THE INDIAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL KUWAIT

FIRST MID- TERM NOTES 2023-24-

Class 7
The Pterodactyl’s Egg
Summary
: One evening, Badan Babu sat on a bench by a river to think up a story for his son, Biltu, when a
stranger joined him. The man had an instrument, like a stethoscope, with the rubber tubes plugged into
his ears. He explained that this was his usual place to conduct experiments. Badan Babu wanted to
move away, wondering if the man was crazy or if he was a pick-pocket. He wanted to be careful, for in
an inner pocket in a handkerchief, he had tucked away his salary of two hundred rupees and in his
wallet, he had fifty-five rupees and thirty-two paise. But the stranger wanted to be friendly and aroused
Badan Babu’s curiosity by explaining to him that he had constructed the instrument to take him to the
distant past or the distant future. The stranger said that he had been to the thirtieth century where a huge
vehicle nearly ran over him on a wide road. He had also been to the distant past and seen a pterodactyl
fighting a stegosaurus to save its egg; he had stolen the egg during the scuffle. The man got Badan
Babu sufficiently interested to experiment with the machine. He attached the instrument to Badan
Babu’s ears, asked him to close his eyes for a minute and held his wrist saying he had to feel his pulse
during the experiment. When nothing happened, he explained that the machine worked only if the
number of hairs on their heads matched. Badan Babu was disappointed, but was intrigued to see and
hold the prehistoric white egg gleaming in the moonlight. As they parted, he hoped he would meet the
man again. When Badan Babu put his hand in his pocket after he got on a tram to pay for his ticket, he
realised he had been conned by a confidence-trickster because his pocket had been picked; he had lost
his wallet. He was angry with himself for being fool enough to shut his eyes and let the man hold his
hand. But when he finally reached home and found Biltu waiting eagerly for a story, Badan Babu was
happy he had enough material to make up many stories to entertain his son. He did not mind losing the
fifty-five rupees and thirty-two paise in his wallet
A. Answer these questions
1. Where was Badan Babu sitting and why?
Badan Babu was sitting by the riverside because he needed a quiet place where he could sit
after work and think of interesting stories to tell his son, Biltu.

2. How did Badan Babu’s feelings towards the stranger change from irritation to interest?
At first, Badan Babu felt irritated to see the stranger because he wanted to sit alone, in
peace. But as the stranger started talking to him about experiments and time-travelling
anddrew Badan Babu’s attention to his strange-looking machine, Badan Babu began to feel
interested in him.
 3. What was common between HG Well’s story and the stranger’s? what was different?
HG Wells’s story and the stranger’s story were both about time-travelling; they both talked
about travelling into the future. However, the time machine HG Wells wrote about was
different from the stranger’s machine, which looked like a stethoscope. Also, the stranger
claimed that while Wells’s machine was only a story, his machine was real

4. Where according to the stranger, had he been with the help of his machine? What did he see
there?
According to the stranger, he had been to the future, to the thirtieth century, when he walked
along a huge road and was almost run over by a weird-looking vehicle. He said that he had
also been to the past and seen dinosaurs—stegosaurus and pterodactyl.

5. His heart stood still.

a. Who is being referred to here?
Badan Babu is being referred to here.

b. Why did his heart stand still?

His heart stood still when he realised that his wallet was not in his pocket

c. What did he understand?

He understood that the stranger had stolen his wallet while his eyes were closed.

B. Mark these sentences as true (T) or not true (NT).

1. The stranger was carrying a stethoscope. – NT
2. According to the stranger, there are only three kinds of travellers. – NT
3. The stranger said that dinosaurs used to live in this land. T
4. Badan Babu strongly wanted to travel in time. T
5. Badan Babu did not believe that the pterodactyl’s egg was real. NT

C. Think and answer

1. It was better to be safe than sorry. When and why did Badan Babu think this? Was he right
in being cautious?
Badan Babu thought this when the stranger approached him at the riverside. He did not
know if the stranger was ‘slightly mad’ or if he was just a pickpocket who was likely to steal
Badan Babu’s salary, which he had received that day. Yes, he was right in being cautious, as
in the end the stranger did steal his wallet.

2. Surely that was worth at least fifty-five rupees and thirty-two paise? What is referred to as
‘that’? Do you think it was worth the money?
‘That’ refers to Biltu’s happiness. Badan Babu thought that his experience that day would
help him make up interesting stories for Biltu and please him. He felt that he would not
mind the loss of the money if his experience helped to make his son happy. Yes, Biltu’s
happiness was worth the money.

Writing
Imagine you are Biltu. Write an email to a friend, describing what happened to your father
and how, as a result, he now tells you great stories.
 To: tony2005@abcmail.com
Subject: new stories
Dear Tony,
Hope you are doing well. I must tell you about something strange and exciting that
happened to Baba.
Baba was sitting by the riverside one evening when a stranger came up to him. He told Baba
that he was a time traveller and that the strange machine in his hand was actually a time
machine. He spoke of seeing weird-looking vehicles in the future and dinosaurs in the past.
Baba was so fascinated by the stranger’s stories that he even tried to travel in time with the
help of the machine. He could not, but he thought that at least he could meet the stranger
again and hear more stories about time travelling. But then, when he came away, he realised
that the stranger had stolen his wallet. At first, Baba was shocked, but then he thought that
he could use whatever he had heard from the stranger to make up stories for me. And really,
he has told me some wonderful stories about time travelling—about machines in the future
and animals in the past.
When are you coming to our house? We can listen to one of Baba’s stories together.

Love, Biltu

The Eagle
Summary
: The eagle holds on to a rocky mountain-top with its crooked claws. It is perched so high that it seems
alone with wide expanses of land and sky, below and above. It watches the sea as it ripples towards the
shore and swoops down suddenly, perhaps to catch a fish.

A. Answer these questions

1. Close to the sun in lonely lands…
a. Is the eagle really standing ‘close to the sun’ ? why does the speaker describe him this
way?
The eagle is not really standing close to the sun. The speaker describes him this way
because the eagle is standing so high up on a mountain that he looks as if he is close to
the sky and the sun. If someone looked up from below, they may see the sun just beside
or behind the eagle.
b. What do you think is referred to as ‘lonely lands’?
‘Lonely lands’ refers to the high rocks and mountain walls where the eagle stands. They
are lonely because only a few creatures live there.

2. Read only the first stanza. What do you think the ‘azure’ refers to? Now, read the second
stanza. Could it also refer to something else?
From reading the first stanza, ‘azure’ seems to refer to the blue sky. However, on reading the
second stanza it becomes clear that ‘azure’ may also refer to the sea.
3. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls…
a. Why is the sea ‘wrinkled’ ?
The sea looks ‘wrinkled’ because there are small waves in the sea. They make the
surface of the sea look wrinkled, especially when viewed from above, from where the
eagle is standing.
 b. Where is the sea with respect to the bird? What is sea doing? Does this make the sea
look stronger or weaker than the bird?
The sea is beneath the bird. It is said to be crawling, which means that the water of the
sea is moving in small, slow waves. This imagery makes the sea look weaker than the
bird.

4. Is there any element of surprise in the last line? Why do you think the speaker compares the
eagle to a thunderbolt?
The sea is beneath the bird. It is said to be crawling, which means that the water of the sea is
moving in small, slow waves. This imagery makes the sea look weaker than the bird.

B. Think and answer

1. Read the poem without thinking about the title of the poem. Could this poem describe
someone other than the eagle?
Yes, the poem, if read without the title, could also describe some other bird that flies high,
like a vulture or a hawk. It could even describe some other animal that lives on the
mountains, such as the mountain lion, and the movement could mean the animal’s jump
from a high rock.

2. Imagine that you are watching the eagle through a phone camera. How or how far would
you have to move the camera to follow his movement?
If we watched the eagle through a phone camera, we would have to move the camera
quickly from high up to far down below to follow his movement as he fell ‘like a
thunderbolt’.

Indefinite pronouns
We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what
they are. We use pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and pronouns ending in -
thing for things:
Eg. Everybody enjoyed the concert.
I opened the door but there was no one at home.
It was a very clear day. We could see everything.

We use a singular verb after an indefinite pronoun:

Everybody loves Sally.

Everything was ready for the party.
When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun, we normally use a plural pronoun:

Everybody enjoyed the concert. They stood up and clapped.

I will tell somebody that dinner is ready. They have been waiting a long time.

In negative clauses, we use pronouns with no-, not pronouns with any-:
 Nobody came. (NOT Anybody didn't come.)
We do not use another negative in a clause with nobody, no one or nothing:

Nobody came. (NOT Nobody didn't come.)

Nothing happened. (NOT Nothing didn't happen.)

We can add 's to an indefinite pronoun to make a possessive:

They were staying in somebody's house.

Is this anybody's coat?
We use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to other people or things:

All the family came, but no one else.

If Michael can't come, we'll ask somebody else.
I think this is somebody else's coat.

Practice sentences
1. ______ is present today. (someone, nobody, everybody)
2. ______ wanted to get up. ( anybody, nobody, someone)
3. _______ came forward to help me. ( everyone, everybody, anyone)
4. _______ has taken my book. ( few, many, someone)
5.
6. Can _____ tell me where she has gone? (everybody, nobody, someone)
7. There is ______ strange happening here. (anything, everything, something)
8. Is there ______ I can do to help? (anything, everything, something)

Prepositions
A preposition is a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show
direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object. Some examples
of prepositions are words like "in," "at," "on," "of," and "to."
Direction: Look to the left and you’ll see our destination.
Time: We’ve been working since this morning.
Location: We saw a movie at the theater.
Space: The dog hid under the table.

There are more than 150 prepositions in English language, few of them are mentioned below
above, across, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside,
between, by, down, from, in, into, near, of, off, on, to, toward, under, upon, with and within.

Simple, Compound and Complex Prepositions.

A simple preposition is a one-word preposition. A preposition can also come in a two-word or

a three-word combination, which is called a compound preposition. A compound preposition
functions as a single preposition. It consists of two words such as according to, because
of, different from, due to, and instead of. Examples of three-word compound prepositions
are as far as, in addition to, in front of, and in spite of.

Practice sentences
Look at the picture and fill in the blanks using prepositions given
( in, on, at, under, near, between)

1. The cat is sitting ____ the chair.

2. The books are ___ the table.
3. The shoes are ____ the table.
4. The clock is ____ the table.
5. The dog is sitting _____ in the box.
6. The table is ____ the chair and the box.
7. The chair is ____ the table.

Identify whether the highlighted word is a simple, compound or complex preposition.

1. The detective didn’t know he was sitting next to a wanted man.

2. The children were against their mother riding a camel since she is allergic to camel’s
hair.
3. The bucks fought hard and it’s all because of a doe.
4. He can’t sing any more on account of his failing health.
5. There was a single duck amid a brood of chickens.
6. We waste a lot of time arguing instead of agreeing.
7. The mother called the three sons to divide the pizza among them.
8. The villagers carried pails of water on top of their head.
9. She began to think of getting married at the age of thirteen.

Adjectives
Definition of Adjectives:

 Used to describe the nouns (person, place, animal or thing) and pronouns in a sentence.
 It also indicates the number, quality, size, shape, and feelings etc of a noun or pronoun.
 What kind? How many? Which one? How much? Are a few questions that tell more about an
adjective.

The team has a dangerous baller (what kind)

I have ten rupees in my pocket (how many)
I loved that blue car (which one)
I earnt more points in Ludo than he did (how much)

Degrees of Adjectives
Positive Degree – An adjective is said to be in positive degree, when there is no comparison.

Comparative Degree – An adjective is said to be in comparative degree, when it is used to

compare between two nouns or pronouns.

Superlative Degree – An adjective is said to be in superlative degree, when it is used to compare more
than two nouns or pronouns.

Eg. Big, bigger, biggest

Beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful
Far, farther/further, farthest/furthest
Dirty, dirtier, dirtiest

Types of Adjectives:

1. Descriptive Objectives

As the name suggests, these are words which describe nouns and pronouns. In other words, it adds an
attribute to the nouns/pronouns. They are also known as Qualitative Adjectives.
Examples:
I have a fast car. (The word ‘fast’ is describing an attribute of the car)
I am hungry. (The word ‘hungry’ is providing information about the subject)
 2. Quantitative Adjectives

The quantity of the nouns or pronouns is defined by quantitative adjectives. The question ‘how much?’
and ‘how many?’ is addressed by this type.
Examples:
I have 50 bucks in my purse. (How much)
Sunita has three kids. (How many)

3. Proper Adjectives

Proper nouns modifying or describing other nouns/pronouns become proper adjectives. It means
‘specific’ or particular.
Examples:
Indian kabaddi players are very strong.
Japanese people are hard workers.
I love Burger King’s burgers.

3. Demonstrative Adjective

Reference to something or someone is pointed out by Demonstrative Adjectives. The words: this, that,
these, those are used as Demonstrative Adjectives.
Examples:
That house is beautifully decorated.
(‘That’ refers to a singular noun far from the speaker)
This notebook is mine.
(‘This’ refers to a singular noun close to the speaker)

4. Possessive Adjectives

A possession or ownership is described by this adjective. The ownership of something to

someone/something is pointed out. The most common words used: my, his, her, our, their, your.
Examples:
My bicycle was parked outside.
His dog is very adorable.
Our work is almost done.

5.Indefinite Adjectives

A non-specific modification of a noun is done by this one. Provides indefinite information about the
noun. The common words are: few, many, much, most, all, any, each, every, either, nobody, several,
some, etc.
Examples:
Manisha gave some rice to her.
Raj wanted a few moments alone.

6.Compound Adjectives

When compound nouns modify other nouns, they become compound adjectives. They can be
recognised by a hyphen or joined together with a quotation mark.
Examples:
I have a broken-down mattress.
Ramesh saw a six-foot-long snake.

Practice sentences

Pick out all the adjectives in the following sentences and say to which class each of them
belongs.
(i) The car sustained heavy damage in the accident.
(ii) He has written several stories.
(iii) A dog is very faithful to its master.
(iv) Everyman has his duties.
(v) He is a man of few words.
(vi) Neither party is quite in the right.
(vii) Which color do you prefer?
(viii) The way was long, the wind was cold.
(ix) He calls me every day.
(x) I have not seen him in several days.
Relative Clause
What are clauses?
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb that have a relationship.

We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses. Relative clauses tell us more
about people and things:
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
This is the house which Jack built.
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.
We use:

 who and whom for people

 which for things
 that for people or things.
 We can use ‘when’ with times and ‘where’ with places to make it
clear which time or place we are talking about:
1. England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year when we got
married.
2. I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day when the tsunami
happened.
3. Do you remember the place where we caught the train.
4. Stratford-upon-Avon is the town where Shakespeare was born.

Relative pronouns with prepositions

 When who/whom or which have a preposition, the preposition can come at
the beginning of the clause:

Eg.1. I had an uncle in Germany, from who(m) I inherited a bit of money.

2. We bought a chainsaw, with which we cut up all the wood.

 or at the end of the clause:

eg. 1. I had an uncle in Germany, who(m) I inherited a bit of money from.
2. We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood up with.

 But when that has a preposition, the preposition always comes at the end:

Eg. 1. I didn't know the uncle that I inherited the money from.
2. We can't find the chainsaw that we cut all the wood up with.

Adverbs
Adverbs are the words that add meaning to the verbs, adjectives or to an adverb itself,
Types of Adverbs
The following types of adverbs are given below.

1. Adverbs of Time
Such adverbs which are used to reflect time.
e.g.

1. I went there early.

2. She will come tomorrow.

These are ago, after, already, late, afterward, early, immediately, now, soon, then, shortly, quickly,
recently, today, tonight, tomorrow, yesterday etc.

2. Adverbs of Frequency
Adverbs that are used to show how often an event takes place.
e.g.

1. I have seen him once.

2. You always make a noise.

These are seldom, often, never, ever, again, once, twice, thrice, always, frequently, usually etc.

3. Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs that are used to show how or in what manner an event takes place,
e.g.

1. I shall go there certainly.

2. Read the facts carefully.
These are peacefully, quickly, certainly, loudly, well, carefully, gladly, so, thus, badly, fast etc.

4. Adverbs of Place
Adverbs that are used to show place where an action took place.
e.g.

1. God is present everywhere.

2. You may come forward.

These are near, far, away, anywhere, here, there, somewhere, nowhere, forward, backward, in, up, out,
down, above, below, inside, outside, within, without, everywhere etc.

5. Adverbs of Quantity/Extent/Degree
Adverbs that are used to show ‘how much’,
e.g.

1. Yours dress is fantastically awesome.

2. Poorab is perfectly, fine now.

These are partly, fully, pretty, as, almost, very, more, much, so, enough, any, none, too, rather, little,
quite, wholly, perfectly etc.

In the following sentences find the adverbs and also indicate its types.

1. A poor begger stood there for long.

2. She made this issue very sensational.
3. Tiger never changes his principle.
4. Why was the class cancelled by him?
5. I remember the beautiful place where our bus halted for one hour.

Essay writing
1. Pick a topic. ………..
2. Prepare an outline or diagram of your ideas.
3. Write your opening statement. ………..
4. Write the body. ………..
5. Write the introduction. ………..
6. Write the conclusion. ………..

Essay Writing Example

Essay on Independence Day

In India, Independence Day is celebrated by the people of all religions, cultures and traditions with
great joy and happiness. Independence Day in India is observed on 15th of August every year from
1947 as our country became independent on the same day from the British rule almost after 200 years
of slavery.

It has been declared as the national holiday when all the schools (government or private), offices,
colleges, universities, educational institutions, organizations, companies and business centres remain
closed. It is celebrated with big enthusiasm in every schools, colleges and other educational institutions
by the students and staff.

They participate and perform in dancing, drama, singing, playing indoor games, outdoor sports, cultural
activities, quiz competitions, awards distribution, etc during celebration. First of all the National flag is
unfurled by the chief guest or School Principal, National Anthem is sung with flute and drum and then
march past and procession in the streets takes place.

A big celebration event is organized by the government of India at the Rajpath, India Gate in the
National Capital, New Delhi where people of all religion, culture and tradition gather to listen the
patriotic speech by our Prime Minister.

By celebrating this event we commemorate those all great people who had sacrificed their lives and
loved ones in making India an Independent country. We feel indebted by their sacrifices for the country.

Diary writing
 Put day, date and time on the extreme left-hand top corner of
the page, one beneath the other.
 Write down the key points you would like to celebrate.
 Start writing after leaving one line from the extreme left corner
of the page.
 It is written in the first person.
 Thoughts are gathered over the theme and an emotional
description regarding the same is provided.
 Repetition of the same words/ lines is avoided and grammatical
accuracy is maintained.