NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 2 Gifts of Grace: Honouring Our Vocations (poem) — Vocabulary in Context

Book page 63–64 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.
I. People of different vocations are being described in the poem. Match the vocations given in the box below with the descriptions that follow. Box: ASHA worker confectioner sericulturist welder horticulturist goldsmith 1. A person who studies or grows garden plants: ___________ 2. A trained female community health worker: ___________ 3. A producer of raw silk: ___________ 4. A person whose job is making or selling sweets and chocolates: ___________ 5. A metalworker who specialises in working with precious metals: ___________ 6. A person who fuses materials together: ___________
Answer
No.DescriptionVocationHow the word is built
1studies or grows garden plantshorticulturistLatin hortus = garden + cultura = cultivation
2a trained female community health workerASHA workerAn acronym: Accredited Social Health Activist — and asha also means ‘hope’
3a producer of raw silksericulturistLatin sericum = silk + cultura; sericulture is the rearing of silkworms
4makes or sells sweets and chocolatesconfectionerFrom confection, a sweet preparation
5a metalworker who works with precious metalsgoldsmithgold + smith, one who works metal — as in blacksmith, locksmith
6fuses materials togetherwelderFrom weld, to join metals by heating them until they melt into one
Did You Know (from the box on page 63): Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) is a group of community health workers employed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as a part of India’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). There is at least one ASHA worker for most villages in the country; she is usually the first health worker a family meets.
A shortcut worth learning: the ending often gives the trade away. -culturist means someone who cultivates something (horti-, seri-, agri-, api- for bees). -smith means someone who works a material (gold-, black-, lock-, word-). -er added to a verb makes the doer (weld → welder, bake → baker). Once you see the ending, you only need to identify the root.
Q2.
II. Identify the word from Column 2 that is not the synonym of the words given in Column 1. Column 1 / Column 2 1. myriad — (i) countable, innumerable, numerous, abundant 2. hues — (ii) shades, tints, drawing, colour 3. precision — (iii) exactness, accuracy, correctness, calculation 4. varied — (iv) assorted, diverse, uniform, different 5. delicious — (v) mouth-watering, inedible, tasty, flavourful
Answer
No.WordThe odd one outWhy it does not belong
1myriadcountableMyriad means countless — so ‘countable’ is its opposite, not its synonym. Innumerable, numerous and abundant all mean ‘very many’
2huesdrawingShades, tints and colour are all about colour; a drawing is a picture, which is a different thing altogether
3precisioncalculationExactness, accuracy and correctness are all qualities of being right. A calculation is an act of working something out, and it may be quite wrong
4varieduniformUniform means all the same — the exact opposite of varied. Assorted, diverse and different all mean ‘of many kinds’
5deliciousinedibleInedible means unfit to eat — an antonym. The prefix in- should warn you at once
Two traps, and how to spot each. In items 1, 4 and 5 the intruder is an antonym, and a negative prefix (in-, un-) or a word you know means ‘same’ will expose it. In items 2 and 3 the intruder is subtler: the word is related to the topic but belongs to a different part of the idea — ‘drawing’ is an object where the others are qualities of colour; ‘calculation’ is an action where the others are qualities of accuracy. When no antonym is present, ask which word is a different kind of thing.
Check it yourself: put each candidate into the poem’s own line. “woven with colours and myriad hues” — try ‘countable hues’; it destroys the sense of endless variety. That single test settles most of these items.
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