Language: Love and Marks

INSTRUCTIONS: Read through your Study Guide and answer the following questions.
Section A: Thinking
Use your journal to answer the following questions (this is a reflection exercise. Do not submit)
Activity 1
What is love?
Activity 2
Is there such a thing as love at first sight?
Activity 3
Do you know how your parents or grandparents met?
Activity 4
a. Write a list of the commitments you have in life (such as relationships, work, studies, community work, your social life).
b. Rank your commitments in order of importance. What values do you think drive your ranking? c. How do you balance all these commitments?
Activity 5
Compare your responses with those of your study group members.
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Section B: Language (Submit)
Read the following story and answer the questions that follow.
1. It was in 1997 when we first met.
2. I first saw Mimmy on one of my visits to Soshanguve to see my homeboys. My friends were tenants in a certain house with backrooms. There were two backrooms in that yard, one for gents and the other for ladies. Mimmy rented one of the rooms.
3. Unlike other love stories, ours was not love at first sight. (Q. 10), I visited a number of occasions before I really noticed that there was this young woman in particular. You know how mischievous boys are! But, for my friends and me, mischief meant just talking about girls. 4. Most of the time when I was visiting my friends, Mimmy would either be busy or not be there at all. That didn’t bother me that much. Mimmy was reserved and she seemed not to notice us or other people for that matter, she seemed somewhat oblivious to the comings and goings of people around her. Don’t get me wrong here, I don’t mean that she was rude. I mean she would only greet us and go her own way while the other girls would greet us and chat a bit.
5. I realized that she was not like the other girls.
6. I was intrigued; I decided to approach her to get to know her better. I remember very well the first time I approached her. She was wearing a long navy dress with buttons from the chest down. Because we were making noise in front of the backrooms, she decided to go to the back of the house with her books. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I saw her and followed her. She was studying, but in a naughty way I decided to interrupt her.
7. I introduced myself first and asked for her name. I asked why she was studying outside – that is where I got the noise story. I was fascinated, mine was just to understand what kind of a person this was, who didn’t mingle with others. But I got more than what I had bargained for.
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8. After that ‘first’ meeting, I found myself visiting my homeboys more often. On my visits I realized Mimmy and I had many things in common and from then on we became friends.
We spent hours doing different things. We went to the library together. We went to gym together. We jogged together. We even accompanied each other as we went grocery shopping. I started to understand what people mean when they say they have friends with whom they share ideas and life experiences. Mimmy was such a friend. When I had an interesting or disturbing occurrence, I would go and visit her just to talk to her about it.
9. Then, my visits started to be more for Mimmy than my homeboys. Our friendship was raising eyebrows. Many of our friends thought we were in love, but we both knew we were just friends. I never imagined that we would be lovers because we were such good friends. In fact, I used to think that one day I would be one of the VIPs at Mimmy’s wedding celebration!
10. When it was time for school holidays, I felt that the days were too long. I actually realized that I was actually missing Mimmy. Then it dawned on me that that was a different kind of friendship. I remember two of my friends asking me about Mimmy in terms of her being a beautiful woman. Somehow I felt jealousy creeping up on me. It gradually became clear that, “I love this woman. I am in love”! You can say I was now intoxicated with love. But I couldn’t tell her, not yet.
11. I tried my best to ignore the fact that I was falling in love with my friend. I didn’t know what she would say to me if I broke the news to her. The audacity of declaring my feelings to her was not an option! I purposed in my heart, then, that I wouldn’t tell her anything until I was sure that she felt the same way about me.
12. Then, one day while we were chatting along the way, I realized from our conversation that she was also in trouble…she was also in love.
13. To cut a long story short, one day I decided to be a man about my feelings. I asked her to visit and told her that there was something very special that I wanted to tell her. Her eyes were sparkling with wonder and excitement in anticipation of what the issue would be. That day finally came, the 01st of May, it was a holiday and it was perfect.
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14. I first told her that I wanted my children to have teeth like hers, lips like hers! She seemed puzzled but I think she was just trying to make me say the right words before she could comment... By Percy Malatsi
Now answer the following questions.
1. Identify two style features of the story above. (2 marks)
2. What is the tone of this story? Why do you say so? (3 marks)
3. Write all the dictionary entries of the following words.
i) Tenant ii) Intrigue iii) Audacity iv) Oblivious (4 marks)
4. Choose the most contextually appropriate dictionary entries for the three words above.
(4 marks)
5. Which of the following words has a prefix that means ‘not’ or ‘the opposite of’?
i) Understand ii) Until iii) Unlike iv) Underling
v) Unfortunately (4 marks)
6. Read through the story again and find:
i) Three nouns (specify the type of a noun) ii) Three verbs iii) Three adjectives iv) Three adverbs
v) Three articles vi) Three punctuations. vii) Three conjunctions viii) Three pronouns (specify the type of a pronoun) ix) One adverbial phrase
x) Three prepositions (10 marks)
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7. Correct the following sentences for subject-verb agreement, tenses and fragments.
i) My cat it is very playful. ii) When he thought he could afford to pay his own school fees. iii) This children keep making noise. iv) These are great news indeed; I can’t believe I made it!
v) When I was young, I use to love playing with dolls. vi) He is an energetic young woman. vii) Going home now, how I wish I could get there before it starts to rain. viii) In 1990, he lead his team to a glorious victory. ix) Everyone have a right to live happily ever after.
x) I am taking a bus to school every day. (10 marks)
8. If you wanted to know the name of the place where this story takes place, would you skim or would you scan through the story? (1 mark)
9. If you wanted to know the gist of the story, would you skim or would you scan through the story? (1 mark)
10. Skimming and scanning form part of the ......-reading strategies. (1 mark)
Section C: Reading (Submit)
1. What type of text is the above passage? Why do you say so? (2 marks)
2. Find three sets of homophones in the passage. (3 marks)
3. What is the difference between being naughty and being mischievous?
(2 marks)
4. Describe Mimmy’s character in your own words. (3 marks)
5. Based on this passage, what does the writer mean by the statement, “She was not like other girls”? (Par 6) (3 marks)
6. Why was the writer uneasy about telling about his feelings? (2 marks)
7. We are told that Mimmy also felt the same way as the writer. Why do you think she did not tell the writer about her feelings? (2 marks)
8. “But I got more than what I had bargained for.” (Par 7). What does this statement mean in context of this passage? (3 marks)
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9. “That didn’t bother me that much” (Par 4). What does that refer to in this sentence?
(1 mark)
10. What is (are) the most suitable word(s) for Q. 10 above? (1 mark)
11. Based on the passage, what is it that attracted the writer to Mimmy?
(3 marks)
12. “Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I saw her and followed her”. Explain the
‘fortunately/ unfortunately’ phrase based on the passage (4 marks)
13. What are some of Mimmy’s actions that could have been interpreted as rude?
(3 marks)
14. What evidence is there that the writer could have, at some point, deemed Mimmy’s actions s rude? (2 marks)
15. Why is ‘first’ in the first sentence of paragraph 8 in inverted comas? (2 marks)
16. The writer claims that he had many things in common with Mimmy. In which paragraph do we find evidence to support that claim? (1 mark)
17. What would be a suitable heading for this story? (1 mark)
18. What is the main idea in Paragraph 14? (1 mark)
19. Paraphrase the sentence, “To cut a long story short, one day I decided to be a man about my feelings.” (1 mark)
20. Summarize the sequence of events leading to the writer’s proposal to Mimmy. In your summary, highlight the details of the couple’s journey to finding love.
(10 marks)