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PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS 2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASS X M.M.: 80 All questions are compulsory. Marks will be deducted for untidy presentation. Q1 a) b) c) d) e) TIME: 2 Hours READING TIME: 10 mins. Write a composition (350-400 words) on any one of the following topics. (Do not spend more than 35 minutes on this question) Children today are growing increasingly intolerant, both of their surroundings and their parents. State the reasons you think might be the reasons for this behaviour giving personal examples to prove your point. Examination results are not a fair indication of a student s ability. State your views either for or against the given statement. Write a short story entitled: The Nightmare. Do you believe elderly people are always wise? Describe an incident to prove your point of view. Write a composition based on the following picture. You may interpret the picture in whatever way you wish, but there must be a clear connection between your composition and the picture. A mere description of the picture will be penalized. Q2 Write a letter on any ONE of the following.(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question). a) You are in charge of your school SUPW gardening project. Write a letter to the manager of a nursery in your town ordering plants and gardening equipment, telling him of your requirements. Request him for any other relevant information. b) Your friend has decided to drive a two wheeler despite being under age. Write a letter to him/her persuading him/her to drop the idea, giving reasons for the same. Q 3 Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Local residents have got fed up offering me lifts on the road to our hilltop bank and post office. As they drive up the steep road to Landour in third, or is it fourth, gear, they see me plodding along on foot and out of the goodness of their hearts stop and open the door for me. Although I hate to disappoint them, I close the door, thank them profusely and insist that I am enjoying my walk. They don t believe me, naturally, but with a shrug the driver gets into gear again and drives off, although sometimes they have trouble getting started, the hill being very steep. As I don t want to insult them by reaching the bank first, I sit in the parapet wall and make encouraging sounds till they finally take off. Then I renew my leisurely walk up the hill, taking note of the fact that wild geraniums and periwinkles have begun to flower and that the whistling thrushes are nesting under the culvert over which those very cars pass everyday. Most people, car drivers, anyway, think I am a little eccentric. So be it. I am probably eccentric. But having come to the Himalayan foothills over 25 years ago in order to enjoy walking among them, I am not going to stop now, just because everyone else has stopped walking. The hills are durable in their attractions, and my legs have proved durable too, so why should we not continue as before? The friends who walked beside me, like Ganesh who once took photographs, now have their shiny new cars or spacious vans, and seldom emerge from them unless it is to seek refreshment at some way side tea shop or caf . When I invite them to walk a few metres with me, they complain of breathlessness or of twinges in their hinges and rents in their ligaments. Now I m no fitness freak. I don t jog either. If I did, I would almost certainly miss the latest wildflower to appear on the hillside and I would not be able to stop a while and talk to other people on the road .villagers with their milk and vegetables, all weather postman, cheeky school children, inquisitive tourists or to exchange greetings with cats, stray cows and runaway mules. Runaway mules are friendly creatures except to their owners. I chat with the owners too when they come charging up the road. I try to put them in good humour so as to save the mules from a beating. Most of the people I have mentioned are walkers from necessity. Those who walk for pleasure grow fewer by the day. I don t mean long distance trekkers or high altitude climbers, who are almost professional in their approach to roads and mountains. I mean people such as myself who are no great athletes but who enjoy sauntering through woods on a frosty morning, or leaving the main road and slithering down hill into a bed of ferns or following a mountain stream to reach the small spring where it begins. But no, everyone must have a destination in mind, for this is the age of destinations, be it the Taj Mahal, the casino at Cannes, or the polar cap. I glanced into a best selling book of records the other day and my eye alighted on an entry which stated that somebody s grandmother had knitted a scarf that was over 20 miles long! Where was it going, I wondered, and who would be wearing it? The book didn t say. It was just another destination, another first to be recorded. a) Five words or phrases are given below. Give the meanings of each as used in the passage. Only one word or short phrases will be accepted. 5 mks i) plodding ii) eccentric iii) iv) v) durable professional slithering b) Answer the following questions in your own words. i) Why do you think the local residents stop and offer lifts to the author? ii) Why does the author not stop walking even though everyone else has? iii) What evidence is there that the author is healthier than his car owning friends? iv) Why does the author not jog? v) What does the author mean by the age of destinations ? Do you agree with his view? Give a reason to support your answer. c) In not more than 60 words, mention the various activities the author enjoyed while he walked around the hills of Landour. Also give a title to your summary and a reason for choosing the title. Q4 (a) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Do not alter the meaning of the sentences. i) As soon as we reached home, it started raining. ( begin-Hardly) ii) I didn t know he was so quarrelsome and now I m sorry that I invited him. (Begin-If I had .) iii) If you don t report on time, your application will be rejected. (BeginUnless ..) iv) If you are short of money, I can lend you some. Aunt Vinnie said to me. (Rewrite without using inverted commas.) v) Rohit is the only person capable of being the head boy. ( Use capability ) vi) Sunil is the fastest runner in the school. (End- Sunil.) b)Join the following pairs of sentences without using and or but . i) Mr. Verma is a poet. He is also an athlete. ii) Janet is Miss Betty s maid. Janet helped David. iii) They could hardly hear each other. It was very noisy. iv) Harry asked me a question. I was unable to answer it. c)Fill in the blanks with a single appropriate word. Do not copy the sentences. i) This unruly behaviour is uncalled ________. ii) All the boys trooped ________ the hall. iii) The noblemen were appreciative ______ the Queen s generosity. iv) The teacher was very annoyed _____ the child s obstinacy. v) This essay seems no different ______ the one you submitted last year. vi) A wise man does not distinguish ________ poverty and wealth. vii) It has been a long time _______ I met my sister. viii) Before vacating the room, Ram disposed ____ all his household items. d) Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the word. Do not copy the passage but number the words correctly. 4 mks When I was young, my grandmother always __1___ (go) to school with me as the school ___2_____ (attach) to the temple. The priest at the temple ___3___ (teach) us the alphabet. While the children recited the alphabet, my grandmother sat inside ____4___ (read) the scriptures. After I ____5____ (finish) studying, we __6__ (walk) back together. Sometimes the village stray dogs ___7____(follow) us, waiting for the leftover chapattis we __8___(carry). e)Fill in the blanks with the correct word from the words given in brackets. i) The two brothers _________ each other. (compliment, complement) ii) Only his closest _____________ knew about his illness. (confident, confidant) iii) Don t ___________ your patience. (loose, lose) iv) The Bahais were ________ for their religious beliefs. (persecuted, prosecuted) __________________________________________________________________
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