Chapter 7 – Tom Losses a Tooth Solutions

Content Structure

• 1. About the author – Mark Twain
• 2. Theme of the Tom Losses a Tooth
• 3. Summary of the Tom Losses a Tooth
• 4. Word meanings
• 5. Exercise Solutions
  • Exercise – 1
  • Exercise – 2
  • Exercise – 3
• 6. Grammar in use
  • Exercise – 4
  • Exercise – 5
• 7. Composition
  • Exercise – 6

Link for extra questions and answers

1. About the author – Mark Twain

Mark Twain was a famous American writer and humorist, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born on 30 November 1835 in Florida, Missouri, USA. He is called the “Father of American Literature” because of his unique style and humor. He is best known for writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which are loved by people all over the world and reflect real life, friendship, and adventure along the Mississippi River. He helped to create and popularize a distinctive line of American literature based on American themes and language. He died on 21 April 1910 in Redding, Connecticut, USA.

Link for extra questions and answers

2. Theme of the Tom Losses a Tooth

• Tom sees school as boring and unpleasant, so he looks for excuses to avoid it, especially on Mondays.
• Tom’s tricks, like pretending to have a stomach ache a sore toe, or a bad tooth, show how naughty and playful a child can be.
• Tom has a very active imagination. He even acts as if he is dying, groaning loudly and forgiving everyone, just to make his lie believable.
• Aunt Polly knows Tom well. She cares for him deeply, but she is also strict enough to curb his mischief and teach him a lesson.
• The story shows how lies and pretense are quickly exposed. Tom’s fake sickness vanishes when Aunt Polly calls it nonsense.
• The story makes readers laugh at Tom’s dramatic tricks, showing that even ordinary life can be full of fun, excitement, and humor.
• Tom is mischievous and his actions come from innocence and a desire for freedom, not from cruelty.

3. Summary of the Tom Looses a Tooth

Link for extra questions and answers

Tom always thought Mondays were boring, so he wanted to stay home. One morning, he lay in bed thinking of ways to avoid school. First, he wished he was sick. He checked his body and thought he had a stomach ache, but it went away quickly. Then, Tom noticed that one of his front teeth was loose. He felt happy, but remembered Aunt Polly would pull it out, which would hurt, so he decided to keep it as an excuse for later. Next, he pretended his toe hurt and groaned loudly to act sick, but his brother Sid kept sleeping. Tom groaned even louder until Sid finally woke up. Acting as if he were dying, he said he forgave everyone and asked Sid not to wake him. Sid got scared and ran to call Aunt Polly, shouting, “Tom is dying!” Aunt Polly came upstairs but did not believe him. She saw that Tom was pretending, so she scolded him. Then Tom said his tooth hurt. Aunt Polly checked, tied a silk thread to the loose tooth and the bedpost, and pulled it out. Tom did not get to miss school, but he liked the gap in his teeth because it made his smile look funny and special.

4. Word meanings

Link for extra questions and answers

	Word	Meanings
1.	Miserable	Very unhappy or uncomfortable
2.	Investigated	Looked at carefully to find out something
3.	Ailment	Illness
4.	Feeble	Very weak
5.	Groan	A low sound made when in pain or sadness
6.	Ailment	Checking
7.	Inspection	Making repeated painful sounds
8.	Fancied	Imagined
9.	Snored on	Kept making a loud breathing sound while sleeping
10.	Shook	Moved quickly up and down or side to side
11.	Yawned	Opened mouth wide when tired or sleepy
12.	Anxiously	Nervously
13.	Moaned	Made a low sound of pain or sadness
14.	Rushed	Hurried
15.	Genuine tone	A Real voice
16.	Trembled	Shivered
17.	Gasped out	Spoke with difficulty while breathing hard
18.	Sank	Dropped
19.	Ceased	Stopped
20.	Tooth aches	Tooth pain
21.	Fastened	Tied
22.	Dangling	Hanging
23.	Enabled	Allowed

5. Exercise solutions

Exercise – 1

Link for extra questions and answers

Tick the correct answer from the given alternatives:

(1) Tom felt miserable on the morning of
(a) Sunday
(b) Monday
(c) Thursday
(d) Saturday

Ans: (b) Monday

(2) If Aunt Polly was to know that tom had a loose tooth, she would
(a) Call a doctor
(b) Brings him some medicine
(c) Surely pull it out
(d) Tell him to rest

Ans: (c) Surely pull it out

(3) Tom drew his sore toe from under the
(a) Sheet
(b) Blanket
(c) Pillow
(d) Mosquito net

Ans: (a) Sheet

(4) She flew down the stairs to call
(a) Doctor
(b) Mary
(c) The nurse
(d) Aunt Polly

Ans: (d) Aunt Polly

(5) The thread that Mary got Aunt Polly was made of
(a) Cotton
(b) Jute
(c) Silk
(d) Wool

Ans: (c) Silk

Exercise – 2

Answer the following questions within fifteen words:

Link for extra questions and answers

1. Which one of Tom’s tooth had come loose?
Ans: One of Tom’s upper front teeth had come loose.

2. How are Sid and Mary related to Tom?
Ans: Sid was Tom’s half-brother, and Mary was his cousin.

3. Why did Tom ask Sid not to stir him?
Ans: Tom feared that Sid’s movement would hurt him and make his fake pain worse.

4. Why did Tom pretend his toe was paining?
Ans: Tom pretended so that he could avoid school and stay home.

Exercise – 3

Answer the following questions within twenty-five words:

1. What did Tom remember hearing from a doctor?
Ans: Tom remembered hearing that a certain illness could keep a patient in bed for three days and even cost a finger.

2. How did Aunt Polly react to the news that Tom was dying?
Ans: Aunt Polly did not believe Sid’s words. She scolded Tom, called it nonsense, and asked him to stop pretending.

3. How was Tom’s loose tooth taken out?
Ans: Aunt Polly tied one end of a silk thread to Tom’s loose tooth and the other to a bedpost, then pulled it out.

6. Grammar in use

Exercise – 4

Link for extra questions and answers

Do as directed:

1. Rafique was running fast. (Change into an interrogative sentence)
Ans: Was Rafique running fast?

2. The boy would never forget the exciting incident. (Change into an affirmative sentence)
Ans: The boy would always remember the exciting incident.

3. We had a wonderful time last evening. (Change into an exclamatory sentence)
Ans: What a wonderful time we had last evening!

4. He loves to play football. (Change into a interrogative sentence)
Ans: Does he love to play football?

5. Rina tried all her plans. (Change into negative sentence)
Ans: Rina did not leave any plan untried.

6. Shut the door, Robin. (Change into an assertive sentence)
Ans: Robin should shut the door.

Exercise – 5

Replace the underline words with suitable phrasal verbs from the list given below. Change the form of verbs where necessary. There is one extra phrasal verb in the list:

Link for extra questions and answers

1. The enemy surrendered without a fight.
Ans: The enemy gave in without a fight.

2. The child was cured in a month.
Ans: The child came round in a month.

3. The police investigated the case.
Ans: The police looked into the case.

4. Puja could understand what are sister said.
Ans: Puja could make out what her sister said.

5. The old man could not remember his childhood experiences.
Ans: The old man could not call up his childhood experiences.

 List of phrasal verbs: look into, make out, look for, come round, give in, call up

7. Composition

Exercise – 6

Link for extra questions and answers

Write a newspaper report on a road accident within 100 words. Use the following hints:

Brake failure of a bus – collided with a truck – 5 injured including a child and a woman – injured sent to hospital – released with first aid – traffic disrupted – police intervened – normalcy restored

Related Links

Related Links

• WBBSE 9 English Syllabus
• WB Board 12 Previous Year 2024 Solutions
• Reading Comprehension
• A Hunting Snake Extra Questions and Answers
• A Hunting Snake Solutions
• A Shipwrecked Sailor Solutions
• A Shipwrecked Sailor Extra Questions and Answers
• The Price of Bananas Solutions
• The Price of Bananas Extra Questions and Answers
• The North Ship Solutions