# Wit and Humour

## Overview

This chapter uses humour to teach empathy, polite communication, and language skills. It includes three main segments: the story *"Animals, Birds, and Dr. Dolittle"*, the poem *"A Funny Man"*, and the humorous play *"Say the Right Thing"*. Each piece explores different styles of wit while encouraging creativity, observation, and proper social interaction.

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## Key Topics Covered

### 1. Animals, Birds, and Dr. Dolittle

* **Summary**:
Dr. John Dolittle is advised by the Cat’s-food-Man and his parrot Polynesia to become an animal doctor. Polynesia teaches him bird language, and he learns to understand and speak with animals. Dr. Dolittle becomes popular among animals for his intelligence and kindness, eventually gaining fame worldwide. He even helps a horse with vision problems by prescribing green spectacles.

* **Core Ideas**:

* Animals communicate through actions, body language, and sounds.
* Understanding and kindness lead to deeper bonds—even with animals.
* Dr. Dolittle treats animals better because he listens to them.

* **Learning Activities**:

* Sequence of events
* Compound word classification (hyphenated, open, closed)
* Palindromes and vocabulary practice
* Grammar focus on present perfect tense

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### 2. A Funny Man

* **Summary**:
A poem about a peculiar man who wears a shoe on his head and hats on his feet. He behaves absurdly, offering a currant bun as a rose and hopping on his head instead of walking. His actions confuse but amuse the speaker.

* **Core Ideas**:

* Wordplay and rhyming build humour.
* Imagination and silliness are tools for poetic creativity.
* Structure and rhythm make the poem enjoyable.

* **Learning Activities**:

* Rhyme scheme identification (AABBA)
* Sentence inversion and imagery analysis
* Phrasal verbs and their meanings
* Vocabulary: ways of walking, suffixes

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### 3. Say the Right Thing

* **Summary**:
A humorous play where Mary, trying to follow her mother’s advice on polite conversation with guests, unintentionally offends them by making incorrect assumptions and inappropriate remarks. Despite her efforts, she repeatedly blunders, creating awkward but funny situations.

* **Core Ideas**:

* Good intentions can go wrong without awareness and tact.
* Politeness involves understanding others' perspectives and avoiding assumptions.
* Listening and thoughtful communication are essential in social settings.

* **Learning Activities**:

* Role play and dialogue practice
* Sentence stress and intonation
* Word pairs: fetch/bring, see/look, etc.
* Grammar: sentence types, suffixes, tenses

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## New Terms and Their Meanings (Simple Definitions)

| Term | Meaning |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Scholar | A person who is very knowledgeable, especially through studying |
| Porridge | A soft food made by boiling oats in milk or water |
| Spectacles | Another word for eyeglasses |
| Countryside | An area outside of cities and towns, mostly with farms and fields |
| Cellar | A room below a house, often used for storage |
| Currant bun | A small bread-like item with raisins inside |
| Blunder | A careless or silly mistake |
| Embarrass | To make someone feel uncomfortable or ashamed in public |
| Hilariously | In a way that is very funny |
| Suffix | A group of letters added to the end of a word to change its form |
| Compound word | A word made from combining two or more words (e.g., flowerpot) |
| Palindrome | A word or phrase that reads the same forward and backward |
| Phrasal verb | A verb with an added preposition or adverb that changes its meaning |

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## Practice Questions

### Easy (3)

1. **What made Doctor Dolittle different from other animal doctors?**
→ He could speak the language of animals and understand their needs.

2. **Why did the funny man offer a currant bun instead of a rose?**
→ To create humour by confusing objects and meanings.

3. **What advice did Mrs. Shaw give Mary about treating guests?**
→ Be kind, polite, say things that make guests feel welcome.

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### Medium (2)

4. **What does Polynesia teach Doctor Dolittle and how does it help him?**
→ She teaches him bird language, allowing him to understand and treat animals better.

5. **Why was Mary’s conversation with the guests full of blunders?**
→ She misunderstood her mother’s advice and unknowingly said rude things.

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### Difficult (3)

6. **How does the poem ‘A Funny Man’ use rhyme and absurdity to entertain the reader?**
→ It uses a fixed rhyme scheme and silly, unexpected actions to create humour.

7. **What role does body language play in the story of Doctor Dolittle?**
→ Animals often communicate without words—using ears, tails, or noses, which Dolittle learns to interpret.

8. **Explain how Mary’s overconfidence led to the opposite of what her mother wanted.**
→ Mary thought she was ready but lacked social awareness, leading to a series of offensive comments.

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### Very Difficult (2)

9. **Compare and contrast the humour used in ‘A Funny Man’ and ‘Say the Right Thing’.**
→ ‘A Funny Man’ uses nonsense and imagination, while ‘Say the Right Thing’ uses situational and social humour from real-life awkwardness.

10. **If you could communicate with animals like Doctor Dolittle, what changes would you expect in human-animal relationships?**
→ Animals could express their needs clearly, improving their care and creating mutual understanding and respect.

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