CLASS-VIII

ENGLISH-I

CHAPTER-4: THE LANDLADY

The students should do a thorough reading of the text.

Write the word meanings and ‘about the author’ in your booklets.

COMPREHENSION

A. Choose the correct option.

1. The weather was

Ans: (a) cold and icy.

2. Billy Weaver first decided to

Ans: (b) take a look at The Bell and Dragon before making up his mind.

3. Billy Weaver found the landlady to be

Ans: (c) bright and intelligent.

4. The parrot and the dog

Ans: (c) had been stuffed.

B. Answer the questions briefly.

1. What did Billy Weaver ask the porter?

Ans: Billy Weaver asked the porter if there was a hotel nearby to spend the night.

2. What attracted Billy to look into the house?

Ans: Billy was attracted to look into the house as he was transfixed by the sign that says “Bed and
Breakfast”

3. What was strange about the names in the guest book?

Ans: The thing that was strange about the land lady’s guest book was the fact that the names seemed
familiar to Billy. He was sure that he had read the names in the newspaper.

4. What kind of smell was coming from the landlady?

Ans: There was a peculiar smell emanating from the landlady. Billy was not sure if it was the smell of
pickled walnuts, new leather or the corridors of a hospital.

5. What was unusual about the two pets?

Ans: The thing that was unusual about the two pets was that they were silent and motionless all the
time. The pets were, in fact stuffed by the landlady when they died.

6. How did the landlady react when Billy weaver asked her about the previous two guests?

Ans: The landlady was not interested in telling too much about her two previous guests. She tried to
change the topic of conversation but gave a few short answers to Billy’s questions.

7. How did the landlady describe her previous guests?

Ans: The landlady described the previous guests as incredibly handsome.

8. What did the landlady offer Billy to drink?

Ans: The landlady offered Billy a cup of tea to drink.

C. Think and answer the questions.

1. When Billy Weaver rang the bell, the landlady said, ‘I knew you would come.’ Why do you think
the landlady was expecting him?

Ans: Billy was drawn to the printed poster that read “BED AND BREAKFAST” against the glass and
from the outside he could see that the room had been done up in a pleasant manner and was looking
like a comfortable place to stay. The landlady might have been observing him when he looked into the
room and was expecting him.

2. Why do you think the tea tasted of bitter almonds? What do you think was probably in the tea?

Ans: The tea tasted like bitter almonds because it had been poisoned. The tea was most probably laced
with cyanide which is a poison and because of its distinct taste, can be easily determined in most food
and drinks.

3. What do you think happened to the previous two guests?

Ans: The two previous guests, Gregory M.Temple and Mr. Christopher Mulholland had been killed
by the landlady and then stuffed.
4. What do you think would have happened to Billy Weaver in the end?

Ans: Billy would meet the same fate as the other two guests, Mr. Temple and Mr. Mulholland,
whose names were listed in the guest book. He would be murdered and then stuffed by the landlady.

VOCABULARY

A. Fill in the blanks with appropriate phrasal verbs from the box. Change the tense of the verbs as
required.

1. gets on

2. picked up

3. look for

4. turn down

5. passed away

6. taken aback

7. put off

8. called off

B. Underline the phrasal verbs in the sentences and circle the nouns formed from the phrasal verbs.

1. phrasal verb-sold out , noun- sell-out

2. phrasal verb- handed out, noun-handouts

3. phrasal verb- come back, noun-comeback

4.phrasal verb- changed over, noun-changeover

5. phrasal verb- turned out. noun- turnout

6. phrasal verb- works out, noun- workout

7. phrasal verb- took over, noun- takeover

8. phrasal verb- break down, noun-breakdown

C. Fill in the blank with the correct collocation.

1. a. make

2. b. do

3. c. strong

4. b. great

5. c. facing

6. c. pleasant

7. a. natural

8. b. sharp.

GRAMMAR

A. Fill in the blank with the most suitable verb form.

1.a.is ringing

2. b.have been looking

3. c.has been taking

4. b. visited

5. a. will be taking

6. a. works

7. b. has been waiting

8. b. will be sleeping

B. Fill in the blanks with appropriate tag questions and the expected short answers.

2. doesn’t she? Yes, she does.

3. are they? No, they aren’t.

4. isn’t she? Yes, she is.

5. aren’t they? Yes, they are.

6. won’t you? Yes, you will.

7. isn’t she? Yes, she is.

8. has she? No, she hasn’t.

9. won’t she? Yes, she will.

10. don’t they? Yes, they do.

11. haven’t we? Yes, we have.

12. wasn’t he? Yes, he was.

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