NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Chapter 4 Environment (PDF) – 2027

Trees people plant at home: fruit trees such as mango, guava, papaya, lemon, curry leaf and drumstick; shade trees such as neem, gulmohar and ashoka; and plants kept for custom or scent, such as tulsi, parijat and champa.

Why planting trees is important: Trees absorb carbon dioxide and give out oxygen, so they keep the air clean. Their roots hold the soil and stop erosion. They give shade, fruit and wood, cool the surroundings, and give food and shelter to birds, insects and animals.

Numbers to write in the brackets: 1 → (6), 2 → (2), 3 → (5), 4 → (8), 5 → (3), 6 → (9), 7 → (1), 8 → (7), 9 → (10), 10 → (4).

Yes, I think the cherry tree would survive. The goat ate only the leaves — ‘the main stem and two thin branches remained’, so the tree could put out new leaves. The seed had already proved tough: it lay forgotten all winter and still came up. The early monsoon rains were helping it grow quickly. And Grandfather, who knows the hills, says, ‘It will grow again, cherry trees are tough.’

promptly

The Kho-kho captain promptly changed her strategy when a new player came in from the opposing team.

B. He is enjoying the taste and the moment.

He rolled the seed ’round and round on his tongue until all the tang had gone’ — he was making the last of the taste last.

Rakesh’s decision to plant the seed shows that he respects and values his grandfather’s advice. He had decided to keep the seed, but when Grandfather said, ‘If you want luck, you must put it to some use,’ he planted it at once.

Grandfather says, ‘Nothing is lucky if you put it away. If you want luck, you must put it to some use.’ He agrees the seed is lucky (‘Of course’), but he believes luck alone is useless; it brings results only when it is joined with effort. A seed kept in a pocket does nothing, but a seed that is planted can become a tree. For him, good fortune must be used and worked for before it comes true.

The phrase ‘field-mice sought shelter in the roof of the cottage’ suggests that the early winter was so cold and snowy that even small wild creatures left the fields and came into the cottage for warmth and protection.

B. The tree could withstand harsh weather.

The tree ‘bent’ under the snow but did not break; by February it was almost as tall as Rakesh.

The early winter blocked the road from the valley, so no newspaper came for several days. This made Grandfather quite grumpy, and his bad mood showed in his stories: ‘His stories began to have unhappy endings.’

The comparison of Rakesh’s age to the cherry tree’s age symbolises the tree’s growth paralleling Rakesh’s own development.

Rakesh’s parents sent him to Mussoorie so that he could go to school. They lived in a small village fifty miles away where there were no schools, and they were keen that he should study. So, as soon as he was of school-going age, they sent him to live with his grandfather, who had a cottage on the outskirts of Mussoorie.

Rakesh let the praying-mantis remain because it was the cherry tree’s first visitor, and it was doing the tree no harm — it was only perching on a branch. He was pleased that his young tree had begun to attract living creatures.

Life in the Himalayan foothills is described as beautiful but hard, and ruled by the seasons. The soil is stony and dry cold winds stunt most plants, so there are few fruit trees; people farm narrow terraced fields. In winter a cold wind blows, snow falls, the road from the valley gets blocked and even the newspaper stops. In the monsoon, ferns, lilies and mist bring the hills to life. There are few facilities — Rakesh’s village has no school — but people live close to birds, insects and forests.

Rakesh means the wonder of knowing that a living thing exists because of him. The tree, now taller than Grandfather, grew from ‘just one small seed’ that he had planted and cared for. Feeling that he had helped create life, he felt a little like God, the creator. It is a moment of awe and humility, not pride — he only whispers the question.

The writer describes a close, loving and caring relationship. Rakesh shares his cherries with Grandfather and reads the newspaper to him because his eyesight is weak; Grandfather tells him stories and guides him gently (‘If you want luck, you must put it to some use’). Grandfather comforts him when the goat eats the tree and scolds the woman who cuts it. They share the joy of the first blossom and sit together in silence under the tree at the end.

The story shows that humans and nature are closely connected, like partners. A small human act — planting one seed — can create a tree that gives shade, beauty and food to bees, birds and people. But nature does most of the work: the rain, the soil and the tree’s own toughness make it grow, and humans must be patient. Caring for nature also changes us — Rakesh becomes gentle and thoughtful, and he and Grandfather love the tree because they planted it themselves.

trim (example)

‘Chop’, ‘slice’ and ‘mince’ are words used for cutting with a knife, whereas ‘trim’ is to cut a part with a pair of scissors.

galloped

‘Plodded’, ‘scrambled’ and ‘trudged’ describe moving slowly or with difficulty; ‘galloped’ means running fast and easily (like a horse).

smooth

‘Tender’, ‘delicate’ and ‘soft’ describe something easily hurt or damaged; ‘smooth’ only describes a surface with no roughness.

pecked

‘Stared’, ‘peered’ and ‘gazed’ are all ways of looking; ‘pecked’ is what a bird does with its beak.

planting

‘Growing’, ‘blossoming’ and ‘progressing’ describe a process of development; ‘planting’ is a single action done by a person to start growth.

1. tamarind — tangy  2. jaggery — sweet  3. neem leaves — bitter  4. paneer — bland (tasteless)  5. lemon — sour  6. pickle — spicy  7. a dish of vegetables — salty

Five sentences:

1. Amma stirred jaggery into the payasam until it tasted sweet.
2. The raw mango was so sour that my eyes watered.
3. Karela is bitter, but my grandmother says it is good for health.
4. The bhel at the corner stall is too spicy for my little brother.
5. Food for patients is often kept bland so that it is easy to digest.

1. tender — hard  2. sturdy — shaky  3. narrow — wide  4. warmth — coldness  5. feasting — fasting  6. grumpy — cheerful  7. sheltered — unprotected  8. special — ordinary

The two extra words are growing and fussing.

(i) was sitting (given)  (ii) talked / were talking  (iii) realised  (iv) had imparted  (v) was listening  (vi) remembered  (vii) had spent  (viii) had set  (ix) felt  (x) had nurtured

The four true statements are 2, 3, 5 and 7.

2 — the son says, ‘Really?’ on hearing of the Appiko Movement. 3 — he says the Chipko Movement ‘showed how people can also make a difference’. 5 — the mother says, ‘I’m interested to know what your teacher has shared.’ 7 — he calls Payeng’s work ‘Fascinating’ and says it ‘really inspired’ him.

About the three banyan trees:

• The Great Banyan (Botanic Garden, Shibpur, Howrah) is over 250 years old. Its main trunk was removed after it decayed, but the tree lives on through thousands of aerial roots and looks like a small forest.
• Dodda Aalada Mara (‘big banyan tree’), near Bengaluru, is about 400 years old and spreads over nearly three acres.
• Thimmamma Marrimanu (Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh) entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1989 for the largest canopy of any tree.

(i) We offer a hymn to God, a god or goddess, or a power greater than ourselves (in this poem: Surya, Varuna, Prithvi and Brahma).

(ii) We sing hymns at times of worship and thanksgiving — at morning or evening prayer, at festivals, at school assembly — in places such as temples, churches, gurdwaras and homes, usually together and aloud.

(iii) We offer it to thank God for his gifts, to show our respect and devotion, and to ask for his continued care and blessings.

1 → (iii) you (subject)  2 → (iv) are  3 → (ii) you (object)  4 → (v) your  5 → (i) yours

1. radiance — (i) glow  2. tribute — (i) respect  3. cherished — (ii) loved  4. counsel — (i) advice  5. munificent — (ii) generous

1 → Stanza 2 (Varuna)  2 → Stanza 1 (Surya)  3 → Stanza 4 (All Voices)  4 → Stanza 3 (Prithvi)

The setting of the poem is a rural landscape, possibly during a harvest festival.

The tone of the poem is respectful and celebratory because it praises nature and the Lord with deep respect and gratitude.

The letter ‘h’ is capitalised because God resides in them.

Alliteration — the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of nearby words: munificent … morn (/m/) in the first line, and lives … labours (/l/) in the second.

More repetitions: ‘Lord of the lotus, lord of the harvest’; ‘Lord of the rainbow, lord of the harvest’; ‘Queen of the gourd-flower, queen of the harvest’; ‘Lord of the Universe, Lord of our being’; ‘Thou art our Hands and our Heart and our Home’; ‘Grant us thy succour, thy counsel, thy care’; ‘O Life of all life and all blessing’.

Purpose: Repetition creates a musical, chant-like rhythm, so the hymn is easy to sing together and remember. It emphasises the main ideas — that the harvest is a gift of the gods and that the people are grateful — and it binds the four stanzas into one hymn.

1 → (iii)  2 → (i)  3 → (ii)

B. They have a deep sense of reverence and gratitude towards the divine.

Songs and garlands are gifts of thanks, offered joyfully ‘with cymbal and flute’, not out of fear or force.

The word ‘gold’ symbolises the ripe, golden harvest of grain and fruit, which is as precious as gold to the farmers — their real wealth, ripened by the sun.

‘Mellowing’ means making something soft, sweet and ripe, and ‘radiance’ is bright light. So the phrase shows that Surya’s gentle, warm sunlight ripens the crops and fruit, turning green stalks into golden grain. The sun is a kind giver whose light makes a good harvest possible.

The use of cymbal and flute signifies joy and celebration.

B. Our entire existence.

‘Being’ means the whole of a person’s life and existence; the next lines name hands, heart and home — body, feelings and life together.

True.

A seed is where a crop begins and a scythe cuts it at harvest, so God is shown as present at both the beginning and the end of the farming cycle.

A. ‘Father eternal’   B. ‘ineffable Om’

Eternal means lasting for ever; ineffable means too great to be described in words.

We know these lines are spoken as a chorus because the stanza is headed ‘All Voices:’, after the earlier stanzas for ‘Men’s Voices’ and ‘Women’s Voices’. The pronouns are plural — ‘our being’, ‘our harvests’, ‘our Hands and our Heart and our Home’ — so a whole group is speaking together, not one person.

The farmers hail the God of rain, Varuna, because without rain no crop can grow. They thank him as the ‘sender of rain and the dewfall’ whose mercy ‘cherished our furrows’ and ‘fostered our grain’ — rain softened the soil for sowing and nourished the growing crop. So they offer him their thanks and ‘the wealth of our valleys’, the harvest his rain made possible.

‘The wealth of our valleys’ refers to the harvested crops — the grain gathered from the fields in the valleys, ‘new-garnered and ripe’. It is called wealth because for farmers the harvest is their greatest treasure: it gives them food, seed for the next season and income. Offering this precious wealth as tribute shows their deep gratitude to Varuna.

The women call the Earth a ‘source of manifold gladness’ because she gives them many kinds of joy (manifold means many and varied). Like a mother, she feeds them — ‘Thine is the plentiful bosom that feeds us’ — and all their riches of grain, fruit and flowers are born from her.

Everyone offers their ‘labours for tribute’ because they believe the harvest is God’s gift — He is ‘the Seed and the Scythe of our harvests’. Their hard work is the most precious thing they have, so they dedicate it, and their lives, to Him as a mark of gratitude and respect. In return they ask for His ‘succour’, ‘counsel’ and ‘care’ for the seasons to come.

The poet uses men’s, women’s and all voices because the harvest is the work and joy of the whole community. The men praise Surya and Varuna, the women praise Mother Earth, and then all voices join to praise the Lord of the Universe. This makes the poem like a real festival song sung in parts, builds to a grand chorus at the end, and shows that everyone shares in the thanksgiving together.

The poet creates the joyous atmosphere through music, colour, plenty and many voices. We hear ‘cymbal and flute’, ‘pipe’ and ‘drum’; we see ‘the gold of our fields and the gold of our fruit’ and the ‘rainbow’. Words like ‘bounty’, ‘plentiful’, ‘opulent’ and ‘manifold gladness’ show abundance. Garlands and songs are offered, and men, women and all voices sing together, with repeated lines giving a festive, chant-like rhythm.

The poem is presented as a hymn because it is a song of praise and thanksgiving to the divine — to Surya, Varuna, Prithvi and Brahma — for a good harvest. It uses the language of prayer (‘thou’, ‘thee’, ‘we hail thee’, ‘we praise thee’), is meant to be sung together with cymbals and other instruments, repeats lines like a chant, and ends with a prayer: ‘Grant us thy succour, thy counsel, thy care.’

1 → (iii) SICKLE  2 → (vi) SCYTHE  3 → (iv) PLOUGH  4 → (ii) TROWEL  5 → (i) RAKE  6 → (v) SPADE

synonym: kind (given)

The words circled in the book: took good care.

synonym: generous

Words to circle: donated a lot.

synonym: help

Words to circle: supporting him with money.

synonym: brightness

Words to circle: the sun’s rays came into the dark room.

synonym: indescribable

Word to circle: speechless.

1. morrow — tomorrow / the next day  2. hither — here / to this place  3. quoth — said  4. betwixt — between  5. yonder — over there / that (at a distance)

Transplanting of seedlings — 4  Ploughing of soil — 1  Threshing of grains — 6  Puddling of land — 2  Harvesting of paddy — 5  Irrigating the field — 3  Milling of rice — 7

(iii) Puddling the soil.

The talk says, ‘The most important step in preparing the soil is to soak it with plenty of water. This step is called puddling.’

(ii) 4–5 weeks.

‘It takes around 4 to 5 weeks for the seeds to grow into seedlings.’

(iii) To store the rice grains for longer.

Drying reduces the moisture in the grains ‘so that they can be stored or processed further’; damp grain would rot.

Say each word without the silent letter:

Farmers wait for the rains because most farming in India depends on the monsoon. Without rain the earth becomes hard and cracked, so it cannot be ploughed; seeds cannot sprout and crops cannot grow. No crop means no food for the family and no income. As Velu says, ‘Without the rains I can’t till the land. If I don’t till the land no crop will grow.’

Yes, I think the old woman would help Velu — not by bringing rain, but by helping him understand the drought. She seems wise and experienced (‘Her skin was wrinkled, but her eyes sparkled’), she is calm and kind when everyone else is dejected, and she listens to him as though he were ‘opening his heart to her’. She may give him comfort and a new way of looking at his problem.

I think it will rain. The people at the weather office said there were ‘so many favourable conditions’, so the conditions for rain already exist. The old woman smiles calmly, as if she knows the rain will come in its own time. Velu has worked hard and honestly, and the story seems to be preparing him to learn something and then be rewarded.

Velu asked the old woman what she was smiling at because without the rains there was nothing to smile about — his fields lay dry and untended, and he had come back from the city tired and dejected with no answer.

Velu said that it was hard not being able to work since he had worked on his land every season for six years without rest, and this was the first season in which he had neither sown nor ploughed. Working hard was his whole life.

Velu was confused when the old lady said that the land needed rest because he had never thought that the land also works and gets tired. He believed that hard work was always good (‘Can anyone work too hard?’), so resting the land made no sense to him.

The old lady said that it was good for the land when it didn’t rain as the land was left alone to rest and recover its strength, so that when the rains came it would ‘spring back into activity, fresh and ready for your crop’.

Velu ran home laughing and happy because the rain had finally come. He felt a cool breeze and a tiny drop on his shoulder, and saw clouds gathering. He had also begun to accept the old woman’s idea that the land had only been resting, so he was at peace.

The line ‘…I can’t see how talking to astrologers will bring rain’ tells us that Velu is a practical, sensible man who does not believe in superstition. He trusts experience and facts: the rains had come every year without consulting astrologers, so he does not believe astrologers can bring rain. Instead, he looks for a practical answer by going to the weather office.

Velu is determined to seek information about the rain because he wants to find a practical solution to the drought affecting his farm.

D. unpredictability of nature.

Even the weather experts could not explain it: ‘So many favourable conditions but still no rain. Very odd!’

It tells us that the old woman is gentle, kind and wise. Though Velu has spoken sharply about her smiling, she takes no offence. Her soft tone and smile show calm confidence in what she says and a caring nature; they let her tell Velu something difficult — that his way of thinking about the land is wrong — without upsetting him.

B. confused

Velu says, ‘Rest? Let the land rest? I don’t understand,’ and looks at her ‘a little puzzled’. Only later does he begin to understand.

By calling Velu ‘my son’, the old woman shows that she is affectionate and caring, like a mother. She speaks to him with love and concern rather than as a stranger correcting him, which makes her advice easier for him to accept.

The ‘difficulty’ that the old woman mentions is due to the fact that Velu does not realise that the earth is old and has worked for thousands of years, so it too gets tired and needs rest. He thinks only of his own hard work, not of the land’s.

The old woman conveys Nature’s wisdom gently and through simple pictures, not arguments. She tells Velu that the earth also works when he ploughs and sows, and has worked for ‘thousands of years’, so it needs rest. She compares Nature to ‘a mother to all of us’ who gives her children the rest they need. She shows him that the drought lets the land rest, so it will ‘spring back’ fresh when the rains come. She speaks softly, smiling, and calls him ‘my son’.

The farmers could not tend their fields because without rain ‘the earth hardened, crusted and cracked’. Such hard, dry ground cannot be ploughed or tilled, and seeds sown in it would not sprout. With nothing sown, there was no crop to water, weed or care for. Their fields depended only on rain, and no rain came for months.

The old woman is right. Just as people become tired after continuous work and need rest to regain strength, the land also gets worn out. The earth ‘works, too’ whenever it is ploughed and sown, and it has worked for thousands of years. Growing crops season after season uses up the nutrients and moisture in the soil. When land is left unsown for a while (this is called fallowing), it recovers its nutrients, keeps its moisture, and pests and diseases die out. Then it gives better crops, ‘fresh and ready’, just as a rested person works better.

Velu is a hard-working, rational and honest man — proud of his labour, easily hurt by the sense that it has been wasted, but open enough to change his mind when he is given a better idea.

The story suggests that a farmer’s life is full of hard work, and depends completely on nature. Velu works ‘season after season’ without rest, yet without rain he can do nothing, and even experts cannot predict it; farmers live ‘entirely on hope’. It also shows that farmers love their land (‘his beloved piece of land’), and that they must respect nature as a partner — the land, like the farmer, needs rest to stay fertile.

Rest and care of land keep the soil healthy, and healthy soil supports the whole ecosystem. When land is rested (fallowing) or crops are rotated, it regains its nutrients and moisture, so it stays fertile without too many chemicals. Pests and diseases die out, reducing the need for pesticides. Soil life such as earthworms recovers, erosion is reduced, and birds, insects and small animals return. In this way, land can keep producing food for future generations while nature stays in balance.

Down: 1. BREEZE  2. LIGHTNING  3. THUNDER  4. CROP  6. CLOUDS  7. RAIN
Across: 5. HARVEST  8. SUN  9. CULTIVATE  10. PLOUGH  11. SOW

1. whether  2. piece  3. plain  4. sell  5. seem  6. rain

In 6, the farmer is hoping for rain to end the dry spell — it is rain that brings life back to dry land. ‘Reign’ means a period of rule by a king or queen, which does not fit.

(i) spoke in a low voice

‘Which nobody heard’ shows that she spoke too softly to be heard.

(iii) sad and neglected

In a new workplace where she knew no one, Riya felt lonely and left out.

(i) confused

‘Because he did not know what to do’ explains the phrase: he was unsure and puzzled.

(ii) showed joy

Seeing her father made the child happy, and her eyes shone with delight.

1. favourable weather (given)  2. wrinkled skin  3. dejected expression  4. fragrant garden  5. ceaseless activity  6. beloved country

(i) is  (ii) practises  (iii) plants  (iv) is growing  (v) has learnt / has learned  (vi) depletes  (vii) keeps  (viii) has seen  (ix) is sharing  (x) benefits

1. a  2. the  3. her  4. the  5. one  6. a few  7. each  8. their  9. neither

1. cloudy  2. Mumbai  3. 34  4. thunderstorm  5. maximum  6. umbrella

How to say it: Begin slowly, saying every word clearly, then speed up step by step. Keep the two sounds apart: whether (if… or not) and weather (sun, rain, cold) are said almost the same, so the challenge is to keep the rhythm without slurring.

Meaning: ‘We’ll weather the weather’ means we will get through (survive) whatever the weather is, whether we like it or not.

What we learn: Fallowing means leaving land unsown for a season or more so that it can recover its nutrients and moisture, and so that pests and diseases die out. In the two-halves method, one half of a field is cropped while the other rests, and the halves are swapped every year. This is exactly the old woman’s advice to Velu: ‘shouldn’t someone let the land rest a bit?’

What we learn: Long before modern instruments, Indians observed the sky, winds, clouds, animals and seasons to predict rain. Texts such as the Rigveda (hymns to rain and clouds), Parashara’s work on rainfall and sowing, and the Meghmala (a work on clouds) record this knowledge. Many villagers still read such signs — cloud shapes, wind direction, ants moving their eggs, or peacocks calling before rain.

What we learn: The Agricultural Meteorology Division of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) helps farmers reduce crop losses caused by bad weather and increase production. It gives district-level weather forecasts, agromet advisories (when to sow, irrigate, spray or harvest), and early warnings of cyclones, heatwaves and heavy rain, which reach farmers through SMS, apps, radio and newspapers.