Class 12 English

Chapter 1 Solutions — The Last Lesson

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Solutions

Overview

Step-by-step NCERT solutions for The Last Lesson (Chapter 1, CBSE Class 12 English) — every question and answer worked out in full, not just the final result. You can also read the The Last Lesson textbook chapter.

Solved

What these solutions cover

All 8 questions in The Last Lesson are solved in the PDF. Here's what's inside, exercise by exercise:

Understanding the text

The people in this story suddenly realise how precious their language is to them. What shows you this? Why does this happen?
Franz thinks, "Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?" What could this mean? (There could be more than one answer.)

Talking about the text

"When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison." Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their language taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?
What happens to a linguistic minority in a state? How do you think they can keep their language alive? For example: Punjabis in Bangalore / Tamilians in Mumbai / Kannadigas in Delhi / Gujaratis in Kolkata
Is it possible to carry pride in one's language too far? Do you know what 'linguistic chauvinism' means?

Working with words

English is a language that contains words from many other languages. Find out the origins of the following words: tycoon, tulip, logo, bandicoot, barbecue, veranda, robot, zero, ski, trek
2.
Notice the underlined words in these sentences and tick the option that best explains their meaning.
- (a) 'What a thunderclap these words were to me!'
- (b) 'When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison'
- (c) 'Don't go so fast, you will get to your school in plenty of time.'
- (d) 'I never saw him look so tall.'

Noticing form

Read this sentence: 'M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles.' The verb form 'had said' indicates an 'earlier past'. Pick out five sentences from the story with this form of the verb (past perfect) and say why this form has been used.

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