Class 10

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Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 1 Chapter 1 Adventures in a Banyan Tree (Short Story)

Std 10 English Textbook Adventures in a Banyan Tree Questions and Answers

Question 1.
“house and grounds were of Grandfather’s domain. But the magnificent old banyan tree was mine.” Why did the boy say so?
Answer:
IP The boy said so because he was free to do whatever he liked on the banyan tree. But in the house and the grounds, he was not so free as they were strictly controlled by the Grandfather.

Question 2.
How did the squirrel become a friend of the bõy?
Answer:
The squirrel found that the boy had no catapult or airgun. Then the boy started giving him pieces of cake and biscuits. He grew bolder and took food from his hands. He even searched for the boy’s pockets.

Question 3.
What did the friends of the squirrel think about his ‘ friendship with a human? What might have made them think so?
Answer:
They thought he was headstrong and foolish for trusting a human being. They thought so because human beings kill the squirrels for their meat, skin and even for fun. (Many people eat the meat of squirrels.)

Question 4.
How was the banyan tree the noisiest place during the fig season?
Answer:
It was the noisiest place during the fig season because different birds and animals came to eat the figs. The birds were mainly bulbul, rosy-pastors, parrots and crows. These birds and animals made different noises.

Question 5.
How did the boy make the spring season exciting for himself?
Answer:
He built a platform on the banyan tree and he spent the cool afternoons there. He brought cushions to sit on and he propped himself on a branch. Sitting there he read books or observed the things going on around.

Question 6.
What was the incident that triggered a long-lasting excitement for the boy in summer?
Answer:
It was a fight between a black cobra and a mongoose. A myna and a crow were also involved in the fight. At the end of the fight, the cobra and the crow die. Cobra dies because of the bites by the mongoose and the crow dies as it is struck by the cobra.

Question 7.
How did the cobra regard his opponent? Were they true warriors?
Answer:
The cobra regarded his opponent as a superb fighter, clever and aggressive. They were true warriors as they fought valiantly.

Question 8.
How did the mongoose manage to escape from the snake’s bite?
Answer:
The mongoose bushed his tail. The long hair on his spine stood up. The very thickness of his hair saved him from the bites of the snake.

Question 9.
The cobra was a good fighter. Pick out one of his fighting techniques.
Answer:
The cobra stood on the defensive, swaying slowly from side to side, trying to mesmerize the mongoose into making a false move. His great hood came down so swiftly that the writerthought the mongoose would be killed.

Question 10.
The mongoose proved that he was clever. Can you cite any instance of his cleverness?
Answer:
When the cobra struck, the mongoose jumped neatly to one side and darted in swiftly biting the snake on the back. Then he darted away from the snake, out of his reach.

Question 11.
What were the reactions of the spectators when the cobra struck?
Answer:
When the cobra struck, the spectators, the crow and the myna, hurled themselves at him. But they collided in mid air and returned to the cactus making angry noises at each other.

Question 12.
How did the crow push itself into trouble?
Answer:
The myna and the crow dived at the cobra, but they missed him. The myna flew back to safety. But the crow tried to pull up in midair and turn back. In the second that it took him to do this, the cobra struck him with great force and it proved fatal forthe crow.

Question 13.
Why is the myna said to be wise? ‘
Answer:
When the myna saw it missed the cobra when it dived at it, it flew ^way into safety and perched on the cactus. That is why it is said to be wise. But the foolish crow got killed.

Question 14.
Who won the battle? What made the myna peer into the bushes?
Answer:
The battle was won by the mongoose. The myna peered into the bushes to see if the cobra was really dead so that it could congratulate the mongoose.

Question 15.
What prevented the Grandfather from taming the mongoose?
Answer:
Grandfather knew that a wild mongoose was more useful than a tamed one. This knowledge prevented him from taming it.

Question 16.
Why would Grandmother forgive the mongoose for stealing the eggs?
Answer:
Grandmotherforgave the mongoose for stealing the eggs because it kept the garden clear of snakes and it did not do any harm to the chicken.

Question 17.
Who was the new friend of the squirrel?
Answer:
The new friend of the squirrel was a white rat that Grandfather had bought from the bazaar. They enjoyed their friendship by going off together on excursions among the branches. Finally the squirrel and the white rat mated and had babies.

Question 18.
How did the boy come to know that the squirrel was building a nest?
Answer:
m The boy came to know that the squirrel was building a nest when he discovered straw and grass falling out of his pockets. Later he saw the knitting of his grandmother in the nest on the tree. There were three baby squirrels in the wool.

Question 19.
What was the wonder that nature had kept for them in the nest?
Answer:
The wonder nature had kept for them was the three white baby squirrels in the nest. Grandfather said that rats and squirrels were related and it was possible for them to have offspring if they mated.

Adventures in a Banyan Tree Textual Activities and Answers

Activity 1

Question 1.
Revisit the story and complete the story tree:

Answer:

Activity 2

Question 2.
The boy was very much thrilled by his acquaintance with the squirrel. He writes a letter to his friend telling him about his new friend. Help him complete the letter.

Answer:

Activity 3

The Squirrel	The squirrel was very young. It was small and grey in colour. Finding the boy not harmful, it became very friendly with him. It trusted the boy and even took food from his hands.
The snake	The cobra was huge and black. It was skilful and an experienced fighter. He could move swiftly and strike with the speed of light. The sacs behind his long, sharp fangs were full of deadly poison. But the mongoose proved too clever forthis cobra.
The Mongoose	The mongoose was grey in colour. It was three feet long. It was a superb fighter, clever and aggressive. When the snake raised high off the ground and spread his broad spectacled hood, the mongoose bushed his tail. The long hair on his spine stood to prevent the bite from the snake harm his body. Ultimately, it killed the snake and dragged it into the cactus bush. The Grandfather of the boy used to give the mongoose scraps from the kitchen. It also stole eggs from the poultry but it did not harm the chickens there.

Answer:

The Squirrel	The squirrel was very young. It was small and grey in colour. Finding the boy not harmful, it became very friendly with him. It trusted the boy and even took food from his hands.
The snake
The Mongoose

Activity 4

Question 3.
The boy was thrilled at seeing the fight between the cobra and the mongoose. You may also have the same feeling. Narrate the fight scene in your own words.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Answer:
The boy was sitting on the platform half way up the tree. It was an April afternoon. Warm breezes had sent everyone indoors. The boy was thinking of going for a swim, when he saw a black cobra coming out of a group of cactus. It was looking for a cooler place in the garden. A mongoose also came out and went towards the cobra. They came face to face.

The Cobra knew that the 3 feet long mongoose is a fine fighter, clever and aggressive. But the cobra was also an experienced fighter. He could move with great speed and strike the mongoose. His sharp teeth were full of poison. It was a battle of champions.

The cobra hissed. His tongue darted in and out. It was6feet long. It raised its three feet high and raised its broad, spectacled hood. The mongoose was also ready to fight, its hair on the spine stood up like bristles. They would help him to prevent his body from getting bitten. A myna and a jungle crow were watching the fight. At one stage they dived towards the cobra, but they missed it. The myna went back. The crow was trying to turn around when it was struck by the cobra. It died soon. The mongoose proved too clever for the cobra and finally it was killed by the mongoose which dragged it into the bush.

Activity 5

Question 4.
‘And amongst the wool were the three baby squirrels – all of them white!’ The boy couldn’t stop wondering about the white squirrels. If he scribbled down this unforgettable sight in his diary, how would it be?
Answer:
When I saw the glint from the nest of the squirrel I went to investigate. To my utter surprise What do I see there? Among the wool, which was actually my Grandmother’s knitting, there were three white baby squirrels. I had never seen another squirrel in that area. Then how can the baby squirrels appear in the nest? I was puzzled. I decided to tell my Grandfather about it. Grandfather was also puzzled as he had never seen white squirrels. Then he said that rats and squirrels were of the same family group and they could cross-breed. The squirrel was the father and the white rat was the mother of the white babies. This world is full of wonders, isn’t it?

Activity 6

A. The silhouettes of some scenes from the story are given here. Identify the scenes and give cutlines.

Answer:

B. Based on the outlines, prepare a narrative:

The first friend of the boy was a small squirrel. He used to give the squirrel pieces of cakes and biscuits. The squirrel then became bold enough to eat from his hands. The boy built a platform in a banyan tree. He used to sit there and read books and watch the things around.

One day he saw a cobra and mongoose having a fight. As he was watching the fight he saw there were also a myna and a crow watching the fight. These birds wanted to attack the cobra. But the cobra kills the crow. Finally the cobra is killed by the mongoose and its body is dragged into the bush.

The Grandfather of the boy had bought a white rat and brought it home. The boy took it to the squirrel and soon the white rat and the squirrel became close friends. They mated. The squirrel built a nest and crammed it with the wool of the boy’s Grandmother’s knitting. When the boy went to investigate he was surprised to see 3 white baby squirrels. His Grandfather told him that the squirrel was the father and the white rat was the mother. Since rats and squirrels are related species, they could have offspring, if they mated. It was news to the boy.

Activity 7

a) A single banyan tree creates such beauty and harmony. How will it be if we have such beauty everywhere? What should we do for the conservation of nature? Discuss
Answer:
The great poet John Keats said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Indeed we would be happy to have beauty everywhere. But what do we see now? Even on the roads people throw their waste. We see plas¬tic bags and other things lying all around killing our environment.

We can do many things to conserve nature. We should plant trees. Reduce deforestation for cultivation and building industries and houses. Reduce the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Keep our rivers, lakes, ponds and wells clean. Reduce our dependency on motor vehicles which use petrol and diesel.

b. Prepare a digital poster on the theme; “Conservation of Nature”.

Activity 8

The story “Adventures in a Banyan Tree’ portrays the happy childhood of the writer blended with enchanting nature. Can the future generation enjoy such a beautiful life? Analyse the following pictures and identify the environmental issues portrayed in them.

Issue : Cutting Down Trees – Deforestation What is the dreadful impact of this?
The dreadful impact is global warming. The trees give us oxygen. The roots protect the soil from erosion. The tree itself gives dwellings to various birds and animals. By cutting down the trees, we are making deserts.

Issue: Plastic Waste Dumps Everywhere How will this affect the environment?
The whole place becomes a Plastic waste dump. Water bodies will be clogged and polluted. There will be no clean water. People, animals and birds will be struggling to get good water. Peaceful and healthy life becomes impossible.

Issue: Carbon Emission – Over-Industrialization What are the reasons and consequences?
Overindustrialization pollutes the atmosphere and even the air becomes poisonous with dust and smoke. Diseases spread rapidly and people die of various diseases.

Discuss the following questions:

Question 1.
Do you think these are very serious threats to our earth? What are the possible solutions for these issues?
Answer:
Of course deforestation, dumping of plastic waste everywhere and excessive carbon emission are serious threats to our earth. They cause global warming and climate change.

But there are solutions to the problems:

• Afforestation
• Planting trees wherever possible
• Conduct awareness programmes
• Avoid plastic carry bags
• Use cloth bags
• Dispose the waste properly
• Control carbon emission
• As far as possible avoid using motor vehicles using petrol and diesel as fuel.
• Avoid the use of pesticide sprays and such polluting agents.

Things To Be Done By Students
Conducting a seminar on the topic “Save the Earth”. Making a documentary on the topic as suggested in the Text.

Let’S Learn About Words

Activity 1

Question 1.
Pick out the words and phrases used to describe the fight of each warrior.

Snake	Mongoose
Moved swiftly Struck with the speed of light …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………….	Made a feint to one side Darted swiftly …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………….

Answer:

Snake	Mongoose
Moved swiftly Struck with the speed of light Spread his broad, spectacled hood Swayed from side to side Tried to mesmerize the mongoose His great hood came down swiftly	Made a feint to one side Darted swiftly Bushed his tail Refused to meet the un-winking eyes of the snake Jumped neatly to one side to avoid the bite Bit the snake on the back

Activity 2

Question 2.
Rewrite passage using synonyms of the words underlined:
In the spring, when the banyan tree was full of small red figs, birds of all kinds would flock into its branches – the red-bottomed bulbul, cheerful and greedy; gossiping rosy pastors; and parrots and crows, sguabbling with each other all the time. During the fig season, the banyan tree was the noisiest place on the road.
Answer:
In the spring, when the banyan tree was full of small red figs, birds of all kinds would throng into its branches – the red-bottomed bulbul, happy and avaricious; slandering rosy pastors; and parrots and crows, Quarrelling with each other all the time. During the fig season, the banyan tree was the noisiest place on the road.

Now, read the following sentence:
He had never tried taming it, because a wild mongoose was more useful than a domesticated one.

• He – pronoun, subject,
• had – auxiliary verb helping to form the past perfect tense of the verb
• tried – verb
• because – conjunction
• wild – adjective
• mongoose – noun
• more useful – comparative adjective

See the word card in the text on below:

Prepare more word cards by picking words from the lesson.
Here are three examples:
1.

• word – magnificent
• category – adjecive
• synonyms – brilliant, elegant, excellent, glittering, gorgeous, grand
• antonyms – mediocre, common, ordinary Sentence using
• the word – Taj Mahal is a magnificent building.
  Sentence using
• antonym – His performance as a Minister was mediocre.
  An activity with
• the word – magnificently (adverb), magnify Dence (noun).

2.

• Word – invasion
• category – noun
• synonyms – aggression, assault, breach, incursion, incursion, intrusion
• antonyms – resIstance, retreat, surrender Sentence using
• the word – Hitler’s invasion of Poland was condemned by all peace-loving nations.
  Sentence using
• antonym – The Polish people put up a strong resistance when Hitler invaded their country
  An activity with
• the word – invade (verb) invading (participle).

3.

• Word – aggressive
• category – adjective
• synonyms – antagonistic, belligerent, bellicose, militant, pugnacious
• antonyms – amicable, unaggressive
  Sentence with
• the word – Powerful nations should be not aggressive.
  Sentence with
• antonym – Nations should be amicable towards one another.
  An activity with
• the word – aggression (noun).

Question 3.
Read the following sentences.
1. It was an old banyan tree.
2. The tree was older than the house.
3. It was the oldest banyan tree in the town.
In sentence 1, the adjective ‘old’ merely tells us that banyan tree was old.
In sentence 2, the adjective ‘older’ is used to show that it was olderthan the house. Thetree was already there when the house was built.
In sentence 3, the adjective ‘oldest’ tells us that it was the oldest banyan tree in the town. Oldest is the superlative degree of old.
Fill in the blanks Suitably:
Answer:

1. clever
2. more aggressive
3. noisiest
4. skillful
5. hotter
6. contented
7. worst
8. most unforgettable
9. eldest
10. swiftly

Adventures in a Banyan Tree About the author:

– Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond was born on 19 May 1934. He is an Indian author of British descent. His father was an officer at the Royal Air Force. Ruskin’s first novel, The Room on the Roof was written when he was only 17. His first children’s book was The Angry River’. In 1992, he got the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of short stories titled “OurTrees Still Grow in Dehra”. He got Padma Shri in 1999. He now lives near Mussoorie.

Adventures in a Banyan Tree Summary in English

The house and grounds of our home in India belonged to the Grandfather. But the beautiful old banyan tree was mine because grandfather could not climb it as he was 65 years old. Grandmother often teased him telling him the story of an English woman who died at the age of 117. She would have lived longer if she had not fallen while climbing an apple tree. The branches of the banyan tree curved to the ground and took root again. Thus there were many trees all connected together. It gave me much pleasure. Dehra was a valley at the foot of the Himalayas and the banyan tree was older than anything there.

My first friend was a small grey squirrel. At first he did not like my spoiling his privacy. But I did not have a catapult or airgun. So, soon the squirrel became friendlier. I started giving him pieces of cake and biscuit and he grew bolder. He even started taking food from my hands. Slowly he even started searching my pockets and taking whatever was there. He was very young. His friends and relatives must have thought he was foolish to trust a human being, In the spring, when the banyan tree had small red figs, different kinds of birds would come to eat them. The birds included bulbul, rosy pastors, parrots and crows. During the fruit season, the banyan tree was the noisiest place on the road.

Halfway up the tree I made a small platform. When it was not very hot I spent the afternoons there. I could sit and read there. Sitting here I read Treasure Island’, ‘Huckleberry Finn’, The Mowgli Stories and the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Louisa May Alcott. When I did not read, I would look down through the banyan leaves at the world below. I could see grandmother hanging up or taking down the washing, the cook quarreling with the fruit seller or grandfather complaining that the strong Indian marigolds growing up all over his English garden. Usually only ordinary things happened. But one day there was something very exciting. I saw a mongoose and a cobra fight to death in the garden as I was sitting above them.

It was in an April afternoon. The warm breezes kept people inside their homes. My grandfather was also inside. I was feeling drowsy and was thinking of going for a swim in the pond behind the house. Soon I saw a black cobra coming out of a group of cactus. It was looking for a cooler place in the garden. A mongoose also came out and went towards the cobra. They came face to face.

The Cobra knew that the 3 feet long mongoose is a fine fighter, clever and aggressive. But the cobra was also an experienced fighter. He could move wjth great speed and strike the mongoose. His sharp teeth were full of poison. It was a battle of champions.

The cobra was not a coward. It hissed. His tongue darted in and out. It was 6 feet long. It raised its body three feet high and raised its broad, spectacled hood. The mongoose was also ready to fight. Its hair on the spine stood up like bristles. They would help him to prevent his body from getting bitten. Although the mongoose and cobra did not know I was sitting up, two other spectators arrived. One was a myna and the other was a jungle crow. They settled down on the cactus to watch the fight.

The cobra swayed slowly from side to side trying to make the mongoose make a false move. But the mongoose knew the power of the glassy eyes of the snake and did not look at them. He was looking at a point just below the cobra’s hood. Moving quickly near the cobra, he made a move to one side. The cobra struck immediately. I thought it was the end of the mongoose. But he neatly jumped to one side and bit the snake on the back and moved away from the reach of the snake.

The. moment the cobra struck, the crow and the myna flew fast towards it but they collided in mid-air, and making angry noises, they returned to the cactus.

There was some blood on the cobra’s back. He struck again but missed. The mongoose jumped again and bit the cobra. Again the birds flew towards the snake and bumped into each other and went back.

The 3rd round was different. The crow and the myna dived at the cobra, but they missed their mark. The myna went back, but the crow came again. The cobra struck the crow with great force and it died soon, a little away from the cobra.

The cobra was weakening. The mongoose raised himself on his back legs and picked the cobra by its nose. The cobra tried hard to get free! It coiled around the mongoose. But soon it stopped fighting. The mongoose then dragged it, catching it by the hood, into the bushes. The myna flew away making some noise as if congratulating the mongoose.

I also got down from the tree and went to*my house. I told my grandfather about the fight. He was happy that the mongoose had won. He had encouraged the mongoose to live in the garden to keep the snakes off. He often gave it food. He never wanted to tame it because a wild mongoose is better than a tame one.

I often saw the mongoose going round the garden. Once I saw him with an egg in his mouth and. he took it from the poultry house. But he did not harm the birds. Grandmother would forgive him because he kept snakes away from the house.

The banyan tree was also the setting for the Strange Case of the Grey Squirrel and the White Rat. The Grandfather had bought the white rat from the bazaar for four annas. I would often take it to the roots and branches of the old tree. It soon made friendship with the squirrel. They would together go for excursions among the branches.

Then the squirrel Started building a nest. First it tried to build the nest in my pockets. When I vent home I would find straw and grass falling out. One day my Grandmother’s knitting was missing. We looked for it everywhere without success. The next day I saw something shining in the banyan tree. I realized it was the end of the steel knitting needle of Grañdmother. The hole was filled with knitting. Among the wool there were three white baby squirrels.

Grandfather had never seen white baby squirrels. When I mentioned that the white rat often visited the tree, Grandfather told me that the squirrel must be the father of the white baby squirrels. He said that rats and squirrels were related to each other and it was possible for them to have babies if they mated.

Adventures in a Banyan Tree Summary in Malayalam

Adventures in a Banyan Tree Glossary

You can Download The Best Investment I Ever Made Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 3 Chapter 1 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 3 Chapter 1 The Best Investment I Ever Made (Anecdote)

Std 10 English Textbook The Best Investment I Ever Made Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Have you come across any person with importunate behaviour? How did ypu feel about it? Describe your experience.
Answer:
Yes, I have come across a person with importunate behaviour. I felt very bad about it. This person sells lottery tickets. He goes on pestering me to buy tickets from him. I feel very bad as I have to repeatedly tell him I don’t need any lottery ticket.

Question 2.
Why was the narrator not interested in the man who was watching him?
Answer:
The narrator was not interested in the man who was watching him because he wanted to rest and avoid strangers who would bore him with unnecessary questions.

Question 3.
The narrator observed the man and described him in vivid terms. How did he describe him?
Answer:
He was in his early 40s. He was fair in complexion and short. He had clear blue eyes. He had thin hair and a large forehead. He wore a dark suit, sober tie and rimless spectacles. All these gave him a look of seriousness and reservation.

Question 4.
Why did the narrator notice the fellow voyager the next day?
Answer:
The narrator noticed the fellow voyager the next day because he was watching the narrator very earnestly from his deck chair. Then he came and introduced himself handing over a visiting card.

Question 5.
What was the purpose of the visit of the voyager and his wife to America?
Answer:
The purpose of their visit was to learn about some of the summer recreational camps for young people there. They also visited settlement houses in New York and other cities. They wanted to study the methods used in dealing with backward, maladjusted and delinquent youth.

Question 6.
“I found liking him instinctively.” Why?
Answer:
I found liking him instinctively because there was much enthusiasm in his voice, manner and his personality

Question 7.
What did Cronin learn about the man after questioning him further?
Answer:
He learned that the man and his wife had been active for the past 15 years in the field of youth welfare. He was a solicitor by profession but in addition to his practice in courts, he found time to act as the director of a charitable organization devoted to the care of boys and.girls who were punished by the courts.

Question 8.
How did the couple help derelict adolescents to lead normal lives?
Answer:
They took derelict adolescents from the juvenile courts and placed them in a healthy environment. They healed them in mind and body and sent them back into the world. They were given training in some handi craft so that they could live as worthy citizens.

Question 9.
What did Cronin mean by the expression ‘the veils parted’?
Answer:
The man told him of the incident 25 years ago, when Cronin had helped him. Now Cronin remembered everything. The veils parted. Now he knew why the man was keen on talking to him.

Question 10.
‘… I was awakened by a loud banging on the door. ’Who was banging on the door’? Why?
Answer:
A sergeant of police was banging on the door. There was a case of attempted suicide and he had come to call Cronin as he is a doctor.

Question 11.
What did the doctors to save the life of the young man?
Answer:
With the help of the sergeant, the doctor began the work of resuscitation. They laboured hard for an entire hour. As they were about to give up, the young man started breathing and soon he was sitting up.

Question 12.
“Utterly friendless, he had fallen victim to the loose society of the streets…” What does the author mean by this statement?
Answer:
The young man was without friends and slowly he got into bad company. He started living a life beyond his means. He began to bet on horses and it ruined him.

Question 13.
Why did the young man try to commit suicide?
Answer:
He had lost heavily on horse betting. To recover his losses he decided to make a final bet. For that he had no money and so he stole money from the safe where he was working. He lost that bet also. He knew he would be caught and so he decided to commit suicide.

Question 14.
Why does the author say that it was the best investment he had ever made?
Answer:
He had made many investments for material gain, but he had lost. The losses brought him only anxiety, disappointment and frustration. But here he made a small investment that changed the life of a man, who has become an excellent citizen doing service to the society.

Question 15.
The sergeant, the landlady and the narrator helped the young man, Complete the following table:

Persons who helped Mr John	How they helped	The risk involved
Sergeant
Landlady
The narrator		Loss of seven Pounds and ten shillings

Answer:

Persons who helped Mr John	How they helped	The risk involved
Sergeant	not reporting the case	Loss of his job
Landlady	offered a month’s free board	She may not get the money.
The narrator	Gave him 7 Pounds and ten shillings to put back in the office safe.	He is not sure if he will put it back in the office safe. However he loses the money.

The Best Investment I Ever Made Textual Activities and Answers

Activity 1

Question 1.
How does the writer contrast thp past the present lives of Mr. John?
Pick out appropriate sentences/expressions from the story and complete the following table.

Past	Present
The young man had fallen victim to the loose society of the streets.	Interested to study the methods employed in dealing with cases of backward, maladjusted and delinquent youth,

Answer:

Past	Present
The young man had fallen victim to loose society of the streets.	Interested in studying the methods employed in dealing with cases of backward, maladjusted and delinquent children.
He started betting on horses.	He is a solicitor by profession.
He lost all his savings and pledged his belongings.	He visits summer recreational camps and settlements in New York.
He took money from the office safe.	He is active in the youth welfare.
To commit suicide he had turned on the gas an shut himself in the rodm.	He is working as a director of a charitable organization which tries to resettle derelict children.

Activity 2

Question 2.
Do you think the title ‘The Best Investment I Ever Made’ is appropriate to the story? Why? Consider the following questions:
a) What does the word investment mean with special reference to the story?
b) What are the other meanings of the word investment?
c) Why does the narrator describe his investment the best?
Answer:
a) In the story the word investment means the help the narrator gave the boy who was in trouble,
b) Investment means the process of putting money forgetting profit, like buying shares or starting a business or company.
c) The narrator describes his investment the best because it changed the life of a man. With 7 pounds and 10 shillings, the narrator changed a bad boy into a«^blicitor and the director of a charitable organization doing the work of rehabilitating delinquent children.

PARAGRAPH
a) I definitely think the title The Best Investment I Ever Made’ is the most appropriate forthe story. In its normal meaning investment means the process of putting money for getting profit, like buying shares or starting a business or company. In the story the word investment meant the help the narrator gave the boy who was in trouble. If the narrator had not given the money to the boy, he would have been caught for stealing money, and he would be dismissed from service and sent to the jail. But the narrator saved him and later we see that bad boy becoming a solicitor and the director of a charitable organization doing the work of rehabilitating delinquent children. The author may not have gained any material benefit from his investment, but still it was the greatest investment he ever made.

Activity 3

Question 3.
Read the notes on Page on below:
‘He was in his early 40s, rather short in build, with a fair complexion and clear blue eyes. His thin hair had begun to recede from his forehead. His dark suit, sober tie and rimless spectacles gave evidence of a serious and reserved disposition.’

Now prepare a brief description about your friend/ a film star.

Answer:
Selina is my friend. She is a beautiful girl of 15. We have been friends right from the LKG. We have been studying in the same school all these years. She has fair complexion. Her hair is long. Her eyes are wide with a bluish tinge and they are always bright. She smiles nicely and I jocularly call her Aishwarya Roy. She is tall and slim. Her parents are rich and she often helps poor students by buying them books and writing material. She dresses modestly and she walks and talks gracefully. She is very clever and she is one of the best five students of the class. All the students like her because of her amiable behaviour. I am lucky to have a friend like Selina.

Activity 4

Question 4.
From a state of loss and despair, John came to a life of success and joy. He intervened wholeheartedly to bring about a change in the miserable life of many young men. What helped him do so? What lesson do we learn from the eventful life of John? Discuss. In the light of the discussion, prepare a speech on the topic. “Self help is the best help.”
Answer:
My dear Principal, teachers and students, Today I am going to talk on the topic “Self help is the best help.” We all heard about the story of John. John’s parents were dead. His uncle helped him to get the job of a clerk in a London lawyer’s office. He had no friends and he fell into bad company. He started enjoying pleasures beyond his means. He started betting on horses. Soon he lost all his savings. In an effort to get money he stole some money from his office safe to make a final bet. But again he lost. He now wanted to commit suicide. He went to the room and turned on the gas.

A doctor was called in to attend to him as he was found unconscious. There was also a policeman as well as the land lady of John. The doctor soon revived him. John told them his story. The doctor, the policeman and the landlady felt pity for him and they agreed to help him. The doctor gave him the money to replace what he took from the office safe. The policeman would not report against John. The landlady would give him a month’s free board.

John changed completely. He worked hard and he became a success in life. Now he and his wife are helping children with problems to settle in life. John learned to help himself and others. Self help is the best. If you are determined to succeed, no one can stop you. “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Thank you for listening.

Activity 5

Question 5.
The story is told from the point of view of the narrator. This is called “the first person point of view”. The pronoun used here is “I”.
Now, change the perspective of the narrative to the third person point of view using the pronoun “he” and narrate the events in the story.
Answer:
It was the second day of the narrator’s voyage. Suddenly he became aware that one of the passengers was watching him closely. The narrator felt that the man was not confident enough to go to him and ask for clarification. He was in his early 40s. The narrator learned that the man’s name was John. On the final evening at sea Mrs. John persuaded John to meet the narrator.

After introducing himself and his wife, John started telling his story to the narrator. His parents were dead. His uncle helped him to get the job of a clerk in a London lawyer’s office. He had no friends and he fell into bad company. He started enjoying pleasures beyond his means. He started betting on horses. Soon he lost all his savings. In an effort to get money he stole some money from his office safe to make a final bet. But again he lost. He now wanted to commit suicide. He went to the room and turned on the gas.

The narrator, who was a doctor, was called in to attend to him as he was found unconscious. There was also a policeman as well as the land lady of John. The doctor soon revived him. John told them why he wanted to die.

The doctor, the policeman and the landlady felt pity for him and they agreed to help him. The doctor gave him the money to replace what he took from the office safe. The policeman woufd not report against John. The landlady would give him a month’s free board.

John now changed completely. He worked hard and became a success. Now he’ and his wife are helping the backward, maladjusted and delinquent youth to return to normal life. The narrator felt that the money he gave John was the best investment he ever made.

Activity 6

Go through the following diary entry.
Saturday, 23 August
What a terrible experience……..!
In that moment of despair. I tried to embrace death. Hope came in the form of the sergeant and the doctor They saved my life. The landlady also helped me, I will never again follow that dark and evil life of mine. Definitely I will change …. Just like the doctor, the sergeant and the lady, I will also try to change the lives of many …,. thus brining light to others.

Now I see that the light never fades out!

Question 6.
In which period of his life do you think Mr. John wrote this diary entry? Why?
Answer:
He wrote this diary entry after he was saved and , helped by the sergeant, the doctor and the land lady. Soon John realized his mistake. He knew that suicide is not the answer to problems. He decided to succeed in life and help the backward, maladjusted and delinquent children to live normal lives.

Question 7.
Imagine that Mr John, after meeting the narrator for the second time, writes his diary. What would be the possible diary entry? Write down.
Answer:
Today is one of the happiest days in my life. For almost 25 years I had been trying to find out this man, who had changed my life. This man, this doctor, had not only revived me after my suicide attempt, but also gave me the money to put back into the place from where I had stojen it. He is not just a man but an angel for me. Without his help, I would have been dead. Today I met him while I was returning from the States. This doctor has grown slightly old, but the cheerful expression is still on his face. I recognized him at the first look. But he did not recognize me. So I went and told him who I was and how he had helped me 25 years ago. He was happy to see me and hear about my work. I was also extremely pleased to meet him. I pray God there should more and more persons like him in this world.

Activity 7

Question 8.
Drug addiction and alcoholism are major social issues today.
A programme is to be held in the School campus to make the children aware of the dangers of these issues.
The following are some of the activities that can be conducted to create awareness.
a) seminar
b) poster/collage
c) cultural events: skit, street play, etc.
d) screening films, short videos.
Select any one of these and prepare it. You may present it before the class.
Answer:
A Seminar Paper
Drug addiction is one of the greatest evils that is destroying our society. This is the worst among school and college going children. Drug addiction is a psychological and sometimes physical problem. It is a compulsion to use a drug to experience psychological or physical satisfaction. Drug addiction takes several forms: tolerance, habituation, and addiction.

Tolerance is the first stage. It occurs when the body becomes accustomed to a drug and requires ever- increasing amounts of it to achieve the same effects. This condition is worsened when certain drugs are used at high doses for long periods (weeks or months), and may lead to more frequent use of the drug. However, when use ofthedrug is stopped, drug withdrawal may result, which is characterized by nausea, headaches, restlessness, sweating, and difficulty in sleeping. The severity of drug withdrawal symptoms varies depending on the drug involved. Habituation is characterized by the continued desire fora drug, even after physical dependence is gone. A drug often produces an elated emotional state. A person abusing drugs soon believes the drug is needed to function at work or home. Addiction is a severe craving forthe substance and interferes with a person’s ability to function normally. It may also involve physical dependence.

In addictive stage, one feels that he would die without the drug. To get it he will do anything – beg, steal or even murder. Once this stage is reached, the person will need outside help.

Of course there are awareness programmes against the dangers of drug abuse in our schools and colleges. But more direct action is needed to stop this danger which kills ouryouth and makes them useless people, useless to themselves and humanity at large.

The Best Investment I Ever Made Let’s Learn About Words

Activity 1

Question 9.
Read the following sentences from the story.
He was by profession, a solicitor
I was a young doctor at the doctor the time.
It was a sergeant of sergeant police.

The words given in bold refer to various professions.
The names of different professions are given on the left column and the details are
given on the right. Match the items by drawing lines.

Accountant	a person who works with electric circuits.
Astronomer	a person who makes things from wood.
Botanist	a person who cuts your hair or gives it a new style.
Carpenter	a person who puts out fire.
Dentist	a person who works with money and accounts.
Electrician	a person who studies plants.
Firefighter	a person who can fix problems of your teeth.
Hairdresser	a person who studies stars and the universe.

Answer:

Accountant	works with money and accounts.
Astronomer	studies stars and the universe.
Botanist	studies plants.
Carpenter	makes things from wood.
Dentist	fixes problem with your teeth.
Electrician	works with electrical circuits.
Fire-fighter	puts out fire
Hairdresser	cuts your hair and gives it a new style.

Activity 2

Question 10.
Words are divided into two classes – Closed Word Classes and Open Word Classes. When we say Closed Word Classes, we mean those classes to which no more new words will be added. Thus Determiners, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions are Closed Word Classes.
Open Words classes are Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. New words are added to these categories. That is why they are called Open Word Classes.
Here is a passage from the text. It contains both Closed Word Classes and Open Word Classes. Pick out the words and decide to which category they belong.
On thd second day, out from New York, while making the round of the promenade deck, I suddenly became aware that one of the passengers was watching me closely following me with his gaze every time I passed.
I wanted to rest, to avoid the tedium of casual and importunate shipboard contacts. I gave no sign of having noticed the man.
Answer:
Closed Word Classes

• Determiner : the,one,every
• Pronoun : I, me, his
• Preposition : On, out, from, of, with, to
• Conjunction : while, that, and

Open Word Classes

• Noun : day, New York, promenade, deck, passengers, gaze, time, tedium, shipboard, contacts, sign, man
• Verb : making, became, was watching, following, passed, wanted, rest, avoid, gave, having, noticed
• Adjective : round, second, aware, casual, importunate, no Adverb: suddenly, closely

Activity 3

Question 11.
Read the following sentences.
Listening to a single story is the refusal of truths.
Applauds of the audience energise the athletes.
Racism had deeply affected the life of the African Americans.
Freedom is the birthright of an individual.
Nightingales have a musical voice.
Climate changes threaten the life on earth.
These paintings are very creative.
Each of us should be a protector of nature.
The argument against fossil fuel consumption is stronger nowadays.
He seemed affected by a troubled, rather touching diffidence.
Education will enlighten the minds of people.
He went on with the same awkwardness.
He found time to act as director of a charitable organisation.

Pick out the words highlighted in these sentences and complete the table.

Word	Root word	suffixes
Refusal …………………………………. …………………………………. ………………………………….	Refuse …………………………………. …………………………………. ………………………………….	-al …………………………………. …………………………………. ………………………………….

Answer:

Word	Root word	Suffix
refusal	refuse	al
energise	energy	ise
racism	race	ism
freedom	free	dom
musical	music	al
threaten	threat	en
creative	create	ive
protector	protect	or
argument	argue	ment
diffidence	diffident	ce
enlighten	light	en
awkwardness	awkward	ness
organisation	organise	ation

Question 12.
The root words had changed their forms or class after suffixation. Categorise them on the basis of derivation as shown in the table below:

Noun Suffixes	Verb suffixes	Adjective suffixes

Answer:

Noun Suffixes	Verb suffixes	Adiective suffixes
refusal	energise	musical
racism	threaten	creative
freedom	enlighten
protector
argument
diffidence
awkwardness
organisation

Activity 4

Question 13.
Fill in the following passage using appropriate words given below:
(maladjusted, paltry, disarming, go on, awkwardness, genuine, importunate, given up, tedium, apparently)
Answer:
The tedium of life in old age homes has been pointed out by many. The awkwardness old people face there is mainly out of the importunate curiosity of the visitors who come there. Many of the old people are maladjusted because of the long and solitary lives they have to lead there. Apparently there are no genuine cases of abandoned parents because of the financial conditions of the family. Most of them are given up by their wealthy children. We have to go on enlightening our youths against the tendency to fly away from their parents. The paltry sum they send ¡s nothing if they really know the value of the disarming smiles that bloom on the faces of their parents when thêy are properly cared for in their old age.

The Best Investment I Ever Made About the author:

– Archibald Joseph Cronin

Cronin (1896-1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is “The Citadel”. It is about a doctor in a Welsh mining village, who quickly moves up the career ladder in London. Cronin also worked as a Medical Inspector of Mines. His short novel “Country Doctor” was adapted for a long-running BBC Radio and TV Series.

The Best Investment I Ever Made Summary in English

Page – 77
1. I was travelling in a ship from New York. On the second day, as I was walking around on the deck, I noticed that a passenger was observing me. I did not want to answer questions from strangers and so I pretended I did not notice him.

2. But the man continued to observe me. I felt he was not confident enough to come to me and ask for clarification. He was in his early 40s. He was fair in complexion and short. He had clear blue eyes. He had thin hair and a large forehead. He wore a dark suit, sober tie and rimless spectacles. All these gave him a look of seriousness and reservation. It was time for dinner and I went below.

Page – 78
3. On the following afternoon also I noticed that he was observing me from his deck chair. His wife was with him. I was puzzled. I discovered from the steward that they were Mr and Mrs John S. from near London. After another day, I felt that John was too shy to come to me. On the final evening at sea, Mrs. John S. persuaded her husband to come and talk to me as I passed along the deck.

4. He came to introduce himself and gave me his visiting card. The name did not mean anything to me. Then with great difficulty, he told me he and his wife would like to talk to me.

5. I went and sat near them. He told me that this was their first visit to America. It was not an entirely holiday trip. They had been making a tour of the New England states, inspecting many of the summer recreational camps for young people there. They also visited settlement houses in New York and other cities. They wanted to study the methods used in dealing with backward, maladjusted and delinquent youth.

Page – 79
6. There was much enthusiasm in his voice and manner. I liked him. I found out that he and his wife had been active in youth welfare for the last 15 years. He was a lawyer by profession. In addition to his work in the court, he was the director of a charitable organization devoted to the welfare of boys and girls. These boys and girls were mostly law-breakers from city sums.

7. I learned about their work. They took derelict adolescents from the juvenile courts and placed them in a healthy environment. They healed them in mind and body and sent them back into the world. They were given training in some handi craft so that they could live as worthy citizens. I wanted to know why he did such a work.

8. The question had a strange effect on him. He took a deep breath and asked me if I still did not remember him. I said no.

9. He said that he had wanted to get in touch with me for many years. But he was not able to do so. Then he whispered to me something that took me back to the incident that happened 25 years ago. I had then met him, just once.

10. I was a young doctor then. I had begun my practice in a working-class district of London. On a foggy night, around 1 o’clock, somebody banged at my door. I went down to see who it was. It was a police sergeant. He told me there was a suicide case and I should go with him at once.

Page – 80
11. We walked in silence. Even our footsteps were muffled by the fog. We entered an old building. As I climbed the steps, there was the smell of gas. The landlady showed me the body of a young man. It was on a narrow bed in the attic.

12. The young man was not dead, although the chance of his recovery was minimal. We tried to revive him, for almost one hour. We were about to give up, when the patient started breathing. We tried again and in half an hour the youth was sitting up, looking at us in a surprised manner. He soon realized the horror of the situation.

13. As he regained his strength, he told us his story. His parents were dead. His uncle helped him to get the job of a clerk in a London lawyer’s office. As he had no friends, he had fallen into bad company. He started enjoying the pleasures of life beyond his means. He started betting on horses. Soon he lost all his savings and he incurred a lot of debt. In an effort to get money, he stole money from his office safe to make a final bet. But again he lost. He was desperate and returned to the room. He wanted to die. He turned on the gas.

Page – 81
14. The policeman wanted to know how much he had stolen. He had stolen only seven pounds and ten shillings. For this small amount he was throwing his life away.

15. The landlady, the policeman and I were the only witnesses to this confession. Together, we decided to give the young man a fresh start.

16. The policeman agreed not to report the case so that there would be no trial. The landlady offered a month’s free board to the youth. I gave him the 7 pounds and 10 shillings to put back into the safe.

17. The ship moved. There was no need for any speech. With a tender gesture, Mrs. John took her husband’s hand. We sat in silence. I realized that it was the best investment I had ever made in my life. It had paid me no dividends in worldly goods. I had made many investments for material gain, but I had lost. The losses brought me only anxiety, disappointment and frustration.

The Best Investment I Ever Made Summary in Malayalam

The Best Investment I Ever Made Glossary

You can Download Lines Written in Early Spring Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 1 Chapter 3 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 1 Chapter 3 Lines Written in Early Spring (Poem)

Std 10 English Textbook Lines Written in Early Spring Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What does the expression “I sate reclined” indicate about the poet’s state of mind.
Answer:
It indicates that the poet was quite relaxed.

Question 2.
Why does the poet feel sad while reclining in the grove?
Answer:
He feels sad because sad thoughts come to his mind. He thinks how man mistreats man and brings unhappiness around.

Question 3.
How does the poet associate himself with nature?
Answer:
He associates himself with nature by thinking that his soul is linked with Nature. Nature and man share the same soul and they are connected.

Question 4.
‘And much it grieved my heart to think/What man has made of man.” What do these lines convey?
Answer:
These lines convey the sadness of the poet who sees . how man mistreats his fellow beings. The wars and bloodshed that man makes is against the principle of nature. Nature asks us to enjoy the peace and beauty that God has given us. But we quarrel and fight making us unhappy all the time.

Question 5.
What makes the poet think that every flower enjoys its existence?
Answer:
When the flower blooms it is like smiling. Naturally, the flower is enjoying its time on earth. It will not last long, but when it is alive it enjoys its time and that is why it opens its petals and gives a broad smile to all.

Question 6.
What is the nature’s holy plan? How does man work against it?
Answer:
Nature’s holy plan is to make everything and everybody happy, enjoying the good things that Gpd has created. But man works against this and spends his time quarreling and fighting. He is greedy and often spends his life getting and spending money without enjoying the beauty of nature.

Question 7.
Suggest an alternative title for the poem.
Answer:
The Beauty Of Nature

Lines Written in Early Spring Textual Activities and Answers

Activity -1

Question 1.
What man has made of man’ is one of the most sinking expressions in the peom ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’. It describes the feelings of Wordsworth, the poet and his thoughts about human actiyities against nature. What made the poet think so?
Answer:
Wordsworth’s thoughts about the human werid.

• The human world is full of quarrels and fights.
• It is full of pain and misery, disease and death.
• The misery is caused by man himself as he does not love his fellow beings and help others.

Activity – 2

Question 2.
William Wordsworth’s poem ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’ is appealing to the readers because of its poetic devices. Fill in the boxes with suitable examples from the poem.
Answer:
Personification
Examples:

• To her fair works (Nature is personified as a woman).
• The periwinkle trailed (periwinkle is personified as a follower)
• The flower enjoys the air (The flower is treated as a person.)

Imagery:

• The birds around me hopped and played (visual).
• I heard a thousand blended notes (auditory).
• Through primrose tufts, in ttjat green bower, the periwinkle trailed its wreaths, (visual)
• The budding twigs spread out their fan to catch the breezy air (visual) Rhyme scheme: abab

Activity – 3

Question 3.
To her fair works did nature link The human soul that through me ran’
These lines speak about man’s vital relationship with nature. Discuss and write an appreciation of the poem.
Answer:

An appreciation of the poem:

The poet says that while sitting reclined on a woodland grove, his mind was filled with several thoughts. While he finds solace in the nature’s beauty, the same beauty also reminds him of sad thoughts, The speaker appreciates the nature for her god like abilities of linking a human soul to herself but he also feels grief while thinking about how cruelly man has separated himself from mother nature. The poet is highly appreciative of nature’s beauty. He finds delight in the green bowers and has faith that the beautiful flowers enjoy every ounce of the air they breathe and they are thankful for living beside the nature. The speaker observes the birds which sing and hop around him. He is in awe of these creatures.

Though the speaker does not understand their language and ways, he does recognize that the birds are creating all these movements out of sheer pleasure and joy. The breeze blowing is sweet and light, the twigs are spreading out as if to catch the sweet air and ail the poet can do is gather pleasure in their existence. The speaker questions that if this is heaven and this is the holy plan of nature then what man has done to himself is really bad. Man has separated himself from such joy and is spending his time hating one another and fighting wars.

The poem has 6 quatrains and the rhyming scheme is abab. There are examples of personification. There is fine visual and auditory imagery. We too feel like the poet reclining in the grove watching the flowers and listening to the music of,the birds. Nature is really beautiful.

Activity – 4

→ To be done individually by the students. Listen and enjoy as suggested in the Text.

Lines Written in Early Spring Language Activities

Activity -1

Question 1.
Read the following sentences and punctuate them.
Answer:

• The tree was older than the house.
• I saw a cobra and a mongoose fighting.
• What a spectacular sight!
• Will the mongoose kill the snake?
• Son, get down from the tree.
• Please answer me.
• Oh! What happy times those had been!
• What did man do to nature?

Question 2.
Discuss:

a. Based on the punctuations marks how many sentence types can you identify?
Answer:
I can identify 4 sentence types.

b. Are there two types of sentences in the above set that end in a full stop?
Answer:
Yes, there are.

c. What difference do you notice between these sentences?
Answer:
The difference is they are statements and imperatives.

d. Based on yourdiscussion, how many sentence types you can identify.
Answer:
Four types.

e. Which are the types of sentences you have identified?
Answer:
Statements, questions, imperatives and exclamations.
Statements: 1 and 2.
Command/Request: 5 and 6 Questions: 4 and 8 Exclamations: 3 and 7

• Statement sentences are called Assertive.
• Sentences that express command, order, request are called imperatives.
• Sentences that ask questions are called Interrogatives.
• Sentences that express emotions and feelings are called Exclamations.

Now, wnte two examples each for the sentence types you have identified.

1. Assertive:
a) MyfatherworksinDubai.
b) Our teacher teaches well.

2. Imperatives:
a) Open the window.
b) Please give me that book.

3. Interrogatives:
a) Where are you going?
b) Why do you sleep in the class?

4. Exclamatory:
a) What a beautiful girl!
b) How nicely he sings!

Activity – 2

Question 3.
Read the following sentences.
1) I had built a small platform on the tree.
2) I was not afraid.
3) Grandfather had a very beautiful garden.
4) The combatants were not aware of my presence in the banyan tree.
5) I don’t get any sleep at all.
6) My first friend was a small grey squirrel.
7) The house was not electrified.
8) The snake slithered along my shoulder.
9) I was no mere image cut in granite.
10) The snake looked into the mirror and saw its reflection.

Categorise the above sentences into affirmative and negative and complete the following table.
Answer:

Affirmative (Positive)	Negative
I had built a small platform on the tree.	I was not afraid.
Grandfather had a very beautiful garden.	The combatants were not aware of my presence in the banyan tree.
My best friend was a small grey squirrel.	I don’t get any sleep at all.
The snake slithered among my shoulder.	The house was not electrified.
The snake looked into the mirror and saw its reflection.	I was no mere image cut in granite.

Question 4.
Sentences Which State Positve Facts Are Called Affirmative Or Positive Sentences.
Sentences That Express Negative Ideas Are Called Negative Sentences.
Now look at the following sentences:
1. Grandfather rarely smoked a pipe.
2. The maid would hardly clean the garden
3. He could scarcely control his joy.
4. I will seldom pray for you.
5. There are few snakes in the garden.
6. There is little water in the pond.
Identify the words that make the sentences negative.
Answer:
1. rarely
2. hardly
3. scarcely
4. seldom
5. few
6. little

Question 5.
Rewrite the given sentences into negative sentences using the words you have identified.
1. Most of the students read their textbooks at home.
2. The boys do daring tasks.
3. It rains heavily.
4. The students have completed their work.
5. The boys play on the ground.
6. I write letters to my friends.
Answer:
1. Most of the students hardly read textbooks at home.
2. The boys rarely do daring tasks.
3. It seldom rains heavily.
4. Few students have completed their work.
5. The boys seldom play on the ground.
6. I scarcely write letters to my friends.

Question 5.
Rewrite the following affirmative sentences as negative sentences without changing their meaning. (Note that this might involve replacing a word with its antonym.)
(Note: Sentences containing ‘never’ are treated as negative sentences.)
1. Jack always agrees to help his friends.
2. He drivers his car very carefully.
3. Stella is prettier than Mary.
4. They have accepted the invitation.
5. A fox is cleverer than a jackal.
6. This shop sells expensive articles.
7. She always keeps her room tidy.
8. He is polite to everyone.
9. He is very industrious.
10. He is always late for his class.
Answer:
1. Jack seldom agrees to help his friends.
2. He hardly drives his car very carefully.
3. Stella is not prettier than Mary.
4. They have not accepted the invitation.
5. Afoxisnotclevererthanajackal.
6. This shop never sells expensive articles.
7. She never keeps her room tidy.
8. He is never polite to everyone.
9. He is rarely very industrious.
10. He is never late for his class.

Activity – 3

Question 6.
Let’s consider the following sentences:

1. The boys are playing in the ground.

2. The old grandfather was helpless.

Question 7.
A noun phrase can either be a single word (head noun) or more than one word (head noun + modifier).
Identify the Noun Phrase and its modifiers from the following sentences:
1. The magnificent old banyan tree was mine.
2. An old tree was the centre of attraction.
3. The cobra was a skilful and experienced fighter.
4. The small rented room was not electrified.
5. A long supporting gable rested on the beam over the wall.
Answer:
1. The magnificent old banyan tree. The (article) magnificent, old (adjective) banyan tree (Noun)
2. An old tree: (An – article), old (adjective), tree (noun). Centre of attraction (centre – noun, of-particle, attraction – noun).
3. The cobra (The – article), cobra (noun) a skilful and experienced fighter (a – article, skilful – adjective, and – conjunction, experienced – participle, fighter – noun)
4. The small rented room: The -article, small – adjective, rented – participle, room-noun).
5. A long supporting gable: (A – article, long, . adjective, supporting – participle, gable – noun). on the beam over the wall (on – preposition, the – article, beam – noun, over – preposition, the – article, wall – noun).

Question 8.
Words that can modify a noun are as follows:
Answer:
1. Articles (a, an, the)
2. Possessives (Grandfather’s, teachers’s, my, his, her, your, their, etc.)
3. Demonstratives (this, that, these, those)
4. Adjectives (old, long, smart, beautiful, etc.)
5. Numerals (three, five, twelve, etc.)
6. Ordinals (first, second, last, etc.)
7. Quantifiers (all, some, few, many, etc.)

Articles, Possessives and Demonstratives are called Determiners.
Sometimes a quantifier can appear before a determiner. In that case, we call it a pre-determiner.
E.g.

• All the students…
• Some of the books…

Lines Written In Early Spring About the author:

– William Wordsworth – 1770-1850

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is a major English Romantic poet. The collection of poems called “Lyrical Ballads” written by him and Samuel Taylor Coleridge made him a great figure in the literary circle. He was made the poet Laureate in 1843. Some of his famous poems are “Daffodils”, “Lucy Gray” and the “The Prelude”.

To him Nature was a guru, a philosopher and a nurse. He is known as the High Priest of nature. In simple language, he extolled the beauty of Nature and asked his readers to enjoy that beauty. His poems are about simple people and simple things.

Lines Written in Early Spring Summary in English

Stanza 1: The poet is sitting in a small woodland grove. He hears the birdsong around him. Although happy thoughts are prompted by the birdsong, sad thoughts also come to his mind.

Stanza 2: Nature has forged a strong connection between itself and the soul of mankind, but man has repaid the favour by making a mess of his relations with his fellow man.

Stanza 3: The poet admires the flowers-the primrose, the blue of the periwinkle, the greenness of the woodland area in which he sits. He is very sure that every flower enjoys the air it breathes. Man must do the same.

Stanza 4: Birds hopped and played around him. The poet is not able to guess what they are thinking. But their movements showed they were very happy and enjoying their time.

Stanza 5: The twigs of the trees spread out as if to catch the breezy air. The poet thinks they too were happy and contented with the enjoyment they had.

Stanza 6: This belief is sent from heaven. This is the way nature is and nature is the work of God. Nature wants us to be happy. The poet laments at the sad state of man who spends his time in quarrelling and fighting instead of enjoying the blissful things God has given him.

Lines Written in Early Spring Summary in Malayalam

Lines Written in Early Spring Glossary

You can Download The Snake and the Mirror Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 1 Chapter 2 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 1 Chapter 2 The Snake and the Mirror (Short Story)

Std 10 English Textbook The Snake and the Mirror Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What was the topic that came up for discussion between the doctor and his friends?
Answer:
The topic was encounter with snakes.

Question 2.
What does the expression ‘full-blooded cobra’ suggest?
Answer:
It suggests it was fully grown, strong and energetic.

Question 3.
“The sound was a familiar one.” What was the sound?
Answer:
The sound of rats running across the beam.

Question 4.
“In those days I was a great admirer of beauty…” Pick out the phrases and expressions from the story that justify the statement.
Answer:
Taking a close look at my face in the mirror, shave daily, grow a moustache to look more handsome.

Question 5.
What are the two ‘important’ and ‘earth-shaking’ decisions that the doctor takes while looking into the mirror?
Answer:
One was to grow a moustache and the other was to keep the attractive smile on his face to look more handsome.

Question 6.
‘Again came that noise from above.’ Did the doctor pay much attention to the noise? Why?
Answer:
He didn’t pay much attention to the noise. It was the noise of rats running across the beam. It was a familiar sound.

Question 7.
What kind of a woman does the doctor want to marry? Why?
Answer:
He wants to marry a lady doctor with plenty of money and a good medical practice. She should also be fat. He wanted her to be fat so that in case he makes a mistake and wants to run away, she should not catch up with him.

Question 8.
What happened when the doctor was sitting on his chair?
Answer:
A full-blooded cobra fell from the roof. It came over the back of the chair and coiled itself on the doctor’s shoulder.

Question 9.
How did the doctor react when the snake landed on him?
Answer:
He sat there holding his breath like a stone. He was too afraid to make any move.

Question 10.
Why did the doctors in the chair ‘like a stone image in the flesh’?
Answer:
He did not know what to do. He had no time to react. He was terrified and was almost turned into a stone.

Question 11.
In the story the snake is compared to three objects. What are they?
Answer:
A rubber tube, a leaden rod and a human being.

Question 12.
Why did he feel that he was a stupid doctor?
Answer:
He had rats in his room. He could naturally expect a snake some day. He should have kept with him some antidote for snake poison. But he did not have any.

Question 13.
“I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood.” What does the doctor mean by.this statement?
Answer:
When the snake was on him, he was sitting like a stone. But when it moved away, he acted like a man. He got up from his chair and went out through the door into the veranda. From there he jumped tb the yard and fled for his life.’

Question 14.
Why did the doctor run to his friend’s house? Did the snake harm the doctor? Why?
Answer:
He ran to his friend’s house so that he could have a bath and clean himself after being touched by the snake. The snake did not harm him, except that it terrified him. The snake must have thought it had fallen into a stone as the man sat like one. Moreover, the snake got busy admiring itself looking into the mirror.

Question 15.
“…the thief had left behind one thing ass final insult!” What was the insult?
Answer:
The thief took everything except the dirty vest of the doctor. If people saw the dirty vest, they would have a poor opinion of the doctor. And this was adding insult to injury.

The Snake and the Mirror Textual Activities and Answers

Activity 1

Question 1.
Pick out sentences from the story ‘The Snake and the Mirror’ and complete the table below. These sentences tell you the condition of the narrator. Some hints are given.

Was afraid of the snake	Was proud of his appearance
I was turned to a stone.	I looked into the mirror and smiled.

Answer:

Was afraid of the snake	Was proud of his appearance
I was turned to a stone.	I looked into the mirror and smiled.
I sat there holding my breath.	It was an attractive smile.
I wanted to write the words ‘O God’ on my little heart.	I would shave daily.
I sat like a stone image in flesh.	I would grow a thin mustache to look more handsome.
I felt the presence of the creator.	I would keep smiling to be more attractive.
At my slightest movement, the snake would strike me.	I was a bachelor and a doctor.

Activity 2

Question 2.
The story is about a frightening incident narrated in a humorous way. What makes it humorous?
The writer has made use of certain striking contrasts in the sto,y to bring about humour. Pick out such expressions from the story and write them.
Answer:
A. i) The kind of person the doctor was : He is a poor man. His earnings were meagre. He had, only Rs. 60 with him. He lived in a small rented room. There was no electricity in the room. It was infested with rats. He is concerned with his appearance He is also conscious that he is a doctor. He realizes that he is capable of committing blunders.

ii) The kindof person he wanted to be : He wants to appear more handsome. For that he will keep a thin moustache and keep smiling. He wants to be a successful and rich man.

B. i) The person he wanted to marry : He wants to marry a lady doctor with money and also good practice. He wants her to be fat so that she does not catch up with him if he makes a mistake and wants to run away.

ii) The person he actually married : He marries a thin and slender woman. She could run like a spnnter.

C. i) His thoughts when he looked into the mirror : He was proud of his looks. He wanted to appear more handsome, For that he would shave daily and he would grow a thin moustache. He also would keep smiling to add to his glamour.

ii) His thoughts when the snake coiled around him : He was so terrified that he turned into a stone. He thought of God. He felt pain when the snake coiled around his arm. He would be in trouble ¡f the snake bit him. He had no medicine against snake poison. He considers himself as a poor, foolish and stupid doctor.

Question 3.
Now based, on what you have written, prepare short paragraphs on the use of contrasts in the story to bring out the humour.
Answer:
Basheer has used contrasts to bring humour into a frightening story where a full-blooded cobra coils around a doctor. The doctor is a poor man. His earnings were meager. He had only Rs. 60 with him. He lived in a small rented room. There was no electricity in the room. It was infested with rats. He is concerned with his appearance. He is conscious that he is a doctor. He realizes that he is capable of . committing blunders. But he wants to appear smart and more handsome. For that he will keep a thin mustache and keep smiling. He wants to be a successful and rich man.

He wants to marry a lady doctor with money and also good practice. He wants her to be fat so that she does not catch up with him if he makes a mistake and wants to run away. But he ends up marrying a thin and slender woman. She could run like a sprinter. He was proud of his looks. He is a doctor and he would marry a rich woman. He wanted to appear more handsome. He was feeling happy when suddenly from the beam a cobra fell down and coiled around him. All his thoughts about making himself more handsome and getting married vanished like mist in sunshine. He was so terrified that he turned into a stone. He thought of God. He felt pain when the snake coiled around his arm. He would be in trouble if the snake bit him. He had no medicine against snake poison. He considers himself as a poor, foolish and stupid doctor. When the snake releases its hold on him we see him fleeing for his life.

Activity 3

Question 4.
In the story the snake did not harm the homeopath. The homeopath in turn did not hurt it. Keeping Basheeris vision on nature and its beings, commend on this story.
Answer:
In the story the snake did not harm the homeopath. The homeopath in turn did not hurt it. By saying this, Basheer is emphasizing the principle of “Live and Let Live”. Man and animals are supposed to co-exist in this world. As man has the right to live, the animals also have the right to live.

It is a known fact that animals do not harm people unless they are provoked and feel threatened. No snake will deliberately come and bite you. But we deliberately kill snakes. A snake will attack only if it feels threatened and its escape route is blocked. If they see people, they will either try to hide or run away. They bite only when people step over them unknowingly or chase them and block their escape route. In that sense man is the only ‘animal’ that kills for pleasure. Animals of prey may kill to satisfy their hunger. But we do it for fun.

Basheer is of the view that we should let animals live their life without interfering with them, unless they prove dangerous to us. Peaceful coexistence is what he insists. It is an interesting story in which the homeopath has fine dreams about his future wife.

Extended Activity

Collect similar stories in English or Malayalam, showing the harmony of nature. An example is “Bhoomiyude AvakSsikal” by Basheer.

The Snake And The Mirror About the author:

– Basheer – 1908-1994

Basheer (1908-1994) is called Beypore Sultan. He is a humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer. He is (iked by the critics and the common people. His important works are Balyakalaskhi, Shabdangal, Pathummayude Aadu, Mathilukal, Ntuppuppakkoranendarnnu, Janmadinam and Anargha Nimisham. He received Padma Shri in 1982.

The Snake And The Mirror Summary in English

1. We were discussing snakes. Then suddenly a homeopath asked, “Has a full-blooded cobra ever coiled itself round any part of your body?” We all fell silent. The doctor continued with his story.

2. “It was 10 o’clock on a hot summer night. I had my meal at a restaurant and returned to my room. I heard a noise when I opened the door. There were rats in my room. I lighted the kerosene lamp on the table.

3. The house was not electrified. It was a small rented room. I had started my medical practice. The income was very little. I had Rs. 60 in my suitcase. With drier shirts and dhotis I had also a black coat which I was then wearing.

Page – 24
4. I took off my black coat, white shirt and vest and hung them up. I opened the two windows. It was an outer room with one wall facing the open yard. It had a tiled roof with long supporting gables, resting on the beam over the wall. No ceiling. Rats ran along the beam. I made by bed and pulled it close to the wall. I could not sleep. I went to the veranda. There was no breeze.

5. I went back and sat on a chair. I opened my box and took out a book The Materia Medica’. There was a table with a lamp, a large mirror and a comb.

6. One feels tempted to look at the mirror if it is close. I took a look. I admired beauty and I wanted to make myself handsome. I was unmarried. I felt I had to make my presence felt. I combed my hair and adjusted the parting to look straight and neat. Again I heard that sound from above.

7. I looked closely at my face. I made an important decision. I would shave daily and grow a small mustache. I was a bachelor and a doctor.

Page – 25
8. I looked into the mirror and smiled. I made another important decision. I would keep smiling to look more handsome.

9. I lit a beedi and paced up and down the room. Another nice thought came to me. I would marry. I would marry a woman doctor with a lot of money and good practice. She should be fat, for a good reason. If I made some foolish mistake and needed to run away, she should not be able to run after me and catch me.

10. I sat back on the chair. There were no sounds from above. Suddenly there was a dull thud as if a rubber tube had fallen to the ground. I looked back. A fat snake came over the back of the chair and landed on my shoulder. The snake’s landing on my shoulder and my turning my head happened at the same time.

11. I did not jump, tremble or cry out. There was no time to do any such thing. The snake slithered along my shoulder and coiled around my left arm. Its hood was spread out and it was just 3 or 4 inches from my face!

12. I was turned to a stone. But my mind was active. The door opened into darkness. The room was dark.

13. I thought of God, the creator of this universe. God was there. If I said something and he did not like it, there would be trouble. I wrote in my imagination the words “O God” on my heart.

14. There was some pain on my left arm. It was as if a rod of fire was slowly but powerfully crushing my arm. The arm was losing its strength. What could I do?

Page- 29
15. Even if I moved a little, the snake would bite me. Death was just 4 inches away. Suppose the snake bites me, what medicine would I take? There were no medicines in the room. I was a poor, foolish and stupid doctor. I forgot my danger and smiled at myself.

16. God liked it. The snake turned its head. It looked into the mirror. It saw its reflection. It may not be the first snake to look into a mirror. Was it admiring its beauty? Was it planning to grow a mustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead?

17. Was it a female snake? I will never know. It slowly unwound itself from my arm and slithered into my lap. From there it crept onto the table and moved towards the mirror. Perhaps it wanted to see itself more clearly.

Page – 27
18. I was no more a stone. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood. I got up from the chair. I went quietly into the veranda. From there I jumped into the yard and ran for my life.”

19. The story ended. All the listeners were relieved. Somebody asked, “Doctor, is your wife very fat?” The doctor said his wife was thin and a great runner. Somebody wanted to know if the snake came after him.

20. The doctor replied: “I ran till I reached a friend’s house. Then I put oil on my body and took a bath. I changed my clothes. The next morning with my friend I went to the room to take my things. Some thief had removed everything except my dirty vest.”

Somebody wanted to know if the doctor saw the snake the following day. The doctor said he had never seen it again. It was a snake which was proud of its own beauty.

The Snake And The Mirror Summary in Malayalam

The Snake And The Mirror Glossary

You can Download The Ballad of Father Gilligan Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 3 Chapter 2 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 3 Chapter 2 The Ballad of Father Gilligan (Poem)

Std 10 English Textbook The Ballad of Father Gilligan Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why was Father Gilligan ‘weary night and day’?
Answer:
Father Gilligan was ‘weary night and day’ because half of his parishioners were either sick or dead. He had to perform his priestly duties to them and so he was tired day and night.

Question 2.
What is the significance of the word ‘flock’?
Answer:
Flock is the collective noun meaning a collection of sheep. In Christianity, the parish priest is supposed to be the shepherd and the parishioners are the flock.

Question 3.
Why were his flock either in bed or lying under green sod?
Answer:
His flock were either in bed or lying under green sod because an epidemic had hit the parish. People were sick and dying.

Question 4.
Why did another man send for Father Gilligan? Why is the man referred to as ‘poor’?
Answer:
Father Gilligan was needed to give the sick man his sacrament of ‘anointing the sick’. He is referred to as poor because he is poor in soul. A person with sin is supposed be poor in soul as he will not get heaven if he dies in a state of sin.

Question 5.
Why did Father Gilligan seek forgiveness from God? What justification does he give to God for his errant words?
Answer:
Father Gilligan seeks forgiveness from God because as a priest it is his obligation to go and give the sick man his last sacraments. But he is too tired to go. The justification he gives for his errant words is that the words were spoken by his body and not himself.

Question 6.
Why is the time called moth-hour?
Answer:
It is early evening and at this time moths are seen in large numbers.

Question 7.
What is meant by ‘Upon the time of sparrow-chirp’?
Answer:
It refers to early morning when sparrows start chirping.

Question 8.
What does the line ‘And rode with little care’ indicate?
Answer:
He rode very fast, recklessly. He had failed to go when the call came and now he is rushing to reach the sick man as fast as he can.

Question 9.
Why is the sick man’s wife surprised to see Father Gilligan?
Answer:
The sick man’s wife was surprised to see Father Gilligan because she thought he had come earlier and given the last sacraments to her dying husband. In fact it was an angel that came earlier and not Father Gilligan. She did not know that.

Question 10.
Why was the priest overcome with grief at the words of the widow?
Answer:
The priest was overcome with grief at the words of the widow because he had failed to come and do his duties. The man is dead.

Question 11.
‘He knelt him at that word.’Why?
Answer:
He knew that God had done a miracle to send an angel to do the work Fr. Gilligan must have done.

Question 12.
How did God save Father Gilligan from damnation?
Answer:
God saved FrGilligan from damnation by sending an angel to give the sacraments to the dying man. If the man had died without getting forgiveness for his sins, Fr. Gilligan would have been damned for neglecting his priestly duties.

Question 13.
‘He who hath made the night of stars/For souls who tire and bleed’. What do these lines mean?
Answer:
They mean that God made the beautiful night of stars so that the tired and suffering people can find some rest and comfort.

Question 14.
What do you understand about the character of Fr Gilligan from the words ‘Had pity on the least of things’?
Answer:
It shows Fr. Gilligan was very humble. He considers himself the least of things, an unimportant being. But God had pity on him and sent his angel to do his duties.

Activity 1

Question 1.
Answer the questions by choosing the most appropriate answer from the options given.
i. The people of Father Gilligan’s parish were ___________.
a) toiling in the field
b) suffering from an epidemic
c) celebrating Easter
d) nodding their chairs

ii. The old priest was ___________.
a) energetic
b) weary
c) fresh
d) angry

iii. Mavrone means __________.
a) My dear one
b) An expression of sorrow
c) God bless you
d) God be with you

iv. Father Gilligan awoke with a start, realising that he had not __________.
a) done his duty
b) roused his horse
c) finished his homework
d) said his prayers

v. The word ‘flock’ in the context of the poem means:
a) a flock of sheep
b) sparrows
c) stars in the sky
d) people in the parish

vi. Who is ‘wrapped in purple robes’?
a) Father Gilligan
b) The stars
c) God
d) Sparrows

vii. The expression ‘green sods’ refers to
a) graves covered over by green grass
b) the stars in the sky
c) the people in the parish
d) God’s angels

viii. What is referred to as ‘moth-hour of eve’?
a) dawn
b) noon
c) evening
d) the night of stars
Answer:
i) b. suffering from an epidemic.
ii) b. weary
iii) b. An expression of sorrow
iv) a. done his duty.
v) d. the people of the parish
vi) c. God
vii) a. graves covered over by green grass
viii) c. evening

Activity 2

Question 2.
The poem is in the form of a ballad. A ballad is a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. Ballads are usually musical and dramatic. What are the features that make this poem a typical ballad?
The features are:
Answer:
The Ballad of Father Gilligan by W.B. Yates has many features of a typical ballad. It tells a story. It uses simple language. Ballad stanzas are used. It has fine rhythm and music. It has rhyme. The scheme is abcb. There is repetition. There are also dialogues.

Activity 3

Question 3.
How does Yeats describe the character of Fr Gilligan in the poem?
Complete the following word web.

Answer:

Activity 4

Question 4.
Read the poem again and pick out an instance of simile used in the poem.
Answer:
Simile – as merry as a bird.

Activity 5

Question 5.
Yeats uses a number of images in the poem to provide a sensory experience to the readers. Pick out instances of visual and auditory images from the poem.
Answer:

Visual	Auditory
flock in their beds
green sods	sparrow chirp
ñodding in a chair	cned
leaning on the chair
stars
moth
leaves shaking in the wind
rousing the horse
riding
rocky lane
fen
sick man’s wife opening the door
merry as a bird
souls who tire and bleed
God in his purple robes

Activity 6

Read the explanations on below:
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and dadayy
For half his flock were in their beds
Or under green sods lay.
Once, while he nodded in a chair
At the moth-hour of the eveeve
Another poor man sent for him,
And he began to grieve.grievegrieve
Pick out other rhyming words from the poem . Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem.
Answer:
die-l, asleep-peep, wind-mankind, more-floor, chair- care, fen-again, ago-fro, bird-word, bleed-need, care- chair

Rhyme Scheme: abcb

Activity 7 and 8

→ To be done by students orally in the class.

The Ballad Of Father Gilligan About the author:

– William Butler Yeats – 1865–1939

Yeats (1865-1939) is an Irish poet. In 1923 he received the Nobel Prize. In fact his greatest works came after he got the Nobel Prize. They are The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).

The Ballad Of Father Gilligan Summary in English

Page – 89

Stanza 1 & 2 :
Peter Gilligan was an old priest. He was tired day and night because half of his parishioners were either sick or dead. One evening he was sitting in a chair quite sleepy and tired when he was called to go and administer the sacrament of anointing the sick to a poor sick man. Father Gilligan was unhappy to be called at this time.

Page – 90

Stanza 3 & 4:
He murmured, “I have no rest, nor joy nor peace. People are going on dying.” After saying this he felt he should not have said it. He asks for forgiveness from God and said that it was his body, and not he, that made him say so. He knelt. Leaning on the chair he started praying. He soon fell asleep. Night came. Stars appeared in the sky.

Stanza 5 & 6 :
There were millions of stars. The wind shook the leaves. God covered the land with darkness and whispered to mankind. Early morning, when the sparrows began to chirp and moths came once again, Father Gilligan stood up on the floor.

Stanzas 7 & 8: “Alas, alas! The man may have died as I was sleeping,” he thought. He immediately took his horse and rushed to the place of the sick man. He rode very fast over the rocky paths and wetlands. The sick man’s wife opened the door. She was surprised and said, “Father, you have come again!

Page – 91

Stanzas 9 & 10 :
Father asked the woman about the sick man. She said he died an hour ago. Father was sad and he walked restlessly to and fro. The woman said that after the Father had left, the man died happily like a bird. On hearing these words, the Father knelt down. He knew that God had sent another priest in his place.

Stanzas 11 & 12 :
He prayed: “The One that has made the night of stars to comfort the souls that are tired and suffering sent one of his angels to help me in my need. God, who is dressed in purple robes, taking care of the planets, had pity on me, a small creature, and sent a priest tq do my work as I was asleep on a chair.”

The Ballad Of Father Gilligan Summary in Malayalam

The Ballad Of Father Gilligan Glossary

You can Download The Scholarship Jacket Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 4 Chapter 1 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 4 Chapter 1 The Scholarship Jacket (Short Story)

Std 10 English Textbook The Scholarship Jacket Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What was the tradition followed in the small Texas school?
Answer:
The tradition followed in the small Texas school was that a beautiful gold and green jacket was awarded to the student who had maintained the highest grades for eight years. The award was given during the passing out function (in the USA they call it graduation) of the 8th graders.

Question 2.
What do you think the letter ‘S’ on the jacket represents?
Answer:
The letter ‘S’ represents “scholarship”.

Question 3.
‘This one, the scholarship jacket, was our only chance.’Why does Martha say so?
Answer:
She says it because her parents were very poor. To take part in the school sports, a lot of money had to be paid by way of registration fees, uniform and outside trips. So Martha’s brothers and sister had no chance of getting any jacket by being a member of any team or by winning any sport event.

Question 4.
How does Martha describe herself?
Answer:
She was pencil thin, without any curve anywhere. She was called ‘beanpole’ and ‘string bean’.

Question 5.
What were Martha’s teachers arguing about?
Answer:
They were arguing about Martha. If merit was the only consideration, the scholarship jacket should go to Martha. That is what Mr. Schmidt, her history teacher wanted. But her maths teacher named Mr. Boone wanted it to be given to Joann as her father is a Board member and owns the only store in town.

Question 6.
Why was Mr. Boone arguing in Joann’s favour?
Answer:
Mr. Boone was arguing in Joann’s favour because her father was a Board member and owns the only store in town.

Question 7.
‘It seemed a cruel coincidence…. ’ Why did Martha sayso?
Answer:
Martha said so because the argument she overheard between Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Boone was about herself, about the giving of the scholarship jacket. When she was called to the principal’s office she knew why she was being called.

Question 8.
Why was the principal ‘uncomfortable and unhappy’?
Answer:
He was uncomfortable and unhappy because that year a new rule was brought by the Board that the student who is to be given the scholarship jacket should pay an amount of 15 dollars. He knew that Martha deserved the jacket, but since she was too poor to pay, the jacket will have to be given to someone else. He knew it was a ploy by a Board member to enable his daughter Joann to get the jacket.

Question 9.
Why was Martha shocked?
Answer:
She was shocked because the principal told her that she would have to pay 15 dollars if she wanted the jacket. Until that year it was given free to the best student.

Question 10.
Why was the winning the scholarship jacket important to Martha?
Answer:
It was important to Martha because it represented 8 years of hard work and expectation.

Question 11.
Why did Martha’s grandfather refuse to pay the money?
Answer:
He refused to pay the money because he thought that if she pays for it, it will not be a scholarship jacket anymore.

Question 12.
Why was the principal disturbed when Martha’s grandfather refused to pay the money?
Answer:
The principal was disturbed when Martha’s grandfather refused to pay the money because then the jacket will have to be given to someone else. The principal knew full well that Martha deserved it and he did not want herto lose it. The principal also knew that the grandfather’s reasoning was right. It is not that the grandfather does not have 15 dollars as he owns a 200-acre ranch.

Question 13.
Why did the principal change his mind?
Answer:
The principal was an honest man and he knew that Martha’deserved the jacket. He also thought that by making a student pay, a scholarship jacket would not remain a scholarship jacket any more. It would be like a jacket bought in the market., Moreover he sympathized with Martha.

Question 14.
How did Martha wish to express her joy?
Answer:
She wished to express her joy by yelling, jumping, running the mile or doing something.

Question 15.
Who really helped Martha get the scholarship jacket? How?
Answer:
Mr. Schmidt. He must have told the principal that he was not ready to tell lies or falsify records. He must have threatened to resign from his job if Martha was not given the jacket.

Question 16.
‘His face looked happy and innocent as a baby’s, but I knew better.’ What does the expression ‘but I knew better’ suggest here?
Answer:
She knew that it was Mr. Schmidt who argued for her and convinced the principal to give the jacket to her instead of giving it to Joann, whose father was a Board member.

Activity 1

Question 1.
What did the teacher mean by the statement ‘Martha is Mexican’?
Answer:
This statement was made by Mr. Boone, Martha’s Maths teacher. He was in favour of giving the scholarship jacket to Joann, the daughter of a Board member, who owned the only store in town. To add weight to his argument he was bringing in the racial issue. His argument is why to give the scholarship jacket to a Mexican, instead of giving to an American? From this we see that even in schools there is racial prejudice. In fact teachers must be above such petty considerations. In schools only merit should count and not religion, sex, race or nationality.

Activity 2

Question 1.
Narrate the events that led to Martha’s winning the Scholarship Jacket.
Answer:
Martha comes from a poor family and as her parents could not afford to keep her, she is given to her grandparents to bring her up. But she is a hardworking girl who has been at the top of the class for all the 8 years. In the Texas school where she studied, there was a custom that the student who maintained the topmost grades for all the 8 years would be awarded a scholarship jacket on the passing out (graduation) function. The jacket was free. But that year a Board Member wanted her daughter to get the scholarship jacket. For that a rule was made that only if the student pays 15 dollars the jacket would be given.

The member and some of his supporters among the staff know that Martha is too poor to pay and thus Joann could get the jacket. When Martha goes home and asks her grandfather to pay 15 dollars, he refuses to pay saying that if the money is paid it will no more be a scholarship jacket. Martha goes and says this to the principal. Some teachers, like Mr. Schmidt, Martha’s history teacher, had already insisted that the jacket should be given to Martha as she is the one who. really deserves it. Finally the principal decides to award it to Martha.

Activity 3

Question 1.
Pick out instances from the story that reveal the role played by them and complete the table given.
Paragraphs about each:

The grandfather: We see him always working in the field. He is a rich man with a 200-acre ranch and he does a lot of the work himself. He is very logical. He says that if money is to be paid for scholarship jacket, it will no more remain a scholarship jacket. His argument wins in the end.

The Principal: We see the principal calling Martha and telling her that from that year there is a policy change and she has to pay 15 dollars to get the scholarship jacket. From his behaviour we know he is unhappy about the decision of the Board as he knows Martha deserves the scholarship jacket. He is a good man because he finally decides to give the jacket to Martha. This may offend the father of Joann and also teachers like Mr. Boone.

Mr Boone: He is a bad teacher. He wants the scholarship jacket to go to Joann because her father is a Board member and he owns the only store in town. He also says Martha is a Mexican and so the jacket should go to Joartn. He is a racist in the sense that he does not give due consideration to merit, but to race and nationality. Such teachers are a shame to the profession.

Mr. Schmidt: He is a good example for a nice teacher. He insists that the jacket should be given to Martha. He is not ready to tell lies and falsify records to favour Joann. He even threatens to resign his job, if the jacket is not given to Martha. We see him happy in the end because he knows justice is done. He must have been jubilant when Martha gave him an affectionate hug.

Activity 4

Question 1.
Prepare the speech and present it before the class.
Answer:
Respected Principal, my dear teachers and friends, It is with joy and sorrow that I stand here. Joy because I have passed the 8th grade and received the scholarship jacket. Sorrow because I have to leave this school and my beloved teachers that have made me grow wiser and my friends with whom I have spent 8 years of my childhood. I thank the Principal and my teachers and my classmates who have helped me in getting this scholarship jacket. My sister had earned it a few years ago and now I am getting it and I am sure my family members will be proud of me. I take this opportunity to especially thank my History Teacher, Mr. Schmidt who has helped me in different ways. I will always remember him with gratitude.

Before I conclude, I would like to make a suggestion. This year the Board had decided to charge 15 dollars for the jacket. But fortunately for me the Principal was kind to make an exception and that is why I am getting this jacket. I want to say to everyone concerned that a scholarship jacket will not remain a scholarship jacket, if one has to pay for it even a single dollar.

I once again thank everyone for making my stay in this school a memorable one. I wish all my classmates a successful future.
Martha

Activity 5

Question 1.
The management decides to change the policy regarding the Scholarship Jacket. The principal feels uncomfortable and unhappy about this change. He expresses his resentment in a letter to the management. Write the likely letter.
Answer:

School Letterhead

The Chairman
Management of the Texas Rural School
Texas
16 June 2016

Dear Sir,
Sub: CHARGING FEE FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP JACKET
I am much grieved at the decision of the Management to charge a fee of 15 dollars from the student who is eligible to get the scholarship jacket. Our school has been in existence for 80 years and all these years the jacket was given free. Now, making a sudden change in the policy is not advisable for many reasons.

The biggest reason is that the eligible student may be from a poor family and he/she may not be able to make the payment. Thereby the student will lose his/her chance to get the jacket. This is injustice. Money should not become a criterion for receiving such honors.

Secondly charging a fee for the scholarship jacket will reduce the significance of the scholarship jacket. If one has to pay a fee for that jacket, it will be like any other jacket bought in the market.
Many of the teachers are against the decision of the Management to charge a fee for the jacket. It breaks an honorable tradition set by this school and also it prevents poor students from having the reward for their continuous hard work.

So please reconsider the matter and once again make the scholarship jacket what it actually is – a scholarship jacket.
Thank you,

Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(Selina Job)
Principal

Activity 6

Question 1.
Here Martha tells her own story. Imagine that you are a friend of Martha and you know everything that happened in her life in connection with the issue of the Scholarship Jacket. If you narrate the story, how would you do it? Write the likely narrative.
Answer:
Martha is an intelligent and hardworking girl. But because her parents were poor, they gave her to her grandparents to bring up. Her poverty did not stop her from hard work and she has been scoring top grades all the years.

In the Texas school where she was studying, there was the custom of awarding a scholarship jacket to the best outgoing student. The jacket was given during the valedictory function for the 8^th grade students. The eligible student should have constantly scored the top grades in all the 8 years of his/her stay there. Martha was sure she would get it and she was eagerly awaiting it.

There was a girl called Joann in her class. She was nowhere near Martha in her grades. But her father was a Board member and he made a plan to keep Martha away from the Prize. He knew that Martha was too poor to pay any money to get the jacket. He and some his friends took the initiative and made the Board change its policy from that year. They decided that to get the scholarship jacket the student has to pay 15 dollars. By this he knew that Martha won’t get it and it could then be given to Joann.

But a good teacher named Mr. Schmidt was against this scheme. He persuaded the principal to make the scholarship jacket free. The principal also realized it would be an injustice to Martha if the jacket was not given to her. So, finally, Martha got it because of the goodness of Mr. Schmidt and the principal. Martha was very happy.

Activity 7

Question 1.
Martha is awarded the Scholarship Jacket by the Vice-Chancellor of the University. Prepare a news report of the award ceremony.
Answer:
Texas, March 3: The Texas Rural School Scholarship Jacket is awarded to Martha Stevenson, who has been scoring top grades in all the 8 years of her study there. Presenting the Scholarship Jacket, Dr. Bill Mason, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Texas, said that Martha should be made a role model by all the students. Although coming from a poor family, Martha has been able to maintain top grades throughout her study in the school. He wished her to continue to work hard so that she can reach greater heights in life.

The Board had decided to charge a fee of 15 dollars for the scholarship jacket. But the principal made an exception in the case of Martha, considering her merit throughout her stay in the school.
When asked what her future plan was, Martha said she would study Law as she wanted to become a solicitor.

Let’s Learn More About Words

Activity 1.

Some words from the story are given in Column A. Match the words in Column A with their appropriate meaning in Column B.

Column A	Column B
valedictorian	to give up
agile	to behave nervously or restlessly
despair	slang for a tall, thin person
falsify	to gather; to summon up
resign	to listen secretly to a private conversation
coincidence	loss of courage in the face of trouble
fidget	able to move quickly and easily
dismay	disgusting; unpleasant
muster	to make false by adding or changing
vie	an accidental sequence of events
eavesdrop	a student with the highest academic rank in a class
beanpole	to lose hope

Answer:

Column A	Column B
valedictorian	a student with the highest academic rank in the class.
agile	able to move quickly and easily
despair	losing hope
falsify	to make false by adding or changing
resign	to give up
coincidence	an accidental sequence of events
fidget	to behave nervously or restlessly
dismay	loss of courage in the face of trouble
muster	to gather, to summon up
vie	disgusting, unpleasant
Eavesdrop	to listen secretly to a private conversation
Bean pole	slag fora tall, thin person

Activity 2

Write the word that best completes each sentence. You may use the words given in Column A of Activity 1.

1. …………. people are usually good athletes.
2. Martha tried not to …………. over the bad news.
3. ‘What a ………….! I wasn’t expecting to see you here, the principal said to Martha.
4. She could not help but ………….
5. Mr. Schmidt was not ready to …………. the records to hide the truth.
6. The thought that she may lose the Jacket was the reason for her ………….
7. The …………. comments of Mr. Boone made her upset.
8. She couldn’t …………. enough courage to ask
Answers:
1. Agile
2. dismay
3. coincidence
4. eavesdrop
5. falsify
6. despair
7. vile
8. muster

Activity 3

Look at the examples given below and try to find out the meanings of the words highlighted from the contextual clues given in the sentences.
1. Manu is a polyglot. He knows several languages.
2. The hurricane began as an amorphous mass – a shapeless group of clouds.
3. When I disparaged him, he put me down in the same way.
4. She was not simply happy to receive the gift; she was euphoric.
5. The sleep clinic treats somnambulists, people who walk in their sleep.
Answers:
1. one who knows many languages.
2. without any clear shape or form
3. regard as worthless
4. extremely happy.
5. people who walk in their sleep

Activity 4

Read the notes on page 123 Given below are sentences which contain idiomatic expressions. Read the sentences and write the meaning of the idioms.
Read the following sentences from the story.
(i) The principal muttered something I couldn’t understand under his breath and walked over to the window.
(ii) His face looked as happy and innocent as a baby’s, but I knew better.

Here the idiom ‘knew better’ means to be wise enough to recognize something as wrong or not possible.

1. We can argue on the issue till the cows come home ………….
2. Oh! It is raining cats and dogs ………….
3. Radhika was tickled pink by the good news ………….
4. This dress costs an arm and a leg ………….
5. We all are in the same boat ………….
6. I’ll clean the toilet when pigs fly ………….
Answers:
1. for a long time.
2. raining very heavily.
3. very delighted.
4. a lot of money.
5. the same difficult situation
6. never.

The Scholarship Jacket About Author

Marta Salinas was born in 1949. She is a native of Coalinga, California. She graduated in creative writing from the University of California. She has published several short stories.

The Scholarship Jacket Summary in English

P. 113
1. I attended a small Texas school. It had a tradition. Every year during the 8th grade passing out function a beautiful gold and green jacket was awarded to the student who had maintained the highest grades for 8 years. The jacket had a big gold ‘S’ on the left front side and your name written in gold letters on the pocket.

2. My eldest sister Rosie had won the jacket a few years back. I also expected it. I was 14 and in the 8th grade. I had been an ‘A’ student from the first grade. My father was a farm labourer. He could hardly earn enough to feed his 8 children. So when I was six, I was given to my grandparents to be looked after.

p. 114
3. We could not participate in sports at school as there were registration fees, uniform fees and trips out of town. So we would never have a school sports jacket in our home. The scholarship jacket was our only chance.

In May, close to the passing out day, spring fever struck as usual. No one paid any attention in class. We stared out of the window and at one another. We wanted to finish the classes. I was unhappy whenever I looked in the mirror. I was pencil thin. Not a curve anywhere. I was called ‘beanpole’ and ‘string bean’. I knew I looked like that. I was thinking like this when I walked from the history class to the gym. Another hour of sweating in basket ball, and showing my toothpick leg. I remembered that my PE shorts were in a bag under my desk where I had forgotten them. I had to walk all the way back to get them. Coach Thomson was strict with the PE shorts. She had said that I was a good forward. She even tried to persuade Grandma to let me join the team. Grandma refused.

5. I was almost back at the classroom when I heard angry voices. I stopped. I did not know what to do. I needed those shoes. I was getting late. But I did not want to interrupt an argument between my teachers. The voices I recognized: Mr. Schmidt, my history teacher and Mr. Boone, my maths teacher. They were arguing about me. I could not believe it. I stood flat against the wall as if I were trying to blend with the graffiti.

Theard Mr. Schmidt. He sounded very angry: “I refuse to do it! I don’t care who her father is. Her grades don’t even begin to compare to Martha’s. I won’t lie or falsify records. Martha has a straight A-plus average and you know it.” Mr. Boone’s voice was calm and quiet. “Look, Joanne’s father is on the Board. He owns the only store in town. We could say it was a close tie and …”

p. 115
6. I could not hear the rest of what he said clearly. But I could hear some words here and there. “Martha is Mexican …. resign … won’t do it…” Mr. Schmidt rushed down the opposite way and went into the auditorium. He did not see me.

I was shaking. I waited a few minutes and ran into the room and collected my bag. Mr Boone saw me, but did not say anything. To this day I don’t remember how I got through the PE. I went home very sad. I cried into the pillow so that Grandmother would not hear me.

7. It was a cruel coincidence that I heard that conversation. When the Principal called me to his office the next day, I knew what it was for. He looked unhappy and uncomfortable. I looked him straight in the eyes. He looked away and pretended to be looking at some papers.

He told me that there was a change in the policy regarding the scholarship jacket. It used to be free. But this year the Board has decided to charge 15 dollars which will not even cover the cost of the jacket.

8. I stared at him in shock. A sound of surprise came from my throat. He still avoided looking in my eyes. “He said that if I could not pay 15 dollars, it would be given to the next one in line. I knew who it was.

9. I told him that I would speak to my grandfather and let him know the next day. I cried as I was returning home from the bus stop. By the time I got home my eyes were red and puffy.

p. 116
I asked Grandmother where Grandpa was. He was working in the bean, field at the back of the house.

10. I met him there. He was walking between the rows of plants with a hoe in his hand. I went to him thinking how I could present my demand. There was a cool breeze and sweet smell of mesquite fruit in the air. I wanted that jacket so much. It represented 8 years of hard work and expectation. I knew I had to be honest with Grandpa. He saw my shadow and looked up.

11. I cleared my throat. I held my hands behind my back so that he would not see them shaking. I told him that I wanted to get a big favour from him. I spoke in Spanish. He knew only Spanish.

12. I explained to him that this year the scholarship jacket was not free. It would cost 15 dollars. If I didn’t pay the money tomorrow it would be given to somebody else. Grandpa looked up and leaned his chin on the hoe handle. He looked at the field and finally asked, “What does a scholarship jacket mean?”

13. I answered quickly: “It means you’ve earned it by having the highest grades for 8 years and that’s why they are giving it to you.” I realized the significance of the words too late. Grandpa said nothing and went back to weeding the field. Finally he spoke as I turned to leave, crying.

p. 111
“If you pay for it, Martha, it is not a scholarship jacket, is it? Tell your principal that I will not pay the 15 dollars.”

I walked back and locked myself in the bathroom for a long time. I was angry with Grandpa although knew he was right. I was angry with the Board. Why did they change the rule when it was my turn to get the jacket?

Those were days of belief and innocence. The next day I went to the Principal’s office very sad. This time he looked me in the eyes. When he asked what my grandfather said, I told him he would not pay the 15 dollars.

15. The Principal muttered something. He walked to the window and looked outside. He looked bigger than usual. He was a tall, thin and bony man with gray hair. Finally he asked, “Why won’t your grandfather pay? He.has a two-hundred acre ranch.”

16. I looked at him forcing my eyes to stay dry. Then I told him the reason grandfather gave for not paying. I stood up to leave. I told him: “I think you’ll have to give it to Joann.” It had just slipped out of my mouth. I was near the door when he called me, “Martha, wait.”

p. 118
17. I tumed and looked at him, waiting. What did he want now? My heart was pounding and something bitter tasting was in my mouth. I thought I would vomit. I did not want any sympathy speeches. He sighed loudly and went back to his desk. Then he told me that they would make an exception and give me the jacket.

18. I could hardly believe my ears. I thanked him. I felt great. I did not know about adrenalin then but I knew something was pumping inside me. I wanted to yell, jump, run, do something. I ran out so I could cry in the hall where nobody would see me. At the end of the day, Mr. Schmidt winked at me and said that he heard that I was getting the jacket.

19. His face looked happy. I gave him a quick hug and ran to the bus. I cried on the walk home again. This time I cried as I was happy. I ran into the field to tell Grandpa. I started pulling weeds. Grandpa worked alongside me for a few minutes. He did not ask what had happened. After collecting a pile of weeds I faced him. Then I told him what happened.

20. Grandpa said nothing. He gave me a pat on my shoulder and a smile. He wiped his sweat with the crumpled red handkerchief he always carried in his back pocket. He asked me to see if Grandma wanted any help with supper.

Iran back to the house whistling some silly tune.

The Scholarship Jacket Summary in Malayalam

The Scholarship Jacket Meanings of Words And Phases

You can Download The Never Never Nest Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 4 Chapter 3 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 4 Chapter 3 The Never Never Nest (One-Act Play)

Std 10 English Textbook The Never Never Nest Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why did Aunt Jane exclaim ‘charming’?
Answer:
Aunt Jane exclaimed ‘charming’ because the lounge of the home where Jack and Jill lived looked very cosy and pretty.

Question 2.
What was really wonderful according to Aunt Jane?
Answer:
The fact that Jack and Jill had fine furniture, a car, a piano, a refrigerator and a radio was really wonderful according to Aunt Jane.

Question 3.
What made Aunt Jane worry about her gift cheque?
Answer:
Aunt Jane had wanted to give a cheque for 200 Pounds as a wedding gift to Jack and Jill. But when she came to their house she saw that they had a pretty lounge with fine furniture, a radiogram and a piano. They also had a refrigerator and a car. This makes Aunt Jane think that she must have mistakenly written 2000 Pounds instead of 200 in the cheque and that is why they could buy all these luxury items. This thought made her worried.

Question 4.
What arguments did Jack give in support of purchasing a house on installment basis?
Answer:
If they didn’t purchase a house, they would go on paying rent year after year. But they could buy a home just for 10 Pounds. Then of course they have to pay quarterly installment payments. By buying the house they have become Owners of the house and not mere Tenants.

Question 5.
According to Jack, which parts of the car does he really own now?
Answer:
He owns the steering wheel, one tire and about two of the cylinders.

Question 6.
Why did Aunt Jane refuse to sit on the furniture?
Answer:
Aunt Jane refused to sit on the furniture because it belongs to Mr. Sage, from whom they bought it on installment. So only a part of the sofa belongs to Jack arid Jill and the rest belongs to Mr. Sage.

Question 7.
How did they plan to pay their installments?
Answer:
They would borrow money from the Thrift and Providence Trust Corporation.

Question 8.
Why did Aunt Jane hesitate to travel in Jack’s car?
Answer:
Aunt Jane hesitated to travel in Jack’s car because he owns only some parts or the car. The other parts belong to the man who sold it to him on installments.

Question 9.
What did aunt Jane want them to do with the cheque?
Answer:
Aunt Jane wanted them to make at least one thing in their house their own by paying for it fully, using the cheque.

Question 10.
What did Jill do with the cheque?
Answer:
She endorsed the cheque to Dr. Martin, to whom they owed money because of their baby’s birth, and sent it to him by post.

Question 11.
Why did Jill send the cheque to Dr. Martin?
Answer:
Jill sent the cheque to Dr. Martin because she wanted to make the final payment and make the baby their own. This way she will fulfill the desire of Aunt Jane who wanted them to use the cheque to make ‘something’ in their house their own.

Let’s Revisit

Activity 1

Title Significance of the title	…………………………………….
Characters	1. Jack – a representative of consumer society
Characteristics of each	2. 3. 4.
Settings
Plot
Message of the play

A. Complete the table:
Answer:

Title Significance of the title	Never-Never Nest means their nest (home) will never be completed. Their desire for things will go on without ever ending.
Characters	1. Jack – a representative of consumer society
Characteristics of each	2. Jill – a housewife (homemaker) who encourages her husband to get things on installment. 3. A sensible aunt who wants Jack and Jill to live within their means. 4. She looks after the baby of Jack and Jill and does other small jobs for them.
Settings	The villa at New Hampstead where Jack and Jill live with their baby.
Plot	Jack and Jill are a young couple with a baby. Jack earns only 6 Pounds a week. Jill is a housewife! But they go on getting all kinds of luxury items on installments. The monthly installments come to more than 7 Pounds. To make up the deficit they will take a loan which will further increase their financial burden.
Message of the play	Live within your means. Don’t fall into the “Buy Now and Pay Later” trap.

B. Prepare a review of the drama based on the table.
Answer:
“The Never-Never Nest” is a one-act Play by Cedric Mount. It exposes the shams of contemporary society which tries to live beyond its means. It warns the people against the modem “Buy Now Pay Later” scheme which tempts people to buy things which are not essential for them. Since they don’t have to pay immediately, they are tempted to buy things that are available on installments. In the play we see Jack and Jill, a young couple with a baby. Jack earns only 6 Pounds a week.

Jill is a housewife. But they go on getting all kinds of luxury items on installments. The monthly installments come to more than 7 Pounds. To make up the deficit they will take a loan which will further increase their financial burden. In their lounge in the villa, they have fine furniture, a radiogram and a piano. They also have a refrigerator and a car. But all these and the villa itself are bought on installments. So nothing is their own, even their baby, as they owed money to the doctor. They have to finish the installments to make the baby fully their own. Their Aunt comes and pays them 10 Pounds and Jill pays it to the doctor hoping that at the least the baby in the house will be their own. The play 1 is a warning to those who live beyond their means and go on buying things on installments.

Activity 2

Based on your understanding of the play ‘The Never – Never Nest’, organise a classroom debate on the topic: ‘Is Equated Monthly Instalment Scheme – a boon or bane to middle- class families?
Answer:
Based on your understanding of the play “The Never- Never Nest”, organize a classroom debate on the topic: “Is Equated Monthly Instalments Scheme a boon or bane to middle-class families?”
Here are the points to argue:
It is a Boon (Blessing):

1. People can get things when they want.
2. They can pay for things in easy monthly instalments instead of paying the whole amount at once.
3. It will force people to save money to make the payments.
4. You can have the comfort of many things at the same time.
5. You will be forced to work harder to get enough money for making the payments.
6. You will cut down your avoidable expenses to make timely payments.

It is a Bane (Curse):

1. People will be tempted to buy things they do not really need.
2. It makes people live beyond their means.
3. It encourages luxury.
4. It brings trouble when people find it difficult to make the payments.
5. Living with things which are not your own is not gentlemanly.
6. If you fail to make payments in time, the company will threaten you and take you to court.
7. There are cases where people have committed suicide as they could not make payments in time.

Activity 3

Question 1.
Discuss the features of a script of a play.
Answer:

• A play script will include a list of characters at the very beginning.
• It may be divided into acts which are then divided into scenes.
• Each scene will have a description of the setting at the start and then the characters’ dialogue.
• Dialogue is set out with the character’s name on the left, then a colon and then the dialogue.
• Stage directions for the actors are written every now and again in brackets.

Prepare a script based on the story “The Scholarship Jacket”, highlighting the following scenes.

Question 1.
The argument between Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Boone
Answer:
(A Classroom. Mr. Schmidt, the history teacher and Mr. Boone, the Maths teacher, are engaged in an argument. The students are out fortheir PE Classes.)
Mr. Boone: (In a pleading voice) Mr. Schmidt, this year we should give the Scholarship Jacket to Joann and not to Martha.
Mr. Schmidt: (Angrily) I refuse to support you. Joann’s grades are nowhere near Martha’s. How can you even think of doing such a thing?
Mr. Boone: Joann’s father is on the School Board. He owns the only store in town.
Mr. Schmidt: I don’t care who Joann’s father is. I won’t lie or falsify Martha’s records. She is a straight A+ and you know it.
Mr. Boone: But Martha is a Mexican.
Mr. Schmidt: So what? She is our student and here we have to treat all students alike. I insist that the Scholarship Jacket should be given to Martha. If it is given to Joann, I will resign.

Question 2.
The first meeting of Martha with the Principal.
Answer:
(Principal’s room. The Principal looks unhappy and uncomfortable. He is pretending to look at some papers.)
Martha: May I come in, Sir?
Principal: Yes, come in!
Martha: Sir, The peon told me you wanted to see me.
Principal: Yes, I wanted to see you because I wanted to tell you something. There is a change in the policy about the Scholarship Jacket. It used to be free. But from this year the Board has decided to charge 15 dollars from the recipient of the jacket.
Martha: 15 dollars, Sir! I don’t think my parents can afford to pay that much money.
Principal: Then the Jacket will be given to the one next in line.
Martha: Sir, I will speak to my grandfather about the change in the policy and request him to give me 15 dollars. I will tell you the result tomorrow.
Principal: It’s Okay, You can go now!
Martha: Thank you, Sir!

Question 3.
Conversation between Martha and Grandfather.
Answer:
(Grandpa is working in the bean field at the back of his house. Martha meets him there.)
Martha: Good Afternoon, Grandpa.
Grandpa: Good Afternoon, Martha! What news?
Martha: Iwantabigfavourfromyou.
Grandpa: Favourfrom me! What favour?
Martha: Grandpa, I am eligible to get the Scholarship Jacket. But this year it is not free. I have to pay 15 dollars for it. If I don’t pay 15 dollars, it will be given to somebody else.
Grandpa: What does a scholarship jacket mean?
Martha: It means you have earned it by having the highest grades for 8 years and that is why they are giving it to you.
Grandpa: (After a long pause causing Martha to cry) Martha, if you pay for it, it is not a scholarship jacket anymore. Tell the Principal that I will not pay 15 dollars for the scholarship jacket.

Question 4.
Second Meeting of Martha with the Principal.
Answer:
(Principal’s room. Martha enters the room with a sad face.)
Martha: Sir, I asked my Grandpa to give me 15 dollars to pay for the scholarship jacket.
Principal: (Looking into the eyes of Martha) Did he give you the money?
Martha: No, Sir, he didn’t.
Principal: (walking towards the window and looking outside and then turning his head towards Martha) Why won’t your grandfather pay? He has a 200-acre ranch!
Martha: He told me that if I paid for the scholarship jacket it would no more be a scholarship jacket. It would be a jacket bought with a price. You may give the Jacket to Joann.” (She walks towards the door to go out.)
Principal: Martha, wait! We would make an exception and give you the Jacket.
Martha: (Tears of joy rolling out of her eyes) Thank you, Sir! Thank you very much!

Question 5.
Presentation of the Scholarship Jacket
Answer:
(The Assembly Hall. All the Board Members, teachers and many parents are present in the Hall. The Hall is beautifully decorated. There is joy on all faces except those of Joann, her father and Mr. Boone.)
The Principal speaks: Respected Board Members, my dear teachers, parent and students,
I am very happy to announce that the Scholarship Jacket this year is presented to Martha. She has been an A+ student throughout the 8 years of her stay here. She is an exemplary student. And she deserves it. There was a proposal to charge 15 dollars for the scholarship jacket. But after a lot of thinking, I have decided that no money would be charged and the Scholarship Jacket will be given to Martha free since she earned it through her diligence and hard work. (A big round of applause from the audience.)
Martha, come to the stage to receive your scholarship jacket!
(Martha goes to the stage and accepts the jacket. She thanks everyone, especially Mr. Schmidt, for her success.)

Let’s Find Out How Language Elements Work

Activity 1

The Use of the enough
Enough means as much as we need or want. Enough is placed before a noun, but after adjectives and adverbs. (See the notes and examples given on p. 136 of the Text.)

Question 1.
Complete the following sentences adding ‘enough’ with a suitable word from the box given and identify the parts of speech of the word modified by ‘enough’.
(old, loud, high, courage, thick)
1. He didn’t jump to win the prize.
2. She is to travel by herself.
3. He had to admit his mistake.
4. The ice had to walk on.
5. He spoke to be heard.
Answers:
1. high enough (adverb)
2. old enough (adjective)
3. enough courage (noun)
4. thick enough (adjective)
5. loud enough (adverb)

Activity 2

Relative Clauses
Relative clauses are clauses starting with the relative pronouns who, that, which, whose, where and when. These clauses do the work of adjectives, adverbs and nouns.

Read the notes on p. 136-137.

Question 1.
Complete the following sentences using appropriate relative pronouns.
(Who, When, Which, Where, Whom, Whose, That)
1. Do you know the man ………. climbed the mountain yesterday?
2. Can I have the pencil ………. I gave you today morning?
3. A notebook is a computer ………. can be carried around.
4. I won’t eat in a restaurant ………. is not clean.
5. I want to live in a place ………. there are lots of shops.
6. Yesterday was a day ………. everything went wrong!
7. He is a teacher ………. we all respect.
8. He ………. never climbs never falls.
Answers:
1. who
2. that (which)
3. that (which)
4. that (which)
5. where
6. when
7. whom
8. who

Question 2.
Look at the table on p. 137. Here are sentences for completing the table.

Answer:
For Persons:
Subject:
1. The thief who stole my money was caught.
2. The minister who was corrupt was forced to resign.

Object:
1. The girl whom you saw in my house is my cousin.
2. The man who gave me the book is my neighbour.

Possessive:
1. The article is about Nehru whose daughter became the PM later.
2. That lady whose children have abandoned her is very poor.

For Things:
Subject:
1. This is the watch that/which created the big problem.
2. That is the horse that/which came first in the race.

Object:
1. The bike which/that I bought was very expensive.
2. The letter which/that I wrote brought me trouble.

Possessive:
1. This is the Prize of which I am always happy.
2. This is a gain of which the government is proud.

Activity 3

Question Tags (p. 138)
We often change a statement into a question by adding a tag to it. The rule is if the statement is positive, the tag must be negative. If the statement is negative the tag must be positive. We repeat the auxiliary in the statement. If there is no auxiliary, we use do, does or did according to the context.

I. Identify the correct question tag and fill in the blanks.

Question 1.
He sometimes reads the newspaper, …………..?
(don’t he?/doesn’t he?/does he?)
Answer:
doesn’t he?

Question 2.
I think he’s from Maldives,…………..?
(doesn’t he?/ don’t I?/ isn’t he?)
Answer:
isn’t he?

Question 3.
Don’t talk while I am teaching,…………..?
(do you?/ amn’t you?/ will you?)
Answer:
will you?

Question 4.
Let’s go swimming,…………..?
(aren’t we?/ let we?/ shall we?)
Answer:
shall we?

Question 5.
Pass me the salt,…………..?
(do you?/ won’t you?/ are you?)
Answer:
won’t you?

Question 6.
He could have bought a new car,…………..?
(couldn’t he?/ haven’t he?/ could he?)
Answer:
couldn’t he?

Question 7.
The girl won’t sing in the party,…………..?
(does she?/ will she?/ do she?)
Answer:
will she?

Question 8.
He went on a tour,…………..?
(aren’t he? / didn’t he?/ don’t he?)
Answer:
didn’t he?

II. Fill in the blanks

Question 1.
You are an Indian,…………..?
Answer:
aren’t you?

Question 2.
I’m late,…………..?
Answer:
aren’t I?

Question 3.
The boy is from Kottayam,…………..?
Answer:
isn’t he?

Question 4.
He’ll never know,…………..?
Answer:
will he?

Question 5.
Ann has cleaned the plates,…………..?
Answer:
didn’t she?

Question 6.
Anu and Manu will arrive tomorrow,…………..?
Answer:
won’t they?

Question 7.
Vivek played football yesterday,…………..?
Answer:
didn’t he?

III. Read the dialogue between two friends and fill in the blanks appropriately.

Rajeev: Good morning Madhav, I’m not too early, …………..?
Madhav: No, not at all. You have brought all the documents,………?
Rajeev: I’ll get ready soon. You wouldn’t mind waiting for five minutes,……….?
Madhav: Ok. No problem. At what time shall we leave?
Rajeev: By 9 o’ clock. I think we will reach the bank in time,………?
Madhav: Ok then. Please get ready. I’ll have a talk with your father.
Rajeev: Yes, please do.
Answers:
i. am i?
ii. haven’t you?
iii. will you?
iv. won’t we?

Activity 4

Read the following sentences.
(Reported or Indirect Speech)
When we report what someone else has said, we have to make some changes in what he said. For example: “Where is Grandpa?” I asked Grandma. When we report it, it will be: I asked Grandma where Grandpa was. We notice that there are some changes:
a) The word order is changed.
b) The tense is changed, ‘is’ becoming ‘was’.
c) Instead of the question mark we use a full stop in the reported speech.
d) There are no quotation marks.

b.
I asked Grandma where Grandpa was.

• what type of a sentence is reported?
• which reporting word is used here?
• Which word is used as a linker?
• What kind of changes are made in the sentence in direct speech?
• Are there changes in punctuation?

Answer:

• a question
• asked
• No linker is used here
• Changes are mentioned above.
• There are changes in the punctuation.

Report the following sentences and analyse the changes you make while reporting them.
1. ‘What are you doing in America?’ he asked the man.
2. ‘Have you met your friends?’ he asked her.
3. ‘Can you help me?’ she asked the boy.
4. ‘Watch him carefully,’ she said to her mother.
5. ‘Why did you come late?’ the teacher asked her.
6. ‘Please don’t touch it,’ he said to her.
7. ‘What did your grandfather say?’ asked the principal.
8. ‘I am not going to sit here,’ said Aunt Jain.
9. ‘Let us pay the hospital bill with this money. said Jill.
Answers:
1. He asked the man what he was doing in America.
2. He asked her if she had met his friends.
3. She asked the boy if he could help her.
4. She told her mother to watch him carefully.
5. The teacher asked her why she came late.
6. He requested her not to touch it.
7. The principal asked her what her grandfather said.
8. Aunt Jane said that she was not going to sit there.
9. Jill wanted to pay the hospital bill with that money.

Let’s Edit

Read the following summary of the story written by a student of Std X. There are some errors in it which are given in bold letters. Edit the passage and rewrite it.

The Scholarship Jacket’ is a story by Marta Salinas and is about a Mexican girl named Martha. Every year in the Texas school, a scholarship Jacket were (a) presented to the class valedictorian. This scholarship Jacket was the only object in Marthas (b) mind. She was a skinny girl which (c) was not very pretty. However, she was enough smart (d) and had maintained an A plus average in her eight years of school. One day, she overheard two teachers arguing on why the Jacket should be give (e) to Joann. The next day the principal fold her that the scholarship Jacket was going to cost fifteen dollars, and if she couldn’d (f) pay for it, it would be given to the runner-up. Martha left a (g) school in tears, and was even more heartbroken when her grandfather said she couldn’t have the money. The next day, she told the principal dejectedly that she couldn’t have the scholarship Jacket and explained what (h). As she was about to exit the office she mentioned Joann’s name. The principal, feeling guilty told Martha why (i) she would have the scholarship Jacket. Finally, Martha realised that she had earned her Jacket, and hadn’t (j) purchased it.
Answers:
a) was
b) Martha’s
c) who
d) smart enough
e) given
f) couldn’t
g) the
h) why
i) that
j) hadn’t

The Never Never Nest Summary in English

“The Never- Never Nest” is a one-act play about a young couple named Jack and Jill. They have a small baby. They make full use of the “buy-now-pay-later” marketing scheme. One day, their aunt, whose name is Jane, visits them. She is surprised to find that even though Jack’s salary is not very high, they live in a beautiful house with all comforts. There was fine furniture, a radiogram, a piano, a car and a refrigerator. Jane then began to wonder if as a wedding gift she had given them a cheque for 2000 Pounds instead of the 200 she had planned to give. Otherwise how could Jack and Jill buy all these things? She also thought the rent for such a big house must be very high. Then Jack tells her they pay do not pay rent as they owned the house. They had bought it on instalment just like they bought all the other things in the house.

Aunt Jane then realizes that though Jack and Jill have everything in their house, nothing really belongs to them. They bought everything on instalment basis. In their car, only a tyre and one or two other things have been paid for. Only one leg of the sofa has been paid for. The total amount to be paid as instalments per week comes to more than seven Pounds. Jack earns only six pounds a week. Jill is a housewife. When Aunt Jane asks how they could pay seven Pounds a week when he is earning only six Pounds, Jack says that they would take a loan. Aunt Jane was shocked at the way Jack and Jill ran their home. Before she left, she gives them a cheque for ten Pounds asking them to make at least one article completely their own, using that money.

While Jack goes with Aunt Jane to the bus stop, Jill sent the money to Dr. Martin. Jack comes back and says that he wants to pay two months’ instalments on the car using that money. But Jill says that she has already sent that money to Dr. Martin so that at least their baby would become completely theirs!

The Never Never Nest Summary in Malayalam

The Never Never Nest Meanings of Words And Phrases

You can Download Mother to Son Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 5 Chapter 2 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 5 Chapter 2 Mother to Son (Poem)

Std 10 English Textbook Mother to Son Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Who is the speaker in the poem? Do you feel the presence of a listener? How?
Answer:
The speaker is the mother of a boy. We do feel the presence of a listener, who is her son. The words are directly spoken to him.

Question 2.
What does ‘no crystal stair’ mean?
Answer:
Crystal is a solid substance with proper shapes. It also means strong transparent glass. So the phrase ‘no crystal stair’ means the stairs of life are not smooth, plain and clear. Life is hard.

Question 3.
Was life easy for the narrator? Pick out evidence from the first stanza to support your answer.
Answer:
No, it wasn’t. Life for her was not a crystal stair. It had tacks and splinters. Boards were torn up and not carpeted.

Question 4.
The first stanza ends with the word ‘bare ’. What does the speaker mean by the word ‘bare’?
Answer:
‘Bare’ means naked or exposed. She did not have enough clothes or shoes to wear. Her life was bare, just like the stair was bare without any carpet. It hints at her poverty.

Question 5.
When life becomes challenging, does the speaker give up? How do you know?
Answer:
No, she doesn’t. Because she says, all the time she had been climbing on and reaching landings.

Question 6.
What do the phrases ‘turnin’ comers’ and ‘set down on the steps ’ mean?
Answer:
These phrases are the Americanisms in the poem. “Tumin’ comers” means to overcome difficulties one by one. ‘Set down’ means ‘sit down’. The mother, who is a Black Woman, is asking her son not to sit down on the step because he is tired of the problems.

Question 7.
The speaker speaks of the ‘dark times’. What does the poet refer to here?
Answer:
‘Dark times’ refers to the hardships in life. As the mother says she was sometimes going in the dark where there has not been any light. Often she had to travel even without a ray of hope.

Question 8.
What advice does the speaker give? Pick out the relevant line from the poem.
Answer:
The advice she gives is not to turn back, not to sit down on the steps and not to fall. “Boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps. Don’t, you fall now.”

Question 9.
With what message does the poem end?
Answer:
The poem ends with the message to go forward in spite of the problems. The obstacles should not stop us from going ahead.

Let’s Revisit

Read the poem again and answer the questions choosing the most appropriate answer from the options given.
1. In the first seven lines, a stairway with ‘tacks in it and splinters’ is being compared to
a. the carpet on the stairway
b. the other people who live in the run-down housing
c. the son
d. life
Answer:
d. life

2. In this poem, boards with ‘tacks and splinters’ and ‘boards turn up’ are symbols for
a. run-down housing
b. a life with many difficulties and challenges
c. the ungrateful manner in which the mother’s son treats her
d. the lack of compassion for fellow beings
Answer:
b. a life with many difficulties and challenges

3. what does ‘reachin’ landin’s’ symbolise in the mother’s life?
a. difficult situations in her life
b. phases in her life that seemed magical to her
c. compassionate forces in her life
d. places devoid of light
Answer:
c. compassionate forces in her life.

4. Why do you think the word ‘bare’ is used in the poem?
a. to emphasize the son’s brutality
b. because Hughes couldn’t think of anything else to add to that line
c. to emphasize how difficult and ‘bare’ of luxuries the mother’s life had been
d. because it rhymes with the word ‘stair’
Answer:
c. to emphasize how difficult and ‘bare’ of luxuries the mother’s life had been.

5. Which of the following is the most suitable meaning for ‘turnin’ comners’ in the Poem?
a. phases in her life where she tried to solve problems on her own
b. phases in her life where she felt she had failed
c. moments in her life when she knew her son would be successful
d. her need to find a father figure for her son
Answer:
a. phases in her life where she tried to solve problems on her own.

6. what is the theme of the poem?
a. One shouldn’t be over confident.
b. When you are in trouble, look to your mother for advice.
c. Don’t give up reach out to the goals you have set for yourself.
d. Love for mankind.
Answer:
c. Don’t give up reach out to the goals you have set for yourself.

7. The ‘crystal stair’ is a metaphor used in the Poem. Why do you think Hughes is
referring to the stairway as ‘crystal’?
a. Crystals are beautiful, but they are also fragile and slippery.
b. Crystals sparkle in the sunlight.
c. Crystals have different colors in them depending on how the light hits them.
d. You can almost see through a crystal.
Answer:
d. You can almost see through a crystal.

8. Why is ‘stairway’ used as an appropriate metaphor to describe the wisdom the mother
is trying to impart to her son?
a. Stairways are always dirty and rough.
b. One has to clean and wax a stairway to make it look good.
c. One requires steady persistence to go up and down a stairway.
d. Stairways are often found in expensive houses.
Answer:
c. One requires steady persistence to go up and down a stairway.

9. What is the most likely age of the son?
a. Old age
b. Infancy
c. Middle age
d. Teenage
Answer:
d. teenage

10. The language used in the poem, pertaining to a particular culture or geographic area is known as a:
a. dialogue
b. dialect
c. diction
d. idiom
Answer:
b. dialect

Activity 1

Question 1.
The metaphor “…. life for me ain’t been no crystal stair’ is an extended metaphor, it is seen throughout the poem. Do you think that the poem can convey the right idea without his metaphor? Why?
Answer:
I don’t think the poem can convey the right idea without this metaphor in the poem. The narrator is the poem is a Black American woman. Life for the Blacks was very hard in the America of the past. Things have changed for the better and we even see the first Black President in Barak Obama. But when Langston Hughes was writing this poem, it was impossible to even imagine that a Black man would become the President one day. The Blacks had to struggle even for their existence.

It was with great difficulty they found even decent livelihood. So the mother is telling her son that she had been working hand to reach even where she has reached. Life is a journey, an upward journey and we use stairs. But here the stairs are full of tacks and splinters. There are dark comers and there are no carpets. Every turn there are problems and obstacles. So it needs courage to go on. Such an idea could be conveyed only through the metaphor of the non crystal stairs.

Activity 2

Question 1.
What literary elements does Langston Hughes use to convey the message in the poem ‘Mother to Son’?
Consider the following:
1. What is the relevance of the metaphor ‘crystal stair’?
2. Why does the poet use the Afro-American dialect in the poem? A dialect is a form of language that is spoken in one area with grammar, words and pronunciation that may be different from other forms of the same language. Does the dialect give you any clue regarding the social status of the speaker in the Poen? Pick out the examples of the dialect from the poem.
3. How does the poem effectively make use of familiar things as word pictures or images such as tacks, splinters, etc.?
Answer:
To convey his message, Langston Hughes has used different literary elements. He has used the extended metaphor of the non-crystal stairs to show how hard it had been for her to go ahead in life with all the tacks and splinters on the stairs. He has used the American dialect, especially used by Black Americans. Examples are a-climbin’, reachin’, goin’ ain’t, cimbin’ etc. He has also used double negatives like “ain’t been no light”, “ain’t been no crystal stair” etc.

Set down to mean sit down, and Tse been’ to mean I have been, ‘it’s kinder’ to mean it is kind of etc. are typical Black American English. The poet has also used familiar words like tacks, splinters, torn up and bare to enhance the quality of the poem and to drive the message home. The speaker is a Black American lady and she is talking to her teenage son to go forward in life with courage and determination in spite of all the hardships he may face. She had done it and he too can do.

Activity 3

The poem is in the form of an advice given by a mother to son. Have you come across similar poems in your mother tongue? Consider the following lines from the eminent Malayalam poet Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan’s poem Kozhi.
Work out the thematic parallel between these two poems and present your ideas before the class.
Answer:
In the poem ‘Kozhi’, Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan also gives a similar message. Here the mother hen is advising her young chicks. They should have their eyes on both sides and also up and down. There should be burning insight in the eyes. Tears should not wet the eyes and blur their vision. All this is needed to forge ahead in life. In Mother to Son, Langston Hughes says almost similar things to her son. She asks her son to overcome the tacks and splinters, the uncarpeted and broken boards with the determination and insight. The message both the poems give is: “Don’t give up, be alert and have confidence.”

Mother to Son About Author

Hughes (1902-1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist. He is one of the innovators of jazz poetry. He is known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Some of his best works are: Montage of a Dream Deferred, The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Let America Be America Again.

Mother to Son Summary in English

p. 157 – 158 In the poem we see how a Black person suffers in a White-dominated society. The poem is a dramatic monologue. Only the mother is speaking and the son is just listening. The mother tells her son that her life had not been very smooth. The steps she had to climb were broken here and there and she had to be careful not to fall down. The floor is not carpeted showing that life had been very rough for her. But in spite of all the problems she faced, she had been steadily climbing and reaching landings. Sometimes she had been walking in darkness without any light at all. She had to negotiate dangerous bends.

She is telling her son never to feel disappointed and turn back. He should not sit down on the steps even though he might find them hard to climb on. He should be careful not to fall down. In the end she tells her son that all her life she had been climbing in spite of all the problems and she is still climbing.

Mother to Son Summary in Malayalam

Mother to Son Glossary

You can Download Poetry Questions and Answers, Summary, Activity, Notes, Kerala Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 4 Chapter 2 help you to revise complete Syllabus and score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala State Syllabus 10th Standard English Solutions Unit 4 Chapter 2 Poetry (Poem)

Std 10 English Textbook Poetry Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Do you think the speaker in the poem earnestly wishes to be a poet? Which lines says so?
Answer:
No, he does not. “Poetry arrived in search of me.”

Question 2.
What is the figure of speech used in the expression ‘poetry arrived’?
Answer:
The figure of speech used in the expression ‘poetry arrived’ is personification. Poetry, likes a person, comes looking for him.

Question 3.
Winter is a season when everything seems frozen and lifeless whereas the river represents die how of life. Find out a similar expression of contrast from the poem.
Answer:
They were not words, nor silence.

Question 4.
What was the poet’s condition before poetry arrived?
Answer:
He was without a face. He did not know what to say. His mouth had no way with names. His eyes were blind.

Question 5.
What happened to the poet when poetry arrived?
Answer:
Some fire started in his soul. He remembered his forgotten wings. He made his own way understanding that fire that started in his soul.

Question 6.
How did the poet show that after the arrival of poetry his imagination knew no bounds?
Answer:
The poet showed that after the arrival of poetry his imagination knew no bounds by saying he has remembered his forgotten wings. The wings of imagination can take him anywhere as imagination has no bounds.

Question 7.
Poetic intuition is like seeing without eyes. Which line says so?
Answer:
“My eyes were blind, and something started in my soul.”

Question 8.
What does “fever or forgotten wings” indicate?
Answer:
They indicate the floods of ideas that surge through his mind. The wings of imagination are taking him to places.

Question 9.
How does the vast, infinite and complex universe unfold itself before the poet in the poem?
Answer:
Suddenly he saw the heavens opening up. He saw the planets and palpitating plantations. He saw perforated shadows riddled with arrows, fire and flowers and the winding night – in fact the universe itself.

Question 10.
What do you think is referred to as ‘fire’ and ‘flowers’?
Answer:
Fire stands for the sun and flowers stand for the stars. Figuratively fire can mean the imaginative power of his sou I and flowers can mean the thoughts and ideas that bloom there.

Question 11.
‘I wheeled with the stars.’ What does the poet mean this?
Answer:
It means his fancy travelled everywhere. He could go to any place he wanted. There were no limits to his fancy.

Question 12.
How does the poet express his delight of writing the first line of poetry?
Answer:
He says the line was faint, it was pure nonsense and at the same time pure wisdom. It was the wisdom of someone who knows nothing and therefore it can be original and challenging. Now he was riding with stars with his heart loose on the wind.

Question 13.
What is the theme of the poem?
Answer:
The theme of the poem is how the writer became a poet.

Question 14.
What are the expressions used by the poet to show the inspired moments?
Answer:
The expressions used by the poet to show the inspired moments are:

• Poetry arrived in search of me.
• Something started in my soul.
• Suddenly I saw the heavens unfastened and open.
• I wheeled with the stars.
• My heart broke loose on the wind.

Question 15.
What is the tone of the poem? (Choose from the options)
i) cheerful
ii) sarcastic
iii) ecstatic
iv) melancholic
Answer:
iii) ecstatic

Let’s Revisit

Activity 1

The poem is an example of free verse and does not have end rhymes. The poet has made use of instances of alliteration to give rhythm to the poem. Underline the initial sounds repeated in the given lines.
… something started in my soul,
Identify similar lines having alliteration.
Answer:
something started; first faint line; plant, palpitating plantations; wheeled with; heart broke

Activity 2

Complete the following word web by selecting appropriate images from the poem?

Answer:

Activity 3

Following is the review of the poem written by one of the students in Std X. Some parts of it are missing. Supply suitable words from those given in the brackets below.

Pablo Neruda’s poem titled Poetry is taken from the poet’s collection of _______a_______ poems which appeared under the title Isla Negra: the name of his place of residence in Chile.

Poetry is the inner evolution of a poet in the making. It is as abrupt and unexpected as if summoned by a mysterious Poet whose origins are unknown Where does it come from?’ The poet doesn’t know whether it is from _____b_______ or _______c_______ Perhaps it came from the _______d_______ which symbolises obscurity and mystery. The poet is trying to express the inexpressible. It is like _____e_______. The fire is an inner fire – the fire of poetic inspiration. Similar images occur at many places in the Poem. It is something that started in his soul like _____f_______. wings also stand for the same inspired state of mind when the poet will be able to take a flight of imagination. when he started to write, the first line seemed to be pure nonsense. Then the poet saw the ______g_____ plantations and ______h______ shadows. In Kear’s poem Ode to a Nightingale, we come across a similar expression, ‘viewless wings of Poesy’. Through creativity the poet experiences a kind of inner expansion which discloses the vast expanse of the universe before his inner eyes. It is like being drunk with the _______i_________ or ______j_________ with the stars.
Answers:
a) autobiographical
b) winter
c) a river
d) starry void
e) deciphering the fire
f) forgotten wings
g) palpitating
h) perforated
i) branches of night
j) wheeling

Poetry About The Poet

Basoalto (1904-1973) is better known as Pablo Neruda. He is a Chilean. He adopted his pen name from the Czech poet Jan Neruda. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He often wrote in green ink which was his personal symbol for desire and hope.

– Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto

Poetry Summary in English

Lines 1-13: At that age Poetry came looking for me. I don’t know where it came from. It may have come from winter or a river. I don’t know how or when it came. They were not voices, words, or silence. I was called separately from the street at night unexpectedly. I was among violent fires or returning home alone. I was without a face and then it touched me.

Lines 14-22: I did not know what to say. My mouth. had no way with names. My eyes were blind. But something started in my soul. There was a fever of activities there. I was getting wings. I made my own way understanding the fire that was kindled in me.

Lines 23-36: I wrote the first faint line. It did not have much meaning. It was pure nonsense and it was also pure wisdom of someone who knows nothing. Suddenly I saw the heavens getting untied and open. I could see planets, palpitating plantations and perforated shadows. I was riddled with arrows, fires, flowers and the winding night making up the universe. Nothing was invisible to me now.

Lines 37-45: I am an extremely small thing, a nothing and nobody. But suddenly I become an elite member of the supernatural. Now I hold the keys to the abyss. 1. am free to wheel the stars. My heart is breaking loose on the wind and it is free to travel anywhere and feel any kind of experience.

Poetry Summary in Malayalam

Poetry Meanings of Words And Phases

Students can read Kerala SSLC Physics Model Question Paper Set 4 English Medium and Kerala SSLC Physics Previous Year Question Papers helps you to score more marks in your examinations.

Kerala SSLC Physics Model Question Paper Set 4 English Medium

General Instructions:

1. The first 15 minutes is the cool off time. You may – use the time to read and plan your answers.
2. Answer the questions only after reading the instructions and questions thoroughly.
3. Questions with marks series 1, 2, 3 and 4 are categorized as sections A, B, C and D respectively.
4. Five questions are given in each section. Answer any four from each section.
5. Answer each question by keeping the time.

Time: 1½ Hours
Total Score: 40 Marks

Section – A

Answer any four questions. Each question carries 1 score. [4 × 1 = 4]

Question 1.
Find the relation between the first pair and complete the second pair.
Electric oven : Heating effect
Mixie : _______.
Answer:
Mechanical effect.

Question 2.
What is. the voltage of electricity supplied to the distribution transformer?
Answer:
11 KV.

Question 3.
Select the odd one
Solar cells, tidal energy, atomic reactor, Hydroelectric power.
Answer:
Atomic reactor

Question 4.
Arrange the given media in the increasing order of their optical densities
Water, Diamond, Glass, Air
Answer:
Air < Water < glass< diamond.

Question 5.
Which mirror always forms diminished and erect image?
Answer:
Convex mirror.

Section – B

Answer any 4 questions. Each question carries 2 score. [4 × 2 = 8]

Question 6.
a) What is the relation between the deviation of component colours of white light through a prism and their wavelength?
b) Classify the colours green, red, indigo and yellow in the descending order of their wavelengths.
Answer:
a) When wavelength increases deviation decreases. When wavelength decreases deviation increases.
b) Red, yellow, green, Indigo.

Question 7.
Write down 2 limitations of wind mills?
answer:

• This can be established only at those places where wind is available for most time of the year.
• We may require storage systems to use electricity when there is no wind.

Question 8.
The telescope called ‘Chandra X – ray Observatory’ is placed in the outer space. What is the advantage of placing it there? Explain with, reference to the scattering of light in the atmosphere.
Answer:
In the outer space, there is no atmosphere and scattering of light does not take place. So clear images can be captured.

Question 9.
Give reasons for the following.
a) Red light is used as signal lamps.
b) Sky in the moon appears dark.
Answer:
a) Wave length of red is greater. So rate of scattering is less.
b) Due to the absence of atmosphere, light does not undergo scattering.

Question 10.
In an AC generator which part is kept stationary, Why?
Answer:
Armature is kept stationary and field magnet is allowed to rotate. The armature is too heavy to rotate. Also this helps to eliminate the graphite brushes and thereby avoid sparks.

Section – C

Answer any 4 questions. Each question carries 3 score. [4 × 3 = 12]

Question 11.
In a house 5 lamps of 60 w used in 3 hours and 6 lamps of 40 w are used in 5 hours daily.
a) Which is the device used to measure the used electric current?
b) Find the amount of current used for 30 days?
Answer:
a) Kwh meter
b) The amount of current used 60 w of 5 lamps for 3 hours = \(\frac{60 \times 5 \times 3}{1000}\) = 0.9 unit
The amount of current used 40 w of 6 lamps for 5 hour’s = \(\frac{40 \times 6 \times 5}{1000}\) = 1.2 unit
Total current used in one day = 0.9 + 1.2 = 2.1 unit
Amount of current used in one month = 2.1 × 30 = 63 Unit

Question 12.
The following statements in the boxes are related to working of a loudspeaker. Arrange them in the correct order.

Answer:

Question 13.
Write down the advantages and limitations of solar cooker.
Answer:
Advantages of solar cooker:

1. Renewable source of energy is used in it
2. It does not cause environmental pollution
3. Low expense

Limitations:

1. Not practical in rainy seasons and during night.
2. Fried items can not be prepared
3. Long time is needed.

Question 14.
A motor cyclist observes a car coming from behind with a magnification 1/6. If the actual distance between the car and the bike is 30 m calculate the radius of curvature of the mirror.
Answer:

Question 15.
When Newton’s colour disc rotates fast it appears white.
a) Mention the phenomenon related to this?
b) Define this phenomenon.
c) Write another example related to this?
Answer:
a) Persistence of vision.
b) When a person sees an object, its image remains in the retina for a time interval of a 1/16 second. This phenomenon is called persistence of vision.
c) At the time of rain fall drops, we feel that they are glass rods.

Section – D

Answer any 4 questions. Each question carries 4 score. [4 × 4 = 16]

Question 16.
All the constituent colours of sunlight do not have same rate of scattering.
a) Write the reason for this? (1)
b) Describe an experiment to demonstrate that scattering of all colours are not equal. (2)
c) Under what condition all the colours are scattered equally. (1)
Answer:
a) Rate of scattering is directly proportional to the wavelength of the wave and the size of the particles.

b) Allow light from a torch to fall on the water form one side of the beaker. The light emerging form the beaker is focussed on a white screen. Sodium thiosulphate is dissolved in water. Add, hydochloric acid to the water. Blue colour spreads at the beginning. Then the colours emerging from the solution in the order of VIBGYOR.

c) If the size of the particles is greater than the wave¬length of light, then the scattering is same for all colours.

Question 17.
a) What is the principle of a transformer?
b) When 240 V was applied to the primary of a transformer, the voltage in the secondary was 12 V. If the number of turns in the primary is 4,800 what will be the number of turns in the secondary?
c) To which coil of this transformer thick wire is to be used?
Answer:
a) Mutual induction
b) V_p = 240 v
V_s = 12 v
N_p = 4800
N_s = ?

c) Secondary

Question 18.
Two electric irons working on 230 V AC. The resistance passed by one is 800 W and by the second is 1200 W. If so
a) Which electric iron posses more intensity of current?
b) Which one posses more power consumption?
c) Calculate the amount of consumed energy while the electric-iron of resistance 800 Ω is to be worked for 2 hours?
Answer:
a) Electric iron having resistance 800 W
b) Electric iron having less resistance
c) H =I²RT
V = 230 V, t = 2 × 60 × 60s, R = 800 Ω

Question 19.
The calorific value of hydrogen is 1,50,000 KJ/Kg and that of LPG is 55,000 KJ/Kg.
a) What do you mean by calorific value?
b) What is the unit of calorific values?
c) Which among the above is a good fuel?
d) Which one is selected as a fuel in home? Illustrate your answer.
Answer:
a) The amount of heat liberated by the complete combustion of 1 kg of fuel is.its calorific value.
b) Its unit is kilojoule/kilogram.
c) Hydrogen, because its calorific value is greater than that of LPG.
d) LPG. There is a chance for explosion when hydrogen is burnt. Moreover, it is difficult to store hydrogen safely. This is why we can’t select hydrogen as a fuel in homes.

Question 20.
Observe the figures and answer the following questions:

a) Of the circuit A and B which is the one used for household electrical circuit?
b) Write three advantages of making circuits in this manner.
Answer:
a)

b)

• We can control electric appliances with separate switches.
• Every instrument in the circuit gets maximum and equal voltage. All instruments can separate switches, low effective resistance.