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PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2021 ENGLISH LANGUAGE Grade: 10 Time: 2 hours Date: 3.2.2021 Max. Marks: 80 Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately. You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes. This time is to be spent in reading the question paper. The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers. Attempt all five questions. The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ]. You are advised to spend not more than 30 minutes in answering Question 1 and 20 minutes in answering Question 2. Question 1 (Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this question.) Write a composition (300-350 words) on any one of the following: [20] a) It has often been said, Life is a journey, not a destination. Narrate an important event in the journey of your life. What did it teach you that you can implement in the future? b) Try as we might to avoid them, accidents do take place. Describe a time when you were involved in an accident. Where and how did it take place? Describe the sights and sounds in the aftermath of the accident. What was the outcome? c) Technological development has destroyed family life. Express your views either for or against this statement. d) Write an original short story titled: A Strange Visitor. Page 1 of 5 e) Study the picture given below. Write a story or a description or an account of what it 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.) Select one of the following: [10] a) Write a letter to the librarian of your school apologizing for the loss of a book you had borrowed and asking for details of the book so that it can be replaced. b) You were at a mall one evening when you saw a small child crying. Write a letter to your friend narrating the efforts you made to locate the child s parents. Describe the reaction of the parents and the child when your efforts met with success. How did this incident make you feel? Question 3 [5+5] a) Your school is organizing an inter school quiz competition. Write a notice inviting students of middle and senior school to participate in the competition. b) Write an email to the principal of a neighbouring school, requesting him / her to send a team to participate in the quiz competition. Page 2 of 5 Question 4 Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow: [20] It was market-day in the town. Hauchecorne had just arrived and was making his way towards the square when he perceived on the ground a little piece of string. His strong economical self reflected that everything which could be of some use was worth picking up. He stooped down, took the bit of string and was carefully preparing to roll it up when he saw Malandin staring at him. Malandin, the harness-maker, bore malice against him after a petty quarrel they had had some time ago. Hauchecorne felt extremely ashamed at being seen by a foe picking up a string from the road. He quickly hid it in his shirt and then pretended to be still looking for something on the ground which he had lost. Finally, he moved on. The throng in the market chattered and bargained. By noon, the inn was filled with diners. The folks exchanged news about the crops, and a consensus was reached on the point that the weather was good for green stuff, but too wet for grain. Suddenly, the public crier s drum silenced all. In his shrill and jerky voice, he announced, Be it known that there has been lost this morning on the market road, a black pocketbook containing five hundred francs and business papers. If found, return it to the Mayor s office. Later that afternoon, corporals arrested Hauchecorne and took him to the Mayor. He was told that Malandin had seen him pick up something from the road that morning. Reddening with anger, the old man replied, Ah! He saw me, did he? He saw me picking up this string here! He showed the string. His protestations were in vain; he was not believed. Finally, he was searched. Nothing was found on him. At last, the Mayor, much perplexed, sent him away. The news spread like wildfire. When he left the Mayor s office, he was mocked at and shunned. He passed on, trying to tell his side of the story to everyone he met, but sadly he met only unbelievers. The next day, the pocketbook and its contents were returned by a farmer to the Mayor, who said that his farm hand had found it. Hauchecorne was triumphant and began to relate his story again. He was at ease now and yet something worried him. People had an ironic look while they listened to him. They did not seem convinced. The next week, everyone turned heels upon him at the marketplace. He grew more and more uneasy. Did they all truly believe him to be a rogue? He understood their reasoning at last. They accused him of having had the pocketbook brought back by an accomplice, after a witness was discovered and he was arrested. He went home indignant, choking with rage and confusion, cast down with shame. He was conscious that his innocence was impossible to be established now that he had been labelled a liar. He kept on telling his tale of the piece of string, adding more sacred oaths, more energetic declarations of his innocence. But the more he argued, the less he was believed. Page 3 of 5 The isolation and condemnation preyed upon him. His mind kept growing weaker. He fell sick and a few weeks later passed away, the piece of string still in his pocket. a) Four words are given below. Give the meaning of each as used in the passage. One-word answers or short phrases will be accepted. (4) 1. 2. 3. 4. perceived stooped quarrel throng b) Answer the following questions in your own words: 1. Why did Hauchecorne pick up the string? Why was he embarrassed after doing that? (2) 2. Why was Hauchecorne arrested? (2) 3. How did people react to Hauchecorne after he was released? Why? (2) 4. Quote the statement from the passage which explains the impact this incident 5. had on Hauchecorne. (1) What happened to Hauchecorne in the end? (1) c) In not more than 50 words, summarise how one insignificant event changed Hauchecorne s life. (8) Question 5 a) In the following passage, fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets. Do not copy the passage, but write in correct serial order the word or phrase appropriate to the blank space: (4) Example: (0): descended Hordes of grasshoppers (0) _________ (descend) on the ripening fields of wheat, months before one of the most brutal massacres of the 20th century (1) _______ (unleash), in which half a million Armenians (2) _________ (slaughter) by the Ottoman Empire, because of their minority Christian faith. The village elders (3) ______ (see) in the arrival of the grasshoppers a bad omen. It (4) _____ (be) from this premonition of impending catastrophe that Arundhati Roy (5) ________ (derive) the title of her new volume of essays, Listening to Grasshoppers . But it (6) _____ (be) on India that the book is focused. In her words, the Gujarat riots of 2002 (7) Page 4 of 5 _____ (warn) us that the wheat is ripening and the grasshoppers (8) _______ (land) in India . b) Fill in the blanks with appropriate words: (4) 1. Slavery still exists ____ certain tribes. 2. All religions teach us the virtue ___ truth. 3. The four neighbours always argued ______ each other. 4. I go jogging _____ the beach every morning. 5. One should never try to live _____ one s means. 6. Although India pretends to be a democracy, it has been hollowed out and emptied ____ meaning. 7. I agree ____ the views expressed in her essays. 8. He got ____ the ladies compartment by mistake. c) Join the following sentences to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so: (4) 1. The contractor returned. He inspected the house he had constructed. 2. India is a tourist s paradise. It offers many comforts to foreigners. 3. He was poor. I helped him. 4. Wise men speak very little. Fools talk a lot. d) Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence: (8) 1. The Times is the most powerful paper in England. [Begin: No other ] 2. It was not easy to get an application form because of the long waiting list. [Begin: The long waiting list ] 3. They asked me if I would go with them. [Begin: They said, ...] 4. It is not easy to succeed in baking a good cake. [Use: successful] 5. You will not succeed unless you work harder. [Begin: If ] 6. Life is so precious that it cannot be wasted in quarrels. [Use: too] 7. No sooner did the match begin than it started raining heavily. [Begin: Hardly ] 8. My father showed me a collection of stamps. [Begin: I was ] Page 5 of 5
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