CBSE Class 9 English Chapter 1 The Fun They Had (Important) from Beehive Book
Class 9 English The Fun They Had Question Answers – Looking for The Fun They Had question answers (NCERT solutions) for CBSE Class 9 English Beehive Book Chapter 1? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 9 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 Fun They Had 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.
- The Fun They had NCERT Solution
- The Fun They Had Extract Based Questions
- The Fun They Had Short Answer Questions
- The Fun They Had Long Answer questions
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The Fun they Had NCERT Solution
Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
Ans. Margie and Tommy live in the future, in the year 2157. They are neighbours and spend time together. Margie is a girl of eleven years of age while Tommy is a boy of thirteen.
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
Ans On 17 May 2157, Margie wrote that that day Tommy had found a real book in the attic of his house. It was an old book with yellow, crinkly pages.
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
Ans. No, Margie had not seen a book before the one found by Tommy in his house. She had only heard from her grandfather that his grandfather went to school as a boy and that they read books that were printed on paper.
4.What things about the book did she find strange?
Ans. As Margie lived in an era where students studied from a mechanical teacher and all the books appeared on the screen, she found it strange that the words on the printed book did not move. It was strange to see the same words appear on the pages as she flipped them over.
5.What do you think a telebook is?
Ans. A telebook is an electronic book also known as an e-book. It is stored in a computer and can be read by scrolling up or down the screen.
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
Ans.Margie’s school was in her house. It was a room next to her bedroom. It was a personal classroom where the computer was adjusted to her level of learning. She studied by herself and had no classmates.
7.What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Ans.Margie and Tommy learned a lot of subjects like Geography, History and Mathematics.
Answer the following with reference to the story.
1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
Ans. Tommy says these words.
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
Ans. ‘It’ refers to the Computer screen on which Tommy reads various books.
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
Ans. ‘It’ is being compared to the paper book that Tommy found in his house.
2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
Ans ‘They’ refers to the ancestors of the children who went to school and studied from a human teacher.
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
Ans.‘Regular’ means the mechanical teacher which teaches Margie and Tommy.
(iii) What is it contrasted with?
Ans.The mechanical teacher is contrasted with a human teacher.
Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
Ans. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They were computers which had preloaded lessons on different subjects according to the learner’s level. Whenever they malfunctioned, they were opened and repaired.
2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
Ans. Margie’s mother called the County Inspector to check Margie’s teacher. She thought that probably, Margie’s teacher had a malfunction. Margie was failing the Geography tests repeatedly which could be due to a fault in the teacher.
3. What did he do?
Ans. The County Inspector was trained to repair the computer teacher. He opened the machine and checked it. The Geography sector was set on a higher level. He reset it to Margie’s level and closed the teacher.
4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector Do to help her
Ans. Margie was failing in the Geography tests as the teacher had developed a fault. The County Inspector told Margie’s mother that Margie was not at fault. Her progress was good. He reset the teacher to Margie’s level.
5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
Ans. Once Tommy’s teacher had developed a fault as the entire section on History had been deleted. His teacher had been taken for repairs and it took them a month to set it right.
6.Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?
Ans. Margie studied at the same time everyday, except Saturdays and Sunday. Her mother was very particular and had told Margie that she would learn better if she studied at the same time every day.
7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
Ans. Tommy said that in the old kind of schools, there was a man teacher who told a few things to the students, gave them home work and then asked them questions. The man teacher was as knowledgeable as the machine teacher.
8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
Ans. He says that the old teachers were not the regular kind they had. They were human beings and not machines.
Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 –150 words).
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?
Ans. Margie and Tommy were taught by mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on which the lessons appeared. The lessons were followed by questions. The students had to insert homework and test papers in the slots provided. They had to write down the work in a punch code which was a computing language. The mechanical teacher checked the papers and gave them marks within a few seconds. These classrooms were in the student’s home itself. Every student studied from his respective mechanical teacher. Each teacher was adjusted according to the level of the learner. They did not have classmates. They studied various subjects like Geography, History and Mathematics. Margie studied everyday at the same time except Saturdays and Sundays. Her mother said that she would learn better if she studied that way. The learning process was mechanical, dull and boring for them.
2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun
Ans. Margie hated school because it was not fun. There was a mechanical teacher and the learning process lacked life. It was like a machine carrying out the usual working, there was nothing new, no fun or laughter. Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her tests in Geography and she was performing bad at them. Later it was discovered that the teacher had developed a fault due to which it was giving her tests of a higher level. Margie’s mother called the County Inspector. He opened the teacher, found the fault and rectified it. Margie disliked the teacher and hoped that he would not be able to repair it. She hated inserting the homework and test papers into the slot provided.
She thought that the children in the past must have had a lot of fun when they went to school with fellow children. She found it amazing that all the children studied together, the same things and could discuss studies and help each other with the homework too. As the teachers were people, they would not behave like machines. The human aspect of education in the past made her feel that the school of the past were fun.
Grammar Exercises
1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs given in the box below.
| Awfully | Sorrowfully | Completely | Loftily |
| Carefully | Differently | Quickly | nonchalantly |
1.They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was fully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to — on a screen, you know.
2. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.
3. They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely.
4. He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
5.He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
6. “But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.”
7. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.
8. “May be,” he said nonchalantly.
2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
(i) The report must be read _________so that performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions _________ ,shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave _________ when we are tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook her head ________when Ravi lied to her.
(v) I ________ forgot about it.
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled _______ and turned away.
(vii) The President of the Company is ________ busy and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my work ________ so that I could go out to play.
Ans
(i) The report must be read carefully so that performance can be improved.
(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions loftily, shrugging his shoulders.
(iii) We all behave differently when we are tired or hungry.
(iv) The teacher shook her head sorrowfully when Ravi lied to her.
(v) I completely forgot about it.
(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled nonchalantly and turned away.
(vii) The President of the Company is awfully busy and will not be able to meet you.
(viii) I finished my work quickly so that I could go out to play.
3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.
(i) angry ________
(ii) happy _________
(iii) merry _______
(iv) sleepy __________
(v) easy _________
(vi) noisy __________
(vii) tidy _________
(viii) gloomy ________
Ans
(i) angry angrily
(ii) happy happily
(iii) merry merrily
(iv) sleepy sleepily
(v) easy easily
(vi) noisy noisily
(vii) tidy tidily
(viii) gloomy gloomily
4. Complete the following conditional sentences. Use the correct form of the verb.
1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, _____________
2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, ___________
3. Unless you promise to write back, I ____________
4. If she doesn’t play any games, ______________
5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat __________
Ans
1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, she will be angry.
2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, you will miss your meal.
3. Unless you promise to write back, I will not write to you.
4. If she doesn’t play any games, she will not become strong.
5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat will eat it.
Class 9 English The Fun They Had 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 following extract and answer the questions that follow:
“Today Tommy found a real book!
It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper.
Q1. Who are Margie and Tommy?
Ans. Tommy is a thirteen year-old boy and Margie an eleven-year-old girl who live in the twenty second century.
Q2. Where had Tommy found the book?
Ans. The book was discovered by Tommy in his home’s attic.
Q3. What is meant by “real book”?
Ans. The book is “real” as it is printed on paper rather than a telebook.
Q4. How did Margie learn about this book?
Ans. Margie’s grandfather had told her that he had heard from his grandfather about a time when all stories were printed on paper.
B. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper. They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to on a screen, you know.
Q1. Why were the book’s pages yellow?
Ans. The book’s pages were yellow since it was so ancient.
Q2. Which kind of books did Margie and Tommy enjoy?
Ans. Margie and Tommy read telebooks or e-books.
Q3. What do you think a telebook is?
Ans. A book that is not printed on paper, but one that can be read on a screen: Words move on the screen for the students to read.
Q4. Why did Tommy find the book a “waste”?
Ans. The words on the page remained static, in contrast to their telebooks. He believed that after finishing a book, one would just discard it.
C. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to — on a screen, you know. And then when they turned back to the page before, it had the same words on it that it had had when they read it the first time.
Q1. Who are they in this extract?
Ans. They are the young children reading the novel, Margie and Tommy.
Q2. Which book had yellow and crinkly pages?
Ans. The book that Tommy discovered in his attic had crinkly, yellow pages.
Q3. What do the book’s crinkly, yellow pages reveal about it?
Ans. It was a very ancient book that had not been left unattended in the attic for a very long period, as evidenced by the book’s yellow and crinkly pages.
Q4. What did they find funny? Why?
Ans. Due to their familiarity with reading electronic books on television screens where the words move constantly, the children found the fixed and still words in the book to be amusing.
D. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
“Gee,” said Tommy, “what a waste. When you’re through with the book, you just throw it away, I guess. Our television screen must have had a million books on it and it’s good for plenty more. I wouldn’t throw it away.”
Q1. Who says these words?
Ans. Tommy, a thirteen-year-old boy says these words.
Q2. What does it refer to?
Ans. It alludes to Tommy’s computer’s television screen, which he uses to read books. With plenty of room, it has a million books.
Q3. What is it being compared with, by the speaker?
Ans. The electronic book is being contrasted with the paper book that Tommy discovered in his home’s attic.
Q4. Why would the speaker not throw it away?
Ans. The television screen that Tommy used to read books on was filled with a million volumes and could be used many times, so he wouldn’t throw it away.
E. Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. Margie had hoped he wouldn’t know how to put it together again, but he knew how all right, and, after an hour or so, there it was again, large and black and ugly, with a big screen on which all the lessons were shown and the questions were asked. That wasn’t so bad. The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers. She always had to write them out in a punch code they made her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks in no time.
Q1. Who is he?
Ans. He is the County Inspector.
Q2. What part did Margie hate the most?
Ans. The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers. She always had to write them out in a punch code they made her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks in no time.
Q3. Why did he give Margie an apple?
Ans. He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple to reassure her.
Q4. How did he fix the teacher?
Ans. The County Inspector found that the teacher’s geography sector was geared a little too quick. He slowed it up to an average ten-year level.
Class 9 English The Fun They Had Short Question Answers (including questions from Previous Years Question Papers)
In this post we are also providing important short answer questions from Chapter 1 The Fun They Had for CBSE Class 9 exam in the coming session.
Q1. Who are Margie and Tommy? How old are they?
Ans. Margie is eleven years old and Tommy is thirteen years old. Both are close neighbours and friends who like hanging out together, just like kids their age typically do.
Q2. What did Margie write in her diary?
Ans. Margie noted in her diary on May 17, 2157, that Tommy had found an actual book. In contrast to the telebooks of the twenty-second century, it was an extremely old book that was printed on paper and had yellow and crinkly pages.
Q3. Where had Tommy found the book? How was it different from the books Margie and Tommy were used to?
Ans. Tommy discovered an actual book in his home’s attic. Pages in the book had become yellow and crinkly due to its age, which was at least 200 years. The books Margie and Tommy were accustomed to were different since they could read through telebooks, whereas the book Tommy found was printed on paper.
Q4. Had Margie ever seen a real book before? Did she know about such books?
Ans. Actually, until she saw the book Tommy discovered in his house’s attic, Margie had never seen a paper book. Her grandfather, who had never read any books, was the only one who had told her about them.
Q5. What things about the book did Margie and Tommy find strange?
Ans. Tommy and Margie read telebooks, which included moving words on a screen. A machine used to store books had the capacity to hold a million books and yet had room for many more. The fact that the words in the printed book remained fixed as opposed to the shifting images on their television screen puzzled them.
Q6. Write a brief note on Margie’s school routine.
Ans. Margie had a set schedule and regular days and hours for school, despite being taught by a giant, black television set placed in a room next to her bedroom. She studied every day at the same time from Monday through Friday since her mother believed that young girls learned subjects better if they studied them at regular times.
Q7. What do you think a telebook is?
Ans. A telebook is a book that is displayed on a television screen in text form. This makes it possible to read and store several books. Since this story was written in 1951, long before electronic books were common, the telebook is the author’s imagined version of one.
Q8. Did Margie like the printed book? Why/why not?
Ans. The genuine book Tommy discovered particularly caught Margie’s attention because it was different from the telebooks the two were used to reading; it was so unusual that she noted the find in her diary. She and Tommy flipped the book’s yellow, crinkly pages together, and she found it to be extremely interesting—unlike Tommy, who thought it was a waste. In fact, she was hesitant to put the book down and start studying. After school, she intended to read the book once again.
Q9. Margies mother was very particular about her studies. Justify with evidence from the story.
Ans. Margie’s mother was very careful about her education and made sure Margie attended her tele-school on a regular basis and at set times since she believed young girls studied better if they had regular study times. She was quite concerned about Margie’s progress, and when she noticed that she wasn’t performing well in a specific subject, she called the County Inspector to check out the mechanical teacher.
Q10. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have? How were they different from teachers in the book?
Ans. Margie and Tommy had mechanical instructors, which were gigantic, ugly, black, and had a big screen on which all the lessons were displayed and questions were asked. There was a slot where they had to place their homework and tests, and the mechanical teacher quickly calculated the grades. Because the teachers of olden times were men and not robotic instructors, Margie and Tommy’s teachers were different from the teachers back then.
Q11. Why had Margie started hating her school?
Ans. Margie never really enjoyed school. Yet recently, as a result of her subpar geography grade, she had grown to detest it more than ever. She had been taking tests after tests in the mechanical class, and she had been getting lower and lower grades.
Q12. How were Margie and Tommy assessed in their subjects?
Ans. The mechanical teachers gave Margie and Tommy duties. They used a punch code that they had been taught to write their responses. Next they placed their unique answer sheets in the mechanical teacher’s slot. In little time at all, the teacher graded their assignments and computed their grades.
Q13. What did Margie hate the most about her school?
Ans. The slot where Margie had to deposit her homework and test papers was the aspect of her school that she disliked the most. She had to always type them out using a punch code that she had to learn when she was six years old. After submitting the specified chores, Margie had little time to unwind because the mechanical teacher quickly calculated the grade.
Class 9 The Fun They Had Long Answer Questions Lesson 1
Q1. “What a waste.” What is Tommy referring to as a waste? Is it really a waste? Why/Why not?
Ans. The paper book Tommy discovered in his attic contained words that were printed and did not move, which Tommy considered to be a waste. A book should be thrown away once it has been read because its substance is the same.
Yes, because telebooks are more widely available, printed books are a waste. These can be read repeatedly from storage on a television. Compared to printed books, they take up far less room and don’t need to be thrown away after being read. Paper books also use up resources like the trees used to make paper and the water used during the production of paper.
No, because they can be read by many people again and kept for future generations, printed books are not a waste of space. Also, unlike a printed book, where the information printed on a page is permanently preserved, a telebook’s data might be lost or stolen.
Q2. How did Margie and Tommy react to the book Tommy found in his attic? Why?
Ans. Margie and Tommy lived nearby and were close friends. They lived in a technological period, in 2157, when attending school meant reading from a telebook with moving text while sitting by oneself in a room. The teacher was a mechanical device that was tuned to meet the learner’s thinking.
Tommy then discovered an old paper book with yellow and crinkled pages for his home’s attic on the 17 May 2157. He told his friend Margie about the exciting news, and the two of them were amazed because they had never seen or heard of a book with simply fixed text on the pages rather than a screen.
In comparison to the books they were used to, this one was significantly different: Margie and Tommy were astounded by the book’s content as they read it. They learned that hundreds of years ago, schools were large structures where hundreds of kids went to study, where kids their own age studied together, and where kids did the same things. They were instructed by actual live people using actual books.
Q3. Describe the old school as described in the book? How did it influence Margie?
Ans. Tommy discovered a book about school. It was, however, not the type of school that Margie and Tommy were accustomed to, but rather one of the more traditional schools that existed hundreds of years before. All of the children headed to school wall, a unique structure. Children attended these schools to learn, and a regular teacher, a man, instructed the boys and girls, assigned assignments, and fielded questions.
Children of the same age studied and completed the same chores and activities at school together. Margie pondered the previous kind of education. She imagined all the youngsters from the entire neighbourhood showing up, giggling and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the classroom, and leaving for home all at the same time at the end of the day. As they had similar education, they could converse and assist one another with their homework. Margie reflected on the previous educational system and imagined how much enjoyment the kids must have had learning and socialising.
Q4. Write a short note on the school system in “The Fun They Had”.
Ans. In the year 2157, Margie and Tommy are two young children attending school. Schools and teachers now are very different from those in the twenty-second century. The location of Margie and Tommy’s school is not a separate, unique structure, but rather a room in each of their homes where the mechanical instructor or television is set up. Each student is required to study by themselves with the aid of a mechanical teacher—a bulky, unattractive machine with a wide screen on which all of the lectures are displayed and questions are posed.
The instructor gives the students examinations to take and evaluates their learning. Depending on each student’s age level, the pace of the various subject areas is set. Students must place their homework or tests in a designated space on the teleteacher. There are engineers available to fix any problems that the mechanical teacher may arise.
When a large error occurs, it might sometimes take a while to fix it, as when Tommy’s history teacher encountered a problem that required a month to fix. As a result, Margie and Tommy’s mechanical professors and classrooms are entirely computerised and unlike any classrooms in modern schools.
Q5. Do you agree that schools today are better than the schools in the story ‘The Fun They Had.’ Give reasons for your choice.
Ans. True, author Isaac Asimov discusses futuristic schools in his short fiction “The Fun They Had.” Each child is taught by a mechanical instructor at the school, which is a room in the house with television screens showing telebooks.
After reading the article, I believe that today’s students should be satisfied. I concur that a child can have flexible school hours when the parents decide the schedule and that each student can benefit from a greater one-on-one relationship with their teacher. The kids don’t have to travel as far by foot or car if the school (room) is at home, which saves time and money.
On the other side, we miss out on a chance to make friends. The most significant benefit of today is that we can interact with other children, talk to them during breaks, and have fun with them. Together, students solve difficulties, which is crucial for a child’s growth and later life. Also, a human instructor is unquestionably a superior educator than a machine since he is familiar with both human and child difficulties. Never will a machine be able to experience human emotion. A human instructor can also impart important values and direction that a mechanical one cannot.
No, “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov is a science fiction tale about education in the 22nd century. Tommy, 13, and Margie, 11, live in the year 2157, where attending school entails learning from a machine teacher at home. Because they read Telebooks, neither child has ever seen a printed book.
The author imagines what a school would look like in 200 years, when everything is run by computers and other modern technologies. Isaac Assimov illustrates very clearly the typical behaviour of an eleven-year-old girl and a thirteen-year-old boy in his novel, despite the technological advancements, therefore in his story the characters are not affected by the technological advancement.
A mechanical instructor can adapt their lessons to the student’s mental capacity, which is a benefit. The child can learn the teachings more readily as a result. Technology and mechanical teachers can be used to address the various learning preferences of students. Mechanical instructors have the ability to pinpoint the precise errors that students make and provide quick feedback that is beneficial to the learners.
Q6. Do you think Asimov is warning us about the dangers of too much computerisation?
Ans. In “The Fun They Had,” his short fiction, The 2157 educational system that Isaac Asimov describes is based on technological development. Margie, 11, and Tommy, 13, both work at home with a computer teacher to do their homework. While personalized instruction can develop capabilities, it is the best way to impart knowledge and information to each child based on their abilities, but there are also drawbacks.
Students don’t learn like computers do. If learning is not enjoyable, forgetting is more likely to occur. There are no social connections like there are in modern schools, which is another drawback. A motivational factor in school can be learning alongside friends. Students develop their group behaviour and communication abilities. Children cannot learn moral principles from a mechanical teacher.
I believe Asimov is trying to warn us that the educational system in place in 2157 is effective at preparing students for the workforce but less effective at developing their interpersonal skills. The disadvantages, in my opinion, outweigh the benefits, and I believe Isaac Asimov is cautioning against this type of education as a viable alternative for children.
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