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Chapter 2.2 The Worth of a Fabric

Textbook Questions and Answers

1. Form pairs. Present in the class, the conversation between Thiruvalluvar and the young man.

Question 1.
Form pairs. Present in the class, the conversation between Thiruvalluvar and the young man.

2. Describe the following with the help of the story.

Question 1.
Thiruvalluvar
Answer:
Thiruvalluvar was a great saint-poet who is loved and respected even now. People said . that he never got angry, never used bad words and never shouted at anyone. He was polite, calm and used a quiet tone even in the most infuriating situations.

Question 2.
The rich, young man
Answer:
The rich young man wasted his time by roaming around with his friends, more often than not, making fun of others. He was arrogant to no bounds and decided to test the patience of Thiruvalluvar, which was an unethical thing to do. Despite his egoistical behaviour, he listened to the words of Thiruvalluvar carefully and put them to use, thereby changing his idleness and bad habits.

Question 3.
The fabric woven by Thiruvalluvar
Answer:
The fabric wasn’t made in a day. Many people toiled in order to make it. The farmer who grew cotton in his field worked hard for months through sun and rain. He picked cotton from each boll and gave it for spinning. Then someone else carded the cotton and spun it into long, uniform threads. The threads were dyed carefully so that they took on lovely colours. Thiruvalluvar’s wife and he then wove the threads together, putting in beautiful designs.

3. Read aloud the speech in which Thiruvalluvar explains how the fabric was made. Present the process in the form of a chart. Draw pictures for the churl and label them.

Question 1.
Read aloud the speech in which Thiruvalluvar explains how the fabric was made. Present the process in the form of a chart. Draw pictures for the churl and label them.

4. Classify the words in (a) and (b) into bpositivei and bnegativct words.
a. great, beautiful, arrogant, impatient, quiet, worthless, proud, happy, thoughtless, hasty
b. shouted at, wasted, answered, offered, smilcd, refuscd, toiled, grcw, dyed, rewarded, destroyed.

Question a.
great, beautiful, arrogant, impatient, quiet, worthless, proud, happy, thoughtless, hasty
Answer:

5. Write the antonyms of the following words:

• politely × ……… .
• calmly × ……… .
• softly × ……………. .
• carefully × …………. .

Question 1.
Write the antonyms of the following words:

• politely × ……… .
• calmly × ……… .
• softly × ……………. .
• carefully × …………. .

Answer:

• politely × rudely
• calmly × violently
• softly × harshly
• carefully × carelessly

6. Find the following adverbs in the story. What verbs do they tell us more about? Write down the pairs of verbs and adverbs.
ago, greatly, today, politely, calmly, hard

Question 1.
Find the following adverbs in the story. What verbs do they tell us more about? Write down the pairs of verbs and adverbs.
Answer:
Verb  –  Adverb

• lived – ago
• loved – greatly
• have – today
• answered – politely
• went – calmly
• worked hard
• spoken – softly
• decided – then and there
• dyed – carefully

7. Use the following phrases in your own words.

Question 1.
Use the following phrases in your own words.
Answer:

• roam around – We roamed around Paris till dusk.
• again and again – We chanted the shlokas again and again.
• bring something back – Each and every student on the tour brought something back home.
• there and then – Lokmanya Tilak decided there and then, that he would not tolerate injustice of any sort.

8. Discuss in groups and think about it.
(a) List a few occasions on which you hod become angry. What do you do when you arc angry?
(b) Mention three occasions on which you have made someone else angry. What made that person angry? Can you avoid such things in future?

9. Choose any one of the objects we use daily and find out how it is made. Present the information in the form of a chart.

Question 1.
Choose any one of the objects we use daily and find out how it is made. Present the information in the form of a chart.

10. Visit a library: Read the biographies of other Indian Saints. Share at least one story from their life with your friends. What message does it contain?

Question 1.
Visit a library: Read the biographies of other Indian Saints. Share at least one story from their life with your friends. What message does it contain?

11. Form groups and display the quotes and messages from different saints in your classroom.

Question 1.
Form groups and display the quotes and messages from different saints in your classroom.

Important Questions and Answers

Answer in one or two sentences.

Question 1.
Who was Thiruvalluvar?
Answer:
Thiruvalluvar was a great Tamil saint-poet.

Question 2.
How long ago did Thiruvalluvar live?
Answer:
Thiruvalluvar lived more than two hundred years ago.

Question 3.
What did Thiruvalluvar do for a living?
Answer:
Thiruvalluvar wove beautiful fabrics and saris, and sold them in the market to make his living.

Question 4.
What is Thirukkural?
Answer:
Thirukkural is a book of teachings by the great Tamil saint-poet, Thiruvalluvar.

Question 5.
How did the rich, young man spend his time?
Answer:
The rich, young man wasted most of his time roaming with his friends and making fun of other people.

Question 6.
What was the rich, young man sure about?
Answer:
The rich, young man was sure that he could make Thiruvalluvar angry.

Question 7.
Did the rich, young man succeed in making the saint-poet angry?
Answer:
No, the rich young man did not succeed in making the saint-poet angry.

Question 8.
What change was seen in the rich, young man after the saint-poet spoke to him?
Answer:
The rich, young man felt ashamed of himself after the saint-poet spoke to him and he decided there and then to give up his idleness and bad habits.

Reading Skills, Grammar and Vocabulary

Read the extract and do the activities.

Question 1.
Complete the sentence.
Answer:
a. Cotton was carded and spun into long uniform threads.
b. The farmer work hard for months through sun and rains.

Question 2.
What did the farmer grow in his field? How did he work?
Answer:
The farmer grew cotton in his field. He worked hard for months through rain and sun.

Question 3.
What did the farmer do with the cotton?
Answer:
The farmer picked the cotton from each boll and gave it for spinning.

Question 4.
How did the plain cotton transform into colourful threads?
Answer:
People carded the cotton and spun it into long, uniform threads. These threads were dyed carefully so that they took on lovely colours.

Question 5.
a. Give the noun forms of:
happy – happiness
know – knowledge
b. Give the adverb forms of:
careful – carefully
happy – happily
c. Pick out a word from the extract which means “pod of the cotton plant”.
Answer:
boll

Question 6.
State the part of speech of:
Answer:

1. hard – adverb
2. lovely – adjective
3. grew – verb
4. and – conjunction
5. he – pronoun
6. through – preposition

Language Study

Do as directed.

Question 1.
Add prefix to the given words:
Answer:

• loved – unloved
• respected – disrespected
• sold – unsold
• agitated – unagitated

Question 2.
Pick out words from the lesson which are a combination of two meaningful words e.g.: worthless (worth and less)
Answer:
anyone, someone, himself, thoughtless

Question 3.
The softly spoken words touched the young man’s heart. (Name the word class of the underlined word.)
Answer:
softly – Adverb

Question 4.
Why doesn’t the man get angry? (Name the kind of sentence.)
Answer:
Interrogative sentence

Question 5.
My wife and I wove the threads together. (Separate the subject and predicate)
Answer:
Subject – My wife and I
Predicate – wove the threads together.

Question 6.
The fabric was reduced to rags. (Name the kind of verb)
Answer:
was reduced – Transitive verb

Question 7.
Pick out verb and state its tense.

Question a.
Many people have toiled to make it.
Answer:
have toiled – Present perfect tense

Question b.
Convert the sentence into Future perfect tense.
Answer:
Many people will have toiled to make it.

Question 8.
Rewrite the given sentence without the negative. (Money cannot bring it back.)
Answer:
Money is unable to bring it back.

Question 9.
Rewrite the above sentence beginning with ‘It cannot be ‘
Answer:
It cannot be brought back by money.

Question 10.
He picked cotton each boll. (Fill in the blanks with a preposition.)
Answer:
from.

Writing Skills

Quotes and quotations:

Question 1.
As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.
Answer:
– Chanakya, 350 BC

Question 2.
Love does not grow on trees or bought in the market, but if one wants to be ‘LOVED’, one must know how to give unconditional love.
Answer:
– Kabir

Question 3.
As long as I live, so long do I learn.
Answer:
– Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Question 4.
Different creeds are but different paths to reach the same God.
Answer:
– Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Activity for students to find out some more)

Flowchart:

Question 1.
Read the passage and prepare a flow chart for the same.
Answer:

The Worth of a Fabric Summary in English

The story “The Worth of a Fabric” is written by the great Tamil saint-poet who lived around 2000 years ago. Thiruvalluvar, in this story eventually explains to a young man, the importance of hard work. He also explains that tardiness and ignorance can prevent a person from living his life to the fullest, thereby rendering it useless. The story also tells us that one should be calm in all situations. It helps you to choose the right path in all situations.

Introduction:

Thiruvalluvar is a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. The Tamil poet, Mamulanar of the Sangam period mentioned that he was the greatest scholar in the Nanda Dynasty of the north which ruled till the 4th century. His book of teachings ‘Thirukkural’ is considered to provide a guide for human morals and betterment in life.

Glossary:

1. boll (n) – pad of the cotton plant
2. spinning (v) – process of making yam or thread out of cotton
3. carded (v) – cleaned, combed cotton to remove seeds
4. spun (v) – drew out twisted cotton (to make yam or thread)
5. arrogant (adj) – having excessive pride in oneself
6. agitated (adj) – angry annoyed
7. rag (n) – a piece of old cloth
8. taken aback (phrase) – taken by surprise