Words: Compound Words, Past Forms and Personification

Class 6 English · Chapter 7: Neem Baba · NCERT Poorvi section pp. 81–83

Learn

Compound words are made by joining two words. There are three types: open (with a space: neem oil, seed powder, well known), closed (joined into one word: something, grandmother, childhood), and hyphenated (joined with a hyphen: thought-provoking, well-trained, cost-effective, cleanliness-parting).

Verbs in the present and the past: many common verbs change form in the past: become → became, find → found, make → made, tell → told, give → gave. Others just add -ed: discover → discovered. Example: "I want to become a teacher when I grow up." "My grandmother became a teacher in 1980."

Personification: Amber speaks to Neem Baba as if the tree were a person, and the tree speaks back. Giving human qualities or actions to non-human things is called personification. Examples: "The leaves whispered in the wind." "The flowers danced merrily in the breeze."

Try writing your own: "The sun peeped out from behind the clouds." "The old door groaned as it opened." "The river hummed a song as it flowed." Personification makes writing lively and helps readers picture things.

Explore: open, closed or hyphenated?

1. Sort each compound word.

Remember

• Compound words can be open (neem oil), closed (childhood) or hyphenated (cost-effective).
• Personification gives human actions to non-human things; many verbs have special past forms.

Quick check

Which sentence uses personification?

1. The leaves whispered in the wind.
2. The leaves are green.
3. We collected dry leaves.
4. Leaves fall in autumn.

Think about it

Write one sentence that personifies a tree near your home.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.