NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan) — Vocabulary and Structures in Context

Book page 184–188 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Read the highlighted word given in the brackets. SHRUTI (Aside): Oh, how much I enjoy performing this piece. Perhaps I can practise one last time and soon after that I will tell them that I can’t join them for the performance. 1. What is ‘aside’ used for? (i) enables characters to talk about the story (ii) shows what a character thinks or feels (iii) makes a direct link between the audience and the character (iv) (i), (ii), and (iii)

Answer

(iv) (i), (ii), and (iii).

The book’s own definition covers all three functions: “Aside is a theatrical technique or dramatic device where a character directly addresses the audience. Typically, it is understood that the other characters on stage are unaware of this speech. The character may explicitly speak to the audience, whether in character or out, or convey an unspoken thought.” Test Shruti’s aside against each option:

Option	Does her aside do it?	Proof from the line
(i) talk about the story	Yes	“Perhaps I can practise one last time and soon after that I will tell them that I can’t join them” — it supplies a plot fact nobody on stage knows.
(ii) show thoughts or feelings	Yes	“Oh, how much I enjoy performing this piece” — her private feeling, admitted to no character.
(iii) link audience and character	Yes	She turns from the group and speaks past them, to us. For those seconds we are her only confidants.

Why the playwright needs it here: Shruti cannot say this to Iqbal, Avinash and Peter — it would stop the rehearsal, and the rest of Act III depends on that rehearsal happening. The aside lets us hold information the characters lack, which is the definition of dramatic irony. When her father starts clapping, we feel the reversal more sharply than anyone on stage does, because we alone knew this was meant to be her last practice.

Do not confuse an aside with a soliloquy: in a soliloquy the character is alone on stage and thinks aloud; in an aside other characters are present but are understood not to hear. Shruti’s friends are right there — so it is an aside.

Q2.

II. Read the following words from the text. Ahem ahem, I … er… Now, select the correct answer for the question given below. Why are they used? 1. to fill gaps while speaking 2. to increase clarity 3. to provide confidence

Answer

1. to fill gaps while speaking.

The book’s box defines them: “Non-lexical fillers are words or sounds used in speech, like ‘uh’ or ‘um’ to fill pauses while a speaker gathers their thoughts or transitions between ideas.” Both examples in the play do exactly that:

“Ahem ahem” — Iqbal clears his throat before reading the newspaper aloud, holding the group’s attention for a second while he builds up to the announcement.
“I … er …” — Shruti stalls in the middle of the hardest sentence she has ever had to say: “Yes, actually I … er … was finding the right words to say something to you … to you papa.”

Why the other two are wrong: fillers reduce clarity rather than increasing it — they add sound without adding meaning, which is why they are called non-lexical. And they do not provide confidence; they are usually a symptom of the opposite. Shruti’s “er” is there precisely because she is nervous. What they genuinely do is buy the speaker a moment of thinking time and keep the turn from being taken by someone else.

Did you know? Fillers are one of the ways a playwright makes written dialogue sound spoken. Read Shruti’s sentence without the “er” and the ellipses and it becomes a smooth, prepared statement — and the fear disappears from it.

Q3.

II. Now, choose suitable non-lexical fillers given in the box to describe the emoticons 1 to 4. There is an extra word you do not need. [Box: whew | err | arrgh | hmmm | ahem-ahem] [Emoticons on page 185: 1 — a face yelling, mouth wide open, both hands thrown up beside the head; 2 — a face with eyes squeezed shut and a fist at the mouth, with motion lines showing a cough; 3 — a grinning face wiping its brow with the back of its hand, eyes rolled upward; 4 — a face with one hand under the chin and an eyebrow raised, looking upward.]

Answer

Emoticon	What the picture shows	Filler	The feeling it stands for
1	Mouth wide open in a yell, eyes staring, both hands flung up beside the head	arrgh	frustration, alarm, exasperation — the sound of ‘I can’t bear this!’
2	Eyes squeezed shut, fist held to the mouth, short lines showing a cough	ahem-ahem	clearing the throat — to get attention, or to cover an awkward pause
3	Grinning, eyes rolled up, the back of the hand wiping the forehead	whew	relief — a difficulty has just passed
4	Hand under the chin, one eyebrow raised, gaze turned upward	hmmm	thinking it over, weighing a choice, mild doubt

Extra word not needed: err

How to separate ‘err’ from ‘hmmm’, since both mark a pause: err (or er) is a stalling sound — it is made while you hunt for the next word, as Shruti does at the dinner table. Hmmm is a considering sound — it means you have understood and are now judging. The face in picture 4 has a hand on the chin and a raised brow: that is judging, not word-hunting. The mother in this chapter’s listening transcript uses it in exactly that way — “Hmmm… perhaps watching videos about the playing of this instrument might work.”

Tip: read each filler aloud and notice what your face does. Fillers are closer to gestures than to words, which is why they can be matched with emoticons at all.

Q4.

III. Read the following words from the text and their meanings. • notes—a single sound at a certain pitch, usually shown as a symbol on music sheet. • crescendo [kri-SHEN-doe]—a gradual increase in the volume or intensity of sound Now, match the meanings of other music-related words in Column 1 with their meanings in Column 2. Column 1: 1. rhythm 2. tempo 3. bass 4. baritone 5. cacophony 6. pitch 7. scale Column 2: (i) the lowest tone or part in music (ii) a mixture of loud unpleasant sounds (iii) the pattern of beats or time intervals in music (iv) the speed or pace at which a piece of music is played (v) a male voice that falls between the higher and lower ranges (vi) a series of musical notes moving upwards or downwards (vii) the perceived frequency of a sound, how high or low a sound is

Answer

Column 1	Answer	Column 2	How to remember it
1. rhythm	(iii)	the pattern of beats or time intervals in music	What the tabla keeps — the arrangement of beats in time. In Indian music this is the taal.
2. tempo	(iv)	the speed or pace at which a piece of music is played	Rhythm is the pattern; tempo is how fast that pattern runs. The Indian term is laya.
3. bass	(i)	the lowest tone or part in music	Note the pronunciation given in the book — [p.base], rhyming with ‘face’, not with ‘pass’.
4. baritone	(v)	a male voice that falls between the higher and lower ranges	The middle male voice: tenor above it, bass below it.
5. cacophony	(ii)	a mixture of loud unpleasant sounds	From Greek kakos (bad) + phone (sound) — literally ‘bad sound’. Its opposite is euphony, ‘good sound’.
6. pitch	(vii)	the perceived frequency of a sound, how high or low a sound is	The faster a string vibrates, the higher the pitch. This is what tuning adjusts.
7. scale	(vi)	a series of musical notes moving upwards or downwards	The ladder of notes — sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa, up and back down.

The two that are easiest to confuse: bass and baritone are both about low male sound, and rhythm and tempo are both about time. Sort each pair with one question. For the voices: is it a region of sound (bass — the lowest part, whether sung or played) or a type of singer (baritone — a man whose voice sits in the middle)? For time: which beats (rhythm) or how fast (tempo)?

Try this: clap “dha dhin dhin dha” four times — that is a rhythm. Now clap the same pattern twice as fast — the rhythm has not changed, only the tempo has.

Q5.

IV. Write the meanings of the underlined phrases based on your understanding of the usage in sentences. 1. My mother told me, “When you follow trends without thinking, you drown your individual style.” 2. The pianist was appreciated for his sense of musicality. 3. When one of the performers in the group was injured, they felt their practise would go down the drain.

Answer

Phrase	Meaning	How the sentence proves it
1. drown your individual style	to let your own distinctive way of doing something disappear inside something bigger, so that it can no longer be recognised	The condition given is “follow trends without thinking” — copying everyone else. What is lost is not the style’s quality but its audibility: like a single voice inside a crowd, it is still there but can no longer be heard.
2. sense of musicality	a natural feel for music — an instinct for pitch, rhythm, phrasing and expression that makes a performance moving and not merely correct	The pianist is “appreciated for” it, so it is a quality worth praising. It is not the same as accuracy; a player can hit every note and still lack musicality.
3. go down the drain	to be completely wasted; to come to nothing	An injury will stop the performance, so all the hours already spent will produce no result. The image is of water running away and never coming back — effort that cannot be recovered.

Where each phrase comes from in the play — and why the meanings match:

Nabin uses the first against orchestras: “To drown your individual style in the hubbub of an orchestra is hardly a wise choice, Shruti.” Note the word he pairs it with — hubbub, a loud noise. A voice is drowned by noise.
He uses the second as his highest standard: “I never thought any of my students… would lose their sense of musicality to such an extent.” For him, losing musicality is worse than playing wrong notes.
Shruti uses the third in her lowest moment: “If he doesn’t let me participate, our group won’t be able to perform. All our practice will go down the drain.”

Try this — write one fresh sentence for each: “She learnt every trending step and drowned her individual style.” / “His voice is small, but his musicality fills the hall.” / “The rain came at four and the whole day’s rangoli went down the drain.”

Q6.

V. Read the dialogues given below. 1. Oh, how much I enjoy performing this piece! 2. Wah, how soulful! You all have done a wonderful job! Sentences 1. and 2. are ___________ sentences. (declarative/interrogative/exclamatory/imperative) Now, convert the exclamatory sentences given above to declarative sentences. • Use ‘exclaimed’ or ‘exclaimed with (feeling)’ instead of reporting verb ‘said’ • Remove interjections, exclamatory mark, and quotations.

Answer

Sentences 1 and 2 are exclamatory sentences.

How you can tell: three signs together — an interjection (Oh, Wah), the ‘how + adjective/adverb’ pattern that carries feeling rather than asking anything (how much, how soulful), and an exclamation mark. They are not interrogative (nothing is asked), not imperative (nobody is ordered), and not declarative until we rewrite them.

Converted to declarative (reported) sentences:

1. Shruti exclaimed with delight that she enjoyed performing that piece very much.
2. Nabin exclaimed with admiration that it was very soulful and that they all had done a wonderful job.

Step	What changes	In sentence 1
1	Drop the interjection and the exclamation mark	Oh and ! are removed
2	Replace them with a reporting verb that carries the feeling	“exclaimed with delight”
3	Join with that; remove the quotation marks	…that she enjoyed…
4	Turn ‘how + adjective/adverb’ into a plain intensifier	how much → very much; how soulful → very soulful
5	Shift pronouns and tense one step back	I → she; enjoy → enjoyed; this → that

Tip: the exclamation mark must not survive the conversion. If your sentence still ends in !, you have reported the words but kept the exclamation — which is exactly what the instruction forbids.

Q7.

VI. Write the sentences given below in reported speech. One example has been done for you. 1. “Wow Shruti! You’re a sensation!” suggested Avinash. → Avinash exclaimed with wonder that Shruti was a great sensation. 2. “What an incredible achievement! I can’t believe we pulled it off!” said Iqbal. Iqbal exclaimed that it _____________________________.

Answer

Iqbal exclaimed that it was an incredible achievement and that he could not believe they had pulled it off.

Each change, and why it is required:

“What an incredible achievement!” — the What a…! pattern is exclamatory. In reported speech it becomes a plain statement: it was an incredible achievement. The exclamation mark disappears into the verb exclaimed.
can’t → could not. The reporting verb exclaimed is past, so the tense inside shifts one step back. Write could not, not couldn’t — contractions belong to direct speech.
pulled it off → had pulled it off. A simple past inside past reporting moves to the past perfect.
we → they. Iqbal was inside the group when he spoke; the reporter stands outside it.
A second ‘that’ is added before the new clause. When two reported clauses are joined, repeating that keeps the sentence clear.

Note the idiom: ‘to pull something off’ means to succeed in doing something difficult. It stays exactly as it is in reported speech — idioms are never translated into plainer words when reporting.

Q8.

VI. 3. “Bravo! Each note was executed perfectly, and the performance was flawless!” said Shruti’s mother. Shruti’s mother applauded that ____________________.

Answer

Shruti’s mother applauded that each note had been executed perfectly and that the performance had been flawless.

The changes:

“Bravo!” is an interjection of praise. It is not reported as a word — its meaning is absorbed by the reporting verb applauded, which already means ‘praised’.
was executed → had been executed and was → had been: a past tense inside past reporting shifts to the past perfect. Both verbs here are passive (was executed), so the shift falls on the auxiliary — was becomes had been, while executed stays.
The exclamation mark is dropped and a full stop closes the sentence.
No pronoun change is needed — there is no I, we or you in the original.

Tip: when the reporting verb already carries the emotion (applauded, exclaimed, apologised, promised), do not add the feeling again as a separate word. “Applauded happily that…” is redundant.

Q9.

VI. 4. Iqbal: I basically have a little bit of scolding for breakfast every day!

Answer

Iqbal exclaimed jokingly that he basically had a little bit of scolding for breakfast every day.

The changes:

I → he, since we are now reporting Iqbal rather than being him.
have → had: present simple shifts to past simple after a past reporting verb.
every day stays as it is. Time expressions change only when the time of speaking has moved on (today → that day, tomorrow → the next day). ‘Every day’ describes a habit, and a habit is not tied to the day of speaking.
exclaimed jokingly is the right reporting verb because the line is a joke, and the stage direction proves it — the sentence is followed by “(all laugh)”.

Why this line matters in the play: Iqbal is making light of being scolded so that Shruti will stop dreading it. Reporting it with jokingly keeps that purpose visible; reporting it with a flat ‘said’ would turn a kindness into a complaint.

Q10.

VI. 5. Shruti: Sorry mummy, won’t hide from you again. I promise!

Answer

Shruti apologised to her mother and promised that she would not hide anything from her again.

The changes:

“Sorry” is not reported as a word; it becomes the reporting verb apologised. Similarly “I promise!” becomes promised — the sentence has two speech acts, so it needs two reporting verbs joined by and.
mummy → her mother: a term of address becomes a description of the person addressed.
won’t → would not: will shifts to would after a past reporting verb, and the contraction is opened out.
you → her, since Leela is no longer the person being spoken to.
‘Anything’ is added because the reported clause needs an object to stand on its own; the spoken version could leave it out, a written report cannot.

Check it against the reply: Leela answers, “You better not.” A reported version that lost the promise would leave that reply hanging. Reported speech has to preserve what the speaker did with the words, not only the words.

Q11.

VI. 6. Avinash: You are a sensation now! The least you can do is throw a party!

Answer

Avinash exclaimed that Shruti was a sensation then and added that the least she could do was throw a party.

The changes:

You → Shruti / she. Name her once so the sentence is clear, then use the pronoun.
are → was and can → could: both shift one step back after a past reporting verb.
now → then. ‘Now’ points to the moment of speaking; once we are reporting, that moment is in the past. (Now → then, here → there, this → that follow the same rule.)
Two exclamations, so two reporting verbs — exclaimed… and added… — which also keeps the teasing sequence of the original.

Compare with the worked example: the book reports “Wow Shruti! You’re a sensation!” as “Avinash exclaimed with wonder that Shruti was a great sensation.” Follow that model — the interjection ‘Wow’ becomes ‘with wonder’, not a quoted word.

Q12.

VII. Report the following dialogue in the indirect form of speech. Asma: Wow! What a unique experience I had at the art studio today! Deepa: Tell me! I’m eager to hear! Asma: I accidentally spilled paint all over my canvas. Deepa: Oh, my goodness! What a pity! Asma: No worries! The painting now looks better than my original plan! Deepa: That’s incredible! Asma exclaimed excitedly that she 1.____________. Deepa urged her to tell her as she was eager to hear. Asma said that 2. ____________. Deepa pitied Asma. However, Asma replied to her not to worry as 3. ____________. Deepa exclaimed that 4. ____________.

Answer

The completed passage reads:

Asma exclaimed excitedly that she 1. had had a unique experience at the art studio that day. Deepa urged her to tell her as she was eager to hear. Asma said that 2. she had accidentally spilled paint all over her canvas. Deepa pitied Asma. However, Asma replied to her not to worry as 3. the painting then looked better than her original plan. Deepa exclaimed that 4. that was incredible.

Blank	Original words	What had to change
1	“Wow! What a unique experience I had at the art studio today!”	Wow and the exclamation mark vanish into “exclaimed excitedly”; the What a…! pattern becomes a statement; had → had had (past to past perfect); today → that day.
2	“I accidentally spilled paint all over my canvas.”	I → she; my → her; spilled → had spilled.
3	“No worries! The painting now looks better than my original plan!”	“No worries” is already carried by “replied to her not to worry”, so it is not repeated; now → then; looks → looked; my → her.
4	“That’s incredible!”	That’s → that was; the exclamation is carried by “exclaimed”.

Why blank 1 needs the odd-looking ‘had had’: the original verb is already past (I had a unique experience). Reporting pushes a past tense one further back, into the past perfect — had had. It looks strange but it is correct: the first had is the auxiliary, the second is the main verb.

Notice what happens to the interjections. ‘Wow’, ‘Oh, my goodness!’, ‘What a pity!’ and ‘No worries!’ never appear as words in the report. Each one is absorbed by a reporting verb — exclaimed excitedly, pitied, replied… not to worry. That is the single most important habit in reporting exclamations.

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