NCERT Solutions Class 8 English (Honeydew) Chapter 1 The Best Christmas Present in the World

NCERT Solutions Class 8 English (Honeydew) 

The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 8 English (Honeydew) Chapter – 1 The Best Christmas Present in the World has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise. 

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English (Honeydew)

• Chapter – 2 : The Tsunami
• Chapter – 3 : Glimpses of the Past
• Chapter – 4 : Bepin Choudhury’s Lapse of Memory
• Chapter – 5 : The Summit Within
• Chapter – 6 : This is Jody’s Fawn
• Chapter – 7 : A Visit to Cambridge
• Chapter – 8 : A Short Monsoon Diary
• Chapter – 9 : The Great Stone Face 1
• Chapter – 10 : The Great Stone Face 2

Chapter – 1 (The Best Christmas Present in the World) 

Comprehension Check

1. What did the author find in a junk shop?
Answer – The author found a very old 19th century roll-top desk in a junk shop. It was made of oak. It was in a bad condition. So it was being sold at a cheap price.

2. What did he find in a secret drawer? Who do you think had put it in there?
Answer – The author found a small black tin box in the secret drawer. There was a paper sellotaped to its top. It said, ‘Jim’s last letter, received January 25, 1915. To be buried with me when the time comes.’ Most likely, it was put there by Mrs. Jim Macpherson, who was Jim’s wife. Her name and address were on the envelope inside the box.

Comprehension Check

1. Who had written the letter, to whom, and when?
Answer – Captain Jim Macpherson of the British army, who was fighting a war against the Germans, had written the letter to his wife Connie on 26^th December, 1914.

2. Why was the letter written — what was the wonderful thing that had happened?
Answer – Jim wrote the letter to tell his wife about a wonderful thing that had happened on Christmas day. The British and the Germans were engaged in a war, yet on this day, both the troops met in no man’s land. It was a thing of wonder because right in the middle of a war, the warring soldiers were making peace.

3. What jobs did Hans Wolf and Jim Macpherson have when they were not soldiers?
Answer – Hans Wolf played the cello in the orchestra when he was not a soldier. Jim Macpherson was a teacher in Dorset when not a soldier.

4. Had Hans Wolf ever been to Dorset? Why did he say he knew it?
Answer – No, Hans Wolf had never been to Dorset. He had learned all about England from school and from reading books in English.

5. Do you think Jim Macpherson came back from the war? How do you know this?
Answer – No, it appears that Jim Macpherson never returned home from the war. Perhaps, due to this reason his wife Connie had preserved all his letters carefully.

Comprehension Check

1. Why did the author go to Bridport?
Answer – The author went to Bridport in search of Mrs. Jim Macpherson. He wanted to give her back her important letter.

2. How old was Mrs Macpherson now? Where was she?
Answer – Mrs. Macpherson was now 101 years old. She was in the conservatory of a nursing home.

Comprehension Check 

1. Who did Connie Macpherson think her visitor was?
Answer – Connie Macpherson thought that her visitor was her husband Jim Macpherson.

2. Which sentence in the text shows that the visitor did not try to hide his identity?
Answer – The sentence which shows that the visitor did not try to hide his identity is, “l explained about the desk, about how I had found it, but I don’t think she was listening.”

Working with the text

1. For how long do you think Connie had kept Jim’s letter? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer – Connie must have kept Jim’s letter for a long time. This is because she told the narrator how she read it quite often every day so that she could feel that Jim was near her.

2. Why do you think the desk had been sold, and when?
Answer – The desk must have been sold when the house in which Connie Macpherson lived had caught fire. She was taken to a nursing home. All the burnt up things must have been sold by the neighbours after that.

3. Why do Jim and Hans think that games or sports are good ways of resolving conflicts? Do you agree?
Answer – Jim and Hans thought that games or sports are good ways of resolving conflicts because nobody dies in matches. No children are orphaned and no wives become widows. Due to these reasons, games are good ways for resolving conflicts. Wars only lead to death and devastation.

4. Do you think the soldiers of the two armies are like each other, or different from each other? Find evidence from the story to support your answer.
Answer – The soldiers of the two armies are similar to each other as per the following reasons derived from the story:

1. Both armies celebrated Christmas together.
2. They shared good moments together by eating, laughing, drinking and talking with each other.
3. Both armies played a friendly football match and approved the fact that conflicts could have been resolved by playing a match.
4. They agreed about the consequences or negative impact that war has upon families.
5. Both armies longed for peace and exchanged Christmas carols, and hoped to unite with their respective families soon.

5. Mention the various ways in which the British and the German soldiers become friends and find things in common at Christmas.
Answer – The British and the German troops celebrated Christmas with each other. They enjoyed each other’s food. All of them were smoking, laughing, talking, drinking and eating. Hans Wolf and Jim Macpherson shared the cake Connie had baked. They talked about Bathsheba, Gabriel Oak, Sergeant Troy and Dorset. They even talked about the books they liked. They agreed about everything. Both the troops played a game of football for which both Hans and Jim cheered, clapped hands and stamped feet. They also exchanged carols at night. In this way, they celebrated Christmas together, finding a lot in common between them.

6. What is Connie’s Christmas present? Why is it “the best Christmas present in the world”?
Answer – Connie’s Christmas present was the letter which the author had brought for her. However, in her muddled state she thought that it was not the author but her Jim. She called the author Jim and made him sit beside her. She kissed him on the cheek. For her, her husband had returned after such a long time. So she said that it was the best Christmas present she had ever got.

7. Do you think the title of this story is suitable for it? Can you think of any other title(s)?
Answer – The title of the story is Quite suitable. ‘The Best Christmas Present in the World’ refers to the present for the old lady. Otherwise also the story is woven around Christmas. However, it is always possible to find alternate titles. For example, ‘War’ can be another title. The story is after all an anti-war story. ‘Christmas’ could also be a title because the story narrates two important Christmas days.

Working with language

1. Look at these sentences from the story.
I spotted it in a junk shop in Bridport… The man said it was made in the early nineteenth century… This one was in a bad condition…
The italicised verbs are in the past tense. They tell us what happened in the past, before now.

(i) Read the passage below and underline the verbs in the past tense.

A man got on the train and sat down. The compartment was empty except for one lady. She took her gloves off. A few hours later the police arrested the man. They held him for 24 hours and then freed him.
Answer – A man got on the train and sat down. The compartment was empty except for one lady. She took her gloves off. A few hours later the police arrested the man. They held him for 24 hours and then freed him.

Now look at these sentences.

The veneer had lifted almost everywhere. Both fire and water had taken their toll on this desk.

Notice the verb forms had lifted, had taken (their toll).

The author found and bought the desk in the past.
The desk was damaged before the author found it and bought it.
Fire and water had damaged the desk before the author found it and bought it.

• We use verb forms like had damaged for an event in the ‘earlier past’. If there are two events in the past, we use the ‘had…’ form for the event that occurred first in the past.
• We also use the past perfect tense to show that something was wished for or expected before a particular time in the past. For example, I had always wanted one…
• Discuss with your partner the difference in meaning in the sentences below.

When I reached the station, the train left.
When I reached the station, the train had left.

(ii) Fill in the blanks using the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
My little sister is very naughty. When she __________ (come) back from school yesterday, she had __________ (tear) her dress. We __________ (ask) her how it had __________ (happen). She __________ (say) she __________ __________ (have, quarrel) with a boy. She __________ __________ (have, beat) him in a race and he __________ __________ (have, try) to push her. She __________ __________ (have, tell) the teacher and so he __________ __________ have, chase) her, and she __________ __________ (have, fall) down and __________ __________ (have, tear) her dress.

Answer –
My little sister is very naughty. When she came back from school yesterday, she had torn her dress. We asked her how it had happened. She said she had quarrelled with a boy. She had beaten him in a race and he had tried to push her. She had told the teacher and so he had chased her, and she had fallen down and had torn her dress.

(iii) Underline the verbs and arrange them in two columns, Past and Earlier past.
(a) My friends set out to see the caves in the next town, but I stayed at home, because I had seen them already.
Answer – My friends set out to see the caves in the next town, but I stayed at home, because I had seen them already.

(b) When they arrived at the station, their train had left. They came back home, but by that time I had gone out to see a movie!
Answer – When they arrived at the station, their train had left. They came back home, but by that time I had gone out to see a movie!

(c) So they sat outside and ate the lunch I had packed for them.
Answer – So they sat outside and ate the lunch I had packed for them.

(d) By the time I returned, they had fallen asleep!

Answer – By the time I returned, they had fallen asleep!

2. Dictionary work
By the end of the journey, we had run out of drinking water.
Look at the verb run out of in this sentence. It is a phrasal verb: it has two parts, a verb and a preposition or an adverb. Phrasal verbs often have meanings that are different from the meanings of their parts.
Find these phrasal verbs in the story.

Write down the sentences in which they occur. Consult a dictionary and write down the meaning that you think matches the meaning of the phrasal verb in the sentence.
Answer –

• Burn out – House Number 12 turned out to be nothing but a burnt-out shell.
• Light up – That was the moment her eyes lit up with recognition and her face became suffused with a sudden glow of happiness.
• Look on –  Hans Wolf and I looked on and cheered, clapping our hands and stamping our feet, to keep out the cold as much as anything.
• Run out – When the game was finished, the schnapps and the rum and the sausage had long since run out and we knew it was all over.
• Keep out –  You just keep out of this quarrel. (Stay away)

3. Noun phrase
Read the following sentence.
I took out a small black tin box.

• The phrase in italics is a noun phrase.
• It has the noun — box — as the head word, and three adjectives preceding it.
• Notice the order in which the adjectives occur — size (small), colour (black) and material (tin) of which it is made.
• We rarely use more than four adjectives before a noun and there is no rigid order in which they are used, though there is a preferred order of modifiers/adjectives in a noun phrase, as given below.

Answer – Check the question properly and try to understand the placement of noun phrase and adjectives in it.

4. The table below contains a list of nouns and some adjectives. Use as many adjectives as you can to describe each noun. You might come up with some funny descriptions!

Answer –