Advancing Knowledge, Transforming Lives…
Subject:English
SYJC Test Paper (C) Marks:80
Chapter:Full(Prelim–3)
Date:01/02/2015
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Section A ‐ Prose
(Reading skill, Grammar, Note‐making and Summary) Q.1 (A) Read the following extract and answer the questions given below: (11M) During a holiday break, Dell’s parents told him that they were concerned about his grades. “If you want to start a business, do it after you get your degree,” his father pleaded. Dell agreed, but in college he felt the opportunity of a lifetime passing him by. “I couldn’t bear to miss this chance.” He says, after one month he started computers again – with a vengeance. The quarter he shared with two roommates was in chaos – boxes pilled high, computer boards and tools scattered around. One day his roommates heaped all his magnitude of what he had created. The business was now growing moiré than $50,000 a month. Dell confused to his parents that he was still in the computer business. They wanted to know how classes were going. “I have to quit college, “he replied. “I want to start my own company.” “What exactly is it that you want to do?” asked his father. “Compute with IBM,” he answered simply. Now his parents were really worried. But no matter what they said. Dell insisted. So they made a deal; over summer vacation he would try to launch a computer company. If he didn’t succeed, it would be back to university. Dell risked all his savings and incorporated Dell Computer Corp on May 3, 1984. He was 19. Under a deadline, his pace was frantic. He rented a one‐room office on a month‐to‐month lease and hired his first employee, a 28‐year‐old manager to handle finance and admission. For advertising, he grabbed an empty box and on the back, sketched the first ad for Dell Computer. A friend copied it onto paper and took it to the newspaper. Dell still specialized in direct marketing stripped‐down IBM PCs to which he added custom features. As order came in, Dell rushed around gathering up the right parts to assemble each order. First month sales trapped $180,000; the second $265,000, Dell barely noticed when the new college year arrived. Questions: (1) What were Dell’s parents concerned about? (2) What was the deal between Dell and his parents? (3) How did display the first ad of his company? (4) Do you think Dell’s father was right in asking him to start his business after he got his degree? (5) Do as directed: (i) Under a deadline, his pace was frantic. (Rewrite as a complex sentence) (ii) Dell confessed to his parents that he was still in the computer business. (Rewrite using the noun form of the underlined word) (iii) “What exactly is it that you want to do?”asked his father. (Rewrite in indirect speech) PNEducarePage1
(6) Give the adjective forms of the following words: (i) chaos (ii) opportunity (B) Grammar: (Do as directed :) (4M) (1) My father was IAS officer and he always performed his duties in perfect way. (Use appropriate articles) (2) Look said the boy I can see the peacock dancing near the bushes (Punctuate the sentence) (3) It (stop) raining, by the time I (come) out. (Use the correct tense form of the verbs in brackets) (4) 6 p.m. he has tuitions 2 hours. (Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions) Q.2 (A) Read the following passage and answers the questions given below: (11M) Two days later Sheku was still without his bullock although he had wandered far and wide, tried everywhere. He went home and slumped exhausted to the floor. ‘It was useless,’ he told his wife. Sheku’s better half was a strapping woman, standing head and shoulders above all other women and half the men in the village. In the fields she did a man’s work. ‘Whom did you ask?’ she inquired for her husband. He was sitting there motionless, face buried in the hands, utterly dejected. ’All over the village. No one is prepared to give a bullock.’ ‘What is to be done now?’ ‘We shall starve to death, that’s all – kick up our heels and starve!’ The women listened to her husband; saw the look in his eye‐like that of a lamp which has nearly run out of oil. ‘We start sowing tomorrow!’ she said bravely. ‘What about the bullock?’ ‘I shall get one.’ ‘Where from.’ ‘From wherever I please…’ ‘But –‘ ‘What business is it of yours? I shall get the bullock. Just you go across to the field tomorrow morning. That’s all.’ Sheku racked his brain; where was his wife going to find the bullock? In the morning he hoisted the plough on his shoulder and set off in the directions of his field, leading his solitary bullock with the free hand. Once there, he turned his face towards the village and sat down on the embankment to await the arrival of his wife. After an hour or so he was her, she was alone. Sheku’s face fell: ‘The woman took a wager, but she was not able to procure a bullock. There will be no sowing now. A bullock might become available after others have done their sowing. What good will that do? The crop will be poor n any case, not as usual and if the crop does not yield enough grain for a full year we must starve; or roam from place to place in search of work…..’ Sheku had made utterly miserable by his brooding when his strapping spouse reached his side. Questions: (1) What was the look in Sheku’s eyes? (2) What did Sheku do when this reached his field? (3) ‘Sheku’s face fell,’ what does this mean? Why did it happen? (4) Compare the attitudes of Sheku and his wife. PNEducarePage2
(5) Do as directed: (i) He went home, and slumped exhausted to the floor. (Rewrite as a simple sentence) (ii) Two days later, Sheku was still without his bullock. (Rewrite the sentence using ‘have’) (iii) A bullock might become available after others have done their sowing. (Find out the modal auxiliary and state what it denotes) (6) Give one word from the extract for the following: (a) extremely tired (b) think anxiously (B) Note‐making: Read the following passage carefully and make notes in the form of a tree diagram. (4M) Heat is an important form of energy. In our homes, we use heat in many ways. Heat warms our homes and cooks our food. It also provides hot water, dries the laundry and makes electric light bulbs give off light. In industry, the uses of heat are almost endless. Heat is used to separate metals form their ores and to refine crude oil. It has plenty of uses in metallurgy. Heat is also used in the processing of foods, glass, paper and many other products. The heat from the sun provides solar energy, that supports human life, the life of the animals and also helps plants to make food through the process of synthesis.
Q.3 (A) Read the following passage and answer the questions given below: (11M) High up above the world, in the extreme North of Uttar Pradesh, the clouds swirl down to touch the Himalayas, smattering them with affectionate layers of fresh snow. Over the years, the snow has accumulated into thick layers. This is Uttara Khand – the abode of sages and seers, munis and mahamunis, rishis and maharishis. This is Tapobhoomi – the land for meditation and penance and the birth place of row of our most sacred rivers‐ the Yamunaand the Ganga.The Yamuna and the Ganga hurtle down steep canyons and deep ravines, cross the plains, unite at Allahabad to become the mighty Ganga which finds solace in the oceans. In its long journey, the Ganga drains 9, 75,900 sq. km of land –
roughly a fourth of the country. It imparts fertility and prosperity to 300 million people making the Gangetic plain one of the most fertile and densely populated regions in the world. Questions: (1) What is Uttara Khand? (2) How does the Ganga river become mighty? (3) In what way is the Ganga useful to the people? (4) Why is the Gangetic plain densely populated? (5) Do as directed: (i) The Ganga drains 9,75,900 sq. km. of land. (Change the voice of the sentence) (ii) It is one of the most fertile regions in the world. (Change the degree of the sentence) (iii) The clouds swirl down to touch the Himalayas, smattering them with affectionate layers of fresh snow. (Change into a compound sentence) (6) Find out words from the passage which mean the following (a) living place (b) powerful (B) Summary: (4M) Write the summary of the above passage, adding s suitable title. PNEducarePage3
Section B: Poetry
Q.4 (A) Read the following stanzas and answers the questions given below: (4M) By this time, I felt very small And now my tears began to fall. I quietly went and knelt by her bed; “Wake up, little girl, wake up,” I said. “Are these the flowers you picked for me?” She smiled, “I found’em, out by the tree. I picked’em because they’re pretty like you. I knew you would like’em, especially the blue.” I said, “Daughter, I’m sorry for the way I acted today; I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way.” She said. “Oh, Mom, that’s okay, I love you anyway.” I said, “Daughter, I love you too, And I do like the flowers, especially the blue.”
Questions: (1) What did the poet do when she realized her mistake? (2) If you discovered that something you did was wrong, how would you make up for it? (3) Name the figure of speech in the following: ‘They are pretty like you.” (4) What is the effect of dialogues in the poem? (B) Read the following Stanzas and answer the questions given below: (4M) The banyan tree was three times tall as our house Its trunk had a circumference of fifty feet Its scraggly aerial roots fell to the ground From thirty feet or more so, first they cut the branches Sawing them off for seven days and the heap was huge Insects and birds began to leave the tree And then they came to its massive trunk Fifty men with axes chopped and chopped The great tree revealed its rings of two hundred years We watched in terror and fascination this slaughter as a raw mythology revealed to us its age Soon afterwards we left Baroda for Bombay Where there are no trees except the one Which grows and seethes in one’s dreams, its aerial roots Looking for Ground to strike.
Questions: (1) How does the poet describe the banyan tree? (2) Would you find disturbing to see a tree being cut? (3) Write down an example of repetition from the stanzas. (4) How is the banyan tree alive in the poet’s residence in Mumbai? PNEducarePage4
Section – C: Rapid Reading and Composition
Q.5 (A) Read the following extract. Based on it, write an imaginary dialogue between Roma and the writer. (8‐10 sentences) (4M) Eventually, I made my way to England where I was sponsored by a Jewish charity, put u in a hostel with other boys who had survived the Holocaust and trained in electronics. Then I came to America, where my brother Sam had already moved. I served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, electronics repair shop. I was starting to settle in. One day, my friend Sid who I knew from England called me. “I’ve got a date. She’s got a Polish friend. Let’s double date.” A blind date? Nah, that wasn’t for me. But Sid kept pestering me and a few days later we headed up to the Bronx to pick up his date and her friend Roma. I had to admit, for a blind date this wasn’t so bad. Roma was a nurse at a Bronx hospital. She was kind and smart. Beautiful, too, with swirling brown curls and green, almond‐shaped eyes that sparked with life. The
four of us drove out of Coney Island. Roma was easy to talk to, easy to be with.
(B) (1) read the following extract and rewrite it as a continuous write‐up. (4M) “Miss Marple!” I exclaimed. “May I come in?” asked the pink lady. “Please come in, “said my mother. “Do sit down. Do you require a room?” “Not today, thank you. I’m staying with Padre Dutt. He insisted on putting me up. But I may want a room for a day or two – just for old times’ sake.” “You’ve stayed here before.” “A long time ago. I’m Mrs Green, you know. The missing Mrs. Green. The one for whom you put up that handsome tombstone in the cemetery. I was very touched by it. And I’m glad you didn’t add ‘Beloved wife of Henry Green’, because I didn’t love him any more than he loved me.” “Then – then – you aren’t the skeleton?” stammered my mother. “Do I look a skeleton?” “No!”, we said together. “But we heard you disappeared, “I said, “and when we found that skeleton.” “You put two and two together.” “Well, it was Miss Kellner who convinced us, “said my mother.” and you did disappear mysteriously. You were missing for years. And everyone knew Mr. Green was a Philanderer.” “Couldn’t wait to get away from him,” said the pink lady. “Couldn’t stand him anymore. he was a lady‐killer, but not a real killer.” “But your father came looking for you. Didn’t you getin touch with him?” “My father and I were never very close. Mother died when I was very young, and the only relative I had was a cousin in West Africa. So that’s where I went – Sierra Leone!” “How romantic!” said my mother. “It’s hot and steamy in Siera Leone, “said Mrs. Green. But the climate does wonder for your libido. I lived with a wonderful black man for several years.” “What happened to him?” I asked. “He was killed in a tribal war,” said Mrs. Green without any show of emotion. “It was a long time ago.” PNEducarePage5
OR (B) (2) Read the following extract. Extend it adding a short paragraph of your own. (about 120 words) So, Rosalind said goodbye to him, and waited impatiently for his return. Two o’clock came, however, but no Orlando and Rosalind began to feel angry and disappointed. Just then Oliver, Orlando’s elder brother, came running through the forest to their cottage. he held a blood‐stained hander chief in his hand, which he gave to Rosalind, saying that Orlando had sent it to her. ‘What has happened? What must we understand by this?’ cried Rosalind, full of fear to her lover’s safety. Oliver told them his story. He had searched for Orlando everywhere in the forest, he said, and at last, tired and hungry, he had fallen asleep under a tree. on his way from Rosalind’s cottage, Orlando had seen his brother lying asleep. A big snake had curled round Oliver’s neck and was just going to bite him when it saw Orlando and slipped away into a bush. And then Orlando saw that a hungry lion was waiting under the same bush, ready to kill Oliver as soon as he woke up. Orlando though of all his brother’s unkindness to him in the past. Why should he risk his own life to save this brother who had always been cruel to him? Twice he turned away to leave Oliver, but he had a kind and noble heart and at last decided that he could not leave his brother to die. So, he fought the lion. The fierce animal tore and bit his arm, but he managed to kill it. Oliver, wakened by the noise of the fight, saw that Orlando was risking his own life to save him. He was filled with shame at all his past unkindness to his young brother, and he begged Orlando to forgive him. Section –D: Writing Skills
Q.6 (A) Letter Writing: Write any one of the following letters: (4M) (1) Read the following advertisement and prepare a letter of application. (Do not give your bio‐data). Wanted Secretary Who can handle office routine independently,
Knows English, Hindi & Marathi Minimum typing speed 40 w.p.m. Experienced candidate will be preferred. Apply to: P.O. Box No. 3438, The Times of India, M.G. Road, Mumbai‐400001 OR (2) Write a letter to your best friend inviting him/ her to your residence in Mumbai to spend the summer vacation with you. (B) Tourist leaflet/ Appeal OR Report Writing/ Dialogue Writing: (4M) Write (any one) of the following items as directed: (1) Prepare a tourist leaflet on a sea side resort of your choice. You may consider the following points: PNEducarePage6
Emotion (Normal consideration) (feeling about or reaction to certain events or thoughts) Communica
tion Types pleasant love happiness unpleasant mixed words variety facial sounds expressions gesture anger contentment learnt form loneliness worry grief society heredity frown View section
make a fist yell Q.7 (A) Interview Questions: (4M) You are the chairman of your college cultural committee. Imagine that you have to interview a renowned social worker. Frame about 8 questions that you would like to ask, emphasizing the challenges faced by the person, his/her early days of life, inspiration, the nature of the social work, and advice to the youth etc. (B) Speech Writing: (3M) Prepare a speech about ‘The need and Importance of Reading English Newspaper daily’ as a means to improve one’s English language and general knowledge. PNEducarePage8