University Tips

Ghosts, grammar and weird words

By Ajarn Helen Jandamit

The following news item was printed in the Bangkok Post on August 8, 2003. The subject of the story would make a good afternoon soap opera. It is a fascinating story containing lots of interesting events. But the way that news stories are written is not like telling a bedtime story � the order is different. The event that the writer considers the most important is usually presented first. That event can often be the result of all that happened previously.

This story has been edited slightly.

As you read the news story below, decide which event in the list came first in real life. Then look at the events listed after the story and decide which one came first, second and so on. You may work with a friend as you do this.

SCHOOL TERROR

"Possessed' students suffer bizarre attacks

Prasit Tangprasert

A religious ceremony to drive away evil spirits was held at a Huai Thalaeng school yesterday, where a number of students had been "possessed." Nine Buddhist monks organised the merit-making ceremony for spirits at Baan Thab Sawai school where over the past three months several students had acted strangely, uttered rude words and threatened to hurt themselves.

The ceremony was witnessed by many locals and officials led by district chief Pipat Sangkharuek. Provincial Governor Sunthorn Riewleung did not attend, but sent a letter apologising to the spirits and asking them to stop haunting villagers and students or a spirit house in the school compound would be demolished.

After the ceremony, Saichol Lumthaisong (Nong Nam), 11, went berserk and screamed in her house near the school. She recovered with the help of two Brahmin priests. Khamphan Lumthaisong said his daughter had had these "attacks" two or three times a day for the past three months but doctors could not find anything wrong with her.

Wassana Larprat and Pornphan Khaenok � Mathayom 3 students at the school � said they had suffered similar symptoms, feeling dizzy before collapsing and then waking up.

They said it felt as if someone had been pressing down on their chests. Doctors had found nothing wrong with them. The students claimed that while they were unconscious they had seen a bald man wearing black glasses and very old clothes asking them to accompany him.

Baan Thab Sawai director Thaem Sithaisong said the school was at a loss for what to do. He confirmed that "weird things" had happened but the students had no illnesses or mental problems.

Prakob Pajjayakay, kamnan of tambon Thab Sawai, said monks and psychics agreed that the students had developed the strange symptoms after the school had used tractors to clear an adjoining forest without asking the spirits for permission.

(Bangkok Post August 8, 2003)

1. Put these events in the order that they actually happened.

a. They saw a bald man wearing black glasses and very old clothes.
b. Eleven-year-old Nong Nam screamed crazily in her house near the school.
c. Doctors couldn�t find anything wrong with them.
d. School authorities did not ask the spirits of the forest for permission to clear the forest.
e. The director of Baan Thab Sawai school, Thaem Sithaisong, said nobody there knew what to do about the situation.
f. A religious ceremony to drive away evil spirits was held at Baan Thab Sawai school in Huai Thalaeng.
g. Sunthorn Riewleung, the provincial governor, sent a letter apologising to the spirits and asking them to stop haunting villagers and students.
h. The school used tractors to clear a forest nearby.
i. They collapsed.
j. Two Brahmin priests helped her to recover.
k. They woke up.
l. Students at the school developed the strange symptoms. Several students acted strangely, spoke impolitely and threatened to hurt themselves.
m. Two Mathayom 3 students said they felt dizzy and as if someone was pressing down on their chests.

The story tells us about a series of events. The order in which they happened can be understood though the use of certain words, usually adverbs of time, which tell us which events occurred before or after others. Here are some of those adverbs of time and some adverbial phrases that tell us about time, which come from the news story:

Over the past three months...
After the ceremony...
...two or three times a day for the past three months...
...before

Another way we can know the order of events is through the use of tenses. For example, if two events happen in the past, the past perfect tense tells us which of them was completed before the other happened.

In the examples below, the underlined verbs are in the simple past (V.1) or past continuous tenses. These indicate what happened more recently. The verbs in bold type are in the past perfect or past perfect continuous. They indicate an action that happened before the one in the simple past (or past continuous) tense.

So the use of the past perfect tense tells us that two actions occurred in the past and that one of them occurred before the other.

Tip: The past perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary verb "to have" in the past tense, which means that it will always take the form of "had" + the past participle. For example, "had suffered." Note: The past perfect form of the verb "to have" is "had had."

The past perfect continuous tense is formed with "had" + the past participle of the verb "to be." For example, "been" + the "ing" form of the main verb, e.g. "had been pressing."

Here are some examples from the news story:

A religious ceremony to drive away evil spirits was held at a Huai Thalaeng school yesterday, where a number of students had been "possessed".

(Note: The ceremony was held yesterday and some students "had been possessed" before that. The quote marks around the word "possessed" shows that there is some doubt as to whether the students had really been controlled by spirits or not.)

Khamphan Lumthaisong said his daughter had had these "attacks" two or three times a day for the past three months.

(Note: Khamphan spoke to the reporter before now and his daughter�s attacks (that he is referring to) happened before he spoke.)

What happened first in each of the following examples?

2. Three students at the school said they had suffered similar symptoms, feeling dizzy before collapsing and then waking up.

a. Three students talking about symptoms.
b. Feeling dizzy, collapsing, then waking up.

3. They said it felt as if someone had been pressing down on their chests.

a. Three students talking about symptoms.
b. A sensation in their chests.

4. Doctors had found nothing wrong with them. (This relates to the sentence before.)

a. Doctors found the students were healthy.
b. The students had collapsed and then regained consciousness.

5. Prakob Pajjayakay, kamnan of tambon Thab Sawai, said monks and psychics agreed that the students had developed the strange symptoms after the school had used tractors to clear an adjoining forest.

a. School personnel cleared a forest near the school.
b. Monks and psychics agreed previous events.

6. The students claimed that while they were unconscious, they had seen a bald man wearing black glasses and very old clothes asking them to accompany him.

a. The students described their experiences.
b. The students became unconscious.
c. The students saw a bald man wearing old clothes.
d. The bald man asked them to go with him.

7. In groups of three or four students, discuss the following:

The following items of information were not included in the news story:

a. The name of the province where Baan Thab Sawai school is located.
b. The name of the owner of the forest.

Reading between the lines (guessing what might have happened), could it be that the owner of the forest might have objected to the school sending tractors to clear the forest? Might he/she have created ghost stories to frighten people away? Then the children hearing those stories believed them and subconsciously created the strange symptoms.

Is it wise to ask permission from the spirits of the land before clearing a forest or building there? How would you ask permission from the spirits of the land if you wanted to construct a building? Do you know of anybody who communicates with the spirits of the land? If the answer is �Yes� how does he or she do that?

8. Match the words in the left-hand column with their synonyms in the right-hand column. Draw lines between the pairs.

Vocabulary

Possessed (adj): in this usage, controlled by an evil spirit
Bizarre (adj): weird, very strange
Merit-making (adj): offering money or other things to someone in need, partly in order to get a good karmic result
Utter (v): to make a sound with your voice
Threaten (v): to say that you will cause trouble, hurt, etc. if you do not get what you want
Witness (v): to see what happens because you are there when it happens
Locals (n): people who live in that area
Haunt (v): if the ghost of a dead person haunts a place, people say that they have seen it there
Compound (n): an area surrounded by a fence or wall in which a factory or other group of buildings stands
Demolish (v): to pull or knock down a building
Berserk (adj very angry
Brahmin (adj): a member of the Hindu religion
Attack (n): a sudden short period of illness, usually severe, especially an illness that you have often
Symptom (n): a change in your body or mind that shows that you are not healthy
Dizzy (adj): feeling as if everything is spinning around you and that you are not able to balance
Collapse (v): suddenly fall down and usually become unconscious
Unconscious (adj): in a state like sleep because of an injury or illness and not able to use your senses
Bald (adj): having little or no hair on the head
Accompany (v): to travel or go somewhere with somebody
Weird (adj): unusual or different, not normal
Psychic (n): person who claims to have powers so that he or she can do things that are not possible according to natural laws, such as predicting the future
Tractor (n): a powerful motor vehicle with two large and two smaller wheels, used especially for pulling farm machinery
Adjoining (adj): next to or joined to something

Idiom

at a loss: did not know, could not think what to do