“And now, if you will set us to our task, We will serve you four an

1.	“And now, if you will set us to our task, We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!” (a) Who does the pronoun ‘you’ refer to here? (b) Whose task is referred to as ‘our task’ here? (c) Open conditional clause is used in the given line. Why is the future tense ‘will set’ and ‘will serve’ used both in the ‘if clause’ and in the ‘main clause?(d) Do the machines serve us twenty four hours a day? (e) Rewrite the given lines with the ending ‘365 days a year.’
Answer» (a) ‘You’ refers to the industrialists and the people using the machines. (b) The task to be performed for the industrialists by the machines is referred to as ‘our task’. (c) The future tense ‘will set’ and ‘will serve’ is used both in the ‘if clause’ and in the ‘main clause’ to indicate surety and futurity. (d) Yes, the machines serve us round the clock and non-stop the entire day. (e) Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask, And a thousandth of an inch to give us play, lend us your ear: And now, if you will set us to our task, We ’ll serve you three hundred and twenty four hours a year!

“And now, if you will set us to our task, We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!” (a) Who does the pronoun ‘you’ refer to here? (b) Whose task is referred to as ‘our task’ here? (c) Open conditional clause is used in the given line. Why is the future tense ‘will set’ and ‘will serve’ used both in the ‘if clause’ and in the ‘main clause?(d) Do the machines serve us twenty four hours a day? (e) Rewrite the given lines with the ending ‘365 days a year.’

Answer»

(a) ‘You’ refers to the industrialists and the people using the machines.

(b) The task to be performed for the industrialists by the machines is referred to as ‘our task’.

(c) The future tense ‘will set’ and ‘will serve’ is used both in the ‘if clause’ and in the ‘main clause’ to indicate surety and futurity.

(d) Yes, the machines serve us round the clock and non-stop the entire day.

(e) Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,

And a thousandth of an inch to give us play, lend us your ear:

And now, if you will set us to our task,

We ’ll serve you three hundred and twenty four hours a year!