Read the given extracts and answer the questions that follow:
When, after a hard morning’s work cleaning out our hut, we listened in silence to the Orderly Officer’s praise, the Professor would break out with a ringing, dutifully beaming, “Thank you, sir!” And how superior, how condescending he was. It was always, “Let me show you, fellow,” or “No, you’ll ruin your rifle, that way, old man.”
(a) Give the meaning of the word ‘condescending’.
(b) Why did Private Quelch behave in this manner with his superiors?
(c) Which expression tells us that Private Quelch was always cheerful?
(a) The word ‘condescending' means behaving in a polite manner but showing as if one were obliging somebody.
(b) Private Quelch behaved in an over-confident manner because he wanted to show off his knowledge.
(c) The phrase is ‘break out with a ringing, dutifully beaming’.