Class - 12
Unit 16
Fantasy
The Romance of a Busy Broke
Answer Key....................................
Class 12 English Book Chapter 16 Fantasy Exercise
WORKING WITH WORDS
A. Match the following words with their definitions.
a. snappy - ii. irritable and inclined to speak sharply
b. discretion - vi. the ability to behave without causing
embarrassment or attracting too much attention
C. radiant - vii. showing great happiness, love or health
d. irresolute-viii. not able to decide what to do
e. brusque - X. using very few words and sounding rude
f. fitful - V. a quiet period between times of activity
g. harlequin -ix. a humorous character in some
traditional plays
h. lull - ii. happening only for short periods
i. janitress - i, a lady whose job is to take care of a
building such as a school or a block of flats
j. speck -iv, a very small spot
B. Consult a dictionary or search over the internet and write definitions of the following terminologies used in the stock market.
a. Liquidity: The ability of an asset to be bought or sold quickly without causing a significant change in its price.
b. IPO: Initial Public Offering, the first sale of stock by a company to the public.
c. NEPSE: Nepal Stock Exchange, the only stock exchange in Nepal.
d. Index: A statistical measure of the changes in a portfolio of stocks or other securities over time.
e. Portfolio: A collection of investments held by an individual or organization, including stocks, bonds, and other financial assets.
f. Dividend: A portion of a company's earnings that is distributed to its shareholders as a return on their investment.
g. Turnover: The total value of all securities traded during a specific period of time on a stock exchange.
h. Margin: The amount of money or securities that must be deposited with a broker by an investor to cover some or all of the credit risk involved in their trades.
C. Based on the pronunciation, find the odd word from the following groups.
a. sell, cell, see, set - see
b. stopped, laughed, saved, booked - saved
c. hare, mere, beer, here - hare
d. so, sew, sow, Saw - saw
e. book, food, pool, tool - book
f. fan, jam, past, van – past
g. sell, cell, sale, said - sale
h. howl, bowl, fowl, growl - bowl
i. learn, verb, turn, torn - torn
j. poor, sure, door, dog - sure
COMPREHENSION
A. Write 'T' for true statements, 'F' for false ones or 'NG' if the information is not given in the text.
a. Harvey Maxwell was a stockbroker. - T
b. He was not happy with his clerk, Pitcher-NG
C. Miss Leslie had been married to Maxell for a year. - F
d. Maxwell had hired a machine to work in his office. - NG
e. He had instructed Pitcher to get a new stenographer. - T
f. Miss Leslie was amazed by Maxwell's proposal. - T
g. She thought that he had probably gone mad. - F
h. She realized that he had been absent-minded due to his business. -T
B.Answer the following questions.
a. How did Maxwell enter his office?
The story doesn't provide information on how Maxwell entered his office.
b. Describe the physical appearance of the young lady.
The story doesn't give a detailed description of the young lady's physical appearance, except that she was young and well-dressed.
c. What changes did Pitcher notice in the young lady?
Pitcher noticed that the young lady seemed nervous and anxious, which was a change from her usually confident demeanor.
d. What was Pitcher's reply to the young lady concerning a new stenographer ?
Pitcher replied that there was no vacancy for a new stenographer, but he would keep her name in case an opening became available.
e. What proposal did Maxwell make with Miss Leslie?
Maxwell proposed that Miss Leslie should come and work for him as his personal stenographer, with a higher salary and more privileges than her current job.
f. How did she react to his proposal?
Miss Leslie initially hesitated, but then accepted the proposal with enthusiasm, as she saw it as an opportunity for career advancement.
Critical thinking
a. What message does the writer want to give by presenting Maxwell as an extremely absent-minded person?
The writer's presentation of Maxwell as an extremely absent-minded person serves to convey several messages, both on a surface level and a deeper level.
On a surface level, the portrayal of Maxwell's forgetfulness and absent-mindedness creates a comedic tone, which adds levity to the story and makes it more engaging for readers. Maxwell's forgetfulness is played for laughs, as he repeatedly forgets the names of his employees, misplaces important documents, and becomes distracted by trivial matters. This light-hearted tone serves as a contrast to the more serious themes of love, marriage, and social expectations that underlie the story.
At a deeper level, however, Maxwell's absent-mindedness serves a more symbolic purpose. It represents a kind of blindness or tunnel vision that can afflict people who are single-mindedly focused on their work or their own desires, to the exclusion of other important aspects of life. Maxwell is so focused on his business and on winning Miss Leslie's affections that he becomes oblivious to everything else, including the needs and feelings of his employees and the expectations of society. This single-mindedness is both a source of comedy and a cause for concern, as it reveals the limitations of Maxwell's perspective and his inability to see the bigger picture.
Overall, the portrayal of Maxwell as an extremely absent-minded person serves as a commentary on the dangers of narrow-mindedness and self-absorption. It warns readers against becoming too focused on their own goals and desires, at the expense of the people and values that are most important in life.
b. Imagine you are Miss Leslie. Write how you were troubled emotionally when your own husband came to you and made a marriage proposal.
I'm Miss Leslie, Maxwell's wife. He was so taken with the smell of me that he decided to ask me to marry him. I was shocked that I was already married to him, then I started crying, and then I smiled and put my arms around his neck and told him that we had been married the night before. As a consequence, when my recentlywed husband proposed to me, I experienced a mix of astonishment and humor.
Writing
Now, summarize the following part of “The Romance of a Busy Broker”. Consider the following points while writing the summary.
Summary Notes Main Idea.
A busy broker proposes to his own wife due to his forgetful nature.
Key points
Maxwell is captivated by the tenderness of Miss Lesile's face and the kindness in her eyes. His feelings for her are undeniable, and he proposes that she marry him. When she sees what he's been doing to his newlywed wife, she's shocked. "We were just married the previous evening," she says, her eyes welling up with tears.
GRAMMAR
RELATIVE CLAUSE
B. Fill in the blanks with suitable relative pronouns: who, which, that, whom, whose, where, why, how, what or when.
a. There is a lady .......... Wallet has been stolen. -Whose
b. Do you know the man .....sold these glasses? -who
C. The knife . ....you cut the bread with is very sharp. -which
d. Why do you blame him for everything ....-goes wrong? -that
e. A cemetery is a place..............dead bodies are buried. where
f. This school is for those children..........mother tongue is not Nepali. -whose
g. I don't know the name of the person...............I spoke over the telephone. -whom
h. I came to Kathmandu on the day................the devastating earthquake took place. - when
i. In the application form she wrote..............she needed a good payment. -when
l. The pilot explained............. he made a forced landing on the road. -why
C. Join the following pairs of sentences using who, which, that, whose, whom, where, when or what.
a. (The building was destroyed in the fire. It has now been rebuilt.
- The building, which was destroyed in the fire, has now been rebuilt.
b. A new cricket stadium is being made in Chitwan. It can accommodate one hundred thousand people.
- A new cricket stadium which can accommodate one hundred thousand people is being made in Chitwan.
c. Shanghai is the most populated city in the world. I stayed there for five years.
-Shanghai, where I stayed for five years, is the most populated city in the world.
d. This is the man. I gave some money to him this morning.
-This is the man whom I gave some money to this morning.
e. Do you know the man? His son was awarded in the school yesterday.
- Do you know the man whose son was awarded in the school yesterday?
f. His step-mother was not very kind to him. He had been staying with her.
- His step-mother, whom he had been staying with, was not very kind to him.
g. He can never forget Nakkhu Jail. He had spent 14 years there.
- He can never forget Nakkhu Jail where he had spent 14 years.
h. He showed me his new tab. He had paid a hundred thousand rupees for it.
-He showed me his new tab which he had paid a hundred thousand rupees for.
i. Nelson Mandela joined the ANC in the 1930s. He was a student then.
- Nelson Mandela joined the ANC in the 1930s when he was a student.
j. She forgot to buy the things. Her mother had told to buy them.
-She forgot to buy the things which her mother had told to buy.
All Class 12 English Book Solution Link Unitwise
Section I : Language Development
Section II : Literature
Unit - 1 Short Stories
Unit - 2 Poems
Unit - 3 Essays
Unit - 4 One Act Plays
