STANDARD ENGLISH

Standard English is not entirely uniform around the globe. For example, American users of Standard English say first floor, and I have gotten a letter and write center and color, while British users say ground floor and I’ve just got a letter and write centre and colour. But these regional differences are few in comparison with the high degree of agreement about which form should count as standard. Nevertheless, Standard English, like all living languages, changes over time… 

“It is important to realize that Standard English is no way intrinsically superior to any other variety of English; in particular, it should be ‘more logical’, ‘more grammatical’ or ‘more expressive’. It is, at the bottom, a convenience; the use of a single agreed standard form, learned by speakers everywhere, minimizes uncertainty, confusion, misunderstanding and communicative difficulty generally.”

Standard English is the variety of English that is held by many to be ‘correct’ in the sense that it shows none of the regional of other variations that are considered by some to be ungrammatical or non-standard English. ‘Received Pronunciation’, often called RP, if the way Standard English spoken, without any regional variations. Standard English or RP is widely used in the media and by the public figures, so it has prestige status and is regarded by many as the most desirable form of the language.

Some suggestions to improve your language ability

v  There are hundreds of different accents within the United Kingdom so categorizing them all as a British Accent is rather in correct. Wherever we go we will find an unbelievable variety of different pronunciations.

v  As with any accent listening to and imitating a native speaker is the most important and fastest way to learn.

v  Take a trip to the United Kingdom and really listen to how they speak.

v  If you’re visiting England visit the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. They are some of the strongholds of the traditional of RP accent.

v  As you expand the ability of the ear speaking becomes an automatism. When, the ear can ‘hear’ a sound the mouth has a better chance of producing it.

v  There are a wide range of British accents. For every day use or for Business try learning a ‘received pronunciation’ (RP) accent such as that commonly used BBC newscasters.

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The Old Man and The Sea: Plot Summary

The Old Man and the Sea is the story of a battle between an old, experienced fisherman and a large marlin. The novel opens with the explanation that the fisherman, who is named Santiago, has gone 84 days without catching a fish. Santiago is considered "salao", the worst form of unluckiness. In fact, he is so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. Still dedicated to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack each night, hauling back his fishing gear, getting him food and discussing American baseball and his favorite player Joe DiMaggio. Santiago tells Manolin that on the next day, he will venture far out into the Gulf Stream, north of Cuba in the Straits of Florida to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is near its end. Thus on the eighty-fifth day, Santiago sets out alone, taking his skiff far onto the Gulf Stream. He sets his lines and, by noon of the first day, a big fish that he is sure is a marlin takes his bait. Unable to pull in the great marlin, Santiago instead finds the fish pulling his skiff.

Two days and two nights pass in this manner, during which the old man bears the tension of the line with his body. Though he is wounded by the struggle and in pain, Santiago expresses a compassionate appreciation for his adversary, often referring to him as a brother. He also determines that because of the fish's great dignity, no one will be worthy of eating the marlin. On the third day of the ordeal, the fish begins to circle the skiff, indicating his tiredness to the old man. Santiago, now completely worn out and almost in delirium, uses all the strength he has left in him to pull the fish onto its side and stab the marlin with a harpoon, ending the long battle between the old man and the tenacious fish. Santiago straps the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads home, thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market and how many people he will feed.

While Santiago continues his journey back to the shore, sharks are attracted to the trail of blood left by the marlin in the water. The first, a great mako shark, Santiago kills with his harpoon, losing that weapon in the process. He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks; in total, five sharks are slain and many others are driven away. But the sharks keep coming, and by nightfall the sharks have almost devoured the marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head. Finally reaching the shore before dawn on the next day, Santiago struggles on the way to his shack, carrying the heavy mast on his shoulder. Once home, he slumps onto his bed and falls into a deep sleep. A group of fishermen gather the next day around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. One of the fishermen measures it to be 18 feet (5.5 m) from nose to tail. Tourists at the nearby café mistakenly take it for a shark. Manolin, worried during the old man's endeavor, cries upon finding him safe asleep. The boy brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of his youth—of lions on an African beach.

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Essays for Five Plays of III Semester

The Marriage Proposal — Anton Chevkov

Stepan Stepanovitch Tschubukov and Ivan Vassiliyitch Lomov were neighbours in a village. Natalia Stepanovna was the daughter of Tschubukov. Lomov a man of thirty five wanted to marry. He thought Natalia was good at housekeeping and she was not bad looking. So he came to the house of Tschubukov on one evening to propose to Natalia. Naturally he was in his best clothes befitting the occasion of a marriage proposal. Tschubukov received him cordially in his reception room. Like every young man going to make a marriage proposal Lomov was also excited and nervous. After some nervous stammering, he told Tschubokov that he wanted Natalia's hand in marriage. Tschubokov was very excited and happy at the proposal. He went out and sent Natalia into the room to meet the suitor. Natalia was not told of the purpose of Lomov. Natalia and Lomov began to talk.

Lomov was more nervous as he was facing the bride. He made a strong preface before coming to the proposal. He told Natalia about how the Lomovs and the Tschubukovs had been good neighbours on good terms for many years. In this context, he mentioned that his meadows touched the birch woods of Tschubukov. Natalia was surprised to hear that the meadows belonged to Lomov. She claimed that the plot of land belonged to them, the Tschubukovs. A bitter quarrel ensued. Lomov claimed it belonged to him and Natalia too claimed it to be theirs. Lomov forgot his original purpose. They called each other names, even though a little while ago they were full of good neighbourly feelings. Tschubukov came in and heard their quarrel. He too claimed that the meadows belonged to him. The quarrel grew even bitterer. They called each other names and began to expose the scandals of each others' families. Lomov had a weak heart. He used to have palpitation in the heart. He was excited and he fainted. He rose and left the house. At this juncture, Tschubukov remarked that such a fool had dared to come seeking the hand of Natalia. 

The moment she heard that he had come to propose to her, Natalia changed her tone. She asked her father to bring back Lomov. Her self interest overruled all other considerations like her loyalty to her family. Lomov came back. Natalia was all politeness. She even conceded that the meadows belonged to Lomov. After all, if they were married, the meadows would come to be hers only. Lomov informed that he would go hunting after the harvest. He was sorry that his dog Ugadi limped and he began to praise his dog. He thought that a hundred and twenty five rubles that he had paid for it was very cheap for such a good dog. Natalia, however, thought that it was a very high price because her father had paid only eighty-five rubles for their dog Otkatai, which was a better dog than Ugadi.

Lomov disagreed and asserted that Otkatai had a smaller lower jaw than the upper one and Ugadi was a far better dog than Otkatai. Once again their pride in their dogs led to another quarrel. Tschubukov came in and joined the quarrel. Lomov once again got excited and he fainted. Tschubukov who knew the importance of getting his daughter married, at once joined the hands of Natalia and Lomov and declared that Natalia agreed to the match. Natalia too, declared that she was willing and Lomov declared that he too, was happy. Tschubukov shouted for champagne to celebrate the intended marriage.

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Refund — One Act Play: Summary        

                                         

The Refund is an unusual story. A student who was a bad performer in school comes back to the school as a young man and wants a refund of all the fees that he paid. He jeers his professors, calling them names and tells them that they were as much “good for nothings” as he was and since he did not derive any value from them, it is only rightful that he be paid back all his tuition. He also threatens the school with legal action if they don’t return his money. The Principal is livid, but the Maths teacher sizes up the situation quickly and proposes a solution.

She says that each of the teachers would administer an oral quiz to him and if he gets even one question right, then he is deemed to have passed all his exams and so he will not be entitled to any refund, otherwise he can be given a refund if he fails to answer ALL of the questions correctly. According to her plan, every professor should ask him two questions – one easy and the other hard. The young man agrees to this proposition since he is determined to get his money and so he looks forward to answering every question incorrectly even if he knows the right answers to some or all of them. So, one by one, the teachers quiz him – the Biology professor, the English professor, the Chemistry professor and the Physics professor but he answers all of them incorrectly and is quite delighted at the progress he is making. The Principal feels uneasy but the Maths professor assures her that she can handle it. Finally it is the turn of the Maths professor. She says she is going to ask him the easy question first.

Her first question is, “If we represent the speed of light by X and the distance of the star Sirius from the Sun by Y, what is the circumference of a one-hundred-and-nine-sided regular polyhedron whose surface area coincides with that of the hip-pocket of a state railway employee, whose wife has been deceiving him for two years and eleven months with a regimental sergeant major of hussars”.

The young man is flummoxed with this question but recovers quickly and says “28 apricots” as the answer. There is tension in the air as the Principal and other Professors look expectantly in the direction of the Maths Professor, who coolly says that it is the wrong answer and that the correct answer is 27 apricots. The young man is greatly relieved and looks extremely happy in flunking this quiz. The Maths teacher turns around to the horrified Principal and coolly says that the young man is right about asking his fees back and that the school should refund him.

The Maths teacher turns to the young man and asks him how much the school owes him. Overjoyed at the prospect of getting some money, the young man goes over each year and the fees for that year in detail and comes up with the final amount the school owes him. All along as he is counting mentally and saying what is due to him, the Maths teacher writes the figures down on a piece of paper and calculates the total. Finally the teacher acknowledges to the young man that his mental arithmetic adds up correctly. The young man says that they can bet on it since he has it all worked out.

That is when the Maths Professor drops the bombshell that her asking him what the school owed him was her “hard” question and that since he got it right, he has now passed his course with flying colors and so the school doesn’t owe him anything now. That is when the young man realizes that he has been tricked and as he prepares to leave the school in disgust, he is mocked at by each of the professors in turn.

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The Never-Never Nest — Cedric Mount

“The Never-Never Nest" is a comic one-act play about a young couple. They make full use of the buy-now-pay-later marketing system. This comedy is very relevant today, because we can buy almost anything now on the installment basis.

Jack and Jill were a young married couple who had a small baby. One day Anut Jane visited them. She was surprised to find that even though Jack's salary was not very high, they lived in a beautiful house with all comforts, such as a radio, a car and a refrigerator. She began to wonder whether, as a wedding gift she had giving them 2000 pounds instead of the 20 pounds she had wanted to give them. Otherwise how did jack and Jill buy all these things? She suggested that the rent for such a house must be very high. Jack replied that they owned the house.

Then Aunt Jane understood that though jack and Jill had everything, nothing really belong to them. They bought everything they had on the installment basis. Only a steering wheel of the car, a wheel and two cylinders had been paid for. And only one leg of the sofa that Aunt Jane sat on, belonged to them. The total amount to be paid towards installments per week came to more than seven pounds. Jack was earning only six pounds a week. Jill was a housewife. When Aunt Jane asked how he could pay seven pounds a week when he was earning only six pounds, Jack said that they could take a loan. Aunt Jane was shocked at the way jack and Jill ran their family. Before she left, she gave ten pounds to Jill and told them to make at least one article completely theirs, using that money. While jack went with Aunt Jane to the bus stop, Jill sent the money to Dr. Martin. Jack came back and said that he wanted to pay two months installments on the car using that money. But Jill said that by paying the money to Dr. Martin, their baby would become completely theirs!

The end of the play is ironical, though it is an exaggeration. The play is really a satire on the materialistic bent of the modern man.

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The Rising of the Moon — Lady Gregory

Lady Gregory’s The Rising of the Moon is a political play dealing with the relation between England and Ireland. Here we find Ireland trying to free itself from the English rule. The English has dominated over Ireland for a long period of time. In this play we find that the characters are torn between duty and patriotism and are ultimately united together as Irishmen through the folklore, myths and songs which they share as a nation. The thought of being the citizen of a country is considered as more important over one’s feelings of duty towards of foreign nation

Patriotism is the force that unites the people of a country. Lady Gregory’s play written in Irish English presents two characters. One is an Irish patriot with a prize on his head who is involved in the Irish struggle for freedom. The other person is a sergeant who is on the look-out for him. He is posted at the harbor to check whether the wanted man who has escaped is seen passing by. The sergeant is a poor family man who is badly in need of money. The patriot comes that way disguised as a ballad singer. He sings patriotic folk songs and arouses the sergeant’s nationalistic feelings. Finally he identifies him but does not arrest him. He lets him go and willingly loses the reward. His patriotism outweighs his duty. The scene is a harbor somewhere in Ireland. The British are still the rulers and the Irish patriots are still fighting for their country’s independence. One such Irish nationalist has been arrested but he has escaped from jail. The authorities put a prize on his head and the play begins with a sergeant and two policemen pasting a notice or a placard with physical details of the escaped prisoner.

The sergeant suggests that they put up the notice on the barrel. There is a flight of steps that lead to the barrel.  This place must e watched because there is every chance that the friends of the escape might bring a boat there to help him get away to some a safe place. The sergeant reads the placard and feels sorry that he had not seen before he escaped from the jail. He knows that the wanted man is no ordinary criminal but an important political figure. He is the person who makes all the plans for the entire Irish nationalist organization. The sergeant believes that he could not have escaped without the support some of the jailors. Policeman B says that the hundred pounds reward is not enough but he is sure that any policeman who captures him will get promotion. The sergeant then says that he will mind the place himself because he is sure that he will be able to catch the wanted man himself. However he regrets the fact there is no one to help him. He, being a family man requires the money.   

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Othello — A domestic tragedy

“Othello” is regarded by some of the critics as a domestic tragedy, for it deals with the domestic life of Othello and Desdemona and shows how it fell into ruin by the intrigues of a villain Iago through his intrigues makes Othello jealous of Cassio and suspicious of Desdemona. He begins to doubt his innocent wife of having immoral relations with Cassio. He suffers hellish tortures; and spurred on by Iago, ultimately destroys first Desdemona and then himself. Such in short is the plot of “Othello”. Moreover, it is a drama of contemporary life, having for its background a historical event of recent occurrence. Since it has obvious and close resemblance with the plot of a domestic tragedy, critics have called the play a domestic drama.

But the resemblance is only superficial. It must be remembered that Othello is not a private individual. He is descended from a royal family. He is a soldier and military general of great ability and renown. He is considered indispensible for the defense of Cyprus and is appointed as the Governor of Cyprus by the Duke of Venice. Thus he is man of importance occupying a conspicuously high place in the life and affairs of the state of Venice. He can in no way be regarded as a private individual – like the hero of a domestic tragedy.

Moreover, Othello is not a common individual. He is a man of exceptional nature. His qualities of bravery and courageous deeds as a military general made him run above the common mankind. He is noble and daring. He has had a romantic career and travelled to distant lands, He comes of a royal family. By his tales of travel he is able to win over the heart of Desdemona – a girl of exceptional beauty, sought after by the gallants of her own country. He is honest, frank and confiding. He can command and inspire confidence, and he is conscious that he can do so. When such an exceptional individual falls, his fall produces the pity and terror apt to the true tragedy.

In a domestic tragedy, the action of the drama moves on a common everyday level. The characters are nearer to us and so is the action. There is no remoteness and no suggestion of mysterious fatal forces working against mankind. All this cannot be said of Othello. Its action does not take place in familiar England, but we are transported to romantic Venice and from there to the remote, unknown Cyprus. Although there are no ghosts or witches as in other tragedies, there is nevertheless a very strong sense of some hidden forces, malignant and hostile, Iago, the embodiment of Evil, appears in the very first scene, and his appearance with all his evil designs fills us with foreboding. The impression of Destiny working against the hero and driving him to an inevitable doom is further strengthened by the preponderance of the Chance element.  

Thus Othello does not sink to the level of a domestic tragedy. Rather, in it even the commonplace has been lifted up, and transformed, to the level of a heroic tragedy. A trifle, like a handkerchief, has been used to bring about the catastrophe, and arouse the emotions of awe and fear. It is a pure tragedy, truly Cathartic in its effect.

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Reunion – W. St. John Tayleur

W. St. John Tayleur’s one act play ‘Reunion’ brings out successfully how a man changes himself according to the circumstances and become selfish.  In the hour crisis the well trained soldiers decided and promised among them that they should sacrifice their lives for the nation in the process of its rebuilding. Soon after the war, all their promises and moral values were kept aside for their personal growth and development.

Four friends — George Carter, Reverend Philip Rowlands, Mark Tallis and Peter Ransome — meet in an exclusive West End Hotel to celebrate their ‘Reunion’.  They have come here to meet after ten years to honour their ‘promise’ that they had made to one another as soldiers fighting together in the war. Ten years ago, exactly on this particular day, they (seven soldiers) had fallen in a great risk being surrounded by enemy armies from all sides. There was no hope to escape from the attack of enemy armies. Defeat and death was almost imminent for them.  In that hour of crisis they made a pact: if they survived the war, they would all meet again after ten years to share their experiences and contributions to the society as citizens of the nation.

 

The four friends share their experiences of the their intervening years and the audience learn that George Carter is now an important public figure, Mark Tallis has become London’s most successful playwright and Reverend Rowlands has risen in the church as a clergyman. These three persons are well settled except Ransome. Ransome, the youngest among four, is embittered and disheartened with his life, informs them that he is about emigrate to United States in search of an opportunity. In the course of their conversation they wonder whether their other comrades —Sergeant Smith and Colin Grayson have been able to pull through.

Reverend Rowlands recalls Colin Grayson’s sacrifice, after cutting the lowest value of cards according to their agreement, in venturing into enemy territory to save other’s lives. The situation has become very grim and serious when they recall how Grayson had received fatal wounds from the enemy’s bullets and how he had been taken away by them as a prisoner of war. At this juncture, a rather changed looking Grayson makes his entry. All four are startled at Grayson’s appearance. They thought that the Grayson’s appearance is an apparition. After a little while, they believe that Grayson is still alive against their belief of his death in the enemy camp.

Grayson enquires his friends about their lives after the war. His penetrating questions lay bare how their success is a sham, and how they have failed to live up to their ideals. He reveals the shocking truth that George Carter’s corrupt practices, unknown to Carter himself, have led to Sergeant Smith’s suicide. He also exposes how Mark Tallis has compromised his intellectual integrity to win easy fame and popularity. He shows how Reverend Rowlands has abandoned his East Mission and Ransome his motherland.

Finally, he proceeds to make the most startling revelation of all: that he is not Colin Grayson, but the brother of their dead friend. Before succumbing to his injuries in the enemy camp, Colin Grayson had written letter to his brother (John Grayson) about his comrades, their lives and future aspirations, and also directed him to attend the promised ‘Reunion’ in his stead.  The dead Colin Grayson’s brother John Grayson confronts with Colin Grayson’s friends about the futility of Colin’s sacrifice. They have survived the crisis of war on the sacrifice of their friend but dishonoured their friend’s heroism and sacrifice by forsaking their nobler goals for their personal ambitions. At this point John Grayson leaves, hoping that, at least in the future they would be true to their promises, by leaving their personal means and ends.

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