CLASS 11 · HORNBILL · CHAPTER 1
Original student-friendly answers for The Portrait of a Lady and related textbook activities.
11 worked answers · short steps first, explanations when you need them
Textbook pages The Portrait of a Lady
Question Understanding the Text
Follow their shared routines from the village to the city.
Village: she cares for him and they go to school together. City: school and new subjects separate their routines. University: they live separately, but remain affectionate.
Question Understanding the Text
Use repeated details from the account.
She dislikes the lack of religious teaching, the unfamiliar English and science lessons, and the music lessons. Later she prays, spins, and feeds sparrows.
Question Understanding the Text
Notice how the birds behave before and after she dies.
The sparrows’ silence suggests their deep bond and grief.
Question Working with Words and Noticing Form
Use each word in its sentence rather than memorising one definition.
“Tell the beads” = count; “tell her words” = give information; “could never tell” = be sure; “she told us” = inform. “Take to” = begin a habit; “take ill” = suddenly become ill. Walking words: shuffle, stride, waddle, swagger, trudge, slog. Past perfect = had + past participle.
Question Things to Do
Include a detail about appearance, a habit, and a memory.
Describe the person, one habit, and a memory that shows why you remember them.
Question Talking about the text 1–4
Use her prayers, acceptance of change, and continued care to explain her character and relationship.
She is deeply religious and strong. Their routines change, but their affection remains. Personal examples will differ.
Question Thinking about language 1–4
The story leaves the language and song open; translate “dilapidated” as old and damaged.
Give a reasonable home-language suggestion, translate “a dilapidated drum” as an old damaged drum, and name a familiar homecoming song or poem.
Question Expressions before the story
Use the story’s situation to replace each phrase with simple words.
Shocking idea; peaceful white appearance; major change; accepted solitude; noisy birds; playful scolding; loose skin on an old drum.
Question Noticing form
Past perfect (had + past participle) shows which of two past events happened first.
It marks an earlier past action: had known, had finished, had taught, had lit, and had omitted.
Question A Photograph: Think it out 1–7
Follow the poem from the childhood photo to the mother’s memory and then the poet’s grief.
The photo shows the mother as a child; the sea has changed least. Her laugh is nostalgic. “This circumstance” is her death. The three stages are childhood, remembered adulthood, and the poet’s grief.
Question A Photograph: vocabulary
Use the seaside scene and the poem’s contrast between short human lives and the lasting sea.
Paddling: playing in shallow water. Transient: temporary or short-lived.