CBSE Class 7 English Reading Comprehension A Prose Passage and a Poem Worksheet Set 01

Answer: Their nests are made of mud and clay, which would be washed away by the rain.

Teacher's Note:
1. Mud softens in water.
2. A sheltered place keeps the nest safe.

Answer: Tailor birds sew leaves together to make their nests.

Teacher's Note:
1. The bird works like a tailor.
2. The name of the bird gives a clue.

Answer: Other birds weave their nests from grass.

Teacher's Note:
1. Weaving means crossing strands over and under each other.
2. The passage names grass as the material.

Answer: Ostriches dig holes in the ground to hatch and protect their young.

Teacher's Note:
1. They cannot fly, so they use the ground.
2. The passage calls them flightless birds.

Answer: Parrots and doves (some owls also do not build nests).

Teacher's Note:
1. Find the sentence that says do not bother to build a nest at all.
2. Name any two of the birds mentioned.

Answer: The cuckoo lays its egg in another bird's nest and leaves it there, so another bird has to bring up its young.

Teacher's Note:
1. Other birds at least find a ready-made nest for themselves.
2. The cuckoo leaves the care of its young to others.

Answer: burrow

Teacher's Note:
1. Look in the second paragraph.
2. Hollows and burrows are used as nests.

Answer: flightless

Teacher's Note:
1. The word is made of flight and the suffix -less.
2. The suffix -less means without.

Answer: hatch

Teacher's Note:
1. The word is used with the ostrich.
2. Eggs hatch when the chick is ready to come out.

Answer: The shadow jumps before the boy does. The boy sees it jump first.

Teacher's Note:
1. The poem says I see him jump before me.
2. A shadow moves with the person.

Answer: Proper children grow slowly. The shadow sometimes shoots up very tall and sometimes becomes very small.

Teacher's Note:
1. Children grow steadily over the years.
2. A shadow changes its size in a short time.

Answer: A shadow grows long when the sun is low in the sky, such as early in the morning or in the evening.

Teacher's Note:
1. The length of a shadow depends on the position of the sun.
2. The poem compares it to a stretching rubber ball.

Answer: This happens when the sun is high overhead, around noon, so the shadow falls almost under the object.

Teacher's Note:
1. The sun is directly above at noon.
2. A shadow also disappears if there is no light.

Answer: It was before sunrise, so there was no sunlight to form a shadow. The boy imagines that his lazy shadow was asleep at home.

Teacher's Note:
1. A shadow needs a source of light.
2. The poet describes this in a playful way.

Answer: He got up early, but the shadow stayed behind in bed and was fast asleep.

Teacher's Note:
1. The boy is the one who got up before the sun.
2. Calling the shadow a sleepy-head is a joke.

Answer: sleepy-head

Teacher's Note:
1. This is a compound word.
2. It is used in the last stanza.