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 When the choice is between a book of poems and an English grammar I will always opt for the former...................

 My friend has asked me a very simple question. I will always choose a book of poem. Suppose you have been banished to an isolated island for a year. You can take seven books with you. What will be your choice Ranjit? Here are my choices; Rabindranath, Jibonanada, Shamsur Rahman, Keats, Shelly, Wordsworth and Sakti or Joy Goswami. All books of poems.
English grammar is never an interesting choice. But when you are learning English as a second language you have no alternative but to learn the basic rules of grammar. Students studying in English medium schools do not depend on grammar to learn the language. When you read all the subjects in English , listen to your teachers regularly you learn the structure , pronunciation and syntax of the language automatically. You must be a good listener if you want to be a good speaker. There is no better way for learning a language.The main problem with the Bengali medium school is that English is taught as another subject and in 99% cases it is taught in Bengali. How can you learn the nuances of a foreign language if it is taught in your mother tongue? English is a stressed and accented language while Bengali is a non-accented simple language. How can you overcome this basic problem? You need a language laboratory in every school to enable the students to perfect their pronunciation of the English words. I don't think any school in West Bengal has such facility. So we have no alternative but to take the help of English Grammar and follow the ' learning through translation/ re-translation method. It is essential to possess a good grammar and a good dictionary . In fact, we need two good dictionaries, one for English too Bengali and another for Bengali to English. If you can a third one for English to English, nothing could be better for you. Okay, I have said more than enough on this topic. Let us now concentrate on some tricky problems.
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• I hope you have learnt how to transform a sentence in the active voice into passive voice and vice versa. You have surely noticed that some verbs take two objects -one animate and the other inanimate object.
• Example= Sukanya gave Apratim a beautiful gift on his birthday. In this sentence the verb ' gave' has two objects--a) Apratim( an animate object ) and b) a beautiful gift ( an inanimate object. You can make one of these two objects as the subject in the passive voice. What should you do? My suggestion is: Make the animate object and retain the inanimate object as it is. So the answer would be.= Apratim was given a beautiful gift on his birthday by Sukanya.
• When should we use "let'' in the passive voice? First of all we have to remember that ''let'' is a very formal word. It is a very '' unemotional'' and '' non-personal '' word. These are my observations and definitions. Please don't blame the English language. I know many will find fault with me and give me a severe dressing down. I am prepared for that and I offer my sincere apologies to them. Now let me explain what I mean to say. Let me say it. Study the following sentences in the active voice: a) Shut the door. b) Maintain silence in the library. c) Let him do it. d) Respect your parents. e) Let him have his say. f) Give me a chair to sit on. 
• How do you transform the above mentioned sentences into passive voice? a) Shut the door.= Let the door be shut or You are asked/ ordered/ requested to shut the door. Which one would you prefer? My choice is= Let the door be shut. because it is an impersonal comment, neither a request nor an order.  b) Maintain silence in the library.= Let silence be maintained in the library. or Silence should be maintained in the library. Which one would be your choice? My choice is= Silence should be maintained in the library. Because it is the right thing to do. c) Let him do it. You can do it in two ways =a) Let it be done by him or b) He should be allowed to do it. I would choose the first one because it is less complicated and informal. d) Respect your parents.( Because it is your duty.) = Your parents should be respected. ( Many do not respect their parents ) and never= Let your parents be respected. d) Let hive have his say. = He should be allowed to have his say. Do not use 'let'in the passive voice in this case. f) Give me a chair to sit on. ( There is an implicit request in the tone of the sentence ) So= You are requested to give me a chair to sit on. I hope iI have been able to make my point clear to you.

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Today is 22 Shrabon. It is a very memorable day for us Bengalis. Rabindranath Tagoore breathed his last on this day 74 years ago. But he is and always will remain in our memory. We pay our humble tribute to him on this day.

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Rabindrath's last journey by train