NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t MetCan are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 Chapter 3 Can You Know People People You Haven’t Met.

Board CBSE
Textbook NCERT
Class Class 9
Subject English Main Course Book
Chapter Unit 1 Chapter 3
Chapter Name Can You Know People You Haven’t Met
Category NCERT Solutions

CBSE Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 People Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t Met

TEXTUAL EXERCISES
(Page 15)

Question 1.
Is it possible to make accurate guesses about the people you have not met ? Read the poem, to see how conclusions can be drawn about people.
Answer :
Abandoned Farmhouse He was a big man, says the size of his shoes On a pile of broken dishes by the house; A tall man too, says the length of the bed In an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man, Says the Bible with a broken back On the floor below a window, bright with sun; But not a man for farming, say the fields Cluttered with boulders and a leaky barn. A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall Papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves Covered with oilcloth, and they had a child Says the sandbox made from a tractor tire. Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves And canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar-hole, And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames. It was lonely here, says the narrow country road. Something went wrong, says the empty house In the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields Say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars In the cellar say she left in a nervous haste. And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard Like branches after a storm – a rubber cow, a rusty tractor and a broken plow, a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say. ( Ted Kooser )
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 People Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t Met 1

Question 2.
Complete the following sentences about the poem.
1. In the first stanza, the poet refers to four pieces of evidence : large shoes, a long bed, the Bible, fields cluttered with boulders and a leaky barn. This leads the poet to conclude that ‘the man of the house’ was ______________
2. I think that the child was probably about six years old because ______________
3. The poet suggests that a woman lived in the farmhouse because ______________
4, The family probably left the farmhouse because ______________
Answer :
1. In the first stanza, the poet refers to four pieces of evidence : large shoes, a long bed, the Bible, fields cluttered with boulders, and a leaky barn. This leads the poet to conclude that ‘the man of the house’ was big, tall, religious and not interested in farming.
2. I think that the child was probably about six years old because she had toys (a rubber cow, a rusty tractor, a broken plough, and a doll in overalls) to play with.
3. The poet suggests that a woman lived in the farmhouse because the bedroom wall was papered with lilacs, and the kitchen shelves were covered with oil-cloth.
4. The family probably left the farmhouse because of some natural calamity like a storm, etc, ; or kidnapping or raid by dacoits.

Question 3.
The poet draws conclusions about the family without having met them. He does this by lines such as :
Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard…
This is a style of English that is very suitable for a poem. But in ordinary speech or writing we use expressions such as :
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 People Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t Met 2
For example, we could say :

  • There are large shoes in the farmhouse. So it is likely that the farmer was a big man.
  • It seems that they had a child, because there is a sandbox made from a tractor tire.
  • The kitchen shelves were covered with oil cloth. This suggests that a woman lived in the farmhouse.

Make other sentences like this, using ideas from the poem.
Answer :

  1. There is the Bible with a broken back on the floor below a window. This suggests that the man was religious-minded and God-fearing.
  2. The man did not do farming. It is clear from the fields which were strewn with boulders and stones.
  3. There are the jars of plum preserves and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar-hole. It indicates that the woman left the house in nervous haste and the man didn’t have enough money.

Students can write more sentences for practice using ideas from the poem on the pattern given above.

Question 4.
Imagine that a Social Worker comes to the abandoned farmhouse to find out what may have happened to the family. She makes the following observations in her note – pad
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 People Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t Met 3
On the basis of these notes, the Social Worker presents the facts as she sees them to her Head of Department. Unfortunately she spills ink on her report. Complete her report.
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 People Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t Met 4
Answer :
When I reached the farmhouse, I saw that the house was empty, which indicated that the inhabitants had left. I wondered where they might have gone. It was clear that the owner was not a farmer, because of the boulders in the field and the leaky barn. Presumably (There is a possibility that), the family was poor, because I saw several sealed jars in the cellar. Also it showed that a woman lived there. It was obvious she had left in a hurry. What was most touching was that the toys were scattered in the yard.

Question 5.
When we write informal letters (to a friend, or to a member of our family) we use this layout.
Answer :
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 People Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t Met 5
Amit from Hyderabad has got admission to a college in Bengaluru. He has to share his room with another boy. When he arrives at the hostel he learns that his room-mate has gone home for a few days. Based on his observations of the room, Amit writes a letter to his friend, Sumit, about his new room-mate. (You may use some of the expressions suggested in C.3.) As Amit, write the letter. In your writing, remember to follow CODER
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Unit 1 People Chapter 3 Can You Know People You Haven’t Met 6
28th September, 2015
Dear Sumit
I hope all are feeling fine. I have been allotted the room but have to share it with another boy. I have yet to see him because when I came he had gone home for a few days. When I opened the room I found it in disorder. From the things I gathered that my room-mate is a happy-go-lucky young man.

He plays tennis and football. The tennis racket lay flat on his bed. The football lay on the floor near the bed. This suggests that my room-mate is a little casual in maintaining the room in a proper shape. This casual approach can be judged by the fact that the floor was littered with pens and pencils along with the papers. One sock was put on the bedpost as well the towel. The trousers were hanging on the chair. This suggests he was in a hurry to go out to play. The paper and pen lay on the table. One chappal lay stood up on the floor near the bedpost. The bedsheet also hung down from the bed. The pillow was also not properly placed but lay haphazardly. This suggests that he is hard-pressed for time. The picture on the wall bent downwards to its left. This shows that probably my room-mate is a bit careless about his things.

From all these things I conclude that my room-mate is a care-free young man. He is a sports enthusiast and enjoys living on his own.
Yours sincerely,
Amit.

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