Practice Paper

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Last edited 11 days ago by Learn LoopHQ.

Answer key

Chapter: 09. A Comedy Of Manners

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Practice Paper: A Comedy of Manners

Instructions: Read the excerpt from “A Comedy of Manners” carefully and answer the questions that follow.

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Act II Scene I

(11 a.m.: Professor Higgins’ laboratory in Wimpole Street. The lab is a room in Higgins’ house which has a writing table, with a phonograph and a box of wax cylinders for the phonograph on it and some furniture. Higgins uses the phonograph to record people speaking in different accents for the purpose of research and study. Higgins is in conversation with his friend Colonel Pickering when his housekeeper Mrs Pearce ushers in a young lady. She seems to be a member of the middle class and is wearing a shoddy old coat and a nearly clean dress. She also has on a frightful-looking hat with brightly coloured ostrich feathers.)

Higgins: Hello, it’s the flower girl I met yesterday. What are you doing here? The Flower Girl: I’m come to ask ya help, Governor. Higgins: Help? You are of no use to me. I have already recorded your accent. Be gone, my girl. The Flower Girl: Don’t you be so saucy. I’m come to have lessons. And to pay for 'em too. Higgins (mystified): Lessons? Wait, first, tell me your name. The Flower Girl: It’s Eliza Doolittle. Pickering (pleasantly): Happy to meet you, Ms Doolittle. Er, now, what lessons do you want Higgins to help you with? Eliza: I want 'im to me make talk more better, more genteel. Higgins (surprised): Why, whatever for? Eliza (takes a deep breath and says in a rush): I want to be a lady in a flower shop 'stead of selling flowers on the streets. And I want ye to give me lessons so I can talk like a lady and look like a lady. So, then, I can work in one of those fancy flower shops. Higgins: Well, how much will you pay me? Eliza: Eh, a friend of mine pays eighteen pence an hour for French lessons. But, I cannot pay that much for learning my own language, alright? So, I won’t give more than a shilling.

Act II Scene II

(A few days later, Eliza is seated in Higgins’ study room with the Professor and Colonel Pickering. Her lessons have begun. Higgins is striding restlessly about. Eliza is nervously fidgeting.)

Higgins: Say your alphabet, Eliza. Eliza: I know my alphabet. Do you think I know nothing? I don’t need to be taught like a child. Higgins (angrily): Say it! Pickering: Say it, Miss Eliza. Do what he tells you and let him teach you in his own way. Eliza: Ahyee, bayee, cayee, dayee… Higgins: Stop, for heaven’s sake. You heard this, Pickering? This is what we pay for as elementary education in this country. (He puts his hands up in defeat.) Say exactly as how I’m saying - A, B, C, D. Eliza (almost in tears): But that’s what I’m saying - ahyee, bayee, cayee, dayee… Higgins: Stop! Say a cup of tea. Eliza: A cappate-ee Higgins: No! (slowly enunciating) A cup of tea. Eliza: That’s what I said. A cappate-ee. Higgins (impatiently): Put your tongue forward till it squeezes against the top of your lower teeth and say ‘cup’. Eliza: C-C… I can’t. C-C… Cup! Pickering: Excellent job, Miss Eliza. Higgins (pleased): By God, she’s done it at the first shot. Now say ‘tea’. Can you hear the difference when I say it?

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A. Answer these questions.

What equipment does Professor Higgins use in his laboratory for his research?

What is the initial reaction of Professor Higgins when Eliza Doolittle asks for his help?

Why does Eliza want to learn to speak “more genteel”?

How much does Eliza offer to pay Professor Higgins for lessons, and how does she justify this amount?

Describe Eliza’s demeanor at the beginning of her first lesson.

What specific phrase does Higgins use to try and teach Eliza about pronunciation after the alphabet?

B. Answer these questions with reference to the context.

“You are of no use to me. I have already recorded your accent. Be gone, my girl.” a. What does this statement reveal about Higgins’s attitude towards Eliza at this point? b. How does Eliza respond to this dismissal? c. What is the implied reason Higgins doesn’t want her there?

“This is what we pay for as elementary education in this country.” a. Who says this, and in what context? b. What does the speaker imply about the quality of elementary education? c. How does this line reflect the speaker’s general view of society or common people?

“Put your tongue forward till it squeezes against the top of your lower teeth and say ‘cup’.” a. Who is giving this instruction, and to whom? b. What type of skill is the instructor trying to teach? c. What is the significance of Eliza’s successful attempt at this instruction?

C. Think and answer.

How does the dialogue between Higgins and Eliza in Act II Scene I immediately establish their contrasting personalities and social standings?

Based on Act II Scene II, what are the primary challenges Eliza faces in changing her accent, and how do these challenges highlight the difficulty of the task?

Compare and contrast the characters of Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering based on their interactions with Eliza in these scenes.

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D. Vocabulary Questions.

Which word from the text means “rude in an annoying or funny way”?

Find a word in Act II Scene I that describes Eliza’s coat.

The word “striding” in Act II Scene II describes Higgins’s movement. What is a synonym for “striding”?

From Act II Scene II, identify a word that means “pronouncing words clearly.”

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