Errors in HSC English textbook
There are many questions about the appropriateness of the methodology used in writing the textbook prescribed by the National Curriculum & Textbook Board (NCTB) for class-11. It's not been possible to carry out the objectives of the book due to the lack of an empirical approach to the problem of language teaching and learning in the perspective of our country. The textbook intended for the intermediate first year students contains some inadvertent irregularities, which need to be corrected immediately:
A. In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Section B of the textbook there is a topic on Origami. But in the text it is misspelt as Oregami. Reference: The Little Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English (Seventh Edition, Sixth Impression) and Oxford Talking Dictionary (available on multimedia CD).
B. In Unit 14, Lesson 1, Section C of the textbook there is a sentence ... education was one of the most important social phenomenon... But according to grammarians we have to use a plural noun after one of the… For this reason here the noun should have been spelt as phenomena (phenomena, originally derived from Greek, is the plural form of phenomenon). Reference: Michael Swan's Practical English Usage.
C. In Unit 5, Lesson 4, Section B there is a grammatical instruction as ' We use '-ing' with a verb when it is used after think, like, love, prefer. But in contrary to this instruction, the second paragraph of Unit 4, Lesson 1, Section C starts as 'The Japanese love to take part in sports in their free time.'
Actually the instruction is partially incorrect. Grammarians say that after like, love, prefer and some other verbs we can use verbs either taking infinitive or gerund (-ing form) without any change of meaning. Reference: A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet's A Practical English Grammar, section 266 (4th edition, 10th impression), and John Eastwood's Oxford Practice Grammar, section 63(A), second edition.
There is no clear obligation of using infinitive or gerund after think. But as per the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English we certainly can use infinitive after “think” such as “Who would have thought to see you here?”
D. In Unit 14, Lesson 6, Section C there is a short passage on the life of the great physicist Stephen Hawking. In the last sentence of the passage it is said “He lives with his wife and three daughters .....” But the fact is that he has only one daughter named Lucy Hawking, who is a novelist, and two sons namely Robert Hawking and George Edward Hawking. (Source: Internet).
E. In Unit 24, Lesson 4, Section C there is a passage on gender discrimination, and the last line of the first paragraph of the passage says “But all their (girls') work domestic or academic - stops as soon they are married off ......” But we all know that a girl's academic work may stop as soon as she is married off, but not necessarily her domestic work.
F. In Unit 23, Lesson 2, Section B there is a passage about Bangladesh. The second sentence of the passage says “.... it (Bangladesh) experienced British colonial rule until 1947, followed by an oppressive existence as East Pakistan from 1947 to 1971.”The word “oppressive” means tyrannical and it indicates that Bangladesh oppressed Pakistan. But the fact is that Bangladesh was oppressed by the Pakistanis, and the word should have been “oppressed” instead of “oppressive”.
G. In the third paragraph of the same passage it is said “... the last twenty five years will remain memorable .....” But the next sentence says “The 21st of February 1952 immediately comes to mind.” The textbook was published first in 2001 and probably it was written in the year 2000. Then what should be the logical range of last 25 years? It may be 1976 to 2000. If it is so, then how can the year 1952 be included in the last 25 years?
I urge the authorities concerned to take the initiative to correct these inadvertent mistakes and incongruities in the next impression/edition of the book.
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