Std 10 English chapters › Unit 2
In short: A humorous poem in which a twin describes how he and his identical brother John were mixed up all their lives, even at his funeral.
(एक विनोदी कविता; एक जुळा भाऊ सांगतो की तो आणि त्याचा हुबेहूब सारखा दिसणारा भाऊ जॉन आयुष्यभर, अगदी त्याच्या अंत्यसंस्कारातही, कसे अदलाबदल झाले.)
- Type: Humorous poem
- Poet: Henry S. Leigh
- Speaker: One of the twin brothers
- Rhyme scheme: abab (alternate lines rhyme)
- Unit: 2
2.3 The Twins: English Workshop Question Answers
Answers to every activity in the Std 10 English Kumarbharati textbook (Maharashtra Board), written by a practising English teacher. Read the poem in your textbook first, then try each activity here before you check the answer.
Warming up: Collocations
👉 Choose the word that goes with each phrase, then tap Check my answers.
Answer key
| Phrase | Word | Collocation |
|---|---|---|
| absolutely ___ | necessary | absolutely necessary |
| cannot ___ | afford | cannot afford |
| formal ___ | clothes | formal clothes |
| job ___ | interview | job interview |
| pass ___ | time | pass time |
| accept ___ | defeat | accept defeat |
| early ___ | morning | early morning |
| catch a ___ | cold | catch a cold |
| leading ___ | role | leading role |
| joint ___ | owners | joint owners |
मराठी टीप: Collocation म्हणजे नेहमी एकत्र वापरले जाणारे शब्द (catch a cold, early morning).
Warming up: Hyperbole (exaggeration)
👉 Tap the word that completes each exaggeration.
She wept ___ of tears.
Answer: an ocean. Nobody can cry an ocean of tears. It is an exaggeration to show great sadness.
The hungry man ate a ___ of food.
Answer: ton. A ton is 1,000 kg. This exaggerates how much he ate.
He runs faster than a ___.
Answer: horse. This exaggerates how fast he runs.
Brrrr! I am freezing to ___.
Answer: death. He is very cold, not really dying.
I shall come over in just a ___.
Answer: second. It means “very soon”, not literally one second.
Q1. Arrange the events in the speaker’s life in the correct order
Arrange these events from the poem:
- Even the family could not tell the twins apart.
- The names got mixed up at the naming ceremony.
- He was often beaten at school.
- He asked everyone for guidance.
- His bride married his brother.
- When he died, the neighbours buried the wrong twin.
Answer key: correct order
- Even the family could not tell the twins apart.
- The names got mixed up at the naming ceremony.
- He was often beaten at school.
- He asked everyone for guidance.
- His bride married his brother.
- When he died, the neighbours buried the wrong twin.
Q2. Pick out four absurd events from the poem
- Nobody knew which of the two was born a twin, though both of them were twins.
- The nurse mixed up the babies while washing them, so the brothers got each other’s names.
- The speaker was flogged at school for his brother John’s foolishness.
- His intended bride married his brother instead of him.
- When the speaker died, the neighbours buried “brother John”.
Q3. Why does the poet use humour? Quote the funniest lines
The poet uses humour to: create laughter · reduce boredom · make a sad situation light · keep the reader interested · show the problems of looking exactly alike · end with a surprise.
Two funny lines: (1) “My brother John got christened me, / And I got christened him.” (2) “And when I died, the neighbours came / And buried brother John!”
Q4. Find examples of figures of speech
👉 Choose the figure of speech for each line, then tap Check my answers.
Answer key
| Line | Figure of speech | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "In form and feature, face and limb" | Alliteration | The "f" sound is repeated. |
| "…all our kith and kin" | Alliteration | The "k" sound is repeated in "kith" and "kin". |
| "…the neighbours came / And buried brother John" | Hyperbole | A wild exaggeration: the man telling the story is the one who died. (The "b" sound in "buried brother" is also alliteration.) |
| "For one of us was born a twin, / Yet not a soul knew which" | Pun | A play on words: both of them were twins, so "which one was the twin" makes no sense. |
| "My brother John got christened me, / And I got christened him" | Pun | A play on "me" and "him": each brother got the other's name. |
| "It reached a fearful pitch" | Hyperbole | The confusion is exaggerated as if it were a terrible crisis. |
मराठी टीप: Pun (श्लेष) म्हणजे शब्दांचा विनोदी दुहेरी अर्थ. Hyperbole (अतिशयोक्ती) म्हणजे मुद्दाम केलेली अतिशयोक्ती. Alliteration (अनुप्रास) म्हणजे सुरुवातीच्या ध्वनीची पुनरावृत्ती.
Q5. Find words that go together, like “kith and kin”
🎯 Game: tap the pairs of words that go together in the poem.
Word pairs from the poem
Answer key
kith and kin · form and feature · face and limb · also: year after year
Poem appreciation: “The Twins”
“The Twins” is a humorous poem by Henry Sambrooke Leigh. It has four stanzas of eight lines each, and the rhyme scheme of every stanza is ababcdcd. The speaker is one of two identical twins who look so alike that everyone confuses them. As babies, they were mixed up by the nurse in the bath, so each got the other’s name. At school the speaker was flogged for his brother John’s mistakes, and later his bride married his brother. Finally, when the speaker died, the neighbours “buried brother John”. My favourite lines are “My brother John got christened me, / And I got christened him”, because they are funny and confusing at the same time. The poet uses alliteration (“form and feature, face and limb”), pun and hyperbole. The language is simple and the tone is light-hearted. The central idea is the funny problems of looking exactly like someone else. I like this poem because it makes me laugh and has a clever surprise ending.
मराठी टीप: या कवितेची rhyme scheme ababcdcd आहे (प्रत्येक कडव्यात 8 ओळी).
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote the poem 'The Twins'?
'The Twins' is a humorous poem by Henry Sambrooke Leigh.
What is the rhyme scheme of 'The Twins'?
The rhyme scheme of each stanza is ababcdcd. The poem has four stanzas of eight lines each.
How did the names of the twins get mixed up?
The nurse mixed up the babies while washing them, before their names were fixed. So the speaker's brother got the speaker's name, and the speaker got his brother's.
Why was the speaker beaten at school?
His brother John was a fool, and because the twins looked alike, the speaker was punished for John's mistakes.
What is the funny ending of 'The Twins'?
When the speaker died, the neighbours came and buried brother John. The confusion continued even after his death.
Summary in English
The speaker and his twin brother John look so alike that nobody can tell them apart. While they are babies, a nurse mixes them up at bath time before they have been named, so each twin is given the other’s name.
The confusion follows them everywhere. At school the speaker is beaten for John’s mistakes. Later, the girl the speaker hopes to marry ends up as John’s wife.
The poem ends with a joke: when the speaker dies, the neighbours bury ‘brother John’. The whole poem uses exaggeration to make fun of how people confuse identical twins.
मराठीत सारांश (Summary in Marathi)
कवी आणि त्याचा जुळा भाऊ जॉन इतके सारखे दिसतात की कोणीच त्यांना ओळखू शकत नाही. लहानपणी नावे ठेवण्यापूर्वीच आंघोळ घालताना दाई त्यांची अदलाबदल करते, त्यामुळे प्रत्येकाला दुसऱ्याचे नाव मिळते.
हा गोंधळ त्यांच्या आयुष्यभर पाठ सोडत नाही. शाळेत जॉनच्या चुकांबद्दल कवीला मार खावा लागतो. पुढे कवी ज्या मुलीशी लग्न करणार असतो, ती जॉनची पत्नी होते.
कविता एका विनोदाने संपते: कवीचा मृत्यू होतो तेव्हा शेजारी ‘भाऊ जॉन’ला पुरतात. जुळ्या भावंडांबद्दल लोक किती गोंधळतात याची संपूर्ण कविता अतिशयोक्तीतून गंमत करते.
Theme and Message (मध्यवर्ती कल्पना)
A light-hearted look at identity: exaggeration and irony show how being exactly alike can turn life into a comedy of errors.
ओळखीवरचा हलकाफुलका दृष्टिकोन: अतिशयोक्ती आणि उपरोधातून हुबेहूब सारखे असणे आयुष्य कसे गोंधळाचे बनवू शकते हे दाखवले आहे.
Figures of Speech (अलंकार)
- Hyperbole (अतिशयोक्ती): the confusion is exaggerated. Examples: “It reached a fearful pitch”; the neighbours “buried brother John”.
- Irony (उपरोध): the speaker who tells the story is the one who died, yet “John” was buried.
- Alliteration (अनुप्रास): the same sound is repeated at the start of nearby words. Examples: “form and feature, face and limb”, “kith and kin”.
- Pun (श्लेष): words are used playfully with a double meaning. Example: “My brother John got christened me, / And I got christened him”.
Tip: for the appreciation question, pick your favourite line from the poem in your textbook and say which figure of speech it uses.
Useful Words (शब्दार्थ)
| Word | मराठी अर्थ | Use it in a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| identical | हुबेहूब सारखे | The two houses are identical. |
| resemblance | साम्य | There is a strong resemblance between the sisters. |
| christen | नामकरण करणे | The baby was christened Rose. |
| absurd | हास्यास्पद, विसंगत | It was an absurd mistake. |
| intended | ठरलेला, होणारा | He introduced his intended bride. |
| fate | नशीब, दैव | By a twist of fate, they met again. |
For the Exam (परीक्षेसाठी)
- For the appreciation: humorous poem, rhyme scheme abab, and devices such as hyperbole, irony and alliteration.
- Be ready to list the three big mix-ups in order: the naming, school punishment, and the marriage, and then the funny ending.
- Build word power for figures of speech questions with the vocabulary practice set.
Think and Write (विचार करा, लिहा)
- Write a funny short story about a mix-up between two people.
- Why do you think the poet made the ending so absurd?
- If you had a twin, what problems or fun might you have?
🎮 Practice Games: The Twins
Extra practice for revision, beyond the textbook activities. Play every game, then check your total score and stars! (उजळणीसाठी खेळ.)
🎬 Poem flow
Put the speaker’s troubles in order.
A life of confusion
- The twins look so alike that no one can tell them apart.
- A nurse mixes them up at bath time.
- Each twin gets the other's name.
- The speaker is punished at school for John's mistakes.
- The girl he hoped to marry becomes John's wife.
- When he dies, the neighbours bury 'brother John'.
🔤 Word meanings
🎯 Tap the English word and its Marathi meaning.
English ↔ मराठी
⚡ Quick quiz
👉 Tap the correct answer.
What is the tone of the poem?
Answer: It uses exaggeration to make us laugh.
‘They buried brother John’ when the speaker died. This is an example of ___.
Answer: An absurd exaggeration: even in death he is mistaken for his brother.
Why was the speaker punished at school?
Answer: Teachers could not tell the twins apart.
✅ Speaker or John?
🗂️ Who really did it, or who suffered?
Who?
Online test · 15 questions
2.3 The Twins: Lesson Test
Multiple choice · instant score with answers · certificate for 80% and above · free, no login
शिक्षकांसाठी: धडा शिकवून झाल्यावर ही test वर्गाला पाठवा. प्रत्येक विद्यार्थ्याचे गुण तुम्हाला आपोआप मिळतील.
These are original study notes and answers by englishresources.in to help you revise. Read the chapter in your Balbharati textbook first: these notes do not replace it. Only short phrases from the poem and the activities are quoted, for reference.