If I Were You NCERT 9 ENGLISH TEXTBOOK SOLUTION

Thinking about the Text

I. 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?

Solution : 1

(i) Gerrard has said the given line.

(ii) He said so because the intruder had finally stopped threatening him and ordering him about and asked him to speak about himself.

(iii) He was being sarcastic. The audience, i.e., the intruder was in no ways sympathetic. In fact, he told Gerard, at gunpoint, to talk about himself so that he could use the information to further his own interests.

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

Solution : 2

The intruder chose Gerrard as the man whose identity he wanted to take on because he was of the same build as Gerrard and so his clothes too would fit him fine. Also as Vincent Charles Gerrard, he would be free to go places and do nothing. He could eat well and sleep without having to be ready to run away at the sight of a cop. He would only have to wear specs and he would look enough like Gerrard to get way with it.

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?

Solution : 3

(i)    Gerrard has said the given line.

(ii)   It means that when things went wrong with him, he had committed a murder and got away. Here, “I said it with bullets” means that he had used bullets and fired at someone to escape.

(iii)  No, it was not the truth. Gerard said so because he wanted the intruder to believe that he too was dangerous. The intruder would have killed him if he had not lied about his identity. He told him that he himself was a crook; that he had also killed someone and escaped. However, his partner had been caught, and he had not burnt the papers that should have been burnt. Therefore, the cops were after him too, and this meant that the intruder would still not be safe even after taking on Gerrard’s identity.

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?

Solution : 5

(i)        The intruder has said the given line.

(ii)    When Gerrard did not show any signs of being perturbed by the intruder’s presence, the intruder responded by saying “Trying to be calm and — er — “. He stopped and fumbled for words and then, Gerrard completed his sentence by saying “Nonchalant’ is your word, I think”. Peeved at the smartness displayed by Gerrard, the intruder said that Gerard would stop being smart once he knew what was going to happen to him.

(iii)   According to the intruder, Gerrard would stop being smart once he knew what was going to happen to him. The intruder’s plan was to kill Gerard and take over his identity and in this way elude the police. He felt that when Gerrard knew this, he would stop being smart and start getting scared.

Chapter 11 – If I Were You Exercise 145

Solution : 2

What the author says

What he means

You won’t kill me for a very good reason

Gerrard was just pretending to have a ‘very good reason’. However, there was no such reason.

Sorry I can’t let you have the props in time  for rehearsal, I’ve had a spot of bother – quite amusing

The ‘spot of bother’ that Gerrard found ‘quite amusing’ was actually a life-threatening situation. He had been in confrontation with a criminal who was about to kill him.

In most melodramas the villain is  foolish enough to delay his killing long enough to be frustrated. You are much luckier.

Gerrard  pretended  that  the  villain, i.e., the  intruder was really  intelligent  to have thought up a plan  to  take over the identity of  a  man who lived at  such a place where  the police could  not  reach  instantly. However, the intruder was  much mistaken  because  Gerrard  was actually using this ‘delay’ to think up a plan to escape him.

You have been so modest.

Gerrard means that the intruder is not being modest by knowing so much about him yet not disclosing his own identity.

Solution : 3

(i)  The intruder has said the given line.

(ii) When Gerrard asked the intruder why he wanted to add murder to the list of crimes he had already committed the intruder told him that he was already wanted for murder as he had killed a man, and so he was not afraid to kill Gerrard as well. He then said that the police could not hang him twice for two murders.

Solution : 4

The mystery that Gerrard proposed to explain was the story he made up to dodge the intruder and save his own life.The story was that Gerrard himself was a criminal like the intruder. He asked the intruder why else would he not meet any trades people and be a bit of a mystery man here today and gone tomorrow. The game was up as things had suddenly gone wrong for him. He had committed a murder and got away. Unfortunately, one of his men had been arrested and certain things were found which his men should have burnt. He said that he was expecting some trouble that night and therefore, his bag was packed and he was ready to escape.

Solution : 5

(i)     The given line was spoken twice in the play. First, it was spoken by the intruder when he revealed to Gerrard why he was there and what he was going to do with him. He was going to kill Gerrard.  On the second occasion, it was spoken by Gerrard when he was about to reveal his made-up story to the intruder.

(ii)    When the intruder said this line, the surprise was that he was going to kill Gerrard and take over his identity and in this way elude the police. He told him that as Vincent Charles Gerrard, he would be free to go places and do nothing. He could eat well and sleep without having to be ready to run away at the sight of a cop. When Gerrard said this line, the surprise was his made-up story about himself. The story was that Gerrard himself was a criminal like the intruder. But the game was up as things had suddenly gone wrong for him. He had committed a murder and got away. Unfortunately, one of his men was arrested and certain things were found, which his men should have burnt. He was now on the run. He said that he was expecting some trouble that night and therefore, his bag was packed and he was ready to escape.