2.6 Chasing The Sea Monster
Complete textbook exercise solutions — Maharashtra State Board (Balbharati), Grade Seven English.
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Margin Questions
The name of the narrator is Professor Aronnax[cite: 12].
The name of the ship is the Abraham Lincoln (which is also referred to as a frigate)[cite: 12].
The event spans across a full day. It starts at night, goes on through midnight (12:53 am), early morning (6 am), daybreak (8 am), and continues until 10:50 in the evening the next day[cite: 12].
Based on the ship diagram, "astern" means towards the rear or back of the ship (the stern), and "port" refers to the left side of the ship when facing forward[cite: 12]. Therefore, "astern to port" means behind the ship and towards its left side[cite: 12].
The Commander must have given the order to "Fire!" or to shoot the cannon at the monster, as immediately after, the old gunner aimed the cannon and fired a shell[cite: 12].
- enormous: extremely large in size or huge (like the waterspouts crashing onto the deck)[cite: 12].
- hideous: very ugly, horrifying, or extremely unpleasant (like the terrible collision)[cite: 12].
English Workshop
The words and phrases used to describe the monster in the passage are:
- unearthly animal[cite: 12]
- fearsome creature[cite: 12]
- unknown creature[cite: 12]
- huge glowworm[cite: 12]
- whale[cite: 12]
- cetacean[cite: 12]
- the thing in question[cite: 12]
- long blackish body[cite: 12]
- sea animal[cite: 12]
- infernal beast[cite: 12]
- motionless animal[cite: 12]
- blazing core of light[cite: 12]
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| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| All night long | The crew stayed on their feet, nobody slept[cite: 12]. |
| Near midnight | The animal disappeared or 'went out' like a huge glowworm[cite: 12]. |
| At 12:53 | A deafening hiss could be heard, like a waterspout expelled with tremendous intensity[cite: 12]. |
| Near two o'clock in the morning | The core of light reappeared, five miles away from the Abraham Lincoln[cite: 12]. |
| At six o'clock | Day began to break, and the animal's electric glow disappeared[cite: 12]. |
| At seven o'clock | A very dense morning mist spread around them[cite: 12]. |
| At eight o'clock | The mist rolled away, the horizon grew clearer, and the animal was seen again astern to port[cite: 12]. |
| About three-quarters of an hour | The chase dragged on without the frigate getting any closer to the sea animal[cite: 12]. |
| For the next hour | The Abraham Lincoln and the animal both gathered speed and kept racing[cite: 12]. |
| At 10:50 in the evening | That electric light reappeared three miles away from the frigate, clear and intense[cite: 12]. |
The event begins with the crew staying up "all night long", starting from "near midnight", progressing through the early morning, daybreak at 6 am, and morning mist clearing by 8 am[cite: 12]. They chase the animal through the day, and the electric light reappears at "10:50 in the evening"[cite: 12]. Therefore, the entire event spans almost 24 hours (from late one evening to almost 11:00 PM the following evening)[cite: 12].
| Words | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1. yard | (e) a pole slung across a ship's mast. A sail hangs from a yard[cite: 12]. |
| 2. mast | (d) tall, upright pole on a ship[cite: 12]. |
| 3. bow | (b) the forward part of the main body of a ship[cite: 12]. |
| 4. deck | (a) a floor, flat area built on a ship[cite: 12]. |
| 5. forecastle | (c) the forward part of a deck[cite: 12]. |
| 6. starboard | (h) the right-hand side of a ship as one faces forward[cite: 12]. |
| 7. stern | (f) the rearmost (back) part of a ship[cite: 12]. |
| 8. afterdeck | (i) an open deck near the back[cite: 12]. |
| 9. fore | (g) the part which is always at the front while the ship is sailing[cite: 12]. |
- The outcome: disappointment and anger.
This can be used after a team practices very hard for a football tournament but loses the final match due to an unfair penalty. - The hour of battle had sounded.
This can be used when the invigilator rings the bell and hands out the final examination question papers to the students. - What a chase!
This can be used while watching a stray dog frantically run through a busy market trying to catch a speedy squirrel. - This was our chance.
This can be used when the opposing team's best goalkeeper slips on the wet grass, leaving the goalpost completely unguarded for a few seconds.
The units of measurement mentioned in the passage are:
- Miles: ("five miles away", "half a mile off")[cite: 12]. A mile is a unit of distance used mainly in the US and UK, equal to approximately 1.6 kilometres.
- Metre: ("a metre above the waves")[cite: 12]. A metre is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 100 centimetres.
- Feet: ("some feet above", "not 100 feet from")[cite: 12]. A foot is a unit of length equal to 12 inches or 30.48 centimetres.
- Inch: ("six-inch armour plate")[cite: 12]. An inch is a unit of linear length measure equal to 2.54 centimetres.
- Cable lengths: ("two cable lengths")[cite: 12]. A cable length is a nautical unit of measure, usually defined as 1/10 of a nautical mile or roughly about 185 metres.
A verb that needs an object to complete its meaning is a Transitive Verb. A verb that does not require an object is an Intransitive Verb[cite: 12]. Let us look at a few examples from the passage:
- "Our chief officer loaded the blunderbusses..."[cite: 12] — Transitive (Object: the blunderbusses).
- "The whole crew stayed on their feet..."[cite: 12] — Intransitive (No object is receiving the action).
- "The cannoneer fired a shot..."[cite: 12] — Transitive (Object: a shot).