NCERT Solutions Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 8 · ENGLISH

NCERT Solutions

Unit 1: Wit and Wisdom

NCERT Textbook — Poorvi

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

1 – 48 31 149 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 106 pages

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 8 · ENGLISH · POORVI

NCERT Solutions — Unit 1: Wit and Wisdom
Unit 1 of Poorvi puts three very different pieces beside one another and lets them argue about the same idea:
that cleverness used kindly is worth more than force. A prose tale, The Wit that Won Hearts, shows Tenali
Rama mending a royal quarrel without once naming it; a poem, A Concrete Example, laughs gently at a
neighbour whose garden is full of stones; and a play, Wisdom Paves the Way, turns four unemployed
strangers into a king’s advisers on the strength of a camel’s footprints.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Poorvi (Class 8) 1 – 48

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

31 149

MEDIUM

English

Let us do these activities before we read — Page 1
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

BEFORE WE READ

Q1 I. Select qualities of a person who uses wit from the box given below. wise · serious ·
clever · powerful · humorous · stubborn · courageous · observant · charming ·
creative · punctual · confident · energetic Now, discuss reasons for your choice of
qualities.

Seven of the thirteen words describe a witty person: wise, clever, humorous, observant,
charming, creative and confident.

Page 1 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

QUALITY REASON
CHOSEN

clever Wit is quick thinking. The reply has to arrive while the moment is still alive.

humorous Wit works through laughter. Without humour a clever remark is only an argument.

observant A witty person notices the small thing everyone else has missed — Rama noticed
that everybody yawns.

wise Knowing when to speak, and when a joke will heal rather than hurt.

creative Wit finds a new route to an old problem, like curing a quarrel by talking about
paddy seeds.

charming People must enjoy being corrected. Charm is what makes that possible.

confident You need nerve to stand in a full court and risk a joke on the king.

Why the others do not fit: serious and stubborn are close to the opposite of wit — a
witty mind stays light and changes direction easily. Powerful, punctual and energetic
are good qualities but have nothing to do with wit; a person can be all three and still
be dull. Courageous is a near miss: courage helps, but it is confidence in speech, not
physical bravery, that wit actually needs.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 II. Work in pairs and answer the riddles that are given below. Share the answers
with your classmates and teacher. • I can be a friend or a foe, depending on how you
use me. I can bring both joy or pain. What am I? • I can be measured, but I cannot
be touched. I can be spent, but I cannot be saved. What am I? • What is always in
front of you but can’t be seen? • What has to be shared before you can keep it?
(Note: You will find the answers of these riddles on page 16.)

RIDDLE ANSWER HOW THE CLUES FIT

Friend or foe; joy or Words The same word can comfort or wound. Nothing else in the story
pain matters more — the whole quarrel begins over a poem, which is
only words.

Measured, not Time We measure it in hours, but no hand can hold it; we “spend” it
touched; spent, not whether we want to or not, and none of it can be put away for
saved later.

Always in front of you The future It lies ahead of every person at every moment, yet nobody has
but can’t be seen ever looked at it.

Shared before you can A secret Somebody must tell it to you before you can be the one keeping it.
keep it

Tip: A riddle is solved by refusing the first, literal meaning of a word. “Spent” makes
you think of money; the answer comes only when you allow spend to mean “use up”.
That is exactly the habit of mind this whole unit is about.

Discuss in pairs — Page 2
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

BEFORE WE READ

Q1 1. Why are qualities like humour and wit important in a person?

Because they let a person say a difficult thing without starting a fight. Humour lowers the
temperature of a situation; wit finds the shortest way to the truth inside it. Together they make
criticism bearable, so the listener can change his mind without losing face.

Page 3 of 106

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

They also matter for the person himself. Someone who can laugh at a setback recovers from it
co m
se m.
faster, keeps his judgement clear under pressure, and is easier to work with. In this story the

o m g l a
.c
whole palace is “quiet and forlorn” for weeks because nobody has the wit to say the one obvious

m a
se
sentence — everybody yawns — in a way the king can hear.

g l a
aWhy it works: A direct correction attacks the person; a joke attacks the mistake and

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leaves the person free to walk away from it. That is the difference Tenali Rama uses.

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g l as
a
Q2 2. Why do you think kings and queens preferred to have witty people among their
courtiers?
co m
em.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
For three reasons, and only one of them is entertainment.
a g They could tell the ruler the truth. A courtier who contradicts a king risks his position. A

m
witty courtier can wrap the same truth in a joke, so the king corrects himself and nobody has
a s
been defied.
em
.co agl
a s
agl made him a beloved figure”. A quick mind is useful in
They solved problems others called impossible. The text says Rama’s “clever solutions to
seemingly insurmountable problems
negotiation, in disputes and in emergencies, not only at a feast.

com
.
They kept the court alive. A ruler surrounded only by flatterers hears nothing new. Wit

e m
as
brings surprise, and surprise brings fresh thinking.
m l
m .co a g
l a se
a g Q3 3. If you were asked to solve a disagreement between two people, what approach
would you take?
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

I would first hear both sides separately, because people speak more honestly when the other
person is not in the room. Then I would try to find the single fact both of them agree on, and
start from there rather than from the accusation.
. c om
m a s emlook for the misreading
Most quarrels turn out to rest on a misreading, not a wrong. So I would

.
firstco— as Rama did, when he saw that the quarrel was not about
a gl a poem at all but about one
a s emyawn. Finally I would avoid deciding who was right in front of an audience; a person who is
agl proved wrong publicly usually digs in instead of apologising.
c
m .
s e
. c om
Check it yourself: Notice what Rama does not do — he never tells the king he was
a g la
s e m and lets the king pass his own verdict. That is why it
wrong. He supplies the evidence
a
agl
works.

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 4. Have you ever been in a situation where a small misunderstanding led to a big
problem? How was it resolved?

This asks for your own experience, so answer it in your own words. A good answer needs four
things: the small trigger, how it grew, what finally cleared it up, and what you learnt.

Sample answer: Last term I did not reply to a friend’s message because my phone
was with my mother all evening. He thought I was annoyed with him about a cricket
match, and by the next morning he had stopped sitting with me. Two more days
passed and other friends began taking sides. It ended only when our class teacher
made us pair up for a project and he finally asked me straight out why I was angry. I
was not angry at all. Three days of silence had grown out of one unanswered
message. I learnt that the cheapest way to end a misunderstanding is to ask the
question early, while it is still small enough to be embarrassing.

Let us discuss — Page 7
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US DISCUSS

Q1 I. Rectify the following false statements from the text. 1. The queen insulted the
king by speaking against the quality of his poem.

Corrected: The queen never said a word against the poem. She had asked for the king to recite
it and she yawned — “not once, but several times” — only because she “was so exhausted after
a tiring day”. It was the king who read the yawns as an insult; the queen offered none.

Why the difference matters: The whole story turns on this. If the queen had really
criticised the poem there would be a real quarrel to settle. Because she did not, the
only thing Rama has to remove is a wrong interpretation — and a joke is enough to
remove that.

Page 5 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 2. Tenali Rama immediately went to the king and convinced him to talk to the
queen.

Corrected: Rama did nothing immediately. He told the queen, “this needs a well-planned
approach, and I may need time to find the right strategy.” He waited until the next morning and
then raised the matter in open court — indirectly, through the paddy seeds — without ever
mentioning the queen or the quarrel.

Tip: Watch how carefully the text protects Rama’s method. He never “convinces” the
king of anything; he arranges the evidence so that the king convinces himself.

Q3 3. The courtiers admired the king’s poem and praised his literary talent.

Corrected: The courtiers avoided the poem altogether. The queen reports that when the king
“tried reciting it to his ministers, they all avoided him, making excuses.” Not one of them praised
it; it was only after everyone else had escaped that the king came to the queen “seeking an
audience” late in the evening.

Q4 4. The ministers in the court were eager to hear Tenali Rama’s idea about paddy
cultivation.

Corrected: They mocked it. “A murmur swept through the room.” One courtier “known for his
sarcasm” whispered, “I wonder if these are magic seeds! Next, he’ll claim they grow without
water,” another muttered, “Perhaps he found them on the moon!”, and “Snickers rippled
through the court.” Even the king called the claim “absurd”.

Why Rama lets them laugh: The mockery is useful to him. It makes the court relax,
and a relaxed court laughs at the yawning-farmer joke instead of noticing whom the
joke is really aimed at.

Page 6 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q5 5. The king never realised his mistake and continued to stay angry with the queen.

Corrected: He realised it in court, the moment he yawned himself. “His mind raced back to the
quarrel with the queen… He realised how unfair he had been.” That same evening he went to
her and said, “I have been foolish. I see now that I overreacted. I let my pride blind me. I’m so
sorry.” The quarrel ended and “the palace brimmed once again with joy and laughter.”

Let us think and reflect (I) — Pages 7–8
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US THINK AND REFLECT

Q1 1. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow. “... The king thought I was
disrespecting his poem and stormed off. Since then, he has not spoken to me. If I
had known this would happen I would have chosen another day. Help me, please,
Rama. Only you can help the king understand.” Rama nodded thoughtfully. “If you
like, I will try my best to resolve this matter, Your Highness. But this needs a well-
planned approach and I may need time to find the right strategy.” (i) Why does the
queen believe that only Tenali Rama can help the king understand?

Because Rama is the one person in the empire who can correct the king without wounding him.
The queen has already exhausted the ordinary routes: she “tried her best to resolve the issue
but failed”, and the ministers had run from the poem rather than speak honestly about it.
Anyone who now tells the king plainly that he has overreacted will be arguing with a proud man
about his own poetry — which is why nobody has tried.
Rama is different because of the reputation the text has already established: his “clever
solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems made him a beloved figure”, and he holds his
place in court “as both a poet and a witty advisor”. He can reach the king sideways, through
laughter, where a direct appeal would only harden him. The queen is not hoping for a favour;
she is choosing the only method that can work.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 (ii) What does the queen’s statement, “If I had known this would happen, I would
have chosen another day”, suggest about her feelings? A. She is angry at the king
for overreacting. B. She regrets the unintended misunderstanding. C. She believes
the poem was not worth listening to. D. She is worried that the king might punish
her.

B. She regrets the unintended misunderstanding.

How the grammar proves it: The sentence is a third conditional — If + past perfect
(had known) followed by would have + past participle (would have chosen). This form is
used only for a past that can no longer be changed. So the queen is not accusing
anyone; she is turning the blame on her own timing and wishing she had picked a
different evening. Her voice is “trembling”, not raised.

The other options fail on the evidence: she never criticises the poem (so C is out), she is
“distraught and upset” rather than angry (A), and she fears the silence, not punishment (D).

Q3 (iii) How does Tenali Rama’s response reflect his wisdom and problem-solving skills?

Three things in a two-sentence reply show a mind already at work.

He promises effort, not a miracle. “I will try my best to resolve this matter” — an honest
limit, set to a desperate person who would have believed a bigger promise.
He identifies the real difficulty. Saying the matter “needs a well-planned approach” means
he has already seen that the obstacle is not the yawn but the king’s pride, and that pride
cannot be argued with directly.
He asks for time. “I may need time to find the right strategy.” He refuses to act until he has
a method. A lesser adviser would have gone straight to the king that night and made things
worse.

Check it yourself: Compare his words with what he finally does. He never mentions
the queen, never defends her, never asks the king for anything. Every promise he
makes here is kept exactly — and by a route nobody in the room could have
predicted.

Page 8 of 106

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
(iv) Fill in the blank by choosing the correct option from those given in the brackets.
e
Q4

com in his poetry. l as
The king’s reaction shows that he is sensitive and _________ (has a lot of faith/takes
great.pride) g
em a
a s
a gl

m
The king’s reaction shows that he is sensitive and takes great pride in his poetry.
. co ag
e m
g l as
Why not “has a lot of faith”: Faith in his poetry would have made him calm — he
a
would have shrugged off a yawn. What he actually does is store up the insult for
weeks and stop visiting the queen. That is wounded pride, and the king himself
co m
m.
names it later: “I let my pride blind me.” The text also backs the word choice: he was

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comto be proud of. l
“a gifted poet” whose works “are acclaimed even today”, so his poetry was genuinely
. a g
em
something
a s
a gl
m a s
. c o agl
Q5 2. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow. That evening, the king

s e m
approached the queen with a softened expression. “Thirumalambal”, he began, his
a
voice gentle, “I have beenlfoolish.
g
a
I see now that I overreacted. I let my pride blind
me. I’m so sorry.” The queen, who had longed for this moment, smiled and replied,

m
“If you like, we can leave this quarrel behind us. I would very much like to listen to

. co
m
your poem.” (i) Complete the following with a suitable explanation. When the king

m as e
l
said, “I let my pride blind me”, he means that ____.
.co a g
a s em
gl
a When the king said, “I let my pride blind me”, he means that his concern for his own dignity

se m
comhad nothing to do with his poem at all. a
stopped him from seeing the plain, ordinary explanation in front of him — that a tired

. a g l
em The evidence was never hidden: the queen had been
person yawns, and that his queen’s yawn

a s
l “late evening”. Pride did not create new facts; it simply
agwas
The word blind is doing real work here.
through “a tiring day”, and it
prevented him from reading the ones he had. He read a yawn as a verdict on his poetry because

co m
.
his poetry was all he was thinking about.

em
m l as
.co a g
m eyes. Naming it that way is itself a sign that he can now see clearly — you cannot
Tip: This is a metaphor. Pride is spoken of as though it were a cloth tied over the

l a se
ag
c
describe your own blindness while you are still blind.
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q6 (ii) Why does the queen say, “If you like, we can leave this quarrel behind us”?

Because she wants the quarrel ended, not won.
Notice how much the small phrase “If you like” achieves. It hands the decision back to the king,
so that accepting peace does not become one more thing he has to concede. She does not say
“I forgive you” — which would remind him that he was the one at fault — and she does not
defend herself or explain the yawn, though she easily could. She simply offers a door and lets
him walk through it.
Her second sentence completes the repair: “I would very much like to listen to your poem.” The
poem was the wound; asking to hear it is her way of showing that nothing between them is
damaged. She restores his confidence in the same breath in which she accepts his apology.

Q7 (iii) Fill in the blank by choosing the correct option from those given in the brackets.
The king acknowledges that his pride clouded his judgement, which shows _________.
(intelligence and courage/maturity and self-awareness)

… which shows maturity and self-awareness.

Why this pair and not the other: Intelligence would have shown itself in not
making the mistake. What the king displays here is something later and rarer — the
ability to look back at his own behaviour, name the feeling that caused it (“pride”),
and say so aloud to the person he wronged. That is self-awareness. Doing it without
excuses, and going to her himself rather than sending word, is the maturity.

Q8 (iv) State any one characteristic that the queen’s response to the king’s apology
shows about her.

She is gracious and forgiving. After weeks of silence she does not reproach him even once —
no “you should have asked me”, no reminder of how long she waited. She smiles, sets the
quarrel aside, and asks for the poem.

Page 10 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Also defensible: tactful — she frames the peace as his choice (“If you like”); or warm-
hearted — she is more interested in his poem than in her own vindication. Any of
these is a good answer provided you quote her words as proof.

Let us think and reflect (II) — Page 8
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US THINK AND REFLECT

Q1 1. Why was the Vijayanagara Empire considered to be in its ‘Golden Era’ during
Krishnadeva Raya’s reign?

Because under him (1509–29 CE) wealth, power and culture rose together, and the text lists the
evidence for each.

Learning was supported from the throne. He was “a great patron of learning”, and his
court held the Ashtadiggajas — eight celebrated poets, among them Allasani Peddana and
Tenali Ramakrishna — who “enriched the literary tradition with their masterpieces”.
The ruler was himself a maker, not only a sponsor. He was “an eminent warrior but also a
gifted poet”, author of the epic Amuktamalyada and the Sanskrit drama Jambavati Parinayam,
“acclaimed even today”.
Every art flourished at once. “Art, literature, and architecture flourished” — not one field
but the whole culture.

Why the phrase fits: A ‘Golden Era’ means more than a strong kingdom. Many
rulers were wealthy and victorious; what marks this reign is that the strength was
spent on poets and buildings, and that the work then survived its own century.

Q2 2. How did Tenali Ramakrishna gain a special place in the king’s court?

Being one of the eight Ashtadiggajas already made him distinguished — but that alone did not
make him special. What set him apart was his quick wit and humour.
The text is precise about his double role: he held his place “as both a poet and a witty advisor”.
Other poets gave the court its literature; Rama also gave it a way out of its difficulties. “His
clever solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems made him a beloved figure in the
empire’s history.”

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Check it yourself: The story you have just read is the proof of the claim. Eight great
poets sat in that court, and it was Rama the queen sent for.

Q3 3. How did the quarrel between the king and the queen affect the palace?

It changed the atmosphere of the whole palace, not merely the mood of two people.
The king “did not utter a single word to her” for weeks and “stopped visiting her altogether”. The
result is given in one sentence: “His absence cast a shadow over the palace, and the once cheerful
corridors seemed quiet and forlorn.” The queen herself was “distraught and upset”.
The effect reached the court too. Even on an ordinary working morning, with ministers debating
paddy cultivation, “a tension hung in the air”, the king’s “expression stern, his sharp eyes
scanning the room”, because “the unresolved quarrel still gnawed at him”.

Why the writer bothers with the corridors: Describing empty passages rather
than sad people is a way of showing scale. When the ruler is unhappy, the
unhappiness becomes public property — and that is why Rama’s cure has to be
public too.

Q4 4. What strategy did Tenali Rama use to make the king realise his mistake?

He built a trap out of a joke, and never once mentioned the queen.

1. He chose the setting. Not a private audience but a full court, on a day already given to
farming — so that his subject would look like business, not interference.
2. He made an absurd claim. “I bring you a revolutionary type of paddy seeds… the yield will
be three times greater.” The courtiers mocked it and the king called it “absurd”. The laughter
is deliberate: it puts everyone, including the king, in an easy mood.
3. He shifted the blame from the seed to the sower. “The real issue lies not with the seeds
themselves but with the person who sows them.”
4. He planted the key idea as a joke. “And what if the person had a habit of yawning while
sowing? Wouldn’t the seeds scatter unevenly?” The court roared — and “even the king,
caught off guard, sighed and instinctively yawned.”
5. He stated the principle, gently. “Your Majesty, is there anyone in this world who does not
yawn? It is as natural as breathing.”

Page 12 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this works when a plea would not: Rama never tells the king he is wrong; he
lets the king’s own body supply the proof. Because the king yawns while listening,
the conclusion arrives as his own discovery — “His mind raced back to the quarrel
with the queen” — and a discovery costs a proud man nothing to accept. No one in
the court even knows what has just happened.

Q5 5. What was the reaction of the courtiers when Tenali Rama introduced his ‘special’
paddy seeds?

Open disbelief, and then mockery. “A murmur swept through the room.” One courtier “known
for his sarcasm” whispered loudly enough to be heard, “I wonder if these are magic seeds! Next,
he’ll claim they grow without water.” Another muttered, “Perhaps he found them on the moon!” and
“Snickers rippled through the court.”
The king shared their view. He “frowned, unimpressed” and said, “That sounds absurd,” adding a
practical objection — such cultivation would need “special soil, manure, and pest and insect
repellents”, and if it failed “our farmers would suffer”.

Tip: Notice that the king’s objection is a sensible ruler’s objection: he is thinking
about the farmers, not about the insult to his court. It is worth saying so — it shows
he is not a foolish man, only a proud one.

Q6 6. How does the story conclude, and what lesson can be learnt from it?

The conclusion: That same evening the king goes to the queen “with a softened expression”
and apologises without excuses — “I have been foolish… I let my pride blind me. I’m so sorry.”
She sets the quarrel aside and asks to hear the poem. Rama, “who had orchestrated this
settlement, felt victorious”; the royal couple later present him with valuable gifts, and “the
palace brimmed once again with joy and laughter.”
The lessons — the story carries more than one:

A misunderstanding grows only as long as nobody asks. One yawn cost weeks of silence
because the king interpreted instead of enquiring.
Pride is the real obstacle, not the offence. The facts were simple; it was the king’s dignity
that made them unsayable.
Wit succeeds where argument fails. Rama wins by letting the king arrive at the truth
himself — the gentlest possible correction, and therefore the most effective.

Page 13 of 106

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Why the title is exact: “The Wit that Won Hearts” — not won an argument. Rama

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combetween being clever and being wise. l
gains the king, the queen and the court at once, and no one is humiliated. That is
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the difference
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Let us learn (I–III) — Pages 9–11
m .
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)
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LET US LEARN a g l

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Q1 I. Fill in the blanks and complete the paragraph by choosing suitable expressions

o m l a
from the box given below. cast a shadow · murmur swept through the room · hush
g mother is quite witty,
m .cover · mind raced back · stormed off · rippled throughaMy
se and her sense of humour always lightens stressful moments. Once, at a family
fell
a
agl dinner, an argument began over a minor issue, and 1. ______ , making everyone feel

s
uncomfortable. Just as things were getting serious, she made a clever remark and
om a
. c agl
laughter 2. ______ the gathering, making everyone relaxed. The person who started

a s
the argument 3. ______. Everyoneemdisapproved of the action and a 4. ______. My 5. ______
agl other situations like this. Without her, such moments
to how my mother had saved
would have 6. ______ over the gatherings. I hope that I grow up to be as witty as my
mother.
co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
s m
eBLANK
gl a
a
EXPRESSION WHY IT FITS

se m
a
An argument makes the table go silent — “hush” is the silence of

com
1 a hush fell over

.
discomfort, exactly what the next phrase describes.
a g l
e m
as Laughter spreads outward from one remark, the way a ripple
agl
2 rippled through
spreads from a stone. It takes an object: “rippled through the
gathering”.

co m
m .
e
The only phrase describing an action of one person, and the only

as
3 stormed off

m l
.co g
one that fits an offended exit.

em 4 a
a s
gl
murmur swept through The sentence supplies “a” before the blank, and “a murmur” is the

a the room only expression that begins with a noun.
c
m .
a s e
com agl
5 mind raced back Followed by “to how my mother had saved…” — memory moving

m .backwards.

ase
6 cast a shadow
a g l Placed after “would have” and before “over”, so a past participle is
needed: cast.

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: When a cloze paragraph gives a box, use grammar before meaning. Blank 4 is
settled by the word a in front of it and blank 6 by the words would have … over
around it — before you have thought about the story at all.

Q2 II. The writer uses words like ‘roared’, ‘murmur’ in the text to indicate the sound
produced. Fill in the blanks with suitable sound words from the box given below.
You may refer to a dictionary. murmur · sighed · mumble · gasped · snickers · thud ·
groan · rattle · roared · whispered 1. As the teacher began the riddle challenge, a
__________ of excitement spread through the classroom. 2. Anaya __________ in relief—
she loved riddles more than solving Mathematics problems. 3. ‘Think carefully,’ the
teacher began to ___________ , as she wrote a riddle on the board. 4. When the
question was revealed, a few students __________ , realising it wasn’t as easy as they
had expected. 5. Some exchanged ____________ , wondering if anyone at all would be
able to solve it. 6. Just then, Anaya tapped her book on the desk with a small
___________ , deep in thought. 7. ‘Ah, I see it now!’ she said stretching with a ___________ ,
as if it had taken her great effort. 8. A small breeze made the windows __________ ,
adding to the suspense of the moment. 9. ‘So, what’s the answer?’ the students
___________ , their voices filled with playful enthusiasm. 10. Leaning forward with a
smile, Anaya __________ , ‘Sometimes, the trickiest questions have the simplest
answers.’

NO. WORD WHAT THE WORD MAKES YOU HEAR

1 murmur a low, blended sound of many voices at once

2 sighed one long breath let out — relief, not speech

3 mumble to speak indistinctly, half to oneself, while doing something else

4 gasped a sharp breath drawn in — surprise or dismay

5 snickers small suppressed laughs, exchanged privately

6 thud a dull knock of something solid on something solid

7 groan a long low sound of effort, here of comic exaggeration

8 rattle quick repeated knocking of loose panes

9 roared many voices, loud and together

10 whispered voice without tone, close to the listener

Page 15 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the writer chooses sound words: A sound word does two jobs in one syllable
— it tells you what was heard and what the speaker felt. “The king roared” tells you
he was furious without the writer saying so; “snickers rippled through the court” tells
you the mockery was cowardly, because a snicker is a laugh someone is trying to
hide. That is why the story is full of them.

Try This: Say gasped, thud and rattle aloud. Each one imitates the noise it names.
Words made this way are called onomatopoeia.

Q3 III. As you have learnt, a compound word is formed when two or more words are
combined to create a new word with a distinct meaning. These are of three types:
closed compounds (sunlight, courtroom), hyphenated compounds (well-planned),
and open compounds (paddy seeds). 1. Create new compound words by matching
words in Column 1 with those in Column 2. Column 1: (i) quick, (ii) soft, (iii) common,
(iv) house, (v) book, (vi) ill, (vii) sky, (viii) dance Column 2: A. hall, B. tempered, C.
spoken, D. blue, E. store, F. sense, G. witted, H. hold

COLUMN COLUMN COMPOUND TYPE MEANING
1 2 WORD

(i) quick G. witted quick-witted hyphenated able to think and reply fast —
Tenali Rama exactly

(ii) soft C. spoken soft-spoken hyphenated speaking gently and quietly

(iii) common F. sense common sense open practical good judgement

(iv) house H. hold household closed all the people living together in
one house

(v) book E. store bookstore closed a shop that sells books

(vi) ill B. tempered ill-tempered hyphenated easily angered

(vii) sky D. blue sky blue open the pale blue of a clear sky

(viii) dance A. hall dance hall open a large room used for dancing

Page 16 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why a compound is more than two words stuck together: The new word carries a
meaning neither part has alone. A household is not a house that holds; a person who
is quick-witted is not merely quick. That shift of meaning is the test of a real
compound.

Q4 2. Fill in the blanks with the words created in the previous question. Ravi was (i)
__________, always speaking calmly even in arguments. He grew up in a lively (ii)
__________, where he learned to handle different personalities. His friend Arun,
however, was (iii) __________ and often lost his patience. Despite this, Arun admired
Ravi’s (iv) __________ thinking. One evening, as they passed a (v) __________, they saw
some performers rushing out. Ravi noticed that one of them dropped a (vi) __________
book on the ground. “Is this yours?” he asked. “Oh thank you, young man!” the
performer smiled. “It’s a recent purchase from the (vii) ________ round the corner.”
True to his nature Arun promptly said to Ravi, “It’s (viii) ________ that it’s not from a
bakery but bookshop!” Ravi smiled and they walked on.

BLANK WORD CLUE IN THE SENTENCE

(i) soft-spoken “always speaking calmly even in arguments”

(ii) household “lively …, where he learned to handle different personalities”

(iii) ill-tempered “often lost his patience”

(iv) quick-witted describes “thinking”, so an adjective of mind is needed

(v) dance hall “they saw some performers rushing out”

(vi) sky blue describes the colour of the book

(vii) bookstore “a recent purchase from the … round the corner”

(viii) common sense Arun’s joke: obviously a book comes from a bookshop

Tip: Every one of the eight compounds is used exactly once. If you find yourself
repeating one, a different blank is wrong — go back rather than guess forward.

Let us learn (IV–VI) — Conditional clauses — Pages 11–12

Page 17 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US LEARN

Q1 IV. In sentence 1 ‘if you like’ is the subordinate clause (if clause) and ‘I will try my
best to resolve this matter’ is the main clause. Identify the subordinate and main
clauses in sentences 2 and 3. 2. If, by chance something were to go wrong, our
farmers would suffer. 3. If I had known this would happen, I would have chosen
another day.

SENTENCE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE MAIN CLAUSE PATTERN
(‘IF’ CLAUSE)

2 If, by chance, something were to our farmers would Simple Past + Past Modal
go wrong suffer

3 If I had known this would happen I would have chosen Past Perfect + would have +
another day Past Participle

How to tell them apart every time: The subordinate clause is the one that cannot
stand alone. Read “If I had known this would happen” by itself and the listener waits
for the rest — that incompleteness is the mark of a subordinate clause. “I would
have chosen another day” is complete on its own, so it is the main clause. The word
if is the subordinating conjunction that ties one to the other.

Tip: Order does not decide the type. Both sentences could be rewritten with the
main clause first — “Our farmers would suffer if, by chance, something were to go
wrong” — and the labels would not change. Notice that the comma disappears when
the ‘if’ clause moves to the end.

Page 18 of 106

as e
Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Now, match the subordinate clauses (if clauses) in Column 1 with the appropriate
e
Q2

m l as
.co
main clauses in Column 2 to make complete sentences.

a g
s m
eCOLUMN
g l a 1 COLUMN 2
a
(i) If I had a magic wand, A. We will go to the theatre.

. cB.oImwould sneak into the secret room. ag
e m
(ii) If it rains tomorrow,

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(iii) If you had listened carefully,
a C. I would give myself wings.

om
(iv) If you finish your homework, D. The boys would have woken up on time.

E. We will stay indoors and play m
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(v) If I were invisible,

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as
F. You would have solved puzzle.

a g l

m a s
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‘IF’ CLAUSE MAIN CLAUSE
g l a TYPE WHAT DECIDES IT
a
(i) If I had a magic C. I would give myself wings. hypothetical simple past → would + base
verb
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.
wand,

e m
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possible simple present → will
g
(ii) If it rains tomorrow, E. We will stay indoors and

a
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play board games. future

a (iii) If you had listened
agl F. You would have solved the impossible past perfect → would have +

m
past past participle

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carefully, puzzle.

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(iv) If you finish your A. We will go to the theatre. possible simple present → will

a s future

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homework,

(v) If I were invisible, B. I a
would sneak into the hypothetical were (not was) → would

m
secret room.

. c o
impossible
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past
a past participle
(vi) If the alarm had D. The boys would have woken
m
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rung, up on time. past

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.
Why matching is really a grammar test, not a meaning test: Two clauses can be
joined only if their verb forms belong to the same pattern. Look at the tense in
s e m
com a
. agl
Column 1 and the pattern in Column 2 answers itself — (ii) and (iv) are in the

a s em A and E, the two clauses with will. Meaning then
present, so they can take only

agl keeps you indoors, finished homework earns an outing.
separates the pair: rain

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 19 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Did you know? In (v) we say “If I were invisible”, not “If I was”. This special form is the
subjunctive, kept in English only for imagined, contrary-to-fact situations. The book
uses it in the text too: “If, by chance, something were to go wrong”.

Q3 V. Complete the following sentences appropriately with either the main clause or
the subordinate clause (if clause). 1. Your teacher will be unhappy if
_______________________.

Your teacher will be unhappy if you keep leaving your homework unfinished.

Why the ‘if’ clause is in the present: The main clause already uses will, so this is a
real, possible situation — the first pattern in the table on page 11. The ‘if’ clause
therefore takes the simple present (keep), never will keep.

Other correct answers: “…if you come late again”; “…if we make a noise during the
test”.

Q4 2. They would have caught the train if _______________________.

They would have caught the train if they had left the house ten minutes earlier.

Why the past perfect: The main clause is would have caught, which belongs to the
impossible-past pattern. Its partner must be past perfect — had left, not left. The
sentence says the train was missed and nothing can now change that.

Q5 3. _______________________ if you continue to stay up late every night.

You will find it hard to concentrate in class if you continue to stay up late every night.

Page 20 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why will: The ‘if’ clause is in the simple present (continue), so the situation is real and
possible. The main clause must therefore use will or another present modal such as
may or can.

Q6 4. If she knew the answer, _______________________.

If she knew the answer, she would raise her hand at once.

What the sentence quietly tells us: Knew here is not past time — it is the
hypothetical pattern, and it carries the meaning “but she does not know it”. That is
why the main clause takes would and not will.

Q7 5. _______________________ if she had studied harder.

She would have topped the class if she had studied harder.

Tip: Whenever you see had + past participle after if, the other half is fixed: would
have (or could have / might have) + past participle. Writing “she would top the class”
here is the commonest error in this exercise.

Q8 6. If I had a million rupees, _______________________.

If I had a million rupees, I would build a library for my village.

Other correct answers: “…I would pay for my sister’s college fees”; “…I would buy
every book on my list and still not know where to keep them.” Any main clause works
as long as it uses would + base verb — the money is imaginary, not expected.

Page 21 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q9 VI. Complete the following sentences. One example has been done for you. 1. If I
were a tree, I would play with the wind and talk to the birds. 2. If I were the Head
Teacher of my school, _______.

If I were the Head Teacher of my school, I would set aside the last period every Friday for
reading, and let students choose their own books.

Tip: The example sets the standard — “play with the wind and talk to the birds” is
imaginative, not merely correct. Give your sentence one concrete detail (a day, a
place, a thing) rather than a general wish like “I would make the school better”.

Q10 3. If I were a bird, _______.

If I were a bird, I would follow the monsoon clouds northward and watch the dry fields turn
green under me.

Q11 4. If I were a magician, _______.

If I were a magician, I would turn every empty plot in my town into a garden — and leave
one stone in each, for Mrs. Jones.

Q12 5. If I had studied harder, _______.

If I had studied harder, I would have solved the last question of the test instead of leaving it
blank.

Why this one changes pattern: Sentences 2–4 begin “If I were…” — imagined
present. This one begins “If I had studied…” — past perfect, so it is about a real past
that cannot be altered, and the answer must be would have + past participle.

Page 22 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Let us listen — Pages 12–13 (Transcript for teacher, page 46)
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US LISTEN

Q1 I. You will listen to a woman narrating a story. As you listen, fill in the blanks in the
following sentences by selecting the correct options. 1. The rope tying the bundle of
sticks was _____. (i) loose (ii) thick (iii) short

(ii) thick
The transcript says: “Rama smiled and removed the silk cloth. There was a huge bundle of sticks
tied with a thick rope!”

Tip for listening tasks: The answer word usually sits immediately beside the noun
you are listening for. Hold the phrase “the rope” in your mind and catch the adjective
that arrives next to it — loose and short are never said at all.

Q2 2. The scholar is finally referred to as ________. (i) irritable (ii) mischievous (iii)
arrogant

(iii) arrogant
The last line of the transcript is: “In this way, Rama had taught the arrogant scholar a lesson.”
The word finally in the question is the clue — the answer is at the very end.

The story supports it too: The visitor came “proud of his abilities” to challenge a
whole court, and he had “read thousands of works”. Arrogance, not mischief or
irritability, is what the trick punishes.

Page 23 of 106

ase
Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
II. You will once again listen to the story. As you listen, number the events of the
se
Q3

o m l a
story in the correct order of occurrence. 1. The great scholar was ashamed because
g
he did.cnot know what to say. 2. Rama accepted the challengeathrown
m
by the visitor.

l a seRama had a bundle tied in silk when he came to the palace. 4. The king laughed
3.
a g at the explanation given by Rama. 5. The visitor wanted to show his superiority over
others in the palace. 6. Rama showed the work to be a bundle of sticks tied together

. c om
by a rope. 7. The king wanted to know more about the work mentioned by Rama. 8.
ag
s e m king’s anger.
The court scholars were afraid of the

a gla

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STATEMENT AS PRINTED CORRECT LINE IN THE TRANSCRIPT
e m.
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NUMBER

em a
a s
glbecause he did not know what to say.
1. The great scholar was ashamed 5 “He had no idea what to say… Ashamed, he

a quietly left the palace.”

m a s
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2. Rama accepted the challenge 3 “Rama told them that he would accept the

m
thrown by the visitor. challenge.”

l4a
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ag “The next day, Rama arrived at the palace…
3. Rama had a bundle tied in silk when
he came to the palace. There was a bundle wrapped in silk kept near

m
Rama.”

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4. The king laughed at the explanation 8
a s em
“The king burst out laughing.”

. co agl
given by Rama.

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l a
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1 “He wanted to challenge the scholars in the
court of King Krishnadeva Raya.”

se m
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.
“Rama smiled and removed the silk cloth. There
a
6. Rama showed the work to be a 7

m
ase
bundle of sticks tied together by a was a huge bundle of sticks tied with a thick

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rope. rope!”
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7. The king wanted to know more 6 “Now, the king was curious to know about the
about the work mentioned by Rama.
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great work Rama had mentioned.”

m .
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8. The court scholars were afraid of 2 “They were also afraid that the king would be

. a g
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angry if they refused to face the scholar.”

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the

l a
ag The story in order: visitor arrives to prove his superiority (5) → court scholars are afraid of the
c
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king’s anger (8) → Rama accepts the challenge (2) → Rama comes with a silk-wrapped bundle (3)

o m la s
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→ the scholar is shamed into silence by “tila-kashta-mahisha-bandhana” (1) → the curious king
asks about the work (7) → Rama m
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unwraps a bundle of sticks tied with a rope (6) → the king
a
agl
bursts out laughing (4).

co m
m .
m as e
.co


a g l Page 24 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Where the joke lies: tila = sesame, kashta = stick, so tilakashta = sticks of sesame
plants; mahisha = buffalo, bandhana = the rope used for tying. A grand Sanskrit-
sounding title turns out to describe a bundle of firewood. The visiting scholar was
defeated not by learning but by his own unwillingness to admit he did not know
something.

Let us speak — Pages 13–14

Page 25 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US SPEAK

Q1 I. While asking questions, it is important to use the appropriate tone to convey the
correct meaning. 1. ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions have a rising tone at the end. (Are you
coming home?) 2. ‘-Wh’ questions have a falling tone at the end. (When will you
come home?) This rise and fall in tone is called intonation. Now, work in pairs and
mark the intonation in the questions given below. Take turns to practise by saying
them aloud with the correct intonation. (i) Is this your cat? (ii) What is the name of
your cat? (iii) Will you be going to your village? (iv) Why are you going to your
village? (v) Is this where you live? (vi) Where do you live? (vii) Can I meet your
parents? (viii) How are your parents? (ix) Do you have any plans for tomorrow? (x)
What are you going to do tomorrow?

NO. QUESTION TYPE INTONATION

(i) Is this your cat? Yes/No rising ↗ on cat
(ii) What is the name of your cat? Wh- falling ↘ on cat
(iii) Will you be going to your village? Yes/No rising ↗ on village
(iv) Why are you going to your village? Wh- falling ↘ on village
(v) Is this where you live? Yes/No rising ↗ on live
(vi) Where do you live? Wh- falling ↘ on live
(vii) Can I meet your parents? Yes/No rising ↗ on parents
(viii) How are your parents? Wh- falling ↘ on parents
(ix) Do you have any plans for tomorrow? Yes/No rising ↗ on tomorrow
(x) What are you going to do tomorrow? Wh- falling ↘ on tomorrow

Why the two tones differ: A Yes/No question is genuinely open — the voice goes up
because the speaker is handing the sentence over and waiting. A Wh- question has
already fixed what is being asked (what, why, where); only the detail is missing, so the
voice comes down, as in a statement. Ask a Wh- question with a rising tone and it
starts to sound like surprise or disbelief: “Where do you live?↗” suggests you cannot
believe the answer you just heard.

Page 26 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try This: The questions are deliberately arranged in pairs — each Yes/No question is
followed by a Wh- question about the same thing. Say (i) and (ii) one after the other
and listen to your own voice go up, then down.

Q2 II. ‘What’, ‘Why’, ‘When’, ‘How’, ‘Where’, and ‘Who’ are the words used to ask
questions. These words are called question words. Let us use these words and make
some questions. While making questions, remember the correct word order. • Who
is the cleverest character in the story? (Correct) • Who the cleverest character is in
the story? (Incorrect) Work in pairs and take turns to ask and answer questions
about a trip that you are planning. Prompts: The destination (Where…), Purpose
(Why…), Mode of transport (How…), Duration (When…), Travel companions (Who…),
Activities (What…)

A model pair-conversation. Read A’s lines with a falling tone — they are all Wh- questions.

PROMPT A ASKS B ANSWERS

Where Where are we going for the To Hampi, in Karnataka.
trip?

Why Why have you chosen Hampi? Because it was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire
we have just read about.

How How will we get there? By overnight train to Hospet, and then by bus.

When When will we leave, and how We leave on 12 October and stay for three days.
long will we stay?

Who Who is coming with us? Twenty students and two teachers.

What What will we do there? Visit the Vitthala temple, sketch the stone chariot and
keep a travel diary.

The word-order rule the book is testing: In a question the helping verb (or
is/are/was/were) comes before the subject — “Who is the cleverest character…?”, not
“Who the cleverest character is…?” The only exception is when the question word is
itself the subject, as in “Who came late?”, where nothing needs to be moved.

Page 27 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Now, work in pairs and take turns to ask and answer the questions about witty
characters in folktales or stories you have read. Use the correct intonation while
asking questions. For example: Your favourite character in the folktale (Who...?) —
Who is your favourite character in the folktale? 1. The name of the witty character
(Who...?)

Question: Who is the witty character in the story you have read?
Sample answer: Tenali Rama, the poet and advisor in the court of King Krishnadeva Raya of
Vijayanagara.

Tip: Say the question with a falling tone — it begins with a question word, so it is a
Wh- question, not a Yes/No question.

Q4 2. The reason for her/his wit being important in the story (Why...?)

Question: Why is his wit important in the story?
Sample answer: Because nothing else could have worked. The king was too proud to be argued
with and the ministers were too frightened to try. Only a joke could carry the truth to him
without insulting him.

Q5 3. The most famous trick or clever idea she/he used (What…?)

Question: What was the cleverest idea he used?
Sample answer: He brought “revolutionary” paddy seeds to court and claimed the fault in
farming lay with the sower — a man who yawns while sowing. The whole court laughed, the king
yawned himself, and the point was made without a word about the queen.

Q6 4. The time period or setting of the folktale/story (When…?)

Question: When is the story set?

Page 28 of 106

as e
Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: In the reign of Krishnadeva Raya, from 1509 to 1529 CE — the period the text
co m
calls the Golden Era of the Vijayanagara Empire.
e m.
m l as
.co a g
a s em
gl 5. The way she/he used her/his intelligence to solve a problem (How...?)
aQ7

co m

em . ag
g l as
Question: How did he use his intelligence to solve the problem?
a
Sample answer: Indirectly. He never mentioned the quarrel; he arranged a public joke so that

m
the king would draw the conclusion himself and could change his mind without ever admitting

co
m.
in public that he had been wrong.

m as e
.co a g l
a s em
aglQ8 6. The location where the story takes place (Where…?)

om a s
. c agl

a s em
Question: Where does the story take place?

agl Empire — chiefly in the king’s court, “its intricately carved
Sample answer: In the Vijayanagara
pillars towering towards the high ceiling”, and in the palace where the king and queen live.

co m
m .
as e
com — Pages 15–16
Let us.write a g l
a s em
agl
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
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se m
g l a
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m a s e
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g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 29 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US WRITE

Q1 I. Read the narrative essay ‘A Lesson in Responsibility’ given on page 15. Now, work
✓
in pairs and check ( ) if the following features are present in the narrative essay. 1.
Introduction — the essay begins with a clear and engaging opening; the
introduction sets the context for the narrative; the central idea or purpose is clear.
2. Body of the essay — events are narrated in a logical sequence; descriptive details
are used; characters and settings are clearly described; the narrator’s emotions or
thoughts are shared; the essay includes a challenge or a problem or a turning point.
3. Conclusion — the essay ends with an outcome; a lesson or a message is clearly
stated. 4. Writing Style — the tone is personal and engaging; first person narration
is used. 5. Language — the essay uses simple and clear language; grammar,
punctuation, and spellings are correctly used.

FEATURE ✓/✗ EVIDENCE FROM THE ESSAY

Clear, engaging ✓ “One bright Monday morning, I woke up to the sounds of
opening birds chirping loudly.”

Introduction sets the ✓ A school morning, uniform laid out, homework packed — we
context know where we are before anything happens.

Central idea or purpose ✓ “But little did I know, the day would still teach me an
is clear important lesson.”

Logical sequence of ✓ morning → assembly → quiz → results → talk with Mrs. Rao
events → the change afterwards

Descriptive details ✓ “birds chirping loudly”, “uniform was neatly laid out”, “the
question paper in front of me”

Characters and settings ✓ (the weakest Only Mrs. Rao is named, and the classroom is sketched in a
clearly described of the ten) line. Enough for a short essay, but this is where it could be
improved.

Narrator’s emotions or ✓ “My heart skipped a beat”, “I froze”, “Disappointed, I spoke to
thoughts shared Mrs. Rao”

A challenge / problem / ✓ The surprise Science quiz and the low score — everything
turning point turns here.

Ends with an outcome ✓ “From that day on, I made it a habit to revise my lessons
regularly.”

Page 30 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Lesson clearly stated ✓ “Responsibility isn’t just about being on time or finishing tasks
—it’s about being ready for what’s unexpected.”

Personal, engaging tone ✓ Mrs. Rao is quoted directly, which brings her voice into the
essay.

First person narration ✓ “I”, “my”, “myself” throughout.

Simple and clear ✓ Short sentences; no word a Class 8 reader would need to look
language up.

Correct grammar, ✓ Dialogue correctly punctuated inside quotation marks; the
punctuation, spelling dash used deliberately, not carelessly.

What makes it a narrative essay and not a report: The events are not there for
their own sake — each one exists to produce the last line. The proud, organised
morning at the start is put there only so that the surprise quiz can knock it over.
When you write your own, decide the lesson first, then build the incident that earns
it.

Q2 Now, write a narrative essay based on any one of the situations given below. • The
Day I Learnt the Value of Teamwork • A Small Act of Kindness that Made a
Difference

Method — plan before you write.

1. Fix the lesson first (one sentence). Everything else is built to reach it.
2. Choose one incident, not a summary of a term. A narrative essay needs a single day.
3. Introduction: place, time, and a hint that something is about to change.
4. Body: events in order; one turning point; your feelings at each stage; someone else’s words
quoted directly.
5. Conclusion: the outcome, then the lesson — stated once, plainly, without preaching.
6. Write throughout in the first person and the past tense.

Page 31 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer — The Day I Learnt the Value of Teamwork
Our class was to put up the Republic Day board, and I had decided from the start
that I would do most of it myself. I could draw better than anyone in Class 8-B, and I
did not want the corners spoiled by somebody else’s handwriting. When Meera
offered to help with the lettering, I said the design was almost ready. It was not.
By Thursday afternoon the board was a disaster. The map I had drawn was too large,
the tricolour I had cut out did not fit beside it, and the last panel was still empty. I
had four hours and a great deal of pride, and only one of the two was going to
survive.
Meera came back anyway. So did Arjun, who had never volunteered for anything,
and Sana, who could measure a straight line better than my ruler could. Nobody
said anything about Monday. Meera trimmed the map, Sana ruled the margins,
Arjun printed the headings in the block letters he had learnt from his father’s shop
signboard, and I painted. By six o’clock the board was better than the one in my
head — because four people had noticed four different things wrong with it.
Our class teacher stopped in front of it the next morning and asked who had made
it. All four of us answered at once, and that, I think, was the real answer.
I still like doing things my own way. But I have learnt that wanting the credit and
wanting the work to be good are two different wishes, and that only one of them can
be satisfied alone.

Let us explore — Page 16
The Wit that Won Hearts (prose)

LET US EXPLORE

Q1 I. Limericks are poems in five lines that have a twist in the last line. Read and enjoy
the following limericks and create one on your own. Raju flew his kite in the sky so
wide, It soared with grace, full of pride. But a crow came along, Singing its song,
And now it’s the crow on a joyride!

The rules of the form, taken from the example:

Five lines, rhyming A A B B A — here wide / pride / along / song / joyride.
Lines 1, 2 and 5 are long; lines 3 and 4 are short. Read the model aloud and you can hear the
two short lines speed up.

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Line 1 introduces a person and a situation; lines 3–4 bring in the complication; line 5 delivers
the twist.
The tone is light. A limerick is never sad.

Sample answer
A poet in Hampi, quite pleased with his rhyme,
Read it out to his friends one whole time.
They yawned, every one —
He thought he had won,
And read it again, which was the crime!

Try This: Write yours in this order — pick the last line first, because the joke has to
arrive there, then work backwards to find a rhyme for it. That is how most limericks
are actually made.

Q2 II. Go to the library and read a story of your choice. Share its theme and the
interesting parts of the story with your classmates and teacher.

Method. Choose one story, and when you share it cover exactly three things — the theme in
one sentence, the two or three moments that made you keep reading, and one line you would
quote. Do not retell the plot from beginning to end; your classmates want a reason to read it,
not a substitute for reading it.

Sample answer: I read Gopal the Jester and the Fish from a collection of Bengali
folktales. The theme is that a clever person can obey an order exactly and still defeat
it. The Maharaja, tired of Gopal, forbids him to enter the court “dressed as he usually
is”; Gopal arrives in a fisherman’s clothes carrying a large fish, and cannot be turned
away. The most enjoyable part is the moment the courtiers realise the order they
helped write has been kept word for word. My favourite line is the Maharaja’s: “I
should have chosen my words as carefully as he chose his fish.”

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
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III. You must have read stories of wit, humour, and wisdom in your own language or
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Q3

m read at least one new story from the list.
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English. Make a list of these stories that you have read on a chart paper. Each
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STORY g
WHERE ITaCOMES THE WITTY WHY IT IS WORTH
FROM CHARACTER READING

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Vijayanagara, Telugu Tenali Rama
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A quarrel cured by a joke
The Wit that Won Hearts

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tradition about yawning

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Every tale ends in a riddle

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Tip: Add a fifth column headed “Read by” and let each student sign against the new
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Let us do these activities before we read — Page 17
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A Concrete Example (poem by Reginald Arkell)

BEFORE WE READ

Q1 I. Read the names of items you usually find in a garden and write their names
against each picture given below. garden hose, sapling, hedge, flower beds, flower
pot, pebbles, rockery, fence, vine, wheelbarrow

The ten pictures on page 17, in the order the book prints them — two columns of five,
with a line beside each for the name.

The pictures run in two columns down the page. Taking them row by row (left picture, then right
picture):

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ROW LEFT-HAND PICTURE RIGHT-HAND PICTURE

1 hedge flower pot

2 wheelbarrow pebbles

3 sapling garden hose

4 flower beds vine

5 fence rockery

WORD WHAT IT IS

hedge a line of bushes grown close together to form a living wall or boundary

flower pot a container, usually of clay, in which a single plant is grown

wheelbarrow an open cart with one wheel and two handles, pushed by hand to carry soil or leaves

pebbles small stones worn smooth and round, spread over the ground for decoration

sapling a very young tree

garden hose a long flexible pipe, coiled when not in use, for watering plants

flower beds patches of prepared ground where flowers are planted in masses

vine a climbing or trailing plant with long stems

fence a barrier of wood or wire marking the edge of a garden

rockery a raised bank of rocks with small plants growing in the gaps between them

Tip: Remember rockery and pebbles before you read the poem — the whole of Mrs.
Jones’ garden is made of them. When the poet says her garden is “full of stones”, he
is not exaggerating.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 II. Work in groups of four. What kind of garden would you like to have? Mention the
features that you can include and the reasons for your choice. Share your answers
with your classmates and teacher.

Method. A good group answer does not simply list pretty things. Choose a kind of garden first
— the choice is the interesting part — and then let every feature follow from it. Give a reason for
each feature that goes beyond “it looks nice”.

Sample answer: Our group would make a kitchen garden with a corner for birds.

FEATURE REASON

raised beds of tomatoes, methi and the plants are used at home every week, so the garden is
green chillies worked in, not only looked at

a curry-leaf tree and a tulsi plant both survive our summers with almost no care

a compost pit in one corner kitchen waste becomes manure instead of rubbish

an earthen water bowl under the tree birds come in April and May, when open water is hard to find

a bamboo bench in the shade a garden nobody sits in soon stops being visited

a narrow pebble path between the we can walk to the plants in the rain without stepping in mud
beds

Q3 III. Read the title of the poem. What comes to your mind when you read the word
‘concrete’? Does it have more than one meaning? Share your answers with your
classmates and teacher.

Yes — the word carries two quite different meanings, and the poem uses both.

SENSE MEANING EXAMPLE

as a noun a hard building material of cement, sand The new footpath is made of concrete.
and stone

as an definite, solid, particular — the opposite of Give me a concrete example, not a general
adjective vague statement.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The first sense makes you expect stone, paving, hardness — no plants. The second makes you
expect proof, a clear illustration. Both expectations turn out to be right, which is the joke the
title is preparing.

Why the two senses are connected: Something concrete is something you could
touch. That is why a hard building material and a clear example ended up sharing
one word — an abstract idea becomes “concrete” when it takes a solid, particular
shape.

Tip: Before reading any poem, spend a minute on its title. Poets very rarely waste it,
and a title with two meanings is almost always a promise the last line will keep.

Let us discuss — Pages 19–20

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A Concrete Example (poem by Reginald Arkell)
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LET US DISCUSS

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has been done for you. The poem describes Mrs. Jones, the speaker’s next-door
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day, Mrs. Jones invites the speaker to see her garden, and they discuss a 6. _________
that Mrs. Jones treasures. When the speaker asks where the 7. _________ flower is,
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Mrs. Jones says that the speaker has been 8. _________ on it all along.
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“Where is this lovely thing?” I cried.
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Q2 II. Select the correct option to fill in the blanks for the following sentences. 1. The
tone of the poem is ____________. (i) mocking (ii) humorous (iii) mournful (iv) amusing
(v) light-hearted A. (i), (ii), and (iii) B. (i), (ii), and (v) C. (ii), (iii), and (iv) D. (ii), (iv), and
(v)

D. (ii), (iv), and (v) — humorous, amusing and light-hearted.

Why the two rejected words matter:

Mournful is plainly wrong — nothing in the poem is sad. Any option containing
(iii) can be struck out at once, which removes A and C.
Mocking is the harder one, and it is what separates B from D. To mock is to laugh
at someone with contempt. The speaker teases Mrs. Jones, but he never sneers —
and the last line turns the joke onto himself, not her. A mocking poem would have
ended with her looking foolish; this one ends with the speaker standing on a
flower.

Q3 2. The speaker in the poem is ____________. (i) Mrs. Jones (ii) the poet (iii) a gardener
(iv) a child

(ii) the poet
The poem is in the first person — “I can’t think how she gets them in”, “‘Where is this lovely
thing?’ I cried” — and the speaker calls Mrs. Jones “My next-door neighbour”. So the voice
belongs to the adult neighbour who lives beside her, that is, the poet himself.

Why not the other three: Mrs. Jones is spoken about, not speaking. A gardener
would not need to ask where the flower was — and would certainly not have
stepped on it. And nothing marks the voice as a child’s; the tone is dry and adult, and
the visit is a neighbourly one.

Q4 3. The rhyme scheme of the poem is _________. (i) AABBCC (ii) ABABCC (iii) AABCAC (iv)
ABBACC

(i) AABBCC

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

LINE STANZA 1 RHYME

1 My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones, A

2 has got a garden full of stones: A

3 A crazy path, a lily pond, B

4 a rockery and, just beyond B

5 A sundial with a strange device, C

6 which Mrs. Jones thinks rather nice. C

The other two stanzas follow the same plan: Jones/stones — small/all — in/pin, and Jones/stones
— flower/hour — cried/replied.

Why the poet chose rhyming couplets: A couplet closes fast — two lines and the
sound clicks shut. That neat, tidy click suits a poem about a woman with a neat, tidy,
slightly absurd garden, and it makes the final couplet land like the punchline of a
joke: cried … replied.

Q5 III. Complete the following sentences by choosing the correct answer given in the
brackets. 1. The poet uses the word ‘stones’ in all stanzas in order to emphasise her
________. (obsession with a stony garden/pride in gardening skills)

… in order to emphasise her obsession with a stony garden.

Why the repetition proves it: “Stones” closes the second line of every stanza —
three times in eighteen lines, always in the rhyming position where the ear cannot
miss it. Repetition of that kind is never accidental. Had the poet wanted to stress her
gardening skills, he would have had to repeat something she does well; instead he
repeats the material she has filled the garden with, which is the very thing a garden
is not supposed to be made of.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q6 2. The poet uses imagery to describe the features of the garden that help readers
_____________. (understand Mrs. Jones’ love for plants/visualise the garden’s peculiar
nature)

… that help readers visualise the garden’s peculiar nature.

What the images actually show us: a crazy path, a lily pond, a rockery, a sundial
with a strange device, plants small enough to be set with a pin. Every one of these is
a picture of oddity — hard, small, ornamental, out of the ordinary. Not one of them
tells us that Mrs. Jones loves plants; in fact the plants are the least noticeable thing in
the garden, which is precisely the joke.

Tip: Imagery means language that appeals to the senses so that a reader can see,
hear or feel what is described. Ask of any image, “What picture does this put in my
head?” — and answer with the picture, not with the feeling behind it.

Q7 IV. Pick examples of alliteration from the poem.

LINE ALLITERATION REPEATED SOUND

“My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones,” next-door neighbour /n/

“has got a garden full of stones” got a garden /g/

“puts little plants between the stones” puts … plants /p/

“unless she plants them with a pin” plants … pin /p/

“for quite a quarter of an hour” quite a quarter /kw/

How to spot alliteration correctly: It is the repetition of the same sound at the
beginning of words that are close together — the sound, not the letter. “Quite a
quarter” alliterates because both words open with /kw/. Repeating a sound slows the
reader down for a moment, which is why the phrase you remember from the third
stanza is the one that measures out the wasted quarter of an hour.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q8 V. A refrain is a repeated line or phrase that appears in each stanza. Identify the
refrain from the poem.

The refrain is the opening line of every stanza:
“My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones,”
and it is followed each time by a second line ending in the same word, stones:

“has got a garden full of stones:”
“puts little plants between the stones”
“once asked me round to see her stones.”

What the refrain achieves: Three things at once. It gives the poem the swing of a
song or nursery rhyme, which sets the light tone. It fixes Mrs. Jones in our minds as
a type — the neighbour, always the same. And because the rhyme word stones
returns every time, the poem keeps insisting on the one detail that matters, until the
last stanza can spring its surprise on a reader who thinks he knows exactly what is
coming.

Q9 VI. Irony is a literary device that emphasises the difference between what is
expected and what actually happens. It often involves a situation where the
outcome is the opposite of what is expected, creating a surprising or a humorous
effect. For example, Mrs. Jones’ excitement about her garden contrasts with the
speaker’s disappointment on how ordinary it is. Identify the line(s) from the poem
that display(s) situational irony.

The closing couplet:
“Where is this lovely thing?” I cried.
“You’re standing on it,” she replied.

Why this is situational irony: Everything in the stanza builds one expectation. The
two of them have stood and talked about a flower “for quite a quarter of an hour”;
after that much praise the speaker naturally looks up and around for something
splendid. The reality is the exact opposite — the flower is not above him but under
his shoe. He has been searching for the very thing he was destroying, and asking his
question while he did it.

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co m
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Also worth naming: the first two lines carry a milder irony of their own — “a garden

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full of stones” reverses what the word garden leads you to expect. The poem opens
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VII. Complete the following sentences appropriately. 1. The word ‘concrete’ can
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The word ‘concrete’ can refer to the hard, stony materials that fill it — the crazy paving of
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plants — rather than to earth and greenery.

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objects in the poem. The second half of the pun is dealt with in the next question.

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2. The title also has a symbolic
example of Mrs. Jones’ ______________ gardening habits.

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Q12 VIII. The title ‘A Concrete Example’ carries both literal and symbolic (metaphorical)
meaning. Such word play is called a pun. A pun is a figure of speech that uses
words with multiple meanings or words that sound alike but have different
meanings, creating a humorous effect. • I tried arguing with my pencil but it kept
making sharp points. (suggests the idea of an actual sharp pencil point and strong
argument points) • My pencil and I had a disagreement but we finally got to the
point. (refers to solving an argument and the pencil’s tip)

How the pun in the title works. One phrase, read two ways, and both readings are true of the
poem:

READING MEANING OF WHAT IT POINTS TO IN THE POEM
‘CONCRETE’

literal stone, paving, hard a garden made of a crazy path, a rockery, pebbles and a stone
material sundial — a concrete example of a garden

symbolic definite, clear, particular the closing incident, which is a concrete example of just how
peculiar Mrs. Jones’ taste is

Two puns of your own, on the pattern of the examples given:

I asked the gardener why his plants were so short. He said he had no grounds for complaint.
(grounds = garden land / reasons)
The sundial and I never quarrel — we simply have our time apart. (time = the hours it keeps /
time spent away)

Why a pun is funny: The mind settles on one meaning of a word, and the sentence
then forces it to accept a second. That small jolt of readjustment is the laugh. It is
the same mechanism as the riddles on page 1, and the same mechanism Tenali
Rama uses when he moves the word ‘yawn’ from a paddy field to a palace.

Let us think and reflect (I) — Pages 20–21

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A Concrete Example (poem by Reginald Arkell)

LET US THINK AND REFLECT

Q1 I. Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow. My next-door
neighbour, Mrs. Jones, has got a garden full of stones: A crazy path, a lily pond, a
rockery and, just beyond A sundial with a strange device, which Mrs. Jones thinks
rather nice. (i) What can be inferred about Mrs. Jones’s taste in gardening from the
description of her garden being ‘full of stones’?

That her taste runs to hard ornament rather than growing things — and that it is entirely her
own.
“A garden full of stones” is close to a contradiction: a garden is the one place we expect to be full
of plants. By choosing stone for the path, stone for the rockery and stone for the sundial, Mrs.
Jones has made arrangement and design more important than greenery. What pleases her is
the interesting object, not the healthy plant.
The last line of the extract adds the crucial point — “which Mrs. Jones thinks rather nice.” She is
not apologising for any of it. Her taste may be unusual, but she is quite satisfied with it, and that
self-possession is what makes her likeable rather than ridiculous.

Q2 (ii) Identify whether the following statement is true or false. The garden serves as a
means to reveal more about Mrs. Jones herself.

True.
The poem never describes Mrs. Jones directly — we are told nothing about her age, face or
manner. Everything we know about her, we learn from her garden:

the crazy path and rockery tell us she likes the unusual;
the sundial with a strange device tells us she collects curiosities;
the tiny plants set between stones tell us she is patient and attentive to what is small;
the quarter of an hour spent on one flower tells us she is unhurried and warmly attached
to what she owns.

The technique: This is characterisation through setting — a writer showing us a
person by showing us the place they have made. It is more convincing than a list of
adjectives, because the reader draws the conclusion instead of being handed it.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 (iii) What does the poet mean by ‘crazy path’?

Literally: a path of “crazy paving” — flat stones of irregular shapes and sizes fitted together with
no regular pattern, so that the joints run in every direction. It is a real and well-known style of
paving, and “crazy” is its ordinary English name.
But the poet is also making the word do a second job. Placed in a poem that goes on to
describe a strange sundial and plants no bigger than a pinhead, “crazy” quietly hands the reader
the speaker’s private opinion — that the whole garden is a little mad. He has said nothing rude;
he has merely used the correct technical term.

Tip: This double meaning is worth naming when you answer. It is the same kind of
word play as the title, and noticing it shows you have read the poem, not just the
line.

Q4 (iv) What does the sundial with a ‘strange device’ suggest about Mrs. Jones’
personality? A. She has a fascination with unusual items. B. She prefers traditional
garden decorations. C. She is uninterested in her garden’s appearance. D. She likes
modern and expensive items.

A. She has a fascination with unusual items.

The proof is in the next line: the device is “strange”, and Mrs. Jones “thinks rather
nice”. What another person would call odd is exactly what she has chosen to keep.
That is a fascination with the unusual, stated in two words.

The others are ruled out by the poem itself: B — a sundial with a strange device is precisely not a
traditional ornament; C — she cares so much about appearance that she has designed every
surface of the garden and invites the neighbour “round to see her stones”; D — a sundial is old-
fashioned, and nothing in the poem suggests expense.

Did you know? In older English a device can mean an emblem, motto or design
engraved on an object — not a machine at all. So the “strange device” is most likely
an unusual figure or inscription cut into the face of the sundial. That sense is picked
up again in the vocabulary exercise on page 22.

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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Let us think and reflect (II) — Page 21
A Concrete Example (poem by Reginald Arkell)

LET US THINK AND REFLECT

Q1 1. How does Mrs. Jones feel about her garden? Support your answer with evidence
from the poem.

She is proud of it and genuinely fond of it, and it does not occur to her that anyone might see
it differently.

She finds her own ornaments pleasing: the sundial with its strange device is something “Mrs.
Jones thinks rather nice.”
She works at it with patience, fitting plants “so delicate and small” into the gaps between
stones — trouble nobody takes for a garden they do not love.
She wants it seen: she “once asked me round to see her stones.” The invitation is the clearest
evidence of all.
She can talk about one flower “for quite a quarter of an hour” — fifteen minutes on a single
plant is the enthusiasm of a collector.

The revealing detail: she invites him to see her stones, not her flowers. She names
the stones herself, without embarrassment. To her they are not a substitute for a
garden; they are the garden.

Q2 2. Why do you think the speaker describes the plants as being so small that they
could be planted with a pin?

Because it is a comic exaggeration — hyperbole — and it does three things at once.

It measures the plants. No ordinary trowel could fit into the cracks between paving stones;
the speaker pretends the only possible tool is a pin.
It measures his opinion. He has already said the plants “don’t mean anything at all”, and the
pin puts a picture to that dismissal. He is not describing the plants so much as his own
bafflement — “I can’t think how she gets them in.”
It prepares the ending. Once the reader has accepted that the plants are almost invisible,
the last line becomes possible: a flower that small can be stood upon by a man who is
looking for it.

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Tip: When a question asks why a poet chose an image, do not stop at what the

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image means. Say what it does to the reader, and what it makes possible later in the
poem.
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From her gardening style: she is eccentric and confident about it. She has chosen stone over
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peoplem a
seher interaction with the speaker: she is hospitable — she is the one who invites him
would
l a
ag
From
round. She is enthusiastic, and unhurried enough to talk about one flower for a quarter of an

m a s
.co agl
hour. Most tellingly, she is good-humoured: her neighbour is standing on her treasured flower,

se m
and her reply is four calm words — “You’re standing on it.” There is no scolding and no fuss.

g l a
a
Reading her reply closely: the poem never tells us her tone, so it is worth deciding.

m
Given how mildly the rest of the poem treats her, the likeliest reading is quiet

. co
m
amusement — she has seen at once what he has not, and is enjoying it. That reading

m as e
.co l
makes her the one person in the poem who is not confused.
a g
se m
g l a
a
Q4 4. The poem portrays Mrs. Jones in a positive light. Support this statement.
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

It does — and the proof is that the poem’s only victim is the speaker himself.

co m
She has made something of her own. Her garden copies nobody. Whatever else it is, it is

m .
original, and the poem gives it four lines of careful description rather than dismissing it.

o m l a se
ag
.cand patience to keep plants alive in the cracks between stones.
She cares for what is easily overlooked. Anyone can grow a rose bed. It takes gentleness

se m
g l a She is generous. She invites her neighbour in to share what she loves, expecting him to
a c
enjoy it.
m .
m
She is unruffled at the end. Her flower is being trodden on and she does not complain —
a s e
she simply answers the question.
m . co agl
l a se
The last line makes her the one who sees clearly. The joke falls on the speaker, who has
ag that was under his foot. He is left looking foolish; she is not.
been hunting for something

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the teasing does not spoil the portrait: There is a difference between
laughing at someone and laughing with a situation. The speaker teases Mrs. Jones
for six lines and then hands her the last word — and the last word wins. That is
affection, not ridicule.

Q5 5. What does the poem tell us about the way people think differently about the
world around them?

That value lies in the seeing, not in the thing seen.
Two people stand in one small garden. For Mrs. Jones it is full of interest — a strange device
worth admiring, plants worth an hour’s conversation, a flower worth showing to a neighbour.
For the speaker the same garden is a heap of stones with a few things in it that “don’t mean
anything at all”. Neither of them is lying. They are simply noticing different things, and each is
quite sure his own view is the ordinary one.
The last couplet settles the argument, and not in the speaker’s favour. What one person can talk
about for a quarter of an hour, another can stand on without ever seeing it. The joke is aimed at
the habit of assuming that whatever we fail to notice cannot be worth noticing.

Why the poem does not preach: Arkell never states this idea. He arranges an
incident so exact that the reader arrives at it unaided — the same method Tenali
Rama uses on the king in the first piece of this unit. A conclusion you reach yourself
is one you keep.

Let us learn — Pages 21–23
A Concrete Example (poem by Reginald Arkell)

LET US LEARN

Q1 I. Select the appropriate word from the brackets that correctly replaces the
underlined word in the sentences from the text. 1. A sundial with a strange device,
(unusual, peculiar, new, rare, external)

unusual — “A sundial with an unusual device”.

Page 50 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why not the others: Peculiar is the closest rival and is not wrong, but it leans
towards “oddly wrong”, while the speaker only means “not like other sundials”. New
and rare change the meaning altogether — a strange thing need be neither recent
nor scarce. External means “on the outside” and has nothing to do with strange.

Tip: In a word-replacement exercise, put your chosen word back into the poet’s line
and read it aloud. If the meaning of the whole line shifts even slightly, choose again.

Q2 2. … which Mrs. Jones thinks rather nice. (pleasant, superior, agreeable, gentle,
charming)

pleasant — “which Mrs. Jones thinks rather pleasant”.

Why: Here nice carries its mildest, most everyday sense — she finds the sundial
agreeable to look at. Pleasant matches that exactly. Agreeable would also serve,
though it is more often used of people than of objects. Superior claims far too much,
gentle describes manner rather than appearance, and charming is stronger than the
deliberately flat “rather nice” the poet chose.

Q3 3. They are so delicate… (delicious, fragile, dainty, graceful, weak)

dainty — “They are so dainty and small”.

Why: Dainty means small, neat and pretty, and the poet’s next word is “small”, so the
two run naturally together. Fragile is a reasonable second choice, since delicate can
mean easily damaged. Weak is too harsh — it implies sickliness, which the plants are
not. Graceful describes movement or line, not size, and delicious belongs to taste and
is simply a different word.

Page 51 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 4. “Where is this lovely thing?” I cried. (exclaimed, wept, shouted, announced,
whispered)

exclaimed — “‘Where is this lovely thing?’ I exclaimed.”

The trap in this item: Cried has two meanings — to weep, and to call out suddenly.
Here it plainly means the second, because the words are a question spoken aloud.
So wept is the wrong branch of the word. Shouted is too loud for a neighbour
standing beside you; whispered is too quiet for the eagerness of the moment; and
announced is far too formal for a question.

Did you know? Choosing between two meanings of one word is exactly what the
whole unit trains you to do — the same skill the riddles on page 1 and the pun in the
title depend on.

Q5 II. The ‘sundial’ is referred to as a ‘device’ in the poem. Work in pairs to infer the
meaning of ‘device’. Share your thoughts with your classmates and teacher.

Inferring from the line: “A sundial with a strange device”. The word with is the clue — the
device is something the sundial has, not the sundial itself. So device here means an emblem,
design or motto marked on the face of the sundial — perhaps an unusual figure or an
inscription about time. This is an older sense of the word, still found in phrases like “a coat of
arms with a strange device”.
The everyday modern sense is different: a device is an object or piece of equipment made for a
particular purpose — a measuring device, an electronic device. In that sense the sundial itself is
a device, since it is an instrument for telling the time.

Why both senses matter to the poem: A sundial is one of the simplest instruments
ever made — a stick and a shadow. What delights Mrs. Jones is not its usefulness but
the odd little design carved on it. That is her taste in one detail: the ornament
matters more than the function.

Page 52 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q6 Now, match the type of instruments in Column 1 with their definitions in Column 2.
Column 3 shows one example of each type of instrument. Add more examples in
Column 3. Column 1: 1. implement, 2. tool, 3. equipment, 4. appliance, 5. gadget
Column 2: (i) something that is electrical and is used to do work in the house, (ii)
something small that is mechanical or electronic, (iii) something that works on
being moved by hand, (iv) a set of necessary items for a particular purpose, (v)
something used by hand to make or repair Column 3: spade, knife / hammer /
cricket bat, helmet, batting gloves, etc. / mixer grinder / mobile phone, laptop

COLUMN COLUMN 2 COLUMN 3 — COLUMN 3 — MORE
1 GIVEN EXAMPLES

1. (iii) something that works spade, knife sickle, plough, hoe, rake, crowbar
implement on being moved by hand

2. tool (v) something used by hand hammer screwdriver, spanner, saw, chisel,
to make or repair pliers

3. equipment (iv) a set of necessary items cricket bat, helmet, laboratory equipment, camping
for a particular purpose batting gloves, etc. equipment, fire-fighting
equipment, diving equipment

4. appliance (i) something that is mixer grinder refrigerator, washing machine,
electrical and is used to do microwave oven, electric iron,
work in the house geyser

5. gadget (ii) something small that is mobile phone, smart watch, earphones, fitness
mechanical or electronic laptop band, pocket torch, calculator

How the five differ — the distinctions worth remembering:

Implement and tool are both hand-held, but an implement is usually the larger,
simpler thing you work the land with (spade, plough); a tool is what you make or
mend with (hammer, saw).
Equipment is uncountable and plural in sense — a set of items, never one object.
You cannot say “an equipment”.
Appliance is domestic and electrical: it does household work for you.
Gadget is small, clever and often more entertaining than essential.

Page 53 of 106

as e
Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
III. Complete the table by making new words in Column 1 using the hints given in
e
Q7

com
Column 2. Replace the first letter of the given word to create new words. One
g l as
m .
example has been done for you. a
l a se
g
1.
a
m
COLUMN 1 COLUMN 2

. co ag
nice
se m
l a
(i) dice ag cut into small pieces

co m
m.
(ii) grain that we cook

m as e
.co
(iii) plural of mouse
a g l
a s em(iv)
gl
bad habit

a
m a s
.co agl

se m
g l a
WORD HINT
a IN A SENTENCE

om
(i) dice cut into small pieces Dice the onions before you add them.

. c
a s em
com
(ii) rice grain that we cook The rice is still on the stove.

. l
aginto
s e m plural of mouse Two mice had got the store room.
a
(iii) mice

agl (iv) vice bad habit Gambling was his one vice.

se m
com g l a
m . a
e
Did you know? Words that differ by a single sound in the same position — nice, dice,
a sminimal set. Reading them aloud in a row is one of the
rice, mice, vice — are calledla
g
a ear for English spelling, because the ending stays fixed
quickest ways to train your

m
while only the first sound moves.
. co
em
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q8 2. soil — (i) ____: heat something; (ii) ____: work very hard; (iii) ____: length of wire in a
circle; (iv) ____: sheets to wrap food items

WORD HINT IN A SENTENCE

(i) boil heat something Boil the water for two minutes before drinking it.

(ii) toil work very hard The farmers toil from dawn until the light goes.

(iii) coil length of wire in a circle A coil of copper wire lay beside the motor.

(iv) foil sheets to wrap food items Wrap the rotis in foil so they stay warm.

Try This: Two more words fit the pattern — coil also names a spiral, and foil can
mean “to defeat a plan” (The rain foiled our picnic). Look for the second meaning of
every word you learn; this unit rewards the habit.

Let us listen — Page 23 (Transcript for teacher, page 47)
A Concrete Example (poem by Reginald Arkell)

LET US LISTEN

Q1 I. You will listen to a presentation about the wonderful Rock Garden of Chandigarh.
As you listen, answer the following questions using one to three exact words from
the presentation. 1. Where was Nek Chand’s Rock Garden featured?

On an Indian postage stamp.
The transcript: “The garden was featured on an Indian postage stamp in 1983 and Nek Chand
was awarded the Padma Shri a year later.”

Tip: The instruction says one to three exact words. Write “an Indian postage stamp”,
not a sentence of your own. Copying the speaker’s words is the whole task.

Page 55 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 2. What kind of sculptures does the Rock Garden have?

Colourful sculptures.
The transcript: “it has several colourful sculptures and mosaic of art pieces.”

Q3 3. How is the Rock Garden divided?

Into three distinct phases.
The transcript: “What is unique about the Rock Garden is that it is divided into three distinct
phases.”

Q4 4. Name any one thing that has been transformed into a piece of art in the Rock
Garden.

Terracotta pots — or, equally correct, light fixtures or broken toilet pots.
The transcript: “Each area reveals a unique collection of installations including terracotta pots,
light fixtures, and even broken toilet pots, that have been transformed into extraordinary
masterpieces.”

Why the question says “any one”: The speaker lists three, so the task is to catch
and hold just one item from a rapid list — a listening skill in itself. Note them down
as you hear them and choose afterwards.

Q5 5. Approximately, how many statues border the Rock Garden?

Around 5,000 statues.
The transcript: “the borders of the Rock Garden are lined with around 5,000 statues.”

Page 56 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Did you know? Nek Chand built the garden in secret from 1957, out of industrial
and household waste, on land where building was forbidden. It now covers about 40
acres. It belongs beside this poem for a reason: like Mrs. Jones, he made a garden
out of what nobody else considered garden material — and, unlike her neighbour,
the world came round to his view.

Let us speak — Pages 23–24
A Concrete Example (poem by Reginald Arkell)

LET US SPEAK

Q1 I. 1. When we apologise to a friend or a family member, we use informal language.
Take turns to apologise for the following situations and respond to the apology. (i)
You have eaten your brother’s share of sweets. Phrases for Apology: I’m sorry
about… / I’m really sorry… / Please forgive me for… / Sorry, I didn’t mean to…
Phrases to Respond to Apology: That’s alright. / It’s no big deal. / No problem. /
These things happen.

SPEAKER WHAT IS SAID

You Sorry, I didn’t mean to finish your sweets — I thought the last two were mine. I’ll get you a
fresh box tomorrow.

Brother It’s no big deal. Just ask me next time.

What makes an informal apology work: contractions (I’m, didn’t), short sentences,
and an offer to put it right. Notice that the apology names the thing done — “finish
your sweets” — rather than staying vague. A vague apology sounds like an escape.

Page 57 of 106

Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 (ii) You have broken your sister’s flower craft.

SPEAKER WHAT IS SAID

You I’m really sorry — I knocked your flower craft off the shelf while I was reaching for my
books. Two of the petals came off. Can I help you fix it this evening?

Sister That’s alright. These things happen. Bring the glue and we’ll do it together.

Tip: Say how it happened without turning the explanation into an excuse. “While I
was reaching for my books” explains; “you shouldn’t have kept it there” would spoil
the whole apology.

Q3 (iii) You accidentally spilled ink on your mother’s important documents.

SPEAKER WHAT IS SAID

You Amma, I’m so sorry — my pen leaked on the papers that were on the table. Two pages are
stained. Please forgive me. Tell me which ones you need and I’ll go and get copies made.

Mother These things happen. Bring them here and let me see how bad it is.

Why this apology is longer than the others: The damage is more serious and
cannot be undone by the person who caused it. So the apology has to do more work
— say exactly what was harmed, accept the fault without argument, and offer the
one repair that is actually possible.

Page 58 of 106

as e
Class 8 English Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
(iv) You forgot to bring your friend’s notebook to the school after borrowing it.
e
Q4

m l as
m .co a g
a se

g l
aSPEAKER WHAT IS SAID

. c om
I’m sorry about the notebook — I left it on my study table. I know you need it for the test
ag
m
You

s e
la
on Friday. I’ll bring it first thing tomorrow, I promise.

Friend a g
No problem. Just don’t forget again — I have to revise from it on Thursday.

c o m
Tip: When the apology is for forgetting, the strongest part is not the m .
s e “sorry” but the

. cm
specificopromise: first thing tomorrow, not soon.
a gla
a s em
a gl
m
2. When we apologise to someone in authority like a Principal or a teacher in a
a s
.co agl
Q5

em
formal setting, we use formal language. Work in pairs and take turns to apologise

a s
aglfor submission. Phrases for Apology: I’m extremely sorry
for the following situations and respond to the apology. (i) You did not bring an
assignment that was due
for… / I owe you an apology for… / I really regret… / I promise it won’t happen again.

co
/ I’ll do my best not to repeat it. / I assure you that this will never happen again. m
m .
e
Phrases to Respond: I accept your apology. Please ensure you… / I appreciate you
m l as
.co g
saying this, but… / I’m glad you realised your mistake…

em a
a s
a gl ANSWER
se m
SPEAKER WHAT IS SAID
com g l a
m. a
gl ase
Student Good morning, Ma’am. I’m extremely sorry for not submitting my assignment today. I

a
completed only half of it because I misread the date. I assure you that this will never
happen again. May I submit it tomorrow morning?

co m
Teacher
m .
I accept your apology. Please ensure you note the submission dates in your diary from

as e
com
now on. Give it to me before the first period tomorrow.

. a g l
e m
as What changes when the apology becomes formal: the greeting and title (Good
agl c
morning, Ma’am), full forms instead of contractions where possible, no casual words,
m .
m a s e
agl
and a request rather than an assumption — “May I submit it tomorrow?” instead of
. co
m
“I’ll bring it tomorrow.” The regret is stated once and not repeated.
ase
a g l

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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