NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A letter to God

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 1 A letter to God with Solutions

Chapter Name	NCERT Solutions for Chapter 1 A Letter to God Class 10
Author Name	G.L. Fuentes
Related Study	Summary of A letter to God Class 10 English First Flight Important Questions for A letter to God Class 10 English First Flight MCQ Questions for A letter to God Class 10 English First Flight
Book Name	NCERT First Flight Textbook for Class 10

NCERT Solutions for Chapter 1 A Letter to God Class 10 English

Oral Comprehension Check

Page 5

Question 1. What did Lencho hope for?

Answer

Lencho hoped for some good rain as rain was much needed for a good harvest.

Question 2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?

Answer

Raindrops were like 'new coins' to Lencho because they are the promise of a good harvest that will bring him more prosperity.

Question 3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?

Answer

The rain turned into hailstones, a strong wind blew and huge hailstones began to fall along with the rain. Due to the weather conditions, all the crops in Lencho's field were destroyed.

Question 4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?

Answer

Lencho was filled with grief after the hail stopped as everything was ruined and there was nothing that he could feed his family with. He could see a bleak future for him and his family.

Page 6

Question 5. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

Answer

Lencho had strong faith in God. He believed God sees everything, even deep down in one's conscience, and helps everyone in their problems. He wrote a letter to God demanding him a hundred pesos to sow his field again.

Question 6. Who read the letter?

Answer

Postmaster read the letter.

Question 7. What did the postmaster do after reading a letter?

Answer

Lencho's letter made the postmaster laugh, but soon he became serious and was moved by the writer's faith in God. The postmaster didn't want to shake Lencho's faith. So he decided to collect money on behalf of God and send it to Lencho.

Page 7

Question 8. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

Answer

Lencho was not surprised to find a letter with money from God as he believed that God will help him.

Question 9. What made Lencho angry?

Answer

There were only seventy pesos in the envelope whereas Lencho had demanded a hundred pesos. The difference in the amount made him angry.

Thinking about the Text  (Page 7,8)

Question 1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?

Answer

Lencho has complete faith in God as he has been told that the God knows everything and helps us with our problems. There are few sentences which show this:

• But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope help from God.
• All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience.
• “God”, he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year”.
• He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and still troubled, went to town.
• God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.

Question 2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter God?

Answer

The postmaster sends money to Lencho so he can preserve his faith in God as he was completely moved by it.
When the postmaster reads Lencho's letter to God, he becomes serious and does not want to shake his faith, so he answers the letter. With the help of his post office employees and friends, he collects money for God and signs the letter "God" on behalf of God so that his faith will not be shaken.

Question 3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why or why not?

Answer

Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him because he never suspected the presence of God and had complete faith in God. He could not believe that it could be anybody else other than him who would send him the money.
His faith in God was so strong that he believed that he had sent money to him for his help in his problem.

Question 4. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected).

Answer

Lencho thinks that the post office employees have taken the rest of the money as he had asked God for a hundred pesos but only received 70 pesos in the letter. God cannot make a mistake like that. So, he assumes that they have stolen the money.This situation is ironic because Lencho accuses the people who helped him in his problem and tried to keep his faith alive.

Question 5. Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.

• Greedy
• Naive
• Stupid
• Ungrateful
• Selfish
• Comical
• Unquestioning

Answer

It is nearly impossible to find someone like Lencho, who is naive and unquestioning. He is not stupid if he doesn’t know who has sent him money or a letter will reach God without any address. It is Lencho’s faith in God. In the real world, people are selfish and greedy and Lencho is totally lovable and different.

Question 6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story between humans and nature and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?

Answer

Conflict between Humans and Nature: Humans and nature are shown to be in conflict by the destruction of Lencho's crop by the hailstorm. He was expecting a good rain to have a good harvest, because that was the only hope he had for his livelihood. He worked so hard to feed his family, but nature turned violent and destroyed everything.
Conflict between Humans and Humans: Another conflict was also illustrated, between humans and humans. The postmaster, along with his friends, sent Lencho money which Lencho demanded from God, although they didn't know who Lencho was. Lencho blamed them for taking away some amount of money. He called them “a bunch of crook”. This shows that man has no faith in other men, resulting in conflict.

Thinking about Language 

(Page 8,9,10,11)

1. There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks?

• gale,
• whirlwind,
• cyclone,
• hurricane,
• tornado,
• typhoon.

Question 1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle c__.

Answer

cyclone

Question 2. An extremely strong wind __ a __.

Answer

gale

Question 3. A violent tropical storm with very strong wind __ p __.

Answer

typhoon

Question 4. A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel __n__.

Answer

tornado

Question 5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the Western Atlantic Ocean __ r__.

Answer

Hurricane

Question 6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage __l__.

Answer

whirlwind

Question 7. Match the sentences in column A with the meaning of ‘hope’ in column B.

	A		B
1.	Will you get the subjects you want to study in college? I hope so.	(a)	a feeling that something good will probably happen.
2.	1 hope you don’t mind my saying this but 1 don’t like the way you are arguing.	(b)	thinking that this would happen (it may or may not have happened.)
3.	This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers.	(c)	stopped believing that this good thing would happen.
4.	We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes.	(d)	wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible)
5.	1 called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school.	(e)	showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person a way of being polite.
6.	Just when everybody had given up hope, the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone.	(f)	wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely.

Answer

1. (b)
2. (e)
3. (a)
4. (f)
5. (d)
6. (c)

2. Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which, as suggested.

Question 1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India, (which)

Answer

I often go to Mumbai which is the commercial capital of India.

Question 2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well, (who)

Answer

My Mother who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.

Question 3. These sportsperson are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent, (whose)

Answer

These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.

Question 4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds, (whose)

Answer

Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.

Question 5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)

Answer

This man whom I trusted cheated me.

4. Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.
(a) The trees lost all their leaves.
(b) The letter was addressed to God himself.
(c) The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.

Answer
(a) Not a leaf remained on the trees.
(b) It was nothing less than a letter to God.
(c) Never in his career as a postman had he seen that address.

5. In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to say what qualities are being compared. One has been done for you.

Object	Metaphor	Quality or Feature Compared
Cloud	Huge mountains of clouds	The mass or ‘hugeness’ of mountains
Raindrops
Hailstones
Locusts	An ox of a man	An epidemic (a disease) (hat spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead

Answer

Object	Metaphor	Quality or Feature Compared
Cloud	Huge mountains of clouds	The mass or ‘hugeness’ of mountains
Raindrops	Coins	Money that a good crop will bring
Hailstones	Frozen pearls	brightness of pearls
Locusts	a plague of locusts	An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead
Lencho	An ox of a man	strong