Class 10 English Notes Maharashtra Board- 

Chapter 2.3 – Connecting the Dots

✨ Chapter 2.3 – Connecting the Dots | Summary, Questions, Grammar, Vocabulary

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📖 Chapter Title and Introduction

Chapter 2.3: Connecting the Dots is an inspirational prose piece that emphasizes the power of looking back at life’s moments and realizing how everything is interconnected. It inspires readers to trust their journey, follow their passion, and have faith that every experience contributes to future success.

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✍️ Author Information

The lesson draws from the famous Stanford Commencement Speech delivered by Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc. Jobs was a visionary, entrepreneur, and innovator who transformed the world of technology and design. This speech reveals his personal struggles, failures, and the powerful lessons he learned along the way.

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📝 Chapter Summary

In "Connecting the Dots," Steve Jobs shares three stories from his life that left a lasting impact:

1. The First Story – Connecting the Dots: Jobs talks about dropping out of college and taking a calligraphy class that would later influence the typography in Mac computers. He emphasizes trusting that the dots will connect in the future.

2. The Second Story – Love and Loss: He narrates how getting fired from Apple was painful but also led to the founding of NeXT and Pixar. The message is to love what you do and never lose faith even after failure.

3. The Third Story – Death: Jobs explains how facing death after his cancer diagnosis taught him the value of living with purpose and urgency.

The chapter motivates students to follow their heart, embrace challenges, and trust in life’s process.

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📚 New Words and Meanings

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✨ Figures of Speech with Examples

• Metaphor: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward.”
  → Here, “dots” symbolize life events.

• Repetition: “You’ve got to find what you love... Love what you do.”
  → The word “love” is repeated to emphasize passion.

• Alliteration: “Don’t settle.”
  → Repetition of the ‘s’ sound.

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🌟 Poetic Appreciation (Not Applicable for this Prose Lesson)

This section is skipped because "Connecting the Dots" is a prose lesson and not a poem. However, the speech’s inspiring and emotional tone resembles poetic motivation, ideal for class discussions and value education.

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🧠 Grammar and Language Study

🔹 Reported Speech

• Direct: Steve said, “Don’t settle.”

• Indirect: Steve said not to settle.

🔹 Tenses Used

• Past Simple: “I dropped out of college.”

• Present Simple: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward.”

🔹 Passive Voice

• Active: “They fired me.”

• Passive: “I was fired.”

🔹 Vocabulary Use

• Powerful emotional words are used to inspire the audience, like “death,” “trust,” “faith,” and “love.”

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🎯 Important Exam Questions with Answers

Short Answer Question

Q. Why did Steve Jobs drop out of college?
Steve Jobs dropped out of college because he felt it was expensive and wasn’t helping him find his passion. He decided to explore his interests instead of following a set path.

Long Answer Question

Q. What message does Steve Jobs convey through his speech ‘Connecting the Dots’?
Through his life stories, Steve Jobs encourages students to trust the process of life, believe in themselves, and follow their passion. He shows that failures, setbacks, and uncertainty are parts of the journey, and they help shape future success. Jobs emphasizes that every experience, whether good or bad, connects in the long run.

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💡 Central Idea or Moral Message

The central idea of Connecting the Dots is to trust in life’s journey. Steve Jobs encourages readers to follow their hearts even when the path seems uncertain. The dots—meaning experiences—may not make sense while we’re going through them, but when we look back, we see how they form a meaningful picture. The lesson teaches us that passion, resilience, and belief are keys to success. Even after setbacks like getting fired or facing death, Jobs rebuilt his career and left a lasting legacy. This teaches students to be fearless, curious, and faithful to their dreams.

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🧾 Previously Asked Board Questions (Last 5 Years)

Q1 (2 Marks): What does Jobs mean by “connecting the dots”?
Jobs means that even if events in life don’t make sense at first, they will later when we look back and understand how they led us to where we are.

Q2 (3 Marks): What important lesson did Steve Jobs learn after being fired from Apple?
After being fired from Apple, Jobs learned that getting dismissed was painful but also a turning point. It allowed him to rediscover his creativity and launch successful ventures like Pixar and NeXT. This setback helped him return to Apple stronger.

Q3 (4 Marks): Explain the story of calligraphy and its impact on Jobs’ life.
Jobs took a calligraphy course after dropping out of college. Though it seemed useless then, it later influenced the design of Apple computers by introducing beautiful typography. This shows how unexpected experiences can have great value later in life.

Q4 (5 Marks): What are the three stories Steve Jobs shares in his speech and what do they teach us?
Jobs shares three stories:

1. Connecting the Dots – trusting your journey.

2. Love and Loss – finding passion even in failure.

3. Death – living life meaningfully.
   These stories teach students to follow their passion, accept challenges, and understand that every experience contributes to future growth.

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🧪 20 Practice Questions with Answers

🔹 Objective Questions

1. Who delivered the speech 'Connecting the Dots'?
   → Steve Jobs

2. What company did Steve Jobs co-found?
   → Apple Inc.

3. Which course did Jobs attend after dropping out?
   → Calligraphy

4. Name the animation studio Jobs founded.
   → Pixar

5. Which word means 'instinctive understanding'?
   → Intuition

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🔹 Short Answer Questions

6. Why did Jobs attend calligraphy classes?
   → He was curious and followed his interest after dropping out.

7. What did Jobs learn from facing death?
   → That life is short, and one must live with purpose and urgency.

8. What does the term ‘entrepreneur’ mean?
   → A person who starts and manages a business.

9. What was Jobs’ feeling after being fired from Apple?
   → Devastated at first, but later saw it as a new beginning.

10. What motivated Jobs to return to Apple?
    → The success of Pixar and NeXT and his passion for innovation.

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🔹 Long Answer Questions

11. Explain the importance of ‘trusting your journey’ as explained by Jobs.

12. Describe the role of setbacks in Jobs’ success.

13. What is the significance of Jobs’ third story on death?

14. How does Jobs’ life teach us to value passion over fear?

15. Describe how connecting life experiences can create meaningful outcomes.

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🔹 Creative Questions

16. Write a short paragraph describing a ‘dot’ in your life that later made sense.

17. What would you do if you were in Steve Jobs' place after being fired?

18. How does Jobs’ story relate to your personal goals?

19. Explain the idea of intuition using a personal example.

20. Do you think it’s important to face failures? Justify with reasons.