In Class 10 English, the first lesson is “A Letter to God” which is a heart-warming story about a farmer who writes a letter to God to request help. As part of the textbook exercises, students are asked to answer comprehension questions and solve oral comprehension exercises based on the story. In this post, we will explore the different solutions to these exercises and gain a deeper understanding of the story and its themes.
Intext Oral Comprehension Check Question Answers
Page: 5
- What did Lencho hope for?
- Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
- How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
- What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Answers:
- Lencho hoped for rain to water his field of ripe corn and ensure a good harvest.
- Lencho said the raindrops were like ‘new coins’ because he believed they were a blessing from God, bringing much-needed rain to his crops.
- The rain changed when a strong wind began to blow, and large hailstones fell, destroying Lencho’s crops completely. The hailstorm devastated the field, leaving it white and without any crops or flowers.
- When the hail stopped, Lencho’s feelings were of sadness and despair. He realized that the hail had destroyed his entire crop, and there was nothing left for them to harvest. He said that they would all go hungry that year, and it was a sorrowful night for him and his family.
Page: 6
- Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
- Who read the letter?
- What did the postmaster do then?
Answers:
- Lencho had faith in God and he wrote a letter to God asking for help. He needed a hundred pesos to sow his field again after a hailstorm had destroyed his crops.
- The letter was read by one of the employees at the post office who was a postman and helped at the post office.
- The postmaster, who was amused by the letter, decided to answer it to not shake Lencho’s faith in God. However, he realized that he could not fulfill Lencho’s request for a hundred pesos. Instead, he asked for donations from his employees and friends, and he himself gave part of his salary. He sent Lencho a little more than half the amount he had asked for, along with a letter signed with the word “God”.
Page: 7
- Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
- What made him angry?
Answers:
- Lencho was not surprised to find a letter for him with money in it. He had written a letter to God asking for help, and he believed that God had answered his request.
- Lencho became angry when he counted the money because he had asked for 100 pesos, but only received 70 pesos. He believed that God would not have made a mistake or denied him what he had requested, so he thought that someone at the post office had stolen the missing money.
‘A Letter to God’ Textbook Exercise Solutions
Thinking About Text
1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Ans. Lencho has complete faith in God. The sentences in the story that show this are: The following Sunday, at daybreak, he began to write a letter which he himself would carry to town and place in the mail. It was nothing less than a letter to God.”, and “He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town.”.
2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?
Ans. The postmaster sends money to Lencho because he wants to help him and doesn’t want to shake Lencho’s faith in God. He signs the letter ‘God’ to make it seem like the money came from God, as that is who Lencho had asked for help in his letter. All this was done, though amusingly, to maintain Lencho’s faith in God.
3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
Ans. No, Lencho does not try to find out who had sent the money to him because he believes that it was God who had sent it. He does not doubt his faith and trusts that God will provide for him.
4. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.)
Ans. Lencho thinks that the post office employees have taken the rest of the money. The irony in the situation is that Lencho, who has complete faith in God, accuses the post office employees of being dishonest and untrustworthy. In reality, it is the postmaster who has gone out of his way to help Lencho, but Lencho does not realize this and believes that the post office employees are to blame for the missing money.
The irony in the situation shifts the blame onto charity itself, and unexpectedly, the Post Master gains the sympathy of the readers instead of Lencho, who was initially the recipient of their sympathy.
5. Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.
Ans. There are people like Lencho in the real world who may be described as naive and unquestioning. Lencho has complete faith in God and believes that he will be helped in his time of need. He is not greedy or selfish as he only asks for what he needs to support his family. However, he may be seen as a bit comical in his belief that God will send him money through the mail. Despite receiving a significant amount of money, he is ungrateful and accuses the post office employees of stealing the rest of the money.
6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Ans. The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated through the hailstorm that destroys Lencho’s crops, leaving him and his family with no means of sustenance. This conflict is a natural disaster that is beyond human control and highlights the vulnerability of human beings in the face of nature’s fury.
On the other hand, the conflict between humans themselves is illustrated through the post office employees’ response to Lencho’s letter to God. They initially laughed at the idea of someone writing a letter to God and then conspired to send him a partial amount of the money he had requested. Lencho’s reaction to this situation shows how he feels cheated by the people he trusted to deliver his message to God. This conflict is a result of human greed and the abuse of power by those in authority, and it shows the darker side of human nature.
Thinking about Language
I. There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks?
| gale whirlwind stupid cyclone hurricane tornado typhoon |
1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle __ __ c __ __ __ __
(Ans. cyclone)
2. An extremely strong wind __ a __ __
(Ans. gale)
3. A violent tropical storm with very strong wind __ __ p __ __ __ __
(Ans. typhoon)
4. A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel __ __ __ n __ __ __
(Ans. tornado)
5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the Western Atlantic Ocean __ __ r __ __ __ __ __ __
(Ans. hurricane)
6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage __ __ __ __ l __ __ __ __
(Ans. whirlwind)
II. Match the sentences in column A with the meaning of ‘hope’ in column B.
| A | B | |
| Will you get the subjects you want to study in college? I hope so. | – | a feeling that something good will probably happen. |
| 1 hope you don’t mind my saying this but 1 don’t like the way you are arguing. | – | thinking that this would happen (it may or may not have happened.) |
| This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers. | – | stopped believing that this good thing would happen. |
| We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes. | – | wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible) |
| I called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school. | – | showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person a way of being polite. |
| Just when everybody had given up hope, the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone. | – | wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely. |
Answers
| A | B | |
| Will you get the subjects you want to study in college? I hope so. | – | thinking that this would happen (it may or may not have happened.) |
| 1 hope you don’t mind my saying this but 1 don’t like the way you are arguing. | – | showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person a way of being polite. |
| This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers. | – | a feeling that something good will probably happen. |
| We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes. | – | wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely. |
| 1 called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school. | – | wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible) |
| Just when everybody had given up hope, the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone. | – | stopped believing that this good thing would happen. |
III. Relative Clauses
Q. Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which, as suggested.
1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)
Ans. I often go to Mumbai which is the commercial capital of India.
2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)
Ans. My Mother who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.
3. These sportspersons are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent, (whose)
Ans. These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.
4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds, (whose)
Ans. Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.
5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)
Ans. This man whom I trusted cheated me.
IV. Using Negatives for Emphasis
Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.
1. Tree had lost all their leaves.
Ans: Not a leaf remained on the trees.
2. The letter was addressed to God himself.
Ans. It was nothing than a letter of God.
3. The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.
Ans. Never in his career as a postman had he seen that address.
V. METAPHORS
In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to say what qualities are being compared. One has been done for you.
| Object | Metaphor | Quality or Feature Compared |
| Cloud | Huge mountains of clouds | The mass or ‘hugeness’ of mountains |
| Raindrops | Coins | Money that a good crop will bring |
| Hailstones | Frozen pearls | brightness of pearls |
| Locusts | a plague of locusts | An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead |
| Lencho | An ox of a man | strong |
Answers:
| Object | Metaphor | Quality or Feature Compared |
| Cloud | Huge mountains of clouds | The mass or ‘hugeness’ of mountains |
| Raindrops | Coins | Money that a good crop will bring |
| Hailstones | Frozen pearls | brightness of pearls |
| Locusts | a plague of locusts | An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead |
| Lencho | An ox of a man | strong |
VI – SPEAKING
Q. Have you ever been in great difficulty, and felt that only a miracle could help you? How was your problem solved? Speak about this in class with your teacher.
Ans. One summer afternoon, I decided to take a hike through the woods. The sun was beating down on me, and I could feel the sweat pouring down my face. As I walked deeper into the woods, I noticed a faint sound in the distance. It sounded like someone was crying out for help.
I quickened my pace and soon came upon a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a young girl, no more than ten years old, who had slipped and fallen into a pit. The pit was deep, and she was unable to climb out.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I lowered myself into the pit to try and help her. But as I reached for her hand, I lost my footing and tumbled down with her.
As we fell, my mind raced with thoughts of what could happen to us. Would we be stuck here, trapped and alone with no one to hear our cries for help? But in that moment of fear and uncertainty, something miraculous happened.
The girl’s backpack, which she had been wearing at the time of her fall, had caught on a nearby branch. The weight of the backpack had slowed our fall, and we landed softly on the ground below.
In the end, we were both unharmed, and I was able to help the girl climb out of the pit. As we walked back to civilization, I couldn’t help but feel grateful for the small miracle that had saved us from harm.
VII – LISTENING
Q. Listen to the letter (given under ‘In this Lesson’) read out by your teacher/on the audio tape. As you listen fill in the table given below:
Answer:
| The writer apologises (says sorry) because | he could not write to her earlier |
| The writer has sent this to the reader | a birthday card. |
| The writer has sent it in the month of | November, 2008 |
| The reason for not writing earlier | was the writer being very busy |
| Sarah goes to | a school called ‘Little Feet’ |
| Who is writing to whom | Mohan to Sohan |
| Where and when were they last together? | Delhi, in July 2008 |