NCERT Solutions Class 9 English (Beehive (Prose))
The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 9 English (Beehive (Prose)) Chapter – 1 The Fun They Had has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise.
Chapter – 1 (The Fun They Had)
Thinking about the Text
I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
Answer – Margie is eleven and Tommy is thirteen years old.
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
Answer – Margie wrote in her diary “Today Tommy found a real book!”
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
Answer – No, Margie had never seen a book before.
4. What things about the book did she find strange?
Answer – Margie found it strange that the words printed on a book stood still instead of moving the way they did on a screen. She also found it odd that the words on a page always remained the same as the first time they were read.
5. What do you think a telebook is?
Answer – A book that can be displayed on a screen is called a telebook.
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
Answer – Margie’s school was in her home itself, right next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Answer – Margie and Tommy learnt Geography, History and Arithmetic.
II. Answer the following with reference to the story.
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
Answer –
(i) Tommy says these words.
(ii) “It” refers to the books.
(iii) The paperback book is being compared with the telebooks by the speaker.
2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
(iii) What is it contrasted with?
Answer –
(i) ‘They’ refers to the students centuries ago.
(ii) ‘Regular’ refers to the mechanical teachers that Tommy and Margie had.
(iii) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with the teacher of the earlier times, who was a human being.
III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
Answer – The teachers of Margie and Tommy were different from the teachers of today. They were robotic teachers. They were confined to study rooms and taught mechanically.
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
Answer – Margie was working hard in geography under the guidance of the mechanical teacher, but there was no improvement in her performance. It only kept getting worse. So Margie’s mother sent . for the County Inspector to find out the fault and settle it.
3. What did he do?
Answer – The County Inspector took apart the teacher and after examining it, assembled it again. He slowed up the geography sector of the teacher because it was ‘geared up a little too quick’ for an average ten-year old.
4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?
Answer – Margie was doing badly in geography because the geography sector of the mechanical teacher had been adjusted at a higher level.
In order to help her, the County Inspector slowed down this sector to an average ten-year level.
5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
Answer – Tommy’s teacher had to be taken away altogether for a month as the history sector had blanked out completely.
6. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
Answer – Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school because Margie’s mother believed that little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
Answer – Tommy says that the old kind of school had special buildings. All the kids went to that building for studying.
8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
Answer – Tommy said that the old kind of teachers was men, who taught the students inside a special building. The teachers taught the children in groups and gave them homework and asked them questions.
IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 –150 words).
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?
Answer – Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked in addition to a slot in which the students had to put their homework and test papers. They had to write their answers in a punch code and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks instantly.
Their schools were in their homes itself and they did not have any classmates. However, they had regular days and fixed duration of study in which they learned history, geography and arithmetic. Margie had her school just next to her bedroom where she was taught by a mechanical teacher every day at the same time except Saturdays and Sundays
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?
Answer – Margie hated school because she felt it boring. The mechanical teacher started the class at the same time regularly. Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her test after test on Geography and she was performing badly.
Margie also did not like inserting homework and test papers in the slot on the mechanical teacher.
She thought that the old kind of school must have been fun because it would have had kids from various places of the neighbourhood. It would have been so interesting to sit together in the classroom and leave the school together at the end of the day. All the kids learned the same things so they could help each other in studies and homework.
3. Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer – Yes, I agree with Margie. In the story, there are no schools as such. The room next to their bedroom is their school. They are taught by a mechanical teacher. There are no human feelings. Everything is monotonous. The child has to complete its homework and put it in the slot meant for it in the machine.
But, in the schools today, there are spacious buildings where all the kids from the neighbourhood go together. They are taught by the human teachers. They study and play together. They learn the same things so that they can help one another in their homework.
Thinking about Language
I. Adverbs
Read this sentence taken from the story:
They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely.
The word complete is an adjective. When you add –ly to it, it becomes an adverb.
1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs given in the box below.
| awfully, sorrowfully, completely, loftily, carefully, differently, quickly, nonchalantly |
Answer –
awfully : They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to − on a screen, you know.
sorrowfully : The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.
completely : They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely.
loftily : He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
carefully : He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
differently : “But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.”
quickly : “I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.
nonchalantly : “Maybe,” he said nonchalantly.
2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
(i) The report must be read ________ so that performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions _________, shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave _________ when we are tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook her head ________ when Ravi lied to her.
(v) I ________ forgot about it.
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled ________ and turned away.
(vii) The President of the Company is ________ busy and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my work ________ so that I could go out to play.
Answer –
(i) The report must be read carefully so that performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions loftily, shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave differently when we are tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook her head sorrowfully when Ravi lied to her.
(v) I completely forgot about it.
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled nonchalantly and turned away.
(vii) The President of the Company is awfully busy and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my work quickly so that I could go out to play.
3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.
| (i) angry – ____________ | (ii) happy – ____________ |
| (iii) merry – ____________ | (iv) sleepy – ____________ |
| (v) easy – ____________ | (vi) noisy – ____________ |
| (vii) tidy – ____________ |
(viii) gloomy – ____________ |
Answer –
| (i) angry – angrily | (ii) happy – happily |
| (iii) merry – merrily | (iv) sleepy – sleepily |
| (v) easy – easily | (vi) noisy – noisily |
| (vii) tidy – tidily | (viii) gloomy – gloomily |
II. If Not and Unless
Complete the following conditional sentences. Use the correct form of the verb.
1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, _________.
2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, __________.
3. Unless you promise to write back, I __________.
4. If she doesn’t play any games, ___________.
5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat _________.
Answer –
1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, she will get irritated.
2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, you will miss your meal.
3. Unless you promise to write back, I will not write you another letter.
4. If she doesn’t play any games, she will become lazy.
5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat will pounce on it and kill it.
