NCERT Solutions For Class 7 English Honeycomb Chivvy (Poem)

Page No: 70

A Working with the Poem

Question 1:
Discuss these questions in small groups before you answer them.

1. When is a grown-up likely to say this? Don’t talk with your mouth full.
2. When are you likely to be told this? Say thank you.
3. When do you think an adult would say this? No one thinks you are funny.

Solution:

1. The grown-ups are likely to tell the children not to talk while their mouth is full of food.
2. The children are likely to be reminded to Say thank you when they receive a gift or a favour from someone.
3. Adults are likely to tell children, ‘no one thinks you are funny’ when the children are too shy to speak or perform before the others.

Question 2:
The last two lines of the poem are not prohibitions or instructions. What is the adult now asking the child to do? Do you think the poet is suggesting that this is unreasonable? Why?
Solution:
The adult is now asking the child to think independently. The poet finds this entirely unreasonable because the young child has not been trained to use his mind. He has only been trained to follow the instructions given by the adults.

Question 3:
Why do you think grown-ups say the kind of things mentioned in the poem? Is it important that they teach children good manners, and how to behave in public?
Solution:
The adults constantly give instructions to their children for various reasons. They try to train them to behave in a decent, well-mannered and Sophisticated way. This, however, robs away their childlike innocence.

Question 4:
If you had to make some rules for grown-ups to follow, what would you say? Make at least five Such rules. Arrange the lines as in a poem.
Solution:
Don’t dictate and impose your rules. Your ways and thinking is different from ours and so are the times. Don’t talk over the phone while eating. Please spend some time with us.

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1:
Why do the grown-ups tell the children not to talk with their mouth full?
Solution:
The grown-ups tell the children not to talk with their mouth ful of food because it is bad manners to talk while eating.

Question 2:
What all instructions are given by the adults regarding noise?
Solution:
The adults tell the children not to make much noise, neither while talking nor while eating or walking.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1:
What happens when the adults give too many instructions to their children?
Solution:
When the adults give too many instructions to their children, they kill their children’s spontaneity and willingness to use his/her mind to understand life. These instructions rob away their innocence, making them dependent on their elders.

Extract Based Question

Directions (Q. Nos. 1-6) Read the extract given below and answer the following questions.

Sit up
Say please
Less noise
Shut the door behind you
Don’t drag your feet
Haven’t you got a hankie?
Take your hands out of your pocket
Pull your socks up
Stand straight.

Question 1:
Why is the child asked to stand straight?
Solution:
The child is asked to stand straight because that shows that he is attentive.

Question 2:
What does walking by dragging feet suggest?
Solution:
Dragging feet while walking suggests bad manners.

Question 3:
Make a sentence of your own using the word ‘drag.’
Solution:
My brother forcibly dragged me to the fete.

Question 4:
Who is giving these instructions?
(a) The poet
(b) An adult
(c) A child
(d) The teacher
Solution:
(b) An adult

Question 5:
To whom are these instructions being addressed?
(a) The poet
(b) An adult
(c) A child
(d) The teacher
Solution:
(c) A child

Question 6:
Why would the child need a hankie?
(a) To clean his mouth.
(b) To clean his shoes.
(c) To clean his bag.
(d) To clean his slate.
Solution:
(a)To clean his mouth.