CLASS: XI

SUBJECT: ENGLISH
BOOK: HORNBILL
CHAPTER: THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
DATE: 15 JUL, 2022
WORKSHEET NO: 01

Syllabus
UT 1:
Hornbill:
• The Portrait of a Lady
• A Photograph
Writing Skill
• Poster Making

Half Yearly:

Hornbill:
• The Portrait of a Lady
• We are not afraid to die….
• Discovering Tut
• The Laburnum Top
• A Photograph
• Childhood
Snapshot:
• The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse
• The Address
Writing Skill:
• Poster Making
• Note Making
• Speech Writing
• Gap Filling
• Reordering of Sentences
• Transformation of Sentences
• Revision
 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
Khushwant Singh (02 February 1915 - 20 March 2014)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

➢ Famous writer in English

➢ Born in 1915 in Hadali (in Pakistan now)
➢ Educated in the Government College, Lahore, and at King’s College, Cambridge
University & The Inner Temple in London
➢ Practised law at Lahore High Court for several years
➢ Founder Editor of ‘Yojana’ (1951-53), the ‘Illustrated Weekly of India’ (1979-80),
Chief Editor of New Delhi (1979-80) and Editor of ‘The Hindustan Times’ (1980-83)
➢ Saturday column ‘With Malice towards One and All’ in ‘The Hindustan Times’ - one
of the most popular columns of the day
➢ a self-proclaimed agnostic - against organised religion - evidently inclined towards
atheism
➢ 'One can be a saintly person without believing in God and a detestable villain believing
in him. In my personalised religion, There Is No God!’
➢ "I don't believe in rebirth or in reincarnation, in the day of judgement or in heaven or
hell. I accept the finality of death."
➢ died of natural causes on 20 March 2014 at his Delhi residence, at the age of 99.
MINDMAP:
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
1. Write the following expressions in your FILESHEET and learn them by heart:
a) the thought was almost revolting – difficult to believe/the very idea was
disgusting
b) expanse of pure white serenity – white and calm looks of a person/vast area of
untainted calm and tranquillity
c) turning point – significant change/something that changed the usual course of
events
d) accepted her seclusion with resignation – accepted loneliness without objection/
accepted the fact of her being isolated/was prepared to accept the fact of being alone
e) veritable bedlam of chirping – a real uproar of sound of birds/absolute confusion
of twittering
f) frivolous rebukes – superficial scolding/light hearted chiding or scolding
g) sagging skins of the dilapidated drum – loose skin of an old drum/flabby casing
of the drum that was worn out

2. Find out the words used in The Portrait of a Lady using the following word
maze. Answers shall be found in Worksheet No. 2.