Question Answers: NCERT Class 10 English - Footprints Without Feet

Do you think this is a real-life episode, or mere fiction? Or is it a mixture of both?

“Griffin was rather a lawless person.” Comment.

Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why?

“Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent Fowler had ever read.” What do secret agents in books and films look like, in your opinion? Discuss in groups or in class some stories or movies featuring spies, detectives and secret agents, and compare their appearance with that of Ausable in this story. (You may mention characters from fiction in languages other than English. In English fiction you may have come across Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, or Miss Marple. Have you watched any movies featuring James Bond?)

What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin? How could she have avoided it?

How does Ausable manage to make Max believe that there is a balcony attached to his room? Look back at his detailed description of it. What makes it a convincing story?

What kind of a person do you think the narrator, a veterinary surgeon, is? Would you say he is tactful as well as full of commonsense?

Bholi’s story must have moved you. Do you think girl children are not treated at par with boys? You are aware that the government has introduced a scheme to save the girl child as the sex ratio is declining. The scheme is called Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Save the Girl Child. Read about the scheme and design a poster in groups of four and display on the school notice board.

The course of the Loisels’ life changed due to the necklace. Comment.

How does he treat the dog?

What more does Bill say about Lutkins and his family?

What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin? How could she have avoided it?

Why is Bholi’s father worried about her?

How has Max got in?

What is he “a fairly successful hand” at?

What does he get from Anil in return for his work?

Does Anil realise that he has been robbed?

How does Ausable manage to make Max believe that there is a balcony attached to his room? Look back at his detailed description of it. What makes it a convincing story?

What are Hari Singh’s reactions to the prospect of receiving an education? Do they change over time? (Hint: Compare, for example, the thought: “I knew that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve” with these later thoughts: “Whole sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. It was a simple matter to steal — and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else.”) What makes him return to Anil?

Why does Mrs Hall find the scientist eccentric?