The Man Who Knew too Much

CBSE Class IX Prose, very easy to read and understand for students, teachers

1. The Man who knew Too Much By: Alexander Baron A PowerPoint presentation By: Mrinal Ghosh , PGT (English) Umakanta Academy English Medium, Agartala

2. The Man who knew too much Private Quelch was lanky, stooping and always frowning through his horn-rimmed spectacles. For his learning and enormous knowledge, he was nicknamed as ‘Professor’. The Professor embarrassed the instructors with questions.

3. The Man who knew too much A Sergeant instructor was giving his first lesson in musketry defining the muzzle velocity. He told that a bullet leaves the rifle well over 2000 feet per second.

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5. The Man who knew too much Professor corrected him publicly and told him that the exact speed is 2440 ft. per second. The Sergeant didn’t take it lightly and to take revenge, he asked him numerous questions. Private Quelch’s main aim was to get a commission and for it, he worked very hard & tried to impress the senior officers.

6. The Man who knew too much Professor always tried to exhibit his knowledge. He publicly corrected anyone who made a mistake. His nature irritated his colleagues & infuriated his senior officers.

7. The Man who knew too much Corporal Turnbull was a different kind of instructor & he was not to be trifled with.

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9. The Man who knew too much He was explaining the outside of a grenade & how it was divided into a large number of fragments. The Professor interrupted him.

10. The Man who knew too much He replied that the exact number was 44. Corporal Turnbull’s face was distorted. He snubbed Professor. He declared that the Platoon officer had nominated him for permanent cookhouse duties.

11. The Man who knew too much It was like a joke for all his fellow soldiers and professor made himself a stock of laughter. The Professor was in his element again in the cook house. He showed his resentment and protest against the most unscientific & unhygienic method of peeling potatoes. His colleagues could not stand the exhibition of his knowledge and fled when he would come near them.

12. The Man who knew too much Some questions and answers:- Q. 1. How was Private Quelch’s knowledge exposed even further as the Sergeant’s classes went on ? Ans. Private Quelch was highly conceited who could not handle his own knowledge. Knowledge, if used to overshadow and belittle others, can never bring signifcant gains. The same happened the other day when Sergeant was delivering lecture on hand grenade. Private Quelch interrupted him again and again by giving additional information on the same subject. After the lecture was over, the Sergeant assigned him the job of cook house duties to deflate his bloated ego. Q. 2. What did the ‘Professor ’ mean by ‘intelligent reading’ ? Ans. By ‘intelligent reading’ the ‘Professor’ meant that apart from the training provided, one needed to update one’s knowledge with wise reading. Training and personal efforts go hand in hand. Q. 3. What was the Professor’s ambition in the army ? Ans. His amibiton was to outshine all his mates. He wanted to get a quick promotion as he felt himself much better than others. Q. 4. Did Private Quelch’s day to day practices take him towards his goal ? How can you make out ? Ans. Despite the Professor’s consistent hard work to achieve his goal, he did not get an inch closer to it. All his efforts went down the drain owing to his habit of flaunting his knowledge, interrupting his superiors and correcting them. This habit made him the more hateful and repulsive. In spite of all the knowledge, his boastfulness made him undesirable and a man to avoid.

13. The Man who knew too much Q. 5. Give a description of Corporal Turnbull. Ans. Corporal Turnbull was a young man but he was not a man to be trifled with. He was a strict disciplinarian. He couldn’t tolerate any nonsense or any breach of the army code of conduct. He was not a man to be taken for granted. He used to keep his kitten in his pocket. Q. 6. How did Private Quelch manage to anger the corporal ? Ans. Private Quelch not only interrupted the Corporal rudely by needlessly elaborating the Corporal’s explanation of a grenade but he also had the audacity to compare him to another instructor and tell him how he should deliver his instructions. Such an attitude of Private Quelch angered the Corporal. Q. 7. Do you think Private Quelch learnt a lesson when he was chosen for cookhouse duties ? Give reasons for your answer. Ans. No, I don’t think Private Quelch had learnt a lesson when he was chosen for cookhouse duties. Instead, even there, he continued his habit of lecturing others to show off his knowledge. He started discussing or say, rebuking against the unhygienic methods of cooking with those poor fellow, working in kitchen. Q. 8. There was a change in the attitude of other Privates towards Professor. Elaborate. Ans. Private Quelch was a nuisance, a mess and a nagging presence in class. With his overflowing knowledge on everything under the sun, he corrected his lecturers and made them go speechless. He interrupted their classes by providing the exact numbers which his lecturers conveniently overlooked or ignored as they thought minute details unimportant.