ENGLISH SEMI PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2023-24

UNIT-3

STD - X
Inclusions: Prose, Poem, Information Transfer Time: 1 hr: 45 mins
Date- 29th January 2024 Marks: 60
(ACTIVITY SHEET)
SECTION I: Language Study
Q1. (A1) Do as directed (any – 4) [4 Marks]
1) Find out two hidden words of minimum four letters from: ornamentation (1)

2) Complete the word chain of verbs: write, ________, t______ (1)

3) Form Present participles / Past participles in which the last letter is doubled. (1)

4) Light the lamp quickly. (Identify the type of sentence) (1)

5) Arrange the words alphabetically: element, electronic, either, excited. (1)

(A2) Do as directed (any – 2) [4 Marks]
1) Use the following word and its homograph in two separate sentences: iron. (2)

2) They have played an important part in my life. (Rewrite beginning with ‘An Important
part….) (2)

3) Write the word register for the word ‘nutrition’ (2)

Q1. (B) Do as directed (any – 1) [2 Marks]
1) That’s the best thing that has happened to me. (Change into positive and comparative
degree). (2)

2) This is the house which my aunt decorated. (Identify if the sentence is simple,
compound or complex). (2)

SECTION II: Textual Passages

(Reading skills, vocabulary and grammar)
Q2 (A) Read the following passage and do the activities: [10 marks]
A1. State whether true or false: (2)
1. Hawking refrained from sharing a room with a boy suffering from Leukemia.
2. Hawking was diagnosed with the early stages of ALS.
3. Hawking failed to realized that his situation seemed more tolerable.
4. A few events prevented Hawking from being discouraged.
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 At the age of 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou
Gehrig’s disease). In a very simple sense, the nerves that controlled his muscles were shutting down. At the
time, doctors gave him two and a half years to live. Hawking first began to notice problems with his physical
health while he was at Oxford – on occasion he would trip and fall, or slur his speech – he didn’t look into
the problem until 1963, during his first year at Cambridge. For the most part, Hawking had kept these
symptoms to himself. But when his father took notice of the condition, he took Hawking to see a doctor.
For the next two weeks, the 21 – year – old college student made his home at a medical clinic, where he
underwent a series of tests.” They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected
some radio-opaque fluid into my spine, and watched it going up and down with X – rays, as they tilted the
bed,” he once said.” After all that, they didn’t tell me what I had, except that it was not multiple sclerosis,
and that I was an atypical case. “Eventually, however, doctors did diagnose Hawking with the early stages
of ALS. It was devastating news for him and his family, but a few events prevented him from becoming
completely despondent. The first of these came while Hawking was still in the hospital. There, he shared a
room with a boy suffering from leukemia. Relative to what his roommate was going through, Hawking later
reflected, his situation seemed more tolerable.

A2. Find answers from the information given in the passage. (2)
a) Two diseases mentioned in the passage.
b) Two symptoms noticed in Hawking at Oxford.

A3. (i) Pick out the verbs from the passage. (1)
(ii) Pick out two examples of collocation from the passage. (1)
A4. Do as Directed: (2)
1. Doctors had given him two and half years to live. (Add a question tag)
2. Hawking had kept these symptoms to himself. (Pick out the reflexive pronoun)

A5. What message do we get from this passage? (2)

Q2 (B) Read the following passage and do the activities: [10 marks]

When I was a very young man, I was invited at dine at the house of a philanthropist. After a wonderful
dinner, our hostess took us to a large drawing room. Chairs were being arranged. “I’m arranging the chairs
for a concert.”, my hostess said, “We’re going to listen to a very good pianist.”
Though everyone else was very happy, I was not. I did not understand classical music. I thought I
was tone-deaf. I sat down so that I would not be impolite and waited for the concert to begin. I did not pay
attention to the music after it began.
After a while, I heard everyone clapping, so I realized that the piece was over. Just then I heard a
gentle, but firm voice saying, “You’re fond of Bach?”
I knew as much about Bach as I did about nuclear physics. I was going to say something ordinary so
that I could get out of the situation. I turned in order to look at my neighbour and I saw a very famous face.
It was someone with a shock of white hair and a pipe.

B1. Complete the following statements. (2)

1. The narrator was not happy about the concert because __________________________________
2. When the narrator turned to look at his neighbour ______________________________________

B2. Why did the writer not pay attention to the music after it began? (2)

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B3. Fill in the blanks using the phrases given in the brackets. (2)
1. Sachin _________ playing cricket. (to pay attention to; to be fond of; to get out of)
2. The rabbit trapped in the snare was trying _________ it. (to pay attention to; to be fond of; to get
out of)

B4. Do as directed: (2)

1. Chairs were being arranged. (Change to the active voice)
2. I heard a gentle but firm voice saying, “You’re of fond Bach?” (Rewrite using the indirect form of
narration)

B5. Have you ever attended a concert? Write a few lines about it. (2)

SECTION III: Poetry

Q3 (A) Read the following extract and do the activities: [5 marks]
A1. Complete the following: (2)
1. The scorpion had crawled________________
2. The scorpion was forced to take shelter to escape________________
3. The peasants buzzed________________ a hundred times.
4. ‘He’ in stanza 4 refers to ________________

I remember the night my mother

was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours
of steady rain had driven him
to crawl beneath a sack of rice.

Parting with his poison – flash

of diabolic tail in the dark room –
he risked the rain again.

The peasants came like swarms of flies

and buzzed the name of God a hundred times
to paralyse the Evil One.

With candles and with lanterns

throwing giant scorpion shadows
on the mud-baked walls
they scratched for him : he was not found.
They clicked their tongues.
With every movement that the scorpion made his poison
moved in Mother’s blood, they said.

A2. Write the reactions of the people when they knew that mother was stung by a scorpion. (2)
1. ___________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________

A3. Pick out one example of Onomatopoeia from the extract and explain it. (1)
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Q3 (B) Read the following poem and write an appreciation of it with the help of the given points in a
paragraph format: [5 marks]

THE WILL TO WIN

If you want a thing bad enough
to go out and fight for it,
work day and night for it,
give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it
If all that you dream
and scheme is about it and life
seems useless and worthless without it

If you gladly sweat for, fret and plan for it and lose
all your terror of the opposite for it.

If you simply go after that thing that you want with all
of your capacity, strength and sagacity, faith, hope and
confidence and stem pertinacity.

If neither cold or poverty, famished or gaunt

or sickness or pain
of body and brain
can keep you away from the thing that you want,

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,

with the help of GOD you’ll get it!
-BERTON BRALEY

You can use the following points while appreciating the given poem:
• Title of the poem (1/2)
• Poet of the poem (1/2)
• Rhyme scheme (1)
• Figures of speech (1)
• Central Idea / Theme (2)

SECTION IV: Non-Textual Passages

(Reading skills, vocabulary, grammar and summary)
Q4 (A) Read the following passage and do the activities: [10 marks]
A1. Write the comparison between the parts of modular phone and human body: (2)
Modular Phone Parts of Human Body
Processor …………
………… Frame, Screen
………… …………
Camera Eye

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 Every phone you buy, no matter how costly and latest it is, will go out of date in a year or so. That’s
how quick the smart phone world is moving right now. To keep yourself up to date with the current
specifications you will have to keep switching phones every once in a while. What’s the solution to this
problem?
MODULAR PHONES!

A modular device is a phone, tablet or other device where the individual components such as the
screen, camera, CPU, battery, memory can be removed by the user and replaced by others with a different
specification. Imagine your body to be a phone and your clothes as the components, you can wear anything
according to your needs and moods. Similarly, modular phones let you choose between components of
different properties and specifications.
This would mean we would have the liberty to customize our phones just like Lego building blocks!
The main components of the phone will be Brain (processor), Spine (frame, screen) and Heart (battery).
The outer components may include camera, storage memory, GPS audio jack, speakers, USB module etc.
and the phone will have a motherboard, i.e., a base that will hold all the components together.

A2. Write two examples which give liberty to customize our phone: (2)
1. ___________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________

A3. Frame sentences of your own using the phrase. (2)

1. Up to date

2. Once in a while

A4. Do as directed: (2)

1. We’ll have the liberty to customise our phones. (Rewrite the sentence as
interrogative)

2. We’ll have the liberty to customise our phones. (Rewrite using the present participle
form of the underlined word)

A5. Personal Response. (2)

If given chance to design a modular phone, what new features would you add?

Q4 (B) Write a summary of the passage given in Q 4 (A) above in about 100 words.
Suggest a suitable title. (5)

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Q5 (A) Information Transfer: - (5)
(A1) Verbal to Non-Verbal:
Prepare a list of do’s and don’t for a historical site based on the information given
below: -
We love visiting the heritage sites to know more about the history and culture of
our country. Therefore, it is our duty and responsibility to restore these sites and prevent
them from getting damaged. We must obey the rules and regulations laid down by the
government. Discipline should be maintained and we should not push each other to get
the first glimpse or run around. We should never climb up statues or structures and dig
out anything from the walls. We should not make the place dirty and use garbage bags
and dustbins. It is important that we maintain silence and do not talk loudly. We should
not take photographs inside the caves as the flash lights can damage the paintings. We
should treat these places as a picnic spot and dirty the place.

OR
(A2) Non-Verbal to Verbal:
Observe the chart and write a paragraph on it, suggest a suitable title.