BRAINSTORMING of The New Dress
(A1) (i) Narrate in your words the picture imagined by Mabel as she thinks herself
in the party as a fly at the edge of the saucer.
(ii) There are a few other characters mentioned in the story. Discuss the way
their reactions help us to understand the inferiority complex of Mabel.
(A2) (i) Pick out the sentences from the story which describe the ambience of the
party at Mrs. Dalloway’s place.
(ii) Mabel is thinking too much of her dress.
Propose five sentences supporting the above statement.
(iii) Critically analyze Mabel’s weak economic conditions in the past as one of
the reasons that led her to choose the old-fashioned dress.
The New Dress - questions and answers
(iv) The cause of Miss Mabel’s disappointment is not only her poor background
in the past but her too much bookishness also. Substantiate.
(v) Do you appreciate Mabel’s tendency of deciding her own value from the
comments given by others? Explain your views.
(A3) (i) Write the synonyms for the word ‘dress’ by filling appropriate letters in
the blanks. One is done for you.
(a) a t t i r e (b) _ _ r_ _
(c) _ _ _ t _ _ e (d) _ _ r _ _ _ t
(e) _ _ t _ _ t (f) _ _ _ a _ _ l
(ii) Conchology means the scientific study or collection of mollusc shells.
Refer to the dictionary and find out the meanings of -
• Etymology • Archaeology
(A4) (i) Use the correct tense form of the verbs given in the brackets and rewrite
the sentences.
(a) She (take/takes/took/had taken) that old fashion book of
her mother a few months back.
(b) She (pecking/ pecks/ pecked) at her left shoulder for quite
some time.
(c) One human should (done /doing/be doing) this for another
always.
(d) All this (will be/ is / have been) destroyed in a few years.
(e) She (feels/felt/will be feeling) like a dressmaker’s dummy
standing there.
(ii) Do as directed.
(a) Lata will sing tonight. (Make it less certain.)
(b) You should wear your uniform. (Show ability.)
(c) Sandeep may study to clear the examination. (Make it obligatory/
compulsory.)
(d) I can do it. (Make a sentence seeking permission.)
(iii) (a) Frame three rules for the students of your college.
(b) Frame three sentences giving advice to your younger brother.
(iv) Fill in the blanks with appropriate modal auxiliaries according to the
situation given in the following sentences.
(a) Take an umbrella. It rain later.
(b) People walk on the grass.
The New dress Brainstorming
(c) I ask you a question?
(d) The signal has turned red. You wait.
(e) I am going to the library. I find my friend there.
(A5) (i) Read the sentence ‘we are all like flies….’.
The paragraph describes the
dejected thoughts that Miss Mabel carries in her mind. All the earlier
paragraphs are in a continuity of a story line. The next paragraph begins
with, ‘I feel like….’ again resumes to a story. The author has moved in
the mind of the character and out of it very smoothly without any
intimation or change in the language or tense. Similarly, she has moved
in the past years of Miss Mabel’s life. This is called ‘stream of consciousness’
technique.
(ii) Read the sentence from the text - What a hideous new dress!
This is an exclamation. It can be written as a simple sentence 'The new dress
is very hideous'.
Find out few more exclamatory sentences from the story and transform them
into assertive sentences.
(iii) Virginia Woolf has created many characters other than Miss Mabel with
great skill. Write a character sketch of any one of them.
(iv) 'Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them.' Expand the idea in
your own words.
(A6) Go to library and read the following books:
(a) 'A Haunted House' by Virginia Woolf
(b) 'Mrs. Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf
(A7) Find out information about career opportunities in the following fields:
(a) Fashion designing
(b) Dress designing
(c) Textile industry
(d) Garment industry
(e) Image consultancy
(f) Psychology and Psychiatry
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The new dress