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CLASS 11 · WOVEN WORDS · CHAPTER 22

My Three Passions

Original student-friendly answers to the essay activities for My Three Passions.

9 worked answersOriginal sample responses
Open the official NCERT chapter ↗← All chapters

9 worked answers · short steps first, explanations when you need them

Understanding the Text

Textbook pages Understanding the Text

Question Understanding the Text

Why does Russell call his three passions simple?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

They are basic human desires—love, knowledge, and pity—rather than complicated or technical ambitions.

Question Understanding the Text

Why does Russell compare his passions to great winds?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

Like powerful winds, the passions pushed him in different directions and shaped the course of his life.

Question Understanding the Text

What importance does Russell give to love?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

Love brings intense joy, eases loneliness, and gives him a glimpse of a more complete or ideal life.

Question Understanding the Text

How is Russell’s search for knowledge wider than simply collecting facts?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

He wants to understand human feelings, the stars, and the mathematical patterns of the universe.

Question Understanding the Text

Why does pity bring Russell back to earth while love and knowledge lift him?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

Love and knowledge make him imagine beauty and understanding beyond everyday life.

Question Understanding the Text

How did the three passions make Russell’s life worthwhile?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

Love gave Russell connection, knowledge gave purpose, and pity kept him attentive to suffering; together they made life meaningful.

Words in Context

Textbook pages Words in Context

Question Words in Context

Explain “wayward course”, “ocean of anguish”, “verge of despair”, “mystic miniature”, “unfathomable abyss”, “apprehend”, and “reverberate”.

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

wayward—unpredictable; anguish—great suffering; verge—edge; mystic—spiritual; unfathomable—impossible to measure; apprehend—understand; reverberate—echo.

Reading Connection

Textbook pages Reading Connection

Question Reading Connection

How does Russell’s idea of love connect with Martin Luther King Jr.’s idea of agape?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

Both treat love as more than affection between two people.

Talking About the Text

Textbook pages Talking About the Text

Question Talking About the Text

Which of Russell’s passions seems most important for society, and why?

Steps only

State the main idea and connect it to a detail from the essay.

Answer

Sample view: Pity is especially important because it makes people notice suffering and act to reduce it.

Questions and activities were checked against the official NCERT chapter PDF ↗. Answers are written in original wording; no literary passage or illustration is reproduced.

Learnivelle is not affiliated with NCERT.

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