If one small speck of dark appear-
In their great heaven of blue :
And some with thankful love are filled,
If but one streak of light,
One ray of God's good mercy, gild
The darkness of their night.
- Trench
2. Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps, another.
Sailing o'er life's solemn main:
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A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother
Seeing, shall take heart again.
- Longfellow
3. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer.
Both for themselves and those who call them friends !
- Tennyson
4. In such a world; so thorny, and where none
Finds happiness unblighted; or, if found,
Without some thistly sorrow at its side;
It seems the part of wisdom, and no sin
Against the law of love, to measure lots
With less distinguished than ourselves, that thus
We may with patience bear our moderate ills,
And sympathize with others suffering more.
- Cowper
5. Children we are all
Of one great father, in whatever clime
Nature or chance hath cast the seeds of life-
All tongues, all colours; neither after death
Shall we be sorted into languages
And tints, white, black, and tawny, Greek and Goth,
Northmen, and offspring of hot Africa;
The All-father, He in Whom we live and move
He, the indifferent Judge of all, regards
Nations, and hues, and dialects alike :
According to their works shall they be judged
When even-handed Justice in the scale
Their good and evil weighs.
- Southey
6. Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way,
With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay.
There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule,
The village master taught his little school;
A man severe he was, and stern to view,-
I knew him Well, and every truant knew,
Veil had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee,
At all his jokes,-for many a joke had he;
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd;
Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault.
-Goldsmith
7. Hark ! 'tis the twanging horn. O'er yonder bridge,
That with its wearisome but needful length
Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright,
He comes, the herald of a noisy world,
With spattered boots, trappped waist and frozen locks.
News from all nations lumbering at his back,
True to his charge, the close-packed load behind,
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern
Is to conduct it to the destined inn,
And, having dropped the expected bag, pass on
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful : messenger of grief
Pm-hnm to thousands and of joy to some,
To him indifferent weather Grief or joy.
- Cowper
Page 469
8. Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise,
We love the play-place of our early days,
The scene is touching and the heart is stone
That feels not at the sight, and feels at none;
The wall on which we tried our graving skill,
The very name we carved subsisting still,
The bench on which we sat while deep-employed.
Though mangled, hacked, and hewed, not yet destroyed;
The little ones, unbuttoned, glowing hot,
Playing our games and on the very spot;
The pleasing spectacle at once excites
Such recollection of our own delights,
That viewing it, we seem almost to obtain
Our innocent sweet simple years again.
-Cowper
9. Since trifles make the sum of human things,
And half our misery from our foibles springs;
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease,
And few can save or serve, but all may please;
Oh ! let th' ungentle spirit learn from hence,
A small unkindness is a great offence.
Large bounties to restore, we wish in vain.
But all may shun the guilt of giving pain.
To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth,
With power to grace them, or to crown with health,
Our little lot denies, but heaven decrees
To all the gift of ministering ease;
The mild forbearance at another's fault;
The taunting word, suppressed as soon as thought;
On these Heaven bade the bliss of life depend,
And crush'd ill fortune when it made a friend.
- Hanmah More
10. Now came still Evening on, and Twilight grey
Had in her sober livery all things clad.
Silence accompanied - for beast and bird.
They to their grassy couch, those to their nests,
Were slunk - all but the wakeful nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant sung.
Silence was pleased. Now glow'd the firmament
With living sapphires. Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majestry at length.
Apparent queen, unveil'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
- Milton
11. These few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act:
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade.
Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice,
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel often proclaims the man.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses bothitself and friend,
Page 470
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry,
12. If misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill-fortune, to
be pitied; and if of vice, not to be insulted; because it is, perhaps, itself a punishment
adequate to the crime by which it was produced; and the humanity of that man can
deserve no panegyric who is capable of reproaching a criminal in the hands of the
executioner.
- Johnson
13. We are all short-sighted, and very often see but one side of a matter; our views are not
extended to all that has a connection with it. From this defect I think no man is free. We
see but in part, and we know but in part, and therefore it is no wonder we conclude not
right from our partial views. This might instruct the proudest esteemer of his own parts
how useful it is to talk and consult with others, even such as come short of him in
capacity, quickness, and penetration; for since no one sees all, and we generally have
different prospects of the same thing, according to our different, as I may say, positions to
it, it is not incongruous to think, nor beneath any man to try, whether another man may
not have notions of things which have escaped him, and which his reason would make
use of if they came into his mind.
- Locke
14. All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder,
are instances of the resistless force of perseverance; it is by this that the quarry
becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united by canals. If a man was to
compare the effect of a single stroke of a pickaxe, or of one impression of the spade,
with the general design and last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of their
disproportion; yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the
greatest difficulties, and mountains are levelled, and oceans bounded, the slender force
of human beings.
- Johnson
15. The proverbial oracles of our parsimonious ancestors have informed us that the fatal
waste of fortune is by small expenses, by the profusion of sums too little singly to alarm
our caution, and which we never suffer ourselves to consider together. Of the same kind
is prodigality of life; he that hopes to look back hereafter with satisfaction upon past
years must learn to know the present value of single minutes, and endeavour to let no
particle of time fall useless to the ground. An Italian philosopher expressed in his motto
that time was his estate; an estate indeed, that will produce nothing without cultivation,
but will always abundantly repay the labours of industry, and satisfy the most extensive
desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie waste by negligence, to be overrun by noxious
plants, or laid out for show rather than for use.
-Johnson
16. Mr. Hampden was a gentleman of a good extraction and a fair fortune, who from a
life of great pleasure and license had on a sudden retired to extraordinary sobriety and
strictness, and yet retained his usual cheerfulness and affability; which, together with the
opinion of his wisdom and justice and the courage he had shewed in opposing the ship-
money, raised his reputation to a very great height, not only in Buckinghamshire where
he lived, but generally throughout the kingdom. He was not a man of many words, and
rarely began than discourse, or made the first entrance upon any business that was
assumed; but a very weighty speaker, and after he had heard a full debate, and observed
how the House was like to be inclined, took up the argument, and shortly and clearly and
craftily so stated it that he commonly conducted it to the conclusion he desired; and if he
found he could not do that, he was never without the dexterity to divert the debate to
another timeand to prevent the determining of anything in the negative which might
prove inconve nient in the future.
- Clarendon
A work from S. CHAND & COMPANY LTD.
Page 471
APPENDIX I
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
Note : BE = British English; AE = American English
Grammar
The British use the present perfect when the result of a past action is connected to the
present. Americans use the simple past or present perfect in such situations.
BE : Rekha isn't at home. She has gone shopping,
AE : Rekha isn't at home,
She went shopping.
I She has gone shopping
The British use the present perfect with just for the immediate past. Americans use the
simple past or present perfect.
BE: 1 have just finished the work.
AE : I just finished the work.
Or : I have just finished the work.
The British use the present perfect with already, yet, never, ever, etc. for an action in a
period of time up to the present. Americans use the simple past or present perfect in such
cases.
BE : I have posted the letters already.
She hasn't come yet.
Have you ever seen the Taj Mahal?
I have never travelled by plane.
AE : T posted the letters already.
Or : I have posted the letters already.
She didn't come yet.
Or : She hasn't come yet.
Did you ever see the Taj Mahal?
Or : Have you ever seen the Taj Mahal?
I never travelled by plane.
Or : I have never travelled by plane.
In British English the past participle of get is got. In American English the past participle
is gotten, except in the structure have got (= have).
BE : He has got a prize in the raffle.
AE : He has gotten a prize in the raffle.
BE, AE : I have got two sisters. (= I have two sisters.)
The British use will or shall in the first person to talk about the future. Americans rarely
use shall.
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BE : I will/shall never forget you.
AE : I will never forget you.
The British use shall in offers. Americans use should.
BE : Shall I give you a lift?
AE : Should I give you a lift?
The British use needn 't or don't need to. The usual form in American English is don't
need to.
BE : You needn't come again.
Or : You don't need to come again.
AE : You don't need to come again.
The British often use should after demand, insist, recommend, etc. The use of the
subjunctive is rather formal in Britain. Americans normally use the subjunctive. They
rarely use should.
BE : The policeman demanded that they should show their identity cards, (or: .... that
they show their identity cards.)
She insisted that she should see her lawyer.
(Or : that she see her lawyer.)
AE : The policeman demanded that they show their identity cards. She insisted that
shesee her lawyer.
The British talk about a patient in hospital. Americans use the before hospital.
Collective nouns (like government, committee, teamjamily, etc.) take a singular or plural
verb in British English. They normally have a singular verb in American English.
BE : The committee meets/meet tomorrow.
The team is/are going to lose.
AE : The committee meets tomorrow.
The team is going to lose.
On the telephone both the British and Americans say "This is ...." to say who they are, but
usage is different when they ask who the other person is.
BE : Hello, is that David? Who is that?
AE : Hello, is this David? Who is this?
There are differences in the use of some prepositions.
British English
at the weekend
live in X street
a player in the team
Monday to Thursday
write to someone
different from/to
ten minutes past six
five (minuts) to ten
American English
on the weekend
live on X street
a player on the team
Monday through Thursday
write someone/write to someone
different from/than,
ten minutes past/after six
five minuts to/of ten
Page 473
The verbs burn, dream, lean, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil have both regular (-ed)
and irregular forms. The British prefer the irregular forms. Americans normally use the
regular forms. For example, the form dreamt is more common than dreamed in British
English; in American English dreamed is the usual form.
The verb dive is regular in British English but it is often irregular in American English.
BE/AE : dive - dived - dived
AE only : dive - dove - dived
BE : He dived into the water.
AE : He dove (or dived) into the water.
Spelling
In British English - l is doubled in an unstressed syllable before a suffix beginning with a
vowel, while in American English it is not doubled (e.g. quarrelled/quarreled).
Some words end in -our in British English and -or in American English (e.g.
colour/color)
Some words end in tre in British English and ter in American English (e.g. centre/center).
Some verbs can end with ize or ise in British English, but they end with ize in American
English (e.g. realize/realise).
Here are some of the commonest words with different spellings:
British English
Analysis
apologise/apologize
catalogue
centre
cheque (money)
colour
defence
dialogue
honour
jeweller
programme
meter (= 100 cm)
realise/realize
skilful 1
theatre
traveller
American English
analyze
apologize
catalog/catalogue
center
check
color
defense
dialog/dialogue
honor
jeweler
program
meter
realize
skillful
theater
traveler
Vocabulary
Here are a few examples of differences in vocabulary.
British English
aeroplane
angry
anywhere
American English
airplane
mad
anyplace/anywhere
Page 474
British English
autumn
biscuit
bill (in a restaurant)
boot (of a car)
bonnet (on a car)
chips
cot
crisps
crossroads
dustbin
engaged(phone)
film
flat/apartment
fortnight/two weeks
gear lever (on a car)
ground floor, first floor, etc.
handbag
holiday/holidays
jug
lift
main road/motorway
maize/sweet com
nappy
pavement
petrol
post
practice (noun) \practise (verb) J
public toilet
purse
queue
railway
return/return journey
rise (in salary)
road surface
rubber/eraser
rubbish
single/single ticket
sweets
tap (indoors)
tap (outdoors)
taxi
timetable
torch
trainers (= sports shoes)
trousers
underground
from / lorry
windscreen (on a car)
zip
American English
fall/autumn
cookie/cracker
check/bill
trunk
hood
french fries
crib
chips/potato chips
intersection
garbage can/trashcan
busy
movie/film
apartment
two weeks
gear shift
first floor, second floor, etc
pocket book/purse/handbag
vacation
pitcher
elevator
highway/freeway
corn
diaper
sidewalk
gas/gasoline
mail
practice (noun and verb)
rest room
coin-purse
line
railroad
round trip
raise
pavement
eraser
garbage/trash
one-way/one-way ticket
candy
faucet/tap
spigot/faucet
cab/taxi
schedule/timetable
flashlight
sneakers
pants/trousers
subway
truck
windshield
zipper
Page 475
APPENDIX II
GENERAL REVIEW OF GRAMMAR
This section provides a set of tests covering the main areas of grammar. The tests are
designed to help you to assess your knowledge of grammar and correct your English.
Test 1
Choose the correct alternative - A, B, C or D.
1. Please ring me up as soon as he ---.
A. will come
B. would come
C. comes
D. came
2. I --- the letter you were looking for. Here it is.
A. have found
B. found
C. has found
D. was found
3. He stayed at home because he --- a cold.
A. is having
B. has
C. was having
D. had
4. I'm working hard, ---?
A. amn't I
B. aren't I
C. friend
D. isn'tit
5. He --- different since he got married.
A. has been
B. had been
C. is
D. was
6. How long ---?
A. you are waiting
B. are you waiting
C. you have been waiting
D. have you been waiting
7. It's time I --- home.
A. go
B. willgo
C. went
D. have gone
8. I gave him --- he wanted.
A. which
B. what
C. that
D. that which
9. I'll write down the phone number --- I forget.
A. if
B. unless
C. incase
D. even though
10. When I was a child I --- the flute.
A. played
B. was playing
C. play
D. had been playing
11. I --- no trouble so far.
A. have
B. had
C. have had
D. am having
Page 476
12. --- I was really tired, I couldn't sleep.
A. Even
B. Even though
C. Even if
D. Even when
13. Open the book --- page 45.
A. in
B. at
C. on
D. for
14. The pickpocket got --- only with a warning.
A. off
B. along
C. over
D. through
15. The doctor told him ---.
A. to not smoke
B. not to smoke
C. to don't smoke
D. don't to smoke
16. The room --- yesterday.
A. cleaned
B. has cleaned
C. was cleaned
D. has been cleaned
17. A heavv sold necklace --- around her neck.
A. hung
B. hanged
C. was hanged
D. hanging
18. --- is to visit India next month.
A. President of USA
B. The President of USA
C. President of the USA
D. The President of the USA
19. He enjoys ---.
A. to praise
B. to be praised
C. praising
D. being praised
20. I wish I --- it. ( I didn't buy it.)
A. have bought
B. had bought
C. bought
D. should have bought
Test 2
Choose the correct alternative.
1. Large quantities of jute --- from Bangladesh.
A. export
B. exported
C. is exported
D. are exported
2. I --- him just a minute ago.
A. saw
B. have seen
C. had seen
D. was seen
3. We --- this dull film since lunchtime. Let's switch over to the other channel.
A. are watching
B. were watching
C. have been watching
D. had been watching
4. Because he --- the oil for so long, the car broke down.
A. didn'tcheck
B. hasn't checked
C. hadn't checked
D. wouldn't check
