Worksheet

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

Name:………………………………………………………. Class:…………………………

Read the text and answer questions.

Read the fourth paragraph.
1. Who notices the wave first?
2. Was she alarmed/ concerned/ surprised? What action did she take?
3. When did surprise/ amazement change to alarm? What words/ actions reflect this?
4. How does the author describe the advancing force and fury of the tsunami? Which
words does she use?

Read paragraph 8 - 12
1. Was she aware of the danger threatening them? Or was it instinct?
2. There is an unusual number of repetitions in this paragraph; How do you explain it?
3. What does it reveal about the author’s frame of mind?
4. What reason does she give for not calling her parents?

Read paragraph 13 - 14
1. What truth about human behavior in a crisis is reflected here?
2. What do you think of the driver of the jeep / about Anton?
3. Would you agree that both negative and positive features of humanity are shown in
these two paragraphs?

Discuss and write answers.

1. This is a gruesome and poignant experience. What are the gruesome moments?
What are the poignant moments?
2. The extract is full of suspense. How is the suspense kept up?
3. The extract is a classic example of how humans face unexpected natural disasters.
What are the most vivid moments?
4. Even at the most disastrous moments, humans demonstrate they are capable of love
and sacrifice. Give example from the text.
5. The author’s innate instinct seems to be that of a mother – to protect her children.
Do you think her priorities were correct?
Past Paper Questions

01. “I didn’t shout to warn them. I didn’t bang on their door and call them out.”
a. Where are the lines extracted from? Who is the writer?
b. Who are ‘them’? Why did the speaker act like that?
c. What feelings/emotions are associated with the words?

2. “Pain. That was all I could feel. Where am I? Something was crushing my chest. I am
trapped under the jeep, I thought, I am being flattened by it. I tried to push it away. I
wanted to wriggle out”
a. Name the work from which these lines are taken? Name the writer.
b. Who is referred to as ‘I’? To which occasion does this speaker refer?
c. How would you describe the feeling of the speaker here?

03. “Wave is a powerful recreation of the overpowering forces of nature.” Discuss the
statement with reference to the text.

04. In an emergency, people are easily led by instinct rather than intellect. Is this a fair
statement to comment on the behaviour of Sonali Deraniyagala at the Tsunami waves.
Comment with a close reference to an extract from “Wave”