Vijayeemantra

Carrier of Words: CBSE Class 9 English practice questions

Practise 50 questions on Carrier of Words, free, with an explanation for each answer.

Start practising free

Sample questions

The unit opens by asking how 'words' can be 'carried'. In the main text, who is the carrier of words?

A red post box with letters flying out towards faraway homes
  1. A radio announcer who reads out the news
  2. The camels that carry goods across the Thar
  3. Khetaram, the Gramin Dak Sewak who carries mail to remote hamlets
  4. The BSF jawans who guard the border
Show the answer

C. Khetaram, the Gramin Dak Sewak who carries mail to remote hamlets

Letters are words on paper, so the person who delivers them carries words from one family to another. Khetaram, a Gramin Dak Sewak (GDS), is the sole postman of the Somarad Branch Post Office and links remote desert hamlets with faraway families. The BSF gives him lifts and the camels rest in the shade, but neither carries the mail.

Khetaram says: “Water is too precious to waste on washing, so I can only wipe my body. When I finish, there is a sand dune at my feet every evening.” What does he mean?

A figure in a khaki uniform and turban walking through a swirling sandstorm
  1. He enjoys building small sand dunes outside his home after work.
  2. So much sand sticks to him during the day that a heap falls at his feet when he wipes himself.
  3. The evening wind blows a sand dune up to his door every day.
  4. He sweeps the post office floor every evening before going home.
Show the answer

B. So much sand sticks to him during the day that a heap falls at his feet when he wipes himself.

Swirling sandstorms cover him in sand all day, turning him into a walking sandman. As water is too scarce for washing, he only wipes himself, and the sand that falls off makes a little 'dune' at his feet. The line is a vivid exaggeration that shows the harshness of his work, not a hobby or a chore.

Complete the analogy using the extract about famine and money orders. Other families : money orders :: Khetaram : ______

Money travelling on a postal form from a city to a village home
  1. his crop of bajra
  2. his job as a Gramin Dak Sewak
  3. the BSF lift
  4. his mailbag
Show the answer

B. his job as a Gramin Dak Sewak

For other families in the arid land, survival depends partly on money orders remitted by a relative. For Khetaram, survival depends on this job: “We would starve without this job.” His bajra crop is too small to feed his family, so it cannot be the answer; the mailbag is only the tool of the job.

Topics covered

Start practising free

More CBSE Class 9 English chapters