Abandoned Farmhouse Class 9 English Course Communicative Solutions
C.2 Complete the following sentences about the poem.
1. In the first stanza, the poet refers to four pieces of evidence: large shoes, a long bed, the Bible, fields cluttered with boulders and a leaky barn. This leads the poet to conclude that ‘the man of the house’ was ………………………
Solution
This leads the poet to conclude that the man of the house was big and tall. He was a God-fearing man and he was not a farmer because if he were his fields wouldn’t be cluttered with boulders and the barn wouldn’t be leaking.
2. I think that the child was probably about six years old because ……………….
Answer
The child was probably six years old because there was a sandbox made from a tractor wire. It is a plaything for a child of that age.
3. The poet suggests that a woman lived in the farmhouse because ………………..
Answer
…because the bedroom wall was papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves were neatly covered with oilcloth.
4. The family probably left the farmhouse because …………………..
Answer
The family probably left the farmhouse because of a natural calamity or something like that. The poet does not explain why the family left; however, one thing is certain. They left in a hurry because the jars were still sealed and the toys were strewn in the yard.
C.3
The poet draws conclusions about the family without having met them.
In ordinary speech we use the following expressions to make conclusions.
So it is probable that…
Therefore it is likely that…
So / therefore it is possible that…
It seems that…
It appears that….
This suggests that…
For example, we could say:
There are large shoes in the farmhouse. So it is probable that the farmer was a big man.
Make other sentences like this, using ideas from the poem.
Solution
The farmhouse had a large bed. So it is probable that the man was tall.
In an upstairs room there was a Bible with a broken back. This suggests that the man was God-fearing.
The fields were cluttered with boulders and the barn was leaking. Obviously, the man had little interest in farming.
The jars in the cellar are still sealed. This probably suggests that the family left in a nervous haste.
C.4
On the basis of these notes, the social worker presents the facts as she sees them to her Head of Department. Unfortunately she spills ink on her carpet. Complete her report.
When I reached the farmhouse, I saw that the house was empty, which ……………………… I wondered where they might have gone. ………………….. the owner was not a farmer, because of the boulders in the field and the leaky barn. ………………….. the family was poor, because I saw several sealed jars in the cellar. Also ………………….. a woman lived there. It was obvious she had left in a hurry. What was most touching was that the toys were scattered in the yard.
Solution
When I reached the farmhouse, I saw that the house was empty, which seemed weird to me. I wondered where they might have gone. It was evident that the owner was not a farmer, because of the boulders in the field and the leaky barn. From the condition of the house I also assumed that the family was poor, because I saw several sealed jars in the cellar. Also the lilac wallpaper and the oilcloth on the shelves suggested that a woman lived there. It was obvious she had left in a hurry. What was most touching was that the toys were scattered in the yard.
