If I Were You Class 9 Worksheet English Chapter 1

Q.1. What was the profession of Gerrard? How did he manage his work?

Q.2. How did Gerrard react on seeing the intruder?

Q.3. Why did Gerrard tell the intruder ‘you will not kill me for a very good reason’?

Q.4. The way Gerrard behaved when the intruder entered his cottage presented that he was amused to see him. Do you think that he was really amused, or he was pretending?

Q.5. What was the intention of the intruder when he entered Gerrard’s cottage?

Q.6. What does the intruder threaten?

Q.7. What was Gerrard doing when the intruder entered his cottage?

Q.8. What was the intention of the intruder when he trespassed into the cottage?

Q.9. What does Gerrard start telling?

Q.10. What does Gerrard want?

Reference to Context Questions

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Why, this is a surprise, Mr— er—
(a) Who speaks these words and to whom?
(b) Where are they at the time?
(c) What is the speaker’s tone at the time?
(d) What does this tell you about the speaker?

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
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?
(b) Why is ‘the speaker’ so sure that ‘his listener’ won’t be pleased for long?
(c) What does ‘paws’ mean here? Why does the Intruder use the expression?
(d) Why is the speaker asking the listener ‘to put those paws up’?

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
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?
(b) Why does the speaker think that the listener is trying to be smart?
(c) Why does the speaker expect the listener to soon stop being smart?
(d) What does the speaker mean by ‘I’ll make you crawl’?

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
At last a sympathetic audience!
(a) Who speaks these words? To whom?
(b) Why does he say it?
(c) Is he sarcastic or serious?
(d) Why does the listener wish to know the story of the speaker’s life?

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I’m sorry. I thought you were telling me, not asking me. A question of inflection; your voice is unfamiliar.
(a) Who is the speaker and who does he speak to?
(b) What had the listener asked the speaker?
(c) What does ‘inflection’ mean here? What logic does the speaker give for misinterpreting the inflection of his voice?
(d) What do these lines tell us about the speaker?

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
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?
(b) Why did the speaker think he was smarter than the listener?
(c) Why did he warn the listener to be careful?
(d) What does the extract reveal about the Intruder?

Q7: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
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?
(b) What is his tone when he speaks these words?
(c) Why does he want to know more about the Intruder?
(d) What light does this throw on the speaker’s character?

Q8: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
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?
(b) Why does the speaker say “I could tell you plenty”?
(c) What does he mean by ‘the top of the class round here’?
(d) What is his tone at the moment?

Q9: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
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’?
(b) What does he call ‘a dandy bus’? What does he mean?
(c) What do his words tell you about the speaker?
(d) What does the speaker intend to do?

Q10: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
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?
(b) By whom has the speaker been hunted? Why?
(c) Why does he say “they can’t hang me twice”?
(d) What light do these lines reflect on the speaker’s state of mind?

Q11; Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I’ve got freedom to gain. As for myself I’m a poor hunted rat. As Vincent Charles Gerrard I’m free to go places and do nothing. I can eat well and sleep and without having to be ready to beat it at the sight of a cop.
(a) Why is the speaker a ‘hunted rat’?
(b) Why has he chosen to take on Gerrard’s identity?
(c) Why does the speaker have to run at the sight of a cop?
(d) What advantage will the speaker have once he impersonates Gerrard?

Q12: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
It brought me to Aylesbury. That’s where I saw you in the car. Two other people saw you and started to talk.
I listened. It looks like you ’re a bit queer — kind of a mystery man.
(a) What is ‘it’? Where did it bring him?
(b) What did the speaker overhear about the listener? From whom?
(c) What made the two men conclude that the listener was a mystery man?
(d) How did this suit the Intruder’s purpose?

Q13: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Don’t be a fool. If you shoot, you ’ll hang for sure. If not as yourself then as Vincent Charles Gerrard.
(a) Why did the speaker say that the listener will be hanged?
(b) What surprise did the speaker give to the listener?
(c) What proof does the speaker give the listener about his being a criminal?
(d) What do you think was the speaker’s tone as he spoke to the listener?

Q14: This is your big surprise. I said you wouldn’t kill me and I was right. Why do you think I am here today and gone tomorrow, never see tradespeople? You say my habits would suit you. You are a crook. Do you think I am a Sunday-school teacher?
(a) What was the big surprise given by the speaker?
(b) What was the speaker right about? Why was he right?
(c) Explain the phrase Sunday school teacher? What does the speaker imply by his words?
(d) What light does it throw on the character of the speaker and the listener?

Q15: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
“I said it with bullets and got away ”.
(a) Who says this?
(b) What does it mean?
(c) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?
(d) How was he in imminent danger from the police?

Q16: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I have got a man posted on the main road. He’ll ring up if he sees the police, but I don’t want to leave… (telephone bell rings,) Come on! They ’re after us. Through here straight to the garage.
(a) Whose call had Gerrard been expecting?
(b) Whose call had told the Intruder he was expecting?
(c) What did he show the Intruder to convince him that he was going to run away?
(d) What is his tone like as he says these words?

Q17: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
For God’s sake clear that muddled head of yours and let’s go. Come with me in the car. I can use you. If you find it’s a frame, you’ve got me in a car, and you still have your gun.
(a) What does the speaker call the listener’s head “muddled”?
(b) Where does the speaker invite the other person?
(c) What assurance does he give the listener?
(d) What is in the speaker’s mind?

You can access the solutions to this worksheet here.