NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Woven Words English Chapter 4 The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

By using NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Woven Words English Chapter 4 The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, students will be exposed to different types of questions which will help them in their exams. These solutions not only help students understand the concepts better but also enable them to score good marks in the exams.

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Chapter 4 The Adventure of the Three Garridebs Class 11 Woven Words English NCERT Solutions

Understanding the Text

1. What clues did Sherlock Holmes work upon to get at the fact that the story of the three Garridebs was a ruse?

Solution

When Killer Evans came to meet him as an American lawyer, Sherlock Holmes noticed that his coat and trousers were English as well as worn from at least a year’s use. Although an American, his accent was lighter due to his stay in London. The Mayor mentioned by Holmes was a made up one yet Evans didn’t catch that. All this showed that they story was largely a ruse.

2. What was John Garrideb’s objective in inventing the story of Alexander Hamilton Garrideb and his legacy?

Solution

The main objective that John Garrideb had while creating the whole story was to make a fool of others in which he partially achieved success too. But it’s not possible for even the smartest thief to not leave a trail of clues behind. That is where his planning failed. So he planned the entire mastermind to break into the house in order to see the third Garrideb.

3. Why didn’t John Garrideb like the idea of including Holmes in the hunt for the third Garrideb?

Solution

John Garrideb was actually Killer Evans who wanted to steal a counterfeit press hidden in Nathan’s apartment. He disliked including Holmes because his story was completely false and it would have been a trouble if his identity came to be known.

4. Who was Roger Presbury and how was John Garrideb connected with him?

Solution

Roger Presbury was the man that was shot by John Garrideb over a game of cards. His face was similar to the tenant residing in Nathan Garrideb’s house who owned the printing press. This was the central place of the entire episode. Thus, Roger Presbury was connected with John Garrideb as the printing press where the entire plan was executed belonged to him.

5. How did Holmes guess that John Garrideb would go to 136, Little Ryder Street? Did he expect to find what he ultimately did before he went there?

Solution

Holmes had known that the whole Garrideb story was false after the first meeting with John Garrideb itself. After visiting Nathan and encountering him there too, he realized that his aim was to get Nathan out of his apartment. He then visited the Scotland Yard where he found out that he was Killer Evans and the link to the apartment was that it was where a criminal, Presbury whom Evans shot, had stayed. So yes, Holmes did expect to find what he did.

Talking About The Text

Discuss the following in pairs or in small groups

1. It was worth a wound—it was worth many wounds—to know the depth of loyalty and love that lay behind that cold mask’—how does this comment throw light on the kind of relationship between Holmes and Watson?

Solution

Holmes and Watson shared a really close friendship. They both had utmost trust in each other. When they encountered Evans in the apartment, he shot Watson. Although Holmes shot Evans, he immediately came to Watson anxiously. His calm demeanor was replaced by shaking lips and worried eyes. Holmes’s concern warmed Watson’s heart who comments that the wound was worth taking otherwise he couldn’t have witnessed what he did.

2. The cleverest of criminals leave behind clues to their crime.

Solution

Killer Evans had made an elaborate plan to send Nathan afar so that he gets time to steal the counterfeit press. But Holmes saw through the deception easily through his English dress, inability to recognize the non-existent Mayor, American style advertisement, eagerness to send Nathan outside etc. His ingenious plan still left many gaps that caught him red-handed.

3. How did Holmes’ digressions sometimes prove in the end to have a bearing on the matter on hand? Discuss this with reference to all the apparently irrelevant points he was trying to gather information from.

Solution

Holmes digressions proved to be very significant by the time the criminal was caught. His recognition of the well-worn English dress and making up of a Mayor proved that Evans wasn’t the lawyer from America. His questioning of the house agent led him to discover that Presbury was the previous tenant. All the small references were a major part of the puzzle.

Appreciation

1. Examine the structure of the short story ‘The Adventure of the Three Garridebs’ with the help of this framework.
(i) The narrator of the story
(ii) Introduction of the topic of the story
(iii) Introduction of the main characters in the plot
(iv) Development of the plot
(v) Climax
(vi) Resolution of the mystery

Solution

(i) The narrator of the story discloses the elements in a non-descriptive manner giving a clue of the ending at the beginning itself.

(ii) The topic of the story is introduced by the narrator in the starting itself partially. It makes understanding easier. Though individual understanding is an important element here.

(iii) The main characters are introduced only when they are addressed by their respective names.

(iv) The plot develops with the unfolding of the character of the Garrideb that is partially disclosed and the reader has to wait to understand the entire context.

(v) The climax of the story can be fairly judged by the reader. The narrator provides enough elements that make the reader under the climax.

(vi) This is a comical tragedy as the revelation of Holmes’s real face alters the reader’s perspective. He was considered an unprofessional element, but things turn out differently after all.

2. Examine the subtle humor in the narration of the story that lightens the gravity of the subject matter.

Solution

The very beginning of the story is an unclear paragraph that looks at a serious matter through comic eyes. Hence, Watson’s narration is itself amusing. Sherlock Holmes interaction with Watson also is characterized by light humor especially when Watson fails to understand what Holmes has already understood like the reference to Scotland Yard. Holmes interaction with other characters is also characterized by a light- heartedness which sometimes even misleads the characters like how Evans was fooled.

Language Work

1 a. Identify the words in the advertisement that gave away the fact that it was placed by John Garrideb.
b. Make a list of words which are spelt differently in American and British English.

Solution

a. The words that gave away the advertisement was ‘plows’ and ‘buck-boards’ as well as ‘Artesian Wells’ that were American, not British.

b. Favorite – Favourite
Color – Colour
Demeanor – Demeanour
Maneuver – Maneouver
Humor – Humour

2. Look at the highlighted expressions in the following sentences from the text and explain their figurative meaning
‘I went through it, sir, with a fine-toothed comb and never a Garrideb could I catch.”
‘They are my Favourite covert for putting up a bird, and I would never have overlooked a cock pheasant as that.’
‘There is no bolt-hole for you in this country.’
‘When his castle in the air fell down, it buried him beneath the ruins.’

Solution

‘with a fine-toothed comb’: means that he searched assiduously through all the records, line by line.
‘putting up a bird’: something unusual but useful
‘a cock pheasant’: something that is grossly out of place among other things
‘bolt-hole’: where someone can escape
‘his castle in the air’: big, hopeful and almost unrealistic dreams