NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 8 Follow That Dream (letter by Irene Chua) — Vocabulary and Structures in Context

Book page 237–240 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Read the following sentence from the text. The dream will take a much longer time to realise, and the people who are participants in your dreamscape would be many more. The word ‘dreamscape’ is a compound word where ‘-scape’ means ‘a view or scene of’. Now, refer to a dictionary and find out the meaning of the following words. [Word box on page 237: mindscape | seascape | landscape | cityscape]

Answer

All four are formed the same way: a noun naming a place or a thing, plus the suffix -scape meaning ‘a view or scene of’.

Word	Meaning	Used in a sentence
mindscape	the inner ‘landscape’ of a person’s mind — the whole scene of one’s thoughts, memories, feelings and imagination	Two weeks in the hills cleared her mindscape better than any advice could.
seascape	a view of the sea, or a picture or photograph of it	From the Kanyakumari rock the seascape stretched unbroken to the horizon.
landscape	a stretch of countryside seen in one view; also a painting of such a scene	The train crossed a flat landscape of paddy fields and coconut palms.
cityscape	a view of a city, especially its skyline of buildings	At night the Mumbai cityscape is a wall of lights above the sea.

Why mindscape is the odd one out — and why it matters for the letter. Seascape, landscape and cityscape all name views you could photograph. Mindscape and dreamscape name views that exist only inside a person, and they work by borrowing the language of real geography for something invisible: a mind is spoken of as if it had horizons, weather and open country. That is exactly the trick Chua plays with dreamscape. By calling a person’s ambitions a ‘scape’, she turns a private hope into a place — somewhere large enough for other people to walk into, which is why she can then say “the people who are participants in your dreamscape would be many more.”

Build the pattern further: moonscape (a bare, cratered view like the moon’s), soundscape (everything you can hear in a place), streetscape, skyscape. Once you know a suffix, you can read words you have never met before — that is the real point of this exercise.

Q2.

I. 1. Fill in the blanks in the following dialogue between two friends with the words given in the box. [Box: mindscape | seascape | landscape | cityscape] Sneha: Your Goa pictures were beautiful! That (i) ___________ was dreamy. Kiran: Thanks! It was way better than our usual (ii) ___________, so peaceful. Sneha: I get that. But sometimes the city lights have their own charm. Kiran: True, but I’m craving a quiet (iii) ___________. Forests, hills—something real. Sneha: Yes, nature clears the (iv)___________, doesn’t it? Kiran: Exactly. Let’s plan a trip that soothes—inside and out.

Answer

Blank	Answer	The clue in the line
(i)	seascape	“Your Goa pictures” — Goa means beaches, so the view photographed was of the sea.
(ii)	cityscape	“our usual” — the friends live in a city, and Sneha’s next line confirms it: “sometimes the city lights have their own charm.”
(iii)	landscape	“Forests, hills—something real” — countryside seen in one view.
(iv)	mindscape	“nature clears the ___” and the closing line “soothes—inside and out”. Only the inner one can be cleared.

How to solve a word-box cloze without guessing. Do not read the blanks in order — read the words next to each blank first, and match them to the meanings you established in the previous question. Goa → sea; usual + city lights → city; forests and hills → land; clears + inside → mind. Every blank in a well-set cloze has one word within a line of it that decides the answer. Then check that you have used each box word exactly once, which is the last safeguard.

Notice the joke in the last line. Kiran says the trip should soothe “inside and out” — the outside is the landscape, the inside is the mindscape. The dialogue ends by pointing at the very pattern the exercise is teaching.

Q3.

II. Read each sentence carefully and choose the best meaning for the underlined expression. Then, use that expression in a sentence of your own. 1. She had a dream that seemed to burn in her blood, and she wasn’t going to give up on it easily. (i) make her angry (ii) have a passionate desire (iii) cause physical pain (iv) become violent

Answer

(ii) have a passionate desire

The clue in the sentence: the second half — “and she wasn’t going to give up on it easily” — tells you the feeling is persistent and positive, not painful or angry. A desire that will not let you quit is passion, not rage.

Where it comes from in the letter: “Then if it is still burning in your blood and you are ready to commit yourself to the task, plunge.” (page 232) Chua also uses the related phrase “if the burning conviction is still coursing through your veins” (page 233).

Why blood, of all things? Blood reaches every part of the body and never stops moving. To say a desire burns in your blood is to say it is not confined to your thoughts — it is in you everywhere, all the time, and you cannot set it down. That is exactly what makes it a test: a wish lives in the head, a dream lives in the blood. Options (i), (iii) and (iv) all take burn literally or angrily and miss the idiom entirely.

Own sentence: Ever since she watched the district athletics meet, the ambition to run the 800 metres for her state has burned in her blood.

Q4.

II. 2. Preparing for the final exam without proper notes felt like an uphill task. (i) a tough challenge (ii) a slow progress (iii) a hard routine (iv) a difficult choice

Answer

(i) a tough challenge

The image behind the idiom: walking up a slope. It is harder than level ground, it stays hard all the way, and gravity is against you the whole time — so an uphill task is one that demands continuous effort against resistance.

Where it comes from in the letter: “The road may be uphill most of the way and often you are buoyed up only by the knowledge that you are doing what you love best.” (page 232)

Option	Why it fails
(ii) a slow progress	Slowness may be a result of climbing, but the idiom names the difficulty, not the pace. A task can be uphill and still be finished quickly by someone strong.
(iii) a hard routine	A routine is repeated daily. An uphill task may be a single climb.
(iv) a difficult choice	No choosing is involved. The student in the sentence has already decided to prepare — the difficulty is in the doing.

Own sentence: Getting the whole colony to segregate its waste was an uphill task, but by the third month half the households were doing it.

Q5.

II. 3. The team was buoyed up by their recent victory and felt confident about the next game. (i) energised by success (ii) encouraged by the result (iii) motivated to improve (iv) lifted in spirit

Answer

(iv) lifted in spirit

Why this option and not the other three. The question asks for the meaning of the expression itself, not for a summary of what happened in the sentence. A buoy is a float; to be buoyed up is literally to be kept afloat, held up, prevented from sinking — the book glosses it exactly so on page 232: “kept afloat”. Transferred to feelings, that is lifted in spirit: the word describes an upward movement of the heart, and nothing else.

Option	What it actually describes
(i) energised by success	The cause (the victory) plus a physical result. ‘Buoyed up’ can happen without any success at all.
(ii) encouraged by the result	Again the cause. Also, you can be buoyed up by a friend’s words, by music, by hope — no ‘result’ needed.
(iii) motivated to improve	A possible consequence. Being lifted in spirit does not by itself aim at improvement.
(iv) lifted in spirit	The expression itself — the float image carried straight into feeling.

Test it against the letter, where there is no victory at all. “often you are buoyed up only by the knowledge that you are doing what you love best.” At that moment in Chua’s picture, nothing has succeeded, there is no result, and the road is still uphill — yet the person is buoyed up. Only ‘lifted in spirit’ still fits that sentence, which proves it is the meaning of the phrase rather than of the situation.

Own sentence: The whole ward was buoyed up when the doctor said her fever had finally broken.

Q6.

II. 4. He thought he could ace the exam without studying, but that was just wishful thinking. (i) a clever shortcut but no real effort behind it (ii) a confident guess but lacking proper knowledge (iii) a hopeful belief but unlikely to be true (iv) a strong desire but based on facts and planning

Answer

(iii) a hopeful belief but unlikely to be true

The two halves of the idiom. Wishful supplies the hope; thinking is ironic — it is not real thinking at all, because the belief is produced by the wish rather than by evidence. So the phrase always means believing something because you want it, not because there is reason to.

Option	Why it fails
(i) a clever shortcut…	There is nothing clever in it, and no shortcut is being taken — nothing at all is being done.
(ii) a confident guess…	A guess is an attempt at an answer; wishful thinking is an attempt at a reality. Close, but it misses the element of desire.
(iv) …based on facts and planning	The exact opposite. If it were based on facts it would not be wishful.

Its weight in the letter. This is the phrase on which Chua’s whole warning turns: “everyone at one time or other has wistfully said to oneself, ‘I wish I could be this or the other,’ they have never got beyond just wishful thinking.” (page 233) Wishful thinking is what a dream becomes when nobody counts its cost. Note the near-rhyme with wistfully two lines earlier — the paragraph is held together by the sound of wishing.

Own sentence: Expecting the monsoon to fill the tank without repairing the leak was wishful thinking, and by May the village was buying water again.

Q7.

II. 5. Don’t be a wet blanket—we’re trying to have fun! (i) spoil-sport (ii) latecomer (iii) rule-breaker (iv) daydreamer

Answer

(i) spoil-sport

Where the image comes from. A wet blanket is what you throw on a fire to put it out. Thrown over other people’s excitement, it does the same thing — hence a person who dampens everyone’s enthusiasm.

Where it appears in the letter: “No, I am not going to put a wet blanket on your dreams, … but you will also have to consider the years you need to chase your dream.” (page 233)

Look at what Chua is doing with the idiom — this is the most skilful sentence in the letter. She has just told Ming two discouraging stories (the war, the siblings). She knows exactly how a teenager will read them. So she names the accusation before it is made and denies it — and only then, protected by that denial, delivers the caution in the second half of the same sentence. The word ‘but’ after the ellipsis is where the whole letter turns. Notice also the honesty of the construction: she does not claim the caution is not a caution; she claims only that it is not a refusal.

Own sentence: I did not want to be a wet blanket, but somebody had to remind them that the last bus left at eight.

Q8.

II. 6. Excitement was coursing through her veins as she stepped onto the stage for the first time. (i) hiding deep inside (ii) flowing through her body (iii) lingering in her thoughts (iv) causing numbness

Answer

(ii) flowing through her body

The verb is the clue. To course is to run or flow swiftly — a river courses through a valley, blood courses through veins. So the idiom describes a feeling that moves through the whole body the way blood does: fast, everywhere at once, impossible to ignore.

Option	Why it fails
(i) hiding deep inside	The exact opposite — a coursing feeling is anything but hidden.
(iii) lingering in her thoughts	Puts the feeling in the head. Veins puts it in the body, which is the whole point of the phrase.
(iv) causing numbness	Numbness is the absence of feeling; this is feeling at its most intense.

Why Chua reaches for the body twice. “if the burning conviction is still coursing through your veins, then go ahead and do something about it.” (page 233) She had already used ‘burning in your blood’ on the previous page. Both idioms move the dream out of the mind and into the bloodstream, and that is her test for it: a real dream is something you feel physically; a wish is something you only think. A student who notices that the two idioms are doing the same job in two different paragraphs has understood the letter.

Own sentence: As the last over began, nervousness came coursing through his veins, and he could hear his own heartbeat above the crowd.

Q9.

III. Read the following sentence from the text. After all the obstacles are considered, if the burning conviction is still coursing through your veins, then go ahead and do something about it. Here, the first conditional is used to talk about real or possible situations in the future. Sometimes, instead of saying ‘will + verb’ in the main clause, we use an imperative (a command or advice). Complete the sentences using your own words (imperatives): 1. If the idea excites you, ____________________________.

Answer

If the idea excites you, write it down before you sleep and show it to your teacher tomorrow.

The rule you are practising. A first conditional has two parts:

If + present simple , + will + verb
If the idea excites you, you will want to note it down.

If + present simple , + imperative
If the idea excites you, write it down.

Both talk about a real, possible future. The difference is the speaker’s role: will predicts, the imperative advises or instructs. Chua chooses the imperative — “then go ahead and do something about it” — because she is not forecasting Ming’s future; she is telling her what to do with it. Note that the if-clause never takes will: “If the idea excites you”, not “if the idea will excite you”.

Two other acceptable answers: “If the idea excites you, don’t wait for permission — start with the smallest version of it.” / “If the idea excites you, give yourself a week to test whether the excitement lasts.” Check your own answer for three things: the main clause must begin with a bare verb (write, start, don’t wait), it must be advice rather than a prediction, and it must follow logically from the if-clause.

Q10.

III. 2. If you hear strange noises,_________________________.

Answer

If you hear strange noises, switch off the fan and listen carefully before you wake anyone up.

The main clause is a chain of imperatives — switch off, listen — which is perfectly correct in a first conditional and often more natural than a single command.

Other good answers: “If you hear strange noises, stay where you are and call me.” / “If you hear strange noises, do not open the door until you have looked out of the window.” A negative imperative (do not open, never go) is just as valid as a positive one — a warning is advice too.

Q11.

III. 3. If this seems too hard, ______________________________.

Answer

If this seems too hard, break it into three smaller steps and finish only the first one today.

Why this is a better answer than “ask for help”. Both are grammatically correct, but the exercise sits inside a chapter about persisting on an uphill road. An imperative that keeps the person working — break it up, slow down, start with the easiest part — matches the letter’s advice far better than one that hands the problem to somebody else. Content counts as well as grammar in a ‘use your own words’ task.

Other good answers: “If this seems too hard, leave it for an hour and come back to it with a clear head.” / “If this seems too hard, look at the solved example again before you try the sum.”

Q12.

III. 4. If you care about the issue, _________________________.

Answer

If you care about the issue, speak about it in tomorrow’s assembly instead of complaining in the corridor.

Other good answers: “If you care about the issue, write to the municipal office and keep a copy of the letter.” / “If you care about the issue, join the clean-up drive on Sunday morning.” Each turns a feeling into an action, which is what an imperative is for — and, incidentally, what Chua’s whole letter argues: caring is not doing.

Q13.

III. 5. If you finish early, ______________________________.

Answer

If you finish early, check every answer once again before you hand the paper in.

Other good answers: “If you finish early, help Riya with the last two questions.” / “If you finish early, wait quietly at your desk and do not disturb the others.”
Common mistake to avoid: writing “If you will finish early, …”. English never puts will in the if-clause of a first conditional — the present simple already carries the future meaning.

Q14.

IV. Read the following sentences from the text. Analyse the usage of ‘could’ and match the sentences with their functions given in the box below. [Box on page 239: Past ability or purpose | Possibility | Past possibility or speculation | Unreal or hypothetical situation] 1. It could be in any field—sports, science, arts, business or design.

Answer

Possibility

Test it by rewriting. “It may / might be in any field” — the sentence still means the same thing. That substitution is the reliable test for the possibility use of could.

Read it in context. Ming has already told her mother what her dream is. Here Chua steps back to a general statement: whatever your field turns out to be — “sports, science, arts, business, or design” — the ten-year rule applies. ‘Could’ here opens the door rather than closing it; there is no past time, no wish and no speculation about what someone did. The reference is to the present and the future, which rules out the other three functions at once.

Q15.

IV. 2. “I wish I could be this or the other,” they have never got beyond just wishful thinking.

Answer

Unreal or hypothetical situation

The giveaway is the two words before it: “I wish”. After I wish, English uses could for something that is not true and is not happening — an imagined life, not a real possibility being weighed.

I wish I could be a pilot. → I am not a pilot, and I am doing nothing about it.
I could be a pilot. → It is genuinely open to me.

Why the grammar carries the letter’s argument. Chua’s whole point in that paragraph is that these people “have never got beyond just wishful thinking.” The unreal could is the grammar of wishful thinking — it belongs to a sentence in which nothing will be attempted. Compare it with the could of question 1, which is a live possibility. The same word, two entirely different worlds; and Chua uses each in the paragraph where it belongs.

Q16.

IV. 3. They could have preferred to trade their dream for security.

Answer

Past possibility or speculation

The structural signal: could + have + past participle (could have preferred). That form always looks back at the past and says this may be what happened, though I do not know for certain.

Why Chua speculates instead of asserting. She is writing about real people whose dreams did not come true, and she cannot see inside their choices. To write “They preferred to trade their dream for security” would be a judgement — it would accuse them of giving up. “They could have preferred…” offers the explanation and leaves it open. The modal is a piece of good manners, and it is consistent with the sentence that follows: “Perhaps circumstances changed their lives.” Could have and perhaps are doing the same careful work.

Do not confuse the two ‘could have’ meanings. Could have can also express a missed opportunity — “They could have taken the shorter route, but they didn’t know about it” (which is exactly question V.2 on page 240). Here there is no regret and no missed chance, only a guess about a past state of mind — so the function is speculation.

Q17.

IV. 4. I know too, of people who had wished to finish secondary school but they had to go out to work so that they could support their siblings through school.

Answer

Past ability or purpose — and in this sentence it is specifically purpose.

The structural signal: the phrase “so that … could”. So that introduces a purpose clause, and in a past-tense sentence the verb inside it takes could.

They had to go out to work so that they could support their siblings.
= They went out to work in order to be able to support their siblings.

The sentence with the heaviest moral weight in the letter. Look at what the grammar quietly records. The main clause is “they had to go out to work” — obligation, no choice. The purpose clause is “so that they could support their siblings” — someone else’s schooling, not their own. One person’s dream was spent to pay for another person’s education. Chua reports it without a word of comment, and the restraint is what makes it land. It is also her strongest evidence for the point she makes elsewhere: some dreams end for reasons that have nothing to do with the dreamer’s effort.

Q18.

V. Complete the following sentences using ‘could’ with the functions mentioned within brackets. 1. I wish ____________ without worrying about money. (unreal or hypothetical)

Answer

I wish I could travel the whole country without worrying about money.

What the answer must contain. After I wish, use could + bare infinitive — never can, and never could have. The sentence describes something that is not true now, so:

I wish I could travel… ✓ (unreal, about now)
I wish I can travel… ✗
I wish I could have travelled… → a different meaning: regret about the past

Other acceptable answers: “I wish I could study music full time without worrying about money.” / “I wish I could send my sister to the city for coaching without worrying about money.”

Q19.

V. 2. They ____________ the shorter route, but they didn’t know about it. (past possibility or speculative)

Answer

They could have taken the shorter route, but they didn’t know about it.

Why the form must be could have + past participle. The second clause — “but they didn’t know about it” — is in the past and tells you the thing never happened. That combination (a past possibility + a reason it was missed) is exactly what could have taken expresses.

could take → present possibility ✗ (contradicts “didn’t know”)
could have taken → the chance existed and was missed ✓

Also acceptable: “could have used”, “could have chosen”, “could have followed”. Any of these works, provided the have + past participle shape is kept.

Q20.

V. 3. When I was younger, I ____________ without stopping. (past ability)

Answer

When I was younger, I could swim two kilometres without stopping.

The rule for past ability. Use could + bare infinitive for something you were generally able to do over a period in the past. The time frame is already fixed by “When I was younger”, so no have is needed.

General past ability → could + verb ✓ “I could swim two kilometres.”
One specific past achievement → was able to / managed to “I was able to swim across the lake that day.”

That second line is a distinction worth knowing: for a single successful effort on one occasion, English prefers was able to over could.

Other acceptable answers: “could cycle to school and back”, “could recite the whole poem”, “could run five kilometres”.

Q21.

V. 4. She ____________ the library right now—she had mentioned it. (possibility)

Answer

She could be in the library right now—she had mentioned it.

Why could be and not could have been. The words “right now” fix the time as the present, and the sentence is a guess about where she is at this moment. Could + be is the ordinary way of making a present guess, interchangeable here with might be or may be.

She could be in the library right now. ✓ (guess about the present)
She could have been in the library. ✗ (guess about the past — clashes with ‘right now’)

The dash and the clause after it — “she had mentioned it” — supply the evidence for the guess, which is what makes it a reasonable possibility rather than a wild one.

Also acceptable: “could be at the library”, “could be sitting in the library”, “could be studying in the library”.

Q22.

V. 5. ____________ repeat the question? I didn’t hear it clearly. (formal/polite request)

Answer

Could you please repeat the question? I didn’t hear it clearly.

How could makes a request polite. A request is really a command in disguise, and English softens it by moving it a step away from reality. “Repeat the question” is an order. “Can you repeat…?” asks about your ability — friendlier. “Could you repeat…?” asks about a hypothetical ability — friendlier still, because it leaves you free to say no. Adding please completes it.

Repeat the question. → command
Can you repeat the question? → informal request
Could you please repeat the question? → formal, polite request ✓
Would you mind repeating the question? → the most formal of all

The more distance a language puts between the words and a bare order, the more polite the request sounds — which is why the past-tense form could is used for a present request.

Also acceptable: “Could you kindly repeat the question?” Note that “Could I repeat…?” would be wrong here — you are asking the other person to do it.

Q23.

VI. Fill in the blanks with suitable grammatical forms of the words given in brackets. Experiential learning is an approach to education that focuses on learning through experience, action and reflection. It 1. _______ (help) students gain practical knowledge and develop real-world skills. Traditionally, students 2. _______ (learn) by listening to lectures and memorising facts, but experiential learning has changed this process. In an experiential setting, students 3. _______ (work) on projects, solve problems, and take part in activities that reflect real-life challenges. They 4. _______ (apply) what they have learned in class to new and unfamiliar situations. For example, a student studying science 5. _______ (conduct) experiments to test a theory, while a business student 6. _______ (analyse) a case study to understand market trends. Reflection is key to this process. After completing a task, learners 7. _______ (must/reflect) on what went well and what could be improved. This reflection 8. _______ (help) them build a deeper understanding of the topic. Educators believe that experiential learning 9. _______ (be) more effective than passive learning methods because it is engaging and meaningful. In the future, more schools and universities 10. _______ (incorporate) experiential learning into their curriculum to prepare students for the real world.

Answer

No.	Answer	Why that form
1	helps	Present simple for a general truth. The subject is It (= experiential learning), third person singular, so the verb takes -s.
2	learnt (also learned)	“Traditionally” + the contrast “but experiential learning has changed this process” places this in the past. Past simple. (used to learn is equally acceptable and even more idiomatic.)
3	work	Present simple, plural subject (students), so no -s. Check the parallel verbs in the same sentence — “solve”, “take part” — they set the pattern.
4	apply	Present simple, plural subject (They).
5	conducts	Singular subject — “a student studying science” — so -s. Do not be misled by studying; the head noun is a student.
6	analyses	Singular subject, “a business student”, and it must match the tense of 5 because the two halves are joined by while.
7	must reflect	The bracket gives the modal itself. A modal is always followed by the bare infinitive — never must to reflect, never must reflects.
8	helps	Singular subject, “This reflection”. Same form as 1, for the same reason.
9	is	Reported inside “Educators believe that…”. Because the belief is presented as currently true, the present tense stays; the subject experiential learning is singular.
10	will incorporate	“In the future” demands the simple future. The plural subject makes no difference — will never changes form.

The three questions to ask at every blank in a passage like this.

What time is it? Hunt for the time marker — Traditionally (past), In the future (future), nothing at all (present general truth). Blanks 2 and 10 are decided entirely by two words.
What is the real subject? Strip out the describing words: “a student ~~studying science~~” → a student, singular → conducts. This is where most marks are lost.
What are the neighbouring verbs doing? Verbs in a list or joined by and/while must match. In blank 3, “solve” and “take part” hand you the answer before you have thought about it.

Read the finished passage aloud once. A tense that has slipped is much easier to hear than to see — and the passage as a whole should move cleanly from the past (how students learnt), through the present (what they do now), to the future (what universities will incorporate). That movement is the passage’s own argument, and your verb forms are what carry it.

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