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Class 9 (SSC)English (Kumarbharati / Balbharati)2026-27 Syllabus

Chapter 2.3 Somebody’s Mother Solutions

Complete Maharashtra State Board Balbharati & Yuvakbharati textbook solutions for Chapter 2.3 Somebody’s Mother. Step-by-step solved exercises, numerical problems, and digest answers.

17 Solved Questions• 5 Diagrams• 1415 words

Maharashtra State Board Class 9 English Kumarbharati Solutions Chapter 2.3 Somebody’s Mother

English Kumarbharati 9th Solutions 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 Maharashtra Board Solution
‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’ Find at least five other proverbs/ axioms/quotations that convey the same message.
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:

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 Maharashtra Board Solution
Arrange the following groups of words in the ascending order : (The answer is given directly.)
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:

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


Solution & Step-by-Step 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 Maharashtra Board Solution
Pick out lines from the poem that help create images of the following in our mind and write them in the table.
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:

Old Woman

The Street

School Boys

1. The woman was old and ragged and grey And bent with the chill of a winter’s day

The streets were white with a recent snow

Down the street with laughter and shout

2. At the crowded crossing she waited long, Jostled aside by the careless throng

At the crowded crossing she waited long

Came happy boys, like a flock of sheep,

3. Her aged hand on his strong young arm She placed, and so without hurt or harm He guided the tremblIng feet along

Came happy boys, like a flock of sheep, Hailing the snow piled high and deep

Past the woman so old and grey, Hastened the children on their way

2. Write at least 5 rhymes from the poem.

Question 1 Maharashtra Board Solution
Write at least five rhymes from the extract.
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:

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 …

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

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 …

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

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 Maharashtra Board Solution
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.
Solution & Step-by-Step 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 Maharashtra Board Solution
Read the poem: ‘Home they brought her warrior dead’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson

English Kumarbharati 9th Digest Chapter 2.3 Somebody’s Mother Additional Important Questions and Answers

Simple Factual Activity :

Question 1 Maharashtra Board Solution
Write whether the following statements are True or False :
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:
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Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:

Guess the following, using references from the poem :

Question 1 Maharashtra Board Solution
The setting-the region, the locality.
Solution & Step-by-Step 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 Maharashtra Board Solution
The time – the time of the year and the day.
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:
It is winter. The time of the day is probably late afternoon or early evening.

Activities based on Poetic Devices :

Question 1 Maharashtra Board Solution
From the extract, pick out and explain an example of:

i. Simile –

Solution & Step-by-Step 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 Maharashtra Board Solution
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
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:
(ii) kind and compassionate
Question 2 Maharashtra Board Solution
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
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:
(iv) without hurt or harm
Question 3 Maharashtra Board Solution
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
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:
(iii) a strong and young boy
Question 4 Maharashtra Board Solution
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
Solution & Step-by-Step Answer:
(i) asked for blessings for the young boy

Answer the following :

Question 1 Maharashtra Board Solution
Was the old lady grateful to the young boy who had helped her? How do you know?
Solution & Step-by-Step 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 Maharashtra Board Solution
From the extract, pick out and explain an example of:

i. Alliteration –

Solution & Step-by-Step 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.

Maharashtra State Board Class 9 English Solutions

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