UNIT – I: READING AN UNSEEN PASSAGE AND A POEM
1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
Some insect societies, at first glance, look like a well-run human city in operation. But, actually, there is very little similarity between a group of insects and a group of humans. (Para 1)
In the insect city there are no private homes. Everything is operated as though everything, even the young, belonged to everyone. Humans have tried that sort of living, but haven’t been able to make it work. Humans like to get off by themselves from time to time and have things that are theirs alone – like babies and books and homes. (Para 2)
In the insect city, most things happen automatically as though all the insects were cogs in some sort of machine. In a human city, every person is different, working differently (or not working at all) and the city operates because thousands of people are doing thousands of jobs for thousands of reasons and not just to survive – the one reason that keeps an insect city going. (Para 3)
But perhaps the most important difference between the insect cities and human cities is even deeper. There are no churches in insect cities, no art galleries, no schools. Beauty and faith and the way of thinking that humans have is not a part of insect life. (Para 4)
So, when people say that we can learn many things from watching insect cities they are right. But what we can learn is not about human cities, it is just about insect cities.
Remembering that, let’s look at some insect cities, for they are fascinating.
An ant colony is a good place to start. Ants live almost everywhere on the earth, and their colonies or cities are pretty easy to find and watch. But because most cities are under the ground, it takes special effort to see everything that goes on.
The time to start looking for what happens in an ant colony is during the summer when the ants are ready to start having new families. This is the time of year when the ants have wings.
On a certain day (which changes all the time) all the ants in a particular area of many square miles leave their old homes and swarms of them start to fly about in the air. These are the male and female ants, and while they are flying they separate into pairs to mate and make eggs. The ant couple will come together in the air and some of the cells from the male will be taken into the body of the female. After the male has landed back on the ground he usually dies. The female, however, starts looking for a place to set up a nest of her own. While she does this she loses her wings. If they don’t drop off, she chews them off. From the day of the swarming in the air, the ants are earthbound.
When the female ant finds a likely spot for her nest, she digs a pit for herself and settles down. Within a few days she has begun to produce eggs. The eggs hatch and produce larvae which the ant mother feeds. The larvae spin their tiny cocoons and go into the pupa stage. Within just a few weeks, the pupa stage is over, and fully developed ants appear.
It is very fortunate for the ant mother that by now some new ants have come along to help her. Until this point she alone has had the entire job of caring for the eggs and feeding the larvae. But the new workers, her own children, immediately begin to help. They do the job of getting food into the nest and they even start building a better nest which depending upon the particular kind of ant involved, may take the form of a series of passages under the ground, or tunnels in a log or perches on leaves. From this time on, the female that started the nest has no other job but to produce eggs.
Gathering or producing the food for the ant city is one of the most amazing things done by any insects. There are ants that simply go out and gather seeds to eat, but there are others that actually have farms, others that raise insects the way humans raise cows and others that go hunting.
You might never guess that some ants grow tiny farms and grow them just as carefully and with as much skill as human farmers. It took many years of careful watching before scientists discovered this. Before that, when a few people said that some ants farmed crops, everybody laughed. Impossible, they said. And yet it is true, and here is how and where it happens.
The farmer ants live far, far to the South of the United States. They live in the tropical climate of South America. If you were there to watch these amazing ants, you could hardly miss them. When they go about their business, they go about it by the millions. Out they come from their nest. They march in a broad column and use the same path over and over. If it is through thick grass, the grass is actually trampled down by the marching of the million of ants, despite the fact that each ant is only about as long as your fingernail. This well-trampled path goes straight to the trees from which the ants are taking leaves. Up the trees they go. They work like a well-trained army, each ant heading straight for a leaf with no nonsense and no hesitation.
i) State True or False: (½ x 4 = 2)
a) Every insect is different in an insect city.
-> True
b) People work only for survival.
Ans. False
c) Eggs-> pupae-> larvae-> ant.
Ans. False
d) By studying ant colonies we can also learn about human cities.
Ans. False
ii) What is the most important difference between insect cities and human cities? (1mark)
-> The most important difference between insect cities and human cities is that in the insect cities there are no churches, no art galleries, no school as the human cities have.
iii) Where do the farmer ants live? (1mark)
-> The farmer’s art lives in the tropical climate of South America.
iv) How do the female ants lose their wings? (2marks)
-> After mating the female ants tail some of the cells from the male ant into her body. Then she starts looking for a place to set up a nest of her own; she loses her wings while she does this. In case if these wings do not drop off, she chews them.
v) Mention some tasks carried out by ants in their colonies. (2marks)
-> Some tasks carried out by ants in their colonies are-
a) Gathering or producing the food for the ant city.
b) Some ants have tiny farms where they raise insects the way humans raise their cows.
c) The female ants set up a nest of her own and lay eggs.
vi) Who helps the mother ant tend to her larvae? How do they help? (2marks)
-> The new ant i.e. the ants children help the mother ant tend to her larvae. They help the mother ant in getting the food into the nest and they even build a better nest, depending upon the particular kind of ant involved.
2. Read the poem given below and on the basis of your reading answer the questions that follow:
ANSWER TO A CHILD’S QUESTION
Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, the dove,
The Linnet and the thrush say, “I love and I love!”
In the winter they are silent – the wind is so strong;
What it says I don’t know, but it sings a loud song.
But green leaves and blossoms and sunny warm weather,
And singing and loving – all come back together.
But the lark is so brimful of gladness and love,
The green fields below him, the blue sky above,
That he sings and he sings and forever sings him –
“I love my love and my love loves me!”
i) What is the question that the child asks? (1mark)
-> The child asks the question what the child said.
ii) List the various birds mentioned by the poet? (1mark)
-> The various birds mentioned by the poet are the sparrow, the dove, the linnet and the thrush.
iii) What does the poet say about the wind’s song? (1mark)
-> About the wind song, the poet says that the wind is so strong that he cannot understand what it says but it sings a loud song.
iv) What accompanies sunny warm weather? (1mark)
Ans. The sunny warm weather is accompanied with green leaves, blossoms, singing and loving.
v) What does the lark sing about? (1mark)
-> The lark sings about his love that he loves his love and his love loves him.
UNIT – II: POETRY
3. Answer either A or B.
A. Oh, God of May have Mercy,
Bless these withered bodies
With the passion of your resurrection
Make their dead veins flow with bold again.
a) Whose ‘withered bodies’ is the poet referring to? (1mark)
-> The poet is referring to the “withered bodies” of the trees during autumn season.
b) What mercy is the poet seeking? (1mark)
-> The poet is seeking for the mercy of the god of many to the withered bodies so that they can get back their life.
Or
What blessing is the poet asking for? (1mark)
c) Describe in your own words the lifeless trees of autumn. (3marks)
-> During autumn season the condition of the trees is pitiable. They are stripped down to the skin and their ebony and naked. Their leaves turned yellow and fell all over the ground. No birds can be seen on the trees.
Or
How does the poet personify autumn in the lines quoted above? (3marks)
-> These lines have been taken from the poem “When Autumn Came” composed by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Through this stanza the poet prays to the God of spring to have mercy on the trees and to bless them with a new life. The poet prays to the God of May (spring) to revive the revolutionaries and to rekindle their dead bodies. The poet prays to God for life, regeneration, happiness and shared prosperity so that the exploited trees can be brought back to life again. The poet wants to see vegetation full of life again and coming back to colorful days among those victims of exploitation. The poet feels that a classless society is the need of the hour.
Or
B. So I have learnt many things son,
I have learned to wear many faces
Like dresses – home face,
Office face, street face, host face
Cocktail face, with all their conforming smiles
Like a fixed portrait smile.
a) From which poem are the above lines taken? (1mark)
-> The above lines are taken from the poem “Once upon a time”.
b) What does ‘cocktail face’ mean? (1mark)
-> “Cocktail face” means a face which we show to the people or a face with a mask.
Or
What does ‘wear many faces like dresses’ mean? (1mark)
-> “Wearing many faces like dresses’ means changing faces in different places along with different persons. Those faces act as a mask behind the real face.
c) Why has the poet learnt to wear many faces? (3mark)
-> The poet has learned to wear many faces because of the changing behavioral pattern of the people. Those different faces are the mask behind the real faces. So he wears those faces to hide his originality and to cope up with people from different strata.
Or
What poetic device is the poet using in the quoted lines and what has he achieved by using this device?
4. Answer any one of the following questions in about 80 words. (5marks)
What impact do the daffodils have on Wordsworth?
-> The Daffodils have an everlasting impact on the mind of the poet Head First seen the Daffodils beside a lake he was cheerful as the natural beauty of Daffodils and trusted him with a sense of joy and pleasure. He was charmed by the beauty of the Daffodils. It had made him free from all troubles faced in solitude. It had become a source of joy for him. Whenever the poet was in a pensive mood or melancholic, for college the view of the Golden Daffodils flashed in his mind and treated him with a sense of joy and happiness. The view of Daffodils is bliss of Solitude to the poet so the Daffodils have an everlasting impact on the mind of the poet.
Or
Describe in your own words the experience of the traveler of “The Listeners”.
-> In “the listener, the traveler had visited an empty house in a forest, on a moonlight night, the traveler did not get a response from the residence of that lonely house when he knocked at the door. He felt strange about the situation. He stood baffled and, motionless as to his utter dismay the only listeners were a host of ghosts. The message that he wanted to convey to the person in the house was only reverberated back. The silence that welcomed him was only broken with the plunging hoofs of the traveler’s horse as he retreated. He knocked several times but got no response.
5. Answer any three of the following within 25 words each: (3×2=6)
a) What happens to the leaves in autumn?
-> The leaves of the trees turn yellow and fall from the trees and scatter over the ground. The trees are stripped down to the back. No birds can be seen on the trees.
b) What does the Traveler tell the Listeners?
-> The traveler told the listeners that he had come there but none answered him. He had kept his promise.
c) What does the poet compare the daffodils with?
-> The poet compares the daffodils to the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way as the daffodils dance with joy like the shining stars in the sky.
d) Give an example of hypocrisy in modern life as described by Gabriel Okara.
-> In the poem “once upon a time the poet Gabriel Okara refers to the hypocrisy in modern life. In the modern world people laugh artificially. They greet one another just for the sake of greeting and not heartily.
e) Where were the daffodils growing?
-> The daffodils were growing besides a lake beneath the trees.
6. Answer any two of the following in about 30 words: (2×3=6)
a) How do people laugh nowadays?
-> Nowadays people laugh with their teeth only and search behind other’s shadow. But in the past people laughed with heart.
b) Describe in your own words the house that the traveler visited.
-> The traveler visited an empty house in a forest. The house was old as its floors were covered by ferns. But the house was empty as he got no response to his call. Only a host of phantoms were there in the house. Silence and void prevailed in the house.
c) Describe in your own words the landscape which inspired the poet to write “The Daffodils”.
-> The landscapes which inspired the poet to write “The Daffodils” was fully of beauty and charm. While wandering aimlessly like the clouds over the hills and valleys, the poet saw a cluster of golden daffodils besides a lake under a tree. Like the infinite twinkling stars in the sky, they were stretched over an indenting line along the bay of the lake. These daffodils were dancing with joy with their dancing and the waves also danced. Even such a beautiful landscape filled the poet with immense joy and pleasure. The beauty of golden daffodils inspired the poet to write “The Daffodils’ ‘ as it had an everlasting impact on the mind of the poet.
7. Answer any three of the following in one sentence each: (3×1=3)
a) Who is the one man left awake in ”The Listeners”?
-> The narrator of the poem is left awake in “The Listener”.
b) How did the people laugh once upon a time?
-> According to the poet people laughed with their hearts and eyes once upon a time.
c) What does the word ‘jocund’ mean in “I could not but be gay/In such a jocund company”?
-> Jocund means a happy and cheerful company. The view of the dancing daffodils and the dancing waves was cheerful and made the poet cheerful. In such a company, the poet is happy.
d) What happens to the poet when he is lying on his couch in a pensive mood?
-> When the poet was laying on his couch in a pensive mood the view of the daffodils flashed in his mind and he was filled with joy and pleasure.
e) Who are the ‘them” referred to in “Anyone could trample them out of shape.”
-> Here “them” are referred to the leaves in autumn that are scattered on the ground.
8. Answer either A or B.
A. “As I wrestled with clauses and sections, his voice rose like a gale, and his family history, the deeds of his sons in the war, and his criticisms of the generals and the politicians submerged my poor attempts to hang onto my job.”
a) Who is the “I” referred to in the above quoted lines? (1mark)
-> Here I referred to the narrator of the lesson “The Rule of the Road”
Or
Who is the “his” referred to? (1mark)
-> A fellow passenger who boarded the train at the next station is the ‘his’ referred to here.
b) What ‘clauses and sections” are being referred to? (1mark)
-> Here the clause and section of the blue book are being referred to.
c) Describe in your own words the situation inside the railway carriage. (3marks)
-> Inside the railway carriage the narrator was trying to read a blue book but he could not continue his reading because the necessary reasonable quiet was not there. Inside the carriage a man was talking with his friend in a loud and pompous voice and he continued it till the rest of the journey. Even the author did not ask him to lower his voice as the man believed that nobody could have anything better to do than listen to him.
Or
What were the topics that the speaker was discussing? (3marks)
-> The speaker was discussing his family history and the deeds of his sons in the war. He also criticized the generals and politicians and discussed international politics criticizing France and Germany.
B. “Ah, then you mean to say, that this gentleman’s smoke, instead of emulating the example of all other sorts of smoke, and going up the chimney, thinks proper to affect a singularity …..”
a) Who is the “you” referred to in the above quoted lines? (1mark)
-> In the above quote lines Mrs. Bouncer is referred to as “You”
Or
Who is ‘this gentleman”? (1mark)
-> Mr. Box is referred to as “the gentleman”.
b) What is the “singularity” being referred to? (1mark)
-> Here “Singularity” refers to Mr. Cox who is living alone in the room as he was a bachelor.
c) What incident causes the speaker to make this comment? (3marks)
-> The speaker made this comment because his rented room was continually full of tobacco smoke. When he asked his landlady, she gave him many excuses, she said that Mr. Box who occupied that attic was a persistent smoker and that his smoke had come down from the chimney. In this connection Cox commented that the smoke would have gone up the chimney but it was ridiculous that the smoke changed its normal course of flowing and entered his room.
Or
What does “emulating the example of all other sorts of smoke” mean? (3marks)
-> Cox uses this statement for Mr. Box. Cox says in front of Mrs. Bouncer when she said that the man in the attic has the habit of smoking and that the man’s smoke entered Cox’s room. In this connection Cox is of the view that the smoke should have gone up the chimney but it was ridiculous that the smoke changed its normal course of flowing and entered his room.
9. Answer any one of the following questions in about 80 words: (5marks)
Do you think the writers’ comparison of the ship losing nuts to the loss of biodiversity is apt? Why do they make this comparison?
-> The writer’s comparison of the ship losing nuts to the loss of biodiversity is doubtlessly apt. Because the ship that is losing one nut at a time and gradually going to sink and the same is the case of losing biodiversity. We are losing the species and genes that keep the earth ‘afloat’ stepwise. The line of decline is increasing. If we are unable to check this line the earth will also sink. Already signs of this alarming condition are manifested by a series of global changes in climate, hydrological patterns and other ecological functions that we all survive on. And by the collapse of global fisheries, the desertification of tens of millions of hectares of one productive land, the loss of soil nutrition and so on.
Both scenes are likewise the same and the comparison has perfectly matched.
Or
Why did Pyotr’s friend ask for a stag party? From where did people get the idea that Pyotr was getting married?
-> Because Pyotr’s friend had come to know that Pyotr was getting married.
People get the idea that Pyotr was getting married with Kondrakshin’s daughter Anastasia. Everyone knew that he spent the whole day with her. He dined there, sang ballads and walked with Nastya. He also gave a bunch of flowers to her. Nastya was fully smitten. He was a frequent visitor to the Kondrakshin’s family. All these things led people to get the idea that Pyotr was courting Nastya. Even Nastya’s father also talked about their soon to be marriage.
10. Answer any two of the following within 25 words each: (2×2=4)
a) Why does Fituyev refuse to certify Pyotr as mad?
-> Fituyev refused to certify pyotr as mad, despite being his friend because Pyotr was not made as he does not want to marry. Only a wise man can say that he does not want to marry. As Pyotr refused to marry then of course he is a wise man. A doctor cannot certify a wise man as mad.
b) What does Gardiner mean by “the rule of road”?
c) What are ‘flagship” species of animals?
-> Flagship means the most important product of an organization. Here in this prose- piece flagship species conveys the meaning that those species are the distinctive symbol which should be conserved.
d) Why does Cox want Mrs. Bouncer to change his bolster?
-> Cox suspects Mrs. Bouncer is using his stuff. It is because for some time past Cox’s coals goes remarkably fast and it is not only the case with the coals but Cox has observed a gradual and steady increase of evaporation among his candles, wood, sugar and matches. Cox says, “I don’t say I do, Mrs. B; only I wish you distinctly to understand, that I don’t believe it’s the cat.’’
11. Answer any two of the following questions within 30 words each: (2×3=6)
a) Attempt a brief character sketch of Mr. Cox.
-> In the short story “Box and “Cox” Mr. Cox was a hat maker who went out in the morning and returned home at night to sleep. He shared his room unknowingly with Mr. Cox who rented the room to the both under different pretenses. He used all sorts of hats like white, black, broad brimmed, narrow brimmed hats etc. he was suspicious of Mr. Bouncer that she had been using his flat during the day as things were disappearing from the room. He abstained smoking, so he did not like the smell of tobacco in his room. He was not also quarrelsome but opposed unjust things done by Mrs. Bouncer.
b) What is bio-piracy? What challenges is India facing from it?
-> Bio –piracy means illegal use of copyright of the biological diverse items of our plants. Agriculture scientists and corporations are applying hitech technology in the field of agriculture. By doing so they are making face bio-piracy and the result is that our age-old knowledge regarding turmeric, neem and many other elements of biodiversity have been patented in order to make it the exclusive domain of corporate interest. Hence bio-piracy has an adverse affect on lives of people living in and dependent on bio-diverse areas and in turn affecting the country as a whole. It is surely harmful for the country.
c) Narrate the incident of the old lady walking down the middle of the road in Petrograd.
-> In Petrograd, a stout old lady was walking with her basket down the middle of a street creating great confusion to the traffic and with no small peril to herself. She pointed that the pavement was the place for foot passengers. She had the notion that she could walk where she liked because she had the liberty to do so; she is called as “liberty drunk” by the author.
d) List any three excuses that Pyotr makes to Kondrashkin to convince the later that he is not a suitable suitor for Anastasia.
-> Excuses that Pyotr made to Kondrashkin to convince him that he was not a suitable suitor for Anastasia were-
1. Pytor said that he was a drunkard with a hereditary vice of going on drinking bouts.
2. Pytor gave an excuse that he had the vice of taking bribes and was a trial for embezzlement.
3. As per Pytor he was a runaway convict and was accused of forgery as well.
12. (a) “I might like to practice on the trombone”.
What does ‘trombone’ mean?
-> Trombone is a kind of musical instrument.
(b) Give the synonyms and antonyms of any two of the following words. (2+2=4)
1) Chaos.
2) Peril.
3) Liberty.
4) Aggressive.
-> Synonyms of:
Chaos: disorder, confusion.
Peril: hazard, menace
Liberty: freedom.
Aggressive: assailing, barbaric
Antonyms of:
Chaos: order, discipline.
Peril: defence, safety.
Liberty: slavery
Aggressive: calm, easy, going.
UNIT – III: GRAMMAR
13. Make sentences with any two pairs of words to illustrate the difference in meaning between them. (2+2=4)
Pore, pour; vain, vein; cereal, serial; heard, herd; flew, flu.
-> Pore: sweat comes from the pores of skin.
Vain: He tried his best to reach the summit but in vain as he could not make it.
Vein: the doctor a cut vein by mistake while operating a patient.
Cereal: Cereals are a good source of energy.
Serial: There was a serial blast in guwahati in the year 2010.
Heard: Have you not heard the doorbell?
Herd: He has a large farm with big dairy herds.
Flew: The Wright brothers flew a plane.
Flu: he is suffering from swine flu.
14. Fill in the blanks with suitable form of the verbs given in brackets: (any three) (1×3=3)
a) I _______ (go) if I had known.
-> would have gone.
b) If may car _______ (not break) down, I should have caught the train.
-> would have not broken.
c) If they had waited, they _______ (find) me.
-> would have found.
d) If it _______ (be) fine tomorrow, I shall play tennis.
-> is
e) If Johnny _______ (eat) another cake, he will be sick.
-> Eats.
15. Add tag questions to the following: (any four) (½ x 4 = 2)
a) Let’s go, _______?
-> shall we?
b) I am right, _______?
-> aren’t I?
c) It’s not very warm today, _______?
-> is it?
d) Few people knew the answer, _______?
-> did they?
e) Let’s go for a walk, _______?
-> shall we?
f) None of the food was wasted, _______?
-> was it?
16. Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions: (any six) (½ x 6 = 3)
a) All the players shook hands _______ the end of the match.
-> After
b) The bus was late this morning but it’s usually _______ time.
-> On
c) She’s standing _______ a queue.
-> In
d) Write your name _______ the top of the page.
-> At
e) Can you meet me _______ the station?
-> At
f) I was delighted _______ the present you gave me.
-> By
g) We are excited _______ going on holiday tomorrow.
-> For
h) They invited only a few people _______ the party.
-> In
17. Fill in the blanks with appropriate articles where necessary. (½ x 6 = 3)
a) _______ Gold is a precious metal.
-> X
b) If you will pay for _______ bread, I’ll pay for _______ meat.
-> The, the
c) Where do you have _______ dinner?
-> X
d) London is on _______ Thames
-> The
e) By _______ united effort we may achieve success.
-> X
18. Identify any five nouns and five adjectives in the passage given below: (½ x 10 = 5)
I regarded Grandma’s room as a dark den. She had two wobbly old candlesticks. There was a plain rocking chair under a lamp on which she could sit and read. She kept the room clean and tidy.
-> Nouns:
Grandma
Room
Candlesticks
Chair
Lamp
Adjectives:
Dark
Old
Rocking
Clean
Tidy
UNIT – IV: CREATIVE WRITING SKILL
19. Write a paragraph of about 180 – 200 words on any one of the following: (5marks)
a) Swach Bharat Mission.
b) Importance of Spoken English.
20. Write a substance of para 1 to para 4 of the passage given in questions 1. (5marks)
21. Develop a story from the given outline – (5marks)
Ram carelessly throws stones – breaks windows of a shop – he confesses – no money to pay for damage – agrees to work at shop to make up for damage – grocer agrees – happy with Ram’s work – gives permanent job.
