NCERT Solutions · Class 10 English · NCERT First Flight and Footprints Without Feet First Flight · Chapter 4
Chapter 4: From the Diary of Anne Frank (From the Diary of Anne Frank)
NCERT solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 4: From the Diary of Anne Frank (2026-27). Answers to the oral comprehension checks, thinking about the text, language exercises, writing, listening and the poem Amanda! All 49 questions are answered, with the key answer highlighted.
The ride to Ooty was uneventful. We rested for a while every 50 km or so, and used the time to capture the magnificent landscape with my HandyCam. From Ooty we went on to Bangalore. What a contrast! The noise and pollution of this once-beautiful city really broke my heart.
Solution
This is from a journal. It is a full record of a journey, with the writer's observations.
This is how Raj Kapoor found me -- all wet and ragged outside R.K.Studios. He was then looking for just someone like this for a small role in Mera Naam Joker, and he cast me on the spot. The rest, as they say, is history!
Solution
This is from a memoir. It is a person's account of his or her own life and experiences, written looking back.
What makes writing in a diary a strange experience for Anne Frank?
Solution
Anne had never written anything before. She also felt that nobody, neither she herself nor anyone else, would later be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. So writing a diary seemed strange to her.
Anne has a great need to get all kinds of things off her chest. She has a loving family and about thirty friends but no one true friend to confide in; with her friends she can talk only about ordinary everyday things. So she starts the diary as a friend, whom she names 'Kitty'.
Why did Anne think she could confide more in her diary than in people?
Solution
She thought that 'paper has more patience than people'. She did not plan to let anyone read her diary, and she could not bring herself to tell her friends anything personal. A diary listens without judging or interrupting, so she could share her real feelings with it.
She says that no one would understand a word of her stories to Kitty if she were to plunge right in. So, though she dislikes doing it, she gives a short account of her family and her life so far.
Anne writes, 'No one knows how often I think of her and still love her.' Her grandmother died in January 1942, and Anne's 1942 birthday celebration was intended to make up for the earlier one, and 'Grandma's candle was lit along with the rest'. These show her deep love.
Why was Mr Keesing annoyed with Anne? What did he ask her to do?
Solution
Mr Keesing, the maths teacher, was annoyed because Anne talked so much in class. After several warnings, he gave her extra homework: an essay on the subject 'A Chatterbox'.
How did Anne justify her being a chatterbox in her essay?
Solution
She argued that talking is a student's trait and that she would do her best to control it. But she said she would never be able to cure herself of the habit, since her mother talked as much as she did, if not more, and there is not much one can do about inherited traits.
Yes, he was strict about discipline: he warned Anne repeatedly and gave her extra essays as punishment for talking in class. But he was also fair and had a sense of humour, because he laughed at her arguments, and later took her poem 'the right way'. So he was strict but good-natured.
Anne wrote her third essay as a funny poem about a mother duck and a father swan whose three ducklings quacked too much. Mr Keesing enjoyed the joke, read the poem to her class and several other classes, and from then on allowed her to talk and stopped giving her extra homework.
Was Anne right when she said that the world would not be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old girl?
Solution
No, she was wrong. Her diary, The Diary of a Young Girl, became one of the world's most widely read books and was translated into many languages. It gives an intimate picture of daily life under Nazi occupation, and is described as the work of a mature and insightful mind.
There are some examples of diary or journal entries in the 'Before You Read' section. Compare these with what Anne writes in her diary. What language was the diary originally written in? In what way is Anne's diary different?
Solution
The entries in 'Before You Read' are short and mostly record a single event, a timetable or a trip. Anne's diary is originally in Dutch. It is written in the form of long letters to an imaginary friend, 'Dearest Kitty', and she describes people, tells stories with humour, and reveals her feelings and her loneliness.
Why does Anne need to give a brief sketch about her family? Does she treat 'Kitty' as an insider or an outsider?
Solution
She needs to give a sketch because Kitty knows nothing about her, and no one would understand her stories without some background. In this sense she treats Kitty as an outsider who has to be introduced to her family. Yet she calls her 'Dearest Kitty' and wants her to be her closest friend, so emotionally she treats Kitty as an insider to whom she can tell everything.
How does Anne feel about her father, her grandmother, Mrs Kuperus and Mr Keesing? What do these tell you about her?
Solution
She calls her father 'the most adorable father I've ever seen'. She loves her grandmother and thinks of her often. She was so fond of Mrs Kuperus, her headmistress, that they were both in tears at their 'heartbreaking farewell'. Mr Keesing was annoyed with her for talking, but she says she gets on pretty well with all her teachers, and she is pleased when he starts making jokes. These feelings show that Anne is affectionate, loyal, sensitive and cheerful, and can see the humour even in her punishments.
In her first essay, 'A Chatterbox', she argued that talking is a student's trait and that she would try to control it, but she could never cure herself of the habit, because her mother talked as much as she did, if not more, and there is not much you can do about inherited traits.
Anne says teachers are most unpredictable. Is Mr Keesing unpredictable? How?
Solution
Yes. He gave Anne extra essays as punishment, yet he laughed at her arguments. When she talked again he gave a second essay and then a third on 'Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterbox', which he thought would embarrass her. But he read her poem to the class and several other classes, allowed her to talk, and began making jokes himself. His reactions were hard to guess.
What do these statements tell you about Anne Frank as a person? (i) We don't seem to be able to get any closer, and that's the problem. Maybe it's my fault that we don't confide in each other. (ii) I don't want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would, but I want the diary to be my friend. (iii) Margot went to Holland in December, and I followed in February, when I was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot. (iv) If you ask me, there are so many dummies that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth. (v) Anyone could ramble on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking.
Solution
She is honest and thoughtful. She is ready to blame herself and does not blame her friends, and she feels lonely despite having many friends.
She is imaginative and original. She wants a real, lasting friend and turns her diary into one, 'Kitty', instead of just recording facts.
She has a sense of humour and a playful way of describing herself, comparing her arrival to a birthday present for her sister.
She is frank, confident and witty, with sharp opinions about her classmates and her teachers.
She is clever, resourceful and quick-witted. She knows how to argue convincingly and make the best of a situation.
Find the sentences in the lesson that have the phrasal verbs given below and match them with their meanings. Are their meanings the same as that of their parts?
Solution
Phrasal verb
Meaning
(i) plunge in
go straight to the topic
(ii) kept back
not promoted
(iii) move up
go to the next grade
(iv) ramble on
speak or write without focus
(v) get along with
have a good relationship with
(vi) calm down
make (them) remain quiet
(vii) stay in
stay indoors
(viii) make up for
compensate
(ix) hand in
give an assignment (homework) to a person in authority (the teacher)
In most of them the meaning is different from the meaning of the separate parts (for example, 'make up for' and 'kept back' do not mean 'make' or 'keep' something literally). Only a few, such as 'stay in' and 'move up', are close to the meanings of their parts.
Where -- under which word -- would you look for the expression 'caught my eye' in the dictionary? Which other expressions with catch are listed in your dictionary?
Solution
You would look under the verb 'catch', because 'caught' is its past tense and 'catch' is the first meaningful word.
Some other expressions with catch are: catch fire (begin to burn), catch sight of (see suddenly), catch up with (reach someone ahead), catch one's breath (rest for a moment), catch a cold (become ill with a cold), and catch on (become popular or understand).
Find in the text the contracted forms that stand for two different full forms, and say what these are.
Solution
I'd stands for I had in 'I'd better provide a brief sketch', 'after I'd finished the rest of my homework' and 'I'd nearly exhausted my ingenuity'. In 'I'd worry about that later' and 'I'd make sure the joke was on him', it stands for I would.
Similarly, 'he'd' stands for he had in 'he'd finally had enough'.
(The form 's can also stand for two full forms: 'that's' = that is, and 'Mr Keesing's always making jokes' = Mr Keesing is.)
Try to make the extract from the one-act play sound more like a real conversation by changing some of the verbs back into contracted forms. Then speak out the lines.
Solution
Sample rewrite:
MOB: Now where's your husband, mistress?
MARY: In his bed. He's sick and weary. You wouldn't harm him!
HOB: We're going to smash his evil work to pieces. Where's the machine?
SECOND MAN: On the table yonder.
HOB: Then here's the end of it! [HOB smashes the model. MARY screams.]
HOB: And now for your husband!
MARY: Neighbours, he's a sick man and almost a cripple. You wouldn't hurt him!
HOB: He's planning to take away our daily bread... We'll show him what we think of him and his ways!
MARY: You've broken his machine... You've done enough...
Can you keep a diary for a week recording the events that occur? You may share your diary with your class, if you wish to. Use the hints given.
Solution
Sample diary entries (open-ended):
Monday, 9 November. Dear Diary, woke up late and missed the school bus! Dad dropped me, grumbling all the way. Maths test in the third period, quite easy, I think. Football in the evening, we won 3-1. Great day, except for the morning.
Tuesday, 10 November. Rainy and cold. Mum made hot pakoras, yum! Spent the evening on the science project, glue everywhere. Too tired to write more. Good night.
Wednesday, 11 November. Boring. Nothing happened. Reading a fantastic mystery book, can't put it down!
Keep each entry short, use contracted forms and incomplete sentences, and add your feelings.
As you listen to the extract from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, complete this summary of the happenings.
Solution
This entry in the diary has been made on September 2nd (1666) by Samuel Pepys. The person who told Pepys about the fire was called Jane. She called at about three in the morning. Pepys went back to sleep because he thought the fire was far enough off (he was unused to such fires). Pepys rose again at about seven in the morning. By then about 300 houses had been burned down. The fire had spread to Fish Street by London Bridge. Pepys then walked to the Tower along with Sir J. Robinson's little son.
Write down some of the things you want to do, but your parents/elders do not allow you to.
Solution
Sample answer (open-ended): I want to watch cartoons all evening, stay up late on holidays, go out to play cricket with friends without telling anyone where I am, eat sweets and chocolates whenever I like, and go on a trip with my friends. My parents do not allow these things because they worry about my studies, my health and my safety.
How old do you think Amanda is? How do you know this?
Solution
She is probably about ten to thirteen years old. She is still a school-going child who has homework, a room to tidy and shoes to clean, and the remark about her acne suggests that she is just entering her teens.
Her mother (or a parent or elder at home) is speaking to her. The person gives orders about her manners, her homework and her habits, and says 'Anyone would think that I nagged at you'.
These stanzas are Amanda's own thoughts, not spoken words. They are put in brackets to show that they are a private, silent daydream that she keeps to herself, in contrast to the spoken orders of the adult in the other stanzas.
Who is the speaker in Stanzas 2, 4 and 6? Do you think this speaker is listening to the speaker in Stanzas 1, 3, 5, and 7?
Solution
The speaker in Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 is Amanda. No, she is not listening to the scolding. She has escaped into her imagination and pictures herself as a mermaid, an orphan and Rapunzel.
No, Amanda is not an orphan; her mother is scolding her. In her daydream she imagines she is an orphan because an orphan has nobody to nag or control her. She could roam the streets barefoot in the soft dust, enjoying silence and freedom.
Do you know the story of Rapunzel? Why does she want to be Rapunzel?
Solution
Rapunzel is a girl in a fairy tale who lives locked in a tall tower, with very long hair that she lets down. Amanda wants to be Rapunzel because life in the tower is calm and free of cares, and she can be left alone. She says she will 'never let down' her hair, which means that she will not let anybody come in to disturb her.
What does the girl yearn for? What does this poem tell you about Amanda?
Solution
The girl yearns for freedom, peace and privacy, away from constant instructions and criticism. The poem shows that Amanda is imaginative, dreamy and sensitive, and that she feels over-controlled by the adults around her.
Read the last stanza. Do you think Amanda is sulking and is moody?
Solution
No, I do not think so. Amanda is not being moody; she is quiet because she has escaped into her own happy world. The adult takes her silence for sulking, and says 'Anyone would think that I nagged at you', without realising that her constant scolding is the cause.
