NCERT Solutions Class 9 English Chapter 5 the World of Limitless Possibilities

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 9 · ENGLISH

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 5: The World of Limitless
Possibilities

NCERT Textbook — Kaveri

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

137 – 168 16 91 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 90 pages

Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 9 · ENGLISH · KAVERI

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 5: The World of Limitless
Possibilities
Chapter 5 of Kaveri puts an interview beside a ballad, and both ask the same question: what actually counts as
winning? The World of Limitless Possibilities is an interview with Dr. Deepa Malik, Bharat’s first woman to
win a Paralympic medal, who tells the interviewer that after her spine surgery she “had two choices—
squander my life in remorse or transform it to a world of limitless possibilities.” Nine Gold Medals by David
Roth tells of a Special Olympics hundred-yard dash in which eight runners stop, turn round and walk their
fallen competitor to the finish line.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Kaveri (Class 9) 137 – 168

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

16 91

MEDIUM

English

Reflect and Respond — Pages 137–138

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

BEFORE YOU READ

Q1 I. This is a picture of Sheetal Devi, a para-archer who was honoured with the Arjuna
Award in January 2024.

The picture on page 137, redrawn.

1. Look at the picture carefully and share your observations with your classmates
and teacher.

Look first at how she is shooting, because that is what the picture is really about. Sheetal Devi is
a para-archer who shoots with her legs, and the illustration shows the whole technique in one
frozen moment.
What can actually be seen in the picture:

She is seated, with the left leg folded under her and the right leg raised. The bare right foot
is gripping the riser of the bow — her foot does the work a hand does for other archers.
The bow is a modern compound bow: you can see the wheel-like cams at the top and
bottom, the long stabiliser rod jutting forward, and a sight window with a small viewfinder.
The string is drawn back not by a hand but by a release aid on a shoulder strap that runs
from her right shoulder to the string. She holds it at her jaw and releases with a movement
of the jaw and shoulder.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The arrow is nocked and level, pointing away past the bow towards the target, off the right
of the frame. Her eyes are fixed straight down the line of the arrow — the face is calm, the
mouth closed, the whole body still.
She wears a navy-and-white sports jacket with a chest guard, her hair tied back under a band
— competition kit, not casual clothes.
Behind her, the Agitos — the three red, blue and green swooshes of the Paralympic symbol
— are repeated across the field, and the Paralympics logo sits at the top of the page. A gold
medal on a ribbon hangs at the left margin.

Why the picture is placed here: it is the chapter’s opening argument, made without
words. The reader is shown an athlete at the exact instant of maximum control, and
is left to notice that the control is being produced by a foot, a shoulder and a jaw.
The picture does not ask for sympathy; it asks you to look at technique. That is
precisely the point Dr. Deepa Malik makes a few pages later — ‘ability beyond
disability’.

Tip for the class discussion: describe the method before you describe the person.
“She grips the bow with her right foot and draws with a shoulder release” is an
observation. “She is brave in spite of everything” is not — it is an assumption, and it
tells your classmates nothing about the photograph.

Q2 I. 2. Does this personality inspire you? Explain how.

This asks for your response, so it must be in your own words — but ‘Explain how’ means an
opinion alone will not do. You have to say what exactly in her achievement acts on you, and
what you would do differently because of it.

What a good answer needs:

A clear yes or no in the first line.
One specific thing about her — the technique, the Arjuna Award in January 2024,
the fact that she competes at world level in a precision sport — not a general
statement about courage.
The ‘how’: name the quality (patience, practice, refusing to accept other people’s
limits) and connect it to something in your own life.
Respectful language. Write about what she has achieved and mastered, not
about what she lacks.

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Sample answer: Yes, she inspires me, and mainly because archery is a sport of fine control
co m
se
rather than raw strength. To place an arrow in a small ring at seventy metres, an archer must
m.
o m l a
g because it is not in
.c shoulder and jaw, a technique she had to build from nothing
hold a heavy bow perfectly steady and release without a tremor — and Sheetal Devi does this

m a
se manual. That tells me two things. First, that a method can be invented where none
using her foot,

l a
ag if a person is willing to fail at it for months. Second, that she was clearly not waiting for
any coaching
exists,

com
anyone’s permission to compete. When I find a subject difficult, my usual reaction is to decide I

.
am ‘not a maths person’ and stop. Her example makes that excuse hard to defend. I have
em— twenty minutes a day, the same problem type ag
a s
aglthat is the only part of her method I can actually copy.
started keeping a practice log for geometry
until it becomes automatic — because

co m
em.
m l as
.co g
Q3

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

co m
m .
e
The picture on page 137, redrawn.

m l as
.co a g
a s em I. 3. Give a caption for this picture.

agl
se m
o m l a
m .c you look at the picture. Keep it to about eight words, ag
A caption is not a description — the picture already shows what is happening. A caption should

a
add a short, sharp idea that changes
l sethe attitude rather than repeating the obvious.
how

ag
and let it point at the technique or

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 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CAPTION WHY IT WORKS

Steady as any hand Answers the reader’s first thought — “but she is using her foot” — and
settles it.

Aim is not in the arms Moves the idea of skill from the limb to the mind.

Ability beyond disability Borrows Dr. Malik’s own phrase from page 140 and links the two pieces of
the chapter.

Arjuna, 2024: a new way to hold a Uses the one fact the book gives, and gives it a twist.
bow

Every target is within range Literal and figurative at once — the pun is the point.

Check it yourself: a caption that says “A brave girl shooting an arrow” fails on both
counts — ‘brave’ is a judgement the picture never asks for, and ‘shooting an arrow’ is
already visible. Cut anything the eye can see for itself.

Q4 II. Complete the table given below about Paralympics. Share your responses with
your classmates and teacher.

WHAT I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO KNOW

The blank table as printed on page 138.

This is a K–W organiser: you fill it before reading, then check it after. Column 1 is only for things
you are already sure of; Column 2 is for real questions, phrased as questions.
Sample answer (fill it with your own knowledge — this is one student’s table):

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO KNOW

The Paralympics are international games for athletes How are athletes grouped so that the contest is fair — who
with disabilities, held every four years. decides which athlete competes against whom?

India has won medals there; Deepa Malik and Which sports are in the Paralympics that are not in the
Devendra Jhajharia are names I have heard. Olympics at all?

They are held in the same city as the Olympics, a When and why did the Paralympics begin, and who started
little after them. them?

Check it yourself after reading: the chapter answers two of these itself. Page 138
says the Games are for athletes with locomotor, sensory, or intellectual
disabilities. The Did you know? box on page 154 answers the third — the origin lies
in 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organised a competition for war veterans with
spinal cord injuries in England, which grew into the Stoke Mandeville Games and
then into the Paralympic Games, first held in Rome in 1960. Tick off what the
chapter answers and carry the rest to the library.

Check Your Understanding — Pages 143–144

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

COMPREHENSION

Q1 I. Fill in the fact table given below based on the interview with Dr. Deepa Malik.
Discuss your answers with your classmates and teacher.

Fact Table

1. diagnosed with spinal tumour at the age of

2. result of the surgery

3. named as one of the 10 most effective para-athletes by

4. first successful Paralympic event

5. list of ‘firsts’ (i)
(ii)

6. awards won (i)
(ii)
(iii)

7. two things supported by her (i)
(ii)

The blank fact table as printed on page 143.

Every entry below is taken straight from Dr. Malik’s own words in the interview, pages 139–142.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

FACT TABLE ANSWER THE LINE IT COMES FROM

1. diagnosed with 29 “I was 29, an awful tragedy struck me when
spinal tumour at the I was diagnosed with spine tumour.” (page
age of 139)

2. result of the She was paralysed waist down, and “The doctors declared that I would be
surgery the doctors declared she would be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of my
bound to a wheelchair for the rest of life, as I was paralysed waist down.” (page
her life. 139)

3. named as one of the International Paralympic “You’ve been listed as one of the 10 most
the 10 most effective Committee inspirational women para-athletes globally
para-athletes by by the International Paralympic
Committee.” (page 139)

4. first successful Shot-put — the silver medal at the “My breakthrough moment came in the
Paralympic event 2016 Rio Paralympic Games 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, when I secured
the silver medal in the shot-put event.”
(page 140)

5. list of ‘firsts’ (i) the first ever Indian female para- page 140
athlete to win an Asian Games medal
in athletics

5. list of ‘firsts’ (ii) India’s first ever female Paralympics page 140
medallist across any sport

6. awards won (i), Khel Ratna; Arjuna; Padma Shri “Dr. Deepa Malik, a Khel Ratna, Arjuna, and
(ii), (iii) Padma Shri Awardee” (page 139)

7. two things persons from lower socio-economic “I also support persons from lower socio–
supported by her (i) strata economic strata and provide equipment to
para sportspersons.” (page 142)

7. two things providing equipment to para page 142
supported by her (ii) sportspersons

Also acceptable for row 7, if your teacher allows the wider answer: she works for
strengthening the emotional health of persons with challenges and for empowering
women through outdoor sports and adventure activities (page 142). Both are things she
says she supports; the two listed above are the ones she introduces with the words
“I also support”.

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co m
m.
II. Read the two sets of sentences given below. Choose whether the given
se
Q2

o m l a
statements display: fact-opinion or cause-effect. (1) (i) In the 2016 Rio Paralympic
g it was a moment
m .c I secured the silver medal in the shot-put event. (ii) I afeel
Games,

l a sepersonal victory and a step forward in changing perceptions.
of
a g
m

. co ag
m
Fact – opinion.

l a se
g
Sentence (i) states something that can be checked in a record book: the Games (2016 Rio), the
medal (silver), the event (shot-put).aNothing in it depends on the speaker’s feelings, so it is a
fact.

co m
m.
Sentence (ii) begins “I feel” and then calls the medal a personal victory and a step forward in

o m l a se
changing perceptions. Those are her own judgements about what the medal meant. Another

m .c reasonably value it differently, so it is an opinion. ag
person could

l a se
ag Why it is not cause–effect: the second sentence does not come out of the first as an
outcome. Winning the silver did not produce her feeling — the feeling is her
m a s
.co
interpretation, laid on top of the same event. Test it with ‘so’ and ‘because’: “She won
m agl
l a se
the silver, so she felt it was a victory” sounds forced, while “That is a fact; that is what
she thinks of it” is exact. a g

com
m .
o m l a se
aglife.
.cthat I would be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of my
Q3 II. (2) (i) I was diagnosed with a tumour in my spine. (ii) I had a surgery and was told

se m
g l a
a
m

a se
com g l
Cause – effect.

m . a
s e
Sentence (i) is the cause: a tumour was found in her spine. Sentence (ii) is the effect that
followed from it — the surgery,la
a g and then the doctors’ verdict about the wheelchair.

How to check: join the two with ‘because’ and see if the meaning survives. “She had
co m
m .
e
surgery and was told she would use a wheelchair for life because she was diagnosed
m l as
.co g
with a tumour in her spine.” It reads perfectly — the second event cannot be

em a
s
explained without the first. Both sentences are also facts, which is exactly why the
l a
ag fact–opinion label does not apply here: neither one is a belief.
c
m .
m a s e
. co
Tip: a pair can only be fact–opinion if one of the two is a judgement. Look for signal
m agl
l a se
words such as I feel, I believe, it seems, probably, the best. Look for so, therefore, as a
agcause–effect.
result, because to spot

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 III. Work in pairs to identify which of these pairs of sentences show: 1. cause-effect
2. fact-opinion. Write 1 or 2 in the boxes given. (i) Dr. Deepa Malik was a member of
the Working Group for the Formulation of Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012–17). It is
believed that she contributed greatly to create better sports policies for the
persons with disabilities.

Answer: 2 (fact – opinion).
The first sentence names a body (the Working Group for the Formulation of the Twelfth Five
Year Plan) and a period (2012–17). It is on record and can be verified, so it is a fact.
The second opens with “It is believed that…” — the giveaway. ‘Believed’ by whom, and on what
evidence? The sentence reports an estimate of her contribution, not a documented one, so it is
an opinion. Words like greatly also carry judgement rather than measurement.

Why not cause–effect: being a member of a working group is not presented as the
cause of the better policies; the sentence only says people think she contributed. If it
had read “Because she sat on that Working Group, the sports policy for persons with
disabilities was rewritten in 2013”, it would have been cause–effect.

Q5 III. (ii) Paralympics showcases incredible talent and determination of para-athletes.
The global perception on disabilities shifts, inspiring para-athletes to pursue their
dreams.

Answer: 1 (cause – effect).
The first sentence is the cause: the Paralympics put the talent and determination of para-
athletes in front of the world. The second is the effect, and it is in fact a chain of two effects —
global perception shifts, and that shift then inspires more para-athletes to pursue their dreams.

Why this is the right label: the second sentence uses a present-tense verb of
change, “shifts”, and follows it with a participle of consequence, “inspiring”. Neither
sentence contains a word of belief. Dr. Malik states the same chain in her own words
on page 141: “When people witness the strength, skill, and competitive spirit of para-
athletes, it breaks down preconceived notions.” The verb witness is the cause, breaks
down the effect.

Critical Reflection — Pages 144–147

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

EXTRACT-BASED ANALYSIS

Q1 I. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow. 1. I had two
choices—squander my life in remorse or transform it to a world of limitless
possibilities. I love sports and had been a swimmer too, so I decided to switch to
para-athletics. This is how my Paralympics journey began. My breakthrough
moment came in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, when I secured the silver medal in
the shot-put event. In hindsight, I feel it was a moment of personal victory and a
step forward in changing perceptions. (i) Give a reason for the following statement.
The speaker’s decision to transform her life can be likened to the concept of a
caterpillar transforming into a butterfly.

Because the change she describes is not a repair of her old life but the emergence of a
completely new one — which is exactly what happens in a metamorphosis.
Read the extract’s own verb: she does not say she would recover or manage; she says she would
“transform it to a world of limitless possibilities.” The caterpillar comparison holds at three
points:

The two possible endings. A caterpillar either stays a crawling grub or becomes a butterfly.
Dr. Malik states her position in exactly that shape — “I had two choices—squander my life in
remorse or transform it”.
The still, closed stage in between. The surgery and the wheelchair are the cocoon: from
the outside nothing appears to be happening, while the whole design of the life is being
rebuilt.
The new capacity at the end. The butterfly can do something the caterpillar never could —
fly. She emerged able to do something the swimmer she used to be had never done:
represent India at the Paralympics and win a medal in shot-put.

Why the image fits so well: a caterpillar does not become a better caterpillar. The
comparison quietly refuses the idea of ‘returning to normal’. Her word limitless is
the opposite of what the doctors had offered her — a life defined by a limit — and
the butterfly is the natural picture for a limit removed.

Q2 I. 1. (ii) Why could the speaker switch to para-athletics quite comfortably?

Because she was already an athlete. She says plainly: “I love sports and had been a swimmer
too, so I decided to switch to para-athletics.”

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Notice the word switch — you can only switch between two things you already belong to. What
she changed was the discipline, not the life. Three things carried over unchanged:

the love of sport itself, so training did not feel like a punishment imposed after an illness;
the habits of a trained swimmer — daily practice, upper-body strength, breath control, a
tolerance for repetition;
the competitive temperament, the willingness to be measured against others and to lose
in public.

Why the detail matters in the interview: the interviewer had asked how she
‘braved the odds’. This answer refuses the heroic version. She did not conjure an
athlete out of nothing; she moved an existing athlete into a new event. That is a far
more useful thing to tell a young reader — the resource she used was one she had
built before the tumour.

Q3 I. 1. (iii) Complete the sentence with an appropriate reason. The speaker calls 2016
Rio Paralympic Games as a ‘breakthrough moment’ because ________.

… because it was there that she won the silver medal in the shot-put — her first medal at
the Paralympics — and the win broke through both her own long years of unrewarded
effort and the public assumption that a woman in a wheelchair could not stand on a world
podium.
Any of these completions would be accepted, since each is anchored in the extract:

“… because she secured the silver medal in the shot-put event, her first Paralympic success.”
“… because that medal was, in her own words, ‘a moment of personal victory and a step
forward in changing perceptions’.”
“… because it made her India’s first ever female Paralympics medallist, opening a door no
Indian woman had gone through before.”

What ‘breakthrough’ actually means here: a breakthrough is the point at which
long, invisible effort suddenly produces a visible result — a wall gives way. The
chapter’s own matching exercise on page 147 glosses breakthrough moment as “a
time of significant development or discovery”. For Dr. Malik the wall was double: her
own limits, and other people’s. That is why the very next clause of the extract talks
not about the medal but about ‘changing perceptions’.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 I. 1. (iv) Select the correct option to complete the sentence. The phrase ‘in hindsight’
indicates the speaker is __________. A. curious B. reflective C. determined D.
courageous

Answer: B. reflective.
Read the phrase in its sentence: “In hindsight, I feel it was a moment of personal victory and a
step forward in changing perceptions.” The chapter itself glosses in hindsight in the matching
exercise on page 147 as “the ability to understand something after it has happened”. She is
standing after the event, looking back at it, and assigning it a meaning it did not obviously have
at the time. Looking back and weighing up the meaning of the past is reflection.

OPTION WHY IT DOES NOT FIT THE EXTRACT

A. curious Curiosity looks forward to what is unknown. Nothing here is being wondered about; the event is
finished and known.

B. reflective Correct. ‘In hindsight’ + ‘I feel it was…’ is a considered judgement made afterwards.

C. She certainly is determined elsewhere, but that quality is shown by the decision to switch to para-
determined athletics, not by this phrase.

D. Same problem — a true description of her, but not what these two words signal. ‘In hindsight’
courageous carries no risk in it at all.

Check it yourself: replace the phrase with each option’s adverb. “Curiously, I feel it
was a moment of personal victory” changes the meaning; “Looking back, I feel it was
a moment of personal victory” does not. That is the test.

Q5 I. 1. (v) The speaker uses the phrase ‘changing perceptions’. List one likely
perception the speaker might have changed.

One likely perception: that a person who uses a wheelchair cannot be a serious, competing
athlete — that disability and elite sport do not belong in the same sentence.
Her silver in shot-put at Rio answered that directly: shot-put is a raw-power event, judged in
centimetres against the best in the world, and she stood on the podium in it.
Other perceptions she names in the interview, any one of which is an acceptable answer:

That she was less capable than she was. “People often underestimated my abilities.” (page
141)

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities
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That the body sets the ceiling. She replies that “physical limitations don’t define one’s
co m
potential” (page 140).
se m.
o m l a
g to point to.
.c medallist in any sport — before her, there was no example
That women para-athletes are not front-rank competitors. She is India’s first woman
m a
sepersons with disabilities need protection rather than competition. “individuals with
Paralympics
l a
ag
That
disabilities can be as capable, if not more than their able-bodied counterparts.” (page 141)

co m
em .
Tip: the question says “the speaker might have changed”, so you must choose a ag
g l as
perception held by other people about her, not a feeling of her own. Write it as a
belief someone else could have said aloud. a

co m
e m.
m l as
.co a g
I. 2. Honestly, I feel sports, especially Paralympics, have the extraordinary ability to
em
Q6

a s challenge stereotypes and change attitudes towards disability. When people

a gl witness the strength, skill, and competitive spirit of para-athletes, it breaks down
preconceived notions. Paralympics has given me a new lease of life and helped me

a s
com C. sentimental D. optimistic E. defensive agl
push boundaries. (i) Choose the option that lists the words to describe the tone of

m .
Beand C (d) A, C, and E
the speaker. A. appreciative B. moralistic
a s
agl
(a) A and D (b) B, D, and E (c)

m

. co
Answer: (a) A and D — appreciative and optimistic.
em
m l as
.co g
Both labels come straight out of the extract’s own wording:

em a
l a s Appreciative. She is valuing what sport can do: sports have the “extraordinary ability” to
ag change attitudes, and the Paralympics “has given me a new lease of life”. Every strong word
in the passage — extraordinary, strength, skill, and competitive spirit — is a word of praise.
se m
com g l a
. a
Optimistic. She speaks of change as something that does happen and will continue:

e m
as that the change is possible.
stereotypes are challenged, notions are “broken down”, boundaries are pushed. There is no

a g l
doubt anywhere in the passage

co m
REJECTED REASON FROM THE EXTRACT
TONE
m .
m as e
.co a g l
em
B. moralistic A moralistic tone tells the listener what he ought to do. She issues no instruction here at all —

l a s she describes an effect she has observed.

ag c
C. sentimental Sentimental writing dwells on feeling for its own sake. Her sentences are brisk and evidence-
m .
m
based: people witness, notions break down. No tears are invited.
a s e
e m . co agl
as
E. defensive Defensiveness answers an accusation. Nobody in the interview has attacked her; the

a g l
interviewer’s question was admiring. Her opening “Honestly, I feel…” is candour, not self-
protection.

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Method for any tone question: underline the loaded words first (extraordinary,
strength, skill, new lease of life, push boundaries), and then ask what attitude those
words together add up to. Do not guess the tone from what you know of the
speaker’s life.

Q7 I. 2. (ii) Complete the analogy given below with a word from the extract. ability :
potential :: preconceived notions: __________

Answer: stereotypes.
Work out the relationship in the first pair before filling the second. In this extract ability and
potential are not opposites and not cause-and-effect — they are near-synonyms, two words for
what a person can do. So the second pair must also be a pair of synonyms.
The extract offers exactly one word that means the same as preconceived notions — “sports…
have the extraordinary ability to challenge stereotypes”. The book itself glosses preconceived
notions on page 141 as “opinions about something even before knowing the truth”, and a
stereotype is precisely a fixed opinion held about a whole group before meeting anyone in it.

Why the two words sit side by side in the passage: she says sport ‘challenges
stereotypes’ in the first sentence and ‘breaks down preconceived notions’ in the
second. She is saying the same thing twice, in different words — which is what
makes the analogy answerable from the extract alone.

Q8 I. 2. (iii) State whether the following sentence is true or false. Paralympics is a
platform that not only showcases the remarkable abilities of para-athletes but also
questions stereotypes.

True.
The extract makes both halves of the statement explicitly, in that order:

Showcases abilities — “When people witness the strength, skill, and competitive spirit of
para-athletes…”. To witness something, it must first be displayed; the Games are the display.
Questions stereotypes — “…sports, especially Paralympics, have the extraordinary ability to
challenge stereotypes and change attitudes towards disability”, and the same sentence
completes the chain: “it breaks down preconceived notions.”

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Note the logic she builds: the second thing happens because of the first. The
stereotypes are not argued away in a debate; they collapse when spectators watch
an event and cannot square what they are seeing with what they had assumed. That
is why the display and the questioning are a single action, and why ‘not only… but
also’ is the right connector.

Q9 I. 2. (iv) What does ‘helped me push boundaries’ tell us about the speaker?

It tells us that she treats every level she reaches as a starting line rather than a finish — she is
self-testing and ambitious, and refuses to accept a fixed ceiling on what she can do.
Look at the verb. A boundary is a line drawn by somebody. To push it is not to break the rules
but to move the line steadily outward by working against it. Two kinds of boundary are being
pushed at once:

Physical ones — the doctors’ verdict was a boundary drawn around her body: a wheelchair,
‘for the rest of my life’. Shot-put, swimming and later motorsport were each an argument
with that line.
Social ones — the ‘firsts’ she lists exist only because a boundary had never been crossed
before. Being the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal means the boundary was
where the record was.

Why the phrase is placed where it is: it comes immediately after “a new lease of
life”. First the Games gave her energy back; then she spent that energy on going
further. The order of the two phrases is the order of her recovery.

Q10 I. 2. (v) Which phrase from the extract suggests that the speaker was able to
transform her life?

“a new lease of life” — from the line “Paralympics has given me a new lease of life and helped
me push boundaries.”
The chapter’s own matching exercise on page 147 glosses the phrase as “an occasion when you
become more energetic and active than earlier”. A lease is a fixed period granted to you; a new
lease means the period she thought had ended has been granted again — the life is not merely
continued but re-issued on new terms.

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Why this phrase and not another: the question asks for transformation, not
improvement. “Push boundaries” shows her extending a life she already has; “breaks
down preconceived notions” describes a change in other people. Only “a new lease of
life” says that her own life became a different thing — the same claim she makes in
the first extract with the word ‘transform’.

Q11 II. Answer the following questions. 1. Explain how Dr. Malik’s achievements
challenge societal perceptions.

They challenge them by replacing an assumption with a record. Society’s view of a woman
paralysed waist down was one of care and dependence; her list of results makes that view
impossible to hold, because each result is a public, measured fact rather than an argument.

Against the belief that disability rules out elite sport: she won the silver medal in shot-
put at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. Shot-put rewards raw explosive power and is
decided in centimetres — the least sentimental event on the field.
Against the belief that women para-athletes are marginal: she is the “first ever Indian
female para-athlete to win an Asian Games medal in athletics” and “India’s first ever female
Paralympics medallist across any sport”. A ‘first’ does not merely add a name to a list; it
proves the category was empty for no good reason.
Against the belief that such achievement is a private consolation: the state answered
with the Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Padma Shri, the same honours given to any other athlete.
Her recognition by the International Paralympic Committee among the 10 most inspirational
women para-athletes globally placed her in a world frame, not a charitable one.
Against the belief that she needed protection rather than a chance: she names the real
obstacle herself — “One of the significant challenges for me was societal perceptions. People
often underestimated my abilities.” Note where she puts the difficulty: not in her spine, in
other people’s heads.

How the interview makes the argument stick: she never asks to be admired. She
converts the challenge into a general principle — “physical limitations don’t define
one’s potential” — and then into a slogan a reader can carry away, ‘ability beyond
disability’. A perception changes fastest when it is contradicted by evidence and
then given a phrase to be replaced by.

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Q12 II. 2. What can be the long-term impact of involving youth in schools and colleges
in advocacy with respect to disability?

The long-term impact is that inclusion stops being a special favour and becomes an ordinary
habit — because the people who will design, staff and run the country in twenty years will have
grown up without the prejudice in the first place. That is precisely why Dr. Malik targets this
group: “I believe youth is the voice of tomorrow. So, we organise disability sports awareness and
advocacy sessions at various schools and colleges.”

Prejudice is prevented, not corrected. Preconceived notions are cheap to prevent at fifteen
and expensive to remove at forty. A student who has played beside a para-athlete never
acquires the notion that has to be broken down later.
Language and manners change. Young people who discuss disability openly learn to say
‘para-athlete’ and ‘person with a disability’, to ask before helping, and to drop the tone of pity
— small habits that decide whether a classmate feels included.
Design improves at the source. Tomorrow’s architects, engineers, teachers and
administrators are in these classrooms. Ramps, lifts, accessible toilets, subtitles and
examination accommodations get built in at the planning stage instead of being added after
a complaint.
The talent pool widens. Awareness in schools reaches the child who is a potential para-
athlete but has never seen anyone like herself compete. Sheetal Devi’s own story began with
someone spotting her at a youth event.
Advocates multiply. One session does not create one supporter; it creates people who
argue for accessibility in their own colleges, workplaces and colonies. This is what makes it a
long-term impact rather than a day’s programme.

Did you know? Her own advocacy list on page 142 shows the same long view —
emotional health of persons with challenges, women through outdoor sports and
adventure, support for persons from lower socio-economic strata, and equipment
for para sportspersons. Awareness alone is not her goal; she pairs it with equipment
and opportunity, because an attitude without a ramp changes very little.

Q13 II. 3. Rationalise the appropriateness of the title of this text with reference to Dr.
Deepa Malik’s attitude and achievements.

The title The World of Limitless Possibilities is appropriate because it is her own phrase,
spoken at the exact moment of choice, and because everything after that moment tests
whether the phrase was true.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities
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1. The title comes from the text’s turning point. Told she would use a wheelchair for life, she
co m
se
says: “I had two choices—squander my life in remorse or transform it to a world of limitless
m.
o m g l a
.c out of.
possibilities.” The title is therefore not a label added by an editor; it is the decision the whole

m a
se is chosen against a limit that had just been imposed. The doctors’ sentence
interview grows

l a
ag
2. ‘Limitless’
contained the word rest of my life — a boundary. Her reply uses the one adjective that cancels a
boundary. The title is an argument, not a description.
co m
em .
3. The achievements make the word literal rather than decorative. Silver at Rio 2016 in shot- ag
g l as
put; the first Indian woman para-athlete with an Asian Games athletics medal; India’s first
a
woman Paralympic medallist in any sport; Khel Ratna, Arjuna, Padma Shri; a listing among the
world’s 10 most inspirational women para-athletes. Each is a limit that turned out not to exist.

co m
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4. ‘World’ is as important as ‘limitless’. A world is something you live in and share, not a

o m l a se
personal feat. Her advocacy — equipment for para sportspersons, support for persons from
.c a g — is the attempt to
m
lower socio-economic strata, awareness sessions in schools and colleges

l a sethat world large enough for others: “a society where everyone, regardless of ability, is
agtreated with dignity and given a fair chance to succeed.”
make

m a s
.co agl
The attitude the title names: her closing advice is the title in miniature —

a s em
“disability is not a limitation; it’s a unique strength waiting to be unleashed.” The title

a l of seeing, and the interview then supplies the
works because it describes agway
medals that prove the seeing was accurate.

com
m .
o m l a se
g
.c II. 4. “Every setback is an opportunity to prove your strength”.
a
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Q14 How might this be a

ag
life lesson for every individual, and not just sportspersons?

se m

com g l a
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e
The sentence is useful to everybody because it does not promise that setbacks are pleasant or

g l
fair. It only says a setback revealsassomething that success never has to — how you behave when
the plan fails. a
It moves attention from the event to the response. Nobody chooses a failed exam, a lost
co m
m .
se
job, an illness or a shifted house. What is genuinely open is the next decision. That is Dr.

o m l a
.cStrength is only visible under load. A student who scoresagwell in easy tests learns nothing
Malik’s framing: she names two choices — “squander my life in remorse or transform it”.

se m
g l a
a
about her own resilience. A student who fails a unit test, finds the actual gap, and rebuilds
the topic has evidence about herself that she can use for years.
.c
s e m
m a
agl
It converts a verdict into information. A setback usually tells you exactly what was weak —
. co
m
an untested assumption, a skill not practised, a friendship not maintained. Read that way, it

as e
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is feedback rather than a judgement.
a g

com
m .
m ase
.co


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It works in ordinary, unheroic settings. A shopkeeper whose stock is spoiled by rain, a
farmer facing a failed monsoon, a child moved to a new school mid-year — each of these is a
setback with no medal at the end of it, and the same rule applies: the loss is fixed, the
response is not.
It builds a habit, not a single act. Dr. Malik pairs the sentence with two practical
instructions — “Surround yourself with a support system, believe in yourself” — because
strength in the long run is a routine and a set of people, not a mood.

A caution worth stating. The line should not be read as ‘every hardship is secretly
good’. Some setbacks — a serious injury, a bereavement, poverty — are simply
losses, and pretending otherwise is unkind. What the sentence claims is narrower
and truer: whatever the setback costs, it also creates a real occasion to find out what
you can do. That is why she offers it as advice to individuals facing challenges, not as a
consolation.

Q15 II. 5. Examine how Dr. Deepa Malik’s recognition as one of the 10 most inspirational
para-athletes globally contributes to the larger discourse on gender equality in
sports.

It contributes by placing an Indian woman with a disability in a global list of the best, and
thereby attacking two exclusions at once — the exclusion of women from the front rank of
sport, and the exclusion of athletes with disabilities from it. Her recognition sits at the point
where the two overlap.

Visibility creates a standard. The interviewer’s own words are “one of the 10 most
inspirational women para-athletes globally by the International Paralympic Committee.” A
world body naming women specifically forces reporters, sponsors and selectors to treat
women’s para-sport as a category with rankings and reputations, not as a footnote.
‘Firsts’ show the gap rather than hide it. That she is the first Indian woman to win an Asian
Games athletics medal as a para-athlete, and India’s first woman Paralympic medallist in any
sport, is a compliment to her and an indictment of the system before her. Every ‘first’ is also a
question: why did this take so long?
It supplies the model that was missing. Girls with disabilities in small towns had no Indian
sportswoman to point to. Recognition converts a private career into a public example; a
coach can now say ‘like Deepa Malik’ to a family that has never considered sport for a
daughter.
It shifts the argument from welfare to merit. She is honoured for performance — a silver
medal at the Rio Games — and the same national awards, Khel Ratna and Arjuna, that able-
bodied athletes receive. Equality is claimed on the ground of results, which is the hardest
ground to argue against.

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She then spends the recognition on other women. Page 142: she works at “empowering
women through outdoor sports and adventure activities”, and supports “persons from lower
socio-economic strata”. Recognition becomes infrastructure — equipment, sessions, access
— for women who will never be interviewed.

The deeper point: discourse changes when the terms of comparison change. Once
she is listed among the world’s ten most inspirational women para-athletes, the
sentence ‘women’s para-sport has no stars’ is simply false, and an argument built on
it collapses. Her closing claim — that persons with disabilities “can be as capable, if
not more than their able-bodied counterparts” — is a claim about merit that a
medal, and only a medal, can carry.

Q16 II. 6. How might Dr. Deepa Malik’s thought, ‘ability beyond disability’, serve as a
guideline for success for all future para-athletes?

Because it is a working instruction, not a slogan. The phrase tells an athlete where to look: at
what the body can be trained to do, and not at what a medical report says it cannot.

It fixes the starting question. The useful question is never ‘what have I lost?’ but ‘which
event rewards what I have?’ Dr. Malik’s own move is the model: a swimmer with strong
shoulders and no use below the waist switched to shot-put, an event decided almost entirely
by upper-body power. Sheetal Devi’s answer to the same question was a compound bow
drawn with the foot and released from the shoulder.
It makes technique the field of invention. A para-athlete often has no ready-made method
to copy. ‘Ability beyond disability’ licenses building one — a new grip, a new release, a new
throwing position — instead of waiting for a manual.
It protects against other people’s ceilings. Her stated obstacle was “societal perceptions…
People often underestimated my abilities.” An athlete who has internalised this phrase has
an answer ready when a school, a family or a selector sets a limit for her.
It sets the right measure of success. ‘Beyond’ is comparative and personal: beyond what
was expected, beyond last season’s mark. That keeps improvement measurable in training
terms — distance, time, ring score — rather than in sympathy.
It keeps the effort collective. She adds the practical half herself: “Surround yourself with a
support system.” Ability is realised through coaching, equipment and family support —
which is why she personally provides equipment to para sportspersons.

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Why the wording is exact: she does not say ‘instead of disability’ or ‘in spite of
disability’. Beyond accepts the disability as a real fact and then refuses to stop at it
— the same balance the whole interview keeps. It asks for no denial, and permits no
ceiling.

Q17 II. 7. What have you learnt from this interview, and how can you implement these
learnings in your life?

This asks for your take-away, so it must be personal — but ‘implement’ means the second half
has to name an action, with a time and a place in it, not a resolution.

What a good answer needs:

Two or three learnings, each tied to a line from the interview, not a general
moral.
A matching action for each, small enough to actually be done this month.
Respectful language throughout — write about ability, method and access, not
about pity.
Honesty. An answer that claims you will now never be discouraged is not
believable; one that names a specific habit is.

Sample answer: Three things stayed with me. First, that the obstacle is often outside the
person — “People often underestimated my abilities.” I have done exactly that to a classmate
who uses crutches: I quietly kept him out of our badminton pairs because I decided for him that
he would not want to play. I have started asking instead of deciding, and he now keeps score
and plays doubles on the near court. Second, that a setback is information. She did not wait for
her old life to come back; she asked which event her strengths suited and switched to shot-put.
When I failed my last science unit test I used to reread the whole chapter in panic; now I mark
the exact questions I lost marks on and rebuild only those topics, which takes less time and
works better. Third, that ability needs equipment and access, not only encouragement — she
provides equipment to para sportspersons rather than only speaking at schools. In our school
the sports store is up a flight of stairs, and I have written to the Sports Captain suggesting the
equipment cupboard be moved to the ground-floor room. That is a small thing, but it is the kind
of thing her advocacy is actually made of.

Vocabulary and Structures in Context — Pages 147–151

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The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

WORD WORK GRAMMAR

Q1 I. Work in pairs. Match the given phrases in Column 1 with their meanings in
Column 2. Use the phrases in sentences of your own. Column 1 1. defy the odds 2. a
new lease of life 3. in hindsight 4. breakthrough moment 5. turn obstacles into
stepping stones Column 2 (i) a time of significant development or discovery (ii)
overcome challenges and achieve goals (iii) succeed in doing something when most
people think it would result in failure (iv) ability to understand something after it
has happened (v) an occasion when you become more energetic and active than
earlier

COLUMN 1 COLUMN 2 WHERE IT OCCURS IN THE TEXT

1. defy the odds (iii) succeed in doing something “incredible athletes defy the odds and
when most people think it would showcase their exceptional skills on a global
result in failure stage” (page 138)

2. a new lease of life (v) an occasion when you become “Paralympics has given me a new lease of
more energetic and active than life” (page 141)
earlier

3. in hindsight (iv) ability to understand something “In hindsight, I feel it was a moment of
after it has happened personal victory” (page 140)

4. breakthrough (i) a time of significant development “My breakthrough moment came in the
moment or discovery 2016 Rio Paralympic Games” (page 140)

5. turn obstacles into (ii) overcome challenges and achieve “allowed me to turn obstacles into stepping
stepping stones goals stones” (page 141)

Sentences of my own (write your own on the same pattern — put the phrase in a situation, do
not simply define it):

1. defy the odds — With one injured opener and no reserve spinner, our school team defied the
odds and beat the district champions by four wickets.
2. a new lease of life — A coat of paint and a new chain gave my grandfather’s old cycle a new
lease of life.
3. in hindsight — In hindsight, we should have left for the station an hour earlier; the road was
dug up all the way.
4. breakthrough moment — Her breakthrough moment came when the state selectors
watched her throw at the inter-district meet.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities
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5. turn obstacles into stepping stones — He failed the first entrance test, used the paper to
co m
find his weak chapters, and turned that obstacle into a stepping stone.
e m.
m l as
.co a g
s em
Tip: ‘a new lease of life’ can be given to a thing as well as a person (a cycle, a library,
a
glshop). ‘In hindsight’ almost always begins the sentence and is followed by a
aacomma. Notice the small grammar change in sentence 5 — the idiom is plural in the

co m
ag
book (‘obstacles… stepping stones’), so keep both nouns matched when you adapt it.

m .
as e
a g l
II. A common word used in athletics is ‘sprinting’ which relates to movement. Read

om
Q2

. c
the words related to movement given in the box below. crawl amble walk jog

s
saunter dart sprint stroll run plod creep Arrange them on the word
e mcline in
. c om order of pace from the slowest to the fastest. Some
increasing
a g laexamples have been
a em
s diagonal, with a crawling figure at the bottom and a sprinter at the top. The book
done for you. [Word cline on page 148: eleven boxes rising left to right along a

agl has already filled in box 1 ‘Crawl’, box 4 ‘Amble’, box 7 ‘Walk’ and box 11 ‘Sprint’.]

m a s
em
.co agl
s

a
gl filled — Crawl (1st), Amble (4th), Walk (7th) and Sprint
a
The four boxes the book has already
(11th) — fix the scale for you. Everything before ‘amble’ must be slower than a leisurely walk;
everything between ‘amble’ and ‘walk’ must be a slow, unhurried walk; everything after ‘walk’
co m
must be faster than walking.
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a sprint

se m
com l a
run

. a g
dart

m
ase
walk

agl
jog

saunter
stroll

co m
.
plod

m
amble

m as e
.co l
crawl
creep
a g
se m
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slowest fastest

ag
.c
e m
The completed word cline. The four words in green are the ones the book had already placed; the

m a s
co agl
seven in blue are the answers.

m .
as e
a g l

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

RANK WORD WHY IT SITS HERE

1 crawl (given) Movement on hands and knees — the slowest way a body can travel.

2 creep To move slowly and very carefully, close to the ground, usually to avoid being
noticed.

3 plod To walk with slow, heavy, tired steps — upright, so faster than creeping, but
laboured.

4 amble An easy, relaxed walk with no effort in it.
(given)

5 saunter To walk slowly and casually, in no hurry at all.

6 stroll A leisurely walk taken for pleasure — still relaxed, but with a direction.

7 walk (given) The ordinary, neutral pace: the middle of the whole scale.

8 jog A slow, steady run kept up for a long time.

9 run Faster than a jog; both feet leave the ground with real speed.

10 dart To move suddenly and very quickly — a short, sharp burst.

11 sprint Running flat out at top speed over a short distance.
(given)

Why a cline is useful: a cline shows that words are not simply synonyms. Amble,
saunter and stroll all mean ‘walk slowly’, yet a writer chooses between them for
shade of meaning — plod adds tiredness, creep adds secrecy, dart adds suddenness.
Ordering them forces you to notice the extra idea each one carries.

Check it yourself: positions 5 and 6 (saunter, stroll) are very close in pace and could
be exchanged without being wrong, so long as both stay between amble and walk.
The same is true of 2 and 3. What must not move are the words at either end.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 III. Match the highlighted verbs in Column 1 with their functions in Column 2. There
are two extra functions that you do not need. Column 1 1. I could hear the audience
clapping. 2. It couldn’t be helped. 3. I should give it my best shot. 4. I knew if I tried,
I would win. Column 2 (i) promise (ii) possibility (iii) prediction (iv) obligation (v) past
ability (vi) impossibility

SENTENCE FUNCTION HOW YOU CAN TELL

1. I could hear the (v) past ability ‘Could’ here is simply the past of ‘can’ — the clapping was
audience clapping. audible to the speaker at that time. Nothing is uncertain about
it, so it is not possibility.

2. It couldn’t be (vi) The idiom means ‘there was no way to prevent it’. Note it is not
helped. impossibility inability of a person — the subject is ‘it’, so the whole situation
was impossible to change.

3. I should give it my (iv) obligation ‘Should’ states a duty the speaker accepts — what is right to do.
best shot. Replace it with ‘ought to’ and the meaning is unchanged; that is
the obligation test.

4. I knew if I tried, I (iii) prediction ‘Would’ is the past form of ‘will’, and ‘will’ predicts. The speaker,
would win. at that earlier time, was forecasting the result of trying.

The two extra functions not needed here are (i) promise and (ii) possibility. They are
genuine functions of these modals, but no sentence in Column 1 uses them:

Promise would need a commitment to the listener — “I will return your book tomorrow, I
promise.”
Possibility would need an open outcome — “It could rain before the match ends.”

Why one modal has several functions: a modal auxiliary carries no meaning of its
own; it takes its meaning from the situation and the tense around it. ‘Could’ is past
ability in sentence 1 and pure possibility in “It could rain”. This is exactly what the box
under the exercise says — “Each of these modal verbs can perform various functions
based on the situation in which they are used.” So always read the whole sentence,
never the modal alone.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 IV. Read the table which shows other functions of the modal auxiliaries.

MODAL VERBS FUNCTIONS

1. could (i) possibility
(ii) unreal ability
(iii) request
(iv) suggestion

2. couldn’t (i) inability

3. should (i) probability
(ii) advice

4. would (i) request
(ii) past habit

The table as printed on page 149.

Now, make sentences with the modal verbs given in the table above with each
function of the modal verbs. Mention the function in brackets.

One sentence for each function, all set in situations from this chapter or from school life. The
function is named in brackets, exactly as the exercise asks.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

MODAL FUNCTION SENTENCE

could (i) possibility If it rains tomorrow, the athletic meet could be postponed to Monday.
(possibility)

could (ii) unreal With a proper coach and a decent track, I could run the 800 metres in
ability under three minutes. (unreal ability)

could (iii) request Could you tell me how your journey in sports began, ma’am? (request)

could (iv) suggestion We could invite a para-athlete to speak at the school assembly.
(suggestion)

couldn’t (i) inability I couldn’t finish the last lap because my shoelace came undone.
(inability)

should (i) probability The results should be on the notice board by now — they were
announced an hour ago. (probability)

should (ii) advice You should warm up for ten minutes before you throw. (advice)

would (i) request Would you hold the stopwatch while I time the relay? (request)

would (ii) past habit Every winter morning my grandfather would walk five kilometres before
sunrise. (past habit)

Two distinctions worth fixing in your mind:

Ability vs unreal ability. “I could hear the clapping” reports something that
actually happened. “I could run it in three minutes (if…)” reports something that
has not happened and depends on a condition.
Probability vs advice with ‘should’. Advice is addressed to a person and can be
obeyed — “You should warm up.” Probability is about a fact and cannot be obeyed
— “The results should be out by now.”
‘Could’ and ‘would’ are more polite than ‘can’ and ‘will’ in requests, which is
why the formal interview column on page 152 uses “Could you tell me…” while the
informal column uses “Tell me about yourself.”

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities
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co m
m.
V. Read the following sentences. Interviewer: You’ve been listed as one of the 10
se
Q5

o m l a
most inspirational women para-athletes globally by the International Paralympic
g so I decided to
m .c Dr. Malik: I love sports and had been a swimmer atoo,
Committee.

l a se to para-athletics. The sentences given above are in ______________________.
switch
a g (Direct Speech/Reported Speech) The sentences given above are ___________
sentences. (declarative/interrogative/exclamatory/imperative) Now, work in pairs.

co m
. ag
Observe the changes from Column 1 to Column 2. Note these changes in Column 3.

s em
One example has been done for you.
a
agl

c o m
.
The sentences given above are in Direct Speech. Each one gives the speaker’s exact words

s em
after a name-tag (‘Interviewer:’, ‘Dr. Malik:’), with no reporting verb and no ‘that’.
m a
. co given above are declarative sentences. Each simplyagstates
The sentences l something and
ends einm
a s a full stop. They do not ask (interrogative), order (imperative) or exclaim (exclamatory).
l the Changes Noted column, row by row. Row 1 is the book’s worked example; rows 2–4
agNow
s
are the answers.
m a
m.co agl
l a se
a g

com
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.co a g l
se m
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a
se m
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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 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH CHANGES
NOTED

Row 1 (example given) The interviewer said that she had been 1. ‘said’ added
Interviewer: You’ve been listed as one listed as one of the 10 most inspirational 2. that — linking
of the ten most inspirational women women para-athletes globally by the word added
para-athletes globally by the International Paralympic Committee. 3. have been →
International Paralympic Committee. had been
4. you → she

Row 2 Dr. Malik said that she loved sports and 1. ‘said’ added
Dr. Malik: I love sports and had been a had been a swimmer too, and so she had 2. that — linking
swimmer too, and so I decided to decided to switch to para-athletics. word added
switch to para-athletics. 3. I → she (given)
4. love → loved
5. the second I → she
6. decided → had
decided (given)

Row 3 The interviewer said that her story was 1. ‘said’ added
Interviewer: Your story is indeed a indeed a testament to the power of 2. that — linking
testament to the power of determination. word added
determination. 3. your → her
4. is → was

Row 4 Dr. Malik says that she believes youth is 1. ‘says’ (reporting
Dr. Malik: I believe youth is the voice the voice of tomorrow. verb) and the linking
of tomorrow. word ‘that’ added
2. I → she, and
believe → believes (to
agree with ‘she’)

The two rules that explain every row:

Back-shift of tense happens only when the reporting verb is in the past. In rows
1–3 the reporting verb is ‘said’, so present becomes past (love → loved, is → was)
and present perfect becomes past perfect (have been → had been, decided → had
decided). Notice that had been a swimmer does not change — it is already past
perfect, and there is nothing further back to go.
Row 4 has no back-shift at all because the reporting verb is says, in the present.
‘Believes’ is not a tense change; it is only subject–verb agreement with ‘she’. This
row is in the exercise precisely to make you notice that.

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Steps to Remember (as printed on page 150): use the reporting verbs said, told or
says; remove the quotation marks; add the linking word that after the reporting verb.
To these add: change the pronouns to suit the reporter, and back-shift the tense if
the reporting verb is in the past.

Q6 VI. Read the conversation given below. Siya: I watched a documentary on the para
equestrian event on television last night. Tarun: I didn’t know Paralympics has
equestrian events. Siya: It does. It was so interesting to watch. Tarun: That’s
wonderful. So, para equestrians must be training for months for this. Siya: They also
have to find and develop their own style of communication with their horse. Tarun:
I will watch this documentary the next weekend. Change the conversation given
above to reported speech. Siya said that she 1. ______. Tarun replied that he hadn’t
known that Paralympics had equestrian events. Siya added that 2. ______. Tarun
remarked that it was wonderful and that para equestrians must be training for
months for that. Siya replied that 3. ______. Tarun said that 4. ______.

The four blanks:

1. had watched a documentary on the para equestrian event on television the previous
night
2. it did, and that it had been so interesting to watch
3. they also had to find and develop their own style of communication with their horse
4. he would watch that documentary the next weekend

The complete passage reads:
Siya said that she had watched a documentary on the para equestrian event on television the
previous night. Tarun replied that he hadn’t known that Paralympics had equestrian events. Siya
added that it did, and that it had been so interesting to watch. Tarun remarked that it was
wonderful and that para equestrians must be training for months for that. Siya replied that they
also had to find and develop their own style of communication with their horse. Tarun said that
he would watch that documentary the next weekend.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CHANGE DIRECT REPORTED RULE
MADE

Pronoun I / this she, he / that The reporter is outside the
conversation, so first person becomes
third and ‘this’ becomes ‘that’.

Tense (back- watched, was, had watched, had been, The reporting verbs (said, added,
shift) have to, will had to, would replied) are all in the past, so every verb
steps one tense back.

Time last night the previous night ‘Last night’ is fixed to the moment of
expression speaking; a later report must re-anchor
it.

Short answer It does. it did ‘Does’ stands in for ‘does have
expanded equestrian events’; in reported speech
it back-shifts to ‘did’.

Second clause It does. It was so …that it did, and that it When one reporting verb covers two
re-linked interesting. had been so statements, ‘that’ is repeated before
interesting… the second.

Note on ‘must be training’ and ‘the next weekend’. The book’s own model keeps
must be training unchanged in the fourth sentence — ‘must’ has no past form of its
own, so it usually stays as it is. Similarly ‘the next weekend’ already reads from the
reporter’s standpoint and needs no change; ‘the following weekend’ is equally
acceptable in blank 4.

Listen and Respond — Page 152 (Transcript for teacher, printed page 268)
The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

LISTENING

Q1 I. You will listen to an announcement for special assembly in school. As you listen,
fill in the blanks with one or two exact words. (Transcript for teacher on page 268) 1.
The venue for the special assembly is the ______________.

Answer: school auditorium.
The announcement gives the venue in the same sentence as the day and the time: “This
assembly will take place on Thursday, 10 October, at 9.00 a.m. in the school auditorium.”
(Appendix, printed page 268)

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Listening tip: a venue almost always follows the preposition in or at, and comes
bundled with the date and time. Train your ear to catch the whole group — day,
time, place — as one chunk, because announcements deliver it that way.

Q2 I. 2. A presentation on inclusion will be made by the ________________.

Answer: Interact Club.
The transcript lists the programme in order: “The assembly will commence with a welcome
speech by our Principal, followed by a staging on inclusion by the Interact Club.” (printed page
268)

Why the question does not use the word ‘staging’: the question paraphrases —
the speaker says ‘a staging on inclusion’, the question says ‘a presentation on
inclusion’. The blank still needs the exact words from the audio for the group that
does it. This is the commonest trap in a gap-fill listening task: match the slot, not the
whole wording.

Q3 I. 3. The dance performance will focus on the themes of ___________ and ____________.

Answer: diversity and acceptance.
The transcript says: “There will also be a special performance by the school’s dance team that
highlights themes of diversity and acceptance.” (printed page 268)

Tip: when two blanks are joined by ‘and’, the audio will almost certainly deliver the
two words together in that same order. Write both or neither — filling only the first
usually means you started writing too late.

Q4 I. 4. A _______________ will be conducted by experts who support inclusion.

Answer: panel discussion.

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The transcript says: “After the performances, we will have a panel discussion featuring guest
co m
speakers who are advocates for inclusion in various fields.” (printed page 268)
e m.
m l as
.co a g
s em
How the paraphrase works: the question’s ‘experts who support inclusion’ is the
a
gl
aquestion-setter’s rewording of ‘guest speakers who are advocates for inclusion’. The
word you must write is the event itself — a panel discussion, which is exactly what a

com
ag
group of guest speakers does together on a stage.

m .
as e
a g l
I. 5. The celebration will end with a _______________ to encourage team work.
m
Q5

co
se m.
c o m g l a
Answer: .song. a
e m
slast
l a
ag
The line of the announcement is: “We will conclude with a song presented by students to
nurture inclusive practices and collaboration among all members of our school community.”

m a s
.co agl
(printed page 268)

se m
g l a
Matching the paraphrase: ‘end with’ = ‘conclude with’, and ‘to encourage team
a
work’ = ‘to nurture… collaboration’. Once you have matched those two signals, the

m
missing word is whatever sits between them — the song. ‘A song by students’ is also
. co
m
acceptable, since the instruction allows one or two words.

m as e
.co a g l
s m it yourself: the announcement is for World Inclusion Day, on Thursday, 10
eCheck
a
gl October, at 9.00 a.m. Those three details are not asked for in the blanks, but a good
a
listener notes them anyway — questions in an examination often move the blank to
se m
com g l a
.
a different detail of the same sentence.
m a
ase
agl
Speaking Activity — Pages 152–153
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m .
m as e
.co a g l
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m .
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The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

SPEAKING

Q1 I. Interview the Sports Captain and the Sports Coach of your school. Note that the
interview of the Sports Captain is informal, and that of the Sports Coach is formal.
Work in pairs. One of you can be the interviewer and the other the interviewee in
the informal interview. Interchange your role for the formal one. [The book supplies
parallel prompts in two columns on pages 152–153: Informal — ‘Hello! I’m so glad
that you agreed to meet me for this interview.’ / ‘Tell me about yourself and your
love for sports.’ / ‘Did you face any challenges? How did you deal with them?’ / ‘What
are some impressive achievements you’ve had? How do you feel about them?’ /
‘What would you like to say to your peers or juniors who are interested in sports?’
Formal — ‘Good morning, it is my privilege to get this opportunity to have this
interaction with you.’ / ‘Could you tell me how your journey in sports began?’ /
‘Could you share something about the challenges you faced and how you overcame
them?’ / ‘You’ve received many accolades. What do these accomplishments mean to
you?’ / ‘What advice do you have for aspiring athletes?’]

This is a paired speaking task, so it has to be performed, not written out and read. The book has
already given you the same five questions in two registers — your job is to hear the
difference and keep it up for a whole conversation.

WHAT INFORMAL (SPORTS CAPTAIN — A FORMAL (SPORTS COACH — A
CHANGES FELLOW STUDENT) TEACHER)

Greeting “Hello! I’m so glad that you agreed to “Good morning, it is my privilege to get this
meet me for this interview.” opportunity to have this interaction with
you.”

Asking Imperatives and direct questions — “Tell Modal requests — “Could you tell me…”,
me about yourself…”, “Did you face any “Could you share something about…”
challenges?”

Vocabulary Everyday words — “impressive Formal words — “accolades”,
achievements”, “how do you feel about “accomplishments”, “aspiring athletes”
them?”

Contractions Used freely — I’m, you’ve, didn’t Used sparingly; full forms sound more
formal

Address First name, or none at all “Sir” / “Ma’am”, and a thank-you at the
close

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What a good performance needs:

Follow-up questions. An interview is not a questionnaire. If the Coach says a
match was a turning point, ask which match. The interview with Dr. Malik does
this all through — the interviewer picks up ‘firsts’, then challenges, then advocacy.
Listening noises — “I see”, “That’s interesting” — and eye contact. Do not read
from a paper.
One consistent register. The commonest mistake is starting formally and
slipping into “Yeah, cool” by question three.
A proper close. Thank the interviewee and say what you found most striking, as
the interviewer does on page 142: “Thank you for sharing your insights.”

Sample answer — the formal interview, opening exchange:
Interviewer: Good morning, Sir. It is my privilege to get this opportunity to have this interaction
with you.
Coach: Good morning. It’s a pleasure.
Interviewer: Could you tell me how your journey in sports began?
Coach: I was a middle-distance runner at college in Nashik. I was never the fastest in the group,
but I was the one who never missed a morning session, and my coach noticed that before he
noticed my timings.
Interviewer: Could you share something about the challenges you faced and how you
overcame them?
Coach: A stress fracture in my second year ended my own running. I could either stop or learn
the sport from the other side. I took a coaching certificate that winter.
Interviewer: You’ve received many accolades. What do these accomplishments mean to you?
Coach: Honestly, the trophies in the office cupboard mean less to me than the four girls from
our school who are now in the district squad.
Interviewer: What advice do you have for aspiring athletes?
Coach: Turn up on the days you don’t feel like it. That is the whole secret.
Interviewer: Thank you, Sir. What stays with me is that you built a second career out of an
injury.
Sample answer — the informal interview, opening exchange:
Interviewer: Hello! I’m so glad that you agreed to meet me for this interview.
Sports Captain: Of course! Ask away.
Interviewer: Tell me about yourself and your love for sports.
Sports Captain: I’ve played kho-kho since Class 5. My sister used to play, and I basically
followed her to practice and never left.
Interviewer: Did you face any challenges? How did you deal with them?
Sports Captain: Balancing practice with board-year subjects, mainly. I now finish homework in
the free periods so that evenings belong to the ground.
Interviewer: What are some impressive achievements you’ve had? How do you feel about
them?

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Sports Captain: We reached the zonal semi-final last year — the first time our school has.
Proud, but a bit annoyed too; we lost by two points.
Interviewer: What would you like to say to your peers or juniors who are interested in sports?
Sports Captain: Just come for the trials. Nobody is judging you at a trial — that is the point of a
trial.

Writing Task — Pages 153–154
The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

WRITING

Q1 I. Read the details about a notice in the table given below.

What is a notice? A notice is generally written to convey some information to
students, or a specific group of people.

A notice tells us An event, a celebration, a competition, important information,
about… lost/found article

Format of a Name of Organisation
notice NOTICE
Date
Heading
Details
Signature
Name
Designation

The table of notice details as printed on page 153.

The table on page 153 is the marking scheme in disguise — read it as a checklist rather than a
passage. It answers three questions.

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QUESTION WHAT THE BOOK SAYS WHAT IT MEANS WHEN YOU WRITE

What is a notice? “written to convey some It is one-way and public. You do not argue,
information to students, or a describe or persuade — you inform. It is pinned
specific group of people” up, so it must be readable at a glance.

What does it tell an event, a celebration, a Every one of these needs the same core facts:
us about? competition, important information, what, when, where, who it is for, what to do
a lost/found article next.

What is the Name of Organisation → NOTICE Seven parts, in that order, and marks are given
format? → Date → Heading → Details → for each. The date is the date the notice is
Signature → Name → Designation issued, not the date of the event; the event date
belongs in the details.

Why the order is fixed: a reader walking past a board reads top-down and stops as
soon as the notice looks irrelevant. Organisation tells him whose board it is; the
word NOTICE tells him what kind of text it is; the heading tells him the subject in
three or four words. Only a reader who is still interested reaches the details. The
signature and designation at the foot are what make the notice authoritative — an
unsigned notice can be ignored.

Tip: write the word NOTICE in capitals and centre it, and put the heading in capitals
or bold too. Keep the details to three or four short sentences, and draw a box
around the whole thing — the exercise on page 154 asks for the box explicitly.

Q2 II. The Sports Club of your school is organising an Inter-school Athletic Meet. As the
Sports Captain, draft a notice in not more than 50 words asking interested students
to register themselves for selection in different events. Add all necessary details. Do
not forget to design your notice within a box.

Plan the facts before you write, because 50 words disappear fast. The details section must
answer five questions and nothing more: what event, when and where it is, who may register,
how and by when to register, and when the trials are.

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co m
m.
DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, SECTOR 12, FARIDABAD

m as e
.co
NOTICE
a g l
se m
g l a 6 September 20XX
a
INTER-SCHOOL ATHLETIC MEET — REGISTRATION

com
m . ag
se
The Sports Club is organising an Inter-school Athletic Meet on 20 September in the school stadium.

l a
ag September at 7.30 a.m.
Students interested in track, field or relay events may register with the undersigned in the Sports Room
by 12 September. Trials will be held on 14

Sd/-
co m
m.
Aarav Sharma

m as e
.co l
Sports Captain

a g
a s em
l
Word count of the details: 46 words — inside the 50-word limit. The heading, date, name and
a gdesignation are not counted in the body.

m a s
.co agl
Check your own notice against this list:

se m
g l a
Name of the school at the top, the word NOTICE below it, date below that.
a
A heading that names the event and the action wanted (‘Registration’), not just

m
‘Notice’.
. co
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All five facts present: event, date and venue, who may apply, how and by when,

o m trial date.
l a se
c person and passive voice throughout — ‘Students…
.Third a gmay register’, not ‘You
se m
a
agl
should come and give your name to me’.

m
Signature (Sd/-), name and designation at the foot. Losing the designation is the

a se
com l
most common lost mark.
. a g
m
ase
The whole notice drawn inside a box.

agl
m
Why ‘the undersigned’ is worth using: a notice is signed at the bottom, so the
. co
m
writer can refer to himself without breaking the impersonal tone. It saves words —

m as e
.co
always useful when the limit is 50 — and keeps the register formal.
a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
Learning Beyond the Text — Pages 154–155
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The World of Limitless Possibilities (interview with Dr. Deepa Malik)

PROJECT

Q1 I. Did you know? The origin of Paralympics can be traced back to the year 1948,
when Sir Ludwig Guttmann, organised a sports competition for war veterans with
spinal cord-related injuries in England. The Stoke Mandeville Games was the
Olympic-style games for differently-abled athletes. It was organised for the first
time in Rome in 1960 and since then the game has evolved. The Paralympics are
split into Winter Games and Summer Games, which alternately occur every two
years. Since the late twentieth century, the Paralympics have been held in the same
city, which hosts the corresponding Olympic Games; the Paralympics follow shortly
after the Olympics.

This box carries no question — it is background you are expected to be able to use in the
presentation that follows, and in the Class 9 discussion of the poem. Reduce it to facts you can
quote.

FACT DETAIL FROM THE BOX

Year of origin 1948

Founder Sir Ludwig Guttmann

Who competed first war veterans with spinal cord-related injuries, in England

Name of those first games the Stoke Mandeville Games — “the Olympic-style games for differently-abled
athletes”

First held as an international Rome, 1960
Games

Two editions Winter Games and Summer Games, alternating every two years

Where they are held now in the same host city as the Olympic Games, shortly after the Olympics

Why the origin matters to this chapter: the Games began in a hospital, as
rehabilitation for injured soldiers, and grew into elite international sport. That
history is the whole argument of the chapter in miniature — the same activity that
began as care ended as competition. It is also why Dr. Malik insists on being judged
as an athlete: “individuals with disabilities can be as capable, if not more than their
able-bodied counterparts.”

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Read the sentence about Rome carefully. The box compresses two stages into one
line. The 1948 competition at Stoke Mandeville in England grew year by year into an
international meet; the Games first took the form we now call the Paralympic
Games at Rome in 1960. If you use this in a presentation, keep the two dates and
the two places distinct — 1948 England, 1960 Rome.

Compare with page 168. The infographic at the very end of the chapter adds one
more fact you will want: the Paralympic symbol is called the Agitos, from the Latin
for “I move”.

Q2 II. Work in groups of four. Choose any one of the topics given below and make a
presentation. • Two lesser-known Paralympic sports (examples: para equestrian,
para rowing, etc.) • Two Paralympians from India Steps to be followed: • Do research
on the topic of your choice. Refer to magazines, newspapers, and the internet. •
Prepare the presentation based on the following guidelines: one introductory slide
(mentioning topic chosen); two slides on origin and brief history of Paralympics;
four to five slides about lesser-known Paralympic sports or Indian Paralympians;
one concluding slide. • Choose appropriate slide design, colour schemes, and
images. • Ensure there is a good balance between text and images. • Share your
presentation in class. • Each member of the group to take turns to present.

This is a group project, so the book’s steps are the marking scheme. Note that the slide count is
fixed: 1 introduction + 2 on the origin and history of the Paralympics + 4 to 5 on your
chosen topic + 1 conclusion = 8 to 9 slides. Divide them four ways so that every member
speaks, as the last step requires.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What a good presentation needs:

Verified facts. Dates, classifications and medal counts must come from a source
you can name — the International Paralympic Committee site, the Paralympic
Committee of India, or a newspaper report. Put the source in small type at the
foot of the slide.
Six lines a slide, at most. Slides carry headings and images; the sentences
belong in your mouth, not on the screen.
Respectful, accurate language. Use the chapter’s own terms — para-athlete,
persons with disabilities, athletes with locomotor, sensory, or intellectual disabilities.
Describe what an athlete does and has won. Avoid ‘suffers from’, ‘victim of’ and
‘confined to a wheelchair’; an athlete uses a wheelchair, as another uses a bicycle.
Explain the method, not just the medal. The most interesting slide in any such
presentation is the one that shows how the sport is played — how a blind
footballer tracks a ball with bells in it, how a para equestrian communicates with
a horse.
One image per slide that carries information, and a consistent colour scheme.

Sample answer — outline for the topic ‘Two lesser-known Paralympic sports’:

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

SLIDE CONTENT PRESENTED
BY

1. Introduction Title: Beyond the Track — Two Paralympic Sports You Have Not Member A
Watched. One line on why we chose para equestrian and goalball.

2. Origin 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann, Stoke Mandeville, England — a Member A
competition for war veterans with spinal cord injuries. Photo of the
hospital ground.

3. History Rome 1960; Winter and Summer Games alternating every two years; Member B
since the late twentieth century held in the Olympic host city just after
the Olympics. The Agitos symbol and its meaning, ‘I move’.

4. Para equestrian Dressage on horseback, judged on precision. Riders are grouped so Member B
— what it is that those with similar levels of function compete together.

5. Para equestrian The point Siya makes in the conversation on page 151: riders “find Member C
— the skill and develop their own style of communication with their horse” —
voice, seat, adapted reins.

6. Goalball — what Played by athletes with visual impairment; a ball with bells inside; all Member C
it is players wear eyeshades so the contest is equal; the crowd must stay
silent while the ball is in play.

7. Goalball — why It is the one sport where the spectators, not the players, are the ones Member D
it is worth watching asked to adapt. Hearing replaces sight completely.

8. Conclusion Both sports reward a skill invented for the sport itself. Close with Dr. Member D
Malik’s phrase, ‘ability beyond disability’, and one question for the
class.

Reflect and Respond — Page 156
Nine Gold Medals (poem) — David Roth

BEFORE YOU READ

Q1 I. Work in pairs. Discuss the difference between Olympics, Special Olympics, and
Paralympics.

The three are separate movements with different athletes, different aims and different symbols.
They are constantly confused, so fix the distinction on one line each: the Olympics are for
athletes without disability; the Paralympics are elite competition for athletes with physical,

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visual or intellectual impairments; the Special Olympics are for children and adults with
co m
intellectual disabilities, and are built around participation rather than the podium.
em.
om g l as
.cOLYMPICS a
a s em PARALYMPICS SPECIAL OLYMPICS

g
aWho l Athletes without Athletes with locomotor, sensory or Children and adults with
competes disability intellectual disabilities (page 138) intellectual disabilities (page

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168)

a s eSirmLudwig Guttmann, Stoke
aglMandeville, England; first held as
Origin An ancient Greek festival 1948, A separate movement built on
celebrating Zeus; first sports training and
Games in 776 BC (page the Games in Rome, 1960 (page competition, with inclusion as
168) 154)
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its purpose (page 168)

em.
m l as
.co in 1913, for the union of
Symbol The five rings, produced The Agitos, from the Latin for “I A radiating figure of joined

a g
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move” human figures

l a
the five continents

g
a Motto / ‘Citius-Altius-Fortius- To showcase the participation of “to create a better world by

a s
com agl
aim Communiter’ — Faster- para-athletes in various sports fostering the acceptance and
Higher-Stronger-
m . inclusion of all people”

ase
Together

Where Every four years, agl In the Olympic host city, shortly World Games in its own cycle

m
held summer and winter after the Olympics — for example Berlin, 2023
editions
. co
(page 167)

se m
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g Gold Medals’ is set at
m .c this matters for the poem you are about to read:a‘Nine
asethe Special Olympics — the poem says so itself in stanza 7, “a banner above that
Why

agl said (Special Olympics)”. That is what makes the ending possible. At the Paralympics
se m
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or the Olympics, a race in which nine runners walk in holding hands would simply be
g l a
m .
abandoned. At the Special Olympics, where the stated aim is acceptance and a
inclusion, the poet can say a
l sebanner “Could not have been more on the mark.” If
ag you lose the point of the last two stanzas.
the
you mix up the three Games,

co m
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Did you know? Every Special Olympics athlete takes an oath: “Let me win. But if I
m as e
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cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” Read stanza 6 again with that sentence in
a g l
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Q2 II. Work in pairs to match the words ‘empathy’, ‘sympathy’, and ‘compassion’ to the
sentences given in the table below.

(a) I am so sorry for what (b) I can imagine how (c) I understand why you feel
is happening to you. It is you feel. I understand terribly low. I will spend
sad, do you want that you are upset and some time with you, so that
something to eat? why. you don’t feel lonely.

The three sentence boxes printed on page 156; write the matching word under each.

SENTENCE WORD THE CLUE INSIDE THE SENTENCE

(a) “I am so sorry for what is sympathy “I am sorry for” — the speaker stands outside the other
happening to you. It is sad, do person’s trouble and feels sorry for them. She has not
you want something to eat?” understood the feeling, only labelled it (“It is sad”), and
offers food because she does not know what else to offer.

(b) “I can imagine how you feel. empathy “I can imagine how you feel” — the speaker enters the
I understand that you are upset other person’s experience and understands both the
and why.” feeling and its reason. Feeling with, not for.

(c) “I understand why you feel compassion Understanding plus action — “I will spend some time
terribly low. I will spend some with you”. Compassion is empathy that gets up and does
time with you, so that you don’t something about it.
feel lonely.”

The distinction in one line each: Sympathy = I am sorry for you (from outside).
Empathy = I feel with you (from inside). Compassion = I feel with you and I act. The
three make a ladder, and the poem climbs it. The crowd in stanza 5 can only feel
sympathy — they watch a boy fall and cry out. The eight runners in stanza 6 show
compassion: they “turned round and went back to help him” and “brought the young
boy to his feet.” They do not stand at the finish line feeling sorry; they walk back
down the track.

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Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: in an examination, look for the verb. Sympathy sentences use feel sorry, poor
thing, that’s so sad. Empathy sentences use I understand, I can imagine, I know what
that is like. Compassion sentences contain a promise or an action — I will, let me,
come with me.

Q3 III. Work in pairs. List the words you associate with ‘empathy’. Share your responses
with your classmates and teacher.

This is a word-association task, so there is no single right list. Build it by asking three questions:
what does an empathetic person feel, what does she do, and what is the opposite?

GROUP WORDS

What she feels understanding, concern, warmth, sensitivity, fellow-feeling, tenderness

What she does listening, noticing, comforting, supporting, including, helping, sharing,
standing by

Qualities behind it kindness, patience, humility, generosity, openness, imagination

Near neighbours (not the same compassion, sympathy, consideration, solidarity
word)

Opposites, worth listing too indifference, coldness, judgement, mockery, self-absorption

Why ‘imagination’ belongs on the list — and this is worth saying in class. Empathy
is not only a warm feeling; it is an act of imagining yourself into a situation you have
not been in. That is exactly what the second sentence in exercise II says: “I can
imagine how you feel.” It is also why literature is said to build empathy — a poem
such as ‘Nine Gold Medals’ puts you, for a minute, inside the fall of a boy you have
never met.

Sample answer (one pair’s word web, in the order they thought of it): understanding — listening
— kindness — patience — putting yourself in someone’s shoes — noticing — including — comfort —
support — imagination — respect.

Check Your Understanding — Pages 158–160

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Nine Gold Medals (poem) — David Roth

COMPREHENSION APPRECIATION

Q1 I. Work in pairs. Match the words and phrases in Column 1 with their meanings in
Column 2. You may read the poem again and infer the contextual meaning. Check
your answers with the teacher. Column 1 1. dashed in the dirt 2. stumbled 3.
staggered 4. anguish 5. asphalt Column 2 (i) walk or move with difficulty (ii)
destroyed (iii) a hard black substance used to make roads and paths (iv) step
awkwardly, lose balance and almost fall (v) extreme pain or suffering

COLUMN COLUMN 2 THE LINE IT COMES FROM, AND HOW THE CONTEXT
1 PROVES IT

1. dashed in (ii) destroyed “His dreams and his efforts dashed in the dirt” (stanza 5).
the dirt Dreams cannot literally lie in dust — the phrase is figurative,
and the only meaning that fits an abstract noun is
‘destroyed’.

2. stumbled (iv) step awkwardly, lose “he stumbled and staggered / And fell to the asphalt instead”
balance and almost fall (stanza 4). The falling comes after, so ‘stumbled’ must be the
near-fall that starts it.

3. staggered (i) walk or move with Same line. Between losing balance and hitting the ground
difficulty there is a moment of lurching, unsteady movement — that is
staggering.

4. anguish (v) extreme pain or “He gave out a cry of frustration and anguish” (stanza 5). It is
suffering paired with ‘frustration’ and produces a cry, so it must be far
stronger than ordinary sadness.

5. asphalt (iii) a hard black “And fell to the asphalt instead” (stanza 4). The word names
substance used to make the surface he fell on, and its hardness is exactly why the fall
roads and paths hurts.

Read 2 and 3 together — the order is the poet’s point. Stumbled, then staggered,
then fell: three stages, three verbs, in the exact sequence a body goes through. The
poet could have written ‘he fell’. Instead he slows the moment down so that the
reader lives through it, which is what makes the next stanza’s cry believable.

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Check it yourself: ‘asphalt’ also tells you where the race is being run — not on a
grass field or a synthetic track but on a hard road-like surface, at “the old field” of
stanza 2. This is a modest, local meet, not a stadium. That detail matters when you
answer the question on setting.

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as e
Class 9 English Chapter 5 The World of Limitless Possibilities
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II. Identify the gist of each stanza. Write the number of the stanza in the boxes
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deserved gold medals; their smiles, and spectators standing up to applaud,

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em the country… months of training;
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6. The eight athletes stopped to 6 “The eight other runners pulled up on their heels… One
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7. Nine athletes… walked hand in 7 “Then all the nine runners joined hands and continued /
hand; the gesture represented the The hundred-yard dash now reduced to a walk / And a
ethos of Special Olympics. banner above that said (Special Olympics) / Could not
have been more on the mark.”

8. The young athlete felt his 5 “He gave out a cry of frustration and anguish / His
dreams were shattered and cried, dreams and his efforts dashed in the dirt / But as sure as
but something unique happened. I’m standing here telling this story / The same goes for
what next occurred.”

So the stanza order, read down the exercise, is: 2, 4, 8, 3, 1, 6, 7, 5.

What the exercise teaches by scrambling them: when you put the stanzas back in
order — 1 training, 2 crowd, 3 blocks, 4 gun and fall, 5 cry, 6 the eight turn back, 7
the walk, 8 the finish — you can see the poem’s shape. The first three stanzas set up
an ordinary race; the fourth and fifth deliver the expected disaster; and the last three
break the pattern completely. A gist exercise is really a lesson in structure.

One small correction worth noticing in gist 7. The banner is not held by the
athletes — the poem says it hangs “above” them: “And a banner above that said
(Special Olympics)”. The gist is right about the walk and the meaning, but the picture
in your head should be of a banner over the track, not a banner in their hands.

Q3 III. Let us appreciate the poem. 1. Two examples of alliteration from the poem are
(i) ______________ and (ii) _______________.

(i) “he stumbled and staggered” (stanza 4) (ii) “dashed in the dirt” (stanza 5)
Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words that are
close together.

“stumbled and staggered” repeats the /st/ cluster. Say it aloud — the tongue has to catch
twice, and the words themselves lurch. The sound imitates the unsteady movement it
describes.
“dashed in the dirt” repeats the hard /d/. The two thumps land like the fall itself, and the
harshness of /d/ suits the destruction of the boy’s hopes.

Two more you could use: “holding hands” (stanza 8) — a soft, breathy sound for a
gentle image; and “brought the young boy” (stanza 6). Notice how the poet keeps
the harsh consonants for the fall and the soft ones for the rescue.

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Why alliteration is not just decoration: it slows the reader down at the exact place
the poet wants attention. Both examples above sit at the poem’s two crisis lines. A
reader who is enjoying the sound is a reader who is lingering on the meaning.

Q4 III. 2. Give three examples of visual imagery from the poem. (i) ______________ (ii)
_______________ (iii) _______________

Visual imagery is language that makes the reader see a picture. Three clear examples:

1. “The blocks were all lined up for those who would use them” (stanza 3) — the neat row of
starting blocks on an empty track, seen from the stands a moment before the start.
2. “But the smallest among them, he stumbled and staggered / And fell to the asphalt
instead” (stanza 4) — the single small figure lurching out of a line of upright runners and
hitting the black surface.
3. “And a standing ovation and nine beaming faces” (stanza 8) — the crowd on its feet, and
nine wide smiles in a row at the finish line.

Any of these would also be accepted, and each is worth noticing:

“The spectators gathered around the old field” (stanza 2) — the shape of the whole scene, a
ring of people round a worn ground.
“One by one they all turned round and went back to help him” (stanza 6) — the runners
reversing, one after another, against the direction of the race.
“They came to the finish line holding hands still” (stanza 8) — the linked line crossing
together.
“a banner above that said (Special Olympics)” (stanza 7).

Notice what the poet chooses to show you. He never describes a single face until
the last stanza, and then he gives you nine at once. The eye is kept on movement —
lining up, charging, falling, turning back, walking — so that when the poem finally
stops moving and shows you the smiles, the image lands with full force.

Q5 III. 3. Give an example of auditory imagery from the poem. (i) _________________

“The signal was given, the pistol exploded” (stanza 4).

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Auditory imagery is language that makes the reader hear something. The poet does not write
‘the starter fired the gun’; he writes that the pistol exploded — a violent word that puts the crack
of the shot in your ears and makes the sudden burst of running feel like a consequence of the
noise.
Other examples in the poem:

“Poised for the sound of the gun” (stanza 3) — the silence before the sound, which is itself a
kind of listening.
“He gave out a cry of frustration and anguish” (stanza 5) — the single human sound in the
middle of the poem.
“The spectators gathered… To cheer on all the young women and men” (stanza 2), and “a
standing ovation” (stanza 8) — crowd noise at either end.

The sound design of the whole poem, in one line: cheering → silence → explosion
→ a cry → applause. The poem is as carefully built for the ear as for the eye, and its
loudest moment (the pistol) and its most human moment (the cry) are placed side by
side.

Q6 III. 4. How does the use of imagery make the poem more appealing?

Because it lets the poem show instead of tell. David Roth never states a moral — he never says
‘kindness is greater than victory’. He gives you a series of pictures and sounds and allows you to
reach that conclusion yourself, which makes it feel like your own discovery rather than a lesson
delivered from above.

It makes an unfamiliar scene concrete. Most readers have never been to a Special
Olympics meet. “The blocks were all lined up”, “the old field”, “the asphalt” build the place out
of ordinary things, so the reader is standing there before anything happens.
It creates suspense through the senses. The pistol that “exploded” and the runners “all
charging ahead” carry the reader forward at the runners’ speed; the fall then arrives as a
physical shock rather than as information.
It makes the emotion credible. “His dreams and his efforts dashed in the dirt” fuses an
abstract loss with a visible image — dreams and dirt in the same phrase. Told plainly (‘he was
very disappointed’) the line would be forgettable.
It gives the poem its ending without a sermon. “Nine beaming faces” and hands still
joined at the finish line say everything the poet wants said, which is exactly why he can close
with “Said more than these words ever will.”
It invites the reader to feel with, not merely feel sorry. Because you have seen the boy fall
and heard him cry, you are inside the experience — the difference between empathy and
sympathy that exercise II on page 156 set up before you ever read the poem.

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The strongest evidence for this answer is the last line itself. A poet who admits
that the applause “Said more than these words ever will” is telling you that his
method has been to point rather than to explain. Imagery is that pointing.

Q7 III. 5. How does the poet’s tone change from the beginning to the end of the poem?

The tone travels through four stages — brisk reporting, rising excitement, sharp distress, and
finally warm, admiring wonder.

STANZAS TONE EVIDENCE

1–2 Factual, matter-of-fact, like “The athletes had come from all over the country / To run
a commentator setting the for the gold, for the silver, and bronze”. Plain statements,
scene no adjectives of feeling.

3 Expectant, taut “nine resolved athletes… / Poised for the sound of the
gun.” The word poised holds the poem still for a beat.

4–5 Shocked, then pained and “the pistol exploded”, “he stumbled and staggered”, “a cry
sympathetic of frustration and anguish”, “dashed in the dirt”. The
vocabulary turns violent.

5 (last two Personal — the poet steps “But as sure as I’m standing here telling this story” — the
lines) forward detached commentator suddenly becomes a witness who
wants to be believed.

6–8 Admiring, warm, finally “The ones who had trained for so long to compete”; “Could
reverent and humble not have been more on the mark”; “nine beaming faces /
Said more than these words ever will.”

The turn is marked, not accidental. Look at the hinge line — “The same goes for
what next occurred.” The poet interrupts his own account to promise that something
unexpected is coming. From that line onward every word carries approval. And the
very last line reverses the poet’s own authority: he has been telling the story
confidently for eight stanzas, and then admits that a crowd’s applause and nine
smiles said more than his poem can. That movement from confidence to humility
is the finest thing about the tone.

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co m
m.
III. 6. What is the overall mood created by the poem?
e
Q8

m l as
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a s em
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Thegoverall mood is uplifting and heart-warming — a mood of quiet joy and admiration,
reached by way of tension and distress rather than around them.

co m
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The mood is not steady; it is built in three movements:

s em
gla
Anticipation in stanzas 1–3 — “Excitement was high to begin”, “Poised for the sound of the
gun.” The reader waits with theacrowd.
Dismay in stanzas 4–5 — a fall, “a cry of frustration and anguish”, hopes “dashed in the dirt”.

co m
m.
The mood drops sharply, and this drop is necessary: without it the ending would be merely
pleasant.
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Warmth, pride and wonder in stanzas 6–8 — the eight turning back, the linked walk, the
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“standing ovation and nine beaming faces”.

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Mood and tone are not the same thing, and examiners test the difference. Tone

om a s
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is the poet’s attitude to his material; mood is the feeling produced in the reader.
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Here the poet’s tone moves from reporting to admiration, and the reader’s mood
a anxiety to a settled gladness. Notice that the final
agl
moves from excitement through
mood is not triumphant or noisy — the race has been “reduced to a walk”. It is a
calm, moved happiness, closer to being touched than to celebrating.
co m
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a s em III. 7. What is the message being conveyed by the poem?
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Q9
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The message is that compassion is a greater achievement than victory — and that a race can

g l asby everyone in it.
be won, in the sense that matters,
The poem earns that claim ain three steps rather than announcing it:

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It first establishes what the eight had to give up. The poet deliberately reminds us: “The
ones who had trained for so long to compete.” Their gesture costsm
m nothing would prove nothing. a s e something. Kindness that

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costs

s e m It shows the act, not the motive. “One by one they all turned round and went back to help
agla him.” One by one matters — this was eight separate decisions, not a herd instinct, and the

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boy was treated as a fellow competitor, not as an object of pity.

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It lets the institution confirm the meaning. “And a banner above that said (Special

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Olympics) / Could not have been more on the mark.” The Special Olympics exists, in the

l a
ag of all people.” The runners had simply done what the banner
words of the chapter’s own infographic on page 168, “to create a better world by fostering
the acceptance and inclusion
said.

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The title carries the message too. ‘Nine Gold Medals’ is a contradiction on the face
of it — a hundred-yard dash has one gold medal. By insisting on nine, the poem
redefines what was being competed for. And the last line refuses to spell any of this
out: “Said more than these words ever will.” The message is handed to the reader
rather than pressed on him.

What the poem does not say. It is not a poem about pitying the boy who fell.
Nobody in it feels sorry for him; eight athletes go back, lift him up and finish the race
with him as an equal. That distinction — the difference between sympathy and
compassion set out in the exercise on page 156 — is the whole reason the ending
feels dignified rather than sentimental.

Critical Reflection — Pages 160–162
Nine Gold Medals (poem) — David Roth

EXTRACT-BASED ANALYSIS

Q1 I. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow. 1. The eight
other runners pulled up on their heels The ones who had trained for so long to
compete One by one they all turned round and went back to help him And brought
the young boy to his feet. (i) Select the correct option to complete the sentence. The
phrase ‘pulled up on their heels’ means that the runners _______. A. moved aside B.
stopped running C. tried to run faster D. jumped ahead

Answer: B. stopped running.
Two pieces of evidence, both inside the extract:

The idiom itself. ‘To pull up’ in a race means to slow and come to a halt; ‘on their heels’ adds
the suddenness — the runners rock back onto their heels as they check their forward
momentum.
The next line settles it. “One by one they all turned round and went back to help him.” You
cannot turn round and run backwards down a track unless you have first stopped. The poet
gives you the proof in the very next line.

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OPTION WHY THE EXTRACT RULES IT OUT

A. moved aside Moving aside would let them keep racing in their own lanes. Nothing in the extract suggests a
change of direction sideways — they go back.

B. stopped Correct. It is the only reading that allows ‘turned round and went back’.
running

C. tried to run The exact opposite of what follows, and it would make the whole poem pointless — there
faster would be no rescue.

D. jumped ahead Same problem as C, and ‘on their heels’ describes weight going backwards, not forwards.

Q2 I. 1. (ii) Mention one character trait common to all the eight other runners.

Compassion — they not only felt for the boy who fell, they acted on that feeling: “One by one
they all turned round and went back to help him / And brought the young boy to his feet.”
Other single-word answers that the extract supports equally well:

Selflessness — the poet names the cost in the very next line, “The ones who had trained for
so long to compete.” They gave up months of preparation for one boy.
Empathy — they understood at once what the fall meant to him, because each of them had
trained for the same race.
Sportsmanship — they treated a rival as a fellow athlete rather than as one competitor
fewer.

Why ‘compassion’ is the strongest single answer: the exercise on page 156 has
already taught you the ladder — sympathy is feeling sorry for, empathy is feeling
with, and compassion is feeling with plus action. These eight did not stand and
watch, and they did not merely feel sad. They walked back down a track in the
middle of a race. That is compassion by definition.

Tip: ‘One by one’ is doing quiet work in that line. It tells you this was eight
independent decisions taken in a few seconds, not one athlete stopping and the rest
following. That is why the trait can be called common to all eight.

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Q3 I. 1. (iii) What is the tone of the poet in these lines?

The tone is admiring and warm — quietly amazed at what he is describing, though he never
uses a word of praise directly.
How the admiration is produced:

By a placed reminder. The second line, “The ones who had trained for so long to compete”,
is not needed for the story at all. The poet puts it there so that the reader weighs the cost,
and the effect is praise without an adjective.
By the phrase ‘one by one’. Slowing the action down to eight separate acts invites the
reader to marvel at each one.
By the gentleness of the last line. “And brought the young boy to his feet” is plain, kind
language — brought, not ‘dragged’ or ‘hauled’; ‘the young boy’, not ‘the fallen runner’.

Restraint is the technique. A poet who wrote ‘how noble those eight runners were!’
would sound sentimental and the reader would resist. By keeping the sentences flat
and factual and simply choosing what to mention, David Roth makes the reader
supply the admiration. Compare the tone of stanza 5 — pained, urgent — and you
can hear how far it has shifted in the space of four lines.

Q4 I. 1. (iv) How might the young athlete have felt on being helped by the others?

He would have felt a rush of very mixed feelings — first surprise, then relief and gratitude,
and finally a sense of belonging that was worth more to him than the race.

Surprise, because nothing prepares an athlete for eight competitors giving up a final to
come back for him. The poet flags the unexpectedness himself: “The same goes for what
next occurred.”
Relief — a moment earlier his “dreams and his efforts” had been “dashed in the dirt”, and
now the race was not over for him after all.
Gratitude, made concrete by touch: “brought the young boy to his feet”, and then “holding
hands still” all the way to the line.
Relief from humiliation. Falling in front of a full field is publicly embarrassing. Being lifted
by the very people he had been beaten by turned the fall from a shame into a shared
moment.
Belonging. This is the deepest of the five. He was not carried off the track as a casualty; he
was walked to the finish as one of nine. The last stanza gives him one of the “nine beaming
faces”.

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Why ‘pity’ would be the wrong word for what he received: pity would have meant
being helped off the track and comforted. What the eight did instead was to let him
finish the race. They treated him as a competitor, and that is precisely why the poem
ends in smiles rather than in consolation.

Q5 I. 1. (v) Would you consider this incident as a turning point in the poem? If yes, why?
If no, why not?

Yes — this is the turning point of the whole poem. Everything before stanza 6 follows the
ordinary logic of a race; from stanza 6 onwards the poem obeys a different logic altogether.
1. The poet announces it before it happens. Stanza 5 ends: “But as sure as I’m standing here
telling this story / The same goes for what next occurred.” He interrupts his own commentary to
warn the reader that the expected story is about to break.
2. It reverses the direction of the poem — literally. Up to here every verb has driven forward:
come, run, train, gather, line up, charge ahead. In stanza 6 the verbs reverse: pulled up, turned
round, went back. The runners run against the race, and the poem changes with them.
3. It changes what the poem is about. Stanzas 1–5 are about competition — gold, silver and
bronze, months of training, one winner. From stanza 6 the subject becomes solidarity, and the
prize is redefined: a hundred-yard dash “now reduced to a walk”, and nine gold medals instead
of one.
4. Without it, there is no poem. A small athlete falling in a race is not worth writing about; it
happens at every school meet. The poem exists because of what the other eight did next.

How to answer a ‘turning point’ question well: do not just say ‘yes, because it
changes everything’. Show what changes — the direction of the action, the tone, the
subject, or the reader’s expectation. Here all four change at once, which is why the
answer is so clearly yes.

Q6 I. 2. That’s how the race ended, with nine gold medals They came to the finish line
holding hands still And a standing ovation and nine beaming faces Said more than
these words ever will. (i) How did the nine contestants feel when they reached the
finishing line together?

They felt joyful, proud and united — the poet gives the evidence in two words: “nine beaming
faces”.

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Beaming is a strong word. It is not ‘smiling’ or ‘pleased’; a beaming face shines. And there are
co m
nine of them — including the boy who fell and the eight who had lost their chance at gold.
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Nobody in that line is disappointed.

em a
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l — not the pride of beating others, but of having done the right thing together. The
Joy, because all nine finished, and none had to be left behind.

a gPride
banner overhead confirmed it: “Could not have been more on the mark.”

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Togetherness, shown physically rather than stated: “holding hands still”. The word still

s e m when there was no longer any need to hold on.
means they had not let go even at the line,

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Fulfilment — the months of trainingla in stanza 1 came to something after all, though not to
the thing any of them had expected.

co m
Read the word ‘still’ carefully. They joined hands in stanza 7 to help the boy walk.
em.
c o m g l as
By the finish line the helping is over, and they are simply choosing not to separate.
. adverb converts an act of assistance into a bond.a
Thatmsingle
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I. 2. (ii) Why do you think all the nine contestants were given gold medals?
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ANSWER a g
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Because at that finish line the thing being honoured was no longer speed. All nine had done

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what the Games exist to encourage, so all nine had won by the standard that actually applied.

m as e
.co a g l
They finished together, so there was no first place to award. “They came to the finish line

a s em holding hands still” — nobody broke the tape ahead of anyone else. A shared finish demands

agl a shared result.
m
The competition had been replaced by something the organisers valued more. The poet

o m
says so: “a banner above that said (Special Olympics) / Could not have been more on the
l a se
mark.” The chapter’s infographic on.c a g
m
page 168 explains what the banner stands for — the

l a se a better world by fostering the acceptance and inclusion
Special Olympics “strives to create
ag just demonstrated exactly that, on the track, in front of the
of all people.” The nine had
crowd.

. c om
The eight had already paid the price of a gold medal. “The ones who had trained for so

s e m a harder
long to compete” gave up the race deliberately. Their medal recognises
om a
.cachievement agl
than winning it would have been.

se m The boy who fell had not withdrawn. He got up and completed the distance. In a
g l a
a movement whose athletes’ oath is “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the
c
m .
e
attempt”, that is a gold-medal performance.

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

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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