Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions Chapter 5 – The Hundred Dressess – 1

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight (Textbook in English for class X) covering all question answers of lessons and poetry and Footprints without feet (Supplementary Reader) updated for new academic session.

Revision Notes Class 10 English

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED

Page No: 65 Oral Comprehension Check

1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Ans: Wanda used to sit in penultimate row of benches, in room thirteen. She is from a poor family and looks untidy ,her feet were normally caked with dry mud and very dirty. So in order to avoid being laughed at by her classmates, she sat there to hide herself from the class.

2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
Ans: Wanda lives at Boggins Heights. It seems that it is a place far away from the school and the fact that her shoes are covered in mud gives an idea that Boggins Heights is not a developed area, more likely, it could be like some unplanned colony or a slum area.

3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Ans: Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence after three days, i.e., on Wednesday because they wanted to be with her for a lot of fun. They waited for her for a long time but she didn’t turn up.

4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Ans: Wanda was a quiet and shy girl .Because of her looks and dirty feet,these girls used to make fun of her. Here,”to have fun with her” means that they liked to tease Wanda .This gave them a lot of pleasure.

Page No: 67 Oral Comprehension Check

1. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Ans: Wanda was different from other children. She did not have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that did not fit her properly. Unlike other children, she did not talk to anybody or had different dresses to wear.

2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Ans: No, she did not have a hundred dresses because she was poor and wore the same faded dress to school everyday. She had an inferiority complex. In order to hide the complex and impress the other girls, she always said that she had a hundred dresses.She exaggerated this , may be because she did not want others to make fun of her.

3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Ans: Maddie was embarrassed by the questions Peggy asked Wanda because she too belonged to a poor family. She usually wore old and already worn clothes, which were given by some other people. She did not feel sorry for Wanda but instead, was worried for herself that perhaps later, everyone would start teasing her too. She thought she was different from Wanda in the sense that she would never claim that she had a hundred dresses. She was not as poor as Wanda. But could understand the trauma that Wanda went through when the others mocked her.

Page No: 70 Oral Comprehension Check

1. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggie to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Ans: Maddie didn’t ask Peggie to stop teasing Wanda because Peggie was her best friend and she had faith in Peggie that she would never do anything wrong. She was afraid that she also might be laughed at for her poor dresses.

2. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
Ans: Maddie thought that Peggy would win the drawing contest because Peggy drew better than anyone else. She was a confident girl who had build a strong  reputation among her classmates.She could copy a picture in a magazine, or some film star’s face so well that one could easily guess  who it was.

3. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Ans: Wanda won the drawing contest. The winner of drawing contest was appreciated by the judges and applauded by her fellow classmates.She made a drawing of a hundred dresses.

Thinking about the Text

1. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Ans : Wanda is seen as different by the other girls.She is poor and a lonely girl. They treated her as inferior to them and always made fun of her.The girls teased her by commenting on her dress and dirty feet.

2. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Ans: Wanda did not show any feelings regarding the dresses game. It is most likely that she was deeply hurt.But she maintained a stoic face and showed that she was made of tough nerves. .She was a girl who was very poor and came form a long distance which made her feet dirty. She wanted to draw attention of her friends. So, she felt very happy whenever she told her friend that she had hundred dresses without realizing that they were making fun of her.

3. Why does Maddie stand by and not do anything? How is she different from Peggy? (Was Peggy’s friendship important to Maddie? Why? Which lines in the text tell you this?)
Ans: Maddie always stood by and never did anything as she was afraid that if she did, she would loose Peggy’s friendship. She was a poor girl and therefore, felt that if she spoke against the others, they would target her next. Unlike her, Peggy was a rich girl. This was also the reason why Maddie could think from Wanda’s point of view, but Peggy could not. Maddie was Peggy’s best friend. It seemed as if she was in awe of Peggy. She admired her quite a lot as she said that Peggy was the most liked girl in the room and that she drew better than anyone else. She did not have the courage to go against her. Some of the lines from the text which show that Peggy’s friendship was important to Maddie are as follows.
(i) Peggy, who had thought up this game, and Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave.
(ii) She was Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room.
(iii) Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought.
(iv) Oh, Maddie was sure Peggy would win.

4. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Ans: Miss mason appreciated the paintings of Wanda. She was impressed at the creativity of the girl because she had painted hundred paintings which were in wide range of variety and worthy of winning a medal.The children also admired the drawings. Everybody stopped and whistled or murmured admiringly. After Miss Mason had announced that Wanda was the winner, they burst into applause, and even the boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor and whistle. Also, just as Peggy and Maddie entered the room, they stopped short and gasped. Later they recognized the designs as those which Wanda had described to them. And in the end, Peggy exclaimed, “…and I thought I could draw.” This shows that she also realized how good Wanda’s drawings were.

Page No: 71 Thinking about the Language

I. Combine the following to make sentences like those above.

1. This is the bus (what kind of bus?) It goes to Agra. (use which or that)
2. I would like to buy (a) shirt (which shirt?). (The) shirt is in the shop window. (use which or that)
3. You must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky. (use when)
4. Find a word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z. (use which or that).
5. Now find a person (what kind of person). His or her name begins with the letter Z. (use whose)
6. Then go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in that place. (use where)
Ans: 1. This is the bus which goes to Agra.
2. I would like to buy the shirt that is in the shop window.
3. You must break your fast when you see the moon in the sky.
4. Find a word which begins with the letter Z.
5. Now find a person whose name begins with the letter Z.
6. Then go to a place where there are no people whose name begins with Z.

II. 1. Can you say whose point of view the italicized words express?

(i) But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down in front with other children who got good marks and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did notice that Wanda wasn’t there.
(ii) Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in Room Thirteen didn’t have names like that. They had names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen.
Ans: (i) In the given sentence, the italicized words express the point of view of Peggy and Maddie.
(ii) In the given sentence, the italicized words express the point of view of the narrator.

Page No: 72

III. Look at this sentence. The italicized adverb expresses an opinion or point of view.

Obviously, the only dress Wanda had was the blue one she wore every day. (This was obvious to the speaker.)
Other such adverbs are apparently, evidently, surprisingly, possibly, hopefully, incredibly, luckily. Use these words appropriately in the blanks in the sentences below. (You may use a word more then once and more than one word may be appropriate for a given blank.)
1. ____________, he finished his work on time.
2. ____________, it will not rain on the day of the match.
3. _____________, he had been stealing money from his employer.
4. Television is___________to blame for the increase in violence in society.
5. The children will_____________learn from their mistakes.
6. I can’t________________lend you that much money.
7. The thief had_____________been watching the house for many days.
8. The thief______________escaped by bribing the jailor.
9. _________________, no one had suggested this before.
10. The water was________________hot.
Ans: 1. Surprisingly, he finished his work on time.
2. Hopefully, it will not rain on the day of the match.
3. Evidently, he had been stealing money from his employer.
4. Television is evidently to blame for the increase in violence in society.
5. The children will hopefully learn from their mistakes.
6. I can’t possibly lend you that much money.
7. The thief had apparently been watching the house for many days.
8. The thief possibly escaped by bribing the jailor.
9. Surprisingly, no one had suggested this before.
10. The water was incredibly hot.