Chapter 2.3 Somebody’s Mother

Chapter 2.3 Somebody’s Mother

Textbook Questions and Answers

Warming up :

1. Read the following proverb that has a biblical reference.
‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’ Now find at least 5 other proverbs/axioms/quotations which convey the same message. Search the internet/dictionary of proverbs.
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Question 1.
‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’ Find at least five other proverbs/ axioms/quotations that convey the same message.
Answer:

They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind.
Life is an echo – what you send out comes back.
As you sow, so shall you reap.
Love begets love.
Love your neighbour like yourself.

2. Study the following sets of words :
Set A – pleased, happy, joyful, ecstatic
Set B – letter, word, sentence, paragraph
Note: The words in these sets are arranged in an ascending order, each word showing a higher degree than the previous one. Now rearrange the following groups of words in the ascending order.

Question 1.
Arrange the following groups of words in the ascending order : (The answer is given directly.)
Answer:

Question 2.
Prepare similar word chains using the following ideas : (The answer is given directly and underlined.)

Answer:

English Workshop:

1. Pick out lines from the poem that help create images of the following in our mind and write them in the table.

Question 1.
Pick out lines from the poem that help create images of the following in our mind and write them in the table.
Answer:

2. Write at least 5 rhymes from the poem.

Question 1.
Write at least five rhymes from the extract.
Answer:

Rhymes: troop – group, low – go, arm – harm, along – strong, went – content.
Rhymes: gray – day, snow – slow, long – throng, by – eye, shout – out.

3. Give, in your own words, TWO reasons for each of the following :

Question a.
The woman was reluctant to cross the street by herself.
Answer:
The woman was reluctant to cross the street by herself because …

the road was slippery because of the snow.
there was heavy traffic of horse carriages on the road.

Question b.
The school boys were in a happy mood.
Answer:
The school boys were in a happy mood because …

school was over for the day.
the snow was piled high on the road.

Question c.
One of the schoolboys helped the old woman cross the street.
Answer:
One of the schoolboys helped the old woman cross the street because …

she was old and afraid to cross on her own
he hoped someone, sometime, may lend a hand to his own mother when he was not around.

Question d.
We must help those who are in need.
Answer:
We must help those who are in need because …

we too may need help one day.
we must show compassion to those in need.

4. Think and write In 5-6 lines, why most of the people on a road/street Ignore those In need of help. What about you? Write about your feelings after you have helped! not helped, when needed.
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Question 1.
Think and write in 5-6 lines, why most of the people on a road/street ignore those in need of help. What about you? Write about your feelings after you have helped/not helped when needed.
Answer:
People, especially in the larger cities and towns, are always in a hurry to reach their place of work or their home. Hence they don’t have time to spare to help strangers. Some people may be purely selfish and don’t have compassion for others.

I always try to help people who genuinely need help. Once I lent a hand to an old man to get onto a bus. He was very grateful and thanked me. I felt very good about it.

I did not help a woman who had slipped and fallen down on the footpath during the monsoon. I just walked past her, ignoring her. I felt very guilty about it later. I wondered how I would feel if I had been in her place and had not got any help.

5. Read the poem: ‘Home they brought her warrior dead’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Question 1.
Read the poem: ‘Home they brought her warrior dead’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Additional Important Questions and Answers

Simple Factual Activity :

Question 1.
Write whether the following statements are True or False :
Answer:

The woman’s feet were slow because of the snow. False
The people around her did not bother about her. True
The schoolboys were happy. True
A boy came immediately to help the old woman. False

Guess the following, using references from the poem :

Question 1.
The setting-the region, the locality.
Answer:
The setting is a busy street, covered with a layer of fresh snow. The area is very crowded and there is a school nearby.

Question 2.
The time – the time of the year and the day.
Answer:
It is winter. The time of the day is probably late afternoon or early evening.

Activities based on Poetic Devices :

Question 1.
From the extract, pick out and explain an example of:

i. Simile –
Answer:
‘Came happy boys, like a flock of sheep.’ The happy boys have been directly compared to a flock of sheep.

ii. Alliteration –
Answer:
‘Should trample her down in the slippery street.’ Repetition of the sound of ‘s’ at the beginning of the words.

Simple Factual Activity :

Choose the correct alternative for each statement :

Question 1.
The person who helped the old lady was :
(i) hurt and harmed
(ii) kind and compassionate
(iii) slow and proud
(iv) dear and Jar away
Answer:
(ii) kind and compassionate

Question 2.
The old lady crossed the road :
(i) but fell down on the way
(ii) all by herself
(iii) with a merry troop
(iv) without hurt or harm
Answer:
(iv) without hurt or harm

Question 3.
The old lady was helped by :
(i) a group of young boys
(ii) a proud and nobleman
(iii) a strong and young boy
(iv) somebody’s mother
Answer:
(iii) a strong and young boy

Question 4.
The old lady at night :
(i) asked for blessings for the young boy
(ii) asked for a mother for the young boy
(iii) helped the young boy’s mother
(iv) helped somebody’s mother
Answer:
(i) asked for blessings for the young boy

Answer the following :

Question 1.
Was the old lady grateful to the young boy who had helped her? How do you know?
Answer:
Yes, the old lady was grateful to the young boy who had helped her. We know this because that night, in her home, she prayed to God to be kind to him.

Activities based on Poetic Devices :

Question 1.
From the extract, pick out and explain an example of:

i. Alliteration –
Answer:
‘His young heart happy and well-content.’ Repetition of the sound of ‘h’ at the beginning of the words.

ii. Inversion –
Answer:
‘Then back again to his friends he went.’ The correct prose order is : He then went back again to his friends.

Paragraph Format:

The poem ‘Somebody’s Mother’ is by Mary Dow Brine. The Rhyme Scheme of stanzas 3 and 6 is aabbcc. All the other stanzas have the rhyme scheme aabb. A Figure of Speech is Inversion: ‘At the crowded crossing she waited long.’ The correct prose order is She waited long at the crowded crossing. Other figures of speech are Simile and Alliteration.

The poem describes an incident in which a young boy helps a frightened old lady to cross the street when she was being ignored by everyone else. He tells his young friends that he hopes that when his own mother is old and needs help, someone will help her too if he is not at hand.