English Language, Literature and Creative Writing Blog

  1. It sharpens your mind - Studies have confirmed that reading involves a complex network of circuits and signals in the brain. And as your reading ability matures, those networks get stronger and more sophisticated. - 2. It builds your vocabulary - As you come across new words you'll have to look them up or understand what they mean within the context of what you're reading. - 3. Reduces stress - A group of researchers found that reading for only 30 minutes lowered blood pressure, heart rate and feelings of psychological distress. - 4. Increases your ability to empathise - As you explore the inner lives of characters, you'll increase your ability to understand the feelings and beliefs of others. - 5. Prepares you for a good night's sleep - Studies have found that reading can help you get a good night's rest and may even help you fall asleep. That's why when you're reading, sometimes you do actually fall asleep.

    The playwright has presented Vasantasena and Madanika as playmates that enjoy gossip around love. The subject also proves beyond doubt that women in ancient India would converse freely and intelligently if they were in private territory with no males to pry into their privacy. Also, that class means little when it comes to agility of the mind. The give and take between Vasantasena and Madanika shows that it is beyond doubt the fertility of imagination that is shared between women belonging to the lower and middle rungs of society. It also points towards the fact that the playwright Sudraka was a promoter of decorum but he also gave scope to people of different sections to assert selfhood. This is clear from the way the mistress and the maid servant spend time together and secrets between the two are freely shared. Such characterization helps build an atmosphere of close bonding, a hallmark of humanist representation. Aesthetically, too, it enables the viewer to enter the...

  Charudatta is described as “a Brahmana merchant who is a citizen of Ujjayini.” Two things are important in his case—one, that he is placed in the highest caste, and two, that he is a merchant by profession. The combination of these two raises his social level very high. This is a combination of qualities of heart (such as sympathy), and capability to conduct worldly activities. The realistic view shows him as a man of the world that is driven by the idea of success. He is placed in the category of a hero who is of grown sensibility, tolerance, level-headedness and nobility. He is a leader of men. As such, he would be surrounded by people and would win credit for what he might do for others. The playwright Sudraka has chosen Charudatta in preference to the kingly figure meant to rule the city. Is it not idealisation of a person? The crucial characteristic in him that draws our attention is of his being a lover. He remains a lover till the end of the play, and nothing can deter him...

 Nouns working as Adjectives can NEVER be plural.     Jiya ate some soup made from corns. Jiya ate some corn soup.   Anshika has a beautiful garden of roses. Anshika has a beautiful rose garden.   Sheril   is growing a garden of vegetables. Sheril is growing a vegetable garden.   I bought a new opener for cans. I bought a new can opener.   Those were some funny pictures on the desktop. Those were some funny desktop pictures.   Michu plays games of football every Sunday. Michu plays football games every Sunday.   You should not sit on the table made of glass. You should not sit on the glass table.   Where is the device that controls the TV remotely? Where is the remote control ?   The kids like ice cream made from strawberries. The kids like strawberry ice cream. I watched a good programme on television yesterday. I watched a good television programme yesterday. ...

Both a gerund and a present participle come from a verb, and both end in –ing. However, each has a different function.  A gerund acts like a noun while a present participle acts like a verb or adjective. Trekking is fun! Trekking can be a gerund or a present participle. When trekking is a gerund, it acts like a noun.  It can be a subject, an object, the object of a preposition, or a subject complement.   Trekking is a long walk on the mountains.   [trekking= subject] I love trekking.    [trekking= object ] I am excited by trekking.   [trekking= object of a preposition] One popular adventure is trekking.   [trekking= subject complement] When trekking is a present participle, it is part of a continuous verb tense.   Right now, they are trekking through mountain ...

  Duhsanta The Nayak or the Hero is the main protagonist of the play. Heroes in Sanskrit drama belonged to the upper castes such as Brahmins or Kshatriyas. Since these figures embodied the vira rasa, they had to be handsome without any disfigurements, be intelligent, daring, and filled with courage and fortitude, making such men worthy of the heroic mantle. Duhsanta, the King of the Puru clan in the city of Hastinapur, is an ideal hero, loved and venerated by everyone in the kingdom, even by the ascetics in the secluded Hermitage. As a king, Duhsanta is the upholder of Law, and it is his scared duty to maintain order in his kingdom and protect his subjects. The hermits who come to request Duhsanta to protect the ritual in Act II compare him to a Royal Sage, who has the qualities of a king as well as a holy sage. How admirable! His person radiates such majesty; yet one feels at ease. But that is not surprising in a king who is almost a sage. (p. 194) What wonder then that this...

  Charles Primrose is not a flat character. With "human naturalness" the Vicar repeatedly surprises the reader by his inconsistency. He has no one personality trait without possessing, at least to a small degree, its opposite. The Vicar is a preacher, and to a great extent he acts and speaks in accordance with his sermons. His inconsistencies arise from the fact that he "unites in himself the three greatest characters upon earth: he is a priest, a husbandman, and the father of a family. When the duties attached to these occupations come into conflict, the reader may expect to find the Vicar inconsistent. Amiability is a prominent characteristic of which the Vicar boasts. Speaking of himself and his family, he says, "There was in fact, nothing that could make us angry with the world or each other.(1)"   He demonstrates this quality by his act of intercession for the butler who, masquerading as the owner of the home in which he worked, had duped the Vicar into...

  The story begins with Vasantasena, the courtesan, falling in love with Charudatta, a Brahmin by birth, and a trader by profession, formerly very wealthy and having donated to many charities and civic amenities, has now fallen on bad days, whom she meets in a carnival earlier. The citizens of Ujjain admire and adore Charudatta’s noble qualities and charitable disposition. Even Vasantasena admits often that she is won over by his magnanimity. Charudatta shies away from moving forward in the matter of his love for her being conscious of his penury. Vasantasena anticipates that Charudatta may hesitate to make a move, and decides to move in herself and she seeks him one day after dusk. She is accosted by Sakara, the king’s brother-in-law and an official of the State ( Rashtriya ) who entreats her to grant him her favours, in return for money and good food. He makes light of her love for the poverty-stricken Charudatta. But she repulses his moves. In darkness, when he tries to grab her...