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NCERT SOLUTIONS FOR CLASS 8 ENGLISH HONEYDEW Chapter 1

class 8 english chapter 1 pdf

English
The Best Christmas Present in the World
All Question and Answers

Comprehension Check

1. What did the author find in a junk shop?
Answer – The author found in a junk shop a roll-top desk.

2. What did he find in a secret drawer? Who do you think had put it in there?
Answer – In the secret drawer he found a small tin box. It contained Jim‘s last letter. According to me, it had been kept there by Mrs. Macpherson.

Comprehension Check

1. Who had written the letter, to whom, and when?
Answer – The letter was written by Jim Macpherson to his wife, Connie, on Christmas from the battlefield.

2. Why was the letter written — what was the wonderful thing that had happened?
Answer – The letter was written during wartime to describe an unusual event which happened on Christmas eve. It was wonderful as fritz celebrated Christmas in the terrible sight of a war, they were joined by the German. They enjoyed together drinks and sausage. Enemies became friends for some time on the battlefield.

3. What jobs did Hans Wolf and Jim Macpherson have when they were not soldiers?
Answer – Hans Wolf played cello in the orchestra and Jim Macpherson was a school –teacher when they were not soldiers.

4. Had Hans Wolf ever been to Dorset? Why did he say he knew it?
Answer – No, he had never gone to Dorset. He learned about it from school by reading books in English. So he said he knew it.

5. Do you think Jim Macpherson came back from the war? How do you know this?
Answer – Jim Macpherson did not return from the war. We know this because of the box. , It was written “Jim’s last letter, received on January 25, 1915. To be buried with me when the time comes.” These lines show that Jim never came back from the war.

Comprehension Check

1. Why did the author go to Bridport?
Answer – The author went to Bridport to meet Mrs. Macpherson to deliver her letter.

2. How old was Mrs. Macpherson now? Where was she?
Answer – Mrs. Macpherson thought that he was her husband Jim Macpherson.

Comprehension Check

1. Who did Connie Macpherson think her visitor was?
Answer – Jim and Hans thought that games or sports are good ways to resolve conflicts because no one dies in a sport. Neither the children got orphaned nor do the wives become widows.
I agree with this concept also as war gives nothing but deaths on both sides

2. Which sentence in the text shows that the visitor did not try to hide his identity?
Answer – Connie’s Christmas present was Jim’s last letter. She had been 101 years old. The last letter of her husband brought the sweet memory back after so many years. No other gift could be more pleasing and satisfying.

Working with the Text

1. For how long do you think Connie had kept Jim’s letter? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer – Connie kept Jim’s letter for a long period of time. We understand this from the fact that she told the narrator how she used to read the letter every day and could feel Jim’s presence around her always.

2. Why do you think the desk had been sold, and when?
Answer – The roll-top desk was put up for sale when the house in which Mrs. Jim Macpherson lived had caught fire and she was taken to the Burlington House Nursing Home.

3. Why do Jim and Hans think that games or sports are good ways of resolving conflicts? Do you agree?
Answer – Jim and Hans thought that games or sports are good ways of resolving clashes because nobody lays down their lives in matches. Neither children become orphans, nor wives become widows of martyred soldiers. Both Jim and Hans were of the opinion that war only leads to death, clash and devastation whereas, playing matches is a good way to end the conflicts.

Yes, I agree with both Jim and Hans that playing friendly matches is definitely an ideal way to resolve a clash between two enemy countries without any loss to life and property.

4. Do you think the soldiers of the two armies are like each other, or different from each other? Find evidence from the story to support your answer.

Answer – The soldiers of the two armies are similar to each other as per the following reasons derived from the story:

• Both the armies celebrated Christmas together.
• They shared good moments together by eating, laughing, drinking and talking with each other.
• Both the armies played a friendly football match and approved the fact that conflicts could have been resolved by playing a match.
• They agreed about the consequences or negative impact that war has upon families.
• Both the armies longed for peace and exchanged Christmas songs. and hoped to unite with their respective families soon.

5. Mention the various ways in which the British and the German soldiers become friends and find things in common at Christmas.

Answer – Both the British and the German soldiers were enemies at war and belonged to different camps. However, at the end of the day, both armies comprised human beings who had similar feelings of love and compassion for their respective families and all those who are fighting the war. Both groups shared the festive spirit of Christmas, enjoyed a feast together by eating, drinking and making merry together. They also talked about Bathsheba and Gabriel Oak and Sergeant Troy and Dorset. They also sang Christmas songs together and spent some quality time with each other. They got over hatred and played friendly football and wished if all clashes, in the world could be solved by playing games. Both Jim and Hans hated war and knew well how the war affected the lives of their families. Both were curious to return home to their families once the war comes to an end.

6. What is Connie’s Christmas present? Why is it “the best Christmas present in the world”?

Answer – When the narrator visited Connie to deliver her husband’s letter, she mistook him to be her husband, Jim Macpherson due to her old age and memory loss. She was looking forward to Jim returning home for Christmas. She felt this was the best Christmas present ever she could receive.

This was the best Christmas present in the world for Connie because Jim had mentioned in the letter that he would return home from the war on Christmas. She used to read that letter many times a day to feel her husband’s presence nearby. Hence, when the narrator told her how he found the letter, she was very happy and felt it was Jim who had come to visit her after a long time.

7. Do you think the title of this story is suitable for it? Can you think of any other title(s)?
Answer – In my opinion, the title of the story is very apt and suits it perfectly. The festive spirit of Christmas prevails throughout the story. It clearly mentions how the warring troops longed for peace and had a strong desire to return home safely to their respective families. They shared a wonderful moment together by sharing food, drinks and talked to their heart’s content and played a football match among themselves. However, when the narrator goes to visit Connie along with the letter written by her husband, Jim Macpherson, she presumes the narrator to be her husband and thanks to him for gifting her the best Christmas gift ever.

Some suitable titles could be – “The Best Christmas Gift”.

Working with Text

1. Look at these sentences from the story.
I spotted it in a junk shop in Bridport… The man said it was made in the early nineteenth century… This one was in a bad condition…

The italicised verbs are in the past tense. They tell us what happened in the past, before now.

(i) Read the passage below and underline the verbs in the past tense.

A man got on the train and sat down. The compartment was empty except for one lady. She took her gloves off. A few hours later the police arrested the man. They held him for 24 hours and then freed
him.

Answer
A man got on the train and sat down. The compartment was empty except for one lady. She took her gloves off. A few hours later the police arrested the man. They held him for 24 hours and then freed
him.

Now, look at these sentences.

The veneer had lifted almost everywhere. Both fire and water had taken their toll on this desk.
Notice the verb forms had lifted, had taken (their toll).

• The author found and bought the desk in the past.
• The desk was damaged before the author found it and bought it.
• Fire and water had damaged the desk before the author found it and bought it.

We use verb forms like had damaged for an event in the ‘earlier past’. If there are two events in the past, we use the ‘had…’ form for the event that occurred first in the past.

We also use the past perfect tense to show that something was wished for, or expected before a particular time in the past. For example, I had always wanted one…

Discuss with your partner the difference in meaning in the sentences below.

• When I reached the station, the train left.
• When I reached the station, the train had left.

(ii) Fill in the blanks using the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

My little sister is very naughty. When she __________ (come) back from school yesterday, she had _________ (tear) her dress. We ________ (ask) her how it had _________ (happen). She _______________ (say) she ____________ (have, quarrel) with a boy. She __________ __________ (have, beat) him in a race and he ________ _______ (have, try) to push her. She _____________ ____________ (have, tell) the teacher and so he ______________ ______________ (have, chase) her, and she ____________ ____________ (have, fall) down and _____________ _____________(have, tear) her dress.

Answer
My little sister is very naughty. When she came (come) back from school yesterday, she had torn (tear) her dress. We asked (ask) her how it had happened (happen). She said (say) she had quarreled (have, quarrel) with a boy. She had beaten (have, beat) him in a race and he had tried (have, try) to push her. She had told (have, tell) the teacher and so he had chased (have, chase) her, and she had fallen (have, fall) down and had torn (have, tear) her dress.

(iii) Underline the verbs and arrange them in two columns, Past and Earlier past. 

Past	Earlier Past
set out	had out
stayed	had left
arrived	had gone
came	had packed
sat	had fallen
ate
returned

2. Dictionary work

By the end of the journey, we had run out of drinking water.
Look at the verb run out of in this sentence. It is a phrasal verb: it has two parts, a verb and a preposition or an adverb. Phrasal verbs often have meanings that are different from the meanings of their parts.

Find these phrasal verbs in the story.

burn out, light up, look on, run out, keep out

Write down the sentences in which they occur. Consult a dictionary and write down the meaning that you think matches the meaning of the phrasal verb in the sentence.

3. Noun phrase

Read the following sentence.
I took out a small black tin box.

• The phrase in italics is a noun phrase.
• It has the noun — box — as the head word, and three adjectives preceding it.
• Notice the order in which the adjectives occur — size (small), colour (black) and material (tin) of which it is made.
• We rarely use more than four adjectives before a noun and there is no rigid order in which they are used, though there is a preferred order of modifiers/adjectives in a noun phrase, as given below.

determiner	modifier 1 (opinion, feeling)	modifier 2 (size, shape, age)	modifier 3 (colour)	modifier 4 (material)	head word
a /an / the	nice / lazy / beautiful	tall / round /  old / young	red / white / light / dark	silk / cotton / woollen	woman man / table / chair

4. The table below contains a list of nouns and some adjectives. Use as many adjectives as you can to describe each noun. You might come up with some funny descriptions!