NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A Letter to God

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A Letter to God are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A Letter to God.

Board	CBSE
Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class 10
Subject	English First Flight
Chapter	Chapter 1
Chapter Name	A Letter to God
Category	NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A Letter to God

TEXTUAL EXERCISES

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK
(Page 5)

Question 1.
What did Lencho hope for ?
Answer:
Lencho hoped for water in the form of rain.

Question 2.
Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’ ?
Answer:
He said this because his crop really needed rain for being a good harvest. So when it rained, he saw it in the form of ‘new coins’.

Question 3.
How did the rain change ? What happened to Lencho’s fields ?
Answer:
The rain changed into a hailstorm. Hails fell on the house, the garden, the hillside and the cornfield. They destroyed Lencho’s fields completely.

Question 4.
What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped ? (CBSE 2012)
Answer:
Lencho felt completely broken. The hail had left nothing. He felt that they would have no corn that year.

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK
(Page 6)

Question 1.
Who or what did Lencho have faith in ? What did he do ?
Answer:
Lencho had faith in God. He felt that God’s eyes saw everything. He wrote a letter to God.

Question 2.
Who read the letter ?
Answer:
The postman and the postmaster read Lencho’s letter (to God).

Question 3.
What did the postmaster do then ?
Answer:
The postmaster helped Lencho by sending money on behalf of God. Lencho had written a letter to God to help him with money. The postmaster didn’t want to shake Lencho’s faith in God. So he collected money and sent to Lencho.

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK
(Page 7)

Question 1.
Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it ?
Answer:
No, Lencho was not surprised to find a letter for him with money. It was because he had full faith in God. He knew that God saw everything even in one’s conscience.

Question 2.
What made him angry ?
Answer:
Lencho had requested God to send him 100 pesos. But God sent him only 70 pesos. It was not good on God’s part. This made him angry.

THINKING ABOUT THE TEXT
(Page 7)

Question 1.
Who does Lencho have complete faith in ? Which sentences in the story tell you this ?
Answer:
Lencho has complete faith in God. The sentences are : “All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope : the help of God, whose eyes … see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience”.

Question 2.
Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho ? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’ ?
Answer:
The postmaster doesn’t want that Lencho’s faith in God should break. He, in fact, feels proud that Lencho has such a great faith in God. He signs the letter again to keep Lencho’s faith intact. If he doesn’t do so, Lencho might think differently. His faith in God may shake.

Question 3.
Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him ? Why /Why not ?
Answer:
Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him. It was because he had complete faith in God. He, therefore, didn’t bother about the sender.

Question 4.
Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money ? What is the irony in the situation ? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.)
Answer:
Lencho thinks that the rest of the money has been taken by the post office officials. The irony in the situation is that the post office officials contribute money for Lencho. Yet he looks at them as ‘crooks’.

Question 5.
Are there people like Lencho in the real world ? What kind of a person would you say he is ? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question. (Value Based Question)
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Answer:
Yes, there are still people like Lencho in the world. He is such a person who can go to any extent in his faith in God. He is resolute, determined and firm. Lencho is also ‘naive’, ‘stupid’ and ‘comical’.

Question 6.
There are two kinds of conflicts in the story : between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated ?
Answer:
These conflicts are illustrated in the form of hailstorm destroying Lencho’s crop. So he thinks of God and writes a letter to Him for help. The other conflict is illustrated by Lencho. It is in his not believing in the post office officials’ honesty. He thinks them ‘crooks’ and dishonest persons.

THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE

I. Look at the following sentence from the story :

Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall.

‘Hailstones’ are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A storm in which hailstones fall is a ‘hailstorm’. You know that a storm is bad weather with strong winds, rain, thunder and lightning.

There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks ? You may use a dictionary to help you.
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Question 1.
A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle : _ _ c _ _ _ _
Answer:
cyclone

Question 2.
An extremely strong wind : _ a _ _
Answer:
gale

Question 3.
A violent tropical storm with very strong winds : _ _ p _ _ _ _
Answer:
typhoon

Question 4.
A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel: _ _ _ n _ _ _
Answer:
tornado

Question 5.
A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean : _ _ r _ _ _ _ _ _
Answer:
hurricane

Question 6.
A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage : _ _ _ _ l _ _ _ _
Answer:
whirlwind

II. Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these sentences from the story.
(a) I hope it (the hailstorm) passes quickly.
(b) There was a single hope : help from God.

In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to happen. In the second example it is a noun meaning a chance for something to happen.

Match the sentences in column ‘A’ with the meanings of ‘hope’ in column ‘B’:

A	B
1. Will you get the subjects you want to study in college ? I hope so.	(i) a feeling that something good will probably happen.
2. ‘I hope you don’t mind my saying this, but I don’t like the way you are arguing.’	(ii) thinking that this would happen (It may or may not have happened.)
3. This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers.	(iii) stopped believing that this good thing would happen.
4. We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes.	(iv) wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible).
5. I called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school.	(v) showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person : a way of being polite.
6. Just when everybody had given up hope, the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone.	(vi) wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely.

Answer:

→ (i)
→ (ii)
→ (v)
→ (vi)
→ (iv)
→ (iii)

III. Relative Clauses
Look at these sentences

(а) All morning Lencho—who knew his fields intimately—looked at the sky.
(b) The woman, who was preparing supper, replied, “Yes, God willing.”

The italicised parts of the sentences give us more information about Lencho and the woman. We call them ‘relative clauses’. Notice that they begin with a ‘relative pronoun’ who. Other common relative pronouns are whom, whose, and which.

The relative clauses in (a) and (b) above are called ‘non-defining’, because we already know the identity of the person they describe. Lencho is a particular person, and there is a particular woman he speaks to. We don’t need the information in the relative clause to pick these people out from a larger set.

A non-defining relative clause usually has a comma in front of it and a comma after it (some writers use a ‘dash’ (—) instead, as in the story). If the relative clause comes at the end, we just put a full stop.

Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which, as suggested.

Question 1.
I often go to Mumbai.
Mumbai is the commercial capital of India, (which)
Answer:
I often go to Mumbai which is the commercial capital of India.

Question 2.
My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking.
She cooks very well, (who)
Answer:
My mother who cooks very well is going to host a TV show on cooking.

Question 3.
These sportspersons are going to meet the President.
Their performance has been excellent, (whose)
Answer:
These sportspersons whose performance has been excellent are going to meet the President.

Question 4.
Lencho prayed to God.
His eyes see into our minds, (whose)
Answer:
Lencho prayed to God whose eyes see into our minds.

Question 5.
This man cheated me.
I trusted him. (whom)

Sometimes the relative pronoun in a relative clause remains ‘hidden’. For example, look at the first sentence of the story :

(a) The house—the only one in the entire valley—sat on the crest of a low hill.
We can rewrite this sentence as :

(b) The house—which was the onjly one in the entire valley—sat on the crest of a low hill.
In (a), the relative pronoun ‘which’ land the verb ‘was’ are not present.

Answer:
This man whom I trusted cheated me.

IV. Using Negatives for Emphasis
We know that sentences with words such as no, not or nothing show the absence of something, or contradict something. For example :

(а) This year we will have no com. (Com will be absent.)

(b) The hail has left nothing. (Absence of a crop.)

(c) These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins. (Contradicts the common idea of what the drops of water falling from the sky are.)

But sometimes negative words are used just to emphasise an idea. Look at these sentences from the story:

(d) Lencho…had done nothing else but see the sky towards the north-east. (He had done only this.)

(e) The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body. (He had only this reason.)

(f) Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money. (He showed no surprise at all.)

Now look back at example (c). Notice that the contradiction in fact serves to emphasise the value or usefulness of the rain to the farmer.

Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.

Question 1.
The trees lost all their leaves.
Answer:
Not a leaf remained on the trees.

Question 2.
The letter was addressed to God himself.
Answer:
It was nothing less than a letter to God.

Question 3.
The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.
Answer:
Never in his career as a postman had he known that address.

V. Metaphors

The word ‘metaphor9 comes from a Greek word meaning ‘transfer’. Metaphors compare two things or ideas : a quality or feature of one thing is transferred to another thing. Some common metaphors are

the teg of the table : The leg supports our body. So the object that supports a table is described as a leg.
the heart of the city : The heart is an important organ in the centre of our body. So this word is used to describe the central area of a city.

In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to say what qualities are being compared. One has been done for you.

Object	Metaphor	Quality or Feature Compared
Cloud	Huge mountains of clouds	The mass or “hugeness’ of mountains
Raindrops
Hailstones
Locusts
		An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead
	An ox of a man

Answer:

Object	Metaphor	Quality or Feature Compared
Cloud	Huge mountains of clouds	The mass or “hugeness’ of mountains
Raindrops	Coins, New silver coins	Crop and its being very good
Hailstones	frozen pearls	destruction of the crop

Locusts	A plague	An epidemic (a disease) that spreads
		An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead
Lencho	An ox of a man	his robustness, strength and resoluteness

SPEAKING
Have you ever been in great difficulty, and felt that only a miracle could help you ? How was your problem solved ? Speak about this in class with your teacher.

Answer:

Yes, once I fell in great difficulty. I had mild asthma. I couldn’t take the medicine in time. In fact, I forgot. The weather became cloudy and stuffy. There came an asthmatic attack on me. I had my inhaler with me. But it had only one puff. I puffed at it. There was no relief. I started gasping for breath. I saw my end was near as I gasped and gasped for Breath. Suddenly, my mother found another inhaler. She gave it to me to puff. I puffed and felt some relief. I was at once taken to hospital.

LISTENING
Listen to the letter (given below ‘In This Lesson’) read out by your teacher/on the audiotape. As you listen to fill in the table given below.

The writer apologises (says sorry) because
The writer has sent this to the reader
The writer sent it in the month of
The reason for not writing earlier
Sarah goes to
Who is writing to whom?
Where and when were they last together?

Answer:
Mainly to be attempted at the class level with the help of the teacher. The appropriate answers are given below :

(a) she did not write to Art) for a very long time.
(b) after sending a birthday card
(c) September 2005
(d) was the writer’s shifting from Bangalore to Kanpur
(e) a primary school called ‘Little Feet’.
(f) Jaya is writing to Arti
(g) They were at Bangalore.

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