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English - Beehive
If I Were You
I. Answer these questions. 1. “At last a sympathetic audience.&...

I. Answer these questions. 1. “At | Class 9 English - Beehive Chapter If I Were You, If I Were You NCERT Solutions

Welcome to the NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English - Beehive - Chapter If I Were You. This page offers a step-by-step solution to the specific question from Exercise 1, Question 1: . With detailed answers and explanations for each chapter, students can strengthen their understanding and prepare confidently for exams. Ideal for CBSE and other board students, this resource will simplify your study experience.

Question 1:

I. Answer these questions.
1. “At last a sympathetic audience.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Why does he say it?
(iii) Is he sarcastic or serious?

2. Why does the intruder choose Gerrard as the man whose identity he wants to take on?

3. “I said it with bullets.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) What does it mean?
(iii) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?

4. What is Gerrard’s profession? Quote the parts of the play that support your answer.

5. “You’ll soon stop being smart.”
(i) Who says this?(ii) Why does the speaker say it?
(iii) What according to the speaker will stop Gerrard from being smart?

6. “They can’t hang me twice.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) Why does the speaker say it?

7. “A mystery I propose to explain.” What is the mystery the speaker proposes to explain?

8. “This is your big surprise.”
(i) Where has this been said in the play?
(ii) What is the surprise?

Answer:

1. (i) Gerrard
(ii) He says this because he is glad that the intruder tells him to speak about himself.
(iii) Yes, he speaks the given dialogue very sarcastically.

2. Gerrard looks identical to the intruder who is a murderer. The police is after him. He hopes that he can easily copied Gerrard’s identify and escape from being caught.

3. (i) Gerrard says this.
(ii) It means that when things went wrong he had to shoot from his gun on someone for his escape.
(iii) No, it is not the truth. The speaker says this so because he wants to escape himself from being shot by the intruder.

4. Gerrard is a playwright by profession. Several parts of the play that reflect this. Some of these are as follows:
- This is all very melodramatic not very original perhaps
- At last a sympathetic audience!’’

- In most melodramas the villain is foolish enough to delay his killing long enough to be very frustrated.
- I said, you were luckier than the most melodramatic villains.
- That was a disguise outfit; false moustaches and what not’’.
- Sorry I can’t let you have the props at that time for rehearsals , I‘ve had a spot of bother – quite amusing. I think I‘ll put it in my next play’’.

5. (i) The intruder says this line.
(ii) the speaker says it to make Gerrard feel very frightened.
(iii) According to the intruder Gerrard would stop being smart once after he knew what was gonna happen to him. The intruder wasn’t quite afraid and his plan was to kill Gerard and take over his identity. He felt that when Gerrard would know this he would stop being smart and start getting frightened.

6. (i) The intruder says the line.
(ii) The intruder had been asking Gerrard that he had murdered one man, and that he would not back away from murdering him too. He wasn’t afraid and his plan was to kill Gerrard because the police couldn't hang him twice for each of the two murders.

7. The mystery that Gerrard proposed to introduce, was the story that he made up to fool the intruder and save his own life. The story was that Gerrard himself was a criminal like the intruder. Gerrard told him that he does not meet people and doesn’t have any visitors there. The game was up as the things that had suddenly gone wrong for him. He had done a murder and got away. Unfortunately, one of his men had been arrested and certain things were found which his men should have forced to do. He said that he was expecting some trouble that night and therefore, his bag was packed and was almost ready to escape.

8. (i) This has been said two times in the play. The first time was when the intruder reveals his plan to kill Gerrard. Secondly, it is spoken by Gerrard himself before he reveals his fictitious identity to the intruder.
(ii) The intruder’s surprise is his plan to kill Gerrard and take on his identity to run away and lead a secure hassle-free life. Whereas, Gerrard’s surprise is his wrong identity which he portrays to the intruder to save himself from being killed.

Other Questions of Chapter If I Were You

I. Consult your dictionary and choose the correct word from the pairs given in brackets.
1. The (site, cite) of the accident was (ghastly/ghostly).
2. Our college (principle/principal) is very strict.
3. I studied (continuously/continually) for eight hours.
4. The fog had an adverse (affect/effect) on the traffic.
5. Cezanne, the famous French painter, was a brilliant (artist/artiste).
6. The book that you gave me yesterday is an extraordinary (collage/college) of science fiction and mystery.
7. Our school will (host/hoist) an exhibition on cruelty to animals and wildlife conservation.
8. Screw the lid tightly onto the top of the bottle and (shake/shape) well before using the contents.

Irony is when we say one thing but mean another, usually the opposite of what we say. When someone makes a mistake and you say, “Oh! that was clever!”, that is irony. You’re saying ‘clever‘ to mean ‘not clever’.

Expressions we often use in an ironic fashion are:
• Oh, wasn’t that clever!/Oh that was clever!
• You have been a great help, I must say!
• You’ve got yourself into a lovely mess, haven’t you?
• Oh, very funny!/ How funny!
We use a slightly different tone of voice when we use these words ironically. Read the play carefully and find the words and expressions Gerrard uses in an ironic way. Then say what these expressions really mean. Two examples have been given below. Write down three more such expressions along with what they really mean.

Popular questions of class 9 English - Beehive

Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story? Give reasons for your answer.

When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?

Why did Bismillah Khan refuse to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A.?

II. This story about a frightening incident is narrated in a humorous way. What makes it humorous? (Think of the contrasts it presents between dreams and reality. Some of them are listed below.)
1. (i) The kind of person the doctor is (money, possessions)
(ii) The kind of person he wants to be (appearance, ambition)

2. (i) The person he wants to marry
(ii) The person he actually marries

3. (i) His thoughts when he looks into the mirror
(ii) His thoughts when the snake is coiled around his arm
Write short paragraphs on each of these to get your answer.

Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
(i) The report must be read so that performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions , shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave when we are tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook her head when Ravi lied to her.
(v) I forgot about it.
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled and turned away.

(vii) The President of the Company is busy and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my work so that I could go out to play.

II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
1. How did Santosh begin to climb mountains?
2. What incidents during the Everest expedition show Santosh’s concern for her team-mates?
3. What shows her concern for the environment?
4. How does she describe her feelings at the summit of the Everest?
5. Santosh Yadav got into the record books both times she scaled Mt Everest. What were the reasons for this?

Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?

I. Discuss in pairs and answer each question below in a short paragraph (30– 40 words).
1. How many characters are there in the narrative? Name them. (Don’t forget the dog!).
2. Why did the narrator (Jerome) volunteer to do the packing?
3. How did George and Harris react to this? Did Jerome like their reaction?
4. What was Jerome’s real intention when he offered to pack?
5. What did Harris say after the bag was shut and strapped? Why do you think he waited till then to ask?
6. What “horrible idea” occurred to Jerome a little later?
7. Where did Jerome finally find the toothbrush?
8. Why did Jerome have to reopen the packed bag?
9. What did George and Harris offer to pack and why?
10. While packing the hamper, George and Harris do a number of foolish and funny things. Tick the statements that are true.
(i) They started with breaking a cup.
(ii) They also broke a plate.
(iii) They squashed a tomato.
(iv) They trod on the butter.
(v) They stepped on a banana.
(vi) They put things behind them, and couldn’t find them.
(vii) They stepped on things.
(viii) They packed the pictures at the bottom and put heavy things on top.
(ix) They upset almost everything.
(x) They were very good at packing.

III. Answer the following questions in not more than 100–150 words each.
1. Compare and contrast the atmosphere in and around the Baudhnath shrine with the Pashupatinath temple.
2. How does the author describe Kathmandu’s busiest streets?
3. “To hear any flute is to be drawn into the commonality of all mankind.” Why does the author say this?

Why does the world remember Einstein as a “world citizen”?

Recently Viewed Questions of Class 9 English - Beehive

Answer the following questions in one or two sentences.
1. Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
2. Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
3. What was Kezia’s father’s routine
(i) before going to his office?
(ii) after coming back from his office?
(iii) on Sundays?
4. In what ways did Kezia’s grandmother encourage her to get to know her father better?

Bismillah Khan’s first trip abroad was to (Afghanistan, U.S.A., Canada).

Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story? Give reasons for your answer.

Given below are some emotions that Kezia felt. Match the emotions in Column A with the items in Column B.

Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?

How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?

(III). Punctuation
Use capital letters, full stops, question marks, commas and inverted commas wherever necessary in the following paragraph.

an arrogant lion was wandering through the jungle one day he asked the tiger who is stronger than you you O lion replied the tiger who is more fierce than a leopard asked the lion you sir replied the leopard he marched upto an elephant and asked the same question the elephant picked him up in his trunk swung him in the air and threw him down look said the lion there is no need to get mad just because you don’t know the answer

II. Here are some words with silent letters. Learn their spelling. Your teacher will dictate these words to you. Write them down and underline the silent letters.
knock wrestle walk wrong
knee half honest daughter
hours return hornet calm
could sign island button

Dictionary work
• The sound of the shehnai is auspicious.
• The auspicious sound of the shehnai is usually heard at marriages. The adjective auspicious can occur after the verb be as in the first sentence, or before a noun as in the second. But there are some adjectives which can be used after the verb be and not before a noun. For example:
• Ustad Faiyaz Khan was overjoyed. We cannot say: *the overjoyed man.

Look at these entries from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005).

Consult your dictionary and complete the following table. The first one has been done for you.

Use these words in phrases or sentences of your own.

Why did Einstein write a letter to Franklin Roosevelt?

Study Tips for Answering NCERT Questions:

NCERT questions are designed to test your understanding of the concepts and theories discussed in the chapter. Here are some tips to help you answer NCERT questions effectively:

Read the question carefully and focus on the core concept being asked.
Reference examples and data from the chapter when answering questions about If I Were You.
Review previous year question papers to get an idea of how such questions may be framed in exams.
Practice answering questions within the time limit to improve your speed and accuracy.
Discuss your answers with your teachers or peers to get feedback and improve your understanding.

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