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Tommy describes the old school as a special building where all the children went to study together. Students of the same age-group were taught the same things which by human teachers. These teachers taught various things to boys and girls, gave them homework and also asked them questions.
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What does Tommy know about old kind of school?

Hint: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers with large black screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. These mechanical teachers had a slot in which the students had to put their homework and test papers. They didn’t have a living human being as a teacher who would teach the students in a classroom.

Complete answer: Tommy says that the old kind of school had a special building and all the kids went there. They had a teacher, who was a man. They all studied together and learned the same thing. There is a huge contrast shown between old and new schools and how much they differ in terms of teaching. Tommy describes the old kind of teachers as living human beings who did not live in the house.

Instead, they taught the students in a special building. They taught the children in groups and gave them homework. Note: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked.

These teachers were adjusted according to the age and potential of the student concerned. They had a slot in which students had to put their homework and test papers. They had to write their answers in a punch code and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks immediately. Their schools were in their homes.

They did not have any classmates. They had regular days and hours for school. The mechanical teacher always turned on at the same time every day except Saturdays and Sundays. They learned geography, history and arithmetic.
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What did Tommy tell about the real book?

According to Tommy, the book which he found was real which belonged to his grandfather’s grandfather. The pages of the book had crinkly and yellow pages. On the other hand, the books of Tommy were the tele-books that were made by the mechanical teachers, computers while that book was handwritten.
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What did Margie and Tommy do with the real book?

Q1. On what date did Margie make an entry in her diary about the real book? She did so on 17 May 2157. Q2. What did Tommy find? He found a real book. Q3. How old was Margie? She was eleven years old. Q4. How old was Tommy? He was thirteen years old. Q5. What was the real book, that Tommy found, about? It was about ‘School’.

Q6. What did Margie hate? She hated school. Q7. What had the mechanical teacher been giving to Margie? The mechanical teacher had been giving test after test to Margie in geography. Q8. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector? She sent for the County Inspector because Margie had been doing worse and worse in her geography tests.

Q9. Why did Margie hate slot most? Margie hated slot most because she had to put homework and test papers in it. Q10. What was wrong with the geography sector of Margie’s mechanical teacher? The geography sector of Margie’s mechanical teacher was geared a little too quick.

• Q11. What do you mean by a regular teacher? It means the mechanical teacher that appears on the television screen at the fixed time. Q12.
• What is the name of Margie’s mother? Her name is Mrs Jones. Q13.
• On which two days there came no mechanical teacher on the TV screen? On Saturday and Sunday. Q14.
• What subject did Tommy learn? He learnt history.

Q15. Name the writer of the lesson ‘The Fun They Had’. Isaac Asimov. Q16. Who are Tommy and Margie? How old are they? Tommy and Margie are students from the year 2157. They are neighbours and spend time together like children of their age usually do. Tommy is a thirteen-year-old boy and Margie is an eleven-year-old girl.

Q17. What did Margie write in her diary? On 17 May 2157 Margie recorded in her diary the discovery of a real book by Tommy. It was a very old paper book with yellow and crinkly pages. Q18. Where did Tommy find the book and in what condition? Or Describe the book that Tommy had found in the attic. Tommy found a real book in the attic of his house.

The pages had turned yellow and crinkly because it was at least two hundred years old. Moreover, it was all covered with dust as it had been lying in the attic for ages. Q19. Had Margie ever seen a book before? No, Margie had never seen a book before till she saw the one that Tommy had found in the attic of his house.

1. She had only heard about books from her grandfather who himself had not seen any.
2. He too had heard about a printed book from his own grandfather. Q20.
3. Did Margie like the printed book? Why/Why not? Margie was so excited to know that Tommy had found a ‘real’ book which was unlike the on-screen books the two were used to reading, that she recorded the discovery in her diary.

As she turned the yellow and crinkly pages of the book with Tommy, she found it awfully funny to read it. While Tommy found it a waste, Margie was fascinated by it and liked it. Q21. What things about the book did Margie find strange? Margie lived in an era of mechanical education with telebooks stored in a machine.

1. So she found it strange that the words in the printed book remained fixed unlike the moving ones on her television screen. Q22.
2. What a waste!” What is Tommy referring to as a ‘waste’? Is it really a waste? Tommy thinks that the paper books with words printed and fixed on them are a waste.
3. Once a book is read, it becomes useless and must be thrown away because it has the same content.

Actually, printed books are not a waste. They can be read by many people over and over again and should be preserved for future generations. Q23. What do you think a telebook is? A telebook is a compact book in an electronic form. It is stored in a computer and can be read by scrolling its pages up, down or sideways on a screen.

Q24. How does Tommy find the telebooks of his own time to be better? Tommy felt that his telebooks were better than the printed books of the ancient times because they could be stored on television and read again and again. They occupied very little space as compared to the printed books and need not be discarded once they had been read.

Q25. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates? Margie’s school was inside the comfort of her house. It was just next to her bedroom. It was a customized school, set up exclusively for her according to her level and needs. No, she did not have any classmates.

Q26. Why had Margie started hating her school? Margie never liked school. But recently her hatred had increased because of her poor performance in geography tests. Her mechanical teacher gave her one test after another and her performance went on becoming worse and worse. Q27. Which part of her school did Margie hate the most? Or What did Margie hate the most about her school? The part that Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers.

She always had to write them in a punch code that she was made to learn at the tender age of six. Besides, the mechanical teacher calculated her marks in no time which left no scope for Margie to relax after submitting the assigned tasks. Q28. What subjects did Tommy and Margie learn? Tommy and Margie learned a lot of subjects like History, Geography, and Mathematics.

Q29. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have? Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They were not real persons but televisions which had different subject sectors. These teachers were customized to the level of a student. In case of malfunction, they were disbanded and repaired. Q30. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector? Or Why did Margie’s mother shook her head one day and send for the County Inspector? Margie’s mother sent for the County Inspector because Margie had been performing poorly in Geography.

The repeated fall in her daughter’s performance disappointed her. So, she decided to call a specialist, the County Inspector, who could locate the problem and correct it. Q31. What views did Margie’s mother have about teachers and learning?

Margie’s mother was very particular about her child’s education and made sure that Margie attended her tele-school regularly and studied properly and punctually. She believed that a tele-teacher had to be adjusted to the mind of each student and that each student had to be taught differently. Whenever she noticed a snag in Margie’s tele-teacher, she sent for the County Inspector to get the snag removed so that Margie did not miss out on her school and learning.

Q32. What was the County Inspector trained to do? The County Inspector worked as a technical expert. He was trained to identify and rectify errors in the functioning of the system installed in the mechanical teachers. Q33. What idea do you form of the County Inspector as a person?

The County Inspector was certainly a kind-hearted man. Instead of finding fault with Margie, he gave her an apple and told her mother that if Margie was not performing well, it was not her fault, but the fault of the mechanical teacher. He aligned the speed of the geography sector keeping in mind the level of the girl. Before leaving, he patted Margie on the head and expressed satisfaction at her performance.

Q34. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her? Margie was doing badly because the speed of the geography sector had been fixed too fast for her level. The County Inspector slowed down the speed to suit the level of an average ten-year-old.

1. As Margie was of eleven years, she was comfortable with the new level set by the County Inspector. Q35.
2. Margie was disappointed,” says the author.
3. Why was she disappointed? Or How did the County Inspector disappoint Margie? Margie was disappointed because she hated school and hoped that her mechanical teacher would be taken away for repairs as Tommy’s teacher was once taken away for a month.

But when the County Inspector promptly repaired and reset it at her home itself, she was unhappy. Q36. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher? Once, Tommy’s mechanical teacher had developed a fault and its history sector had blanked out absolutely. The teacher had to be taken away for repairs and it had taken a month to put it in order.

Q37. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why? Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school. She studied from Monday to Friday at the same time every day. Although her school was a large black television screen installed in her own house, she had to attend it regularly. Her mother thought that young girls learnt things better if they studied them at regular hours.

Q38. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school? Tommy describes the old school as a special building where all the children went to study together. The students of the same age-group learnt the same things which were taught by human teachers. Q39. How does Tommy describe the old kind of teachers? Tommy tells Margie that the teachers in olden times were not mechanical but real men.

Margie made this remark when she heard Tommy mention that children were taught by human teachers in the times gone by. She could not believe the truth of Tommy’s comment because she had not seen any human teacher; she was used to studying with the help of her mechanical tele-teacher only. Moreover, she believed that a human teacher could not match the mechanical teacher in intelligence and knowledge.

Q41. Who interrupts Margie and Tommy’s conversation? Why? Margie and Tommy were lost in unravelling the exciting mystery of the ‘real’ book that the latter had found in his attic, when Margie’s mother interrupted them saying “Margie! School!” and she even suggested to Tommy that it was time for him to attend school, too.

Q42. When Margie went to her school, what did the teacher on the screen teach? When Margie went to her school, which was a room next to her bedroom, the mechanical teacher taught an arithmetic lesson on the addition of proper fractions. It taught her how to add the fractions 1/2 and 1/4. Q43. Why couldn’t Margie concentrate on the Arithmetic lesson? Margie could not concentrate on the arithmetic lesson because her mind was preoccupied with the thoughts about the school that Tommy had just described her.

She was awestruck to learn that children studied together and were taught by real persons in these old schools. She thought how much fun those students must have had while studying together. Q44. Why did Margie think that children must have loved to go to school when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy? Or Why did Margie feel that children in old times had fun while studying in school? Or why does Margie feel that learning was fun in the schools of the past? Margie attends a tele-school, which is just a machine in the room next to her bedroom and she studies alone unlike students of the schools in the bygone times.

1. She feels that learning was more fun in those days because hundreds of children had the opportunity of congregating and studying together with the help of human teachers and printed books.
2. Schools were huge buildings where a lot of activities could be carried out by students in groups.
3. Compared to that, her present school is much too mechanical, boring, monotonous and demanding, and she hates it.

Q45. What was Tommy’s opinion about the ‘real book’? Tommy found the ‘real book’ a waste as once read you, just throw it away. It did not seem interesting and useful. The words were fixed on it and not any other thing can be printed on it. Q46. How does Tommy describe the old kind of teachers? He says that the old teachers did not live in the house.

1. They had a special building and all the kids went there.
2. They gave homework to students.
3. They were not mechanical teachers, but human beings. Q47.
4. Who was the County Inspector? What was his work? The county Inspector was the man who repaired the mechanical teacher.
5. He adjusted the level of the teacher as per the child’s requirements and intelligence.

Q48. Why was Margie doing worse in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?

Margie had been doing worse in geography because the mechanical teacher was very fast in displaying the questionnaire. The County Inspector adjusted its speed up to an average ten-year level. Thus, the mechanical teacher’s speed was controlled appropriately. The County Inspector assured that the overall pattern of Margie’s progress was quite satisfactory.

Q49. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why? Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours. Q50. Why did Tommy pronounce the word ‘centuries ago’ carefully? Tommy pronounced the word carefully because he wanted to lay stress on the fact that the school was very old and it was quite different from theirs.

Q51. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher? Once Tommy’s teacher was taken away for about a month because the history sector had blanked out completely. Q52. What is the ‘slot’? Why does Margie hate it? ‘Slot’ was a space in the mechanical teacher where each student is to put his homework and test assignments for marking.

Margie hates it the most because she has to work hard to punch code for answering homework. Q53. Evaluate ‘The Fun They Had’ as a futuristic story.

The Fun They Had’ is a futuristic story. It tells us about the revolutionary changes that will come in the field of education in the 22nd century. Technology will replace the concept of old schools and printed books. Margie and Tommy are the students of the year 2157. They are taught in their bedrooms serving as virtual classrooms. A mechanical teacher will replace a human teacher. Computers and e-books will replace old printed books.

Q54. How will the e-books be different from the old books that existed centuries ago? The very concept of ‘the books’ will change in the 22nd century. The e-books will replace old books. The books will not be printed on papers. The words will move on a TV/computer screen.

The television screen may have more than a million books on it. Q55. What did Margie’s mother think about the teacher’ and ‘the school’? Margie’s mother thought that every child had a different intelligence and capacity to understand things. The mechanical teacher should be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it taught.

Each kid had to be taught differently. She thought that little girls and boys would learn better if they learned at regular hours at the ‘school’. Q56. Describe the characteristics of the old school? How did it influence Margie?

The old school had several characteristics — the children went to a big building. The man worked as a teacher and taught the boys and girls. The teacher gave them homework. He also asked them questions. They sat together and studied the same subject. In the old school, children studied and played together. It was quite opposite to the school that has been talked about in the chapter. Margie was very much influenced by the old school. In her class, she was busy thinking about the fun the children had at that time.

Q57. Will future schools be completely devoid of humans and human values? Give a reasoned answer. Certainly, a revolutionary change will come in the field of education in the future. The mechanical teachers and tele-books will dominate the scene. Every student will be taught by the mechanical teacher according to his or her ability.

However, the institution of schools will remain in one form or the other. Human teachers will not disappear altogether. Education will never be completely devoid of humans and human values. Q58. Why did Tommy and Margie think the old book a wastage of resources? Because they found the words in the old book not moving.

The pages had turned yellow and crinkly. Moreover, the old book could not last long. Q59. What difference did Margie’s mother find in the old school? Margie’s mother was of the opinion that children should be taught according to their individual needs. But in the old school, the children of the same age group studied the same things.
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Where did Tommy find the old book?

Tommy found a real book in the attic of his house. The book was at least two hundred years old so pages had turned yellow and crinkly.
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How does Tommy describe the old kind?

Tommy describes the old kind of school as a special building where all kids studied together. There hundreds of students were studying and playing together. They used to shout and laugh together in an open yard.
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Why did Tommy not like the old book?

Tommy thought that the old books were a waste because the words stood still and did not run. He also thought that they were a big waste because they could not be reused like the screen of their mechanical teacher. Was this answer helpful?
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Why did Tommy call the real book?

Why did Tommy call the printed book a waste ? Tommy and Margie had found a book. They were amused to see that the book had the same words printed in it that never changed. Tommy thought it was such a waste compared to their screen which showed a change of words and text.

He felt the book was a waste as it would need to be thrown away after use. In reality, books are not a waste: they can be referred to, browsed through and re-read. It is just that it was something new and unknown for the children. Why did Tommy call the printed book a waste ? Tommy called the printed book waste as it had yellow pages where the letters weren’t moving like their e- text in the telebooks and when they went back to the previous page the same words appeared and they did not change.

Why did Tommy call the printed book a waste ? Because the letters in the book was not moving as the computer. And after reading a book we can throw it but computer will store information. And the pages were also crinkly. To make sure you are not studying endlessly, EduRev has designed Class 9 study material, with Structured Courses, Videos, & Test Series.
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When did Tommy find the real book?

What kind of book did Tommy show to Margie Answer Verified Hint: It was a very old book. This excerpt is taken from the English Beehive Chapter 1 ‘The Fun They Had’. The focus of the question here is about the book which Tommy shows to Margie. Complete answer: Margie is eleven and Tommy is thirteen years old.

1. Margie wrote in her diary.
2. Today, 17 May, 2157, Tommy found a real book.” Margie found some things about the book to be strange.
3. The book had yellow and wrinkled pages.
4. The words of the book were still.
5. They did not move as the words moved on the computer screen.
6. She found these things strange.The book that Tommy showed to Margie was an old, real book that belonged to his grandfather’s.

It had crinkly yellow pages, where all the stories were printed on paper and the words stood still. Note: Margie finds the book to be very strange and she even mentions it in her diary that she has found a real book. There are multiple reasons for this.
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How did Tommy react after seeing the real book?

Explanation: He was in a great shock. It was awfully fun for him and Margie as they were the students of 22nd century and they were used to read from the tele books on screen. They were shock because the book could remain still and could be turned by the reader as well
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Are Margie and Tommy siblings?

Is tommy and margie are brother and sister in the chapter the fun they had

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Posted by J Queen Chahal 4 years, 11 months ago CBSE > Class 09 > English Language and Literature

5 answers

Pradev Soni 4 years, 11 months ago No tommy and margie were not brother and sister they were friends 0 Thank You Aman Singh 4 years, 11 months ago No,they were not brother sister but they were a good friend those used to love as brother and sister together 1 Thank You Meenakshi Mehta 4 years, 11 months ago yes they r brother and siate 0 Thank You Jashanjot Dhillon 4 years, 11 months ago yes 0 Thank You Amish Kumar Singh 4 years, 11 months ago Yes tommy and margie are brother and sister.1 Thank You ANSWER
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Who found the book?

Johannes Gutenberg invented the Book.
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Why did Tommy and Margie find the book Strange?

Why did Margie find the book strange? Answer Verified Hint: -There were also odd things they discovered about the book. -One of the odd things was that the book became worthless after it was read. Because on their computer screen, the text written on it did not alter the way it was.-In comparison, one website has a finite number of terms, unlike machines that can view an infinite number of words on a page.

Complete answer: Note:

The book was strange to Margie and Tommy because they hadn’t seen any paper books since they belonged to 22 generations and were shocked to see a true one. Tommy and Margie had tele books and no hard copies of these had been seen. On 17 May 2157, Margie found the novel, she was positive because she wrote about him in his diary on the day that his brother received the book.

She found that they had to write on the machine during their time, but that all items were written on paper so that she had to transform that paper one by one. This was the problem that she found odd. Unlike standing on the television, the book had yellow and crinkly pages and words. The book had yellow and crinkly pages, and unlike shifting on a computer, the sentences were still standing.

As they went to the recently read pages, as they read it for the first time, there were the same words on it. For Margie, all these things were weird.i) Margie found it odd that instead of moving the way they did on the screen, the words printed on the book were already in place.
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What kind of a boy was Tommy?

Character sketch of margie and tommy Character sketch of margie and tommy Posted by Iqra Kapasiyawala 3 years ago Character Sketch Of Tommy Tommy is a smart boy. He is Margie’s good friend. He is older than Margie, being Thirteen years old. He has seen many telebooks and has much more knowledge about how schools were centuries ago,

Character Sketch of Margie Margie Jones is an eleven year old girl. She is taught by a mechanical teacher in her home \underline homeschooling, She uses to write her feelings in a diary. She too writes about finding a ‘real book. She’s having a little knowledge about the old schools and teachers. She collected all the information from her friend Tommy and her grandfather.

: Character sketch of margie and tommy
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What was strange about the old book that Tommy found?

The book that Tommy found was an old, real book which belonged to his grandfather’s grandfather. It had crinkly, yellow pages whereas, Tommy’s books were telebooks by mechanical teachers i.e., computers. Was this answer helpful?
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What does Tommy have nightmares about?

Who is the black cat? – In episode two, Tommy confessed that he’d been dreaming about a black cat, an omen he’d been taught by Polly to mean there was a traitor in his midst. “Black cat dream is never wrong,” said Tommy, causing viewers to start playing spot-the-traitor.

1. The obvious choice is Polly’s son Michael, returning that very episode from America where his refusal to follow Tommy’s orders had lost the Blinders half a million pounds in the New York Stock Exchange crash.
2. Peaky Blinders though, rarely does the obvious.
3. There is a traitor somewhere in the picture – how else would Jimmy McCavern and the Billy Boys have known where to find Aberama and Bonnie’s camp for that crucifixion without some inside knowledge? Johnny Dogs denied it was him, but it could have been somebody from Johnny’s family.

Some fans have pointed out the likelihood that John’s widow Esme (formerly a Lee gypsy girl) could have been the one responsible for that. The last time we saw her, she placed a curse on the Shelby family. Another theory was posited by Pol in that episode.
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Why did Tommy not look up while reading?

Answer. Answer: He did not look up because he was busy in reading the old book of his grandfather.
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Which book Tommy reading?

Margie and Tommy read a real textbook in which words are printed on a paper. Margie and Tommy were reading a book which was real i.e. it had pages which were crinkly and yellow.
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Why did Tommy say it’s not our kind of school?

Answer. Answer: Tommy means that ‘not our kind of school’ there school were in the special building where student sit together and learn same thing and give home work.
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What did Tommy learn?

What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn? Answer Verified Hint: Isaac Asimov wrote a science fiction story called ‘The Fun They Had’. The plot revolves around two kids, Margie and Tommy. They live in a world where computers rule every aspect of life, including how they take virtual lessons.

1. Complete answer: The story takes place in the future when books and schools are conducted entirely online via virtual classrooms.
2. Instead of a human class teacher, these classes are taught by a mechanical teacher (robot).
3. It is set in the future, where two children explain how things worked in the past.

Furthermore, they discuss ‘books’ made of paper rather than the tale books that are now available.The conversation between the small children is rather fascinating to read about. They are enthralled with the concept of ‘school’ as it was in their grandparents’ day.

• They also mentioned how much more enjoyable those days were.Margie and Tommy both learn in a virtual classroom with electronic gadgets, robots, and other technology.
• Their daily lecture is displayed on a computer screen, and it covers a variety of topics like maths, science, and other subjects.
• Margie studied Geography as well as Mathematics.

Tommy was taught both history and mathematics.Back then, a school was a separate structure where all the children of the same age studied together. Margie imagines how children from many parts of the neighbourhood would join together and happily attend school.

• Note: The Fun They Had demonstrates how new technology is gradually displacing other things in our lives.
• It wouldn’t be shocking if human teachers were to be replaced by mechanical devices or robots in the near future.This story is about school and how children who do not go to school miss out on learning.

: What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
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What was the old type of book and compare them with the bookmark and Tommy had on their television screen?

The books Margie and Tommy were used to reading contained tele books, whereas the book Tommy found was printed on paper, thus it was different from those. Tommy is drawing a comparison between the television screen and earlier books, which had words printed on paper.
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