The Proposal Class 10 is Chapter 9 of the NCERT English First Flight textbook for the current academic session. It is a one-act farce by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, written in 1888–89, and it runs from page 119 to page 139 of the printed book.
The official NCERT PDF is linked below, and the rest of this page maps the play’s two quarrels, explains its characters, and prepares you for the reported speech exercise.
Download the official NCERT PDF
Download the official NCERT Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 9 The Proposal PDF from ncert.nic.in — this is the publisher’s own file, so the text, page numbering, exercises and illustrations match the printed First Flight book exactly.
What is inside the chapter
The chapter puts a word activity and a Russian-wedding article before the play, then closes with language, grammar and writing exercises. Use this page map to jump to the part you need; the chapter table on this page carries the totals for sections, figures and questions.
| Part of the chapter | What it gives you | Textbook pages |
|---|---|---|
| Activity | Three meanings of the word “proposal” — a plan, an offer, and a marriage request — and you guess which kind this play is about | p. 119 |
| A Russian Wedding | A short article on Russian marriage customs, and a table to fill in comparing Russian and Indian weddings | pp. 119–120 |
| Characters | The cast list and a note on the play’s origin as a one-act farce by Chekhov, written 1888–89 | p. 121 |
| The Proposal (the play) | The full one-act play, in which Lomov comes to propose and ends up in two quarrels | pp. 121–135 |
| Thinking about the Play | Three comprehension questions on motive, sincerity and insults | p. 136 |
| Thinking about Language | Russian-flavoured English, pronunciation of sixteen words, and the meaning of three phrases | pp. 136–137 |
| Reported Speech | The grammar section: direct to reported speech, with five worked pairs and a passage to convert | p. 137 |
| Speaking and Writing | Discussion topics on anger and marriage, and a script-writing task from a Tagore excerpt | p. 138 |
| In this lesson and activities | A one-line lesson note, a dictation activity to guess a playwright, and a homophones puzzle | p. 139 |
What this chapter covers: a marriage proposal nearly lost in quarrels
This is a play, not a prose chapter. Nearly all the action is three people in one room — the drawing-room in Chubukov’s house — so everything depends on personalities and dialogue, not scenery.
The note on p. 121 tells you why the story exists: wealthy families in Chekhov’s Russia sought ties with other wealthy families through marriages that made economic sense. Ivan Lomov, a wealthy neighbour of the equally wealthy Chubukov, comes to ask for the hand of Natalya, Chubukov’s twenty-five-year-old daughter.
All three are quarrelsome, and the proposal is nearly forgotten in their quarrelling — but economic good sense ensures it is made after all.
- Lomov arrives in evening dress and white gloves. Chubukov is all embraces — and suspicious: “He’s come to borrow money,” he mutters aside (p. 122).
- Lomov asks for Natalya’s hand and Chubukov rejoices. Before the proposal can actually be spoken, the Oxen Meadows quarrel erupts and Lomov storms out.
- Told why he came, Natalya collapses, calls him back, and concedes the Meadows to restart the conversation.
- The second quarrel, over dogs, ends with Lomov collapsing and Chubukov forcing the match.
- They kiss — and the last line reopens the dog quarrel. The curtain falls on the argument, not on peace.
Russian and Indian wedding customs (the opening activity)
Before the play, the chapter prints a short article on Russian weddings (pp. 119–120): a two-day celebration with a car procession, a groom who answers riddles to reach his bride, city tours, toasts, and a bride who is playfully “stolen”. The blank table on p. 120 asks you to compare this with Indian customs; these entries are only suggestions to start from.
| Customs similar to Indian ones (suggested) | Customs different from Indian ones (suggested) |
|---|---|
| A wedding procession with cars, and a reception with food and toasts | The Russian groom answers riddles and pays at each landing to reach the bride; the couple tours the city before the reception |
| The couple exchanges rings and dresses up for the ceremony | The bride is “stolen”, and friends demand a fee for her and for her shoe |
| Weddings are family occasions that can last more than one day | Many Indian weddings centre on rituals such as the pheras around the sacred fire rather than toasts |
Key concepts: characters and the two quarrels
Everything in the play hangs on four facts: who the three people are, the land quarrel, the dog quarrel, and the ending. Here is the quarrel by quarrel map of the play, with the page where each fight begins.
The characters (p. 121)
- Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov — a neighbour, “a large and hearty, but very suspicious, landowner” (p. 121). He is already 35, calls it “a critical age”, and fears that if he hesitates he will never marry (p. 124). He suffers palpitations, twitching eyebrows, and a twitch in his side.
- Natalya Stepanovna — Chubukov’s 25-year-old daughter, who argues with Lomov before he can finish a sentence. Lomov privately describes her as “an excellent housekeeper, not bad-looking, well-educated” (p. 124).
- Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov — the emotional, quick-tempered father. His welcome is all kisses and “my angel” — and then the aside “He’s come to borrow money. Shan’t give him any!” (p. 122) shows how quickly his mood turns.
The Oxen Meadows quarrel (starts p. 125)
Lomov begins his proposal by mentioning “my Oxen Meadows”, which touch Natalya’s birchwoods. That is the spark: Natalya interrupts — the Meadows are hers, not his — and the proposal is forgotten.
- Lomov’s version: his aunt’s grandmother gave the peasants of Natalya’s great-grandfather free use of the Meadows in perpetuity, in return for brick-making; the peasants used them for forty years, so Lomov insists the land is his.
- Natalya’s version: her family has held the land for nearly three hundred years, and she will not stand “unfairness”.
- The absurd part: the Meadows are only five dessiatins, worth about 300 roubles, and Lomov says he would gladly make a present of them — but on principle he cannot back down (p. 126).
- The result: “Mine!” “Ours!” shouting, family insults, and Lomov stumbling out clutching his heart (p. 130).
The dog quarrel (starts p. 131)
Natalya calls Lomov back and concedes the Meadows, hoping the proposal will restart. Instead Lomov mentions that his dog Guess has gone lame — and the second, worse quarrel begins.
- The prices matter only as pride markers: Lomov paid Mironov 125 roubles for Guess; Natalya says her father paid 85 for Squeezer, who is “heaps better”.
- The technical issue: Lomov insists Squeezer is overshot — his lower jaw is shorter than the upper — which always means a bad hunter (p. 132).
- The hunt evidence: on the Marusinsky hunt, Guess ran neck-and-neck with the Count’s dog while Squeezer was left a whole verst behind; Chubukov blames the Count’s whipper-in for hitting Squeezer with his whip (p. 133).
- The quarrel escalates: Lomov collapses (“my heart’s burst!”), Chubukov shouts “Boy! Pup!” and “Old rat! Jesuit!”, and Natalya announces “He’s dead!” (p. 134).
The ending (p. 135)
Chubukov is so desperate for peace that he shoves the couple together: “She’s willing!” They kiss, Lomov says he is happy, Natalya says she is too — and her very next line is “you will admit now that Guess is worse than Squeezer.” The play ends on “Better!” “Worse!”, a quarrel that never stopped.
Reading the illustrations in the chapter
Below is a walkthrough of all four chapter illustrations — what each one shows, which scene it belongs to, and what it is for.
This is Lomov at his most formal, just before the proposal is derailed. His promise to “try to be brief” is funny because he cannot be: within a page he is deep in the Oxen Meadows argument. Keep this image in mind for Thinking about the Play — the gap between intention and behaviour is the play’s joke.
This illustration belongs to the dog quarrel. Chubukov defends Squeezer’s poor showing on the Marusinsky hunt by blaming the whipper-in — the assistant who keeps hounds in line with a whip. The excuse is absurd, and that is the point: nobody in this family can admit a simple fact, because every fact has become a matter of pride.
The line also gives you the vocabulary word whipper-in.
This picture supports the “What you can do” activity on p. 139. The teacher dictates the biography and the class guesses the playwright: born at Stratford-on-Avon in April 1564, married Anne Hathaway at eighteen, retired to a large house in Stratford at forty-seven, and died in 1616. All the clues point to one name — Shakespeare.
This is the homophones exercise. The word present appears three ways: present (now), to present (to give), and a present (a gift). The play’s other example works the same way: “They were too close to the door to close it.” Check the pronunciation in a dictionary, as the activity instructs, because the joke depends on the words sounding alike.
Key terms and definitions used in the play
The chapter assumes you can define these terms. The first group comes from the opening activity and the grammar section; the second group comes from the play’s own vocabulary.
- Proposal — (i) a suggestion, plan or scheme; (ii) an offer for a possible plan or action; (iii) the act of asking someone’s hand in marriage. This play is about meaning (iii) (p. 119).
- One-act play — a complete play performed in a single act, with no interval; The Proposal is one.
- Farce — a broad comedy of exaggerated situations, shouting matches and unlikely events; the note on p. 121 calls The Proposal a farce.
- Direct speech — a speaker’s exact words, placed in quotation marks (p. 137).
- Reported speech (indirect speech) — a report of what someone said, not their exact words, built from a reporting clause and a reported clause (p. 137).
- Reporting clause — the part containing the reporting verb, such as “Mamta said” (p. 137).
- Reported clause — the part carrying the reported content, such as “that she had gone to visit her grandma” (p. 137).
- Palpitations — rapid, pounding heartbeats; Lomov’s recurring complaint whenever he is excited.
- Overshot — of a dog, having the upper jaw longer than the lower; Lomov insists Squeezer is overshot and therefore a poor hunter (p. 132).
- Whipper-in — the assistant who keeps the hounds in line with a whip during a hunt (p. 133).
- Oxen Meadows — the disputed strip of land between the two estates that sets off the first quarrel (p. 125).
Common mistakes students make with The Proposal
This chapter trips students up in two ways: misreading what the characters really mean, and fumbling the reported speech changes. Both are named below before you make them.
Reading the characters: three comprehension mistakes
- Treating Natalya’s concession as sincere. Her “really are yours” about the Meadows (p. 131) is tactical — she needs the conversation restarted so the proposal can happen. Her aside “I wish I knew how to get him started” gives away her real aim.
- Reading the ending as purely happy. The last line reopens the dog fight, so nothing has actually been resolved. The comedy is that the couple kiss and immediately begin arguing again (p. 135).
- Trusting Chubukov’s affection. He mutters “He’s come to borrow money. Shan’t give him any!” (p. 122) before he knows the errand, so his “my angel” warmth is performance, not sincerity.
The reported speech mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Correct rule | How to check your answer |
|---|---|---|
| “Lomov said if he might count on her consent” | Report questions with asked (plus whether/if): “Lomov asked whether he might count on her consent” | Find the question mark in the original — if it was a question, the reporting verb is asked, not said. |
| “Lomov said he is getting a noise in his ears” | Backshift the tense: present → past, present continuous → past continuous, past → past perfect | Look at the original verb and push it one step back in time. |
| “asked why he hadn’t been here” | Change here to there (and this to that) | Check every place word in the original and move it away from the speaker. |
| “Lomov asked Stepan Stepanovitch if he thought…” with no respect marker | Add respectfully in the reporting clause when the original contains a respectful address such as “Honoured Stepan Stepanovitch” | NCERT’s pair 1 shows exactly this: the answer is “Lomov asked Stepan Stepanovitch respectfully”. |
| “Lomov said that my Meadows” | Shift first-person pronouns: I → he, my → his, me → him | Rewrite the pronouns as if Lomov is the subject of “said”. |
How to use the NCERT exercises for revision
The exercise pages (pp. 136–138) test four skills. This order works well for revision:
- Read the play once straight through (pp. 121–135), purely for plot.
- Do Thinking about the Play (p. 136), using the insult table below for question 3.
- Practise Reported Speech (p. 137): study the five pairs, then convert the Times of India passage.
- Skim Thinking about Language and Speaking and Writing (pp. 136–138), and drill the stress table if time is short.
Thinking about the Play: the insult table (Q3)
Question 3(i) asks for all the words the characters use about each other. This table matches each insult to the character who says it — the sort of table a full answer should contain.
| Insult | Who says it | About whom |
|---|---|---|
| “pettifogger” | Chubukov | Lomov |
| “malicious, doublefaced intriguer” | Chubukov | Lomov |
| “stuffed sausage”, “wizen-faced frump”, “turnip-ghost”, “blind hen” | Chubukov | Lomov |
| “scarecrow”, “villain” | Chubukov | Lomov |
| “Boy! Pup! Milksop! Fool!” | Chubukov | Lomov |
| “grabber”, “old rat”, “Jesuit” | Lomov | Chubukov |
| “intriguer” (in the final scene) | Lomov | Chubukov |
| “rascal”, “monster” | Natalya | Lomov |
A complete answer should also include the family attacks — Chubukov calls Lomov’s grandfather a drunkard, his father “a guzzling gambler” and his aunt a runaway, while Lomov calls Chubukov’s mother hump-backed and says his grandfather was tried for embezzlement. These all land between pp. 129 and 134.
For question 3(iii), any prediction that continues the pattern — another trivial grievance — is a valid answer.
Pronunciation stress for the sixteen words
The dictionary exercise on p. 136 lists sixteen words. NCERT asks you to find the syllables and the stressed syllable; the table below gives the standard pattern, with the stressed syllable in capitals.
| Word | Number of syllables | Stressed syllable |
|---|---|---|
| palpitations | 4 | pal-pi-TA-tions |
| interfere | 3 | in-ter-FERE |
| implore | 2 | im-PLORE |
| thoroughbred | 3 | THO-rough-bred |
| pedigree | 3 | PE-di-gree |
| principle | 3 | PRIN-ci-ple |
| evidence | 3 | E-vi-dence |
| misfortune | 3 | mis-FOR-tune |
| malicious | 3 | ma-LI-cious |
| embezzlement | 4 | em-BEZZLE-ment |
| architect | 3 | AR-chi-tect |
| neighbours | 2 | NEIGH-bours |
| accustomed | 3 | ac-CUS-tomed |
| temporary | 4 | TEM-po-rar-y (often 3 as TEMP-ra-ry) |
| behaviour | 3 | be-HA-viour |
| documents | 3 | DOC-u-ments (as a noun, the play’s use) |
Reported speech: a worked conversion using lines from the play
NCERT’s grammar section shows the rules through five pairs (p. 137). Here are three fresh conversions from the play’s own lines so you can practise the same changes: tense backshift, pronoun shifts, here to there, and the right reporting verb.
| Direct speech (line and page) | Reported speech | Changes to notice |
|---|---|---|
| “My heart’s palpitating awfully.” (Lomov, p. 131) | Lomov said that his heart was palpitating awfully. | Present continuous is palpitating → past continuous was palpitating; my → his; said for a statement. |
| “But are they yours?” (Natalya, p. 125) | Natalya asked Lomov whether the Meadows were his. | Question → asked + whether; are → were; yours → his. |
| “Here I must ask you to restrain yourself.” (Natalya, p. 127) | Natalya replied that there she must ask him to restrain himself. | here → there; I → she; you → him; yourself → himself; must stays must because it has no past form. |
After these, do NCERT’s own five pairs, then the Times of India passage about the actor A. K. Hangal (p. 137): rewrite only the direct speech into reported speech and leave the narrative sentences unchanged.
One last point: textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus to see what is examinable this session.
The Proposal in one page: quick revision summary
- Lomov, 35, suffering palpitations, arrives in evening dress to propose to 25-year-old Natalya (p. 124).
- Chubukov first suspects a loan request — “Shan’t give him any!” — then rejoices and blesses the match (p. 122).
- The proposal is interrupted by the Oxen Meadows quarrel: five dessiatins worth about 300 roubles, but “principle” matters more (pp. 125–127).
- Natalya learns his purpose, calls him back, and the second quarrel over dogs — Guess (125 roubles) and Squeezer (85 roubles) — destroys the conversation again (pp. 130–133).
- Lomov collapses; Chubukov, desperate, forces the match: “She’s willing!” They kiss and immediately argue about the dogs again — the curtain falls mid-quarrel (p. 135).
- The theme, in NCERT’s words: economic good sense ensures the proposal is finally made, even though the quarrelling continues (p. 121).
- The grammar takeaway: reported speech changes tense, pronouns, place and time words (here to there), and the reporting verb — said for statements, asked for questions (p. 137).
Related NCERT Class 10 English resources
This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.
The Proposal is the last prose chapter of First Flight. For the full book, use the NCERT Class 10 English book page; for every subject, the NCERT Class 10 hub; and for the whole notes collection, the Class 10 CBSE notes index. The chapter just before The Proposal is The Sermon at Benares, and separate Bholi chapter notes cover another Class 10 English text.
Sources and data verification
The page references above describe the NCERT Class 10 English First Flight textbook, Chapter 9 The Proposal, official edition on ncert.nic.in — the same edition the PDF link opens. This page indexes NCERT textbook contents only, and it is maintained for the current academic session.
NCERT settles textbook editions, chapters and official PDFs; CBSE settles the curriculum, syllabus and examinations, and the textbook and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus for this session’s scope. This page has not been through an external subject-expert review.
| What the chapter holds | Count | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Printed pages | 21 | |
| Figures with NCERT captions | 4 | |
| Tables | 2 | |
| Exercise questions | not fully captured | our text of this chapter is incomplete; the printed book has more |
| Activities | 1 | |
| Official NCERT PDF | Download the chapter PDF | the chapter exactly as NCERT publishes it |
Reference: NCERT Class 10 English First Flight textbook, chapter 9, official edition on ncert.nic.in.
Frequently asked questions about this chapter
Why do Lomov and Natalya argue about Oxen Meadows even though Lomov says the land is worth little?
The Meadows come to only five dessiatins, worth about 300 roubles, and Lomov says he would gladly make a present of them (p. 126). The argument is about pride and “principle”, not money: each claims the land as theirs and will not stand “unfairness”. That is exactly the farce — a tiny strip of land nearly destroys a marriage both families want.
Why does Natalya suddenly call Lomov back after he storms out?
Because Chubukov tells her that Lomov came to propose to her. The moment she learns his purpose, she wails “Bring him back!” and works herself into hysterics (p. 130). When he returns, she immediately concedes the Meadows — tactically — so the proposal can restart.
What is a farce, and why is The Proposal called one?
A farce is a comedy of exaggerated situations and shouting-match humour built on unlikely events. The Proposal is a farce because three adults wreck a marriage proposal over a strip of meadow and a dog’s jaw, hurl family insults, collapse in palpitations, and end exactly where they began — mid-quarrel (p. 121).
What changes do I make when converting the play’s dialogue into reported speech?
Four changes, as shown on p. 137: the reporting verb (said for statements, asked for questions), tense backshift (present to past, present continuous to past continuous, past to past perfect), pronouns (I/me/my to he/him/his), and place words (here to there). Add respectfully in the reporting clause when the original uses a respectful form of address.
What happens at the very end of The Proposal?
Chubukov forces the match — he puts Lomov’s hand into Natalya’s, and they kiss (p. 135). But Natalya’s next line reopens the dog argument: “you will admit now that Guess is worse than Squeezer.” “Better!” “Worse!” — the curtain falls on the same quarrel, making the ending funny rather than peaceful.
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