English

Why does the poet say the squirrel “wore a question markfor tail”? Draw a squirrel, or find a picture of a squirrelsitting on the ground. How would you describe its tail?

Advertisements
Advertisements

Question

Why does the poet say the squirrel “wore a question mark for tail”? Draw a squirrel, or find a picture of a squirrel sitting on the ground. How would you describe its tail?

One Line Answer
Advertisements

Solution

The poet says that the squirrel wore a question mark for its tail because the shape of a squirrel’s tail resembles a question mark.

shaalaa.com
Reading
  Is there an error in this question or solution?
Chapter 1.2: The Squirrel - Working with the Poem [Page 17]

APPEARS IN

NCERT English Honeycomb Class 7
Chapter 1.2 The Squirrel
Working with the Poem | Q 1 | Page 17

RELATED QUESTIONS

Answer these question in 30–40 words.

How is a shehnai different from a pungi?


Given below is a map of the area in which Slava Kurilov faced his ordeal. You will also see the major events in the story, in mixed order, each accompanied by a symbol. After you have read ‘Ordeal in the Ocean’, draw the appropriate symbol against each x mark. (One is already drawn for you.) Draw the symbols or number the symbols, and transfer them to the map.)


What does he plant who plants a tree? a
He plants a friend of sun and sky;b
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty, towering high;
He plants a home to heaven anigh;
For song and mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twilight heard____
The treble of heaven's harmony_____
These things he plants who plants a tree.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:

Explain with reference to context.


Six humans trapped by happenstance
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs;
The first man held his back.
For on the faces around the fire,
He noticed one was black.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:

What does the phrase ‘six humans’ signify?


'All right!' you 'll cry.'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children?Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!

Read the lines given above and answer the question given below.

According to the poet, what should be done to save children from the hypnotism of television?


Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening— the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast.

One slipper was nowhere to be found; the other had been laid hold of by an urchin, and off he ran with it; he thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he some day or other should have children himself. So the little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold. She carried a quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no one had given her a single farthing. She crept along trembling with cold and hunger—a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Describe the condition of the girl.


Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savoury smell of roast goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and

she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What did she imagine when she lighted the first match?


Sibia sprang.
From boulder to boulder she came leaping like a rock goat. Sometimes it had seemed difficult to cross these stones, especially the big gap in the middle where the river coursed through like a bulge of glass. But now she came on wings, choosing her footing in midair without even thinking about it, and in one moment she was beside the shrieking woman. In the boiling bloody water, the face of the crocodile, fastened round her leg, was tugging to and fro, and smiling. His eyes rolled on to Sibia. One slap of the tail could kill her. He struck. Up shot the water, twenty feet, and fell like a silver chain. Again! The rock jumped under the blow. But in the daily heroism of the jungle, as common as a thorn tree, Sibia did not hesitate. She aimed at the reptile’s eyes. With all the force of her little body, she drove the hayfork at the eyes, and one prong went in—right in— while its pair scratched past on the horny cheek. The crocodile reared up in convulsion, till half his lizard body was out of the river, the tail and nose nearly meeting over his stony back. Then he crashed back, exploding the water, and in an uproar of bloody foam he disappeared. He would die. Not yet, but presently, though his death would not be known for days; not till his stomach, blown with gas, floated him. Then perhaps he would be found upside down among the logs at the timber boom, with pus in his eye. Sibia got arms round the fainting woman, and somehow dragged her from the water.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Why does Sibia think of the two brass vessels when the Gujar woman is attacked?


Portia: To these injunctions every one doth s'vear That comes to hazard for my worthless self.

Arragon: And so have I address'd me. Fortune now To my heart's hope! - Gold, silver and base lead. 

(i) Who had tried his luck in tn; ing to choose the correct casket before the prince of Arragon? Which casket had that suitor chosen? What did he find inside the casket? 

(ii) What are the three things Arragon was obliged by the oath to obey? 

(iii) What was the inscription on the golden casket? How do the actions of the martlet illustrate this inscription? 

(iv) Which casket does Arragon finally choose? Whose portrait does he find inside? Which casket actually contains Portia's portrait? 

(v) Who enters soon after? What does he say about the young Venetian who has just arrived? What gifts has the Venetian brought with him?


What do we learn from the lives of great men? What is the final message of the poem ? Give one reason why the poem appeals to you. 


Answer the following question.

“There was a sudden and wonderful change in his soul”. What brought about the change in Soapy?


Complete the following sentence.

The teacher played a few notes on his violin, and Lalli____________________________________.


Why did Gopal’s wife find his activities strange?


What was the state of the author’s friend at the last?


What does the last sentence of the story suggest? What would the crocodile tell his wife?


Read the following passage and do the exercises that follow. Then complete the family tree of dogs given on the facing page.

The Dog Family

The dog family is one of the 11 families that make up the Carnivores, a large group of intelligent, flesh-eating, backboned animals. In this group are such varied animals as bears, pandas, raccoons, cats, hyenas, and even seal. The dog or canine family has many wild species like wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals, and wild dogs. The dog is the only domesticated member of the canine family though now and then someone tames a wolf, fox or coyote as a pet. All members of the dog family are descendants of a wolf-like animal which lived about 15 million years ago. From this distant ancestor, the true dogs gradually developed. But nobody knows the exact ancestor of the modern domestic dog.

Several wild dogs look and behave like domestic dogs. The dingo or wild dog of Australia is one of these. It is possible that the dingo was a tamed dog brought to Australia long ago which then ran wild. Dogs were the first animals tamed by humans — perhaps 20,000 years ago. Tamed dogs were brought from Asia to the New World 5,000 or more years ago. Dogs were first used for hunting.

Find the opposites of these words in the text above.

(i) ancestor _________

(ii) wild t _ m _

(iii) ancient _________

(iv) near d _______ t

(v) suddenly gr ___________

Complete the following sentences.

(i) The dingo is __________________________________________________.

(ii) Dogs were the ____________________________________________animals tamed by humans. The other animals tamed by humans are __________________________

_________________ (Think and name some other such animals.)

(iii) The New World refers to ___________________________.

Dogs were brought there from ________________________.

Family Tree of Dogs



What is the story The Banyan Tree about? Narrate the incident in brief.


Your partner and you may now be able to answer the question.
Like the child in the poem, you perhaps have your own, wishes for yourself. Talk to your friend, using “I wish I were..


What does the word ‘bake’ in the above passage mean?


In the short story, The Story of an Hour, it is Josephine who breaks the tragic news of Brently Mallard’s death to Mrs Mallard because ______.


Share
Notifications

Englishहिंदीमराठी


      Forgot password?
Use app×