NCERT Solutions Class 5 English Chapter 3 the Rainbow

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 5 · ENGLISH

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 3: The Rainbow

NCERT Textbook — Santoor

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

27 – 40 16 87 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 66 pages

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · ENGLISH · SANTOOR

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 3: The Rainbow
Chapter 3 of Santoor opens Unit 2, My Colourful World. The Rainbow is a short poem in two stanzas by
Christina Rossetti. The poet looks at boats, ships, clouds and bridges, and then at the rainbow — and says
the rainbow is far prettier than any of them. The chapter carries these banners: Let us Recite, New Words,
Let us Think (A and B), Let us Learn (A and B), Let us Listen, Let us Speak, Let us Write (A–G), Let us Do
and Let us Explore.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Santoor (Class 5) 27 – 40

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

16 87

MEDIUM

English

Let us Recite — Page 27
The Rainbow — a poem by Christina Rossetti

LET US RECITE

Poem Let us Recite — The Rainbow. Read the poem aloud and enjoy it.

Here is the whole poem. Read it aloud twice. The second time, read it slowly, as if you are
standing outside and pointing at the sky.

Page 1 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Boats sail on the rivers,

And ships sail on the seas;

But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.

There are bridges on the rivers,

As pretty as you please;

But the bow that bridges heaven,

And overtops the trees,

And builds a road from earth to sky,

Is prettier far than these.
— Christina Rossetti

What happens, stanza by stanza:

1. Stanza 1 — three things that sail. Boats sail on rivers. Ships sail on seas. Clouds sail across
the sky. Of these three, the poet says the clouds are the prettiest.
2. Stanza 2 — three things that bridge. There are bridges on rivers, and they are pretty. But
there is another bridge — the rainbow. It arches over the trees and joins the earth to the sky.
That one, says the poet, is prettier by far.

What the poem is really doing: It is a comparison. Each stanza puts small, everyday
things on one side and one big free thing in the sky on the other side. Both stanzas
end with the same idea — “prettier far than these”. The poet is saying that the
loveliest things in the world are the ones nobody had to build.

The picture the words put in your head: First you see a little boat on a river. Then a tall ship on
the open sea. Then your eyes go up, and white clouds are moving across the blue like slow
ships. The poet uses the same word — sail — for all three. So the sky begins to feel like a sea,
and the clouds like boats on it. That one repeated word does all the work.
Rhyme: Say the poem aloud and you will hear the rhyme at the line ends — seas and these in
the first stanza, and please, trees and these in the second. All of them end in the same “-eez”
sound. That is why the poem is so easy to remember.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip for reciting: Take a small pause after “But” in line 3 of each stanza. That is the
turning point of the stanza — the moment the poet stops looking at the river and
starts looking at the sky. Then say the last line gently, as if you have just decided
something.

Notice this: The word rainbow never appears in the poem. The poet only says “the
bow that bridges heaven”. She lets you work it out — and the title tells you if you
cannot.

Let us Think — Page 28
A. Answer the following

LET US THINK

A.1 Explain the meaning of the word ‘bow’ used in the poem.

In this poem, ‘bow’ means the rainbow.
The poet writes, “But the bow that bridges heaven, / And overtops the trees, / And builds a road
from earth to sky”. Only one thing does all that — a rainbow.
The word bow means anything bent into a curve. A rainbow is a big curve of seven colours in the
sky, so the poet simply calls it a bow.

Why this is a good word for it: Look at the word rainbow itself. It is made of two
smaller words — rain + bow. It means “the bow that comes with rain”. So the poet
has not invented anything. She has only taken the second half of the word rainbow
and used it on its own.

Careful — bow has other meanings too:

the curved stick used to shoot arrows — a bow and arrow;
the ribbon tied in loops on a gift — a pretty bow;
to bend the body forward to greet someone — we bow to our elders;
the front end of a ship.

The first three are all curved or bent things. In our poem it is the rainbow.

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as e
Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Which bridge does the poet like more and why?
e
A.2

m l as
.co a g
a
s em
aglpoet likes the rainbow bridge more.
The
The second stanza names two bridges. The first is an ordinary bridge on a river, and the poet

. c om
agrees it is “as pretty as you please”. The second is “the bow that bridges heaven” — the
ag
s e m far than these.” Prettier far means very much
rainbow. About that one she says, “Is prettier
a
agl
more beautiful.
She likes the rainbow bridge more for three reasons, and the poem gives all three:

co m
m.
1. It is much bigger. A river bridge crosses only a river. The rainbow “bridges heaven” — it
crosses the whole sky.
m as e
.co
2. It is much higher. It “overtops the trees”. Overtops means it rises above them.
a g l
se m
g l a
3. It joins two places nothing else can join. It “builds a road from earth to sky”.

a
s
The deeper reason: A river bridge is built by people out of stone and iron. The
m a
.co agl
rainbow is made by sunlight and rain, and nobody builds it. It appears on its own, for

se m
a
everybody, free of cost — and then it goes. That is what the poet finds beautiful.

a g l

co m
The word ‘these’ is used for different things in stanzas one and two. What are the
m .
e
A.3

m l as
.co
things for which ‘these’ has been used in each stanza?
a g
a s em
a gl

m
In stanza one, ‘these’ means the boats and the ships. In stanza two, ‘these’ means the

a se
com l
bridges on the rivers.
. a g
m
STANZA THE LINE
gl ase WHAT ‘THESE’ STANDS FOR

One
a
“Are prettier far than these.” The boats on the rivers and the ships on the seas

com
“Is prettier far than these.”
m .
se
Two The bridges on the rivers

o m l a
gthe lines just above it.
m .c to work it out. The word these points backwards. So read
a
se
How

a
agl
Above the first “these” we are told about boats and ships. So the clouds are prettier than the

.c
m
boats and the ships.

m a s e
co agl
Above the second “these” we are told about bridges on the rivers. So the rainbow is prettier

m .
e
than those bridges.

g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the poet does this: A word like these saves her from repeating a whole list.
Instead of writing “prettier far than the boats on the rivers and the ships on the
seas”, she can write four short words. Poems like short lines.

Tip: Whenever you meet this, that, these, those, it or they, stop and ask yourself,
“Standing for what?” The answer is almost always a few words earlier.

A.4.a State whether the following are True or False. a. Ships sail on the river.

False.
The poem says, “And ships sail on the seas.” It is the boats that sail on the rivers — “Boats sail
on the rivers”.
The corrected sentence: Ships sail on the sea.

Why it makes sense: A ship is very big and very heavy, so it needs deep water. The
sea is deep, so ships can sail there. A river is usually shallow, so only smaller boats
can move on it.

A.4.b b. Boats sail on the sea.

False.
The very first line of the poem says, “Boats sail on the rivers.” The sea belongs to the ships in
this poem.
The corrected sentence: Boats sail on the river.

A fair question: Fishing boats do go out to sea in real life. But this question asks
what the poem says, and the poem puts boats on rivers and ships on seas. In an
exam, answer from the text.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A.4.c c. Bridges are built on the river.

True.
Stanza two opens with the line, “There are bridges on the rivers, / As pretty as you please.”
So the poem does tell us that bridges are built on rivers.

Think about it: We build a bridge exactly where we cannot walk — over water, over
a valley, over a busy railway line. A bridge turns a place you cannot cross into a place
you can.

A.4.d d. A road is built from earth to the sky.

True.
The poem says the bow “builds a road from earth to sky”. The rainbow looks like a wide
coloured road going up from the ground and over into the sky.

But remember what kind of road it is: It is a road you can only see, not a road you
can walk on. The poet is painting a picture with words. She is asking you to imagine
the rainbow as a road, because that is what it looks like. Nobody can really climb it.

Let us Think — Page 28
B. Think and discuss

THINK AND DISCUSS

B.1 What are the ways in which you can cross a river?

A river can be crossed in many ways — over it, through it, or under it.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WAY OF CROSSING HOW IT WORKS

Over a bridge On foot, by cycle, by bus or by train. This is the commonest way.

By boat A rowing boat, a ferry or a motor boat carries people across.

By coracle A round basket boat used on the Kaveri and the Tungabhadra rivers.

On a raft Logs or bamboo poles tied together and pushed with a long pole.

By wading Walking through the water where the river is shallow, in summer.

By swimming Only if you can swim well, and only where the water is calm.

On a rope bridge A hanging bridge of ropes and planks, common in the hills.

On a living root bridge In Meghalaya, people train the roots of rubber trees to grow across a stream.

By ropeway or trolley A basket or box hung from a wire and pulled across.

Through a tunnel Some cities dig a tunnel under the river bed.

Sample answer: There are many ways to cross a river. The easiest way is to walk or drive over a
bridge. Where there is no bridge, people go across in a boat or on a ferry. On some rivers in the
south, people use a round basket boat called a coracle. In the hills, a rope bridge or a trolley on
a wire is used. In summer, when the water is low, people simply wade across. In Meghalaya,
there are even bridges made from the living roots of trees.

Safety first: Never try to wade or swim across a river during or after the rains. The
water looks slow on top but pulls hard underneath, and the depth changes without
warning.

B.2 Have you ever seen a rainbow in real life or in pictures? How did you feel?

This is your own answer, so it will not be the same as anybody else’s. Say when you saw it, where
you saw it, and how you felt.

What a good answer needs: the time and place, what you were doing, what the
rainbow looked like, and two or three feeling words — happy, surprised, excited,
calm, lucky.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: Yes, I have seen a rainbow. It was in July last year, just after a heavy afternoon
shower. I was standing on our terrace with my grandmother, and she was the one who pointed
at it. A big coloured arch stood over the fields behind our house, with red on the outside and
violet on the inside. I felt very happy and a little surprised, because a minute earlier the sky had
been grey and dull. I ran down to call my brother, and by the time we came up the rainbow had
already grown faint. I felt lucky to have seen it, and I understood why the poet says it is prettier
than a bridge.

If you have not seen one yet: Say so honestly, and then write about the pictures
you have seen. For example — “I have not seen a real rainbow, but I have seen many
in pictures and in my science book. Even in a picture the seven colours look
beautiful. I keep hoping to see a real one after the rain.”

Try this: Stand outside on a sunny morning with the sun behind you. Spray water
from a hosepipe or a spray bottle in front of you. Look into the spray — a small
rainbow will appear. That is exactly how the big one is made.

B.3 If you could walk on a rainbow, where do you think it would take you?

This one is meant for your imagination. There is no wrong answer — but there is a weak answer
and a strong answer. A strong answer says where you would go, what you would see on the
way, and why you chose that place.

What a good answer needs: one clear destination, two or three things you would
see or do there, and one line saying why it matters to you.

Sample answer: If I could walk on a rainbow, I would climb it slowly, one colour at a time. I
would start at red, right where it touches the ground behind our school. As I walked up I would
look down at the wet fields and the small houses, and I would wave at the children in my class.
At the top I think the rainbow would take me straight to the clouds. I would sit there for a while
and let the clouds sail past me like the ships in the poem. Then I would walk down the other
side and come out in my grandmother’s village, four hundred kilometres away, in time for
dinner. I chose that because it takes a whole day by train, and the rainbow would take me there
in an afternoon.
Other ideas you could use:

To the top of the sky, to see the earth the way a bird sees it.
To a friend’s house in another state, without a ticket.
To the place where the rainbow ends, just to find out what is there.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

To the sun, to ask it how it makes so many colours out of one white light.
co m
e m.
m l as
.co a g
Why the poet lets you think this way: She has already called the rainbow “a road

s em
from earth to sky”. Once you call something a road, the mind wants to walk on it.
a
gl is the poet’s little gift to the reader.
aThat

co m
e m . ag
Let us Learn — Page 29
g l as
A. Rearrange the letters to form a word from the poema
LET US LEARN
co m
em.
m l as
.co
mWrite them in the space provided. 1. sial → S A I L a g
Rearrange the letters of each word to form a meaningful word from the poem.

se
A.1

g l a
a
s

m a
SAIL — this one is already filled in for you in the book.
m .co agl
l a se
A jumbled word like this is called an anagram. All the right letters are there; only the order is
wrong. a g
In the poem: “Boats sail on the rivers,”

co m
m .
m as e
l
How to solve an anagram:
.co a g
a s em 1. Write the letters out and count them. Here: s, i, a, l — four letters.

agl 2. Look for a vowel. Every English word needs one. Here you have a and i.
3. Now think of four-letter words from the poem. The poem is about water, so sail
se m
comes quickly.
com g l a
m . a
ase
4. Check every letter. S-A-I-L uses s, a, i, l — all four, and no extras. Correct.

agl

co m
m .
e
2. vierr
as
A.2
m l
.co a g
a s emANSWER
agl
.c
RIVER

s e m
m a
Five letters: v, i, e, r, r. There are two rs, and river needs exactly two.

m . co
In the poem: “Boats sail on the rivers,” and “There are bridges on the rivers,”
e agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Meaning: A river is a long stream of fresh water that flows across the land into a sea
or a lake. The Ganga, the Godavari and the Brahmaputra are rivers.

A.3 3. sae

SEA
Three letters: s, a, e. Only one order makes a word — S-E-A.
In the poem: “And ships sail on the seas;”

Sea and river — what is the difference? A river carries fresh water and you can
drink it. A sea is far bigger, its water is salty, and you cannot drink it. Rivers flow into
seas.

Note about the boxes: The book prints exactly three boxes here, one for each letter
— S, E, A. Count the boxes before you write; they always match the answer.

A.4 4. oduscl

CLOUDS
Six letters: o, d, u, s, c, l. Put the cl at the front and it falls into place — C-L-O-U-D-S.
In the poem: “But clouds that sail across the sky”

Meaning: A cloud is made of millions of tiny drops of water floating in the air. When
those drops join and grow heavy, they fall as rain.

A.5 5. risebgd

BRIDGES
Seven letters: r, i, s, e, b, g, d. Start with br — B-R-I-D-G-E-S.
In the poem: “There are bridges on the rivers,” and “But the bow that bridges heaven,”

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Notice something clever: The word appears twice in the poem, and it does a
different job each time. In the first line it is a noun — the bridges are things. In the
second it is a verb — the bow bridges heaven, that is, it joins the sky like a bridge.
You will meet this idea again in Let us Write, C.

A.6 6. nhveea

HEAVEN
Six letters: n, h, v, e, e, a. There are two es, and heaven needs two — H-E-A-V-E-N.
In the poem: “But the bow that bridges heaven,”

Meaning: In old poems heaven simply means the sky. So “bridges heaven” means
“makes a bridge across the sky”.

Check the boxes: The book prints six boxes here — one for each letter of H-E-A-V-E-
N.

A.7 7. eoptvros

OVERTOPS
Eight letters: e, o, p, t, v, r, o, s. There are two os. Start with the small word over and the rest
follows — O-V-E-R-T-O-P-S.
In the poem: “And overtops the trees,”

Meaning, built from its parts: over + tops. To overtop something is to rise higher
than its top. The rainbow overtops the trees — it goes up above them. A tall building
overtops the houses around it.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A.8 8. owb

BOW
Three letters: o, w, b. Only one order makes a word — B-O-W.
In the poem: “But the bow that bridges heaven,”
Here bow means the rainbow — a curve of colours across the sky. It is the most important word
in the whole poem.

Check the boxes: The book prints three boxes here — one for each letter of B-O-W.

A.9 9. droa

ROAD
Four letters: d, r, o, a. R-O-A-D.
In the poem: “And builds a road from earth to sky,”

Careful with the spelling: road and rode sound exactly the same but mean different
things. A road is the thing you walk on. Rode is the past of ride — “I rode my cycle to
school.”

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A — All nine answers The complete answer table for Let us Learn A. Here is the exercise
again as it is printed in the book:

1. sial S A I L
2. vierr

3. sae

4. oduscl

5. risebgd

6. nhveea

7. eoptvros

8. owb

9. droa

The exercise as printed on page 29 — one row of boxes for each word.
The first row is done for you.

Here are all nine words together, with the line each one comes from.

NO. JUMBLED WORD ANSWER WHERE IT COMES IN THE POEM

1 sial SAIL “Boats sail on the rivers,”

2 vierr RIVER “Boats sail on the rivers,”

3 sae SEA “And ships sail on the seas;”

4 oduscl CLOUDS “But clouds that sail across the sky”

5 risebgd BRIDGES “There are bridges on the rivers,”

6 nhveea HEAVEN “But the bow that bridges heaven,”

7 eoptvros OVERTOPS “And overtops the trees,”

8 owb BOW “But the bow that bridges heaven,”

9 droa ROAD “And builds a road from earth to sky,”

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
How to check every answer: Tick off the letters one by one. If the jumbled word

m l a se
and your answer use exactly the same letters, the same number of times, your
o
answer is.c a g
m
right.

l a se
g
aOne thing to know about the printed grid: Rows 3, 6 and 8 have one box more

co m
ag
than the word needs. Just leave the extra box empty — your answers are still correct.
m .
as e
a g l
Let us Learn — Page 29
co m
m.
B. The spinning circle — work in pairs

m as e
LET US LEARN
.co a g l
a s em
gl Work in pairs. One of you moves a finger around in the circle. When your partner
a B.1
says ‘Stop’, perform the action indicated by the segment that the finger lands on.
m a s
.co agl
Segment: Provide a new title for the poem.

se m
g l a
a
How the game works: The circle on page 29 is cut into five slices. One partner moves a finger
round and round. The other says “Stop”. Whichever slice the finger is on, you do that task. Then
co m
m .
you swap.
m as e
.co a g l
This slice asks for a new title. A good title must do two things: it must fit the whole poem, not

a s emone line, and it must make somebody want to read it.
just

agl Sample answers — any one of these works:
se m
m you what the rainbow looks like. a
The Bow that Bridges Heaven — taken straight from the poem’s best line.

. cotells a g l
m twice in the poem, so they hold it together.
A Road from Earth to Sky — this one

a s ecome
l and it gives away the surprise nicely.
Prettier Far — these two words
The Sky’s Own Bridge — agshort,
Boats, Bridges and a Rainbow — this one lists the three pictures in the poem.

co m
m .
m l a se
How to judge your title: Read your title, then read the poem. If somebody who has
o
m .cnever seen the poem could guess what it is about, youragtitle is a good one.
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
co agl
Segment: Find two pairs of words from the poem that rhyme.
.
B.2

e m
g l as
a
Two easy pairs are: seas — these and please — trees.

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Rhyming words are words that end in the same sound.

PAIR THE TWO LINES THE SOUND THEY
SHARE

seas — these “And ships sail on the seas;” / “Are prettier far than both end in “-eez”
these.”

please — trees “As pretty as you please;” / “And overtops the trees,” both end in “-eez”

trees — these “And overtops the trees,” / “Is prettier far than these.” both end in “-eez”

please — “As pretty as you please;” / “Is prettier far than these.” both end in “-eez”
these

Why they all rhyme with one another: Every one of these four words ends in the
same “-eez” sound, even though they are spelt in three different ways — eas, ease,
ees. That is the big lesson of rhyme: your ear decides, not your eye.

Which lines rhyme? In stanza one, lines 2 and 4 rhyme. In stanza two, lines 2, 4 and
6 rhyme. Lines 1, 3 and 5 do not rhyme with anything — and that is fine.

B.3 Segment: Share the images that come to your mind while reading the poem.

An image here means a picture that the words paint in your head. Say what you see, and say
which words made you see it.
Sample answer:

1. A small wooden boat on a river. The words “Boats sail on the rivers” put me on a river bank,
watching a boatman push off with a long pole.
2. A tall ship on the open sea. “Ships sail on the seas” makes me see white sails and blue
water all round, with no land anywhere.
3. White clouds moving slowly across a blue sky. The word sail is used for the clouds too, so I
see the sky as a huge sea and the clouds as boats floating on it.
4. A stone bridge over a river. “There are bridges on the rivers” makes me picture the red
bridge in the book’s own painting, with children rowing underneath.
5. A rainbow arching over the trees. “Overtops the trees” makes me look up, above the
treetops, at a coloured arch.
6. A wide coloured road going up into the sky. This is the strongest picture of all — “builds a
road from earth to sky”.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How to answer this well: Do not just say “I see a rainbow”. Name the words that
made you see it. That shows you have really read the poem.

B.4 Segment: Find those words from the poem which have been repeated.

The poem is only ten lines long, but several words come back more than once.

WORD HOW MANY WHERE
TIMES

sail 3 “Boats sail”, “ships sail”, “clouds that sail”

and 3 “And ships”, “And overtops”, “And builds”

on 3 “on the rivers” (twice), “on the seas”

rivers 2 “Boats sail on the rivers”, “bridges on the rivers”

bridges 2 “There are bridges”, “the bow that bridges heaven”

sky 2 “across the sky”, “from earth to sky”

but 2 “But clouds”, “But the bow”

prettier · far · than · 2 each “Are prettier far than these.” and “Is prettier far than
these these.”

Why the poet repeats them — this is the real answer:

“sail” three times ties boats, ships and clouds together. Because of that one
word, the sky starts to feel like a sea.
“But” at the start of the third line of each stanza is the turning point. Both
times it means, “now here is something better”.
“prettier far than these” at the end of both stanzas is the poem’s message,
said twice so you cannot miss it.

Repeating a word in a poem is not carelessness. It is the poet holding the poem
together.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B.5 Segment: Name a musical instrument that you will use if you have to sing the
poem.

Sample answer: I would use the santoor — the very instrument our book is named after.
A santoor is a flat wooden box with many metal strings across it. You strike the strings with two
light wooden hammers. The sound is soft and shining, like drops of water falling one after
another. That suits a poem about rain, rivers and a rainbow.
Other good choices, and why:

INSTRUMENT WHY IT SUITS THIS POEM

Santoor Its sound is like falling water drops — and a rainbow is made of water drops.

Bansuri (flute) Long, smooth notes, like clouds sailing slowly across the sky.

Sitar Its notes slide up and down, the way a rainbow curves.

Harmonium Easy to sing along with, so the whole class can join in.

Tabla or dholak Keeps a slow, steady beat, so nobody rushes the lines.

Guitar Simple chords under a simple tune.

How to answer: Name one instrument, and then give one reason in one sentence. “I
would use the flute, because its sound is soft and slow, like the clouds in the poem.”
That is a complete answer.

Let us Listen — Page 30
Give five rhyming words for each word

LET US LISTEN

1 Sit in a circle and listen to the words read aloud by your teacher. Give five rhyming
words for each word as indicated. Ship – chip, trip, ............, ............, ............ .

Ship – chip, trip, dip, lip, tip.
The first two, chip and trip, are already written in the book. You have to add three more.
More words that rhyme with ship: dip, lip, tip, rip, sip, hip, clip, drip, grip, skip, slip, whip, flip.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What makes them rhyme: Every one of them ends in the sound -ip. The beginning
may be one letter (lip) or two (chip, trip) or three (strip). It does not matter. Only the
ending sound has to match.

How to find rhyming words by yourself: Keep the ending and change the front.
Say “-ip” aloud, then run through the alphabet in your head: b-ip, d-ip, h-ip, l-ip, n-ip,
r-ip, s-ip, t-ip, z-ip. Most of them are real words.

In the poem: “And ships sail on the seas;”

2 Tree – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

Tree – free, three, bee, knee, see.
More: flee, agree, degree, key, tea, sea, me, we, she, he, flea, plea.

Listen, do not look: The sound is “-ee”, but English spells it in many ways. Tree has
ee. Tea and sea have ea. Key has ey. Me has just e. All four rhyme perfectly. The Note
to the Teacher in the book says exactly this — the focus is on the sound, not on the
spelling.

Silent letters: In knee the k is silent. We say “nee”. The same silent k is in knot, know
and knife.

In the poem: “And overtops the trees,”

3 Bow – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

Bow – low, grow, snow, throw, know.
More: go, so, no, show, slow, flow, blow, glow, row, crow, toe, dough, though.

Page 18 of 66

as e
Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
First decide how to say the word. The word bow has two different pronunciations:

m as e
.co
“boh”, rhyming with go — the rainbow, a ribbon bow, a bow and arrow. This is
a g l
a s em
the one in our poem.

a gl “bow”, rhyming with cow — when you bend forward to greet somebody, or the
front of a ship.

co m
.
So the rhyming words here must rhyme with go: low, snow, grow, throw, know.
e m ag
g l as
a
If your teacher reads it the other way (“bow” as in cow): then the answers are

m
cow, now, how, wow, plough, allow. Listen carefully before you write.
co
em.
m l as
.co
In the poem: “But the bow that bridges heaven,”
m a g
l a se
a g
m a s
.co agl
4 Rain – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

se m
g l a
a

Rain – train, plain, chain, main, pain.

co m
.
More: brain, drain, gain, grain, stain, again, Spain, plane, cane, lane, mane, crane, vane.

e m
m l as
.co
Two spellings, one sound: rain, train and chain are spelt with ai. Plane, cane and lane
m spelt with a…e. Both give the same “-ayn” sound, so all of them rhyme. a g
a s eare
agl
se m
ommean different things.
Two words that sound the same: plain means simple, or a flat stretch of land. Plane
is the aeroplane. They sound alike.cbut g l a
em a
a s
agl
Sun – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .
co m
.
5

em
m l as
.co a g
emSun – fun, run, bun, gun, none.

a s
agl More: son, won, one, done, ton, spun, stun, shun.
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co
Careful ones: one, won, none and done look as if they should not rhyme with sun, but agl
g l as
say them aloud — “wun”, “wun”, “nun”, “dun”. They all end in the same “-un” sound.
Again, the ear decides. a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sound-alike pair: sun (in the sky) and son (a boy in a family) sound exactly the same.
Two words that sound the same but are spelt differently are called homophones.

Why sun belongs in this chapter: No sun, no rainbow. The sunlight is what splits
into the seven colours.

6 Sea – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

Sea – tea, key, bee, tree, free.
More: knee, three, me, we, she, he, flee, flea, pea, plea, agree.

The same “-ee” family as tree: Because sea and tree rhyme with each other, every
word on this list also rhymes with the list you made for tree. Both lists are really one
big family of “-ee” sounds.

Sound-alike pairs to watch: sea and see; tea and tee; flea (the insect) and flee (to run
away).

In the poem: “And ships sail on the seas;”

7 Sail – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

Sail – tail, mail, nail, rail, jail.
More: pail, fail, hail, snail, trail, whale, tale, pale, scale, male, sale.

Again two spellings, one sound: sail, tail, snail use ai. Whale, tale, pale use a…e. Say
them aloud — all of them end in “-ayl”.

Sound-alike pairs: sail and sale; tail and tale; mail and male. Same sound, different
meaning, different spelling.

Page 20 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

In the poem: “Boats sail on the rivers,”

8 And – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

And – hand, land, sand, band, stand.
More: grand, brand, gland, bland, strand.

Notice the ending: This time the matching sound is -and, which has two
consonants at the end, n and d. Both must be there. Ran and fan do not rhyme with
and, because they stop at the n.

Try this: Say “h-and, l-and, s-and, b-and, st-and” in a row, like a beat. That is how a
poet finds rhymes.

9 Sky – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

Sky – fly, cry, dry, my, why.
More: try, shy, spy, buy, by, bye, high, sigh, tie, lie, pie, die, eye.

Four spellings, one sound: the “-eye” sound is written as y in sky, as uy in buy, as
igh in high, and as ie in tie. Every one of them rhymes with sky. This word shows the
lesson better than any other on the page.

In the poem: “But clouds that sail across the sky” and “And builds a road from earth
to sky,”

10 Far – ............, ............, ............, ............, ............ .

Far – car, star, jar, bar, tar.
More: scar, spar, guitar, sitar, afar.

Page 21 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The sound is “-ar”: a long open “aa” followed by r. Open your mouth wide for it.
Notice that guitar and sitar rhyme with far too, even though they are much longer
words — because a rhyme only needs the last part to match.

In the poem: “Are prettier far than these.” Here far does not mean distance.
“Prettier far” means “very much prettier”.

Playing the game in class: Sit in a circle. The teacher says the word. Go round the
circle, each child saying one rhyming word, and nobody may repeat a word already
said. When somebody cannot think of one, start the next word.

Let us Speak — Pages 31–32
Recite two poems in three different voices

LET US SPEAK

a–c Recite the poem given below in three ways: a. In a happy voice b. In an angry voice
c. In a surprised voice

The same words can mean very different things, depending on how you say them. That is
what this task teaches. Here is how to make each voice.

VOICE WHAT YOUR VOICE DOES WHAT YOUR FACE AND BODY DO

a. Happy Light and quick. Your voice goes up at the Smile. Eyes wide. Shoulders relaxed. Hands
end of lines. You almost sing. moving freely.

b. Angry Loud and hard. Short, sharp words. Your Frown. Jaw tight. Lean forward. Perhaps one
voice goes down and stays low. hand on the hip.

c. A small gasp first, then higher and faster. Eyebrows up. Mouth open. Head pulled back
Surprised Stop suddenly in the middle of a line. a little. Hands up near your face.

How to practise, step by step:

1. Read the poem once in your ordinary voice, so you know all the words.
2. Pick one voice. Say only the first two lines in it, until it feels right.
3. Now say the whole poem in that voice, without stopping.
4. Do the same for the second and the third voice.

Page 22 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

5. Ask a friend to close their eyes and listen. Can they name the feeling without seeing your
face? If yes, your voice is doing the work.

Why this matters: When you talk to people, only part of the meaning is in the
words. The rest is in your tone — how loud, how fast, how high your voice is. “Come
here” said kindly and “Come here” said angrily are the same two words and two
completely different messages.

Note to remember: Do not shout for the angry voice. An angry voice can be quiet
and still be frightening. Loudness is not the same as anger.

1 1. Colours You have a few crayons, Red, yellow and blue. Green, purple and black, I
have some too I need the red and you need the black. If we share our crayons, we
have a full pack! — Santoor, Grade 3

What the poem says: Two children each have a few crayons. One has red, yellow and blue; the
other has green, purple and black. Each one needs a colour the other has. So they share — and
now together they have a full pack.
The idea: Sharing does not make you poorer. It makes both of you richer. Alone, each child had
only a few colours. Together, they have all of them.
Reciting it in three voices:

VOICE HOW TO DO IT THE LINE TO WORK
HARDEST ON

a. Happy This is the natural voice for the poem. Say the colour names “If we share our crayons,
brightly, one by one, as if you are laying the crayons out on the we have a full pack!”
desk. End loud and glad.

b. Angry Say “You have a few crayons” as if you are complaining. Bite the “I need the red and you
words “I need the red”. It sounds like a quarrel over a pencil box. need the black.”

c. Gasp a little at “I have some too” — as if you have only just noticed. “If we share our crayons
Surprised Then say the last two lines as if the idea of sharing has just struck — we have a full pack!”
you.

Page 23 of 66

as e
Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
What you learn by doing it: The words never change, but the poem changes

m l a se
completely. In the happy voice it is about friendship. In the angry voice it is about a
o g decided which
.c surprised voice it is about a good idea arriving. Youravoice
m
fight. In the

l a sitewas.
ag
one

o m
c ag
Why this poem sits in this chapter: Unit 2 is called My Colourful World. This little
.
m rainbow has seven. Red, yellow, green,
s e
poem names six colours, and the chapter’s
a colours.
agl
blue and violet (purple) are all rainbow

. com
m a
2. Aachoo! Once a mighty elephant, Got a mighty cold. It went toebuy
s
co m a
l elephant?” The sales
2
Where handkerchiefs were sold. “A hanky forgan
. a
em
handkerchief,

a s
agl “AACHOO!” said the elephant. And shook its mighty head, “Forget about the
girl was surprised, “Sorry sir but we don’t have A handkerchief that size.”

handkerchief Give me a sheet instead.” — Santoor, Grade 3

m a s
em
.co agl
a s

a gl catches a huge cold. It goes to a shop to buy a
What the poem says: A huge elephant
handkerchief. The shop girl is astonished — no handkerchief is big enough for an elephant. So
the elephant sneezes, shakes its head and asks for a bedsheet instead.
c o m
The joke: Everything about the elephant is mighty — its body, its cold, its m .
s e sneeze. So an ordinary

. c
handkerchief la line: a bedsheet is simply
om is useless. The elephant solves the problem in one aclever
g
s e m
glaReciting it in three voices:
a handkerchief of the right size for an elephant.

a
se m
VOICE HOW TO DO IT
com
THE LINE TO WORK
g l a
m. a
ase
HARDEST ON

a. Happy
a gl
Tell it like a funny story to a friend. Bounce on the word “AACHOO!” said the elephant.
“mighty” each time. Make the “AACHOO!” big and enjoy it.

co m
m .
e
b. Angry Be the elephant who is fed up. Growl the last three lines: it is “Forget about the

a shandkerchief.
com l
unwell, it has been refused, and now it wants a sheet — at Give me a sheet

m . ag instead.”

ase
once.

agl c. This poem is made for the surprised voice, because a character “A hanky for an elephant?”
c
Surprised in it is surprised. Say “A hanky for an elephant?” with your
m .
m a s e
co agl
eyebrows right up.

m .
ase
a g l

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Recite it in pairs: One of you is the sales girl and says her two speeches. The other
is the elephant and says “AACHOO!” and the last three lines. A third friend can read
the rest as the storyteller. That way the poem becomes a tiny play.

Words worth noticing: mighty means very great or very powerful — it is used three
times, and each time it makes the picture bigger. hanky is a short, friendly way of
saying handkerchief, the way we say fridge for refrigerator.

Let us Write — Page 33
A. Share and write about a journey

LET US WRITE

A The poem The Rainbow mentions boats and ships and their journey across the
water bodies. You too may have travelled to different places. Share your experience
of travelling to any one place with your class.

This part is spoken. You stand up and tell the class about one journey you have made.
How to do it, step by step:

1. Choose one journey only. A short trip to a nearby town is as good as a long one.
2. Decide the order before you speak: where you went → why → who was with you → how you
travelled → what you saw → how you felt.
3. Speak in the past tense, because the journey is over. “We went”, “I saw”, “we ate”.
4. Pick two or three details nobody else will have. A smell, a sound, something funny that
happened.
5. Look at your class, not at the floor. Speak slowly enough for the last bench to hear.
6. Finish with one sentence saying how you felt. That is what people remember.

What a good talk needs: one journey, told in order, in the past tense, with two or
three details of your own and one feeling at the end. Two minutes is plenty.

Sample answer (what you might say aloud): Last October my family travelled to my
grandmother’s village for Diwali. We left home at six in the morning by bus. The bus was
crowded, and I got the window seat only because my brother fell asleep. On the way we crossed
a long bridge over a river, and I could see small boats below, exactly like the ones in our poem.

Page 25 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

We reached at eleven. My grandmother had made besan laddus, and she gave me two before I
even washed my hands. In the evening we lit lamps all along the wall of the courtyard. The thing
I did not like was the mosquitoes at night. But I would go again tomorrow if I could.

A · paragraph Write a short paragraph of 80–100 words about your journey to a place
you visited recently. You may include the following points in your
paragraph: • Time of journey and destination • Purpose of travel • Whom
you travelled with • Things you liked or disliked during your travel •
Monument, landmark or scenery • Local dishes and snacks

How to build the paragraph, step by step:

1. Sentence 1 — when you went and where. (Time and destination.)
2. Sentence 2 — why you went, and with whom. (Purpose and company.)
3. Sentence 3 — how you travelled and what the journey was like.
4. Sentence 4 — the monument, landmark or scenery you saw.
5. Sentence 5 — the food you ate there.
6. Sentence 6 — one thing you did not like. This makes it honest and real.
7. Sentence 7 — how you felt at the end.

Two rules to keep:

Past tense all the way through. The journey is finished, so use went, saw, ate,
felt, was, were. Do not slip into go and see halfway.
Count your words. The book asks for 80–100. Seven or eight sentences of about
twelve words each will land you in range.

Sample answer (94 words):

Page 26 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

My Journey to Konark

Last December my family visited the Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha. We went during the

winter holidays, because my father had four days off. My mother, my younger sister and I

travelled with him by train from Bhubaneswar, and then by bus. The temple is built like a

huge stone chariot with carved wheels, and I counted the spokes on one of them. In the

evening we walked on Chandrabhaga beach and ate hot dahi vada and gaja from a small

stall. The bus was very crowded on the way back. Still, it was the best trip of my year.

Sample answer for a shorter trip (86 words): Last Sunday I went to the Sunday
market in our town with my mother. We went early, at seven in the morning, to buy
vegetables for the week. We walked, because the market is only two streets away.
On the way we passed the old clock tower, which is the tallest thing in our town. My
mother bought spinach, brinjals and a kilo of guavas. She also bought me two hot
samosas from the corner stall. The crowd near the gate was pushing, and I did not
like that. But the guavas were sweet, and I came home happy.

Why the book asks for a journey right after this poem: The poem is full of
journeys — boats going down rivers, ships crossing seas, clouds sailing across the
sky. Writing about your own journey lets you use the same kind of picture-words the
poet uses.

Let us Write — Page 34

Page 27 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B. A word joins a ‘friend word’ to make a new word

LET US WRITE

B.1 A word joins a ‘friend word’ to make new words, as shown below. Complete the
table. 1. rain + bow = rainbow

Page 28 of 66

as e
Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
e m.
m l as
.co
NO. WORD FRIEND NEW PICTURE

a g
sem
WORD WORD

a
agl 1 rain bow rainbow

co m
e m . ag
g l as
a

co m
em.
m l as
.co
m 2 a g
l a se
g
tea cup .................

a
m a s
m.co agl
l a se
a g

co m
m .
m as e
.co 3 a g l
m
ase
wrist ................. .................

agl
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

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

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

4 arm ................. .................

5 earth ................. earthworm

6 ................. ................. sunflower

7 table cloth .................

Page 30 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

8 note ................. notebook

9 ................. ................. earring

10 tooth ................. .................

The table as printed on page 34, with the picture drawn beside each row. Row 1 is done
for you; the dotted spaces are the ones you fill in.

rain + bow = rainbow — this one is done for you in the book.
The picture beside it shows a rainbow arching between two little clouds.

Page 31 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The idea in one line: When two small words are joined to make one bigger word,
the new word is called a compound word. The book calls the second one a “friend
word”. Usually the new word means something you can guess from its two parts — a
rainbow is the bow that appears with the rain.

This is the chapter’s own word: The poem calls the rainbow just “the bow”. Once
you know that rainbow is rain + bow, the poet’s line makes perfect sense.

B.2 2. tea + cup = .................... (picture: a steaming red cup on a saucer)

teacup
The picture shows a red-and-gold cup on a saucer, with steam rising from it.
tea + cup = teacup — a cup made for drinking tea.

More words in the same family: teapot, teaspoon, tea leaves, teatime.

B.3 3. wrist + ............ = .................... (picture: a wristwatch with a metal strap)

wrist + watch = wristwatch
The picture shows a watch with a round white dial and a silver strap — the kind you wear on
your arm.

Why the name: Your wrist is the joint between your hand and your arm. A watch
worn there is a wristwatch. Before wristwatches, people carried a pocket watch in a
pocket — and that is a compound word too.

Spelling: The w in wrist is silent. We say “rist”. The same silent w is in write, wrong
and wrap.

Page 32 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B.4 4. arm + ............ = .................... (picture: a wooden rocking chair with arms)

arm + chair = armchair
The picture shows a wooden chair with a curved back and side supports for the arms.

Why the name: An ordinary chair has only a seat and a back. An armchair also has
two side rests where you put your arms. That is the whole difference, and it is right
there in the word.

B.5 5. earth + ............ = earthworm (picture: a pink earthworm)

earth + worm = earthworm
The picture shows a long pink worm lying on the ground.

Why the name: This worm lives inside the earth — the soil. It digs tunnels as it
moves, and those tunnels let air and water reach the roots of plants. Farmers call the
earthworm the farmer’s friend.

More earth words: earthquake, earthen (a pot made of clay), earthenware.

B.6 6. ............ + ............ = sunflower (picture: a yellow sunflower with green leaves)

sun + flower = sunflower
The picture shows a big yellow flower with a brown centre and green leaves.

Why the name — two good reasons:

The flower is round and yellow with petals all around it, so it looks like a drawing
of the sun.
A young sunflower plant slowly turns its head during the day, following the sun
from east to west.

Page 33 of 66

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
Did you know? Sunflower seeds are pressed to make cooking oil. Sunflower oil is

m as e
l
used in many Indian kitchens.

m .co a g
l a se
a g
B.7 7. table + cloth = .................... (picture: a table covered with a green cloth)

co m
e m . ag
l as

tablecloth a g
The picture shows a small round table with a light green cloth spread over it.

co m
m.
table + cloth = tablecloth — the cloth you spread on a table.

as e
comwords: facecloth, dishcloth, clothesline.
More .cloth a g l
a s em
a gl
m a s
.co agl
B.8 8. note + ............ = notebook (picture: an open book)

se m
g l a
ANSWER a
note + book = notebook

co m
The picture shows an open book with blank white pages.
m .
o m l a se
g so you do not forget
.c the name: A note is something short that you writeadown
m
aseit. A notebook is the book you write your notes in — the one in your school bag
Why

agl right now.

se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
More book words: bookshelf, bookmark, bookworm (a person who loves reading),
textbook, storybook.
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co l
9. ............ + ............ = earring (picture: a golden hanging earring)
g
B.9

emANSWER a
a s
agl
.c
ear + ring = earring
s e m
m a
. co agl
The picture shows a golden ornament with a blue stone at the top, hanging down like a small

e m
as
bell.

a g l

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 34 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Watch the spelling: ear + ring gives ear-ring, which has two rs in the middle — e-a-
r-r-i-n-g. Many children write “earing” with one r. Say the two parts separately and
you will remember.

Careful: Do not confuse earring with earning. An earring is worn on the ear. Earning
is the money you get for your work.

B.10 10. tooth + ............ = .................... (picture: a red tube marked TOOTH PASTE)

tooth + paste = toothpaste
The picture shows a red tube with a blue cap, labelled TOOTH PASTE.

Other tooth compounds: toothbrush, toothache, toothpick. If you had drawn a
brush instead of a tube, the answer would have been toothbrush — so always look at
the picture before you write.

An odd plural: One tooth, many teeth. But in a compound word we keep the singular
— it is toothpaste and toothbrush, never “teethpaste”.

Page 35 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

B — Complete table The completed table for Let us Write B. Here is the table again as it
is printed in the book:

Page 36 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

NO. WORD FRIEND NEW PICTURE
WORD WORD

1 rain bow rainbow

2 tea cup .................

3 wrist ................. .................

4 arm ................. .................

5 earth ................. earthworm

6 ................. ................. sunflower

Page 37 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

7 table cloth .................

8 note ................. notebook

9 ................. ................. earring

10 tooth ................. .................

The table as printed on page 34, with the picture drawn beside each
row. Row 1 is done for you; the dotted spaces are the ones you fill in.

Here is the whole table, filled in.

Page 38 of 66

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
NO. WORD FRIEND WORD NEW WORD WHAT THE PICTURE SHOWS

m as e
1
.co
rain bow rainbow
a g l
a rainbow between two clouds

a s em
gl
a steaming red cup on a saucer
a
2 tea cup teacup

3 wrist watch wristwatch a watch with a metal strap

co m
m . ag
se
4 arm chair armchair a wooden rocking chair with arms

l a
5 earth worm
ag earthworm a pink earthworm

com
6 sun flower sunflower a yellow sunflower

.
a s emcloth
com l
7 table cloth tablecloth a table with a green

. note a g
e m
as
8 book notebook an open book

agl9 ear ring earring a golden hanging earring

m a s
.co agl
10 tooth paste toothpaste a red tube marked TOOTH PASTE

se m
g l a
a
The rule in one line: A compound word is one word made of two smaller words.
Read the two parts and you can usually guess what the whole word means —
co m
earthworm is a worm of the earth, tablecloth is a cloth for a table.
m .
m as e
.co a g l
s e m five of your own: foot + ball = football · rain + coat = raincoat · black + board =
Make

agla blackboard · butter + fly = butterfly · post + man = postman. Try to find five more in
m
this very chapter — you will find handkerchief, bedsheet, flowerpot and peppercorn.

a se
. com a g l
m
l ase
Let us Write — Page 35ag

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

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C. Words that are both nouns and verbs

LET US WRITE

C — the idea Read the following sentences. a) I have seen a bridge made of roots in
Meghalaya. In the above sentence, the word ‘bridge’ is a noun. b) Some
planks of woods were used to bridge the stream. In the above sentence,
the word ‘bridge’ is a verb.

The same word can be a naming word in one sentence and a doing word in another. That is
the whole idea of this exercise.

A noun is a naming word. It names a person, a place, a thing or an animal — Meghalaya,
roots, bridge.
A verb is a doing word. It tells what somebody or something does — seen, used, bridge.

Look at the book’s two sentences:

SENTENCE WHAT ‘BRIDGE’ IS DOING SO IT IS
A…

“I have seen a bridge made of roots in Meghalaya.” It names a thing — the thing you walk noun
on.

“Some planks of wood were used to bridge the It tells an action — to join the two verb
stream.” banks.

Two quick tests you can use every time:

1. Can you put a, an or the in front of it? a bridge, the bridge. Then it is a noun.
2. Can you put to in front of it, or say they ___ ? to bridge, they bridge. Then it is a
verb.

And you have already met this in the poem: “There are bridges on the rivers” —
noun. “But the bow that bridges heaven” — verb. The poet uses the word both ways
in the same stanza. That is why the book chose this exercise for this chapter.

Did you know? The living root bridges of Meghalaya are real. Villagers guide the
roots of the rubber fig tree across a stream and let them grow into each other. The
bridge takes fifteen to twenty years to grow — and then it lasts for hundreds of
years, because it is alive.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.1 Create two sentences for each word, once as a noun and then as a verb, and write
them in your notebook. 1. cut

USED SENTENCE WHY
AS

Noun I have a small cut on my finger. Here cut names a thing — the little wound. You can say “a
cut”.

Verb Please cut the cake with this Here cut is an action somebody does.
knife.

Another pair to try: Noun — “The barber gave me a neat haircut.” Verb — “We cut
the vegetables for lunch.”

C.2 2. bat

USED AS SENTENCE WHY

Noun My new cricket bat is made of willow wood. Here bat names a thing you hold.

Verb Our team will bat first today. Here bat is what the players do.

A third meaning: A bat is also the small animal that flies at night and hangs upside
down. That one is always a noun.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.3 3. picture

USED SENTENCE WHY
AS

Noun This picture of the Taj Mahal hangs in our Here picture names a thing on the wall.
classroom.

Verb Close your eyes and picture a rainbow over Here picture means to see something in your
your village. mind — an action.

Where the verb comes from: To picture something is to make a picture of it inside
your head. It is exactly what the poem asks you to do with “a road from earth to sky”.

C.4 4. cry

USED AS SENTENCE WHY

Noun We heard a loud cry from the next room. Here cry names a sound. You can say “a cry”.

Verb Babies cry when they are hungry. Here cry is something the babies do.

Spelling tip: When you add -ed or -es to cry, the y changes to i — cried, cries. The
same happens with fly and dry.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

C.5 5. filter

USED SENTENCE WHY
AS

Noun The water filter in our kitchen has to be Here filter names a machine.
cleaned every month.

Verb A thick cloth will filter the mud out of the pond Here filter is an action — separating the dirt
water. from the water.

What filtering means: To filter is to let one thing pass through and hold another
thing back. A tea strainer lets the tea through and holds the leaves. That is filtering.

C.6 6. dance

USED SENTENCE WHY
AS

Noun Her Bharatanatyam dance was the best item in Here dance names a performance. You can
the programme. say “a dance”.

Verb We dance in the courtyard on the night of Here dance is what we do.
Navratri.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
7. plant
e
C.7

m l as
m .co a g
a se

g l
aUSED SENTENCE WHY

m
AS

. co ag
Noun
a s em
The tulsi plant near our door has fresh green Here plant names a living thing.

agl
leaves.

m
Verb Every July our school children plant saplings Here plant means to put a young tree

co
m.
along the road. into the soil.

m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a C.8 8. paint

m a s
m .co agl
se

g l a
USED AS SENTENCE a WHY

Noun The blue paint on our gate has begun to peel off.
co m
Here paint names the stuff in the tin.

m .
m as e
.co l
Verb I will paint the rainbow in all seven colours. Here paint is the action of using a brush.

a g
a s em
a gl Link to this chapter: In Let us Do on page 39 you will actually mix paints — red and
m
blue to make purple, red and yellow to make orange.

a se
.com a g l
m
ase
C.9 9. fly agl

com
m .
as e
com
.USED a g l
sem AS
SENTENCE WHY

a
agl c
m .
e
Noun A fly settled on the plate of jalebis. Here fly names an insect. You can say “a

m a s
.co agl
fly”.

se m
l a
Verb Hundreds of kites fly over the town on Makar Here fly is what the kites do.
Sankranti.
ag

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Two plurals to keep apart: More than one insect = flies. More than one wing beat =
the verb also becomes flies — “The parrot flies away.” The spelling is the same; only
the job in the sentence tells you which is which.

C.10 10. face

USED SENTENCE WHY
AS

Noun She washed her face at the tap in the Here face names a part of the body.
corner.

Verb We must face our difficulties bravely. Here face means to stand in front of something and
deal with it.

Another verb use: “Our house faces the east, so we get the morning sun.” Here it
means to look towards something.

What you have learnt from all ten words: Do not ask “Is this word a noun or a
verb?” by itself. Ask “What is it doing in this sentence?” The same word changes its
job from sentence to sentence, and only the sentence can tell you.

Let us Write — Page 36
D. Opposites that all begin with ‘S’

LET US WRITE

D.1.a Write the opposites of the following words in the space provided. All your answers
must begin with an ‘S’. a. large × small

large × small — this one is already done for you in the book.
Large means big in size. Small means little in size. They are opposite ends of the same idea.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The rule for the whole exercise: Every answer must begin with the letter S. So
when two opposites come to your mind, choose the one that starts with S. For large
you might think of little, tiny or small — only small begins with S.

D.1.b b. weak × s........................

weak × strong
Weak means having little power. Strong means having a lot of power.

Sentence: The old rope was weak, so we tied the swing with a strong one.

Careful with the spelling: weak and week sound the same. A week is seven days.

D.1.c c. fast × s........................

fast × slow
Fast means moving quickly. Slow means moving with little speed.

Sentence: The express train is fast, but our passenger train is very slow.

D.1.d d. rough × s........................

rough × smooth
Rough means uneven to touch, with bumps. Smooth means flat and even, with no bumps.

Sentence: The bark of the neem tree is rough, but a mango leaf feels smooth.

Feel it yourself: Run your finger over a brick wall, then over a windowpane. That is
rough and smooth.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

D.1.e e. dull × s........................

dull × shiny
Dull means without shine — a surface that does not catch the light. Shiny means bright and
gleaming.

Sentence: The old brass lamp looked dull until my grandmother polished it and it
turned shiny.

You may also write sparkling. It also begins with S and it also means the opposite
of dull.

D.1.f f. curved × s........................

curved × straight
Curved means bent, like a bow. Straight means going in one line without bending.

Sentence: A rainbow is curved, but the edge of my ruler is straight.

This pair belongs to our poem: The rainbow is a curved bow across the sky, and
that is exactly why the poet calls it a “bow”.

D.1.g g. finish × s........................

finish × start
Finish means to come to the end of something. Start means to begin it.

Sentence: We start our homework at five and finish it before dinner.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Another correct answer: Commence also means to begin, but it does not begin with
S. Start is the one the exercise wants.

D.1.h h. addition × s........................

addition × subtraction
Addition means putting numbers together to make more. Subtraction means taking one number
away from another to leave less.

Addition: 12 + 5 = 17

Subtraction: 17 − 5 = 12

Sentence: I am good at addition, but I make mistakes in subtraction.

Why they are opposites: One undoes the other. Add 5 and then subtract 5, and you
are back where you started.

D.1.i i. complicated × s........................

complicated × simple
Complicated means hard to understand, with many parts. Simple means easy and plain.

Sentence: The instructions on the packet looked complicated, but the recipe was
really quite simple.

D.1.j j. mild × s........................

mild × spicy

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

When we talk about food, mild means gentle in taste, with very little chilli. Spicy means full of
co m
chilli and spices, and hot on the tongue.
e m.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
Sentence: My grandmother cooks mild dal, but my uncle likes his sambar very

ag
spicy.

com
.
Other correct answers: If you are talking about weather instead of food, mild
m ag
l a se
means pleasant and not extreme, and its opposite is severe — “a mild winter” and “a
agS, so both are acceptable. Say which meaning you
severe winter”. Both begin with
had in mind.

co m
em.
m l as
m.k.coblunt × s........................ a g
a se
D.1.k

a g l

m a s
.co agl
blunt × sharp

se m
l a
Blunt means not able to cut — a flat, worn edge. Sharp means having a fine edge or point that
cuts easily.
a g

co m
.
Sentence: My pencil was blunt, so I used the sharpener to make it sharp again.

se m
o m l a
m .c sharp things cut: A sharp edge pushes on a very tinyagstrip of the thing you are
asecutting, so all the force is squeezed into one thin line. A blunt edge spreads the same
Why

agl push over a wide strip, so nothing gives way.

se m
com g l a
m . a
gl ase
D.1 — Sentences
a
Now, make sentences using the words that you have written in the
blanks. Write them in your notebook.

co m
m .

m as e
.co a g l
Here is the complete list of answers, and one sentence for each. Copy them into your notebook,

se mor better, change them to fit your own home and school.
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

com
m .
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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD OPPOSITE (WITH S) SENTENCE

a. large small The elephant is large and the ant is small.

b. weak strong Drink your milk every day and your bones will grow strong.

c. fast slow The tortoise was slow, but it never stopped walking.

d. rough smooth The potter’s hands made the clay pot perfectly smooth.

e. dull shiny My new steel tiffin box is bright and shiny.

f. curved straight Draw a straight line under the heading with your ruler.

g. finish start The race will start as soon as the whistle blows.

h. addition subtraction We learnt subtraction with borrowing today.

i. complicated simple My mother taught me a simple way to fold my shirt.

j. mild spicy The chaat at the corner stall is far too spicy for me.

k. blunt sharp Handle the knife carefully, because it is very sharp.

Notice something neat: Every answer begins with S, and no answer is used twice —
small, strong, slow, smooth, shiny, straight, start, subtraction, simple, spicy, sharp.
Eleven different S-words. That is how you know your set is right.

Writing tip: A sentence that only says “The knife is sharp” is correct but flat. Add
where, when or why, and the sentence comes alive: “Handle the knife carefully,
because it is very sharp.”

D.2 In small groups, choose a letter of the English alphabet and create an exercise
similar to the one above.

How to make your own exercise, step by step:

1. Pick a letter. Choose one that starts many words — B, C, D, H and L all work well. Avoid X, Q
and Z.
2. Write down ten or eleven words that begin with your letter. These will be your answers.
3. Now find the opposite of each one. These will be your questions.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

4. Write the question words in a list, with a long blank beside each and the chosen letter
printed at the start of the blank.
5. Do the first one for the class, exactly as the book does with large × small.
6. Swap sheets with another group and solve theirs.

Sample answer — our group chose the letter B:

QUESTION ANSWER (ALL BEGIN WITH B)

a. small × b____ big

b. white × b____ black

c. sell × b____ buy

d. ugly × b____ beautiful

e. worst × b____ best

f. top × b____ bottom

g. after × b____ before

h. front × b____ back

i. dull × b____ bright

j. narrow × b____ broad

k. sister × b____ brother

A second set, for the letter C: hot × cold · dirty × clean · expensive × cheap · open ×
close · wrong × correct · warm × cool · brave × coward · country × city.

Why making the exercise is harder than solving it: To solve, you need one word.
To set the question, you need the pair — and you have to be sure the answer really
starts with your letter. Setting questions is the best way to find out whether you truly
know a word.

Let us Write — Page 37

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

E. VIBGYOR — the colours of the rainbow

LET US WRITE

E VIBGYOR — The colours of the rainbow. VIBGYOR is an easy way to remember the
seven colours of the rainbow in order. V – Violet, I – Indigo, B – Blue, G – Green, Y –
Yellow, O – Orange, R – Red (Scroll on the page: When sunlight passes through rain
droplets, it splits into these seven beautiful colours forming a rainbow in the sky.)

VIBGYOR is a made-up word. Each letter stands for one colour of the rainbow, and they are
in the right order.

LETTER COLOUR WHERE IT SITS IN THE RAINBOW

V Violet innermost band — the lowest arch

I Indigo next above violet (a deep blue-purple)

B Blue the middle-lower bands

G Green the middle band

Y Yellow above green

O Orange next to the top

R Red outermost band — the highest arch

Page 52 of 66

Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

R
O
Y
G
B
I
V

Red is always on the outside, violet always on the inside.
The seven colours of a rainbow, in order. Reading from the inside out gives V–I–B–G–Y–O–R.

How a rainbow is made — in four small steps.

1. Sunlight is not really white. It looks white, but it is seven colours travelling
together, all mixed up.
2. A raindrop bends light. When a ray of sunlight goes into a round raindrop, it
bends. Every colour bends by a slightly different amount — violet bends the most,
red bends the least.
3. Inside the drop the light bounces. It hits the back of the drop, bounces off it,
and comes out at the front — bending once more on the way out.
4. The colours come out fanned apart. Because each colour bent by a different
amount, they no longer travel together. They come out spread in a fan, and your
eye sees them as seven separate bands.

Millions of raindrops are doing this at the same time, and together they paint the
arch you see in the sky.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
one raindrop
em.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
a g
m
Sun
white sunlight
. co ag
em
g l as
a

co m
e m.
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
a g
s
the seven colours come out spread apart
om a
e
. c
m off the back, and comes out as seven separate colours. agl
a s
Sunlight goes into the drop, bends, bounces

agl
om
Three things worth remembering:
. c
s e m on the inside,
The order never changes. It is always red on the outside and violet
m a
.incoevery rainbow, everywhere in the world. agl
m To see a rainbow you must stand with the sun behind you and the rain in front of
l a se
ag you.
Nobody can reach the end of a rainbow. As you walk towards it, it moves with
se m
com g l a
. a
you, because it is made of the light coming to your eyes.
m
gl ase
a
Did You Know? (page 40 of your book) Isaac Newton painted a disc with the seven
rainbow colours and spun it fast. The spinning disc looked white. So the story works
co m
m .
as e
both ways: split white light and you get seven colours; mix the seven colours quickly
m
.co
and you get white light back.
a g l
se m
g l a
a c
.
Ways to remember VIBGYOR: Say it as one word — “vib-gy-or”. Or read it

s e m
a
backwards as ROYGBIV, starting from the outside colour. Or make a sentence where
m
. co
the first letters match: Very Interesting Boys Give Yellow Orange Roses.
e m agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Let us Write — Page 37
F. The colours of things in the kitchen

LET US WRITE

F The following items, generally found in kitchens, add colour and taste to the food.
What colours are they? Write them in the column. What do you call them in your
mother tongue? Item | Colour | Name in mother tongue clove · cinnamon · dry chilli
· garlic · curry leaves · peppercorns · fennel seeds · cumin seeds · mustard seeds

Go to your kitchen and look at each one before you write. That is the point of this task —
you must see the real thing, not guess. Here is the table filled in.

ITEM COLOUR NAME IN MOTHER TONGUE (HINDI FIRST, THEN
SOME OTHER LANGUAGES)

clove dark brown, almost black laung (Hindi) · lavang (Marathi, Gujarati) · grambu
(Tamil) · lavangalu (Telugu)

cinnamon reddish-brown dalchini (Hindi, Bengali) · lavanga pattai (Tamil) ·
dalchinni (Marathi)

dry chilli deep red sukhi lal mirch (Hindi) · vara milagai (Tamil) · endu
mirapakaya (Telugu) · sukhi lal marcha (Gujarati)

garlic white or creamy white, with a lehsun (Hindi) · rasun (Bengali) · poondu (Tamil) · velluli
papery pink-white skin (Telugu) · lasun (Marathi)

curry leaves dark green kadhi patta or meetha neem (Hindi) · kadipatta (Marathi)
· kariveppilai (Tamil) · karivepaku (Telugu)

peppercorns black (white if the outer skin is kali mirch (Hindi) · golmorich (Bengali) · milagu (Tamil) ·
removed) miriyalu (Telugu)

fennel seeds light green, turning greenish- saunf (Hindi) · badishep (Marathi) · perunjeeragam
yellow when old (Tamil) · sopu (Kannada)

cumin seeds brown to greyish-brown jeera (Hindi, Bengali) · jeeragam (Tamil) · jeelakarra
(Telugu) · jeeru (Gujarati)

mustard black-brown (rai) or yellow rai or sarson (Hindi) · shorshe (Bengali) · kadugu (Tamil) ·
seeds (sarson) aavalu (Telugu) · mohri (Marathi)

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why a kitchen belongs in a chapter about colour: Unit 2 is called My Colourful
World. The rainbow is far away in the sky and lasts a few minutes. But a spice box in
your own kitchen holds red, yellow, green, brown, black and white every single day.
Colour is not only in the sky.

The colour does not always come from the outside. Turmeric looks like a dull
brown root, but break it and it is bright orange-yellow inside. Cut a garlic clove and it
is white. Always look at the inside as well as the outside.

Do this at home: Ask an elder to open the masala dabba and name each of the nine
items in your own language. Write the names down while they speak. Many of these
words are hundreds of years old and are not written anywhere in your house — they
live only in the speaking.

Let us Write — Page 38
G. Design and colour a Flowerpot Friend

LET US WRITE

G Welcome to the land of flowerpots! Design and colour a Flowerpot Friend!

What is printed on the page. On the right there is a large black-and-white outline drawing — a
flowerpot full of leaves and three flowers, standing on a wooden chair. That is the drawing you
must design and colour. Down the left margin there are three finished examples to give you the
idea. In each one the flowerpot has become a person: the pot is the face, the plant on top is the
hair, and the pot is wearing a colourful frock or shirt and shorts, with two little pots for shoes
hanging from the chair.
How to make your own Flowerpot Friend, step by step:

1. Give it a face. Draw two eyes on the wide part of the pot, a small nose and a smiling mouth.
Round eyes make it look friendly.
2. Make the plant its hair. Colour the leaves and flowers on top. You could give it green leafy
hair, or red rose hair, or long thin hair like grass.
3. Dress it. The lower part of the pot becomes the body. Draw a frock, a kurta, a shirt with a
collar, or a dhoti — whatever you like. Add sleeves at the sides.
4. Give it legs and shoes. Draw two thin legs hanging from the chair, and two small upside-
down pots at the ends as shoes.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

5. Colour it. Use the colours you learnt in Let us Do — mix red and yellow for orange, red and
blue for purple. Try to use all seven rainbow colours somewhere in your picture.
6. Name it and write one line about it under the picture.

What a good Flowerpot Friend has: a clear face, hair made of the plant, clothes
with a pattern (stripes, dots or checks), and colours that are neat inside the outlines.
Do not fill everything with one colour — the whole point is to be colourful.

Sample answer (write this under your drawing): My Flowerpot Friend is called Chameli. Her
hair is made of three white jasmine flowers and long green leaves. Her face is a light orange pot
with two round black eyes and a big smile. She wears a purple frock with yellow dots and a
green border. Her shoes are two small red pots. She sits on a brown wooden chair near our
window all day, and every evening she watches the sky turn orange. When it rains she is the
happiest flowerpot in the land, because rain is her drinking water and a rainbow is her favourite
thing to look at.

Why the book asks for this: Colouring a picture is not only drawing. You have to
choose which colour goes where, and that is exactly what the whole unit is about —
noticing colour and using it well. It also gives you something of your own to describe
in English, which is the writing half of the task.

Let us Do — Page 39
Colour combinations

LET US DO

1 Do you know these colour combinations? Colour within the outline and write the
name of the new colour. 1. red + blue = p __ __ __ __ e

red + blue = PURPLE
Fill the six blanks like this: p u r p l e.

Do it yourself: Take a little red paint on your brush and a little blue. Mix them on a
saucer, not on the paper. Colour the empty splash outline with the new colour.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this works: Red and blue are two of the three primary colours in paint. A
primary colour cannot be made by mixing any other colours. When you mix two
primary colours you always get a new colour, and the new one is called a secondary
colour. Purple is a secondary colour.

Another name: Purple is also called violet when it is bluer, and magenta when it is
redder. Violet is the innermost band of the rainbow.

2 2. yellow + blue = g __ __ __ n

yellow + blue = GREEN
Fill the five blanks like this: g r e e n.

Why this works: Yellow and blue are the other two primary colours in paint. Mixing
them gives green — another secondary colour.

Try this: Change how much of each you use. A lot of yellow with a little blue gives a
light, fresh leaf green. A lot of blue with a little yellow gives a dark bottle green, like a
mango leaf. The same two colours, many different greens.

3 3. red + yellow = o __ __ __ __ e

red + yellow = ORANGE
Fill the six blanks like this: o r a n g e.

The three secondary colours are now complete: red + blue = purple, yellow + blue
= green, red + yellow = orange. Those are the only three you can make from a pair of
primaries.

Notice: The colour and the fruit share a name. The colour was named after the fruit,
not the other way round.

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Class 5 English Chapter 3 The Rainbow
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
4. red + white = p __ __ k
e
4

m l as
.co a g
a s em
redg+l white = PINK
a
Fill the four blanks like this: p i n k.

. c om ag
This one is different from the first e
s m White is not a colour that adds anything
a
three.

agl lighter. Red with a lot of white becomes a pale
of its own — it only makes a colour
baby pink. Red with a little white becomes a deep rose pink. A colour made lighter
with white is called a tint.
co m
se m.
o m
c a spot of red on your saucer and add white one drop
Try it:.Put
l a
g at a time. Paint a
m a
l a se square after each drop. You will get a row of pinks, from dark to pale.
g
small
a
m a s
m.co agl
se
5. red + black = m __ __ __ __ n
a
5

a g l

co m
red + black = MAROON
m .
m as e
.co l
Fill the six blanks like this: m a r o o n.

a g
s m does the opposite of white. Black makes a colour darker. Red with a little
eBlack
gl a
a black becomes maroon — the deep dark red of a school blazer or a bridal sari. A

se m
com a
colour made darker with black is called a shade.
. a g l
m
gl ase
a
Careful with black: Add black a tiny bit at a time. One extra drop and your beautiful
maroon turns muddy, and you cannot take it back out.

co m
m .
m as e
.6co 6. red + yellow + blue = b __ __ __ n a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
.co agl
red + yellow + blue = BROWN
Fill the five blanks like this: b r o m
se
w n.
l a
ag

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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