The Fun They Had(NCERT SOLUTIONS with Questions & Answers)

                        Exercises 

 I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.

 (a) How old are Margie and Tommy?

 Ans. Margie was eleven and Tommy was thirteen. 

(b) What did Margie write in her diary? 

 Ans. Tommy had found a book. Margie wrote in her diary, "Tommy found a real book!" 

(c) Had Margie ever seen a book before?  

Ans. No, Margie had not ever seen a book before.

 (d) What things about the book did she find strange? 

 Ans. She found it strange that the words and letters in the book stood still. They were not moving as in a computer screen. 

(e) What do you think a telebook is? 

Ans. Telebook is not written on papers. It is stored in camputer software. 

(f) Where was Margie's school? Did she have any classmates? 

 Ans. Margie's school was in her home. A room next to the bed room was her classroom. She learned from a mechanical teacher. She had no classmate. 

(g) What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?  

Ans. Margi and Tommy learned usual school subjects like maths, History, geography etc. 

II. Answer the following with reference to the story : 

(a) 'I wouldn't throw it away."

 (i) Who says these words?                                   (ii) What does 'it' refer to?                                   (iii) What is being compared with by the speaker? 

  Ans. (1) Tommy said these words.               (ii) 'it' refers to an ancient book.                  (iii) The speaker is comparing the book printed on paper with the telebook on computer screen.

 (b) 'Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn't a regular teacher. It was a man.'

(i) Who does 'they' refer to?                            (ii) What does 'regular' mean here?                 (iii) What is it contrasted with?

Ans. (1) 'They' here refer to the past generation when books were printed on papers. 

(ii) Here regular means mechanical. 

(iii) A mechanical teacher and a human teacher are being compared here.

 III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (of about 30 words).

 (a) What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

  Ans. Margie and Tommy belong to the future generation. Their teacher is not a human being. They have a mechanical teacher which is operated by the computer at home. 

(b) Why did Margie's mother send for the County Inspector? 

 Ans. Margie was not doing well in his studies. Perhaps something was wrong with her mechanical teacher. So, Margie's mother sent for the county inspector to inspect the mechanical teacher. 

(c) What did he do? 

 Ans. Something was wrong with Margie's mechanical teacher. The county inspector was sent for to inspect it. He took the teacher apart. He slowed the geography secter to an average ten year level . 

(d) Why was Margie doing badly at geography? What did the County Inspector do to help ?

Ans. Margie's mechanical teacher's geography sector was adjusted above Margie's level. The county inspector slowed it to an average ten year level. 

(e) What had once happened to Tommy's teacher? 

 Ans. Tommy's mechanical teacher broke down. It was taken away for a month because its history section had blanked out completely. 

(f) Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why? 

Ans. Yes, Margie had regular hours and days except Saturday and Sunday. It was because her mother believed that little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.

 (g) How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?

  Ans. Tommy says that in old school the teacher did not live in the house. They had special building and all children went there to learn.

 (1) How does he describe the old kind of teachers? 

Ans. He describes that old teachers were human being and they came to school in a special building. He told the students things and gave them homework and asked them questions.

 IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100-150 words). 

(a) What are the main features of the mechanical teacher and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?

Ans. Margie and Tommy belongs to the future generation. There are not usual schools and teachers. Their classroom is in the house and they have no human teacher. They have mechanical teacher. Everything is taught by it. It is a machine which is large and ugly with black face. It has a big screen on which all the lessons are shown and the questions are asked. There is a slot where Margie has to put homework and test papers. She has to write them in punch code. The mechanical teacher calculates the marks in no time. Their class room is next to their bedroom. The mechanical teacher is always in the room. Margie had regular hours and days of school.

(1) Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?

 Ans. Margie belongs to the future generation. She has school and a mechanical teacher at home. It was a computer operated regular teacher. Her classroom is next to her bedroom. The mechanical teacher is always there. Margie has regular hours for study. The previous day's homework has to be put in the slot in the mechanical teacher. Margie does not like it all. It is mechanical. She likes the old kind of school where children from the neighbourhood came laughing and shouting in the the school yard. They sat together in the classroom. They learned the same thing and could help each other. The teachers were people. So it was a fun. 

(c) Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story? 

Ans. Yes, I agree with Margie that schools today are more fun. But today's schools too are becoming hectic and mechanical. Children have their own needs and interests. They do not like to be mechanical. They have feelings of love and emotions. They should be given opportunity to learn their own. They can learn everything in natural setting. They have individual differences. Mechanical teacher forces them to learn things in a regular way which becames boring. In the present day's schools children come together and learn things in a group. They can share ideas and experience while in Margie's school there is only one student and the same teacher always. So, present day's schools are more fun than the school in the story. 

THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE ADVERBS 

Read this sentence taken from the story : 

They had once taken Tommy's teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely. 

The word complete is an adjective. When you add -ly to it, it becomes an adverb. 

1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs in the box below. 

------------------------------------------------------------

awefully           carefully            sorrowfully 

differently         completely      quickly loftily 

nonchalantly 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ans. it was awefully funny to read words (para1).                                                              

her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector (para 3)

 the history sector had blanked out completely (para 5) 

He added loftily pronouncing the word carefully. (para 6) 

each kid has to be taught differently. (para8) 

Margie said quickly. (para 8)

 'May be', he said nonchalantly. 

2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.

 (i) The report must be read--------------so that performance can be improved

 (ii) At the interview, he answered our questions-----------shrugging his shoulders.

(iii) We all behave--------------when we are tired or hungry.

 (iv) The teacher shook her head ----------when Ravi lied to her. 

(v) I-------------forgot about it

 (vi) When I complimented her on her success, she just smiled----------------- and turned away.

(vii) The President of the Company is-----busy and will not be able to meet you.

 (viii) I finished my work--------- so that I could go out to play. 

Ans. (1) Carefully, (ii) loftily, (iii) Sorrowfully, (iv) Sorrowfully, (v) Completely, (vi) nonchalantly, (vi) completely, (vi) quickly 

Remember: An adverb describes action. You can form adverbs by adding -ly to adjectives. 

Spelling note: 

When an adjective ends in -y, the y changes to i when you add -ly to form an adverb. For example: angr-y, angr-i-ly 

3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.

 (a) angry (b)happy. (c)Merry (d)Sleepy (e) easy (f) noisy (g) tidy (h) gloomy

Ans. (a) angrily, (b) happily, (e) merrilly, (đ) sleepily, (e) easily (f)noisily (g) tidily (h) gloomily

 IF NOT AND UNLESS 

Imagine that Margie's mother told her, *"You'll feel awful if you don't finish your History lesson."

 *She could also say : “You'll feel awful unless you finish your History lesson." 

Unless means if not. Sentences with unless or if not are negative conditional sentences. Notice that these sentences have two parts. The part that begins with if not or unless tells us the condition. This part has a verb in the present tense (look at the verbs don't finish, finish in the sentences above). The other part of the sentence tells us about a possible result. It tells us what will happen (if something else doesn't happen). The verb in this part of the sentence is in the future tense (you'll feel/you will feel ...). 

Notice these two tenses again in the following examples :

 (Future Tense)                     (Present Tense)

There won't be any books left        unless                 we presence them

You won't learn your lessons.            If             You don't study regularly

 Tommy will have an accident          Unless        he drivers more slowly

 Complete the following conditional sentences. Use the correct form of the verb.  

(i) IF I don't go to Anu's party tonight,...................

 (ii) If you don't telephone the hotel to order food,...............................

 (iii) Unless you promise to write back, I...................

 (iv) If she doesn't play any games,.........................

 (v) Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat .....................

Ans

(A) If don't go to Anu's party tonight, she will feel sad.

 (ii) If you don't telephone the hotel to order food, we shall not be able to get food later. 

(iii) Unless you promise to write back, I won't write to you.

 (iv) If she does not play any games, she will became lazy.

 (v) Unless that little bird flies away, the cat will kill him. 

WRITING

 A new revised volume of Issac Asimov's short stories has just been released. Order one set. Write a letter to the publisher, Mindfame Private Limited, 1632 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi, requesting that a set be sent to you by Value Payable Post (VPP), and giving your address. Your letter will have the following parts :

*Addresses of the sender and receiver.                     * the salutation

*the body of the letter the                  *closing phrases and signature 

 Your letter might look like this :

 Your address

-------------------------------------

-------------------------------------

 Date------------------------- (DD/MM/YY)

 The addressee's address

----------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------

 Dear Sir/Madam, 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yours sincerely 

Your signature

 Remember that the language of a formal letter is different from the colloquial style of personal letters. For example, contracted forms such as I've or can't are not used. 

16, Shiv Nagar,                                                                    Ring Road,                                                                       Rohtak March 

30, 2006

 The Publisher,.                                                       Mindfame Private Limited,                                            1632 Asaf Ali Road,                                                           New Delhi

 Dear Sir,

 I shall be grateful if you will send me by VPP one set of newly released volume of Issac Asimov's short stories as early as possible. 

Yours faithfully

 Saroja Bhasker. 

SPEAKING

 In groups of four discuss the following topic.             The Schools of the Future will have no Books and no Teachers ! 

Your group can decide to speak for or against the motion. After this, each group will select a speaker to present its views to the entire class.

 You may find the following phrases useful to present your argument in a debate. 

*In my opinion .... 

*I/we fail to understand why... .. ...................

*I/we support the motion . .....................

*I wholeheartedly support / oppose the view that...........................

* At the outset let me say.... .....................

*I'd/we'd like to raise the issue of/argue against............