ICSE Class 10 English Solutions My Lost Dollar
Passage 1
Question 1.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
He has owed it to me for twelve months, and I fear there is little prospect of his ever returning it. I can realize whenever I meet him that he has forgotten that he owes me a dollar. He meets me in the same frank friendly way as always. My dollar has clean gone out of his mind. I see that I shall never get it back.
On the other hand I know that I shall remember all my life that Todd owes me a dollar. It will make no difference, I trust, to our friendship, but I shall never be able to forget it. I don’t know how it is with other people, but if any man borrows a dollar from me I carry the recollection of it to the grave.
Who is Todd? What does he owe the narrator of the story?
Answer:
Todd is the narrator’s friend who owes him a dollar.
Question 2.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
He has owed it to me for twelve months, and I fear there is little prospect of his ever returning it. I can realize whenever I meet him that he has forgotten that he owes me a dollar. He meets me in the same frank friendly way as always. My dollar has clean gone out of his mind. I see that I shall never get it back.
On the other hand I know that I shall remember all my life that Todd owes me a dollar. It will make no difference, I trust, to our friendship, but I shall never be able to forget it. I don’t know how it is with other people, but if any man borrows a dollar from me I carry the recollection of it to the grave.
Does Todd remember that he owes the narrator some money?
Answer:
No, Todd doesn’t remember that he owes the narrator some money.
Question 3.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
He has owed it to me for twelve months, and I fear there is little prospect of his ever returning it. I can realize whenever I meet him that he has forgotten that he owes me a dollar. He meets me in the same frank friendly way as always. My dollar has clean gone out of his mind. I see that I shall never get it back.
On the other hand I know that I shall remember all my life that Todd owes me a dollar. It will make no difference, I trust, to our friendship, but I shall never be able to forget it. I don’t know how it is with other people, but if any man borrows a dollar from me I carry the recollection of it to the grave.
How do we know that Todd has forgotten about the dollar?
Answer:
The narrator explains that Todd meets him in the same frank friendly way as always. This indicates that he doesn’t remember the dollar.
Question 4.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
He has owed it to me for twelve months, and I fear there is little prospect of his ever returning it. I can realize whenever I meet him that he has forgotten that he owes me a dollar. He meets me in the same frank friendly way as always. My dollar has clean gone out of his mind. I see that I shall never get it back.
On the other hand I know that I shall remember all my life that Todd owes me a dollar. It will make no difference, I trust, to our friendship, but I shall never be able to forget it. I don’t know how it is with other people, but if any man borrows a dollar from me I carry the recollection of it to the grave.
Will their friendship be affected by one dollar? How does the author feel about his lost dollar?
Answer:
The author feels miserable about the dollar that his friend owes him. He says that he will carry the recollection of it to his grave. However he also mentions that the one lost dollar will not make a difference to their friendship.
Question 5.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
He has owed it to me for twelve months, and I fear there is little prospect of his ever returning it. I can realize whenever I meet him that he has forgotten that he owes me a dollar. He meets me in the same frank friendly way as always. My dollar has clean gone out of his mind. I see that I shall never get it back.
On the other hand I know that I shall remember all my life that Todd owes me a dollar. It will make no difference, I trust, to our friendship, but I shall never be able to forget it. I don’t know how it is with other people, but if any man borrows a dollar from me I carry the recollection of it to the grave.
What tone does the narrator employ to describe his situation?
Answer:
The narrator employs a humorous tone to describe his situation. He uses exaggeration and a bit of satire to begin his story and explain that Todd has forgotten to pay him back a dollar he owes. The narrator says that although Todd may have forgotten about the dollar, he (the narrator) will remember it to his grave.
Passage 2
Question 1.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
…he was about to leave for Bermuda. He needed a dollar in change to pay his taxi; and I lent it to him. It happened quite simply and naturally, I hardly realized it till it was all over. He merely said “Let me have a dollar, will you!” And I said, “Certainly. Is a dollar enough?” I believe, in fact I know, that when Todd took that dollar he meant to pay for it.
He sent me a note from Hamilton, Bermuda. I thought when I opened it that the dollar would be in it. But it wasn’t. He merely said that the temperature was up to nearly 100. The figure confused me for a moment.
Why did Todd borrow a dollar from the narrator?
Answer:
Todd needed a dollar in change to pay for his taxi ride so he borrowed the same from the narrator.
Question 2.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
…he was about to leave for Bermuda. He needed a dollar in change to pay his taxi; and I lent it to him. It happened quite simply and naturally, I hardly realized it till it was all over. He merely said “Let me have a dollar, will you!” And I said, “Certainly. Is a dollar enough?” I believe, in fact I know, that when Todd took that dollar he meant to pay for it.
He sent me a note from Hamilton, Bermuda. I thought when I opened it that the dollar would be in it. But it wasn’t. He merely said that the temperature was up to nearly 100. The figure confused me for a moment.
Why was the narrator willing to pay for Todd?
Answer:
When Todd asked for the dollar, the narrator felt with certainty that Todd meant to pay it back to him, he therefore gave it to Todd willingly.
Question 3.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
…he was about to leave for Bermuda. He needed a dollar in change to pay his taxi; and I lent it to him. It happened quite simply and naturally, I hardly realized it till it was all over. He merely said “Let me have a dollar, will you!” And I said, “Certainly. Is a dollar enough?” I believe, in fact I know, that when Todd took that dollar he meant to pay for it.
He sent me a note from Hamilton, Bermuda. I thought when I opened it that the dollar would be in it. But it wasn’t. He merely said that the temperature was up to nearly 100. The figure confused me for a moment.
What did Todd send the narrator from Bermuda?
Answer:
The narrator received a note from Hamilton, Bermuda sent by Todd. The narrator thought it was his dollar but much to his disappointment, it was a note describing the temperature of Bermuda.
Question 4.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
…he was about to leave for Bermuda. He needed a dollar in change to pay his taxi; and I lent it to him. It happened quite simply and naturally, I hardly realized it till it was all over. He merely said “Let me have a dollar, will you!” And I said, “Certainly. Is a dollar enough?” I believe, in fact I know, that when Todd took that dollar he meant to pay for it.
He sent me a note from Hamilton, Bermuda. I thought when I opened it that the dollar would be in it. But it wasn’t. He merely said that the temperature was up to nearly 100. The figure confused me for a moment.
Do you think the narrator exaggerates the story of his lost dollar?
Answer:
When someone borrows money, they ought to return it. With this principle in his mind, the narrator frets and fumes over how Todd has forgotten to pay him back. He makes several assumptions about how he is never going to get his money back from Todd. He explains how Todd doesn’t remember borrowing the dollar at all and keeps meeting him as usual. It is thus evident that the narrator exaggerates the case of his lost dollar.
Passage 3
Question 1.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
We spent the evening together, talking about Bermuda. I was thinking of the dollar but of course I didn’t refer to it one simply can’t. I asked him what currency is used in Bermuda, and whether the American Dollar goes at par (I put a slight emphasis on the American Dollar), but found again that I could not bring myself to make any reference to it.
It took e sometime (I see Todd practically every day ay my Club) to realize that he had completely forgotten the dollar. I asked him one day what his trip cost him and he said that he kept no accounts. A little I asked him if he felt settled down after his trip, and he said that he had practically forgotten about it. So I knew it was all over.
Did the narrator directly seek his dollar from Todd?
Answer:
The narrator never asked Todd directly to return his dollar but instead expected Todd to remember that he owed him a dollar.
Question 2.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
We spent the evening together, talking about Bermuda. I was thinking of the dollar but of course I didn’t refer to it one simply can’t. I asked him what currency is used in Bermuda, and whether the American Dollar goes at par (I put a slight emphasis on the American Dollar), but found again that I could not bring myself to make any reference to it.
It took e sometime (I see Todd practically every day ay my Club) to realize that he had completely forgotten the dollar. I asked him one day what his trip cost him and he said that he kept no accounts. A little I asked him if he felt settled down after his trip, and he said that he had practically forgotten about it. So I knew it was all over.
When did the narrator realise that he is never going to get his dollar back?
Answer:
When the narrator asked Todd how much he spent on his trip, Todd told him that he kept no accounts. This practically proved that since the man doesn’t manage his finances well he would never have remembered the single dollar he once borrowed. Therefore, the narrator realised that he would never get his dollar back from Todd.
Question 3.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
We spent the evening together, talking about Bermuda. I was thinking of the dollar but of course I didn’t refer to it one simply can’t. I asked him what currency is used in Bermuda, and whether the American Dollar goes at par (I put a slight emphasis on the American Dollar), but found again that I could not bring myself to make any reference to it.
It took e sometime (I see Todd practically every day ay my Club) to realize that he had completely forgotten the dollar. I asked him one day what his trip cost him and he said that he kept no accounts. A little I asked him if he felt settled down after his trip, and he said that he had practically forgotten about it. So I knew it was all over.
Do you think the narrator is obsessed with the loss of his dollar?
Answer:
Yes, the narrator seems to be obsessed with his lost dollar. He mentions the dollar throughout the story. In fact, every time he comes across Todd, he only thinks of his dollar, although he never directly asks for it and claims that it will not stand between their friendship.
Question 4.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
We spent the evening together, talking about Bermuda. I was thinking of the dollar but of course I didn’t refer to it one simply can’t. I asked him what currency is used in Bermuda, and whether the American Dollar goes at par (I put a slight emphasis on the American Dollar), but found again that I could not bring myself to make any reference to it.
It took e sometime (I see Todd practically every day ay my Club) to realize that he had completely forgotten the dollar. I asked him one day what his trip cost him and he said that he kept no accounts. A little I asked him if he felt settled down after his trip, and he said that he had practically forgotten about it. So I knew it was all over.
What details did the narrator seek from Todd about his trip? Why?
Answer:
The narrator asked Todd about the currency used in Bermuda in a hope to remind him of the one American dollar that Todd owed him. Further, he asked Todd how much the trip to Bermuda cost him. The narrator made such several indirect references to money hoping that he would remember that one dollar he owes him. However, all the attempts made by the narrator failed miserably and he could never get his dollar back.
Passage 4
Question 1.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
I bear Todd no grudge. I have simply added him to the list of men who owe me a dollar and who have forgotten it. There are quite a few of them now. I make no difference in my demeanour to them, but I only wish that I could forget.
I meet Todd very frequently. Only two nights ago I met him out at dinner and he was talking, apparently without self-consciousness, about Poland. He said that Poland would never pay her debts. You’d think a thing like that would remind him, wouldn’t you? But it didn’t seem to.
Why does the narrator bear no grudge?
Answer:
The narrator had lent his friend Todd a dollar which the latter has forgotten to pay back. In this reference, the narrator mentions that despite Todd forgetting about his dollar, he bears Todd no grudge. He does not give a reason for it except that there are quite a few of his other friends too who owe him a dollar and have forgotten about it.
Question 2.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
I bear Todd no grudge. I have simply added him to the list of men who owe me a dollar and who have forgotten it. There are quite a few of them now. I make no difference in my demeanour to them, but I only wish that I could forget.
I meet Todd very frequently. Only two nights ago I met him out at dinner and he was talking, apparently without self-consciousness, about Poland. He said that Poland would never pay her debts. You’d think a thing like that would remind him, wouldn’t you? But it didn’t seem to.
What kind of list has the narrator made? Who is the latest person to be added to that list?
Answer:
The narrator has a list of men who owe him a dollar and who have forgotten to repay it. Having understood that Todd will never repay the dollar too, the narrator has added him to this list.
Question 3.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
I bear Todd no grudge. I have simply added him to the list of men who owe me a dollar and who have forgotten it. There are quite a few of them now. I make no difference in my demeanour to them, but I only wish that I could forget.
I meet Todd very frequently. Only two nights ago I met him out at dinner and he was talking, apparently without self-consciousness, about Poland. He said that Poland would never pay her debts. You’d think a thing like that would remind him, wouldn’t you? But it didn’t seem to.
What could the narrator not forget?
Answer:
The narrator could not forget the people whom he had lent money and who have not paid him back. He doesn’t have any hard feelings for them but he cannot forget about his money either.
Question 4.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
I bear Todd no grudge. I have simply added him to the list of men who owe me a dollar and who have forgotten it. There are quite a few of them now. I make no difference in my demeanour to them, but I only wish that I could forget.
I meet Todd very frequently. Only two nights ago I met him out at dinner and he was talking, apparently without self-consciousness, about Poland. He said that Poland would never pay her debts. You’d think a thing like that would remind him, wouldn’t you? But it didn’t seem to.
Why did the narrator think that discussing about Poland would remind Todd about the unpaid dollar?
Answer:
One day the narrator met Todd out at dinner where Todd was talking about how Poland would never pay her debts. The narrator wished that Poland’s debts might remind Todd of the dollar he hadn’t paid the narrator. Unfortunately, this too didn’t remind Todd of the dollar.
Passage 5
Question 1.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
But meantime, a thought – a rather painful thought – has begun to come in to my mind at intervals. It is this. If Todd owes a dollar and has forgotten it, it is possible – indeed it is theoretically probable – that there must be men to whom I owe a dollar which I have forgotten. There may be a list of them. The more I think of it the less I like it, because I am quite sure that If I had once forgotten a dollar, I should never pay it, on this side of the grave.
What painful thought comes to the narrator’s mind as he thinks about his lost dollar?
Answer:
As the narrator thinks about his dollar, he thinks it is quite possible that he too may have taken a dollar from people and has failed to repay it.
Question 2.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
But meantime, a thought – a rather painful thought – has begun to come in to my mind at intervals. It is this. If Todd owes a dollar and has forgotten it, it is possible – indeed it is theoretically probable – that there must be men to whom I owe a dollar which I have forgotten. There may be a list of them. The more I think of it the less I like it, because I am quite sure that If I had once forgotten a dollar, I should never pay it, on this side of the grave.
How does the narrator feel about him being similar to Todd in not repaying the dollars he might have taken from people?
Answer:
The narrator feels uncomfortable at the thought of owing money to people. He feels that it is theoretically probable that there are people in the world from whom he may have taken a dollar but who haven’t asked their dollars back and whose dollar he too has forgotten about.
Question 3.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
But meantime, a thought – a rather painful thought – has begun to come in to my mind at intervals. It is this. If Todd owes a dollar and has forgotten it, it is possible – indeed it is theoretically probable – that there must be men to whom I owe a dollar which I have forgotten. There may be a list of them. The more I think of it the less I like it, because I am quite sure that If I had once forgotten a dollar, I should never pay it, on this side of the grave.
What is the tone of the given extract?
Answer:
The author has used a confessional tone in the given extract. In this extract, he realises that like Todd, he too may have forgotten about money taken from some men.
Question 4.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
But meantime, a thought – a rather painful thought – has begun to come in to my mind at intervals. It is this. If Todd owes a dollar and has forgotten it, it is possible – indeed it is theoretically probable – that there must be men to whom I owe a dollar which I have forgotten. There may be a list of them. The more I think of it the less I like it, because I am quite sure that If I had once forgotten a dollar, I should never pay it, on this side of the grave.
Explain the line “I should never pay it, on this side of the grave”.
Answer:
The narrator is trying to explain that if he had taken a dollar and had forgotten about it, and does not have a recollection of it so far then he will never remember in this life.
Passage 6
Question 1.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
If there are such men I want them to speak out. Not all at once; but in reasonable numbers and as far as may be in alphabetical order and I will immediately, write their names down on paper. I don’t count here men who may have lent me an odd dollar over a bridge table: and I am not thinking (indeed I am taking care not to think) of the man who lent me thirty cents to pay for a bottle of plain soda in the Detroit Athletic Club last month. I always find the Canada frontier, and that man who advanced that thirty cents knows exactly why I felt that I had done enough for him, but if any man ever lent me a dollar to pay for a taxi when I was starting for Bermuda, I want to pay it.
… I want to start a general moment, Back to Honesty movement for paying all these odd dollars that are borrowed in moments of expansion. Let us remember that the greatest nations were built upon the rock basis of absolute honesty.
In conclusion may I say that I do particularly ask that no reader of this book will be careless enough to leave this copy round where it might be seen by Major Todd, of the University Club Montreal.
What kind of men is the narrator referring to in the given extract?
Answer:
The narrator is referring to men from whom he may have borrowed money but whom he has forgotten to pay back.
Question 2.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
If there are such men I want them to speak out. Not all at once; but in reasonable numbers and as far as may be in alphabetical order and I will immediately, write their names down on paper. I don’t count here men who may have lent me an odd dollar over a bridge table: and I am not thinking (indeed I am taking care not to think) of the man who lent me thirty cents to pay for a bottle of plain soda in the Detroit Athletic Club last month. I always find the Canada frontier, and that man who advanced that thirty cents knows exactly why I felt that I had done enough for him, but if any man ever lent me a dollar to pay for a taxi when I was starting for Bermuda, I want to pay it.
… I want to start a general moment, Back to Honesty movement for paying all these odd dollars that are borrowed in moments of expansion. Let us remember that the greatest nations were built upon the rock basis of absolute honesty.
In conclusion may I say that I do particularly ask that no reader of this book will be careless enough to leave this copy round where it might be seen by Major Todd, of the University Club Montreal.
What does the narrator want those men to do?
Answer:
The narrator wants those men to speak out in reasonable numbers so that he can write down their names on paper and pay them back one by one.
Question 3.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
If there are such men I want them to speak out. Not all at once; but in reasonable numbers and as far as may be in alphabetical order and I will immediately, write their names down on paper. I don’t count here men who may have lent me an odd dollar over a bridge table: and I am not thinking (indeed I am taking care not to think) of the man who lent me thirty cents to pay for a bottle of plain soda in the Detroit Athletic Club last month. I always find the Canada frontier, and that man who advanced that thirty cents knows exactly why I felt that I had done enough for him, but if any man ever lent me a dollar to pay for a taxi when I was starting for Bermuda, I want to pay it.
… I want to start a general moment, Back to Honesty movement for paying all these odd dollars that are borrowed in moments of expansion. Let us remember that the greatest nations were built upon the rock basis of absolute honesty.
In conclusion may I say that I do particularly ask that no reader of this book will be careless enough to leave this copy round where it might be seen by Major Todd, of the University Club Montreal.
How according to the author are great nations built?
Answer:
According to the author, great nations are built on the rock basis of absolute honesty.
Question 4.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
If there are such men I want them to speak out. Not all at once; but in reasonable numbers and as far as may be in alphabetical order and I will immediately, write their names down on paper. I don’t count here men who may have lent me an odd dollar over a bridge table: and I am not thinking (indeed I am taking care not to think) of the man who lent me thirty cents to pay for a bottle of plain soda in the Detroit Athletic Club last month. I always find the Canada frontier, and that man who advanced that thirty cents knows exactly why I felt that I had done enough for him, but if any man ever lent me a dollar to pay for a taxi when I was starting for Bermuda, I want to pay it.
… I want to start a general moment, Back to Honesty movement for paying all these odd dollars that are borrowed in moments of expansion. Let us remember that the greatest nations were built upon the rock basis of absolute honesty.
In conclusion may I say that I do particularly ask that no reader of this book will be careless enough to leave this copy round where it might be seen by Major Todd, of the University Club Montreal.
Do you think the author wants his friend Todd to know that he expected him to return the dollar once upon a time?
Answer:
No. We know this because the author mentions not wanting a copy of his story to be lying around such that his friend Major Todd may see it and realise that he never returned the dollar to the author.
Question 5.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
If there are such men I want them to speak out. Not all at once; but in reasonable numbers and as far as may be in alphabetical order and I will immediately, write their names down on paper. I don’t count here men who may have lent me an odd dollar over a bridge table: and I am not thinking (indeed I am taking care not to think) of the man who lent me thirty cents to pay for a bottle of plain soda in the Detroit Athletic Club last month. I always find the Canada frontier, and that man who advanced that thirty cents knows exactly why I felt that I had done enough for him, but if any man ever lent me a dollar to pay for a taxi when I was starting for Bermuda, I want to pay it.
… I want to start a general moment, Back to Honesty movement for paying all these odd dollars that are borrowed in moments of expansion. Let us remember that the greatest nations were built upon the rock basis of absolute honesty.
In conclusion may I say that I do particularly ask that no reader of this book will be careless enough to leave this copy round where it might be seen by Major Todd, of the University Club Montreal.
Write a character sketch of the narrator with reference to the story My Lost Dollar.
Answer:
In the short story My Lost Dollar, the narrator describes his discomfort about living with the fact that his friends whom he had lent money have totally forgotten about the same. The author’s character at first appears to be a light-hearted one who can move on in life with the help of humour. However, as the story proceeds, it is seen that the author is rather sarcastic about Todd’s poor memory in relation to the lost dollar. Although he says that he will never hold a grudge against him over a dollar, his thoughts wander in the direction of his dollar every time the two meet. Deep within his heart, he wants his dollar back and makes many futile attempts at reminding Todd of the same. However, he keeps his attitudes and behaviour intact with Todd despite his problem of the lost dollar. When nothing worked out, he seemed to have written this story to express his feelings. He tells his readers to circulate the story wisely, as if trying to hint that if the story, with Todd’s name clearly in it, is read by Todd, he may remember to pay back the author his dollar after all.