Class 10 English

Chapter 1
A Letter to God
ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK
(Page 5)

Question 1.
What did Lencho hope for ?
Answer:
Lencho hoped for water in the form of rain.

Question 2.
Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new
coins’ ?
Answer:
He said this because his crop really needed rain for
being a good harvest. So when it rained, he saw it in
the form of ‘new coins’.

Question 3.
How did the rain change ? What happened to
Lencho’s fields ?
Answer:
The rain changed into a hailstorm. Hails fell on the
house, the garden, the hillside and the cornfield.
They destroyed Lencho’s fields completely.

Question 4.
What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail
stopped ? (CBSE 2012)
Answer:
Lencho felt completely broken. The hail had left
nothing. He felt that they would have no corn that
year.

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK

(Page 6)

Question 1.
Who or what did Lencho have faith in ? What did he
do ?
Answer:
Lencho had faith in God. He felt that God’s eyes saw
everything. He wrote a letter to God.

Question 2.
Who read the letter ?
Answer:
The postman and the postmaster read Lencho’s
letter (to God).

Question 3.
What did the postmaster do then ?
Answer:
The postmaster helped Lencho by sending money
on behalf of God. Lencho had written a letter to
God to help him with money. The postmaster didn’t
want to shake Lencho’s faith in God. So he collected
money and sent to Lencho.

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK

(Page 7)

Question 1.
Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with
money in it ?
Answer:
No, Lencho was not surprised to find a letter for him
with money. It was because he had full faith in God.
He knew that God saw everything even in one’s
conscience.

Question 2.
What made him angry ?
Answer:
Lencho had requested God to send him 100 pesos.
But God sent him only 70 pesos. It was not good on
God’s part. This made him angry.
THINKING ABOUT THE TEXT
(Page 7)
Question 1.
Who does Lencho have complete faith in ? Which
sentences in the story tell you this ?
Answer:
Lencho has complete faith in God. The sentences
are : “All through the night, Lencho thought only of
his one hope : the help of God, whose eyes … see
everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience”.

Question 2.
Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho ?
Why does he sign the letter ‘God’ ?
Answer:
The postmaster doesn’t want that Lencho’s faith in
God should break. He, in fact, feels proud that
Lencho has such a great faith in God. He signs the
letter again to keep Lencho’s faith intact. If he
doesn’t do so, Lencho might think differently. His
faith in God may shake.

Question 3.
Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money
to him ? Why /Why not ?
Answer:
Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the
money to him. It was because he had complete
faith in God. He, therefore, didn’t bother about the
sender.

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 rest of the money has been
taken by the post office officials. The irony in the
situation is that the post office officials contribute
money for Lencho. Yet he looks at them as ‘crooks’.

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. (Value Based Question)
Answer:
Yes, there are still people like Lencho in the world.
He is such a person who can go to any extent in his
faith in God. He is resolute, determined and firm.
Lencho is also ‘naive’, ‘stupid’ and ‘comical’.
Question 6.
There are two kinds of conflicts in the story :
between humans and nature, and between humans
themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated ?
Answer:
These conflicts are illustrated in the form of
hailstorm destroying Lencho’s crop. So he thinks of
God and writes a letter to Him for help. The other
conflict is illustrated by Lencho. It is in his not
believing in the post office officials’ honesty. He
thinks them ‘crooks’ and dishonest persons.

THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE

I. Look at the following sentence from the story :

Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along
with the rain very large hailstones began to fall.

‘Hailstones’ are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A

storm in which hailstones fall is a ‘hailstorm’. You
know that a storm is bad weather with strong
winds, rain, thunder and lightning.

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 ? You may
use a dictionary to help you.
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 winds : _ _
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

II. Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these

sentences from the story.
(a) I hope it (the hailstorm) passes quickly.
(b) There was a single hope : help from God.

In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means

you wish for something to happen. In the second
example it is a noun meaning a chance for
something to happen.

Match the sentences in column ‘A’ with the

meanings of ‘hope’ in column ‘B’:

A B

1. Will you get the subjects you (i) a feeling that something good
want to study in college ? I hope will probably happen.
so.

2. ‘I hope you don’t mind my (ii) thinking that this would

saying this, but I don’t like the happen (It may or may not have
way you are arguing.’ happened.)

3. This discovery will give new (iii) stopped believing that this
hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers. good thing would happen.

4. We were hoping against hope (iv) wanting something to happen

that the judges would not notice (and thinking it quite possible).
our mistakes.

5. I called early in the hope of (v) showing concern that what

speaking to her before she went you say should not offend or
to school. disturb the other person : a way
of being polite.

6. Just when everybody had given (vi) wishing for something to

up hope, the fishermen came happen, although this is very
back, seven days after the unlikely.
cyclone.

Answer:

1→ (i)
2→ (ii)
3→ (v)
4→ (vi)
5→ (iv)
6→ (iii)
III. Relative Clauses
Look at these sentences

(а) All morning Lencho—who knew his fields

intimately—looked at the sky.
(b) The woman, who was preparing supper, replied,
“Yes, God willing.”

The italicised parts of the sentences give us more

information about Lencho and the woman. We call
them ‘relative clauses’. Notice that they begin with
a ‘relative pronoun’ who. Other common relative
pronouns are whom, whose, and which.
The relative clauses in (a) and (b) above are called
‘non-defining’, because we already know the
identity of the person they describe. Lencho is a
particular person, and there is a particular woman
he speaks to. We don’t need the information in the
relative clause to pick these people out from a
larger set.

A non-defining relative clause usually has a comma

in front of it and a comma after it (some writers use
a ‘dash’ (—) instead, as in the story). If the relative
clause comes at the end, we just put a full stop.
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 sportspersons 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)
Sometimes the relative pronoun in a relative clause
remains ‘hidden’. For example, look at the first
sentence of the story :

(a) The house—the only one in the entire valley—

sat on the crest of a low hill.
We can rewrite this sentence as :

(b) The house—which was the onjly one in the

entire valley—sat on the crest of a low hill.
In (a), the relative pronoun ‘which’ land the verb
‘was’ are not present.

Answer:
This man whom I trusted cheated me.
IV. Using Negatives for Emphasis
We know that sentences with words such as no, not
or nothing show the absence of something, or
contradict something. For example :

(а) This year we will have no com. (Com will be

absent.)

(b) The hail has left nothing. (Absence of a crop.)

(c) These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they

are new coins. (Contradicts the common idea of
what the drops of water falling from the sky are.)

But sometimes negative words are used just to

emphasise an idea. Look at these sentences from
the story:
(d) Lencho…had done nothing else but see the sky
towards the north-east. (He had done only this.)

(e) The man went out for no other reason than to

have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body.
(He had only this reason.)

(f) Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on

seeing the money. (He showed no surprise at all.)

Now look back at example (c). Notice that the

contradiction in fact serves to emphasise the value
or usefulness of the rain to the farmer.
Find sentences in the story with negative words,
which express the following ideas emphatically.

Question 1.
The trees lost all their leaves.
Answer:
Not a leaf remained on the trees.

Question 2.
The letter was addressed to God himself.
Answer:
It was nothing less than a letter to God.

Question 3.
The postman saw this address for the first time in
his career.
Answer:
Never in his career as a postman had he known that
address.
V. Metaphors

The word ‘metaphor9 comes from a Greek word

meaning ‘transfer’. Metaphors compare two things
or ideas : a quality or feature of one thing is
transferred to another thing. Some common
metaphors are

the teg of the table : The leg supports our body. So

the object that supports a table is described as a
leg.
the heart of the city : The heart is an important
organ in the centre of our body. So this word is used
to describe the central area of a city.
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 epidemic (a disease) that

spreads very rapidly and
leaves many people dead

An ox of a man

Answer
Object Metaphor Quality or feature
compared

Cloud Huge mountains of The mass or

clouds “hugeness’ of
mountains

Raindrops Coins, New silver Crop and its being

coins very good

Hailstones frozen pearls destruction of the

crop

Locusts A plague An epidemic (a

disease) that spreads
 An epidemic (a
disease) that spreads
very rapidly and
leaves many people
dead

Lencho An ox of a man his robustness,

strength and
resoluteness

SPEAKING
Have you ever been in great difficulty, and felt that
only a miracle could help you ? How was your
problem solved ? Speak about this in class with your
teacher.

Answer:

Yes, once I fell in a great difficulty. I had mild

asthma. I couldn’t take the medicine in time. In fact,
I forgot. The weather became cloudy and stuffy.
There came the asthmatic attack on me. I had my
inhaler with me. But it had only one puff. I puffed at
it. There was no relief. I started gasping for breath. I
saw my end was near as I gasped and gasped for
Breath. Suddenly, my mother found another
inhaler. She gave it to me to puff. I puffed and felt
some relief. I was at once taken to hospital.

LISTENING
Listen to the letter (given below ‘In This Lesson’)
read out by your teacher/on the audio tape. As you
listen fill in the table given below.
The writer apologises
(says sorry) because
The writer has sent this
to the reader
The writer sent it in the
month of
The reason for not
writing earlier
Sarah goes to
Who is writing to
whom ?
Where and when were
they last together

Answer:
Mainly to be attempted at class level with the help
of the teacher. The appropriate answers are given
below :

(a) she did not write to Art) for a very long time.
(b) after sending a birthday card
(c) September, 2005
(d) was the writer’s shifting from Bangalore to
Kanpur
(e) a primary school called ‘Little Feet’.
(f) Jaya is writing to Arti
(g) They were at Bangalore.