NCERT Solutions For Class 8 English

Languages are the nerves of the literature and they enhance its overall beauty of it. English is arguably the most spoken language across the globe. English has helped many writers to grow in their careers in different fields. Learning English has global importance as it can be considered a commonly spoken language. If you are well versed in spoken and written English you can practically work anywhere in the world.

Learning English from the school level gives students an additional benefit as at these levels the grammatically correct language has great importance. Though many students may find it difficult to learn correct English, those who can do it will get high acknowledgment in society. The students who refer to NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English can considerably enhance their knowledge which will help them in the future.   

Chapter-Wise Summary

Honeydew Prose

Chapter 1 – The Best Christmas Present in the World

This chapter narrates a very warm and heart-touching story of two souls, a couple, who the backdrop of the battle between the British and the Germans, longed to be with each other by any means. The story of Jim and Connie whom the author narrates to be a loving couple. With the description of the war, the author also pours a lot of nice moments like soldiers on both sides wishing ‘Merry Christmas’ to each other.

It is about a letter in one of the drawers of an old roll-top desk author bought from the market. The author fulfilled his wish for Jim to deliver the letter to Connie, Jim’s beloved wife. The chapter gives a lesson to maintain humanity in even worst situations.  

Chapter 2 – The Tsunami

This chapter tells the stories of the Andaman and Nicobar islands where the tsunami hit badly. The students will learn about the horrible situations during the tsunami from which many survived but most died. Here, the stories of Igneous, Sanjeev, Meghana, and Almas from India are elaborated. The stories from Thailand include Tilly and her family, and the last part states the sixth sense of animals as many animals stayed away from the sea and saved themselves and their masters too.

Chapter 3 – Glimpses of the Past

This chapter narrates different stages of British governed India. In 1757, East India Company was in a very strong position in India. The internal wars between various Princes in India led the gates open to the Company as all Princes wanted the company to help them. This led to the total takeover of the country by the Company. Students can learn the tactics of the British to acquire the whole of India which was very rich earlier. The chapter tells about the period of 1765-1836, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, oppression (1765-1835), dissatisfaction (1835-36), the revolt of 1957, and the freedom fight thereafter. 

Chapter 4 – Bepin Choudhury’s Lapse of Memory

This is a comical suspense story of Bepin Chaudhury who was conned by a person Chunilal for not helping him get a job in a difficult situation. Chunilal makes a very bad practical joke on Bepin about being in Ranchi in a particular year. The structure of the story is flowing and it explains one’s state of mind when not one but three people try to convince him to be at a place that he has never seen.

From this chapter, the students will learn never to believe an unknown person or the one you do not trust much. A small thought of uncertainty can destroy the whole well-set schedule at any time. As it turns out to be a false claim Bepin tries to go back to normal with a lot of difficulties. 

Chapter 5 – The Summit Within

In this chapter, the students will learn about Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia, a member of the first successful Indian expedition to Mount Everest in 1965. Here, he narrates his experiences, feelings of joy & sorrow, other summits, why they chose Everest, leadership, and work in unity. Finally, he compares the physical summit with the summit within. He states that if you overcome the summit within, it probably gives more happiness than covering Mount Everest.

Chapter 6 – This is Jody’s Fawn

This chapter tells the story of Jody and the fawn. The kind-hearted Jody knew the fawn is alone after his father killed the doe for the treatment of a snake bite. The story slowly unfolds the humanity of Jody towards fawn who is left alone and might die of starvation. Thereby he suggests his parents bring the fawn home and raise it. He even offers that his mother doesn’t have to make additional food for the fawn as he is ready to feed the fawn his milk. The students will understand how to treat others in need.

Chapter 7 – A Visit to Cambridge

This chapter narrates the story of an interview with a person who is similar to Stephen Hawking, a disabled person. Their interaction begins with a typical question about how you became so brave despite being disabled. Thus, both agreed on the opinion that this is the most absurd thing interviewers ask. Mr. Hawking insisted to avoid such vocabulary and speak about achievement instead. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Hawking concluded that he went with the inner voice that advised him to concentrate on what he is good at and this led to his rise as Issac Newton’s successor and sharing the Chair which he used at Cambridge. The students will also know about Mr. Hawking as a great astrophysicist and his famous book titled ‘A Brief History of Time’.

Chapter 8 – A short Monsoon Diary

These are a few extracts from Ruskin Bond’s diary. The excerpt talks about the beautiful and ever-changing nature during the monsoon. The narrator explains the nature in his diary on some specific dates like June 24, June 25, June 26, August 2, August 3, August 12, August 31, October 3, January 26, and March 23. There are very short descriptions of these days in his diary.

Chapter 9 – The Great Stone Face I

This chapter tells about the childhood and growing Ernest. The people in that area were aware of the Great Stone Face which resembled a human face from a distance. Ernest developed a huge attraction of the Great Stone Face and was in awe of it. He got himself so attached to it that he urged to be like it someday. As he grew, more people knew him because of his kind nature and initiative in helping all possible people. Most people identified him as similar to the Great Stone Face.

Chapter 10 – The Great Stone Face II

This chapter tells about a great personality, Ernest, who was very popular among the world for his politeness and humble nature but rich thoughts. The students will also learn about a budding poet from the same area as Ernest. When both met and the budding poet knew the real Ernest he had to agree that Ernest is the Great Stone Face and not him as Ernest thought of him.

Honeydew Poems

Chapter 1 – The Ant and the Cricket

This poem represents most human beings in the form of cricket. It says that the cricket felt happy in the pleasant months of spring and summer and kept singing all the time. But as winter arrived, he feared dying of starvation. At this point, he went to an ant for food and shelter. The ant queried what he was doing the previous seasons. The crickets explain he was happy so kept on singing instead of planning for winter. On this, the ant replied to continue what he was doing earlier and shoved him off. The narrator wants to send the message that proper planning is essential to face all types of situations.            

Chapter 2 – Geography Lesson

Here, the poet describes through the poem that geography is easy to understand from height. He gives examples of the view of the city and the country in different steps as the plane rises higher. He states that it is easy to understand why water and land attract more population. The students can learn the moral that the logic of geography from height is simple but it is difficult to understand why humans hate one another.

Chapter 3 – Macavity: The Mystery Cat

The poem is about a cat called ‘Macavity’ who is a great criminal. He is also called the ‘Hidden Paw’. He is a breaker of human law as well as nature’s law as it can float in the air without any support. Even if he breaks human law Flying Squad is helpless as it flies faster than them and escapes every time. The poem concludes by saying that this evil is everywhere but as the time comes to catch him, he is found nowhere.

Chapter 4 – The Last Bargain

This poem tells about a person seeking a job but without compromising his freedom. It explains how he got offers from the rich, the powerful, and the beautiful people but he turned down all. The poem says about a king, a rich person, and an attractive girl but the person found nothing appealing in their offer. Finally, he accepted the offer from a child who needed help but could not offer him anything. The person gladly accepted as he was free even while helping the child.

Chapter 5 – The School Boy

The poem is though a child’s mouth that wants to be happy in nature’s lap but is forced to school and lose his childhood under the expectations of his parents. He finds sunny morning, and amazing evening attractive but neither of them comes his way. The poet compares such childhood with a caged bird and concludes that if childhood misses happiness winter of sorrow will follow.

Chapter 6 – The Duck and the Kangaroo

This poem is about a duck and kangaroo. The duck wanted to ride on the kangaroo’s back as it was bored in the pond. Kangaroo objected to the fear of getting rheumatism due to the duck’s cold feet. But duck had a solution as he bought four pairs of worsted socks to keep warm. This made the kangaroo satisfied and they both had a nice trip of three rounds of the world happily.

Chapter 7 – When I Set Out for Lyonnesse

This poem by Thomas Hardy is about his trip to Parish which proved to be a very fruitful trip. He was glowing with inner shining and he also carried a piece of paper which was a draft of a current poem. The poet never thought that the journey for restoration of the church would change him so positively.

Chapter 8 – On the Grasshopper and Cricket

This poem states about nature’s contrast with respect to seasons and birds. Grasshopper comes out in hot summer whereas cricket symbolizes very cold winter. As earth always kept on singing,  the changing nature changes the routine of birds and insects. The poem symbolizes the balance of nature as the contrast compliments.

Scope for English: –

An off-the-beat path of graduation leads to misunderstanding in the minds of people. For example, people would assume that a graduate in English will opt only teacher’s job but that is not true. There are many other opportunities in other positions too. With a degree in English, one can have different job positions apart from being a teacher. Even in the education field teacher is not the last destination as one can grow beyond that higher. If students wish, they can learn the subject very well with the help of NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English. Lets us have a brief knowledge of what are the opportunities for English graduates –

• Anchor – With the growing network of social media the profession of an anchor is very lucrative. Persons with attractive personalities and good command of language can enter this field and get great acknowledgment in society.
• Lecturer – Helping students to cross the barriers is a great human service to society. A good lecturer can help pass many students but an extraordinary lecturer can make many careers. A teacher is always counted behind the mother as far as teaching the principles of life is concerned.  
• PR (Public Relations) – A person with good communication skills and the ability to develop strong interpersonal relations can get tremendous success in PR. He has to also exhibit exceptional convincing talent.
• Librarian – Who would be happier to be a librarian than a person who has an immense inclination toward reading? A librarian is gifted with a lot of books on offer to read without having to purchase them. One can read uncountable books while taking care of them at the same time.  
• Copywriter – If you are talented enough to turn words into eye-catching phrases, this is the job matching your talent. Advertising agencies are always on a hunt for such people and one can create slogans, catching phrases, or scripts for advertisements. 
• Writer – the writer has no bounds, limits, or boundaries when it comes to writing. A writer can have the privilege to write any subject he feels to write on. Words are more powerful weapons they are needed to open the eyes of the sleeping people. 
• Magazine or Newspaper Editor – Handling a team of creative-minded people and conducting the services of public relations through media is a great thing. The editor’s job is needed to handle the overall activities of the network.
• Social Service – People with strong verbal communication and writing skills are the need of SS organizations and NGOs. A person interested in helping underprivileged classes has a great opportunity in this field.

Sources for NCERT Solutions: –

• Students can avail of the solutions from a nearby book store.
• Those who wish can download NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English PDFs from the official website of NCERT.
• The students can also order them online through e-commerce websites.
• The schools may help the students to get the NCERT solutions.
• Many educational websites can be referred to take down notes on a relevant subject.

Importance of English: –

Since English is a globally spoken language it is essential for the students to learn basic concepts of it. While speaking in English you can have the liberty to break the ‘grammar’ rule but when you are writing as a student in school this liberty won’t give you marks. Here, at the school level, one must exhibit the utmost accuracy you can.

English is not limited to learning in school as a language but it is much more beyond that. When students enter the outside world, at every step, they would regret not giving as much importance to English. If you know English, you can communicate wherever you go in the world. NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English is the best option to get well-acquainted with English.

Interesting Facts about English: –

Here are some facts about English that we never would have noticed otherwise –

• The most common consonant in English is ‘r’ followed by ‘t’.
• The most common letter in English is ‘e’.
• The word ‘copyrightable’ is the longest English word that contains no letter more than once.
• The word ‘alphabet’ comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet – alpha and beta.
• In English, the @ sign is usually called ‘the at sign’ or ‘the at symbol’.
• A sentence containing all 26 alphabets is called a ‘pangram’.
• The most common vowel in English is ‘e’ followed by ‘a’.
• More English words begin with the letter ‘ s’ than with any other letter.
• The only word in English that ends with the letters ‘-mt’ is ‘dreamt’.
• The word ‘triskaidekaphobia’ means ‘extreme fear of the number 13’. This superstition is related to ‘paraskevidekatriaphobia’ which means ‘fear of Friday the 13^th’.
• A sentence containing all 26 alphabets is ‘The quick box brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’. This is always used to test the typewriters or keyboards.
• The dot over the letter ’i’ and the letter ‘j’ is called a ‘subscript dot’.
• In normal use, the symbol # has several names like number sign, hash, or pound sign.
• The word ‘bookkeeper’ is the only unhyphenated English word with three consecutive double letters.
• Only two English words in current use end in ‘-gry’ and they are ‘angry’ and ‘hungry’.
• Every syllabus in English must have a vowel. Not all syllables have consonants.
• A word formed by joining together parts of existing words is called a ‘blend’. This way many new words are formed like ‘brunch’ and ‘motel’.
• A preposition is always followed by a noun.

Thus the English language can teach you not only study-related matters but things you will never know if not tried.  

Conclusion: –

Learning English is not only a study but a privilege. The global language must be known and remembered by all. It is also an official language in most offices across the world. Though a country has its language when it comes to international connectivity, communication in English is exercised everywhere.

Most countries insist on having English as one of the major and non-optional languages at each level of education. In India too, many schools initiate to teach English as the primary language. Moreover, there is no harm in learning a foreign language as knowledge never go waste. Other important Resources For CBSE Class 8 Exam

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