Q1. [5]
Lomov : Hear me out, I implore you ! The peasants of your father's grandfather, as I have already had the honour of explaining to you, used to bake bricks for my aunt's grandmother. Now my aunt's grandmother, wishing to make them a present.
Natalya : I can't make head or tail of all this about aunts and grandfathers and grandmothers. The Meadows are ours, that's all.
Lomov : Mine
Natalya : Ours ! You can go proving it for two days on end.
Read the given extract and answer the questions.
- (i) What is Lomov pleading for ? [1]
- (A) to be heard
- (B) bricks for his aunt's grandmother
- (C) documents of the Meadows
- (D) for two days time to prove himself
- (ii) What effect does the following sentence have on Natalya ? Why ? 'The peasants of your father's grandfather ......... used to bake bricks for my aunt's grandmother.' [2]
- (iii) Fill in the blank with the correct word from the bracket : The use of the phrase 'can't make head or tail' adds to a sense of ________ (confusion/realization) to the extract. [1]
- (iv) What is Lomov trying to prove ? [1]
Previously asked in CBSE board exam
2025 2/5/1 Q6(b)
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-15 07:17 · grounding stimulus+chapter
Model Answer
(i) (A) to be heard
(ii) The sentence confuses and irritates Natalya. The long, complicated reference to "peasants of your father's grandfather" and "aunt's grandmother" is so convoluted that Natalya says she "can't make head or tail" of it. She finds the argument irrelevant and unnecessarily complicated, so she dismisses it entirely and simply asserts that the Meadows belong to her family.
(iii) The use of the phrase 'can't make head or tail' adds to a sense of confusion in the extract.
(iv) Lomov is trying to prove that the Oxen Meadows belong to him. He is tracing a long ancestral history — involving his aunt's grandmother and Natalya's father's grandfather — to establish his ownership of the Meadows.
Source: The Proposal (Anton Chekhov), Extract
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Explanation
- (i) "I implore you" directly means Lomov is begging to be heard — option (A).
- (ii) For 2 marks, state the effect (confusion/irritation) AND the reason (complicated ancestry argument). Both are needed for full marks.
- (iii) "Can't make head or tail" is an idiom meaning unable to understand — so confusion is correct.
- (iv) The central dispute in the extract is ownership of the Meadows — keep the answer focused on that single point.
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