NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 6 E. Animal families — Let us Learn

Each row on these two pages is one animal family: the father, the mother and the young one. Here is what is printed, set out so you can see the pattern.

What the pictures show: On page 71 the lion has a big dark mane and the lioness has none. The tiger is larger than the tigress, and the tiger cub is tiny. The rooster has a tall coloured tail and a red comb, the hen is plain brown, and the chick is a small yellow ball. The bull is dark brown with curved horns, the cow is white with a bell, and the calf is small. On page 72 the stallion is dark brown, the mare is white with a black mane, and the foal is a light brown baby horse with long thin legs.

Two patterns worth learning:

1. The -ess pattern. Add -ess to the male word and you get the female: lion → lioness, tiger → tigress. (In tigress the e of tiger is dropped first.) This works for many words — prince/princess, host/hostess.
2. Some families use a different word for each one. There is nothing of “rooster” inside “hen”, and nothing of “bull” inside “cow”. These words simply have to be learnt.