The Duck and the Kangaroo (Deleted) - Solutions

CBSE Class –VIII English
NCERT Solutions
Chapter - 6
Poem - The Duck and The Kangaroo

Page No: 99
Working with Poem
1: Taking words that come at the end of lines, write five pairs of rhyming words. Read each pair aloud. For example, pond – beyond
Ans: Five pairs of rhyming words are as follows:
(i) Hop − stop
(ii) Back – Quack
(iii) Duck – luck
(iv) Reflection – objection
(v) Bold – cold
 2: Complete the dialogue.
Duck: Dear Kangaroo! Why don’t you _____
Kangaroo: With pleasure, my dear Duck, though ______
Duck: That won’t be a problem. I will _____
Ans: Duck: Dear Kangaroo! Why don’t you give me a ride on your back ,so that I can also hop around with you and see the beautiful world , away from this nasty pond?
Kangaroo: With pleasure, my dear Duck, though your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold and I might catch rheumatism.
Duck: That won’t be a problem. I will wear worsted socks and cloak and smoke a cigar every day to keep out the cold.
3: The Kangaroo does not want to catch ‘rheumatism’. Spot this word in stanza 3 and  say why it is spelt differently. Why is it in two parts? Why does the second part begin with a capital letter?
Ans: The word ‘rheumatism’ is spelt differently and is in two parts so that it can rhyme with ‘kangaroo’ in the following line. As a result of splitting the word into two and changing its spelling, ‘Roo’ rhymes with ‘kangaroo’. The second part ‘Matiz’ begins with a capital letter because it is the first word of the line. In a poem, every line begins with a capital letter even if it is in continuation with the previous line. Hence, this has been done in order to enhance the poetic effect of the lines.