TEACHER’S SUPPORT DOCUMENT

Subject: English Topic: The Blue Carbuncle Std: VII

Textual Answers:
1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. a.
i. Peterson, the commissionaire, and Sherlock Holmes, the private detective, are
engaged in the above conversation.
ii. ‘It’ refers to the Christmas goose found by Peterson as he was trying to help a
stranger who was caught in a fight with some goons on the road.
iii. The speaker, Peterson’s wife, had found a brilliantly scintillating blue stone (the blue
carbuncle), which was smaller than a bean in size, but was pure and radiant, in the
crop of the goose.
iv. flapped off
b.
i. Sherlock Holmes is the speaker of these lines. Sherlock Holmes is referring to Henry
Baker.
ii. The speaker was basing his deductions on a very seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat,
much the worse for wear and cracked in several places.
iii. Sherlock Holmes looked at the hat and deduced that there was a decline in the man’s
fortunes as the man could afford an expensive hat that was in style three years ago
and has had no hat since then.
iv. well-to-do

2. Answer the following questions in 30-40 words.

a. Henry Baker readily accepted another goose to replace the one he had lost on the
street while fighting with the rowdies. He would not have done so if he was aware
of the gem inside the goose’s crop. So Holmes concluded that Baker was
innocent.
b. The goose was of excellent quality and originally belonged to Mrs Oakshott,
James Ryder’s sister. It was a white goose with a barred tail. 'For Mrs Henry Baker'
was printed on a small card which was tied to the bird's left leg, when Peterson
had found it.

c. Mr Holmes knew that Ryder would not testify against the accused plumber. He
would not break the law again because he was too frightened. Sending him to jail
in the given situation would make a permanent law-breaker of him.

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Moreover, Holmes felt it was Christmas and the season of forgiveness. So, Holmes
lets Ryder go.
d. Mr Horner, the plumber, had been involved in a matter of theft before. So James
Ryder knew that the suspicion for theft/stealing would rest readily upon the
plumber. Thus, he chose to lay the blame of stealing the jewel on the plumber.
3. Answer the following questions in 80-100 words.
a. As Peterson, the commissionaire, was returning home early on a Christmas
morning, he witnessed a row between a stranger and a group of rowdies.
Peterson rushed forward to protect the stranger from the rowdies. However, on
seeing a man dressed in uniform, the stranger dropped the goose and ran. The
rowdies/roughs also fled. So, Peterson was left in possession of the stranger’s
fallen hat and a goose.
b. Holmes and Watson were tracing the path of the sale of the goose. As they left
the shop of the salesman, Mr Breckinridge, a small man came to the shop. From
the way Mr Breckinridge was shouting at the man, Holmes learnt that the man
had been repeatedly asking Mr Breckinridge about the geese that his sister had
sold to Mr Breckinridge. This gave Holmes a clue that the small man knew
something about the gem and the goose.
4. Language
a. Circle the word closest in meaning to each of the given words as used in the
story.
i. maze
ii. stripped
iii. minor
iv. wobble
v. search
b. Write the noun forms of the following verbs.
i. attendant
ii. assistance
iii. supplier
iv. appearance
c. Add a suffix or a prefix to the given words to make new words.
i. forgiveness
ii. possession
iii. suddenly
iv. astonishment
v. impossible

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 TEACHER’S SUPPORT DOCUMENT

vi. display, played, displayed

vii. disown
viii. unlock
5. Writing-Student specific

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