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In the poem, the word ‘bower’ is a metaphor for school. It is used to suggest that learning should take place in the company of nature and not within the four walls of the school. When learning is in school, it is uninteresting.

‘Learning’s bower’ refers to school.

A. boring lectures by teachers.

B. a place where the child can be taught.

The Kangaroo raised the objection that if the Duck rode with his cold and wet webbed feet, it would cause him rheumatism.

The phrases that reflect the changed mood are ‘It drives all Joy away’ and ‘spend the day In sighing and dismay’.

Words/Phrases that reflect changed mood are – ‘it drives all joy away’, ‘in sighing and dismay’.

Words/Phrases that reflect changed mood are – ‘it drives all joy away’, ‘in sighing and dismay’.

The boy sits drooping in the classroom because he cannot enjoy the learning in an enclosed space when the spring is in full bloom outside.

2. The boy does not find any delight in studying books and listening to the boring lectures of his teachers.

3. As a bird in a cage cannot enjoy singing, a child cannot enjoy learning being confined in a classroom when there is much to enjoy outside when spring is in full bloom.

1. The company of the sweet singing of birds like skylark is referred to here.

2. In a summer morning, the boy hates to go to school.

3. In a summer morning, children spend their day at school sighing and in utter disappointment as they do not like to learn under the strict supervision of a teacher with outdated ideas about schooling.

The poem ‘The School Boy’ discuss , a boy’s repelling imprisonment at his school.
His company from the animate objects of the summer morning (birds, flowers, etc.) to the inanimate object of his school is indeed a matter of concern and grief. School life is an ordeal for him.

The boy’s enjoyment of summer festivity is countered by the terrifying eye of the teacher that robs from him all his childhood happiness. School is nothing but a prison that negates the playful activity of childhood. The restriction of an imposed discipline in school forms a hurdle for the natural expression of creativity and kills the very the essence of genius.

The desk must have been sold when Connie’s house had burnt. The table had been damaged by fire as well as water.

Yes, the title of the story is suitable for it. The spirit of Christmas is the theme that prevails throughout the story. The message of Christmas peace and good will to all is brought out so clearly through the story. It was on a Christmas day, in the middle of a raging war, that two warring troops made peace. The moment of peace that the soldiers shared with each other was the best Christmas present for them. 

Again, it was on a Christmas day that the narrator went to see Mrs. Macpherson. He went to return her husband’s letters to her. 

The letter was precious to her, but even more precious was her allusion that the narrator was her husband Jim, who she believed had returned as promised on a Christmas day. This was the best Christmas present in the world for her. Suitable titles could be “A Christmas wish comes true!”, “Someday at Christmas…” “The Christmas Message”.

Yes. Velu seems to be a smart boy. He makes determination to leave his village at the age of twelve as he could not stand his father’s beating. When he reaches Chennai, the girl, who is a ragpicker, tries to help him. Initially, he thinks of not taking her help. However, he is smart enough to realize that he is very hungry and does not know where to go. Therefore, he follows the girl. He knows how to read Tamil. When the girl to tell him to eat the banana that she finds in the garbage, he refuses at first. However, he quickly realizes that he is very hungry and therefore, eats it. Even though he finds the place and even the girl very strange, he continues to walk along with her. He tries to understand why she collects rubbish. He knows that he has not come to the big city to collect rubbish; however, he adjusts to the circumstances and decides to do the same work till he finds a better job.

All human beings are alike in many ways. They love peace and hate war. They want to live together. Examples from the story: “Then they were calling out to us from across no man’s land. “Happy Christmas, Tommy! Happy Christmas!” When we had got over the surprise, some of us shouted back, “Same to you, Fritz! Same to you!”

Jaya is a brave and sensitive child with sense of humour. She was of Velu’e age. She was a ragpicker and knows how to live in the city. Jaya knows her way around Chennai, which is a fairly big city. She knows from where to find food. She knows that one has to be careful to not get caught by the police. 

Jaya is also a very sensitive and kind girl as she helps Velu in all possible ways. She gives him a pair of shoes because his feet burnt in burning sun on far road. 

Jaya is also of a humorous nature. When she sees Velu sitting at the platform, she asks him if he is there to become rich. When Velu is not able to cross the road, she drags him to the other side of the road and said “What do you think you're doing? Grazing cows? If you stand around in the middle of the road like that, you'll be chutney.”

(iii) the dull/uninspiring life at school with lots of work and no play.

The child reminds one of Jesus Christ. When the Giant met the little child for the second time, he saw imprints of nails on his palms and feet. When Christ was crucified, nails were dug into his palms and feet. He had sacrificed his life for humanity, so that the sins of the world would be washed away. That is why the child told the Giant that those were the wounds of love.

In one corner of the garden, there was a tree all covered with frost and snow. The North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. A little boy was standing in front of it, but could not reach its branches. As a result, there was still winter in this part of the garden.

The phrases that reflect the changed mood are 'it drives all joy away' ,'in the cruel eye outworn', 'spend the day in sighing and dismay'.

The sentence indicates the Giant lay dead, all covered with white blossoms. The Giant had been blessed with paradise after his death. The Giant is no longer selfish and cruel. That is why he is covered with white blossoms. White colour is a symbol of peace.

Their second meeting took place after a long interval; on a winter morning. The Giant was surprised to see that in the farthest corner of the garden, there was a tree covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were golden, and silver fruit hung down from them. The little boy stood underneath it. The Giant went towards him in great joy. As he came near the child, his face grew red with anger when he saw that there were imprints of nails on his palms and feet. He asks the boy who injured him, so that the giant may avenge him. But the child says they are the wounds of love, and as the giant allowed him to play in his garden, so would the boy take the giant to his garden in Paradise.

The word ‘rheumatism’ is spelt differently and is in two parts so that it can rhyme with ‘kangaroo’ in the following line. As a result of splitting the word into two and changing its spelling, ‘Roo’ rhymes with ‘kangaroo’. The second part ‘Matiz’ begins with a capital letter because it is the first word of the line. In a poem, every line begins with a capital letter even if it is in continuation with the previous line. Hence, this has been done in order to enhance the poetic effect of the lines.

(i) He played chor-police for an hour and even school boy loves distractions very much when they don't like to study.. (ii) Had I been with Hafeez Contractor, I would have definitely liked to participated in such distraction.

The principal said to him how his mother toiled hard to bring him up inspite of his father’s death. She further said that he was grown up and should start taking care of himself. That he should start giving top priority to his study instead of sports.

Hefeez Contractor did not join the police force because his mother told him not to. His mother told him to do his graduation. May be she didn't want to loose him

being a cricketer he used to keep himself busy with the games.But that he year he did not play but was busy studying that year. He went for prayers, and just ate and studied.

The soldiers of the two armies were like each other. Below are some instances from the story to prove: 

→ Both the armies celebrated Christmas

→ Both the armies shared their food and spent time together in smoking, laughing, talking, drinking and eating. 

→ They played a football match and agreed that conflicts and disputes may be resolved by football match 

→ They agreed about the negative aspects of war and longed peace. 

→ They exchanged carols and hoped to unite with the families again.

The desk must have been sold when the house in which Connie Macpherson lived had caught fire. She was taken to a nursing home. All the burnt up things must have been sold after that.

(i) Mrs. Gupta, who was Hafeez Contractor's teacher in the second and third grades, advised him to become an architect when he grew up as she could see the hidden talent in him 

(ii) She always said to him that he was quite useless in everything, except for his sketches, which were always very good. Therefore, she advised him to take up architecture.

Connie must have kept Jim's letter for a long time. This is because she told the narrator how she read it quite often every day so that she could feel that Jim was near her.

A rope was tied to the overhanging branch of a mango tree with a loop at its end. Putting one foot in the loop, the writer’s wife S’ kicked off with the other to bridge the six-foot S gap that made-up the width of the surrounding pit.

1. C. delight.

2. C. so that the bear could be kept safe from other animals.

3. C. a rope hanging from a branch of the mango tree.

4. C. ‘animals should be loved and taken care of kindly’.

The Abraham Lincoln slowed down because it was unable to compete with the monster’s speed.

Rima knew that she had behaved very badly. She was too proud to admit it – even to herself. Next day, after a sleepless night, Rima dragged herself to school. When she reached, her friends were already chatting with Malti. This upset her even more. Within a week or so, all her friends had befriended Malti and were all praises about her. But Rima thought otherwise.

She took it to be a wicked plan of Malti to isolate her from her friends. Rima who had always been a topper started losing confidence. This affected her performance in exams. She soon lost the affection of her teachers who thought she needed to change her rude behaviour. Rima’s health suffered and she fell sick very often. After a week’s absence from school, when she resumed, none of her friends asked her about her health.

When she asked for notes that she had missed, no one lent her the books. Rima approached the teacher and requested her to give her a week’s time to complete all the books. She also asked if she could get someone’s book to complete her notes.

The teacher send that Malti had already made notes for Rima with her permission. Rima completed all her books with Malti’s help. She was touched by this kind of gesture. She realised her mistake and apologized to Malti who embraced her. Both Rima and Malti became best of friends. Rima had learnt that beauty is skin deep.

The deafening hiss resembled the sound made by a water spout expelled with tremendous intensity.

Rima decided Malti’s smartness by the way she dressed and spoke English. I do not think that we should judge someone’s smartness by their outward appearance. Besides, even if someone does not speak good English, it cap always be learnt and improved upon, and the person may be very good at some other language.

Malti looked offended still yet did not reply.

Malti felt bad about their poverty.

when – conjunction.

1. thoughtful/thoughtless

2. remarkable

3. natural

4. manual/ manly

5. timely

Her offering was accepted by Buddha.

1. Why does honey crystallize? 

2. How to make a lemon battery? 

3. Build your own telescope.

sang – Intransitive.

No, 

I do not like travelling on sea. I don’t know how to swim and I am very scared of drowning.

1. rang – transitive verb 

2. rang – intransitive verb 

3. sleeps – intransitive verb 

4. fly – intransitive verb 

5. dose – transitive verb 

6. wrote – transitive verb

was – transitive verb.

Suddenly – adverb

(1) Key Note of the Play : In the opening scene Shakespeare introduces the main characters and events of the play. First of all we are introduced to Antonio, the rich merchant of Venice and his friends. Then Antonio’s sadness strikes the keynote of the comedy. His friends think that the cause of his sadness must be either, his anxiety about his ventures abroad or he must be in love with someone. But he himself thinks that he is by nature sad and has a sad part of play in life. 

(2) Antonio’s Generosity : Then we are introduced to Bassanio, a close friend of Antonio. Bassanio is a spend thrift who has borrowed huge sums of money from Antonio and has wasted them. He now desires more money to go to Belmont to win the hand of rich and most beautiful Portia. But Antonio thinks in a generous way. 

(3) Seeds of Various Stories : Antonio has no ready money. So he authorises Bassanio to borrow the money on his credit from any quarter at any rate of interest. Bassanio goes to Shylock, a great enemy of Antonia. Yet in a revengeful mood, he agrees to give money on execution of bond signed by Antonio. Antonio signs the bond. Thus bond story here takes birth. Getting the money Bassanio will go to Belmont where casket story will take birth. Bassanio is the source of bond story and he is the hero of casket story. Thus the two stories are here interconnected. A hint has also been given in this scene of the elopment of Jessica with Lorenzo. 

Thus in every way, the scene is of essential dramatic importance. It strikes the keynote of the play, introduces the main characters as well as different stories which form the part of the play.