From the Diary of Anne Frank Explanation, Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, English CBSE Class 10 NCERT First Flight Chapter 4
FROM THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
(Explanation and Meaning of difficult words)
Author – Anne Frank
| Word | Meaning |
| Strange | Unusual, Extraordinary |
| Musings | Thoughts |
For a person like me, writing a diary is certainly an unusual experience. I feel so because I have never written anything before writing this diary. Also because it appears to me that afterwards neither I nor anybody else will have any interest in thoughts of a thirteen year old school going girl.
| Word | Meaning |
| It does not matter | It not important, Not bothered about |
| All kinds of things | Everything |
| Get off my chest | Express one’s feelings or thoughts |
But I am not bothered if somebody would be interested in my thoughts. I want to write. I have a desire to express everything that is in my heart. [I want to write all my feelings]
| Word | Meaning |
| Depressed | Sad, Sorrowful |
| Listless | Without energy, Lazy |
| Wondering | Thinking |
Paper can tolerate whatever is written on it. It does not react or respond. But people would respond or react to what is told to them. I had thought of this saying when I was feeling slightly sad. That time I was sitting alone in my house. I had put my chin in my hands. I was bored and had no energy to do anything. I was thinking if I should stay in the house or I should go out of the house.
| Word | Meaning |
| Brooding | Thinking, Worried |
| Stiff-backed | Hard bound |
| Grandly | Proudly |
Finally I stayed in the house worrying about nothing. Yes, paper certainly has more patience than people. But I would not allow anyone else to read my hard bound note book. I had proudly referred this book as diary. Reading of this diary by only a real friend is important, otherwise it will not have any meaning.
| Word | Meaning |
| Prompted | Caused, To be reason of some event |
Now I once again want to tell why I started writing a diary. It is because I do not have a friend.
| Word | Meaning |
| To put it more clearly | To clarify |
| Completely | Totally, Absolutely |
I want to clarify this because no one will believe that a thirteen year old girls is totally alone in this world. Actually I am not totally alone. I have parents who love me. I have a sixteen year old sister. I know about thirty people whom I can say are my friends.
| Word | Meaning |
| On the surface | Apparently, Superficially |
| Have a good time | To enjoy |
I have a family. I have aunts who love me. I also have a good home. Apparently, it looks that I have everything except one true friend. When I am with my friends I think only about enjoying their company.
| Word | Meaning |
| Confide | To trust, To share feelings |
I am able to talk about only ordinary routine things with these friends. It appears that we are not becoming close friends. And this is the real problem. Probably it is my fault that we do not trust each other. We are not able to share our feelings with each other.
| Word | Meaning |
| Not liable to change | Not likely to change |
Anyway, this is the situation. And unfortunately this situation (of not having close friends) is not likely to change. This is why I have started writing diary.
| Word | Meaning |
| Enhance | To increase |
| Image | Importance |
| Long awaited | That has come after a long wait |
| Jot down | Write hurriedly |
To increase the importance of this long awaited friend (diary), I do not want to write routine events in it. Though most of the people do it. I want the diary to be my friend. So I will call it ‘Kitty’.
| Word | Meaning |
| To plunge right in | Start directly |
| Sketch of my life | Details about my life |
If I start directly writing my diary, nobody will be able to understand anything written in Kitty. Therefore I will give (write) brief details about my life though I do not like to do so.
| Word | Meaning |
| Adorable | Loving, Charming |
My father was the most loving and charming father of the world. When he married my mother, he was thirty six and my mother was twenty five. Name of my sister is Margot. She was born in 1926 in Frankfurt in Germany. I was born on 12 June 1929.
| Word | Meaning |
| Immigrate | Shift from one country to another |
I lived in Frankfurt till the age of four. My father shifted to Holland in 1933. Name of my mother was Edith Hollander Frank. She went to Holland with my father in September. Margot and I went to Aachen to stay with our grandmother.
| Word | Meaning |
| Plunked down | To put abruptly or heavily |
Margot went to Holland in December and I went there in February. I had reached there on the birthday of Margot. So I was a birthday gift for her.
| Word | Meaning |
| Right away | Directly, Immediately |
| Be in tears | To cry |
| Say farewell | To separate |
| Heartbreaking | Emotional, Feeling bad |
I started going directly to Montessori nursery school. I studied in that school till I was six. At that age I had reached first standard. When I was in sixth form Mrs. Kuperus was the headmistress of the school. At the end of the year of sixth standard, we both were crying while separating from each other. I was emotional to be away from her.
During summer season of 1941, my grandmother became sick. She had to undergo an operation. So my birthday was not celebrated. Grandmother died in January 1942. Nobody knows that many times I think about her. I still love her. During my birthday celebration of 1942, I wanted to make up for not celebrating my birthday in 1941. We had lit one extra candle in the memory of Grandmother.
| Word | Meaning |
| Solemn | Sincere |
The four of us (Anne, Margot and their parents) are still healthy. With this brief about my life, we come to today’s date of 20th June 1942. From this date I sincerely started writing my diary.
| Word | Meaning |
| Quacking in boots | Nervous, Scared |
| Of course | Certainly |
| Forthcoming | Next |
Every student of our class was nervous. Certainly, the reason of our nervousness is the next meeting. In this meeting teachers will decide who will go to next class and who will remain in this class.
| Word | Meaning |
| Laugh silly | Laugh for longtime |
Half of the students were making bets. GN (initials of a friend of Anne) and I used to laugh for long time at the two boys who used to sit behind us. Their names were CN and Jacques. They had put saving of their entire holiday on bet.
| Word | Meaning |
| Pleading | Request |
| Glances | Looks |
| Outbursts | Shouting |
From morning to night these two student were discussing who will pass and who may not. Requests through looks from G and my angry shouting could not calm them down.
| Word | Meaning |
| Dummy | Fool, Stupid |
| Quarter | One fourth |
| Unpredictable | Uncertain, Unforeseeable |
In my opinion, there are so many fools in our class. About one fourth of students should be kept in the same class. But teachers are most uncertain creatures in the world.
| Word | Meaning |
| We will make it | We will pass |
| Not to lose heart | Not to lose hope |
I am not worried about myself and my girlfriend. We will pass. But I am not sure about maths. But we can only wait for announcement of results. Till that time, we are telling each other to not to lose hope.
| Word | Meaning |
| Get along | To be friendly, Have trust |
| Pretty well | Good |
| Old fogey | Old fashioned |
| Annoyed | Angry |
| For ages | Since long time |
All my teachers have a good trust on me. There are nine teachers for my class, seven men and two women. Mr Keesing is an old fashioned person who teaches us maths. He was angry with me since very long time because I talked too much.
| Word | Meaning |
| Chatterbox | One who talks a lot |
| Jotted down | Wrote, Noted |
| Tucked | Put |
He had given me warning many times. Then he gave me extra homework. It was to write an essay on ‘A Chatterbox’. I did not know what to write on this topic. But I decided that I would think about it later. I wrote title of the essay in my notebook. Put the notebook in my bag and tried to remain calm.
| Word | Meaning |
| Rest | Remaining, Balance |
| Caught my eyes | Attracted my attention, Noticed |
| Tip | End or edge |
That evening I noticed the topic of essay after completing my remaining homework. I started thinking about it while chewing the end of my pen.
| Word | Meaning |
| Ramble on | Go on |
| Trick | Challenge |
| Come up | Think |
| Convincing | Believable, Acceptable |
| Necessity | Need, Requirement |
Anyone can go on writing by leaving big gap between words. But the challenge was to prove the need of talking by thinking acceptable arguments. I thought a lot and suddenly an idea came to my mind.
| Word | Meaning |
| Trait | Habit, Quality, Virtue |
| Cure | To solve a problem |
| Inherited | Acquired from parents |
I wrote a three page essay on the topic given by Mr Keesing. I was satisfied by my work. I said that talking is an essential habit of a student. I will do my best to control this habit. But I will never be able to completely solve this problem because my mother also talks a lot. One cannot control a habit that is acquired from parents.
| Word | Meaning |
| Had a good laugh | Laughed a lot |
| Incorrigible | Habitual, Incurable |
Mr. Keesing laughed a lot after reading my essay. But when I continued to talk a lot in my next class also, he gave me one more essay. This time the topic was ‘An incorrigible Chatterbox’.
| Word | Meaning |
| Handed in | Submitted |
| Quack | Sound of duck |
I wrote the essay and submitted to Mr. Keesing. I did not talk in next two classes. So he did not complain during these classes. During the third class he thought that I had again started talking. As a punishment he gave me another essay to write. This time the topic was ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox’.
| Word | Meaning |
| Roared | Laughed loudly |
| Exhausted | Completely utilised |
| Ingenuity | Creativity |
Everybody in the class laughed loudly. I also laughed with them. I had almost completely utilized my creativity on the topic of chatterbox. I could not think of any new idea.
| Word | Meaning |
| Beginning to end | Complete |
| Verse | In the form of poem |
| Ridiculous | Silly, Absurd |
My friend Sanne was good at writing poetry. She offered to help me in writing the complete essay in the form of a poem. I was very happy to receive this help. Mr. Keesing was trying to play a joke on me by asking me to write essay on this silly topic. But I would make sure that the joke was played on him.
| Word | Meaning |
| Ducklings | Baby of a duck |
I completed my poem. It was a good poem. In the poem the mother was a duck and father was a swan. They had three babies. The father bit their babies to death because they quacked a lot.
Fortunately Mr. Keesing understood the joke in correct way. He read the poem to the class. He added his own comments while reading the poem. He read the poem in other classes also.
| Word | Meaning |
| On the contrary | Opposite |
| These days | Nowadays |
After that I had the permission to talk in the class. I was not given any extra homework for talking in the class. Opposite to his habit, now Mr. Keesing always makes jokes
Yours,
Anne
****
AMANDA
(Explanation)
Author – Robin Klein
The poem is about a girl whose name is Amanda. Her mother is advising her many things. The lines given in the brackets are his feelings after receiving advice from her mother.
| Word | Meaning |
| Hunch | Bend |
| Slouch | Sit lazily |
| Poetic Devices | |
| Don’t hunch your… | Assonance |
| Don’t bite your.. | Assonance |
| Stop that slouching and sit up straight, | Alliteration |
Mother advises Amanda not to bite her nails. Mother advises Amanda to not to bend her shoulders. Mother advises Amanda not to sit lazily and to sit straight.
| Word | Meaning |
| Languid | Relaxed, Lazy |
| Emerald sea | Green coloured sea |
| Sole | Only one, Alone |
| Inhabitant | Resident |
| Mermaid | Creature with upper part of lady & lower part of fish |
| Drifting | Moving slowly |
| Blissfully | Happily |
| Poetic Devices | |
| Emerald Sea | Metaphor |
| Drifting blissfully | Imagery |
After getting scolded from her mother Amanda is expressing her wish. She imagines a relaxed (calm) green sea. She is the only person living there. She thinks of herself as a mermaid. Slowly and happily moving in the sea.
She has become sick of scolding of her mother. She wants to live in a calm environment where there is no one to advise her. So that she can live their peacefully and happily.
| Poetic Devices | |
| Did you finish your homework | Assonance |
| Did you tidy your room | Assonance |
| I thought I told you to clean… | Repetition |
| I thought I told you to clean… | Alliteration |
| I thought I told you to clean… | Assonance |
Mother is asking Amanda if she has completed her homework. She is asking if Amanda has cleaned her room. She is reminding Amanda to clean her shoes.
| Word | Meaning |
| Orphan | A child without parents |
| Roaming | Walking, Moving |
| Hushed | A quiet place |
| Sweet | Very good or excellent |
| Poetic Devices | |
| Orphan roaming the street | Assonance |
| Silence is golden | Metaphor |
| Freedom is sweet | Metaphor |
Amanda imagines herself to be an orphan moving around in the street. Sitting at a quiet place she can draw a pattern with her bare feet. She thinks silence is very precious and freedom is sweet (very good or excellent thing)
She imagines herself to be an orphan so that she will not be advised by parents. She would be free to do whatever she liked.
| Word | Meaning |
| Acne | Pimple |
Mother is asking Amanda not to eat chocolate. She reminds Amanda that she had got pimples because of eating chocolate. Mother tells Amanda to look at her when she is speaking to Amanda.
| Word | Meaning |
| Tranquil | Peaceful |
| Rare | Unique |
Rapunzel was a princess who was imprisoned in a tower by a witch. She had very long hair. She was rescued by a prince who had climbed the tower with help of her hair
Amanda imagines herself to be Rapunzel and living alone in a tower. She thinks that it a will be a unique style of life with lot of peace. She says she will not put her hair down from the tower. Because she wants to live there alone.
| Word | Meaning |
| Sulking | Not speaking |
| At once | Immediately |
| Nagged | Scolded, Harassed |
| Poetic Devices | |
| Stop that sulking | Alliteration |
| Would think that I nagged at you | Alliteration |
Mother tells Amanda not to stop speaking. She says that Amanda is always very moody. If Amanda behaves this way people will think mother has scolded Amanda.
****
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