Question 1:
1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs given in the box below.
awfully sorrowfully completely loftily
carefully differently quickly 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, Sameer 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 Revathi 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.
3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.
(i) angry __________ (ii) happy __________
(iii) merry __________ (iv) sleepy __________
(v) easy __________ (vi) noisy __________
(vii) tidy __________ (viii) gloomy __________
Answer:
1. (i) 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.
(ii) 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.
(iii) Completely
They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history
sector had blanked out completely.
(iv) Loftily
He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
(v) Carefully
He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
(vi) 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.”
(vii) Quickly
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.
(viii) Nonchalantly
“May be,” he said nonchalantly.
2. (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.
3.(i) angry Angrily (ii) happy Happily
(iii) merry Merrily (iv) sleepy Sleepily
(v) easy Easily (vi) noisy Noisily
(vii) tidy Tidily (viii) gloomy Gloomily
Question 1:
Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
4. What things about the book did she find strange?
5. What do you think a telebook is?
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Answer:
1. Margie was eleven years old while Tommy was thirteen.
2. Margie wrote in her diary, “Today Tommy found a real book!”
3. No, Margie had never seen a book before.
4. On turning the pages of the book, she found it awfully funny to read words that
stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to on a screen. When they
turned back to the previous page, it had the same words on it when they read it the
first time.
5. A telebook is a book that could be read on screen. Words move on the screen for
the students to read. All the lessons appear on the big screen and are followed by
questions from the book.
6. Margie’s school was in her home itself. In fact, it was next to her bedroom. It was
a mechanical teacher on whose screen lessons and questions appeared. She had to
put her homework in a particular slot and write the answers in a punch code.
She did not have any classmates.
7.Margie and Tommy learnt geography, history and arithmetic.
Question 2:
Answer the following with reference to the story.
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
2. “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?
Answer:1.
(i) Tommy said these words.
(ii) ‘It’ refers to the television screen, which had a million books on it.
(iii) Tommy is comparing the television screen to the books in the earlier times in
which words were printed on paper. He thought that after reading such books, one
would have to throw them away. However, he would never have to throw away his
telebooks.
2. (i) ‘They’ refers to the students who studied in the old kind of schools centuries
before the time the story is set in.
(ii) Here, ‘regular’ refers to the mechanical teachers that Tommy and Margie had.
(iii) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with the teacher of the earlier times, who
was a human being.
Question 3:
Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
3. What did he do?
4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the Country Inspector do to
help her?
5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
6. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
Answer:
1. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on
which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. These mechanical
teachers had a slot in which the students had to put their homework and test papers.
They had to write their answers in a punch code and the mechanical teacher
calculated the marks immediately.
2. Margie had been given many tests in geography by the mechanical teacher. She
had been performing worse and worse in them. It is for this reason that she sent for
the County Inspector.
3. The County Inspector gave Margie an apple and started working on the
mechanical teacher. Margie had hoped that the Inspector would not know how to put
the mechanical teacher together again, but he managed to assemble it. He slowed
up the geography sector of the teacher because it had become too quick.
4. Margie was doing badly in geography because the geography sector of the
mechanical teacher had been adjusted at a higher level. The County Inspector rightly
told her that she could not be blamed for her poor performance.
The County Inspector slowed down the geography sector of the mechanical teacher
to an average ten-year level. He also told Mrs. Jones that Margie’s progress pattern
was satisfactory.
5. Once, Tommy’s teacher had to be taken away for nearly a month because its
history sector had blanked out completely.
6. Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school. The mechanical teacher always
turned on at the same time every day except Saturdays and Sundays.
Margie had regular days and hours for school because her mother said that little girls
learned better when they learned at regular hours.
7. Tommy says that the old kind of school existed centuries ago. They had a teacher,
who was a man. This teacher taught in a special building where all the kids
assembled and learned the same things according to their respective ages.
8. He says that the teacher in old times was a man, who taught the students inside a
special building. He gave them homework and asked them questions. When Margie
said that a man was not smart enough to be a teacher, he contradicted her by saying
that his father knew as much as his mechanical teacher.
Question 4:
Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 − 150 words)
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that
Margie and Tommy have in the story?
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have
been fun?
3. Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the
story? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer:
1. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on
which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. They had a slot in which
students had to put their homework and test papers. They had to write their answers
in a punch code and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks immediately.
Their schools were in their homes itself. They did not have any classmates. They
learnt geography, history and arithmetic. They had regular days and hours for
school. Margie’s school was right next to her bedroom. The mechanical teacher
always turned on at the same time every day except Saturdays and Sundays
because her mother said that little girls learned better when they learned at regular
hours.
2. Margie hated school because it was not fun. She had been doing badly in the
geography tests that her mechanical teacher had been giving her. When her mother
sends for the County Inspector, she hopes that the inspector would take the
mechanical teacher away. She is disappointed when the County Inspector manages
to assemble all the parts of the mechanical teacher. The part that she hated the
most was inserting the homework and test papers in the slot on the mechanical
teacher. She did not like the fact that she had to write her answers in a punch code.
She thought that the old kind of school must have been fun as she imagined all the
kids from the entire neighbourhood coming together, laughing and shouting in the
schoolyard. She imagined that they would sit together in the classroom and go home
together at the end of the day. They would learn the same things and could help one
another with the homework and talk about it. Also, the teachers were people. All
these aspects made her believe that the old kind of school must have been fun.
3. Yes, schools today are more fun than the school in the story. In the story, there is
no interaction among students regarding studies. Studying and answering questions
seems to be a boring idea. Doing homework without anybody’s help and writing
them in a punch code would also be draining. Moreover, children develop a better
understanding about each other and of their surroundings when they go to a school
and interact with each other. It is a healthier way of learning.
Listening to teachers explaining lessons is always more interesting than reading the
entire lesson on a mechanical computer. Also, if any student faces any problem with
the subject or in homework, he can discuss it with the teacher and other kids. The
excitement of waiting to know the marks scored in exams is greater when one is
sitting in a classroom with other students. It does not have the same effect when the
marks are calculated immediately after a test has been taken. Therefore, schools
today are more fun than the school in the story as they are more interactive. They
promote a healthy environment for the students to study and learn.
1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs given in the box below.
awfully sorrowfully completely loftily
carefully differently quickly 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, Sameer 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 Revathi 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.
3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.
(i) angry __________ (ii) happy __________
(iii) merry __________ (iv) sleepy __________
(v) easy __________ (vi) noisy __________
(vii) tidy __________ (viii) gloomy __________
Answer:
1. (i) 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.
(ii) 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.
(iii) Completely
They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history
sector had blanked out completely.
(iv) Loftily
He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
(v) Carefully
He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
(vi) 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.”
(vii) Quickly
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.
(viii) Nonchalantly
“May be,” he said nonchalantly.
2. (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.
3.(i) angry Angrily (ii) happy Happily
(iii) merry Merrily (iv) sleepy Sleepily
(v) easy Easily (vi) noisy Noisily
(vii) tidy Tidily (viii) gloomy Gloomily
Question 1:
Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
4. What things about the book did she find strange?
5. What do you think a telebook is?
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Answer:
1. Margie was eleven years old while Tommy was thirteen.
2. Margie wrote in her diary, “Today Tommy found a real book!”
3. No, Margie had never seen a book before.
4. On turning the pages of the book, she found it awfully funny to read words that
stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to on a screen. When they
turned back to the previous page, it had the same words on it when they read it the
first time.
5. A telebook is a book that could be read on screen. Words move on the screen for
the students to read. All the lessons appear on the big screen and are followed by
questions from the book.
6. Margie’s school was in her home itself. In fact, it was next to her bedroom. It was
a mechanical teacher on whose screen lessons and questions appeared. She had to
put her homework in a particular slot and write the answers in a punch code.
She did not have any classmates.
7.Margie and Tommy learnt geography, history and arithmetic.
Question 2:
Answer the following with reference to the story.
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
2. “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?
Answer:1.
(i) Tommy said these words.
(ii) ‘It’ refers to the television screen, which had a million books on it.
(iii) Tommy is comparing the television screen to the books in the earlier times in
which words were printed on paper. He thought that after reading such books, one
would have to throw them away. However, he would never have to throw away his
telebooks.
2. (i) ‘They’ refers to the students who studied in the old kind of schools centuries
before the time the story is set in.
(ii) Here, ‘regular’ refers to the mechanical teachers that Tommy and Margie had.
(iii) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with the teacher of the earlier times, who
was a human being.
Question 3:
Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
3. What did he do?
4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the Country Inspector do to
help her?
5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
6. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
Answer:
1. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on
which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. These mechanical
teachers had a slot in which the students had to put their homework and test papers.
They had to write their answers in a punch code and the mechanical teacher
calculated the marks immediately.
2. Margie had been given many tests in geography by the mechanical teacher. She
had been performing worse and worse in them. It is for this reason that she sent for
the County Inspector.
3. The County Inspector gave Margie an apple and started working on the
mechanical teacher. Margie had hoped that the Inspector would not know how to put
the mechanical teacher together again, but he managed to assemble it. He slowed
up the geography sector of the teacher because it had become too quick.
4. Margie was doing badly in geography because the geography sector of the
mechanical teacher had been adjusted at a higher level. The County Inspector rightly
told her that she could not be blamed for her poor performance.
The County Inspector slowed down the geography sector of the mechanical teacher
to an average ten-year level. He also told Mrs. Jones that Margie’s progress pattern
was satisfactory.
5. Once, Tommy’s teacher had to be taken away for nearly a month because its
history sector had blanked out completely.
6. Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school. The mechanical teacher always
turned on at the same time every day except Saturdays and Sundays.
Margie had regular days and hours for school because her mother said that little girls
learned better when they learned at regular hours.
7. Tommy says that the old kind of school existed centuries ago. They had a teacher,
who was a man. This teacher taught in a special building where all the kids
assembled and learned the same things according to their respective ages.
8. He says that the teacher in old times was a man, who taught the students inside a
special building. He gave them homework and asked them questions. When Margie
said that a man was not smart enough to be a teacher, he contradicted her by saying
that his father knew as much as his mechanical teacher.
Question 4:
Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 − 150 words)
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that
Margie and Tommy have in the story?
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have
been fun?
3. Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the
story? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer:
1. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on
which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. They had a slot in which
students had to put their homework and test papers. They had to write their answers
in a punch code and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks immediately.
Their schools were in their homes itself. They did not have any classmates. They
learnt geography, history and arithmetic. They had regular days and hours for
school. Margie’s school was right next to her bedroom. The mechanical teacher
always turned on at the same time every day except Saturdays and Sundays
because her mother said that little girls learned better when they learned at regular
hours.
2. Margie hated school because it was not fun. She had been doing badly in the
geography tests that her mechanical teacher had been giving her. When her mother
sends for the County Inspector, she hopes that the inspector would take the
mechanical teacher away. She is disappointed when the County Inspector manages
to assemble all the parts of the mechanical teacher. The part that she hated the
most was inserting the homework and test papers in the slot on the mechanical
teacher. She did not like the fact that she had to write her answers in a punch code.
She thought that the old kind of school must have been fun as she imagined all the
kids from the entire neighbourhood coming together, laughing and shouting in the
schoolyard. She imagined that they would sit together in the classroom and go home
together at the end of the day. They would learn the same things and could help one
another with the homework and talk about it. Also, the teachers were people. All
these aspects made her believe that the old kind of school must have been fun.
3. Yes, schools today are more fun than the school in the story. In the story, there is
no interaction among students regarding studies. Studying and answering questions
seems to be a boring idea. Doing homework without anybody’s help and writing
them in a punch code would also be draining. Moreover, children develop a better
understanding about each other and of their surroundings when they go to a school
and interact with each other. It is a healthier way of learning.
Listening to teachers explaining lessons is always more interesting than reading the
entire lesson on a mechanical computer. Also, if any student faces any problem with
the subject or in homework, he can discuss it with the teacher and other kids. The
excitement of waiting to know the marks scored in exams is greater when one is
sitting in a classroom with other students. It does not have the same effect when the
marks are calculated immediately after a test has been taken. Therefore, schools
today are more fun than the school in the story as they are more interactive. They
promote a healthy environment for the students to study and learn.
the fun they had questions and answers englsih chapter 1
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