AHSEC| CLASS 11| ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH| QUESTION PAPER - 2017| H.S. 1ST YEAR
2017
ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH
Full Marks: 100
Time: 3 hours
The figures in the margin indicate
full marks for the questions
UNIT – I
(Reading an Unseen Passage
and a Poem)
1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
When summer came, the sun hit Madras with a ferocity that made
people flee the city. Rich people went away to the hill stations like
Kodaikanal and Ootacamund. For me the retreat would be where my parents lived.
My father was the headmaster of a government high school at Chennapatna in
Mysore State which could be reached by a night’s journey on one train to
Bangalore, and then on by another one, a slow puffing train which passed
through a rocky landscape. My grandmother generally escorted me to Chennapatna
when my school closed for summer, but she wasted nearly three weeks of my
vacation in preparation for the trip. Her particular preoccupation at this time
was the making of various sun-dried edibles out of rice and pulses, which would
be fried and used as a side dish all through the year. She would also soak
certain green legumes in salt water and sun-dry them for use out of season all
through the year. All this was an elaborate ceremony, planned weeks ahead from
February, when the air was a little damp. “In about ten days after the Shiva
Rathri festival, there will be no mist and in must get things ready”, she would
say cataloguing several items of preparation; first shopping for the spices and
pulses. Fortunately, we had a cooperative consumer store occupying a whole wing
of our home, which we could reach by a side door beyond the bathroom. Actually
our house was one big unit which my grandmother had partitioned and rented out
to different offices and stores and families, keeping only a kitchen, living
room and my uncle’s upstairs room, for our own use. I did not realise at that
time how much she depended on the rents for our survival. (Para 1)
My grandmother would select a quiet afternoon for visiting the store
with her indent. When In returned home from school the floor would be strewn
with gunny sacks and paper parcels. Somehow the sight of it filled me with
delight. But when my uncle came home from college and noticed this activity, he
frowned and made unpleasant comments, which upset my grandmother. She would
retort hotly, and my uncle would say something more pointed in reply. I never
made out what they said or argued about, although I watched and studied their
faces keenly by turns, and tried to read a meaning. I only understood when she
mentioned ‘Gnana’, which was my mother’s name. My grandmother would say, “Can’t
go barehanded, I have to give Gnana something. She can’t prepare anything
herself; she is so sick and week.” My uncle was a devoted brother to my mother
and would not carry his objections further but, murmuring something vaguely,
would disappear up the staircase. (Para 2)
My grandmother would soon have a battalion of helpers around the
house, pounding and sifting and grinding and mixing and kneading on a large
scale-her helpers were her friends, admirers, tenants, and paid servants. The
house resounded with a variety of orchestration-the iron clad pounder crushing,
the swish of winnows, the ceaseless roar of the grinding stone, and the chatter
of people over it all. Grandmother would have pulled out great rolls of palmyra
mats and spread them out on the terrace. Differently shaped edibles would issue
from little brass hand-pressers, and be set on the mats, and left there to dry
in the blazing sun; she allotted the task by turns to the younger members of
her following to watch with stick in hand for crows and to drive them off. When
my turn came, I sat in a strip of shade all afternoon and scared away the crows
by screaming at them, and was rewarded with an anna at the end of the day.
Apart from the money, I rewarded myself, in the course of my watch, by peeling
the half-dry stuff of the mat and eating it raw till I felt ill. My uncle
ignored the turmoil in the house, averted his head, and preferred to make no
comment whenever he passed the terrace; but my grandmother fried some of her
product for him at the end of the day, and he relished it when I carried a
plate to his room. (Para 3)
Eventually jars and containers would be filled and stored away for
distribution at the appropriate time to various members of the family living
far and near. My mother’s share would be particularly heavy. “Poor thing, so
many child-births, so sickly, can’t do a thing for herself”, my grandmother
would keep saying to her friends. “She needs more help than anyone else. She’s
helpless if I don’t help.” (Para 4)
My grandmother’s preoccupations were several and concerned a great
many others. She was a key figure in the lives of many. She was versatile and
helpful. She was also a match-maker; she pored over horoscopes and gave advice
and used her influence to get marriages settled. I always picture her with a little spade or
pruning sheers in hand, for all her spare moments were spent in the garden. She
would carry on discussions on vital matters with her friends while her hands
were busy trimming off unwanted branches. Some days, mostly in the evening,
someone would be brought in howling with pain from a scorpion bite. Granny
would first tell the person to remain quiet; then she would go to the backyard
and pluck the leaves of a weed growing on an untended wall, crush it between
her fingers, squeeze its juice on the spot where the scorpion had stung, and
then make the sufferer also chew the bitter leaves. If the victim made a wry
face, she would remark, “This leaf is Sanjeevini, mentioned in the Ramayana. It
can save you even from the venom of the darkest cobra. Don’t make that face. Go
on, swallow it.” (Para 5)
a) State True or False: 1/2x4=2
i. The writer belongs to a rich family.
ii. The grandmother used Sanjeevini to make edibles.
iii. The writer’s uncle was jealous of the writer’s mother.
iv. The grandmother depended on the rents she received from her tenants
for her survival.
b)
What were the mats on which the
edibles were spread out to dry made of? 1
c) Where was the grocery shop
from which the grandmother bought her provisions located? 1
d)
With what did the grandmother
make the edibles she prepared at home?
1
e) Where did the writer’s father stay? 1
f) Why was the grandmother
partial towards the writer’s mother?
2
g) List any four
preoccupations of the writer’s grandmother.
2
2. Read the poem given below and on the
basis of your reading, answer the questions that follow:
The
Shepherd
How sweet is the
Shepherd’s sweet lot!
From the morn to
the evening he strays;
He shall follow
his sheep all the day,
And his tongue
shall be filled with praise.
For he hears the
lamb’s innocent call,
And he hears the
ewe’s tender reply;
He is watchful while
they are in peace,
For they know when
their Shepherd is nigh.
a) Why does the poet consider
the Shepherd’s lot sweet? 2
b)
Mention some of the sounds that
the Shepherd hears. 1
c) What makes the sheep feel
at peace? 1
d)
What does the Shepherd’s tongue
speak of? 1
UNIT
– II
(Poetry and Prose)
3. Answer either (a) or (b):
a) For oft, when on my couch
I lie
In vacant or in
pensive mood,
They flash upon
that inward eye
Which is the bliss
of solitude;
i. Who is the ‘I’ referred to in the above lines? 1
ii. Who are the ‘they’ referred to in the above lines? 1
Or
What does ‘inward eye’ mean?
1
iii. Why is the poet in a ‘vacant’ and ‘pensive’ mode? 3
Or
Describe the scene that flashes through the poet’s inward eye. 3
b)
For he suddenly smote on the
door, even
Louder, and lifted
his head:-
“Tell them I came,
and no one answered,
That I kept my
word,” he said.
i. Who is the ‘he’ mentioned in the above lines? 1
ii. Why did he smote on the door ‘even louder’?
Or
Who is the ‘them’ referred to in the above lines? 1
iii. Why do you think the ‘I’ had visited the place? Was he able to
achieve his purpose? 3
Or
Describe in your own words the place where ‘I’ goes to meet
‘them’. 3
4. Answer any one of the following
questions in about 80 words: 5
a) Describe in your own words
the Autumn season as described by Faiz Ahmed Faiz in When Autumn Came.
b)
State the differences Gabriel
Okara brings out between the way people used to greet each other in the past
and now.
5. Answer any three of the following
within 25 words each: 2x3=6
a) Describe in your own words
the sight that Wordsworth sees when he is wandering around ‘lonely as a cloud’.
b)
For what does the poet pray to
the God of May?
c) Write in your own words a
description of the Listeners.
d)
What is the difference between
how people laughed once upon a time and now?
6. Answer any two of the following in
about 30 words each: 3x2=6
a) How are the birds affected
when Autumn comes?
b)
What are some of those ‘muting
things’ which Gabriel Okara says he wants to unlearn in Once Upon a Time?
c) How does Wordsworth
personify the daffodils?
7. Answer any three of the following in
1 sentence each: 1x3=3
a) With what does Wordsworth
compare the daffodils?
b)
What does Faiz Ahmed Faiz mean
by the ‘gift of green’?
c) Who accompanies the poet
on his visit to meet the Listeners?
d)
List any two of the different
kinds of face that the poet has learnt to wear.
8. Answer either (a) or (b):
a) Some of us might be
familiar with the simile about the ship that is losing one nut at a time … each
step does not seem to be a significant loss in itself, but lose enough of them
and the ship is surely going to sink.
i. What is being compared to a ship?
1
ii. In this comparison, what do the ‘nuts’ refer to? 1
iii. Do you consider this comparison apt? Justify your answer. 3
b)
There is a danger of the world
getting liberty-drunk in these days like the old lady with the basket, and it
is just as well to remind ourselves what the rule of the road means.
i. What according to the writer does ‘rule of the road’ mean? 1
ii. What does ‘liberty-drunk’ mean?
1
iii. Narrate the incident of the ‘old lady with the basket’ which led the
writer on to make this comment.
9. Attempt a character sketch of any one
of the following in about 80 words:
5
a) Mrs. Bouncer
b)
Mr. Cox
c) Pyotr Petrovich Milkin
10. Answer any two of the following
within 25 words each: 2x2=4
a) How does Mrs. Bouncer
explain the smoke in the room?
b)
What do you understand by
‘charismatic animals’?
c) What is a blue book? Why
does the writer read it?
d)
Why did everyone expect Pyotr
to marry Anastasia?
11. Answer any two of the following
questions within 30 words each:
3x2=6
a) What were the topics
discussed by the men who boarded the railway carriage that the writer was
travelling in?
b)
What ‘device’ does Pyotr decide
to use to avoid getting hitched to Anastasia?
c) Who is Seattle? What
message does he share with the people on economic development and conservation
of biodiverse life?
d)
How does Cox explain the word
grumble to Mrs. Bouncer? What are some of the things he grumbles about?
12. Give the meaning of any five of the
following words: 1x5=5
a) Biodiversity
b)
Genetic
c) Biopiracy
d)
Conservation
e) Ecology
f) Patent
g) Sustenance
UNIT
– III
(Grammar)
13. Make sentences with any two pairs of
words to illustrate the difference in meaning between them. 2x2=4
Accept, except; holy, wholly; rein, reign; fair, fare; band, banned;
air, heir.
14. Fill in the blanks with the suitable
form of the verbs given in the brackets (any three): 1x3=3
a) As soon as she _____
(arrive) please bring her to my office.
b)
I enjoy ______ (watch) a good
movie.
c) I ______ (study) English for
six years now.
d)
I ______ (return) from Shimla
last night.
e) He would have done it if you _____ (tell)
him so.
f) This teacher ______
(teach) in this school for ten years.
g) Did you ______ (see) him
yesterday?
h)
They are ______ (get) their
house painted soon.
15. Add tag questions to the following
(any four): 1/2x4=2
a) Rahim can cope with the
situation, ______?
b)
Ram knows that his father is in
the hospital, ______?
c) You weren’t listening,
______?
d)
I don’t think anyone will
volunteer ______?
e) You have got a camera, ______?
f) Sita would like to get a
scholarship, _______?
g) He won’t mind if I use his
phone, _______?
16. Fill in the blanks with the
appropriate prepositions (any six):
1/2x6=3
a) I come _____ a big family.
b)
What is this called _______
English?
c) No evil can happen ______
a good man.
d)
It is you who are to blame
_____ your mistakes.
e) Throw the ball _____ the wicket.
f) Man doesn’t live _____
bread alone.
g) Women wear necklaces _____
their neck.
17. Fill in the blanks with the
appropriate articles where necessary (any six): 1/2 x6=3
a) She bought _____ expensive
necklace.
b)
He went on a holiday tour to
_____ Andaman’s.
c) They went for _____ walk.
d)
The Taj Mahal is in _____ city
of Agra.
e) He is _____ MA in History.
f) She is wearing _____ white
skirt.
g) _____ Brahmaputra floods
every year.
18. Identify five nouns and five
adjectives in the sentence given below:
1/2x10=5
In Japan, some
people grow miniature trees that have a famous history and an important place
in horticultural art.
UNIT
– IV
(Creative Writing Skill)
19. Write a paragraph of about 180 to
200 words on any one of the following:
8
a) India’s performance in
international sports
b)
Your favorite festival
c) Rhino poaching
d)
My grandmother
20. Write a substance of Para 1 of the
passage given in Question No. 1
7
Or
Develop a story from the given outline: 7
Boys playing near pond-sees frogs playing inside it-picks up
stones-throws at frogs-competes with each other-who could hit most frogs-some
rocks hit hard-frogs die. Finally one frog says-stop-fun for you-death for us.
***
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