Pathamala and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

E-mail- [e-mail];

[e-mail]                                    

Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

 

Pathamala and Mahatma Gandhi 

Your English exercises have been found. They are being returned duly corrected. Maganbhai’s previous remarks apply to these exercises, too. Write in a neat handwriting. Use a reed-pen and write slowly. Your English is better than I had thought. It will improve very quickly. After I get a list of the books you have with you, I will let you know which of them you should use for your study. Just now take up Pathamala, Part I, and make a start with it. You will find the first few lessons easy. Start translating from the point where you find the exercises difficult. Do not in the least feel shy to ask the meaning of any construction that you cannot grasp. We have here Prabhavati’s copy of Pathamala, Part I. It will be enough, therefore, if you quote page numbers. Study the corrections carefully. If you do not understand any of them, ask again about them. 

1. No article is used before those substances because we cannot count them; they can only be weighed.

2. The other meanings of ‘would’ which you have pointed out are correct. It is the custom to use them in those senses. Such usage is called ‘idiom’.

3. It will be beneficial to continue the Pathamala exercises for the present. 2

Between two actions which will be happening in future the one that is going to be accomplished will take the Future Perfect. Now do the 20th chapter. We shall think what you may do next after you complete the Pathamala, Part I.

 

References:

 

1. Letter to Lilavati Asar, June 26, 1935
2. Letter to Lilavati Asar, July 24, 1935
3. Letter to Lilavati Asar, September 27, 1935