NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 1 A Bottle of Dew — Let us speak

Book page 10 & 11 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.

Read aloud the following words from the story: sage, promising, wisdom, trees, surprise. … Your teacher will now say some words. Listen carefully to the sound of ‘s’. Write the sound next to the word. (beds, sand, clothes, sea, was, keys, bags, nose)

Answer

Word	Sound of ‘s’	Say it like
beds	/z/	bedz
sand	/s/	sand
clothes	/z/	klothz
sea	/s/	see
was	/z/	woz
keys	/z/	keez
bags	/z/	bagz
nose	/z/	nohz

The rule you can hear: Put a finger on your throat. If the sound just before the ‘s’ makes your throat buzz (d, th, g, ee, o), the ‘s’ becomes /z/ — beds, bags, keys, nose. If there is no buzz, or if ‘s’ starts the word, it stays /s/ — sand, sea, sage. In surprise both happen: the first ‘s’ is /s/ and the last is /z/.

Try This: Sort these the same way — cats, dogs, books, pens, cups, boys. (Answer: /s/ in cats, books, cups; /z/ in dogs, pens, boys.)

Q2.

Discuss with a partner: What does hard work mean to you? (It means … / It is something … / Well, you see … / What I mean is …)

Answer

Begin with one of the hints given in brackets, give your meaning in one sentence, and then add an example so that your partner can picture it.

Sample answer: “Well, you see, hard work means doing a job properly even when nobody is watching and even when it is boring. It is something you keep doing every single day, not just on the day before the test. What I mean is — like Rama Natha, who went out every winter morning to collect a few drops of dew, and kept at it for six years.”

Q3.

Give three reasons why you think hard work is important. (Firstly, I feel … because … / Secondly, I think … since … / Lastly, I believe … as …)

Answer

Use the three linking phrases so that your partner can follow your three points clearly.

Sample answer:

“Firstly, I feel hard work is important because nothing worth having comes on its own — Rama Natha's gold coins came from six years of farming, not from a potion.”
“Secondly, I think hard work builds skill since every time we repeat something we get better at it, whether it is a table in Maths or a cover drive in cricket.”
“Lastly, I believe hard work gives us confidence as we know we have earned the result ourselves, so nobody can take that pride away from us.”

Q4.

Share three ideas you would give to someone who needs to work hard. (To begin with, it is important that … / Next, you could … / Finally, I think you should …)

Answer

Give advice you can actually follow — a small daily action beats a grand promise.

Sample answer:

“To begin with, it is important that you fix one small goal for the day, like ten sums or one page of handwriting, instead of saying ‘I will study a lot’.”
“Next, you could keep a fixed time and a fixed corner for work, and put the phone in another room while you work.”
“Finally, I think you should tick off each day on a calendar and reward yourself after seven ticks — seeing the row of ticks keeps you going, just as the rising dew level kept Rama Natha going.”

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