NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 1 : The Fun They Had

1. Margie is eleven and Tommy is thirteen years old.

2. Margie wrote in her diary “Today Tommy found a real book!”

3. No, Margie had never seen a book before.

4. The things about the book that she found strange were the following:

   1) The pages of the book were yellow and crinkly.

   2) The words stood still instead of moving.

   3) When they turned back to the previous page, it still had the same words on it that it had when they first read it.

5.  I think the telebook must be a book that gets displayed on the screen of the television.

6. Margie’s school was next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.

7. Margie and Tommy learnt Geography, History and Arithmetic.

i) 

(1) Tommy says these words.

(2) “It” refers to the books.

(3) The paperback book is being compared with the telebooks by the speaker.

ii) 

(1) “They” refers to the students centuries ago.

(2) “Regular” means the usual for the people in 2157. Here, regular teacher means the mechanical teacher.

(3) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with humans as teachers of earlier times.

A) Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. The mechanical teachers had big screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. The children were taught through computer and television screens. They did not have humans as teachers.

B) Margie’s mother sent for the County Inspector because the mechanical teacher of Margie was not functioning properly. It kept giving Margie Geography tests and Margie was performing worse every time. Margie’s mother was concerned and thus sent for the County Inspector.

C) The County Inspector smiled at Margie and gave her an apple. He took the mechanical teacher away from her. Then he fixed the mechanical teacher. He told Margie’s mother that the geography sector of the mechanical teacher was geared a little too quick and that he has slowed it up to an average ten-year level.

D) Margie was doing badly in geography because the questions that were displayed on the screen of the mechanical teacher were too quick for her age.

The County Inspector slowed its speed to an average ten-year level so that Margie would be able to perform satisfactorily.

E) Tommy’s teacher had to be taken away altogether for a month as the history sector had blanked out completely.

F) Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school because Margie’s mother believed that little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.

G) Tommy says that the old kind of school had special buildings. All the kids went to that building for studying.

H) He tells Margie that the old kind of teachers were humans instead of machines. The human teacher would educate the boys and girls and give them homework and ask questions.

i) The main features of the mechanical teachers that Margie and Tommy have are as follows:

The mechanical teachers have big black screens on which lessons are displayed and questions are asked. The students need to put their homework and test papers in a slot that is present in the mechanical teacher. The students write answers in punch code and the mechanical teacher calculates the results right away.

The main features of the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have are given below:

In the story, the schools are there in the homes. For instance, Margie’s school was right next to her bedroom. The students do not have classmates. They study subjects like arithmetic, history, geography, etc. The mechanical teacher would turn on at the same time every day except on the weekends.

ii) Margie hated school because she felt it boring. The mechanical teacher started the class at the same time regularly. Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her test after test on Geography and she was performing badly.

Margie also did not like inserting homework and test papers in the slot on the mechanical teacher.

She thought that the old kind of school must have been fun because it would have had kids from various places of the neighbourhood. It would have been so interesting to sit together in the classroom and leave the school together at the end of the day. All the kids learned the same things so they could help each other in studies and homework.

iii) Yes, I agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story. In the story, the schools are in the students’ homes. This gives no space for interaction between students. Studying from screen and taking up tests sounds boring. Inserting homework and test papers in a slot on a mechanical teacher every day is monotonous. Writing answers in punch codes is even more draining.

Learning together in a class gives students a wider view of the people. Students also get familiar with others and learn how to interact and socialize. Getting taught by human teachers is way more dynamic than being taught by a machine. If there is any issue with any lesson or concept, the student can ask the human teacher then and there. But, mechanical teachers are programmed with a certain lesson and concept for a particular day. When the student solves homework, he/she can get help from classmates. That’s how the schools today are more fun than the school in the story.

awfully:

They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to — on a screen, you know.

sorrowfully:

The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.

completely:

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

loftily:

He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago”.

carefully:

He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago”.

differently:

“But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.”

quickly:

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly. She wanted to read about those funny schools.

nonchalantly:

“Maybe,” he said nonchalantly.

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

(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions loftily, shrugging his shoulders.

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

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

(v) I completely forgot about it.

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

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

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

(i) angry – angrily  (ii) happy – happily

(iii) merry – merrily (iv) sleepy – sleepily

(v) easy – easily (vi) noisy – noisily

(vii) tidy – tidily (viii) gloomy – gloomily

i) If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, she will get irritated.

ii) If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, you will miss your meal.

iii) Unless you promise to write back, I will not write you another letter.

iv) If she doesn’t play any games, she will become lazy.

v) Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat will pounce on it and kill it.

Answer:

416, Sector 18
Nagpur, Maharashtra

04/08/2020

Mindfame Private Limited, 1632
Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi

Dear Sir/Madam,

I recently came to know that a new revised volume of Issac Asimov’s short stories has been released. This is to request you to send me a set of the same by Value Payable Post (VPP) on my mailing address given above. I shall be highly obliged if you could send me the book at the earliest.

Yours sincerely,

Adwait Tiwari

For the motion

I would like to put forth my views in favour of the motion “The Schools of the Future Will Have No Books and No Teachers!”

The emergence of digital technologies like computers, laptops, mobile phones, etc. has brought about a lot of changes in the way education is imparted and received. Now itself, we can see how important the electronic gadgets and internet have become. We learn so many things through Google, YouTube and other platforms. The concept of online classes is getting more acknowledgement than ever. The internet speed is improving with time and usage. More and more people are being drawn towards the limitless possibilities of learning online. Gradually, we might see the schools teaching the students online with soft copies of books.

When the robots become a part of our lives, we shall see the time when the schools will have no real books and no human teachers. Instead, we will have online books and robots as teachers!