NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 3 Winds of Change (prose) — Vocabulary and Structures in Context

Book page 76–79 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Read the following pairs of words from the text. exotic and stylish | villages and towns | thread and wool | silk and brass | ornate and encrusted | within and outside 1. Classify the pairs of words given above in the following categories. One example has been done for you. Appearance | Place | Material __________ | within and outside | __________ Now, find more such word pairs from the text and share them with your classmates and teacher.

Answer

Ask one question of each pair: does it tell you what a thing looks like, where it is, or what it is made of?

Appearance	Place	Material
exotic and stylish	within and outside (given)	thread and wool
ornate and encrusted	villages and towns	silk and brass

How each one is decided:

exotic and stylish — both adjectives judge how a pankha strikes the eye: “They were considered exotic and stylish.” Appearance.
ornate and encrusted — both describe the surface of the zardozi fan, “glittering ornate and encrusted gold threadwork”. Appearance.
villages and towns — two kinds of settlement: “different villages and towns developed their own varieties”. Place.
within and outside — two positions relative to something: “both within and outside the handicraft exhibitions”. Place.
thread and wool — what the Kutch fans are “decorated with… at its seams”. Material.
silk and brass — “with silk and brass being reserved for antique pieces”. Material.

More such pairs from the text:

Pair	Where it occurs	Category
beads and stones	“with decorative beads and stones were used”	Material
cane and palm leaves	“Cane and palm leaves are used”	Material
grass and metal	“Materials such as grass and metal are embedded”	Material
bamboo sticks and grass	“embedded into the fans using bamboo sticks and grass”	Material
shapes and patterns	“pieces of fabric in different shapes and patterns”	Appearance
colourful and sturdy	“Bihar’s colourful and sturdy bamboo hand fans”	Appearance
shapes and sizes	“embroidered hand fans… in different shapes and sizes”	Appearance
sculptures and carvings	“can be found in embroidery work, sculptures, and carvings”	Material / craft objects
antiquity and rarity	“recognised across India due to their antiquity and rarity”	Value (a fourth kind)
popularity and demand	“The slight increase in popularity and demand”	Value (a fourth kind)

Why the writer keeps reaching for pairs: a pair covers a whole range in two words. “Villages and towns” means everywhere, big and small; “within and outside” means in every setting; “exotic and stylish” gives both the strangeness and the elegance in one breath. In a survey chapter that must describe eight states in three pages, the paired phrase is an economy device.

Q2.

II. Find the word pairs for the following fixed expressions. Write the meanings of these expressions by selecting them from the box given below. One example has been done for you. [Some common expressions with ‘and’ have a fixed order which cannot be changed. The shortest expression comes first. For example, bread and butter (*not butter and bread)] Word 1: 1. high 2. cut 3. fact 4. all 5. wear 6. time 7. thick 8. hard Word 2: tear | fast | sundry | thin | figures | run | again | dry (Example row: 4. all + sundry = ‘all and sundry’ = (v) everyone, not just a few special people) Now, match the following meanings with the correct word pairs created above. (i) in a difficult situation, without help or money – (ii) the damage to object due to normal use – (iii) accurate and detailed information – (iv) even when there are problems or difficulties – (v) everyone, not just a few special people – (vi) often; on many or all occasions – (vii) To make a quick or sudden escape –

Answer

The two columns are deliberately not in matching order — you must pair them yourself. The completed table:

Word 1	and	Word 2	Fixed Expression	Meaning
1. high	and	dry	high and dry	(i) in a difficult situation, without help or money
2. cut	and	run	cut and run	(vii) to make a quick or sudden escape
3. fact	and	figures	facts and figures	(iii) accurate and detailed information
4. all	and	sundry	all and sundry (given)	(v) everyone, not just a few special people
5. wear	and	tear	wear and tear	(ii) the damage to an object due to normal use
6. time	and	again	time and again	(vi) often; on many or all occasions
7. thick	and	thin	thick and thin	(iv) even when there are problems or difficulties
8. hard	and	fast	hard and fast	— (no meaning is printed for this one)

Note on the eighth pair: the book prints eight word pairs but only seven meanings, so one expression is left for you to supply. It is hard and fast, which means fixed and not to be bent, and is almost always used of rules: There is no hard and fast rule about which side the handle should go on. Also note that the book prints “fact” in Word 1, but the fixed expression is always plural — facts and figures.

Each expression in a sentence of your own:

high and dry — The contractor disappeared and left the artisans high and dry.
cut and run — When the rain started, the stallholders cut and ran.
facts and figures — Bring facts and figures to the meeting, not opinions.
wear and tear — After two summers of daily use, the cane fan showed some wear and tear.
time and again — Grandmother told us time and again to keep the pankha out of the sun.
thick and thin — Those women workers have stayed with the craft through thick and thin.
hard and fast — There is no hard and fast rule about how many pleats a paper fan needs.

Why the order is fixed: the book gives one reason — “The shortest expression comes first”, so we say bread and butter, wear and tear, high and dry. English also prefers the pair whose second word has more syllables or a longer vowel (time and again, all and sundry), and it favours a rhyme or a repeated sound (wear and tear rhymes; thick and thin alliterates; cut and run rhymes). These are called irreversible binomials. Reverse one and it sounds instantly wrong — “dry and high”, “tear and wear” — even though the meaning would be unchanged. That is why they must be learnt whole, as single items of vocabulary.

Q3.

III. Read the following word combinations from the text. • sustainable livelihood • aesthetically pleasing • appreciating the culture [The given phrases are conventional combinations just like fixed expressions. Such combinations are called collocations.] 1. Choose the appropriate word collocations for the following sentences. (i) The students have to (take/give) the English exam tomorrow. (ii) The interviewer asked the candidate to (take/have) a seat. (iii) My scooter (dashed against/ran into) a car. (iv) I must (take/own) responsibility for my success. (v) I would like to (tone up/improve) my grammar.

Answer

	Correct collocation	Why the other word fails
(i)	The students have to take the English exam tomorrow.	A student takes an exam; the teacher or the board gives/sets it. The two verbs belong to opposite sides of the desk.
(ii)	The interviewer asked the candidate to take a seat.	Take a seat is the fixed polite formula for inviting someone to sit. (You may hear have a seat in informal American English, but take a seat is the standard collocation and the one the exercise wants.)
(iii)	My scooter ran into a car.	Run into is the ordinary collocation for a vehicle colliding with something. Dash against is not idiomatic English here; dash collocates with dash off a note or dash across the road.
(iv)	I must take responsibility for my success.	Take responsibility is the standard verb + noun pair (also take charge, take the blame, take credit). Own can mean “admit” in very informal speech (own up to), but it does not collocate with the bare noun responsibility in standard usage.
(v)	I would like to improve my grammar.	Tone up collocates with the body — tone up your muscles. A skill is improved, polished or brushed up.

What a collocation is, and why it cannot be worked out by logic: two words may mean almost the same thing and still not be interchangeable. Heavy rain is English; strong rain is not. Strong tea is English; powerful tea is not. There is no rule behind this — only habit, which is why collocations are learnt by reading and noticing, exactly as the three phrases at the head of this exercise were noticed inside the chapter: “a sustainable livelihood”, “appreciating the culture”, and aesthetically pleasing.

Try this: collect five more collocations from the chapter — spread awareness, provide a livelihood, preserve the essence, regain its popularity, date back to. Then write each in a sentence about your own town’s craft.

Q4.

IV. Read the following sentences. Underline the verbs. 1. In modern times, pankhas have become traditional craft items in India. 2. Gujarat’s industrious home-based women workers have worked tirelessly in the handicraft of pankha-making. 3. Many tribes in India have adopted this handicraft. 4. Once made for personal use, this handicraft has transformed into a commercial business. [The underlined verbs refer to the past, but have relevance to the current or present time. This form of tense is called the present perfect tense. Recently completed actions also take the present perfect form of tense.]

Answer

The verb to underline in each sentence is the whole verb phrase — helping verb + past participle — not just the last word.

	Verb (underline this)	Helping verb	Past participle
1.	have become	have	become
2.	have worked	have	worked
3.	have adopted	have	adopted
4.	has transformed	has	transformed

Why has in sentence 4 and have in the other three: the helping verb agrees with the subject. Sentences 1–3 have plural subjects — pankhas, women workers, many tribes — so have. Sentence 4’s subject is singular — this handicraft — so has.

Why the writer chose this tense, and not the simple past: the present perfect ties a past action to the present moment. “Pankhas have become traditional craft items” means they are craft items now; “pankhas became craft items” would leave it safely in history. The whole chapter is an argument about a craft in danger today, so nearly every sentence about the modern situation takes this form: has been restricted, has transformed, have adopted. Change them to the simple past and the urgency disappears.

Watch out for the trap in sentence 4: “Once made for personal use” looks like a verb, and it is a past participle — but it belongs to a reduced clause describing the handicraft, not to the main verb. The main verb of the sentence is has transformed. The same trap appears in sentence 2, where home-based and tirelessly can distract you from the phrase have worked.

Q5.

IV. Now, fill in the blanks with the present perfect form of verbs in the following paragraph. One example has been done for you. Puppets have long fascinated (fascinate) audiences worldwide. Puppeteers (i) ______ (create) intricate characters and captivating stories with their skillful artistry. They (ii) __________ (master) the delicate movements that bring these lifeless figures to life, entertaining both children and adults. Over the years, puppetry (iii) ___________ (evolve), using modern technology while preserving traditional techniques. Many puppeteers (iv) __________ (pass) down their craft through generations, ensuring its continuity. They (v) ________ (perform) in theatres, on television, and at festivals, conveying important cultural narratives.

Answer

Blank	Answer	Subject → helping verb	Participle
(i)	have created	Puppeteers (plural) → have	regular: create → created
(ii)	have mastered	They (plural) → have	regular: master → mastered
(iii)	has evolved	puppetry (singular, uncountable) → has	regular: evolve → evolved
(iv)	have passed	Many puppeteers (plural) → have	regular: pass → passed
(v)	have performed	They (plural) → have	regular: perform → performed

The paragraph read whole: Puppets have long fascinated audiences worldwide. Puppeteers have created intricate characters and captivating stories with their skillful artistry. They have mastered the delicate movements that bring these lifeless figures to life, entertaining both children and adults. Over the years, puppetry has evolved, using modern technology while preserving traditional techniques. Many puppeteers have passed down their craft through generations, ensuring its continuity. They have performed in theatres, on television, and at festivals, conveying important cultural narratives.

The only one that catches students out is (iii). Puppetry looks plural because it ends in a soft sound and names a whole art, but it is a singular uncountable noun — like pottery, weaving, embroidery — so it takes has. Test it by substituting a pronoun: “puppetry… it has evolved”, not “they have evolved”.

Did you notice? This paragraph is the pankha chapter’s argument transferred to another craft. Puppetry too is old, handed “down… through generations”, threatened by change, and surviving by “using modern technology while preserving traditional techniques” — the exact balance the chapter asks you to evaluate in Critical Reflection II.3. The grammar exercise is also a comprehension lesson.

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