Understanding The Background Of ‘Malapropism’: A Ludicrous Misuse of Word


 ‘Malapropism’ is a compound word derived from three French words ‘ma! a propos’ which means something ‘out of place’. It is defined as ‘a ludicrous misuse of word, especially for one resembling it.’ This confusion between sets of words is characteristic of Mrs. Malaprop—an immortal creation of Sheridan, fit to occupy a prominent place in the portrait-gallery of comic characters in world-literature. Mrs.pro..J. monumental instance of Sheridan’s highly developed artificial ‘humour’ as illustrated in her instinct for ‘a nice derangement on epithets’. Yet she is not a mere stock-character as her very name implies but one instinct with life and vitality, which is a measure of the genius of Sheridan.

As a satirical portrait, she stands for, (i) the type of the provincial woman of the age in her bid for turning out to be a town-lady by her unconscious and wrong use of high-sounding classical words; (ii) the type of the old aunt, jealous in her guard over her niece with her ante-diluvium ideas of female education; (iii) the type of the old husband-hunting woman who thinks herself charming enough to attract men. Perhaps Sheridan actually met such types during his stay at Bath. Perhaps actual living examples of Mrs. Malaprop with her weaknesses—misuse of classical words, vanity, stupidity and egoism—were a standing joke in cultured fashionable circles at Bath in real life. Sheridan’s constructive skill manifests itself in the way in which he makes this inimitable figure a virtue of necessity.

Sheridan may have taken his model for Mrs. Malaprop from the unforgettable Dogberry of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing or from his mother’s, Mrs. Tryfort, another Dogberrian character in her play, A Journey to Bath. Whatever the source, Mrs. Malaprop is simply unique and remains among a host of dramatic predecessors and imitators, the unrivalled ‘queen of dictionary’.

Typical examples of ‘malapropism’ may be indicated as follows:


“But above all, Sir Anthony, she should be mistress of orthodoxy (orthography), that she might not mis-spell, and mispronounce words so shamefully as girls usually do ; and likewise that she might reprehend (comprehend) the true meaning of what she is saying. This, Sir Anthony, is what I would have a woman know;—and I don’t think there is a superstitious (superfluous) article in it.”— (I.ii).
There is unconscious irony in her own opinion in that the language which she employs here, gives us a good indication of the kind of education she herself has received and of her pretension to use learned classical words.
(2) Mrs. Malaprop’s violence to 'King’s English' is extremely diverting and is a source of unending fun. Here is another example of unconscious irony which is virtually a kind of self- condemnation of her egoism and vanity, when she says to Absolute
“Sure, if I reprehend (comprehend) anything in this world, is the use of my oracular (vernacular) tongue, and a nice derangement (arrangement) of epitaphs (epithets)”—(lII. iii).
(3) Like Bob Acres (another instance of highly developed artificial humour—the type of
a foolish country-squire aspiring to give himself the airs and looks of a fashionable beau). Mrs. Malaprop has a great stage-part and is always presented in dramatic contrast with other persons who incidentally comment on her ‘absurdities’, ridiculous vanity “and her dull chat with hard words which she don’t understand,” in terms of which Absolute refers to her in his letter to Lydia, which is intercepted by Mrs. Malaprop.
This is Anthony’s sly comment: “You are truly a moderate and polite arguer, for almost every third word you say is on my side of the question”—.(Act I, Sc II). She is so muddleheaded, vain, egotistical and so lacking in a sense of humour that she has not the wit to understand the mock compliments of Sir Anthony or Captain Absolute or Sir Lucius. The sly comment of Sir Lucius when he criticizes the letter from his Delia : “Here are a great many poor words pressed into the service of this note, that would get their habeas corpus from any Court in Christendom “—(II. ii).

Mrs. Malaprop’s mistakes are many and yarned. It seems there is some method in her madness. We may classify them as follows:
(1) When the sounds of the two words are almost similar except for a syllable or two or a few letters. For example
(a) Progeny for prodigy ; laconically for ironically ; contagious for contiguous; commotion for emotion; superstitious for superfluous ; preposition for proposition ; oracular for vernacular ; epitaphs for epithets etc.
(b) Where high sounding and bombastic classical words with meanings different from that of the intended words, e.g., illuminate for elucidate; physiognomy for phraseology; ineffectual for intellectual etc.
(c) Where she is not very far wrong, the meaning being a little far-fetched or capable of being stretched to bear the meaning intended, e.g., alacrity for affability; dissolve for resolve etc.
(d) Where she happens to use a word having a contrary meaning to the one intended; e. g., anticipate for retrospection simulation for dissimulation, malevolence for benevolence; derangement for arrangement; ingenuity for ingenuousness.
The above instances are typical. Many more instances can be multiplied.

Main Points Discussed:

Origin and Definition:

1. Coined from Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play, "The Rivals."
2. Malapropism refers to unintentional, humorous substitution of one word for another that sounds similar but carries a different meaning.

Linguistic Playfulness:

1. Often used to satirize characters' ignorance or pretentiousness in literature.
2. Demonstrates linguistic awareness and clever wordplay.

Comic Effect:

1. Generates amusement through absurd or nonsensical statements.
2. Enhances character development and comedic situations.

Literary and Cultural Impact:

1. Widespread use in comedy and theater, from Shakespeare to modern sitcoms.
2. Reflects linguistic evolution and social changes over time.

Language Follies:

1. Highlights human fallibility in communication.
2. Showcases the malleability and complexity of language.

Malapropism serves as a linguistic quirk that continues to captivate audiences, offering both amusement and insight into the intricacies of language and communication.

Providing feedback to an English Test in Classroom Situation


Providing feedback to an English test in classroom situation is one of the most important purposes of English testing. From the feedback the learner can get a chance to modify and develop. S/he gets a chance of self-correction and thus to learn effectively.(not learning)
In the context of teaching in general, feedback is information that is given to the learner about his or her performance of a learning task, usually with the objective of improving the performance.

Creative Writing Lesson: How to Write an "Autobiography of Road"? Model for Writing Class for EFL Students


 Writing a Topic Paragraph:

Early stage:
Men write their autobiographies then why do I not? I am a road at Lake Town in Kolkata. I don’t know whether I should be proud of my present stage or feel sad for that. Let's know who am I? I'm a Road, path established over land for the passage of vehicles, people, and animals. Roads provide dependable pathways for moving people and goods from one place to another.

James Thurber’s "The Night the Ghost Got In": More Funny Than Scary


James Thurber writes about their family’s encounter with a ghost in an extremely witty and humorous manner, which makes the description more funny than scary in "The Night the Ghost Got In". The incident also helps to highlight the eccentric and fictionalized account of life in the Thurber household. The story begins with a short introductory paragraph that prepares readers for the more colorful events that will unfold in the pages to come—his mother throwing a shoe through a window, his grandfather shooting a policeman—and then goes right into the events of that night. James taking a bath at one o’clock at night, his mother desiring to throw a second shoe through the neighbour’s window, his grandfather deliberately mistaking the policemen for Meade’s men—all illustrates the unusual characteristics of the Thurbers. Thurber himself acknowledges that their unpredictable behaviour puts a strain on the more sedate people around them. ‘Most everybody we knew or lived near had some kind of attacks.’

"The Night the Ghost Got In" starts with the narrator coming out of a bath at 1:15 in the morning and hearing a noise downstairs in the dining room. It sounds to him like footsteps and assumes that it is his father or older brother, Herman. Wakened suddenly, Herman is frightened when he is told that there is someone downstairs. The noise downstairs is gone, and, Thurber explains, "None of us ever heard the ghost again." The mother comes to the conclusion that there are burglars downstairs and she throws a shoe through the window of the house next door, waking Mr. and Mrs. Bodwell, who live there. After a momentary confusion Mr. Bodwell calls the police and tells them to go to the Thurber house. The arrival of the police blows the whole event out of proportion. When the narrator's grandfather, who sleeps in the attic, makes a slight noise, the policemen spring into action. They race upstairs to investigate. Grandfather is obsessed with the retreat of the Union army under General George Meade from the forces of Stonewall Jackson's Confederate army. When the policemen arrive at his door, he is convinced that they are Meade's army. He calls them cowards and tells them to go back to the battle. He takes the man's gun from his holster and shoots at him, hitting him in the shoulder. He fires twice more and then goes back to bed.

Another unique feature, especially of the mother and the grandfather, is to get carried away by the drift of events and extract its dramatic potential to the fullest extent. His mother can think of no better way of cuffing the police other than breaking her neighbour’s window while they are sound asleep! From his grandfather’s conversation at the breakfast table, it is quite clear that he knew that the intruders were policemen. Yet he pretends to think of them otherwise, fires bullets dangerously and enjoys himself immensely generating terror and chaos among the policemen. Thurber’s attempts to explain things only add to the confusion. For example, the information that a guinea pig slept inside the zither or that the hullabaloo was caused by a ghost only convinces the policemen and the reporter respectively, that the family is crazy. By contrasting unusual happenings with common sense explanations, Thurber deliberately highlights the former and also illustrates how perfectly logical statements sound absurd in strange situations. Neither the police nor the reporter have any clue to the reasons behind the pandemonium and therefore suspect the Thurber family to be either mad or devious. It shows how drab and unimaginative the so- called normal world is and how ill-equipped it is to deal with anything beyond its familiar range.

Thurber’s use of laconic understatements, colloquial language, a gusty and vigorous style and above all the ability to see the humorous side of every calamity makes the piece extremely entertaining. It gives the impression that growing up in a chaotic household like Thurber’s is much more exciting and enjoyable than in a sedate, routine-bound one.

Is Teaching English Through Group Teaching Any Good? Ways You Can Be Certain!!


"I pay the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys that educate my son."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
U.S. poet and essayist.


Teaching English through group teaching is the subject in which principals and parents are most vitally interested, for it is not only the groundwork of all the other studies but the foundation of study culture. This teaching method aims to give teachers of elementary and high school Teaching English through group teaching as well as mothers and all others interested in child training knowledge of the types of literature and the most representative classics.

 It is intended to show definitely how to present the various kinds of literature so that classes will appreciate the type, and will acquire a liking for the best teaching methods. The treatment of such forms as the ballad, the drama, the short story, the essay, etc., is so simple that children can readily understand them. By means of concrete teaching suggestions, sample lessons, and other devices, the application of practical methods to the various classics is made clear. A background knowledge  of the history of Teaching English through group teaching literature is also given, the development of the language, development of prose and poetry, insight into the lives of great writers, characteristics of the literary eras, growth of literature and its connection with the history of the people, the value and use of present-day literature, etc. With the intention of making the teaching method particularly useful as a text teaching method in normal schools and colleges and in teachers' reading circles, the following characteristics have been developed:

The teacher all through this time should move round and supervise the classroom. As the process may give rise to a lot of noise, teacher has to monitor the class all through, and offer help to the students wherever necessary.

Topic Durga Puja

Students: Durga Puja is our favourite festivals. It comes in the month of October we wear new dress this puja. We go from pandel to pandel and eat jhalmuri, phuchka and so on. Our school remains closed during this time. We enjoy with our friends and relatives.

Teacher: The teacher can them supply the missing words, like festival, remains, enjoy, closed, during relatives, or each spellings wittily or substitute right-words like visit a place or going to fair and so on.

After framing the sentences, the teacher can ask each student from the group to discuss among themselves or converse on the topic. With his/her partner or can say the entire thing to the whole class, While doing this, the speaker (student) can invite opinion from others also on the topic. This make the students feel free in the class and they can overcome their inhibitions group or pair work can also help to develop more ideas, increase vocabulary and give the students enough practice both in listening and speaking and hence the teacher can involve the entire class at a time. The group or pair work keep the students active all the time which is the basic requirement of communicative method. These steps are worthwhile while in group teaching in broad perspectives:

1. Prose and poetry should be covered in one through group teaching.
2. Technique is explained in such concrete terms that teachers can bring it down to the level of their classes.
3. The pedagogy of the teaching method has been made as practical, cumulative, and definite in application as possible.
4. Both theory and practice should be combined in one through group teaching.
5. Since methods of teaching the classics should be of special value to the inexperienced teacher, twenty classics should be treated in detail, and the others on the college entrance requirement list should be discussed at some length.
6. Since the inexperienced teacher needs definite detailed direction, there have been included many sample lessons, which present actual methods of work.
7. Since elementary and rural school teachers must combine the various kinds of work, literature has been correlated with other studies, history, composition, art, music, etc.

At the ends of the chapters and also throughout the text should be given such definite suggestions for study that students of literature can use the teaching method as a course of study. The chief purpose of the teaching method, however, is to humanize the teaching of literature, to raise it above a mere monotonous study of mechanical details and yet to make it an educative force in the lives of average boys and girls, and to bring out its character-building power. Teaching methods of this sort should be an evolution, an outgrowth of classroom experience. To all who by their helpful interest have encouraged the preparation of this teaching method, the writer wishes to extend her sincere thanks. It is also fitting to recognize with a grateful word the hundreds of pupils whose interest in the study of the classics and improvement in taste have been strong incentives in offering to others the methods that in their case proved successful in arousing a better literary appreciation.

Ardhendu De

Design of Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus": Most Rewarding type of Scholarship!!



T
he idea of an individual selling his or her soul to the devil for knowledge is an old motif in Christian folklore, one that had become attached to the historical persona of Johannes Faustus, a disreputable astrologer who lived in Germany sometime in the early 1500s. The immediate source of Marlowe’s play seems to be the anonymous German work Historia von Dr. Johan Fausten of 1587, which was translated into English in 1592, and from which Marlowe lifted the bulk of the plot for his drama. Although there had been literary representations of Faust prior to Marlowe’s play.
Marlowe’s Dotor Faustus is the first famous version of the story. Later versions include the long and famous poem Faust by the nineteenth- century Romantic writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as well as operas by Charles Gounod and Arrigo Boito and a symphony by Hector Berlioz.

The protagonist Faustus is a brilliant sixteenth-century scholar from Wittenberg, Germany, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic. His friends Valdes and Cornelius instruct him in the black arts, and he begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil. Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus’s soul in exchange for twenty-four years of semice from Mephastophilis, Meanwhile, Wagner, Faustus’s servant, has’picked up some magical ability and uses it to press a clown named Robin into his service.
Christopher Marlowe
Mephastophilis returns to Faustus with word that Lucifer has accepted Faustus’s offer. Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul: in the end, though, he agrees to the deal, signing it with his blood. As soon as he does so, the words “Homo fuge,” Latin for “0 man, fly,” appear braced on his arm. Faustus again has second thoughts, but Mephastophilis bestows rich gifts on him and gives him a book of spells to learn. Later. Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world, refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to prance about in front of Faustus, and he is impressed enough to quiet his doubts.
Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He goes to the pope’s court in Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and boxing the pope’s ears. Following this incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading as be goes. Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V (the enemy uf the pope), who asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed fourth-century hock Macedonian king and conqueror. Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and Charles is suitably impressed. A knight scoffs at Faustus’s powers, and Faustus chastises him by making antlers sprout from his head. Furious, the knight vows revenge.

As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his impending death. He has Mephastophilis call up Helen of Troy, the famous beauty from the ancient world, and uses her presence to impress a group of scholars. An old man urges Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons Helen again and exclaims rapturously about her beauty. But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about his pact, and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him. On the final night before the expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus -is overcome -by fear and remorse. He begs for mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell. In the morning, the scholars find Faustus’s limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.
 
In a long soliloquy, Faustus reflects on the most rewarding type of scholarship. He first considers logic, quoting the Greek philosopher Aristotle, but notes that disputing well seems to be the only goal of logic, and, since Faustus’s debating skills are already good, logic is not scholarly enough for him. He considers medicine, quoting the Greek physician Galen, and decides that medicine, with its possibility of achieving miraculous cures, is the most fruitful pursuit—yet he notes that he has achieved create renown as a doctor already and that this fame has not brought him, satisfaction. He considers law, quoting the Byzantine emperor Justinian, but dismisses law as too petty, dealing with trivial matters rather than larger ones. Divinity, the study of religion and theology, seems to offer wider vistas, but he quotes from St. Jerome’s Bible that all men sin and finds the Bible’s assertion that “the reward of sin is death” an unacceptable doctrine. He then dismisses religion and fixes his mind on magic which, when proper pursued, he believes will make him the mighty god”.

Ardhendu De

A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 100


A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers
UGC NET ENGLISH QUESTION BANK
  1. Two foreign authors who influenced the English fiction in later 19 th century and early 20 th century: French novelists—Flaubert, Zola, Mupassant; Russian novelists—Dostoevsky, Turgency, Tolstoy. 
  2. Three unpleasant plays of G.B Shaw: Windowers’ Houses(1892), Mrs Warren’s Profession(1894), The Philanderer(1893). 

Principal Objectives of Teaching English as a Second Language in Elementary or Primary or Secondary Schools of Indian Subcontinent


The place of English in the whole scheme of our subcontinental education has been a subject of much heated debate and the heat has not yet subsided. English is a foreign language and being a foreign language is like our foreign plant, can grow with great difficulty on the native soil. Study of mother tongue is the labour of love. The language in which students are taught is one of the most significant issues for schools. Many academicians have become concerned about how best to educate students about the skills of English language and the culture. As children of all ages and from dozens of language backgrounds seek an education, most schools have adopted some variety of bilingual instructions. As days are passing and globalizing is hitting the nook and corner of Indian conditions, we are becoming ardent admirers of English. In fact, English education has admittedly done us great good.

What are the Effects of the World-Wide Spread of English?



"I have no accord with the desire expressed...that by any mode whatever there should be an attempt made to oppress the one language or to render it inferior to the other; I believe that would be impossible...and it would be foolish and wicked if it were possible."

John A. Macdonald (1815 - 1891)


There are many implications of the world-wide spread of English. In the first place, we can talk of many world varieties of English such as British English, American English, Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English, Nigerian English, Ghanaian English, and South African English to mention just a few. Thus, while English remains one language; it has developed many geographical varieties or dialects.

Language generally is sensitive to its environment. So with the English Language leaving its native home, it has to take on some other characteristics peculiar to its new environments. These characteristics reflect mostly in vocabulary and pronunciation. In terms of vocabulary, words are borrowed from the indigenous languages e.g. the word “bungalow” taken from the Hindi word “bungali” 18th century borrow; the word “Oba”(king) borrowed from the Yoruba language; “canoe”, “squash” borrowed from Indian languages etc. Another common development is the use of existing English words in a different way. An example is “corn” in American English to mean “maize” (corn in British English refers to wheat, barley, oats etc). Thus, “maize” entered British English to refer to what Americans call “corn”. In addition, new words and expressions are coined to express new realities. Examples are “chewing stick”, “bush–meat”, been-tos”, “long-leg” etc in Nigerian English. In terms of pronunciation, peculiar characteristics can also be observed. For example, in American English there is the retention of final and/or pre-consonantal /r/ as in “farmer”, “car”.

In Indian English, the influence of the mother tongue is notable in the aspect of pronunciation, particularly in the treatment of those vowels which are absent in indigenous Indian languages. In such a situation, there is the phenomenon of sound substitution. Also, variations are notable in prosodic units e.g. stress, rhythm and intonation.

Ardhendu De
 Ardhendu De

Buy My Books

Buy My Books
Objective Questions from English Literature

Recent Posts