PRE – 1ST TERMINAL PREPARATORY EXAMINATION X – Set 1

ENGLISH LANGUAGE (ENGLISH PAPER – 1)

Maximum Marks: 80 Time Allowed: Two hours
1. Answers to this paper must be written on the paper provided separately.
2. You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes. This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
3. The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
4. This paper consists of five questions. Attempt all five questions.
5. The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].
6. You are advised not to spend more than 30 minutes in answering Question 1 and 20 minutes in answering Question 2.

Question 1
(Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this question.)
Write a composition (300 – 350 words) on any one of the following: [20]
(i) Write a story of your own with the theme, “Cut your coat according to your cloth.”
(ii) Recently you attended the wedding of a close relative. It was the first family gathering after the pandemic. Describe the
excitement of meeting all the family members, the venue of the wedding, the food that was served and the celebrations
that followed.
(iii) You were in class 8. A new English Teacher joined your school. Narrate what happened after that.
(iv) Express your views either for or against the statement:
“Online Exams are better than Offline Exams.”
(v) Study the picture given below. Write a story or a description or an account of what it suggests to you. Your composition
may be about the subject of the picture, or you may take suggestions from it; however, there must be a clear connection
between the picture and your composition.

Question 2
(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question.)
Select any one of the following: [10]
(i) A few friends in your locality had organised a clean-up drive. Write a letter to a cousin who lives in another city/town
telling him/her why you think it was necessary, your specific role in it and what the outcome of your effort was.

(ii) You wish to stage a play to create awareness about the importance of saving electricity. Write a letter to the Manager of
a nearby shopping mall/supermarket requesting permission to use the space in front of the shopping mall/supermarket
to stage the play. Give him/her details about your requirements and state why the play will be beneficial to the shoppers.

Question 3
(i) You are the Cultural Secretary of your school. Write a Notice for your School Notice Board, summoning students to
participate in the Inter – School Drama Competition. Give all the necessary details. [5]

(ii) Write an email to the Principal of your neighboring school to send a school team to participate in the competition. Also
invite him to be one of the judges of the competition. [5]
Question 4
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

I have only one unpleasant memory of the summer holidays in Norway. We were in my grandparents’ house in Oslo and my
mother said to me, ‘We are going to the doctor this afternoon. He wants to look at your nose and mouth.’

I think I was eight at the time. ‘What’s wrong with my nose and mouth?’ I asked.

‘Nothing much,’ my mother said. ‘But I think you’ve got adenoids.’

‘What are they?’ I asked her.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said. ‘It’s nothing.’

I held my mother’s hand tightly as we walked to the doctor’s house. Despite it being summer there was a nip in the air and I
breathed in eagerly. The walk was bracing and refreshing. It took us about half an hour to reach the main street. We entered the
clinic. There was a kind of dentist’s chair in the surgery and I was lifted onto it. The doctor had a round mirror strapped to his
forehead and he peered up my nose and into my mouth. He then took my mother aside and they held a whispered conversation.
I saw my mother looking rather grim, but she nodded.

The doctor now put some water to boil in an aluminium mug over a gas flame, and into the boiling water he placed a long thin
shiny steel instrument. I sat there watching the steam coming off the boiling water. I was not in the least apprehensive as I had
had no experience of this before and I was too young to realise that something out of the ordinary was going to happen.

Then a nurse dressed in white came in. She was carrying a red rubber apron and a curved white enamel bowl. She put the apron
over the front of my body and tied it around my neck. It was far too big for me and I felt uncomfortable. Then she held the
enamel bowl under my chin. The curve of the bowl fitted perfectly against the curve of my chest.

The doctor was bending over me. In his hand he held that long shiny steel instrument. He held it right in front of my face, and
to this day I can still describe it perfectly. It was about the thickness and length of a pencil, and like most pencils it had a lot of
sides to it. Towards the end, the metal became much thinner, and at the very end of the thin bit of metal there was a tiny blade
set at an angle. The blade wasn’t more than a centimetre long. It was very small, very sharp and very shiny. I felt afraid.

‘Open your mouth,’ the doctor said, speaking Norwegian.

I refused. I thought he was going to do something to my teeth, and everything anyone had ever done to my teeth had been painful.

‘It won’t take two seconds,’ the doctor said. He spoke gently, and I was reassured by his voice. Unfortunately, I opened my
mouth. It is something I regret doing even today.
— A Visit to a Doctor by Roald Dahl

(i) For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the passage) from the options provided:
1. Grim [1]
a. serious
b. stunned
c. worried
d. grimy
2. ordinary [1]
a. extraordinary
b. customary
c. ordinance
d. casual

(ii) Which word in the passage is the opposite of ‘blunt’? [1]

a. perfectly
b. sharp
c. painful
d. gently
(iii) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
a. What reason did mother give for taking the boy to the doctor? [1]
b. Why did the boy have to be lifted onto the chair? [2]
c. Why did the doctor take the mother aside? [2]
d. What made the boy refuse to open his mouth? [2]
e. Which sentence in the passage tells you why he opened his mouth? [2]

(iv) In not more than 50 words describe what happened from the time mother nodded till the time the doctor ordered the
boy to open his mouth. [8]

Question 5
(i) Fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in brackets. Do not copy the passage but
write the correct serial order the word or phrase appropriate to the blank space. [4]
Example: (0) including

Long time ago, a king had a beautiful palace which had many wonderful things in it, _____ (include) a hall, where all
the walls, the ceiling, the door and even the floor _____ (make) of mirror. The walls of this hall made an extraordinary
increased echo.

Once, a dog _____ (run) into the hall and froze in surprise in the middle of the hall. A whole pack of dogs _____
(surround) it from all sides, from above and below. The dog _____ (bare) his teeth and all the reflections _____ (respond)
to it in the same way. Frightened, the dog barked and the echo imitated the bark and increased it many times. The dog
tossed from one side to another, _____ (bite) the air.

In the morning, the guards found the miserable dog, lifeless and surrounded by a million reflections of lifeless dogs.
There was nobody, who would make any harm to the dog. The dog _____ (die) fighting with his own reflections.

The world doesn’t bring good or evil on its own. Everything that _____ (happen) around us is the reflection of our own
thoughts, feelings, wishes and actions, The world is a big mirror.

(ii) Fill in the blanks with appropriate words. [4]

a. The worries mother sat _____ her child all night.
b. The publishers have withdrawn the book _____ circulation.
c. She spread her towel _____ her face to keep off the bees.
d. An inquiry against him is now _____ progress.
e. She burst _____ tears after hearing the bad news.
f. He did not comply _____ the wishes of his father.
g. Who will take _____ when the headmaster retires?
h. The manager was _____ pressure to take back the employee.

(iii) Choose the correct option to make one complete sentence without using and, but or so. [4]

a. The singer gave an outstanding performance. The audience applauded enthusiastically.

i. The audience applauded enthusiastically because the singer gave an outstanding performance.
ii. The singer gave an outstanding performance although the audience applauded enthusiastically.
iii. The audience applauded enthusiastically unless the singer gave an outstanding performance.
iv. The singer gave an outstanding performance that the audience applauded enthusiastically.
b. The boys climbed up the tree. They wanted to pluck some mangoes.
i. The boys climbed up the tree unless they wanted to pluck some mangoes.
ii. The boys climbed up the tree because they wanted to pluck some mangoes.
iii. The boys climbed up the tree if they wanted to pluck some mangoes.
iv. The boys climbed up the tree so that they wanted to pluck some mangoes.
c. He forgot to lock the door. The thief entered the house.
i. The thief entered the house as he forgot to lock the door.
ii. He forgot to lock the door unless the thief entered the house.
iii. The thief entered the house although he forgot to lock the door.
iv. If he forgot to lock the door, the thief entered the house.
 d. They worked day and night. They wanted to complete the project on time.
i. They worked day and night as they wanted to complete the project on time.
ii. Unless they wanted to complete the project on time, they worked day and night.
iii. They worked day and night if they wanted to complete the project on time.
iv. They worked day and night because they wanted to complete the project on time.

(iv) Choose the correct option and re-write the sentence according to the instruction given after each. [8]

a. This problem is too complex for me to solve. (Rewrite using so...that...)

i. This problem is so complex that I cannot solve it.
ii. This problem is so complex that I can solve it.
iii. This problem is so complex that I might solve it.
iv. This problem is so complex that it cannot be solved.

b. They finished the work on time. (Begin: The work...)

i. The work was finished on time by them.
ii. The work is being finished on time by them.
iii. The work is finished on time by them.
iv. The work had been finished on time by them.

c. Do you understand the rules?" she asked me. (Begin: She asked me...)
i. She asked me whether I understood the rules.
ii. She asked me if I will understand the rules.
iii. She asked me if I am understanding the rules.
iv. She asked me whether I understand the rules.

d. As soon as the show began, the audience clapped enthusiastically. (Begin No sooner...)
i. No sooner had the show begin than the audience clapped enthusiastically.
ii. No sooner the show had begun than the audience clapped enthusiastically.
iii. No sooner does the show begin than the audience clapped enthusiastically.
iv. No sooner did the audience clap than the show began.

e. The view from the hill was so beautiful that everyone admired it. (Rewrite using too...to...)
i. The view from the hill was too beautiful for everyone to admire.
ii. The view from the hill was too beautiful for anyone to ignore.
iii. The view from the hill was too beautiful to admire.
iv. The view from the hill was too beautiful to look at.

f. In spite of his illness, he attended the meeting. (Begin Although...)

i. Although he was ill, he attended the meeting.
ii. Although he was ill, yet he attended the meeting.
iii. Although he attended the meeting, he was ill.
iv. Although he was ill, but he attended the meeting.

g. You cannot succeed if you do not work hard. (Begin Unless...)

i. Unless you do not work hard, you cannot succeed.
ii. Unless you work hard, you cannot succeed.
iii. Unless you work hard, you will succeed.
iv. Unless you work hard, you would not succeed.

h. I am as fast as my brother. (Use: faster)

i. My brother is faster than I am.
ii. My brother is not faster than I am.
iii. I am faster than my brother.
iv. I am not faster than my brother.