BANGLADESH INTERNATIONAL TUTORIAL

MID-TERM EXAMINATION, 2017-18

SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
CLASS: VIII (EIGHT)
TIME: 3 HOURS
FULL MARKS: 100

[Important Instructions: Write your answers precisely and in good English.

Keep your writing legible and tidy. Complete your exam with time to revise
before the submission of your answer book. Attempt all questions.]

Composition (35 marks)

Q.1 Write between 300 and 350 words on any one of the following topics:

a. Extracurricular activities.
b. Write a story about your visit to a beautiful place.
c. The recess hour in school.
Letter (15 marks)

Q.2 Write a letter to your friend describing your experience you gained as a
participant in the Duke of Edinburgh programme.
Or
Write a letter to the principal seeking permission to open a debate club in your
school. (Within 200 words)

Grammar (30 marks)

Q.3 Attempt the following

a. What is a syllable? (2 marks)

b. Divide the words into their various syllables. (5 marks)

locomotion, philosopher, scribble, appreciate.

c. Define a phrase with an example in a sentence. (3 marks)

d. Define a clause with an example. (3 marks)

e. Identify different clauses in the following sentences. (5 marks)

i) I hate to waste a drop of gas, for it is very expensive these days.

ii) She drove wherever she wanted.  
iii) I will go home and he will go to work.
iv) I am ready to learn, although I do not like being taught.
v) I fished until the sun went down.

f. Define complex and compound sentences with examples for each of them. (6 marks)

g. What is an idiom? (2 marks)

h. Write down the meanings of the following idioms. (4 marks)

to be left stranded, fire and sword, pass through the fire, to raise the wind.
 Comprehension (20 marks)

Q.4 Read the extraction below and attempt the questions followed by.

It was a glorious morning for snake hunting. The sun shone warmly from a cloudless
sky, and I felt sure of finding adders out basking.

After I had searched carefully without success for over an hour, a rustling sound caught
my ears and spotted the latter half of a male adder disappearing slowly into the tangle of
grass which surrounded the base of a small birch bush. I laid my stick across the snake’s
bake and pressing it hard against the ground, I picked it up by the tail in the air. It hung
writhing head downwards.

I had down it innumerable times before, and had developed the technique to a fine art.
All that remained now was to get the collecting bag from my pocket and pop the thing
into it. Suddenly there came a loud hiss, and almost at the same moment I felt a sharp
prick on my finger. My immediate reaction was to release the adder which dropped to
the ground, where I put my foot on its tail to prevent its escape. Then I turned my
attention to my finger. Two bright red beads of bold on the third finger of my left hand
showed where the adder’s fangs had entered and hastily I whipped out the razor-blade,
which I always carry for such emergencies and began making cuts above and below the
bite. The blood flowed freely and I sucked vigorously at the cuts I had made to get away
as much of the possible. Then I dealt with the snake.

As soon as I began to move I became aware of a growing pain in my hand which was
swelling rapidly. I started wondering writher or not I should be sick, or faint, and
thought that perhaps I ought to get a move on. But no, I must not hurry, I told myself,
for to do so would only speed the circulation of the venom over my whole body.

By this time I had reached the road, and there I managed to wave to a halt a passing
motorist who agreed to give me a lift to the nearest doctor, though only after I had
explained my reason for stopping him.

The doctor’s wife made a neat parcel of my hand, which was now twice its normal size
and feeling most uncomfortable, with bandages and cotton wool. My arm, too, had
begun to ache and throb, and I felt most grateful for the cup of hot, sweet tea the
doctor’s wife brought me, for I had developed a great thirst.

When I got to the hospital, the fact that I still had the adder with me caused some
consternation, and someone said something about ‘not having that thing in here’. But
after I had explained my reasons for wanting the adder to remain alive, it was carried
away in its bag by one of the nurses to a safe place in another room, while I was
instructed to lay myself down on the operating table.

Later on almost every doctor and nurse in the hospital, or it seemed, came to view the
bite, and the fact that I, an experienced snake-collector, had received it while attempting
the capture of the adder seemed to amuse them no end.

a. According to writer, what are four main stages in catching a snake? (4 marks)

b. How did the write prevent this snake from escaping? (3 marks)

c. Why didn’t he run to get help for himself? (4 marks)

d. What persuaded the passing motorist to give him a lift? (4 marks)

e. In the last line of 3rd paragraph, the write says: Then I dealt with the snake. Does this
mean that he killed it? Support your answer with evidence from the text. (5 marks)