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

Oral Comprehension Check

Page No 5

Question:- 1 What did Lencho hope for?

Answer:- Lencho hoped for the rain as it was very much needed for the good harvest.

Question:- 2 Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?

Answer:-  Lencho’s crop was almost ready to be harvested, and a little raindrop could have given him a better harvest, resulting in more money, so Lencho compared them to new coins.

Question:- 3 How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?

Answer:- It was pouring outside. But, all of a sudden, a strong wind blew, and enormous hailstones began to fall alongside the rain. All of Lencho’s crops were destroyed.

Question:- 4 What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?

Answer:- Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness after the hail stopped. He saw a dark future for himself and his family ahead of him. He was concerned about running out of food in the coming year.

Oral Comprehension Check

Page No 6

Question:- 1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

Answer:- Lencho believed in God. He strongly believed  that  God’s eyes, see everything, including what is hidden deep within one’s conscience. He wrote a letter to God, asking for hundred pesos in order to resow his farm. 

Question:- 2. Who read the letter?

Answer:- The postmaster read the letter.

Question:- 3. What did the postmaster do then?

Answer:-  The postmaster laughed at first, but was soon affected by Lencho’s seriousness about his faith in God. He didn’t want to damage the writer’s trust in God, so he developed a plan to collect money from his employees and friends, as well as provide a portion of his pay to Lencho.

Oral Comprehension Check

Page No 7

Question:- 1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

Answer:- Lencho was not surprised to find the letter containing the money, as he was sure that God would help him.

Question:- 2. What made him angry?

Answer:- The envelope contained just seventy pesos, when Lencho had wanted a hundred pesos. He was upset by the difference in the amount.

Thinking about the Text

Question:- 1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?

Answer:- Lencho had great faith in God because he had been told that God could see everything and would help anyone in need. Here are a few sentences that demonstrate his confidence in God:-

(i) But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope: help from God.

(ii) All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience.

(iii) “God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year.”

(iv) He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town.

(v) God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.

(vi) It said: “God: of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest, since I need it very much.”               

Question:- 2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?

Answer:- Lencho’s entire confidence in God moved the Postmaster. As a result, he chose to donate money to Lencho. Furthermore, the postmaster did not want Lencho’s faith in God to be shaken. As a result, he signed the letter “God.” It was a clever ruse to convey the notion that the letter had been authored by God himself.

Question:- 3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?

Answer:- No, Lencho doesn’t try to figure out who sent him the money. This is because he had complete faith in God and never doubted that the money would be sent to him by someone other than God. He had such a deep confidence in God that he believed God had sent him the money.

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 believes the money was taken by the post office employees. The money is sent to Lencho by post office employees. Lencho, on the other hand, believes they have taken his money. He refers to them as crooks. As a result, there is a sense of irony in this circumstance.

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.

Answer:- I don’t believe such people exist in the actual world. Despite the fact that Lencho is literate, he has no idea how his letter will reach God without an address. He’d most likely be naive and unquestioning.

Question:- 6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?

Answer:- Human-Nature Conflict: The destruction of Lencho’s crop by the hailstorm demonstrates the conflict between humans and nature. Lencho was counting on a good rain to have a nice harvest because that was his only hope of earning money. He worked tirelessly to provide for his family, but nature intervened and ruined everything.

The narrative also depicted a battle between humans and humans, as the postmaster, together with his pals and staff, sent Lencho money that Lencho demanded from God, despite the fact that they didn’t know Lencho. They were to responsible, according to Lencho, for stealing money. He referred to them as “a gang of crooks.” This demonstrates that man has lost faith in his fellow man, resulting in the rise of conflict.

Thinking about Language

Question:- 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.

1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle: __ __ c __ __ __ __
2. An extremely strong wind : __ a __ __
3. A violent tropical storm with very strong winds : __ __ p __ __ __ __
4. A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel: __ __ __ n __ __ __
5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean: __ __ r __ __ __ __ __ __
6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage: __ __ __ __ l __ __ __ __

Answer:- 1. Cyclone

2. Gale
3. Typhoon
4. Tornado
5. Hurricane
6. Whirlwind

Question:- 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.

Answer:-

Question:- III. Relative Clauses

Look at these sentences

(a) 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.

1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)
2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)
3. These sportspersons are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent. (whose)
4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds. (whose)
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 only one in the entire valley — sat on the crest of a low hill.

In (a), the relative pronoun which and the verb was are not present.

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

2. My mother, who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.
3. These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.
4. Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.
5. This man, whom I trusted, cheated me.

Question:- 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:

(a) This year we will have no corn. (Corn 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 sometims 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 northeast. (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.

1. The trees lost all their leaves.

_______________________________________________________

2. The letter was addressed to God himself.

_______________________________________________________

3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career

_______________________________________________________

Answer:- 1. The trees lost all their leaves.

Not a leaf remained on the trees.

2. The letter was addressed to God himself.

It was nothing less than a letter to God.

3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.

Never in his career as a postman had he known that address.

Question:- V. Metaphors

The word metaphor 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 leg 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.

Answer:-

Speaking (Page 11)

Question 1:- 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:- Activity to be done by yourself.

Listening (Page 12)

Question 1:- Listen to the letter (given under ‘In This Lesson’) read out by your teacher/on the audio tape. As you listen fill in the table given below.

Answer:- Activity to be done by yourself.

Writing (Page 12)

Question 1:- Lencho suffered first due to drought and then by floods. Our country is also facing such situations in the recent years. There is flood and there is drought. There is a need to save water through water harvesting. Design a poster for your area on how to save water during summer and when it is available in excess.

Answer:- Activity to be done by yourself.