NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A Letter to God
NCERT Solutions for CBSE Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A Letter to God are provided here. This story is written by G.L Fuentes and includes many questions that are important for exams. We have solved all the NCERT questions of the lesson with a detailed explanation that help students to complete their assignments & homework. We have provided NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A Letter to God in PDF format so that you can download them for offline use.
Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 NCERT Questions and Answers
Oral Comprehension Check (Page No. 5)
Question 1. What did Lencho hope for?
Answer: Lencho hoped for a good rain as it was much needed for a good harvest.
Question 2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
Answer: Lencho’s crops were ready for harvest. As raindrops would have helped in getting a better harvest, resulting in more prosperity, so Lencho compared them with ‘new coins’.
Question 3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
Answer: The rain was pouring down. But suddenly, a strong wind began to blow and very large hailstones began to fall along with the rain. The hail rained on the valley for an hour, because of which Lencho’s fields were destroyed. There was not a single leaf left on the trees and the flowers were gone from the plants. The corn was completely destroyed.
Question 4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Answer: After the hail stopped, Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. He could see a bleak future for himself and his family. He was worried about the lack of food in the coming year.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page No. 6)
Question 1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
Answer: Lencho had complete faith in God. He believed that God’s eyes see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience. So, he wrote a letter to God saying that he needed a hundred pesos to sow his field again.
Question 2. Who read the letter?
Answer: Postmaster read the letter.
Question 3. What did the postmaster do then?
Answer: The postmaster laughed when he read Lencho’s letter but soon he became serious and was moved by the writer’s faith in God. He didn’t want to shake Lencho’s faith. So, he decided to collect, money and send it to Lencho on behalf of God.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page No. 7)
Question 1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
Answer: No, Lencho was not at all surprised to see the letter from God with money inside it. His confidence and faith in God was such that he had expected that reply from God.
Question 2. What made him (Lencho) angry?
Answer: When Lencho finished counting the money, he found only seventy pesos. But he had demanded a hundred pesos. He was confident that God could neither make a mistake nor deny him what he had requested for. Therefore, he concluded that the post office employees must have taken the remaining thirty pesos. So he got angry.
Thinking about the Text
Question 1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Answer: Lencho has complete faith in God as he is instructed that God knows everything and helps us in our problems. There are few sentences which show this.
- But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope help from God.
- All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience.
- “God”, he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year”.
- He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and still troubled, went to town.
- God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.
Question 2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter God?
Answer: The postmaster sent money to Lencho in order to keep Lencho’s faith in God alive. He turned serious when he read Lencho’s letter and wished he had the same faith in God. Even after he saw that Lencho had requested for money, he stuck to his resolution of answering the letter. He gathered as much money as he could and sent it to Lencho. He signed it ‘God’ so that Lencho’s faith would not get shaken.
Question 3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why or why not?
Answer: No, Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him. This was because he had great confidence in God and never suspected that it could be someone else other than God who would send him the money. His faith in God was so strong that he believed that God had sent him the money.
Question 4. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected).
Answer: Lencho thinks that the post office employees have taken the money. But in reality, it was the post office people who send the money to Lencho. But, on the other hand, Lencho thinks that they have stolen his money. He calls them crooks. Thus, there is an element of irony in this situation.
Question 5. Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.
| greedy | naive | stupid | ungrateful |
| selfish | comical | unquestioning |
Answer: It is almost impossible to find a person like Lencho as he is an unquestioning and naive kind of person. He is not stupid if he doesn’t know who has sent him money or a letter will reach God without any address. It is Lencho’s faith in God. In real world, people are selfish and greedy and Lencho is totally lovable and different.
Question 6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story between humans and nature and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Answer: The first conflict between humans and nature is aptly depicted by the destruction of Lencho’s crops by the hailstorm. As the crops fail, Lencho started feeling sad and gloomy. This appropriately projects the conflict between humans and nature.
The second conflict depicted in the story is between humans themselves. As a noble soul, the postmaster, along with the help of the other post office employees, sent Lencho the money that they could manage to collect. Though they were not related to Lencho or knew him personally, they acted kindly and selflessly. Even though they did a good deed, Lencho blamed them for taking away some amount of money. This shows that man does not trust his fellow humans, thereby, giving rise to the conflict between humans themselves.
Thinking about Language
I. Look at the following sentence from the story.
Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall.
‘Hailstones’ are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A storm in which hailstones fall is a ‘hailstorm’. You know that a storm is bad weather with strong winds, rain, thunder and lightning.
There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks?
| gale, | whirlwind, | cyclone, |
| hurricane, | tornado, | typhoon |
Question 1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle _ _ c _ _ _ _
Answer: cyclone
Question 2. An extremely strong wind; __ a __ __ __.
Answer: gale
Question 3. A violent tropical storm with very strong wind _ _ p _ _ _ _.
Answer: typhoon
Question 4. A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel _ _ _ n _ _ _.
Answer: tornado
Question 5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the Western Atlantic Ocean _ _ r _ _ _ _ _ _.
Answer: Hurricane
Question 6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a
lot of damage _ _ _ _ l _ _ _ _.
Answer: whirlwind
Question II. Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these sentences from the story:
(a) I hope it (the hailstorm) passes quickly.
(b) There was a single hope: help from God.
In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to happen. In the second example it is a noun meaning a chance for something to happen.
Match the sentences in column A with the meaning of ‘hope’ in column B.
| A | B |
| 1. Will you get the subjects you want to study in college? I hope so. | − a feeling that something good will probably happen |
| 2. I hope you don’t mind my saying this, but I don’t like the way you are arguing | − thinking that this would happen (It may or may not have happened.) |
| 3. This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers. | − stopped believing that this good thing would happen |
| 4. We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes. | − wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible) |
| 5. I called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school. | − showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person: a way of being polite |
| 6. Just when everybody had given up hope , the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone. | − wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely |
Answer
| A | B |
| 1. Will you get the subjects you want to study in college? I hope so. | − wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible) |
| 2. I hope you don’t mind my saying this, but I don’t like the way you are arguing | − showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person: a way of being polite |
| 3. This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers. | − a feeling that something good will probably happen |
| 4. We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes. | − thinking that this would happen (It may or may not have happened.) |
| 5. I called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school. | − wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely |
| 6. Just when everybody had given up hope , the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone. | − stopped believing that this good thing would happen |
Question III. Relative Clauses
Look at these sentences
(a) All morning Lencho — who knew his fields intimately — looked at the sky.
(b) The woman, who was preparing supper, replied, “Yes, God willing.’’
The italicised parts of the sentences give us more information about Lencho and the woman. We call them relative clauses. Notice that they begin with a relative pronounand which.
The relative clauses in (a) and (b) above are called non-defining, because we already know the identity of the person they describe. Lencho is a particular person, and there is a particular woman he speaks to. We don’t need the information in the relative clause to pick these people out from a larger set.
A non-defining relative clause usually has a comma in front of it and a
comma after it (some writers use a dash (—) instead, as in the story). If the relative clause comes at the end , we just pull a full stop.
Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which, as suggested.
Question 1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India, (which)
Answer: I often go to Mumbai which is the commercial capital of India.
Question 2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well, (who)
Answer: My Mother who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.
Question 3. These sportsperson are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent, (whose)
Answer: These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.
Question 4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds, (whose)
Answer: Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.
Question 5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)
Answer: This man whom I trusted cheated me.
IV. Using Negatives for Emphasis
We know that sentences with words such as no, not or nothing show the absence of something, or contradict something. For example:
(a) This year we will have no corn. (Corn will be absent)
(b) The hail has left nothing. (Absence of a crop)
(c) These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins.
(Contradicts the common idea of what the drops of water falling from thesky are)
But sometimes negative words are used just to emphasis an idea. Look at these sentences from the story:
(d) Lencho…had done nothing else but see the sky towards the northeast. (He had done only this)
(e) The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body. (He had only this reason)
(f) Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money.
(He showed no surprise at all)
Now look back at example (c). Notice that the contradiction in fact serves to
emphasis the value or usefulness of the rain to the farmer.
Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.
(1) The trees lost all their leaves.
____________________
(2) The letter was addressed to God himself.
_________________________
(3) The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.
____________________________
Answer: 1. Not a leaf remained on the trees.
2. It was nothing less than a letter to God.
3. Never in his career as a postman had he seen that address.
V. Metaphors
The word metaphorcomes from a Greek word meaning ‘transfer’. Metaphors compare two things or ideas: a quality or feature of one thing is transferred to another thing. Some common metaphors are
• the leg of the table: The leg supports our body. So the object that supports a table is described as a leg.
• the heart of the city: The heart is an important organ in the centre of our body. So this word is used to describe the central area of a city.
In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to say what qualities are being compared. One has been done for you.
| Object | Metaphor | Quality or feature Compared |
| Cloud | Huge mountains of cloud | The mass or hugeness of mountains |
| Raindrpos | ||
| Hailstones | ||
| Locusts | An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead | |
| An axe of a man |
Answer:
| Object | Metaphor | Quality or feature Compared |
| Cloud | Huge mountains of cloud | The mass or hugeness of mountains |
| Raindrpos | New coins | Excessive value like money and metal |
| Hailstones | Frozen pearls | Ornamental value, hugeness of ice. |
| Locusts | Plague of locusts | An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead |
| Farmer | An axe of a man | A hard working and laborious person. |