The Portrait of a Lady English Question Answers (Important)| Class 11 English Hornbill Book

CBSE Class 11 English Lesson 1 The Portrait of a Lady Question Answers (Important) from Hornbill Book

Class 11 English The Portrait of a Lady Question Answers – Looking for The Portrait of a Lady question answers (NCERT solutions) for CBSE Class 11 English Hornbill Book Chapter 1? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 11 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the exam. Our solutions provide a clear idea of how to write the answers effectively. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Chapter 1: The Portrait of a Lady now. The questions listed below are based on the latest CBSE exam pattern, wherein we have given NCERT solutions to the chapter’s extract based questions, short answer questions, and long answer questions.

Also, practising with different kinds of questions can help students learn new ways to solve problems that they may not have seen before. This can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better performance on exams. 

 

 

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Class 11 The Portrait of a Lady Important Question Answers Video

The Portrait of a Lady NCERT Solutions

1.   Mention the three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad.
Ans: The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad are as follows:

  1. First Phase: The period of his early childhood where he used to live with her in the village. His grandmother used to wake him up and get him ready for school. They both would walk to school together and come back home together. They had a good friendship with each other.
  2. Second Phase: In this phase, the author and his grandmother shifted to the city as the author’s parents settled well in the city. Although they shared the same room, this was the turning point of their friendship. Now, they saw less of each other.
  3. Third Phase: When the author went to the university, he was given a room of his own. This made their friendship bond weaker as the common link between them ‘the same room’ snapped. She became quieter and private and kept the spinning wheel all day long. She would feed the sparrows once a day and this was the only thing that made her happy now.

2.   Mention three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school.
Ans: When the author used to live in the village with her, they both had a good friendship. She used to wake him up, got him ready and would also accompany him to school. All this changed when they moved to the city. The grandmother was disturbed for the following reason:

  1. She no longer could help him in his lessons. As he started going to the English medium school, this became a barrier for her.
  2. There were no teachings about God and the scriptures.
  3. She didn’t like him taking the music lessons. According to her, music was only for beggars and harlots.

3. Mention three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.
Ans: His grandmother changed a lot since he grew up. She would spend her day at the spinning wheel, chanting prayers and feeding sparrows.

4. Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
Ans: She didn’t pray the evening before dying. She collected the women from the neighbourhood and started singing homecoming of the warriors with the help of the drum. The next morning when she fell ill, she said her end was near. She started praying peacefully while laying on her bed. She refused to talk to anyone during her last hours.

5. Mention the way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
Ans: The grandmother used to feed the sparrows in her verandah each day. She developed a special relationship with them. When she died, thousands of sparrows expressed their sorrow by sitting in a scattered way around her in the verandah. They didn’t chirrup and there was complete silence. The author’s mother tried to feed them by breaking the bread and throwing it in front of them. But they didn’t eat anything. When the family carried grandmother’s corpse, they all flew away quietly.

6. The author’s grandmother was a religious person. What are the different ways in which we come to know this?
Ans: When she lived in the village with the author, she used to sing prayers in a monotonous sound while getting him ready each morning. She used to walk the author to his school and then visit the temple attached to the school everyday. She would sit and read scriptures. Later when they moved to the city, she would carry the beads of the rosary with her all the time. She would continuously chant her prayers and her hand remained busy in telling the beads. When the author went to study at the university, she went into seclusion and spent her whole day in chanting prayers.

7. Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for each other change?
Ans: In the early days, they both shared a good bond. She would get him ready for school, accompany him and would come back with him later in the day. She would help him with his studies and would teach him prayers by singing in a monotonous tone every morning. When they moved to the city, their relationship was strained. He started going to an English medium school. She would no longer accompany him to the school or could not help him with the lessons. She didn’t like his new school as they never taught him about God or scriptures. Later, when he started taking music lessons, she disapproved of it as she thought that music was only for beggars or harlots. She stopped talking to him afterwards and would spend her day alone while chanting prayers.
When the author went to university and then abroad, their bond weakened. She would spin the wheel the whole day and chant her prayers. She accepted the seclusion.
No, their feelings for each other didn’t change but during the time, a distance developed between them.

8. Would you agree that the author’s grandmother was a person strong in character? If yes, give instances that show this.
Ans: Yes, the grandmother was a strong person in character. The instances to show this are as follows:

  1. She had her own thoughts about schools and their teachings. She considered learning scriptures a better thing than studying science or English.
  2. She didn’t like music as according to her, music was for low-level people.
  3. When the author went to the university, in seclusion, she would spin the wheel, chant prayers, tell beads and feed bread crumbs to the sparrows.
  4. When she sang the homecoming of the warriors for hours and didn’t stop even when her family tried a million times.
  5. During her last time, she didn’t want to waste any time talking to anyone so she lay silently on her bed and chanted her prayers till she died.

9. Which language do you think the author and his grandmother used while talking to each other?
Ans: The author and his grandmother used to talk to each other in their mother tongue. As the author belongs to Punjab state, they would talk in Punjabi language.

Grammar Exercises

I. Notice the following uses of the word “tell” in the text.

  1. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary.
  2. I would tell her English words and little things of Western science and learning.
  3. At her age one could never tell.
  4. She told us that her end was near.

Given below are four different senses of the word ‘tell’. Match the meanings to the uses listed above.

  1. Make something known to someone in spoken or written words
  2. Count while reciting
  3. Be sure
  4. Give information to somebody

Ans:

  1. I would tell her English words and little things of Western science and learning.
  2. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary.
  3. At her age one could never tell.
  4. She told us that her end was near.

II. Notice the different senses of the word ‘take’.

  1. to take to something: to begin to do something as a habit
  2. to take ill: to suddenly become ill

Locate these phrases in the text and notice the way they are used.

Ans: These phrases have been used in the story as follows:

  1. “… she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house”

She would feed sparrows daily in the verandah. She made this her habit when they moved to the city.

  1. “The next morning she was taken ill”

This phrase refers to the fact that the author’s grandmother was suddenly ill.

III. The word ‘hobble’ means to walk with difficulty because the legs and feet are in bad condition. Tick the words in the box below that also refer to a manner of walking.

haggle shuffle stride ride waddle
wriggle paddle swagger trudge slog

Ans: The words which also refers to a manner of walking are: shuffle, stride, waddle, swagger, trudge, and slog.

Class 11 English The Portrait of a Lady Question Answers Lesson 1 – Extract Based Questions

Extract-based questions are of the multiple-choice variety, and students must select the correct option for each question by carefully reading the passage.

 

A Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

My grandmother, like everybody’s grandmother, was an old woman. She had been old and wrinkled for the twenty years that I had known her. People said that she had once been young and pretty and had even had a husband, but that was hard to believe. My grandfather’s portrait hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing room. He wore a big turban and loose-fitting clothes. His long, white beard covered the best part of his chest and he looked at least a hundred years old.

 

1. Name the chapter.
A The Portrait of a Lady
B Landscape of the Soul
C Discovering Tut
D We are not Afraid to Die if we can all be Together
Ans A The Portrait of a Lady

2. Name the author.
A Khushwant Singh
B A.R. Williams
C Marga Minco
D Kalki
Ans A Khushwant Singh

3. What literary device is employed in “Like everyone’s grandmother”?
A Metaphor
B Simile
C Transferred Epithet
D Enjambment
Ans B Simile

4. Find out the synonym of ‘Pretty’ from the following?
A Beautiful
B Ugly
C Unattractive
D None of these
Ans A Beautiful

B Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

She had always been short and fat and slightly bent. Her face was a criss- cross of wrinkles running from everywhere to everywhere. No, we were certain she had always been as we had known her. Old, so terribly old that she could not have grown older, and had stayed at the same age for twenty years. She could never have been pretty; but she was always beautiful.

1. Who is ‘She’ in the above lines?
A Narrator’s Mother
B Narrator’s Grandmother
C Narrator’s Mother-in-law
D None of these

Ans B Narrator’s Grandmother

2. What was the physical state of hers?
A Middle-aged
B Young
C Old
D None of these

Ans C Old

3. Which of the following best describes “Fat”?
A Corpulent
B Skinny
C Lean
D None of these

Ans A Corpulent

4. Name the Chapter.
A Discovering Tut
B Ghat of The Only World
C The Adventure
D None of These

Ans D None of These

C Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

She hobbled about the house in spotless white with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other telling the beads of her rosary. Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. Yes, she was beautiful. She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment.

1. What does the narrator mean by ‘Silver locks’?
A Lock and Key
B Grey Hair
C Attire of Silver colour
D None of these

Ans B Grey Hair

2. Which poetic device is employed in “Pale puckered face”?
A Simile
B Metaphor
C Alliteration
D Zeugma
Ans C Alliteration

3. Find out the antonym of ‘Audible’ from the following.
A Unhearable
B Unsounded
C Imperceptible
D All of these
Ans D All of these

4. What does the word ‘Hobble’ mean?
A Walk quickly
B Limp
C Rush
D Hasten
Ans B Limp

D Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

She used to wake me up in the morning and get me ready for school. She said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song while she bathed and dressed me in the hope that I would listen and get to know it by heart; I listened because I loved her voice but never bothered to learn. it. Then she would fetch my wooden slate which she had already washed and plastered with yellow chalk.

1. Who looked after the narrator?
A His Grandmother
B His Mother
C His Father
D Both B and C
Ans A His Grandmother

2. Where did they both live?
A In a village
B In city
C In a metropolitan city
D None of these
Ans A In a village

3. Find out the antonym of ‘Monotonous’ from the following:
A Dull
B Boring
C Obsolete
D Exciting
Ans D Exciting

4. What did his grandmother always hold in her hands?
A Rosary
B Wooden Slate
C Food for Narrator
D All of these
Ans A Rosary

E Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow:

The priest taught us the alphabet and the morning prayer. While the children sat in rows on either side of the verandah singing the alphabet or the prayer in a chorus, my grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures. When we had both finished, we would walk back together. This time the village dogs would meet us at the temple door. They followed us to our home growling and fighting with each other for the chapattis we threw to them.

1. What did the grandmother do in the temple?
A Read scriptures
B Play with the kids
C Feed the dogs
D All of these
Ans A Read scriptures

2. Who made chapatis for dogs?
A Narrator
B His Grandmother
C Both of them
D None of them
Ans B His Grandmother

3. What does the word ‘Chorus’ mean?
A Sing in a group
B Sing alone
C Sing in a group of two
D Sing in a group of three
Ans A Sing in a group

4. Which literary device has been used in the line ‘They followed us to our home growling’?
A Onomatopoeia
B Transferred epithet
C Epithet
D Repetition
Ans A Onomatopoeia

 

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Class 11 English The Portrait of a Lady Question Answers (including questions from Previous Years Question Papers)

In this post we are also providing important short answer questions from Chapter 1 The Portrait of a Lady for CBSE Class 11 exams for the coming session.

Q1 Why was it hard for the author to believe that the grandmother was once young and pretty?
Ans The author found it difficult—almost repugnant—to imagine that his grandma had previously been young and attractive. During the last 20 years that he had seen her, he believed she could not get much older. Her playing games as a child seemed rather ridiculous and disrespectful just to think about.

Q2 The grandmother has been portrayed as a very religious lady. What details in the story create this impression?
Ans The author remembers his grandma as being a deeply devout person. He recalls her stumbling about the house while counting her rosary beads. He remembers her reading the Bible at the temple and saying her morning prayers. The author describes how she devoted her entire day to prayer during the past three days.

Q3 The grandmother had a divine beauty. How does the author bring it out?
Ans The grandmother possessed a wonderful beauty despite not being attractive. She wore pristine white clothing. Her pale, puckered face was covered in unruly silver hair, and her lips were moving inaudibly in a prayer. Her personification of “serenity, breathing peace and satisfaction,” according to the author, is “like the winter landscape in the Alps.”

Q4 What proof do you find of friendship between the grandmother and grandson in the story?
Ans The grandma and grandson had a close relationship. They shared a bedroom while she dressed him and walked him to and from his city school. When the author travelled overseas, his grandma silently bid him farewell and welcomed him back five years later by kissing him on the forehead.

Q5 The grandmother was a kind-hearted woman. Give examples in support of your answer.
Ans The grandmother was a compassionate person. She would give stale chapatis to the village dogs on her walk home from school. When they moved to the city, she started feeding the sparrows that came and perched on her head, shoulders, and legs.

Q6 “This was the turning point in our friendship.” What was the turning point?
Ans When they moved to the city, their friendship underwent a sea change. The grandmother was unable to accompany the writer to school and could not comprehend English, so they spent less time together. She didn’t trust science. She was unable to keep up with the author’s modern education from the city school.

Q7 Draw a comparison between the author’s village school education and city school education
Ans The alphabet and morning prayers were taught to the kids in the village school, which was connected to a temple. In the hamlet, the author walked to school with his grandmother; in the city, he used the school bus. He received instruction in science and Language but not in religion. He also studied music.

Q8 What was the happiest moment of the day for grandmother?
Ans The grandma said that feeding the sparrows in the city made her the happiest. She never pushed them away when they sat on her head, shoulders, or legs.

Q9 What was the last sign of physical contact between the author and the grandmother? Why did the author think that to be the last physical contact?
Ans The author spent five years travelling. His grandma gave him a kiss on the forehead. He assumed that this was their last exchange of physical contact. Because he was leaving for five years, he was worried that she wouldn’t make it till he got back.

Q10 Everybody including the sparrows mourned the grandmother’s death. Elaborate.
Ans Thousands of sparrows gathered and sat in the courtyard after the grandmother passed away. There were no bird chirps. They paid no attention to the breadcrumbs that the author’s mother had thrown for them. After the cremation, they silently took off after being overcome by grief at her passing.

Q11 Describe the author’s grandfather as he looked in his portrait.
Ans The grandfather was depicted as wearing loose-fitting clothing and a large turban. He appeared to be at least a century old because of his long, white beard, which covered the majority of his chest. According to the author, he had a grandfatherly appearance and was too old to have been a child.

Q12 How does the author describe his grandmother?
Ans According to the author, his grandma was short, chubby, and somewhat bent. He found it impossible to picture her as a young, attractive woman because, to him, she had remained the same for twenty years. He did, however, discover a beauty in her old age, like the peaceful winter scene.

Q13 How does the author react to the idea of the grandmother being young at a point of time and playing games?
Ans The author could not imagine his grandmother playing games and being young and attractive. It resembled one of the myths and fables she had told him, in his opinion.

Q14 How did the grandmother prepare the author for going to school?
Ans He was bathed, dressed, and ready for school each morning by his grandmother. She then made him breakfast, painted his wooden slate, and walked him to school. The grandma read the scriptures inside the temple as the author studied the alphabet and sang the morning prayers in the verandah.

Q15 Why was the grandmother distressed by the education imparted in the city school?
Ans The author’s grandma objected to their study of science in the English school. She did not believe in science and could not grasp English. She was disappointed that they weren’t taught about God. She disliked the music classes at school because she thought they were inappropriate for polite people.

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Class 11 The Portrait of a Lady Long Answer Questions Lesson 1

 

Q1 Elaborate on the beautiful bond of love and friendship between the author and his grandmother.
Ans When the author was still a young child, his parents moved to the city, leaving him in his grandmother’s custody. They had a close friendship. Every morning, she walked him to school after waking him up, bathing, dressing him, and plastering his wooden slate. The grandma read the scriptures inside the temple as he studied in the school verandah which was next to the village temple.
They shared a bedroom when they first moved to the city. She went to the train station to bid the writer farewell when he was leaving on an overseas trip, but she said nothing to him and instead just kissed his forehead. The writer treasured their last physical interaction before he left for a five-year absence, but his grandmother was waiting to welcome him back. When the writer returned after five years, that day, in the evening, she gathered a group of neighbourhood ladies, pounded the drum and sang for hours. That day she forgot to say her prayers for the first time.

Q2 The grandmother was not pretty but beautiful. How?
Ans The grandma was diminutive, elderly, chubby, and somewhat bowed. She hadn’t changed in twenty years, and the author thought she was past the point of further ageing. He found it hard to believe that she had been youthful and attractive. She was attractive to him, nevertheless, in a pure and serene way. He recalled her telling the rosary beads with unceasing vigour.
Her lips were constantly moving in an inaudible prayer as her silver hair was left down loosely over her pale, puckered face. She seemed calm and comfortable, just like the Alps in the winter.

Q3 Discuss the relevance of the title The Portrait of a Lady.
Ans Khushwant Singh creates a touching pen painting of his beloved and revered grandma. She wasn’t gorgeous, but in the author’s opinion, she was beautiful. She was calm and satisfied, like the peaceful winter scene in the Alps, as she prayed silently while twirling the rosary beads. She had a unique connection to the author.
When his grandma was studying the scriptures inside the temple, she got him ready and walked him to and from school while he sat on the porch. The author relates how, after he returned from his trip abroad, his grandmother gathered women from the neighbourhood, banged the drum, and sung for hours about the return of the warriors.
She forgot to say her prayers for the first time. She was a devout woman who loved her family and even dogs and sparrows; everyone, including the sparrows, lamented her passing. The author humanises and immortalises the elderly woman through his description.

Q4 From a foster mother in the village to a lonely old lady in the city describe the grandmother’s journey through the later part of her life.
Ans Khushwant Singh’s parents left his grandmother to take care of him when he was a little child after they moved to the city. They had a close friendship. His grandmother took care of him, helped him get ready, and led him there. Khushwant Singh observed his grandma reading scriptures inside the nearby temple while the other kids played in the school’s verandah.
Their bond changed after they moved to the city. All else had changed except for their shared bedroom. She was unable to walk with him to school as he travelled by the school bus. Their contact subsequently worsened since his grandmother could not comprehend or approve of his education in the city. Later, when he entered the university, he was given a separate room, which severely weakened their relationship. She then worked at her spinning wheel all day long, from dawn until dusk. She spun while saying her prayers as she sat there. She didn’t unwind until the late afternoon when she fed the sparrows.

Q5 Write a character sketch of the author’s grandmother based on your reading of the chapter.
Ans Despite not being attractive, the author’s grandma was to him a beautiful woman who embodied calm and contentment. She was a devout and devoted woman who was continuously reciting the rosary and moving her lips in whispered prayer. She was a kind and sympathetic person. She had a unique connection to the author.
Every morning she got him out of bed, gave him a bath, clothed him, painted his wooden slate, fed him breakfast, and walked him to school. She dutifully fed the birds and dogs as well, showing them warmth and generosity. She was a powerful woman who exhibited no emotion while the author was away from home, but when he returned, she gathered neighbours and pounded the drum and sung for hours about the return of the warriors.

Q6 The grandmother herself was not formally educated but was serious about the author’s education. How does the text support this?
Ans While she had no formal education, the author’s grandmother took her schooling very seriously. She was able to read the Bible. She understood the importance of education and made sure the author never missed class. She brought him breakfast, dressed him, plastered his wooden slate, and woke him up every morning. In school, they taught him the alphabet and the morning prayers. The granny read her scriptures while he studied in the school verandah.
She was unable to walk with him to school in the city since he opted for the school bus en route. He was currently enrolled in a science-focused English school. She did not believe in science and could not grasp English. She was dissatisfied because they were not taught about God. She was irritated by Khushwant Singh’s music lessons because of its suggestive overtones. She was curious about the author’s education.

Q7 Gradually the author and the grandmother saw less of each other and their friendship was broken. Was the distancing deliberate or due to the demands of the situation?
Ans The author’s parents moved to the city when he was a young lad, leaving him with his grandma. They had a close friendship. She spent the entire day with him and went with him to and from school.
But they sent for them once his parents had made a home in the city. This ultimately turned their friendship around. All else had changed except for their shared bedroom. She was unable to walk with him to school as he travelled by the school bus. He was currently enrolled in a science-focused English school.
The grandmother did not believe in science and could not grasp English. She was dissatisfied with his schooling because they were not taught about God. She felt worse after his school started giving music classes. But their relationship was further broken when he enrolled in college and was given a separate room. Although the distancing was not on purpose, the circumstances had a negative impact on their relationship.

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