NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 11 If I Were You
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 11 If I Were You are given below. This chapter contains many questions that are essential for exams. Our expert teachers answered all the questions with a detailed explanation that help students to complete their assignments and homework. We have also provided NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 11 If I Were You in PDF format so that you can download them for offline use.
If I Were You NCERT Questions and Answers
Thinking about the Text
I. Answer these questions.
Question 1. “At last a sympathetic audience.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Why does he say it?
(iii) Is he sarcastic or serious?
Answers: (i) The speaker of the given line is Gerrard.
(ii) He says it as he is asked by the intruder to speak about himself.
(iii) He speaks the given dialogue sarcastically.
Question 2. Why does the intruder choose Gerrard as the man whose identity he wants to take on?
Answer: Gerrard looks much like the intruder. The intruder is a murderer. The police is after him. He hopes he can easily impersonate Gerrard escape being caught.
Question 3. “I said it with bullets.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) What does it mean?
(iii) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?
Answer: (i) Gerrard says the given statement.
(ii) It means that when he was in trouble, he had shot someone to escape.
(iii) No, it is not the truth. Gerrard says this to manipulate the intruder so that he does not kill him.
4. What is Gerrard’s profession? Quote the parts of the play that support your answer.
Answers: Gerrard is a playwright by profession. Several parts of the play that reflect this. Some of these are:
- “This is all very melodramatic, not very original, perhaps, but…”
- “At last a sympathetic audience!”
- “In most melodramas the villain is foolish enough to delay his killing long enough to be frustrated”.
- “I said, you were luckier than most melodramatic villains.”
- “That’s a disguise outfit; false moustaches and what not”.
- “Sorry I can’t let you have the props in time for rehearsal, I’ve had a spot of bother – quite amusing. I think I’ll put it in my next play.”
Question 5. “You’ll soon stop being smart.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Why does the speaker say it?
(iii) What according to the speaker will stop Gerrard from being smart?
Answer: (i) The intruder says the given statement.
(ii) The intruder says this to scare Gerrard and know more about him.
(iii) According to the intruder, Gerrard would stop being smart once he knew what was going to happen to him. The intruder’s plan was to kill Gerard and take over his identity. He felt that when Gerrard would know this, he would stop being smart and start getting scared.
Question 6. “They can’t hang me twice.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Why does the speaker say it?
Answers: (i) The intruder says the given statement.
(ii) The speaker says this because he had already murdered someone. So, it is not a big deal for him to kill another man. He can’t be hanged twice.
Question 7. “A mystery I propose to explain.” What is the mystery the speaker proposes to explain?
Answer: The mystery that the speaker, Gerrard, proposes to explain is why he himself is a mystery man. He explains to the intruder that he himself is a criminal who is on the run. That is the reason why he does not meet tradespeople. He says that he murdered someone and gotten away with it. But now he was in a trouble and that’s why his bag was all packed to escape again.
Question 8. “This is your big surprise.”
(i) Where has this been said in the play?
(ii) What is the surprise?
Answers: (i) This has been said twice in the play. At first time, the intruder says this to Girrard while revealing his plan to kill him. Secondly, Gerrard says these words when he is about to reveal his fictitious identity to the intruder.
(ii) When intruder says this line, the surprise is his plan to kill Gerrard and take on his identity. On the second occasion, when Gerrard says this, the surprise is his fictitious identity that he is going to reveal to make the intruder believe that he himself is a crook like the intruder.
Thinking about the Language
I. Consult your dictionary and choose the correct word from the pairs given in brackets.
1. The (site, cite) of the accident was (ghastly/ghostly).
2. Our college (principle/principal) is very strict.
3. I studied (continuously/continually) for eight hours.
4. The fog had an adverse (affect/effect) on the traffic.
5. Cezanne, the famous French painter, was a brilliant (artist/artiste).
6. The book that you gave me yesterday is an extraordinary (collage/college) of science fiction and mystery.
7. Our school will (host/hoist) an exhibition on cruelty to animals and wildlife conservation.
8. Screw the lid tightly onto the top of the bottle and (shake/shape) well before using the contents.
Answer: 1. The site of the accident was ghastly.
2. Our college principal is very strict.
3. I studied continuously for eight hours.
4. The fog had an adverse effect on the traffic.
5. Cezanne, the famous French painter, was a brilliant artist.
6. The book that you gave me yesterday is an extraordinary collage of science fiction and mystery.
7. Our school will host an exhibition on cruelty to animals and wildlife conservation.
8. Screw the lid tightly onto the top of the bottle and shake well before using the contents.
II. Irony is when we say one thing but mean another, usually the opposite of what we say. When someone makes a mistake and you say, “Oh! That was clever!” that is irony. You’re saying ‘clever’ to mean ‘not clever’.
| Expressions we often use in an ironic fashion are: • Oh, wasn’t that clever!/Oh that was clever! • You have been a great help, I must say! • You’ve got yourself into a lovely mess, haven’t you? • Oh, very funny!/How funny! |
We use a slightly different tone of voice when we use these words ironically.
Read the play carefully and find the words and expressions Gerrard uses in an ironic way. Then say what these expressions really mean. Two examples have been given below. Write down three such expressions along with what they really mean.
| What the author says | What he means |
| Why, this is a surprise, Mr – er – | He pretends that the intruder is a social visitor whom he is welcoming. In this way he hides his fear. |
| At last a sympathetic audience! | He pretends that the intruder wants to listen to him, whereas actually the intruder wants to find out information for his own use |
Answer:
| What the author says | What he means |
| You won’t kill me for a very good reason. | Gerrard is just pretending to have a ‘very good reason’ even though there is no such reason. |
| Sorry I can’t let you have the props in time for rehearsal, I’ve had a spot of bother – quite amusing. | The ‘spot of bother’ that Gerrard calls ‘quite amusing’ is actually a life-threatening situation, where a criminal actually threatens to kill him |
| You have been so modest. | Here, Gerrard means that it is immodest on the part of the intruder to know so much about him without disclosing his own identity. |
Dictionary Use
A word can mean different things in different contexts. Look at these three sentences:
• The students are taught to respect different cultures.
• The school is organising a cultural show.
• His voice is cultured.
In the first sentence, ‘culture’ (noun) means way of life; in the second, ‘cultural’ (adjective) means connected with art, literature and music; and in the third, ‘cultured’ (verb) means sophisticated, well mannered. Usually a dictionary helps you identify the right meaning by giving you signposts.
Look at the dictionary entry on ‘culture’ from Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005.
(Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, synonyms, etc. are signposts which help you locate the right meaning and usage, and give information about the part of speech that the word is.)
Look up the dictionary entries for the words sympathy, familiarity, comfort, care, and surprise. Use the information given in the dictionary and complete the table.
| Noun | Adjective | Adverb | Verb | Meaning |
| Sympathy | ||||
| Familiarity | ||||
| Comfort | ||||
| Care | ||||
| Surprise |
Answer:
Speaking
Question 1. Imagine you are Gerrard. Tell your friend what happened when the Intruder broke into your house. [Clues : Describe (i) the intruder — his appearance, the way he spoke, his plan, his movements, etc., (ii) how you outwitted him.]
Answer: Last night, while I was on phone, a intruder broke into my cottage. He had a gun in his hand. He was a criminal on the run. He was planning to kill me and steal my identity. He kept threatening me with the gun and asked me to tell everything about myself. I did not reveal my true profession and instead gave him a dodge. I told him that just like him, I too am a criminal and that is why killing me will not do any good to him. I told him that I was in trouble myself and had to escape. While trying to come out of the cottage, I locked him up in the cupboard and called the police. That’s how I was able to outwit him and save myself.
Question 2. Enact the play in the class. Pay special attention to words given in italics before a dialogue. These words will tell you whether the dialogue has to be said in a happy, sarcastic or ironic tone and how the characters move and what they do as they speak. Read these carefully before you enact the play.
Answer: Do it yourself.
Writing
I. Which of the words below describe Gerrard and which describe the Intruder?
Smart; humorous; clever
Beautiful; cool; confident
Flashy; witty; nonchalant
Write a paragraph each about Gerrard and the Intruder to show what qualities they have. (You can use some of the words given above.)
Answer:
Gerrard: Gerrard is a smart and humorous person. He is clever and confident. Even in a life-threatening situation, he is cool and handles the situation in an amazing way. Instead of losing his mind and getting killed by the intruder, he quickly cooked up a story of being an on-the-run criminal. He is a witty person who saves himself and gets the intruder behind the bars.
Intruder: The intruder is a flashy person who tries to be very smart from the very beginning. He believes that cooked-up story of Gerrard and agrees to get out of the cottage with Gerrard. We see that the intruder is then locked up by Gerrard and the intruder even loses his gun to Gerrard.
II. Convert the play into a story (150–200 words). Your story should be as exciting and as witty as the play. Provide a suitable title to it.
Answer: Gerrard is a dramatist who lives in a cottage. A very few people come to visit him. He rarely goes out. If he goes out, he comes back suddenly. Once an intruder enters his cottage who has a gun in his hands. Gerrard receives him with a warm welcome. The intruder asks many questions to him about his personal life. He answers his queries intelligently and thoughtfully. The intruder tells him that he wants to take on his identity because he is being chased by police as he has murdered a cop. But Gerrard tells him that he will not be benefited by killing him as he is also wanted. And he expects the police there tonight to arrest him. So he asks him to run with him in the car. But when they are about to cross the door, Gerrard pushes him into the cupboard and slams it. Then he calls the police and gets him arrested.