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SMT. SULOCHANADEVI SINGHANIA SCHOOL, THANE STD X SUB English II EXAM PRACTICE PAPER MARKS 80 TIME 2 Hrs Question 1 (Do Not spend more than 35 minutes on this question.) Write a composition (350-400 words) on any of the following: (25) a) What are the problems affecting transportation in your town or city? Also suggest practical remedial steps. b) Unseen they suffer, unheard they cry, in agony they linger, in loneliness they die. Discuss the plight of street animals and beasts of burden today in light of the abovementioned lines. c) Homework is absolutely unnecessary. Argue either for or against this statement. d) Some people avoid challenges. Others see them as opportunities to grow. Write about a time when you overcame a great challenge. e) Study the picture given below. Write a story or a description or an account of what the picture suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or you may take suggestions from it; however, there must be a clear connection between the picture and your composition. Question 2 (Do Not spend more than 20 minutes on this question) (10) Select ONE of the following: a) Write a letter to the editor of an English language newspaper highlighting the problem of noise pollution around your school. Identify the causes, and offer solutions. b) Write a letter to your friend who has moved to a different city telling her or him how much you miss them. Question 3 Read carefully the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (c) that follow. Once during my lunch break I witnessed an extraordinary comedy that was performed, I felt, for my special benefit. On the tree-trunk where I was sitting, not six feet away, out of a tangle of thick undergrowth, up over the bark of the trunk, there glided slowly and laboriously and very regally a giant landsnail, the size of an apple. I watched it as I ate, fascinated by the way the snail s body glided over the bark, apparently without any muscular effort whatever, and the way its horns with the round, rather surprised eyes on top, twisted this way and that as it picked its route through the miniature landscape of toadstools and moss. Suddenly I realized that as the snail was making its slow and rather vague progress along the trunk it was leaving behind it the usual glistening trail, and this trail was being followed by one of the most ferocious and bloodthirsty animals, for its size, to be found in the West African forest. The weeds were thrust aside and onto the log strutted a tiny creature only as long as a cigarette, clad in jet-black fur and with a long slender nose that it kept glued to the snail s track, like a miniature black hound. It was one of the forest s shrews, whose courage is incredible and whose appetite is prodigious and insatiable. If anything lives to eat, this forest shrew does. They will even in a moment of puckishness (hunger) think nothing of eating one another. Grumbling to himself, the shrew trotted rapidly after the snail and very soon overtook it. Uttering a high-pitched squeak, it flung itself on that portion of the snail which protruded from the rear of the shell and sank its teeth into it. The snail, finding itself so suddenly and unceremoniously attacked from the rear, did the only possible thing and drew its body rapidly back inside its shell. This movement was performed so swiftly and the muscular contraction of the snail was so strong, that as the tail disappeared inside the shell the shrew s face was banged against it and his grip was broken. The shell, having now nothing to balance it, fell on its side, and the shrew, screaming with frustration, rushed forward and plunged his head into the interior, in an effort to retrieve the retreating mollusk. However, the snail was prepared for this attack and as soon as the shrew s head was pushed into the opening of the shell it was greeted by a sudden fountain of greenishwhite froth that bubbled out and enveloped nose and head. The shrew leapt back with surprise, knocking against the shell as it did so. The snail teetered for a moment and then rolled sideways and dropped into the undergrowth beneath the log. The shrew meanwhile was sitting on its hind legs, almost incoherent with rage, sneezing violently and trying to wipe the froth from the face with its paws. The whole thing was so ludicrous that I started to laugh, and the shrew casting a hasty and frightened glance in my direction leapt down into the undergrowth and hurried away. It was not often during the forest s siesta-time that I could enjoy such a scene as this. a) Four words or phrases from the passage are given below. Give the meaning of each as used in the passage. One word answers or short phrases will be accepted. (3) i. ii. iii. Regally Enveloped Ludicrous b) Answer the following questions in your own words: i. Describe the movement of the land-snail. (3) ii. Write about the physical appearance of the shrew. (3) iii. Why does the writer call the shrew a bloodthirsty animal? (1) iv. What does the writer say about the characteristics of the shrew? (2) v. What is the writer s attitude to the incident described in the passage? Support your answer with evidence from the passage. (2) c) In not more than 60 words of your own, describe the encounter between the snail and the shrew. (8) d) Give a title to your answer of 3 (c) and a reason for your choice. (2) Question 4 a) In the following passage, fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct forms of the words given in brackets. Do not copy the passage, but write in correct serial order the word or phrase appropriate for the blank space. (4) Example: (0) have walked I must (0) _____have walked______ (walk) the streets till after midnight. At last I (1)__________ (become) so (2)___________ (exhausted) that I (3) ____________ (can) walk no longer. I was tired, I was hungry, I was everything but (4) ____________ (discourage). Then I (5)__________ (see) a sidewalk where I was sure that no passer-by (6)_________ (see) me and then (7) _________ (creep) under the sidewalk and (8) __________ (lie) for the night on the ground. b) Fill in the blanks with appropriate words: i. The soldiers agreed to carry __________ the major s order. ii. They kept ___________ talking till the train arrived. iii. The announcement said the train would arrive ____________ platform 2. iv. I haven t been to the cinema _______so many years. v. I will have finished this essay ______Friday. vi. Let s talk _____________ the matter and find a solution. vii. December is the month when winter sets __________. viii. His speech worked __________ the mob into a frenzy. (4) c) Join the following sentences to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so. (4) i. I have four lessons for the exam. I must learn them. ii. I have read the works of Shakespeare. They have inspired me greatly. iii. He is very fat. He cannot sit on the floor. iv. He is my brother. His name is George. d) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of any sentence. (8) i. For more information please contact your dealer. (Begin: Should .) ii. You will lose marks and you will be punished as well. (Begin: Not only ) iii. Order today and get heavy discounts. (Begin: If .) iv. I was running low on confidence. (Begin: My .) v. If my ears had been perfect, I would have heard the roar. (Begin: Had ) vi. Few poets write as well as Tennyson. (Begin: Tennyson ) vii. The policeman said to the man, I do believe you. (Begin: The policeman assured ..) viii. Her voice irritates me sometimes. (Begin: I )
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