suddenly switch to the wolf’s side after reading the poem. For example: In the line, “But I was no child-molester though you’ll agree she was pretty” Things are kept very real. While he defends himself saying that the wolf wasn’t a child-molester, he also admits that Red was pretty and the perfect victim to his unmet hunger. In the first verse of the poem, he explains that he did it to teach the children of the future not to commit the same mistakes Red made. It’s a bit true, right? Fairy tales are cautionary tales for

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children. He writes “I did it for posterity for kindergarten teachers and a clear moral: Little girls shouldn’t wander off in search of strange flowers, and they musn’t speak to strangers.” A reader would think that the wolf had a point and that Red did commit a mistake and Wolf could have just been teaching her a lesson. In the second verse, the persona writes “As if I couldn’t have swallowed her years before.” It makes sense as well as to why Wolf was never attacked the Grandmother despite of the obvious location of her house. In the last verse, he defends himself by saying that he feigned the ending of the story where the huntsman filled his body up with stones even going as far as to say that the timing was too perfect for the story to end in such a note The mood also follows suit to the tone. Readers see the logic in what the wolf has to say in contrast to the black and white line set by the original fairytale where the wolf is simply evil. I’m not sure but the closest word I can find to describe the mood of the poem is the world logical because it makes readers think about the logic presented in the wolf’s argument Wolf doesn’t use any form of emotion to appeal to readers and set some sort of sympathetic mood for the poem to make his argument look correct and sensible to readers (For the same reason, we believe in facts more than emotions in a debate.) But readers of the original fairy tale who have grown up or at least know the darker message behind the fairy tale will eventually realize that Wolf isn’t right. While the things he said in the poem does make sense, readers know that Little Red Riding Hood is actually about young girls (Red) who fall victim to predators or men (Wolf) and the danger this leads them. It shows that it is in fact the men who act the kindest (in the story, when Wolf dresses as Red’s grandmother) are the most dangerous predators of all. Believing Wolf’s argument in this poem would be similar to believing that a man who raped a young woman said that he did it because he wanted to teach the girl a lesson in wandering in dangerous places. While it is interesting how new works bring a gray area to classic works, it’s also important to note that Wolf did more harm and committed more mistake than Red ever did. The persona says that he did it for posterity but readers also know that he did it because of hunger and temptation. He says “But I’m no child- molester though you’ll agree she was pretty.” The fact that the persona ended it in this note and even noticed it in the first place means that desire was definitely a factor into his actions in the fairy tale. Ultimately, this poem has a very casual, defensive, and matter-of-fact tone that uses logic to defend himself and the mood follows suit making readers really think about who is right and wrong in the classic fairy tale.

Little Red Riding Hood Symbolism (The Hidden Meanings) The Hood Covering the Hair If the girl in the story is wearing a hood (or cap), she is obviously covering her hair. Hair, especially women's, plays an important role in many cultures in the world. When a girl reaches the age in which she turns into a woman, her hair is considered one of her most powerful tools for attracting the opposite gender. With covering (or cutting) her hair, she sends a message she is not available yet (or anymore).

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The Color Red When the girl gets a hood from her grandmother, we can say the life forces are passing from older (going) to younger (coming) generation. The red color is, of course, the color of life and blood. It can be easily associated with menstrual blood. The red color of the hood is an invention of Charles Perrault, and we should know that in the 17th century, a decent woman would never wear a red hood because red was the color of sin. Only ladies with really bad reputations wore red dresses, and Perrault's insinuations were obvious. The Color Gold Before the 17th century, the story was already well known. In some versions, the hood wasn't any particular color, but in some, it was gold. Gold, of course, represents maturity and responsibility and at the end of the day, we can say this is what is Little Red Riding Hood all about. The Message of Red Cap

Perrault's "Don't talk to the strangers!" and the Grimms' "Don't stray from the path!" are really two expressions of the same message: "Be responsible, or you shall pay the toll!" The Forest In many fairy tales, the main character (the protagonist) must go in the forest. It seems trees are an endless source of inspiration in folklore. There are many speculations why the forest is so important but we can also stick to the obvious: Most people in medieval or pre-medieval times lived near forests. People's existence have been closely related to the woods for practically forever, but forests also represent unknown, although very serious, danger. In psychoanalysis, a forest symbolizes unconsciousness. Leonard Lutwack goes even further and labels it as untamed feminine sexuality. Why? The forest is a very fertile place, but it is also wild, uncultivated, and unpredictable. It is not a coincidence that so many popular heroes and heroines (Red Cap, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks) must get lost in the woods just to come back as more responsible (and we can say domesticated) persons. The transformation role of the forest is obvious. Even if the main character doesn't enter the woods, something important can happen there. For instance: The name of Rumpelstiltskin is hidden in the woods, and the Goose Girl lost her identity in the forest. In some cases, the forest represents the enemy itself (remember Sleeping Beauty and her rescuers?). Red Cap by Albert Anker, source: Wikimedia, PD licence The Basket and the Bottle What was in Red Riding Hood's basket? Charles Perrault opted for a cake and butter, while the Brothers Grimm gave her some cakes and a bottle of wine.

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Erich Fromm explained the bottle in Red Riding Hood's basket as a symbol of virginity. The shape of a bottle is phallic, but as a bottle it is also fragile and breakable. In a dream analysis, a bottle can also represent suppression of feelings: Instead of letting them out, they are bottled. The bottle also has to be opened (or broken) to release the trapped spirit. Considering that red wine stands for passion, you might say the case of decoding Little Red Riding Hood is almost closed . . . Remember: The Symbols (and Their Meanings) Vary If we want to explore the hidden meanings of fairy tales, we should never forget how they were collected, written, rewritten, and published. Initially, they were oral stories, varying from mouth to mouth, village to village, valley to valley. Collectors were unreliable, always writing and tweaking the material in accordance with their personal beliefs and norms of the society they belong. For example, the history of Red Cap (this translation is more accurate to Perrault's or Grimm's records) clearly shows us bottle of wine is present only in one of the hundreds of known versions. We will never know for sure what the Grimms thought when they incorporated it in the basket, but as Siegmund Freud stated: "Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar." This story can be examined through many different lenses. | Source Interpretations, Theories, and Analysis Let's look at Little Red Riding Hood through these different lenses: 1. theories about the story's absent father (where is he, anyway?) 2. Red Cap as an allegory of resurrection 3. Red Cap as a story about pregnancy 4. Red Cap as a story about rape Theories Behind the Tale's Absent Father Everybody familiar with the Brothers Grimm is already aware how many absent fathers are in their fairy tales. We have a missing father in both the Grimms' and Perrault's versions of Red Riding Hood. There are two explanations:

 The role of the father is played by the huntsman. He saved the girls, defeated the beast, and did what every good father would do. He protects and serves.

 The other explanation is slightly more complicated. The father of the Red Riding Hood is split into two characters. First is the good, protective, civilized, and already- known huntsman. The second is more primitive, brutal, dangerous . . . in short: male! This is represented by a beast—the wolf. In both explanations, the father is really not missing; he is just in disguise.

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The case of missing father is similar to the role of the stepmother in fairy tales. In a child's imagination, the confrontation of the huntsman and the wolf is equal to the confrontation of the child and his "bad father" (sooner or later, every child experiences negative emotions towards his father). In this story, the huntsman does the dirty work, so the child doesn't feel guilt over the killing of the beast. Good defeats evil and everybody is happy. Similarly, the character of the evil stepmother can serve as a punching bag for children redirecting their negative emotions toward their real mothers. But folklorists have some second thoughts on the theory of absent fathers too. At least, we can easily find older versions of Red Riding Hood with a present father and without a huntsman. In these versions, father kills the beast, but there is one more important difference. An Allegory of Resurrection, Death, and Rebirth An extremely important part of Little Red Riding Hood is the ending, where the huntsman opens the wolf's stomach and saves the girl and her granny. This can be explained as an allegory on resurrection in Christianity. Both women died but are saved by a higher power, represented by the huntsman. When Red Riding Hood and her grandmother come out of the stomach, they are symbolically born again—and we know Perrault and the Grimms were zealous Christians. But then again, we must not forget the old, pre-Christian myth about Chronos, in which this kind of 'rebirth' also occurred. If we ask mythologists, the story clearly reflects the never-ending game of day and night. Red Cap (it was gold in some older versions, remember?) represents the sun, swallowed by night and later coming back to bring the light to the world again.

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A.K Ramanujan Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993) popularly known as A. K. Ramanujan was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature who wrote in both English and Kannada. Ramanujan was a poet, scholar, professor, a philologist, folklorist, translator, and playwright. His academic research ranged across five languages: English, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit. He published works on both classical and modern variants of this literature and argued strongly for giving local, non-standard dialects their due. Though he wrote widely and in a number of genres, Ramanujan's poems are remembered as enigmatic works of startling originality, sophistication and moving artistry. He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award posthumously in 1999 for his collection of poems, The Collected Poems.

Childhood Ramanujan[5] was born in Mysore City on 16 March 1929. His father, Attipat Asuri Krishnaswami, an astronomer and professor of mathematics at Mysore University, was known for his interest in English, Kannada and Sanskrit languages. His mother was a homemaker. Ramanujan also had a brother, A.K. Srinivasan who was a writer and a mathematician.

Education Ramanujan was educated at Marimallappa's High School, Mysore, and at the Maharaja College of Mysore. In college, Ramanujan majored in science in his freshman year, but his father, who thought him 'not mathematically minded', persuaded him to change his major from science to English. Later, Ramanujan became a Fellow of Deccan College, Pune in 1958–59 and a Fulbright Scholar at Indiana University in 1959–62. He was educated in English at the University of Mysore and received his PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University.[6]

Career Ramanujan worked as a lecturer of English at Quilon and Belgaum; he later taught at The Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda for about eight years. In 1962, he joined the University of Chicago as an assistant professor. He was affiliated with the university throughout his career, teaching in several departments. He taught at other US universities as well, including Harvard University, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of California at Berkeley, and Carleton College. At the University of Chicago, Ramanujan was instrumental in shaping the South Asian Studies program. He worked in the departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, Linguistics, and with the Committee on Social Thought. A.K.Ramanujan is a well-known writer in Indian writing in English. He wrote all his poetry in America but the heart of his poetry is India and Indian culture. His experiences about

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the American lifestyle seems to affect very little in his verses. He has written his earlier poems in Kannada like "Vachans" from [Kannada]in Speaking Shiva and some of the love lyrics. In 1976, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, and in 1983, he was given the MacArthur Prize Fellowship (Shulman, 1994). In 1983, he was appointed the William E. Colvin Professor in the Departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, of Linguistics, and in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and the same year, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. As an Indo-American writer Ramanujan had the experience of the native as well as of the foreign milieu. His poems such as the "Conventions of Despair" reflected his views on the cultures and conventions of the east and the west. He was awarded Sahitya Academy Award in 1999 for his Collected Poems. A. K. Ramanujan died in Chicago, on 13 July 1993 as result of adverse reaction to anaesthesia during preparation for surgery.

Contributions to Indian subcontinent studies A.K. Ramanujan's theoretical and aesthetic contributions span several disciplinary areas. In his cultural essays such as "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?" (1990), he explains cultural ideologies and behavioural manifestations thereof in terms of an Indian psychology he calls "context-sensitive" thinking. In his work in folklore studies, Ramanujan highlights the inter-textuality of the Indian oral and written literary tradition. His essay "Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an Anthology of Reflections" (1989), and his commentaries in The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology (1967) and Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages (1991) are good examples of his work in Indian folklore studies.

Controversy regarding his essay His 1991 essay "Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation" courted controversy over its inclusion in the B.A. in History syllabus of the University of Delhi in 2006. In this essay, he wrote of the existence of many versions of Ramayana and a few versions that portrayed Rama and Sita as siblings, which contradicts the popular versions of the Ramayana, such as those by Valmiki and Tulsidas. The comments written by A K Ramanujam were found to be derogatory by some Hindus and some of them decided to go to court for removal of the text from the Delhi University curriculum. ABVP, a nationalist student organisation opposed its inclusion in the syllabus, saying it hurt the majority Hindu sentiment, who viewed Rama and Sita as incarnations of gods and who were husband and wife. They demanded the essay be removed from the syllabus. In 2008, the Delhi High Court directed Delhi University to convene a committee to decide on the essay's inclusion. A four-member committee subsequently gave its 3-1 verdict in favor of its inclusion in the syllabus. The academic council however, ignored the committee's recommendation and voted to scrap the essay from its syllabus in Oct 2011. This led to protests by many historians and intellectuals, accusing Delhi University of succumbing to the diktat ("views") of non- historians.

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Selected publications His works include translations from Old Tamil and Old Kannada, such as: Translations and Studies of Literature

English

 The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology, 1967  Speaking of Siva, Penguin. 1973. ISBN 9780140442700.  The Literatures of India. Edited with Edwin Gerow. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974  Hymns for the Drowning, 1981  Poems of Love and War. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985  Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages, 1991  Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? in India Through Hindu Categories, edited by McKim Marriott, 1990  When God Is a Customer: Telugu Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and Others (with Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman),1994  A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India, 1997

Essays Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation Collected Essays of A. K. Ramanujan Poetry in English

 The Striders. London: Oxford University Press, 1966  Relations. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1971  Selected Poems. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1976  Second Sight. New York: Oxford University Press  The Collected Poems. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997

Kannada

 Samskara. (translation of U R Ananthamurthy's Kannada novel) Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1976  Hokkulalli Huvilla (translated to English - "No Flower in the Navel"). Dharwad, 1969  Mattu Itara Padyagalu (translated to English - "And Other Poems"). Dharwad, 1977  Kuntobille (translated to English - "Hopscotch")  Mattobbana Atma Charitre (translated to English - "Yet Another Man's Autobiography")  Haladi Meenu (Kannada Translation of Shouri's English Novel)

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 A. K. Ramanujan Samagra (Complete Works of A. K. Ramanujan in Kannada)  A. K. Ramanujan Avara Aayda Kavitegalu  A. K. Ramanujan Avara Aayda Barahagalu

Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies

 Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets (1976) ed. by R. Parthasarathy and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi  The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets (1992) ed. by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi  The Golden Treasure of Writers Workshop Poetry (2008) ed. by Rubana Huq and published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta

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Of Mothers, among other things – By A. K. Ramanujan

I smell upon this twisted blackbone tree the silk and whitepetal of my mother’s youth. From her earrings three diamonds

splash a handful of needles, and I see my mother run back from rain to the crying cradles. The rains tack and sew

with broken threads the rags of the tree tasseled light. But her hands are a wet eagle’s two black-pink crinkled feet,

one talon crippled in a garden- trap set for a mouse. Her saris do not cling: they hang, loose feather of a one time wing.

My cold parchment tongue licks bark in the mouth when I see her four still sensible fingers slowly flex to pick a grain of rice from the kitchen floor.

Summary of the poem- Of Mother Among Other Things ‘Of Mothers, among other things’ by A.K. Ramanujan is a five stanza poem that is separated into sets of four lines, or quatrains. These quatrains do not follow a specific rhyme scheme but there are moments of half, or slant, rhyme that help to unify the lines. These are seen through the repetition of assonance or consonance. This means that either a vowel or consonant sound is reused within one line, or multiple lines of verse. Other poetic techniques used by Ramanujan include enjambment, alliteration, and zoomorphism. The later is the opposite of anthropomorphism. It applies to moments in writing in which a person is given animal characteristics. This is the case in ‘Of Mothers, among other things,’ especially in stanzas three and four as the mother is compared to an eagle. Another important technique that is commonly used within poetry is enjambment. This occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. It forces a reader down to the next line, and the next, quickly. One has to move forward in order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. The fourth line in the first stanza is a great example. A reader has to go to the second stanza to find out what is going on with her “ear-rings three diamonds”.

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The poem begins with the speaker smelling the images of his mother’s youth. She was soft, flower-like and silken. That couldn’t last forever though. As she aged she met with adversity, seen through the rain imagery. It tried to tie her up, but she was an eagle and fought through it. But, that wasn’t the end to her troubles. One very poignant moment in the poem shows the mother, as an eagle, getting one talon trapped in a mousetrap. She lost that finger/talon. The poem concludes with all the images of the previous stanzas come together to depict the mother, in her current, older state, reaching down to “pick a grain of rice from the kitchen floor.” The son sees her whole history in this movement.

Critical Analysis of the poem

The poet creates a vivid picture of his mother in this poem using images and words that evoke the senses and contrasts her youth with her present state. The first section of the poem portrays her in her youth. The second section deals with her middle age and the final section describes her old age.

The twisted black bone tree evokes, in the poet, olfactory images of his mother when she was young. The word 'twisted' suggests that the tree is now old like his mother and was probably tended by her when it was a young tree. Her youth is compared to ‘silk’ and a ‘white petal’, both of which are soft and tender and exactly opposite of the old and rough twisted black bone tree. The sparkle of the diamond studded in her ear rings is compared to needles being splashed. The metaphor pictures mother as beautiful, bright and lively like the splashes of light of the diamonds. He can recall his mother full of energy running from the rain, probably engaged in some work, to the cradles to tend to her children. The rain is pictured as sewing loosely with its lengthy drops the tasselled black bone tree. The rain symbolises difficulties in life that try to stitch in and contain one’s energy and enthusiasm in life. Yet his mother faced them resolutely. This is indicated by the comparison of her dexterous hands to an eagle's black pink-crinkled feet with talons that are effective and precise.

The second section continues with the comparison but introduces a shift in mother's abilities. One of her fingers (talon) has been crippled by a rat trap, a handicap indicating lessening of efficiency as she got older. The next lines show that the vagaries of life and motherhood have had their effect on her as a middle-aged woman. This is pointed out by the statement that her saris do not cling to her, instead, they hang loose. She has become thin and weak denoted by the metaphor ‘loose feather of a onetime wing' The final stanza begins with the poet stating that he experiences a gut level, raw feeling/taste (‘tongue licks bark in the mouth’) of the incomprehensible 'motherness' of his mother even in her old age when he sees her slowing moving her four still sensible fingers to pick a grain of rice from the kitchen floor. This shows that she is still mentally agile though physically weakened and is in charge of the affairs of the house.

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Stanza One

In the first lines of ‘Of Mothers, among other things’ the speaker begins by explaining something important he smelled. It was the “silk and white /petal of [his] mother’s youth”. The scent was found on a “blackbone tree.” It speaks to her beauty, youth, and the materials the speaker associates with her. Many of the images in this poem are obscure, but they are closely associated with the senses. For instance, the reference to silk and white petal. Here, these words bring up feelings of softness, images of flowers, and the smells associated with them, and a general aura of beauty. This is how the speaker sees his mothers youth. Somehow, he is able to smell it upon a tree he refers to as “blackbone”. The word “blackbone”seems more like an adjective than a noun, describing the look of the tree, rather than a type of tree. It contrasts with the youthful images of beauty and softness in the next lines. These lines suggest that the speaker is able to tap into his mothers youth, while also seeing her from a contemporary perspective. Perhaps, now that she is old, and more substantial in his mind, he sees her like his imagined “blackbone” tree. The fourth line of the stanza references her earrings and is enjambed.

Stanza Two

The second stanza picks up, somewhat, where are the first left off. The syntax is confused, making the transition between stanzas and images complicated. But, it is clear the speaker is still comparing his mother as he knows her now to how she was in her youth. Her diamond earrings are part of a handful of needles, another reference back up to the tree. He goes on to speak to his mother’s energy and again, her youthfulness. He can imagine her running “from rain to the crying cradles”. Rain is commonly used to refer to negative experiences, or general difficulties. This appears to be true in ‘Of Mothers, among other things’ as well.

Stanza Three

The third stanza describes how the rain attempted to use its broken threads to tie her down, or sew her up. The progression of her life lead her into difficulties. The “light” that was originally associated with her becomes harder to maintain. The next two lines describe how her hands “are a wet eagle’s”. This brings back some of the strength the speaker has previously associated with her. An eagle represents power, and in this instance, strength in the face of adversity. The eagle’s feet might be wet, but they are still talons. There are a number of other contrasts in the following lines as the eagle’s feet are both “black” and “pink crinkled”.

Stanza Four

The fourth stanza is another example of how with age, the mother’s youthfulness and a softness was degraded. She experienced other setbacks, such as getting “one talon

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crippled in a garden trap set for a mouse”. She was permanently changed and to this day, as will be stated in the fifth stanza, the speaker can see the impact of this injury.

The imagery of the bird is continued in ‘Of Mothers, among other things’ as the speaker references the mother saris. They do not cling as they might’ve done in the past, but “hang loose’’ like “feathers of a onetime wing”. She is no longer the eagle she used to be, but parts of her past still exist.

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Obituary by A K Ramanujan

Father, when he passed on, left dust on a table of papers, left debts and daughters, a bedwetting grandson named by the toss of a coin after him,

a house that leaned slowly through our growing years on a bent coconut tree in the yard. Being the burning type, he burned properly at the cremation

as before, easily and at both ends, left his eye coins in the ashes that didn't look one bit different, several spinal discs, rough, some burned to coal, for sons

to pick gingerly and throw as the priest said, facing east where three rivers met near the railway station; no longstanding headstone with his full name and two dates

to holdin their parentheses everything he didn't quite manage to do himself, like his caesarian birth in a brahmin ghetto and his death by heart- failure in the fruit market.

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But someone told me he got two lines in an inside column of a Madras newspaper sold by the kilo exactly four weeks later to street hawkers

who sell it in turn to the small groceries where I buy salt, coriander, and jaggery in newspaper cones that I usually read

for fun, and lately in the hope of finding these obituary lines. And he left us a changed mother and more than one annual ritual.

Critical Analysis of the poem

The poem “Obituary” written by A K Ramanujan is about quite ironical. The word Obituary means a notice of death in a newspaper including a brief biography. The poem is written on the death of his father. The poet explains how his death has affected his family and what he (his father) has achieved in his life.

The poem begins with the speaker telling the reader that his father died. When he died, he left behind a lot. There are unless and meaningless things, like dust and old papers. But there are also memories and rituals which are going to last a lifetime.

In the second half of the poem the speaker describes how they cremated this father and threw his leftover bones into the river. He also speaks about something he learned, but is yet to see with his own eyes. Apparently, his father left an obituary in a local paper. Now, the son is searching the most popular papers for it, hoping to see this other thing he left behind. The poem ends with an emphasis on the importance of the rituals, that came from his father, and are now established parts of family life.

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‘Obituary’ by A.K. Ramanujan is an eight stanza poem that is separated into sets of seven lines. These lines do not do follow a specific rhyme scheme, but that does not mean that there aren’t moments of rhyme and rhythm in the text. For example, Ramanujan makes use of slant or half rhymes. These are seen through the repetition of assonance or consonance. This means that either a vowel, or consonant sound is reused within one line, or multiple lines of verse. There are a few examples of this kind of rhyme in the first stanza with the words “papers” and “daughters” and “on” and “grandson”. These words do not rhyme perfectly, but they are clearly similar. In the fourth stanza, the endings of the first three lines are connected due to a similarity in assonance. The long “e” sound is repeated in “gingerly,” “priest” and “east”. Alliteration is another technique found in ‘Obituary’. It helps to create additional moments of rhyme for the text, and also, at times, helps support the tone. One example is “debts” and “daughters” in the first stanza. The relationship between these two words is somewhat humorous and the fact that they begin with the same letter only emphasizes this fact.

Stanza 1 The poet says that when his father died he left nothing for the family but problems like dust on a table of papers, debts, unmarried daughters & a bedwetting grandson whose name is a little bit similar to his father’s name. The lines show the poet’s dissatisfaction with his father. He does not seem to be sorrowful because of death. The poet is more concerned about the duties (of his family) which he has to perform. He has to pay the debts of his father, he has to marry off his sister and also has to take care of a young child who urinates in the bed. These lines also show the culture of a typical Indian family which is patriarchal in nature. Neither the mother of the poet nor his sisters are earning. As the poet is now the eldest male in the family, all the duties are bestowed on him.

Stanza 2 The poet continues that his father has left a house that leaned slowly through our growing years on a bent coconut tree in the yard. The line means that they have inherited a house from his father which is leaning on a coconut tree and thus in bad condition. The poet calls his father as the burning type. indicating that he was a bad-tempered man and would never have behaved properly with him or the other family members. Being hot-tempered he burned properly at the cremation. The phrase gives the message of tit for tat.

Stanza 3 The line continues from the previous one (enjambment). He is burnt very easily from both the sides. except his eye coins (coin either signifies his anger or his greed for money) which didn’t look one bit different even after burning and also several spinal discs though some of them burnt to coal.

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Stanza 4 This stanza continues from the previous one. According to the poet, the remains of his father’s pyre are left for sons to pick as the priest said, facing east where three rivers met near the railway station. The lines show that the priest forces the sons to perform the Hindu Rituals. The poet is in no way ready to do it. His father has no grave (as his ashes and remains are thrown in the river) with his full name.

Stanza 5 In addition, there also no two dates (his birth and death dates) to show throw light on his life. The poet calls him incapable as he didn’t do anything on his own. His birth was Caesarian in a brahmin ghetto and his death by heart failure in the fruit market. The lines in this article question the genius of Brahman. In Hinduism, the Brahmans or the Upper Casts are worshipped as Avatars of Gods. However, the poet shows that his father took birth as a Brahman yet his birth was ordinary and even his death could not be controlled by him. In spite of being educated, he died in the market of heart failure and he couldn’t save himself. These lines, in other sense, mark that he has achieved nothing in this world. His birth was ordinary, his death was ordinary and what he did in life showed his incapability.

Stanza 6 However, the poet comes to know that two lines were written for him in an inside column of a Madras newspaper which is sold by the kilo (as junk) after four weeks of his death to street hawkers.

Stanza 7 These street hawkers sell it in turn to the small groceries. From these groceries, the poet buys salt, coriander, and jaggery in newspaper cones which he reads for fun.

Stanza 8 The poet says that he began to buy more of these things in the hope of finding these obituary lines which were written for his father. In the end, he says that his father left with them with a changed mother (she remains sorrowful) and more than one annual ritual. The poet is showing his dislike for the ritual which is celebrated in the memory of his father for his peace. Thus, the poet says that his father achieved nothing in this world except those two lines (obituary) which were written in the newspaper he could never find out. On the other hand, he left an unbearable burden on the poet. The poem is hence a critique of the poet’s father and his incapabilities.

Customs and Traditions of the poem "Obituary" by A.K. Ramanujan. In "Obituary" the narrator discusses his father's death. He is the eldest son, so the responsibility to maintain the ancient rituals is his, and he does, dutifully following the Hindu customs. As is common in their culture, there is little mourning after death, and

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the narrator discusses the ways his father annoyed him. But despite those thoughts, he still does his best to be respectful, and his lack of emotions may be from his culture or their relationship.

The poem “Obituary” was written by A.K. Ramanujan. An obituary is usually a tribute to the person who has passed away, featuring the high points of his life. Such is not the case in this poem. Written in first person, the son is the narrator of the poem.

Seeming quite disgruntled with his father, the son points out all of the things his father left undone. His bills were unpaid, and he left unmarried daughters. His grandson, a bed wetter, was named after the grandfather, but improperly. The house in which the narrator grew up leaned against a tree. Apparently, the father had a hot temper which may be part of the son's unhappiness:

Being the burning type, he burned properly at the cremation…

When the father was cremated, coins were placed on the body’s eyes. In keeping with the Hindu custom of swift cremation, bodies are cremated within 24. After the cremation, the sons dug through the ashes to find hot coals to throw in an eastward fashion into the river.

The father would have no headstone with the dates of his birth and death. To the son, the dates are parentheses encapsulating the time of the father’s life. From his birth to his death, the son feels that his father did many things incorrectly or incompletely: like his caesarean birth in a Brahmin ghetto and his death by heart- failure in the fruit market…

He hears that his father’s obituary took two lines in a local newspaper four weeks after his cremation. The son often bought sugar cane placed in one of these newspapers shaped like a cone. In the beginning, the son says that he looks for the paper for fun, and then he says he would like to have the obituary. in newspaper cones that I usually read for fun, and lately in the hope of finding these obituary lines.

Since the narrator is the oldest son, he will be responsible for any ancient rituals that the culture requires. There is little mourning when a Hindu dies because they

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believe that once a person is born he or she never dies. Often there is little crying. The son does not show any strong feelings for the father’s death which may be due to the Hindu custom or his irritation with his father.

Now, everything is different. Understandably, the mother is changed; her husband has died. Despite the displeasure with his father voiced by the narrator, he still respectfully wants to have the paper with the father’s obituary.

''Obituary'', by A.K. Ramanujan, as a reflective poem.

The poem "Obituary" by A.K. Ramanujan is a literary work that has the author, in the poem, waxing nostalgic about a father's life and death. It is a vivid, emotional, and intense poem that looks back on the life and times of a dear loved family member. The author relates that the father left behind a legacy that will live on for him:

left debts and daughters, a bedwetting grandson named by the toss of a coin after him, The author reflects that this man was cremated and disappeared all too easily from this physical existence. He alludes to the transience of life and the pain those left behind experience in a patriarch's absence. The author muses about the physical remnants left behind from the father's cremation: eye coins in the ashes and several spinal discs. This is the only tangible evidence of the man left behind and this is painful to the family.

Essentially the poem deals with our brief time on this planet and what we accomplish and ultimately leave to posterity. The poem also reflects on the dignified way the family is encouraged to honor the deceased family member as they are to throw his remains to the east where there are three rivers that congregate by a railroad station.

The poem is vivid as it reflects on the father's past life in a Brahmin ghetto and his death due to heart failure. The reader learns that the man died suddenly while at a fruit market. The author reflects on how the father's life has been reduced to a two line snippet in an obituary and how the death of the man changed the mother significantly and how each year they have the ritual of honoring and remembering this beloved man.

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