The Caste System in India - History and Modern Perspectives

India's Population

• Today, India has a population of over 1.1 billion people
• About 80% of Indians are Hindus
• About 13% of Indians are Muslims
• There are more native English speakers in India than in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand combined
• It is the second most populous country in the world today
• It houses about 16% of the world's population - on 2% of the world's landmass
• Approximately 70% of people live in villages
• The other 30% people live in 200 cities across the country

India's Languages

• India is a land of many languages - 16 official ones, including English
• In the north, Indo-European languages are spoken: Hindu, Guajarati, Bengali, Punjabi
• These languages are distantly related to English
• In the south, Dravidian languages are spoken: Tamil, Malayam, Telegu
• These languages have little in common with the languages of the north

Indian History

• The British ruled India from 1858-1947
• The kings and queens of England were also Emperors and Empresses of India from 1876-1947
• In 1947, India gained independence from Britian, thanks in part to Gandhi
• The country was divided (partitioned) into Pakistan (Muslim majority) and India (Hindu majority)
• Partition was a very bloody time; Muslims and Hindus fought many battles
• The area of Punjab is still claimed by both Pakistan and India
• The 1950s and 1960s were a time of economic development for India
• Modernization came to India, but at a human price

The Caste System

• The Hindu population is divided into four (4) official castes: Brahmin (priests and scholars), Kshatria (rulers and aristocrats), Vaisia (businessmen and landlords), Sudra (peasants and workers)
• The higher the caste, generally the richer the members of the caste
• The Sudra have few economic and social rights
• A fifth caste is a "non-caste", known by several different names: the Untouchables (higher castes were not supposed to touch them), Dalits ("the oppressed" - the politically correct term today), Scheduled castes (because they are "scheduled" by the government to receive fairer treatment).

The Fifth Caste

• The Untouchables did the work that the other casts considered unclean: butchers, latrine cleaners, tannery workers
• The Untouchables had almost no rights
• They were often considered as a "pollution" and had to live away from the others
• Discrimination against the lower castes was outlawed in 1947
• In reality, discrimination is still common, especially in traditional rural areas
• Many Dalits have gone into the public service and work for the government

Grammar Usage - Day 1

a, an A is used before words beginning with a consonant or "yew" sound.
An is used before words beginning with a vowel sound.

a computer a unicorn an apple an otter an honor


a lot A lot, meaning "a large amount," should NEVER be used as one word.

There's a lot of ice.


a while, awhile A while is part of a prepositional phrase and is usually preceded by in or for.
Awhile is a single word used as an adverb.

Take a break for a while. The dog barked awhile.


accept, except Accept is a verb that means "to receive" or "to agree to."
Except is a preposition meaning "but" or a verb meaning "leave out."


adapt, adopt Adapt means "to adjust."
Adopt means "to take something for one's own."


advice, advise Advice is a noun that means "recommendation."
Advise is a verb that means "to give advice or counsel."

Introduction Attention Getters

• Relate a dramatic anecdote
• Begin with a funny story to set a humorous tone
• Begin with an anecdote that reveals some key trait of your character
• Expose a commonly held belief
• Present surprising facts an statistics
• Start with a simple fact that will be important later
• Use a fitting quotation
• Ask a provocative question or two L
• Tell a vivid personal story
• Define a key term
• Set the mood with vivid, specific details; in other words, ass a snapshot
• Present an interesting observation
• Create a unique scenario
• Start with a hint
• Start with a confession
• Start out with dialogue
• Relate your topic to recent news
• Turn About: Start with the opposite idea and then move to your focus
• Funnel: Reveal background info leading to a focused these statement
• Dramatic: Inroll as an “eye-witness account” (present of past tense)

Hiroshima Video Notes

• The atomic bomb is equivalent to 20.000 tons of TNT
• spent more than 2 million dollars
• 8:15 A.M., the world's first atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima
• 130,000 were killed, mostly women and children
• 3 days later, a second bomb dropped on Nagasaki
• Japan had never been defeated in any war

Argumentative Essay for Hiroshima

• Introductory Paragraph
• Reasons in favor
• Reasons opposed
• Your opinion and why?
• Concluding/wrap paragraph

Format and Information

• 2-3 pages double-spaced

4 Sources referenced in text

• 2 database
• 1 or 2 credible online
• 1 or 2 print (hardcopy)

Grammar Usage- Day 3

different from, different than
In general, use the first expression
Tonight’s newscaster is different from last night’s.

emigrate, immigrate
Emigrate means “to move from one country to another” OUT
Immigrate means “to enter a country to settle there” IN
Use emigrate from and immigrate to

farther, further
farther is used with physical distance.
further is used to show time, depth, degree.

fewer, less
Use fewer with nouns that can be counted
Use less with nouns that cannot be counted and with figures that represent a single amount of quantity
There are fewer icicles and less ice on the roof than last year.
There is less written about John Hersey than about Pearl Buck.
You have fewer tests today than I have.

good, well
Good is an adjective
Well is an adverb. When referring to health, use well.

had of
Use only had with a past participle

hanged, hung
Used hanged to mean “put to death by hanging”
Use hung in all other cases
We hung from the tree by our knees.

in, into, in to
In means “inside” or “within” and into indicates movement or direction from outside to inside
In to combines an adverb with a preposition and is different from both.
Bring the employees in to meet the new boss.

irregardless, regardless
Always use regardless
To use ir- and –less together forms a double negative

Grammar Usage - Day 2

allusion – an indirect reference
illusion – a false idea
The mayor made an allusion to his plan, but his dreams of success were an illusion.

anywheres, everywheres
DO NOT use an –s
use anywhere and everywhere

bad, badly
bad is an adjective
badly is an adverb
I hurt my knee badly in my bad fall.

being as, being that
use because or since in formal speech or writing
Because it rained, we stayed in.
Since you came early, we will eat now.

beside, besides
beside – next to
besides – in addition to / also

between, among
Use between to refer to two persons or things.
Use among to refer to more than two persons or things.
Six members argued among themselves.
The quarrel was between Mike and Ham.

borrow, lend, loan
borrow means to take something with the intention of returning it.
lend means to give something with the intention that it will be returned.
loan is a noun

bring, take
bring – to carry from a distant place to a closer one.
take – to carry from a nearby place to a more distant one.

can, may
can – the ability to do something.
may – permission or the possibility of doing something

can’t hardly, can’t scarcely
double negatives
Use can hardly or can scarcely

continual, continuous
continual – to describe action that occurs regularly but with pauses
continuous – describes action that occurs with no interruption

could of, might of, must of, should of, would of
INCORRECT
Use have with could, might, must, should, would

Hiroshima - Medical Terms

abscess: a local accumulation of pus anywhere in the body

anemia: the condition of having fewer than normal number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood

atrophy: Wasting away or diminution. Muscle atrphy is wasting of muscle, decreasing of muscle mass.

carcinoma: cancer that begins in the skin or in the tissues that line or cover body organs. For example, carcinoma can arise in the breast, colon, liver, lunch, prostate, and stomach

cataracts: a clouding of hte lens of the eye. The normally clear aspirin-sized lens of the eye starts to become cloudy; normal vision is impaired.

cirrhosis: a condition of the liver representing severe damage with scarring and disturbed structure.

compress: a pad of gauze or other material (medicated, wet, dry, cold, or hot) applied to an area of the body.

hemorrhaging: to undergo heavy or uncontrollable bleeding.

keloid scars: tough heaped-up scars that rises quite abruptly above the rest of the skin. Doesn't subside over time.

lancing: a device that holds the lancet firmly, and when triggered, moves the lancet linearly ahead to prick the skin in a controlled manner.

leukemia: cancer of the blood cells.

orthopedic surgery: the branch of surgery concerned with the skeletal system.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Question pg. 158-184

50. The seamstress tells the narrator that she is pregnant. The seamstress will not be able to find a doctor who can help an unmarried pregnant woman. Luo and the seamstress can not get married because they are under 25 yrs old. The narrator offers to go to the town hospital to seek help. The law prohibits people under 25 to get married and yet if they don't get married, the seamstress will never be able to have her baby. Also no doctor will be willing to help her.

51. The narrator thinks that his parents would be devastated and they would throw him out. It is a crime that transcends the Cultural Revolution because it is more of a moral question.

52. He wants to consult the preacher about seeking an abortion for the seamstress. The preacher stuck to his beliefs and continue to speak in Latin when he was dying. He did not say any of Chairman Mao's beliefs as reqeusted by his son.

53. The narrator promised to give the doctor a book by Balzac in exchange for performing an abortion.

54. The seamstress begin to dress more fashionably and modern looking. She cut her hair short. She begin to wear a pair of white tennis shoes. She made herself a brassiere. Luo thinks that her new look made the seamstress even more attractive. He thinks that he has been responsible for transforming the seamstress from a plain mountain to a city girl.

55. The narrator is upset that the seamstress did not even bother to tell him that she was leaving. He thought that they were good friends and he should have been told. He was upset too because he thinks that after what he did to help her when she was pregnant, he feels that she had forgotten about this.

56. The seamstress thinks that anything is worth giving up for her beauty. She is willing to do anything for her own improvement. The seamstress' re-education backfire because they lost her.

57. They were burning the books because the re-education offered by the books has brought them more suffering. It has backfired on them when the seamstress left. It is a purging for the boys because they want to get rid of the images of love and women.

58. The goals of the cultural revolution did not work because it did not stop them from discovering about the outside world. They did not become re-educated as the government wished but they were re-educated in another way when they begin to read western literature.

Notes on Sentence Clarity and Combining

• Purdue University
• Why do we need to be concerned with sentence clarity?
• To communicate effectively to the reader
• To make writing persuasive
• To show credibility and authority as a writer
• Common clarity problems
• Misplaced modifiers
• Dangling modifiers
• passive voice
• Misplaced Modifiers
• A word or phrase that causes confusion because it is located within a sentence so far away from the word(s) to which it refers
• Consider the differebnt meanings in the folowing sentences
• The dog under the tree bit Carrie vs. the dog bit Carrie under the tree
• Sometimes misplaced modifiers are used for comic effect
• How might you correct the following sentence?
• Jennifer called her adorable kitten opening the can of tuna and filled the food bowl
• Better: Opening the can of tuna, Jennifer called her adorable kitten and filled the food bowl
• How might you correct the following sentence?
• Portia rushed to the store loaded with cash to buy the birthday gift
• Better: Portia, loaded with cash, rushed to the sotre to but the birthday gift
• Misplaced Modifiers
• Some one-word modifiers often cyase confusion: almost, just, nearly, simply, even, hardly, merely, only
• Explain the meaning of the sentence
• John nearly earned 100$
• John earne nearly $100
• Dangling
• A word or phrase that modifies another word or phase that has not been stated cleart within the sentence
• Often occur at the begin. and ends of sentences
• often indicated by and -ing verb or a to + verb phrase
• Danglin can be replaced by
• placing the subject of the modification phrase as the subject of the indeendent cluase
• placing the subject of
• Passive Voic
• indicates what is receiving the action rather than explaining who is doing the action
• two indicators
• "to be" verbs - is, are, was were
• "by ___"
• Examples
• Mistakes were made
• The cats were brushed by Laura
• Sentence combining
• Why should we know about sentence combining?
• To build clarity, avoid wordiness, aoid redundancy
• Keys to sentence combining
• Create adjectives, create properly placed modifying cluases
• eliminate unnesssacav or repetitive phrases