Class 8 English Lesson 1.4 Revathi’s Musical Plants answers

Std 8 English Lesson 1.4 Revathi’s Musical Plants English Workshop

Maharashtra Board Class 8 English Solutions Chapter 1.4 Revathi’s Musical Plants

Balbharti Maharashtra State Board Class 8 English Solutions Chapter 1.4 Revathi’s Musical Plants Notes,

Textbook Exercise Important Questions and Answers

Maharashtra State Board Class 8 English Solutions Chapter 1.4 Revathi’s Musical Plants

Class 8 English Chapter 1.4 Revathi’s Musical Plants Textbook Questions and Answers

Meanings

balsam : threw away carelessly

stunted : slow down or stop growth

struck her us add : to seem very strange

surmise : suppose something is true

mauve : of a pale purple colour

knew no bounds : have no limits

ridicule : make fun of

deter : discourage

mission : an important task undertaken

dejected : sad disappointed

stunned : astonished and amazed

Warming Up

1. Discuss in groups and share your answers with the class.

(1) Can you name the famous musician in Emperor Akbar’s court, who could perform miracles, when he sang different Ragas?
Answer: Tansen

(2) What miracles could he perform with his music?
Answer: When Tansen sang the Raga Deepak, the area around him would catch fire. When he sang Megha – Malhar, it would begin to rain. And when he sang an evening raga during daytime, the sunlight would diminish and it would look like it was dusk already.

(3) What impact does music have on ! human beings?
Answer: Music can make human beings happy, sad, nostalgic, mournful, etc. It can soothe them when they are stressed. It can also convey a lot of emotions like love, anger, etc. that may not be conveyed easily through words.

(4) Do you think that music can have an impact on animals, birds and even plants?
Answer: Yes. It has already been proved by Jagdish Chandra Bose that plants respond to music. It is said that cows give more milk if they listen to good music.

2. Affirmative and Negative sentences:

Read the sentences below and spot the difference in their framing:
1. (a) I could not complete the work.
(b) I failed to complete the work.

2. (a) There is no sense in what you say.
(b) There is hardly any sense in what you say.

3. (a) He said he wouldn’t go.
(b) He refused to go.

You will observe that sentences marked (a) and (b) convey the same meaning. But in all sentences marked (a) there are negative words (no, not, wouldn’t) whereas the ones marked (b) do not have them.
Negative words are those that convey a negative meaning.
For example: never, no, neither, nor, not, cannot, don’t, isn’t, nothing etc.
If a sentence contains Negative words, it is called a Negative Sentence.
If a sentence does not contain any Negative word, it is called Affirmative sentence.

Say whether the following sentences are Affirmative or Negative ones:

(1) We must avoid hurting others.
Answer: Affirmative

(2) She didn’t offer me any help.
Answer: Negative

(3) Never give up hope.
Answer: Negative

(4) You must keep away from bad company.
Answer: Affirmative

(5) There is nothing in the bag.
Answer: Negative

(6) Entry is prohibited, without permission.
Answer: Affirmative

Note : While interchanging Negative and Affirmative sentence, the meaning and tense must not change. You must use Negative words in the sentence, while converting from Affirmative to Negative. You may use words like hardly / fail to / refuse / reject / avoid / prohibit / without / ban etc., while changing Negative sentences to Affirmative.

English Workshop

1. Read the story and complete the following.

(a) At first, Revathi’s plants did not look normal and health because …….

Ans. At first, Revathi’s plants did not look normal and health because they had pale green leaves and their growth was stunted due to insufficient sunlight.

(b) When Revathi played her favourite raga, the plants began to move because ……

Ans. When Revathi played her favourite raga, the plants began to move because they liked the music she was playing.

(c) Revathi’s grief knew no bounds because ……..

Ans. Revathi’s grief knew no bounds because she could not find her pot of balsam plants.

(d) Revathi was confident of proving her ownership of her pot of plants because ….

Ans. Revathi was confident of proving her ownership of her pot of plants because she knew that her plants loved music and would respond to her favourite raga. They would bend their stems towards her, proving that they were hers.

(e) Revathi won the prize for the ‘Best Plant’ because ………

Ans. Revathi won the prize for the ‘Best Plant’ because her plants were the best looking and the healthiest.

2. Answer the following question

(a) What did Revathi discover about her balsam plants?

Ans. Revathi discovered that the balsam plants were growing well and looking healthier. She also discovered that bent towards her when she played the raga ‘Mohanam’.

(b) Why did she decide to keep her new knowledge ‘a secret’?

Ans. She decided to keep her new knowledge a secret, maybe because she tought that nobody would belive her or may be because she wanted to surprise every one about her new discovery.

(c) How did the plants respond when Revathi played her favourite tune?

Ans. When Revathi played their favourite tune the plants slowly straightened themselves and bent towards her.

(d) How did the plants react to the fast rhythmic music?

Ans. When Revathi played the fast rhythmic music, all the plants turned away from her as though they did not like what she was playing.

(e) How did Revathi prove to the organisers of the competition, that the plants truly belonged to her?

Ans. Revathi sat near her plants with her violin and slowly started playing her favourite raga. The plants that were straight at first, bent slightly. As she played on and on, their stems bent towards Revathi as though they wanted to touch her, in their happiness.

This way she was able to prove to the organizers that the plants belonged to her.

(f) What helped Revathi to claim her plants – her belief in magic or the belief in her convictions? Explain your choice.

Ans. Revathi was able to claim her plants because of her belief in her conviction. She knew that her plants responded to her music.

3. (A) A word chain consists of words of a certain category that begin with the letter, that the previous word has ended with. Complete the word chain adding Four Nouns from the text.

Ans. Music – courtyard – deter – raga – applauded – dejected.

(B) Add the appropriate Prefix to make the following words opposite in meaning. continue – discontinue

definite – indefinite

place – displace/misplace

possible – impossible

believe – disbelieve

known – unknown

certain – uncertain

important – unimportant

regular – irregular

(C) Use the following expressions to make sentences of your own.

1) make up one’s mind – Sonia finally made up her mind to attend the programme.

2) flash across one’s mind – Suddenly the right answer flashed across my mind.

3) struck as odd – It struck as odd to Rohan that his friend did not come to school.

4) to surmise – So Rohan surmised that his friend must be ill.

5) knew no bounds – Riya’s happiness knew no bounds when she won the first prize.

6) not to deter – His parents could not deter Amit’s decision of joining the army.

4. Imagine there is a ‘Best Plant’ Competition in the locality/colony where you live. Frame a Notice about the same, in the form of an attractive poster. Cover the following points.

(1) Name of the organization. (2) Name of the Contest. (3) Day, Date, Venue. (4) Who can Participate. (5) Contact details for further enquiry.

(Students should solve this on their own)

5. Types of sentences

Study the following sentences.

Set (A) Revathi was a student of music.

The flowers were big and brightly coloured; indeed.

They were requested to believe her.

All the above sentences are statements or assertions, and called Assertive or Declarative sentences.

Set (B) Wasn’t Revathi a student of music?

How can we doubt her?

Do plants have ears?

The above sentences in Set (B) are Questions. They are called Interrogative sentences.

Set (C) Please believe me.

Let us watch the fun.

Sit straight. Excuse me.

In Set (C) the sentences are either requests, appeals, commands, suggestions etc. Such sentences are called Imperative Sentences.

Set (D) How big and bright the flowers were!

What a surprise!

Ah, what beautiful music that is!

Set (D) had sentences that express strong feelings. They are called Exclamatory Sentences.

State the kinds of the following sentences.

(1) How happily she played the violin!

Ans. Exclamatory

(2) The all bent towards her.

Ans. Assertive

(3) Don’t play that quick tune.

Ans. Imperative

(4) She kept the knowledge a secret.

Ans. Assertive

(5) How can plants enjoy music?

Ans. Interrogative

(6) How proudly did Revathi carry home her prize!

Ans. Exclamatory

(7) What could have taken my plants?

Ans. Interrogative

(8) The organisers were not convinced.

Ans. Assertive

6. Make the following Negative using the negative words given.

(1) There were a few potted plants in the courtyard. (not many)

Ans. There were not many potted plants in the courtyard.

(2) They looked healthier than the other plants. (not as healthy as)

Ans. The other plants did not look as healthy as these plants.

(3) She refused to share her secret. (would not)

Ans. She would not share her secret.

(4) She went around asking everyone about her plants. (No one/did not)

Ans. She did not omit anyone when she went around asking about her plants. OR

She omitted no one when she asked about her plants.

7. Make the following Affirmative using the words given.

(1) There was no breeze. (hardly)

Ans. There was hardly any breeze.

(2) Their ridicule did not deter her. (failed to)

Ans. Their ridicule failed to deter her.

(3) Her mother knew nothing about it. (denied)

Ans. Her mother denied knowing anything about it.

(4) She did not give up. (refuse to)

Ans. She refused to give up.

8. Imagine that Revathi’s father is abroad, on business and she wishes to convey the news of her prize – winning plants. Draft an email for the above subject.

From	revathi @gmail.com
To	prasad@yahoo.com
Subject	Best Plant Contest
Hi Dad, You must be surprised on receiving this email. I’m super excited to share some great news. But first let me ask, how are you? How is your conference going on? Did you get an opportunity to go sightseeing? Send me the pictures. I’m eagerly waiting to hear all about your trip. Now let me share my excitement and the reason for sending this mail. Dad, I participated in the colony’s ‘Best Plant’ contest. And won the 1^st Prize! You must be having a lot questions in your mind. Let me give you all the details. One day I noticed some balsam plants in the corner of our courtyard. I moved the pot towards the sunlight and watered them daily. Soon, they started growing well and looking healthier than before. And so I decided to participate in the ‘Best Plant’ contest, and won the 1^st prize. Unimaginagble! Isn’t it dad? There is another surprise for you, Dad. My plants respond to music. Yes! It is hard to believe. But that’s what I have discovered. When I play the raga ‘Mohanam’ on my violin, the plants bend towards me. There’s lot’s to tell you about my plants, my music and the contest. I want to show you my discovery too. Miss you dad. Lots of hugs and kisses. Don’t worry about us here. Mom is taking take of everything. You have a great time. See you soon. Bye for now.

WORD PLAY

ANAGRAMS

An anagram is a play on words created by rearranging the letters of the original words to make a new word or phrase. Anagrams can be fun and witty. We can often find examples of anagrams in everyday life.

For example : state – taste, dusty – study, save – vase, thing – night, etc.

Group Activity : Divide the class in four groups. The first group finds out anagrams of 3 letters, the second group finds out anagrams of 4 letters, the third and fourth groups find out anagrams of 4 and 5 letters respectively, in the given time. The group which collects maximum anagrams in given time will be the winner.

Individual Activity : Make anagrams of the following words. Remember that an anagram contains exactly the same letters, no more no less only, in a different order.

• ten – net

• dairy – diary

• glean – angle – angel

• former – reform

• auctioned – cautioned

• listen – silent

• allergy – gallery

• funeral – real fun

• teacher – hectare

• dormitory – dirty room

MOTHER TONGUE OR OTHER TONGUE?

There are some words in English which sound like words in your mother tongue. But, if you consider the meaning and use, you realize that they are different words altogether.

For example :

Words	Meaning in English	Meaning in Marathi	Meaning in Hindi
Rose	a flower	daily	everyday
Sun / Son	a star / a male heir	festival	year
Piece / peace	a bit / calm	a feather	grind
calm	peaceful	work	work

Activity : Now complete the following table.

Words	Meaning in English	Meaning in Marathi
Boat	A small water vehicle	A finger
soon	quickly	Daughter in law
Rope	A strong cord	sapling
Lake	Pond	Daughter/son
name	A name of a person, place or thing	aim
more	Much	peacock
case	container	hair

Find more such English words which would be meaningful in your mother tongue, too.