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| A Game of Hopscotch - Questions & Answers |
CHAPTER – 9: A Game of Hopscotch (Play)
In-Text Questions (Margins)
Page 98
1. What is
strange about Mirry?
Ans: (a) She
calls her coat an ‘Ulster’ (an old word from the 19th century) instead of an
‘overcoat’.
2. People
think Tinku is joking when she talks about a doctor visiting his patients on
horseback because...
Ans:
...doctors today drive cars and do not ride horses to visit patients.
Page 99
3. Why
doesn't Mirry let Tinku finish?
Ans: Mirry
interrupts Tinku to stop her from talking about the modern doctors, perhaps
because Mirry belongs to the past.
Page 100
4. Tinku
cannot find Mirry anywhere because...
Ans:
...Mirry and her dog Shadow vanished suddenly.
5. What do
you think could have happened to the muddy marks, the hopscotch court and the
handkerchief?
Ans: They
disappeared because Mirry was a ghost or a spirit from the past, so the things
she brought or made were not real in Tinku's time.
Understanding the Text
A. Say
(T) for true and (NT) for not true.
1.
Tinku had not gone out because she was unwell. (T)
2.
Tinku was surprised to hear Mirry because they were meeting after a long time. (T)
3.
Mirry helped Tinku’s aunts find their way home. (T
4.
Mirry had wiped the chalk marks of the hopscotch court before leaving. (NT)
5.
Only Mirry and Shadow heard the sound of a horse’s hooves. (T)
B. Answer these questions.
1.
"I’ll clean it before my parents return." Who said this to whom? What
did ‘it’ refer to? How did the listener know where the speaker’s parents were?
Ans: Tinku said this
to Mirry. 'It' refers to the muddy paw marks Shadow made on the carpet.
Mirry knew the parents were in Nainital because she claimed she "heard
someone mention it while walking downhill".
2.
"He is afraid I may get lost!" Who did ‘he’ refer to? What do we know
about him? What role did he play in the story?
Ans: 'He' refers to Mirry’s
father. We know he is a British doctor from the past who visits patients on
horseback. His role is important because his arrival (the sound of hooves)
causes Mirry to vanish suddenly.
3.
"Paro, will you please close the door?" Why did the speaker say this?
What did Paro say? Do you find it strange? Why?
Ans: Tinku said this
because she thought Mirry had left the door open when she ran out. Paro replied
that she had locked the door in the morning and it had not been opened
since. It is strange because Mirry entered and left a room that was locked from
the inside.
4.
"You must have fallen asleep, poor thing." Who said this to whom? Why
did the speaker think so? Why did the listener get upset on hearing this?
Ans: Paro said this to
Tinku. She thought Tinku was dreaming because there were no muddy marks or
chalk lines on the carpet. Tinku got upset because she knew she wasn't
dreaming—Mirry had really been there.
5.
Give examples from the text to show how Mirry seems—
a.
old-fashioned: She
calls her coat an "Ulster" (a 19th-century word), carries a dainty
lace-edged handkerchief, and her father rides a horse to see patients instead
of driving a car.
b.
strange or mysterious: She enters a locked house, knows where Tinku's parents
are without being told, vanishes instantly, and leaves no physical traces (mud
or chalk) behind
Grammar and Usage (Page 102)
A. Identify
whether these are phrases (P) or clauses (C):
1. He
spotted a leopard. — C (Clause)
2. On a low
branch of a tree — P (Phrase)
3. It rained
very heavily for many days. — C (Clause)
4. For a
little while — P (Phrase)
5. Whose
family this house belongs to — C (Clause)
6. Old
carved rosewood table — P (Phrase)
7. Over the
last fifty years — P (Phrase)
8. Which is
growing to a good height — C (Clause)