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13 views2 pages

English

Uploaded by

rg3522789
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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AYESHA ALI ACADEMY

Seen but not heard ( 6th)


∙ Seen but not Heard is a poem written by Geoff Weilert.

In this poem, the speaker who belongs to the age group of 10 to 13 is strangely looking at the
words having silent letters. He feels that such words are ambiguous and gives his logic behind
the letters that are silent but still can be seen in some words. He says that the words having
silent letters were misspelled long ago. He adds more to this logic by saying that the letters that
are seen in the words but not pronounced just waste the space.
He concludes the poem by saying that he will amass the silent letters to make silent sentences
and silent paragraphs but ends up saying that he still will face the problem since he will not be
able to speak the silent sentences out.

A) Read the lines and answer the questions that follow:


The silent letters
Where ere they occurred
I now gather up
To make the first silent word.
1) How does the speaker plan to make a silent word?
Ans: The speaker plans to make a silent word by gathering up silent letters.
2) Can there be a word in which all the letters are silent?
Ans: No, there can not be a word in which all the letters are silent.
3) Pick out the silent letters from the words below:
Ascend, lamb, align, kneel, caught
Ans: Ascend= c
Lamb= b
Align= g
Kneel= k
Caught= gh

B) Answer these questions.


1. How old do you think the speaker in the poem is? Why do you think so?
Ans. The speaker in the poem might be 10 to 13 years old.
We think so because children of such an age group face these problems while
reading the words having silent letters.

2. What does he mean by “ Maybe, it’s just me?


Ans. By “Maybe, it’s just me”, he means to say that he is probably the only
person who has faced such a unique problem while reading the words.

3. What does he talk about after saying this line?

1
Ans. After saying this line the speaker mentions the absurdity of the words that
contain silent letters.
4. What do you call the letters in words which are seen but not heard?
Ans. We call the letters ‘silent' if they are seen in the word but not heard.

5. In the second stanza, the speaker talks about his suspicion regarding the origin of
silent letters. What is his suspicion?
Ans. In the second stanza the speaker has this suspicion that in the past, words
having silent letters were misspelled.

6. The speaker also comes up with a strange logic as to why we have been spelling
words with silent letters all this while. Do you agree with it?

Ans. No, we don’t agree with the logic of the speaker that he provided for the silent
letters in the words.
7. Why do silent letters waste paper?
Ans. From the perspective of the speaker, the silent letters waste space because
they are only written but not pronounced.

8. What does the speaker plan to do with the silent letters?


Ans. The speaker plans to gather up all the silent letters to make the first silent
word.

9. What problem does the poet face?

Ans. The problem that the poet faces is that he can make silent sentences and
paragraphs by collecting silent words but he can not really speak them out.

Assignment for summer break:


A) What makes the poem humorous?
B) Which is the funniest film that you have seen? What was it about? Which actor in the
film made you laugh? Write a letter to your cousin, describing the film and why you
liked it.
C) Define adjective phrase and write 5 sentences having adjective phrases in them.

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