AHSEC| CLASS 11| ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH| QUESTION PAPER - 2020| H.S. 1ST YEAR

 

AHSEC| CLASS 11| ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH| QUESTION PAPER - 2020| H.S. 1ST YEAR

2020
ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH
Full Marks: 100
Pass Marks: 30
Time: Three 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:

I was not regarded as a dunce at the high school. I always enjoyed the affection of my teachers. Certificates of progress and character used to be sent to the parents every year. I never had a bad certificate. In fact, I even won prizes after I passed out of the second standard. In the fifth and the sixth, I obtained scholarships of rupees four and ten respectively, an achievement for which I had to thank good luck more than my own merit. For the scholarships were not open to all, but reserved for the best boys amongst those coming from the Sorath Division of Kathiawad. And in those days there could not have been many boys from Sorath in a class of forty or fifty.

My own recollection is that I had not any high regard for my ability. I used to be astonished whenever I won prizes and scholarships. But I very jealously guarded my character. The least little blemish drew tears from my eyes. When I merited, or seemed to the teacher to merit a rebuke, it was unbearable for me. I remember having once received corporal punishment. I did not much mind the punishment, as it was considered my deserts. I wept piteously. That was when I was in the first or second standard. There was another such incident during the time when I was in the seventh standard.

Dorabji Edulji Gimi was the Headmaster then. He was popular among boys, as he was a disciplinarian, a man of method and a good teacher. He had made gymnastics and cricket compulsory for the boys of the upper standards. I disliked both. I never took part in any exercise, cricket or football, before they were made compulsory. My shyness was one of the reasons for this aloofness, which I now see was wrong. I then had the false notion that gymnastics had nothing to do with education. Today I know that physical training should have as much place in the curriculum as mental training.

I may mention, however, that I was none the worse for abstaining from exercise. That was because I had read in books about the benefits of long walks in the open air, and having liked the advice, I had formed a habit of taking walks, which has still remained with me. These walks gave me a fairly hard constitution.

The reason for my dislike of gymnastics was my keen desire to serve as a nurse to my father. As soon as the school closed, I would hurry home and begin serving him. Compulsory exercise came directly in the way of this service. I requested Mr. Gimi to exempt me from gymnastics so that I might be free to serve my father. But he would not listen to me. Now it so happened that one Saturday, when we had our school in the morning, I had to go from home to the school for gymnastics at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I had no watch, and the clouds deceived me. Before I reached the school the boys had all left. The next day, Mr. Gimi examining the roll, found me marked absent. Being asked the reason for absence, I told him what had happened. He refused to believe me and ordered me to pay a fine of one or two annas (I cannot now recall how much).

I was convicted of lying! That deeply pained me. How was I to prove my innocence? There was no way. I cried in deep anguish. I saw that a man of truth must also be a man of care. This was the first and last instance of my carelessness in school. I have a faint recollection that I finally succeeded in getting the fine remitted.

The exemption from exercise was of course obtained, as my father wrote himself to the Headmaster saying that he wanted me at home after school. But though I was none the worse for having neglected exercise, I am still paying the price of another neglect. I do not know whence I got the notion that good handwriting was not a necessary part of education, but I retained it until I went to England. When later, especially in South Africa, I saw the beautiful handwriting of lawyers and young men born and educated in South Africa. I was ashamed of myself and repented of my neglect. I saw that bad handwriting should be regarded as a sign of an imperfect education.

I tried later to improve mine, but it was too late. I could never repair the neglect of my youth. Let every young man and woman be warned by my example, and understand that good handwriting is a necessary part of education. I am now of the opinion that children should first be taught the art of drawing before learning how to write. Let the child learn his letters by observation as he does different objects, such as flowers, birds etc., and let him learn handwriting only after he has learnt to draw objects. He will then write a beautifully formed hand.

Questions:

(a) State True or False: 1/2x4=2

(i) Dorabji Edulji Gimi was a disciplinarian.

(ii) The speaker never received any corporal punishment.

(ii) According to the passage, a man of truth does not need to be careful.

(iv) In fact, Gymnastics has a major role to play in education.

(b) When did the speaker obtain scholarships? 1

(c) To which division of Gujarat did the speaker belong? 1

(d) Why did the speaker dislike Gymnastics? 2

(e) Reproduce, after the speaker, the suggestions about learning handwriting. 2

(f) Who can the speaker be? What kind of student had s/he been? 1+1=2

2. Read the poem given below and on the basis of your reading, answer the following questions:

What is life, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare,

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep and cows.

 

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars like skies at night.

 

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich the smile her eyes began.

 

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

 

(a) Enlist the things found in the poem that we have no time to stand and stare. 2

(b) What is the poet's attitude towards a life full of care? 1

(c) Where do the squirrels hide their nuts? 1

(d) Identify a simile used in the poem. 1.

 

UNIT-II

(Poetry and Prose)

[Poetry]

 

3. Answer either (a) or (b):

(a) But believe me, son,

I want to be what I used to be

when I was like you. I want

to unlearn all these muting things.

Most of all, I want to relearn

how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror

shows only my teeth like a snake's bare fangs!

I. Answer any two of the following: 1x2=2

(i) Who is the "son" referred to in the passage? 1

(ii) What does the speaker want to relearn? 1

(iii) What are the "muting things" in the present context? 1

II. Explain the reasons behind the speaker's desire of unlearning'. 3

Or

Why, do you think, the poet finds snake's bare fangs in the mirror? 3

(b) Oh, God of May have mercy.

Bless these withered bodies

with the passion of your resurrection;

make their dead veins flow with blood again.

I. Answer any two of the following: 1×2=2

(i) Who is being invoked in the passage? 1

(ii) Whose "withered bodies" have been referred to here?

(iii) Name the poet of the above lines. 1

II. Explain how the concept of resurrection is associated with the given context. 3

Or

What are the reasons behind the withered condition indicated here? Analyse. 3

4. Answer any one of the following questions in about 80 words: 5

(a) Do you feel that "The Daffodils" proves the Wordsworthian dictum about poetry being the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquillity? Argue.

(b) Show how the poet has explored the theme of keeping promise in his poem "The Listeners".

5. Answer any three of the following questions within 25 words each: 2×3=6

(a) Why does the speaker consider the scene of the daffodils to be 'wealth'?

(b) What is the significance of yellow in the description of the tree leaves?

(c) Who stood "perplexed and still"? Why?

(d) Why have the eyes of the modern man been compared to a block of ice?

(e) Each of the poems included in your syllabus deals with the idea of hope or expectation in different manner. Elaborate.

6. Answer any two of the following questions: 3×2=6

(a) Mention any three poetic devices used in the poem "The Daffodils”. Explain them along with their contexts.

(b) Give the context of each of the dimensions mentioned below from "When Autumn Came" -

(i) botanical

(ii) sociological

(c) The poem "The Listeners" actually presents before the readers the absence of the listeners. Justify with the help of the title.

(d) What are the different sorts of faces a modern man tends to make? Why is it so?

7. Answer any three of the following questions in one sentence each: 1x3=3

(a) Name the manifesto of Romantic poetry.

(b) Identify the animal accompanying the traveller.

(c) Who wrote the novel "The Voice"?

(d) Choose the correct option:

Faiz Ahmed Faiz is -

(i) a revolutionary poet

(ii) an Urdu lyric poet

(iii) Both (i) & (ii)

 

[Prose]

 

8. Answer either (a) or (b):

(a) "To avoid this calamity, I have decided to feign insanity..... Hamlet's device, after a fashion.... you can't marry if you're mad, as you know."

(i) Who is the speaker here? 1

(ii) What is the calamity? 1

(iii) Explain "Hamlet's device". 2

(iv) Give the adjective of "fashion" and the noun of "insane". 1/2+1/2=1

(b) "I can't say I did, Mrs. B. I should feel obliged to you, if you could accommodate me with a more protuberant bolster, Mrs. B.

(i) Give the full name of Mrs. B. Who was she? 1+1=2

(ii) What is the meaning of the word "protuberant"? 1

(iii) Why does the speaker want the other person to change his bolster? 2

9. Answer any one of the following questions in 80 words: 5x1=5

(a) "When all the eagles and fish are gone and the waters killed by pollution, only then will we realize that money cannot be eaten." Discuss the statement.

(b) There are a lot of people in the world, and I have to accommodate my liberty to their liberties. Give your opinion on the issue.

(c) Do you think that the play Box and Cox" is a farce? Give reasons for your answer.

10. Answer any two of the following questions within 25 words each: 2×2=4

(a) Why did Kondrashkin allow Pyotr to come to his house and meet Anastasia?

(b) What is "keep the home fires burning"? What kind of person is associated with it?

(c) Write a short note on the title "The Many and the None".

(d) What were the professions Box and Cox had been involved in?

11. Answer any two of the following questions within 40 words each: 3×2=6

(a) What were the various statements made by Pyotr in order to avoid marriage? Mention any three.

(b) What is the difference in the liberty one has in dressing and in playing the tramboline at night?

(c) Assess the appropriateness of the comparison between the ship losing nuts to the loss of bio-diversity.

(d) The special use of language has helped inciting comedy and humour in "Box and Cox". Illustrate.

12. (a) Give the meaning of any one of the following words: 1

(i) succumb

(ii) ballad.

(b) Give the synonyms of any two of the following words: 3

(i) banality

(ii) purloin

(iii) charismatic

(c) Give the antonyms of any two of the following words 2:

(i) sweet

(ii) monarchy

(iii) bachelor

 

UNIT-III

(Grammar)

 

13. Make sentences with any two pairs of words to illustrate the difference in meaning between them: 2x2=4

access/excess; fair/fare; device/devise; walk/wake; moral/morale; jealous/zealous

14. Fill in the blanks with the suitable form of the verbs given in the brackets: (any three) 1x3=3

(a) We ________(support) him provided he joins us.

(b) If I were there, I ______(try) to help them.

(c) Had you been a bit careful in your classes, you _______(ability) answer the questions correctly.

(d) If she had known it earlier, she ______(protest) against dowry.

(e) Unless you suffer a lot, your soul ______(not enhance).

15. Add question tag to the following: (any four) 1/2x4=2

(a) The patient can hardly take any solid food, _______?

(b) Everyone joined the mission, ________?

(c) The artist knows the way within, _______?

(d) We had not been given any opportunity, _______?

(e) There will be a meeting tomorrow, _________?

(f) Add question tag, _______?

(g) Let's plant saplings, ________?

16. Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions: (any six) 1/2x6=3

(a) We are not accustomed ______such a situation.

(b) You have to put up _______the police investigation.

(c) The knife was thrown _______the dustbin.

(d) The murder was committed the day _______yesterday.

(e) Please, call _______the forensic officer.

(f) The children should refrain themselves _______entering the crime scene.

(g) Guard _______criminals.

(h) We can look forward ________the High Court for justice.

17. Fill in the blanks with appropriate articles where necessary: (any six) 1/2x6=3

(a) _____man is mortal.

(b) The vacation has come to _______close.

(c) I came across ______one-eyed man yesterday,

(d) He is ______honest man.

(e) They are going to buy ________RCC building.

(f) He is one of ________best teachers.

(g) ________Times of India appears daily.

(h) This is _______book I have been looking for.

18. Identify five nouns and five adjectives in the sentences given below: 1/2×10=5

From a statue of him we can see that Socrates was rather ugly. His head was almost bald; his eyes were set deep in his large face; he had a great broad nose and coarse lips, and his figure was clumsy. But he had a modest and kindly expression. He went about bare-footed, wearing an old robe; and he spent his time in the streets, the market-place, shady corners of the temples, or quiet country-lanes and meadows.

 

UNIT-IV

(Creative Writing Skill)

 

19. Write a paragraph in about 180-200 words on any one of the following: 8

(a) Chandrayan II

(b) Your favourite book

(c) Use of Internet for Educational Purposes

(d) Outdoor Games.

20. Develop a story from the given outline: 7

A dog and a monkey travelling together—a basket of bread on the donkey's back-both felt hungry-donkey ate grass on the roadside - dog asked for bread - donkey refused-wolf appeared - donkey requested dog to save dog refused -"who eat alone must also fight alone."

Or

Write a substance of the passage given below: 7

Man is the architect of his own fate. If he makes a proper division of his time and does his duties accordingly, he is sure to improve and prosper in life; but if he does otherwise, he is sure to repent when it is too late, and he will have to drag a miserable existence from day to day. To kill time is as culpable as to commit suicide, for our life is nothing but the sum-total of hours, days and years. Youth is the seed-time of life. In youth the mind is pliable and soft and can be moulded in any form we like. If we lose the morning hours of life we shall have to repent afterwards.

 

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