Easy Steps to Summary Writing and Note–

Making

Nirmala Bellare
 Copyright © 2020 Nirmala Bellare

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express
written permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 9781234567890
ISBN-10: 1477123456
 Contents

Easy Steps to Summary Writing and Note–Making

Copyright
INTRODUCTION
What is Summarizing?
Unit IA : Finding the overall topic
UNIT 1B : Selecting a title
Unit II : The Topic Sentence
Unit III : The Main Idea and Length Reduction Strategies
Unit IV : Gist Writing
Unit V : The Main Idea and Supporting Information: Patterns of
Organization
Unit VI : Patterns of Information Organization: The Paragraph and
Short Passages
Unit VII : Coherence in Texts: The Paragraph and Longer Passages
Unit VIII : Superfluous Information
Unit IX : Practice with A Variety of Styles in Expository Texts
Unit X : Note Making
Exercises
Answers
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
About the Author
 This book is dedicated to

My husband Gurudutt and my daughter Priya

for their valuable encouragement and guidance
and
to my students who were the source of my inspiration
 INTRODUCTION

There have been quite a few publications of complete writing courses

covering topics like letter and report writing, paragraph and essay writing
together with summary or précis writing. However, these courses have not
quite succeeded with students and teachers probably because each topic
has been dealt with in an abrupt or superficial manner. This may be due to
constraints of space or time (for coverage in the allotted academic term/
schedule). The summary writing skills are basic to all kinds of writing.
Imbibing these is catalytic to improvement in other kinds of writing. The
reading involved in the summarizing activity further helps in the same way.
This work was inspired by my research, which investigated how
students process text while reading for summarizing. It yielded valuable
insights into the problems faced by students in the summarizing operation.
These included mainly the following:
i) Discriminating the more important from the less important
information
ii) Perceiving the logical relationships between the two so that
the essential focus may be retained in the summary, and
iii) Getting distracted by information that was interesting but
not important to the summary.

To summarize successfully, students need both reading and writing

skills. They need to use those reading strategies that are appropriate to
the particular type of source-text, to arrive at the important substance of
the passage. That is, read with an ability to identify the important
information and to scan the text for the suitable detail that would need to
be incorporated in the summary depending on the type of text being
summarized and the purpose for which it is being done. For example, an
engineer summarizing a feasibility study will need to use the appropriate
detail of technical, financial and other figures and quantities required to
give an idea of the feasibility status of the project. Summarizers also need
to use the production skills of expression and writing, to state the
important information with whatever necessary detail, as briefly as
possible, without losing the appropriate focus and style of the source-text.
 The reading sub-skills include a) selection of important ideas in the
source text, b) identification and perception of the overall focus of the
passage/ text, and c) deletion of redundant material in the source text that
seems superfluous to the summary.
The writing sub-skills which get incrementally challenging may range
from what Brown, Day and Jones (1983) call the simple “copy – delete”
strategy to the more sophisticated one of what Hare & Borchardt (1985)
call the “polishing” and rewriting strategy. Along the way the student
would, also, sometimes, need to generate super-ordinate or overall terms
for a list of terms or groups of ideas or again to generate topic sentences
if they are not already included in the text. In addition, it is necessary for
him/ her to perceive and retrieve the overall focus of the text, or what
Kintsch and van Dijk (1978) call the “macro proposition”, which finally gets
encapsulated in the ‘title’ of the passage and the summary.

While the reading and writing sub-skills cannot be compartmentalized in

the summarizing process, the initial units in the book (Units I – IV) focus
more on the reading sub-skills of identifying the overall topic or picking or
formulating the topic sentence and/ or the main idea of the passage
provided. The student is also initiated into vocabulary building practice.
Gradually, through Units V – IX, the student is led on to looking for
patterns in which the information in the passage is organized in different
kinds of expository texts. This is explained through a purview of and
practice with Coherence Signals that link the discourse in the text. It is
hoped that an appraisal of the pattern of the discourse organization
should make it easier to link appropriately the important ideas selected, to
form a summary with a focus that is true to the original. The penultimate
unit helps revise the various sub-skills that have already been practised,
with different kinds of texts including pieces of semi-scientific and
reflective writing that become more challenging to summarize. The Note
Making unit (X) seeks to build up on the summarizing skills and introduces
strategies for grouping the material into an easy-to-store-and-retrieve
format of notes or a diagrammatic representation of information in the
form of charts, tables, tree- diagrams etc. These would be particularly
useful for classroom and reference study which forms the bulk of
academic work at the college and university level.

Some special features of this book are as follows:

 A step-by step training in the sub-skills of summarizing and note-
making, beginning with simple easy passages proceeding to more difficult
ones and finally to unaided summarizing and note-making of a variety of
texts.
While the early passages are short ones of 50 –100 words, the length
and complexity gradually grow, leading finally to passages ranging
between 500 and 1,500 words. (The number of words mentioned at the
end of each passage/ summary is approximate.)
An attempt is also made to select passages that make interesting
reading for college and university level entrants
A variety of expository texts in the argumentative, narrative, informative,
reflective and semi-scientific/ semi-technical styles have been included.
Several passages are authentic pieces of text taken from newspapers,
magazines, journals, textbooks and other reference materials.
While designing the tasks, emphasis has been laid on ‘performability’ of
the tasks by the students to engender in the students a sense of
achievement when the task is completed. Beginning with word/ phrase
answers and blank-filling items, the exercises lead on to gist-writing and
short answers and gradually proceed to completely free composition of
summaries.
Answers are also provided for all the exercises in the earlier units and
to the initial exercises in the later units so that immediate feedback is
available to students working on the exercises. The ‘model’ summaries,
wherever provided, are of course mere guidelines and, therefore, only
suggestive in intent. Infinite variations on these are possible and that is
why, with several exercises in the later units, no model summary is offered
but a discussion of the exercises and answers is encouraged between
students and teachers.
The Note Making unit builds on the summarizing skills and adds on
components like layout of notes or a diagrammatic representation of
information in the form of charts, tables, tree diagrams etc.

The user of the book is advised to proceed with the units in the given
order as much thought has gone into grading the exercises from easy to
difficult. With the completed use of the book, it is hoped that the student
should be reasonably able to summarize or make notes on any texts (s)he
encounters in the real world.
 A question has often been asked: how long should a summary be?
Well, there is no sacred rule on the length of a summary. It would depend
on the purpose for which, or the reader for whom it is written. It could also
depend on the style of writing or the kind of message. For example, a
scientific passage, like the ‘Chromosomes’ passage in this book, calls for
more of the scientific detail to be included in the summary, whereas a
literary passage could do with less of the stylistic detail while conveying
the main message of the literary extract. The summaries in this book,
therefore, range from 1/5 to 1/2 of the length of the source passage.
Where examination tasks are concerned, the general requirement is for a
précis or summary to be about a third of the original passage. However
curtailing length is, definitely, an important aspect of the summary.
Exercises in vocabulary building are, therefore, also provided and further
practice recommended in Unit III of this course.
Regarding the use of the first, second or third person while writing the
summary, it is generally expected that with all expository writing the third
person would be the normal format to use. However, if a first-person
account is being summarized, I would go with using the first-person or the
third-person reporting for the summary, depending on the emotional
involvement in the experience being recounted, as is done here with
Passages 100 and 101.
 What is Summarizing?

Summarizing, as an informal activity comes quite naturally and easily to

us, whether orally or in writing. For example, we talk briefly about a book
or a film or something seen or heard, or write about it in a letter, diary or a
school composition. There are different kinds of more formal summary-
writing like activities such as, abstracts, synopses and outlines; and there
are activities like making or writing a gist, paraphrasing, note making and
précis writing. Often, summaries are written for varied purposes and for
the benefit of a specific audience. For example, summaries may be
written as a classroom exercise or as an examination task for a school or
college teacher. You may, also, by using your summarizing skills, make
notes from a textbook or reference material for study and examination
purposes. You might, sometimes, need to summarize a story or novel, or
a part of it to illustrate or exemplify a point you are making while
answering a question on a literary text. A summary may, again, be
submitted as an outline or a research proposal to a university professor. A
boss at work may require it in the form of a feasibility report or an
appraisal report or he may want a summary of a government circular or a
legal notification. You may need to send an abstract for review by the
editorial committee of a journal or publishing company or you may simply
be reviewing or reporting a book, a film or an interesting happening to the
readers of a newspaper or journal. Summary writing is, therefore, a
particularly useful skill. In any case, any such summary involves picking
out and condensing accurately the important ideas of a given text Before
producing such a summary, we need to read through the text a couple of
times or more, and then produce a summary based on the whole text or
large chunks of it. We also need to worry about grammatical construction
and cohesion and conform to limitations of length. In this book we shall
deal with summaries that are required in the English Communication
classes and with note- making that proves useful in any academic
programme. We shall focus on the summarizing of and note making from
expository texts. Expository writing is writing that ‘exposes’ a topic i.e.,
gives us different kinds of information about it. This general kind of text is
preferred as it is the sort of text contained not only in academically used
material but also in newspapers journals and magazines. Students should
find newspapers and magazines to be of topical interest and should be
able to use them as reading material in preparing for activities like essay-
writing, seminars and debates, and for presentations in the curricular
programme on topics of general and co-curricular interest.
The units, which follow, take you step by step through the process of
summary writing. We begin with short passages and proceed gradually to
longer ones. You first learn to identify the overall topic of a passage or
unified piece of text. Next, you learn to pick out the topic sentence if a
paragraph has one. If not, you learn to formulate one from the information
in the paragraph. As you get to deal with longer passages, you need to
arm yourself with strategies to reduce the length of the original passage
so that you can write a shortened summary of it. This means that you
need a rich stock of vocabulary. Exercises that can help you improve your
vocabulary are sampled in Unit III. But you will need more and regular
practice with similar exercises. Books offering such exercises are in plenty
and you can also find them in most magazines and journals. These you
could easily pick in a library or anywhere else, for reading. You also learn,
in the same unit and the following one, to pick out the main idea from a
given piece of text and to sum up briefly any examples or explanations
you might need in support of the main idea. Thus, you will have learnt to
write a gist of the given passage. As you progress with longer passages,
you need to understand the rhetorical argument that underlies the
passage i.e., you need to get the logical thread of the argument. This is
important for you to project in your summary. Units V, VI and VII,
therefore, tell you about the patterns of organization that occur in
expository texts and the explicit means by which we can recognize them.
With the subsequent practice you learn how to weed out superfluous
information and write summaries from a variety of texts. The not-making
section, which now demands the use of your summarizing skills, takes
you further on to using an appropriate layout of the information in brief
points, numbered if and when necessary; or even better, presenting it in a
diagrammatic form wherever possible. This kind of laying out also implies
an understanding of the hierarchical structure of the information that you
are presenting in your notes. This is demonstrated in the way you group
and sub-group the information. It is hoped that by the completion of the
practice in this course and with some additional practice, if necessary, you
would have achieved reasonable success and confidence with these two
important skills that are so crucial to any work or study in your future
careers. Most answers are provided at the end of the book for comparison
with your own, so that you have immediate feedback on your
performance. However, if you have a variation in the answer it could be
discussed with the teacher. The ‘model’ summaries, wherever provided,
are of course mere guidelines as to the possible content of the
summaries. Infinite variations in writing these are possible and that is why,
your summaries will need to be discussed with the teacher. It is hoped
that working with this book will be a happy experience in the classroom.
Unit IA : Finding the overall topic
 Finding the overall topic
Let us begin by looking at the general structure of expository writing. A
typical expository passage, of whatever length, has an overall topic,
which could possibly be indicated by its title. This overall topic is spelt out
in the passage in terms of the main /central idea(s) or the main
argument of the passage. Let us look at some examples. We shall begin
with short passages of 100 – 200 words. (The numbering of sentences
and underlining in the passages, henceforth, is for convenience)

1Boys and girls enjoy the performers in a circus, but they love
the clown. 2 Why is that? 3 It is because everything about him is
funny. 4 His jokes and stories are funny. 5 His clothes never fit. 6 His
face is thickly covered with white powder, except for parts which are
painted a bright red. 7 He plays musical instruments, climbs ropes,
leaps merrily, and is always falling down and making silly mistakes.

In passage 1 above, the overall topic or title could be ‘Clowns’ and the
main idea is that children love clowns because they are funny. This idea is
contained in the first three sentences while examples of the things which
make the clown funny, are contained in the remaining four sentences. Let
us look at another paragraph about dolphins:

21The dolphin, like the porpoise and the whale, is not a fish but a
mammal. 2 It is warm-blooded --- that is, its body heat 1 remains the
same, whether the water is warm or cold --- and it has lungs instead
of gills: this means that it cannot breathe under water like a fish, but
must come to the top to breathe air. 3 Its young are born alive and
suckled on milk by their mother 4 In all these things the dolphin is
like other mammals and differs from the fishes. 5 The tail fin of a
dolphin is also unlike that of a fish, for it is flat instead of upright.

The overall topic or title for passage 2 is, obviously, ‘Dolphins’ and the
main idea in the passage is that a dolphin is not a fish but a mammal. This
idea is contained in the very first sentence, but the ways in which dolphins
are different from fish and like mammals are illustrated in the remaining
sentences of the paragraph.
 Exercise

I(A)For each of the following passages fill in the blank spaces

provided, with a suitable title indicating the overall topic of the
passage in a word or a phrase. (The first example is worked out for
you):

3The night sky has a beauty we can all enjoy. The stars sparkle like
jewels on a velvet backcloth. The moon, ever changing its shape, pours
its silvery light into the darkness. At first sight, the night sky appears to be
filled haphazardly with stars. But, after a while, we find that we can
recognize patterns of stars and thus find our way through the heavens. By
studying the heavens, we become astronomers. The Chaldeans and
Babylonians were skilled observers of the heavens over 5,000 years
ago.

Title: The Night Sky - (Encyclopaedia. - 'Space')

4Throughout the year, the Sun, the Moon and the planets appear to
travel through a narrow band of the heavens. It is called the zodiac. There
are 12 constellations along this band, called the signs of the zodiac. The
positions of the heavenly bodies in the zodiac are thought by some people
to influence men’s lives and future actions. This belief is the basis of
astrology. Astrologers were very important people in ancient times and still
seem important to some people in India today.

Title: ______________________________ (Enc.- Space)

5Photosynthesis, the plant’s food-making process, takes place mainly in

the leaves. These are arranged so that they get as much sunlight as
possible, for light is essential to the process. The green chlorophyll traps
the light energy, which the plant then uses to combine water and carbon
dioxide gas. Sugar is formed for food and oxygen is given off.
 Title: ______________________________ (Piccolo)

6Tides are another force that move the waters of the oceans. They are
caused by gravity between the Moon and the Earth and the Sun and the
Earth. The force of gravity pulls the water like a magnet and as the Earth
spins, the part of the ocean pulled most strongly changes. In each 24-hour
period, two high and low tides sweep around the globe rather like giant
waves. Near land the difference is much greater. The highest tides occur
when the Sun and Moon are in line and are pulling together.

Title: _____________________________ (Piccolo)

7If you are interested in astronomy, you should go to a planetarium.

There, you will see how and why the stars change from season to season;
how the planets and the Moon move through the heavens; and many
things besides. You sit in a chamber with a domed roof, onto which all the
heavenly bodies can be projected.
Title: ___________________________ (Enc. - Space)

8Lightning is a spark of electricity, which flows within a cloud, between

clouds, or from a cloud to the ground. It is very hot and can start fires and
tear down trees. As the lightning burns its way through the air it creates a
shock wave, which is the noise we hear as thunder. So, lightning and
thunder happen at the same moment. We see the lightning first because
light travels faster than sound.

Title: ___________________

(B) For each of the following passages fill in the blank space
provided below a question title to which the paragraph
provides an answer. (The first example is worked out for you):

9 The Moon is very much smaller than the Earth. Its diameter is
only about a quarter that of the Earth. If the Earth were hollow,
 you could fit nearly 50 Moons into it. Because it is small, the Moon
has a small gravity. If you went to the Moon, you could jump six
times higher than you could on Earth. (Encyclopaedia –
‘Space’)

Title-Question: How Big is the Moon?

10Like all ordinary stars the Sun is a mass of ball of white-hot gas.
Most of it is hydrogen gas. If you could cut into the Sun, you
would find that it would get hotter and hotter the deeper you went.
The outer surface has a temperature of 6,000 degrees
centigrade. But in the centre, the temperature is as high as
15,000,000 degrees centigrade. We call the visible surface of the
Sun the ‘photosphere (‘light-sphere’)
(Enc.-Space)

Title-Question: --------------------------------------------------------------------

11A bird’s wings hold it up in the air as well as producing the thrust to
push it forward. Lift is produced as a result of the arched upper
surface of the wings. The air is ‘stretched out’ as it flows over this
surface, and the pressure is therefore reduced: upward pressure
on the lower wing surface pushes the bird upwards. The
downbeat of the wing is the power stroke, during which the wing-
tips twist and push the air backwards. This pushes the bird
forwards. The feathers are separated on the upstroke to reduce
air resistance. The wings are held back, and the tail is spread to
form air-brakes on landing.

(Piccolo)

Title-Question:
___________________________________________________

12 Apollo was the spacecraft American astronauts used to travel

to the moon between 1969 and 1972. It had a length of about 10
metres and a maximum diameter of 3.9 metres. Apollo spacecraft
were also used for Skylab missions.
(Enc.-Space)
 Title-Question:
_________________________________________________

13A Kitchen Garden, as the name implies, is the garden around or near
the house. Raising a kitchen garden is a fascinating experience. The
greatest satisfaction a family gets from it is dining on the harvest, which
means vegetables produced in the home garden are used in their most
fresh state. Besides producing food for the family, the kitchen garden
beautifies the house as it also includes trees, flowering shrubs, creepers,
grass and plants. The kitchen garden is not a new innovation as even in
the olden days and in backward areas families grew some vegetables
near the house for use by the family.

Title-Question:
___________________________________________________

(C) Look carefully at the following groups of facts and fill in the blank
spaces provided for each of the groups, by choosing from the titles given
below:

1. Body Facts
2. World Population Explosion
3. Animal Lifespans

4. Names of The Constellations

5. The Nearest Stars
6. Speed in Nature
7. The Brightest Stars

(7 tables to follow in printed version)

UNIT 1B : Selecting a title
 Selecting a title

Finding the overall topic or title for short and simple passages may not
be very difficult. But choosing a title for longer or more complex passages
needs to be done with great thought and care. The important thing is to
read carefully and gain a thorough understanding of it. The title should
express the exact focus of the passage. Let us look again at the following
passage:

A bird’s wings hold it up in the air as well as producing the thrust

to push it forward. Lift is produced as a result of the arched upper
surface of the wings. The air is ‘stretched out’ as it flows over this
surface, and the pressure is therefore reduced: upward pressure on
the lower wing surface pushes the bird upwards. The downbeat of
the wing is the power stroke, during which the wing-tips twist and
push the air backwards. This pushes the bird forwards. The feathers
are separated on the upstroke to reduce air resistance. The wings
are held back and the tail is spread to form air-brakes on
landing. (Piccolo)

While the vague overall topic, at a first reading, may apparently seem to
be ‘Birds’ or ‘A Bird’s Wings’ or even ‘The Structure of the Bird’s Wings’
these only indicate one of the topics in the passage and cover only a part
of the subject of the passage. Another topic that figures in the discussion
on a more careful reading is the ‘Movement of the Air’ and this as a title,
also, would not do as it has too narrow a focus, for, it once again evokes
only another sub-topic of the passage. A title like ‘Air and the Wings of a
Bird’ would have a more comprehensive coverage and yet it would not
convey the exact focus of the description in the passage. What the writer
wishes to convey to us is a detailed explanation of how the structure of
the wings in interaction with the air helps the bird to fly. Hence a title like
‘How a Bird Flies’ alone becomes the appropriate one for the passage.
An imaginative student may think of a title like ‘Upstrokes and Down
Strokes’, which may sound interesting, but it bears no relation to the
theme of the passage and would, therefore, be an irrelevant title.

While choosing a title, therefore, you need to make sure of the

following:
 The scope of the title you select comprehensively covers/ implies all the
sub-topics in the passage. That means the title should not be too broad or
vague. Nor should it be too narrow or partial.
The title should also indicate to us the communicative purpose of the
writer, i.e., what exactly the writer wishes to convey to us through his
writing.
The title should not go off at a tangent from the subject of the passage,
i.e., it should not seem digressing or irrelevant.
You must, therefore, ensure that your title is not too broad or wide or too
narrow in scope, and that it does not go off the point of the passage but
comprehensively conveys the exact intent of the writer.

Exercise

I For each of the passages that follow on the next page (five passages
overleaf) some possible titles are suggested below. Only one of the
suggested titles is appropriate. (Sometimes an alternative title may be
possible.)

(A) For each of the passages select your chosen title.

(B) For each of the titles not selected indicate the reason, by choosing
from the options given below:

i) too broad or vague in scope

ii) too narrow or partial (i.e., covering only part of the
passage/ summary)
iii) not in focus or not in the communicative purpose of the
passage/ summary.
iv) Inaccurate/ Irrelevant to the topic of the passage/ summary.
v) could be an alternative title

a) Preying Owls

b) Sharp Quiet Killing

c) Nightly Active Owls

d) The Silent Killer

e) Killer Owls

a) Colours of Nature.

b) Colours from Chemicals

c) Vegetarian and Synthetic Colours

d) How to Make Colours

e) The Making of Colours

a) Americans vs. Russians.

b) The Space Race.

c) Space Flying.

d) The Universe Beyond the Earth.

e) Explorer Satellites.

a) Learning Animals.

b) Birds: Natural Singers.

c) All Life is Learning

d) Untaught Spiders

e) Trunk-heavy Elephants.
5

a) American Arrogance

b) Irreligious Americans

c) Virtues of Self-Reliance

d) Opinionated Americans

e) Unreverential Americans

(1 - 5 Passages – (1 sheet) - Overleaf)

Unit II : The Topic Sentence
 The Topic Sentence

An effective paragraph usually consists of a central or main idea and

enough details to put the idea across. The controlling idea is often
contained in a single sentence, commonly called the topic sentence.
Governing the content and the development of the paragraph, this central
or topic sentence, sets the stage for every sentence and every detail used
in the paragraph to support the central idea. A topic sentence often occurs
at or near the beginning of the paragraph, but it may just as easily fall in
the middle or at the end. Sometimes, it may also be scattered in different
parts of the paragraph and may have to be put together. In some writing,
especially writing of a narrative nature, it may not be stated at all, but only
implied.

Topic Sentence First: In the following passage (14) the central idea is
in the first sentence. The paragraph opens (Sentence 1) with the talk of
the marvelous development of an egg into a complete animal and the rest
of the paragraph traces this development through the various stages
through Sentences 2 – 9.

141 Frogs and toads give us an opportunity of studying the

marvelous development of an egg into a complete animal. 2 This
involves a metamorphosis (a complete change of shape and of way
of life) that seems like magic. 3 You can watch every stage of it. 4
With the onset of the rains, in almost any weedy pond, the females
lay several thousand tiny blackish eggs, each the size of a grain of
sand, and covered with a coat of transparent jelly. 5 Some weeks
after the tadpole emerges, and its hind legs begin to grow. 6 Up to
this point, the tadpole will have lived by nibbling the green stuff, but
now it begins to need animal food and if kept in an aquarium, should
be given tiny pieces of cooked meat. 7 Then the front legs begin to
appear, and the whole tadpole undergoes its most remarkable
change: it ceases to have a two-chambered heart and gills and to
live like a fish. 8 Instead it develops a three-chambered heart, and
lungs, and breathes like a land animal. 9 The tail shrinks, and now
we have a miniature frog that needs to come out of the water.
 Topic Sentence Last: In the next example, the paragraph begins
(Sentence 1) with a false notion that people have of environment being
something outside us, and goes on (through Sentences 2 - 10) to explain
how environment is, in fact, present within us, even in the germ cell, and
that it is more than a conditioning factor of life. The paragraph concludes
with the central idea, in Sentence 11, that ‘Life and environment are, in
fact correlates’. (Imagine that this topic sentence appeared first in the
paragraph. Would it change the effect?)
_______________________________________________

15If we think of our environment as simply the outside world, as

something that surrounds and “environs” us, we underestimate its
role. 2 The relation of life and environment is extremely intimate. 3
The organism itself, the life structure, is the product of past life and
past environment. 4 Environment is present from the very beginning
of life, even in the germ cell. 5 We think of our organisms as
ourselves, and environment as that which lies outside us. 6 But the
environment is more than a conditioning factor of life that can be
conceived of apart from it. 7 Imagine that we were suddenly
transported to a much larger planet. 8 Our bodies would instantly
become much heavier, and that alone would involve myriad other
differences. 9 We should no longer know ourselves, nor, assuming
that we could exist at all, be ourselves. 10 We never know life except
in an appropriate environment, to which it is already adjusted. 11 Life
and environment are, in fact correlates.
_______________________________________________

Topic Sentence Scattered Throughout: A paragraph containing a

somewhat complex idea frequently introduces part of the idea, then give
details, and then completes the statement of the central idea, as in the
following example. Here Sentence1 begins to define the central idea by
describing education as development of human material to satisfy the
needs of the nation. The extent and scope of this development is
explained in the next three sentences and the final sentence indicates
how the various factors in this development can be grouped into five main
categories. The topic sentence, therefore, would have to be framed by a
combination of the elements highlighted in the paragraph below to say
‘Education is the development of human beings along religious, social,
economic, political and external lines and using this in the service of the
nation’.
_________________________________________________________
_______________________

161 Education satisfies the needs of society by developing

human material and using this in the service of the nation. 2 The
extent and shape of development is determined by social and
cultural patterns. 3 In primitive communities social and cultural
patterns were of a simple nature and the factors influencing the
shape of education were few and clearly defined. 4 But in more
sophisticated communities the factors are numerous and complex. 5
It is possible, however, to group these factors under five main
headings so that we may more closely inspect them in the context of
education of women in India: religious, social, economic, political
and external.
_________________________________________________________
_______________________

Topic Sentence Implied: In some paragraphs, especially in narrative

or descriptive writing, the topic sentence is implied rather than explicitly
stated. In such paragraphs the details are arranged so that a central idea
is formed in the reader’s mind. In the following paragraph, the topic is the
formation of Rare Earths. This is conveyed to us in the form of a story of
the rocks.

171. Do you know that the sand of which you make castles when
playing on a sea- beach might contain particles of valuable
mineral substances? 2 If it does it will get the glorious name ‘Rare
Earths’. 3 These Rare Earths have a wonderful story behind them. 4
Once upon a time they were rocks in the range of mountains running
parallel to the sea. 5 But there was the rain, bit by bit, every year. 6
The rainwater carried the Rare Rocks, as they should have been
called then, into the sea. 7 But it was not an ordinary sea; it was a
sea with a generous heart. 8 It took pity on the mountains, which
allowed the rain to do this mischief to them and decided to give back
the valuable substances it had got, and more than that. 9 The good
sea ground the rocks into small particles, sorted out the different
minerals it had received and deposited each type in a bed on the
beach.

Exercise

Find the topic sentence in each of the following paragraphs. If the

central idea is not directly stated combine the important ideas to make a
topic sentence or formulate your own wording of it:

18A serious threat to farmers in many parts of the world is erosion. If a

large area of land is cleared of trees and bushes and is then badly treated
by the farmer, the rain and winds may gradually wash away, or blow away,
much of the fertile top-soil. When this happens, crops of corn or grass
become weaker and weaker until nothing much will grow at all. If erosion
is allowed to continue, it will turn good farmland into desert.

19Since 1973, the world has had to cope with soaring oil and gas
prices. It has also had to face up to local shortages of all forms of energy.
During this time the demand for energy has grown steadily, while many of
the world’s leading oil producers have raised prices and limited their
output of crude oil. The rest of the world has had to find a way to pay huge
fuel bills on the one hand, and to save energy and find new sources on
the other. Many nations have now begun to search for forms of energy
such as nuclear power and solar power, in preparation for the future.

20The mountaineer continues to improve in skill year after year. A

skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international
tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is far from unusual for
men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may
take more time than younger men, but they probably climb with more skill
and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.

(7 more passages 21 - 27 – (2 sheets) - follow in the original printed

version)
Unit III : The Main Idea and Length Reduction
Strategies
 The Main Idea and Length Reduction Strategies

The overall subject in a passage, as we have seen, is spelt out through

the passage in terms of the main/ central idea(s) or the main argument of
the passage. The main idea/ argument in a paragraph may be contained
in a sentence or a clause in the passage. Other sentences around it relate
to this idea directly or indirectly. These other sentences carry subordinate
ideas explaining or elaborating or generally supporting the main idea.
Sometimes, these explanations or elaborations may be further illustrated
or exemplified. Let us look, once again, at the examples we saw earlier.
_______________________________________________
A1 Boys and girls enjoy the performers in a circus, but they love
the clown. 2 Why is that? 3 It is because everything about him is
funny. 4 His jokes and stories are funny. 5 His clothes never fit. 6 His
face is thickly covered with white powder, except for parts which are
painted a bright red. 7 He plays musical instruments, climbs ropes,
leaps merrily, and is always falling down and making silly mistakes.
_________________________________________________________
_____________
As we saw earlier, in passage A, the overall topic or title could be
‘Clowns’ and the main idea is that children love clowns because they are
funny. This idea is contained in the first three sentences and the
supporting information is in the examples of the things, which make him
funny. These are mentioned in the remaining four sentences. Let us look
at the other paragraph about dolphins:

B1 The dolphin, like the porpoise and the whale, is not a fish but a
mammal.2 It is warm-blooded --- that is, its body heat remains the
same, whether the water is warm or cold --- and it has lungs instead
of gills: this means that it cannot breathe under water like a fish, but
must come to the top to breathe air. 3 Its young are born alive and
suckled on milk by their mother. 4 In all these things the dolphin is
like other mammals and differs from the fishes. 5 The tail fin of a
dolphin is also unlike that of a fish, for it is flat instead of upright.
 Again, the overall topic or title for the passage is, obviously, ‘Dolphins’
and the main idea in passage B is that a dolphin is not a fish but a
mammal. This idea is contained in the very first sentence, and the
supporting information indicating how dolphins are different from fish and
like mammals is contained in the sentences that follow.
We are aware that in summarizing a passage the important ideas need
to be contained in a reduced length. Thus, the ideas in a passage of 100
words needs to be compressed into a length of 30 to 40 words. How can
this reduction of length be achieved? It can be done in 3 ways:
We can omit much of the less important information such as fine details,
elaborations, examples/ illustrations etc. These can be easily be
distinguished when we arrive at the main/ important idea(s). Discussion
and practice with this kind of omission will come gradually in subsequent
exercises.

Where explanations, examples/ illustrations need to be included they

can be abbreviated by reducing a) information in paragraphs to sentence
length or b) that in sentences to phrase length. For example, the dolphin’s
comparison with a mammal in the paragraph in Passage B may be briefly
contained in a sentence as follows: The dolphin is warm-blooded,
breathes air with its lungs, and bears and suckles its young like humans”.
Similarly, the illustrations in Sentences 4 –6 in Passage A above can be
stated simply as ‘funny jokes or stories, ill-fitting clothes and oddly painted
faces.’ Such a task involves being able to locate and then to transform or
substitute, according to necessity, the important words at the core of the
explanation or illustration. These then need to be formulated into
appropriate phrases or sentences for use in the summary. Locating the
important words is, as we have seen, a matter of reading, understanding
and judgement. All these improve with practice. To be able to transform or
substitute the words and to formulate the necessary phrases/ sentences
for the summary, it is important to build a wide stock of vocabulary and to
know all the various word forms. Thus, in the example of Passage A
above, ‘ill-fitting’ (clothes) is derived from (clothes) ‘that never fit’. The
exercises which follow sample the kind of vocabulary you should be
building, by learning as you read or by consulting dictionaries, practising
exercises in word-teaching books or playing crossword games. Also
knowing the precise connotation (exact meaning) of words helps you to
describe things or actions appropriately. The skills of effective expression
go a long way in refining the skill of summarizing.

A whole group of ideas may be accommodated in a word or a phrase by

using one word for a list of things. For example, the happy and funny
‘actions’ of the clown substitutes for ‘He plays musical instruments, climbs
ropes, leaps merrily, and is always falling down and making silly mistakes.’
Once again, therefore, there is the need to build up the kind of vocabulary
that helps us to substitute one word in place of many.

Exercises

(A) Indicate the adjectives from which each of the following adverbs
are formed:

Feebly, visibly, hopefully, angrily, cheerily, unluckily, clumsily, coolly,

increasingly, probably.

(B) Indicate the adverbs that are formed from the following adjectives:

easy, harmonious, tidy, accurate, gentle, merry, fast, able, disgraceful,

neat.

(C) Give the noun forms of the following verbs:

mumble, economize, display, approach, disembark crawl, denounce,

accelerate, stroll, strut.

II(i) Place each of the verbs in I (C) above in the space provided in
front of the meanings listed below:
1 _____________ to increase one’s speed
2 _____________ to come nearer to
3____________to walk in a stiff, self-satisfied way.
4 ____________ to speak publicly against
5 ___________ to get off a ship
6___________to spread out to be seen
7__________to make do (manage) with less money
 8__________to speak one’s words indistinctly
9 _________ to walk in a quiet, unhurried way
10 _________ to move on hands and knees

ii) From the following adjectives choose the one most likely to
describe the thing named by the noun and write it in the space
provided:

sandy, shrill, delicious, sore, cloudless, brilliant, neat, deadly,

winding, luxurious.

1 a _____ sky;2 a ____ weapon;3 a ____ beach;4. a ___ room;

5 a ____ pudding;6 a ____ handwriting;7 a _____ voice;8. a ____
lane;
9 a _____ diamond;10 a ____ throat.

IIIReplacing one word for many:

(A) Choose from the following list the word for each of the parts of
the body listed below:

Knuckles, eyebrow, wrist, forehead, chest, stomach, elbow, ankle,

thigh, sole, nape, under-arm.
1, the joint between the hand and the arm
2. the part that joins the palm to the lower arm
3. the underside of the foot
4. the joint between the foot and the leg
5.the part of the head above the eyes
6.the back of the neck near the head.
7. the part of the leg between the knee and the hip
8. the upper front part of the body
9. the hairy ridge over the eyes
10. the part below the chest where the food is digested
11. the joints in the fingers.
12. The hollow in the underside of the shoulder

(B) What do they do for a living? Choose from the following list the
word to complete each of the sentences which follow:
 Jockey, purser, ambassador, caddie, sculptor, matron, architect,
mason, professor, plumber.

1. A ____ runs a hospital or a hostel

2. A ____ rides race horses
3. A ____ carves statues
4. A _____ attends to passengers on an aeroplane
5. A ____ fits and repairs water pipes
6. A ____ represents his country abroad
7. A ____ lays bricks and stones in a building
8. A ____ teaches university students
9. A ____ designs buildings
10. A ____ attends golfers

(C )What are they used for? Choose from the following list the word
to complete each of the sentences which follow:

spanner, thermometer, corkscrew, bulldozer, pliers, tractor, tin-opener,

telescope, scales, tongs

1 ____ are used to bend and cut wires

2A ____ is used to pull out corks
3____ are used to weigh things
4A ____ is used to measure temperature
5A ____ is used to see distant objects
6A ____ is used to open tins
7A ____ is used to undo nuts
8A ____ is used to shift earth or demolish structures
9____ are used to hold and lift various objects
10 A ____ is used to pull a plough

(D )In the left-hand column are some ‘heart’ expressions. Match

them with their meanings given in the right- hand column:

EXPRESSION MEANING
1 light- hearted A to memorize
2 kind- hearted B to be discouraged
3 heartless C cruel
4 hearty D without enthusiasm
5 heart rending E cheerful and friendly
6 heart broken F sincere
7 half- heartedly G to cheer up
8 heartfelt H generous
9 to learn by heart I very sad
10 to take heart J to work eagerly
11 to lose heart K distressed
12 to put one’s heart into L happy

IVFor each of the following passages

A) provide an overall title,

B) state the main general idea in a phrase or short sentence and
C) indicate the examples or illustrations explaining the main idea,
again, in a phrase or sentence only. Also indicate the sentences in
which these occur as shown in the example below:

28There are so many kinds of dolphin that the list of names given
to them by the experts is a long one. 2 Some kinds live in the great
rivers of China, India and South America, but when most people think
of dolphins they think of the kinds that live by the sea. 3 This is not
surprising, for dolphins are found both in warm and in cooler seas in
many parts of the world. 4 The two chief kinds are the common
dolphin of the Mediterranean and the bottle-nosed dolphin. 5 The
common dolphin is usually about eight feet long and is shaped like a
fish. 6 The bottle–nosed dolphin is larger than the common dolphin
and may reach a length of twelve feet.

(Child’s First
Encyclopaedia)

A) Overall Title: Kinds of Dolphins

B) Main Idea: River dolphins and Sea dolphins (Sentence 2)
 C) Illustrations: Sea dolphins of two kinds: smaller common dolphins
and 12-feet long bottle-nosed dolphins (Sentences3-6)

29The growth of population has not been caused

by a sudden increase in human fertility, and probably
owes little in any part of the world to an increase
in birth-rate. It has been caused almost entirely by advances in the
medical and ancillary sciences, and the consequent decrease of the
death-rate in areas where the birth-rate remains high. It is illuminating to
consider the impact on population growth of even a single discovery in
medical science. DDT is an outstanding example. The story of DDT is an
adjunct to public health campaigns in 1945, when two members of the
Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad spent a weekend in British
Guiana. The Health Officer reported that the extremely high infant
mortality rate of 250 or more was due largely to insect-borne diseases.
They told him of DDT. Shortly afterwards, he was able to get enough to
spray by airplane a 10 mile area, including the city of Georgetown.
Results were instantaneous. By 1948, the infant mortality rate dropped to
67. As a result, that small area had one of the most rapid rate of
population increase ever recorded.

(R. A. Close)
A) Overall Title: _______________________
B)MainIdea: __________________________
C) Illustrations: ____________________________

301 How much sleep do we need? 2 It is probably true to say that up to

thirty years ago not only could we not answer this question, but we could
see no research tools which might eventually enable us to do so. 3 Since
then there have been important developments which have changed the
picture; in particular, new forms and techniques of neuro-physiological
measurement have emerged, and, secondly, experimental psychology
has developed better methods of evaluating human performance and
behaviour. 4 Studies, for example, of body and eye movements, of
sensory thresholds, and, above all, of the electrical potentials of the brain
during sleep, encourage us to think that we may be able to assess with
useful accuracy the depth of quality of sleep. 5 In carefully controlled
experiments, also, the amount of sleep has been varied to find the effects
of lack of sleep upon performance and upon physiological changes in the
body, especially those which accompany the effort to maintain normal
behaviour and working standards in spite of deprivation of sleep.

(R. A. Close)
A) Overall Title: _______________________
B)MainIdea: __________________________
C) Illustrations:____________________________

31In the Italian region of Apulia lives a small spider called a tarantula.
There is an ancient belief that the bite of this insect is very poisonous.
Today we know that this is not true; the bite of the tarantula is not very
harmful; but hundreds of years ago even doctors and other learned men
believed the tale. In fact people who had been bitten used to dance to a
special kind of music, the rhythm of which got faster and faster. This
dance was called the Tarantella. It was supposed to work the poison out
of their systems in three or four days.
These ancient dances, Tarantellas, are still danced today in Southern
Italy. Dances rather like the Tarantella were danced in some other
European countries including Belgium, France and Germany, where the
tarantula or a spider very like it is found. So perhaps there is no real
connection between the dance and the spider. Perhaps one can explain
the name of the dance by the fact that it started near the town of
Taranto.

(Child’s First Encyclopaedia )

A) Overall Title: _______________________
B)MainIdea: ___________________________
C) Illustrations: ___________________________

32The burning of coal is very wasteful of energy. This can be realised

when we remember that one pound of coal burned in the furnace of a
power station will raise (=produce) enough steam to drive a generator that
will produce enough current to light a one-bar electric fire for three hours.
On the other hand, if all the energy in the atoms of a pound of coal could
be released, there should be enough energy to drive all the machinery in
all the factories in Britain for a month.

(David Le Roi in Thornley)

A) Overall Title: _______________________

B)MainIdea: ___________________________________

C) Illustrations: _____________________________

Having learnt to identify and separate the main ideas from the
illustration, the question may arise as to how much of the illustration we
need to retain in a summary? This would depend on two factors:

1) How important does illustration become to making the main idea

meaningful? If any part of the main idea seems vague or requires
clarification, then it would help to use a minimum of illustration or
example(s) to make the idea clear. For example, mentioning the
details about the sea dolphins is not crucial to understanding that
there are two kinds of dolphins – the river and the sea dolphins.
On the other hand it may be important to mention briefly the
Georgetown statistics to show how population increase has been
greatly affected by the application of advances in medical science,
because ‘greatly affected’ does not very effectively convey, the
difference to the population increase.
2) The practical purpose for which the summary is being written
could decide how much of the examples/ statistics should be
included in the summary/ notes. For example, if you were making
notes from a reference book or textbook to prepare for your
 examinations you would need illustrations/ examples/ statistics at
your fingertips to answer well the examination questions/ tasks.
Having these ready for reference in your notes is then very
important. Or again, if you are summarizing a feasibility study of a
project or proposal for your boss at work, details of figures and
statistics from your data would be very important to convey
through the summary.

It is important, therefore, to use your discretion to decide on how much

of illustration to include in your summary. Discuss with your teacher/ friend
whether and how much of the illustration you will need to include in your
summaries of the passages under Ex. (IV) above and in the exercises that
follow in subsequent units.
Unit IV : Gist Writing
 Gist Writing

A gist is a very brief type of summary of a paragraph or a somewhat

longer passage sometimes in only a sentence or two. Gist writing like
summary writing requires you to do the following:

1) Select only the main idea(s) from the passage keeping the
overall passage in view.

2) State these in a sentence or two making sure you have the

exact focus or emphasis of the passage.

3) Omit from it the illustrative/ supportive information that may

seem interesting to you but is not important to the gist or
summary.

To understand the correct focus of the passage it is important to

understand the relationship of the main ideas with the supporting
information. This relationship is indicated by, what are called, signals of
coherence. A well-written paragraph, therefore, has besides a central
controlling idea and supporting information, coherent connections
between the parts of the paragraph. This coherence is created by the use
of transitional signals, pronouns, repetitions, substitutions etc.,
which emphasize the relationship between the parts of the paragraph. For
example, the words highlighted in the passage repeated below are the
transitional signals which indicate the logical connections that create the
coherence of the paragraph:
33 The burning of coal is very wasteful of energy. This can be
realised when we remember that one pound of coal burned in
the furnace of a power station will raise (=produce) enough
steam to drive a generator that will produce enough current to
light a one-bar electric fire for three hours. On the other hand, if
all the energy in the atoms of a pound of coal could be released,
there should be enough energy to drive all the machinery in all
the factories in Britain for a month.
(David Le Roi in Thornley)
 While the italicised expressions give us the relationship of the
content of the argument, the highlighted expressions (i.e., the signals
of coherence) establish the logical connections between the
sentences or sections of the paragraph. While the relationship of the
content may become easily clear, understanding the logical
connections is particularly important because it helps us to put into a
synopsis (or shortened version) the idea of the passage. Thus in the
example above, the comparison of coal and its atoms in terms of
energy generated is made clear by the expressions ‘This can be
realized’ and ‘On the other hand’, It clarifies the focus of the
argument, which may be seen in the summary statement ‘Burning of
coal as it is for energy, is more wasteful than harnessing the energy
in the atoms of the coal’.

Exercises

(A)Read carefully each of the following passages and answer the

questions below, which lead you to forming the gist of the
passage. Underline the coherence signals and these should
help you (The coherence signals in the first passage are
highlighted for you):

34 Many small animals including slugs and snails, woodlice,

centipedes, come out at night because they do not have
waterproof skins. The air is, always, more moist at night, and the
animals are less likely to dry up and die than they are in the
daytime. Hedgehogs, mice, toads, and similar creatures are also
active at night. This is because they feed on the smaller
nocturnal (night-active) animals. The chain then passes on to a
second tier of predators, including foxes, badgers, stoats and
owls. It is less easy to see why animals like rabbits should be
active at night, but it may be a way for them to avoid eagles,
buzzards, and other diurnal (day-active) birds of prey,’
(110words)

IMany animals are mentioned in this paragraph, but the message of

the writer is not to make a list of animals but to convey a
specific idea about them. What is the main distinction in their
activity that the writer is talking about?
 IIAmong the coherence links highlighted in the paragraph, separate
the transitional signals from the repetitions.

IIIThere are 3 reasons mentioned in this paragraph to explain why

the animals are active at night. Mention them and illustrate
each with two examples of the animals.

IVWrite a gist of the passage in about 60 words by combining your

answers to Exercises I and III above.

35The owls are supremely suited to capturing small rodents and

other animals at night. Their eyes are more efficient than our own.
The large ‘window’ at the front lets in the maximum amount of
light, and the round lens produces a bright image. The eyes look
forward like our own, and the owl can judge distances very
accurately. It plunges down towards its prey and thrusts out its
talons to make the kill. The prey is taken by surprise because the
owl flies silently. Delicate fringes on the front edges of the feathers
eliminate the noise of air rushing over the wings.
(90 words)

IThe opening sentence makes a very general statement indicating

the theme of the paragraph. Choose two factors from each of
the following sets, which help make the owl an effective night
hunter.

1. 1. maximum light;2. the large window;3. round lens;4 talons

thrust out
2. 1. judging distances accurately; 2. surprising the prey; 3. the
fringe of the feathers;

4. air rushing over the wings.

II Combine your chosen answers to write a gist of the passage in two

sentences.
 36For a normal public supply of water, there are several reasons for
treating the water to purify it. First, there is turbidity. Turbid
water has small particles of solids suspended in it, so it will be
cloudy or muddy to look at. Then there is colour, and colour is
not the same as turbidity. Clear water can still have colour, if,
for example, iron salts are dissolved in it; but wholesome water
should be colourless. Purification should also remove taste and
odour (unpleasant smell), and it may be necessary to remove
the algae (water-plants of very simple form) which grow in
water ----- especially in a reservoir (large storage tank).

Then, most important of all, the water must be made free from
contamination from sewage, or free from pathogens --- those
organisms which carry disease. This is tested by measuring the
water’s freedom from certain bacteria.
(135 words)

IWhat are the five reasons for treating water to purify it?

IIWhich words /expressions are used to signal the different sections

of the paragraph containing these reasons?

IIIPut these reasons together very briefly in a gist of not more than 20
words.

371 The synthesis of carbohydrate is usually referred to as

photosynthesis or carbon assimilation and occurs in all green
plants in sunlight. 2 In most plants the completion of this
process is indicated by the appearance of starch in the leaf-
cells, though a few species never synthesize starch. 3 It is
probably preceded by a sugar such as glucose, but this does
not accumulate.

4 It has been generally recognised that the synthesis of

carbohydrate is dependant on the presence of light, the green
substance chlorophyll and a supply of carbon dioxide and water,
together with other factors that probably affect the rate of synthesis
but do not actually control it.
 IRead the following statements carefully and indicate whether they
are ‘True’ or ‘False’ according to the passage:

a) Photosynthesis is a synthesis of carbon.

b) It occurs in green plants only.

c) All plants show starch in the leaf-cells when photosynthesis is

complete.

d) Some plants do not show any starch.

e) Photosynthesis is the making of carbohydrates in green plants.

IIa) Which of these statements will help to formulate a gist of the first
paragraph?

b) Which sentences in the paragraph become superfluous to the gist?

c) What are the transitional signals in the sentences that indicate

this?

IIIa) What are the three conditions on which photosynthesis

depends? Where do these occur in the
paragraph?

b) Which transitional signals mark off the information superfluous to a

gist of the paragraph?

IVPrepare a gist of the passage in 30 words.

38 1The important thing about laser light is that it is coherent (=

holding together: working as one thing). 2 The individual light rays
are all of the same wavelength or colour, and are all in step i.e.,
moving at the same rate as each other. 3 A laser beam differs
from a beam of ordinary light in both character and effectiveness,
in the same way that a platoon of well-drilled soldiers differs from
a disorganized mob.
 4 When light waves from a laser march in step, they can perform
amazing feats. 5 The reason is that their energy is not dissipated (=
scattered) as the beam spreads out. 6 This makes for an intense
concentration of energy at a very sharply defined point. 7 It also
greatly extends the range of a light source i.e., the light can reach
great distances to the target or objective.

8 Three of the many spectacular achievements of the laser

demonstrate how the properties of coherent light can be put to work:

9 Because its light does not spread out even at great distances, a
laser can illuminate the surface of the moon with a two-mile-wide
circle of light.

10 Because its energy is concentrated at a fine point, it can send

a short searing pinpoint of light into the human eyeball to weld a
detached retina back into place and restore sight.

11 And since its radiation is so intense, it can burn holes in a steel

plate 0.125 inches thick at a distance of several feet. 12 A laser
can weld metals as well as retinas. 13 But here, too, its use is for
precise work, as in making micro-electronic circuits. 14
Nevertheless, large lasers mounted atop high mountain peaks are
being developed to provide a defence against intercontinental
ballistic missile warheads

Exercises

Ia) What is meant by the coherence of laser light?

b) Which sentences contain the explanation?

c) Is there an illustration to clarify this explanation? In which

sentence?

IIa) What are the three great properties of laser light? In which
sentences are these mentioned?

b) Which words signal a statement of these properties?

 IIIa) What are the three special ways in which these properties help?

b) With which words are these signalled in the text?

IVWrite a summary of the passage, using scientific vocabulary, in

about 90 words.

(B)Read carefully each of the five pieces of text (39 – 43) that follow
overleaf. For each (Famous Lives) text, attempt the Exercise I
and II which follow on the next page.

(Passages 39 – 43 + Famous Lives – (2 sheets) overleaf)

IIIn each of the above groups consider the sentences (1, 2, 3, 4)
which you did not select as your answer to Ex. I above.
Say whether each of these
a) states no achievement.
b) states a less important achievement.
c) states the result and not the cause of the fame.
d) gives a partial account of the achievement.
e) states a wrong/ partially true achievement.
Unit V : The Main Idea and Supporting Information:
Patterns of Organization
 The Main Idea and Supporting Information: Patterns of
Organization

We have seen that supporting information develops the main or

controlling idea in a paragraph in order to make it convincing and
effective. This supporting information need not be only illustration
and examples as we have already seen. There are broadly two
general methods by which the controlling idea may be developed,
and the supporting information gets organized. The first is an
analysis of the total idea into its component parts (such as a
definition or an explanation of a term or phenomenon, a
classification of types, or a sequence of stages in a process). A
second method of development is support that is, confirming or
clarifying the idea of the topic sentence through some kind of
elaboration or explanation (through details, evidence, examples,
illustrations, or reasoning).
The paragraphs that follow illustrate how general methods of analysis
and support are used to develop a central idea. Following these we shall
show how various patterns of logical connection may be used in
developing not just a paragraph but also a whole theme over a longer
passage, which could be useful in perceiving the essential focus of the
summary. The signals of coherence include pronouns, repetitions,
substitutions and sentence connectors or signals of transition (showing
logical, time or space connections). We shall focus in this unit on the
transitional signals. These are italicised in each of the passages for you.
Observe these carefully as these will help you to identify the
organizational focus of the passage.
 A: Analysis of the Main Idea

The idea in the topic sentence of a paragraph can be analysed or

explained in different ways:

1. Definition/ Description

At some point a key term with an unfamiliar meaning needs to be

defined. So, also, a term that one needs to give one’s own meaning to. In
scientific texts a definition places a term in a class and then gives details
to distinguish it from other members of the class. But in simple expository
prose, a term can be defined or described or explained in different ways.
Thus, as in an earlier passage, a dolphin is very simply described in terms
of how it is similar to a porpoise or whale and how it is different from fish,
as follows:

21 The dolphin, like the porpoise and the whale, is not a fish but a
mammal.2 It is warm-blooded --- that is, its body heat remains
the same, whether the water is warm or cold --- and it has
lungs instead of gills: this means that it cannot breathe under
water like a fish, but must come to the top to breathe air. 3 Its
young are born alive and suckled on milk by their mother. 4 In
all these things the dolphin is like other mammals and differs
from the fishes. 5 The tail fin of a dolphin is also unlike that
of a fish, for it is flat instead of upright.

Or, again, a Kitchen Garden, to reproduce an earlier passage, is

explained a little differently as follows:

13A KITCHEN GARDEN, as the name implies, is the garden

around or near the house. Raising a kitchen garden is a
fascinating experience. The greatest satisfaction a family
gets from it is dining on the harvest, which means
vegetables produced in the home garden are used in their
most fresh state. Besides producing food for the family,
the kitchen garden beautifies the house as it also includes
 trees, flowering shrubs, creepers, grass and plants. The
kitchen garden is not a new innovation as even in the
olden days and in backward areas families grew some
vegetables near the house for use by the family.

2. Classification of Kinds or Parts

Classification is a process of taking a jumble of things and ideas and

arranging them into groups or classes according to their common
characteristics. For example, in the following paragraph, used earlier, the
various parts of clocks are classified into two important groups of
mechanisms:

44Ordinary clocks have two important parts. 2 One part consists of a

mechanism, which moves regularly second by second. 3 The
other part, which is connected to the mechanism, tells us the
hours, and minutes, of the day.

Or again, in the following paragraph, the kinds of dolphins are

classified in terms of two broad kinds, the river and sea dolphins, and
two sub-varieties: the common and the bottle-nosed kind.

45There are so many kinds of dolphin that the list of names

given to them by the experts is a long one. 2 Some kinds
live in the great rivers of China, India and South America,
but when most people think of dolphins, they think of the
kinds that live by the sea. 3 This is not surprising, for
dolphins are found both in warm and in cooler seas in
many parts of the world. 4 The two chief kinds are the
common dolphin of the Mediterranean and the bottle-
nosed dolphin. 5 The common dolphin is usually about
eight feet long and is shaped like a fish. 6 The bottle–
nosed dolphin is larger than the common dolphin and may
reach a length of twelve feet.

(Child’s First Encyclopaedia )

 3. A Sequence of Ideas

A paragraph can develop a progression or sequence of ideas with

each following another in a necessary order. The order may be one of
space as in a physical description, or one of time as in a narrative.
This structure may also be used to list a sequence of details of
description, or a variety of concrete or situational examples to make
the phenomenon in the central idea clear. Or it may also be used for
relating a chain of causes or consequences or for describing a
reasoning process. To cite an earlier passage, the paragraph below
indicates a sequence of stages in the development of a frog, which
follow both a time and a space order. The coherence signals of time
are indicated in italics and those of space are underlined:

____________________________________________

141 Frogs and toads give us an opportunity of studying the

marvellous development of an egg into a complete animal.
2 This involves a metamorphosis (a complete change of
shape and of way of life) that seems like magic. 3 You can
watch every stage of it. 4 With the onset of the rains, in
almost any weedy pond, the females lay several thousand
tiny blackish eggs, each the size of a grain of sand, and
covered with a coat of transparent jelly. 5 Some weeks
after the tadpole emerges, and its hind legs begin to grow.
6 Up to this point, the tadpole will have lived by nibbling
the green stuff, but now it begins to need animal food and
if kept in an aquarium, should be given tiny pieces of
cooked meat. 7 Then the front legs begin to appear, and
the whole tadpole undergoes its most remarkable change:
it ceases to have a two-chambered heart and gills and to
live like a fish. 8 Instead it develops a three-chambered
heart, and lungs, and breathes like a land animal. 9 The tail
shrinks, and now we have a miniature frog that needs to
come out of the water.

____________________________________________
 Exercises

A1) Identify the patterns of organization of the ANALYSIS kind used

in the following paragraphs. Also, underline the coherence
signals that indicate the pattern. Discuss these signals with
your teacher or a partner.

2) Write a summary of the passage using a pattern similar to the

original. Compare the coherence signals in both. (The first exercise is
worked out for you):

:
46Lacquer is got from the lacquer tree in the summer by making cuts
in the bark, or by cutting off one or two small branches. The
sap that flows from the cuts is white in colour, but it soon turns
first grey and then black. It is allowed to dry partly, but before
hardening completely it is formed into cakes and sent to the
market. The sap is boiled and carefully strained through a cloth
to make it fit for use.

Pattern: Process. Transition Signals: underlined.

Summary: The white sap collected from cuts made in the lacquer
tree soon turns black. It is then allowed to dry but is formed
into cakes before it hardens. It is then boiled and strained to
make it fit for use. (Coherence signals underlined.)

47There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the
standard sets and bestsellers ---- unread, untouched. (This
deluded individual owns wood pulp and ink, not books.) The
second has a great many books --- a few of them read through,
most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as
the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to
make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their
physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many ---
every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and
loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to
back. (This man owns books.)
48Most insects start life as eggs. The baby insects that hatch out
have no wings and often look very different from adults.
Butterflies, for example, go through a caterpillar stage and young
bluebottles are maggots. The big change of the adult stage takes
place in the pupa or chrysalis. Young earwigs and grasshoppers,
on the other hand, resemble the adults quite closely. They
gradually acquire wings as they grow up.

49A tree in the forest, old with too many springs (= years), is
conquered by flourishing fungal parasites; on a day of high
wind it falls. The saprophytes slowly devour the log’s tissue.
Gradually they themselves decay and become food for other
saprophytes. The bacteria then take over. There are many
linked species, each reducing the dead stuff to forms more
elemental. At last, the nitrifying bacteria, both by their living and
their multitudinous dying, release nitrates into the soil. Rain and
soil water dissolve them. The roots of bracken, spring where
the old tree grew. They absorb the nitrates, and they are life
again.

[7 more passages 50 – 56 (2 sheets) to follow overleaf ]

 Some exercises may be discussed with the teacher (All answers are not
provided)
 B: SUPPORT
A central idea may get supported in one or more of several different
ways:

1. Details / Examples / Illustrations / Evidence:

You will have observed by now that the use of details, examples, and
illustrations is almost indispensable to all kinds of paragraph organization.
Complex ideas cannot become clear without details or examples to
support the argument or illustrate a point. Debatable ideas cannot be
convincing without evidence. Abstract ideas are intangible without
specifics. Generalizations without support are empty. To illustrate, look at
the passage of the clowns, which lists examples of why the clown is loved
by children:

1 1 Boys and girls enjoy the performers in a circus, but they

love the clown. 2 Why is that? 3 It is because everything
about him is funny. 4 His jokes and stories are funny. 5 His
clothes never fit. 6 His face is thickly covered with white
powder, except for parts which are painted a bright red. 7 He
plays musical instruments, climbs ropes, leaps merrily, and
is always falling down and making silly mistakes.

Or again, look at the evidence supplied to validate the statement that

the growth of population is almost entirely due to advances in medical and
ancillary sciences:

_______________________________________________

57 The growth of population has not been caused by a sudden

increase in human fertility, and probably owes little in any
part of the world to an increase in birth-rate. It has been
caused almost entirely by advances in the medical and
ancillary sciences, and the consequent decrease of the
death-rate in areas where the birth-rate remains high. It is
illuminating to consider the impact on population growth of
even a single discovery in medical science. DDT is an
 outstanding example. The story of DDT as an adjunct to
public health campaigns in 1945, when two members of the
Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad spent a weekend
in British Guiana. The Health Officer reported that the
extremely high infant mortality rate of 250 or more was due
largely to insect-borne diseases. They told him of DDT.
Shortly afterwards, he was able to get enough to spray by
airplane a 10 miles area, including the city of Georgetown.
Results were instantaneous. By 1948, the infant mortality rate
dropped to 67. As a result, that small area had one of the
most rapid rate of population increase ever recorded.

(R.A.Close)

_______________________________________________

2. List of Causes /Reasons /Conditions:

An idea may be analysed in terms of the causes or reasons which give

rise to the phenomenon described in the idea. Thus, we have a list of
reasons for treating water for its purification in the following passage:
_______________________________________________

58For a normal public supply of water, there are several reasons

for treating the water to purify it. First, there is turbidity.
Turbid water has small particles of solids suspended in it,
so it will be cloudy or muddy to look at. Then there is
colour, and colour is not the same as turbidity. Clear water
can still have colour, if, for example, iron salts are
dissolved in it; but wholesome water should be colourless.
Purification should also remove taste and odour
(unpleasant smell), and it may be necessary to remove the
algae (water-plants of very simple form) which grow in
water ----- especially in a reservoir (large storage tank).
Then, most important of all, the water must be made free from
contamination from sewage, or free from pathogens --- those
organisms that carry disease. This is tested by measuring the
water’s freedom from certain bacteria.
(J. H. Stephens)
 Description:

Description is often required in expository writing – writing designed to

expose (to set forth or recreate) its non-fictional subject. It is also needed
in narrative writing. Expository description is used to portray a subject,
giving concrete details and specifics to make it come alive. The central
idea usually expressed in a topic sentence, guides the selection of details
and their arrangement so that the paragraph yields either a single
dominant impression or several features of a more diverse or complex
impression. Look at the simple description of the beauty of the night sky in
a passage used earlier:
_________________________________________________________
_____________
3The night sky has a beauty we can all enjoy. The stars sparkle
like jewels on a velvet backcloth. The moon, ever changing
its shape, pours its silvery light into the darkness. At first
sight, the night sky appears to be filled haphazardly with
stars. But, after a while, we find that we can recognize
patterns of stars and thus find our way through the
heavens. By studying the heavens, we become
astronomers. The Chaldeans and Babylonians were skilled
observers of the heavens over 5,000 years ago.

4. Narration:

Expository writing frequently contains a retelling of an incident or a

series of incidents. But unlike fiction where narration is used primarily to
advance a story, exposition uses narration to make a point or establish
some generalization. It makes use of chronological order not to tell an
event but to explain a process. The following paragraph used earlier, tells
us how rare earths were formed over billions of years:
_________________________________________________________
_____________
241 Do you know that the sand of which you make castles when
playing on a sea- beach might contain particles of valuable
mineral substances? 2 If it does it will get the glorious
name ‘Rare Earths’. 3 These Rare Earths have a wonderful
story behind them. 4 Once upon a time they were rocks in
the range of mountains running parallel to the sea. 5 But
 there was the rain, bit by bit, every year. 6 The rain water
carried the Rare Rocks, as they should have been called
then, into the sea. 7 But it was not an ordinary sea; it was a
sea with a generous heart. 8 It took pity on the mountains,
which allowed the rain to do this mischief to them and
decided to give back the valuable substances it had got,
and more than that. 9 The good sea ground the rocks into
small particles, sorted out the different minerals it had
received and deposited each type in a bed on the beach.

5. Comparison and Contrast:

Comparison and Contrast are usually used to clarify a central idea.

Likenesses or differences between two or more items are pointed out in
order to define one or both items more clearly, as in the case of fish and
mammals in the passage of the dolphins above.

6. Cause and Consequence:

Expository writing often deals with causes and results. The question
Why? or How? or What will be the outcome? is answered in any of
several patterns. It may be a list of causes or effects. It may describe the
causal connection between two single events. Or the events may be
multiple. Or a whole series of causal links may be involved. Look at the
causal connection between tides and the force of gravity of the Sun, Moon
and Earth explained in the following paragraph used earlier:
_______________________________________________

6Tides are another force that move the waters of the oceans.
They are caused by gravity between the Moon and the Earth
and the Sun and the Earth. The force of gravity pulls the
water like a magnet and as the Earth spins, the part of the
ocean pulled most strongly changes. In each 24-hour period,
two high and low tides sweep around the globe rather like
giant waves. Near land the difference is much greater. The
highest tides occur when the Sun and Moon are in line and
are pulling together.
 (Piccolo)

7. Reasoning /Argument:

Very often a statement made in a piece of writing may need an

explanation or argument to make the statement convincing. This may call
for a line of reasoning or a sequence of ideas presented in a logical
progression. In the following paragraph, used earlier, the intimate
relationship between life and the environment, from its earliest beginnings
and through every moment of our lives (how we would no longer be
ourselves if we were transported to another planet) leads up convincingly
to the statement that life and environment are, in fact correlates.
_______________________________________________

591 If we think of our environment as simply the outside world,

as something that surrounds and “environs” us, we
underestimate its role. 2 The relation of life and
environment is extremely intimate. 3 The organism itself,
the life structure, is the product of past life and past
environment. 4 Environment is present from the very
beginning of life, even in the germ cell. 5 We think of our
organisms as ourselves, and environment as that which
lies outside us. 6 But the environment is more than a
conditioning factor of life that can be conceived of apart
from it. Imagine that we were suddenly transported to a
much larger planet. 7 Our bodies would instantly become
much heavier, and that alone would involve a myriad of
other differences. 8 We should no longer know ourselves,
nor assuming that we could exist at all, be ourselves. 9 We
never know life except in an appropriate environment, to
which it is already adjusted. 10 Life and environment are,
in fact correlates.
_______________________________________________

9. Problem & Solution:

The central idea may present a problem and the rest of the
paragraph(s) offer or suggest the solution, as shown in the mini text
below.
‘Pollution is a problem; polluted seas and rivers are health hazards.
One solution is to ban the dumping of industrial wastes.’
However, it is more likely that the problem may extend over a whole
paragraph or two and the solution may follow in subsequent paragraph(s).
In the following passage, the problem of the common cold is outlined in
the first two paragraphs, while the solution and its evaluation are offered
in the subsequent paragraph:

60The most common of all diseases are colds. For a long time,
scientists have been trying to discover the cause of colds,
but they have only partially succeeded. When we have a ,
many kinds of bacteria are found in the nose, mouth and
throat. But the same bacteria are also found in the same
places when we do not have a cold.

It is now believed that colds are caused by very small living

things called viruses. Viruses are much smaller than bacteria.
When we catch cold the viruses start to grow on the smooth
linings of the mouth, nose and throat, and cause little breaks or
openings in these smooth linings. Different kinds of bacteria
then break through the linings and begin to grow. The growing
bacteria then make the linings very sore and give off the poisons
which make us feel sick.

Many medicines for the cure of colds are sold, but few of
them work very well. The best way to cure a cold is to go to bed.
Rest gives the body a chance to fight the harmful bacteria, and
often prevents the more serious diseases that sometimes follow
colds.

Exercise

A)Identify the patterns of organization of the SUPPORT kind

used in the following paragraphs. Also, underline the coherence
signals that indicate the pattern. Discuss these signals with your
teacher or a partner
1.

B) Write a summary of the passage using the pattern of the

original. Compare the coherence signals in both. (The first exercise is
worked out for you):

Example:

61 Cotton grows best on well-drained soils, but it needs plenty of

water, especially in the growing season. The climate has to be
fairly hot. The best places for cotton growing are countries where
the rain falls in frequent but not too heavy showers and there is
plenty of sunshine between. Cotton plants are easily hurt by
frost, and need a growing season of about two hundred days. A
hard frost kills them, and if frost comes after the seeds have
been planted it usually means that the farmer has to replant his
fields. A frost at harvest time injures the top of the plant and so
makes the yield poor. After the flowers have blossomed, cotton
does best in dry, sunny weather, which makes the bolls burst
open. Cotton-picking can then begin.

Pattern: ‘List of Conditions’.

The paragraph lists the conditions in which cotton grows best.
These are indicated by coherence signals(italicised) like: but it needs,
has to be hot, where, etc., and are traced right up to the point of the
picking of the cotton bolls. It also mentions conditions harmful to
cotton growing (indicated by: but not too heavy showers, A hard frost
kills, etc.)

Summary: Cotton grows best on well-drained soils, in a hot climate

with frequent but not too heavy showers/ rains and plenty of sunshine
in between. Frost is extremely harmful to the cotton plant. Dry, sunny
weather after the flowers have blossomed helps the bolls burst open
and then cotton picking can begin. ( Coherence Signals italicised &
underlined)

(10 Passages 62 - 71 (3 sheets) to follow in print)

Unit VI : Patterns of Information Organization: The
Paragraph and Short Passages
 Patterns of Information Organization: The Paragraph and
Short Passages

Paragraphs and patterns, therefore, as we have seen, do not always

operate on a one to one basis. Sometimes, a pattern may extend beyond
a single paragraph to two or even three paragraphs depending on the
instalments of information or the kinds of ideas grouped together. For
example look at the following definition of ‘Lifts’ extending over two
paragraphs, the first describing what a lift is, in terms of how the machine
works and the second tells you where these are generally found or the
purposes for which they are used:
72A LIFT is a power-driven machine which can raise or lower a
platform or a car inside a shaft called a “hoistway”. The
car may carry either passengers or goods, and usually
moves between steel guide rails.
Lifts are usually found in tall buildings, but are also used, of
course, in mining and other work underground.
_______________________________________________

On the other hand, as in all skilful writing, a paragraph may use a

combination of organizational patterns. In the following paragraph the
topic is developed with a specific example, which is then explained in
terms of cause and effect. The phenomenon of every society carrying
within itself the seeds of life and its own potential death (topic) is
explained with a specific example of the United States. It explains how the
progress of the country within a democratic pattern carried the seeds, of
its potential death: i. e., the progress was also the cause of its potential
death:

73Every system of society carries within itself the seeds of life and
its own potential death. Democracy in the United States had a
favoured childhood. The continent was there to conquer, and
opportunity beckoned to all who had the strength to reach out
for it. The land was stored with riches, which were recklessly
and lavishly spent and, though the wealth was not distributed
equally, it did provide for the majority of Americans the
 highest standard of life to be found in the world. Under such
circumstances, democracy could thrive, and the potentialities
of its death be kept down. But the economic system has
changed to the disadvantage of the individual. Industrialism
and concentrated finance shifted power to the relatively few,
and political power has not been able to restore to the
individual his full economic initiative. Indeed, it may never
achieve this restoration. The old birthright may already be
lost in its original form. And this may be the potentiality of
death within our democracy, a postulation which deserves the
most searching thought.

Such combinations may be used over shorter and longer passages. It is

important, therefore, to understand these organizational patterns in order
to be able to retrieve the essential focus of the passage.

Exercise

Read each of the following passages carefully, observing the pattern(s)

of organization used. Write a brief summary of each passage trying to
retain the correct focus of the passage. Discuss your answers with your
teacher /or friend.

(5 passages 74 - 78 (2 sheets) to follow in print)

Unit VII : Coherence in Texts: The Paragraph and
Longer Passages
 Coherence in Texts: The Paragraph and Longer Passages

A paragraph is coherent when the relationships between parts of the

paragraph are clear, smooth and logical. The reader moves easily from
one sentence to the next and from one idea to the next, seeing their
connection to one another and to the paragraph’s central idea. There are
two means commonly used to achieve this flow of thought: 1) a logical
sequence of ideas, and 2) the use of functional transition devices. The
sequence of ideas is contained in the key words while the logical linking of
the ideas is done with devices like repetition, restatement, parallel
structures and transitional signals. Once the coherence pattern is clear, a
well-focussed summary becomes easier and the transitional devices
serve as guidelines. We shall look more closely, through illustrations, at
how this happens.

1Ideas in Logical Sequence

We have seen, in the preceding units, that the relationship between the
central or controlling idea and the supporting information follows a plan or
pattern of development such as exemplification, classification, definition,
comparison and contrast, reasoning and so on. The following paragraphs
illustrate some of the arrangements of ideas within the total paragraph
structure.

1. Idea Sequence: A Logical Progression

In the following paragraph, as explained earlier, the italicised

phrases indicate the sequence of ideas while the highlighted
transitional signals trace the logic of the argument.

_______________________________________________
33 The burning of coal is very wasteful of energy. This can be
realised when we remember that one pound of coal burned in
the furnace of a power station will raise (= produce) enough
steam to drive a generator that will produce enough current to
light a one-bar electric fire for three hours. On the other hand, if
 all the energy in the atoms of a pound of coal could be released,
there should be enough energy to drive all the machinery in all
the factories in Britain for a month.

(David Le Roi in Thornley)

__________________________________________________

In the summarized version this would read as:

The burning of coal, in its natural form, is more wasteful than

harnessing the energy in the atoms of the coal. The underlined expression
indicates the crux of the argument.

2. Idea Sequence: Space /Time Order

An order of visual space is used when some thing is being physically

described or a time order may be used when the history or progress of a
process or development is being described. We saw this in the example of
the ‘Frogs and Toads’ passage (21) in Unit V above, where a sequence of
stages in the development of a frog was described following both a time
and a space order. Another description of fishes follows, which uses a
time order to describe their evolution in the first three sentences (note
the underlined words), while the remaining four sentences, in the italicised
expressions, describe their physical makeup beginning with their scale-
covered bodies and ending up with the tail fin and other fins:

791 The fishes were the first animals with backbones on earth. 2
The early forms, many of them without jaws, have long since
become extinct, but there are about 20,000 species alive today. 3
About 5,000 of these live in fresh water and the rest are found in the
seas. 4 Almost all have scale-covered bodies, and they generally
have two pairs of fins, which correspond to the limbs of land-living
vertebrates. 5 These paired fins are generally concerned with
steering and braking. 6 The tail fin provides the driving force as the
body moves from side to side in the water. 7 The other fins provide
stability.

(CFC)
 _______________________________________________

3. Idea Sequence: Only Relevant Ideas:

An effective paragraph will have no irrelevant ideas creeping in. Look at

the following short paragraph used earlier, describing nocturnal animals
and giving reasons (in italics) why they are active at night. There is no
extra irrelevant information in the passage.

34Many small animals including slugs and snails, woodlice, centipedes,

come out at night because they do not have waterproof skins. The
air is always more moist at night, and the animals are less likely to
dry up and die than they are in the daytime. Hedgehogs, mice,
toads, and similar creatures are also active at night. This is
because they feed on the smaller nocturnal (night-active) animals.
The chain then passes on to a second tier of predators, including
foxes, badgers, stoats and owls. It is less easy to see why animals
like rabbits should be active at night, but it may be a way for them
to avoid eagles, buzzards, and other diurnal (day-active) birds of
prey,’

(Piccolo)

4. Idea Sequence: A Single Impression

Sometimes it is a single tone that binds all the details in a paragraph.
For example, all the italicised details in the following paragraph, used
earlier, describe the perennial heavenly beauty and the majesty of the
stars which attracted man to study them:
_______________________________________________
The night sky has a beauty we can all enjoy. The stars sparkle like
jewels on a velvet backcloth. The moon, ever changing its shape, pours
its silvery light into the darkness. At first sight, the night sky appears to be
filled haphazardly with stars. But, after a while, we find that we can
recognize patterns of stars and thus find our way through the heavens. By
studying the heavens, we become astronomers. The Chaldeans and
Babylonians were skilled observers of the heavens over 5,000 years ago.
 Devices for Transition & Coherence

Together with a coherent sequence of ideas in a paragraph, transitional

devices provide an additional guide to understanding the focus of the
passage. These devices are more explicit than the organic structure of the
thought pattern. They are of five kinds and may be illustrated through the
following paragraph. Three of these devices are indicated separately by
highlighting, italics and underlining and the other two are independently
explained below.

801 Why am I so bent on conversation? 2 For pleasure first, pure

selfishness, but also because conversation is a school for
thinkers and should be a school for democrats. 3 When one
finds supposedly educated people arguing heatedly over
matters of fact and shying away from matters of opinion: when
one sees one’s hosts getting nervous at a difference of views
regarding politics or the latest play; when one is formally
entertained with information games or queries cut out of the
paper about the number of geese in a gaggle; when the
dictionary and the encyclopaedia are regarded as final arbiters
of judgement and not as fallible repositories of fact; when
intelligent youth is advised not to go against the accepted
belief in any circle because it will startle, shock and offend --- it
is time to recognize, first, that the temper of democratic
culture is tested at every dinner table and in every living room -
--- just as much as at school, in the pulpit, or on the platform;
and second, that by this test and despite our boasted freedom
of opinion, we lack men and women whose minds have learned
to move easily and fearlessly in the perilous jungle of ideas.

(200 words)Jacques Barzun

__________________________________________________

1. Repetition of Key Words:

Repetition keeps the central idea before us as we read through
successive sentences. Barzun’s repetitions fall along two lines: those
having to do with the idea of “conversation” and those having to do with
the idea of “opinion” as shown by the italicised expressions in the
paragraph above.
2. Restatement:
All repetition acts as a connection, but restatement of aspects of the
central idea makes for more effective coherence Thus, the idea that free
thinking, even in little everyday matters, becomes conducive to building up
a democratic culture is stressed by the following restatements:
“-- conversation is a school for thinkers and should be a school for
democrats” in Sentence 2, is restated near the end of the long Sentence
3 as “that the temper of democratic culture is tested at every dinner table
and in every living room”
3. Pronouns and Demonstratives:
Pronouns and pointer words like “this” and “these” act as connecters by
referring back to the same idea in another sentence. Thus, we have “by
this test” in the second last line of Sentence 3 referring back to
“democratic culture is tested” used a little earlier.
4. Parallel Structure:
Repeated sentence patterns connect ideas by adding new thoughts to
an already established context. The parallel structure also points up a
similarity shared by the ideas. Thus, look at the underlined structures
beginning with “when –“ in the passage above, showing the various
instances of a lack of democratic temper.
5. Transitional Wording:
Transitional words and phrases carry the reader smoothly from one idea
to another and show a special relationship between the ideas. These
transitional signals are highlighted in the passage for you. Observe them
carefully. As mentioned earlier, they are good indicators of the focus of the
passage. Thus, these become useful in making a summary which might
read as follows (Note the concomitant transition signals being used in the
summary, which again, have been highlighted for you. You could try
matching these with the signals in the original passage):
Conversation, besides being pleasurable to me, is important because
it is a school for thinkers and democrats. The democratic culture is
tested at the dinner table and in the living room, as our experience with
arguments over politics or cultural matters shows. So also, our
experience with information entertainment and games and our advice to
young people on not going against accepted belief shows that we lack
men and women who can really boast of freedom of opinion.
 (75 words)
A transitional device, as we have seen, is used between or even
within sentences if it is needed to make the relation in thought clear to
the reader. Thus, when the summary paragraph above is written as shown
below without important transition devices [e.g., The democratic culture,
besides, and because (within the sentence) and So also (between
sentences)], the relations in thought are not clear:
Conversation, being pleasurable to me, is important for thinkers and
democrats. This is tested at the dinner table and in the living room with
arguments over politics or cultural matters. Our experience with
information entertainment and games, and with advice to young people on
not going against accepted belief is there. We lack men and women who
can really boast of freedom of opinion.

Some other commonly used transitional words and phrases may be

listed as follows:
Cause and Consequence: then /as a result /consequently /therefore
/accordingly.
Addition:and /also /next /second, third, etc /another /further
/likewise /additionally /one could also cite /furthermore
/in addition.
Comparison:Likewise / similarly /in the same way /by the same way /by
the same token.
Contrast: but /however /on the other hand /on the contrary /in
contrast /yet /nevertheless /regardless of.
Example and Illustration: for example, / for instance /specifically /that is.
Concession: after all, / though /although this may be true /even
though /of course /despite the fact that /that is not to
say.
Conclusion or Summary: in brief /to sum up /in short /to
summarize /in conclusion /hence /in as
much as /this being so.

Longer Passages:
In longer passages a transition device should be used between
paragraphs whenever it is needed to show logical sequence of thought.
For instance, if a paragraph presents a contrast to the thought of the
preceding one, the writer shows this relation by some connective like
However, But, Yet or Nevertheless. If a paragraph indicates a result
following from the discussion in the preceding paragraph, the writer may
use Therefore, Consequently, Accordingly, or some similar connective.
These devices serve as guideposts for the reader to show him/her the
course the theme is taking. Connection may also be made by means of
pronouns, parallel structures, repetition of words /phrases /statements or
restatement of an idea. These become valuable guidelines in identifying
the sequence of ideas and the pattern of organization in the paragraph/
passage and, therefore, also in writing a summary with the appropriate
focus.

Exercises
A) Find the devices for coherence in the following paragraphs/
passages in subsequent units; that is, pick out the transitional
words /phrases, repetitions, parallel phrasing, pronouns and so
on. (Use different codes to indicate these as shown in the
example below.)
B) Use these, if necessary, to identify the overall pattern of
organization.
C) Make a brief summary of the passage and compare the
transitional devices used in the summary with those used in the
original passage. Discuss your answers with your teacher. Two
sample exercises are worked out for you:

Two Examples :
81Our world is becoming ever more crowded and filled with
machines and gadgets. Making these things requires vast
amounts of raw materials. We also need vast amounts of
energy to drive machines, to provide heat and light, and to
power all forms of transport.
Some raw materials needed for manufacturing and energy are
grown. Trees provide wood for fuel, furniture, building, paper and so
on. Plants and animals provide materials such as wool, cotton and
leather. But today most of the raw materials and fuels we use come
from the ground such as iron and other metals, coal, oil and
gas. (90 words)
 A) Key to Answers: Italics without underlining for Pronouns;
Italics with underlining for Repetitions; Underlining only for
Parallel Structures; Highlighting for Transitional Devices.

B)Pattern of Organization:Problem and Solution

C) Summary: Our modern world of machines requires vast amounts of
raw materials to make them and to provide heat light and energy. Some
materials are grown e.g., trees that provide the wood for building and fuel,
animals that provide wool and leather. But many materials like metals, oil
and gas come from under the ground.
(50 words)

82The main places in which diamonds are found are in South

Africa, in the region around Kimberley, but they are also
found in the Congo, Brazil and India. At Kimberley, they are in a
curious kind of rock called “blue ground”. This is like a very stiff
clay composed of ground up rocks and containing many
minerals. Mixed with it are sharp stones and boulders of very
heavy rocks. The blue ground is found in deep pits, which may
be 700 yards across.

After the rock has been dug or quarried it is left out in the weather
to soften and crumble. It is then crushed, washed and sifted --- that
is, shaken over small holes to let the dust drop out --- until it consists
of clean sand and small stones. This is next scattered over greasy
boards, which are made to shake by machinery. The diamonds get
stuck in the grease while the other stones remain loose and are
washed away. After that the grease is washed off in a liquid and the
rough diamonds are collected.

A rough diamond looks like a very dull, shapeless pebble: it has to

be cut and polished before it will sparkle. Since it is a crystal, it splits
easily in directions parallel with the faces of the crystals of which it is
made up, and the first thing to do is to “cleave” in one or more of
these directions. This is done by experts who use a blade of steel and
strike it with a wooden mallet.
 Though it will split in certain directions, a diamond is very hard. It
cannot be scratched or cut except with another diamond or with
diamond dust. The cutting is usually done with another diamond,
which is made to turn at a high speed. When the main faces have
been cut, smaller faces or “facets” are produced by grinding the
diamond on a soft iron wheel with diamond dust and olive oil. The
sparkle of a cut diamond depends on the positions of the facets. Most
diamonds are very small but a few large ones have been found.
(350 words)

A) Key to Answers: Italics without underlining for Pronouns;

Italics with underlining for Repetitions; Underlining only for
Parallel Structures; Highlighting for Transitional Devices.

B) Pattern of Organization:Process (Time Order)

C) Summary: The diamonds in Kimberley are found in deep
pits in a clay like rock, called “blue ground’, composed of ground
up rocks, stones and minerals. The quarried rock is left in the
open to crumble and then crushed, washed and sifted to let the
dust drop out. The remaining clean sand and stones are
scattered over greasy boards, which are shaken by the
machinery so that the stones (diamonds) get stuck in the grease.
The grease is then washed away and the dull shapeless looking
diamonds are cut and polished to sparkle. The crystal (diamond)
is cut by experts with another diamond, which is made to turn at
high speed. After the ‘facets’ or faces are produced the grinding
or polishing is done on a soft iron wheel with diamond dust and
olive oil. The sparkle depends on the positions of the
facets.
(140
words)

(More passages 83-89 (2 Sheets) to follow in print)

Unit VIII : Superfluous Information
 Superfluous Information

The relationship between the main and subordinate ideas in

expository writing may sometimes be indicated very obviously and
clearly. The text of such a passage may be well sign-posted to help
us follow the argument. Look at passage 44, used earlier:

44 Ordinary clocks have two important parts. 2 One part

consists of a mechanism, which moves regularly second by
second. 3 The other part, which is connected to the
mechanism, tells us the hours, and minutes, of the day

The ‘two’ parts of the clock, in the main idea in Sentence1, are
clearly indicated with ‘One part ---’ and ‘The other part ---‘ in the
subordinate ideas in Sentences 2 and 3. A longer, similarly obviously
organized passage (43) could read like this:

Now look at the following passage:

90Causes of Disease

1 For many centuries it was thought that diseases were

caused by evil spirits. 2 Modern medical science, however, has
made great advances in the scientific investigation of the causes
of disease, and these causes are now grouped into a few general
categories. 3 The following are some of the main categories.

1Congenital causes of disorders: 4 These causes act within the

womb and result in disorders which are usually obvious at
birth such as mongolism, abnormalities of the nervous
system and deformities of the heart. 5 These disorders are
caused either by a fault in the chromosomal structure of
the fertilized egg or by damage caused to the developing
embryo in the womb. 6 A developing embryo can be
affected by a disease of the mother. 7 For example, during
the early months of pregnancy, German measles can lead
to abnormalities of the heart and ears. 8 The smoking of
 more than ten cigarettes a day by a pregnant woman may
retard the normal growth of the foetus in the womb. 9
Deformities may also be due to drugs taken during
pregnancy.

2Infection: 10 An enormous number of living things enter the

body’s tissues, grow there and cause disease. 11
Infectious agents act in different ways. 12 Viruses act
inside the cells. 13 The polio virus, for example, causes
paralysis by growing in and destroying a particular type of
nerve cell in the spinal cord. 14 Bacteria, on the other
hand, are mainly extracellular. 15 Malaria, which is still one
of the world’s greatest killers, destroys the blood’s red
cells. 16 It is caused by a tiny parasite, which is carried by
mosquitoes. 17 Its symptoms are a high fever, headache
and violent shivering. 18 It can result in chronic ill health
or death.

3Nutrition: 19 The effects of nutrition on health are both direct

and indirect as health depends in many ways on the
quantity and quality of diet. 20 Large numbers of people
suffer from chronic starvation, and devastating famine can
result from floods, droughts and poor harvests. 21 Even a
diet, which is quantitatively sufficient, can lead to disease
if it is deficient in vitamins. 22 A diet, which consistently
lacks a sufficient quantity of a particular vitamin, is certain
in time to give rise to the corresponding vitamin deficiency
disease.
(300 words)

In passage 90 above, the categories of the causes of disease are

clearly paragraphed with titles and numbering. Each paragraph contains
an explanation of the causes of disease under each category. Examples
of the diseases are also mentioned clearly. But, on the whole, in
comparison with passage 44 above, the information is less tightly
organized. For writing a summary of the passage, a good amount of the
information would be superfluous i.e., the information seems naturally
useful and interesting in the passage, but becomes unnecessary when
you are trying to give briefly the main intent of the passage to make a gist
or summary. Such superfluous information could distract us from the main
idea of the passage. Let us see how this happens:

Look at the first three sentences. What is the most important idea here
that would appropriately summarize the little extract? Which of the
following four options would seem to provide a good summary of the three
sentences?

a) Categories of causes of disease

b) Modern medical science of diseases

c) Evil spirits - the cause disease

d) Scientifically investigated causes of disease

If option d) best summarises the important idea in the first three lines let
us see what is wrong with the other three options. Option a) seems too
narrow and specific an idea and leaves out the concept of a scientific
perspective. Option b), on the other hand, seems too wide in scope to
form an appropriate condensation of the extract from the text, for it covers
the whole area of medical science of diseases. ‘Evil spirits cause disease’,
or the c) option, constitutes an interesting idea but does not convey the
appropriate focus of the subject because it talks about the view of people
in a pre-scientific era. Thus, while the opening sentence of the passage
makes an interesting introduction to the subject and therefore could
distract us while writing a summary, the main idea is contained in
Sentence 2. Sentence 1, therefore, becomes superfluous to the summary.

However, information that seems superfluous to the summary is not at

all superfluous within the passage. It is related to the main ideas of the
passage in different ways. The main idea may be rephrased or
paraphrased for better understanding or clarity. Sometimes the
background of the idea may need mention, or additional details or
elaborations may be required. Often illustration or exemplification might
become necessary. For example, the talk about ‘evil spirits’ in Sentence 1
of passage 90 informed us of how people in ancient times believed
diseases to be caused, a view that surprises and intrigues us because of
the medical awareness that people today have. The first sentence,
therefore, gives us a historical perspective on the causes of disease (i.e.,
a background of the earlier understanding of disease).

Let us examine another instance of superfluity. Look at the second

paragraph, which talks about the ‘Congenital Causes of Disorders’. This
main idea, that also titles the paragraph, is further explained in Sentence
5 as including two kinds of causes of the disorders. The resulting diseases
are named in Sentences 4, 7, 8 and 9. What, then, does the opening
Sentence 4 of the paragraph do? It tells us that ‘congenital’ means
‘act(ing) within the womb’. This explanation is implied in the word
‘congenital’ (a rephrasing) and could possibly be deleted from a summary
of the passage, to avoid redundancy or repetition.

The hierarchical information of the two congenital causes of disease in

the paragraph (of about 100 words) can be diagrammatically
represented as follows:
 The verbal version of this representation i. e., the summary could
read as follows:

The congenital group of causes of disease include a) a fault in the

chromosomal structure of the fertilized egg leading to mongolism, nervous
abnormalities etc., and b) damage to the embryo because of smoking,
drugs or German Measles during pregnancy leading to retardation of
normal growth and deformities.
(46 words)

The condensation of the 100+ words paragraph to a length of 46

words is achieved in two ways:

1) Deletion of fine details: The very fine details in the subordinate

ideas such as a ‘(damage to the embryo) during the early months
of pregnancy’, or again, ‘(smoking) of more than 10 cigarettes a
day’, and yet again, ‘(retardation of normal growth) of the foetus in
the womb’ etc., are omitted. These very fine details do not affect
 the meaning and focus of the summary. Their deletion is,
therefore, helpful in summarizing.

2) The combination of ideas across sentences 4-9 to form a

single sentence helps avoid repeated use of function words like
articles, prepositions and verbs or verbal phrases like ‘affected
by’, ‘caused by’ ‘may also be due to’ etc. This also becomes
possible because of the use of the active voice instead of the
passive used in the original text.
 Now read again Passage 90 carefully and try to fill in the numbered
blanks in the diagrammatic representation (below) of the passage and the
verbal summary: (You can later check back with the Answers)

Diagrammatic Representation Of (‘Causes of Disease’)

Passage 90

Verbal Summary of Passage

The causes of ---1---- can be grouped into three categories. The

congenital cause can ----2----- a fault in the chromosomal structure of the -
-----3----- ---4-- leading to mongolism, nervous abnormalities etc., or
damage to the ---5-- because of ---6---, drugs or German Measles during
pregnancy leading to -------7---- of normal growth and deformities. ----8--
infection in the second category can lead to diseases like polio and an
example of bacterial infection is ----9--. Under-nutrition in the ---10---
category can lead to starvation while qualitatively inadequate ----11--- can
cause vitamin or some other ----12-- disease.
 (94words)
(You may check your answers in the summary by referring to the
completed diagrammatic representation above)

Exercises

Each of the following passages is followed by exercises on picking out

the main ideas and identifying related information. However, all the related
information need not necessarily be included in the summary.

91The earthworms are amongst the commonest of animals. There

are a great many in all fertile soils. An acre of old grassland
may have three million earthworms beneath its surface,
weighing up to 610 kilograms. This is about the weight of the
cattle that can live on the grass on the same area.

Earthworms live below ground. They push their pointed end

between the bits of soil, making a space through which they can
move. If the soil is too tightly packed to allow this, the earthworms eat
their way forwards, swallowing soil in front of them and passing it out
behind them as they go.

The hole made by an earthworm is called its burrow. It is often

made in the form of a “U”, passing down into the soil and then up
again. The opening of the burrow is usually filled with leaves or twigs.
Some earthworms come to the surface to feed, usually at night, for
earthworms do not like strong light. The worm keeps its tail in its
burrow, ready to draw back quickly if danger threatens. With the front
end of its body it seeks any plant material that may be within reach.
Some earthworms like meat and some are very fond of chocolate.

Earthworms also feed on tiny bits of plant and animal matter in the
soil. Much soil is swallowed and passed through the body of the
worm as it burrows, and any small pieces of food that the soil
contains are used up as it does so. Some earthworms feed below the
ground all the time.

Earthworms are a great help to the farmer and the gardener. They
mix up the soil and make it full of holes so that air and water can pass
 freely into it. By passing soil through their bodies they help to turn
some of the substances in it into a sort of manure. Roots of plants
often grow down the burrows made by worms.

(-adapted from CFE)

(250 words)

IStated below are some of the ideas that seem to be expressed in

the passage.

A) Select the statement(s) that best help(s) to summarize the

passage.

B) Indicate whether each of the remaining statements is

1. repetitive of the main idea,

2. inaccurate or incorrect (according to the passage),
3. too general (broad in scope) to summarize the paragraph,
4. too narrow or specific in detail to be important for the summary.

(The exercises on the first paragraph are worked out for you).

Paragraph 1

a) The earthworms are the commonest animals.

b) There are many earthworms in fertile soils.

c) The earthworms weigh 610 kilograms.

d) The cattle on the land are as heavy.

{Example:

Answer: A) – b.

B) a- iii; c- ii; d- iv.}

Paragraphs 2 & 3:
 a) Earthworms always live below the ground

b) They burrow through all kinds of soils.

c) Some earthworms come out to feed on leaves and twigs.

d) Earthworms feed on the soil in the ground.

e) Earthworms stay underground to avoid dangers.

f) The burrows they make are U-shaped.

g) They feed on meat and chocolates in our homes.

h) Earthworms feed above and below ground.

Paragraph 4: & 5:

a) Earthworms are useful to the farmer and the gardener.

b) They provide passage for the roots of the plants.

c) They make the soil porous and fertile.

d) They provide air and water for the plants in the soil.

e) They provide manure for the plants.

f) They feed on the food contained in the soil.

IIFill in the blanks to complete a summary of the whole passage (The

blanks are numbered for your convenience):
Earthworms are very ---1--- in fertile soils. They burrow through
loose as well as ----2---- packed soils and leave the soil ---3----- and
fertile. They generally stay --4---- the ground to avoid strong -----5----
and feed on the food in the --6-----. The soil passed through their ---7-
- provides a kind of ---8---- for the plants and the --9------ provide a
passage for the ---10-- of plants.
(64 words)
 92The diamond is one of the most valuable precious stones, yet it is
made up entirely of the common element carbon, which we all
know in the form of coke , soot, charcoal and lamp-black. The
difference between a clear, sparkling diamond and these dirty
black substances lies in the way their atoms are packed
together. In the common forms they are not arranged in a
special way but are just heaped together anyhow.

Graphite, or black lead (the lead in pencils), is a form of carbon in

which the atoms are loosely arranged to form small plates, each with
six sides, but these are easily broken because the spaces between
the atoms are so wide. In a diamond, the atoms are packed as tightly
as possible. They thus form a crystal, which is usually shaped like
two pyramids joined base to base.

It takes a very great deal of pressure and heat to force the carbon
atoms so closely together, but it has been done by man. Diamonds
made in this way are very tiny and badly coloured. All the good
diamonds, suitable for making jewels for people to wear, are found in
the earth. At some time or other the rocks in which they were formed
must have been deep below the surface, where the heat is always
great and the pressure is far greater than man can produce.

(230 words)

(adapted from CFE)

Exercises

IStated below are some of the ideas that seem to be expressed in

the passage.92

A) Select the statement(s) that best help(s) to

summarize the passage.

B) Indicate whether each of the remaining statements is

1. repetitive of the main idea

2. extraneous(=outside) the passage or incorrect (according to the
passage),
3. too general (broad in scope) to summarize the paragraph
4. too narrow or specific in detail to be important for the summary.

Paragraph 1

a) Diamonds are made up of carbon.

b) Carbon is found in coke, soot, charcoal and diamonds.

c) Their atoms are packed in a special way in coke, soot and

charcoal.

d) In common diamonds the atoms are heaped anyhow.

e) Coke, soot, charcoal and lamp-black are dirty substances.

Paragraph 2

a) In graphite the atoms form plates.

b) In a diamond these plates are loosely packed.

c) In a diamond the atoms loosely form a crystal shaped like two

pyramids joined base to base.

d) The atoms are tightly packed in a diamond.

Paragraph 3

a) Man makes the best diamonds.

b) Diamonds are extracted from the earth.

c) Good diamonds are judged by their size and colour.

d) The heat and pressure in the diamond mine makes the best
diamonds.

e) Good diamonds are used for making jewellery.

 IIFill in the blanks to complete a summary of the whole passage (The
blanks are numbered for your convenience):
Diamonds are made of ----1---- atoms, which are ----2---- packed to
form a crystal ---3---- like two pyramids joined ----4---- to base. The
best ----5---- come from deep under the ---6------- where the heat and
-----7---- is far greater than ----8----can produce.
(44 words)

93Most young people enjoy some type of physical activity. It may be

walking, cycling or swimming. It may be a game of some kind –
football, hockey, golf or tennis. It may be mountaineering.

Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult

mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men
and women willing to suffer cold and hardship and to take risks on
high mountains? This astonishment is caused probably by the
difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to
which men give their leisure.

Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-

made rules as there are for such games as golf or football. There are,
of course, rules of a different kind which it would be dangerous to
ignore but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes
mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb
mountains are free to use their own methods.

If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we

might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a
‘team game’. We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no
matches between teams of climbers but when climbers are on a rock
face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is
obviously team-work.

The mountaineer continues to improve in skill year after year. A

skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most
international tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is far
from unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in
the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they
 probably climb with more skill and less waste of effort, and they
certainly experience equal enjoyment. (300
words)

Exercises

I Stated below are some of the ideas that seem to be expressed in

the passage.

A) Select the statements that together best help to

summarize the passage.

B) Indicate whether each of the remaining statements is

1. repetitive of the main idea

2. inaccurate or incorrect (according to the passage)
3. too general (broad/ vague in scope) to summarize the
paragraph/passage
4. too narrow/ specific in detail to be important for the summary.

a) Young people enjoy physical activity.

b) Mountaineering is a good physical activity.

c) Some people love mountaineering.

d) Some other people are astonished by this.

e) Climbing high and difficult mountains can be high and risky and
full of hardship.

f) Mountaineering is a sport not a game.

g) There are man-made rules in mountaineering.

h) Mountaineers can use their own methods.

i) There are unwritten rules for ensuring the safety of
mountaineers.

j) Ignoring these rules can be dangerous.

k) Mountaineering does not require team-work.

l) There is no competition in mountaineering.

m) Mountaineering is not for people past their thirties.

n) Mountaineering skills can improve with practise and increase

enjoyment.

o) Older people can climb with more effort than younger men and
women.

p) Old and young can enjoy mountaineering.

IIFill in the blanks to complete a summary of the whole passage (The

blanks are numbered for your convenience):
Mountaineering is not a ---1---- like hockey or tennis but a valuable
---2---- and physical activity. -----3----- are looked upon with
astonishment because of the --4---- and hardships they face at the
sport. ----5----- is different from other games because there are no
man-made ----6---- and one can use one’s own ----7----. However,
team work is important because as they climb in ---8-- the
mountaineers depend on the co-operation among ------9----. If other
games can be played best --10--- the age of thirty mountaineering
skills improve with ---11--- and both young and old can --12-- the
sport.

94The origin of many place names in Mumbai have become obscure

with time. The area of Lalbagh, in the heart of the former
“Girangaon” or “village of textile mills”, is one such example.
Parel-Lalbagh was once among the most affluent localities in
the city, primarily due to its proximity to Government House, the
residence of the governors of Bombay (now the Haffkine
Institute at Parel).
 Several prosperous citizens constructed palatial mansions here,
including Lowjee Castle and the house known as Lalbaug, built in
1972 on 10,000 square yards by Pestonjee Bomanjee Wadia, a
descendant of the master-craftsman Lowjee Nusserwanjee, whose
name will always be connected with the Bombay Dockyard and
shipbuilding. Eventually, V. Shantaram, the renowned film producer-
director-actor, purchased the land and the house was demolished to
construct the Rajkamal film studios.

There are many who believe that it was the stately Wadia mansion,
Lalbaug, that lent its name to the area. Not so it seems, according to
the older residents of Lalbagh Industrial Estate, who aver that both
the house and the area, Lalbagh, were named after the 14th century
dargah of a Muslim pir, Lal Syed Shah. The dargah has a well located
just outside its compound, which is used by local Hindu and Muslim
families who have lived in harmony for many decades. During the
riots of 1993, the dargah was set on fire but was quickly repaired by
local residents who state that it was “outsiders with vested interests”
who caused the destruction.

On the dargah is an inscription in Urdu, which, together with the

names of the donors of the marble platform, states, “Yeh Lalbagh
yaadgar Lal Shah Baba ka mandir hai” (This is the temple of Lalbagh
in memory of Lal Shah Baba). Close to this is the dargah of Lal Shah
Baba’s brother, Chand Syed Shah, also a pir.

(Sharada Dwivedi)

Exercises

IStated below are some of the ideas that seem to be expressed in

the passage.

A) Select the statement(s) that best help(s) to summarize

the passage.

B) Indicate whether each of the remaining statements is

1. repetitive of the main idea,
2. inaccurate or incorrect (according to the passage),
3. too general (broad/ vague in scope) to summarize the passage
4. too narrow or too specific in detail to be important for the
summary.

a) The origins of many place names in Mumbai have been

forgotten

b) Lalbagh was one of the most affluent localities in Mumbai.

c) Lalbagh is named after a sprawling mansion built by Pestonjee

Wadia in 1792.

d) He was also associated with the Bombay Dockyard and

shipbuilding.

e) Older residents maintain that Lalbagh was named after a 14th

century dargah of a Muslim pir named Lal Syed Shah.

f) The dargah was partially destroyed during the 1993 riots.

g) Local residents rebuilt it.

h) An inscription on the dargah mentions the reason for its name.

i) Close by is the dargah of Lal Shah Baba’s brother.

j) Lal Shah Baba donated the marble platform.

IIWrite a summary of the passage in about 40 words. Which details

would you add to Option e) to make a fuller summary?

95‘Not so long ago … from their children’ (Passage overleaf)

IStated after the passage overleaf are some of the ideas that seem
to be expressed in the passage.

A) Select the statement(s) that best help(s) to summarize the

passage.
 B) Indicate whether each of the remaining statements is

irepetitive of the main idea,

iiinaccurate or incorrect (according to the passage),

iii too general (broad/ vague in scope) to summarize the paragraph/

passage,

ivtoo narrow or too specific in detail to be important for the summary.

(Passage 95 overleaf)
a) Children were brought up on homely advice and instinct.

b) Advice came from the mother or mother-in-law.

c) Anxiety among parents has grown today.

d) There are more sources of information.

e) There is better communication and better technology.

f) The remote control has replaced the rattle.

 g) Plenty of complicated choices for modern Indian parents.

h) Parenting – an investment-centric science.

i) Can a child really learn more before the age of six than it can
ever again in his whole lifetime?

j) Is TV good or bad for the child?

k) Should he first learn to swim or sing?

l) Advice available from books, counsellors, classes and

cyberspace.

m) Grandma’s remedies and story telling no longer enough.

n) Parents today are more responsive than the traditional

unbending disciplinarian of earlier years.

o) Parents have high expectations from children.

p) Children are pressured to show achievements, sometimes,

beyond their scope.

IISummarize the passage in about 80 words by combining your

chosen points and including the examples as briefly as
possible.
Unit IX : Practice with A Variety of Styles in
Expository Texts
 Practice with A Variety of Styles in Expository Texts

Read through each of the following passages a couple of times and

answer the questions that follow, re-reading when necessary.
 Argumentative Writing

96The prophecies that the opening of the railways would bring ruin and
disaster upon landlords and farmers did not in the end prove true. The
agricultural communications, so far from being “destroyed” as had been
predicted, were immensely improved. The farmers were enabled to buy
their coals, lime and manure for less money, while they obtained a readier
access to the best markets for their stock and farm produce.
Notwithstanding the predictions to the contrary, their cows gave milk as
before, their sheep fed and fattened, and even skittish horses ceased to
shy at the passing locomotive. The smoke of the engines did not obscure
the sky, nor were farmyards burnt up by the fire thrown from the
locomotives. The farming classes were not reduced to beggary; on the
contrary, they soon felt that, so far from having anything to dread, they
had very much good to expect from the extension of the railways.
Landlords also found that they could get higher rents for farms situated
near a railway than at a distance from one. Hence, they became
clamorous for “sidings”. They felt it would be a grievance to be placed at a
distance from a station. After a railway had been once opened, not a
landlord would consent to have the line taken from him. Owners who had
fought the promoters before Parliament and compelled them to pass their
domains at a distance at a vastly increased expense on tunnels and
deviations, now petitioned for branches and nearer station
accommodation. Those who held property near towns and had extorted
large sums as compensation for the anticipated deterioration in the value
of their building land, found a new demand for it springing up at greatly
advanced prices. Land was now advertised for sale, with the attraction of
being “near a railway station”.

Exercises

‘The prophecies of the opening of the railways …near a railway station’

(see next page)
 1. What is the central idea of the passage? In which sentence is it
stated?
2. Which sentences elaborate the idea? Do they extend over one or
both paragraphs?
3. How are the points in Paragraph 1 different from those in
Paragraph 2?
4. Writ a summary in about 100 words.

VA. From the following options choose the most appropriate title for
your summary:

a) The Advantages of the Railways

b) Railway Prophecies

c) The Opening of the Railways

d) Disadvantages of Railways

B. For each of the options not chosen indicate the reason by

choosing from the options indicated below, to say whether the title
was

1. too broad in scope

2. too narrow (i.e., covering only part of the passage/ summary)
3. not in the spirit of the passage/ summary
4. irrelevant to the topic of the passage/ summary.
5. too vague

97 ‘1.Children approaching adulthood sometimes begin to regard the

adult both as a parent and as a symbolic representative of the adult world.
2. Much adolescent rebellion is a defiant “emancipation proclamation”
against any, and all adult authority, as such. 3. In response to this, adults
are apt to mobilize against youth as youth. The little incident of freshness
by a son, suddenly isn't Johnny being confused at all; it becomes “one of
those things modern youth want to do and we better show them where to
get off”. 5.Child and adult then view each other not as familiar persons,
but as symbolic representatives of a hostile group.
 6, As children become teenagers, parents often fear what the
neighbours may say, and so they are unable to allow the youngster to
behave in ways that might be quite temporary and normal for him at that
particular time, 7, This fear is perhaps strongest in small communities
where everyone knows everyone else. 8. Studies have shown that small-
town adolescent girls, on the average, experience more conflict with their
parents than any other adolescent group, a fact that is associated with the
tendency of their fathers to be stricter with them. 9. At times and in places
where the misdeeds of teenagers are magnified out of all proportion as
they are in the scares of juvenile delinquency that sweep across many a
community, even the most innocent mistake of a teenager may be
exaggerated into a portent of ominous significance that seriously blocks
communication between the generations.

11. Teenagers feel differently about their parents than they did as
children, or than they will as they become adults. 11. A child’s love for his
or her parents is a dependent, appreciative, even enthusiastic kind of
devotion. 12. Adolescent feeling for parents is normally less vocally
affectionate, and more openly critical than it has been before or will be
again. 13. Mark Twain observed that when he was sixteen he could not
understand how his father could be so stupid ; by the time he reached
twenty-one, he was amazed at how much the old man had learned In the
past five years!’
Exercises (on 97 above)
Paragraph 1

1) Is there a topic sentence in the first paragraph? If so, which one

is it?

2) Which sentences develop the idea in the topic sentence?

3) How is Sentence 4 related to the topic sentence?

4) What is the pattern of organization in paragraph 1?

5) Summarize the paragraph in about 30 words.

Paragraph 2

6) Does Paragraph 2 have a topic sentence? If so, which one is it?

 7) Is the idea in it elaborated before or afterwards? In which
sentences?

8) What is the relationship of Sentence 6 with the text around it?

9) What is the pattern of organization in paragraph 2?

10) Summarize the paragraph in 30-40 words.

Paragraph 3

11) Is there a topic sentence in Paragraph 3? If so, which one is it?

12) Is Sentence 13 important to a summary of the paragraph? Why?

13) What is the pattern of organization in paragraph 3?

14) Summarize the paragraph in about 30 words.

15) Combine your answers to Questions 4, 8 and 11 to make a

summary of the entire passage.

IIA. From the following options choose the most appropriate title for
your summary:

a) Parents and Adolescents

b) Attitudes of Teenagers and their Parents

c) The Generation Gap

d) Understanding Mark Twain’s Experience

B. For each of the options not chosen indicate the reason by

choosing from the options indicated below, to say whether the title
was

1. too broad;
2. too narrow (i.e., covering only part of the passage/ summary)
3. not in the spirit of the passage/ summary
4. irrelevant to the topic of the passage/ summary.
5. too vague

98
To begin with, in a primitive society, men satisfied their wants by
means of barter, which was the simple exchange of goods between
two individuals. This method involved two men meeting, each of
whom had something to offer which the other wanted. The chances of
such a meeting taking place were poor, and a society which lived by
barter was poor. Its economy made little progress, and the variety of
goods available was narrow. Man studied this problem and eventually
invented money. So, the first function of money is to act as a medium
of exchange. That, after all, is the purpose of all work by men: to build
up a surplus of goods and services which they do not want to
consume themselves, in order to exchange them for other goods and
services which they do want and the sellers do not want. In other
words, money has no intrinsic value. There may be such a person as
a real miser who gets pleasure out of counting his money and
gloating over it, but the ordinary man wants money merely to enable
him to buy the things he needs to make life worth living.

Let us repeat that very important remark. Money has no value in

itself. It is what money will buy that matters. That is what we mean by
the purchasing power of money. If our money buys us only a few of
the things we want, we are poor. If it buys us a lot of these things, we
are relatively well off. These remarks may seem statements of the
obvious, but many people do not appreciate their significance. That is
why economists speak of the monetary illusion or the veil of money.
Most men measure their wealth by the number of pounds which are
contained in their pay-packets or which stand to their credit at the
bank, and not by the goods and services which they can purchase
with their money.

One of the biggest and most important tasks that the economists
has, is to educate the general public in the true function and meaning
 of money. If we can get people to understand what money really is,
we have a background on which there is a direct change of building
up a stable economy.

IWhat are the patterns of organization in the three paragraphs?

IIExpand the following outline of the passage into a summary of about

135 words.

Barter in primitive society ------ Money a medium of exchange ------

No intrinsic value ----- worth only the goods and services it can buy ---
----- The purpose of all work: to produce surplus goods and services
which can be exchanged for goods and services needed ------- a
good credit in the bank a monetary illusion ---- proper understanding
of the function of money by the public important to establishing a
stable economy.

IIIA. From the following options choose the most appropriate title for
your summary:

a) Money and Barter

b) The Meaning of Money

c) Money makes the Mare Go!

d) The Importance of Money

B. For each of the options not chosen indicate the reason by

choosing from the options indicated below, to say whether the title
was

1. too broad in scope.

2. too narrow (i.e., covering only part of the passage/ summary).
3. not in the spirit of the passage/ summary.
4. irrelevant to the topic of the passage/ summary.
5. too vague.
 Narrative Writing

99The silence of the Reference Library was broken only by an

occasional cough and now and then by the scarcely audible sound of
pages being turned over. There were about twenty people in the room,
most of them with their heads bent over their books. The assistant
librarian who was in charge of the room sat at a desk in one corner. She
glanced at Philip as he came in, then went on with her work.
Philip had not been to this part of the library before. He walked around
the room almost on tiptoe, afraid of disturbing the industrious readers with
his heavy shoes. The shelves were filed with thick volumes: dictionaries in
many languages, encyclopaedias, atlases, biographies and other works of
reference. He found nothing that was likely to interest him, until he came
to a small section on photography, which was one of his hobbies. The
books in this section were on a high shelf out of his reach, so he had to
fetch a small ladder in order to get one down. Unfortunately, as he was
climbing down the ladder, the book he had chosen slipped from his grasp
and fell to the floor with a loud crash. Twenty pairs of eyes looked up at
him simultaneously annoyed by this unaccustomed disturbance. Philip felt
himself go red as he picked up his book, which did not seem to have been
damaged by its fall.
He had just sat down when he found the young lady assistant standing
alongside him. “You must be more careful when you are handling these
books”, she said severely. Satisfied that she had done her duty, she
turned to go back to her desk. Then a sudden thought struck her. “By the
way, how old are you?” she asked Philip. “Thirteen,” he told her. “You’re
not allowed in here under the age of fourteen, you know?” the assistant
said. “Didn’t you see the notice on the door?” Phillip shook his head. He
expected the assistant to ask him to leave, Instead, in a more kindly tone,
she said: “Well, never mind. But make sure that you don’t disturb the other
readers again, otherwise I shall have to ask you to leave.”

Exercises

IFor each of the paragraphs in the passage, pick out the actions or
ideas from those listed below, that are important to include in a
 summary of the passage. (Select a total of about ten points
only.):

Paragraph 1:

a) There was silence in the Reference Library.

b) Somebody coughed.

c) Twenty people were busy reading.

d) The assistant librarian sat in a corner.

e) She glanced at Philip.

Paragraph 2:

a) Philip was new to the library.

b) He walked on tip - toe.

c) He tried not to disturb the readers.

d) The library was full of reference books.

e) There was a section on photography.

f) Philip liked photography.

g) He used a ladder to reach the books.

h) The book he had chosen fell with a crash.

i) Philip was embarrassed.

j) The book was not damaged.

Paragraph 3:

a) The assistant librarian scolded Philip.

b) She asked him his age.

 c) Children under fourteen were not allowed to use the library.

d) Philip had not read the notice.

e) She did not ask him to leave.

f) She spoke to him kindly.

g) She was happy that he showed interest in reading.

h) She asked him not to disturb the readers again.

IIUse the selected points to write a summary of not more than 100
words.

IIIA. From the following options choose the most appropriate title for
your summary:

a) The Silence in the Library

b) Philip in the Reference Library

c) Philip’s Interest in Photography

d) Breaking the Rules of the Library

B. For each of the options not chosen indicate the reason by

choosing from the options indicated below, to say whether the title
was

1. too broad in scope.

2. too narrow (i.e., covering only part of the passage/ summary).
3. not in the spirit of the passage/ summary.
4. irrelevant to the topic of the passage/ summary.
5. too vague.

100Although I had ridden in many international races, I had never

been so excited as I was at the thought of this village competition. Every
year there was a big show at the village which included all sorts of
competitions-from a beauty competition to horse racing. It was extremely
popular, and among the competitors were people of all ages.
My host had offered to lend me his horse. Although it was not trained, it
had speed and I liked riding on it. For me the race had an added
attraction. A neighbour of my host’s was also competing, and he had said
that his horse would beat mine.
When we arrived at the racecourse, a running race was in progress.
Half a dozen runners were running round the course. There had been
some delay, and we were told that our race would begin after some time. I
went to look at my horse. While I was looking at it the neighbour came up,
riding his horse. His horse looked like a real racehorse, and I felt he would
easily beat me.
Soon it was time for our race. Eight horses with riders came up to the
start. We all started faultlessly. Before we had covered half the course, the
neighbour was in the lead; I was third. At the end of the second round-we
had to do four-the neighbour still had the advantage. But soon it was clear
that his horse had given of its best and was now tired. With every step it
seemed to slow down. Now the probability of the neighbour beating me
was not so high. In the meantime, I had shortened the distance between
me and the rider in front, and by the end of the third round the neighbour
had fallen into second position. Soon he and I were running second, with
the leader a few metres ahead of us. Now I knew that I would beat the
neighbour, and with luck I might even win the race. I had already improved
my position further, with the neighbour now coming third, and my horse
just a couple of metres behind the first horse. Bending low in my saddle, I
just touched my horse with the stick, and it shot forward. I could now hear
the horse in front breathing hard. As we straightened after the last curve,
we were running neck and neck. Then, before I knew what had happened,
I was ahead, with the finishing line rushing to meet us. I had won the
race.

Exercises

ICombine your answers to the following questions to write a summary

of the passage in about 100 words:

a) What made the author participate in the village race?

b) How many riders competed with him?

 c) What was the author’s position at halfway?

d) When and why did the author feel more confident of beating his
neighbour in the race?

e) What happened in the final lap of the race?

IIA. From the following options choose the most appropriate title for
your summary:

(A) The Village Race

(B) A Horse Race

(C) Slow and Steady Wins the Race

(D) Steady Wins the Race

B. For each of the options not chosen indicate the reason by

choosing from the options indicated below, to say whether the title
was

1. too broad in scope.

2. too narrow (i.e., covering only part of the passage/ summary).
3. not in the spirit of the passage/ summary.
4. irrelevant to the topic of the passage/ summary.
5. too vague.

101It was already late when we set out for the next town, which
according to the map was about fifteen miles away on the other side of
the hills. There we felt sure that we would find a bed for the night.
Darkness fell soon after we left the village, but luckily, we met no one as
we drove swiftly along the narrow winding road that led to the hills. As we
climbed higher, it became colder and rain began to fall, making it difficult
at times to see the road. I asked John, my companion, to drive more
slowly.
After we had travelled for about twenty miles, there was still no sign of
the town which was marked on the map. We were beginning to get
worried. Then, without warning, the car stopped. A quick examination
showed that we had run out of petrol. Although we had little food with us,
only a few biscuits and some chocolate, we decided to spend the night in
the car.
Our meal was soon over. I tried to go to sleep at once, but John, who
was a poor sleeper, got out of the car after a few minutes and went for a
walk up the hill. Soon he came running back. From the top of the hill he
had seen, in the valley below, the lights of the town we were looking for.
We at once unloaded all our luggage and, with a great effort, managed to
push the car to the top of the hill. Then we went back for the luggage,
loaded the car again and set off down the hill. In less than a quarter of an
hour we were in the town, where we found a hotel quite easily.

Exercises

IWrite a summary of the passage by identifying the following:

the expectation of the travellers

their problems
altered expectations
chance solution

IIA. From the following options choose the most appropriate title for
your summary:

a) Journey in the Hills

b) An Adventurous Night

c) Adventure across the Hills

d) An Exciting Journey

B For each of the options not chosen indicate the reason by

choosing from the options below, to say whether the title
was

1. too broad in scope.

2. too narrow (i.e., covering only part of the passage/
summary).
3. not in the spirit of the passage/ summary.
4. irrelevant to the topic of the passage/ summary.
5. too vague.
 Informative/ Reflective Writing

1021.There are certain birds which show preference for the society of
man and take advantage of his curious activities to make their habitations
in the neighbourhood of his own. 2. Of these the robin is the most
intimate. 3. The reason for the universal recognition of the robin in
England is not merely his friendships or indifference to the presence of
man but his strong personality. 4. He is striking in his way of coming into
the open, in the jubilance and forthrightness of his song when other birds
are silent, in his staccato (jerky) movements, in his bold and colourful
dress and in his character to match it. 5. It is his original departure from
the timidity characteristic of the race of small birds which endears him to
us and invites us to woo him ---- especially with the irresistible bait of the
meal worm --- to familiarities which we can achieve with no other species.
6. His alarm note is as explosive as his nature and sounds like the tocking
of a grandfather clock. 7. The song is unlike that of any other singing bird,
and follows no set pattern, being at once ringing, exultant and full of
timbre, but at the same time a kind of thoughtful recitative, with a beautiful
undersong. 8. The robin nests almost anywhere and in anything from a tin
kettle to a hole in a tree or bank. 9. Five or six eggs, white in ground
colour, with freckles of light red, are id in a roughish nest of dead leaves,
grass and moss interwoven with hair and a few feathers.
(260 words)
Exercises

1. What is the overall topic of the passage? Choose any one from
the following answers:

a) Certain birds

b) All about the robin

c) The robin’s strong personality

d) The habits of the robin

2. In the exercise above consider the answers which you did not
select. Say whether each of these

1) was too general a phrase.

2) stated an unimportant aspect.

3) was irrelevant.

4) gave a partial theme.

5) stated an incorrect theme.

3. Considering that the passage is about the robin, which sentence

introduces the bird?
4. What does Sentence 2 say about the robin? That it is

a) loved by all

b) the tiniest bird

c) the cleverest bird

d) the most playful bird

5. How is the idea in Sentence 1 related to the idea in Sentence 2?

Is Sentence 1

a) an example of the robin’s intimateness?

b) an introduction to the robin’s popularity

c) an elaboration of the robin’s popularity

6. Express Sentence 1 briefly within 10 words.

7. Now express the ideas in Sentences 1 and 2 together in about
15 words.
 8. What is the main point of S. 3? Express it as briefly as possible
(in about 10 words).
9. Can any of Sentences 1, 2 or 3 be called the topic sentence? Or
would they help in formulating the topic sentence?
10. Which other sentences give more information about his “strong
personality”?
11. Which word in Sentence 4 describes a quality of the robin’s
character, which is reflected in the following instances of his
description/ behaviour:

His way of coming into the open

The forthrightness of his song
His bold and colourful dress
His staccato movements
His character to match
His alarm note as explosive as his nature

12. Combine the important ideas in Sentences 4 – 7 as briefly as

possible.
13. What are the important ideas in Ss.8 – 9. Underline 5 crucially
important words which indicate these ideas. Choose the words
carefully.
14. Which details in Ss. 8 – 9 are interesting to read about but not
important for the summary?
15. Combine the important ideas in the last two sentences within 20
words.
16. What is the pattern of organization in the paragraph ?
17. Combine your answers to Questions 7, 8, 11 and 14 to form a
summary.
18. Fill in the blanks in the following model summary of the passage
and compare this completed passage with your own:

Of the birds which enjoy –--1---- society the robin is the most ---2---
in England because he has a ---3--- personality, revealed in his ----4--
--. He is colourful in dress and ---5--- and fearless in song and ---6---.
 His song is free and vibrant with a ---7--- undersong. His warning note
is explosive like his ---8---. He lays freckled ---9--- in a rough nest
which he builds almost ----10---.

1031. War is a terrible evil, and it is right that a sense of the miseries it
brings upon the earth should be constantly present to our minds.

2. There are, however, evils, such as slavery or oppression, which are

greater still, and in our country any man of courage and spirit would rather
die than submit to a foreign yoke. 3. We would no more think of admitting
an invader to our shores than of allowing a burglar or murderer to force a
way into our homes. 4. We feel strongly the duty and necessity of self-
defence against attack, no matter what the odds against us.

5. It may, again, be necessary to fight a preventive war, to go out and

attack our enemy while he is still far off, not waiting till he is knocking at
our gates, to keep our country safe from him. 6. We must never let our
innate love of peace be an excuse for indolence, or wavering of purpose,
or a shirking of the burden we must bear to assure ourselves of the
blessings of freedom.

7. Finally, we have often fought, and must inevitably fight again, to

assist the weak and oppressed, even when we ourselves remain
unmolested with no storms looming ahead. 8. When some signal crime or
wickedness is disgracing the civilized world, we must gird on our armour
and go forth like the knights of olden times in defence of the weak, in
singleness of purpose, not counting the cost. 9. Such a cause, when we
are entirely disinterested in the material sense, is surely the noblest of all
in which to take up war. (266 words)

Exercises

1.Which of the following statements best conveys the gist of the

passage?

a) War is a terrible evil that we should avoid.

 b) Wars are fought for many reasons.

c) We have fought many wars.

d) War is terrible but sometimes necessary.

e)

2. In the exercise above consider the statements that you did not
select. Say whether each of these
1. was too general a statement.
2. stated an unimportant point.
3. was irrelevant.
4. gave a partial summary.
5. made an untrue statement.

3. What are the two important ideas in the gist of the passage and
which sentences in the express these ideas elaborately?
4. What are the three greater evils mentioned than the miseries of
war? Mention each in a word or phrase. Which transitional
devices are used to demarcate them?
5. Is there a pattern of organization used for the whole passage?
What is it?
6. What is the overall term expressed in Sentence 2 that includes
all these three reasons justifying war? Mention in one word only.
7. What kind of war becomes necessary to maintain our freedom?
8. What excuse is used to avoid this kind of war?
9. What are the real reasons for avoiding it? Express these in your
own words.
10. Which are the noblest reasons for fighting a war?
11. Why is such a war noble?
12. Summarize the passage by combining your answers to
Questions 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10
13. Mention some of the colourful ideas in the second, third and
fourth paragraphs that become superfluous to the summary.
14. Fill in the blanks in the following model summary of the passage
and compare this completed passage with your own under Ex.
 12:

War is a great evil but --1--- and oppression under a foreign yoke
are ---2-- and we should prefer death to either. ---3----- in self-
defence at any cost is necessary. We may, ----4-----, need to go to
war to prevent an enemy --5----. Avoiding such a war by making an ---
-6----- of our love for peace is wrong for our ------7---- is most
precious. Again, fighting for the ----8--- and the downtrodden when
outraged, irrespective of ---9----- or material advantage is the noblest
of all ---10----.

104There are two kinds of popularity which I will call intimate and
long distance- popularity, and the first is Far more real than the
second. A man who is intimately popular is liked by those who
know him; a man who is popular at long distance has, by some
means, succeeded in propagating a favourable notion of himself
among those who do not know him. The two kinds of popularity
may go together, but often they are separate, and the man who
enjoys long-distance popularity is disliked at close quarters.
Intimate popularity is always a proof of some virtues. If a man is
disliked by those who meet him, he may have many defects and even
vices, but still he is liked for a cause, even though it be unknown to
those who like him. His society gives pleasure and it does so
because he himself takes pleasure in the society of others, which
means that he is disposed to like rather than dislike them. It is to him
a pleasure to meet those he has never met before; he expects to find
them good company and therefore is good company himself. He is
ready to take risks in social intercourse, and will not wait to discover
whether you are a bore before he opens out to you. He is, in fact,
sanguine about human nature, and we like those who are sanguine
especially about ourselves, more than those who despond; they fill us
with their own vitality and make us sharers in their own enjoyment.
may say that this easy instinctive liking is slight virtue; but it is a
virtue, for it makes you happy. It is better to like people for no
particular reason than to like them without reason, better to make
them happy than to make them miserable. The man who is intimately
popular may be vain, but he is not an egotist – he is more interested
in others than in himself; he enjoys, no doubt, the exercise of his
 social arts, but that is worth enjoying; he is a hedonist, but one who
gives pleasure to others.

Exercises

IWhat patterns of organization are used in each of the three

paragraphs?

IICombine your answers to the following questions into a summary of

about 100 words:

What are the two kinds of popularity?

Which one is preferred and why?

What are the seven reasons given to justify the virtues of intimate
popularity?
Semi-Scientific/ Semi-Technical Writing
 Exercises(on 105)

IWhat is the overall topic? What would be a suitable title for the
passage?

IIWhat are the topic sentences in each paragraph? (These may be

stated in the passage or you may need to formulate them.)

IIIWhat patterns of organisation are used in each paragraph? (The

transitional signals will help you to confirm your answers.

IVSummarize the passage in about 120 words by combining your

answers to the following questions:

a) What is the paradox about plastic materials?

b) briefly the moulding process.

c) Describe briefly the two kinds of industrial plastics.

Exercises(on 106):

IWhat is the overall topic? What would be a suitable title for the
passage?

IIWhat patterns of organisation are used in each paragraph? (The

transitional signals will help you to confirm your answers.)

IIIWhat are the topic sentences in each paragraph? (These may be

stated in the paragraph or you may need to formulate them.)

IVExpand the topic sentences to combine into a summary of about

120 words

Exercises on 107 (overleaf)

IWhat is the overall topic? What would be a suitable title for the
passage?
IIWhat patterns of organisation are used in each paragraph? (The
transitional signals will help you to confirm your answers.)

IIISummarize the passage in about 250 words by combining your

answers to the following questions:

a) What makes chromosomes carriers of heredity?

b) How do DNA molecules carry the code for the vital functions of
cells?

c) What are the three properties of DNA?

d) How did Crick and Watson explain the process of self-

duplication?

e) Explain briefly the process of self-reproduction within the

organism in terms of DNA molecules?

(Passage 107 overleaf)

 Summarize the passages (108 - 115), which follow, in your own words
without the aid of questions.

108

A radical change in the eating habits of the Japanese in the post-war

years has been a dominant factor in inducting changes in the country’s
agriculture, to the mutual benefit of both producer and consumer.
Traditionally, the staple diet in Japan was based on rice, fish and
vegetables. Today, stimulated by Western ideas about food, and the
inadequate supplies of fish resulting from over-fishing in home waters, the
Japanese have acquired a taste for a more varied diet, including meat,
eggs, milk and dairy produce. It has led to a spectacular expansion of
livestock production, and the development of mixed farming, which is
more profitable than the former cropping routine of rice, wheat and barley.

In ten years time the total value of the livestock output in Japan should
represent one-third of the total agricultural production, and will be
equivalent in value to the production of rice. By then, the demand for
meat will have risen to five times the present level.

This vast programme of livestock development is based on a policy of

pasture improvement concentrated increasingly in the uplands, where rice
cultivation cannot be carried out. In a country with little or no experience
in grassland management, the difficulties involved in building a new
industry to produce meat and milk from grass on such a scale must have
appeared truly formidable. However, the Japanese tackled the problem
systematically, and with the aid of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization have spent the past six years in intensive study, comparing
“cut and carry” methods of utilizing pasture herbage with various grazing
techniques, testing local and foreign types of grass and clover, and
training technicians and advisory staff. To overcome the limitation
imposed by the distance of upland pastures from the villages, and the
difficulty of access, the Government has launched a road building
programme.

Now it seems that there are encouraging prospects of further

development of the livestock industry in the plains and the valleys, for the
introduction of new varieties of rice which mature in about 100 days
instead of the normal 150 will release more land for pasture and fodder
crops in areas where formerly only rice was grown.

The small size of the average farm – seven to eight acres – would
have been a serious obstacle to these changes in farm practice, but
industrialization, with its higher wages and promise of rapidly increasing
living standards, is already attracting labour from the rural areas. A 35 –
40 percent fall in the farming population by 1970 is forecast. The resultant
economic pressure to form larger farms will therefore favour crop
diversification and mechanization.

R.A.Close 450 words

(Passages 109 &110- (1 sheet)- attached overleaf)

 111

The first quarter of the twentieth century witnessed rapid progress in

breaking down prejudice against the education of women. The liberation
of women from ignominy and suffering became an ever increasingly
popular mission: Minna G. Cowan wrote in 1912, “One of the most
interesting features in India today is the number of women’s societies
which are springing up, partly in conjunction with European ladies and
partly by spontaneous effort.” The Bharat Stri Mandal was founded in the
United Provinces and Bengal; the aim was to establish a centre where
women of every race, creed and political colour could work side by side
for emancipation. In Bombay, the Gujrati Stri Mandal devoted
considerable energy to the abolition of purdah in order that the women
might associate with one another; it also drew up an ambitious
programme of education. The Seva Sadan Society, established in
Bombay in 1909, did much philanthropic and educational work. The
National Indian Association, though administered from London, had many
Indian women as Secretaries and committee members at its Indian
branches. Perhaps one of its most effective activities was the organization
of lectures and meetings to persuade women of the advantages of
education. But for all who were actively concerned with these movements
the task was a difficult one, especially as the strongest opposition came
from the women themselves: G. K. Gokhale remarked in 1879 that a
combination of enforced ignorance and overdone religion had not only
made women in India willing victims of customs unjust and hurtful in the
highest degree, but it also made them the most formidable and most
effective opponents of all change and innovation.
Until the First World War, the reforming bodies were successful in
bringing emancipation only to their own members. But the outbreak of war
gave the movement impetus: hardly a congress or debating society
existed which failed to give the problem its attention, hardly an Indian
newspaper or journal failed to air the subject. Mrs. Annie Besant, who
entered politics in 1914, delivered a memorable series of public lectures in
Madras entitled ‘Wake up, India!’ in which she emphasized the need to
abolish child marriage and to give every woman the opportunity of literacy.
Later in 1927, she inspired the foundation and shared with Mrs. M.
Cousins the leadership of the Women’s Indian Association.
 The first venture of the Women’s Indian Association was to demand the
enfranchisement of women. Later, the provisional governments granted
women enfranchisement, and subsequently permitted them to enter the
legislatures: in March 1921the Madras Legislative Council passed a
resolution which allowed women to be enrolled on the electoral register,
and by 1926 every other provincial legislature had done likewise. Dr. S.
Muthulakshmi Reddi was the first woman returned to a legislature, and
also the first to be elected as the Vice-President of the Madras Legislative
Council (1926 – 30).
Out of social revolution came political revolution. The All India Women’s
Conference entered the political arena in 1928 by pledging its support to
the cause for independence, and by calling for equal rights for women, so
that they might add their votes to the cause. Mahatma Gandhi
encouraged women by saying “I am uncompromising in the matters for
women’s rights. In my opinion she should labour under no legal disability
not suffered by man. I should treat daughters and sons on a footing of
perfect equality.“ During the Second World War, the conscription of men
into the military services and the rise in cost of living made it necessary for
women to leave their homes to replace or supplement their men as
breadwinners. Shocked into a consciousness of social and political reality,
they became once again productive members of society. Many entered
the women’s military services or contributed in other ways to the war
effort.
When India attained Independence in 1947, women came into their
own. The principle of equality was incorporated into the Objective
Resolution of Free India, Later Articles Fourteen and Fifteen of the section
of the constitution on fundamental rights, guaranteed this equality:
‘equality before law’ and ‘equality in matters of public employment’.
The major parties encouraged women to participate in politics by
securing for them representation in the central and state legislatures.
Many women now occupy seats in the state legislatures and both Houses
of Parliament. Though the last chapters of the history of the social
evolution of women in India have yet to be written, the adoption by
parliament of the main sections of the Hindu Code Bill indicates that their
completion is within sight.
(880 words)
(Passage 112 – (2 sheets) - overleaf)
 113

The actual course of human evolution before the dawn of history is

traced chiefly by the tools and ornaments left by man, but also, though to
a much smaller extent, by actual human remains in the shape of bones.
Through these latter we know that in the early days of man’s existence –
the Taungs man-ape, the ape-man of Java, the Heidelberg man,
Neanderthal man - all of which have now become sapiens. These extinct
men were on the whole more apelike than we and represent so many
unsuccessful side-lines in evolution.
From the evidence of tools, especially flint instruments, we can trace
man’s progress more in detail. First came the crude objects known as
coliths – flints serviceable. Then, in the Old Stone Age, they were
definitely shaped, but never polished. In the New Stone Age, they were
polished too; but though bone was widely used, we get never a trace of
metals.
Then began the age of metals, first with bronze and then with iron; and
with that we are at the beginning of recorded history. What is interesting is
to find that progress becomes more and more rapid as time goes on. We
may date the earliest known flint implement at something like half a million
years ago. At least three-quarters, probably nine-tenths, of that time had
passed before man learnt to polish his flints. The age of bronze started
perhaps ten thousand years ago, as apparently did the earliest
agriculture. Practically all history is crowded into five thousand years,
while the last thousand alone have been responsible for a whole host of
fundamental inventions like printing, flying, wireless, and the control over
bacterial diseases. From man’s first beginnings until the present, the rate
of progress has been growing more and more rapid; and there are no
signs that it is slackening now. Humanity is biologically still youthful.
Once the human type of mind originated, it brought with it speech and
as a result, permanent tradition, first by means of writing and later by
printing. Through tradition man comes to differ fundamentally from all
other organisms; for tradition provides a new method of inheritance, which
stimulates the inheritance of acquired characteristics and makes passing
on to later generations of the results of learning and of training. It is on
tradition that the social environment depends, and what we call human
progress has almost all been progress in our tradition.
(400 words)
 114 Dieters’ Club’

It is a dieter’s favourite fantasy. Puddings and fry-up that aren’t

either drenched in caloric-packed fats or taste like aerated cardboard;
a way to get the rich creamy taste of fats without the associated
health and waistline penalties. It’s a dream with a price tag of $200m
– that’s what the food and household products giant Procter and
Gamble (P&G) has spent on trying to transform it into a reality and
now it looks as though their American division might be about to
succeed.
However, there are those who believe that if they do, far from ushering
in a dieter’s heaven, this could be the beginning of a nightmare. Not only
that, but our current fat-phobia has led to widespread and unhealthy
confusion about what is and is not safe to eat. Far from promoting health
there is plenty of evidence that low-fat foods just make matters worse.
The fat-vanishing trick that P&G hope to pull off is performance by an
oil called Olestra which has had its molecules tinkered with so that it
passes straight through the gut, leaving not a calorie behind. But because
unlike other low-fat products, it actually contains fat molecules, it has the
all-important “mouth-feel” of fat and it can also be heated to the high
temperature needed for frying without breaking down.
After years of deliberation, the American Food and Drug
Administration looks set to grant it an initial licence to be used in savoury
snacks – a prospect that fills many nutrition experts, including Myra
Karstadt of Ralph Nader’s Centre for Science in the Public Interest, with
alarm. Earlier, she took the unusual step of sending documents
explaining precisely why to UK’s ministry of agriculture, which is
considering it for approval and to British food campaigning group. “It
would be a huge uncontrolled experiment with public health. It is just not
worth the risk, she says.
Her concern centres on the way the fat-like Olestra absorbs fat-soluble
vitamins and nutrients and then rushes them out of the body.
Carotenoids, the nutrients found in vegetables that many researchers now
believe boost the immune system and protect against some cancers, are
especially vulnerable. “A third of a bag of Olestra-cooked potato chips
could leach out 40 percent of your lycopene, which is used by the prostate
gland,” says Karstadt.
 But the real interest of the battle over Olestra is that it raises the whole
issue of fat in our diet and whether the lucrative commercial attempts to
reduce it aren’t a huge mistake.
In food engineering terms, Olestra is a genuine break-through.
Reducing fat and keeping food palatable is a tricky business. Most of the
low-fat products that beckon to us from the supermarket shelves are
produced by tinkering with existing foodstuffs. Something called
Simplesse, found in salad-dressings and cakes, consists of concentrated
whey protein chopped up into microscopic balls. McDonald’s, for
instance, uses an extract of red algae in their reduced-fat hamburgers.
But none of them is terribly convincing.
This doesn’t stop the food engineers from trying. Waiting in the wings
for a licence are such delights as Salatrim and Caprenin, both poorly
absorbed by the body, so 40 percent less in calories, but both high in
harmful saturated fats.
The trouble is that we have no way of knowing what these chemical
marvels are doing to us. Karstadt’s point about artificial food constituting a
public health experiment is echoed by the eminent nutritionist Joan
Dyegussow.
“We don’t even fully understand what fibre does and we have been
researching it since the beginning of the century”, she says. “For
instance, we think oat bran helps to reduce cholesterol because it has
soluble fibre. But rice bran is just as effective, and it has no soluble fibre.
So, what hope have we of predicting the effect of food that have only been
around for a few years?”
Not only that, but when it comes to helping weight loss, low-fat foods
don’t seem to do the business. Prof. Barbara J Rolls of the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine gave healthy volunteers either a
high-fat or a low-fat lunch without revealing which was which. They were
free to eat whatever they wanted the rest of the day. On low fat days, the
subjects had made up the calorie difference by dinner time.
When dieters consciously have something low in fat they feel freer to
have a little treat later. In one recent study, dieters who knew that they
had eaten a low-fat yoghurt ate more at lunch than those who thought it
was an ordinary one. In fact, as researchers at the Chemical Senses
Centre in Philadelphia found, the problem with fat-substitutes is that
people who eat them still want fat, so as soon as the diet has stopped or
their guard is down, it is the full-fat things they turn to. On the other hand,
people who cut out both high and low-fat substitute foods and go for
naturally lower fat foods such as bread, vegetables and fruit, reduce their
craving.
But does fat deserve its unhealthy reputation? Certainly children,
major consumers of savoury snacks such as crisps, need it. A recent
issue of Nutrition Today warned that avoiding giving certain foods to
children because they had a high fat content could lead to nutritional
deficits”. What’s more, a recent study at McGill University in Montreal,
Canada, found that reducing saturated fat in the diet to recommended
levels may add no more than three extra months to life, and possibly as
little as an extra 3.5 days.
A venerable fat heretic, Dr. Malcolm Caruthers, believes the interaction
between stress, hormones and cholesterol is far more influential in
determining blood-fat levels. “It’s not so much a question of what you are
eating,” he says, “but what’s eating you.” Yet another perspective comes
from Dr. Arteni Simopoulos, director of the Centre for Genetics, Nutrition
and Health in Washington.
She has amassed evidence to show that it is your genes that
determines whether you need to worry about fat. “If you come from a
family with no history of major diseases you should feel comfortable about
eating anything you fancy. There is no reason to avoid eggs, butter or red
meat, say, providing that you don’t become overweight.

(Courtesy: The Times of India)(1,000 words)

 115

Report of a Conference at the National Physical Laboratory,

Teddington 26th – 28th June 1961 By
Dr. B. Wheeler Robinson

a) As more people live closer together, and as they use machine to

produce leisure, they find that their leisure, and even their working
hours, become spoilt by a by-product of their machines – namely,
noise. Noise is nowadays in the news; it has acquired political
status, and public opinion is demanding, more and more
insistently, that something must be done about it. So it was very
appropriate that many people professionally interested in noise
control should meet to discuss their common problems at a large-
scale conference.

b) In the three days of the Conference at Teddington, 25 papers

were presented; and faced with the pile of texts, whose contents
range from sophisticated aerodynamics to general comments on
the irritation expressed by neighbours, it is difficult to sort out the
new ideas which will be active in one’s mind six months from now,
from the big mass of valuable knowledge and fact which will
remain on the shelves for reference.

c) This difficulty was faced by Mr. D.W. Robinson, head of the

acoustics work at the National Physical Laboratory. His
introduction elaborated the general idea that noise must be
considered in relation to the social organism which produces it.
Sound becomes annoying noisy only when someone’s opinion
has made it so. In terms of energy it is an undesired by-product,
often an exceedingly small fraction of the main output of the
machine or process which produces it, and correspondingly
difficult to reduce significantly. (A jet engine converts perhaps
only 1/10,000 of its power into sound; to make it acoustically
unnoticeable, this fraction would have to become 1/10,000,000)
To control noise is going to demand much self-discipline
(annoyance arises often from lack of common courtesy and
imagination), a sense of proportion (there is usually a conflict of
interest if a noise is to be stopped), the expenditure of money
 (and it is far more economical to do this early rather than late),
and, finally, technical knowledge.

d) Technical difficulties often arise from the subjective-objective

nature of the problem. You can define the excessive speed of a
motor car in terms of a pointer reading on a speedometer. But
can you define excessive noise in the same way? The results of
several large-scale experiments, involving numbers of vehicles
and of listeners, show how difficult it is to fix any instrumental
reading as a legal limit in a way which satisfies most of the public,
and yet is fair to the vehicle owner. You find, for example, that
with any existing simple “noisemeter”, vehicles which are judged
to be equally noise by a jury may show considerable difference on
the meter.

e) A group of papers dealt with noise at the source – the basic

origins of noise in gears, internal combustion engines, fans and
jets. The prospect of a significant reduction in noise output from
jet engines of the future was one of the most important questions
discussed at the Conference. Though the ideal cure for noise is
to stop it at its source, this may in many cases be impossible.
The next weapon in the anti-noise armoury is to absorb it in transit
to the ear.

f) It is a common fallacy that a sound absorbent such as glass

wool is opaque to sound, and is therefore the best way of
diminishing annoying noise from the flat next door. In a normally
furnished room, lining a wall with absorbent will have little effect
on the noise level built up by reverberation, and will contribute
hardly anything to the acoustic opacity of the wall. In a typical
factory building, even if all available surfaces are covered with
absorbent (a very expensive matter), the noise level is unlikely to
drop by more than five decibels. A consultant will often
recommend light partitioning, and partial screening round noisy
machines, as a more effective and a more economical course.

g) Domestic noises may perhaps be controlled by forethought and

courtesy, and industrial noises by good planning a technical
improvement. But, if we are going to allow fast motor-cycles and
heavy diesel lorries to pass continuously through residential and
business property, the community as a whole must decide on the
control it needs to exercise, for in the long run it has got to pay for
it. And if a nation is to take a leading part in modern air transport,
it must enter into international agreements on the noise control
measures it will impose at its airports and here the cost of any real
control is immediately to be measured in millions of pounds.

R. A. Close.(560 words)
Unit X : Note Making
 Note Making

Making notes is a very valuable exercise for students. You may need to
make notes from all kinds of information texts like textbooks, reference
materials, journals, magazines, newspapers and so on. In textbooks the
information may be more conveniently organized, Notes made from
textbooks are valuable for pre-examination revision. However, in other
materials the information may not be very conveniently arranged.
Learning to read quickly but carefully, identifying the important/ essential
points of information, perceiving relationships and connections between
these points, organizing these in convenient groups and giving them
headings, arranging them in their hierarchy of points and sub-points, or
listing and enumerating them are useful skills that help in preparing good
notes. These skills will be practised in the exercises that follow.
The summary practise in the units above have already demonstrated
and yielded practise in identifying the overall topic of a passage and the
main points and related information in it. The skills of looking for patterns
of organization and the cohesive signals which cue them have also been
dealt with. This should lead us smoothly on to arranging the information in
points and in a neat well-organised note form. Thus, the related points
need to be numbered and grouped under a heading. Also, if there is a
hierarchy of points these need to be systematically numbered and
arranged, while an overall title for the whole note should encompass all
the subtitles in the note.
Look at the following summary of the ‘Laser Light’ passage 42 (in Unit
IV)

1 A laser light is more effective than ordinary light because it is

coherent.

2 This makes for a concentration of energy at a sharply defined

point and tremendous extension of the range of the light source.

3 Three special uses of the laser are that firstly, it can illuminate
the surface of the moon with a two-mile-wide circle of light,
secondly, it can send a searing pinpoint of light into the human eye
to weld a detached retina, and thirdly, it can also weld metals and is
useful for precision work in making micro-electronic circuits.
(93 words)

This summary can be presented in note form by grouping and

numbering the properties of laser light in Sentences 1 and 2, and the uses
in Sentence 3 under separate headings as follows:

Overall Title:Lasers/ Laser Light

Sub-Title: Properties of Lasers

A laser light is more effective than ordinary light because of 3 properties
Cohesion
Concentration of energy at a sharply defined point
Extension of the range of the light source

Uses of Lasers (Sub-Title):

Illumination of the moon with a two-mile-wide circle of light,
Sending a searing pinpoint of light into the human eye to weld a
detached retina
Welding metals: especially useful for precision work in making micro-
electronic circuits.

Note how information conveyed in a sentence or more in the original

passage is reduced to ‘point’ form a) by focussing on the main ideas e.g.,
Sentences12 &13 of the passage? (i.e., “12 A laser can weld metals as
well as retinas. 13 But here, too, its use is for precise work, as in making
micro-electronic circuits.”) are reduced to point C above and b) by
converting important verbs into gerunds/ nouns that become the ‘head
word’ of the point as shown by the underlined words in the following
example: “Welding metals: especially useful for precision work in making
micro-electronic circuits.”

Notice, also, the neat layout with the subtitles in italics and the points
under each, numbered and laid out neatly in the same margin. Further
sub-points, if any, numbered in a different system, would have to come
under a new margin, a little further to the right as shown in the following
note on the ‘Dolphins’ passage (33) in Unit III:
Kinds of Dolphins:
 River dolphins
Sea dolphins are of two kinds:
smaller common dolphins and
12-feet long bottle-nosed dolphins
Notice the capital letters used for the main points (kinds of dolphins)
and small letters used for the sub-points (kinds of Sea dolphins). The
numbering, which needs to be systematically used, and the neat layout
make the hierarchy clear. Another way of laying this out is in a branching
form or a tree diagram as was done for the ‘Causes of Disease’ passage
in Unit VIII. The diagram is reproduced below:

Diagrammatic Representation Of (‘Causes Of Disease’) Passage 90

Often, certain texts may contain dense information which may be

difficult to remember/ understand. Such information, if it falls into a pattern
can be charted onto a table, graph or map and become much easier to
remember and retrieve. For example, look at the following passage
dealing with population figures, which can be condensed into the chart
that follows for better understanding, memory and retrieval:
The population of the world today is about4,950,000,000. That is an
enormous number, yet it is known quite accurately, because there are
very few parts of the world which have not carried out a modern census.
China was a big unknown quantity until 1953, when a census was carried
out. Their population was over 600,000,000.
The important thing is not so much the actual population of the world,
but its rate of increase. It works out to be about 1.6 per cent per annum
net increase. In numbers this means something like forty to forty-five
million additional people every year. Canada has a population of twenty
million – rather less than six month’s increase in world population. There
are about ten million people in Australia. So, it takes the world less than
three months to add to itself a population which peoples this vast country.
England and Wales have forty-five to fifty million people. This is just about
a year’s increase in the world population.
By this time tomorrow, and every day, there will be added to the earth
about 120,000 extra people – just about the population of the city of New
York.

Populations
World 4,950 million
China 600 million
Canada 20 million
Australia 10 million
England & Wales 45 million
New York 120,000
World Population Increase per Year 45 million

The table makes clear what the passage is trying to say. In other words,
we can see clearly that the world adds an England and Wales, or two
Canadas or four Australias every year to its population, or a New York
every single day!)
 Think About How You Make Notes:

As you read and mark/ underline all the points that seem important/
interesting.

A point would be a phrase or a short sentence.

Skim through the points again trying to pick out the crucial /main/
general points.

Look at the other points and their relationship to the main points. Do
they elaborate, i.e. are they

Explanatory?
Examples?
Repetitions/ paraphrases?
Descriptions?
Illustrations?
Statistics?

Or are they branches (sub-points) of the main point?

Can some main points be grouped under a single heading or separate

headings? What would be the suitable heading(s)?

Would some headings come under a broad subtitle(s)? (These

subtitles are sometimes provided by textbooks).

What would be the overall title for the whole note? Keep in mind that it
should encompass all the subtitles in the note.

Try to maintain a systematic numbering (and titling) pattern for the note.

For example

Title
Subtitle: I, II, III, etc.
Headings: A, B, C, D, etc.
Subheadings: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
Main points: (a), (b), (c), (d), etc.
 Branch/(sub) points: (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), etc.

(All these may not be necessary all the time. Use only what you need).

Adopt a neatly tiered (layered) layout for the notes as shown below:

10.Where points are unconnected but could still be grouped under a

common heading, asterisks may be used to separate points. They need
not be numbered or ordered.
 Exercises

Below are given a variety of texts including passages from précis/

summary practice books, articles from newspapers, magazines and
journals, extracts from textbooks and reference materials. Read each of
the following passages (attached) carefully, and then work on the
exercises that pertain to it, to gain practise in note making. For further
practise make notes on your textbooks and reference reading.
 116

One of the important methods of improving study habits is to distribute

practice, i.e. to devote a number of brief study periods to the material
rather than to spend the same total amount of time in a single long study
period. There is some evidence that distribution of practice is relatively
more important with materials to be learnt by rote, such as vocabulary lists
and numerous separate factual details, than with materials that are more
meaningful and better organized. Review at various intervals after
learning has also proved to be valuable. Such review should be done
carefully, for a superficial review may even interfere with remembering. A
review should help to organize the material so as to make it more
meaningful. Deficiencies in information should be recognized and
corrected during the review. It is often a good practice to look over the
material, as a whole, first. We may do this by looking at section headings
in order to see how the material is organized. We may find it to read a
chapter rapidly, perhaps making marginal notes and underlining. Then we
can move on to a detailed study of the material. The material may be
made more meaningful by deliberately and habitually looking for
relationships to other things already known. In studying a psychology, for
example, we should actively think about examples from our own
experience. Arranging for a good setting in which to study is very helpful.
Factors which are well known, but frequently not controlled, include
freedom from distractions and interruptions, a comfortable, well-lighted
work-place, and adequate reference books, papers, etc. Although these
factors are conducive to effective study, they are not sufficient in
themselves. Motivation and attitudes are probably the most important
factors in effective methods of study. Taking clear and accurate notes is
also helpful. Many students take unnecessarily detailed lecture notes and
fail to distinguish the important form the less important material. We
should write down key ideas, not everything that is said. Afterwards the
notes may be edited for readability, checked for accuracy, and otherwise
revised to make them more useful.

Exercises
IWhat is the overall topic of the passage? Formulate an appropriate
title for the passage.

IIRead the passage carefully and answer briefly the questions below
 A) What are the three important requirements for a good setting?
B) What is the first thing to be done at a study session?
C) What three things does an overview imply?
D) How does a review at intervals of material to be studied help
us?
E) Which four actions are recommended for taking clear, accurate
lecture notes?

IIIThere are seven factors mentioned in the passage that help

improve study. Write these down in note form and in a
chronological sequence (i.e., time order). Your answers to Exs.
I & II above could help you in the note.
 117

A Kitchen Garden as the name as the name implies, is the garden

around or near the house. Raising a kitchen garden is a fascinating
experience. The greatest satisfaction a family gets from it is dining on the
harvest, which means vegetables produced in the home garden are used
in their most fresh state. Besides producing food for the family the kitchen
garden beautifies the house as it also includes trees, flowering shrubs,
creepers, grass and flowering plants The kitchen garden is not a new
innovation as even in the olden days and in backward areas families grew
some vegetables near the house for use by the family. Anyhow, as
modern technology has brought about many improvements in Indian
agriculture it has also tried to touch this important aspect of the Indian
Home. Agricultural Universities in India have produced a lot of material on
kitchen gardening. Kitchen gardening has also been encouraged by the
use of other medias such as home science extension education for the
villagers. Services of All India Radio, Newspapers, Kisan Divas and Melas
are being organised to extend education in kitchen gardening. T. V. is also
being used for televising relevant programmes for the people. Among the
advantages of having kitchen gardens in India, the most important one is
to produce more food for the people on any land available anywhere. To
produce food for all the Indians has been the greatest problem baffling the
Indian Planners. In spite of our Green Revolution India still has to import
food from outside to feed its hungry millions. The most grown things in the
kitchen garden are different types of seasonal vegetables used by the
family. Most of the Indian families cannot buy these vegetables because
these are beyond their means. Moreover, home grown vegetables
including lettuce are cleaner and safe to eat. The quality of the soil, water
and manure used are better than those used for growing market
vegetables’

Exercises

I Decide which of the following topics are dealt with in detail in the
passage. Which of these serve well as an overall title?
a) Agricultural Universities
b) Kitchen Gardens in India.
c) What is a Kitchen Garden?
d)Advantages of Kitchen Gardens
 e) The History of Kitchen Gardens
f) Disadvantages of Kitchen Gardens
g) Improvements in Kitchen Gardening.

II Complete the following note by filling in the blanks and supplying

suitable headings using the relevant topics from those listed above:
________1___________
The Kitchen Garden is a ___2____ around or _____3___ the
house and produces vegetables and ____4___ for the family’s daily use.
_______5__________
a) Kitchen Gardens gives the ____6_____ of dining on a fresh
______7____ of home-grown fruits and _____8____.
b) The Kitchen Garden _____9___ the house with flowering
shrubs, trees, creepers, etc.
c) It helps to ___10___ more on all ____11_____ land.
d) This can mean ___12_____ food imports.
e) Also, ___13____ seasonal vegetables for the poorer Indian
families.
f) Home-grown vegetables are cleaner and ____14___ to eat
because better ___15__, ___16___ and ___17______ are used.
___________18_________________
a) ____19____ on Kitchen Gardening have been produced by
______20_______ ______21_______.
b) It has been encouraged by other ___22____ and Home Science
______23______ ______24_______.
c) The use of various media like ______25 ___ __26______ and
____27_____ help to spread this education.
d) This is also done by the organization of ‘Kisan ____28___’ and
‘____29____ _____30____’.

Exercises(on 118 overleaf)

IWhat is the overall topic of the passage?

IIWrite a gist of the first paragraph in about 25 words

 III Which paragraphs list the good and bad results of advertising?

IVFor which three groups of people are the advantages and

disadvantages of advertising
Put the entire information into a neatly laid out tree-diagram

(Passage 118 overleaf)

 119‘The thin plastic carry bags … ending up in a cow’s belly’
(overleaf)

Exercises
IA) Choose the title that is most suitable for the passage from the
options given below:
a) The Menace/ Danger of Plastics
b) Saving the Environment
c) A Solution to Plastic Waste
d) Biodegradable Wisdom

B) For each of the options not chosen, indicate the reason for not
choosing it by choosing from the alternatives given below:

1. Too broad in scope

2. Too narrow or Partial
3. Inaccurate
4. Incorrect

II A) Some of the topics that follow are dealt with in the passage.
Which of these are not covered with enough detail in the
passage?
a) Plastic bags everywhere
b) Recycled Plastics: A Blessing
c) The Thriving Plastic Industry
d) Lessons for Schoolchildren
e) Environmentalists: Trouble mongers
f) Laws in Europe and India
g) Amendments on Recycled Plastic Manufacture and Usage
h) The Mishra Committee Recommendation
i) Miniscule Measures
j) The Problems of Waste Pickers

B)Which of the relevant topics from the list above would you use
to make notes under the following headings:

1. Plastic Wastes in India

2. Miniscule Measures
3. A Wise Approach
 IIIMake notes on the passage, using the given headings, adding your
perspective where necessary. Lay out your notes in a neat point form.

(Passage 119 & 120 - 2sheets - overleaf)

 Exercises (on 120) ‘ ‘The total population ……. stabilization of
population’ (above)
IComplete the following table by providing the statistical information
from the passage as shown in the e.g. in 1 below:

Area Density of Population / Sq. Km.

1. World (Average) 6
2. Indian Gangetic Plain
3. South East Asia
4. Deserts & Mountains
 IIComplete the following notes providing suitable headings where
necessary:

a. ____1_____ ______2______
The World Population of ______3_____ million is not ___4____
distributed.

b. ____5_____ Population
Some areas are not ____6___ populated because of the
following factors:
i.__7____ of rain/ water in deserts
ii.______8___ because of unsuitable climate i.e., severe heat or
cold.
iii.Poor ____9____ in mountainous areas and dense forests.

c. ____10___ Population
W. Europe, U.S.A. and S.E. Asia contain __11__ of the population
because of
i. favourable climate: temperate in _____12____ and
____13_____ and tropical in ____14_____.
ii. fertile ___15____ yielding a variety of ____16____.
iii.____17___ resources of coal, oil, etc.
iv.____18____ Facilities

d. _____19___ of Over Population (i.e., high ___20__ rate of

population)
i.__21___ standard of living.
ii.Danger of ___22___ if there is a gap between food
___23____ and ___24___.

e. ____25____ to Over Population

I .____26___ to less densely populated countries such as
____27___ and___28___.
ii. Greater ____29_____ so that ____30____ could be imported
and ___31___ of living raised.
Iii Increased _____32____ knowledge can improve _____33___
and ____34____ and reduce death and ____35_____.
iv .Improved standard of living checks population ____36____.
(Passage 121‘The Safest Blood’ overleaf)
Exercises(on 121 above)

ISome of the questions answered in the passage are indicated below.

Which of these do not directly deal with autologous transfusion?

a) What fears did Shobha have about her husband’s corrective

surgery?
b) What is autologous transfusion?
c) Who qualifies as a donor for this?
d) What are the normal (homologous) blood donating conditions?
e) Which medical conditions make autologous transfusion useful?
f) What are the conditions for storing blood?
g) How can blood be stored, how much and for how long in
autologous transfusion?
h) How can transfusion accidents be avoided?
i) What is screening of blood? Is it required in autologous
transfusion?
j) What is the status of transfusion medicine in India? How would it
help the cause of autologous transfusion?
IIAnswers to which of the questions above would you consider for
inclusion in your notes on the passage under each of the
headings below?

1. Autologous Transfusion
2. Its Uses
3. Conditions for Donating
4. Procedure for Donating
5. Conditions for Storage

IIIComplete the following notes by filling in the blanks suitably:

Autologous Transfusion
Autologous transfusion is a procedure where the blood ---1----- of
a patient planning ---2---- are anticipated and the ---3--- own blood
is stored at a ---4--- bank for ---5----- as required.
Its Uses
a) Little risk of ---6---- or ----7---.
b) Ideal for persons with ---8----- metabolism and who require ----9--
-- or ----10----. Also useful for ----11---- donors and in ---12---- and
---13--- surgery.
 c) Patients with ---14--- blood groups for whom it is difficult to find --
--15----- donors.
Conditions for Donating
1) Those who can ---16--- for surgery.
2) Whose ----17--- count is normal.
3) Whose blood is not ----18---- ( e.g., abscess/ cancer)
4) Whose ----19---- is normal
5) Even -----20---- year-olds can store their blood
6) ----21--- haemoglobin count should be ----22---- with
administration of red ---23--- , -----24---- and -----25----- if
necessary.
Procedure for Donating
Stored blood has a shelf life of ---26---- days. In autologous transfusion,
if more than two units of blood are required the ----27---- technique is
used. The transfusion schedule is spaced over a ----28---. One unit is
extracted for two ---29--- weeks. In the third week ----30--- units are
extracted and the
first unit (nearing the end of its shelf life) is ----31---- to the patient.
Similarly, in the ---32--- week two units are extracted and the ---33---
unit is re-transfused. At the end of the four weeks, ---34--- units of blood
are available during surgery. The technique is still to catch on in ----35----
where only two units can be stored. Cross ---36--- before transfusion is
recommended.

Conditions for Storage

1. Any blood bank with blood ---37---- facilities.

2. ---38--- quantity can be stored: Shelf life being 35 days.
3. Absolutely ---39--- conditions.
4. -----40---- maintained at 4 – 6 degrees centigrade,
5. No screening required for ---41----- transfusion.
6. Sealed blood bags have to be ----42—and preferably ---43---- by
the donor to avoid the risk of getting mixed up.
7. Guidelines for blood safety with the norms for the age, weight
and haemoglobin levels of potential autologous ----44--- need to
be laid down by the ---45--- in India with guidance from ----45-----
experts.
 122We Face the Guns from Both Side

(The Sunday Times, 3rd September 1995)

The exquisite teak and walnut carvings on Kashmir Palace, the four
bedroom-luxury houseboats of the six member Wattoo family stand in
stark contrast to the patchwork on its weather-beaten roof. The
photographs in their albums are of smiling guests and family members,
shot in wintry mornings on a frozen Dal Lake or in flower-filled shikaras in
spring and summer. The visitors’ book with its many entries from persons
of various nationalities, is a record of impressions, nostalgia and
sentiment made over the years. Both, the albums and the visitors’ book,
are indicative of the valley’s special brand of tourism, where comfort and
luxury mesh naturally and beautifully with warm, proud Kashmiri
hospitality. They are reminiscent too, of a different time.
The photographs in the newspapers today though, provide a chilling
counterpoint: they depict the cruelly dismembered body of Hans Christian
Ostro, a Norwegian hostage killed by a hitherto unidentifiable group of
terrorists, Al Faran.
In the week we spent at Nagin Lake, the warmth of the Wattoo family
was our only cushion against the inescapable deep depression that
Kashmir has sunk into. In six years, everything seems to have changed.
As we drove in from Srinagar airport, we saw a city under siege: army
bunkers at every street corner; glamorous houseboats –
Once the hub of commercial activity – in ruins; school and hospital
buildings that had been searched, occupied, vacated and then gutted by
the security forces. There are more than 150 of these ruins.
To put it in Abba Wattoo’s words, “Inside [pointing to the heart] ….
everything’s changed. You see that army truck? If something went wrong
with my car in earlier times, they would have stopped. Now if there is a
breakdown and I am stuck, I will be picked up by the army and roughed
up.” Then Abba Wattoo made a disarming switch from the specific to the
philosophical. “Agar pyar se bolo to koi bhi suntan hai. Even my own son.
Dande aur goli ki baat kaun sunega? (Who needs the language of the
lathi or the gun?)”
 On the last night of our stay, after the Wattoo’s generous and lavish
wazvaan (banquet), members of our team were kidding 19-year-old Irfan
about his commitment to the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)
and its political aspirations for azaadi. He took the jibes good-naturedly for
a while, and then he turned angry and deadly serious, snapping, “It is just
this condescending attitude of India and Indians that convinces us that
your government will never be prepared to talk or negotiate fairly and
unconditionally.”
Later, Abba Wattoo asked, “Did you hear Irfan, sense how angry he
was? That is the anger of the youth. What we say is nothing to them.
There must be dialogue very soon. And India has to initiate it. Someone
has to help the Kashmiris out of this endless cycle of guns and bullets,
killings and funerals. If talks are not held soon all will be lost.”
Anger, despair and disappointment with the government of India’s
response to the Kashmir tragedy was reflected in every conversation with
young and old, no matter what their political affiliations, in Srinagar and
Charar-e-Sharif.
Back at the houseboat we would talk into the night. Of how burial
grounds now dot every street in Srinagar – an everyday reminder of the
lives lost, hundreds of thousands of them. Of how the lives of this six-
member family (there is Abba and Ammi Wattoo and their four children:
Hamida and Wahida, Murtaza and Mustafa, and little Nikhat, a cousin who
has been drawn into the family), have changed.
Hamida and Wahida , in their late teens and early 20s, have been
forced to drop out of college, and confined to their home. They have no
interaction with men and women their own age. “My parents fear for our
safety. My father will not let us go outside. There have also been ghastly
instances of dishonour. How can we blame our parents for keeping us
home? My mother does not even visit her own family, though they live
half-an- hour away,” said Hamida.
This in a state that, prior to 1989, had the lowest crime rate in the
country, with hardly any instances of rape. Where female literacy was, and
still is, very high.
All four Wattoo children, like the 20 lakhs youth in J&K, have been
witness to gruesome violence. The Wattoo boys, who were 13 and 8when
the politics of violence burst upon them, seem more deeply affected then
the girls. And it is about them that Ammi Wattoo is really worried. “Beta
Murtaza, now in Delhi with his uncle, loves to come here, but in six days
or so he is depressed and wants to leave. He cannot face what has
happened to all of us, to our Kashmir. His friends all carry weapons now,”
“Whenever I come home, I try to go to my college, see my friends. But it
is not safe. For 15-20 days every month, the colleges and schools are
closed, examinations in some classes have not been held for over three
years,” said Murtaza. “When we were young, we used to shiver when we
saw our father’s hunting pistols. Now, do you know how many tanzeems
(organisations) there are on campus? For the pettiest squabble over a girl
or anything, they pull out a weapon. How can you study in such an
atmosphere?
This corrosion of a culture by violence threatens a whole generation of
Kashmiris. Fourteen-year-old Mustafa’s reaction to any teenage brawl in
school is to summon his “gang contacts” (those with weapons). “The boys
have been affected the most,” agreed Hamida. ”What would any
youngster, who has been shown heaps of bodies of his friends and
neighbours, tortured and shot by army bullets, be expected to do? How
would he react?
“We face guns from both sides” said Misral and Gulzara, university
students in Srinagar. But why must the Indian army continue to humiliate
us?” For the continued presence of the BSF and army in civilian areas –
particularly the university, educational institutions and hospitals – is a sore
point with all Kashmiris. The ignominy of their forced physical presence is
heightened by the humiliation of sudden but frequent searches on civilians
– students, doctors and professionals – despite the mandatory possession
of identity cards. A weary army commandant confessed that the security
forces had overstayed their welcome in the valley but were forced by the
government to stay on.
A close and trusted friend of the Wattoos, a woodworker who called one
morning, said, “The Indian government has abdicated any responsibility
towards a lasting solution to the problem in the valley by reducing us to a
permanent state of occupation by our own army. At any time of day, while
performing a routine chore like walking to school or shopping or driving,
an anonymous BSF jawaan can walk up to me, demand that I stop,
subject me to a routine or a humiliating search and enquiry. My boys can
be picked up any time. It would then be my responsibility to trace them.
On the road back to the airport, you will be searched three times. Is this
wise or necessary?
 One night we drove with Abba Wattoo through Srinagar to share a
lavish Kashmiri wazvaan with Shabbir Shah, formerly of the People’s
League, imprisoned for 22 years by the Indian government for is struggle
for azaadi . The six-course meal was accompanied by an intense political
interview. But all the while my host and my escorts urged me to eat faster
so we could leave. To be out after dark for a woman, even if escorted, is
inadvisable.
Abba Wattoo drove back at a speed born of fear and panic. Not one
vehicle passed us. There was no one in the streets. Srinagar and other
cities are on self-imposed curfew after dark. As we passed The Mall and
were about to turn off, our vehicle was hailed and asked to stop. We drew
up alongside the road.
Three or four young men held up an old man gasping for breath. There
was no way to get him to hospital. He was a heart patient with asthma in
addition. No ambulances ply on the streets of Kashmir anymore. Even if
they did, they couldn’t be summoned because the telephones never work.
Emergency medical services are therefore completely out of reach. So
could we please drop him to the hospital which was on our way home?
We took him to the hospital. What would he have done had we not passed
by? That question stayed with me. As does the image of the Dal and
Nagin lakes overrun with weeds. It’s a place gone to seed.

Exercises

ICan you see a pattern of organization constantly recurring

throughout the feature article on Kashmir? What is it? Choose
from the options below:

1. Explanation through details

2. Cause and Consequence
3. Statement and Examples
4. Contrast
5. Narration
6. Comparison and Contrast

IICan you see a pattern in the facts about Kashmir that are being
contrasted? What would be the headings if you grouped your
points on the two contrasting sides? To answer choose from the
following:
 a) Kashmir for Tourists & Kashmir for Locals
b) Family Life &Public Life in Kashmir
c) Kashmir Then & Kashmir Now
d) Beautiful Kashmir & Ugly Kashmir

III(A)Fill in the blanks in the following notes on the passage

contrasting the aspects related to the beauty of Kashmir:

The Beauty of Kashmir

Kashmir ___1_____ Kashmir ___2____

1. Exquisite ___3___ & walnut _____5____ on the weather-
_____4____ on Kashmir Palace beaten roof
Lakes overrun with
2. Beautiful ___6___ & ___7___ Lakes
____8____
3. Photographs of ____9___ guests & Newspaper ____13____of
international ___10___ amidst flowers, Ostro and other tourists
_____11___ and ____12____. ___14____ by ___15_______.

Exercises (continued)

In similar tables that follow on ‘Kashmir Then and Now’ the remaining
points are segregated under 3 different headings mentioned below.
a) Governmental Attitude
b) Public Life
c) Personal & Family Life

Complete or fill up the missing points in the two columns, and also
match the headings given above with the appropriate tables:

( B ) _________________________

Kashmir Then Kashmir Now

1. a prosperous Kashmir with happy A city
friendly people _______________________
2. Irfan took jibes good-naturedly After a while ____________
 3.Murtaza____________________ Murtaza now wants to leave
Murtaza’s friends now carry
4. Children __________________
weapons

(C)___________________________________

Kashmir Then Kashmir Now

1. Hamida & Wahida at
Mother’s visits_________________
college
2. High ________ Colleges &schools closed
Forced to drop out of college because
3.
unsafe & for fear of dishonour
4.Children shivered at Youngsters angry & deeply affected by
_______________ violence

( D ) ________________________________

Kashmir Then Kashmir Now

The Army roughs up
1. __________________
common people
2. BSF & Army were there to protect
____________________
Kashmiris
3. Emergency vehicles & ambulances
_____________________
plied at night
4. Kashmiris open about India Frustration ____________

123‘Television is not entirely injurious … turn on your TV now’: (see

overleaf)
Exercises

A) Make notes on the newspaper article, reproduced below, to bring out

the debate about TV watching by children. You may list your points on the
two sides of the debate in two columns with suitable titles for your
columns

(B) Suggest an overall title for the entire note/ article

 The next few passages (124 - 128) are each followed by the
Exercises you should attempt

124 Bitter Boon

Don’t expect a neem-based pesticide to zap the bugs instantly. Such

murder and mayhem is better left to crude killers, the synthetic pesticides.
Neem is far more subtle. And better at plant protection. While it leaves
birds and mammals and beneficial pollinating insects unharmed, it deters
leaf-chewers with a battery of chemicals so marvelous that the most
ferocious and resistant of pests would rather starve than take a single bite
of neem. Intriguingly, Asian goats and camels seem to feed on neem
leaves without any ill-effects.

‘Neem contains several active ingredients and they act in different ways
under different circumstances,’ says Dr. Sunil Bambarkar of McDA Agro
Ltd, Bombay, ‘These compounds are quite unlike the chemicals in today’s
synthetic insecticides. Neem chemicals belong to a class of natural
products called triter penes or limonoids distantly related to steroids and
hormones like cortisone, birth-control pills and many valuable
pharmaceuticals. They are unique in that they are not outright killers.
Rather, they alter an insect’s behavior or life processes in subtle ways.
Eventually, the insect can no longer feed, breed or metamorphose.

Other plants can absorb some of these chemicals through the soil. The
fortified plants are protected internally. Such protection is not washed off
in the rain. Nor do you need to spray new growth to protect it Field trails
have shown that a single session of soil treatment protected the leaves
and stems of wheat, rice, sugarcane and cotton for 10 weeks.

Moreover, nothing happens to those who eat these neem fortified

plants. “Indeed, their lack of toxicity to warm-blooded animals may be the
neem products’ greatest asset,’ says Dr. Virendra Chavan, who is
managing director of Innovative Laboratory and Workshop, Bombay. He
calls neem a supreme example of super-tech in action. Because neem
contains so many different compounds, building up of pest resistance
becomes impossible. Also, for all their exquisite potency, neem
compounds degrade easily – they are broken down by sunlight and acid
rain.
 However, some scientists like Prof. Steven Ley of Imperial College,
London, are trying to improve on nature. They are reported to be ‘a bond’s
length away’ from synthesis of azadi-rachtin, a major neem chemical.
They are also trying to build more potent or more stable analogues of
neem compounds.

‘While the scientists may succeed, the new compounds cannot possibly
match the holistic effects wrought by nature’s bitter pill,’ says Dr. Chavan.
‘More important, the neo-neems will cost millions of dollars to develop and
to test. Why should poor farmers buy them when they have their neem?’
Vithal C. Nadkarni(400words)
Exercises
I a) State the main point of each paragraph in a sentence and
b) indicate the pattern of organization in each paragraph

IIWrite a summary of the passage in about 130 words by indicating the

general advantages of neem and its merits as an insecticide and as a
plant pesticide.

IIISuggest an alternative title for the passage apart from the given one.
Which title would you prefer and why?

IVPresent your answer to Ex. II above in the form of a tree diagram

125 Read the News report reproduced below, carefully, and attempt the
Exercises which follow:
 Exercises (on 125 above)

I Choose the correct alternative to complete the statements or

answer the questions provided below:

a) The Amazon in the title refers to

i) a town in Brazil.ii) the rainforest.iii) the isolated community.iv) a river
in Brazil.
b) ‘Drought’ (in Para 1) refers to
i) a famine conditions. ii) the lack of rains.iii) the drying up of rivers.iv)
drying up of rainforests.
c) What is the problem for the people in the remote jungle areas?
i) starvation. ii) wild animals. iii) lack of transport. iv) diseases like
cholera.
d) Millions of fish died because of
i) lack of water. ii) lack of oxygen. iii) water pollution. iv) the dried
river bed.
 e) The Amazon has been
i) the largest river system in the world. ii) the longest river in the
world iii) the largest river system
in Brazil iv) the oldest river in the world.
II Answer the following questions in a phrase or sentence:
1. What/ Who are the ‘ribeirinhos’?
2. How much water is there in the Solimoes rive
3. Which state in Brazil is suffering from the drought?
4. What is referred to as ‘war operations’?
5. Why were they needed?
6. How many villages have been affected by the drought?
7. How many families have been helped in the drought?
8. What poses a major threat of contamination?
9. Which disease was under control and may come back again?
10. Who have lost their livelihoods?

III Fill in the numbered blanks in the following gist of the article:
The Amazon is the ___!__ river system in the world. It drains a
widespread __2__ covered with dense -___3___ . It has been in the news
recently because it is ___4___. The people living in the deep ___5___
are now without __6__ and ___7__. The ___8__ in the state are doing
their best in a kind of ‘----9__ operation’ to ___10__ these essential
commodities as well as ___11__ to these stranded ___12__ . to prevent
or ___13__ the bacterial diseases like ____14___, with the use of planes
and ___15__.

IV State in numbered points (about 10) the problems of the people of

the drying Amazon Valley.

126New Roles for Old Neem

(Courtesy: The Sunday Times of India)

Long revered for its ‘miraculous’ powers in India, the neem has only
recently been rediscovered by modern science. The wonder tree may be
the plant’s bulwark against global warming and marching deserts and
promises to provide safe biopesticides, novel medicines and birth control
pills for all mankind. A report by Vithal C. Nadkarni
 Salute the neem next time you see the tree. For centuries, our
ancestors have been turning to this big, bitter-leafed tree for a variety of
products. The list of the neem’s virtues and uses is so long that the tree
deserves to be called Kalpavriksha, the wish granting tree celebrated in
our myths and fairytales.

After two decades of research, western scientists are ready to support

that view. Even some of the most cautious researchers are saying that
the neem deserves to be called a ‘wonder plant’. In a recent report called
Neem: A Tree To Solve Global Problems, the Washington-based National
Research Council says, ‘Probably no other plant yields as many strange
and varied products or has as many exploitable by-products as the neem’.

‘As foreseen by some scientists, “this tree for the 21st century” may
usher in a new era in pest control, provide millions with inexpensive
medicines, cut down the rate of human population growth and perhaps
even reduce erosion, deforestation and the excessive temperature of an
overheated globe’.

After saying that the neem may eventually benefit every person on the
planet, however, the report adds a caveat – ‘that all remains only a vague
promise. Although the enthusiasm for neem may be justified, it is largely
founded on empirical and anecdotal evidence. The greatest impediment
to the neem’s commercial development (in the industrialized countries)
may simply be a general lack of credibility, or even awareness, of what it
is and it can do.

Traditional societies have no such doubts. Native to India and Burma,

the tree is a stately cousin of the mahogany and has been venerated
since ancient times for its medicinal and fumigant properties. Neem is one
of the five ‘essentials’ that tradition prescribes for every Indian garden;
(the others are amla (Indian gooseberry), palash (flame-of-the-forest),
bilva (Bengal quince or bael) and tulsi (sacred basil).

Ayurveda ascribes amazing curative powers to the neem. This is

reflected in the term ‘neem hakim’.

Then there is the neem panchang– the roots, bark, gum, leaves, fruit,
kernel and oil – which furnishes a variety of antivirals, anti-bacterials,
fungicides and other bioactive substances. These have been found
effective against a host of ailments ranging from Chagas’ disease to
malaria.

Countless Indians today use neem twigs, called datun in Gujarat, as

disposable toothbrushes. This explains why, despite a general lack of
toothpaste and toothbrushes, most people in India have white, healthy
teeth.
Dried neem leaves are put in stored grain, clothes and books to protect
them from pests. Neem leaves are used for skin ailments and in rituals to
propitiate the goddess Mariamma of smallpox (which has been
eradicated) and to fan the patients. Neem-oil cakes curb pests, improve
the soil and serve as a nourishing animal feed.

A survey done in 1959 estimated that India had 14 million neem trees.
Since each full-grown neem yields about 50 kg of fruit and some 350 kg of
leaves annually, India probably produces 0.7 million metric tonnes of fruit
and about five million metric tonnes of leaves every year. Although the
neem plantations are unorganized and barely 20 to 25 percent report
collection, according to the latest neem update by the Society of Pesticide
Science, India, the 141 seed collection and 70 oil-production centres in
the country are doing brisk business.

So valuable and adaptable is this tree that Indian immigrants and

colonial administrators took it with them wherever they went to Africa, to
the Caribbeans, to West Asia. Although it thrives ‘almost anywhere’ in the
lowland tropics, the neem is particularly suited to hot and arid areas,
which have the greatest need for tree cover.

In the last few decades, the tree has become well established in over
30 countries. This includes the nations along the Sahara’s fringe where
the tree provides precious fuel and lumber and is helping to halt the march
of the desert. A United Nations report in 1968 called a neem plantation in
northern Nigeria ‘the greatest boon of the century’ to the local inhabitants.
A Saudi philanthropist has created what is probably the world’s largest
neem plantation – 50,000 trees --to provide shade and comfort to the two
million Haj pilgrims who camp each year on the Plains of Arafat.
 Moreover, unlike other imports like water hyacinth and congress grass
which have become a serious nuisance in their host countries, the neem
flourishes in a variety of habitats without aggression, in harmony with the
native animals and plants.

All this explains why the Africans call the neem muarubaini which in
Kiswahili means ‘forty uses’ or ‘forty cures.’ The Sanskrit name for the
neem, arishta, means ‘warder-off of evil and pestilence’. Persians have
perhaps given the neem its most appropriate name: they called it
Azaddirakht-i-Hind which literally means ‘free tree of India’. From Azad-
dirakhti-Hind comes the Latinized Botanical name for the neem,
Azadirachta indica.

It is this remarkable freedom – azadi – from pests displayed by the

neem which sparked western scientists’ interest in the tree. Ironically,
Indian scientists pioneered such studies as far back as the 1920s, but
their work was little appreciated. At a recent seminar on neem held in
Bombay, Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, director of the National Chemical Laboratory
(NCL) Pune, described how India had frittered away its early
breakthroughs – the structure of the neem’s first major bitter principle, the
anti-viral nimbin, was elucidated at NCL by Dr. Narayanan way back in
1965. But the country failed to capitalize on the lead.

The renaissance of neem research began with a plague of locusts in

Sudan in 1959. A German entomologist, Dr. Heinreich Schmutterer,
noticed that neem trees imported from India were the only green things
left standing by the locusts. On closer investigation, he saw that although
the insects settled on the trees in swarms, they left without feeding.

Subsequent work in labs all over the world uncovered even more
amazing power of the neem. For instance, researchers at the US
Department of Agriculture have found that the neem is ‘by far the best
among thousands of plant extracts tested’ against a variety of pests which
cause billions of dollars of damage annually. In 1985, the US
Environmental Protection Agency approved a commercial neem- based
insecticide for ‘non-food uses’, such as in greenhouses. Experts maintain
despite the neem’s apparent lack of toxicity of environmental danger,
getting it approved for use in industrialized countries is an expensive and
time-consuming process.
 Fortunately for farmers in the developing countries, the neem chemicals
are effective even in their low-tech (which is really super-tech; see next
page) avatar: merely crush the leaves or seeds and soak them in water,
alcohol and other solvents. The resulting cocktail of chemicals is
dramatically effective, sometimes even at concentrations as minute as
one-tenth of a part per million.

In field trials, neem proved as good as standard pesticides like DDT,

dieldrin and malathion; while as far as safety and eco-friendliness went, it
was incomparably superior. Experts say that while neem won’t
necessarily knock all the synthetics out of the market, there exists a huge
global demand for ‘soft’ pesticides. This will be worth $813 million
annually in 1998 in the US alone, according to a market survey, up from
$450 million at present. With all this you will keep hearing about neem in
the future. Salute it then.
(1,500 words)
 Exercises (on 126)

IComplete the following table to list the tributes paid to the ‘Neem’
through the centuries.

IIWrite notes against each of the following landmark dates in the

history of modern study and research on the ‘Neem’ as shown in
this example e.g.

1920 – Indian scientists studied the neem for its freedom from pests.
1959
1965
1985

IIIPrepare notes in points under the following headings:

a) Traditional Uses of the Neem

b) The Neem Abroad
c) New and Modern Uses of the Neem

127Excerpts from an article in a journal of Food Technology

Interest in nutrition has never been higher. Besides the prevailing

interest in weight reduction diets, consumers increasingly desire
information on diet and disease relationships. They are asking what they
should eat to lower their serum cholesterol; what diet will make them less
susceptible to cancer; and if they change their eating patterns, will they
live longer. This article discusses the problems in communicating such
nutrition information to the public.

How Informed Are Consumers?

Today people have become more and more aware of nutrition. The
1989 Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Survey of consumer attitudes found
that 76 percent of consumers say nutrition is a very important factor in
selecting foods, up from 72 per cent in 1988. In the same survey, 27 per
cent say fat concerns them most, up from 16 percent in 1987 and 9 per
cent in 1983.

People are also making the connection between diet and disease.
They accept that what they eat may have an effect on their health. The
1988 Health and Diet Survey by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
and National Heart Blood and Log Institute (NHBLI) of the National
Institutes of Health found that 55 percent of the people surveyed believe
that fatty foods cause heart disease (compared to 29 per cent in 1983)
and 25 per cent say fatty foods cause cancer (compared to 12 per cent in
1983).

Yet ironically according to the same study, only 34 percent know that fat
and cholesterol are not the same. This indicates that there is a nutrition
knowledge gap, i.e. what people believe about nutrition and what is
scientifically correct vary greatly. This gap makes communicating nutrition
very difficult. People typically do not understand complex nutrition
concepts which require a background in chemistry and physiology.

Furthermore, consumers want precise dietary recommendations. They

want to be told, ‘This is the best food, this is the worst food’.
Unfortunately, this is difficult for professionals to do, and when they hedge,
consumers doubt their credibility and/or knowledge.

Consumers need to know you’re offering an opinion based on the

current facts. Asking 10 nutritionists to describe the role of saturated fat in
the diet will provide 10 different opinions – hopefully all based on scientific
fact. It is difficult, however, to communicate to consumers that nutritional
issues are not black and while.

Oat bran is a good example of a difficult nutrition issue. How do you

explain to the public that there isn’t a perfect fibre, that the scientific
consensus on dietary fibre is simply not in yet? Soluble fibre probably
lowers cholesterol more than insoluble fibre, yet insoluble fibre such as
rice bran also lowers cholesterol. While certain fibres clearly play a role in
a cholesterol-lowering diet, there are not magic bullets, no cure-alls.

Nutrition information is not readily available to the public. Registered

dieticians usually work in hospitals with sick people and it is difficult to get
access to them. Although there are dieticians in private practice, most
consumers are not willing to pay to have nutrition questions answered.

If consumers have a nutrition question, where do they go?

The two main sources of nutrition information for consumers are the
media and food industry advertising.

Problems with the media are time constraints and entertainment value.
Because few issues are given more than a minute for coverage on
television, it is not possible to provide background to help consumers
understand a topic or put the study into the context of all existing studies.
Furthermore, the media is here to inform and entertain. Routine results
do not help with ratings. No television host wants to talk about
moderation and variety as the keys to good nutrition. You need a book
like ‘Processed Cheese Prevents Cancer’ to get on the television talk
shows.

Most scientific studies are reported by the media as a definitive answer

– they are not put into the context of all existing studies on the topic. This
means that consumers may decide to change their food habits based on a
nutrition study that contradicts the prevailing scientific consensus.
Furthermore, before food professionals can preview and properly evaluate
a specific study, it has been reported in all the major newspapers.

Advertising on food products can be equally confusing bout nutrition for

the public. If consumers believed everything they heard on daytime
television, they would buy a particular brand of peanut butter because it
contained no cholesterol, never knowing that no plant product contains
cholesterol. They might not purchase shredded wheat since it would take
a dozen bowls of shredded wheat to equal the nutrition in one bowl of a
fortified cereal. Many consumers believe that 2 per cent milk is extremely
low in fat since whole milk must be 100 per cent milk. Thus, even if your
intentions are good, it is easy to confuse consumers about nutrition sine
they lack an adequate background in the science of nutrition.

Who should Communicate Nutrition?

People who communicate nutrition information should have the oratory

skills of Daniel Webster, the wisdom of Solomon, and the wit of Bill Cosby,
noted Dr. Ted Labuza in a recent IFT Nutrition Division Newsletter.
Besides they should have an adequate scientific background in nutrition.
Anyone can call oneself a nutritionist. We all eat, so we must all know
about nutrition. Generally, ‘nutritionist’ has no legal meaning as
profession or course of study.

Registered dieticians have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and some

formal on the job training. The American Dietetic Association has strict
standards for becoming a registered dietician and maintaining a
registration status through continuing education credits.

Exercises

IMake a table, organizing information on improvement in nutrition

awareness among consumers, given in the passage above. An
example has been done for you.

Agency
Points of nutrition Improvement in nutrition
conducting the
awareness awareness over the years
survey
Food
Nutrition is an important
Marketing 72 per cent in 1988
factor in selecting foods
Institute
76 per cent in 1989
 IIIndicate briefly the 6 problems that come in the way of giving
consumers satisfactory nutrition information. The first one is given
as an example.

Eg (i) The nutrition knowledge gap: People cannot understand

complex nutrition concepts which require Background of chemistry
and physiology.

IIIComplete the following diagram to show the problems connected

with each of the sources of nutrition information, as shown in the
example.

IVList the qualities required in an ideal Nutrition Communicator.

128 Concrete Example (Courtesy: The Sunday Times of India)

A revolutionary technique of making concrete from lunar soil without

using water, has revived the hopes of scientists of building a colony on the
moon, says N. Suresh.

The dream of building a colony on the moon has now became a reality -
thanks to the revolutionary technique of obtaining concrete from lunar soil
without using water.

Since the landing of 12 astronauts on the moon between 1969 and

1972, scientists have been obsessed with the idea of setting up a manned
station on the earth’s natural satellite. For, it could act as the base for
further forays into space, especially Mars, the planet nearest to the earth
in the solar system.

It has been a difficult task to design a manned station due to the harsh
climate conditions on the moon. First, the structure should be able to
resist great thermal shocks, as the moon’s temperature fluctuates
between minus 150 degrees C and 120 degrees C in a 28-day cycle.
Moreover, the structure would have to be designed to withstand the
vagaries of weather on the satellite which has no atmosphere and gravity
which is six times less than that on the earth.

It is precisely for these reasons that it would be impossible to produce

conventional concrete, the elements making up concrete – cement,
gravel, sand and water – cannot combine in such climatic conditions.

Even if the right technology to make concrete that could work on the
moon was perfected, the magnitude of the task of transporting the
construction material from the earth to the moon would be
insurmountable. To build a lunar base, 40 meters in diameter and 20
metres high, at least 1000 tonnes of cement, 330 tonnes of water (due to
lack of water on the satellite), and 300 tonnes of iron would have to be
transported there. And the cost could be anywhere near Rs. 190000
crore.

An attempt was made in 1984 when scientists sent a satellite into orbit
with the material which could be used for building. Their aim was to test
the resistance and durability of this material in conditions comparable to
that on the moon. The results, available after six years, were
disappointing. Almost all the samples were badly damaged by solar wind
radiation and meteorites.

But engineers have now found a way out, according to a report in the
French embassy newsletter, CEDUST. An American engineer, Dr. T.D.
Lin, is the savior of the Lunar Base Project. He mixed 40 grams of lunar
soil (collected during various missions) with water and produced
concrete. The properties of this concrete were comparable to the best
used in the world, and computer studies confirmed that this concrete
could withstand the enormous temperature differences found on the
moon.
 Encouraged by these results, Dr. Lin turned his attention towards
devising a technique to make concrete without water so that the
operations could be carried out on the moon itself. The revolutionary
technique could produce concrete from ilmenite, a rock consisting of iron
oxide and titanium oxide available in plenty on the moon.

The technique involved heating ilmenite to 800 degree C using huge

solar panels on the moon itself to produce dry concrete. When hydrogen
was added to this the chemical reaction produced iron, titanium and water
vapour. The mixture injected into the pressurized mould containing the
dry-pressed concrete, after a few hours, produced an exceptionally strong
concrete, more resistant than the ordinary one mixed with water. The iron
was used to reinforce it.

Dr. Lin’s technique decreased the cost of building a base by nearly one-
fourth. Experts estimate that the base could be built by spending
approximately Rs. 40000 crores. Only 100 tonnes of machinery, five
tonnes of vehicles and 100 tonnes of drilling equipment would have to be
transported.

The plan for the base is now concretized. An eight-nation Lunar

Concrete Committee has been set up and promised a budget of Rs.
100000 crores. A French company has been given the task of
reproducing a machine-material complex in the field to produce lunar
concrete.

India could benefit immensely if the technology could be used to make

durable concrete, for, the conventional concrete made by government
agencies has been unable to stand the stress caused by overloaded
vehicles on the country’s crowded roads.
(800 words)

Exercises

I(a) Which phrase in the first paragraph indicates the subject (theme) of
the article?
(b) Is the title a clue to the subject? Explain your answer.

IIFill in the blanks in the following notes on the passage:

 The new concrete making technique would be helpful to mankind in
Setting up a ____1__ station on the moon.
Building a ____2___ there.
Promoting exploration of _____3___, especially of ___4___ ,the
nearest planet.
A structure for a manned station could not be built on the moon
because
it had to resist ____5___ shocks (e.g., temperature fluctuations
between ___6__ and ____7___ in a ____8____ cycle).
ii) it had to withstand the absence of ____9____ and a ____10____
that was one –
sixth that of the earth.
The cost of ____11___ the materials ( ______12___ tonnes of cement,
___13___ of water and ____14____ on the moon would have been about
Rs. ___15____.

IIIMake your notes in points on the article using the following headings:

A Revolutionary Technique & Why.

Dr. Lin’s experiment
Features of the New Concrete
Plans for the Lunar Base Project
Future Scope of Space Research
Possible Use of the New Concrete in India.

IV Write a summary of the article using your answers to Ex. III

above.

129Sins of the flesh

SHANTI B RANGWANI explodes the myth about the importance of

animal proteins and makes a fresh case for vegetarianism

A RECENT article in the American magazine Health Science states that

animal protein rather than fat, is what is increasing blood cholesterol
levels. Cut down the animal protein and the cholesterol level automatically
goes down. This is really why the cholesterol levels in China are so low.
 In a study in Italy, people with high cholesterol levels were put on a low-
fat diet. Cholesterol levels dropped, but only from 290 to 270. Next the
protein in the diet was switched from animal sources to plant sources, and
the cholesterol levels went all the way down to 200. Continuing the
research, while the cholesterol levels were way down, they put animal
protein back in the diet – although still a low-fat diet – and the cholesterol
levels started to rise.
“This clearly establishes that consumption of animal protein increases
cholesterol levels. There is a tremendous reluctance on the part of the
scientific community to even consider the adverse effects of animal
proteins on disease processes.”

That the intake of protein, especially the difficult-to-digest animal

proteins, leads to a tremendous increase in strength, is another myth. This
is absolutely unscientific. Dietician Chittenden has observed that a
reduction of protein actually results in an increase of physical and mental
energy, a capacity to work for long periods without getting tired, and
reduced susceptibility to disease. In fact, an experiment was conducted
on a group of German athletes in the early ‘50s. One part of the group
under training was kept on vegetarian food and the second on a non-
vegetarian diet. Of course, it was the first group which turned out superior
in both endurance and stamina. The more protein one eats, the more vital
energy will be spent in digesting it, and the less the energy available to
the body for its other functions.
Most medics, however, still consider proteins the most essential of the
food groups, refusing to accept that meat is essentially toxic, and throws
an unnecessary and harmful burden on the kidneys and liver, which have
to purify the blood of extra toxins.
Besides, most farm animals and poultry have been bred from a small
common stock – genetically ‘murdered’ – to ensure greater yields of fresh
and other animal products. Consider, also, the elaborate poultry-farming
techniques, where broiler chicks are pumped with artificial and often
carcinogenic growth hormones and vaccines.
Of course, pesticides also exist in vegetables. But when we consume
animals what we get is the concentrated effect of fertilisers, pesticides and
all those artificial hormones pumped into fatten the animals, not to
mention the sodium nitrate and nitrites which are extensively used to give
meats an attractive red colour as well as to preserve them.
For a normal person to digest cooked food requires anything from 4 to 7
hours, depending on how it is cooked, what food group it belongs to, and
what it is eaten with. And even then, there is a considerable residue
leftover, undigested, which has to be pushed out of the body. The situation
is worse in the case of flesh foods which require anything between 25 and
30 hours to pass through the entire gastro-intestinal tract, the food
decomposing in the abdomen for a further day or two, at a temperature of
38oC, and acted upon by a variety of acids and enzymes.
According to Leonardo Blanche, author of Cancer and Other Diseases
from Meat Consumption: “Cancer of the stomach forms nearly one-third of
all cancers, and is almost directly attributable to the fact that if flesh foods
are not broken up, decomposition results, and active poisons are thrown
into organs not intended for their reception.”
One of the biggest frauds in modern nutrition is the excessive emphasis
placed on the importance of protein in diet. We must take protein, but not
half as much as we tend to. The human body recycles as much as 70 per
cent of its protein wastes. It loses only about 20 gm. of protein under
normal circumstances, through faeces, hair, urine, perspiration and dead
skin. But most of us eat far too great an amount of protein to compensate
for this small loss.
All the extra protein absorbed by the body gets stored and adds to your
weight. If the body cannot muster enough energy to eliminate these added
excesses, it starts to degenerate and weaken. According to Dr Hindheed,
the former food administrator of Denmark: “When too much protein enters
the bloodstream, it gets converted into nitric, sulphuric and phosphoric
acids. The body is then forced to use up large amounts of alkaline
minerals to neutralise these acids. The result is a deficiency of minerals in
the bones, hair and nails.”
Acids such as uric acid cause so much damage to the liver and kidneys
that in some cases they may even prove fatal. Excess meat-eating causes
erythrocytes and albumin in the urine, increasing manifold the chances of
infection. Over consumption of protein has been linked to cancer of the
breast, liver and bladder, and to a spiralling increase in the incidence of
leukemia and Bright’s disease.
But even if you would like to have more than the prescribed minimum of
60 gm. of protein a day, you would be better advised to switch to
vegetable foods rich in protein. After all, where do the animals themselves
get all their nutrients from? Plants, yes. Try to include primarily raw fruits
and vegetables in your diet , and if you have to cook them, make
sure you don’t deep fry or cook them for long periods so as not to destroy
them completely.

Exercises
IIndicate which of the following statements are ‘True’ or ‘False’
according to the passage or ‘Not Indicated’ in it:
a) Animal fat and not animal proteins increase cholesterol levels.
b) Animal proteins have an adverse effect on disease processes.
c) They do not throw a harmful burden on the kidney and liver
d) They are better than plant proteins
e) Animal proteins are the most essential of the food groups
f) They lead to increased physical strength and energy
g) They can add to our weight

II (A) Complete the following statement by choosing the correct

alternatives from the options that follow:
Plant proteins are better than animal proteins because
a) They are digested easily and quickly.
b) They do not cause cancer.
c) They give protein which can be stored in the body.
d) They reduce more cholesterol.
 e) They contain no toxins.
f) They do not contain pesticides
g) They leave more physical and mental energy.
h) Extra plant proteins can be eaten safely
i) They are recycled
(B)Of the statements not chosen, say whether each one of them is

1. incorrect,
2. inaccurate according to the passage
3. unstated in the passage

III(A) Complete the following statement by choosing the correct

alternatives from the options that follow:
The dangers of excessive intake of proteins are
a) Extra protein gets stored and adds to our weight.
b) Extra proteins are lost through faeces, urine, hair, perspiration
and dead skin.
c) Excess protein increases the cholesterol level.
d) When not eliminated they degenerate and convert to nitric
sulphuric and phosphoric acids.
e) The alkaline minerals become deficient in the bones, hair and
nails.
f) Plants and vegetable proteins are not easily digested.
g) Uric acid damages the liver and kidneys.
h) The urine with erythrocytes and albumin becomes vulnerable to
infection
i) Several types of cancers are caused.
j) We require only 60 gms. of protein.

(B)Of the statements not chosen, say whether each one of them is

1. incorrect,
2. inaccurate
3. irrelevant.

IVMake notes from the newspaper article under the headings given
below. You may use the points given above adding information, brief
explanations or examples wherever necessary.
1. Myths about Proteins
2. Research on Plant Proteins versus Animal Proteins
3. Superiority of Plant Proteins over Animal Proteins
4. Hazards of Excessive Protein Intake

Exercises(on Passage 130 0verleaf)

I(Comprehension Questions)

1. How widespread is child abuse in India and abroad? Are the

figures given good indicators of the extent of the occurrence of
the crime?
2. What are the four reasons mentioned for most cases going
unreported in India?
3. List the four categories mentioned of abnormal molesters. Are
there normal people also who commit such crimes? What is the
reason?
4. What has been the role of the mother and the family in most
cases of child abuse?
5. What has the attitude of Indian society been towards child
abuse?
6. In what ways have the victims of child abuse been wronged?
(You may also use the information in the box.)

IIBy using your answers to the questions above (Ex. I) make notes
on the article, grouping your points under suitably worded
headings.

130
 “I felt like God had died”
Barely one in ten cases of child abuse is reported to the police. But
recently several such crimes have come to light, including one in a school
in Bombay which outraged concerned parents. CHAND B RANGWANI
reports

THREE children, aged from three to six years, were sexually abused by
a 24-year-old youth in a Bombay crèche recently. The youth is the son of
the owner of the crèche.
Police have arrested the prosperous owner of a dairy in Delhi on
charges of raping his 12-year-old daughter. Having raped his elder
daughter almost every day for six years till the trauma led to her eventual
suicide, he then turned his attention to the younger one, first molesting
and then raping her.
In Hyderabad, urchins and runaways in the eight to 15 age-groups are
abused regularly by auto rickshaw drivers, porters and other menial
workers who sodomise them paying a meagre Rs 5 for each occasion.
Police charged a 32-year-old man with the rape of a 11-month-old infant
in North Delhi. Police said the accused was a neighbour who knew the
victim’s parents.
An 8-year-old was admitted to a hospital in Chiplun, Maharashtra, with
swollen labia and severe rectal bleeding. The rapist was her grandfather.
Are these incidents random aberrations? Or do they occur more
frequently than many of us would like to think?

It is estimated that of every four rape victims, three will be minors. And
last year in Delhi alone, there were an estimated 400 cases of sodomy of
minors. Add to these cold statistics the fact that there are currently an
estimated 500,000 child prostitutes in our country.
To make matters worse, the low incidents of police complaints not only
undermines the scale of the malaise but also motivates the abuser to
perpetrate further crimes against kids, whom they now consider easy
meat. According to a crime branch official
in Bombay, barely one in ten cases of abuse gets reported. The social
stigma attached to the loss of virtue in girls in a culture which fetishizes
female virginity, the absence of the necessary channels of communication
between parents and their children regarding sexual matters and the
immediate trauma of the experience, all contribute to the horrific silence of
acceptance. But the most common cause for this silence is the fact that
the molester is often a member of the family.
Mothers will often support their men in their efforts to cover up abuse
once it has come to light. At times mothers may even be active
participants with their men and a number of incest survivors speak of
being held down by their mothers while a male relative carries out the
sexual act.
According to Dr Rohini Gavankar, who was on the sub-committee of the
now-defunct National Commission on Child Abuse, “More than 50 per
cent of the offenders happen to be close male relatives of the child. And in
almost all the other cases, the offender was known to the family. So many
of the child molesters appear to be such nice and normal people. I believe
such incidents are nothing more than an accident in the man’s life. I don’t
really know what else could make them behave like this.”
Psychiatric research into the sexuality of offenders however reveals that
the molester is an emotionally immature person whose pathological
preoccupation with sex makes him turn to children for gratification. Many
abusers are also latent homosexuals with a repressed fear of women.
Another category of abusers are those in advance stages of venereal
disease who believe that having sex with a virgin will cure them.
Unfortunately, the prevalent myth about child abuse in India is that it is
more a sociological issue than a psycho-pathological issue, and that it is
perpetrated only within deprived families. But this is not true here, or
abroad. According to a U.S. Dept. of Justice release, one girl in three and
one boy in seven will be sexually molested before the age of 18. And the
typical American paedophile will abuse 380 children in a lifetime.
Prema Purav feels their pain. As the secretary of Annapurna, Bombay’s
well-known women’s organisation, she has rehabilitated over 800 abused
girls to date, helping them redeem their self-worth by employing them in
her organisation and even getting many married to progressive men from
good families. “The poor have very few choices,” she says. “Many raped
girls are by their families and are forced to go into prostitution at the
tender age of ten or eleven.” “Once a girl is raped, the mothers would
generally cry and moan about it for a while, but they won’t go to the police
or the courts. Many don’t wish to take them back, for fear that the whole
family will be ‘spoiled’. Only once did the girl go back. She had been
raped by her father, had a baby as a result, and had come to us for
protection. A few months later her mother came and pressurized her to
return, saying that going ahead with the complaint would jeopardize the
future of her other four kids and that she herself would have to fend for
them by going into prostitution. The girl agreed to go home, and the case
fizzled out. That is what poverty does.”
But just who else is there to take up cudgels on behalf of such
traumatized children? There are few children’s advocacy groups, given
that they aren’t part of the electorate. “And it’s definitely not the
government.” says Dr Gavankar. “Their entire exercise in appointing the
commission was pure tokenism.”
As regards the judicial process, “there is a great deal of trauma involved
for the abused child in going through an elaborate court procedure,” says
Purav. “How can she say exactly what happened? And the lawyers can
get so vicious and insensitive. I think, there is a need to save the child
from the rigours of lengthy cross-examination.”
Noted Bombay-based criminal lawyer, Adhik Shirodkar, feels otherwise:
“What is really required is some sensitivity-training for the judiciary and
the police since they are woefully desensitized and maladapted for
handling such cases. Otherwise, the current procedure and the strict
standards of proof are quite adequate. If the child has been molested for
the first time, the medical evidence will show it clearly. If the child is strong
and tried to resist, it would imply that there would be marks. The principle
is that we go not by the quantity of evidence but its quality.” Indeed, given
the high incidence of false accusations in such cases, perhaps a simplistic
procedure is something we need to guard against. Because child
molestations are so abhorrent, mere suspicion can ruin lives. Remember
Michael Jackson? But what is desperately required are post-trauma
support services for the children and their families. Says Purav, “Where is
the emotional security of the child when the mother is silently acquiescing
in what the father is doing?”
“Over the years we teach them to be economically and mentally
independent. We tell them that their past hurts are of no consequence
today, that whatever happened wasn’t their fault, that it was just an
accident which they couldn’t have helped. And after sometime, they too
start to think that way.”
The sad fact however is that only a small fraction of those abused ever
get the love or reassurances required to heal the psychic scarring. Most
abused children will grow up and themselves become abusers or
criminals. In fact, a survey of female offenders in prison shows that as
many as 67 per cent of them had been raped as children.
Much as we would like to think otherwise, there are some scars which
can never heal. As one incest survivor, raped by her father and brother for
seven years, put in: “They were my family. When they started it on me, I
felt like God had died. I have to cope with it every single day even now.
How can I forget when I can never forgive?”
 Answers
Unit I

IAPassage 4 – The Zodiac;5 – Photosynthesis;6 – Tides;7 – At the

Planetarium; 8 – Lightning.

BPassage 10 - What is the Sun Made of?11 – How a Bird Flies/ How
Does a Bird Fly? 12 – What was the Apollo? 13 –
What is a Kitchen Garden?

CA-2; B-3; C-6; D-1; E-5; F-7; G-4

II(A) 1-d, 2-e, 3-b, 4-c, 5-a.

(B) 1: -a-i, b-v, c-ii, e-iii;2: a-ii, b-ii, c-v, d-iii;3: a-i, c-v, d-i, e-ii;4: a-I, b-
ii, d-iv, e-iv;

5: b-iv, c-iii, d-v, e-iii.

Unit II

Passages:18 First & Last Sentences;19 Implied: The fuel crisis has
several effects; 20 Last Sentence; 21 Last Sentence;
22 Implied: That morning everybody got their gifts but my stocking was
empty; 23 Implied: There was a terrible storm with lightning
and thunder. 24 Sentence 6 (‘But there is no doubt …… is
diminishing’). 25 Last but one Sentence.( ‘Up in this high …. Lightness of
heart’). 26 Scattered: Fear of juvenile delinquency and an
increasing conflict between parents and children. 27: Last but one
sentence (‘Still in your formless ….. unfathomable future’).

Unit III

I (A) feeble, visible, hopeful, angry, cheerful, unlucky, clumsy, cool,

increasing, probable.
 (B) easily, harmoniously, tidily, accurately, gently, merrily, quickly/
fast, ably, disgracefully, neatly.

(A) mumbling, economy, display, approach, disembarkation, crawl,

denunciation, acceleration, stroll, strut.

II(A) 1 accelerate;2 approach; 3 strut; 4 denounce; 5 disembark; 6

display; 7 economize; 8 mumble; 9 stroll; 10 crawl

(B)1-cloudless, 2-deadly, 3-sandy, 4-luxurious, 5-delicious, 6-neat,

7-shrill, 8-winding, 9-brilliant,

10-sore.

III(A) 1- knuckle, 2 - wrist, 3- elbow, 4-sole, 5-ankle, 6 -forehead, 7-

nape, 8 -thigh, 9-chest, 10 -eyebrow, 11-stomach, 12 -
under-arm.

(B)1-matron, 2-jockey, 3-sculptor, 4-purser, 5-plumber, 6-

ambassador, 7-mason, 8-professor,

9- architect, 10-caddie.

( C) 1-Pliers, 2-corkscrew, 3-scales, 4-thermometer, 5-telescope,

6-tin-opener, 7-spanner, 8-bulldozer, 9-tongs, 10-tractor.

(D)1-E; 2-H, 3-C, 4-L, 5-I, 6-K; 7-D, 8-F, 9-A, 10-G, 11-B, 12-J.

Passages:

29Overall Title: Science & Population Control

Main Idea: Advances in medical & ancilliary sciences have helped

decrease death-rate.

Illustrations: The D.D.T. experiment in British Guiana.

30Overall Title: Our Sleep Needs

Main Idea: Research has improved the means of neuro-physical

measurement & developed better methods of evaluating
 human performance & behaviour.

Illustrations: Behaviour studies & experiments on the effects of sleep.

31Overall Title: Tarantula &Tarantella

Main Idea: A connection between the dance and the spider: (The
vigorous dance was supposed to work out the poison of
the tarantula from the body.)

Illustrations: Examples to show that this was a fiction/ myth.

32Overall Title: Coal & Energy

Main Idea: The burning of the atoms in the coal releases far greater
energy than the coal itself.

Illustrations: Examples quantifying the energy generated

Unit IV

(A)
34

IThe main distinction is between animals which hunt by night and

those which do so by day.

IIRepetitions: at night; at night; In the daytime; at night; diurnal (day-

active).

Transitional signals: This is because; The chain then; a second

tier; it may be less easy; but it may be.

IIIa) The moist night air helps animals without waterproof skins to
avoid drying up and even dying during the daytime. E.g., slugs,
snails, woodlice, centipedes.

b) Some animals feed on smaller nocturnal animals. E.g.,

hedgehogs, mice, toads.
 c) Some animals avoid large diurnal birds of prey like eagles and
buzzards. E.g., foxes, badgers, stoats, owls, rabbits.

IV Many animals hunt by night for different reasons. Animals without

waterproof skins benefit from the moist night air so as to avoid drying up
to death during the daytime e.g., slugs, snails. Some animals feed on
smaller nocturnal animals e.g., hedgehogs, mice and others hunt by night
probably to avoid large diurnal birds of prey like eagles and buzzards e.g.,
foxes, badgers, etc.
(50 words)
35
IA : 2, 3;B : 1, 3.

IIThe owl is an effective night hunter because the large window in front
of the eye allows maximum light and the rounded lens produces a bright
image helping the owl to judge the distance from the prey accurately. The
fringes on his feathers help eliminate the noise of air rushing over the
wings as the owl swoops down on his prey. (58 words)

36
Ia) to remove turbidity caused by solid particles suspended in the water
b)to remove colour that may be due to iron salts
To remove taste and odour from the water
To remove algae which may grow in a reservoir
To remove contamination by pathogens from sewage

IICoherence Signals:
First there is …
Then there is ….
… should also …
.... and it may be necessary ..
Then the most important of all…..

IIIWater should be purified by treating it to remove turbidity, colour, taste

and odour, algae and pathogens.

37
I True: b, d & e. False: a & c
IIa) b, d & e.b) Parts of sentence 2 and sentence 4
 c)Transitional Signals: ‘… though … never…’ (in Sentence 2)
‘... probably … but …not actually control’ (in Sentence 4)

IIIa) i) presence of sunlight; ii) presence of chlorophyll in the plant; iii)

supply of carbon dioxide and water. b) In the middle
of Sentence 4 c) Tr. Signals: ‘… other factors …probably …. not
actually control.’

IVPhotosynthesis or synthesis of carbohydrates occurs in all green

plants and depends greatly on the presence of sunlight, of chlorophyll in
the green plants and on the supply of carbon dioxide and water

38
Ia) Coherence of laser light means that the individual light rays are all of
the same wavelength or colour and move at the same rate as each other.
b) Sentence 2c) yes. In Sentence 3.

IIa:
i) The light waves do not dissipate and their energy is, therefore,
concentrated. (Sentence 5)
ii) The energy is concentrated to a sharply defined point. (S. 6)
iii)The range of the light source is tremendously extended. (S. 7)

b) ‘The reason...’ (S.5); ‘This makes …’ (S. 6); ‘It also …’ (S. 7).

IIIa) i) The light can illuminate the surface of the moon because the
light does not dissipate and the range is tremendously
extended
ii) Because the energy is concentrated at a sharply defined point it
can send a searing pinpoint of light into the human eyeball to weld a
detached retina.
iii)Because of the intense energy it can weld metals and is useful
for precision working making micro-electronic circuits.

C) ‘Because its light ..’ (S. 9); ‘Because its energy ..’ (S. 10);And
since its radiation ..’ (S. 11)
D)
IVA laser light is more effective than ordinary light because it is
coherent. This makes for a concentration of energy at a sharply defined
point and tremendous extension of the range of the light source. Three
special uses of the laser are that firstly, it can illuminate the surface of the
moon with a two-mile-wide circle of light, secondly, it can send a searing
pinpoint of light into the human eye to weld a detached retina, and thirdly,
it can also weld metals with precision in making micro-electronic
circuits. ( 88 words)

B)Famous Lives
IA – 2; B – 3; C - 1; D – 3; E – 4.
IIA) 1 – b; 3 – c; 4 – b.B) 1 – d; 2 – d; 4 – c. C) 2 – a; 3 – d; 4 – e.
D) 1 – a; 2 – d; 4 – d.E) 1 – e; 2 – d; 3 – d.

Unit V

(A) Analysis

Passage

47Pattern: Classification Coherence Signals: underlined;

There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard sets
and bestsellers ---- unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns
wood-pulp and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books --- a
few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as
clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would
probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect
for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many ---
every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by
continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns
books.) (115 words approx.)

Summary: The true book owner is the one who loves reading his few
books again and again even if they are falling apart. Another kind of book
owner keeps the standard sets more for display while the third kind may
dip into his many books but likes to keep them clean and shiny rather than
to read them.
(50 words)

48Pattern: Classification Coherence Signals: underlined

 Most insects start life as eggs. The baby insects that hatch out have no
wings and often look very different from adults. Butterflies, for example, go
through a caterpillar stage and young bluebottles are maggots. The big
change of the adult stage takes place in the pupa or chrysalis. Young
earwigs and grasshoppers, on the other hand, resemble the adults quite
closely. They gradually acquire wings as they grow up.
(70 words approx.)

Summary: Most insects like butterflies and bluebottles start life as eggs
and look very different from adults. However, young earwigs and
grasshoppers resemble adults quite closely

(30 words)

49Pattern: ProcessCoherence Signals: underlined

A tree in the forest, old with too many springs (= years), is conquered by
flourishing fungal parasites; on a day of high wind it falls. The saprophytes
slowly devour the log’s tissue. Gradually they themselves decay and
become food for other saprophytes. The bacteria then take over. There
are many linked species, each reducing the dead stuff to forms more
elemental. At last, the nitrifying bacteria, both by their living and their
multitudinous dying, release nitrates into the soil. Rain and soil water
dissolve them. The roots of bracken, spring where the old tree grew. They
absorb the nitrates, and they are life again.
(110 words approx.)

Summary: The old tree in the forest is attacked by saprophytes which

decay and become food for other saprophytes and later bacteria. Through
a chain of linked species the dead stuff is reduced to more elemental
forms. Thus, at last, nitrifying bacteria release nitrates into the soil where
rain and water help new roots to spring and grow into trees and start the
chain of life again.

50Pattern: Para 1: Cause & Consequence; Para 2 - 4 Sequence of

Ideas (Time Order)

Coherence Signals: much more ancient. …. As early as7000 BC. ….

Even a thousand years before …. Tens of thousands of years before …
the first civilizations …. These prehistoric people ……. But the very first
signs …. Are older still …. Over two million years ago.

Summary: Contrary to the Irish man’s conclusions about the beginning

of life placed at 4004 BC, the first signs of human beings are over two
million years old. Evidence of tools made of wood, bone and stone is
dated tens of thousands of years before the first civilizations. Jericho and
the Middle East civilizations thrived as early as 7,000 BC.
(56 words)

51Pattern: Sequence of Ideas (Space & Time Order)

Coherence Signals: Some centuries after the rise …… narrow

valley …… dozens of bustling villages and towns grew up …. Over
the years …. Vast system of dams … river … reliable link …
hundreds of kilometres …. Around 3100 BC. … In the centuries that
followed … powerful Egyptian civilization ….. flourished …. For two
thousand years.
Summary: The Sumerian states after some centuries grew into a great
civilization of bustling towns and villages. The Nile river served as a
highway and the dams and canals irrigated the lands After 3100 BC. The
Egyptian rulers became powerful and the splendour of Egypt flourished for
two thousand years. (58 words)

52Pattern: An Idea & its Component Parts

Coherence Signals: That man … who …. That his body … whose
intellect … whose mind … one who is full of fire …. But whose passions
… who has learned to love all beauty.

Summary: A man with a liberal education is one who has trained his
body to serve his will which in turn is controlled by a sharp and powerful
intellect and a mind stored with the knowledge of the fundamental truths
of Nature. He is a lover of beauty, art and goodness and is full of life and
fire but has passions that are tuned by a tender conscience.
(65 words)

53Pattern: Sequence of Details / Description

 Coherence Signals: And the rain now …. Before the rain … but now ….
until the whole … In the train …. In the ditches …. flood water …. into a
fine trickle ….swallowed up altogether.

Summary: The rain seemed to intensify the heat. Earlier the

perspiration evaporated but now the steam rising from the wet landscape
of the Deccan Plateau felt like a gigantic Russian bath. The train windows
closed to keep the suffocating heat out and the flood water in the ditches
diminished to a trickle by the heat of the sun and left the red earth hot and
greedily thirsty.

(The remaining answers may be discussed with the teacher or a friend)

B) Support

62Pattern: List of Examples

Coherence Signals: In medical research … T. G. Morton ….. Theobold

Smith …. Equally important …. Dr. Walter Reed … the founding of the
Rockefeller Institute …. Investigation … preventive work … in every part
of the world ………… the headquarters … war against disease.

Summary: America has made a noble contribution to research. T. G.

Morton gave suffering humanity the boon of anaesthesia, Theobold Smith
was the first to discover the role of insects in spreading infectious
diseases and his discovery of toxin-antitoxin conquered the scourge of
diphtheria. Dr. W. Reed identified the species of mosquito that spread
yellow fever. America also founded the Rockefeller Institute which has
organized and financed preventive work and medical research all over the
world. The headquarters of the war against disease is in the United
States. (100 words)

63Pattern: Idea & Specific Details

Coherence Signals: In contrast with … however, we are now beginning
… We are instituting … We are making …. We are fighting … We are
improving … We are providing … Our factory legislation … While our laws
… All of these … together with a rapid advance … and.
Summary: Our earlier indifference to the high death rate in society has
changed. Free hospital and dispensary services and medical attention in
public schools, uncontaminated water supplies, improved housing and
factory conditions, supervision of the general health of the nation and
protection of food supplies has helped save lives. Factory legislation and
laws against child labour, the regulation of dangerous occupations, rapid
advances in sanitary sciences and vast improvement in the standards of
living of the people has reduced the death rate in the city.
(110 words)

64Pattern: Cause & Consequence

Coherence Signals:… and women who used to … Yet she can’t …

The boredom … Moreover … The better … the less reason … The
department stores … Meanwhile efficient mending … and left women –
still at home -. Coherence Signals: Women complain … Little
babies

Summary: The loneliness, boredom and the lack of stimulation that

women complain of is due to various factors. The family is out for the
major part of the day and the gadgets at home are her only company.
Modern apartment living and constant moving has reduced
neighbourhood ties. Better electric equipment and organized home
tending has reduced her chance of gossip at the corner store. Ready-
made clothes and efficient mending services has taken sensible work out
of women’s hands and relegated them to the pastime of radio and
television, (105 words)

(The remaining answers and those for Units VI and VII may be
discussed with the teacher or a friend )

Unit VIII

90Diagrammatic Summary:1- viruses; 2- bacteria; 3- chromosomal; 4-

fertilized; 5- egg 6-heat; 7-deformities; 8- German; 9-
Measles; 10-drugs; 11- chronic starvation; 12- vitamin deficiency.

Model Summary:1- disease; 2- be; 3- fertilized; 4- egg; 5- womb; 6-

smoking; 7- retardation; 8-vral; 9- malaria; 10- third; 11- diet; 12-
deficiency.
 91 Paras 2 & 3:
A) – g & h.
B) a)- ii; c)- iv; d)- ii; e)- ii; f) – iv; g) – iv.

Paras 4 & 5:
A) – c & f
B) a – iii; b–iv; d- ii; e– iv.

II1 common /numerous /many; 2 tightly; 3 porous; 4 under; 5 sunlight

/light; 6 soil; 7 bodies; 8 manure; 9 burrows; 10 roots.

92
I Para 1:
A) – a. B) b – iii; c - ii; d - ii; e- iv.
Para 2:
A) - d. B) a- iv; b- ii; c-iv.
Para 3:
A) - d. B) a- ii; b- iii; c- ii; e- iv.

II1- carbon; 2- tightly; 3- shaped; 4- base; 5- diamonds; 6- earth

/ground; 7- pressure; 8- man.

93
IA) - b, e, h, i and n.B) a- iii; c- iv; d- iv; f- iii; g- ii; j- i; k- ii; l- iv; m- ii; o- ii;
p- i.

II1 - game; 2 - sport; 3 - Mountaineers; 4 - dangers; 5 - Mountaineering;

6 - rules; 7 - methods; 8 - groups; 9 - themselves; 10 - till /until; 11 -
practise; 12 - enjoy.
94
IA) –a & e.B) b- iv; c- ii d- ii; f- iv; g- ii; h- ii; i- iv; j- iv.

II(Older residents maintain that Lalbagh was named after a 14th century
dargah of a Muslim pir named Lal Syed Shah) and not after the Lalbaug
Mansion which was built by Pestonji Wadia in 1792.
(42 words)
95
IA) a, c, d, g ,l, n, & p.B) b – iv; c – iii; e –i; f – iv; h – i; i – iv; j – iv; k –
iv; m – iv, o – i.
 IITraditionally, children were brought up on a mother’s instinct and
homely advice from the mother and mother-in-law. Today, parents have
multiple sources of information in books, counsellors, classes and
cyberspace. They have to make complicated choices about how much
and how early to teach the children and how much to indulge them with
TV watching etc. Though more responsive to the times, parents often tend
to expect too much from their children.

(71 words)

Unit IX
96
IThe prophecies about the introduction of railways were proved false. In
the opening sentence
IIThe remaining sentences.Both paragraphs.
IIIPara 1:Wrong negative expectations. Para 2: Positive economic
advantages
IvSummary:
The prophecies about the introduction of railways were proved false
because, contrary to their expectations, the farming classes prospered
through improved agricultural communication, cheaper lime, coal and
manure and no decrease in milk production. There was no pollution from
smoke, no fires in farmyards and farm animals remained unaffected. On
the contrary, railway lines were in greater demand so that properties
which had attracted compensation, now fetched higher prices. There was
a clamour for sidings and accommodation near railway stations was in
greater demand as land sales advertisements showed.
V A– a).B. b) – iv; c) – i; d) – iii.
97
IPara 1
1) Yes, Sentence 5;2) Ss 1-3;3) An illustration;
Pattern: Statement & Explanation.
Summary:
Children approaching adulthood and their parents view each other as
representatives of a hostile group because of the rebellious spirit of their
children.
 Para 2
Ss. 6 & 7;6) Afterwards in Ss.8 & 9;7) S. 6 links the ideas in Paragraphs
1 & 2;
8)Pattern: Statement & Explanation.
Summary:
Children want to assert their emancipation. Parents, not realizing that
this is a normal and temporary phase, try to contain/ control this tendency.
This hostility is strongest in small communities where parents get stricter
because teenagers deeds get magnified under the watchful eyes of their
neighbours.

Para 3
9) S. 10;10) No, because it is only an illustration.
11) Pattern: Statement, Explanation & Example.
12) Summary of Para 3:
The adolescent is not as demonstrably affectionate and appreciative as
he was as a child but is more openly critical. However, with maturity his
appreciation of his parents returns as Twain confirms.
(32 words)

13) Summary of the Passage:

Children approaching adulthood and their parents view each other as
representatives of a hostile group because of the rebellious spirit of their
children. Parents, not realizing that their children’s desire to assert their
emancipation is a normal and temporary phase, try to contain/ control it
more strictly in small communities because teen-agers deeds get
magnified under the watchful eyes of their neighbours. To the
disenchantment of his parents, the adolescent is also not as demonstrably
affectionate and appreciative as he was as a child but is more openly
critical. However, with maturity his appreciation of his parents is restored
as Mark Twain’s observation confirms.
(105 words)
IIA - b);B: a) – i; c) – iii; d) – ii.
98
IPara 1: Problem, Solution & Evaluation of SolutionPara 2: Statement &
ExplanationPara 3: Purpose/ Cause & Result.
IIIA. - b)B. a) – i; c) – iii; d) – ii.
99
IPara 1 – a);Para 2 – c), d), h) & i);Para 3 – a), c), f), g) & h).
 IIPhilip tried not to disturb the silence of the Reference Library. But as
he climbed down the ladder with a book on photography, it slipped from
his grasp and fell to the floor with a loud crash. The lady assistant
reprimanded him and asked him not to disturb the readers again. Her tone
however was kinder when she realised that the 13-year-old had shown
interest in reading at the library which was for the use of people above the
age of fourteen.
IIIA – b);B a) – ii; c) – iv); d) – iii).
100
IThe author loved horse racing and had ridden in many international
races. He was inspired to participate in the village race when his host
offered to lend his horse and the neighbour challenged him to beat his
beautiful racehorse. Eight riders participated and at halfway the neighbour
was in the lead and the author third. But soon the neighbour’s horse
seemed to tire and slow down. The author now improved his position and
in the third lap his horse shot forward to victory. He had won the race.
IIA – d);B a) – v; b) – i; c) – iii.

101
IWe expected to reach the town across the hills to find a bed for the
night. But it was soon dark and cold and it started to rain reducing
visibility. The car, too, ran out of petrol and the town was nowhere in sight.
We consumed the little food we had and resigned ourselves to spending
the night in the car. But John, walking to the top of the hill, saw the lights
of the town. We unloaded the car and pushed it too the top of the hill; then
reloaded it to reach the town and find a hotel quite easily.
IIA – c).B a) – i; b) – v; d) – iii.

102
1. b.2. a-1; c-4; d-4.3. S. 2.4. a.5. b.
6. Certain birds like to be near man.
7. Of the birds that like the society of man the robin is the most popular.
8. The robin is popular in England because of his striking personality.
9. Ss. 1-3 can help formulate a topic sentence.
10 Ss. 4 – 7.
11. bold.
12. His strong personality is revealed in the boldness of his
fearless strutting movements, his colourful dress and the joyful
 forthrightness of his song which is free and exulting but with a
beautiful under-song. His boldness endears us so that we can feed
him with worms and befriend him.

13. robin, nest, anywhere, freckled, eggs.

14 ‘anything from a tin kettle to a hole in a tree or a bank’, ‘white in
ground colour, with freckles of light red’, ‘of dead leaves,
grass and moss interwoven with hair and a few feathers’.

15 He lays freckled eggs in a rough nest which he builds almost

anywhere.(13 words)
16. Pattern: Statement & Elaboration/ Explanation.
17.Check with answer to 18

18.1- man’s/ human; 2- popular/ intimate; 3- striking; 4 – boldness;

5 - movement/s; 6– attitude; 7 – thoughtful; 8 – character; 9 –
eggs; 10 - anywhere.

1031.- d2. a – v, b – iv, c-iii.

3. i) War is a terrible evil --- Sent.1; ii) War is sometimes necessary----
Sents. 2-9.
4. i) Slavery ----‘however’ (transitional device);
ii) Oppression under a foreign yoke ---- ‘again’ (tr. dev.);
iii) Invasion of the country ------ ‘Finally, …; When…..’ (tr. dev.)
5. Pattern: Para 1: Statement (War is an evil);Para 2,3 & 4:
Contrast (But war is sometimes necessary) & Classification (of
situations where war becomes necessary)
6. ‘evils’

7. Preventive war
8. Love of peace

9. Laziness, indecision and shirking (neglect or avoidance) of

responsibility
10. Assisting the weak and oppressed.

11. Because there is no selfish gain and no material advantage.

12. See answer to !4.
 13. Paragraph 2: “man of courage and spirit”, “submit to a foreign
yoke”, “admitting an invader to our shores”, “murderer or burglar … “,
“no matter what the odds” etc. (Sentences 2-4)
Paragraph 3: “knocking at our gates”, “innate love of peace”,
“excuse for indolence” etc. (Sentences 5-6)
Paragraph 4: “remain unmolested”, “no storms looming ahead”,
“signal crime or wickedness”, “gird on our armour and go forth like the
knights of olden times in defence of the weak” etc. (Sentences 7-8)

14.1) slavery, 2) greater, 3) Fighting, 4) sometimes, 5) attack, 6) excuse,

7) freedom, 8) weak, 9) cost, 10) causes /wars.

104
IPara 1: Classification;P. 2 & 3: Statement & Explanation

IIThere are two kinds of popularity, intimate and long-distance. Intimate

popularity is preferred because, often, the man who enjoys long-distance
popularity is disliked at close quarters. The man who is intimately popular,
in spite of his defects, if any, i) gives pleasure to others while ii) he himself
enjoys their society. Iii) He expects to find good company in others and is
ready to take risks in social intercourse. Iv) He is always sanguine and
hopeful rather than despondent about human mature. v) He thus fills
others with his own vitality. vi) He is not an egotist but a hedonist. vii) His
easy instinctive liking of others is a virtue because he makes people
happy rather than miserable.

105
ITopic: Plastics.Title: Plastics
IIPara 1: Last Sentence;P. 2: Last Sentence;P. 3: First Sentence
IIIP. 1: Definition & Explanation; P. 2: Process;P. 3: Classification.
IVThe paradox about plastic materials is that in the manufacturing
process, under the heat and pressure the material is flowing and
mouldable, but restored to normal conditions the moulded plastic product
retains its shape permanently and is not ‘plastic’ and mouldable any more.
The process of moulding is carried out in special presses so that the
moulds can be heated and the plastic pressured into shape. After the
moulding it is cooled. Two broad categories of industrial plastics are
thermo-plastic materials which can be softened and re-softened with heat
and pressure, and thermo-setting materials which undergo a chemical
change under the intense heat and cannot be re-formed further.

106
ITopic: The earth’s interior.Title: The Structure of the Interior of the
Earth.
IIPara 1: Statement & Evidence;P. 2, 3 & 4: Description
IIIP.1: Implied & indicated with brackets in Answer IV;P. 2:
Sentence 2 P.3: Sentence1; P. 4: Implied: The crustal
layer is composed of a light kind of rock, while with the core comes a
different denser rock of a basic silicate variety.

IV(Our planet comprises material that is not inert but is frequently

subject to changes) which show in earthquakes, volcanoes and even the
very origin and evolution of life. The spherical ball consists of a core and a
mantle. The core, extending to 3450 of the total radius of 6350 kilometres
from the centre of the earth, is made of dense stuff, which at the centre is
13 times as heavy as ordinary water. The thin outer crust of the mantle is
composed of a light kind of rock with a density of 2.7 times that of water.
Below the crustal layer and right down to the junction with the core comes
a different denser rock of a basic silicate variety

107
ITopic: Chromosomes; Title: The Structure and Functions of the
Chromosomes
IIP. 1 & 2: Description; P. 3: Explanation;P. 4: Process & Explanation.

IIIAn extra ordinary substance called DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) is

the important constituent of ‘chromosomes’ which were recently
discovered to be the carriers of heredity. The fibre like molecules of DNA
are structured and packaged in such a way as to carry the code for all the
vital functions performed in living, growing and dividing cells. Its incredible
efficiency is shown by the fact that all the chromosomes in the fertilized
eggs of the original human being from whom the two and a half billion
people of the world have descended would occupy a volume equal to that
of an aspirin tablet. A further property of the chromosome is that by
attracting to itself the simple chemical substances of which it is composed,
and which are present within cells it can make a complimentary copy of
itself. This leads to a third property of DNA, demonstrated by F.H.C. Crick
and J. D. Watson, that the two chains of the DNA molecule, which are
complementary copies of one another, can separate, each build a mirror
image and present two new molecules, in place of the single original,
having precisely the same structure.
This self-duplication is the basis of life. In self-reproduction within
organisms the fertilized egg divides over and over again. Both daughter
cells get a full complement of 46 chromosomes. After the first few
divisions of the egg, development involves growth – the manufacture of
proteins and enzymes and the construction of new molecules of DNA. By
attracting the material necessary, the structure of the DNA molecule also
ensures that a duplicate whose precise similarity to the original is
guaranteed and only then does the cell divide.

108A radical change in the Japanese diet from the traditional rice, fish
and vegetables to a more varied fare including eggs and dairy produce
has led to a transformation in Japanese agriculture. This was due to the
influence of Western idea of food and to depleting fish resources. This in
turn resulted in phenomenal livestock production and changed methods of
farming. Livestock development was based on improved pasture in the
uplands, a combination of “cut and carry” methods and various grazing
techniques and a road building programme to transport pasture herbage
from the uplands. The cultivation of new varieties of rice with better and
faster yields helped dedicate more of the plains to the livestock industry.
Also, industrialization creating jobs for the rural populace, the increase in
the average farm size meant that larger farms could favour crop
diversification and mechanization.
(155
words)
Title:The Transformation of Japanese Agriculture.

109Silence is unnatural and fearful to man, for all through life he tries
to make noise. He even makes conversation to break silence, and feels
ashamed if he cannot chatter ceaselessly, though he knows his chatter is
mainly nonsense. The aim of conversation is mainly to make a buzzing
noise, and everyone would rather buzz and keep quiet. Most buzzing is
pleasant to the ear and mind, but he would be foolish who entered
conversation only when he had a wise thought. Very few people enter
conversation to learn anything but merely to make a noise, the weather
being sufficient topic. Even so, after talking nothing all evening, people
boast of their conversational powers.
(103 words)
Title:Silence and Man

110Sports and games have been a universal activity from time

immemorial but its oldest known place is in Britain The average boy
whether he liked games or not was made to play them in a certain period
of his life so that he developed a familiarity with and interest in sports. All
classes of people in Britain, therefore, in normal times show interest in the
Sports Page of the newspaper and absorb its terms and ideas in their
routine life. This does not mean that sports and games override all other
interests in life or that they are disproportionately emphasized. The
modern British youth give sports an appropriate place in life.
(107 words)
Title:Sports in Britain

111The prejudice against the education of women in India began to

break down in the early part of the twentieth century. The release of
women from ignominy and suffering became the mission of several
women’s groups. Some women’s societies were started in collaboration
with European women such as the National Indian Association. Others
were spontaneously started like the Bharat Stree Mahamandal in the
United Provinces and Bengal and the Seva Sadan Society of Bombay,
which worked for the abolition of purdah and for other philanthropic work.
Their most effective activity was the promotion of women’s education. It
was, however, not easy because the strongest opposition came from the
women themselves, who because of their enforced ignorance were mired
in hurtful and unjust religious customs and resisted all change and
innovation.
The outbreak of the First World War, however, gave an impetus to
women’s emancipation with newspapers, congresses and debating
societies drawing attention to the subject and with Mrs. Annie Besant
clamouring for the abolition of child marriages and encouragement of
female literacy. The Women’s India Association demanded
enfranchisement of women leading to enrolment of women in the electoral
register and women being elected to the provincial legislatures. Dr.
Muthulakshmi Reddi was the first woman elected as Vice President of the
Madras Legislative Council (1926-1930). Mahatma Gandhi also insisted
on perfect equality between men and women. With the Second World War
women were leaving their homes to replace or supplement their men as
breadwinners and even entered the military services. Later, the principle
of equality was incorporated in the Constitution of India and the Hindu
Code Bill hoped to achieve the completion of the social evolution of
women.
(300 words approx.)
Title:The Flowering of Women’s Freedom in India
OrFifty Years of Social Evolution among Indian Women

112 Sun has been important to us because its light helps us to see and
its heat warms us and the earth and sustains life.
But most of the light and heat, which could provide us much needed
energy, goes into the earth and is wasted. The heat received by the earth
in only two days is enough to provide the power we would get from
burning all the coal, oil and gas in the earth.
This heat if properly trapped and stored could provide valuable energy
especially when wood, coal and oil are becoming so scarce. By focusing
sunlight, with big curved metal mirrors, on boilers containing water, steam
can be generated to drive steam engines. Such solar engines have been
built in Bombay, Egypt and Israel. Solar furnaces for melting iron have
also been set up in France, Egypt and America. The sun’s heat can also
be used for solar cooking by day and for heating houses at night, by
passing the hot water through a system of pipes. The heat can also be
used to drive a cooling machine and solar refrigerators could prove more
useful than solar cookers. However, these processes are all very
expensive.
By reflecting the light of the sun on a special material containing silicon
and allowing the current to flow in the silicon, photo-electricity can be
generated. This has been very valuable in space research to drive the
radio transmitters carried by satellites to send information back to earth.
While electrical batteries on the satellite would not last long, the solar cells
make photo-electricity, when the sun shines upon them. Solar cells can
also be used for home radio receivers and for empowering country
telephone lines as has been done in America. When solar energy can be
tapped cheaply, tropical countries will always have all the power they will
ever need.
(310 words approximately)
Title: The Taming of the Sun
Or: Solar Power Tapped and Untapped.

113The first traces of human evolution were found chiefly in tools and
ornaments and fossil bones. The beginning of man’s progress is marked
by the first coliths or serviceable flints – crude and unpolished. Of the half
million years since then, nearly three quarters had passed by in learning
to cut and shape and polish these. Thus the initial progress was very slow.
With the age of metals began recorded history which is all crowded in the
last five thousand years. The last thousand have witnessed a tremendous
spate of scientific and technological progress and the pace cannot
slacken now. Tradition, which includes the inheritance of acquired
characteristics and the results of learning and training is a new medium of
mankind’s speedy and accumulating progress. (124 words)

Title:The Course of Human Evolution

114Olestra is a fat-free oil, that behaves like regular oil in taste and
function, seemed to be a realization of the dieter’s dream of gorging on
puddings and fry-ups. But several researchers fear that this oil, which has
had its molecules tinkered with, could be the beginning of a nightmare.
Nutritionist Myra Kardstat views the American Food and Drug
Administration’s decision to license its use in savoury snacks with alarm
as it would be a huge uncontrolled experiment with public health as fat-
like Olestra absorbs fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients and then rushes
them out of the body. Carotenoids, found in vegetables, which boost the
immune system against some cancers are especially vulnerable. Also the
whole issue of reducing the fat in our diet is a mistake. Some other
products on the same lines, like Salatrim and Caprenin are forty per cent
less in calories but high in harmful saturated fats.
Joan Dyegussow also echoes doubts about what these chemical
marvels may be doing to us. Even fibres, which have been researched
much longer, have not been fully understood by us. Prof. Barbara J. Rolls’
study showed that volunteers on a low-fat diet, when allowed to eat
whatever they wanted for the rest of the day, made up the calorie
difference by dinner time. Researchers in the Chemical Senses Centre in
Philadelphia found that the people on fat substitutes indulge themselves
to full fat things when their guard is down whereas those who cut
substitute foods and go for naturally low fat foods, like bread, vegetables
and fruits reduce their craving. The journal Nutrition Today warns that
denying children high fat foods can lead to nutritional deficits and a study
at the McGill University (Canada) found that reducing saturated fat in the
diet may add at best no more than 3 months to life. Dr. Malcolm Caruthers
believes that the interaction between stress, hormones and cholesterol is
far more influential in determining blood-fat levels than the fats you
consume. Dr. Artem Simopoulos of the Centre for Genetics, Nutrition and
Health has amassed evidence that it is your genes which determine
whether you need to worry about fat. (370
words)

Title:Does a Chip a Day Keep the Doctor Away?

Or Olestra – A Boon?

115Noise, which is only a by-product of the machines we use, has

acquired political status and public opinion is insistently demanding that
we control noise. The conference at Teddington has collected a huge
mass of knowledge and fact on the subject. Sound becomes noise when
someone’s opinion makes it so. Most of the noise is a small fraction of the
main output of the machine and is, therefore, difficult to reduce
significantly. The ways in which this is possible are:
Making it acoustically unnoticeable
Much self-discipline
Expenditure of money
A sense of proportion when it involves a conflict of interests
Technical knowledge
Some problems and solutions are:
Vehicular noise is difficult to measure by an instrumental reading like
speed can be measured.
The noise of engines, fans and jets is best controlled at the source or
during its transit to the ear.
Sound absorbant materials in walls etc. can reduce only five decibels of
noise.
 Domestic noise can be controlled by forethought and courtesy.
Noise control in modern air transport must be worked out at the
international level and will be extremely expensive.
(160 words)

Title:The Control of Noise

Unit X
116
IThe overall title & topic: ‘Improving Study Habits’
II A) a) freedom from distractions/ interruptions; b) a well lighted
workplace; c) adequate reference materials & stationery.
B)The first thing to do is to arrange for a good study setting.
C) An overview of the material to be studied, implies: a) looking at
section headings;
b) understanding; c) making marginal notes/ underlining.
D) Review at intervals:a) needs to be done carefully, b) deficiencies
in information need to be corrected
E) For taking clear lecture notes: a) write only key ideas; b) edit
for readability; c) check for accuracy; d) revise the notes.
IIIStudy habits improve with;
i)Motivation and attitudes are important.
ii) good setting for study requiring:a) freedom from distractions/
interruptions,b) a well-lighted workplace; c)adequate reference
materials & stationery.
iii)An overview of the whole material implying:a) looking at section
headings, b)understanding c) making marginal notes.
iv)Distributing practice especially with factual details & rote
learnt materials.
v)Looking in the studied materials for relationships with known
knowledge.
vi) Review at intervals a) needs to be done carefully, b) deficiencies
in information need to be corrected.
vii) For taking clear accurate notes:a) write key ideas b)edit for
readability, c) check for accuracy, d) revise the notes.
117
Ib) provides a good overall title; c), d) and g) are dealt with in detail.
 II 1- What is a Kitchen Garden? 2 - garden; 3 - near; 4 - fruits; 5
- Advantages of Kitchen Gardens; 6 - satisfaction; 7 - harvest; 8 -
vegetables; 9 - beautifies; 10 - grow; 11 - available; 12 - reduced; 13 -
cheap; 14 - safer; 15 - water; 16 - soil; 17 - manure; 18 - Improvements in
Kitchen Gardening; 19 - Materials; 20 - Agricultural; 21 - Universities; 22 -
media; 23 - Education; 24 - Extension; 25 - radio; 26 - newspapers; 27 -
television; 28 - ’Divas’; 29 - ‘Kisan’; 30 - ‘Melas’.
 118

I Advertising.
II Because modern advertising influences the people of the
world spend their money it has become an essential partner of
commerce and industry today.
III The last seven paragraphs.
IV
 119
IA – d.Ba – ii; c – iii; b– i.
IIA) – b, e & j.B)1 – a & c; 2 – g & I; 3 – d, f & h.
IIIPlastic Wastes in India

1. Plastic bags everywhere

2. Rs. 25,000 crore plastic industry growing at 12 – 15 % annually
3. Contributing two million tonnes of plastic waste each year
(including bottles, food packaging, cement bags & medical
disposals)

Miniscule Measures
a) Two legislations (1999 & 2003) under the Amendment on
Recycled Plastic Manufacture and Usage: No plastic bags thinner
than 20 microns & smaller than 8 x12 inches to be manufactured
b) Not effective as bigger bags are still strewn around to pollute –
waste-pickers collect more lucrative items like bottles, tumblers &
plates
A Wise Approach
a) Avoid educating children on “essential plastics”
b) Rather discuss their disadvantages: i) lost livelihood of potters,
basket makers, jute farmers & craftsmen now displaced
ii). cows choking on plastics & other environmental pollution
hazards.
iii) emissions from incinerating chlorinated plastics.
c) Industry should cooperate with any serious measures the
Government proposes.
 120
I2 - 600;3 – 400;4 – below 6.
II1 – World; 2 – Population; 3 – 7,000; 4 – evenly; 5 - Sparse; 6 -
densely; 7 - Lack; 8 - Uninhabitable; 9 -
communication; 10 - Dense; 11 - most; 12 - U.S.A.; 3 - W. Europe;
14 - S. E. Asia; 15 - soil; 16 - crops; 17 - Good/ Abundant; 18 -Transport;
19 - Effect; 20 - growth; 21 - Low/ Lowered; 22 - famine; 23 - production;
24 - consumption; 25 - Solutions; 26 - Migration; 27 - U.S.A.;
28 - Europe; 29 - industrialization; 30 - food; 31 - standard; 32-
scientific; 33 - communication; 34 - health; 35 – disease; 36 - increase/
growth.

121
Ia,d & f.II1 – b; 2 – e; 3 – c; 4 – g; 5 – h, i & j.
III1 – requirements; 2 – surgery; 3 – patient’s; 4 – blood; 5 –
retransfusion; 6 – reaction; 7 – Infection; 8 – normal; 9 –
orthopaedic; 10 – plastic; 11 – kidney; 12 – lung; 13 – cardiac; 14 –
rare; 15 – matching; 16 – wait; 17 – haemoglobin; 18 - infected; 19 –
metabolism; 20 – 75; 21 – Low; 22 – corrected; 23 – iron; 24 –
multivitamins; 25 – erythropoetin; 26 – 35; 27 – Leap Frog; 28 –
month; 29 – consecutive; 30 – two; 31 – returned; 32 – fourth; 33 –
second; 34 – four; 35 – India; 36 – matching; 37 – storage; 38 – limited;
39 – sterile; 40 – Temperature; 41 – autologous; 42 –
labelled; 43 – signed; 44 – donors; 45 – FDA.

122
I – d) ContrastII – Kashmir Then & Kashmir Now.
III (A)1 – Then; 2 –Now; 3 – teak; 4 – carvings; 5 – patchwork; 6 –
Nagin; 7 – Dal; 8 – weeds; 9 - smiling/ happy; 10 – tourists/ visitors; 11
– comfort; 12 – luxury; 13 – photographs; 14 – killed; 15 – terrorists.
(B) – Personal & Family Life. 1.- a city under siege; 2.– after a while
the jibes were snapped at; 3.- Murtaza loved to visit from Delhi;
4.- Children shivered at the sight of pistols.
(C) - Public Life1.- Mother’s visits to her own family stopped;
2.- high literacy in Kashmir; 3.- hardly any rape; 4.-
lowest crime rate
(D) – Governmental Attitude.1. The Army helped common people
(e.g., stranded passengers); 2.- Their forced physical presence
everywhere and frequent unwanted searches humiliates the Kashmiris;
3.- Wattoo’s only vehicle becomes useful for a gasping patient;
4.- frustration with the Indian Government among young & old.

123
Television Watching

Good for Children Bad for Children

A: Dr. Ann Colby (Licensed Psychologist, Marshall McLuhan
Harvard University) 5,000 studies (scholar of the 1950s)
B:
TV assists children’s intellectual, social,
emotional & moral development.
Children watch TV actively (and not Children turn into couch
passively) & connect narrative sequences spuds
with their own experiences. Violent TV leads to
No deficit in children’s attention span due aggressive activity and
to TV watching; TV watching makes an unflattering stereotypes
exciting source of learning TV solely an
Children watching a moderate amount of entertainment medium
TV do better than those watching little or no
TV.
C: The message (sex & violence) comes The medium is the
strong through books, films, theatre & TV message
D:
It is not TV watching per se but the quality
of what they watch that matters
Parental control of children’s TV watching In India children’s TV is
important: 1 ½ hours of TV enough not even an issue
Programs available on Cartoon Network,
Discovery Channel & BBC

Overall title: Television Watching for Children.

 124
IParagraph 1: Neem is a subtle and better plant pesticide than the
synthetic ones
Pattern: Statement with Elaboration.
Para 2: Neem is unique because it does not kill the pests like
synthetic chemicals do, but changes their life processes in subtle ways.
Pattern: Explanation by Comparison & Contrast.
Para 3: Other plants around are protected internally, without the
spraying of pesticides (e.g. wheat, rice, sugarcane etc.)
Pattern: Explanation with Examples.
Para 4: Further advantages of neem’s non-toxicity to warm-blooded
animals and the biodegradability of neem compounds.
Pattern: Explanation with Examples
Para 5: Synthesis of a super-tech ‘azadi-rachtin’ from a major neem
chemical by scientists.
Pattern: Elaboration through further Evidence.
Para 6: Home grown neem a boon to poor Indian farmers who would
not afford the neo- neems’
Pattern: Statement of Conclusion.
IIThe neem-based plant pesticide is subtle in that it does not crudely kill
the pests but renders them unable to feed, breed or metamorphose,
without harming birds, mammals and pollinating insects. Other plants
absorb the neem chemicals through the soil and this protection is neither
washed off by rain nor is there need for spraying the new growth. The
neem-fortified plants are not toxic to warm blooded animals. The multiple
compounds in neem make impossible the building up of pest resistance.
Also, the neem compounds being biodegradable, the holistic effects make
the shade giving neem tree the poor Indian farmer’s best friend while not
needing to buy the expensive super-tech neem compounds being built by
scientists round the world.
(120 words)
IIIAlternative Title:Neem – The Indian Farmer’s Super Hero.

125
Ia -iv; b – ii; c – ii; d – ii; e – i.
II1) a river dwelling people of the Amazon rainforests.2) 92
centimetres.3) Amazonas 4) Using planes & helicopters to reach the
jungles with food, water and medicines. 5) Because of the remoteness of
the communities in the dense jungles. 6) Sixty-one.
7) 132,000 .8) the dead fish in the drying rivers. 9) Cholera
(&other diseases). 10) Fishermen.
III1 – largest, 2 – valley, 3 – rainforest, 4 – drying, 5 – jungles, 6 –
food, 7 – water, 8 – authorities, 9 –war, 10 - transport/ deliver,
11 – medicines, 12 – tribes, 13 – cure, 14 – cholera, 15 –
helicopters.
IVProblems of the people of the Amazon valley:
1.River drying up;2. Isolation;3 Lack of water & food supplies;4 Density
of the jungles; 5 Polluted river water; 6 Dead fish
spreading contamination; 7 Fear of cholera breakout; 8 Threat of
return of bacterial/ viral diseases through contamination; 9 Loss of
livelihood for fishermen; 10 Trauma for the old inhabitants to see the
aftermath of the biggest river system in the world drying up
126
1.
Tribute or title of
Tribute by Reason for Tribute
praise
For halting the
2. The greatest boon of United Nations
march of the desert in
the 20th century Report
Nigeria
Amazing curative
3. Neem bakim Ayurveda
powers
Washington-based
4. Neem: A Tree To A new era in pest
National Research
Solve Global Problems control
Council
5. One of the five For its medicinal
essentials for every Traditional society and fumigant
Indian garden properties
Useful free tree of
6. Azad-dirakht-i-Hind Persians
India
7. Muarubaini Africans Forty cures
Wards off evil and
8. Arishta Sanskrit (Ayurveda)
pestilence
Latinized botanical
9. Azadirachta Indica Botanical value
name
 2. 1959: A German entomologist Dr Heinreich Schmutterer discovered
the resistance of the neem tree to locusts.
1965: Dr Narayanan elucidated the structure of the neem’s first
major bitter principle, the anti-viral nimbin.
1985: US Environmental Production Agency approved a
commercial neem-based insecticide for ‘non-food’ uses.

3. (i) Traditional Uses of the Neem:

- a variety of antivirals, anti-bacterials, fungicides and bioactive
substances yielded by the roots, bark, gum, leaves, fruit kernel and
oil.
- cures for a host of ailments from Chagas’ disease to malaria.
- neem twigs used as datun (or a disposable toothbrush).
- dried neem leaves used to protect stored grain, clothes and books
from pests.
- neem leaves used for skin ailments.
- used in rituals to propitiate the goddess Mariamma of smallpox.
- neem oil cakes curb pests, improve soil and serve as a nourishing
animal feed.
(ii) The Neem Abroad:
- The neem tree provides precious fuel and lumber and is helping
halt the march of the desert in the nations along the Sahara
desert.
- used in hot and arid lowland tropics for tree cover.
- neem plantations provide shade and comfort to Haj pilgrims on
the plains of Arafat.
- it flourishes in a variety of habitats without aggression, in
harmony with native plants and animals in foreign lands.
- used for curative properties by Africans and Persians.
- resisted a plague of locusts in Sudan in 1959.
- (iii) New and Modern Uses of the Neem:
- resisted locusts in Sudan.
- proved best among plant extract pesticides by the US
Environmental Agency.
- aromatically effective pesticide in its low-tech form.
- as good as standard pesticides like DDT, dieldrin and malathion.
- superior to them on counts of safety and eco-friendliness.
 - foreseen to reduce population growth and perhaps even reduce
erosion, deforestation and the excessive temperature of an
overheated globe.

127
1.
Improvement
Agency conducting the Point(s) of in Nutrition
survey Nutrition Awareness Awareness over
the years

1. Nutrition
is an
important
factor in 72% in 1988
selecting 76% in 1989
1. Food Marketing
foods
Institute 9% in 1983
2. Fat is an 16% in 1987
important 27% in 1989
factor in
food
selection

29% in 1983
2. Food and Drug 1. People 55% in 1988
Administration (FDA) believing
and National Heart that fatty 12% in 1983
Blood and Lung foods cause 25% in 1988
Institute (NHBLI) heart
disease 34% in 1988
2. People
believing
that fatty
foods cause
cancer
3. People
who know
that fat and
 cholesterol
are not the
same

2. (ii) Consumers want precise dietary recommendation

(iii) Professionals find it difficult to make these due to scientific
reservations. Because of this, their knowledge and/or credibility is
doubted by the consumers.
(iv) Different nutritionists may not commonly agree on specific
nutrition issues.
(v) No access to dieticians who are all usually registered with
hospitals.
(vi) Consumers are unwilling to pay dieticians in private practice for
the information.

3.

4. Qualities required in an ideal Nutrition Communicator:

(i) Oratory skills
(ii) Wisdom
(iii) Wit
(iv) Adequate scientific background in nutrition.

128
1. (a) ‘The revolutionary technique of obtaining concrete from lunar soil.’
(b) Yes. It mentions the word ‘Concrete’.
2. (a) (i) Manned (ii) structure (iii) space, Mars
(b) (i) thermal shocks (minus 150oC and 120oC, 28-day).
 (ii) atmosphere, gravity
(iii) transporting, (1000 tonnes, 330 tonnes and 300 tonnes), Rs
1,90,000 crore.
3. A. A Revolutionary Technique:
- Heat ilmenite to 800oC to produce dry concrete.
- Add hydrogen to produce iron, titanium and water vapour.
- Inject mixture into pressurised mould containing the dry
pressed concrete.
- Result: Exceptionally strong concrete, more resistant than the
ordinary one.
B. Dr Lin’s Experiment:
- Mix 40 grams of lunar soil with water to produce concrete.
C. Attractive features of the New Concrete:
- Can withstand lack of atmosphere and reduced gravity.
- Can withstand enormous temperature differences found on
the moon.
- Reduce the cost of building a lunar base to one-fourth
(Rs 40,000 crore instead of Rs 1,90,000).
- Entailed less transportation of materials and machinery
(only 200 tonnes instead of 1,630 tonnes)
D. Plans for the Lunar Base Project:
- An eight-nation Lunar Concrete Committee set up.
- Rs 1,00,000 crore promised as budget.
- Machine-material complex production allotted to a French
company.
E. Future Scope of Space Research:
- Setting up a manned station on the moon.
- Further forays into space.
- Exploration of Mars, the nearest planet.
F. Possible use of Concrete in India:
- Technology to be used for a more durable concrete for busy
Indian roads to take the
stress caused by overloaded vehicles.

4 A revolutionary technique of obtaining concrete from lunar soil

without using water is helping scientists realize the dream of setting up a
manned station on the moon to further our forays into space and Mars. A
structure built with conventional concrete would not resist the thermal
shocks caused by temperature fluctuations on the moon between the
minimums of 150 and 120 degrees in a 28-day cycle. It would also have to
withstand the absence of atmosphere and a gravity that is one-sixth that
of the earth. The cost of transporting materials (1,000 tonnes of cement,
330 litres of water and 300 tonnes of iron to the moon would have been
about Rs.1,90,000 crores. Dr. Lin’s revolutionary technique of heating to
800degrees centigrade , the ilmenite (or lunar rock containing iron and
titanium oxides) by using huge solar panels on the moon itself produced a
dry concrete. When hydrogen was added to produce titanium and water
vapour and this mixture injected into a pressurized mould for a few hours
it produced an exceptionally strong concrete more resistant than the
ordinary one mixed with water. The cost of building the lunar base was
reduced to Rs.40,000 crores. If the French company produced lunar
concrete is made available to India, it could replace the conventional
concrete of our roads to withstand far better the stress our crowds and
overloaded vehicles.
(225 words)
Title: A Super Lunar Concrete

129Sins of the Flesh

ITrue: b, g.False: a, c, e & f.Not Indicated: d.

IIA) Correct: a, c, d, g & i.

B) Incorrect: e & f; Inaccurate: h;Unstated in the Passage: b

IIIA) – a, b, d, e, g, h & i.B) – Incorrect: c; Inaccurate: f; Irrelevant: j.

IVMyths about Proteins

1. Animal fat and not animal proteins increase cholesterol levels.

2. Animal proteins have an adverse effect on disease processes.
3. Meat is not toxic or harmful to the kidney and liver.
4. They are better than plant proteins.
5. Animal proteins are the most essential of the food groups.
6. They lead to increased physical strength and energy

Research on Plant Proteins versus Animal Proteins

 a) Health Magazine published an article that animal protein rather
than fat increased cholesterol levels. Cutting animal protein helped.
b) An Italian study showed:
i. Low fat diet reduced cholesterol from 290 to 270
ii. Cutting animal protein from the diet reduced it further to 200
iii. Adding animal protein produced a rise in cholesterol.
c) An experiment in Germany showed that athletes on a
vegetarian diet were superior in endurance and stamina than those
on a non-vegetarian diet.

Superiority of Plant Proteins over Animal Proteins

1. Plant proteins are digested in 4 – 7 hours where flesh foods

require25 – 30 hours to pass through the gastro-intestinal tract.
2. They reduce more cholesterol as the studies mentioned above
show.
3. They contain fewer toxins. Flesh foods have to be acted upon by
a variety of acids and enzymes.
4. They leave more physical and mental energy because less
energy is spent on digesting plant proteins more vital energy is
available to the body as the German study shows.
5. Plant proteins may contain pesticides, but animal foods contain
much more: a concentration of fertilizers and pesticides as well
as the artificial hormones (used to fatten animals) plus the
sodium nitrates and nitrates used for preservation and for an
attractive red colour in the meat.

Hazards of Excessive Protein Intake

Our standard protein requirement is 60 grammes per day and
extra proteins if taken should be in vegetarian form preferably
uncooked but certainly not fried. Too high an intake can be harmful
because:
a) Extra protein gets stored and adds to our weight.
b) Excess protein increases the cholesterol level.
c) When not eliminated the stored proteins degenerate and convert
to nitric sulphuric and phosphoric acids.
d) The alkaline minerals in the body are used to neutralize the
acids and become deficient in the bones, hair and nails.
e) acid damages the liver and kidneys.
f) f) The urine with erythrocytes and albumin becomes vulnerable
to infection.
g) Several types of cancers are caused. Cancer of the stomach
results from flesh foods being broken up and active poisons are
thrown onto organs not intended for them. Excess proteins are
linked with cancer of the breast, liver and bladder and also to
increase in the incidence of leukemia and Bright’s disease.
 130
IIA. The Spread of Child Abuse
Statistics:

400 cases in a year of sodomy of minors in Delhi

500,000 child prostitutes in the country

But this is only the tip of the iceberg as only one in ten cases of
abuse get reported according to a Crime Branch official in Bombay
.
American statistics, on the other hand are more realistic;

One girl in 3 and one boy in 7get molested before the age of 18.
A typical American paedophile abuses 380 children in a lifetime.

Reasons for Non-reporting of Child Abuse in India

a) Social stigma attached to loss of virtue in girls
b) Female virginity is a fetish in Indian culture.
c) Absence of the necessary channels of communication between
parents and children regarding sexual matters.
d) The immediate trauma
All these contribute to the horrific silence of acceptance.

Categories of Molesters

1. Paedophiles
2. Emotional Immaturity: a pathological pre-occupation with sex.
3. Latent homosexuals with a repressed fear of women
4. Those in advanced stages of venereal disease who believe that
having sex with a virgin will cure them.
5. Among the ‘normal’ people are close male relatives of the child
who in a male dominated society often get away with anything
they do (sometimes in complicity even with the mother of the
child).

Mother’s/ Family’s Role

a) A temporary reaction of bemoaning on the part of the mother.
b) Quiet acceptance because of the social stigma.
 c) Often, active collusion/ participation with the dominating male in
the family.
d) Refusal to go to the police or the courts.
e) Refusal to take the molested child back into the homefor fear of
the ‘spoiling’ of the family.
Social Attitudes

1. The indifference and neglect of the families.

2. Very few childrens’ advocacy groups or social service
organizations like Annapurna.
3. No governmental initiatives in rehabilitation of victims of child
abuse.
4. Appointing of the National Commission on Child Abuse is only a
token action.
5. Elaborate court procedures.
6. Insensitive police, lawyers and judiciary.
7. No emotional security or rehabilitation of traumatized children

The Wrongs of Child Abuse

a) The trauma for the child
b) No emotional security when the mother and family abandon her
due to the social stigma.
c) Rationalization with the child that the past be forgotten as an
accident.
d) The psychic scar is never healed and the children grow to
become abusers themselves.
e) Paedophiles go unpunished or untreated because they plead
that they were drunk during the act of molestation.
f) Even rehabilitated children show inadequate sex relations or fear
of sex in their later married lives.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to the references listed below for

the extracts from books, newspapers, magazines and other writings,
which have been used in this book, helping beautifully with the analysis,
exemplification as also in providing practice tasks for the various skills of
summary writing and note making for the prospective readers/ learners
who use this book.

References
Abbas Zaffar
Agar Herbert
Barzun Jacques
Bellare Nirmala 1984. Towards Designing A Study Skills Course for
Home Science Students. Unpublished Dissertation. C.I.E.F.L., Hyderabad,
India.
Bellare Nirmala 1997. Reading and Study Strategies Books 1. O.U.P.
Mumbai.
Bellare Nirmala 1998. Reading and Study Strategies Books 2. O.U.P.
Mumbai.
Bellare Nirmala 2001. An Investigation of Text Processing by Students
While Reading for Summarizing. Unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation.
University of Mumbai.
Broomfield Louis
Brown Harry M. 1997. The Contemporary College Writer: Patterns in
Prose. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York.
Bruce Bill (ed) 1981 Piccolo Explorer Encyclopedia. (Contributors:
Michael Chinery, Christopher Maynard, Ian Ridpath & Jonathan Rutland)
Piper Books Ltd., London.
Carson Rachel
Charlton James M. ( ) Fifty Precis Exercises worked with Model
Solutions. James Broodie Ltd., London.
Close R. A. ( ) English We Use for Science
Coleridge Samuel Taylor
David Le Roi in Thornley
 Dickens Charles
Dinesen Isak
Dubos Rene
Dwivedi Sharada
Eiseley Loren
Fitch Robert Eliot
Fromm Erich
Hoyle Fred
Huxley Thomas
India Today (Weekly Magazine)
India Today (magazine) 14 July 1997. ‘Dyeing to Live’ by Stephen David
& ‘Toxic Terror’ by Shubhadra Menon & Smruti Koppikar. Living Media
India Ltd, Delhi.
India Today (magazine) 29 March 2004. Living Media India Ltd, Delhi.
India Today (magazine) 14 June 2004. Living Media India Ltd, Delhi.
Kerrod Robin 1978. The Question and Answer Book of SPACE. Sackett
& Marshall Ltd., London.
Knight & MacAlpine
Lynd Robert
McGrath Patrick J. &G. Allen Finley. “Measurement of Pain” in Annales
Nestle (1999:57) pp. 13-20 Denges, Switzerland.
Mead Margaret
McGrath Patrick J. & G. Allen Finley (1999) Measurement of Pain in
Anneles Nestle
Mukherjee Meenakshi (ed.) 1975. Let’s Go Home and Other Stories.
Orient Longman. Mumbai.
N. Suresh
Nadkarni Vithal
Odham’s Child’s First Encyclopaedia in Colour (1959) Odham’s Press
Ltd., London.
Outlook (magazine) 28 July 2003 (Volume 29). Hathway Investments
Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
Piccolo’s Explorer Encyclopedia (1981) Piper Books Ltd London, U.K.
Purie Aroon
Ray Williams
Robinson Wheeler B.
Russel Bertrand
 Sen Satyendranath & Sisir Kumar Das 1955. An Introduction to
Economic Theory. Bookland Ltd., Calcutta.
Simply Mumbai (magazine) April – June 2004. Living Media India Ltd.,
Delhi.
Smart Walter & Daniel R. Lang (1965) Smart’s Handbook of Effective
Writing. Harper & Row, New York.
Steffens Lincoln
Stephens J. H.
Thomas Dylan
Twain Mark
Thornley G. C. 1972. Further Scientific English Practice. Longman
Group Ltd., London.
The Sunday Review 10 Sept. 1995 ( Sins of the Flesh by Shanti
Rangwani & Weight Wise by Kalpana Deuskar)
The Sunday Review 15 Oct. 1995 ( I Felt Like God had Died by Chand
Rangwani & Child Abuse: Some After Effects by Narendra Panjwani)
The Sunday Review 25 Nov. 1995 (Danger Zone by Kalpana Deuskar)
The Sunday Review 14 Jan. 1996 (The Safest Blood is Your Own by
Meher Pestonji).
The Sunday Review 8 July 2003 (
The Times of India July 2003 (Biodegradable Wisdom by Ravi Agarwal)
Time (magazine) 14 Sept. 2004
Ulanov Barry
Vinson Kenneth
Wallace & Dobzhansky
Wertembaker Thomas
Weyl W. E.

A few extracts may remain unreferenced as I was unable to trace the

copyright -holder. I shall be grateful to hear from anyone who recognizes
their material and who is unacknowledged. I shall be pleased to make the
necessary additions/ corrections in future editions of this book.
About the Author