NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 4 From the Diary of Anne Frank
Activity (Page 49)
1. Do you keep a diary? Given below under A are some terms we use to describe a written record of personal experience. Can you match them with their descriptions under ‘B’? (You may look up the terms in a dictionary if you wish.)
Answer:
| A | B |
| (i)Journal | A full record of a journey, a period of time or an event, written every day |
| (ii)Diary | A book with a separate space or page for each day, in which you write down your thoughts and feelings or what has happened on that day |
| (iii)Log | A written record of events with times and dates, usually official |
| (iv)Memoir(s) | A record of person’s own life and experiences (usually, a famous person) |
2. Here are some entries from personal records. Use the definitions above to decide which of the entries might be from a diary, a journal, a log or a memoir.
(i) I woke up very late today and promptly got a scolding from Mum! I can’t help it — how can I miss the FIFA World Cup matches?
Answer: Diary
(ii) 10:30 a.m. Went to the office of the Director
01:00 p.m. Had lunch with Chairman
05:45 p.m. Received Rahul at the airport
09 : 30 p.m. Dinner at home
Answer: Log
(iii) The ride to Ooty was uneventful. We rested for a while every 50 km or so and used the time to capture the magnificent landscape with my HandyCam From Ooty we went on to Bangalore. What a contrast! The noise and pollution of this once-beautiful city really broke my heart.
Answer: Journal
(iv) This is how Raj Kapoor found me – all wet and ragged outside RK Studios. He was then looking for just someone like this for a small role in ‘Mera Naam Joker and he cast me on the spot. The rest, as they say, is history.
Answer: Memoir
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 51)
1. What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?
Answer: Writing in a diary was a strange experience for Anne Frank as it was the first time she was writing in a diary. Besides she also thought that later no one would be interested in reading about the thoughts of a young girl.
2. Why does Anne want to keep a diary?
Answer: Anne wanted to keep a diary because she had a lot going on her head. She found a true friend in it as she had hardly any friend whom she could confide in.
3. Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?
Answer: Anne felt that paper had more patience than people to listen to her plight. So, it was easier for her to write all kind of thoughts which she had in her mind.
4. Why does Anne provide a brief sketch of her life?
Answer: Anne felt that it would be weird to just simply jot down facts without giving her background. This helps the reader to develop a connection with the author. In case someone might read it in future, he/she won’t be able to understand vaguely stated facts. Thus, she decided to provide a brief sketch of her life.
5. What tells you that Anne loved her grandmother?
Answer: Anne lived with her grandmother for sometime while her parents settled down in Holland. She was very close to her Grandmother. She explicitly notes in her diary . “No one knows how often I think of her and still love her”. On her 13th birthday by lightening up one candle for Grandmother she showed her love for her.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 54)
1. Why was Mr Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?
Answer: Mr Keesing was annoyed with Anne because she was very talkative. He punished her by giving her extra homework to write essays to keep her silent.
2. How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?
Answer: Anne justified her being a chatterbox in her essay by explaining that it is due to her mother who was also very talkative and nobody could do anything about their inherited traits.
3. Do you think Mr Keesing was a strict teacher?
Answer: No, Mr Keesing was not a strict teacher. Any teacher would be annoyed if children keep on talking in the class. Secondly, if he had been strict he would not have laughed at Anne’s funny arguments.
4. What made Mr Keesing allow Anne to talk in class?
Answer: Anne’s third assignment in the form of a poem showed Mr Keesing the lighter side of a naughty child. He was impressed with the way she presented her arguments in a rhythmic manner. Thereafter, he allowed Anne to talk in the class.
Thinking about the Text (Page 54)
1. Was Anne right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a 13 year old girl?
Answer: Yes, Anne was right when she said so because generally people don’t want to give importance to a child’s perspective toward the world because they are too immature for the world. But Anne Frank has become one of the most discussed of all holocaust victims. Her ‘diary’ has been translated into many languages.
2. There are some examples of diary or journal entries in the ‘Before You Read’ section. Compare these with what Anne writes in her diary. What language was the diary originally written in? In what way is Anne’s diary different?
Answer: Anne’s diary was entirely different from most of the examples given before the text. It was originally written in Dutch. It has informal tone which exudes the careful nature of a teenager. She used to start her entries with “Dearest Kitty” and would sign off as “Yours, Anne.”
3. Why does Anne need to give a brief sketch about her family? Does she treat ‘Kitty’ as an insider or an outsider?
Answer: Anne gave an introduction of her family in the ‘diary’ because she felt that it would be weird to just simply jot down facts without giving her background. This helps the reader to develop a connection with the author.
Kitty was an ‘outsider’ which was gifted by her parents on her 13th birthday but she considered it her best friend and treated it as an insider.
4. How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing? What do these tell you about her?
Answer: Anne called her father ‘the most adorable father.’ Her grandmother held a special place in her heart and she loved her dearly. She loved Mrs. Kuperus, her teacher at Montessori Nursery School. They had a teary farewell. Mr. Keesing often troubled her with apology essays for her being a chatterbox in the class.
The way she represented all of them in her diary reveals that Anne was very good at understanding people and at developing interpersonal relations.
5. What does Anne write in her first essay?
Answer: Mr Keesing asked her to write an essay on the topic ‘A Chatterbox’ as punishment. In the essay, she accepted the drawbacks of being talkative but argued that it was inherited from her mother. Even Mr Keesing laughed at the argument she had given.
6. Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable?
Answer: Anne took perfect example of Mr Keesing as an unpredictable teacher because earlier he gave her assignment to keep quiet, later he laughed reading her writingd and then he allowed her to talk in the class post reading her essays.
7. What do these statements tell you about Anne Frank as a person?
1. We don’t seem to be able to get any closer and that’s the problem. Maybe it’s my fault that we don’t confide in each other.
Answer: Anne is reserved.
2. I don’t want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would, but I want the diary to be my friend.
Answer : She is self-confident and inventive.
3. Margot went to Holland in December and I followed in February, when I was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot.
Answer : She is humorous as well.
4. If you ask me, there are so many dummies that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on Earth.
Answer: Anne is intelligent.
5. Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking.
Answer : She has a sense of propriety and convincing attitude.
Thinking about Language (Page 55,56,57)
I. Look at the following words.
headmistress | notebook | long-awaited
homework | stiff-backed | outbursts
These words are compound words. They are made up of two or more words. Compound words can be:
• nouns: headmistress, homework, notebook, outbursts
• adjectives: long-awaited, stiff-backed
• verbs: sleep-walk, baby-sit
Match the compound words under A with their meanings under ‘B’. Use each in a sentence.
Answer:
| A | B |
| 1. Heart-breaking | Producing great sadness |
| 2. Homesick | Missing home and family very much |
| 3. Blockhead | An informal word which means a very stupid person |
| 4.Law-abiding | Obeying and respecting the law |
| 5.Overdo | Do something to an excessive degree |
| 6. Daydream | Think about pleasant things, forgetting about the present |
| 7. Breakdown | An occasion when vehicles/machines stop working |
| 8.Output | Something produced by a person, machine or organisation |
II. Phrasal Verbs
A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb. Its meaning is often different from the meanings of its parts. Compare the meanings of the verbs get on and run away in (a) and (b) below. You can easily guess their meanings in (a) but in (b) they have special meanings.
(a) • She got on at Agra when the bus stopped for breakfast.
• Dev Anand ran away from home when he was a teenager.
(b) • She’s eager to get on in life. (succeed)
• The visitors ran away with the match. (won easily)
Some phrasal verbs have three parts: a verb followed by an adverb and a preposition.
(c) Our car ran out of petrol just outside the city limits.
(d) The government wants to reach out to the people with this new campaign.
1. The text you’ve just read has a number of phrasal verbs commonly used in English. Look up the following in a dictionary for their meanings (under the entry for the italicised word).
(i) plunge (right) in (ii) kept back
(iii) ramble on (iv) get along with
Now find the sentences in the lesson that have the phrasal verbs given below. Match them with their meanings. (You have already found out the meanings for some of them.) Are their meanings the same as that of their parts? (Note that two parts of a phrasal verb may occur separated in the text.)
Answers:👇
1.Plunge in — Go straight to the topic
2.Kept back— Not promoted
3.Move up— Go to the next grade
4.Ramble on—Speak or write without focus
5.Get along with—Have a good relationship with
6.Calm down—Make (them) remain quiet
7.Stay in—Stay indoors
8.Make up for—Compensate
9.Hand in—Give an assignment (homework) to a person in authority (the teacher)
III. Idioms
Idioms are groups of words with a fixed order, and a particular meaning, different from the meanings of each of their words put together. (Phrasal verbs can also be idioms; they are said to be ‘idiomatic’ when their meaning is unpredictable.) For example, do you know what it means to ‘meet one’s match’ in English? It means to meet someone who is as good as oneself, or even better, in some skill or quality. Do you know what it means to ‘let the cat out of the bag’? Can you guess?
1. Here are a few sentences from the text which have idiomatic expressions. Can you say what each means? (You might want to consult a dictionary first.)
(i) Our entire class is quacking in its boots.
Answer: Shaking with fear and nervous.
(ii) Until then, we keep telling each other not to lose heart.
Answer: Not to think about negative side, but hope for the best.
(iii) Mr Keesing annoyed with me for ages because I talked so much.
Answer: For quite a long time.
(iv) Mr Keesing was trying to play a joke on me with this ridiculous subject, but I’d make sure the joke was on him.
Answers: Joke would be on him only.
2. Here are a few more idiomatic expressions that occur in the text. Try to use them in sentences of your own.
(i) Caught my eye
(ii) He’d had enough
(iii) Laugh ourselves silly
(iv) Can’t bring myself to
Answer:
(i) Caught my eye— While I was in the market, a beautiful shop had caught my eye.
(ii) He’d had enough — We had had enough of Goa ; so we returned the next day.
(iii) Laugh ourselves silly —We laughed ourselves silly on our stupid jokes.
(iv) Can’t bring myself to — I can’t bring myself to terms with this tragedy.
IV. Do you know how to use a dictionary to find out the meanings of idiomatic expressions? Take, for example, the expression caught my eye in the story. Where — under which word — would you look for it in the dictionary?
Look for it under the first word. But if the first word is a ‘grammatical’ word like a, the, for, etc., then take the next word. That is, look for the first ‘meaningful’ word in the expression. In our example, it is the word caught. But you won’t find caught in the dictionary, because it is the past tense of catch. You’ll find caught listed under catch. So you must look under catch for the expression caught my eye. Which other expressions with catch are listed in your dictionary?
Note that a dictionary entry usually first gives the meanings of the word itself, and then gives a list of idiomatic expressions using that word. For example, study this partial entry for the noun ‘eye’ from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005.
Eye
• Noun
• Part of Body 1 [C] either of the two organs on the face that you see with: The suspect has dark hair and green eyes.
• Ability to See 3 [sing.] the ability to see: A surgeon needs a good eye and a steady hand.
• Way of Seeing 4 [C, usually sing.] a particular way of seeing sth: He looked at the design with the eye of an engineer.
• Of Needle 5 [C] the hole in the end of a needle that you put the thread through.
IDM be all eyes to be watching sb/sth carefully and with a lot of interest before/in front of sb’s (very) eyes in sb’s presence; in front of sb: He had seen his life’s work destroyed before his very eyes. Be up to your eyes in sth to have a lot of sth to deal with: We’re up to our eyes in work.
You have read the expression ‘not to lose heart’ in this text. Now find out the meanings of the following expressions using the word ‘heart’. Use each of them in a sentence of your own.
Answer:👇
1. break somebody’s heart (to upset somebody deeply)- It’s not a good habit to break somebody’s heart.
2. close/dear to heart ( favourite person) – She is very close to my heart.
3. from the (bottom of your) heart (genuine feeling for someone) – I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a true friend.
4. have a heart (to evoke the feeling to help someone in distress) – We need to have a heart to help the poor.
5. have a heart of stone (to not feel anything or any sentiment) – The king had a heart of stone for the people of his kingdom.
6. your heart goes out to somebody (to sympathize with someone else and understand his feelings and distress) – My heart goes out to the little boy who is homeless.
V. Contracted Forms
When we speak, we use ‘contracted forms’ or short forms such as these:
can’t (for can not or cannot)
I’d (for I would or I had)
First Flight she’s (for she is)
Notice that contracted forms are also written with an apostrophe to show a shortening of the spelling of not, would, or is as in the above example. Writing a diary is like speaking to oneself. Plays (and often, novels) also have speech in written form. So we usually come across contracted forms in diaries, plays and novels.
1. Make a list of the contracted forms in the text. Rewrite them as full forms of two words. For example: I’ve = I have
Answer:
- I’ve − I have
- Doesn’t − does not
- Won’t − would not
- I’m − I am
- Don’t − do not
- Can’t − cannot
- it’s − it is
- That’s − that is
- I’d − I would
- Didn’t − did not
- Who’ll − who will
- You’re − You are
- We’ll − We will
- There’s − there is
- He’d − he had
- Who’s − who is
- Haven’t − have not
2. We have seen that some contracted forms can stand for two different full forms:
I’d = I had or I would
Find in the text the contracted forms that stand for two different full forms, and say what these are.
Answer :
(i) I’d − I had or I would
(ii) He’d − He had or he would
Listening
Your teacher will read out an extract from The Diary of Samuel Pepys (given on the next page) about the great fire of London. As you listen complete this summary of the happenings.
Summary
This entry in the diary has been made on_____________ by ____________. The person who told Pepys about the fire was called _______________. She called at ________________in the morning. Pepys went back to sleep because_____________. Pepys rose again at______________ in the morning. By then about______________ houses had been burned down. The fire had spread to ____________by London Bridge. Pepys then walked to the_____________ along with Sir J. Robinson’s______________.
Answer :
This entry in the diary has been made on 2nd September by Samuel Pepys. The person who told Pepys about the fire was called Jane. She called at about three in the morning. Pepys went back to sleep because the fire was on the backside of Market-Lane at the farthest. Pepys rose again at seven in the morning. By then about 300 houses had been burned down. The fire had spread to all fish streets by London Bridge. Pepys then walked to the tower along with Sir J. Robinson’s little son.
