The Twits · Garden Heights Academy

Part 3

for The Twits · Part 3 · Chapters 8–10

a story by Roald Dahl

30 min5 Parts

This workbook is built on a solid pedagogical foundation, effectively integrating content and language learning based on the CLIL framework (Content and Language Integrated Learning), elevated by our unique 5th C — Connection — and an integrated Standardized Test section that weaves every SAT & TOEFL question type right into the novel, so learners build real test skills easily, naturally, and with fun.

What Happens in Part 3

Mr. Twit dreams up his cleverest, cruellest trick of all. Every night, while Mrs. Twit is asleep, he secretly glues a thin disc of wood to the bottom of her walking stick and to the legs of her chair, so they grow a tiny bit taller each day. Mrs. Twit never notices the change in her stick — instead she begins to think that she is getting smaller! Mr. Twit tells her she has caught the dreaded “shrinks” and warns her she will soon shrink away to nothing. Poor Mrs. Twit is terrified. Then Mr. Twit offers a “cure”: a good stretching. He pegs her to the ground and ties a great bunch of balloons to her head to pull her the other way.

What We Will Learn

Literary Element	What It Means
Conflict	The struggle between characters that drives the story forward
Dramatic Irony	When the reader knows something important that a character does not
Suspense	The nervous, excited feeling that makes us wonder what will happen next

Chapter Summary

Chapter	Title & Key Events
Ch.8	The Funny Walking-Stick — Mr. Twit secretly glues a small disc to Mrs. Twit’s stick and chair legs each night so they grow taller
Ch.9	Mrs. Twit Gets the Shrinks — Mr. Twit convinces Mrs. Twit she is shrinking and has caught the dreaded “shrinks”
Ch.10	The Stretching — Mr. Twit offers a cure: he pegs Mrs. Twit to the ground and ties balloons to her to stretch her out

💭 Before You Read · Warm-Up (not scored)

There are no wrong answers here — just think, guess, and talk:

How do you actually know how tall you are? What do you compare yourself against every day?
Predict: Mr. Twit wants Mrs. Twit to believe something impossible about her own body — without ever touching her. How could a trick like that work?
Why are very slow changes — a plant growing, hair getting longer — so hard to notice?

Copyright Notice

Independent study guide by Garden Heights Academy. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Roald Dahl or the Roald Dahl Story Company. No text from the novel is reproduced. Students should read the original book. Reference text: This workbook follows Roald Dahl’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.

Part 1

Vocabulary

Study 10 key words from Chapters 5–7, then answer each question.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Do People Really Shrink?

Science · The Human BodyMr. Twit plays a clever trick: he glues tiny bits onto Mrs. Twit’s walking stick, night after night, so it grows longer. She thinks the stick stays the same and that she must be shrinking. Can people really shrink? A little. Each morning you are a touch taller than at night, because your spine squashes down as the day goes on. Old people slowly grow shorter too. But nobody shrinks fast, the way Mrs. Twit fears. We judge size by comparison with nearby things, not with a ruler, so a slowly growing stick fools the eye. Her terror comes from a fooled measurement, not from real science. Careful measuring is the only way to tell the truth.

A black-and-white 1917 photograph of a shirtless young man standing on a scale against a wall while a uniformed doctor lowers a measuring bar onto his head — Photograph by the Harris and Ewing studio, taken in 1917, of an Army doctor measuring a young soldier’s height, lowering a bar onto his head while he stands straight on a scale against a marked wall. The *Knowledge Bank* explains that people do shrink a little, taller in the morning than at night and shorter in old age, but that nobody shrinks fast the way Mrs. Twit fears, and that careful measuring is the only way to tell the truth. This is careful measuring: a fixed scale, a straight back, a bar on the head. It is a wartime medical exam in America, not a scene from the book, and the man is not shrinking at all. Notice the marked wall behind him — a ruler that nobody can secretly lengthen.
United States Army physical examination, 1917; photograph by Harris and Ewing, Library of Congress. Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

ⓘ Vocabulary words are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the novel.

cunningadj.Ch.8

Clever in a sneaky, tricky way

“Mr. Twit thought up a cunning plan to fool his wife.”

gluen.Ch.8

A sticky substance used to join things together

“He dabbed a little glue on the bottom of her walking stick.”

graduallyadv.Ch.8

Slowly, little by little over time

“The stick grew gradually taller, so slowly that no one could see it.”

fibn.Ch.9

A small lie

“Mr. Twit told a wicked fib, saying she was shrinking away.”

shrinkv.Ch.9

To become smaller in size

“Mrs. Twit was sure she could feel herself beginning to shrink.”

dreadedadj.Ch.9

Greatly feared

“He told her she had caught the dreaded shrinks.”

terrifiedadj.Ch.9

Extremely frightened

“Mrs. Twit was terrified that she would vanish completely.”

curen.Ch.10

Something that makes an illness or problem better

“Mr. Twit promised there was one cure for the shrinks: a stretching.”

stretchv.Ch.10

To pull something so that it becomes longer

“He said he would stretch her back to her proper size.”

pegv.Ch.10

To fix something down with pins or stakes

“He pegged her firmly to the ground before tying on the balloons.”

1Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.8–10

Word choices:cunninggradualdreadvanish- some words will not be used

Mr. Twit’s plan works because each change is so

that Mrs. Twit never notices it.

🧠Knowledge Bank question

2According to the Knowledge Bank, we judge size by ___.Ch.8–10

3To “convince” someone is to —Ch.8–10

4Someone who is “gullible” is very hard to fool.Ch.8–10

5To “vanish” is to —Ch.8–10

6Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.8–10

Word choices:deceivevictimsturdyremedy- some words will not be used

Night after night he s his

, gluing a disc to her stick.

7A “remedy” is —Ch.8–10

8To “deceive” someone is to trick them into believing something false.Ch.8–10

9Something “sturdy” is —Ch.8–10

10A “gradual” change happens slowly, little by little.Ch.8–10

Part 2

Comprehension

How well do you understand Chapters 5–7?

🧠Knowledge Bank · One Step at a Time

Reading Skill · SequencingSome tricks are built one step at a time, so good readers must follow the order of events. Mr. Twit does not fool his wife all at once. Night after night he adds a sliver to her stick and a sliver to her chair legs. Each small step adds up until she is sure she is shrinking. To understand a plan like this, put the events in the right sequence: first this, then that, then the last surprise. Reading in order helps you see how many quiet steps a big trick really needs.

Visual AidA trick built one night at a time

Diagram for the Knowledge Bank on sequencing. The four bars stand for the walking stick on successive nights, each a sliver taller, which is the order of events the Knowledge Bank says a reader must follow, and the two cards give the sequence words and the surprise it leads to. The bars show order, not real measurements. Notice how small each step is — that is why the trick works, and why reading in order is the only way to see it.

Nightly slivers and the sequence they build, as described in the Knowledge Bank; not to scale. Drawn for Garden Heights Academy.

🧠Knowledge Bank question

1The Knowledge Bank says Mr. Twit fools his wife ___.Ch.8–10

2Mr. Twit adds one big, obvious piece so Mrs. Twit will notice the change.Ch.8–10

3Why does Mrs. Twit come to believe she is shrinking?Ch.8–10

4Mr. Twit tells Mrs. Twit that she has caught “the shrinks.”Ch.8–10

5Put these events in the correct order. Write 1–5 (1 = first).Ch.8–10

Mrs. Twit decides she must be shrinking — she has caught “the shrinks.”
Mr. Twit dreams up a cruel trick using Mrs. Twit’s own walking stick.
Mr. Twit says the only cure is stretching, and ties her to balloons and heavy weights.
Little by little the difference grows, too slowly for her to notice.
Each night he secretly glues a tiny disc to the bottom of her stick and her chair legs.

6What does Mr. Twit say will happen if the shrinks are not cured?Ch.8–10

7What “cure” does Mr. Twit invent for the shrinks?Ch.8–10

8Mrs. Twit quickly realizes the stick is being made taller on purpose.Ch.8–10

9What does Mr. Twit tie to Mrs. Twit to “stretch” her?Ch.8–10

10Why does the walking-stick trick fool Mrs. Twit so completely?Ch.8–10

Part 3

Literary Elements

Understanding HOW and WHY Dahl writes Chapters 5–7 the way he does.

🧠Knowledge Bank · How Dahl Builds the Trick

Literary Craft · SuspenseDahl does not tell us everything at once. He lets the trick grow slowly, and that waiting feeling is called suspense. We watch Mr. Twit sneak out each night while Mrs. Twit sleeps, and we wonder how far he will go. Because we know a little more than she does, we lean in, eager to see the result. A writer builds suspense by adding one small hint at a time and holding back the ending. Each secret step tightens the tension. Dahl keeps us turning pages, hungry to learn how the mean plan will finish.

📚 Literary Devices in This Part · definitions & examples

Conflict is a struggle between characters that pushes a story forward. In The Twits, the conflict is the endless war of nasty tricks: each Twit tries to pay the other one back with something even worse.

Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something important that a character does not. We know the walking stick is secretly growing, but Mrs. Twit has no idea — so we are “in on the joke” while she is fooled.

Suspense is the nervous, excited feeling that makes us want to keep reading to find out what happens. When Mrs. Twit is pegged to the ground with balloons tugging at her, Dahl makes us wonder anxiously what will happen next.

The questions below are mixed — not grouped by device. Decide which device each one is about.

🧠Knowledge Bank question

1According to the Knowledge Bank, a writer builds suspense by ___.Ch.8–10

2Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something a character does not.Ch.8–10

3Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.8–10

Word choices:ironysuspensesettingrhyme- some words will not be used

The gap between what we know and what Mrs. Twit knows is dramatic ,

which keeps us in .

4Calling a cruel trick a “cure” is an example of irony because —Ch.8–10

5Suspense is the feeling of not caring at all what happens next.Ch.8–10

6Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.8–10

Word choices:deceptiontoneplotclimax- some words will not be used

Mr. Twit’s whole plan is built on ,

told in Dahl’s gleeful, mocking .

7What mainly keeps readers turning the pages in these chapters?Ch.8–10

8Why is the walking-stick trick a strong example of dramatic irony?Ch.8–10

9Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.8–10

Word choices:motivecharacterizationsimilesetting- some words will not be used

Mr. Twit’s cruel and sneaky methods are strong

of a nasty, cunning man.

10Dahl builds the comedy of these chapters mainly on —Ch.8–10

Part 4

Think Deeper

Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it through.

🧠Knowledge Bank · Tricks of the Mind

Ethics · DeceptionMr. Twit’s cruelest trick is not about a stick at all — it is about the mind. By changing tiny things she cannot see, he makes Mrs. Twit doubt her own body. This is a kind of deception: fooling someone into believing something false. It is a mean thing to do, because trust is broken and fear takes its place. When you make a person doubt what is real, you take away their sense of safety. Dahl shows how a bully can hurt not just with hands but with clever, sneaky lies.

1Claim: “Mr. Twit tricks Mrs. Twit into believing she is shrinking.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence

2How Mr. Twit fools her, or how Mrs. Twit reacts? Tap each item to sort it — tap again to switch sides. You can keep tapping to change your answer.Sort into two

◄ How he fools herHow she reacts ►

3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect

Mr. Twit adds bits to her stick→

He tells her it is ‘the shrinks’→

Mrs. Twit begs for a cure→

The trick works cruelly→

🧠Knowledge Bank question

4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument

The Knowledge Bank says Mr. Twit's cruelest trick is about , because making a person doubt what is real .

Part 5

Standardized Test

Factual Details & EXCEPT Questions — SAT & TOEFL-style practice

How the Brain Judges Size

Your eyes collect light, but it is your brain that decides what you are actually seeing. To tell how big something is, the brain does not measure the way a ruler does; it compares each object with the things standing near it. A circle drawn beside tiny dots looks large, while the very same circle beside huge dots looks small, a famous illusion that fools almost everyone. Scientists say we judge size, speed, and even color by using nearby objects as reference points. This clever shortcut works well most of the time, because the world around us usually stays steady. But when a reference point is changed gradually and in secret, the brain can reach a very wrong answer. Stage magicians, and one or two cunning tricksters in books, earn their living from exactly this weakness. The next time your eyes feel certain, remember: certainty is not the same as truth.

Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.

1Changed gradually means changed ___.SAT · Words in Context

2According to the passage, what actually decides what you see?TOEFL · Factual Information

3An “illusion” is —SAT · Words in Context

4How does the brain judge how big something is?TOEFL · Factual Information

5A cunning trickster is ___.SAT · Words in Context

6The same object can look bigger or smaller depending on —TOEFL · Factual Information

7We can infer that a person can be fooled about size when —SAT · Inference

8The main idea of the passage is that —SAT · Central Ideas

9The passage mentions artists and film-makers in order to —TOEFL · Rhetorical Purpose

10This passage helps explain Mrs. Twit’s trick because she —SAT · Inference

Part 6 · Optional

Creative Writing

A bonus challenge to practice your English.

About This Section

This writing task is optional and not part of your auto-graded score. Feedback checks length, spelling, and grammar only.

Writing Task — Part 3 “The Shrinks”

Imagine you are Mrs. Twit on the morning you first think you are shrinking. What do you notice, and how do you feel? Write at least 40 words.

You can start with: “When I reached for my walking stick this morning, a horrible cold feeling crept over me, because…”

0 / 40 words minimum

🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)

No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.

Part 3 Complete!

You finished Chapters 8–10 of The Twits.

Here are your auto-graded results:

-

points out of 100

Teach it to someone

The best last step is to teach it. In your own words, explain what happened — retell a favorite scene, teach a character’s big choice, or sum up the main idea for a parent, friend, or classmate. When you can teach it clearly, you truly own it.

Move on to Part 4 →⌂ Back to Twits Home 🏠 Library