ENGLISH – B
2018
PART -A
(New Syllabus)
Total Time : 3 Hours 15 minutes
Total Marks : 80
Instructions to the Candidates :
1. Special credit will be given for answers which are brief and to the point.
2. Marks will be deducted for spelling mistakes, untidiness and bad handwriting.
3. Figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions.
PART – A (Marks : 60)
1. Answer any two of the following questions each in about 100 words : 6×2=12
(a) “She was an interesting girl.” – Who said this to whom and when ? What else did the person say ? What reply did he get ? 3+1+2
(b) “I normally ate with my mother.” – Who ate with his mother ? Name his mother. Where did he eat with his mother ? What did he eat with his mother ? 1+1+1+3
(c) “All the answers being different, the Tsar agreed with none of them.” – What were the questions to which the Tsar got different answers? Whom did the Tsar decide to consult when he was not satisfied? Where did that person live whom the Tsar decided to consult ? What was he famous for ? 3+1+1+1
(d) “Do you need somebody to go to the store …?” – Who is the speaker? To whom did the speaker say this? Why did the speaker want to go to the store ? What did they have in supper ? 1+1+1+3
2. Answer any two of the following questions each in about 100 words : 6×2=12
(a) “It takes much time to kill a tree.” – Why does it take much time to kill a tree ? According to the poet how is the tree finally killed ? 3+3
(b) How does the poet express the futility of war through his poem ‘Asleep in the Valley’ ? What message does he want to convey ? 4+2
(c) “And every fair from fair sometime declines” – From which poem is the line quoted ? Who is the poet ? Briefly explain the meaning of the quoted line. How does the poet promise to immortalize his friend’s beauty ? 1+1+2+2
(d) Justify the title of the poem ‘The Poetry of Earth’. 6
3. Answer any one of the following questions in about 100 words : 6×1=6
(a) “We’ve had the land for nearly three hundred years …” – Who is the speaker? Who is spoken to ? What is referred to as ‘the land’ ? What do you know of ‘the land’ from their conversation ? 1+1+1+3
(b) Give a brief sketch of the character of Lomov in the play The Proposal’. 6
(c) “Go; there’s a merchant come for his goods.” – Who said this and to whom? Who is ‘the merchant’ ? What is referred to as goods’ ? In what way does it bring out the attitude of the person and the society at that time ? 2+1+1+2
OR
(a) “Can you see ? Sitting there, counting his ill-gotten gains” – About whom is this spoken ? What information does the speaker give about the property of that man ? What prompted the speaker to utter these words about the man ? 1+2+3
(b) Comment on Habib Tanvir’s use of folk elements in the play Charandas Chor. 6
(c) “There’s been a theft in this village.” -Who says this and to whom ? What was stolen ? Why was the person spoken to interrogated? What deal did the person offer ? 2+1+1+2 4.
4. (a) Do as directed : 1×6=6
(i) “Was I bothering you when I turned that corner ?”, asked the woman. (Turn into Indirect speech)
Ans : The woman asked if / whether she was bothering him when she turned that corner.
(ii) My father could convey complex spiritual concepts in very simple, down-to-earth Tamil. (Change the voice)
Ans : Complex spiritual concepts could be conveyed to me in very simple , down-to-earth Tamil by my father.
(iii) As soon as she left the train, she would forget our brief encounter. (Turn into a negative sentence)
Ans : No sooner had she left the train she would forget our brief encounter.
(iv) I am the most unhappy of men. (Change to positive degree)
Ans : No man is as unhappy as I am.
(v) But thy eternal summer shall not fade. (Change to affirmative sentence)
Ans : But thy eternal summer will remain unfaded.
(vi) I wished to kill you. (Use the underlined word as a noun and rewrite)
Ans : I had a wish to kill you.
(b) Fill in the blanks with appropriate articles and or prepositions : ½×6=3
The Tsar turned round and saw …………..(i)…………..bearded man come running …………(ii)……….. ……….(iii)………….. the wood. The man held his hands pressed …………….(iv)………… his stomach and blood was flowing ……….(v)…………. …………(vi)………..them.
Ans : (i) a (ii) out (iii) of (iv) against (v) from (vi) under.
(c) Correct the error in the following sentence by replacing the underlined word with the right one from the options given below : 1×1=1
His answers filled me with a strange energy and enthusiastic.
Ans : His answers filled me with a strange energy and enthusiasm.
[ Options : enthuse / enthusiastically / enthusiasm ]
5. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow :
It was my second year at boarding school, and I was sitting on platform No. 8 at Ambala station, waiting for the northern bound train. 1 think I was about twelve at that time. My parents considered me old enough to travel alone, and I had arrived by bus at Ambala early in the evening : now there was a wait till midnight before my train arrived. Most of the time I had been pacing up and down the platform, browsing at the bookstall, or feeding broken biscuits to stray dogs; trains came and went, and the platform would be quiet for a while and then, when a train arrived, it would be an inferno of heaving, shouting, agitated human bodies. As the carriage doors opened, a tide of people would sweep down upon the nervous little ticket collector at the gate; and everytime this happened I would be caught in the rush and be swept outside the station. Now, tired of this game and of ambling about the platform, I sat down on my suitcase and gazed dismally across the railway-tracks. Trolleys rolled past me, and I was conscious of the cries of the various vendors — the men who sold curds and lemon, the sweet-meat seller, the newspaper boy — but I had lost interest in all that went on along the busy platform, and continued to stare across the railway tracks, feeling bored and a little lonely.
(a) State whether the following statements are True or False. Write ‘T’ for True and ‘F’ for False. ( You need not write the sentences, write only the numbers ) 1×4 = 4
(i) My parents did not think that I could travel alone. (F)
(ii) I spent my time on the platform moving up and down and looking at the bookstalls. (F)
(iii) When a train came, people silently moved on the platform. (F)
(iv) I arrived at the station early in the morning. (F)
(b) Answer each of the following questions in about 30 words : 2×3 = 6
(i) When, how and why did the narrator arrive at Ambala ?
Ans. The narrator arrived at Ambala by bus early in the evening. He was going to his boarding school.
(ii) What happened when a train arrived at the station ?
Ans. When a train arrived at the station it would be an inferno of heaving, shouting, agitated human bodies. As the carriage door was opened, a tide of people would sweep down upon the ticket collector at the gate. On every such occasion the narrator would be caught in the rush and be swept outside the station.
(iii) What did the narrator watch as he sat on his suitcase on the platform ?
Ans. As the narrator sat on his suitcase on the platform he watched across the railway tracks and felt the trolleys rolling past him. He felt extremely bred and a little lonely.
6. (a) Write a report on a one-week programme undertaken by your school to clean up the classrooms, the school premises and its surroundings. Mention the roles of both students and teachers. (Word limit : 150 words) 2+8=10
OR
(b) Write a letter to the Editor of an English daily about the unhealthy food items sold in and around your school, affecting the health of the students. (Word limit : 150 words) 2 + 8=10
OR
(c) Write a precis of the following passage. Add a suitable title. 2 + 8 = 10
Among the misfortunes that trouble human beings, the loss of health is the most troublesome. A man cannot enjoy his wealth, his happiness or his relations when he is sick. If you can give a sick man everything but leave him to his sufferings, he will feel that the world is lost to him. Even when he is laid on a bed of roses, he groans in physical agony, and remains sleepless. On the contrary, a beggar who is healthy, can enjoy a sound sleep even while lying on the bare ground. A man with good health can enjoy his food and choose his drink but a sick man cannot take a morsel, out of fear that his health may deteriorate. In fact, a healthy man is always envied by a rich man with poor health. If a sick man is surrounded with the pomp of a king, if his chair be made his throne, if his crutch be his sceptre, even then he will envy the good health of his meanest servant. His great palace would not be able to provide him the comfort that a man with a sound health gets even if he lives in a hut with thatched roof.
PART B (Marks 20)
1. Complete each of the following sentences, choosing the correct option from the alternatives provided : 1×4=4
(i) The narrator had the compartment to himself up to –
(a) Saharanpur (b) Dehradun
(c) Rohana (d) Mussorie.
Ans. (c) Rohana
(ii) The coconut grove, where Abdul Kalam’s father used to walk down every morning was about –
(a) one and a half miles
(b) three miles
(c) four miles
(d) four and a half miles.
Ans. (c) four miles
(iii) Bending over the sink the boy, Roger asked Mrs. Jones whether she –
(a) was going to take him to jail
(b) was going to punish him
(c) was going to reward him
(d) was going to take care of him.
Ans. (a) was going to take him to jail
(iv) The hermit received none but –
(a) Emperors (b) Kings
(c) Common folk (d) the Tsar.
Ans. (c) Common folk
2. Answer any four of the following questions, each in a complete sentence : 1×4=4
(i) What remark did the narrator make about people with good eyesight ?
Ans. The people with good eyesight fail to see what is right in front of them.
(ii) What does Kalam’s father say about the relevance of prayer ?
Ans. According to Kalam’s father the prayer makes a possible communion of the spirit between people.
(iii) What did Mrs. Luella Jones ask the boy to pick up ?
Ans. Mrs. Jones asked the boy to pick up the pocket book.
(iv) Why did the Tsar put on simple cloth before meeting the hermit ?
Ans. The Tsar put on simple clothes before meeting the hermit because he did not want to reveal his own identity as the hermit used to meet only common folk.
(v) Describe the ancestral house of Kalam.
Ans. The ancestral house of Kalam was a fairly large pucca house made of limestone and brick, located on the Mosque street in Rameswaram.
(vi) How did the Tsar meet the hermit ?
Ans. The Tsar met the hermit alone disguised as a common man, without body guards.
(vii) How did the girl describe the narrator ?
Ans. The girl described the narrator as very gallant young man.
(viii) What advice did Mrs. Jones give to Roger at the end of the story ?
Ans. Mrs. Jones advised Roger not to repeat the mistake of snatching anyone’s pocket book anymore because it would bring only misfortune to him and to behave in a proper way.
3. Complete each of the following sentences, choosing the correct option from the alternatives provided : 1×4=4
(i) The marks of wound of the soldier are –
(a) on his head (b) on his chest
(c) in his side (d) in his leg.
Ans. (c) in his side
(ii) The ‘curled green twigs’ rise from –
(a) the earth’s cave
(b) the uprooted – tree
(c) close to the ground
(d) the rough bark.
Ans. (c) close to the ground
(iii) Nature’s changing course is –
(a) dimmed (b) temperate
(c) untrimmed ( d) lovely.
Ans. (c) untrimmed
(iv) “… he takes the lead” Who is’ he “? – he is –
(a) the Summer (b) the Grasshopper (c) the Cricket (d) the poet.
Ans. (b) the Grasshopper
4. Answer any four of the following questions, each in a complete sentence : 1×4=4
(i) Which part of the tree is the most sensitive, white and wet ?
Ans. The root is the most sensitive, white and wet part of the tree.
(ii) What gives life to the poet’s friend in Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 18 ?
Ans. The poem (Sonnet No.18) gives life to the poet’s friend.
(iii) How does the poet bring out the innocence of the solder in “Asleep in the Valley” ?
Ans. The poet brings out the innocence of the soldier in the poem “Asleep in the Valley” by comparing his smile to that of an infant’s.
(iv) Why is the soldier pale ?
Ans. The soldier is pale because he is dead.
(v) Where does the Grasshopper rest ?
Ans. The grasshopper rests beneath some pleasant weeds in hot and humid summer.
(vi) How long will the young than be remembered in Shakespeare’s Sonnet No.18 ?
Ans. As long as men can breathe and eyes can see , the young friend of the poet will be remembered in Shakespearean sonnet “Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer’s Day”.
(vii) What causes the bark of a tree to bleed ?
Ans. Repeated hacking and chopping cause the bark of the tree to bleed.
(viii) From where is the shrill song of the cricket heard in ‘The Poetry of Earth” ?
Ans. The shrill song of the cricket is heard in “ The Poetry of the Earth” from the stove.
5. Complete each of the following sentences, choosing the correct option from the alternatives provided : 1×4=4
(i) Lomov went to his neighbor, Chubukov’s house –
(a) to borrow money
(b) to settle a dispute
(c) to give a marriage proposal
(d) to complain.
Ans. (c) to give a marriage proposal
(ii) Chubukov comments that Lomov’s have had in their family –
(a) autocracy (b) lunacy (c) hypocrisy (d) democracy.
Ans. (b) lunacy
(iii) Lomov gave……….to Mironov for his dog.
(a) 120 roubles (b) 125 roubles
(c) 25 roubles (d) 85 roubles
Ans. (b) 125 roubles
(iv) Lomov’s aunt’s name is –
(a) Natalya Stepnova
(b) Natasha Vassilvitch
(c) Nastasya Mihailovna
(d) Natalya Mihailovna.
Ans. (c) Nastasya Mihailovna
OR
(i) The merchant’s wife comes from – (a) Nandgaon (b) Bhatgaon
(c) Raigarh (d) Goregan.
Ans. (a) Nandgaon
(ii) Charandas takes from Sattuwala – (a) a bundle of coins
(b) a bundle of sattu
(c) a bundle of clothes
(d) a bundle of genius genit to do.
Ans. (a) a bundle of coins
(iii) The name of the gambler was – (a) Chait Ram. (b) Ramlal
(c) Ramcharan (d) Uday Ram.
Ans. (a) Chait Ram
(iv) The minister first inaugurates –
(a) a cycle shop (b) a ration shop
(c) a shoe shop (d) a cloth shop.
Ans. (a) a cycle shop
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