Class 9 English Chapter 1 Question Answer
The Fun They Had Question & Answer
Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
Q1. How old are Margie and tommy?
Answer: Margie was eleven years old and Tommy was thirteen.
Q2. What did Margie write in her diary?
Answer: Margie wrote about that night in her diary. On the page headed 17 May 2157, she wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!”
Answer: No, Margie had never seen a book before. She has always seen a digital book.
Q4. What things about the book did she find strange?
Answer: She turned the pages, which were totally yellow and crinkly, and it was funny to read words that stood still and not moving.
Q5. What do you think a telebook is?
Answer: A telebook is a book which you can read on a Television screen . It has the qualities of a book but movies on a Television.
Q6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
Answer: Margie’s school was just right next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.
Q7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Answer: Tommy learnt history and mathematics and Margie learnt mathematics and geography.
The fun they had Summary
Extract based Questions on The fun they had
Q I. Answer the following with reference to the story.
(a) “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
1 Who says these words ?
2 What does ‘it’ refer to ?
3 What is it being compared with by the speaker ?
Answers:
(i) These words were said by Margie.
(ii) ’It’ refers to the book that was found by Tommy.
(iii) The speaker compares it with a Telebook
(b) “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”
1 Who does ‘they’ refer to ?
2 What does ‘regular’ mean here ?
3 What is it contrasted with ?
Answer:
(i) They refers to Tommy's grandfather’s grandfather.
(ii) Here, regular refers to the mechanical teacher then they had.
(iii) It is odd with a normal teacher of sooner times, who was a living human being.
Q II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
(a) What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
Answer: Margie and Tommy had a mechanical teacher. They were taught on computers .They did not have any living person as a teacher who would teach the students in the class.
(b) Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
Answers: The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.
Answer: He slowed down the mechanical teacher's pace and set its geography level to Margie's mental level. The speed of the mechanical teacher was controlled and adjusted according to Margie's IQ level.
(d) Why was Margie doing badly in geography ? What did the County Inspector do to help her ?
Answer: The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse because the geography sector of mechanical teacher was geared a little too quick. He slowed down the mechanical teacher's pace and set its geography level to Margie's mental level. The speed of the mechanical teacher was controlled and adjusted according to Margie's IQ level.
Answer: They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely and Tommy relaxed for the that period.
(f) Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
Answer: Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.
(g) How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
Answer: Tommy describes the old kind of schools by telling that that they had special buildings. All the kids from the neighbourhood came in there, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the class rooms and going home together at the end of the day. They learned the same things, so they could help one another with the homework and talk about it. And the teacher was a real human being.
Answer: He says that there were special building and all the kids went there to study. The teachers would give them homework. They were living human beings.
Long Answer Questions - The Fun they Had
III. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100-150 words).
(a) What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story ?
Answer: Margie and Tommy have mechanical teachers. They do not need to go school the school was in their room. The mechanical teacher is placed in one of the rooms of the house and they can get the knowledge of various subjects individually from the mechanical teacher. They don’t have such classrooms where students sit together. They study from the telebooks. So they don’t require books. The examination system is very different. Margie has to write them out in a punch code. She learnt it when she was six years old. So the system of their education is technologically advanced and not based on printed books.
(b)Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun?
Answer: Margie always hated school, but now she hated it more than ever. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse. It was in her house. She was supposed to sit in that room alone to complete her homework or assignments. The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers. She thought that the old schools must have been fun because the students used to sit together in the classroom. They enjoyed, laughed and shouted in the schoolyard. Children needed company to enhance their skills. If they are isolated, they get depressed and dejected.
Answer: Yes today’s schools are more funny than the future school discussed in the story. This school has nothing but a mechanical teacher with no emotions. It does not have the ability to understand the child. Moreover, it guides a student according to its adjusted modes. But today’s schools work for the overall development of a child. They learn the same thing. The teachers are real human beings. They learn how to adapt themselves to the new surrounding. The students sit and learn together.
