Class 8 English · Original EZT practice
A Concrete Example (Class 8 English Chapter 2): Mrs. Jones and her stones
Mrs. Jones loves her garden. The trouble is - it is full of stones: a crazy path, a lily pond, a rockery, and a sundial with a strange device, 'which Mrs. Jones thinks rather nice'. In three short stanzas, Reginald Arkell's poem gently laughs at a neighbour whose pride in her stony garden is matched only by how tiny the plants in it are. The title is a pun: 'concrete' is both building material and a clear example of her peculiar gardening. This page gives a summary, word meanings and practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 23 October 2026:
1. Poem summary - a garden full of stones
The speaker's next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones, has a garden full of stones - a crazy path, a lily pond, a rockery and a strange sundial. Between the stones she puts little plants 'so delicate and small, they don't mean anything at all' - the speaker jokes she must plant them with a pin.
2. Poem summary - 'You're standing on it'
Mrs. Jones once invites the speaker over to see her stones, and they stand talking 'about a flower for quite a quarter of an hour'. When the speaker finally cries, 'Where is this lovely thing?', she replies: 'You're standing on it.' The punchline shows how small and hidden the plants are among the stones.
3. Word meanings and poetic devices
Garden words - rockery, sundial, pebbles, hedge, sapling, vine; devices - alliteration, refrain, irony, and the pun in the title ('concrete' means both building material and a clear example).
4. Reading the poem - tone and humour
The poem is light teasing, not mockery. The speaker finds the garden strange, but Mrs. Jones' pride is real - the humour comes from the gap between her excitement and what the visitor actually sees. Wordplay turns a small everyday scene into comedy.
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List the garden's features
Choose the method: Stones first, plants last.
EZT practice question
Name the features of Mrs. Jones' garden.
Show the worked solution
- A crazy path - oddly laid out.
- A lily pond, a rockery.
- A sundial with a strange device, 'which Mrs. Jones thinks rather nice'.
Answer: A crazy path, a lily pond, a rockery, and a sundial with a strange device - a garden full of stones, with tiny plants between them.
Check: 'Crazy' is the word that shows the path is oddly laid out.
Watch for this: Do not list flowers as the main feature - the stones dominate; the plants are an afterthought.
Now try it yourself
Which line shows Mrs. Jones' own pride in the garden?
Check your answer
'A sundial with a strange device, which Mrs. Jones thinks rather nice.'
Her delight contrasts with the speaker's amusement.
Measure the plants
Choose the method: Delicate, small, pinned.
EZT practice question
How does the poem describe the little plants?
Show the worked solution
- They are 'so delicate and small'.
- 'They don't mean anything at all.'
- The speaker jokes Mrs. Jones must plant them with a pin.
Answer: The plants are 'so delicate and small, they don't mean anything at all' - so tiny that Mrs. Jones must plant them with a pin.
Check: The exaggeration is the joke: plants so small you need a pin.
Watch for this: Do not read 'with a pin' literally as gardening advice - it is the speaker's teasing image.
Now try it yourself
What does the word 'delicate' add to the picture?
Check your answer
The plants are not only small but fragile - easily lost, or stepped on, among the stones.
It sets up the punchline.
Unpack the punchline
Choose the method: A quarter of an hour, then one line.
EZT practice question
What happens when Mrs. Jones shows the speaker a flower?
Show the worked solution
- They stand talking 'about a flower for quite a quarter of an hour'.
- The speaker finally cries, 'Where is this lovely thing?'
- Mrs. Jones replies: 'You're standing on it.'
Answer: After talking about the flower for a quarter of an hour, the speaker asks where the lovely thing is - and Mrs. Jones answers, 'You're standing on it': the flower was under the speaker's foot all along.
Check: The long talk about an invisible flower builds the joke.
Watch for this: Do not say the speaker finds the flower - the point is she never sees it at all.
Now try it yourself
How does the last line create situational irony?
Check your answer
We expect a proud gardener to show off a visible, blooming flower; instead it is so tiny the visitor has been standing on it - the opposite of a 'lovely thing' on show.
Expectation reversed is irony.
Find the refrain
Choose the method: Same opening, three times.
EZT practice question
What is the poem's refrain, and what effect does it have?
Show the worked solution
- 'My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones' begins every stanza.
- The poem has three stanzas, so the line returns three times.
- Each return adds one more proof of Mrs. Jones' obsession with her stones.
Answer: The refrain is 'My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones', opening each of the three stanzas; it ties the poem together and keeps its teasing, gossipy tone.
Check: A refrain is a repeated line - here it works like gossip returning to its subject.
Watch for this: Do not call it a chorus - in a short poem like this the term is refrain.
Now try it yourself
Pick an example of alliteration from the poem.
Check your answer
E.g. the repeated 's' sounds in 'stones' and 'strange device' (accept any sound-repetition pair from the text).
Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds.
Crack the title's pun
Choose the method: Two meanings at once.
EZT practice question
What is the pun in the title 'A Concrete Example'?
Show the worked solution
- 'Concrete' is a building material - fitting a garden full of stones.
- 'A concrete example' also means a clear or definite example.
- The poem is a concrete example of Mrs. Jones' peculiar gardening habits.
Answer: 'Concrete' means both building material (fitting the stony garden) and a clear example - the poem is 'a concrete example' of Mrs. Jones' peculiar gardening. A word used with two meanings for humorous effect is a pun.
Check: The pun only works because both meanings fit at once.
Watch for this: Do not explain only the building-material sense - the phrase sense ('clear example') is the other half of the joke.
Now try it yourself
Write one sentence using 'concrete' in each of its two meanings.
Check your answer
Open response - e.g., 'The path is made of concrete.' / 'Give me a concrete example of your point.'
Two meanings, one word - that is the pun.
Judge the tone
Choose the method: Teasing, not mocking.
EZT practice question
Is the speaker being unkind to Mrs. Jones?
Show the worked solution
- The speaker accepts the invitation and talks with her about the flower.
- The scene is reported with amusement, not insult.
- The joke lands on the stones and the tiny plants - not on Mrs. Jones as a person.
Answer: No - the tone is affectionate teasing. The speaker visits, chats, and reports with amusement; the joke is on the stony garden, not on Mrs. Jones herself.
Check: 'Which Mrs. Jones thinks rather nice' - the speaker lets her keep her pride.
Watch for this: Do not call the poem satire or mockery - nothing in it attacks her character.
Now try it yourself
Would you like a garden like Mrs. Jones'? Why or why not?
Check your answer
Open response - give a reason from the poem (stones vs plants).
Your taste, her stones.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Who wrote the poem?
Show answer and reason
Reginald Arkell.
Three stanzas about Mrs. Jones.
2. The refrain?
Show answer and reason
'My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones' - opens every stanza.
It keeps the gossipy tone.
3. The punchline?
Show answer and reason
'You're standing on it.'
The flower was underfoot all along.
4. The title's pun?
Show answer and reason
'Concrete' = building material and 'a clear example'.
Both fit the stony garden.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Name any three features of Mrs. Jones' garden.
- Quote the line that tells you the plants are tiny.
- Explain 'a concrete example' in your own words.
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Questions about this practice page
- What is the poem A Concrete Example about?
- A neighbour, Mrs. Jones, whose beloved garden is full of stones - and whose plants are so tiny that a visitor ends up standing on the 'lovely' flower she is proudly showing off.
- Who wrote A Concrete Example?
- Reginald Arkell.
- Why is the title a pun?
- 'Concrete' means both building material (fitting the stony garden) and a clear example - of Mrs. Jones' peculiar gardening habits.
- Which poetic devices appear in the poem?
- Refrain ('My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones'), alliteration, situational irony ('You're standing on it') and the pun in the title.
- Are these the NCERT exercise questions for Class 8 English Chapter 2?
- No. EZT pages are original practice following the chapter's section order - use them to prepare for the textbook exercises, not as a substitute for your book.