NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 7 Carrier of Words (prose) — Vocabulary and Structures in Context

Book page 212–215 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Study the phrases given in Column 1 and match them with their meanings in Column 2. Column 1: 1. crumbles into sand 2. give a new lease of life 3. turn into a trickle before drying out 4. bearing words across this desolate geography Column 2: (i) get a chance to continue living (ii) carrying letters to less populated areas (iii) disappears in the desert (iv) lessen gradually and then finally stop Now, use the phrases from Column 1 in sentences of your own.

Answer

Column 1	Match	Column 2	Why
1. crumbles into sand	(iii)	disappears in the desert	“where the Barmer–Chohtan road directionlessly crumbles into sand” — the road does not end at a point; it breaks up and is swallowed
2. give a new lease of life	(i)	get a chance to continue living	“Khetaram’s appointment more than a decade ago gave him a new lease of life” — the job renewed a life that famine had made impossible
3. turn into a trickle before drying out	(iv)	lessen gradually and then finally stop	The image is of a stream thinning to a trickle and then vanishing — reduction first, then a complete stop
4. bearing words across this desolate geography	(ii)	carrying letters to less populated areas	“after more than a decade and a half of bearing words across this desolate geography” — words = the letters, desolate geography = the near-empty desert

Used in sentences of my own:

crumbles into sand — Two kilometres past the last shop the tar crumbles into sand, and from there the schoolteacher walks.
give a new lease of life — The new tube well gave a new lease of life to a village that had been buying every pot of water.
turn into a trickle before drying out — After the mill closed, the crowd at the tea stall turned into a trickle before drying out altogether.
bearing words across this desolate geography — For sixteen summers he has been bearing words across this desolate geography, and the dunes still show his footprints by evening.

Worth knowing: phrase 3, “turn into a trickle before drying out”, does not appear anywhere in the passage as printed in your book — the exercise has taken it from the fuller original article. Match it by meaning, as above; there is no line to hunt for. The other three are all in the text (pages 205, 208 and 209).

Q2.

II. Identify examples of alliteration and metaphor in the extract given below. Khetaram’s khaki turban and uniform are his only protection against the desert’s furies, the scorching summer winds and swirling sandstorms which turn him into a walking sandman.

Answer

Alliteration — the repetition of the same consonant sound at the start of words that are close together.

“Khetaram’s khaki” — the hard /k/ twice over. It also ties the man to the cloth: the uniform sounds like a part of his name.
“the scorching summer winds and swirling sandstorms” — four /s/ sounds in a row. Read it aloud and you hear the hiss of blown sand; the sound of the line does the work the picture cannot.

Metaphor — one thing spoken of as though it were another, with no like or as.

“turn him into a walking sandman” — he is not like a sandman, he is called one. He is coated so thickly that the man and the desert are no longer separable; the chapter’s next quotation completes the picture — “there is a sand dune at my feet every evening.”
“the desert’s furies” — the desert is given rage, as if it had a will and were attacking him. (This is a metaphor with personification inside it; ‘furies’ were also avenging spirits in old mythology, which sharpens the sense of a punishment being carried out.)

Why both devices are in the same sentence. Look at the balance: on one side “khaki turban and uniform”, a couple of pieces of cloth; on the other “the desert’s furies”. The alliteration hisses; the metaphor turns the enemy into something alive and the man into something inanimate. In one sentence the writer makes an unequal contest audible as well as visible — “his only protection” is the phrase the two devices are built to support.

Q3.

III. Match the words in Column 1 to what they suggest in Column 2 in the context of the chapter. Column 1: 1. arid 2. concessional 3. gaunt 4. remote 5. desolate Column 2: (i) interest rate for the farmers (ii) corner of the world (iii) farmland without much yield (iv) desert stretching far and wide (v) farmer waiting for the rains Now, use the words from Column 1 in sentences of your own.

Answer

Column 1	Match	Column 2	What the word means, and why it fits
1. arid	(iii)	farmland without much yield	Arid = so dry that little will grow. “each family which resides in this arid land” — the land that gives one crop of bajra in a good year
2. concessional	(i)	interest rate for the farmers	Concessional = offered at a reduced rate as a concession. The only thing in the list that can be offered at a lower rate is an interest rate
3. gaunt	(v)	farmer waiting for the rains	Gaunt = thin and hollow-cheeked from hunger or strain. Only a person can be gaunt, so it must be the farmer, not the land
4. remote	(ii)	corner of the world	Remote = far from everything else. “In this remote place people relied on BSNL”; “the far-flung hamlets… of this remote area”
5. desolate	(iv)	desert stretching far and wide	Desolate = empty, bleak, with no sign of life. “bearing words across this desolate geography”

Solve it by grammar of meaning, not by guesswork. Sort the five words first: arid and desolate describe land, remote describes distance, gaunt describes a body, and concessional describes a rate or price. That single sort fixes 2, 3 and 4 immediately, and leaves arid and desolate to be separated by scale — arid is about yield (farmland), desolate about emptiness stretching far and wide (desert).

Used in sentences of my own:

arid — Nothing but ber bushes will grow on that arid patch behind the school.
concessional — The bank offered the sugarcane growers a concessional rate of interest after the floods.
gaunt — By the third rainless month the herdsmen looked as gaunt as their cattle.
remote — The doctor visits this remote hamlet once a fortnight, and only in the dry season.
desolate — At noon the salt flat is desolate — no bird, no shade, no sound.

Note: concessional and gaunt do not occur in the passage as it is printed in your book; like phrase 3 in exercise I, they come from the longer original article. Match them by meaning.

Q4.

IV. Read the underlined verbs in the sentences given in Column 1 and their functions in Column 2. 1. She has found her book. — (i) finished actions (past event — present result) 2. I have just eaten a mango. — (ii) recently completed action 3. Have you ever seen a play before? — (iii) life experiences 4. I have finished my project. — (iv) accomplishment 5. Ajay has become a good bowler in five years. — (v) changes over time 6. I have seen this book in the library many times. — (vi) multiple actions at different times 7. I have studied in this school for six years. — (vii) action completed in the past but has its impact in present All the verbs in the sentences in Column 1 are in present perfect tense. The structure is: has/have + past participle (third form of the verb).

Answer

The seven pairs are already matched in the book, in order — 1–(i), 2–(ii), 3–(iii), 4–(iv), 5–(v), 6–(vi), 7–(vii). Your task is to see why one tense can do seven different jobs.

Sentence	has/have + 3rd form	Function	The clue word that signals it
She has found her book.	has + found	finished action, present result	none needed — the result (she has it now) is the whole point
I have just eaten a mango.	have + eaten	recently completed	just
Have you ever seen a play before?	have + seen	life experience	ever, before
I have finished my project.	have + finished	accomplishment	finish itself carries completion
Ajay has become a good bowler in five years.	has + become	change over time	in five years + become
I have seen this book … many times.	have + seen	repeated actions, different times	many times
I have studied in this school for six years.	have + studied	began in the past, still true now	for six years

The one idea underneath all seven: the present perfect never fixes a finished point in the past — it links the past to now. That is why you can say “I have studied here for six years” (and still study here) but not “I have studied here in 2019”. The moment you name a finished past time, you must switch to the simple past: She found her book yesterday.

Check it yourself: take any sentence from the chapter and test the rule. “For the last 15 years, he has been a trusted link…” — the phrase for the last 15 years reaches up to today, so the present perfect is right. Change it to in 2009 and the sentence must become he was.

Q5.

IV. Now, fill in the blanks by using the present perfect form of the verbs given in the brackets to complete the following paragraph. 1. I _________ (has/have) just ________ (get) a collection of postage stamps from my grandfather. He 2. ___________ (collect) these stamps over a period of 20 years. I 3. ___________ (study) most of the stamps in his collection and loved all of them. I 4. _______ (begin) my own collection of postage stamps. Grandfather 5. _________ truly ________ (inspire) me.

Answer

The completed paragraph:

1. I have just got a collection of postage stamps from my grandfather.
He 2. has collected these stamps over a period of 20 years.
I 3. have studied most of the stamps in his collection and loved all of them.
I 4. have begun my own collection of postage stamps.
Grandfather 5. has truly inspired me.

Two decisions in every blank — which auxiliary, and which participle:

has or have? He and Grandfather are third person singular, so has (blanks 2 and 5). I takes have (blanks 1, 3, 4).
The third form: get → got (British usage; gotten is American), collect → collected, study → studied (the -y after a consonant becomes -ied), begin → begun (begin–began–begun: begun is the participle, began is the simple past), inspire → inspired.
Where the adverb sits: just and truly go between the auxiliary and the participle — “have just got”, “has truly inspired” — which is why blanks 1 and 5 are printed as two separate gaps.

Watch blank 4. “I have begun” is right; “I have began” is the commonest mistake in this exercise. Say the three forms aloud when you are unsure — begin, began, begun — and take the third.

Q6.

V. Study the sentences given below. 1. GDS delivers the mail at the border. When the subject does the action, the sentence is in active voice. 2. The mail is delivered by the GDS at the border. This implies that the ‘mail’ receives the action ‘deliver’. This sentence is in passive voice because the subject is receiving the action.

Answer

The difference is not in the meaning but in what the sentence chooses to put first.

	Active	Passive
Sentence	GDS delivers the mail at the border.	The mail is delivered by the GDS at the border.
Subject	GDS — the doer	the mail — the receiver of the action
Verb form	delivers	is delivered (be + past participle)
The doer	is the subject	moves into a by-phrase — and can be dropped altogether

Active → Passive, in three steps:
1. The object becomes the subject: the mail →front
2. The verb becomes be + past participle, in the same tense: delivers → is delivered
3. The old subject goes into a by-phrase: GDS → by the GDS

When is the passive the better choice? When the action or its receiver matters more than the doer, or when the doer is obvious, unknown or deliberately left out. That is why rules, notices and instructions are written in it — “Regulations stipulate that his load cannot exceed 28 kilos” becomes “A load of more than 28 kilos is not permitted.” Notice also that the passive lets a writer hide the doer: “the temperature is recorded as 49.9 degrees celsius” — recorded by whom? The chapter never says, and the passive is what allows the sentence to leave it out.

Q7.

V. 3. Khetaram’s nephew wants to join the GDS. He asks Khetaram how to prepare for it. Khetaram gives him the following advice. (i) You will need a lot of stamina for this job. (ii) Practise reading clearly as some of the villagers will expect you to read out the letters. (iii) Write words neatly as some villagers will ask you to draft replies. (iv) Wear full-sleeved shirts and trousers to protect yourself from the heat. Now, complete the following paragraph about the advice given by Khetaram. One example has been done for you. To begin with, a lot of stamina will be needed for this job. Next, reading clearly A. ________________________, as you B. ________________________ to read out the letters by some of the villagers. Words C. ________________________ neatly as you D. ________________________ to draft replies by some villagers. Full sleeved-shirts and trousers E. ________________________ to protect yourself from the heat.

Answer

The completed paragraph:

To begin with, a lot of stamina will be needed for this job.
Next, reading clearly A. should be practised, as you B. will be expected to read out the letters by some of the villagers.
Words C. should be written neatly as you D. will be asked to draft replies by some villagers.
Full sleeved-shirts and trousers E. should be worn to protect yourself from the heat.

How each blank was worked out. The example sets the pattern: “You will need a lot of stamina” → “a lot of stamina will be needed”. Every blank is the same conversion — object to the front, be + past participle in place of the verb.

Khetaram’s advice (active)	Blank	Passive form	Why that auxiliary
Practise reading clearly	A	should be practised	An imperative (an order or piece of advice) becomes should be / must be + participle
some of the villagers will expect you	B	will be expected	Future will expect → will be expected; ‘you’ is already the subject of the clause
Write words neatly	C	should be written	Imperative again; write–wrote–written
some villagers will ask you	D	will be asked	Future passive, matching B
Wear full-sleeved shirts and trousers	E	should be worn	Imperative; wear–wore–worn

Also acceptable: must be practised / must be written / must be worn, or needs to be practised. What is not acceptable is “should be practise” or “will be expect” — the passive always needs the third form of the verb. And keep the by-phrases where the paragraph has already placed them (“by some of the villagers”, “by some villagers”); they are the giveaway that B and D must be passive.

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