Class 8 English · Original EZT practice
The Case of the Fifth Word (Class 8 English Chapter 7): four strange words
Leroy Brown - nicknamed Encyclopedia because his head holds facts from A to Z - is only an eighth grader, yet he solves mysteries that defeat even his father, the Chief of Police of Idaville. In this Donald J. Sobol story, a dying man's four strange words, 'Nom Utes Sweden Hurts', are the only clue to where a million dollars' worth of stolen jewellery lies hidden. 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. Summary - the detective and the case
Encyclopedia Brown's father, Chief Brown, is smart and quick, but when he meets a case he cannot solve he brings it home to the dinner table - and Encyclopedia solves it before dinner is over. On Tuesday night the Chief announces that Tim Nolan has died. Five years earlier, two masked men had held up the Diamond Mart on Sixth Avenue and escaped with a million dollars' worth of jewellery; the Chief always believed Nolan and a man named Daniel Davenport pulled the hold-up, but there was never any proof.
2. Summary - the will and the four words
Nolan, who had suffered from a bad heart for years, had a stroke. Realising he was dying, he put his will on the kitchen table - it leaves everything, including the nursery, to Davenport. Clipped to the will was a sheet from his desk calendar carrying Davenport's name and address, and four strange words: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts. Even Mrs. Brown, who had taught English in high school, cannot make sense of them.
3. Summary - cracking the code
Encyclopedia asks his single question: is there a young fir tree in the nursery? There is - one, on the south side of the house. The code works because the sheet came from a calendar: each word is a day of the week with the letters d-a-y dropped. Nom is Monday, Utes is Tuesday, Sweden is Wednesday, Hurts is Thursday. The unwritten fifth word is Fir - Friday. The jewellery is found inside a twenty-gallon jug of earth from which the young fir tree grows.
4. Character and word meanings
Leroy is knowledgeable (he reads more than anyone in Idaville and never forgets a fact), humble (he never speaks of helping his father), a good listener, and clever (one question is usually enough). Margin words: nickname, hold-ups, nursery, testify, hunch, loot, stroke, will, leafed through, confessed, code, foreseen.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Fix who Encyclopedia is
Choose the method: Leroy, facts A to Z.
EZT practice question
Who is Encyclopedia Brown, and how did he get the nickname?
Show the worked solution
- His real name is Leroy Brown - only his parents and teachers use it.
- An encyclopedia is a book of facts from A to Z - and so is his head.
- He read more books than anyone in Idaville and never forgot a fact - so everyone else calls him Encyclopedia.
Answer: Leroy Brown, an eighth grader in Idaville, USA - nicknamed Encyclopedia because his head, like the book, holds facts from A to Z; he solves cases his father, the Chief of Police, cannot.
Check: He solves his father's hardest cases before dinner is over.
Watch for this: Do not call him a policeman - he is a schoolboy; only his father is the Chief of Police.
Now try it yourself
Why does Encyclopedia never speak of the help he gives his father?
Check your answer
Out of humility - he did not want to seem different from other boys.
A character clue, not just a detail.
Reconstruct the hold-up
Choose the method: Five years back, no proof.
EZT practice question
Why was Tim Nolan never arrested for the Diamond Mart robbery?
Show the worked solution
- Five years earlier, two masked men held up the Diamond Mart on Sixth Avenue and escaped with a million dollars' worth of jewellery.
- A clerk thought she recognised Nolan when one gunman's mask slipped - but she was not absolutely sure and refused to testify.
- No trace of the stolen jewellery ever turned up - so there was no proof.
Answer: A clerk thought she recognised him when a mask slipped but was not sure enough to testify, and no stolen jewellery was ever found - so there was no proof against him.
Check: The Chief only ever had a belief, not evidence.
Watch for this: Do not say Nolan was convicted - he settled in Idaville a free man and started a palm-tree nursery.
Now try it yourself
How did Nolan and Davenport know each other?
Check your answer
They met while both were in prison in South Carolina and became friendly because of shared interests.
The partnership predates the hold-up.
Examine the will and the words
Choose the method: A calendar sheet clipped on.
EZT practice question
What was found with Nolan's will, and why is it suspicious?
Show the worked solution
- The will leaves everything, including the nursery, to Davenport.
- Clipped to it was a sheet from Nolan's desk calendar with Davenport's name and address.
- Below were four strange words: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts - meaningless even to Mrs. Brown, who had taught English in high school.
Answer: Clipped to the will (which leaves everything to Davenport) was a desk-calendar sheet with Davenport's name and address and four strange words: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts - the only clue to the hiding place.
Check: Officers Lewis and Maloney searched the house and found not one piece of the jewellery.
Watch for this: Do not treat the words as a foreign language - Mrs. Brown tries dictionary meanings and gets nowhere.
Now try it yourself
What dictionary meanings does Mrs. Brown try?
Check your answer
Nom as short for nominative, a grammatical term; Utes as an American Indian tribe; Sweden as a country in northern Europe; and Hurts as hurts - and she confesses she cannot figure it out.
The wrong track is part of the puzzle.
Decode the four words
Choose the method: Days minus d-a-y.
EZT practice question
Decode 'Nom Utes Sweden Hurts'.
Show the worked solution
- The sheet came from a desk calendar - the key clue.
- Drop the letters d-a-y from the days of the week: Nom is Monday, Utes is Tuesday, Sweden is Wednesday, Hurts is Thursday.
- The unwritten fifth word is Fir - Friday - pointing to the fir tree.
Answer: Each word is a day of the week with d-a-y dropped: Nom is Monday, Utes is Tuesday, Sweden is Wednesday, Hurts is Thursday - so the missing fifth word is Fir (Friday), pointing to the fir tree where the jewellery is hidden.
Check: Four words given, the fifth word unwritten - hence the title.
Watch for this: Do not anagram the words - the trick is removing d-a-y, not rearranging letters.
Now try it yourself
Why would the code 'not make much sense to someone who isn't looking for a hiding place'?
Check your answer
The four words look like random unrelated words unless you already know stolen goods are hidden and connect the calendar sheet to days of the week.
Context is what turns noise into a code.
Follow the one question
Choose the method: A fir tree on the south side.
EZT practice question
What is Encyclopedia's single question, and where was the jewellery?
Show the worked solution
- He asks: is there a young fir tree in Mr. Nolan's palm-tree nursery?
- There is - one, on the south side of the house.
- The jewellery is found inside a twenty-gallon jug of earth from which the young fir tree grows - just as he foresaw.
Answer: He asks whether there is a young fir tree in the nursery; the jewellery was inside the twenty-gallon jug of earth from which the young fir tree grew, on the south side of Nolan's house.
Check: One question is usually enough for Encyclopedia - the mark of his method.
Watch for this: Do not say the jewellery was buried under the tree - it was inside the jug of earth the tree grew from.
Now try it yourself
What was the Chief's hunch about the missing jewellery?
Check your answer
That Davenport and Nolan decided to hide the loot until things cooled down.
A hunch is a strong feeling - and it was right.
Match the margin words
Choose the method: One plain meaning each.
EZT practice question
Match: testify, hunch, loot, foreseen - with their meanings.
Show the worked solution
- testify - make a statement in court to prove something is true.
- hunch - a strong feeling about something.
- loot - stolen goods; foreseen - predicted.
Answer: testify - make a statement in court to prove something is true; hunch - a strong feeling about something; loot - stolen goods; foreseen - predicted.
Check: The clerk refused to testify; the Chief had a hunch; the loot was in the jug - as Encyclopedia had foreseen.
Watch for this: Do not confuse loot (stolen goods) with lute - same sound, different word.
Now try it yourself
What is a 'nursery' in this story?
Check your answer
A place where young plants and trees are grown for sale - Nolan's was a small palm-tree nursery.
The nursery is both his cover and the hiding place.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Encyclopedia's real name?
Show answer and reason
Leroy Brown - only parents and teachers use it.
His head holds facts from A to Z.
2. The four words?
Show answer and reason
Nom Utes Sweden Hurts - days of the week minus d-a-y.
Monday to Thursday; the fifth word is Fir (Friday).
3. The hiding place?
Show answer and reason
A twenty-gallon jug of earth growing the young fir tree, south side of the house.
In Nolan's palm-tree nursery.
4. The author?
Show answer and reason
Donald J. Sobol (adapted).
An Encyclopedia Brown mystery.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Write the four words and the day each one hides.
- What clue tells you the words come from a calendar?
- In one sentence, say why the fifth word is never written.
Know the rule but lose track of the steps?
Bring your book edition, your school topic list and a question you attempted. Ask a tutor to explain the choice of method and test it with a different problem. Agree the lesson topics, schedule and fee before starting.
For cost context, see home tuition fees in Delhi NCR. Agree the topics, schedule and fee with your chosen tutor.
Questions about this practice page
- Who wrote The Case of the Fifth Word?
- It is an Encyclopedia Brown mystery by Donald J. Sobol, adapted for the NCERT Class 8 English textbook Poorvi, Unit 3.
- What do the four words 'Nom Utes Sweden Hurts' mean?
- They are the days Monday to Thursday with the letters d-a-y removed; the unwritten fifth word is Fir (Friday), revealing the hiding place.
- Where was the stolen jewellery hidden?
- Inside a twenty-gallon jug of earth in which the young fir tree grew, on the south side of Nolan's house in his palm-tree nursery.
- Who is Encyclopedia Brown?
- Leroy Brown, an eighth grader in Idaville, USA, whose head is full of facts and who solves cases that puzzle his father, the Chief of Police.
- Are these the NCERT exercise questions for Class 8 English Chapter 7?
- 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.