Look at the following sentence from the story:

Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall.

‘Hailstones’ are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A storm in which hailstones fall is a ‘hailstorm’. You know that a storm is bad weather with strong winds, rains, thunder and lightning.

There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their description below, and fill in the blanks? You may use a dictionary for help.

gale, whirlwind, cyclone, hurricane, tornado, typhoon

1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle: _ _c_ _ _.

2. An extremely strong wind: _a_ _.

3. A violent tropical storm with very strong winds: _ _p_ _ _ _.

4. A violent storm whose center is a cloud in the shape of a funnel: _ _ _n_ _ _.

5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean: _ _ _r_ _ _ _ _.

6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage: _ _ _ _l_ _ _ _.

Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.

greedy, naive, stupid, ungrateful, selfish, comical, unquestioning

There are two kinds of conflicts in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?

Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these sentences from the story.

(a) I hope it (the hailstorm) passes quickly.

(b) There was a single hope: help from God. In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to happen. In the second example, it is a noun meaning a chance for something to happen.

Match the sentence in Column A with the meaning of ‘hope’ in column B.

Relative clauses:

Definition:

The clause that gives us more information about the first/principal clause is called relative clause. It is used to add two or more simple clauses into one.

Look at the sentences:

(a) Throughout the morning Lencho – who knew his fields intimately – looked at the sky.

Here, italicized parts of the sentences give us more information about Lencho. So, we call them relative clause.

(b) The woman, who was preparing supper, replied, “Yes, God willing”.

Here, italicized parts of the sentence give us more information about the woman. So, we call them relative clauses.

Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which as suggested.

1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)

2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)

3. These sportspersons are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent. (whose)

4. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds. (whose)

5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)