Extract Based Questions: If I Were You - Class 9 PDF Download

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Q1: Why, this is a surprise, Mr— er—
(a) Who speaks these words and to whom?
Ans: Vincent Gerrard speaks these words to the Intruder.

(b) Where are they at the time?
Ans: They are in Gerrard’s cottage, in his sitting room, at the time. The Intruder, who is carrying a revolver has just entered Gerrard’s cottage.

(c) What is the speaker’s tone at the time?
Ans: The speaker is speaking in a very pleasant tone.

(d) What does this tell you about the speaker?
Ans: The speaker is a level-headed person. He should have been afraid of the Intruder who was holding a gun, but he was talking in a normal, pleasant manner.

Q2: I’m glad you ’re pleased to see me. I don’t think you ’ll be pleased for long. Put those paws up!

(a) Who is speaking these lines and to whom? Where is the conversation taking place?
Ans: The Intruder is speaking to Gerrard. The conversation is taking place in Gerrard’s lonely cottage situated in the wilds of Essex.

(b) Why is ‘the speaker’ so sure that ‘his listener’ won’t be pleased for long?
Ans: The speaker is sure that his listener, Gerrard, will not be pleased for long because the speaker plans to kill him and steal his identity.

(c) What does ‘paws’ mean here? Why does the Intruder use the expression?
Ans: ‘Paws’ here stands for ‘hands’. The Intruder wants to convey to Gerrard that he is an American gangster.

(d) Why is the speaker asking the listener ‘to put those paws up’?
Ans: The Intruder asks Gerrard to put his ‘paws up’ to threaten and intimidate him. He wants to ensure that Gerrard is not able to use his hands for self-defence.

Q3: Thanks a lot. You ’ll soon stop being smart. I’ll make you crawl. I want td know a few things, see.

(a) Who is the speaker? Why is he thanking the listener?
Ans: The Intruder is the speaker here. He is thanking the listener, Gerrard, as the latter had helped him while he was fumbling for a word and Gerrard had suggested the word ‘nonchalant’.

(b) Why does the speaker think that the listener is trying to be smart?
Ans: The Intruder feels that Gerrard is trying to be smart because instead of displaying any signs of fear, he acts casual and helps the Intruder complete his sentence when the former fails to find the right word.

(c) Why does the speaker expect the listener to soon stop being smart?
Ans: The speaker feels that Gerrard will be frightened out of his wits the moment he discloses his intention of killing him and will then forget all the witty retorts that he had been making till then.

(d) What does the speaker mean by ‘I’ll make you crawl’?
Ans: The speaker means that he would bring the listener down on his knees and make him beg for mercy.

Q4: At last a sympathetic audience!

(a) Who speaks these words? To whom?
Ans: Gerrard, the protagonist of the play, speaks these words. He is speaking to the Intruder.

(b) Why does he say it?
Ans: He wants to throw the Intruder off course by showing him that he does not feel threatened by his presence.

(c) Is he sarcastic or serious?
Ans: He is certainly sarcastic because he knows that the Intruder wants to gather information about him only to misuse it and he plans to give incorrect information.

(d) Why does the listener wish to know the story of the speaker’s life?
Ans: The listener is a criminal who resembles Gerrard and wishes to impersonate him. So he wants to know more about him.

Q5: I’m sorry. I thought you were telling me, not asking me. A Qof inflection; your voice is unfamiliar.

(a) Who is the speaker and who does he speak to?
Ans: The speaker is Gerrard. He is speaking to the Intruder.

(b) What had the listener asked the speaker?
Ans: The listener had asked the speaker if he lived in the cottage all by himself.

(c) What does ‘inflection’ mean here? What logic does the speaker give for misinterpreting the inflection of his voice?
Ans: ‘Inflection’ here means ‘tone of voice’. Gerrard says that since the Intruder’s voice was unfamiliar, he couldn’t know whether he was asking a Qor telling something.

(d) What do these lines tell us about the speaker?
Ans: These lines show that the speaker is a very cool-headed man who can think of many ways to elude a question.

Q6: That, ’s a lie. You ’re not dealing with a fool. I’m as smart as you and smarter, and I know you run a car. Better be careful, wise guy!

(a) Who is the speaker? Which Tie’ is he talking about?
Ans: The Intruder is the speaker here. He is talking about the Tie’ that Gerrard told him about not running a car.

(b) Why did the speaker think he was smarter than the listener?
Ans: The Intruder considered himself smarter because to succeed in his plan of taking on Gerrard’s identity, he had already gathered as much information about Gerrard as he could from the local people.

(c) Why did he warn the listener to be careful?
Ans: The Intruder wanted to make it clear that Gerrard could not be fool him by telling a lie.

(d) What does the extract reveal about the Intruder?
Ans: The extract reveals that the Intruder is over-confident about his abilities and that he also under-estimates Gerrard, who is not afraid of him.

Q7: You seem to have taken a considerable amount of trouble. Since you know so much about me, won’t you say something about yourself? You have been so modest.
(a) Who speaks these words and to whom?
Ans: Gerrard speaks these words to the Intruder.

(b) What is his tone when he speaks these words?
Ans: He is being sarcastic at the time.

(c) Why does he want to know more about the Intruder?
Ans: He wants to find out more about the Intruder to see if he can get the better of him. He also wants to keep him talking till he receives his telephone call.

(d) What light does this throw on the speaker’s character?
Ans: The speaker is a quick-thinking person, who does not give way to fear but is looking for a way out of the situation he finds himself in.

Q8: I could tell you plenty. You think you ’re smart, but I’m the top of the class round here. I’ve got brains and I use them. That’s how I’ve got where have.

(a) Who speaks these words to whom and in what context?
Ans: These words are spoken by the Intruder to Gerrard. He utters these words when Gerrard asks him to tell him something about himself

(b) Why does the speaker say “I could tell you plenty”?
Ans: The Intruder says so because he is over-confident and thinks that he is smart enough to get the better of Gerrard.

(c) What does he mean by ‘the top of the class round here’?
Ans: The Intruder means to say that no one else is as smart as he is and thatbGerrard, too, is no match for him.

(d) What is his tone at the moment?
Ans: There is a ring of pride in his words and his ego makes him over-estimate himself and his abilities.

Q9: My speciality’s jewel robbery. Your car will do me a treat. It’s certainly a dandy bus.
(a) What does the speaker do? Why does he call it his ‘speciality’?
Ans: The speaker is a criminal who robs jewellery. He calls it his speciality because robbing jewellery was a pursuit or skill to which he had devoted much time and effort and in which he was an expert.

(b) What does he call ‘a dandy bus’? What does he mean?
Ans: He calls Gerrard’s car a dandy bus. He means to say that it is a splendid or outstanding car. It will be useful for him and will suit his purpose very well.

(c) What do his words tell you about the speaker?
Ans: The speaker has made his plans carefully and has found out information about the listener.

(d) What does the speaker intend to do?
Ans: The speaker uses his brains by planning and committing crimes without getting caught by the police. He now intends to kill Gerrard and assume his identity to escape the law further.

Q10: I’m not taking it for fun. I’ve been hunted long enough. I’m wanted for murder already, and they can’t hang me twice.
(a) What ‘step’ is the speaker talking about taking? Why is he taking it?
Ans: The speaker is talking about taking the ‘step’ of murdering Gerrard. He claims that he is not taking the step for fun but because of his need to escape the police.

(b) By whom has the speaker been hunted? Why?
Ans: The speaker has been hunted by the police because he is a criminal. He killed a policeman when something went wrong with the job that he did in the town quite a while ago, but since then he is dodging the police.

(c) Why does he say “they can’t hang me twice”?
Ans: The Intruder has just told Gerrard that he had murdered one man, and that he would not shy away from murdering him too. This is because the police could not hang him twice for two murders.

(d) What light do these lines reflect on the speaker’s state of mind?
Ans: The lines reveal that the Intruder does not have any conscience to prick him. He is in a desperate situation now as he fears the punishment he is likely to get if captured.