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NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 2 B. Think and answer — Let us Think

Book page 16 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
What would you have done if, like Gopi, you had found a ball that did not belong to you?
Answer

This is your own answer, so it will not be exactly the same as anybody else’s. But the story shows you the right idea — Gopi said, “I can’t keep this ball for myself. I will ask around.”

What a good answer needs: say clearly that you would try to find the owner, then say how you would try, and finish with what you would do if the owner never came.

Sample answer: I would do exactly what Gopi did. I would not keep the ball, because it is not mine. First I would look outside my gate to see if any child was searching for it. Then I would take it to the playground in the evening and ask my friends whether anyone had lost a ball. I would ask them to describe it before I showed it, so that only the real owner could claim it. If nobody claimed it in a week, I would hand it over to my class teacher and tell her where I found it. Keeping something that belongs to another child would spoil my own game.

Why asking for a description is clever: Ramani said the ball was hers, but she could not say what colour it was. When you ask the owner to describe the thing first, the true owner can, and a false one cannot.
Q2.
Imagine what happens to the hockey ball after it is taken away by the scooter. Where does it go? Who finds it?
Answer

This question asks you to imagine — so there is no single right answer. But a good imagined story must still make sense with the real story: the ball is in the basket of a moving scooter, and the rider does not know it is there.

What a good answer needs: say where the scooter goes, how the ball leaves the basket, who picks it up, and what happens to it in the end. Write it as a small story, in full sentences.

Sample answer: The scooter turned left at the corner and went down the main road. The ball sat quietly in the basket among a packet of onions and a bundle of coriander. The scooterist rode home, parked the scooter and carried the vegetables inside. He never once looked at the ball. In the evening his little daughter, Meera, came out to take her cycle. She saw the white ball in the basket and shouted, “Whose ball is this?” Her father was as surprised as she was. He said it must have flown in from somewhere on the way. Meera was learning hockey at school, and she had no ball of her own. So she kept it for two days and asked at her school about it. When nobody claimed it there, her father took her back along the same road. They saw a playground with a gate, and some children playing hockey inside. Meera walked in and held up the ball. Gopi and his friends began to laugh all over again — and this time Meera stayed and played with them.

What makes this a good imagined ending: It keeps every fact of the real story — the basket, the rider who does not notice, the road past the playground. It only adds what the story left out. An imagined answer should never break the facts you were given.
Q3.
Notice that the scooterist is wearing a helmet. Why is it important to wear a helmet? Should the pillion rider also wear a helmet?
Answer

A helmet is important because it protects the head, and yes — the pillion rider must also wear one.

The pillion rider is the person sitting behind the rider on a two-wheeler.

Why a helmet matters:

  1. The head holds the brain, and the brain controls everything we do — walking, talking, thinking, seeing.
  2. The skull is strong, but it cannot take a hard knock on the road. A helmet has a hard shell outside and a soft, thick layer inside. The shell spreads the blow, and the soft layer soaks it up.
  3. In a fall, a person is thrown forward and the head often hits the ground first. A helmet stands between the head and the road.
  4. A helmet with a clear visor also keeps dust, insects and rain out of the eyes, so the rider can see the road properly.

Why the pillion rider needs one too: In a fall, the person sitting behind is thrown just as hard as the person driving. The road does not know who was steering. Wearing a helmet is also the law in India for both riders, and the helmet must be strapped under the chin — an unstrapped helmet flies off and does nothing.

Sample answer: The scooterist in the picture is wearing a helmet because it protects his head if he falls. Our head holds the brain, and a hurt brain is very hard to mend. Yes, the pillion rider should also wear a helmet, because in an accident the person sitting behind falls just as hard as the rider. In our family my father does not start the scooter until my mother has fastened her helmet strap.
Other road-safety rules for a two-wheeler: never carry more than two people; stop at every red light; do not use a mobile phone while riding; and always ride on the correct side of the road.
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