RMS HIGH SCHOOL, KHUTADIH

PRE BOARD EXAMINATION

SESSION- 2021-22
ENGLISH
Std.-X Full Marks-40

SECTION-A : READING
I. Read the passage given below:
1. Great people are born to produce an influence on society. One such personality, who so was so
humble and lived his complete life with determination and purpose to achieve certain aims was
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He was a great social reformer, writer, educator and worked endlessly
to transform the society. He strongly protested against polygamy and child marriage. He favoured
widow remarriage and women’s education in India. The Widow Remarriage Act was passed in 1856
making the marriage of widows legal because of his efforts to solve these problems.
2. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar refined the way Bengali language was written and taught. He book
‘Borno Porichoy” (Introduction to the Alphabet) is still used as the introductory text to teach Bengali
alphabet. Thus, he brought about a revolution in the Bengali Education System. Vidyasagar is
credited with the role of completely changing the old method of teaching which prevailed in Sanskrit
College. As a professor in Sanskrit College, he brought modern outlook into the method of teaching.
He included English and Bengali as mediums of learning, besides Sanskrit. He, also, introduced
courses in European History, Philosophy and Science alongside Vedic scriptures. He encouraged
students to study these subjects and make the best of both worlds.
3. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was strong advocate of women education. He rightly viewed education
as the primary way for women to achieve emancipation from the society’s oppression they had to
face at that time. He exercised his power to open schools for girls and even outlined suitable
curriculum to educate them. He went from door to door, requesting heads of families to allow their
daughters to be enrolled in schools.
4. Ishwar Chandra was a man who defined his own path of action. He never listened to what others
said about his work and made decisions based on his own judgement. He was famous for all these
qualities. He was also known for his great courage. Vidyasagar had a very soft heart that
sympathized with those in trouble. He was easily mopved to tears when he saw someone in pain and
was always the first one to offer his help to colleagues and friends in distress. After his death,
Rabindranath Tagore said, “One wonders how God, in the process of producing forty million
Bengalis, produced a man!”

On the basis of your reading of the passage, attempt any five questions: 1x5=5
A. Multiple Choice Questions
(i) Choose the option that lists statements that are NOT TRUE according to para 3 of the
passage.
1. Earlier women were regarded as weaker sex.
2. Women’s was considered essential.
3. Women were confined in the narrow walls of domesticity
4. Women were given enormous respect by society.
 5. Women were oppressed by society.
(a) 1 and 2 (b) 2 and 3 (c) 2 and 4 (d) 3 and 4
(ii) He never listened to what others said about his work and made decisions based on his own
judgement” It reveals that Ishwar Chandra was:
(a) over-confident (b) fairly confident (c) arrogant (d) enormously confident
(iii) choose the option that correctly states the two meanings of ‘outlook’ as used in the passage.
1. prospect 2. hope 3. aspect 4. viewpoint 5. perspective
(a) 1 and 3 (b) 2 and 5 (c) 3 and 4 (d) 4 and 5
(iv) The word ‘emancipation’, as used in para 3, means the same as:
(a) deliverance (b) spread (c) discharge (d) liberation
(v) the word opposite in meaning to ‘humble’ in para 1 is:
(a) proud (b) submissive (c) simple (d) modest
(vi) select the option that makes the correct use of ‘prevail’ as used in the passage.
(a) Virtue will prevail against evil (b) Truth will prevail at last
(c) The old custom does not prevail now (d) Justice will prevail over tyranny
OR
B. Very Short Asnwer Questions: (20 to 30 words)
(i) “Lived his complete life with determination and purpose to achieve certain aims…..”. What does
the term ‘certain aims’ refer to here?
(ii) Name any three persons who made special efforts to remove some social evils.
(iii) “…..he brought modern outlook into the method of teaching.” Based on the above line, what
sort of mind do you think Ishwar Chandra had?
(iv) What does the term ‘both the worlds’ , refer to?
(v) What will be an appropriate title for the passage?
(vi) According to Ishwar Chandra, what was the most important means for women,s emancipation
from the oppression of society?
II. Study the graph given below, which is based on a survey done on students of tenth class in three
different types of schools in Ahmedabad. The chart depicts the number of students speaking English
and Hindi. On the basis of the details given in the bar-graph given below, briefly summarize the data
making comparison wherever necessary in about 80 words. 5
 SECTION-B : GRAMMAR AND WRITING
GRAMMAR
III. Fill in the blanks by choosing the correct option, for any two of the three sentences given
below. 1x2=2

I saw Rohit deeply thinking in the room. When I (i) …………….busy at, he (ii)……….he was trying some
new ideas. I became hopeless and enquired how playing with toys would make him a scientist. He
surprised me by saying that he (iii) ……………scientists now had been deep thinkers in the beginning.
(i) (a) tell him what was (b) replied him what is
(b) asked him what he was (d) said to him about what
(ii) (a) replied that (b) obeyed that
(c) Enquired that (d) refused that
(iii) (a) knew those who is (b) had knew those who were
(d) Knows those who are (d) knew those who were
IV. Fill in the blanks by choosing most appropriate answer from the gien options. Attempt any three out
of four sentences. 1x3=3
Alaska’s size and chimate make transportation (i) ……………..challenge. long ago, sledges pulled
(ii)…………..dog teams were the best way to travel (iii)………………native people. Now things
(iv)……………changed for the better.
(i) (a) an (b) the (c) a (d) for
(ii) (a) by (b) with (c) of (d) besides
(iii) (a) by (b) to (c) for (d) with
(iv) (a) has (b) are (c) is (d) have
WRITING
V. Write a letter seeking detailed enquiries from the General Manager, Holiday Inn, Kanpur for
conducting the wedding reception of your younger brother at the hotel. Make specific enquiries
about the catering cost per head, service and decoration charges. You can also ask for the advance
amount to be paid. You are Krishna/Kamini of Kanpur.
OR
Write a letter to the manager ABC Company cancelling your order of office stationery since it is not
delivered in stipulated time.You are XYZ purchasing officer of A-Z Company.
5

SECTION-C : LITERATURE
VI. Read the given extracts to attempt the question that follow :
1. Valli devoured everything with her eyes. But when she started to look outside, she found her view
cut off by a canvas blind that covered the lower part of her window. So she stood up on the seat and
peered over the blind. The bus was now going along the bank of a canal.
The road was very narrow. On one side there was the canal, and beyond it, palm trees, grassland,
distant mountains and the blue, blue sky. On the other side was a deep ditch and then acres and
acres of green fields – green, green, green, as far as the eye could see.
(i) Why did Valli stand on her seat? (2)
(ii) What did Valli devour with her eyes? (2)
(iii) Which word in the passage means the same as ‘peeped’? (1)
Or
New clothes had never been made for Bholi. The old dresses of her sisters were passed on her. No
one cared to mend or wash her clothes. But today she was lucky to receive a clean dress which had
shrunk after many washings and no longer fitted Champa. She was even bathed and oil was rubbed
into her dry and matted hair. Only then did she begin to believe that she was being taken to a place
better than her home!
(i) Why did no one care to mend or wash Bholi’s clothes?
(ii) Where was Bholi being taken to?
(iii) What made Bholi believe that she was being taken to a place better than her home?
2. Gautama Buddha (563 B. C – 483 B. C) began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, in northern
India. At twelve, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures and four years later
he returned home to marry a princess. They had a son and lived for ten years as befitted royalty. At
about the age of twenty-five, the Prince, heretofore shielded from the sufferings of the world, while
out hunting chanced upon a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession, and finally a
monk begging for alms. These sights so moved him that he at once went our into the world to seek
enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed.
A. Multiple Choice Questions: 1x5=5
(i) What do you think led Siddhartha to leave all his royalty behind?
(a) His marriage to a princess.
(b) Influence of Hindu sacred scriptures.
(c) Shielding of royals from all the unpleasant experiences of the world.
(d) His attachment with his wife and son.
(ii) At about the age of twenty-five, the prince chanced to
(a) See a leper (b) see a sick man
(b) Meet a business man (d) meet a learned man
(iii) Pick the option that correctly classifies fact/s (F) and opinion/s (O) of the students below.
 (a) F – 2, 3 and O – 1, 4 (b) F – 1, 3 and O – 2, 4
(b) F -0 2, 4 and O – 1, 3 (d) F – 1, 4 and O – 2, 3
(iv) When did the prince come in contact with the sufferings of the world?
(a) When he went for hunting. (b) When he was sent for schooling.
(b) When he joined the royal army. (d) When he was married.
(v) The extract uses the phrase, ‘befitted royalty’. Which of the following expressions is
INCORRECT with respect to the word ‘befitted’?
(2) Appropriate

↑
(1) Right ← BEFITTED → (3) Suitable

↓
(4) Healthy

(a) Option 1 (b) Option 2 (c) Option 3 (d) Option 4

OR
B. Very Short Answer Questions: (20 to 30 words)
(i) How did Gautama’s life begin?
(ii) How many years did Gautama spend of his married life?
(iii) Why didn’t the prince see worldy sufferings before he was twenty-five?
(iv) How did the reality of sights imprint Buddha’s mind?
(v) What mission did Buddha set for his life?
VII. Choose the correct answer: 1x3=3
(i) “The climb to the ………………………….hills brings you into a panoramic view of the entire misty
landscape of Coorg”.
(a) Brahmagiri (b) Himalayan (c) Nilgiri (d) Satpura
(ii) What was the next challenge once Valli had saved enough money?
(a) Tell her mom about it (b) Know about the timings
(b) Buy a ticket (d) To sneak out of the house
(iii) What made Amanda sulky and become moody?
(a) When she had to complete her homework.
 (b) When her m other gives her too many instructions.
(c) When she has to clean her shoes.
(d) None of the above
VIII. Answer the following questions: (30 to 40 words)
2+2+3=7
(i) Why do animals not weep for their sins?
(ii) How did Belinda and her pets react on seeing the pirate?
(iii) Why didn’t Bholi at first oppose the proposal of the unequal match? Why did she agree to
it?

---------