NCERT Solution for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 11 If I Were You

Thinking about the Text

Answer these questions.

1. “At last a sympathetic audience.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) Why does he say it?

(iii) Is he sarcastic or serious?

Answer:–

1. Mr. Gerrard says this.
2. He says this because the intruder wants him to tell each and every details about himself.

• He is obviously a sarcastic.

2. Why does the intruder choose Gerrard as the man whose identity he wants to take on?

Answer:-  Answer: The intruder chooses Gerrard as the man whose identity he wishes to take because Gerrard is a mystery man who gives orders over the phone and occasionally disappears and reappears.

3.“I said it with bullets.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) What does it mean?

(iii) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?

Answer:–

(i) Mr. Gerrard says this.

(ii) It means he shot someone to get away when he was in trouble.

(iii) No, it is not true. Gerrard says this to manipulate the intruder for not killing him.

4. What is Gerrard’s profession? Quote the parts of the play that support your answer.

Answer:- Gerrard is a playwrighter or dramatist. The parts of the play that support it is when he says, “Sorry I can’t let you have the props in time for rehearsal…

5.“You’ll soon stop being smart.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) Why does the speaker say it?

(iii) What according to the speaker will stop Gerrard from being smart?

Answer:-

(i) The intruder says this.

(ii) The intruder says this in order to scare Gerrard and so that he share more information about him.

(iii) The speaker is planning to kill Gerrard. According to the speaker, if Gerrard finds out that he came to kill him and steal his identity, he will get terrified and stop being smart.

6.“They can’t hang me twice.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) Why does the speaker say it?

Answer:-

(i) The intruder says this.

(ii) The speaker says it because he wants to kill Gerrard. And he has already killed someone. So the police cannot hang him twice.

7.“A mystery I propose to explain.” What is the mystery the speaker proposes to explain?

Answer:- The speaker, Gerrard, proposes to reveal the mystery of why he himself is a mystery man. He tells to the intruder that he is a wanted criminal on the run. That is why he does not interact with tradespeople. He claims to have killed someone and gotten away with it. But now he was in trouble, which is why his backpack was packed with everything he needed to flee.

8.“This is your big surprise.”

(i) Where has this been said in the play?

(ii) What is the surprise?

Answer:- (i) This statement is made twice in the play.The first time is when the intruder is trying to scare Gerrard, and the second time is when Gerrard is explaining why he will not murder him for a valid reason.

(ii) The surprise in the first utterance of the statement is that the intruder reveals his intention to murder Gerrard. The surprise in the second utterance of the statement is that Gerrard explains to the intruder that he himself is a criminal on the run, which is why killing him and stealing his identity won’t help the intruder.