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The Last Lesson

Question

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M. Hamel had said that he would question us on Participles. In the sentence above, the verb form “had said” in the first part is used to indicate an “earlier past.” The whole story is narrated in the Past. M. Ilamel’s “saying” happened earlier than the events in this story. This form of the verb is called the Past Perfect.

Pick out five sentences from the story with this form of the verb and say why this form has been used.

Solution

Past Perfect	Why used
1. I had counted on the commotion to get to my desk without being seen.	1. Little earlier past thought on.
2. Not till then, when I had got a little over my fright, did I see that our teacher had on his beautiful green coat.	2. Earlier past action of overcoming his fear.
3. Hauser had brought an old primer.	3. Earlier past action of bringing primer with.
4. In the same grave and gentle tone which he had used to me, said: “My children, this is The Last Lesson, I shall give you.”	4. To indicate a little earlier past action of speaking in gentle tone.
5. My book that had seemed such a nuisance a while ago...”	5. Till a little before the past thought of thinking books a nuisance.

Some More Questions From The Last Lesson Chapter

What had been put on the bulletin board?

What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day?

How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and school change?

The people in this story suddenly realise how precious their language is to them. What shows you this? Why does this happen?

Franz thinks : “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons ?” What could this mean ? (There could be more than one answer).

‘When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.” Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their language taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?

What happens to a linguistic minority in a state ? How do you think they can keep their language alive?
For example:

Punjabis in Bangalore

Tamilians in Mumbai

Kannadigas in Delhi

Gujaratis in Kolkata

Is it possible to carry pride in one’s language too far? Do you know what linguistic chauvinism means?

English is a language that contains words from muny other languages. This inclusiveness is one of the reasons it is now a ‘world language.’
For Example:

petite – French

kindergarten – German

capital – Latin

democracy – Greek

bazaar - Hindi
Find out the origins of the following words.
tycoon      barbecue     zero
tulip         veranda    ski
logo          robot trek
bandicoot

Notice the underlined words in these sentences and tick the option that best explains their meaning:

“What a thunder clap these words were to me !”

The words were:

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